To say this moon wedding inspiration from Emily Aitken Events and Maggie Grace Photography is out of this world would be an understatement! Set in the snow-covered landscape of Idaho’s Craters of the Moon National Monument, this styled shoot features mid-century modern furniture, brass moon and eclipse decor, geodes, and two wild, winter-inspired bouquets from Just So. Event Floral. In keeping with the theme, Flour Child even created grey and white macrons to represent the phases of the moon. We are obsessed with all the details in this celestial-inspired shoot, particularly the dramatic train and intricate lace bodice of the bride’s Monique Lhuillier gown.
There are quite a few wedding myths floating through the ether these days. Some are obviously based in old-school ideas and others have been propagated for so long they’ve just been widely accepted as fact. Regardless of where and why they started, we think it’s time to update the narrative. Weddings and wedding planning have changed dramatically within the last 5 years alone thanks to social media — thanks, Pinterest! So, in an attempt to reverse some misconceptions and correct some assumptions, here are our thoughts on the most common wedding myths.
1. You have to spend a lot of money to create a truly memorable celebration.
This is probably the most common myth about wedding planning, so if you only remember one thing, let it be this: your wedding will be memorable if it is an authentic reflection of you as a couple, no matter how much you spend on it. We have a hard time remembering any of the no-expense-spared weddings that looked like they were pulled right out of a wedding magazine. But we can easily and frequently recall the backyard celebrations full of handmade details, the desserts that were lovingly baked by a bride’s aunt, and even the modest elopements that required nothing more than a pretty dress and a dapper suit. Your friends and family aren’t there for the food, the favors, the flowers, or anything else you’re told you need to spend a lot of money on. They are there for you. As long as they see that and feel your love, your wedding day will be unforgettable.
2. Your wedding is as much about your family as it is about you and your fiancé.
This is, understandably, a sensitive topic for a lot of people. Your families are excited for you two and want to be involved in this beautiful celebration. Unfortunately, when that excitement turns into unwarranted opinions and expectations, it’s easy to lose sight of what you want in an attempt to make everyone else happy. So, allow us to offer some perspective with a small dose of tough love (for your families). This is not just a wedding; it’s the first official day of your new life together. If that doesn’t deserve a celebration that’s all about you two, we don’t know what does! On that day, you will be standing up, baring your hearts, and committing your lives to each other. Yes, your families will be there to witness your love and support your journey. And, yes, we do think it’s important to include your families in your celebration. But you two — and only you two — will be saying those vows. Your parents had their day. Your siblings will have their days, too. Right now, you get to have yours.
Remember how we said your wedding is about the two of you? Well, that means it’s about both of you! One of the common misconceptions is that all women have been planning their weddings since they were little girls, so it should be all about what the bride wants. We disagree. While the bride will likely have stronger opinions on most elements of the wedding, the groom is certainly going to have some opinions of his own. After all, this is an important day for him, too. Be open to his opinions and his ideas. He might offer a new perspective that you like better or, at the very least, it will allow both of you to discover what’s most important to the other person and find a good compromise.
4. You have to invite everyone you’ve ever known.
This one, while definitely not true, is also entirely impractical. You do not have to invite your best friend from preschool. You do not have to invite your coworkers. You do not have to invite your mom’s best friend’s cousin. In fact, you don’t have to invite anyone! It’s your wedding and your decision. Your guest list should include the people who mean the most to you and who you want to be witnesses to your relationship. It shouldn’t include anyone you simply feel obligated to invite. Yes, it’s hard to cut people from your guest list because you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But it’s important for your sanity, and for your budget. Lucky for you, we’ve got some tips to help you narrow down your guest list.
5. The father of the bride is paying for everything.
While a lot of fathers do contribute to their daughters’ weddings, we’ve found that a lot of couples today pay for part of their own wedding, if not most of it. And it’s not uncommon for the groom’s family to chip in for more than just the rehearsal dinner. It could be a point of pride for a couple to pay for their own wedding. Or it could be a lack of resources on one side of the family or the other. Whatever the case, we think it’s time to put the assumption that the father of the bride is paying for everything to rest. It’s not a fair representation of modern couples and could be a sensitive topic for some families.
