Planning a wedding is stressful and expensive and typically something we look back on and wonder why we made it such a big deal. With that in mind, I've decided that I'm not about that life. No regrets. Let's do this - in one day. 

I'm letting you into such a personal day. It's not a wedding where I plan the perfect dress and throw out a bunch of invites and plan for a couple hundred guests. It's different. This will be my second wedding and a time where the day is a reflection of me and not full of stress but more personal touches and an experience I can say was planned just for us.

Why am I letting you in? You listen every day. You invest in my life. I want to know more about your life. I consider you family and the person responsible for me being able to have the kind of job I have. It's because of you that I wake up at 3:00 a.m. prepping to interpret your dream or trying to figure out how I can talk Chris out of singing a birthday song this week.

This sucka will be broken into two parts. This summer will be the ceremony and next summer will be the reception. Would you expect anything traditional from me? Nah, not my style.

Photo: Janice Morin
Photo: Janice Morin
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Wedding planning checklist generally looks like this:

  • Create a budget
  • Choose who is in the wedding party
  • Create a guest list
  • Choose and book a venue
  • Find your officiant
  • Hire photographer and videographer
  • Find that dress
  • Book hotel or AirBNB
  • Register
  • Create a wedding website
  • Shop for invitations
  • Book florist
  • Plan rehearsal dinner
  • Find and book a florist
  • Schedule hair and makeup
  • Hire a DJ or plan your music
  • Purchase rings
  • Finalize details for day-of
  • Send out invitations
  • Get marriage license
  • Pull all the details together and let everyone know
  • Get married
  • Party at the reception

Of course there are about 10 million details and snags and breakdowns and breakouts in between the list of tasks in front of you.

Here's what my wedding looks like - planned in a day: 

  • Create a budget - whatever is in my bank account and available.
  • Choose who is in the wedding party - There isn't a wedding party. Just my little Colton. We want people to be part of the event and have no responsibilities.
  • Create a guest list - For the ceremony, it's very close family and friends.
  • Choose and book a venue - We're keeping this outdoors. We will marry on August 12th in Kerry Park which looks over the city of Seattle. That night, we're all going to a Mariners baseball game to finish off the "baseball wedding" Colton wanted.
  • Find your officiant - A close friend became ordained so she could marry us.
  • Hire photographer and videographer - When things fall into place, so do the professionals taking part in your wedding. We have a friend who has been taking incredible photos of the Seattle Seahawks for years and he will document our wedding just like a sporting event.
  • Find that dress - Will I be wearing a dress? Yes. What does it look like? It will be revealed on August 12th. What I can tell you was that it was less than $200.
  • Book hotel or AirBNB - Done. We found a house that can include other friends and family.
  • Register - This was the most fun of all. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond on Federal Way and then Target by the mall and scanned way more than we probably should have. It felt really close to being a checker. Janice scanned some things when I wasn't looking and now that I see what they are, I'm questioning us. Kidding. Maybe.
  • Create a wedding website - We opted to pass on the website idea and just create a Facebook group. We know everyone is on Facebook and this makes things easy for everyone because they're already searching Facebook. Maybe we'll do a website for the party.
  • Shop for invitations - We're a digital couple and are hoping to do it all online. Fingers crossed.
  • Book florist - Before the wedding, we're grabbing fresh market flowers.
  • Plan rehearsal dinner - Crab feed! It's all about the family time and seafood.
  • Schedule hair and makeup - YouTube, don't let me down. I'm going the DIY route keeping in mind that makeup looks different in professional photos. Photographers, don't cringe reading this. Trust.
  • Hire a DJ or plan your music - Is there anyone other than theeeeee Chris Cruise? I'll hire him for the party next year.
  • Purchase rings - Done and done. Etsy, I've got my eye on you.
  • Finalize details for day-of
  • Get marriage license - We're headed to Washington in July to get the marriage license but that seemed too boring so we're going to see Bruno Mars while we're there. COME ON, NOW! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YAY!
  • Pull all the details together and let everyone know
  • Get married - This is the easy part!
  • Party at the reception - plans coming soon.

I'll break it down a little. 

The wedding is on August 12th. Yes, this August 12th. When I asked my little boy what he was thinking for the wedding, he said he wanted a baseball wedding. We didn't laugh it off or roll our eyes, we actually planned just that. Most of my family is in Washington state and Janice has her extremely close friends in Seattle. Add that to the fact that the Mariners (my son's favorite baseball team) are in the city - our ceremony will be in Seattle. You know something is right when it just falls into place.

We'll marry in Kerry Park and then go to the Mariner's game that night. Viola, a baseball wedding (I won't pretend I wasn't really pumped about that).

Tawsha Box and Fam
Tawsha Box and Fam
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The Boise celebration:

Next summer, we are planning a big reception. I mean big. This is something we want to share with all the people who are important to us and have supported us as one. The reception will be in Boise - our home. We don't know where it will be but we already have our theme and I can promise you that this will not be something traditional or like anything you've seen before. In fact, we actually added an idea to our plan after watching the Billboard Music Awards tonight.

What's missing? Stress. Fights. Anxiety.

I'm no pro (anymore) but I've done the full wedding thing and have planned several weddings for so many couples. The one thing all of us had in common was that we wished we all would have stressed less about the little things and focused on what we wanted for our wedding day.

I have another chance to do just that. Janice and I have decided that we are going to block out what "should" be done and only focus on what we want to do. Is it right? Who cares? Has someone else done it? That's okay if they have. Will someone judge? Probably.

Once the mindset is there, all else becomes fun.

Go have fun. Be you. Get married. Love each other.

What's your wedding advice?

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