Brandi Welles Photographer Blog

Oh August.  I never thought I would be so overwhelmed by all that you have to offer.  In any other circumstance I would welcome your arrival, but today I sit here and wonder, how the heck did you sneak up on me like that?? This Summer has flown by faster then you can say “I do” and I feel so unaccomplished in my wedding planning thus far.  The to-do list grows daily, and the closest I get to getting anything done on that list is piling more on to it.

Unfortunately, when calculating our budget a wedding planner didn’t make it into our list of “nessesities,” so we took on all of the planning ourselves, and it’s been quite challenging to say the least. I will say that I now have a new found appreciation for wedding planners and anyone else in the industry. On the upside, the happiness that will result from all of our hard work will make it alllllll worth it.

The big stuff was cake (so to speak); venue: check, photographer: check, dress: check, food: check, invitations: check….but as our big day creeps closer and closer to reality, it’s the details that I find myself struggling with. Luckily, we are blessed with an AMAZING network of friends and family that have contributed and continue to contribute so much of their time, effort and money just to help us out.

Of course I couldn’t even imaging planning a wedding on my own without the help of the almighty internet Gods. I’ve spent many sleepless nights scouring websites like Etsy for ideas on pretty handmade details that I can incorporate into our wedding, and  THANK GOD for awesome wedding blogs such as Green Wedding Shoes, Wedding Chicks, Style Me Pretty and many other fun sites. Because of their existence I have been able to steal some amazing finds and cool ideas to make our wedding uniquely ours.  In addition to those life-saving websites, I am an avid wedding photographer blog stalker (go figure), and I’m always stealing tidbits from the weddings photographed on those blogs.

I mean lets face it…how lucky are we to live in an age where it’s considered completely normal to sit for hours in front of the computer with glazed over eyes and jaw agape looking at handmade cake toppers and ring pillows until four in the morning…right? RIGHT?

So thanks to all of those websites I was able to put together a little thing called an “inspiration board” which pretty much is exactly what it sounds like…wedding inspiration. Of course my inspiration board isn’t nearly as cohesive and put together as something you would see on SMP, but I gave it my best shot, and gosh-darnit I had fun doing it…you can’t beat that!!

As you can see, we are going for more of a rustic-vintagy feel and trying to steer away from some of the more traditional wedding ideals, since Will and I are not by any means a traditional couple. I can’t wait to finally see all of the little bits and pieces come together in October!

But in saying all of this, I know that it’s important to continue reminding myself that all of this is just “stuff.”  The real beauty is in the life Will and I are beginning together.

**Photo love goes to the blogs and websites I mentioned above. None of these photos are mine, they are all property of the amazing photographers who photographed them.**