Wedding Planning Journal Entry No.4 - Setting the Vibe

Growing up, I always thought my wedding would be a huge affair, with hundreds of people, in a beautiful old church, with a reception in a huge historic mansion ballroom, or something… I cannot even begin to tell you how that idea has done a complete 180 in the last year or so, and definitely since I fell in love. I thought I wanted big, I thought I wanted über elegant, I thought I want extravagant, à la Downton Abbey, with everyone dressed to the nines. But what do I want now? One word: SIMPLE!

Before I was in a relationship, I thought the wedding and celebration were so important, and I had day-dreamed it to the point of utter complication. But once I fell in love, I realized that the most important thing about the whole day was that I was getting married to Joseph, and that was the only thing that mattered.

Suddenly those dreams of cascading flowers and 3-course dinners seemed so unnecessary to me. I realized that what I really, truly, actually wanted out of a wedding day was to have it be a simple, relaxed celebration with a small amount of family and friends all hanging out, playing lawn games, and eating cheese and crackers. No fuss, no frills, no fare, just fun. Joseph was in 100% agreement with me, and so I started to imagine what this new, simple wedding would look like. Don’t get me wrong, a huge and elegant affair is amazing, but when it came down to it, I realized that a smaller, more intimate, more relaxed day, was more of a reflection of Joseph and my personalities. So I started to imagine the look of it all in my head, and gather inspiration from Pinterest to really capture the vibe I was looking for.

We wanted a small-as-possible mountain wedding, with less than 100 people, out in nature, with a quiet porch reception with cheese, crackers, and desserts. Lawn games will be set out, and fire pits for folks to gather around and enjoy themselves, and the words first dance and speeches won’t even be mentioned in the planning. We wanted it to feel like a large gathering of friends for a party, and not like a typical wedding reception. The most traditional part will be a cutting of a small cake…but even then we don’t want to announce it. We want the vibe to be relaxed and fun.

Here are a few inspirational shots I gathered in an attempt to capture the feel of how I imagine it to look in my head. It makes me excited for the day!