May 16, 2018

Beyond the wedding: why I'm more excited about what comes next

My wedding day countdown app on my phone informs me that there are exactly 30 days, 2 hours, and 22 minutes until my wedding. I feel like I should be more stressed out and nervous. But we've been engaged for one and a half years, and I've spent some time planning this thing every week, so the vast majority of the work is done.

What's interesting is that after all that time dreaming and planning, though I'm really excited about the wedding itself, I'm incredibly excited for the time beyond the wedding…

1.3k
  March 21, 2018

I didn't bother to hire offbeat vendors and now I regret it

As time as gone by, my priorities have changed (I loved the post on how it's totally fine to have a cookie cutter wedding) and I am having a fairly traditional wedding in about two months. For this reason (and also budget limitations), I ignored the wise advise on this site to seek out vendors whose wedding style fits my vision. But what I am finding as I get deeper into planning the wedding, is that I weirdly am worried about living up to my photographers (and others) expectations and I worry about not being a "hot" enough bride with a "pretty" enough wedding. How do I keep the wedding day focused on what my fiance and I want, even though some of the people around us have different expectations?

2.2k
  November 22, 2017

I'm a wedding planner who eloped and I don't regret it at all

At first, I was thinking of inviting family, friends, out-of-town relatives — you know, the typical thoughts that run through some people's head after a proposal. Then, I had a totally unexpected idea. Why don't we elope? I was at the time of my life where I didn't care to spend a ton of money on a wedding and I had no desire to. But what do my wedding planning couples think now?

2.1k
  September 7, 2017

I got bucked off a horse at my own wedding!

When I recently got married, I thought that I would be brave and try something a bit different at my wedding. Given that I am a celebrant, it made sense to take a small risk and do something a bit wild. So, I asked a friend with a beautiful horse if I could come in on the horse to the ceremony. But then, what happened next shocked everyone. I was BUCKED OFF THE HORSE! Here's how I handled it and how it made the wedding a success…

2.4k
  12 Comments January 12, 2017

I went window shopping for rings and now regret it

I had a modest ring that I could afford bookmarked and budgeted. Then my fiancé convinced me that we HAD to go try on rings at a big box jewelry store. The men's band and wedding set we found and fell in love with costs $8,000! And my reasonable little ring looks shabby and drab by comparison. I thought I could walk away, and I can. I just did not anticipate the other cascade of feelings…