So I got married…

Well I have finally gotten around to posting a blog about mine and Dane’s wedding hooray!

Guys having a wedding is no joke, Dane and I had 8 months to plan this event, which wasn’t a massive wedding but good lord it was a lot of work. Lot’s of late night crafting, amazon prime ordering, stressing, crying, shouting “let’s just elope” during every planning session, and dealing with everyone’s unwanted opinions and prying questions during that time is something I am thankful I’ll never have to endure again. But even with all the drama and stress the day was so worth it. Because it was more beautiful and special than I could’ve imagined, and for every troublesome person that caused strife there was a whole group of friends and family who reminded Dane and I that at the end of the day all that matters is we get to marry the loves of our life.

So many people helped make our wedding possible, friends let us use their property for our venue, the bridesmaids put together my bouquet, my brother and his wife bought my headwreath when a previous vendor had flaked on me, and friends helped my mother set up all the decor, gosh we were truly surrounded by some amazing people! You all made our Peter Pan themed wedding better than Disney could’ve managed, and we cannot thank you enough.

My sweet nephew always the ladies man 😉

Beautiful Bridesmaids

Hubba Hubba hubby.

Mom’s always got my back.

Having family and friends pray for us right before the ceremony was so special and resulted in some serious ugly cry face from me…yikes!

Gotta get back to being presentable 😉

This is precisely why I wanted first look photos.

Our awesome bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Barely keeping it together.

Finally!!!

My bestest friend through life, my baby sister.

Family.

Our chosen family.

Bliss

My beautiful baby sang for our first dance.

Mom and Dad.

My brothers and their beautiful ladies!

Welcome to the rest of our lives.

A ridiculously massive shout-out to our phenomenal photographer Cody Kurtz! I honestly cannot recommend this guy enough, he met with Dane and I to fully get to know us as a couple and find out what kind of shots were important to us, and dude he knocked it out of the park.

Flowers were bought from Trader Joes gotta represent our workplace somehow 😉 also I spent less than $100 on our flowers holla!

Groomsmen tuxes from Menguin which I highly recommend, super easy, great customer service, and a heck of a lot cheaper than its competitors.

Bridesmaids dresses were from Unique Vintage, Mod Cloth, and JJ’s House.

My perfectly grey/blue dress was from MilaMira bridal. I will suggest when ordering from them order a size up, my dress was a tad too snug for me, thankfully my mom knew a tailor who was able to change the structure to a corset so I could wear my dress comfortably. But other than the sizing thing I have no complaints, they were wonderfully helpful answering questions, offering suggestions on fabric, and the dress came in a timely manner, which is amazing since their dresses are handmade!

I hope you all enjoyed a look at our wedding, and for those of you currently planning a wedding I will offer this little bit of advice. You do You! This day is about you guys as a couple, all the silly traditions, pushy relatives, pricey vendors etc can shush. I can happily look back on my wedding day with no regrets because Dane and I stayed true to ourselves.

Happy Saturday my loves.

 

 

What I learned from “Say Yes To The Dress”

So similarly to almost every other girly girl in the world I love watching shows about weddings and the like, but especially Say Yes To The Dress! A show about dresses? What could be better? I know most guys won’t understand…but let’s be honest we don’t really want them to. They have call of duty we have say yes to the dress. Funny enough though both sexes use the same excuse for their entertainment…”yes it’s fun but it’s educational!”. So here are some things that I have learned.

1. My mom is the best! If you have ever seen the show then you know the crazy moms, the ones who feel the need to live vicariously through their daughters, the control freaks, or the just straight up mean! So needless to say I am thankful my mom loves me and supports me with whatever my fashion decision is!

“I do not approve!!!!”

2. Almost every girly bride wants a Pnina Tornai gown! The dresses are beautiful no doubt…however if I am going to drop that kind of cash I would prefer a car! I can’t even imagine spending $30,000 on one thing!

3. Do not ever bring a giant group of people with you! I know there are several people whom you consider very close personal friends, but for goodness sake you don’t need all of them to choose a dress! You don’t have them choose your outfit everyday do you? Multiple people equates to multiple opinions! Save yourself a headache and only bring a select few of supportive friends/family.

“we have opinions and they will be heard!!!!!”

4. You may get to be princess for a day…but that does not mean you suddenly have a royal’s budget for your gown! Know your budget and stick to it! Don’t try on things you will never be able to afford, it will only break your heart!

5. NEVER BRING THE GROOM!!! Sure some people will use the excuse “well this day is about us” uh huh it certainly is but bringing him will only bring complications! You do not need him to tell you how to dress! You were dressing yourself long before he was in the picture.  Most grooms will nit pick just because they feel like they have to add something to the opinion pot, when the reality is if he had not been there and you picked the dress he had ripped apart  for your wedding day, he would think you were beautiful, because every good groom does! I mean have you ever heard of a groom saying “the wedding was great, but darling I wished you had gone another direction with your dress choice”? No you have not because most guys really don’t care, so don’t bring him along!

GROOMZILLA ON THE LOOSE!!!!

6. Randy is amazing enough said!

7. Know exactly what dress you purchased! I have watched several episodes where a bride walks into the fitting room and is unsure whether the dress in there is hers or not! Kleinfelds is huge and mix ups are bound to happen, just make sure you can catch one if it happens!

“Which one is mine???”

8.Vera scares me, the woman is a great at what she does, but her people skills are a little lacking!

9. Stay true to yourself, you want to look like you just a little better on your big day. After all what is fashion forward one year is horribly dated the next. Make sure you can look back at your pictures and smile, not cringe or worse not even recognize yourself!

“What was I thinking???”

10. Lastly, it is easy to get caught up in the craziness that a wedding brings, but remember it is not about a wedding it’s about a marriage! So don’t let people drive you crazy with their opinions and don’t kill yourself trying to impress your guests, it’s not about anyone else it is all about the bride and groom and their marriage! So don’t let the whole point of a wedding get lost in the mad commercialization!

 

Hope you enjoyed this post! Happy Thursday everyone!