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Kelly Plans a Wedding Archive

Kelly Planned a Wedding: One Month Later!

Today marks a very special day for my husband and me:  We are one month into marriage, and celebrating five years of dating! On this very day in 2007, a dear mutual friend introduced us on the lawn of our alma mater (one day before classes started our freshman year of college). We locked eyes, grinned the grin of mutual attraction, and a few hours later, Drew asked me to go for a walk (which started it all). I ran back to my dormitory late that evening (frantic, having missed my mandatory floor meeting) and wrote in my diary that “something magical is happening.” My foresight (or rather 18-year-old idealism) saw that Drew was not just a passing player in my life but a permanent fixture, and here we are five years later, one month into MARRIAGE. MARRIAGE!!!!

[Photos by Kristine Neeley – see her recap here!]

This past month has been full of so many adventures:  Saying “I do” and walking down the aisle, embarking upon the trip of a lifetime (an 11-day excursion to Mexico — more on that to come!), moving into our first home together and merging lives, two birthdays, and a new career.

It’s been nuts, it’s been fun… and both like and unlike what we expected. I can definitely tell you that the experience of working a wedding is COMPLETELY different than having your own wedding. When people told me it would fly by, I was like, “Yeah, right.” But at our wedding reception, at one point I grabbed my bridesmaid Laurajean and asked her to help me change into my getaway dress “Although it’s so early…” and then realized it was 30 minutes until our departure!!!! We seriously only got to see maybe a third of the people who came (cons of having 230-250 guests), and it was over so fast! I also didn’t get to try but the teensy rectangle of cake we cut… SAD DAY.

Transitioning to married life has been lovely and wonderful and perfect (just like the wedding) but also imperfect and challenging and just DIFFERENT. I love living closer to town (and work). I love living with Drew. I love decorating and keeping up our home. But it takes time and work and dedication and investments. Oh, the juggling!!!

Here’s another thing that’s a little odd:  No longer planning out my future wedding! I knew that would be weird, a change of thought patterns (since 80% of my brain-world revolved around wedding plans pre-July 21), and major life change. And it is. I’m not mourning the end of it by any means (nor our honeymoon even), but I do occasionally think about if I did it over what would maybe be different. Would we pick different colors, a different wedding month? Have any different priorities? I would definitely eat more cake if I could do it all over. I might have worn bug spray (or gotten some kind of natural, non-bug spray smelling bug spray), since I got eaten alive by mosquitos while we were taking pictures. I definitely would’ve ripped the stays out of my dad’s suit coat (whoops!). I also probably would’ve tried harder to get my escort cards done in advance, since I ended up finishing them the MORNING of our wedding. But besides that? I’m content. It was perfect and lovely and happy and filled with love, which I wanted more than anything. Plus, we’re married now! That’s the best part! I guess I’ll stick to anniversary party planning if I ever feel like I’m missing out having already gotten married. :)

So let’s raise a glass (of coffee — let’s be honest; real life still hasn’t slowed down enough to catch up completely on sleep!) to a month of married marvelousness, and five years of being with the one I love the most.

Happy Planning, y’all!

~ Kelly

Kelly Plans a Wedding: Best-Friend Bridals

Today is my birthday!!! While I’m celebrating with my new HUSBAND and settling into our new home, here’s a second part to last week’s KPAW series — my best friend bridal portraits!

Ever since I saw this post on Style Me Pretty years ago, I knew I wanted to have a photo session with my best friend (in both our wedding dresses). Little did we know we’d be getting married just one short month apart — how perfect!

Laken and I grew up together sharing study notes, bags of M&Ms, bikinis, and bra sizes. We swapped clothes on a weekly basis (if not daily — and yes, a significant proportion of both of our closets still technically belong to one another), traveled together (the Bahamas, Chicago, Turks & Caicos, and Mexico to name a few!), and passed notes constantly (thank God for texting — we couldn’t have survived going to separate schools for college without it!).

We were born a month apart, started seeing our future husbands a month apart, and were married a month apart. I can only expect that whenever we start having kids, they will inevitably be timed respectively:)

Laken joined me at my alma mater, Belmont University (where we used to play percussion in middle school band ensemble contests years ago), for our best friend bridal portrait session, beautifully photographed by my wedding photographer, Kristine Neeley. We laughed, vogued, and pranced around in our white dresses in the lawn for a few hours, escorted by our personal dressers/bouquet-holders (Moms). Hillary of Brocade Designs created our stunningly pretty portrait bouquets for the session — we both LOVED the peonies especially!

We will cherish these forever!!!!! Already do:)

~ Kelly

Kelly Plans a Wedding: Bridal Portraits

While “Kelly Plans a Wedding” is on her honeymoon, enjoy these scheduled posts — some recycled from favorites in years past. Regular posts will resume the week of Monday, August 6.

While I’m basking in the Mexican sun (God willing!), here’s a looksie at some of the bridal portraits Kristine Neeley did for me last May! We hit up my alma mater, Belmont University, for some Southern-appropriate portraits. I love how the Belmont Mansion makes me think of Charleston (my favorite city!).

Dress, Veil & Belt:  The Bride Room

Bouquet: Brocade Designs

Photography:  Kristine Neeley

Photo of the Week

While “Kelly Plans a Wedding” is on her honeymoon, enjoy these scheduled posts — some recycled from favorites in years past. Regular posts will resume the week of Monday, August 6.

By Kristine Neeley.