If I were to get married now...................

from Rachel Z

At long last! It's a new installment. This one comes from (gasp) a non-blogger. But Rachel works in luxury fashion in Austin, which makes her cool x 2 as far as I'm concerned.

I was the first of my friends to take the plunge. I am the only girl in my family, and before my wedding, had only attended a handful of weddings. I was, well, a bit clueless. I definitely have my girly moments, but was never a little girl lost in some fantasy of her magical wedding day. When my husband (boyfriend at the time, of course) asked me to marry him, I was beyond excited. My mother had secretly given him my grandmother’s ring. My Grams and I were very close, and she left her ring for me when she passed on. The excitement of our engagement led to the realization that we needed to get married right away. Ok, before you even go there (I can see you raising your eyebrow) this was not a shotgun wedding. We had been planning to move for over a year, and were going to be leaving a few months after we got engaged. We realized that getting married before we moved would be best. So, we started tossing around ideas. Well, we were young, broke, and on a time crunch. So, we picked a little B&B in a quaint little town nearby where we would go during the holidays to walk the streets and take in the lights/hot chocolate/shops, etc. Thankfully, it was a place that included everything. I vaguely remember picking out a picture of a cake in a magazine, telling her what flowers I liked, picking a menu, and deciding definitely outdoors, not in the chapel. The whole experience flew by. Before we knew it, the wedding had passed, and we had moved.

Now time has passed, and many of my friends are now married. I have been to a few weddings, in a few weddings, and have realized how much work and time go into the planning. On some level, I appreciate the time crunch we had as that helped me avoid the whirlwind that wedding planning becomes. However, experiencing the unique and creative details that my friends have incorporated into their weddings has weighed on me. I leave beyond excited for them and their big day. I also leave painfully aware of how freaking awesome their weddings are, and how many different things I would like to have done!

If we were to get married today, we would give ourselves time to plan. I would give myself more time than 4 hours in one day to find my dress. We would walk down the aisle to a special song that we love, and not a CD that skipped on my way down. We would hire an insanely good photographer, like Nathan, my childhood friend of Harper Point Photography or our friend Alicia, of One Plus One. They are not my mother’s friend who takes pictures, so this way, we could have a picture of just the two of us where we are not talking, or standing with someone else. We would invite the friends that have become dear to us and have been there for us through the years. We would go classic, so the pictures are never out of style, but capture a timeless look. We would dance this time. (I know! We were too nervous to dance, so we skipped it and didn’t even have dancing at all! What is that about?) Our look would be vintage, or vintage inspired. I would have Chenoh, of Black Orchid Salon work her magic on my hair. Oh yes, and we would have purple flowers for sure. There would be signature drinks, and our favorite desserts. We would party with all of our friends. We would go on a honeymoon, preferably abroad for a little adventure. Italy, perhaps?

Looking back, I just have to smile. We didn’t get caught up in wedding details, but made decisions and moved on. All in all, we had a simple, pretty wedding, and are still in love. What more can you ask for? Plus, there’s always the chance to renew your vows. Hmmm. Come to think of it, our ten-year anniversary is only around the corner………

Click here to view all the product details on Polyvore. (Rachel was nominated by Jessica Define, who was kind enough to do the paste-up.)
______________________________

Click here to catch up with the rest of the series.