It all started last September when Carey asked me to marry him. It was so sweet and perfect and I think this is when the wheels started turning. I wouldn't say I was the kind of kid that always dreamed of what my wedding day would be like. Honestly I was the kind of kid who always thought I would die tragically before anything that good would happen to me. Of course I don't like to do things half way and once I started scoping out some wedding blogs my tiny idea turned into about 1000 tiny ideas. All of these ideas came at a cost so instead of forking out the cash I took the do it yourself route. This turned into a couple hundred hours of my precious time but the outcome was more than what I hoped for. Here are some of the fruits of my labour:
It's funny when people find out you're getting married they all have something to say whether it's a piece of advice, an idea or a wedding horror story. I can't tell you how many times I had to listen to advice I didn't give a shit about but forced a smile, nodded and acted like I was really soaking it all up. I heard several times that your own wedding is never as fun as being a guest at a friend's wedding, which I really came to believe. I thought I would be looking around and subconsciously noting every detail that did not turn out the way I had imagined. I also thought it would be a world of awkward having that many people watching you. Whether you're eating, adjusting your boobs (or in my case padding), chugging your drink, there are eyes on you. I think I was mentally trying to paint a realistic version of how the day was going to go so I was prepared and not let down. Well I've got to say NONE of that bothered me on our wedding day. Honestly I was on cloud 9. I had way more fun at my wedding then I ever have at any other wedding to date. It couldn't have gone any better and for me to be unable to pick out any flaws is not only shocking but unprecedented.
I feel like several different factors played in to glorious day. Most importantly having everyone I love most in the world all together to celebrate. With that crowd of people a bad time just wasn't in the cards. We really have the most unreal group of friends and family. The speeches were the balls, the highlight of the evening. My sister Kristy and her boyfriend Brett (maid of honor and best man) clearly had taken the past 10 months to put those together because they didn't miss a beat. We were so honored (and mildly offended) hearing them. To top it off they also had a surprise slide show for after dinner which was heartwarming and mortifying all at the same time. It was then I realized my awkward stage really was from age 6-20.
Other contribution factors into this day of perfection were the candy apple martinis, delicious food and the photobooth that was set up by one of my bridesmaids Danica. Michelle, my awesome photographer friend manned it for the evening and we ended up with a lot of hilarious shots. Of course you need the BEST playlist to get everyone on board for a late night. This consisted of a lot of golden hits and of course the countless country songs (seriously I don't care who you are, I know you secretly enjoy country music after you've had 5 martinis). Here's a couple songs from the ceremony playlist that I'm still obsessed with:
My advice to anyone planning a wedding is to just do everything your way. Everyone has their own options and ideas of how a wedding should be but it's really just all about what you want. It's one of the only times in life where you can just shut down people's ideas down without thinking twice. Seriously my version of heaven is just having everything done my way. Everyone asking how YOU want it set up and the most strenuous thing you have to do it point and delegate. If only everyday was like that lol.
I guess in closing I should say that the set up, stress over decorations, food and booze is all pretty irrelevant in the end. In the months up to the wedding it's easy to just focus on the party side of things and forget why it is you're planning this big party in the first place. For us getting married has just built on the relationship we've always had. Carey is my best friend in the world so marrying him was easy. The day was perfect because we are just truly happy to be together and commit to spending the rest of our lives with each other. Oh and the cards filled with cold hard cash made that commitment even easier... Europe here we come!
