Weddingbee Blog

Do something pretty while you can
Don’t be afraid
Skating a pirouette on ice is cool

Planning our wedding has been an inspiration and a springboard for me to focus on the little details in life more often. A few fresh flowers at the dinner table, a small homemade flower pin gifted for no reason, or simply dropping a beautiful thank you card in the mail are small powerful ways to enrich our daily lives.

The details DO matter.

I’ve already written about my complicated relationship with the WIC/wedding blog world and the constant push/pull I feel to focus on the meat, the grit, the heart of our wedding and still somehow incorporate a few beautiful details. I secretly feel guilty when I get caught up in all the little details and find myself repeating the phrase “all the details no one will ever notice” a little too often.

I did it here with our awesome Save-the-Dates. And you know what? I eat my words. I take it ALL back. Because people noticed, appreciated, and dare I say, LOVED the details almost as much as I did.

And that got me thinking, is god really in the details?

Yes it’s may be an old adage, a cliche phrase, or a moot point if god’s not your personal cup o’ tea, but the details make life special.

Beautiful light. A second cup of coffee in pajamas. A crisply tied bow. A perfectly frosted cupcake. There is beauty and power and magic and art in the details.

Why in the hell else would I spend a year of my life planning and writing about our wedding if not to focus on the details? ALL the details. Aesthetic, emotional, and otherwise.

There is beauty in the intent, in the execution, in the memories of the details themselves. Our paper cranes started out as a purely aesthetic and slightly budgetary detail (paper is cheap, yo!) but they’ve evolved into much more than that. When I look around at the hundreds of cranes in the trees at our wedding I’ll remember my drunk friends trying to fold straight lines and pouring more wine, and laughing out loud and showing off their epic crane fails. And that makes me smile. And even if I don’t notice the cranes on our wedding day, I’m sure the pictures of them will make me smile just the same. And I’m smiling right now, so I think the cranes are already worth it!

Here I am constantly trying to justify or rationalize or over think my desire for a beautiful wedding when there is absolutely nothing wrong with beauty. Beauty is valid, life affirming and uniquely in the eye of the beholder.

Yes, Virginia there is a santa claus there is magic in the details. And I want our wedding day to be nothing short of magic. Spine tingling, hair raised on the back of your neck, ugly gulping, guffawing, happy tears, wine flowing, surrounded by beautiful details that make you catch your breath and for a quick minute transport you somewhere magical magic.

All these silly details are important because they serve to remind us that this day is not a day like any other. They help transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. They support and invoke ritual, history, community, and a sense of specialness.

Of course I know beautiful flowers and paper cranes and coordinating linens are not necessary for a fantastic wedding, but do I think they contribute to the sense of wonder, of magic, of specialness that I want to surround us on our wedding day? Yes I do. And therefore the details have a place and an importance.

And so I have this great and complicated and fantastic journey that is wedding planning to thank for encouraging me to sit back and revel in the little details that enrich my life today. In this moment.

The color of the sky. The quality of the light as it falls on my pepper plants. My snoring dogs. Folding a perfect crane. Anticipating F Stripes coming home from work. And making beautiful details just for the sake of beauty.

How has wedding planning enriched your life? And what little details do you anticipate making you the happiest on your wedding day?