it doesn't feel like a year ago.
and it doesn't feel like yesterday.
it feels like a different lifetime altogether.
the most perfect day ever.
my wedding day.
i want to share this story. because it's a pretty damn good one if you ask me.
what made my wedding day perfect was the fact that we did it the way we wanted. and i wouldn't change a thing.
there are so many things i did because i didn't want my wedding to be like every other wedding.
like the morning of our wedding day. me and all my girls met for coffee then we went off and got our hair done. wherever we wanted. however we wanted. and then we all met back at my parents house to drink mimosas, listen to music, and do our makeup. because i refused to be stuck in a salon for 4 hours waiting for all of us to get our hair done one by one. no one had to get up at 6 am. i didn't have to stress about if we were all going to get done in time. it was so nice to only spend 45 minutes at the hair salon and then get to spend the rest of the morning actually enjoying myself.
letting my girls pick their dresses. i didn't drag them to a bridal shop and make them stand in line wearing outrageous dresses that didn't fit them properly. i didn't force them to spend outside of what they could afford. i wanted them to have something that they liked, something they felt comfortable in, something that was in their price range, and something they could and would wear again. and let me just say that my girls have style!
the first look. i am not into surprises. and i have mild anxiety. so the thought of waiting to see Stephen until we were about to exchange vows was enough to give me an ulcer. not to mention this was our wedding day! i wanted to spend as much time as possible with him. why should we waste half the day avoiding each other?
not to mention, besides these first few moments we were not alone together the rest of the day. and we had lots of time for pictures before the ceremony. after the ceremony our wedding party and our families were free to get drinks, eat, hang out by the fire, and socialize with guests.
we had time to get pictures like this :) obviously one of the most important parts right?
having a ceremony that meant something. i think people forget about the ceremony. i'm not saying it has to be an hour long or anything. but seriously! this is what the day is built around. two people committing their lives to each other. Stephen and i have both known Dan for years! he knew us when Stephen was playing christian punk at coffee houses. he knew us when i played flag football every sunday afternoon. he knew us then. and he knew our vision for our wedding day. he helped us plan our ceremony... OUR ceremony. not some prepackaged ceremony where our names get inserted to the appropriate places.
having an intimate wedding. i know it doesn't look like it because the hubs has an extremely large family :) but seriously we invited the most important people. neither of us enjoy crowds much. and we only wanted people who would be genuinely excited about our wedding day. we didn't want anyone to come because they felt obligated.
dessert. here's the thing. i don't really like cake. and neither does stephen. but we love pie. man do we love pie. we didn't even have a cake to cut. nope we didn't because guess what. we don't like being in front of people performing. so no cake for us. and these pies were so freaking cute and tastier than any cake i've ever had.
having an outdoor wedding. we wanted something laid back. something that felt like us. we wanted it to be fun. what's more fun that drinking under the stars around a campfire? yes it did rain on our wedding day. and yes we still did everything outside. everyone always says things like "kiss in the rain", "dance in the rain", "play in the rain". we did all of that on our wedding day. let's be honest here people. rain is romantic. and really... a little rain isn't going to kill you. it's called making memories and being adventurous ;)
flying our photog out from San Fran. i had followed Gladys blog for a while before we were even engaged. and before we had ever spoken i felt like i knew her. her style was exactly what we wanted and after i did finally talk to her there wasn't anyone else i could imagine spending our day with us. and if i know anything from taking pictures it's this- if you don't click with your photographer, if you don't feel like you could sit down eat cheesecurds and drink a spotted cow with them, then they probably aren't the best fit for you. Gladys and Chris just got us. and because they got us i trusted them completely and didn't have to worry about a thing. and even though we had met them in person just two days before our wedding day we felt like they were two of our oldest friends.
i'm not saying there is a right way or a wrong way to plan a wedding... ok.. well really who am i kidding? there is a right way. do what you want. make it personal. make it your own. be creative. don't apologize.
happy anniversary to my very best friend, love of my life, and biggest supporter.
thanks to Gladys for being a kick ass photographer and letting me use her photos for this post. if you want to have your mind blown go check out her work.
