Being Untraditional
Back in October, Michael finally put a ring on my finger (no more raising my hand when Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” plays at a wedding)! As special and exciting as that moment was during our housewarming party with our families, it’s now become daunting and somewhat overwhelming when trying to figure out what we want to do for a wedding. The two biggest difficulties we’re being faced with (1) what type of day would be the most meaningful to us to celebrate such a special moment in our lives and (2) what can we financially afford and be willing to spend? As you can imagine, #2 has been a major factor on #1 since I don’t want to break the bank for one day (even if it’s supposed to be one of the best days of my life).
The more we’ve been talking about what we envision for our big day (Michael is a little sad that I don’t have this already planned out like most women do), we realized that having a large traditional ceremony doesn’t feel like us. Call us somewhat “old school,” but we want our wedding to be a celebration of our union as a couple and whoever is there, to be a witness of the love we have for each other. In today’s standards, I feel it's really difficult to accomplish that with an extended guest list and how a wedding (specifically the reception) is more so for your guests than for yourself. However, we both come from large families and have lot of friends who want to be included in our day, so how can we get the best of both worlds?
Long story short, we’ve come to the conclusion that we’d like to get married in California next summer (hopefully with our parents and siblings coming to join us) and hold a wedding celebration back in PA sometime after. We think it’s the best of both worlds where we can make a majority of family and friends happy, as well as stay within a budget we feel comfortable paying for (I’ve done a lot of research and believe it or not, this current wedding plan is cheaper than paying for a traditional wedding in PA).
I'm realizing wedding planning is scary (even more so than financial planning at times!) because there isn’t a clear answer on what we should do and what makes the most sense to us while being respectful of how our loved ones feel. Nothing is set in stone yet so I’d love to hear of anyone’s stories about non-traditional weddings and how you were able to feel like you made the "right” choice on the way you got married.
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