Wedding Plans Thread

[kittylondon 47]

Galla, great link - i came across that project wedding blog a few months ago and it's been a big inspiration!

Andrew & I are getting married on sept 15th in Aududon park, new orleans - by the lake surrounded by spanish moss, exactly where he propsed! It will be just us, with 2 close friends - one to take pretty polaroid pics, and one to look after our puppy! - and of course, our officiant. We're having a big 'wedding' next year on the anniversary of this date, and are about to put a deposit down on this amazing venue for that weekend - http://raceandreligious.com/

My dress for the park is not a 'wedding dress', just a cute floral 50's dress from phase eight. But my MIL to be has made me a gorgeous birdcage veil with stunning pearl clip to make me feel more bridal!

What are everyones favorite wedding blogs? I tend to browse rock my wedding, style me pretty, offbeat bride, emmaline bride and the knot new orleans forum! But i always have time for more

[KTandTommy 31]

What are everyones favorite wedding blogs? I tend to browse rock my wedding, style me pretty, offbeat bride, emmaline bride and the knot new orleans forum! But i always have time for more

I stalk a lot of photos on pinterest... but my favourite blogs are: http://ruffledblog.com/ , http://www.rocknrollbride.com/ , http://theknottybride.com/ (I won a contest on this site - I'm going to have a "Appy Couple" app design modelled after my wedding! woohoo!) and http://everylastdetailblog.com/

[kate&javi 26]

Thanks for the links!! I see what my Saturday afternoon will consist of

[Peter_Pan 661]

SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING ELOPING.

[Galla 1]

I loveee ruffledblog.com Couple of more to check out:

http://www.weddingwire.com/

100layercake.com

intimateweddings.com

[mjqjazzbar 2]

Totally love these types of threads, considering I frequent lots of wedding blogs as well :-)

Been planning our wedding since almost the day that we got engaged (maybe before haha), and we were originally hoping for an early October wedding but my fiance's interview is not until then so we are going to have a "courthouse wedding" (pretty much, sign the papers) when we first arrive in the US and our "official/family/real (in my mind) wedding" will be April 13, 2013.

I already have my wedding dress and bridesmaids dresses. We are making our own invitations and save the dates (and some other things, I'm pretty crafty). Our ceremony will be a gazebo (my dream) and our reception will in my parent's back yard under a huge tent. Think rustic + casual. I'm not a fancy type of person so I want a PARTY and not anything too formal for the reception. Our theme is travel, so we will have a lot of maps, planes, globes, etc. since we met online and then I traveled to come live here with him Having lots of Hispanic traditions (the Arras at the ceremony, our first dance song is in Spanish and English, our ceremony will be bilingual, plus other things). We have our caterer, he can do Honduran food so we will have a mix of our cultures in the food AND we are having a grill ummm can you say YUM? I'm super stoked about it!

I cannot wait!! I've totally stopped wedding planning lately though because I'm overseas and I can't do anything haha, but when I land in the US, it will be game on!! I'm so excited and happy to marry the love of my life, and hopefully it won't rain that day (we have no back up plan).

Love reading the blogs at WeddingBee, so if anyone is a DIY Bride, head over there! They do amazing things!!

Kate

Im sorry, but i dont agree with the way youre doing it. A couple others in this thread have said their going about it the same way.

But your ""official/family/real (in my mind) wedding" will be April 13, 2013" wont be official or real. Your courthouse will be your real marriage and your only marriage. The one in April is a vow renewal.

I obviously understand how its hard to plan and courthouse is just far more convenient, but the way youve said it, its like youre disregarding it like it doesnt matter. When it is actually that marriage that counts. Lots of people have a courthouse and thats it. So its kind of disrespectful to those people.

What will happen on your April date? Will you invite your friends and family telling them its your wedding? Because really, it isnt. You can ask ask them to attend a celebration of your marriage that happened at the courthouse (which some people would describe as "gift grabby") or you can have a vow renewal where they get to see you say your vows.

Sorry if i seem harsh its just how i feel about it!

[KTandTommy 31]

Even though I'm not the person you quoted, I'm going to reply because I'm doing the same thing.

It does seem very harsh, and unnecessary criticism - just because you don't agree with the courthouse + real wedding after, doesn't mean it's not a very real thing for us.

The way my fiance and I are looking at it - both ceremonies are meaningful in separate ways. We are planning our legal date shortly after my POE, and though it is VERY real for us, we are still considering that to be a part of our paperwork. Yes we will be legally married, and we are DAMN happy about that.

But we want to celebrate with our families and friends as we're joined as one in front of them. And that is not going to be any less meaningful for me because I signed papers at the courthouse a few months earlier. In fact, my fiance and myself have felt the commitment that marriage takes ever since we got engaged. A piece of paper makes it legal, but celebrating in front of friends and family makes it recognized by the people who are actually important to us, not just the government.

AND, FYI, many years ago, when my parents were still living in Italy, Italian churches did not have the legal right to marry a couple - so if a couple wanted to get married in a church, they had to first go to a courthouse to sign their papers, and then their ceremony was days (or months) later. I'm pretty sure it was JUST as special to them as it will be to us.

