Wedding Graduates

Because we were lucky enough to have little budget stress and little family stress, I feel like we had the brain space and emotional energy to use wedding planning to tackle big meaning questions.

By the end of the night, our faces hurt from smiling so much, and as we left our reception under an arch of sparklers, we couldn’t have felt more loved.

Our nearest and dearest came to witness our marriage, and stayed for the best party we’ll ever throw.

We made our wedding affordable and very us by making a lot of it ourselves with our kind, generous, and talented friends.

Before we were engaged, Sebastian and I knew that we’d be getting married in Austin. While neither of us live there, it was the perfect central location for both of our families.

My dress was made by my mum’s trusted tailor in Mumbai, India. The embroidery was done separately by one of the most talented embroiders I know.

There was also a moment when he asked us to turn around and look at our guests so that we could remember their faces and the memory is very sweet.

One part traditional wedding, one part homemade craftiness, two parts: LET’S GO TO THE ZOO!—served over candlelight.

…getting married, looking up at Peter and knowing he was the person I wanted to be with forever, was the best feeling I think I’ve ever had.

Not all cost-conscious weddings have to be DIY. Focus on the elements that will make the day authentically about you and your partner. Give yourself the gift of time, find businesses you want to support, and do things your own way.

There may be memories that are painful, but even though I’ve never let anything like that go in my life, I have been able to now, because the beauty of the day was so much bigger than the pain and the worry leading up to it.

In order to beat the tourist crowds, our guests had to be at the entrance to the hike by 7:30 am. All of our guests arrived on time and were ready and willing to jump in the cold river in order to make the trek to the ceremony.

We had both arrived at the decision to get married after careful consideration, so we felt that this was a way to really own this new chapter in our lives.

The first time I saw Amy in her suit it made my heart race. It was like seeing each other for the first time ever…all over again.

Despite a litany of errors on the day (i.e. Mike realizing he had forgotten his pants minutes before the ceremony) the entire day was amazing. Vegas was so good to us.

The ceremony was a special one developed by this parish from a period when blessing same-sex unions was permitted in the Episcopal Church but before the national church had set up a standard rite to be used.

Two families meet in the middle of the country and mess with Texas.

After I realized that I had managed to pull together not only an average wedding (my initial goal), but an exciting dynamic event, I started thinking about other things I might be able to do.

The people absolutely made our wedding. Not the cake or decorations or the delicious Spanish/Cuban food. When I walked down the aisle on my dad’s arm, I rode on our guests’ joy all the way up to the altar.

I thought that the best part would be the music or the food (you get into the kind of frame of mind while planning I think). But what blew me away was how much love was emanating from so many people.

No matter what age you get married at, it will never be the “grown-up” wedding that you see in magazine spreads, because that is not you. You are youthful, you are free and bright and you want to dress only in flowers.

We were worried all along that our “imperfections” wouldn’t be what people expected in a wedding, but on the day we just felt surrounded by so much love.

We ordered about 15 pizzas and probably hundreds of buckets of nips and danced to Robyn, Carly Rae, Collective Soul, you name it. All in all, it was a blast and we’re so lucky to have such awesome friends.

I had no time to worry. I had no time to be upset. Hangnails are worth getting upset about. Hurricane Sandy ripping apart easily laid wedding plans? That’s just something you plow through.