No little girl pictures walking down the isle on her wedding day toting an 8 1/2 month pregnant belly...but that was my reality. And now that's it's all said and done, it was perfect and I can't imagine it any other way.

A couple of months ago, on his 30th birthday, my then boyfriend told me he wanted to get married soon. Quite frankly I was shocked because I'd mentioned us eloping or having a small ceremony several times, even before I was pregnant, but didn't think it was going to happen because he never seemed very fond of the idea. He is the "life of the party" type person so I understood that he wanted the day to be a celebration. Now don't get me wrong, our decision for marriage wasn't a "shotgun" type thing where we felt the need to do it just because I am pregnant. We have been together for 4 years and we've been having the marriage talk for a couple of years now, but just kept facing trial after trial so it never felt like "the right time." Now that things are looking up and we have so much to be thankful for, now felt as good of a time as any to make it official!

Growing up I was your typical girly girl that dreamed of wearing a big white dress and having a grand ceremony and reception for my wedding. But after last year, losing our baby and going through so many struggles, my whole outlook on life changed. Me eyes were opened to what's really important to me and my vision of marriage became less about what my wedding day looked like and more about what all of the days following that one day what be.

So as we started planning our semi-elopement/small ceremony we really wanted to focus less on what that day would leave us with physically and more on what the day would leave us with emotionally. We decided to keep stick with just our parents and siblings present. That part was tough. We are both very family oriented with big families and knew that if we invited some and not all there would be issues. We also have some really great friends that were going to miss out as well. But we focused on the people that are truly most important to us, and keeping it small made it so much more intimate.

We also decided to keep it under wraps because we knew if we announced it, we would open the door for people to give their unwarranted opinions on how we should have our special day. Again, this was perfect. We were able to plan and do what we wanted without the stress of pleasing other people or hearing what they think.

We got married at the River Oaks Garden Club on what was supposed to be a rainy day but turned out to be beautiful (shoutout to Jesus)! We were able to keep lots of elements of a traditional ceremony even though it was small. My dad still walked me down the isle and gave me away, I still carried a bouquet and wore a veil even though my dress was pink and fit my pregnant belly perfectly, we still had a wedding cake and saved the top tier, we had dinner in a private room at Vic & Anthony's after the ceremony which was delicious. I wanted to be sure I could look back on the day and still feel like a bride.

All in all, the day was perfect and I felt like a princess. It was extremely special and we were able to live in the moment without the stress, anxiety and financial burden traditional weddings typically bring. I would do it this way a thousand times over if I had to choose. We're contemplating having a one year anniversary party next year to invite our family and friends that weren't able to be with us to share in a celebration of our marriage but haven't set anything in stone. If that does happen, be prepared for lots of planning posts on the blog!



I will update with more wedding photos after we receive them from our photographer!