Did you ever meet a person and drop the ball on being friends right away? Well, Shannon and I were stuck together in the prison of the super-conservative university we started at in Illinois and circumstance prevented us from getting to know one another very well, though we hung in the same circles sometimes. Shannon hit me up on Facebook recently and we instantly hit it off. I never “disliked” Shannon, but I do have this theory that people who wind up being good friends don’t like each other in the beginning. At least, that’s how most of my close friendships have started out to date.
Shh…No more talking, sit back and listen to the story of Bradley James & Shannon Elizabeth.
Brad and I met the first day of our senior year of high school. He turned around and said to me “If this pencil was a magic wand, what would you do with it?” We were instant friends, not to mention: I had a huge crush on him. We went to homecoming together (insert adorable picture here) and in the middle of a slow song he leaned down and kissed me! He pretty much immediately said, “I don’t know what came over me. Must’ve been the music.” As you can tell, he has quite a way with words.
Anyway, we stayed friends, through our first college years, both of us transferring schools, Brad joining the navy, me studying in Romania, a few serious relationships, and lots of personal growth. Senior year of college, Brad invited me down to Myrtle Beach (where he went to school) for spring break. I flew down on March 23, and the same night, he told me that his feelings had changed and knew that if I felt the same way, it would be forever. Apparently I did, and apparently it is. We spent the summer road tripping and moved in together in August. A little less then a week later, he proposed on the beach with a handmade, recycled gold and conflict free diamond engagement band.
Originally, we talked about getting married at an antique amusement park where we grew up in the summer of 2012 (if anyone wants me to plan their wedding at this location, I would in a heartbeat). Brad was deployed on January 6 and will be active duty until this December, and we knew the rational thing to do would be to wait. But who said anything about being rational? We set the date for New Year’s Eve because we thought it would be a wonderful way to get married, amidst family and friends united to bring in a new year and our new life.
When I looked online for ideas, it was so hard to find New Year’s Eve weddings that weren’t completely typical or holiday-themed. There were some traditional things we wanted (noisemakers, party hats, and champagne) but mostly we rocked our own thing. And we did it in 4 and a half months, 3 of those in South Carolina.
We asked Brad’s godfather, Phil Simms, to officiate the wedding. We were married by the court beforehand so he didn’t have to get a license. This freed us to write the entire ceremony and our own vows, which was especially great because we aren’t religious. We also had my former professor (hippie adopted grandfather) open up the ceremony with a poem and have everyone greet each other.
We picked an old, gutted out church in Norwood, Ohio for our wedding and reception. We knew we could do so much with the space, and I used to attend a community church there a few years ago. We didn’t want people to have to drive from the wedding, especially if it snowed. But we didn’t have to worry about that – it was 60 degrees!
We asked everyone to bring a unique plate and a cup to eat from. We kept about 20 of each for our future home and donated the rest to the local refugee resettlement program that I interned with in college. We could tell people really thought about interesting dinnerware that we would cherish, and we absolutely love what came out of it.
Our dads constructed the photo wall, and Brad and I wallpapered and decorated it with antique frames and old family photos. We also threw a lace ‘door’ on it so guests felt like they were entering a real photo booth.
A friend of ours drew a little cartoon of us for the programs, and I designed, printed, and cut them myself. This saved so much money. We later attached babies breath with tape to the back of all the programs.
We set up the entire church ourselves – every table and chair – and covered them all too. For the tables, we used wrapping paper to make table runners in our wedding colors. I decorated and wrote New Year’s messages on all the party hats, and my aunt sewed ruffles on the 14 bridal party hats, made from construction paper. I also made 150 hot chocolate cones as favors for everyone to take home.
Instead of a DJ, we made four playlists – Seating, Ceremony, Dinner, and Dancing. We carefully selected all the songs and the order they would go in. Music is a big thing for us, so while I would’ve loved to have live music, creating our own soundtrack was the next best thing.
I really loved dropping the disco ball and balloons at midnight and seeing everyone blow their horns and give out hugs and kisses. It was probably my second-favorite moment of the night – apart from hearing Brad’s vows.
We aren’t doing a honeymoon yet since Brad had to rush off to the navy. Instead, we are saving our money and using this time to plan a European Adventure for summer 2012. We plan on buying one-way tickets and backpacking to our hearts content.
I would definitely change how much I delegated on the day of the wedding. Make sure you tell your in-laws, family members, and bridal party exactly what is going down on wedding day, even if that means printing out sheets for everyone. Our rehearsal was really rushed – we had bachelor and bachelorette parties to get to since a lot of our party members were from out of town – and I feel like it caused confusion the next day. Also, make sure they know the seating plan for the reception. You’ve been over it a million times in your head, but they haven’t. If you can, delegate someone simply for finding people and making announcements – aka the food is ready, it’s time for the first dance, the floor is open for toasts, the photo booth is now open, please leave a note on this side of the church – etc.
Also, don’t get so caught up in planning that you forget about yourself. I didn’t have time to do my nails the day of the wedding, and I had never tried on my slip with my dress (bad move). And if you are going to get pretty shoes for the photos but they don’t fit exactly right (cough cough) make sure you get some that fit to walk down the aisle and dance in. The only other thing I would change would be to hire someone to stand by the buffet so that my mom and my aunt could have relaxed and enjoyed the reception more.
Vendor Breakdown
Number of Guests: Our guest list was about 150 and we had around 125-130 show up.
Venue: St. Elizabeth’s in Norwood, Ohio
Photography: Free Love Photography (St. Louis, MO) – friends from college
Food: – Acapulco Mexican Restaurant
Cheesecake and Groom’s Cake: J Annette’s Cheesecake
DIY Cake Toppers: Goosegrease on Etsy (bride painted)
Total Wedding Budget: $7,918
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