Hello WeddingWire Community! It has been just a little over three months since my sweet husband and I got married. I wanted to get this BAM written sooner, but the past three months have been crazy busy. Also, my wonderful photographer is pregnant and hasn't had the easiest time with her pregnancy, so she's been getting pictures to me in batches when she's feeling well enough to do so. This hasn't bothered me one bit though, as I completely understand her situation and it's actually been pretty fun receiving them this way! I keep having something to look forward to. I almost have all of our pictures at this point, so I will share a few below.
First, I just wanted to share a few things about our day and give a few words of encouragement to future brides and grooms: The morning of the wedding was very stressful for me. I got hit in the head VERY hard the night before (by something that fell from the top of my closet) and wouldn't let myself go to sleep for a while for fear of a concussion. Thankfully, I was not concussed but I did not get very much sleep as a result. I overslept and was 45 minutes late to the venue to set up, so needless to say, I was very frazzled when I arrived. Everything felt rushed up until just before the start of the ceremony. I started feeling like I was forgetting things (actually we forgot about the groomsmen's boutonnieres and I did not remember until about two minutes before the ceremony was supposed to begin - my bridesmaids ran upstairs to grab them out of the catering fridge and had to hurriedly pin them to the guys LMAO)!! My hairdresser wasn't able to secure my hair as tightly as she had in the trial due to my head injury. My hands were shaking so badly when I was doing my makeup, so it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I did at least 10 trial runs on myself in the weeks leading up to the wedding and I loved my makeup every time, so I was slightly disappointed that it didn't turn out the same way on the day of. My skin was so broken out from stress, I was INSANELY bloated, and I had huge bags under my eyes from lack of sleep.
I honestly felt ugly and disgusting and stressed out after I was finally done getting ready. Thankfully, my little sister (MOH) and my bridesmaids pumped me up and made me feel beautiful again. We did a shot of bourbon together (I highly recommend doing at least one shot- if you drink- before the ceremony if you have anxiety) and then I opened my gift from my husband. HIs card had me tearing up and the nerves started to fade a bit. It was finally time for the ceremony to begin. This was it! I started to get so nervous again. I watched our wonderful wedding party walk down the aisle together. I saw everyone stand up and the string trio began to play my song. I began to shake as I slowly walked toward the aisle. It had been overcast all day, but right as I began to walk down the aisle, the sun emerged from the clouds and shone upon me. I just smiled and kept walking. Then... I saw him standing there. Our eyes met and he smiled at me and just like that.... all of the nerves melted away. When he took my hand in his, he told me how beautiful I was and that he loves me so much. He didn't care about my skin problems or the fact that my makeup wasn't how I wanted it. He genuinely saw me as the most perfect version of myself he had ever witnessed.
I write all of this to tell you this: your wedding day WILL have stressful moments. Something (or a bunch of things) will inevitably go wrong. However, you CAN handle it and everything WILL be wonderful in the end. Always remember the most important part of the day: marrying the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. The day really and truly does fly by so quickly, so try to stay in the moment and soak up as much joy as you can. Don't sweat the little things. They won't really matter to you or anyone else when all's said and done.
A couple of suggestions: Hire a makeup artist if you can afford it. Even if you absolutely SLAY at doing your own makeup, you might be so nervous on the day of that doing your own makeup feels very overwhelming. Try to have things planned in such a way that you get to sit back and relax as much as possible. In retrospect, I kind of wish that I had hired a day of coordinator to help me out a little bit. Our venue only allowed set up on the day of, so having another person in charge of setting up other than myself would have been extremely helpful. However, I did it with the help of my wonderful wedding party, MIL, SIL, and aunt. So, at least have an entourage of people that love you and want to help. Want to save some money? Get married on a weekday. We got married on a Wednesday for reference. Our venue was a few thousand dollars cheaper because of this.
Budget Breakdown & Vendor List:
Venue (Ceremony & Reception): Alhambra Hall, Mt. Pleasant, SC. Cost: $2000 ($1500 after I
received the $500 damage deposit back)
Officiant: Reverend Doug Farmer. Cost: $400
Photographer: Brooke and Ben Baggott, Bare Bones Beauty & Photography (Such an amazingly talented couple!) Cost: $1350
Videographer: Carlyle Brown, Epic Media. (He's so awesome!) Cost: $1200
Photo Booth: John Lee Clair, Big Shot Booth Co. Cost: $500 (Our guests absolutely loved the photo booth and the pictures are so cool. I highly recommend a photo booth so that you're able to see how much fun your guests had at the reception. You're going to be talking to so many people that you might miss out on some of the shenanigans.)
Ceremony Musicians: Palmetto String Trio. Cost: $800 (that price includes a special arrangement that the trio had to write out and learn just for our wedding)
Bar Service: Brand Bars & Events. Cost: $1300 (Beer, Wine, & Liquor for four hours of service)
Catering Service: Lewis Barbecue. Cost: $4500 (EVERYONE RAVED ABOUT THE FOOD!)
Cake: WildFlour Pastry. Cost: $600
Flowers: Horst Wholesale Flowers. Cost: $450 (We bought the flowers and my sister and I made all of the bouquets and boutonnieres ourselves.)
Event Rentals: A Tailor Made Event. Cost: $500
Hair: Blushair. Cost: $600 (I paid for mine and all of my bridal party's hair)
Marriage License: Charleston County, SC. Cost: $70
Tux Rental: Men's Wearhouse. Cost: $200
Wedding Dress: Oleg Cassini, David's Bridal. Cost: $1300
Veil: Oleg Cassini, David's Bridal. Cost: $200
Shoes: Keds: Kate Spade Wedding Collection. Cost: $100
Rings: Polly's Fine Jewelry. Cost: $1000
Off-duty police officer: Mt. Pleasant. Cost: $150 (for six hours. Required by the venue if serving alcohol!)
Rehearsal Picnic: Wannamaker Park, North Charleston, SC. Cost: $600 (including shelter rental, grill rental, and all food and beverages)
Wedding Party & Other Gifts: Mostly Etsy & Men's Wearhouse. Cost: $700 (approximately)
Decor: Mostly Etsy. Cost: $700 (approximately)
Save the Dates, Invitations, Thank You Cards & Postage: Zazzle & Zola. Cost: $500 (approximately)
Favors: Custom Koozies from Etsy Seller. Cost: $150 AND Custom Coloring Books & Crayons for the kids. Etsy. Cost: $30
Initial Budget: ~20K
Final Cost: ~$19,400
Guest Count: ~80
Not too shabby for a Charleston wedding. 
Walking Down The Aisle
My Groom Trying Not To Cry
About to be officially married! WOO!
Listening to the Officiant
WE DID IT! 
The MOST amazing wedding party! 
My little sister... MAID OF HONOR! 
