Thursday, July 27, 2006

Anniversary

Today is our anniversary. I recall our wedding day fondly. We married in Chicago in Jonathan's parents backyard. We invited 20-30 of our closest friends and family members. The entire event was a celebration and truly felt like it. We wanted a very simple celebration - as we both felt as if there were too many weddings that were about the single day rather than about the joining of two people for a lifetime. Our wedding was not a day - it was start of a new life together.

The morning of the wedding, Jonathan and I went to the local famers market and picked out our own flowers. I made a bouquet for myself, the girls, and a few pieces for tables.

The girls wore simple white dresses which were either what Madison wore for her first communion or one that was found off of ebay. I wore a dress that I purchased "off-the-rack". My mother took the dress and modified it to our liking (she used to sew all of her own clothing). Zach wore a simple hand-me-down outfit. Jonathan wore a blue shirt and tie.

After the ceremony we went to a lovely restaurant and had a great sit down meal. It was wonderful and simple. There was not a dance, nor a show. There was a sense of celebration - as the people who were with us were those who were closest in our lives.

The event was so much different than other weddings we have been to - which are months of planning, thousands of dollars spent, guests the couple don't know, a big fairy tale show. Todays average wedding costs $30,000 and almost 50% of marriages end in divorce. We wanted the day to be about a marriage - not a wedding.

We didn't want to start our marriage with a debt due to a wedding.

Our anniversary is a wonderful day for us. We do not spend it exchanging gifts. We do, however, sit down to a nice homemade meal. This year we have decided to make an investment for our anniversary. Starting today we will have a car the is fueled with Waste Vegetable Oil. I can't think of a better anniversary gift to ourselves!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your wedding dress was beautiful!

You're right that many people waste money on their weddings. If you have lots of money and want to spend it on that, fine. But too many people go deeply in debt for their weddings--and then have that stress burdening them from the first day of their marriage.

Ours (which did, actually, take a huge amount of planning) was somewhat similar to yours: a destination wedding in snowy Vermont, with about 45 people attending. We got married in a local church. We had a fantastic meal at a restaurant afterwards. It was wonderful. Large enough to have lots of people who were important to us, small enough to have time to interact with all the people.

The only thing I would take back is that I cooked our rehearsal dinner (also for 45 people) to save us money! It was nuts.

Unknown said...

Happy Anniversary!!

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