Its been a long time coming, but I am officially married! I have yet to change my name on ALL of my documents, but I signed that paper! And you know, I feel amazing. I have this amazing life partner that I can continue to grow and build with, act silly with, pray with, and enjoy life. Ask me if I would ever get to this point 7 years ago, and I’d laugh in your face. Look how amazing God is. Not too long after that, we were able to witness my best friend marry the love of his life too! God is in the marriage business! Let him work on you! Only if you want.

Now that the festivities are over and I can finally relax, I can tell you all about my experience on the planning and some sound advice I can relay to those who are getting married soon. Getting married can be one of the happiest times of your life and you probably won’t think straight at least for the next few months. You’re thinking about the dress, the flowers, the venue, and how you want everything to look. That was me. I figured, I’m only doing this once in my life, so what if I go overboard on things I won’t even pay attention to on my big day? Pay attention. Pay very much attention.

Choose quality over quantity EVERYTIME. From your bridal party to your guests, choose the best. When Benjamin and I did our guest list, we had close to 200 people. We don’t even like 200 people! When we initially got a quote from our caterer and our designer, those numbers will give you a heart attack. You mean to tell me, we gotta pay thousands of dollars to treat these people that we probably don’t even like or haven’t talked to in years to witness our day? No. CUT! (movie director’s voice). If we didn’t talk to them in the last 30-60 days, its a wrap. If we know that you’re only coming just to be nosey, and you don’t have out best interest, you were taken off.

We stood before God in front of friends, family, and a couple of people we didn’t like to say “I do.”

And I really wanted this extravagant wedding. I really did. But God was like, “Y’all don’t need all of that.” We were already going through so much in the year of 2017. We were getting knocked down left and right. Which brings me to my next piece of sound advice, keep your planning circle small and block out the unwanted negativity. Those people you haven’t seen in 500 years messaging you for an invitation, or that person who has everything to say about your planning, but are making no contributions, boy bye.

When Benjamin and I finally realized that we were solely responsible for all of the expenses our “extravagant wedding” had to offer, we cut everything out! We realized we were killing ourselves trying to pay for this extravagant wedding and God said, “NO!” We kept our cake, had pretty much no decorations and our day was so intimate and special. We were able to interact with the few that attended and it was more meaningful that way. Don’t get me wrong, we were so broken up about it, but we looked at each other and said, “Babe, we don’t have any wedding debt.”

Our colors were Navy, Blush, and Gold. Because my girls were paying for their own dress, I wanted them to pick their own style and design as long as they kept the same color and fabric. My sister in law found these gorgeous scarves on Amazon to bring in that blush . The guys wore these gorgeous navy suits, and although the dresses for my flower girls were too bright, my husband wanted to keep them. And it worked out.

My Dress and Hair

Fun fact: I never picked this dress during my hunting days (Check out this blog post). I didn’t look at it and I didn’t asked for it. I tried on all the styles that I wanted and I hated them. I wasn’t a fan of the form fitting, the sparkle, the see-through or the revealing of the skin. I asked my stylist to pick a few of her favorite gowns and she brought this dress to me. We all fell in love with this dress. The princess ball-gown silhouette, the lace sleeves, the flirtatious neckline and the beautiful back of the dress was amazing. Of course, the brand is Morilee by Madeline Gardner. Would you believe that my hair is just a plain ol’ rod set? And I did my own makeup! Winning!

Shoes

After spending countless months of shoe shopping for the perfect wedding shoe and giving up on the idea of wearing designer (my pockets was trying to tell me), I went on ASOS one day and happened to browse their wedding section and saw these beautiful weird shoes. They’re a block heel, had a pretty iridescent color and a flower embellishment! That is me on a shoe! I was more excited about these shoes than those $1000 Christian Louboutin heels. It complimented my gown and I can wear this shoe again and again. You can find them here.

Reception, you may ask? Nope. We were going to plan one for next year for our one year, but now that my mind is SUPER CLEAR and level-headed, there’s no need for a big party. We had all the people we needed to witness our day and we’re gonna spend that money on a two-week honeymoon (one week here, and one week there). Guys, I know I’ve been married for just a few weeks, but I am so excited. God is good. He has great things planned for the both of us. We are a force to be reckoned with.

Thank you to our beloved friend Marcus Kennedy from MXk Photography for capturing our special day.

Crazy edits by yours truly 🧐

Check out his Facebook page here.