#MRANDMRSSMITHWEDS: We have a wedding date!
You may or may not have forgotten that we got engaged at this point, haha. I’ve been a little radio silent on wedding details because we’ve been going back and forth on plans. Alas, we have a wedding date!
With my family being in West Virginia and Jared’s family mostly being here in Texas, we knew at least one family would have to travel no matter where the wedding was. We also knew we wanted it to be small. Though we may live most of our life online in the public eye, we both are private people. We don’t really do PDA very well (aka we’re not smooth at all), and we also wanted the day to be authentic, not a show. I love Pinterest as much as the next girl, but I don’t want to have to compete with it.
I know, I know, we’re all used to seeing over-the-top flowers and parties here, but we’re actually low-key about those things when it comes to our personal life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about bringing the prettiest gift wrap to the birthday party, or throwing the cutest bridal shower around. I just prefer to be the person dropping the gift and running, instead of the person being gifted. I swear this makes sense in my mind, so stick with me here!
Alas, we decided to have a destination wedding on a quiet little island in the Bahamas— Harbour Island— with only our close family and friends. On top of it being the perfect middle ground for PDA’s sake, it was also important to us that we spend money on the memories and not the decor. So in lieu of a fancy reception with 200 people, we opted for casual and small. This way we’ll be spending (even less) money on an entire week with friends and family instead of one elaborate night. Needless to say, we are so, so excited.
Now for the candid part, we did have about 10 meltdowns over trying to organize two families living in different parts of the country for a beach wedding in February 2017…which might as well feel like next week. And by “we”, I mean me. I cried once…or twelve times.. over the dates, travel details, you name it. We’re trying to make the wedding as inexpensive as possible, which means we’re left planning it ourselves. We knew it would be challenging, but I’m no travel agent or airfare guru, so it’s been a steep learning curve when it comes coordinating a group.
The reason we chose the Bahamas is because it was our first real vacation together where we were able to totally relax. We visited Exuma and LOVED it. We also tried to make sure we were avoiding Zika areas, too. That left us with the Bahamas outer islands, and we fell in love with the charm and laid back vibe of Harbour Island itself. It’s also a quick 45 minute flight from Miami, so though it seems very international, it’s still relatively painless to get to.
Plan to see LOTS more sneak peeks as we’ll be traveling to the island in early November for more pre-wedding planning, and I have plenty of other inspiration to share with you all! xo Ash
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