Our New Hampshire Wedding
It has been one week of being married and we are still riding the high. It is wild to think that we got engaged a year and a half ago and we FINALLY tied the knot! Right now we are looking forward to our honeymoon which is coming next week (stay tuned for a Cabo Honeymoon blog post soon) which we are SO excited for!
I am really excited about this blog post because I get to share the details of our wedding weekend: our venue, my inspo, attire, etc. I also really want to share the ups and downs of the wedding planning process and the experience that I had (things I loved, and things that I wish I had done differently).
I found my wedding venue before Bobby and I started dating (about 9 years ago). My family has a lake house in New Hampshire. My best friend and I were out on a summer drive and we randomly stumbled upon the Bedford Village Inn. I turned to my friend and said “I am going to get married here”. While I did look at other venues (just to rule others out), I knew that my heart was set on this venue. I loved the idea of getting married in a garden full of grass and flowers and dancing under hanging lights under the moon with Bobby (dinner and dancing was inside the Inn, but we did manage to sneak out for some dancing and photos in the garden together). The venue was beyond perfect. Everything ran so smoothly which was a dream!
Luckily, my sisters had both been married within the two years prior, so we had a lot of signs and decor which saved us tons of money! I definitely recommend reaching out to people you know that are getting married before you or who have recently gotten married. They will either sell it to you for a small price or they may let you borrow for free. Everything from the seating chart to the table numbers can add up quickly so borrowing is a great idea! I also did a lot of DIY. I created my seating chart cards, thank you’s and guest itinerary on Canva and then had them printed. They have beautiful pre-made templates available so you don’t have to create anything from scratch. I also used a lot of what the venue had available- linens, cutlery, cake stand, etc. These things are expensive to rent, so if your venue has them, use them! These are small things that no one notices, so don’t worry about it!
I got a lot of inspiration off of Pinterest and Instagram. You will most likely need a Pinterest board to show to your cake vendor and flower vendor. Some photos I loved are these ones below (all from Pinterest and Instagram). I will post photos of the wedding in a separate post soon (once our photos come back). Something to keep in mind when planning decor- do what you love. Don’t do something because it is not trendy or because it is trendy. Don’t skip doing something because it is too trendy either! I love pampas grass and flowers for hair so I went with it! Who cares if people say flowers crowns are over, do it because you love it!
My inspiration!
Now lets get into some fun stuff! The attire! Below is my wedding weekend outfit inspo!
A rose print gown was something I wanted! This gown here is SO affordable and the lace is gorgeous! These earrings are similar to the ones I wore on the day of my wedding. I love the hoop with a dangling pearl! These earrings are super affordable and you can wear them to any event! I loved my rehearsal dinner jumpsuit! It was so comfortable and since we were inside with the AC, my legs stayed warm! These are the exact shoes I wore the day of the wedding! They were so comfortable, affordable and so beautiful! I also wore a personalized satin robe on the day of the wedding. I almost splurged on a $200 robe for getting ready and I am so glad I didn’t! There are so many affordable and cute robes out there that look great in photos!
Our weekend was nothing short of amazing. Weddings are definitely worth the hype in my opinion. It is a celebration of love and it brings people together again. Our friends haven’t been together in a very long time, so to be able to celebrate together was pure bliss! However, there are lots of things people don’t tell you about the wedding panning process. Below are my own personal thoughts on the experience. This isn’t to deter you from having a wedding by any means. These are just things that were true for me, and things that I wish I had done differently:
Expectations
I had a lot of expectations for the wedding. I built an idea in my head about the day being the best and most perfect day of my entire life. It was nothing short of magic, but I will admit it wasn’t what I thought. The morning of the wedding, I woke up really stressed which I totally didn’t expect or see coming. I was also extremely bloated from traveling and celebrating during the week which I also didn’t prepare for. These things were so small, however I wish I had lowered my expectations during the planning process. There is so much pressure about a wedding day being the perfect day and the best day of our lives. There is also so much pressure about looking perfect and having the perfect body for the one day. All that pressure can turn even the chillest of us into stressed out brides.
