Wedding Reflection – MaryKate and Pete

Gratitude  //  22nd February 2016

MaryKate and Pete were married on October 24, 2015 at Saints Peter and Paul Polish National Catholic Church, where MaryKate’s grandparents were married 67 years ago!  How special is that? 

1. When reflecting on your wedding, what is it that you remember most?

We both still vividly remember most how STRESSED OUT I (MaryKate) was months before the wedding trying to plan everything perfectly. But similarly, we also both remember the total calm that took over both of us on our ACTUAL wedding day where it suddenly didn’t matter anymore that not everything was perfect, because we were just so happy to be getting married!

2. If you could plan your wedding again, would you do anything differently?

I think we would have probably hired a wedding planner. I (MaryKate, again!!!) really did go a little bit overboard stressing over stuff that was pretty trivial all in the hope of having a “PERFECT” wedding day. I’ve since learned that there’s no such thing as a “perfect” wedding (unless you have millions and millions of dollars to spend, maybe!!), and that stress only hurt me (and probably Pete for having to deal with me!) and didn’t give me the chance to enjoy my engagement. A wedding planner would have taken care of a lot of those stresses for me, allowing me the chance to really enjoy that special time in our lives.

3. What, if anything, did you do before your wedding that helped prepare you most for life after saying “I Do”?

Moving in together and living together for over 2 years before getting married definitely prepared us most for life after marriage. It gave us time to learn all the little things about each other (some good some bad!) that may have come as a surprise had we not done that. We also took a course on financial planning and got our finances in order, in addition to discussing how we planned on spending/saving after we got married. In general, we had a lot of open conversations about what kind of lives we wanted to have including where we wanted to live, how many children we would hope to have, the things we were hoping to accomplish career-wise…basically just plan out to the best of our ability what the next few years after marriage would look like.

4. What is it that you LOVE most about being married that all of those engaged couples can look forward to?

Some people say that things drastically change after you get married, but we haven’t found things to be all that different day-to-day anyway. However, it’s been really nice to refer to each other as husband and wife and know that we have someone there to support us no matter may come. It also feels like we’re entering into a “next stage” in our lives, and that feels really special (and adult!).

5. What advice would you give to an engaged couple who is currently planning their own wedding?

RELAX!!!!!!! Haha! Seriously, it’s all going to work out–even if your wedding looks NOTHING like you ever pictured it would, it’s not going to matter because you’re going to be thrilled anyway. And then you and your spouse can laugh about it afterwards like we do now!! 

Also, unless you are the next Martha Stewart–STAY OFF PINTEREST, or at least try to as much as possible. No real wedding will ever look like those weddings and trying to replicate them may send you over the edge, like it nearly did for me! It’s not worth it to go crazy over budget, it’s not worth it to be constantly stressed out about picking all the “right” thing, it’s going to be a lovely wedding because you two and the people who love you are there and at the end of the day that’s all that matters!

6. Is there anything else that you would like to share with other engaged/newly married couples?

Try to take things one day at a time and be happy with whatever stage of life you’re in. Being engaged and being married are some of the most beautiful and exciting times of your lives–try to stay present and enjoy every moment of it!

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We are so excited to start this year off with a Wedding Reflections Series on our blog from our 2015 Liz and Ryan couples! We understand that wedding planning can be hard and overwhelming… but we hope you never forget that all that really matters is that you are getting MARRIED! ;) That is so exciting! When wedding planning becomes stressful, please know that you are not alone and there are a lot of people out there (including us and our 2015 couples ;) ) who are cheering you on and want your marriage to start off on the right track! Please let us know how we can help make the start of your marriage AMAZING! ;)