Actress Singer Educator

Love and Marriage

And So It Begins...

Rob and I have made meager attempts at beginning the wedding planning process and let me just say, it’s daunting. It’s not overwhelming because of any of the reasons that I thought it would be, but simply because it seems like a lot of work for something that I kind of feel ‘eh’ about. Don’t get me wrong here! I love Rob and can’t wait to be married to him. We are going to be an awesome family, but dresses, flowers, and venues? Eh, not that interested.

I thought that maybe I was alone on this, but luckily I discovered an amazing book called “A Practical Wedding” and it has changed the way I view my upcoming nuptials. This book is a must read for anyone planning a wedding. It’s so, well, practical.

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I love the idea of a wedding, but when it comes down to it, weddings are expensive, and for no good reason. And then there’s the expectations. The endless, mind numbing expectations. For me, it’s a celebration of love and commitment and I just don’t see where floral arrangements and $5,000 dresses come into the equation. I love weddings, but not for the decorations or matching bridesmaids dresses or three course dinner, but for that moment during the ceremony when even I (a total unromantic, unsappy person) feel a little choked up. I also love weddings for the reception where you get to dance and drink the night away with your family and friends in honor of this couple that you love.

In the book “A Practical Wedding,” Meg Keene says, “A whole industry is set up to sell you a beautiful wedding; it’s set up to sell you how things will look. But what matters on your wedding day, what you will remember until you are old and gray, is how it felt.” Yes! I want a wedding that feels good. I don’t want to spend money that I don’t have for expectations that I’ll never meet. I want us to craft a day that celebrates who we are and what we have accomplished, not a day that feels ordinary or uptight.

We may not know what we are doing when it comes to planning this shindig, but there are a few things that we do know. We want to be a room with friends and family on the day that we become an awesome, new family. We want to have a band because we are musicians and having our party feel like a rock concert is important to us. We want to eat lots of dessert and drink booze. We might even want a margarita machine and fajitas. We want to get sweaty from dancing. I want to laugh at him while he’s dancing on the dance floor. He wants to laugh at me because I don’t actually know the words to songs that I think I do. We want to dance with our friends and siblings. We want our friends from growing up to be in the same room with our friends from our life now. We want to be in a room filled with nothing but joy, laughter, and happiness as we celebrate something pretty awesome. We want to say nice things as we make a verbal commitment to each other in front of these awesome people. We want to celebrate the last 10 years of our lives that have led up to this moment. These are the things that are important to us and I think that’s a great place to start planning a wedding.

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