6. Wedding planning is stressful and unenjoyable.
Of all these myths, this is the one that breaks our hearts the most. Wedding planning is not the soul-sucking and stressful process so many people make it out to be. Sure, there will be stressful moments, but that’s true of most things in life. There are so many fun things to balance out the stress: shopping with your girls to find the perfect dress, eating all the food to put together your menu, pouring your heart into your vows, and planning an epic honeymoon. It’s all about perspective and focusing on what really matters. You can easily get bogged down with the details, or you can enjoy the process and take each decision as it comes. How many times in your life will you get to plan a party like this?! If you and your fiancé find yourselves fighting more than usual or stressed to the point that you just want to get it over with, take a step back and remember why you’re doing this. This is a joyful time of your life and, no matter what anyone else says, you should enjoy every moment — it’ll fly by before you know it!
Now that we’ve got those out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff:
It’s modern meets elegant in this Seseh Beach Villas wedding. Celia’s glamorous bridal look is giving us major heart eyes with her self-designed wedding jumpsuit and gorgeous hair styling by Sami Knight. With flowers in her hair and an overgrown and lush bouquet by Wed in Bali Flowers, Celia walked down the aisle to meet her groom. After saying exchanging their Monili Jewelers rings, they kept on celebrating outside with plenty of dancing, food, and sparklers! Terralogical Photography and Aile Studio both beautifully captured the day.
I am so lucky to have 2 world class make up artist and celebrity hair stylist as close friends so they were my glam squad that made me look beautiful on the day. I have never looked as beautiful as i did that day!
A friend had told me very early on when I had a mild panic about the pressures of certain traditions of weddings I didn’t really want to uphold – and she told me “Its your wedding, you can do whatever you want. If you don’t want to do it a certain way, don’t”. And this was singlehandedly the best advise i got!
I hand designed my own wedding jumpsuit. I always knew i never wanted to wear a traditional wedding dress.It just wasn’t me. I have so many jumpsuits and i am known for sporting a jumpsuit so it seemed fitting! I am a fashion stylist / fashion editor and I was inspired by a few designs i had seen on the catwalk and i took some ideas to my tailor and he did a fantastic job! It was exactly as i had wanted. I had always also fantasized about a princess diana train and had bought the train online as a joke – but when my best friend Tash came over to have a look at the dress once it was ready – i jokingly put the train on but instantly fell my heart skip a beat! I had to wear it.
We had our close friend Joseph marry us as the officiant. He has a way with words and knows how to capture peoples attention and also he knew us well so this made it very personal. As soon as i got engaged i actually knew he would marry us – i was so nervous to ask him as i know it is a big ask but thankfully he said yes and actually was one of the best parts of the wedding – so funny and heartfelt. He also did the MC speech at the reception. We also selected and wrote our own vows and we wrote the liturgy to be personal to us. We really didn’t want a cookie cutter wedding- we wanted everything to be personal to us.
We actually had a rogue and mischievous monkey that obviously wanted to be part of the celebrations- he had appeared earlier in the week at the villa by the pool and certainly made his presence noticed with lots of monkeying around. We had joked that he wanted to walk me down the aisle and low and behold- after my make up and hair was done and just before i got changed her appeared on the Marquee. I see it now as a sign of good luck as he didn’t cause any issue at all on the day. It was very amusing! Aside for this – the most memorable thing from the day was the magnetic connection between Mikey and myself felt suddenly stronger. With all the eyes and attention on us for the major part of the day – I really remember that we were together for a lot of it – like a team. The best team ever! The rest of the amazing day seems like such a blur of happiness.
Our vibes was “tropical elegance” We wanted it to reflect the surroundings and have the barefoot luxury style we loved about our experience in Bali. Natural palm leaves and wild orchids with gold details and golden pineapples. We wanted something that was down to earth but also impressive and creative.
We chose Bali because we had spent an amazing Christmas there together back in 2014 and had a great time enjoying the culture, activities, nature and food and we wanted our friends and family to enjoy what we had loved also. Once we had Bali as our destination wedding – the aesthetics came naturally as we wanted it to reflect the surroundings and beauty of Bali that we loved. So local flowers and neutral colours. Food we had a fusion of western andIndonesian food as well as amazing entertainment home grown from Bali.
Remember what the wedding is all about and that is you and your lover. Nothing else matters, no one will remember the flower arrangements or what kind of knives were served. They will remember how you made them feel witnessing your love – so keep that in mind when things get stressful.
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