Guest Post: Kristin from Happily After All

I just absolutely love Kristin. I'm sure most of you reading already follow her blog, but if you don't and you're even remotely interested in DIY projects or wedding planning in general you MUST check it out. She and I call each other wedding twins because we had so many of the same ideas, but she has some super cute ones that I wasn't able to get to that you need to see. She has wonderful tutorials too! And she's one of the sweetest people I've ever met. I feel like I could've written this exact post, so definitely take her advice to heart - Like she says, you probably won't believe it until you're on the other side, but every single thing she says is true! Enjoy!

 
Hey guys! Some of you might know me from over at my blog, Happily After All, or maybe you've stopped by my Etsy shop, Weddings by Kristin.

But for those of you that don't, I'm Kristin (aka Laura's wedding twin!). I just got married a few weeks ago on May 22nd, and I'm just beginning my recaps. So head on over and catch up on all of the DIY projects I had going on and look at all the pretty pictures, because if you're like me...that's my favorite part!

I had Laura do a guest post for me while I was gone on my honeymoon, so now I'm returning the favor while she is gone on hers. 

I just wanted to share a little advice about what I learned on my wedding day.
If you're anything like I was, I spent a year planning my wedding, wanting to make sure that it was the absolute perfect day. I was planning projects that no one but myself would probably notice, and I was starting to get stressed out towards the end of it all. In the last week or so, I was having to scrap projects that were half finished or that never got started, and I really had a problem letting go of them. I thought that if I didn't get everything finished, somehow it wouldn't be just perfect because it wasn't my original vision. I even managed to stay up until 4:30am on the Thursday before the wedding, 1 am on Friday before the wedding, and I was still working on a project the morning of and running around doing errands in town. I didn't get to enjoy time with my bridesmaids and I felt like the day was half gone before it even started.

Well you want to know something?? And you probably won't even believe me until you're out on the other side...but it really doesn't matter! Honestly. This is coming from a type A, super control freak. It didn't matter one bit that I only had enough cake picks for 1/3 of the cake or that none of my OOT stuff even got to the hotels, or that my grand plans for the kids bags never got finished, or the number of other things I scrapped. Once I woke up on Saturday morning, the day just flew by and it didn't stop until the reception was over. I didn't even have time to think about the things I didn't get to do. And you know what? Everyone loved it! I got raving reviews, and not one person thought that a thing was missing.

So here's my advice. Don't overdo it. Don't kill yourself during your wedding week finishing up last minute projects. Set a cutoff date by at least that Wednesday so you have time to just relax and enjoy family that is coming in from out of town, and take some time to be excited about the whole process! If you get to that point and you haven't finished little extra things that won't make a difference in the long run, just forget about it. It might be hard, but after the wedding, you won't even notice it wasn't there. Everyone is going to love your wedding because they're there to celebrate your marriage and love....not to critique your decorations and extra little details.

Remember the big picture. It's the day that you get to marry your best friend/soul mate/better half/what have you. It's the day you say I do...forever. That's what really matters. So enjoy yourself, take time to laugh and have fun. Make memories, take lots of pictures, and kiss your husband.

Guest Post: Amy from Little Miss Wedding Planner

Today's guest post is from Amy, who I've gotten to know through Twitter over the last couple months. She's so sweet and helpful, and I absolutely love her blog! This is a subject I haven't blogged much about, so I'm excited to see the responses to this post!

Hi, Lucky in Love readers!  My name is Amy and I blog over at Little Miss Wedding Planner.  I am so happy for Laura & David and so honored to be guest blogging here!  I have been following Laura’s blog and wedding plans for quite some time, so it is so exciting to see the wedding finally here!

Today I want to talk about something that doesn’t actually have a whole lot to do with wedding planning.  Today, I want to talk about something I call The Baby Boom—not the one in the 50s, but the one that seems to be taking place in my own life right now!

