Today Texan Mama from Who Put Me In Charge Of These People?? is hosting a linkup about “My Wedding Dress”. I love to follow Texan Mama because we have opinions on most every topic that are complete opposites, despite the fact that we are the same gender, ethnicity, religion, and geographic location. I love to hear her viewpoint on things! So, shout out to Gretchen!

One of the ways in which we are different: she loves the television show “Say Yes To the Dress” and that is possibly one of my least favorite TV shows ever. I say this not to be argumentative, but because it pertains to my own wedding dress, or shall we say, my decision to pretty much opt out of the whole wedding thing. It’s a long story, so bear with me. Lucky for you, this is the abbreviated version!

I can’t tell you when it started, but I was never interested in weddings, or marriage, or getting married. Ever.
Never did I pretend to get married when I was a little girl, and never was I interested in the fiasco of weddings or dresses. My plan for my entire life was to live somewhere on my own, with a cat. I was living this very dream when I met Christian and we started dating in 2004. When we decided to get married  in 2005 (long story), I was 27 and he was 30. We were engaged with a diamond my parents gave us from their original wedding ring in 1975 because neither of us could afford a ring without going into debt (thank you, mom and dad!).

We each had a little money saved up and a little that my parents gave me with which to do this wedding thing. Let us just say the amount was in the middle 4 figures. For a Dallas wedding. We both had extended families and I knew a lot of people we would need to invite or feelings would be hurt. I nearly had a coronary trying to figure out how we would pay for somewhere to host this thing (our church did not have a building yet at the time), the flowers, the cake, and all the insane costs of a wedding on that tiny bit of money. There was literally no way, aside from going into debt. Even thinking about trying made me a nervous wreck for a week or so.

When it came down to it, the only reason I was trying to plan a wedding at all was because I thought other people wanted me to do it, not because I wanted to. What Christian and I both really wanted was just to say our vows in front of our immediate families and go on a honeymoon. So that’s what we did. At the courthouse on Beltline Road next to Cottonwood Park in front of a judge, our parents, and our siblings, we said the standard vows. Christian’s brother took the pictures with Christian’s DSLR. Afterward, we went to Boca di Beppo and had yummy Italian food all together, complete with a wedding cake. The next morning we got on a plane for the Bahamas. It was perfect for us!

Christian wore a grey suit, I think he bought it at Express.

My dress.
It was the Sophia mid-length dress from J.Crew’s wedding collection (they don’t make it in white anymore, since it’s supposed to be a bridesmaid dress at the shorter length).

I did get my hair fixed and carried flowers. Here is our most popular wedding pic, although you can’t see the dress very well in this one:

Here are a few shots in which you can see more of the dress:

I have always been so satisfied with the way we planned the day, and have never regretted not having a “real” wedding. It was totally the perfect wedding for us, and the perfect dress for me – comfy and simple.

In December, we will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary!
I guess that just proves you don’t need to spend more than $250 on a dress for a marriage to “work” 😉

Don’t forget to link up to your own wedding dress story!