Wedding Wednesday: Wedding Debt?

If there's one thing I love it's talking about our wedding and married life. When we were planning our wedding, I knew that no matter what we would not go into debt for our wedding. If that meant cutting the budget, food, flowers, then we would do so.

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when I saw a girl I knew from school post that they just got approved for a 20,000 loan for their wedding. It made me wonder how many people do this...

A wedding to me is about getting married to your best friend and about celebrating with your loved ones. I think that people forget that this one day will only last about five hours and then its done. Of course you want it to be beautiful, but it should be beautiful to you and your spouse. If that means it has to be smaller, or less extravagant in order to fit your budget then you should feel no pressure to go outside of your means to please others.

Once you are married and the wedding is over, you quickly go back to reality and then realize that all that truly matters now is that you're married to the one that you love. I feel that if we would have taken out a loan for our wedding, I would have knots in my stomach right about now. I have student loans to still pay off, we now have a car loan to pay for each month, and we will eventually want to buy a home.

I'm not saying that this is wrong, I'm just saying that I had no idea that people were doing this in order to make their wedding bigger or better.

How do you feel about loans for weddings? Did you take one out, or know anyone that did? Do you think it's worth it?

Bishop Wedding Part 4: The Reception (Venue & Decor)

Happy New Year everyone! I'm back for another wedding Wednesday! This has been one of my favorite blogging days since getting our wedding photos back. I am going to be cutting the reception posts into a few because there are so many different things I want to show and talk about that would make for a way too long blog post. This week I am sharing our reception venue and decor. 

As I've said before, I loved that the venue where we got married was all inclusive. I wanted to find somewhere that we could hold both the ceremony and reception so it was easier on our guests and not to waste any time. 

The venue at Riverlakes is so beautiful, not to mention the staff was amazing. We had an outdoor wedding and then our guests were escorted to the reception area which is indoors/outdoors. The entire room had sliding doors that opened out to a large patio that we used for dancing. 

For our gift to our guests, I wanted to make sure that it represented our fall wedding. Of course, Pinterest wins again because we made s'more bags for everyone that were stamped with a sticker saying "sending you s'more love" with our wedding date. 

The napkins were purchased from The Knot website, and I made all of the chalkboard signs. I framed our engagement pictures and our invitations and had them placed around the reception as well.

As you can see, the centerpieces also have curly willow incorporated.

Next week, I'll recap the entire reception!

Here's the rest of our wedding recap in case you've missed any. 

Part 1: Getting ready

Part 2: The ceremony

Part 3: The wedding party

Bishop Wedding Part 3: The Wedding Party

Before and after the ceremony was strictly for taking pictures and getting those done before we lost light. I must say that it was so awesome to have a smaller wedding party because it was really easy to get the pictures finished quickly while still making sure we got amazing shots.

Picking our wedding party from the very beginning was simple, there was really no questioning it. These are the people that hands down are always going to be there to support and love us.

The relationship that Joe has with my family is more than I could ever ask for. He treats my sisters as his own sisters and my mom as his own. It's always been a girls club growing up with my mom and sisters, so when they took Joe in and loved him like family I knew that he was the one.

Through the dress fittings, stress, and planning, these girls were always there to help. I remember when we first got engaged and started the planning process I didn't even remember that it's a thing to ask people to be in your wedding party in a cute and Pinterest-y way because it was just a given that these two would be in our wedding. I am thankful that even after growing up with me acting like a second mom to them that we are still lifelong best friends.

The boys looked so handsome! I was very adamant about these tux's, those colors, and the boutonnieres, so seeing everything put together on them was amazing.

I had at first wanted my mom to be my maid of honor. She's my best friend, and I knew that she had to play a major roll in this wedding. She means the world to both Joe and I. Walking me down the aisle and giving me away was the perfect way to incorporate my mom into the wedding ceremony. Without her, our wedding would not have been possible at all.

After all of the pictures, it was time to make our way into the reception as husband and wife! 

I hope you all have a merry Christmas!! 

