As some of you know, I recently got married in February! I realized just recently though I never did a post really talking about our engagement! So I wanted to share with you our story and share some advice on keeping your engagement stress free. It’s a time that’s meant to be enjoyed, it’s suppose to be one of the happiest times of your life! My engagement was stress free, my wedding was amazing and now I’m happily married to my best friend.
Do what you guys want.
Somebody is always going to have an opinion, but here’s the thing: This is YOUR big day. Don’t do something because someone said you should. Something like a wedding is going to manifest a lot of opinions from different people. Steven and I decided to have a VERY small and imitate wedding and of course there were a lot of different opinions from different people. I didn’t have any bridesmaids or even a maid of honor and for some reason some people thought I was making a huge mistake and that I was missing out on something. Honestly, it’s what I wanted and if I had to do it over I still would make the same choice.
I wasn’t going to stress myself out with having to chose a bridal party because OTHER people said I should. I had a very specific vision and I wanted to stick with it. Luckily for me, I’m super stubborn and I wasn’t budging!
Set a date!
The first thing you have to do: SET A DATE. We didn’t set a date RIGHT away but it was definitely the first thing we did. This allows the rest of the planning to really take place. We decided we wanted to get married right around the same time we got engaged. We live in Florida so weddings fall victim to the elements (aka rain storms and such) so we wanted to make sure we got married not during the summer and more specifically, not during the “rainy season”. From there the rest of the planning was easy. Having a date also makes the engagement feel real, you have that end goal.
Talk it Out and Budgeting
Make sure you’re talking to each other through this whole process, even if one of you isn’t hands on with this planning. Don’t make it all about you. A marriage isn’t one person so don’t start off making this about one person. My husband was easy peasy when it came to the planning. He said, “I’m just happy to be marrying you.” But that doesn’t mean you need to alienate your partner. Like mentioned before, our wedding was small so we didn’t have much to plan but having Steven pick out our wedding cake was something that involved him and made him part of the planning.
Parting of talking it out as well is setting up a budget together. Weddings cost money, everything costs money and it adds up quick. It’s super easy to get caught up in everything so having a budget is a great way to bring you back to what’s important. Figure out what you both don’t mind spending money on. What’s important to you both? Where can you cut corners? Opening the dialogue helps open those doors to communication that are VITAL in any relationship (not just marriage!).
If you’re having problems trying to figure out a budget or how to work one, here are some sites that may help you:
Our Story
Steven and I met in college at the University of Central Florida. We both majored in English Literature and had a couple of classes together. We didn’t end up being friends until my senior year. Even though we had classes together, we really became friends through a mutual friend. I knew pretty much right away I wanted to date Steven and get to know him better. After we officially started dating it didn’t take long for me to realize that I felt very serious about him. I always heard people say, “When you know, you just know,” and I guess that’s true!
After two years of dating, Steven and I got engaged. I kind of knew he was going to ask me because he had randomly suggested we spend the weekend at the beach. That was out of character for him so that through up a flag for me. The only person I told that I thought Steven was going to ask me was my boss at that time. I didn’t say anything to my parents or my friends. I didn’t want to put that thought out there and be wrong.
He proposed on the beach and it was beautiful. It’s a moment I’ll never forget. Steven picked out the ring himself and it was everything I wanted. The only thing I told him I wanted was for the ring to be rose gold.
Our engagement was wonderful and married life so far as been great! This time in your life can be stressful, but there’s NO need for it to be stressful.
What are your tips for planning a stress free wedding? What tips would you share with someone planning? Let me know in the comments below.
Also, my wonderful engagement photos were done by the lovely Veronica. You can check out her site if you’re interested in working with her. I found her through The Knot and fell in love with her work. I would recommend her 100 times over.
Until next time,
