Sunday, May 16, 2010

Following Tradition...My Way

I've always considered myself at least a partially traditional person when it came to marriage. My boyfriend should ask my dad permission to marry me before proposal, the groom-to-be can't see the wedding dress before the big day, the night before the wedding would be spent in different locations, etc. Until I blew about 90% of those out of the water the past few years. Okay fine, weeks.

Since Justin and I seem to be going about this whole wedding planning ordeal a little back-asswards (as he'd term it), we had already confirmed the date and venues before I dropped the bomb on my dad that we were actively planning anything. While the boy will still seek permission (well, at this point I guess it'd be more like blessings) from Daddy, it kinda ruined the process. Don't get me wrong, Dad will still have opportunity to clean a gun/kill a deer/pull a tree right out of the ground in front of J to prove that he will always be the authority, he'll just get to plan ahead now (make it good Dad!).

(source)

As far as dresses go, the thought has crossed my mind more than once that Justin should come with me to put his two cents in. For shame, I know. I think in the end that the decision he not do so will be two fold; he hates shopping for clothes for himself, so I know spending an afternoon with a bunch of women in a wedding dress store would be pure torture. And while he can have input on what he likes based on pictures on the web, I really want to surprise him the day of.

Speaking of the day of, I'm still a proponent for not spending the night before the wedding together. In my mind it helps build anticipation around the idea of the next time you see one another, it's to join your lives together. However, I do admit that I jumped on the First Look bandwagon a long, long time ago for several different reasons.

First and foremost, it will allow for us to have a moment together before the chaos begins. A moment to take in what's about to happen, to laugh with one another, to hold one another, to just be (and hopefully the photographer will capture it beautifully like this). Second, I think that it'll help take some of the jitters away that either of us may be feeling. Thirdly, it opens up the opportunity to have group pictures out of the way before the ceremony (which is important for us since it'll be almost dark at the venue when we come back for the reception) which frees up time on the other end of the schedule. Not to mention it allows Justin a moment to get all googley eyed seeing me in my dress and tell me how awesome I look :)

While this wedding will encompass everything that it's meant to be about, I feel that each person should mold the experience to make it their own. Don't worry about those who balk at some of your ideas (unless even you know that your suggestion is a little out there) because when it all comes together in the end, they'll only remember it for how beautiful and sincere it was, traditional or not.

No comments: