Welcome to the final post in Wedding Planning 101: Our Wedding Recap! This series was a labor of love throughout the summer so I hope you enjoyed and were able to find it helpful! Before we head back to our regularly scheduled programming on the blog, I wanted to end off this series by sharing a recap of our day, some photos, and the list of vendors we used. It truly was the most perfect day!
August 30, 2024
Our wedding day was one of the best days of our lives! It was so crazy to think that after 8 years together, so much long distance, and so many prayers later, we were finally here celebrating with all of our family and friends! In all honesty, the week leading up to the wedding was so busy that the butterflies didn’t set in until the night before when it finally hit me that this was actually happening! Despite those natural feelings and a lot of excitement, I felt very calm the morning of. My goal for the day was to have lots of fun and soak everything in as best I could!
Almost everyone you talk to will say that your wedding day flies by, and it definitely does! However, I received a really great piece of advice from one of my sister’s friends. It sounds cheesy, but she told me to consciously say things to myself throughout the day like “this is my wedding and I’m getting ready….this is my wedding and I’m eating dinner, etc.“. It will force you to be more present in the moment and help certain highlights of the day stand out in your mind. I think this definitely worked and would recommend that any future bride does the same! We also had a lot of downtime throughout the day due to running ahead of schedule with pictures which I am very grateful for!
Another thing that helped us actually remember our wedding and not have it be a blur is to have a blank notebook on hand. At the end of the night or within the next couple of days, write down everything you remember about your wedding, even the small things! We each wrote in our own notebooks, gifted to us by my sister-in-law, and then let each other read our entries. It was really interesting to see each of our perspectives on the day and it will be so much fun to look back on for years to come!
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We started our morning at the salon getting our hair and makeup done. I have gone to the same hair salon my entire life so it was very special to have them do my hair on my wedding day! They also provided us with a breakfast spread of bagels, fruit, and yogurt which was very generous! We supplied coffee from Ocean Brew, one of my favorite local shops, which was a special little addition as well.
Once we were ready, we made our way over to the venue for some getting ready photos! We took a bunch of shots and relaxed until it was time for me to get dressed and get ready for my first looks. I chose to do a first look with my dad as well as with my husband! It was nice to have a moment just for my dad and I and we got some great photos as well!
I know that a bride and groom first look is a bit of a controversial topic! A lot of people are superstitious about seeing each other before walking down the aisle or may fear that seeing each other before the ceremony will take away from any emotional reaction that may take place. We chose to do a first look solely for the fact that we could get our family pictures and couples portraits taken before the ceremony which would allow us to attend our cocktail hour and mingle with some guests. However, this ended up being one of the absolute BEST decisions we could have made for our wedding day. There was such a sense of peace after seeing each other that we didn’t know we needed! It was such a great way to calm any butterflies and have a private moment just to ourselves. I can guarantee you that your first look will not subtract a single emotion from your ceremony! Despite my sense of calm and peace following the first look, I still cried way more than I thought I would during the ceremony – it’s a very exciting, happy day!
Our ceremony was extra special and so personal which was really important to us! Our officiant was a close family friend of ours who has known me my whole life. He did an amazing job and kept us laughing throughout which was great. We had my best friend and my husband’s brother-in-law do our first and second readings which contained two bible verses we love and felt were fitting for the day! I had also asked my good friend from college to sing during the ceremony. She always sang at church while we were at school and I used to half joke with her that she would sing at my wedding. I am so glad it actually worked out! She sang “Love Like This” by Lauren Daigle and it was absolutely beautiful.
Since my husband is active duty in the Navy and three of his five groomsmen are former Marines, we wanted to incorporate the military in some way. The guys decided to all wear American flag socks, we read names of all of the service members present at the ceremony, and included a Fallen Brother Table in the ballroom. Though these details were small, they all came together to help make the day so uniquely ours!
The cocktail hour was filled with so much amazing food, and our Maitre-D made sure that we always had one of our signature drinks in hand – mine was an Aperol Spritz and my husband’s was a John Daly. They were both a hit with our guests! The reception was so much fun and everyone had a blast! Our venue truly made the day what it was and we could not have asked for a better vendor team. We had our sneak peek photos back in less than 24 hours which is absolutely incredible! There were so many amazing photos and it has been so hard to pick favorites! I am so glad I could share some of them throughout these blog posts and can’t wait to receive our full gallery!
Vendors
- Venue: Crystal Point Yacht Club
- DJ: Kevin Garrity of SCE Event Group
- Photographer: Catarina Olivia Photography
- Florals: Petal Street Flower Company
- Hair: Renarde Salon
- Makeup: Make Me Up Eva
- Dress: Tara LaTour “Pearl” from Abigail Bride
- Shoes: Kelly & Katie From DSW
- Bridesmaids Dresses: Azazie Dusty Blue
If you have any questions about any of the details I’ve shared throughout this series, vendors we used, or just want to chat, feel free to leave a comment or reach out! Thank you so much for reading!
