Almost three years ago, I married my best friend on our eleven year anniversary. We had a very small ceremony with just our immediate family in a small church that could not have been more perfect.
I actually had planned on just exchanging vows with Justin at dinner. What I thought I wanted was a nice dinner with family to celebrate our vows, the ceremony wasn’t really a priority for me. My Mimi (my grandmother) insisted that we find a small church, her wedding gift to us. I am so thankful she insisted on this, because it really was perfect. My Mimi also made my beautiful bouquet and the flowers for my hair, I felt like a princess (my something blue). My something old is a necklace that belonged to my Dad’s mother, my Omi. A necklace of gold and amethyst, since we shared the month of February for our birthdays. My something borrowed was a hankerchief from Justin’s grandmother Carole, which I am so glad I had when tears started to fall down my cheeks when exchanging our vows.
We got married at Pilgrim Chapel, which is near downtown Kansas City. If you are looking for a small, beautiful church, this is perfect place for your ceremony. It’s nestled in a neighborhood among beautiful homes.
I found my dress and ordered it online. I actually ordered three dresses and just kept the one I loved the most. I can’t recommend ModCloth enough, they offer so many sizes based on actual measurements so all three dresses I ordered fit, I just had to choose the one I love the most. You can find my dress here, I am wearing it in champagne. I actually ended up selling my wedding dress a couple years ago and shipped it off for its next adventure. I do wonder where it is and if it had a nice second wedding.
Both of our families felt like it was about damn time. Hah! We were friends in high school, then together for eleven years. We had our ups and downs as we grew up and figured out life but we always seem to come back to each other. Justin proposed to me on a rooftop in Santa Fe, NM on a trip with my family in March, and we just decided to get married on our eleventh anniversary which happened to be a couple months later on May 18th. I told Justin I was doing him a favor, not changing the date on him.
One thing I urge you to think about as your are reading this post and probably googling everything under the sun about weddings is to not get lost in it. Remember it isn’t about the wedding, it’s about the marriage. The commitment, the love between two people.
I see all these lavish weddings and while they are stunning and beautiful, I find myself asking is it all real? Is there love and commitment that are hidden behind these pictures that are posted? I’ve been a bridesmaid more times than I can count, and in most of the weddings the bride and groom hardly ate anything and spent so much time making sure they said hello to each of their three hundred guests that they didn’t actually enjoy any of their own wedding. I’ve had friends that were so nervous to walk down the isle in front of the hundreds of people they invited instead of focusing on their partner who was waiting for them on the other side, ready to commit and love them for a lifetime.
Don’t lose sight of the marriage while planning the wedding. Don’t drop tons of money on things that only last a couple hours. My Dad gave us the option of not having a big wedding and instead taking a trip. I am so thankful that he encouraged us to do that. We traveled all over Europe, the two of us, eating and drinking and being merry! Blog post coming soon of our adventures!
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What kind of wedding did you have?
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