Ways We Personalized Our Wedding Day

(All wedding photos by Sparrow and Lace Photography,

Boudoir photos by Annie Minicuci Photography)

Hey there! HOW has it been six months since our wedding?! I figured it was perfect timing to take a step back & reminisce on the day, and all of the parts that meant the most to us. One of the biggest things I learned while planning our wedding was that everyone has expectations for what you should do on YOUR day. And so many couples feel pressured to do things in certain ways, just because of other’s expectations or because that’s the way “everyone else” does it. To all the current and future brides out there… I’m here to tell you DON’T LISTEN TO THEM. Seriously, there’s no right or wrong way to have a wedding. But I will say, it’s important to make your wedding a representation of you and your significant other. I mean, that’s what it’s all about right? Today’s post is all about the details & ways we made our wedding day a little extra meaningful.

Our Private Ceremony

This one was definitely the biggest way that we strayed away from the “traditional” expectations. I always thought I would want a big, semi traditional ceremony… until I got engaged. I don’t know exactly what it was, but I realized a small, intimate ceremony was exactly what I wanted. To be honest, Josh was a little unsure of this idea at first (mainly because he didn’t want to upset the guests), but we decided to put other’s opinions aside and just go for it. And it was probably the best wedding planning decision we made! I had so much less stress on that day cause I didn’t have to worry about sharing these personal moments/words in front of 150 people, or worry about the perfect timing and decorations and being the center of attention, etc. It was just us & the 15-20 people closest to us. And it was perfect.

Our Officiant

So our officiant was actually one of my best friends/bridesmaids. I knew I wanted the ceremony to be led by one of our friends or family members, because duhhh.. I wanted it to be personal! I was so honored to have my friend (of almost 20 years!!) marry us. Those moments are so special to us! Thanks Bridget!!

Ceremony Details

While we are on the topic of the ceremony… We completely personalized it. I wrote the ceremony (with major help from the internet), and we wrote our own vows. We also added an extra part… We brought a box with a bottle of wine and wrote letters to each other. We also had some of our friends/family members write messages and add them to the box. During the ceremony we hammered the box shut and will open it on our five year anniversary! Side note: We somehow forgot our hammer to nail the box shut, so someone had to grab an old, rusty wrench out of their car… it still worked the same! Honestly, it makes me laugh every time I think of it!

Our First Look

This one is a more common, non traditional idea… but I was SO excited to do our first look! Our venue had these beautiful stairs (with an old band stand) in the corner of the property. It was sort of out of the way of where guests would go, but I knew I wanted to incorporate the area somehow! Being out of the way also made it more private, so there was no one watching besides the photogs/videographers. Josh also brought his guitar to play me a song & get some photos. Music and guitar has always been so important to him so I knew I wanted to somehow include this in our photos. His guitar is also covered in stickers, and many of them represent places we have visited throughout our relationship.

Nanny’s Cross

Josh’s family has a tradition where all of the cousins pass around his Nanny’s beautiful cross to incorporate into their wedding day by tying it into the bouquet. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to meet his Nanny, but it was really nice to feel like we had our loved ones watching over us!

Our Entrance Table

Another way we chose to honor our family members was at our entrance table. We used old wedding photos from our parents & grandparents on each side, and displayed them in frames at the entrance of the reception tent. We included some pretty flowers, decor, and a sign that said “The Story of Us”. I thought it was so fun to look back at old wedding photos and imagine those days! And I love to think about how those stories are what led us to today. (Actually, right after we met and had our first big family dinner… we realized that our paternal grandmothers knew each other and had mutual friends back when they were kids! Small world!)

Bracelet & Veil

As I’m sure many of you know, two of our best friends (Jena & Devin) got married about 4 months after us. We loved being able to plan our weddings together, and it’s cool to look back at how different they were! Ours was outside, and obviously very summery. While their’s was in an old, industrial building with complete winter vibes! Still, we knew we wanted to some how share something special. Together we picked out a veil and bracelet to both wear on the big days. The bracelet was sooo pretty and worked perfectly with both of our dresses! To be completely honest.. I forgot to wear the veil during my ceremony (whoops!), but still got the pictures with it! Close enough haha

Our Gifts

Josh and I also made a point to give each other gifts on the day of. We didn’t want to do anything expensive, because hello.. weddings are already expensive. But we knew we wanted to do something special. We both wrote each other letters, and I gave Josh a boudoir photography book. He gave me a necklace and this sentimental canvas. He used an old photo I have of a love note my late grandmother wrote to my grandfather almost 63 years ago (on July 1st 1957!). Two months later, they were married on August 31st. Exactly 35 years later I was born on their anniversary, and exactly 21 years after that I met Josh on my birthday. Now if that isn’t fate I don’t know what is.

My Boudoir Session

Lastly, I just wanted to share a little bit about the boudior book I gifted to Josh (photographed by the AMAZING Annie Minicuci Photography). I made it a little extra special by doing the shoot in the gorgeous green house at my venue (aka one of my FAV parts of the venue!). I actually met Annie at a bridal show that I went to with Jena. Annie stood out because she was advertising boudior (instead of the expected wedding photography), and just so happened to be featuring a book with a shoot done in the Historic Shady Lane green house ( I swear the universe just gives ya signs sometimes). Long story short I fell in love with the idea and got to drink champagne and dream about my future wedding as we did the session!

There ya go! Just a few fun ways we broke away from tradition and added a little extra meaning into our wedding day! As we went through the day it was so fun to look at all the details we put together and know that it was the perfect representation of US, and not based on what others expected of us. I hope all of you brides out there feel inspired to make your day as personalized and special as possible! Thanks for stopping by! (: