Your wedding is your day

When I first got engaged, I was obviously ecstatic. Jesse and I came home from Cancun and immediately started discussing how we envisioned our wedding. Initially, we saw ourselves getting married in SLO and having it catered by Firestone (because if you know us, food is really our #1 priority at a party). After talking it out, we decided it was too far and difficult for people to travel to (since all our family is from out of town), and decided that our actual #1 priority was to have ALL of our close friends and family there (or at least as many as we could accommodate - if you've made a guest list for your wedding, you know how that quickly spirals out of control). In addition we still wanted to serve BBQ, we wanted to have some kind of kick-ass entertainment, and we also wanted to make sure it was documented beautifully (ok, that was really MY priority ;). Bonus if we could get Barney in the pictures.

I happened to be engaged at the same time as many of my old classmates. And then I started comparing my plans to theirs. BIG MISTAKE. I immediately began to stress out that our venue wasn't fancy enough, my dress didn't live up to other brides', I couldn't afford nice centerpieces, we didn't have enough details... geez, I remember there being a million things I cried over not being able to have but they were obviously so unimportant I can't remember them now. And yes - I cried. Actually, I didn't cry... I was sobbing HYSTERICALLY. Jesse literally stared at me wide-eyed and said, "Um, sweetie... I don't know what you want me to do. Tell me what you want me to do." I have never freaked out like that EVER - Jesse and I both take pride in the fact that we are secure in our individuality, so it was weird even to me that I was breaking down like this. I just said I didn't know what to do and kept crying.

Jesse let me get it out and then quietly reminded me to remember what WE wanted. Why we listed our priorities the way we did. We wanted to pay for our own wedding because our parents had afforded us more things in life than we deserved. We wanted to buy a house and wanted to put money towards a decent down payment, and being the frugal people that we are, we didn't want to stress our budget. And most importantly, we wanted our wedding to feel like US. We have never been the fanciest people in the world, but we always guarantee friends who attend our parties that they will have an awesome time.

And that's exactly what happened. We had the BEST wedding we could possibly have. Certainly not the most extravagant, elegant or detailed, but it was the most fun, intimate, and love-filled day I've ever experienced. And everyone left commenting on how delicious the food and cupcakes were, how much they enjoyed the casino (esp the boys who were thankful that they had something to do at a wedding other than dance :P), and how much it felt like US - the best compliment I think you can receive at a wedding.

So this post is for all the brides that are like me. Who maybe feel inferior because their wedding isn't "good enough." And by the way, no one was actually telling me my wedding was inferior... I was the one creating drama for myself. There is definitely nothing wrong with an upscale wedding (I mean, if I could have afforded a Monique Lhuillier dress, don't think I would have blinked before buying it), but if it's not for you, figure out what is! Just remember - your love and lifetime commitment is what makes the day special. And if you have a kick-ass photographer to capture that love (like I did) your wedding is guaranteed to look like a million bucks no matter what.

www.patrickangphotography.com

I guess the length of this blog post makes up for my lack of lately. But I'm definitely not done yet - I'd like to introduce the first of my new wedding planning posts :) I hope this series helps all the brides out there who want a personalized wedding while sticking to their budget. If you're one of those lovely ladies, look out for more advice to come!