planning chaos
Okay, the planning wasn’t bad! I had it pretty easy considering the pandemic. Our vendors were amazing and the venue was amazing. We had booked our vendors right away after finding our venue, which to me was the easy part. For the most part, wedding planning was quiet up until the last month… No one tells you about the last month of planning! The few weeks leading up to the wedding required meetings with the vendors to talk about game plans for the day, creating seating charts, filling out meal orders, creating a playlist, planning the post wedding brunch, dropping off decor, etc. It was a lot of work. It took a lot of time during the week to get everything done. I definitely recommend to future brides, to schedule time to plan during the five weeks leading up to the wedding (especially if you are DIYing seating charts, thank you place cards, etc.). I waited until the last 3 weeks to start everything, which was a huge mistake by me. My tips is to not wait until the last minute to get things done!
What I would have done differently
I wouldn’t have traveled for my wedding (unless it was a destination wedding to an island lol). We traveled to Boston from Phoenix for our wedding (we are both from Boston). I loved my venue, but traveling there was A LOT. It caused a lot of bloating and digestive stress, as well as mental stress for me. Had I done it over again, I would have chose to have my wedding close to where I live. This is a personal opinion. We flew out a few days prior to the wedding to help get used to time change and make sure that everything was all set for the day. While that did slightly help, traveling the week of our wedding was not fun. Traveling required so much preparation. This wasn’t like any trip we have taken. We had to bring home bridal party gifts and all of our attire. We had to be super diligent about packing and making sure to not forget anything at all! Also, traveling is super stressful in general! Wedding week and traveling was not a good mix. It was important to me to get married at the venue that I loved, and I didn’t want to make others feel obligated to travel to us… but after having done it, I would have chose to do it differently (as the bride, I would have liked the week to be as easy and relaxing as possible as opposed to dealing with travel stress). I also had to meet with my vendors by phone because I lived out of state. While they did make it easy, it would have been easier to meet and talk about plans in person. I also didn’t get to do a cake tasting because of this as well. No regrets here about our big day, this is just something I wish I had considered prior to planning. I also planned the wedding right away (only a week after getting engaged) which I wouldn’t recommend doing. My advice to any future bride out there is to give yourself a couple months to think before booking. I jumped on one of the only dates available at my venue for June 2021, and I never considered any other options (like a beach destination wedding or a wedding near where I live). Give yourself some time after the excitement of the engagement wears down to really consider what you want to do!
No complaints and no regrets! Our wedding was honestly so incedibly perfect.
The day after the wedding, we drove down to Boston and stayed in the Seaport area. Yes we were tired, but it was the most relaxing night. We walked the pier and ate lots of fresh caught seafood (yes, I splurged and ate seafood) and reminisced over the wedding. If you are thinking about heading to Boston in the summer, go for it! There are so many amazing restaurants along the pier that overlook the water! It is the perfect place to grab a drink while taking in the ocean views.
My top tips when planning are:
Speak up! Let your significant other, family members and vendors know exactly what you want!
Resolve issues prior to the wedding! If anything pops up that might be an issue like family issues, guest list issues, budget issues, etc. get them dealt with early on to avoid stress close to the wedding!
Give yourself time to consider wedding options! There are so many things you can do from backyard weddings to destination weddings. You may want to get married in the next year, but your dream venue is booked till the following summer… consider all your options, wants and needs before signing on to anything!
Connect with your vendors (especially the photographer and wedding coordinators). I spoke to a few different photographers before choosing. They will be spending time with you for the majority of the wedding so make sure they are easy to communicate with and that they are someone whom you don’t mind following you around on your special day!
Let yourself enjoy the weekend! I wasn’t planning on drinking as much champagne as I did, but I am so glad I let myself enjoy it! Yes it may have added to the wedding day bloat, but I didn’t feel restricted.
Stay tuned for a honeymoon update soon!
Wedding Details:
Photography- J&J Photography
DJ- Aaron Topfer
Floral- In Bloom Weddings & Events
Dress- Grace Loves Lace
Bridesmaids Attire- Birdy Grey
Cake- Paints & Pans
Venue- Bedford Village Inn
