No Stress, No Drama, Just Simply Married!

Envision the grandest and most extravagant wedding reception with flowers, and hundreds of people both friends and family celebrating the night away. Unfortunately that was not me. Not exactly sure why I never got the itch to throw a big shindig. The thought of a large wedding not only freaked me out but wasn’t something that I have ever dreamed of. I have been lucky to have attended many beautiful and magical ceremonies, but I never envisioned that for myself. Heck! I didn’t even know the type of engagement ring I wanted until my girlfriend sent me a photo of one and said, “this is your style”; the round cut, simple and classic. That is me! So just picturing the amount of time and energy needed to plan a wedding was daunting and overwhelming and ultimately not worth it for me. Initially I thought about having an intimate ceremony with close friends and family. Maybe have a destination setting where everyone could mingle and have a vacation too. But what I quickly learned is that everyone, and I mean everyone, had an opinion and what I truly envisioned wouldn’t become a reality. So from that point I decided that eloping was our best and most exciting option. This very thought finally made me smile again.

Aren’t we all different? If having a wedding is something that you dreamed of, then having your love and commitment commemorated on a special day is amazing. Having been lucky enough to attend several memorable weddings, from the top of the Rockefeller center in New York City to the beaches in Cancun, and from snow capped mountains in Vancouver NOT having a wedding was definitely a tough decision I did not take lightly. IF I went the route of throwing a wedding, I knew I was going to stress! Pleasing our families and making sure they were happy the day of was ultimately something that I knew would be exhausting. I knew, for me at least, I needed something simple and stress-free that only focused on what truly mattered: our relationship, our marriage, and life long commitment. Whichever route we decided both sets of parents gave their blessing. So knowing they were really okay with the idea gave us the freedom to choose what “we” wanted.

So obviously you guys know what we decided! Elopement!! Our three day celebration at the Bacara Ritz Carlton in Santa Barbara was exactly what we wanted. We were married atop the hill on the dirt cliff overlooking the pacific ocean surrounded by trees and the wilderness. We couldn’t have dreamed of a better setting! The weather was simply perfect, and to top it off with a sunset over the ocean was the the kind of day that I had pictured. My motto “simple and stress free.” We lovingly gazed into each other’s eyes and exchanged our vows to commit to each other forever. The day was about our love for one another and with no distractions we enjoyed each other’s company. Best of all, once the ceremony was over, we were relieved and happy. To be honest, all I wanted to do was change out of my wedding dress and into something comfortable – a white t-shirt and jeans haha. The day was magical and this time this was exactly what I had imagined and guess what?!? There was no stress, no drama, just simply married!

Thank you for your interest in reading about my dream wedding experience. Hopefully now you can see that there are other ways to have your own “special” day. Take a look at some of the pictures we shared and if you are interested the vendors we chose to plan our memorable day are listed below – xoxo