C l a r i M i c h e l e

Happy anniversary to my other half! This week marks 2 years of marriage for us, which gives me an excuse to talk about our wedding. 🙂Our wedding was beautiful and perfect, but not for the reasons I thought it would be. It wasn’t perfect because our flower arrangements were impressive, or because our chalkboard signs were pinterest-worthy. It was perfect because it was Andrew’s face smiling at me as I stood trembling at the back of the church wondering why I agreed to make a spectacle of myself. It was perfect because we were in it together, and at the end of the day that’s all that matters. The ceremony and decorations are all a blur (thanks photographer for capturing all of it!), but the people that gathered around us to celebrate made it an unforgettable day.

That being said, it’s taken me awhile to want to reminisce about our wedding. Some people have the stamina to discuss their wedding right after, and they generously share all the deets on sites like The Knot or Green Wedding Shoes *ASAP*. I admire these people. After planning our wedding, I was so sick of all things wedding related that I could hardly bring myself to order a photo album – let alone talk about DIYs and vendors. But of course now I love to look back on it, which is why I decided to document the occasion here. So here’s the story, starting with all the planning.

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Planning a wedding isn’t so bad at first. There are fun aspects like trying on dresses, and cake tasting. But once you go public, people are swift to remind you of your countless other responsibilities that are the opposite of fun – like seating charts, and spending 6 hours in Bed Bath and Beyond with an annoying sales rep setting up a registry.

Instead of hiring a wedding planner, we begged invited family and friends to participate in the planning process. There’s no way I could have done it all on my own (especially since my brain decided to shut itself off the day before the wedding). I ordered flowers in bulk from Costco, and invited my bridesmaids and friends to a flower-arranging party the day before the wedding and bribed them with brunch. My mom made quiche, and we all gathered at the church to perform miracles with plants.

much flower, many plant

Much flower, many plant.

We spent all day setting up. By that evening I was completely exhausted, but that still left rehearsal and dinner. Andrew thought it would be a good idea to introduce the bridal party at the rehearsal dinner. He did fine, but when it was my turn I forgot all relevant information about my bridesmaids. It was embarrassing, and I couldn’t sleep that night – not because I was excited about getting married, but because I was sure I had hurt their feelings.

Wedding Day

I snapped at my sister once, got stage fright before walking down the aisle, couldn’t concentrate on what was being said during the ceremony, and breathed a sigh of relief when we got to this part  ↓

My favorite part of the day was riding in the limo with our wedding party to the reception. For 20 minutes we relaxed, and had a laugh with our dearest friends.

The reception was at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Old Town San Diego.

Check out how pretty it was!

It was a great time. Our DJ was eastern-european and hilariously mispronounced our names. Well that’s the gist of it. I’m glad we had a big wedding, but I’m also glad we don’t have to do it again. 🙂

Happy anniversary love. Here’s to a lifetime of more adventures!