19 days to go! It’s so surreal. I’ve been waiting for a year and half for this day and it’s so soon…but it kind of just feels like it’s never going to come. It will be over before I know it.
Over the past year and a half there has been so much planning, thinking, worrying, obsessing over every single little detail of our wedding. I’m not saying I haven’t enjoyed it. I loved every aspect of wedding planning. People say to take it all in and enjoy it while it lasts and I certainly have in this long engagement.
Let’s talk about wedding stress. I mentioned before that I didn’t think wedding planning was stressful. It started to become stressful about a month ago right after my shower when I was trying to juggle the end of the school year, shower thank yous, wedding crafts, and making sure we had bridal party gifts and all those odds and ends. I started to stress out A LOT. Like up all night stress out. What if it rains? What if people are late? What if no one gets a room? Will we have enough energy to go out after? What if we run out of time? Blah blah blah….
Now, with the wedding so soon, I feel a new sense of relaxed calm. It seems SO weird that soon it will be over, but I am so ready. I’m not nervous, scared, anxious, worried, or anything. I just want to party with my friends, family and soon to be husband and have a good time. That has a 100% chance of happening….no matter what percent chance of rain there is. So who cares what else happens? Like seriously…….there are so many amazing things happening that day that one little thing going wrong isn’t going to change the amazing-ness of the day. These things I was worrying about seem completely asinine and ridiculous to even worry about now! So if you’re getting married soon and stressing- STOP IT!
I don’t consider our wedding to be the most ‘traditional’ type- we’re not getting married in a church…our wedding and reception are at the same place, etc. I feel like some traditions make the night drag on and on…especially ones where there are 2 hours of pictures involved and the wedding party is late for the reception! Ugh!
Here are some wedding traditions we’re choosing to skip:
1. Getting married in a church
As mentioned, we’re getting married and having our reception at the same place. It’s outdoors, by Lake Ontario. I posted about it a little while ago. The venue was the main thing we splurged on.
2. Wedding Cake
“Whhhhatttt? You’re not having a wedding cake?” is the response I get when I tell people this. We’re nixing it because Austin doesn’t like cake and an ice cream sundae bar in August is waaaay cooler.
We’re also doing mini cupcakes and cookies.
3. Not seeing each other until the ceremony
Nonsense. A lot of people feel really strongly about this. And that’s fine. Do what you want to do. Our reception is immediately after our ceremony, so instead of using up our cocktail hour doing pictures, we’re doing a first look before. What’s a first look? Read this.
4. Bouquet Toss/Garter
Again…people probably feel like this is necessary, that’s fine. I don’t. Never have I been to a wedding where was I even remotely worried/thinking about this event happening. Takes time out of my dancing and partying. Period.
These are the traditions we’re skipping in order to make our day our own. But you do you! Just keep an open mind while planning your wedding! There are things you can add/take away that will make it truly YOUR day!
What’s your opinion on doing away with these traditions? What would/did you do at your wedding?
Pencils and Pancakes 
I think that the ice cream sundae bar sounds like an awesome idea! I would totally be happy about that if I was at your wedding!
We were pretty traditional with our wedding. We got married in a church and didn’t see each other before the ceremony and stuff. We sorta went outside the box with the food which was really fun. 🙂