Two Weeks Until Aloha

Exactly two weeks out from boarding a flight to Hawaii for 5 days in paradise with so many of our amazing friends and family. Oh yeah, and to throw a wedding! It’s insane that the date is almost here. Time flew by and I’m a little sad our engagement is almost over, but I’m so excited to be a wife.

I’ve never really been that into dreaming about a princess wedding, I was that girl who was always more interested in traveling and parties and doing my own thing. But the last nine months of being engaged and going through the experiences of getting to develop a deeper love with someone you’re about to start a new family with is the best feeling. I feel light years away from the person I was a year ago. And it’s funny to me how I thought a yearlong engagement sounded so long. We got engaged in March and it feels like yesterday. We’ve worked hard during our engagement at our new jobs, new promotions, hosting a lot friends and taking some epic trips while planning our wedding all on our own. But we also have been working really hard to build a strong foundation for our marriage. Which we quickly learned is a never ending process. But we also have learned so much more about each other while digging into how we want the rest of our lives and marriage to be. A small part of me wishes we could tell last year’s us that a year is fine! It’ll give you more time to plan! Haha! But hindsight is always 20/20 and ready or not, times up! We are stoked beyond words to get be married in February on a cliff over the ocean in Hawaii in the sunshine.

Since I plan events for a living you’d think I would have had a handle on every aspect of coordinating our wedding. But planning your own means you’re only responsible to yourself. Not going to lie, it’s been a little stressful. Planning it long distance in a state we have never been to also made it significantly harder. But it’s been a great learning process for me events-wise and if all goes well (fingers crossed), our family and friends will be there and that’s all that really matters. (Shout out to Jake for reminding me of that literally every week as I’m panicking about flowers and jewelers and things that just don’t really matter.) I thought it would be fun to share my top 10 inspirations for our wedding and then we can compare afterwards if I pulled it off. We’ve tried to keep it simple and stick to what is most important to us while still creating a good experience for all of those we are so lucky to have join us.

When I envisioned what I wanted our wedding to be, here are the ten ideas and themes I used as my sounding board:

– An intimate ceremony where we knew the officiant and wrote the ceremony together. Our friend Tom got ordained and is marrying us. 🙂

– A different kind of venue. We ended up renting a large retro, very traditional Hawaiian open floor plan home and are hosting the reception there. Our ceremony is being held at a tiny park up the street.

– Sunshine. This is the only real wedding dream I’ve had forever. Outside in the sun. I originally wanted my Missouri farm in June, but Jake had a hard no on humidity and bugs. He’s probably right. We settled on Hawaii to add a little adventure to the mix. And who could resist the call of the islands?

– A fun party. The kind where it’s 7am and you’re still dancing and don’t even notice. Where you’re hoarse for days because you sang your heart out harmonizing with your friends for hours. Hopefully this happens.

– White lace everything. And what can’t be lace can just be white.

– A laidback 1970s vibe. We’ve achieved that hopefully through the retro house, my vintage Spanish lace dress, vintage lace tablecloths used as rugs, the boys’ suspenders and beards, and homemade streamers we will hang throughout the trees.

– Writing our own vows.

– A second line. My friend Julie had one at her New Orleans wedding, I’ve been in a few others, and they are seriously just the best time. We are doing a Hawaiian version of one with a parade up the street from the ceremony to reception. Bringing a little southern fun to the Pacific.

– Good, but unfussy food. Watery green beans and cold plated wedding chicken is my nightmare. We are having a pig roast and BBQ food truck.

– As many candles as I can keep lit. There’s just something magical about a little flame.

And that mostly covers it! Here’s to hoping I can wrap up all the little details in the next 14 days.

~ Aloha Schulte