Weddingbee Blog

I have a treat for you guys today—pics from my parents’ wedding almost 23 years ago! Over the last few weeks my family and I cleared out some of the stuff that has been in storage while we lived overseas. One of the most fun things we found was my parents’ wedding album. I have heard a lot about their wedding, but this was the first time I actually got to see all the photos from it.

In 1988 my parents were almost broke Bible college students. But that didn’t keep them from having a sweet and stylish wedding (even if I do say so myself). What went right and wrong at their wedding, and how they (with the help of many, many friends and family) pulled it off, has really taught me a lot about planning my own wedding, though I obviously wasn’t there personally. So, I thought I would share these little “lessons learned” with you as well:

Lesson 1: Keep it simple

Mum and Dad had a church ceremony with an afternoon tea reception in their college dining room. Mum was also obsessed with the ’20s so she wanted that era to infiltrate the wedding. They had about $2000 to spend (for everything) and over 200 guests. Yikes! But by spending their dollars on the things they felt were most important and by going with just a few decorations that had lots of impact, and not getting caught up in things you “must have” for a wedding, they manage to pull it off on budget. Even if Dad did sell his car to pay for Mum’s e-ring (Which was a separate expense).

Coming out of the church after the ceremony

Lesson 2: Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or to let others help you

Mum says that she only bothered about flowers for people—reception and ceremony flowers she decided to bypass, but her friends surprised her and put arrangements of flowers in strategic locations wherever they could. Her hair was also done by a friend, the Bible College did all their food for just the cost of the ingredients, and basically the whole wedding was a real “team effort” for their community—which is something Mr. E and I have always wanted for our wedding, as well. As Mum says, “people enjoy weddings more when they feel like they played some part in making it happen and making it special.”

The back of Mum’s hair. She wore a veil for the part of the day, but she also had a white Alice bow and some rosebuds in her updo. So pretty!

Lesson 3: It’s okay to break with tradition…and make your own traditions

Do you remember how Mr E helped me choose my wedding dress? Well, we were not the first of our family to do that—my dad also helped Mum choose hers, much to the shock of all their relatives! But nothing catastrophic happened, and it worked for them. Her dress isn’t even a “proper” wedding dress either: it was sold as a “formal dress.” I think she looks pretty darn bridal in it though. And gorgeous, of course.

Aww!

Lesson 4: Find the things that really matter to you and don’t compromise on them

Quite a few brides may relate to my mother in what was most important to her in regards to her “look”: her shoes. She searched high and low for simple white shoes with a kitten heel and finally found some sweet little soft leather ones in a random boutique. Another thing that was important to my parents was photography. Unfortunately here they did compromise and had a friend take the photos, and they now regret it. This is one of the reasons I have always wanted a pro to take our wedding pics.

Lesson 5: Don’t forget to have fun!

It’s your wedding! Some things probably are not going to go quite right. At my parents’ wedding the flower girl (my cousin) was grumpy, Mum ended up having to help all the bridesmaids get ready instead of them helping her, my aunt wore a very white dress (and my grandfather said she was as beautiful as the bride!) and the officiant forgot to say “you may kiss the bride.” But that didn’t cramp their style, as you can see by their smiles throughout these pics. All those little things that went wrong didn’t seem to matter so much when they focused on the good things.

Mum & Dad with their entire bridal party…top hats have a bad rap these days, but I like them

Mum “stole” Dad’s hat for a pic

Off on their honeymoon!

I hope you enjoyed the pics, and a bit of my parents’ wedding story! Have the weddings of your relatives taught you any useful lessons?