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For the final edition of the Advice from Past Brides series, Ryann Gaspara shares a beautiful story about her wedding, as well as her best wedding decision and wedding regret.
After you read this touching post, go check out Part 1 and work your way through each week. There’s so much invaluable information in every single post :)
My husband and I were married in June of 2013 and it was an incredible day. Our wedding was a bit different than most because we had an expedited timeline. We were engaged in March and in May my mother-in-law to be was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given just three months to live.
Needless to say, I jumped on planning immediately and was able to arrange a wedding for 45 just 5 weeks later. She was in attendance, friends and family joined in to cook, arrange flowers and take care of details with us. Everyone worked so hard to make that day a reality, there was not a dry eye when we said our vows and my heart was so full it felt as if it would burst all day.
My new mom passed shortly after. What I really learned from the experience was to take every single moment and cherish it. Sure, it’s your big day, it’s stressful, and things will go wrong but, in the end none of those mishaps matter, because everyone is present to celebrate your love, family, friends and future.
Best Wedding Decision
My advice is to hire a photographer and videographer you trust to capture your wedding. We originally planned on having a huge blow-out reception later that year for all the folks we couldn’t invite to the small wedding. When we got our pictures from the photographer that “need” just melted away, everything we could want to keep as a memory was in that album.
Wedding Regret
Because our wedding was at noon on a Sunday, we did lunch and the celebrating ended by 4pm, so we didn’t see a reason for the traditional dance floor at most weddings. I do wish that we had shared a first dance that day, even if it was with music coming from my iPod. We had our first dance over two years later at my sister-in-laws wedding; she gave it generously as a gift to us on her day.
