WHEW! More than 5 weeks later and my life has finally slowed down enough for me to share a little about our wedding day! After 6 years of dating and a 16 month long engagement, we were joined together in marriage on Saturday, September 21st. BEST. DAY. EVER!
If you followed my wedding planning journey on Instagram or in person, you know that I had a lot going on. I took on a majority of the planning myself and DIYed quite a few aspects of our wedding (with regular advice from our planner/month-of-coordinator, MOH/bridesmaids, my mom, and my fiancé).
In short: planning a wedding while working a full time, travel-for-work job and living between cities was tough! To give you an idea of how complicated everything was, we were married in New Orleans, I was living in New York, I was travelling to Atlanta every other week for work, and I was planning my move back to Dallas simultaneously. Trust me, my stress levels were high!
Needless to say, with so much going on, the planning process got pretty crazy. And as much effort as I put into staying organized and delegating tasks, we had to be flexible and let go of a few aspects of our “vision” leading up to the big day. Small hiccups aside, we could not have asked for a better celebration!
Our biggest priorities
When we started planning, there were a few things we knew we cared about most. What was on that list? Great food, a bomb DJ, and an open bar!
Making those decisions early on proved crucial to our planning process. Whenever it came time to make a “tough choice” or cross something off our list of Wants, we simply referenced our three priorities and kept it pushing! We ended up saving ourselves money/headache and we planned the wedding we wanted.
Flowers are super pretty, but spending upward of $5k for centerpieces did not align with our priorities? So we cut them (almost completely)
We really loved our videographer, but was it important that he capture every single minute of our party? NOPE! So the crew left at 9.
Our favorite personal details
More than anything, D and I wanted our wedding to be uniquely ours and so we were intentional about bringing “us” to the forefront at our wedding.
- Our entrance song was one of Dazell’s favorite Christian hip hop songs (Hold Me Down – Tedashii)
- Our grooms cake was modeled after Whataburger (where our love story began)!
- We had a few restrictions when it came to our guests: no children and no photos during the ceremony!
- We had the Cafe Du Monde beignet truck (and put our special touch on the bags)
- We exchanged personal vows and a asked our guests to prayer for us during the ceremony
- Since our grandparents had all passed in the years before the wedding, we set aside pictures of them at a special table during our reception.
- We wanted our guests to focus on our part, so we cut the often-awkward stuff out of the reception. There was no bouquet toss, fishing for the garter, money dance, etc.
- We incorporated a signature drink (that we actually like): The Washington Apple!
Our Wedding Vendors
Planner: FMD Events
Venue:The Cannery
Photography: Faraday Photos
Videography: Eskimo Love Stories
Makeup Artist: Faces of Virtue
Florist: The Plant Gallery
DJ: DJ Young Streetz
Dress 1: Legends by Romona Keveza
Dress 2: BHLDN
Bridesmaid Dresses: Jenny Yoo
Tuxes and Suits: Tuxedoes to Geaux
Hair Accessories: Bopa Hair
Bakery: Gambino’s Bakery
All in all, we had more fun than we could have imagined (and we think our guests did too)!
Have any questions about our big day? Don’t hesitate to ask!
All your photos were so beautiful. I’m glad your vision cane to fruition. I same the same three priorities.