Today I am starting a series about our lives and the exciting journey that has been the last four years. I’ll start, not all the way at the beginning but with our wedding. Our wedding was exactly 4 years ago today and I can’t think of a better way to have spent the last four years of our lives. Robert proposed on December 18, 2010 after spending the whole day together enjoying the simple things in life. After he proposed we quickly began making plans. We had a year and a half to plan because we wanted to wait until after we graduated to get married. Well, I don’t know that I wanted to wait at first but Robert quickly convinced me that for us, it was the smart thing to do. So while student teaching we finished up our jam packed year and a half and did all of our last minute preparations for our wedding.
We had a budget friendly wedding that was all DIY. I spent hours and hours working on projects and had a whole group of amazing friends that often joined in on the fun. We made whole days out of it and I am incredibly greatful for their kind servent’s hearts. From doing nearly everything on our own there are a few things that I would highly suggest to new planning brides.
1. Don’t do EVERYTHING on your own. I highly suggest picking a few projects that are near to your heart and accomplishing those. Once one thing is complete if you still have time for another than go for it. But try not to overwhelm yourself with must haves that you MUST do.
I made my hair piece. It started off giant but I ended up cutting nearly half of it off. =)
2. Sometimes spending a little extra money for a wedding vendor to take care of things is the way to go. Had I known that linens, chargers, flat ware, and glasses were often provided with the catering I may have changed where we put our money. Linens make a HUGE difference in the overall look of your day and while I pulled off the “plastic” table cloths by adding table runners I look back and wonder why I didn’t invest in lovely linens.
3. Some things can be on your own. On the flip side Robert and I had just finished up a semester of school and had a TON of meal plan money left over. We were on the smallest plan and still never failed to have an over abundance of money left and you either used it or it went un-used. So we purchased popcorn: LOTS of popcorn and toppings for our ice cream bar as well as candy for our candy bar. It was the perfect solution to our fun extras.
4. Pictures were super important to us. We had already taken our photographer course at Kent and photography at the time was certianly a hobby for us but even before we were wedding photographers we knew that we valued qaulity photographs and we wanted to work with someone who we felt connected to. As you can tell from the above statements we were working on a college student budget all before we had full time teaching jobs and before our Wedding Photography business. Therefore, our budget was small. But we were determined that photography would not be a corner that we cut. We saved all year and invested in a photographer who we LOVE and still adore to this day. We love our images and many of them hold far more meaning than I could have ever imagined now that my Grandma is no longer with us. Photographs are a gift and I am so glad that we were somewhat aware of this blessing when we planned our wedding.
This is our wonderful photographer, Mindy.
5. Spend time to enjoy your husband. First look and Sunset pictures can give you just a few sweet moments. Weddings are jampacked with exciting events and the fly through one after the other. We didn’t do a first look but looking back it would have been an awesome moment to have just the two of us. We had a wonderful day and I am so thankful for the time and smiles we shared with each other and our guests. But it all goes by so quickly. I am so glad we had our photographer pull us away from the party to get some sunset pictures too. This short 10 minutes made all the difference to relax and snuggle up for a few quick gorgeous sunset images. We walked around the pond and took in all of the joy of the day. Just those quick moments to enjoy on our own meant the world. Then we were right back to the party.
6. Plan things that are special to you. Robert composed and sang a song for me on our wedding day. The whole room was crying and I will forever hold it near to my heart.
Cute shoes and fun socks for your groom are important!
Having fun with our custom corn hole.
Beyond our wedding marriage is a blessing. I love waking up every morning next to a man who loves and supports me through all of my creative projects. He listens to me when I talk and he is a strong leader for our home. His heart is set on the Lord’s principals and I am so blessed to have someone who keeps me level headed but still isn’t afraid to take a leap of faith if the Lord leads us in a new direction. Every day we grow stronger and it is our love, God’s love, and the love of all of those around us that keeps our fuel going for all of our amazing couples. As wedding photographers we hope that we can be a blessing to each of our couples. We want to give them memories full of smiles and cature moments that can be re-lived through their wedding photographs. To us, our job is so much more than showing up on your day taking pictures and leaving. We are so blessed to have the oppertunity to work with you and excited for your future marriage and wedding!
Looking back on our day all I can do is smile. It was a wonderful day filled with joy that set the foundation for our marriage. We are so blessed to have each other on this journey and I wouldn’t want it to be with anyone else.
I think one day a vow renewal would be fun. I think I would go in a completely new direction and go for the simple elegant and classic look. Still with lots of teal of course! Happy Wedding Planning! I hope something from our planning journey can help you with your’s!
all images taken by Mindy Sue Photography
