Fortunately for myself (and all those surrounding me), I never had a single bridezilla moment, and believe you me, this was never and I mean NEVER the expected outcome. A bit of a perfectionist, I like to control any and all of my outcomes… right down to the very last, nitty gritty detail. I was the girl in college who would get assigned to a group project and do the whole thing myself. Awesome, I know. So, you can imagine the breath holding tension my family and friends held when I got engaged… it was thick enough to cut through, kids.
Luckily for all involved, however, I actually had the stark opposite reaction to the Mister and me’s pre-meditated marriage. Planning for our wedding day was a breeze, and I have the advice of my favorite lady in all the world to thank, my mom :) In her infinite wisdom, my mom so delicately reminded me that I was not an expert… not on wedding cakes or dress trains, nor flower blooms or spinning records. I may know what I like, but “knowing what you like” is not a profession; so, I should leave the doing to those who do it best. (Ahhhh, clarity.)
Now, I’m sure some of you are thinking, “ruuuu-huuude,” but, my little chick-a-dees, I’m afraid you’d be mistaken. Because if there’s anything you need to know about my mom, it’s that she’s the sweetest lady evs, and like all moms, knows exactly what to say to make it aaallll better. She wasn’t putting me down; she was simply nudging me into place. My place – as title and luck would have it – was that of the beautiful bride, and when all I had to worry about was being beautiful – when I already look this good, haha! – the rest was absolute gravy, baby!
It’s ahhhh to the maaazing what putting trust in people can do. Trust is the key ingredient that motivates us to succeed for others. If you put your trust in someone, I can gosh darn guarantee you they’ll do their best to see it through to perfection – waaaaay mores o than any scream fest, knock down or drag out you could pull.
Trust that your florist knows what they’re doing, and let them do it. Trust that your caterer can cook like nobody’s business, and let them shine. Trust that your butcher, your baker and candlestick maker all know what they’re doing, and let them do it too! (Okay, so maybe you won’t have a butcher, but you get the point.) People like pleasing people who are pleasant; so, the next time you feel a bridal rage surging, just remember that you’re not the expert, and it’s more than okay to let go of some of the power and focus on more important things… like your poses for all those portraits! Haha!…
… oh yeah! And that handsome dude waiting for you at the end of the aisle! Because – at the end of the day – no matter how good, bad or ugly everything else turns out, you’ll still be his Mrs., and he’ll be your Mister :)
May 21, 2010
At the risk of coming off totally unoriginal, today’s blog post is completely dedicated to others! I came across this Website a few weeks back where brides – over the course of the past few years – have been asked to submit their unique wedding ideas… so imagine my delight when such a simple theory developed into such intricate results!
I was losin’ it as I read through some of the more “colorful” options, but I couldn’t help but applaud the sheer genius of others! Every wedding day has potential to get Army and be all that it can be; so, why not see what others did for greatness and make it your own? Below are some of my favorite responses to emerge from ourmarriage.com, but please feel free to add to this list by leaving your unique idea here! I always love hearing from you :)
Whenever we would go to a wedding we always are wondering who the people in the bridal party are and what is their relation to the bride and groom. So at our wedding, in the program we listed each person in our wedding party with a little paragraph on how we know this person and a little fun tidbit and or why they are special to us. It was nice for them to read and gave our guests a special insight of our friends and family and didn’t leave them guessing who was who!
I wanted to do something different for the centerpieces at my reception tables, so I decided to make my own candles. I used the dried flower petals that I had been saving from all of the flowers my fiancée had given me from the time we started dating. I thought that they were a true testament of how our relationship had grown, there were the first flowers he had ever given me, I love you, I’m Sorry, Get Well, thinking of You, Valentine’s Day, and anniversary flowers, all the way up to the purple roses he gave me when he asked me to marry him. They turned out beautifully and everyone loved them!
I wanted a good picture of my dad walking me down the aisle. Instead a picture of our “backs”, we took a few steps, stopped, turned around and the photographer got a great picture of our faces. It’s the most cherished picture of me and my dad.
I’ve noticed at wedding receptions that the younger guests are usually bored. So, for my wedding reception, I had a special “children’s table” set up. There were balloons tied to every chair and “busy packets” at every place setting. The busy packets contained coloring books and crayons, small puzzles, activity books and blank paper. The kids were all together so they didn’t have to listen to boring grown up conversation and they had things to keep them busy. We made a point of visiting the table several times during the reception. It was a party for them and a great celebration for us!
[Our guests] are requested to bring along a small Christmas ornament (1/per family) from their personal collections. The purpose of this is to remember all of our friends who came to our wedding. We will hang up all the little ornaments they gave to us on our tree at Christmas.
My fiancée and I absolutely hate the idea of the garter and bouquet toss. So we have decided to do a variation on the theme. Instead of tossing the bouquet, we are going to give a single flower to every single women at the reception. The flower will be a duplicate of one of the flowers in my bouquet. The flower will have a poem pinned to it as well as wishes for love, success and health. There is no reason that only one girl should have all of the fun, this way every single women is given well wishes.
This isn’t my idea – I was at a wedding the other weekend where this was done and I thought it was very nice! During the ceremony a photographer and a videographer photographed and videoe’d the wedding, as usual. At the reception, which took place right after the wedding (cocktails in between right outside the large room for the reception in between wedding and reception), a presentation was shown on a screen via projector. The presentation started out with photos and such of the bride starting with baby photos and ending with a recent photo. Then the same was done with the groom. They then showed the engagement photo. But then this is where the very nice thing took place: they then showed photos and video footage from their wedding which must have been at the most only an hour and a half earlier – most likely less!! It was a great surprise to all the guests, and it was super because the selected clips from during the ceremony after the procession were taken from a view that showed the bride and groom’s faces so we all got to see the important parts of the wedding from a view nobody gets to see otherwise! It was a fantastic presentation, set to music and all, too, of course. I recommend this idea!!
Instead of rice, bubbles, or anything else that people throw at the bride and groom. The wedding party should burn sparklers when the bride and groom are having their first dance. The lights are dim and the moment is so special, and sparklers are such a different touch. Or, you can get all the guests to burn one when they are leaving at the end. Whatever works.
We are asking our guest to send us their favorite recipes with their RSVP’s. We are then going to make cookbooks to give to our guest as favors. It’s really inexpensive and it’s nice to have a cookbook with both our families’ recipes. You can have the cookbook go with your theme or colors. We are binding ours together with cover coordinating with our invitations.
March 10, 2010
