Stephanie's Wedding

Have you ever tried to plan a big event...like your own wedding...when your parents live in another city? Well, it can be a challenge. Like most girls I had been dreaming of my wedding since I was a child. I wanted the big puffy dress, a big wedding reception, lots of dancing, the perfect photographer to capture every moment, the whole nine yards. Then reality set in; we had a budget!

Since all of my family would be coming to Jackson from out of town, we knew we needed a great place for them to stay and lots of room for the rehearsal dinner. Only God could have provided the perfect wedding coordinator at First Baptist Church where we were getting married to help me with all of these requests. Not only did she have lots of references and invaluable resources....her daughter worked for my mom in Birmingham.

My family is spread out across the country, so we wanted to be sure we had as much time as possible to visit....so we invited them all to our rehearsal dinner. My mom came to town one weekend and we had three very intensive wedding planning days. We visited many different photographers, caterers, florists, etc. Choosing these vendors was like visiting a college campus...you could tell quickly if the fit was right. We went to all kinds of restaurants...all too small or too expensive. Finally, we decided on a beautiful place on the Reservoir that could accommodate everyone in our family for the rehearsal dinner. Though my wedding wasn't just how I had envisioned it when I was ten years old, it was far better than I could have ever imagined.

I managed to escape the whole wedding experience with no major catastrophes, only a few minor glitches here and there.

The one thing I will always remember is something my wedding coordinator frequently reminded me of... it didn't matter that things didn't go exactly as planned because at the end of the day we were going to be married and that is all that really counts!