I don’t know about you guys, but I am at the age where all of my friends are starting to get engaged and married.  This summer alone, we are invited to 5 weddings, aside from our own!  And of course, you know the old line:  “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage!” 

My first friend to get married was my best friend from high school.  She actually married almost 5 years ago now, and got pregnant a year or so later.  My cousin also had my lovely goddaughter (our flower girl!) around the same time.  Two other friends of mine got married in late 2009 (twin sisters, coincidentally), and both got pregnant with honeymoon babies.  One of my very best friends is getting married next year, and she too is planning on a honeymoon baby.  And just last night, a dear friend who was married in December announced that she is also pregnant…thus, I was suddenly struck by the inevitable Baby Boom that occurs when you’re in your mid to late twenties.  While I am no doubt happy for all of my friends and family, I still sometimes find myself asking this question:  “Don’t they just want to be married for awhile?”

(Source – I love their expressions in this picture…the kid on the left and the kid second from the right are definitely making the face I make when thinking about this subject…sort of a “Huh?  What the ?!”)

Many of you may know that I used to teach ballet to three-year-olds (I just “retired” from doing that last month), and as evidenced above, I am surrounded by pregnancy and babies…heck, I even confessed to reading a ton of baby & pregnancy blogs lately!  I definitely love kids and both my fiancé & I are excited to have some of our own…but we are not planning on having children right away.  I never thought I’d say this, but it feels like we’re sort of in the minority on this on…everybody else in our lives seem to be getting pregnant—and getting pregnant quick! 

So what’s behind our decision?  Well, our reasoning is simple.  Although we’ve been together almost 7 years and have lived together for about 5, we really just want to be married for awhile.  If it happens by accident, of course we’ll be excited and thrilled.  But in an ideal world (and as long as I take my BC correctly!), we are definitely not planning on getting pregnant until about 2 years after our wedding.  It might sound selfish, but we’d like to take some really fun trips…buy a house…and have the freedom to do whatever we want whenever we want, without worrying about kids yet.  

As I said above, lately, I’ve felt as though I am in the minority on this topic…so, I’m curious.  Where do you and your fiancé stand on this issue?  Of course I want to know if you agree with me, but I am really interested in hearing from those of you who want to have children right away.  What are your motivations?  Is it just that you’re ready?  Is it an age thing?  If you feel comfortable, please share your thoughts (and if you plan to write a baby blog, please share that, too—because you know I love me some of those!)

Guest Post: Em from Burning River Bride

I have some of my favorite fabulous bloggers lined up to guest post while I'm gone this week, so make sure to give each of them a warm welcome! The first is Em - She's one of my 'blog friends' that I talk to almost every day and have really gotten to know over the last few months. She's hilarious and one of the nicest girls ever, so if you're not already following her, you should be! Enjoy!

Hello, Lucky in Love readers! My name is Emily (but you can call me Em) and I write over at Burning River Bride. I'm a 24 year old newlywed (my wedding was May 22) and I'm so excited to guest post for Laura! She and I have become great Internet friends over the past few months. I know she was a beautiful bride (come on, have you SEEN this gorgeous gal?) and I can't wait to hear all about her wedding day.

Laura and I are both relatively "young" brides (although I do have about 3 years on her). I wouldn't change getting married at the age I am now, and I'm sure Laura wouldn't either, but that doesn't mean it isn't without certain challenges.

The issue: Haters. Lots of 'em And they come in all forms: well-meaning adults, not-so-well-meaning adults, jealous girlfriends, immature boys, complete strangers...the list goes on and on. It's frustrating but it's inevitable.

How to deal: Confidence. If you show that you *know* you're doing the right thing they have a baseless argument. While being nervous is expected (and totally FINE), it's also a sign to those "well-meaning adults" that you're not ready. Don't let them see you sweat!

