Sara's #WeddingWednesday

This #WeddingWednesday is a little different, our bride Sara wrote out her story for us. She had a lot going on surrounding her wedding and we gave her the opportunity to tell her story!

Having a rough time planning your wedding? Try planning three! My fiancé Graham and I originally planned to get married at The Detroit Athletic Club on March 15th of this year (the day exactly between our birthdays.) He took me to the club on our first date, so it was amazing to be able to get married there. I spent months creating everything from our custom invitations, to the faux flowers (Graham is allergic to pollen) to hand making custom jewelry for the bridesmaids.

 Less than month before the big day, we realized that we had really jumped the gun on the date and there was no way we could get legally married in March. Then panic set in, everything was paid for… Non-refundable paid for! Graham’s family and friends from England and Canada were flying over for this event. My parents were coming up from Georgia… My dear friends Amanda and Jeff at DreamPop media were set to photography and shoot video at our big day. What now?

Thus, the “Wedding Preview” was born. We changed the ceremony to a commitment ceremony but kept everything else as it was. Who said I couldn’t wear my STUNNING dress more than once? Who said we couldn’t celebrate our love on more than one day? It was absolutely breathtaking and a little bit nerdy (as you will see in the photos below.)

As our Wedding Preview finished, we got down to planning a much larger event on August 30th that could include all 200+ members of

my very large extended family. It was to be a laid back outdoor wedding and BBQ in my hometown of Big Rapids, Mi. We paid the deposit on the venue, booked our hotel block and sent out ANOTHER set of handmade invitations… And then the stress set in again. Do we get a tent, do we risk rain? Do we just invite everyone and hope our headcount was close? What about vendors? What about another cake? What about 1,000,000 other things… The stress was making me insane… And I was starting to lose sight of the most important thing of all.

My marriage.

So… believe it or not, we cancelled our entire wedding. We lost the deposits, but we hadn’t paid for everything yet, so it was manageable. I sent out ANOTHER set of postcards that basically said we were eloping. Eloping isn’t the right word for it, but it’s a word people can understand. Saying that you’re running off to get married with just your parents present because weddings have officially driven you mad is rough for a lot of people. The response was mostly positive, though some people didn’t take it well and that’s their own choice.

So why is my post here on #Wedding Wednesday if we didn’t have a wedding? Because, at this VERY moment, as you are reading this… We are in beautiful Savannah, Georgia in the historic Forsyth Park with our parents… getting married. Graham proposed on this day one year ago, and this day, along with the amazing events of March 15th, are very special to us.

So… I’m here to tell you this. Do NOT allow anyone or anything to tell you what your wedding day has to be. Big, small, formal or casual… it is YOUR DAY. Period. It is the day you and the love of your life commit yourselves to a life together. Never let anyone, or anything rip that away from you. Elope if you want to, have 500 guests if you can manage it, be silly and ridiculous and nerdy if that’s who you are!

So here we are… in Forsyth Park… married. And every last painful tear and second of drama is forgotten. I’m not that person anymore.

I’m Mrs. Sara Jenkins. And there is NOTHING in this world I would rather be.