Kristina talks about her SC wedding

Today, I am so excited to have an awesome guest post from my amazing friend Kristina.  She got married last fall, and oh man, if her pictures and stories are to be believed (which I think they are), it was one of those rare perfect days.  But don't take my word for it.  Check out what she has to say about that special day...

Hello!  I am Kristina and I blog over at Everything Changes.

My husband, Van, and I recently celebrated our first wedding anniversary by going back to our ceremony site.  With the help of my parents, we created a fun little anniversary photo-shoot with left-over aisle runner and our wedding photograph album.  It almost felt like we were stepping back in time, something I'm always happy to do, and I'm so happy to be sharing our wedding story with all of you! Van and I got married on September 10, 2011 in the courtyard of a tiny, old, South Carolina plantation.  Van actually chose our primary wedding color, which was orange, and our wedding planner handled the rest. We wanted a traditional wedding, but we also wanted it to reflect our unique styles and tastes.  Traditional doesn't have to mean boring.  :)  Van has spent some time in India doing mission work, and just fell in love with the culture.  We wanted our wedding to be a mixture of our southern up-bringing and Indian culture.  I had always dreamed of an outdoor wedding, and thus was born...our perfect day.

My favorite part of our wedding was when we were walking down the aisle.  Our ceremony consisted of singing, making promises, praying, and crying.  It was perfect.  And then, we walked away as husband and wife and we were both in utter disbelief.  For just a moment, we were alone and let it sink in that we were tied to each other in every possible way.  

Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 and there are things I would do differently if given the opportunity.  I wish I hadn't let the wedding cause me so much stress.  I wouldn't refer to it as "Bridezilla" syndrome, but I did let my emotions get the best of me on more than one occasion and everything ended up taking care of itself.  I wasted my time worrying and stressing, when I should have just been enjoying the happy season of being a bride-to-be. On the other hand, there are plenty of things that we overlooked that I wish we hadn't.  There was some miscommunication about what time everyone should be at the ceremony site, and the groom and his wedding party showed up late.  For about thirty minutes, I was worried that he was standing me up.  What a horrible feeling for a bride to have on her wedding day!  I wish we had been more clear with instructions to avoid any confusion!  :)  I wish we had spent a little more time choosing our musician when our first choice backed-out.  I wish we had tasted the food on the menu ahead of time, because it didn't turn out very well.  Haha!  They are silly little things, but they're things that we can laugh about now.  :) My advice to Kristen, and to any bride-to-be, would just be to enjoy this time.  It should be a time of love and laughter.  Also, hire a videographer TEAM!  :)  We had a videographer, and it was the best choice we made, but he couldn't be everywhere at once.  Hire a team of camera-people.  Know what you want for your wedding, and don't let anything or anybody change your mind!  It's your day.  It's your love story.

As for budgeting advice, I'm not sure I'm the person to ask.  I will say that you should prioritize!  What do you want the most?  What do you want the least?  Be prepared to compromise and be prepared to stand your ground on the things you feel are most important.  And of course, don't forget to have fun!  Don't you ever forget that weddings are PARTIES, and after months of planning and pulling out your hair....you deserve to have fun and celebrate the most important day of your life.

Kristen, I hope your wedding will be everything you've always imagined it to be.  Even more importantly, I wish you a marriage more beautiful than your wedding.  :)  

Isn't she just amazing???  And look at the bottom of that dress!!!  Thank you again to Kristina for sharing her wedding with us today.  Want to see more of her special day?  Check out her blog... she's got a whole series of posts about their special day.  They will make you go "awww".  I promise.