The issue: Being a fairly young bride also means you probably don't have many people in your inner circle who relate to what you're going through. Sure, the wedding blog world is filled with brides who are happy to listen to your ideas/successes/failures/vents/etc, but sometimes you just want to talk to some one who actually *knows* you. There's nothing like talking to some one who gets you, the real you (not the wedding blog you). 

How to deal: Luckily, chances are you have at least one person you can turn to when you're in need. Make sure this person knows how important they are to you and how you'll need to lean on them during both the good and the bad parts of wedding planning.

The issue: Clueless bridal party members. Now, please don't interpret my use of the word clueless as something negative. Let me explain: out of my six bridesmaids only two of them had been in a wedding during their adult life (it doesn't count if they've been a flower girl, greeter, etc). Not that this is a bad thing or at all their fault, so to speak. But it can definitely be frustrating. Many of them legitimately didn't really know what to do. Being a member of the bridal party involves more than whooping it up at the bachelorette party and putting on a pretty dress for the wedding.

"Clueless" manifested itself in a few ways during my wedding planning. These included not understanding the importance of RSVPing ("You mean WE have to RSVP, TOO?!") and confusion about our wedding photographers' style ("You mean we have to ::gulp:: pose?!"), to name a few.

**Please note: My husband is 4 years older than me, so most of his groomsmen pretty much knew what was going on, but they're boys so I didn't have high expectations for them either way.

How to deal: Spell out exactly what you need them to do and do it early and often. The last thing you need in the weeks and days leading up to your wedding are your bridesmaids asking you seemingly "duh" questions. It's not that their questions aren't valid, it's that you just won't have the time or the energy to answer them 4, 5, or 6 times.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you like what you see, please stop on over to Burning River Bride where I'll soon be recapping our honeymoon and wedding! And if you just can't get enough, follow me on Twitter @Em219. Thanks for having me, Laura!

We're Married!

We did it! The day we talked about, planned for, and dreamed of for so long has come and gone. And it was absolutely wonderful! Did things go wrong? Yes. But was it perfect? Yes. Because I married my best friend and soul mate, and there's nothing better than a whole day set aside to celebrate the love you and your favorite person share. It honestly didn't matter that our first look was nearly a whole hour late because of a couple members of our bridal party or that the new (insane) managers of our venue stole food and alcohol from us and wanted to fight my family members at the end of the night. There was nothing that could've gotten in the way of our happiness!

I cannot wait to share everything with you guys! The decorations, both at the church and at the reception, turned out exactly how I'd envisioned. I am forever thankful for the help of my family, my new family, and my best friends because there's no way everything would've gotten done without them. (Mom, Laura, Jason, Kaylee, Alex, Simone, and whoever else happens to be reading, David and I can't thank you enough!!)

When this post goes live we'll be about an hour away from landing in Cancun! We'll be spending the next 7 days relaxing (finally!). I cannot wait to enjoy a week with my hubby without any stress regarding school/graduation/work/house/wedding stuff! It's a much needed break. And the gorgeous view won't hurt either! ;)

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I have some wonderful guest posts lined up for you guys this week that I'm sure you'll enjoy so be sure to stop in and leave comments for my lovely blog friends! And before I go, here's a sneak peek of how some of my projects (including the flowers!) turned out:

There's so much more to share, but I'll stop there! If you're friends with me on facebook I'm sure you'll be able to see more pictures from the day, and our photographer said she'd have a teaser post ready for us by the time we get back from our honeymoon! Thank you all for your sweet comments/tweets/wall posts - I seriously have some of the best blog friends ever! Enjoy your week and be sure to check back and show my guest posters some love! :)

It's Here!

After 6 years, 5 months, and 3 weeks of dating and 15 months of being engaged, it's finally here!! My hair is done, my makeup is perfect, and I'm about to slip into my dress. I think it will finally hit me when I look in the mirror and see a bride in a white dress and veil. I've had butterflies randomly all week, but I'm not nervous. I'm soo so ready to marry my better half.

