Bride Q & A: Pinky

Hi, ladies. My name is Pinky and blog over at Pinkpersistence. I'm thrilled to be a part of this wedding series, so thank you Ashley for featuring me. You can read more about my wedding *here* on my Love Story page. 

When did you get married?

September 7, 2013. 

Best.Day.Ever!

How did you meet your husband?

We met playing KICKBALL on the National Mall. Yes, kickball, haha. We were both recruited by different people to join a DC team. I was recruited by a guy I didn't even know in my league, but something told me to say YES when he called to join his team. Obviously, God wanted me to meet Le Husband, but I just went into the new team hoping to make a few new friends. Le Husband and I didn't really talk too much the first few games, but one Thursday I met up with teammates before the game and had a couple glasses of wine [with no dinner]. He had some sick play at the plate that caught my attention so [using my liquid courage] I chatted him up at the bar that night. We started talking and hanging out and the rest is history. Crazy how a random kickball team brought me to the love of my life!

Engagement story?

Le Husband super surprised when he asked me to marry him. You can find the whole story *here* but here's the short version. We had talked about the next step, but he kept asking me WHAT kind of ring I wanted so I figured we weren't close to engagement. Little did I know, he had secretly talked to my sisters, had one of my grandmother's rings sent to a jeweler and asked my dad for my hand in marriage {swoon}. I had a soccer game on a Sunday, as my routine, and when I came home I stopped by his place because he had left a rose at my place. I walked in and the whole place was lit up with candles and decorated, but I still wasn't getting what was about to happen. It wasn't until he came over and kissed me and I smelled the whiskey on his breath that I KNEW, THIS WAS THE MOMENT. I remember everything from the night and was so thankful Le Husband allowed my sisters to wait downstairs so I could celebrate with them immediately after the proposal. They had a camera/video set up so I have the entire thing recorded for my memories. Everything about that night was perfect, I was so surprised and over the moon excited.

Biggest challenge of finding your dress?

Honestly, it wasn't really a challenge. I booked my first wedding dress appointment the week we got engaged and went to David's Bridal to get a feel for what I wanted and what I looked like in certian styles. I originally wanted a Kate Middleton style dress with sleeves but couldn't find it in any stores. I tried on every other style at DB and actually tried on THE DRESS at my first appointment. Everyone agreed it was my dress but I wanted to keep looking [silly girl]. I had two more appointments and then BOOM, I had THE DRESS!

 

How many Bridesmaids did you have and did you ask them in a fun way?

I had four ladies in my wedding party. My two sisters were my Maids of Honor and my two best friends were the other two bridesmaids. I asked them all with a cute gift box. I bought them tanks, champagne and decorated a champagne flute, all wrapped up in a pretty package. I couldn't have asked for a better group of ladies to stand beside me on my special day. They were all amazing throughout the whole process and I'm so thankful to have them all in my life.

Did you have any drama?

I'm not a dramatic girl,so the drama was kept to a minimum. We had a bit of number shock when we realized we were sending out invitations to 250 people. YES, 250. Both Le Husband and I come from big families and of course EVERYONE had to be invited at the start. But, as usual, people weren't able to make it [no big deal] and the numbers weren't as crazy in the end. We were even able to invite some extra kickball friends at the end, which was so awesome. The only other drama was a exfriend that brought her wedding drama to my bridal shower AND MY bachelorette party. #classyright #rude

What was your color scheme?

Pink and Green. I'm a pink girl [duh] and so I let Le Husband  choose the complementary color and he chose a bright, light green. We also both wanted grey suits instead of tuxedos, because that was more Le Husbands style. I loved our color combination and our florist did an amazing job with the different colors in the bouquets. I LOVED how bright and happy everything turned out on our wedding day.

How did you pick your venue? Ceremony and reception?

I knew I wanted to get married in my home church so that determined our wedding date. We originally wanted Labor day weekend, but it was already booked so we pushed to the weekend after and it actually worked out better. Our venue was a reception hall about 10 minutes away from the church which was great for our guests. I honestly felt a bit lack luster using a reception venue, because I originally wanted more of a WOW factor, but it ended up being the best decision. Everything was incredibly well run, the food was AMAZING and the fact the hotel ran a shuttle to the venue was extremely helpful for our guests. I loved everything about our church and reception hall and wouldn't change ANYTHING about the experience.

 

Did you take dance lessons?

No. We didn't see the need to take lessons. 

Did you budget? Did you exceed your budget?

My parents were incredible and substantially helped us out for our wedding. They gave us a budget and anything over we had to pay for ourselves. I was under budget on my dress, right at budget on my flowers, and way under budget on our cake/cupcakes. I will admit that I DIDN'T keep track of small incidentals so I can't 100% exactly where we stood with the complete budget, but I know we were pretty close to it.

If you could do it all over again, would you do anything differently?

I don't think I would do much differently if I had to live the day over again. I think I would have tried to get more formal family pictures, but I'm not sure that would have been possible given our timeline. Instead of pictures at the church, the wedding party headed into DC to get pictures at the Jefferson Monument. Since the mall was a significant piece of how we met, we both felt it was important to have pictures taken there. Plus, the background was AMAZING!

What was the most stressful part of the wedding planning process?

I'm not a details person, at all.  I like planning, but all the itty, bitty details and phone calls are so not my forte. I'm good at the big picture and the big list, so I hired a wedding planner for the last two months of planning. Best decision, EVER! It was so nice NOT having to worry about ANYTHING the day off and our planners did such an amazing job. I highly, highly recommended getting a wedding planner, even just the day of the wedding.

Do you have any advice for future brides?

Enjoy E V E R Y T H I N G! Wedding planning is stressful, but it's also so much fun. I loved everything about being engaged and counted down the days till I married the man of my dreams. The week before my wedding was the best week, ever and it was so full of love and fun. Remember that your wedding isn't a performance and it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks/wants. Your wedding and reception is about YOU and your GROOM, so remember to take the time to enjoy the special moments. I highly suggest you take five minutes after your ceremony and just hide and be together without ANYONE ELSE. We took that time and it's one of my favorite memories from the day.  Remember the reason you're getting married, and how much you love your soon to be spouse. < 3 You can also find my "Dos & Don'ts" post *here*.

Love all the great advice, wedding planning is stressful but I know I have loved every stressful minute of it! Speaking of wedding planning, I have a full day today meeting with florists and finally getting to taste some cakes (I have been waiting for this day!). Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

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