Wedding planning

When hubs and I decided to get married, we both brought ideas to the table. I was not in a situation where I had to ask
Hubs' opinion on this or that. Hubs was by my side the whole time to help make decisions.

In fact, he wanted a say in every.single.thing practically.

I wanted pink and white as the wedding colors. Hubs didn't want anything to do with pink. I wanted a candy bar at the wedding but hubs said that's a silly idea.

what happened to giving your bride what she wants?

I was (still am!) so in love with hubs and so happy we were
finallygetting married that I put some of my wants aside and gave hubs what he wanted.

I tell hubs he got the wedding of his dreams. ;)

We desperately wanted the wedding at the beach, and hubs was totally down for a beach wedding. In fact, he said he could get married in 2011 just so we had more time to plan the destination wedding.

Coming from an extremely conservative family and having my own ideas of how I wanted my child brought into the world, I wanted to get married before the baby arrived. It just felt right for us.

We started researching places on the east coast for a place to get married when we realized it just wasn't possible, with such short notice, to have people travel all over. We didn't want to inconvenience people.

While hubs was slaving away at work, I went to
too manydifferent wedding sites. In a 60 mile radius, I found only a handful of decent places for us.

I wanted pictures that were outdoors, with beautiful gardens, pond or lake, sunshine... I suddenly had so many ideas.

Yet none of these places were close.

While I was researching places one night on the computer, with hubs laying next to me in bed, I mentioned maybe we should go to Vegas and elope. My parents would fly us and they'd give us cash as a wedding present. Then, for our renewal vows in a few years, we'd have a beach "service."

Hubs said no Vegas wedding- he wants all of his friends and family see his beautiful bride and to see how happy he is.

:)

It dawned on me at that moment thy no matter where we get married, it will be beautiful. I have the man of my dreams, my family, my friends.... how selfish could I be!

Within a few days I found a great (indoor) location for the wedding. My friend Dave is a baker, so the cake was ordered and done.

Dress shopping commenced. My sister and I went and found a dress immediately. A Greek Goddess type of dress that flowed perfectly over my baby bump.

And, luckily for me, my bump was small enough at 4.5 mo that no one could tell I was pregnant!

(I think I can notice...)
Anyway.

I let hubs have his color selection of red/white/black. The colors were mainly on the cake and matron of honor/best man. We chose to not have groomsmen/bridesmaids for several reasons. The main reason though? Each of us had 8 people to put in the wedding party. Even better? I hate big wedding parties. It's too much
chaos arguing added stress additional planningfluff that neither of us cares for. Hubs had has bother by his side and I had my sister. My brother was nearby. :)

Our cake. nom nom nom I'm not divulging the flavors because I can't remember. Maybe double chocolate something. We still have the top tier in the freezer that we took a bite out of on our one month anny versus our one yr anny. The taste difference in that time is remarkable. ;)








The cake topper was one of the priciest items I bought for the wedding. Almost as expensive as the cake!!

It's hubs and I. He ranks football as important as he does his wife and child. A football cake topper was appropriate. It's him getting to the finish line. Hehe

Yours truly...








And my engagement ring w/ my bouquet. Ain't it purdy! :)

I made the gifts for everyone. I'm obsessed with always having hand sanitizer nearby, so we had "hanitizer" bottles, labeled that with our names and date of wedding, on it. We added bubbles, awesome smelling hand lotion and an amazing smelling candle to each "goody bag".

Took forever but people loved and raved about them!

Food was a whole new dimension for me. We had plated and buffet food. Hubs is a total foodie and downright refused to skimp out on it, money wise. He of course had the most expensive foods offered, as I let him chose what was to be served at the wedding. I need to gee credit where it's due: people to this day talk about how good the food was...

good job, hubs!

I'd wanted a live band to play at the wedding. My brother is in a few bands and actually plays at weddings. Having him "work" at his own littlest sister's wedding wasn't fair to him, though, so we opted for an amazing dj. The dancing? Pure chaos, and the pictures prove it. Here's one...

This is part of a Jewish tradition... And hubs...

My flowers were ordered a week before the wedding and came out beautifully. No recollection of why type of flowers. But they were pretty. My Mom and I made tbd floral arrangements that adorned both sides of us at the altar.

Also, since I'm Jewish and hubs is Catholic, we opted for a sand ceremony instead of a unity candle.

The ceremony was beautiful, the reception was beautiful, friends, family, hubs; everything was just beautiful.

we I planned the wedding in three short moths. It wasn't overly stressful, and for the DC area, we had a fantastic wedding for half the price of average one in our area.
What can I say, I'm a bargainer. ;)
Happy Friday!