Adventure with a side of Wedding: Thinking it through

Pretty sure I am going to need to break this down in a few posts and then possibly go as far as giving each stop its own personal post. There is a lot of information!

First, let me give you the backstory and a little of how I thought this all out….

For Dion and I, this was to be our second marriage. It seemed a little redundant to have the family come and celebrate another marriage when the lasts one was: “til death do us part”. I know people will argue that it’s still nice to have family come together and celebrate. But that’s just my feelings on the matter.

Two week wedding tour!

Also, I LOVE planning trips but I dislike planning events, answering to people, and overall, planning a wedding just feels like it sucks the fun out of the whole thing. Again, just my POV. But a two-week trip? Hitting multiple bucket list spots? Without the kids? Which, if I’m being honest, I 100% enjoy taking them with me to experience all these fun adventures. However, one thing I didn’t want to do on the wedding day was worry about the kids and their needs being met. Even if someone else was there to take care of them, they would’ve been attached to me. It is what it is.

So - a two-week wedding trip, just us, a dress, a photographer and her husband, (he married us!) some rugs, pampas grass, and candles for a little decoration.

Click here for the full itinerary (and some of the places we had planned but didn’t get to).

I didn’t worry about shoes because duh, hiking boots or bare ass feet. Flowers…I looked. Really didn’t LOVE anything I found which then made me curious, why DO brides carry flowers? It was a fertility thing. Initially, they would carry herbs for prosperity, health, and whatever else you want to bless the marriage with. I opted for the herbs and a few roses. More my style.

Cake - I have a friend who makes the most delicious vegan cakes! Unfortunately, since the bus wasn’t finished in time and the portable freezer/fridge combo we ordered was two days delayed…it couldn’t hold. But I did get an adorable pampas grass cake topper. I think I might just get another cake so I can use the topper and decorate it.

Hair & Make-up - I opted to do my own hair and make-up. The make-up wasn’t too different than what I would wear on a normal day, just darker for photos. Hair, I chose three different styles (because there were so many I wanted to do!) I possibly should’ve done the fishtail duo braids for the beach and the large fishtail braid half up/half down for the forest but eh. It worked out. I couldn’t decide between a hat, hat with flowers, flower crown, or just plain hair. So I did them all! Hat for the ceremony, flower crown for the forest, nothing at the beach, and flowers on the hat for the tree of life photos.

Honestly, I just knew with the weather, humidity, and possible rain with an all-day photography session…my hair was going to need to be retouched quite a bit so why not switch everything up??

I was going to do an arbor with flowers trailing up almost like abstract vines not connected at the top so that you could see the background more - but with rushing to get the bus done, it wasn’t in the cards, and honestly, I feel like that takes away from the beauty of the landscape (depending on what your landscape backdrop is).

Other than that, I already had some pampas grass at my house (which the wind took out right away) and I found some great candle holders at goodwill. A whole slew of them for $12! I was hoping that style of candle holder would prevent the wind from blowing the flame out, that didn’t work. But oh well!

The dress. Oh my lord the dress!! Here’s what happened…I picked out a dress I found on Etsy and loved. However, it was over $3000 and I just couldn’t stomach that. I knew Dion wouldn’t be down with that either. I went to the other end of the spectrum. Got a $300 dress. It came stark white, and not as the picture shown at all. It also didn’t have a train which I was adamant about needing. It was such a struggle to find something I didn’t already see all over Pinterest or others and felt like “the one”. I had accepted that I was just going to have to make the $300 one work. Especially with the time that was left, there was no way a dress would get sent to me in time. Also, I hate shopping so the thought of having to go to a bridal store. No thank you.

Then - I think I was looking on Pinterest for groom attire ideas, not even looking at dresses and my dress popped up. I died. It was love at first sight. I MUST have that dress!

I held my breath and looked on the site. It wasn’t a knockoff. Good. Price $2300. Oof. When could it be delivered? Made to order, arrival, mid-September. Shit. But then…the “ready-made” tab caught my eye. There. The exact dress I wanted. Made and ready to ship!

I emailed the company to see if it would arrive in time and what their size recommendation would be for my measurements. The answer? It ships in 3 days and a small would be the best fit. That only excited me more as I was eyeing the blush slip and they only had it pre-made in small. All that was left…the price. Dion wouldn’t go for it. I asked if they had a buy-back program or would possibly rent it out. The reply - no. But they would honor the sample sale price and sell it to me for $1200. I couldn’t believe it! Yes, still a good chunk of change. But….we weren’t feeding anyone, we weren’t renting out a place and I was doing my own hair & makeup so I more than justified the cost.

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