planning & choosing a wedding vibe.

“your wedding will be one for the history books – not because it was the prettiest party anyone has ever seen, not because you played by all the rules and hit every single mark, but because it was so real, so true, so indescribably full of joy. remember what your wedding is: a celebration. it’s a reason to rejoice.” – meg keene

we’ve started the wonderful, overwhelming, exciting and crazy phase of wedding planning! we locked down our date in september and our ceremony and reception venues. we have our general look and feel locked down; it’ll be bohemian-inspired and laid back. here’s some of my inspiration and plans: flower crowns, bright rug runners down the aisle, navy suits on the guys and neutral bridesmaid dresses for the gals, gold accents and of course, as many peonies as possible. this has been super fun part for me: looking at all of the pretty inspiration and putting together ideas that i wanted to bring to life for our big day.

but…at the same time, i started feeling overwhelmed over the past few weeks. we’ve had so many decisions to make, timelines, budget calculations, the list goes on and on. the never-ending wedding to-do list really felt, well, never-ending. i was also bogged down by expectations – put on from other people, what weddings on the Internet look like, and most of all, myself.

i needed to really take a step back. this phase of life does not have to be ruled by overwhelmingness, stress, expectations. while in portland this past weekend, RIGHT WHEN I NEEDED IT, i discovered and purchased a book called a practical wedding: creative ideas for planning a beautiful, affordable and meaningful celebration. somehow, slowly, i started feeling so many better about all of the to-do lists, pretty inspiration and ideas and actual wedding logistics. the book reminded me that yes, peonies and rugs and color coordination and invitations and save the dates can be good things and that i absolutely can and deserve to make the wedding day pretty – but they are not the thing. the thing to focus on is us, our relationship and future marriage. the opportunity to host a small celebration with our closest family and friends is the extra awesome part. it’s as simple as that. the logistics and pretty wedding details will all fall into place {especially with the help of my amazing mom and wedding coordinator!}.

the book also recommended that the couple figure out what their wedding vibe is – choose words together on how you want the day to be. the author listed about 30 words, everything from adventurous, hilarious, intimate, lavish, quirky, religious, thoughtful, urban. eric and i decided on two words from the list: authentic and joyful. of course there are other words on the list that we want to be a part of our wedding vibe: raging dance party, relaxed, fun {and more!}; but the two main ones we are centering everything around during the planning process and day-of the wedding are authentic and joyful. we really taking to heart the author’s wise words that on our wedding and afterwards, we aren’t going to remember the details like bouquets and centerpieces. we will remember how we felt. we will remember the vibe of our wedding, not the other things. i just love that quote at the top of the post!

if you’re curious, i’m pinning my wedding inspiration and ideas on pinterest here! // image via here