Wedding Weekend!

This past weekend Dustin and I traveled back to Eastern North Carolina for a backyard wedding! The wedding was beautiful, with the sun shining all day and a blazing heat of almost 100 degrees!! Regardless of the heat, the wedding was perfect.

The bride was Dustin's cousin who planned the whole event in about 4 weeks! The wedding was held in Dustin's parents backyard. They rented a beautiful white tent for the reception area and set up an alter with white columns and ferns for the ceremony. This wedding really got me thinking about how easy it is to save money on a wedding with just a little creativity and getting a few family members involved.

The bride and groom took advantage of their Aunt's beautiful large backyard. Holding the wedding and reception in the backyard cost zero dollars out of pocket for them!!! The wedding guest list was about 75 when it came down to the day. This is a perfect number for this type of venue. They also had family helping out with things here and there all day. The wedding coordinator was a very good friend of Dustin's mom. She did a wonderful job keeping the wedding party organized and on cue! The caterer was a friend of one of the groom's family members. They were just starting their event planning and catering business and really used the opportunity to impress and created a great initial name for themselves. And the food was amazing! Dustin and I shared the duties of wedding photographer. The bride and groom already own a very nice camera and just needed someone to take the photos. We took our job seriously and knew they wanted the pictures to tell the story of their day. Although I did catch myself taking the camera away from Dustin because he just didn't "get" what I told him to shoot (Sorry babe :)). The decorations were placed by the whole family prior to the wedding. Everyone joined forces the morning of the wedding to get everything placed perfectly. All of theses services that cost a lot of money in the wedding world, cost the bride and groom nothing! If you are getting married and have a great support system as they did, use it to your advantage! You'd be surprised who can help out with all the details on your wedding day. Family and friends always want to be involved with the planning and will make sure your day is perfect, unlike some strangers who you may hire!

A lot of brides get so caught up in the shiny and flashiness of wedding venues and decorations that are way over priced. At the end of the day you have to remember, it's the bride and groom together forever. The wedding day comes to an end and that's when the real world begins. I think so many couples get so consumed with planning, that they forget marriage is about the commitment to one another that you are making. It's not about what the font on the invitations will be or how many flowers go into each bouquet. I know how easily this happens....I was one of those brides. Dustin and I forgot about one another during our planning and were so focused on the day that we didn't talk about what came after that day and what really went into spending the rest of our lives together. Luckily, we were able to work it all out, step back from reality and come to the realization that our love is the reason why we can't stand not to spend our lives with one another. This was our turning point in realizing we didn't need the showy wedding to prove our commitment to one another....we only need us. That was our reasoning for going to Las Vegas without telling anyone. I'm not saying everyone should do this by any means. Just remember when planning your day, don't forget about one another and that you're not just marry him or her for that special day without thinking about your future together.

Whatever your reasoning for marrying your love, make sure you do it for the commitment. Choose to marry your partner because you want to spend the rest of your life with your best friend and because it's them you want to walk down the beach holding hands with when you are old and gray.

Here's to a wonderful Life Together.....

SheLCheri