I am getting married in three weeks. While I can’t believe how fast the past year and a half has gone by since Brian proposed, what blows my mind even more is how ridiculously stressful wedding planning is. No matter how much I swore to myself I wouldn’t be one of those brides who worried about everything and let minor details give me stress-induced nightmares, I have fallen victim to the very thing I mocked over a year ago. I was so naive back then – newly engaged, thinking I knew what the hell I was talking about. My 125 person wedding became a 200 person wedding and our budget has nearly tripled – yes, tripled – but this past week I had my final dress fitting and something magical happened. I looked in the mirror at my perfectly-fitting dress and I smiled. I looked like a bride. I suddenly relaxed, and from that moment on I decided to just enjoy the process instead of letting any of it get the best of me. So today I am writing my Friday Favorites post about the wedding things I am really freaking excited about!
1. Marrying my bestest friend in the whole wide world. Everyone says they’re excited to marry their best friend, but I guess until you’re actually doing it it sounds like a cheesy cliche. Brian and I click on a level reserved for action movie couples and romantic comedies. We make each other laugh and enjoy each others company (which is fortunate since we co-own a store and spend literally every day together), but more than that we motivate and inspire each other to do things that we probably wouldn’t have the balls to do on our own and push each other to accomplish things we didn’t think we could.
2. My dress. Brian is really afraid that he will somehow come across a picture of my dress before the wedding, so I am not going to post a picture of it, but it’s unique and lovely and I almost cried when I saw how perfect it was after the alterations. Throughout the planning process I haven’t really felt like the storybook BRIDE that everyone always seems to feel like, but I did when I tried that dress on. I’ve always wanted a big princess dress, and I got it. I can’t wait to wear the hell out of it. (Lauren’s note: We’ll post one after the wedding. It really is so, so, so beautiful and unique. I love it.)
3. My friends & family. One of my bridesmaids told me recently that the best advice she got before her wedding was to take a full minute at some point during the day and look around at all the people surrounding her and remember that they were all there for her. She said it was the only moment that she and her husband really remember with much clarity of the whirlwind that a wedding day can be, and I am taking the advice to heart. I have so many amazing friends that are flying in from all corners of the world to be with me on my wedding day, and I cannot wait to have them all in one room together. So many faces I haven’t seen in too long, but I will cherish every minute I get to boogie with them on the dance floor.
4. My venue. I am getting married at the coolest museum in Baltimore – the American Visionary Art Museum! We really wanted to have a fun, lighthearted wedding, and this was the perfect venue for it. It celebrates the quirky world of amateur art, down to the kinetic sculptures that will be surrounding us when we take our vows. This place is seriously cool, and the building we are getting married in is gorgeous. I always wanted an outdoor wedding, but with Baltimore’s finicky weather it was too big of a risk. The moment we stepped inside this place on our visit we both knew it was the perfect backdrop for our day.
5. The food. The caterer was the first thing we booked after the venue. Our caterer is fabulous, but the food is way better. We’re doing stations, and the food is SO GOOD. For example, there is a slider station which includes a chicken and waffle slider (fried chicken sandwiched between two mini Belgian waffles with a jalapeno honey drizzle) and a pork belly BLT (pork belly, fried green tomato, chipotle aioli on pretzel roll) among others. There is no way in hell I am going to be one of those brides who is whisked away all night and doesn’t get dinner. No freaking way.
6. MY HONEYMOON. When you own your own business it’s hard to get away for a couple of weeks. Like, it is rarer than a unicorn. Brian and I are going to spend our honeymoon split between Munich and Florence, and I am so so so so so excited.
So these are the top things that are keeping me going in the final stretch., among many others. I can’t wait for my wedding day!
xo,
Jill
I loved this post! I’m getting married June 2016 and it’s nice to hear from someone who has gone through the process I’m currently going through. I like that when my wedding gets close I can think back to this post and remember to focus on the exciting things about getting married! Also, your food sounds amazing!