Why Every Wedding Is a Success in My Book!

In some of my recent posts, I have mentioned "a wedding is a wedding" or that "all weddings are different" -- but I wanted to elaborate a bit more on this idea.

On December 12, my friend Georgie and her long-time beau David tied a knot with a Justice of the Peace in a private ceremony in Texas.  She picked out a dress and found a beautiful bouquet to hold during the short ceremony in a public park. 

On December 21, Mike's friend Karri married another mutal friend, Andrew, in a dinner and dance reception at a double-story venue owned and operated by a local brewery.  There were elements of tradition, white dress and a fancy tuxedo with a beautiful blue and purple theme, but it was a laid-back affair with ornament-making stations and a photo booth.

Mike and I are somewhere in between.  We are having a small wedding with friends and family that is more along the lines of a pancake feed. None of our linens are going to match and our outfits were picked for the fun of it rather than because they matched. 

While the two weddings, and our upcoming event, are wildly different from one another -- they all share two important elements:
1) Success: At the end of the day, all six people of the three couples married the person they adored.

2) Special: It was the perfect ceremony for each couple, their personalities and comfort levels.

I think a recent blog post on Offbeat Bride said it best with "We're all awesome, beautiful, wonderful brides planning celebrations — we're just throwing different parties."

To that end, it is easy to get wrapped up in the WIC (Wedding Industry Complex) of what has to be in the wedding and what you should be doing for guests.  There are times when discussing our event we feel like we are straying a bit too far from the whole wedding formula.  There is always that voice of doubt that perhaps you are just plain flat out doing the whole thing wrong. Sometimes these voices are blared through the bullhorn of wedding blogs or magazines.  Sometimes they are the more subtle tones coming from friends and family.

It was during one of these moments of flagging confidence in our choices that I turned to the groom-to-be and asked him what it was he wanted from his wedding.  Did he want a photobooth? Does he feel we needed to provide additional entertainment for our breakfast feast?

He, being the sweetheart he was, said he just wanted a simple ceremony and a reception that allows him to socialize with his friends and family.  Luckily, we were on the same page. That simple concept is how we designed our morning ceremony (9 a.m.) and pancake reception.

A lesson I have learned is that there is no wrong way to plan a wedding.  Different, yes. Wrong, no.   Keep what you want. Toss out what you don't. But mostly, don't compare your weddings to other people's - for each is decorated a bit differently, but the core is the same. Success and special.

I love that every wedding is different and comes from an authentic part of the partnership that we as guests are there to celebrate.  It doesn't matter if the budget was under $100 or over $30,000 -- each one has a sentimental value that is priceless -- for the couple and the people who love them.  From seated dinners to pancake feeds, people have gathered to share and celebrate the love of two people.

In another post, the author mentioned that "Your wedding is not a race, and there's no need to win — the only prize you need is the commitment of your partner (aww) and you get that regardless of how far you chose to walk off the beaten aisle."

Cheers to the wedding season and the marching to your own beat to the altar.