Previous posts:

Part 1: Getting Ready

Part 2: The Ceremony

Bishop Wedding Part 2: The Ceremony

We really could not have asked for a more beautiful day to get married. It was sunny and 75 outside which was really just perfect. When we were searching for our venue, we found this one because it's actually right down the road from where I work. We ended up choosing it because we wanted outdoor/indoor space. I liked that we could do the ceremony and reception there and it was beautiful for pictures as well.

As for decorations at the ceremony site, we kept it simple with pink and white rose petals scattered down the isle and I had an obsession with curly willow (you'll see it incorporated in our centerpieces), so we had it added on the arch with fresh flowers on top.

I did my bridal portraits and pictures with my sisters and mom before the ceremony (which I will share in another post) so there wasn't so much waiting time after the ceremony for our guests. As time came close for the ceremony to start, I was hidden away to not be seen until 5pm. Then it was time to get married! 

My mom walked me down the isle, it was the best decision for me. She's my best friend, the one who raised me, and I couldn't imagine anyone else doing it. I walked down the isle to "A Thousand Years"

This was the first time Joe and I were seeing each other, and I was so happy we waited until that very moment to see each other. 

The ceremony itself was very quick, but perfect. Our officiant read the most beautiful prayer at the opening of the ceremony that put an ease in my mind because I was very nervous.

I had no idea how fast the ceremony would feel, it goes by so fast. The only part I didn't love... for about half the ceremony there was a bee on Joe's boutonniere. If anyone knows me, they know that I freak out if I am anywhere near a bee. So it was really hard to just stand still and keep focused, not to mention my soon to be husband is allergic to said bee. Thankfully it flew away and left us alone after that. Just the things you get with an outdoor wedding. The rest of the ceremony was so perfect. All of the worries about everything being set up or all of the little details didn't matter at this point. 

Finally, we exchanged rings and were announced as husband and wife!

I'll be back next week to share more about our big day - bridal party / bride and groom pictures!

Previous wedding day posts:

Part one: Getting Ready

Bishop Wedding: Part 1 Getting Ready

It has been way too long since I have posted a wedding related post. I emailed my photographer a couple weeks ago and she said it usually takes around eight weeks to get them back. Since we weren't able to have my photographer there while I was actually getting ready for the wedding, I thought I would start with this post since it will be Iphone pictures anyway. 

Getting ready - 

The day before: If you read my previous post, you would remember that I had a pretty bad night before the wedding. I spent the night at my moms with my sisters, and we had a day of last minute errands and of course - getting pedicures. Mine was actually the pedicure from hell, he cut the skin all under my toe, and it burned the entire time but that's okay. I just kind of rolled with it. After the pedicure, that's really when everything went wrong. Since I have no desire to harp on that awful night, I will say that joy really does come in the morning, because I was ready to take on the day when I woke up.

I was just so excited to see Joe and make it until five o'clock. 

My mom made coffee and french toast, because it's my favorite and she's the best. We all had some time before we had to go set up at the venue so we ate, and all had time to shower. I know a lot of brides choose to relax the morning of their wedding, but I just wanted to go be busy and set up the reception. It kept my mind busy, and I loved being able to make everything just the way I wanted it.

It was truly, a beautiful day to get married.

My sisters strung blush pink lanterns along the exposed beams in the reception area that took a couple hours. I cannot tell you how amazing they looked. My family was a life saver setting everything up. 

A couple of hours later, it was time to go get hair and makeup done. It seemed like the morning flew by, and everything was moving so fast. My normal hair dresser was not available the day of the wedding, so I had to find someone a few months prior. Although I did a trial with this lady, I will say that I wish I would have been able to find someone I knew better to do the hair and makeup. She didn't quite listen to what I wanted. Thankfully though, it turned out really great!

I didn't wear a veil, instead I wore a really pretty headband and it matched my bridesmaids dresses. 

Joe and I opted not to see each other before the wedding. I knew it would have been easier to take pictures before, but I also knew since the beginning that I wanted to wait and see Joe as I was walking down the aisle. Stick to what you want, ladies.

After we we're done getting ready, it was time to head back to the venue and get married!