Dear reader, I want to give you a broad perspective on the world of wedding inspiration, so without further ado, let me introduce Polly, a dear friend and brilliant blogger. She had a very different kind of wedding, and it was just perfect. She will be telling her story over the course of a few guest blog posts over the next few months, but to begin, an introduction and 5 vital pieces of advice when planning your wedding.
Hello! Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Polly, and the lovely Harriet of de Winton Paper Co. has asked me to write a few guest blog posts over 2017, of which this is the first.
I’m a huge fan of weddings, give me a gorgeous frock, bountiful blooms and a whole heap of love in one room and I couldn’t be happier – which normally means I’ll be the one bawling in the corner at the beauty of it all. I’m also lucky enough to have friends who spend their days helping make other people’s weddings wonderful, which means I get to indulge my love of weddings vicariously too. I could spend days, honestly days, chatting about the details of a good wedding.
Given all this, it may come as a surprise to learn that I chose a slightly different route when it was my turn to wed, we eloped, in New York. It turns out, I’m a huge fan of other people’s weddings but what made sense to us was to have an incredibly private marriage and a huge party on our return. We didn’t want to miss out on celebrating with our friends and loved ones but we wanted the space to mark the actual official part just the two of us. Yes, we did keep it a secret until after we said “I do” and yes that’s a very tough secret to keep!
We still wanted as many people to come to our celebration as possible, so invites needed to go out before our big small day. The ‘cover’ for the party was a celebration of my return to health after a rather long illness, only it wasn’t really a cover, I truly did want to celebrate and thank everyone who’d supported us. However, I’d never thrown a party before, let alone one that would take on extra significance a month after the invites were sent out. Even with all my wedding knowledge and the help of Pinterest it seemed like a huge undertaking, for this particular introvert.
So, for this first post I wanted to offer some advice “from the other side” so to speak, as I know first hand how daunting it can be.
- It turns out no matter which way you choose to celebrate your marriage, and there are as many ways as there are people, everyone is going to have an opinion; whether you choose to marry in front of 400 friends and loved ones a la Kim and Kanye or in your own back garden or you elope like we did. There isn’t a right way to celebrate, find what works for you and don’t worry if it wouldn’t work for anybody else, they aren’t you.
- Decide what elements of the day are important for the two of you and make those your priorities. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t the usual things either, I myself, was absolutely unmoving in my desire to wear flower crown and to eat very good food. I was perfectly happy to be swayed on everything else. I was lucky enough to work with trusted friends on a lot of our wedding details, which made all my decision a lot easier. Do your research, hunt down the professionals and/or friends who will share your vision, help you find the best way to execute it and won’t laugh that flower crown is at the top of every list!
- Take the pressure off yourself to be the perfect host and hostess. When I was panicking a week before our party, a dear friend told me to rememberer that I’d invited everyone I loved, therefore every person in that room loved me too. That everyone was rooting for us, they wanted to help me celebrate and they would all try their darn-dest to have a good time.
- It really does past in the blink of an eye, and it is very hard to focus in the midst of everything, to just be glad and humbled by the love that is surrounding you but try, even if you manage three deep breaths. It can also be quite overwhelming, there’s lots of emotion and lots of fizz involved in most weddings so do remember to breath and take a moment if you need to.
- The most important part of a wedding, is that you are going to enter into a marriage, and that is so exciting! After the cake has been cut and the flowers have faded, what remains is this precious promise you’ve made to the one you love and the memories of a most magical day.