To all of my readers, thanks for following along with me! Your comments, support, and encouragement has helped me more than you know! You're all wonderful and I'm so excited to share everything with you!

To all of my family and friends who have been reading, thanks for caring so much and showing me all the love in the world. You all mean more to me than you know.

And to my groom, I love you with all my heart. I cannot wait to marry you, babe. Our big day is finaly here and it's all going to be perfect. Everything could go wrong, but it'll still be perfect because we're marrying each other.  Forever and always, babe!

Ch-ch-changes

...With my hair! For the longest time my hair has been two (or more) different colors. Usually it's lighter at the ends than at the roots, so when I have it up in a messy bun - which happens to be my style of choice most days - I somewhat resemble a skunk. Not surprisingly, that's not exactly the look I'm going for on my wedding day, so I made a hair appointment with one of my friends last week. Just look at the miracle she preformed:

I can't believe I'm even posting the before pictures - I promise my hair isn't usually that poofy/frizzy/unhealthy looking

Eeeek.

Ok, are you ready for this??

It's not as red as it looks in the pictures, but it's definitely warm and rich looking! I absolutely love it, and I think it'll look so good with the style I choose for the wedding day (which is now 2 days away!!! Eeeee!!). I'm going to try to post a couple more times this week with some projects, but if I'm not able to I'll be sure to share everything I'm getting done after the honeymoon! I have some wonderful ladies lined up to write guest posts for next week, so get excited! :) 

Did you make any major changes before your wedding?

Bachelorette Party Recap!

I have to start by saying that my best friend/MOH A did an incredible job of ensuring I had a fabulous bachelorette party. I'm so thankful that I have a friend like her! This weekend was exactly what I needed to remind me of the big picture - I just spent my last weekend as a fiance, which means our wedding is almost here! And instead of being stressed or worried about things getting done, I was just plain excited all weekend. And I still am!

We started the weekend with dinner and dancing on Friday night at a cute Mexican resturaunt that has a live band on the weekends. A bunch of our girlfriends from high school came as well as my mom, FMIL, my FSIL (David's brother's wife - who actually has the same married name as I will!), and my FMIL's sister. It was SO much fun! I'm not huge on any typical bachelorette party games, but we played a 'what's in your purse' type game that I dominated. :) I more than doubled everyone else's points! 

I opened some gifts, we took some group pictures, and then we hit the dance floor!

I love this picture with both of our moms out on the dance floor with me!

We had the privelage of sharing the dance floor with this guy:

Although it was more fun to watch him from a bit of a distance..

I, of course, had to get a picture with the other bachelorette there

...and some random guy who jumped in the picture next..?

I think everyone enjoyed themselves, and I loved being in the company of so many people I love. I'm even more excited for the reception on Saturday!

Afterward, a few of us went out in OldTown, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that part of the night. :( Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to head up to Kansas City! We checked into our hotel, got situated, and headed to the pool!

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That evening we went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory with friends who live closer to the Lawrence/KC area (mostly who I went to school with) and that couldn't make it to the Wichita portion. It was one of the most entertaining and hilarious dinners ever. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt!

My two MOHs and BM S in their cute shirts!

My momma, my baby niece, and my favorite aunt ;) 

With my friend K

After dinner and chatting for another couple hours, BM S and MOH A and I headed down to the Power and Light district for awhile. I probably saw at least 6 or 7 other bachelorettes that night, but didn't get pictures with any of them this time. (PS - Did you notice that everyone asks you if you're getting married? No, I just choose to wear a white veil sometimes when I go out. Really?) The only picture I have of that part of the night is this one, and you can't really tell MOH A and I are dancing on a platform since it was taken on my phone:

Sunday we stopped in Lawrence for a yummy lunch and a little shopping, and then we headed home. I had a wonderful weekend and am thankful for the memories I'll never forget! 

What did you do for your bachelorette party?