I absolutely love love love loved planning our wedding. I would constantly refresh my email for any wedding planning updates and would spend soooo much time figuring out the little details literally every day (even though I was still in school and should’ve been studying, hehe. Hey, I still graduated). I got a lot of advice from people and I learned a lot of things about *weddings* and wanted to share a few of those thoughts!

(I’m also going to take this opportunity to share a handful of other wedding photos that are really special or fun to me but require a little more explanation with the help of captions! #realrawmoments, Tonie!)

I feel like this is going to be a long post. But it’ll be good & personal & witty I promise!

Also, if you want to take a look at how I put together our wedding website (which I am very proud of) go to alecandheather.com

BUT FIRST:

1. Every. Single. Person. told me to take a moment during the wedding to really let it soak in because “it goes by so fast”. Ok, yes, in general the day goes by quick I guess, but for me, it was almost a perfect pace. I was up by 4:30am because HELLO I WAS GETTING MARRIED THAT DAY so I had like 4 hours in our villa with my bridesmaids and parents to just chill before we went down to our bridal suite (it was so cool too because I could see them setting up the rotunda with the drapes and chairs from our villa!). I was just SO excited to see Alec and to get to the ceremony that the morning getting ready felt like forever, actually. Once the pictures started with the bridesmaids and stuff, that time went by really fast. Our ceremony was the PERFECT length (go, Pastor Barry!) but I honestly do not remember a single word that was said. Alec and I literally reread each other our vows later because we were so on cloud 9 that our ears shut down apparently (Patiently waiting for our wedding video so we can actually figure out what was said at OUR WEDDING). I feel like we really soaked in the moment when we were taking our pictures though. We were just so happy and talked ahead of time that while we would take direction from the photographers, we really wanted to just be so in the moment and really appreciate the fact that we were husband and wife while taking our pics that we would be too “pose-y”. BUT I WILL SAY that the reception went by SO fast. While we ate we also soaked it in and kept saying “look at all these people here for us” but once the dancing started, it felt like three hours turned into one!! There were so many songs I wanted to dance to but also so many goodies I wanted to snack on but also so many people who wanted to take photo booth pictures but also so many people who we wanted to talk to which brings me to…
2. I am really happy that we went table to table (kinda) to say hi to our guests. Our intention was to make it to all 16 tables on both sides of the room after Alec and I ate and we even had our wedding planners there to help guide us along but we only made it to one side, “the adult side”, before it was time for speeches. But I’m actually glad it worked out the way it did because we ended up spending the rest of the time dancing a ton with a lot of the “young people” and it was really nice for us and for our “adult guests” to say hello and to thank them for being there.
3. My cousin Sarah gave me this advice which we loved and tried to follow as best we could…she told us to try our best not to separate during the night. Dance together, greet guests together, just go everywhere together otherwise time passes and you get caught up in conversations or dancing or photos and you are separated for too long at your own wedding!
4. One of the coolest things for me was getting to see ALL THE LITTLE DETAILS that we went back and forth on during planning come together on our wedding day. My advice, if you are able to make it happen, is to just go for it. The little details MADE the day, especially the reception. Maybe I’m just a details person, but I loved seeing the special sequined tablecloths for our sweetheart table or the letter pressed menus, or the draped ballroom walls. I spent an unjustified amount of time planning this extravaganza so sitting there and *soaking it all in* was so special for me. (But also don’t sweat the small stuff because the day will pass and *maybe* you will look back and be like “oh that wasn’t supposed to happen” or “that was missing” and at the end of the day, all that matters is that you are in love and married and had fun at your wedding.)
5. Lastly, and this might be like DUHHH HEATHER, but have fun. Here’s how I mean it….holy moly I don’t even want to know what the “bad” photos from the dancing at the reception look like because even some of the nice, good, edited ones we got are CRAZY. I got so hot and was sweating and was dancing and screaming and singing like nobody was watching and although I look deranged in some photos, I had THE BEST TIME. I absolutely loved our reception and partying with Alec and our friends and family and didn’t care if I was posing perfectly for the perfect shot.
6. Wait one more! SOSOSOSO glad that we had an “unplugged ceremony” so nobody had their phones out in the aisle or up in the air taking pictures during the ceremony. That’s what our photographers are there for! I just hate how that looks in pictures & voila, nobody did! Maybe it was our giant sign or our pastor reminding everyone right beforehand…who knows…

Okay are your eyes tired yet? I am 10000000% willing to chat to any person ever ever about planning a wedding because I had so much fun doing it and was genuinely sad when I got home and had no more wedding planning to do! Now look at some pretty pictures, weee, bye!

All photos by The Grovers!