Hi everyone! My name is Ruthie and I blog over at
The Chronicles of Ruthie Hart (original huh?!) and I am so thrilled to be guest posting today on The Vintage Apple! I wish I could say I had a theme to my blog but it pretty much consists of random musings of my life , everything from recipes, workouts and bargain hunting to an insane amount of pictures of my super cute
husband puppy! When Michelle asked me to do a guest post I knew right away I wanted to share with you guys about one of the greatest days in my life, my wedding day.
If you’ve followed The Vintage Apple for a while, you would know that Michelle will be saying “I Do” to Mr. Anonymous this October (I can’t wait to see that girl’s wedding shoes!). If you’ve been a bride, are a bride or have ever tuned into one of the billion wedding shows on TV these days, you know that weddings can be stressful (que Bridezilla music). My hubby and I got engaged on July 15
th, 2010 (check out the story of our engagement
here) and married February 5
th, 2011 which meant we had under 7 months to plan the whole shebang. I had multiple people ask me how the heck I stayed so calm and stress free during our engagement and I thought I’d share some of my “keep your fiancé-bridal party-parents-friends-self sane” tips:
1. Don't lose sight of what your wedding is actually about. Yes it is hard to get sucked into the details, “what shade of ivory should the table linens be?” “what is the order of the toasts?” “ivory or orange ribbon around the bouquets?”. Okay my head is already spinning. Remember that the whole reason you are planning this event is to celebrate the union between you and your spouse. The start of your beautiful lives together. The details you need to be thinking about are the words in your vows, the symbolism of the wedding ring and wedding kiss and most importantly the fact that you will walk down the aisle as single woman and walk back out as a wife. The best feeling anyone could ever imagine.
2. Things will happen. will happen. Yup. Bridesmaids will flake, vendors won’t return your call and your fiance may even break his foot weeks before your wedding. Oh wait. That happened to me! My sweet hubby broke his poor foot a mere 6 weeks before our wedding (on New Year’s Eve I might add). I wish it was a crazy “he got in a bar fight” or “he was running with the bulls” story but he was moving furniture and kicked the TV stand so we spent the entire day in after hours clinic and somehow I remained calm. I told myself “okay let the bad stuff happen now, everything will be perfect on our wedding day”. Well, don’t hold your breath. Jon’s foot was still feeling funky and he sucked it up but that was the least of our worries. The snowstorm of a lifetime happened to hit Texas the Thursday night before our wedding shutting down both the Houston and Dallas airports (if you’ve never been, DFW is like the mecca of airports). I have to admit I did cry a few tears of sadness knowing that some of my guests would be stranded and not be able to make it but then I slapped myself back into reality. All I really needed on the night of February 5th was my fiancé (oh and my dad to walk me down the aisle, my mom to sit in the audience crying, the pastor to marry us, etc…minor details) and that gave me peace. That’s when things started to sink in. Regardless if I had 140 or 4 people at my wedding, I was marrying the most wonderful, most selfless, humble, caring, smart and loving man in this entire world. Side note: we had about 10 guests who weren’t able to make it and although I wish they could have celebrated with us, nothing could have gotten my spirits down.
3. Ask for help. I was so incredibly lucky to be getting married only a year and a half after my big sister so I definitely got the hookup (which made our short engagement so much easier). I used a few of her vendors, had an idea of what kind of flowers/décor/etc I wanted and knew what to expect cost wise. I loved thinking back to her wedding and all the other weddings I had been to and getting ideas from brides who had done it before me. Use your friends and family for help! Gosh I don’t even want to think about how the planning process would be if Pinterest would have been around. I can’t think about it, I will get sad! Don’t be afraid to ask whether it be asking your fiancé to write addresses on invites (thanks honey!) or have your mom help tie ribbons around the bubbles for the “getaway”. Just because it is YOUR big day doesn’t mean you have to load everything onto your plate. I am MOH for my bestie’s wedding in January and it has been so much fun to help her look at dresses, come up with ideas for flowers, etc. Your wedding is not only happy and exciting for you but for so many people involved. I am a super indecisive person so when it came to making decisions, I am glad I had my mom and fiancé there to help me :-).
4. Talk about your marriage. Jon and I did biblical based pre marital counseling (the good kind!) at our church and also joined a small group that studied a book called Building Your Marriage to last. It was amazing. It was so great to get advice and a look into people who have been married longer than you and it also helped us prepare for the obstacles and hindrances that we will one day have to over come as man and wife. Whether it be through church or another organization, Jon and I swear upon it. It helped us focus on our actual marriage so we didn’t wake up the day after our wedding and say “what now?!”
5. Have fun! Love every minute of it! It is such a fun and exciting time, like nothing else you will ever experience. And also, know that marriage rocks!!
Well that’s all folks! Thanks so much for reading and be sure to check out
my blog and navigate over to the
Wedding Page where I have recapped everything from my dress to the music we used and even a sneak peek into our awesome wedding showers!
xo,
Ruthie
***Thank you so much Ruthie!!! I always love looking at your wedding pictures and hearing about your beautiful wedding day! Thank you for sharing with us all!!!!!!!
And, since I am on a Road Trip right now, I'll have to share my Tastes & Travels with you guys as soon as I get back!!!
