We decided that in order to pull off a personal wedding we had to state that right in the beginning. We decided to do that with handmade invitations and a personal website. As people began to RSVP they got to see some of our personal touches. We wanted to know what kind of music people enjoyed hearing at a wedding. This was the basis for our DJ list. (Even our DJ was a friend of ours!)After that we had to figure out how were we going to convey who we are as a couple. Our favors/ center pieces were photos of us over our 7 years (some taken by us and some from others). I had also decided that I wanted to put my abilities to the test and began doing things like making wine charms, creating a card box, embossing napkins by hand,etc. We even made sure that everyone who checked into a hotel (that we knew about) received an Out of Town bag with goodies and a welcome letter that included directions to the site. Looking back it doesn't seem like much but during the planning process it seemed like a ton to do.
We also needed to make sure that in the wedding planning process we did not loose sight of the things that we love and what we believe in. We provided trail mix in cups made my the students at Acheivekids (where I work) to represent our love for the outdoors. We jumped a broom that we decorated with our old rings to represent our leap into the future. We ate a sweet potato in honor of the different cultures we have learned about in higher education. As many people already know we wrote our own vows that included the thigns important to us such as Health, Equality, Love and a list of other things.
We even had a special cake topper that were manatees made from a nice lady in Florida (for some reason manatees are special to us. I adopted one for Mario one year). We had a kids table that let the children that were there know we were thinking of them even during the planning process.
It's funny because as I think of what we did I can't help but think about the personal touches others also put in. Our Officiant is a dear friend of ours who preformed and contributed to our ceremony so beautifully!Our engagement photos and signature board were put together by my cousin Raquel. My mom made both the ring bearer pillows and the flower girl baskets. My dad built signs to let everyone know where the site was. My Cousin Anita (and maid of honor) wrote us a beautiful poem to toast our new marriage. Mario's cousin as stated before, used her photo journalistic style to document our day. The ladies in our wedding party helped put together invitations, tie bows on favors and to also help decorate and set up (never mind the countless hours spent on the phone we me). Not to mention the monetary help that Mario's parents offered us. The amount of help we received really did fill us with love!
Family and friends the day of our event even chipped in. We had Uncle Art and Uncle Rob from each side of our families speak as part of our ceremony . We luckily had people helping from making sure we had what we needed for our cake cutting, to people taking gifts back to our room, to even helping us break down and packing up. Everyone's help was just so greatly appreciated! It was amazing the out pour of support we had in planning and making this wedding happen!~N
(Photo Credits in Order: Meg Perotti, TheBubs, Sabrina Lott, Meg Perotti, Raquel Walton, Meg Perotti)
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