reclaiming wife

Wedding Graduates

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Wedding, you made my husband and I fight so much that we almost didn’t get married. In fact, if the fight hadn’t been in front of the liquor store, we may have not gotten married.

Tamera + Sean
Mt. Tabor Park Portland, OR Elopement (2)

In a strange and wonderful way our elopement helped us figure out what we want our wedding to be, and much of what our marriage already is.

Laura + Matt
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Ceremony and celebration of love, through and through, that turned out to be one hell of a party.

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Ultimately, we agreed to have the wedding indoors, in the Natural History Museum. If we weren’t going to be married outside, we were at least going to be married surrounded by taxidermied animals.

Alix + Shawn
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The weather reports all said it was going to rain all day, but, it was only as we walked back to the big house together, feeling surrounded by friends, family, and their happiness for us, that it finally started to rain.

Kate + Cydney
Carnegie Institution for Science Wedding (11)

When you pour so much of yourself into something, sometimes you sit on the other side wondering if anyone noticed your hard work. And sometimes I forget that all of that stuff wasn’t really the point.

Jenn + Brandon
Seattle Food Truck Wedding (20)

On the morning of our wedding, my dog ate my veil. It was quite an entertaining, albiet unexpected. It was high-drama right after it happened, then pretty hilarious a couple of hours later when we had a new veil.

Angela + Alex
Wedding Graduates Connie & Brian (3)

While we were getting ready, I opened a gift from Brian that perfectly summed up the entire wedding—a framed embroidery of Jessie Spano’s historical meltdown.

Connie + Brian
Keep Calm and Marry On (33)

Even though there was a delayed start (due to an ultra-conservative rally outside our wedding venue, along with yelling anti-fascist protesters and hordes of police!), our guests were fab and simply sipped champagne while they waited

Sarah + Steven
WIC, TLC, Reality TV, Bridal Shows, Pressure, Comparison (20)

The bottom line was this: I was going to marry my favorite person in the whole world. No lack of alcohol or limos or individually wrapped pie pops or whatever else could change that.

Katherine + Spencer
Jessica & Rick's Traditional, Unique Country Club Wedding (20)

Some of my absolute favorite memories from our wedding come from the traditions I so vehemently tried to fight while planning it.

Jessica + Rick
Guthrie-Theater-One-And-Done-Eff-It-Wedding (16)

Sitting on the back off that motorcycle in my wedding dress, I practiced some Ujjayi Pranayama breathing and found my wedding zen.

Claire + Christopher
Weddings and Body Image (14)

I was fairly stressed about the heat at first, but all my anxiety melted away (with my makeup!) the minute the music started and I realized I was about to be married to my best friend.

Sarah + Jonathan
Southwest School of Art San Antonio Wedding (3)

The best part about creating your own playlist is that you love every song; the worst part is that, because you love every song, you don’t want to take a break.

Lauren + Jared
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Super homemade, uber-colorful, personality-enhanced, deliciously-tasty, rip-roaring farm showdown with a bonus bike gang.

Irene + Bob
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My emotional response astounded me. I knew marriage was a big step, but I felt prepared. I had embraced the zen! But it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Kelly + Ian
Wedding Graduates A&S (12)

What I wasn’t prepared for was how much the process of getting married would make us feel married. For us, the journey was transformative.

A + S
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Our wedding is a short but beloved chapter in the book about Who I Am. It’s a chapter that taught me that the next time I’m stuck with the memory of a disappointing event, I’ll be brave enough to fight for my own well-being.

Kim + Brian
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I thought it would be the food, or the dancing, or the photographs, but it was actually the ceremony that was my favorite. I’m so glad we got married in front of as many of our family and friends as we could.

Erica + Sean
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When I think about my wedding, I don’t think about the ruined menus, but how I felt as John twirled me on the dance floor while everyone we love stood around us singing, clapping, and laughing.

Katie Jane + John
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Fun, festive, family, rock n roll and sparkles!

Sam + Eric
HannaBillyScotlandWedding (9)

It was a ceremony which my Dad later described to me as ancient, fervent and as real as it gets. It was the most tangible love I have ever experienced and unsurpassable in its significance in our lives.

Hanna + Billy
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Thinking back on it, there is not a single bad memory. The food was excellent, everyone had a good time, everybody got to talk to everybody else, and we all ended up around the fire pit at the end of the night.

Chris + Marianne
Planning a Wedding That's True to You

You will constantly have to decide whether or not the things others suggest or want to help with will cost you anything, literally and figuratively. When they cost you nothing and will benefit the other person, just roll with it.

Kim + John
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Because my everyday life isn’t gowns and extended family and rose petals, my everyday life is this man standing beside me enjoying our happiness and working to solve problems together and feeling so damn lucky.

Rachelle + Stephen
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When you say yes, your community says yes. That raw, ragged, expression of love opens hearts so wide that something important changes. Your wedding will matter.

Becca + Jason
Savannah, GA packaged Elopement

All that mattered was Nick and I were there, it was exactly what we wanted, our family was joyous and we were surrounded by love on the most important, defining day of our lives.

Brittany + Nick
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Jeff and I are passionate about social justice, poverty and human rights. We had just spent time with children who literally lived in dumps. How could we balance this reality with the expense that a wedding tends to carry?

Rachel + Jeff
Second Wedding

Somewhere in the planning, I made a decision to stop feeling guilty about being a non-first-time bride. Instead, I started feeling brave. I didn’t let the past have such a hold over me that it kept me from the present.

Brandy + Karl
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Our wedding felt like one awesome mini-lifetime; everybody seemed to just be bubbling up feelings of love, and there was a crazy dance party to end it all.

Adina + Zeke
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I felt like a god suddenly realizing her own power. I had schemed up all these things because I thought they would make me happy. And they did. And I could not stop laughing.

Rachael + Joe
Ohio Destination Budget Wedding

There is nothing better than having a yard full of people there for you and your partner because they love you and support you. It was like having a zillion birthdays& Thanksgivings & Christmas’ all rolled into one perfect night.

Heidi + Dave
Shotgun Church Wedding

And most importantly, Anton and I are married, and our little Harriet is here in all her squirmy fussy sweetness. Seriously, we got a cute one. Our wedding was great, but being married is so much better.

Rachel & Anton
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I met Reiko at JFK Customs and we drove into the city to my very tiny apartment in a huge sky-scraper. We now celebrate that date as the day we began our lives together.

Dan + Reiko
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I was looking around at the couples dancing around me and every one of them was someone I loved. I said to Rob, “This is like the end of Rushmore, when everyone is dancing together!” It felt magical.

Anjali + Rob
Eco-Friendly New Zealand Wedding

Perhaps if I had one chance to freeze time, it would have been at the wedding reception as the sun was going down, so I could stop and appreciate all the love that we have in our lives. Soak it all up.

Sarah + Marcus
A Wedding and Grief

We came together again because Jared and I have so much to be grateful for, because we have so much love in our hearts, because each day the community we are in shows us how to grow up and grow closer together.

Shana + Jared