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| Photo by Sean Waugh |
We got engaged on January 10 and our wedding is on October 5. For those who don't like to count the months on their fingers, that's just shy of a 9 month engagement (insert "OMG you need *at least* a year to plan a proper wedding!" here... or don't).
It's now late March and the photographers have been selected, save-the-dates emailed, venue deposits made and wedding dress and suit purchased. Why bother detailing the planning process now?
The background story is that I did not dream of my wedding as a little girl. I didn't dress up as a bride for Halloween and I never watched any of the princess Disney movies; my mom didn't want me to grow up thinking I had to find a "Prince Charming" in order to be complete or satisfied in life (you may find this theme of independence to be a recurring one). Thus, the irony of my not-so-secret OBSESSION with wedding planning - beginning as soon as I realized I had met my life partner, which also happened to correspond to the time frame when Say Yes to the Dress and Pinterest and Wedding Gawker became things - could have been forecasted. And I was not just a pre-engaged dreamer or a pinner, either. I emailed venues for pricing and stalked photographers. I acquired charts for how much liquor, beer and juices to purchase and found every resale wedding dress shop in three different metros. I emailed my sister's high school to make sure our wedding wouldn't interfere with her senior Homecoming dance. I made an itemized budget. I was going to have the most fabulous, wallet-friendly, straight off the images of Style Me Pretty wedding - EVER.
As it turns out, wedding expectations do not often correspond with wedding reality. Some brides or grooms may have dreams too lofty for their budget, and others may be constrained by other factors such as time and location. I personally had to take a step back from Pinterest and realize that I could not, in fact, have an effortless backyard wedding under twinkling lights with a DIY cake, bar, flowers, and centerpieces. For one, we live in the Midwest and have no faith that the weather will cooperate for two meteorologists tying the knot. Second, there is an 8 hour distance between our current location and the wedding location. I can't do it all, and most of the venues we liked wouldn't let me even if I tried.
I am writing a blog now, 2.5 months into our engagement with the "big" decisions already made, to tell you about what I will craft my little heart out on. I will discuss the wedding industry pressure and cultural expectations I had to free myself from before we could take on the challenge of planning a wedding that is both personal and practical. I will write about our vendors and DIY/DIT projects and to share this process with my family who lives far away.
True story, I originally had a Pinterest board called "Elements of a Dream Wedding." I've since re-named it "A Practical Wedding" (I'll give this epic site a full-fledged shout-out in later posts). It might sound less romantic, but who says practical can't be beautiful?
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