When Shannon asked me to write a few guest blogs about my upcoming wedding, I was thrilled! My fiancé and I got engaged in October of last year, and are getting married this August in my hometown. Which happens to be about nine hours away from where we currently live. Oy. So needless to say, the planning process has been a little tricky, but at the same time, a total blast. We’re DIYing as much as we can and shopping for lots of good deals (I consider bargain shopping one of my hobbies anyway, so it’s really no different than my everyday life), all while trying to not get overwhelmed with the pressure to have a “perfect day”. Let’s be real, we all know nothing is perfect, weddings included. We just want our wedding to be us; classic, casual, and fun, both for us and our guests. We don’t have a wedding theme, our guys aren’t wearing tuxes, and we’re doing our own flowers instead of hiring a florist (brilliant idea or disaster waiting to happen? Time will tell).
Fortunately we’ve had a lot of help along the way. I’m very thankful for my super creative and crafty mother, who is probably making crepe-paper flowers as we speak (or hacking pretty curly branches out of a neighbor’s tree. But that’s a story for another day). I am equally appreciative of my future mother-in-law, who is a coupon champion and has happily taken on a few projects that involve hunting down the best bargains possible. Combine that with my dad who makes a mean Excel spreadsheet, my future sister in law who sends me regular emails with various price comparisons from different websites, and my darling fiancé who is great at reminding me what matters and what doesn’t (aka- no one will care if the invitations are printed on “white” or “pure white” cardstock), I am one lucky lady.
Of course, I’ve also taken a lot of help from various blogs. Google “wedding blog” and you will get a zillion results, but I’ve found a few favorites along the way. I prefer blogs that offer inspiring pictures of real weddings, lots of doable DIY projects, and words of wisdom to keep this whole wedding thing in check. I try to stay away from blogs that insist I must wear a tiara, have a 7 tier cake, and dictate my bridesmaids’ outfits, down to their nail polish color. No thanks. My top favs are four blogs that are regularly recommended right here on Calligraphy by Shannon:
I hope these can be of some help to the future brides (and grooms!) out there. If Shannon allows, I will continue to write some updates throughout the next five months or so until our wedding. If you’re lucky, I might even tell the story of my mom, a saw, and an SUV full of tree branches. Happy planning ☺
{Carly, we totally want you back! Write more, please. And do tell about your mom. What I am picturing is not very wedding related...}
