marriage on my minds: Alesha

Hello Life...Unscripted readers!  My name is Alesha and I blog over at Blessed to be a Blessing!  Amber is one of my favorite bloggers.  So naturally, I'm thrilled to be guest posting here today about my wedding (one of my favorite topics).

My amazing husband Travis and I got married last year on May 28th!  It was truly one of the best days of my life.

Travis and I met in youth group at our church during our sophomore year of high school.  We took several classes together during Running Start our junior year and were part of a very tight knit group of friends.  Near the end of our junior year, he asked me if we could start spending more time together, and so began some of the happiest years of my life! (To read a full story of how we met and how he proposed, go here)

I had always wanted a wedding with sunflowers, but since we got married in May, that was kinda out of the question.  So I needed a new "theme" to design my wedding around.  My favorite color is pink, so that was a must, and my middle sister LOVES (I mean LOVES) orange.  I thought it would be cool to let her wear orange.  So we ended up with pink, orange, and yellow, with Izzies soda as our theme.  I argued with my mom and sisters for MONTHS about what flowers we should have.  (I wanted roses, but they said daisies).  I am SO glad we went with the gerber daisies.  Aren't they beautiful?  And they really do go better with the Izzies.... 

What made our wedding special and unique was that we made it special and unique.  No duh, right?  Well let me explain.

1.  We saved ourselves for each other.  Our first kiss was on our wedding day!  We had a private moment after the "first look" to share our first kiss without 400 pairs of eyes looking on (yes, we had that many people at our wedding!)

2.  We personalized the reception.  There were pictures of us on every table.  The lunch and dessert bar (we didn't provide cake for guests) were labeled with tags telling the name of the food and which ones were our favorites.

3.  We made most things ourselves.  We had a friend make the bridesmaid dresses.  I had an "invitation making party" with close girl friends and my youth group girls.  We made the decorations.  Our families drank the Izzies so we could use the empty bottles.  We decorated the sanctuary and reception hall ourselves (with some creative inspiritation with another lady from our church).  A family friend (15 years old) made the cheesecake that Travis and I cut and ate.  Her mom arranged our flowers.  One of my best friends did my makeup.  A couple of sweet ladies from our church did our hair.  We picked the food (salads) from family recipes that we loved and had several family friends make them for us.

4.  I got my first ever manicure and pedicure the day before the wedding with my mom.

5.  We had music played by dear friends and picked non-traditional stuff that we liked.

6.  We had friends do our photos.  We were comfortable with them, so we were happy and relaxed resulting in TONS OF AWESOME photos!

7.  The entire bridal party (with the exception of the ring bearer and flower girl) wore Chuck Taylor Converse.  (I love converse!)

8.  We had a recieving line where we quickly greet, hugged, and occasionally introduced to each other each of the 400 guests.  It didn't take more than 30 minutes and we personally said hello to everyone who attended our wedding.

9.  We had our MC (also a good friend) announce us when we came into the reception and say that we were going to eat and would greet guest presently.  So we actually got to eat all the amazing food!  And we had already said at least "hi" to everyone so there was no stress about that!

Believe it or not, these simple, sweet little personalizations made it SO special!  We wanted the day to show us, who we were, and what we were like; it did.  The whole thing showed our personalities and love for God without it feeling put on.  They day was designed for US, NOT for our guests and so we were comfortable and relaxed.  It was special because we worked hard to make it that way and I am so glad that we did.

Advice for Planning:

Think about your guest, but not too hard.  This day is for YOU.  Make it comfortable for you and your fiance.

Advice for Your Marriage:

Approach disagreements as if they are a problem that the two of you have to work together to solve.  This way you are working together to fix the problem instead of arguing at each other.

Take time FREQUENTLY to talk and stay updated on every area of life.

Most Importantly

Keep God the center of your marriage.

When you are close to Him, you will be close to each other. 

So excited for you Amber!
 I hope that your wedding is all you both have dreamed it will be. =)

Be blessed.

Alesha <3
-------------------------------
Thanks so much for sharing Alesha and the great advice!