I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately and I recently read this post from Rock ‘n Roll Bride that I thought was absolutely spot on (and said with more omph than I could ever say.) I want to throw this out there into the universe that weddings are never perfect and anyone who tells you theirs was, is a big fat liar. (Okay, that was a little harsh, but for real people – never perfect.) The cool thing is that even in spite of the imperfections, your wedding will be one of the best days of your life – because you get to marry the human you love most and trust me, life goes on long after you say “I do.”

We live in a society filled with blogs and pinterest and oodles of wedding magazines that give us this idea that perfection is what is necessary to throw a successful wedding. We aim to have our weddings published in magazines and glue heaps of gold glitter on anything and everything in order to create the prettiest of details. We let this society tell us what is beautiful and on trend and lose ourselves in the details that we so carefully craft. We focus time and energy on the perfect invitation, the memorable playlist, the right hue of bridesmaid dresses and forget to focus on the marriage and the promises that seal you together as husband and wife. 

Our wedding wasn’t perfect, but it was still the best day ever. We look back and laugh at the things that were thrown our way from a cake that tipped over (twice) to grasshoppers jumping up my dress in the field we met in to our unity candle burning out twice. You see, we weren’t focused on any of that, we just wanted to get married to each other. Looking back we were crazy relaxed about the whole thing… Living six hours away from my “home” of Duluth, Minnesota where we got married made planning tough, we were both working corporate jobs that offered very little opportunity for weekend trips to work on wedding stuff so we decided we were just going to wing it…. if at the end of the day we were husband and wife, well, then (and only then) would we consider our wedding a success. 

We never did a food tasting, never tried a bite of cake, never met with a florist, never did a second dress fitting, never did a hair or make up trial, never went bridesmaid dress shopping, never had a bachelorette party, never met our photographers (I know, what?!) never planned a grand exit… it wasn’t about that stuff, not at all. We weren’t focused on those little things (that some people consider really, really, big things.) We were young and excited and ready to jump in head first, which is exactly what we did. We planned as much as we could from afar and were ready to just fully experience our wedding day, come what may. 

In the upcoming weeks I am going to share stories from our wedding day, what I learned and what I continue to learn while living in the wedding world. Consider it a mini series that sheds light on what you really should be focusing on (so throw away that list that you found in your magazine!) I just want you to know one thing: weddings are never perfect, each day has a few bumps, but that’s life and that’s what makes your human, those are the things that only you will notice and your resiliency shows your true character. You have to be ready to tackle them as a team and take on whatever is thrown at you… after all of that time, money, and energy planning, it’s the day that you let go of the “perfect” idea and enjoy the (im)perfect day that is yours and yours alone. Don’t get so caught up in the wedding that you forget about the marriage, please, just don’t. Your wedding is one (amazing) day that starts the new chapter of your lives, allow it to be a day that is imperfectly perfect so that you can soak up every fleeting moment with a smile on your face.

Don’t worry, theres plenty more where this came from:

• Joe + Alaina – Story of Us Films
• Cody + Jamie – The Barn at Harvest Moon Pond
• It’s like that one waitress…
• Girls Night Out