(BTW, my fiance and I plan to mark our legal anniversary with a nice dinner or something special to commemorate the day, but we will celebrate our first anniversary on May 18, 2014. The day of the wedding ceremony)

I'm sorry if you don't agree with that... but hey, it's my wedding, not yours

[mjqjazzbar 2]

I understand you say its meaning full to have both. But it still doesnt make the second one a wedding. Youre already wed! I understand wanting to have a celebration with your family which is totally fine. but just dont call it a wedding, because its not, you are already wed. Your friends and family wont be seeing you becoming joint in marriage because you already are. VOW RENEWAL.

The Italy thing doesnt stand. Are you literally going to a courthouse to sign papers or will it be a ceremony, wherein you say your vows of commitment to each other?

Also can i ask you the same i did with who i quoted. How will you word your invitations to your friends and family? Will you tell them its a wedding? Because thats rude.

I am not doing it this way. It may be hard and stressful to sort a wedding in just a few months but its totally doable. And that way, my family and his will get to see our real marriage which is important to me. Them being able to see the moment when we first say our vows to each other. The very first time we hear each others, they get to hear it too. Thats far more special IMO.

Edited August 25, 2012 by mjqjazzbar

[afoyoswa 178]

I understand you say its meaning full to have both. But it still doesnt make the second one a wedding. Youre already wed! I understand wanting to have a celebration with your family which is totally fine. but just dont call it a wedding, because its not, you are already wed. Your friends and family wont be seeing you becoming joint in marriage because you already are. VOW RENEWAL.

The Italy thing doesnt stand. Are you literally going to a courthouse to sign papers or will it be a ceremony, wherein you say your vows of commitment to each other?

Also can i ask you the same i did with who i quoted. How will you word your invitations to your friends and family? Will you tell them its a wedding? Because thats rude.

I am not doing it this way. It may be hard and stressful to sort a wedding in just a few months but its totally doable. And that way, my family and his will get to see our real marriage which is important to me. Them being able to see the moment when we first say our vows to each other. The very first time we hear each others, they get to hear it too. Thats far more special IMO.

You had already expressed your opinion once, and that was enough. There is room in this thread for all kinds of different viewpoints, and yours is what is important to you but it is not the final word on the subject. I'm surprised you've gotten this far on VisaJourney and in life without being able to realize that it takes all kinds to make a world. Please calm down and stop judging people for making different decisions than you would make. Thanks!

---

I'm meeting next week with the photography company I want to use! They'll show me portfolios for different people they have available, and I'll get to pick one. Wish Aaron could be here to go to the meeting with me, but one of my bridesmaids is going, so that will be fun. Are any of you registering for gifts, and if so, is the international spouse participating somehow?

[kate&javi 26]

Wow, to the person who said I can't call our ceremony and reception our "real wedding", mind your own business? I realized we will already be legally married but yes, the wedding will be the second one with all my family and friends. Many people on the site do it that way and i have the right to do it how we WANT. We are both overseas and we do NOT want a winter wedding, so we are doing it that way. You can't tell me it's wrong because that's the way WE want it. It's OUR wedding. My fiancé is from Honduras and many people do it exactly like that, so it's a normal type of behavior. I WILL tell my family it's our wedding and that's the wedding anniversary that we will celebrate, and you don't have the right to tell me that we CANNOT because YOU think it's wrong. It's not your life or your wedding or your money!! We have people coming fr overseas, we had to give them time to buy tickets and it's just the way it has to happen. Don't come at ne with a holier than thou attitude just because you don't like my (pretty reasonable and understandable) plan. And don't tell me to WAIT to go to the US so we only have one wedding, we have things to attend to before then so it's impossible.

Ok, back to the NICE and fun things with this thread.

Edited August 25, 2012 by kate&javi

[kate&javi 26]

Joy, we started registering for gifts but we haven't finished. I think we stopped when my fiancé asked if we could register for video games, lol!!

I'm waiting for my custom cake topper to be finished... The woman is taking forever!!

[Cori and Rob 55]

Registering for gifts was so much fun! My sister and I were like cowboys in the wild west with the scanner at Target. It was kinda weird, though, because I didn't see the point of registering for really cheap stuff I could buy on my own, nor did I feel right scanning anything I thought was too expensive. I guess that's a normal feeling when you're registering for presents for yourself.

[Galla 1]

Perhaps ladies who are the US fiancee would know this better:

- can we have the person/officiant come to the spot of the wedding and do the official and the ceremony part right there? We sign the papers on the spot, no need to go to the courthouse?

Hope I explained it right

[kate&javi 26]

Yes, Galla. You just need to apply for the marriage certificate at the courthouse, then pick it up for your ceremony! They have expiration dates like 30 or 60 days, based on your state and county so look that up

[Galla 1]

Thank you for your answer:) Already checked out the expiration dates-60 days

We will just have everything at one place. I dont feel like running around on the wedding day or doing the courthouse wedding prior to the reception.

I really wish my family could be there! This way, from my side I will have two friends that live in the US. One of them is my childhood friend and she will be my maid of honor.

Im happy for that So its just 2 ppl from bride's side and 28 from groom's side heheheh.

He wanted to invite more, but I had to disagree. Just close family and friends