New Zealand wedding

Hey Glö-bies! I’m pretty excited for this post – I’d like to introduce you to Chelsea. She’ll be blogging regularly for y’all, and I know you’re going to love her. Not only is Chelsea super fun with exactly the right amount of wacky, but she was also an event planner in her former life – which means we’re all in store for some great tips on how to plan really fun celebrations in sane, thoughtful ways.

Chelsea and I thought that the best way to introduce one Glöbie to another was with a Real-Glöbie Wedding post. So we bring you….

Chelsea and Bill’s Organic Celebration of Cross-Pacific Proportions

Hi everyone! My name is Chelsea and I recently found my way into the delightful world of Glö. I’m excited to join Taryn as a regular blog writer to share some low-key wedding tips/tricks, personal experiences and to hear your fun stories.

To start off, I’d love to share my own wedding story with you. My husband and I got engaged in July of 2008 and we thoroughly enjoyed about two hours’ worth of pure bliss…and then we started announcing the news to our friends and family.

Common conversations included, “Congratulations! When’s the big day?” or “You must be so excited to plan your wedding!” or “What are your colors going to be? Do you have a dress picked out yet?” Can’t a girl enjoy her engagement for more than a few hours without being bombarded by questions about wedding logistics??

The only thing either of us knew about our wedding was that we wanted a very small and casual ceremony, followed by a huge – and once again, casual – party. We had no dates planned, no colors or first-dance songs picked and not much time or desire to figure those details out; We had lives outside of this.

I’m a professional event planner by trade, and still the thought of planning my own wedding weighed so heavy on me. I didn’t want it to be about the details or the dramas. I didn’t want people to chime in on when and where they thought we should have it. I just wanted to have a celebration where all of our good friends and family gathered around to have a really really good time with us.

That seemed next to impossible though because we come from two very strong, very different religious backgrounds where wedding ceremonies are done a certain way. Plus, we both come from huge extended families where everybody comes to everything. How in the world were we supposed to have our drama-free wedding??

Long story short, we decided to elope in New Zealand where we could have the quiet ceremony we wanted. It was so simple and couldn’t have been better. And with that out of the way, we were now able to focus on that huge party we dreamed of.

Three months after getting home from New Zealand, we threw a giant bash at our home to celebrate our marriage. I handmade the invitations and we catered and decorated most of it ourselves, without too much planning on small details. We let our fathers give speeches (but told them they could give speeches the morning before the party so they didn’t overthink them…), threw on a random music playlist and had the time of our lives.

For some brides, the details are everything – and that’s great and it’s what works for them! For others, the feeling is everything. It doesn’t matter what everybody’s wearing or how perfectly plated the food all was – it’s all about having a really really good time.

I’m excited to be part of the Glö team and am especially excited to connect with all of you out there who are looking to have a really really good time.