Good Morning Everyone! It’s Baby Friday and I have a different kind of Wedding Tip Of The Week to share with you today and it’s not from Huntington Beach, but Newport Beach, California too.
Actually, this week’s Wedding Tip is from Ashley who I just had the honour of photographing with her fiance; David at Disneyland & Disney’s California Adventure for their Engagement Shoot last Saturday the 13th over Valentine’s Day weekend.
So let’s say you’re a newly engaged Orange County bride (or groom!) and you’re finding yourself bogged down with wedding planning, questions from family and everything else that goes into taking over a country – er… I mean planning a wedding – then I really believe Ashley has some true, honest & insightful information that may help you take some of the burden off your shoulders & put things a little more into perspective.
But before I present you with this week’s wedding tip and you’re thinking… Hey – I’d really like to get to know this Orange County Wedding Photographer in Huntington Beach, California, feel free to Contact Me on the Website or send me an email direct at david@esquirephotography.com. You can also stay in touch with me in “real time” on Twitter, Facebook and my Facebook Fan Page too.
And without further ado, here is this week’s Wedding Tip Of The Week & have a great Baby Friday – cheers!
From One Bride To Another
By Ashley Drake
When my fiancé, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, at Disneyland—I put out the wrong hand, cried and nodded. Fifteen minutes later, I said: “you know I said yes, right?” He giggled and kissed me.
The next day, we woke up, and started calling our families—still in bed, pajamas and not showered. There were so many questions, and we hadn’t even been engaged 8 full hours! What is the date? Where are you getting married? Where are you registered? These people couldn’t be serious! All of these questions—in less than 8 hours.
Would I have to spend the rest of the year answering this onslaught of questions with “I Don’t knows?” David (my fiancé) and I made a deal, that I would not turn into wedding planning crazy bride until after the first of the year.
One thing, when planning your wedding is to keep the end goal in mind. The idea behind a wedding is to get married. Your marriage should be the focus of your wedding. Your wedding should represent you as a couple—not you as a bride, or him as the groom—but your couple-hood.
My fiancé and I have planned almost everything together. Our wedding is representative of OUR couple hood. Have a vision, know what you want and go for it. Have fun together. We found our wedding spot while on a weekend getaway. We were at a spot, and David said –“too bad we can’t get married here. It’s perfect for us. We have to come back.” I responded, “Why can’t we?” As soon as you find something that works, and is within your budget, go for it.
Here are a couple of “do’s and don’ts” that I came up with:
Do keep to a vision of your wedding that is true to your partner and yourself and is representative of your relationship. If you are a casual couple, have a casual wedding. If you are fancy people, go ahead with a fancy wedding. Don’t do anything just because you think you should. If you don’t want to have a cake, you want to have pie, go for it!!
Do keep organized. Write things down, take notes on things you need. Don’t buy an expensive wedding organizer, you don’t need one. Keep track of appointments in whatever fashion works for you. I have a day planner; I can take notes, and keep it in my purse. It’s small, goes everywhere with me, and has a place for all of my vendor business cards.
Don’t let friends work at your wedding. If your sister-in-law is a great photographer, and wants to do your wedding for a great price—TELL HER NO. Your family and friends should enjoy your wedding—not have to work at it.
Do spend money where you think it would be spent best. If it is important to you to have a designer wedding gown—get one. If good food is more important, go ahead and skimp on the flowers.
I am by no means an expert, and not a wedding planner. I’m just a future bride, hopelessly in love with my perfect match. Our wedding will represent us, your wedding should represent you.