Monday, March 9, 2009

The joys of wedding planning

*Daffodil in the front of our house*


I can't believe that it's already March! It has almost been a year since Devin proposed! I still catch myself looking at my ring and it seems like yesterday. I remember the sunshine (my fave), Devin's nervousness, and the feeling that for the next year I get to plan the wedding of my dreams! Anything was possible and I had lots of time to search all the endless decorating possibilities and whatnot via the internet. People asked why I wanted to wait until the next year to get married since we had been dating for so long already...and my answer was that I wanted time to plan.


Then reality sets in. The wedding of my dreams was a lot harder to plan than expected. Mainly because unlike some girls, I ne
ver really dreamed about it. I didn't have that friendship like in "Bride Wars" where my bff and I dressed up and planned out the whole day long before the groom was ever in the picture. I think to myself, "Surely somewhere at sometime you thought about it!" But I honestly can't remember! The only thing I slightly remember is the episode of full house when one of the girls (Michelle or Stephanie) is playing "wedding" and they used toliet paper for her veil! It rolled out as she walked down the "aisle" in the backyard. haha Anyway, so I had no clue where I wanted to start with anything! but it's okay because...I had time to plan.


When I started to write this next paragraph I started to type that the hardest choice to make was deciding the "theme" I wanted to go with or whatever you want to call it. But then I realized that once I finished talking about that...my next paragraph would start by saying... "The second hardest choice was..." and so on. This whole thing hasn't been easy at all. I think it's me though haha. I just can't decide on anything! I love so many things and it's so hard to pinpoint what I want. I read all these articles and blogs from photogs talking about how this or that was "totally right on with the bride/groom's personality" . So I tri
ed to make my choices easier by thinking to myself, "What would represent Devin and I the best?" What would make people go...ahhhhh that's sooooo them!!! It didn't help. Like I said before, I like waaaaaay to many things. I love colors so that was hard to narrow down. I love something about every season and the only way that was easy to narrow down for me was I wanted warm weather! I love the country but I also love the city. I love simple but I also love glam. I love...everything! haha So I started to think about what Devin likes....he doesn't really care he rather just be married already! So that didn't help!! So I just kept looking and trying to narrow things down...I still had time.


So back to the "theme". I have tossed around several ideas so I won't go into them all. A while back I thought about a chinese themed wedding since Devin's family is part chinese. But it's just in their blood, they don't practice any of the culture and I got asked "Why" a lot when I brought up that theme so I dimissed it. Then I decided that a glam wedding would work well with my colors (black and pink). I have always liked the black swirly designs and it would be easy to find decor to matc
h. But as I looked into that more, it began to look expensive. Plus my reception venue has more of a country feel to it than glamour. So sadly that idea was also dismissed. Time for plan...uh...well who's keeping count? haha So one that I had tossed around but hadn't put much thought into was more of a spring feeling. If I HAD to pick a favorite season it would be spring. I love EVERYTHING about it. So in a way, this is more me. I'm not chinese, I'm not glamorous, and I'm not high maintenence. Don't expect baby chicks and Easter eggs though!! I was thinking more along the lines of gerber daisies, limes, and oranges! This was about the time we started looking for and then purchased a house. It took about 3-4 months of my wedding planning energy which was okay because...I still had a little time.


But now here I am...with about 3 months left to "plan" and I all I have is that I want bright colors and gerber daisies haha. The idea seemed easy and cheaper too. However, that is NOT the feel I want to get when I walk into my reception haha. I don't want it to look thrown together last minute with whatever was left of the spring decor from Hobby Lobby!! But that's the feeling I am begining to get. Can't I have a cheaper wedding but with higher quality look?? I mean, I know I got a good photograp
her, but I don't want him to have to photoshop in the flowers and decor! haha My big debate now is what to do with the center pieces, I can't decide if I want silk or real flowers. Okay, well actually I would LOVE real flowers and thought gerbers were cheaper this time of year but was informed that that isn't entirely true. So I began looking at Micheals, Hobby Lobby, and Jo Anns but they all look too "fakey" to me. What is my problem?!?! haha


This is about the time when I
almost....almost...entertain the idea of getting married on our honeymoon and come back for a reception. But then, it's the reception I am having a hard time with anyway!! And it's not what I really want anyway. I honestly want allllll our friends and family there to help celebrate this day with us. I want people to dance and laugh and have a great time. I want great pictures to document all this. I want to look back on this day and not regret having a wedding vs running away haha. When I remind myself of all this I realize that the decor isn't what makes the wedding beautiful. It's the love that Devin and I have for each other and the love we have for our family and friends as well as their love for us. You do love us right?! haha

*More pretty Daffodils by our front porch*

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I can see your dilemna, for sure! And, I can understand why you are having a hard time making decisions, too. I don't know if this will help, but Shanelle ordered alot of roses (100) from Sam's and they were a good deal - bulk discount. Maybe they do other flowers, too??? Another thing is the lime and oranges (or lemons, I forgot!) would be really cool and fairly inexpensive, but not look "cheap". Connie Walker went to an all green wedding and they used limes. She said it was really pretty. I know you've been shopping lots of places and have seen lots of stuff, but have you been to Garden Ridge in OKC? We got a lot of stuff for Shanelle there. And one more thing - netting/tulle would be really pretty and go far without being too pricey. You can buy it in large bulk, too.
What you said at the end is so true. All the other stuff won't matter in the end :).