Now that you've seen the product of our wedding, I'd like to give you some insight (and maybe even advice) into how we created and had a wedding day better than we ever could have dreamed. All of it was only possible with the help of our parents in their finances, time, and love.
Don't be scared to have as short of an engagement as possible.
I believe the wedding day is about starting a marriage, not about taking a year and a half to throw the craziest, most elaborate party of your life. However, I also believe there should absolutely be celebration involved!
Mitch and I gave ourselves five months to plan everything. Here's how we made it happen:
Quite frankly, we felt like we had already been waiting a long time to be married, and we weren't about to wait any longer than we had to!
Mitch and I gave ourselves five months to plan everything. Here's how we made it happen:
- We wanted to get married outside, and as soon as we could, so we went with the end of May. Technically, our wedding was in the "off season," making it much easier for us to book vendors more short notice! We had no problem booking our venue, caterer, and photographer. Another reason it was easier for us to get our vendors more last minute was...
- We decided to go for a Friday wedding. Fortunately, we wanted one in the first place, but it was also the only good option for getting married at the vendor we were dreaming of! We wanted a Friday wedding because we wanted our guests to enjoy our wedding celebration and still get to look forward to two full days of weekend afterwards.
Quite frankly, we felt like we had already been waiting a long time to be married, and we weren't about to wait any longer than we had to!
Have a vision for your day.
My vision for the wedding was simply to make it our wedding. I wanted it to feel like it was most definitely Mitch + Jen's wedding. I wanted it to honour Jesus in every way, and I wanted our guests to feel loved and appreciated. From all the comments and love we received, I think we pulled it off.
Don't let the details stress you out.
Don't make it more complicated than it has to be!
For a standard wedding, these are the basic things you need to make your wedding happen: a place to have it, an officiant, food, wedding attire, and (preferably) a photographer! Anything beyond that, you can probably live without.
Now, did we go much beyond the basics? Yes! However, I didn't allow them to make or break my wedding or my stress levels. (Although, I did have a few days here and there that I felt stressed about how much there was still to do!) I came to a point of, "Yeah, there are more details and cute things we could add to this wedding, but its a month away and I'm not about to stress myself out about making it absolutely perfect in every way."
Let the details stress someone else out; i.e. your mom. ;)
For a standard wedding, these are the basic things you need to make your wedding happen: a place to have it, an officiant, food, wedding attire, and (preferably) a photographer! Anything beyond that, you can probably live without.
Now, did we go much beyond the basics? Yes! However, I didn't allow them to make or break my wedding or my stress levels. (Although, I did have a few days here and there that I felt stressed about how much there was still to do!) I came to a point of, "Yeah, there are more details and cute things we could add to this wedding, but its a month away and I'm not about to stress myself out about making it absolutely perfect in every way."
Let the details stress someone else out; i.e. your mom. ;)
Take every opportunity to interact with your guests.
Our reception didn't go exactly as planned. It ended up taking much longer to get food out than we had expected, but we didn't let it cramp our style. Because it took a while, we were able to go around and spend a decent amount of time with every table. I am so glad we were able to do that because it allowed us to enjoy the company of everyone we had invited and allowed us to feel like we were sharing our day with others, not just being a spectacle to watch.
All I want is every bride to have a day that is full of joy, laughter, and really good tears. A day that is free of worry of other's opinions of her day or of things going differently than planned. To me, the key is to relax and remember what that day is all about: you and your husband becoming one.