When I was planning our wedding in 2011, I remember I eventually noticed something that I think not all future brides and groom always have in mind: the beauty of a wedding isn’t directly linked to the amount of details and DIYs you put. A beautiful outdoor venue with lots of natural flowers, or with a view over the see don’t necessarily need additional decoration. Worse, sometimes adding personal touches to something that’s already beautiful alone (namely, by adding some details that don’t match with the decor already in place) may even ruin everything. What’s true for outdoor weddings is also true for indoor weddings and I think you can find quite a a few perfect examples on this blog (for instance here or here). Rachel and Rafael had their wedding at reBar (a restaurant in Brooklyn, NY), and it was the bride’s will to find a place that would allow her to only have to care about putting on her dress and finding a photographer… I think more brides should be like Rachel! Photography by Monika Photo Art.

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The wedding took place in New-York City last year. From the bride:

Throughout the year planning our wedding, I often thought about how I would feel at my wedding. I didn’t care much about the stuff. We specifically chose a restaurant that was beautiful on its own and wouldn’t need much decorating, and they had their own in-house DJ, florist, and baker, so we wouldn’t have to deal with a ton of outside vendors and decisions. After the most important things to us were purchased or booked, I was left with a lot of time to think and dream about how our wedding day would feel. To me, the most important parts of the wedding day couldn’t possibly be planned or even anticipated.
I woke up feeling super calm, happy, and excited. I spent the day in a hotel room with my bridesmaids getting ready, eating and chatting. I got dressed in the hotel room closet, with no light, and was barged in on by my adorably excited four-year-old ring-bearer. I took a taxi to the venue with my friends, and the first time my mother saw me as a bride she was sitting double-parked in my dad’s truck while the venue staff unloaded the arbor for our ceremony. We waved at each other. We navigated around the set of the new Spiderman movie that was being shot all around the vicinity of our venue for my bridal party street photos.
I slowed my dad down as he walked me down the long aisle, taking it all in. I saw my soon-to-be husband standing there, waiting patiently. We listened to our lovely readings in a mixture of English and Spanish, we said our vows, exchanged rings, and had a few laughs throughout. I did not cry. In our brief moment alone before joining the party, I stuffed the appetizers that were thoughtfully left for us into my face like I had never seen food before. I told my Maid of Honor to tell the DJ that I didn’t want to waste any more time, so forget the grand entrance announcement, just play our first dance—our guests will catch on that we have entered. I was too excited to eat. I danced, I danced all night. We missed dessert completely because we never left the dance floor. I don’t remember how we got back to the hotel, but I remember walking into the beautiful suite my Maid of Honor got us as a gift and the view of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge took my breath away. We were hungry and tired, so very tired. We were happy. And married.

Name one thing you regret…

I crafted some decor to add our own personal touches and planned to take care of mostly everything myself. I didn’t want to bother or burden anyone, even though I had a bridal party and family perfectly willing to help me out.  This is what I would have done differently.  I don’t know how I ever thought I would have time on my wedding day in the two hour window I had access to my venue (one hour of which would be used taking photos) to place my personal touches around the room, write the wedding program on the large chalkboard provided by the venue, and help put together some bouquets for the bridal party.  By the time I got back from our photo shoot, the staff and my loved ones had taken care of everything for me. The chalkboard program never did get done, but that hardly mattered. I was getting married in twenty minutes and I probably shouldn’t have been handling chalk in my wedding attire anyway! I clearly should have come to that conclusion beforehand, and if I had just given my draft to the staff, they would have taken care of it for me.  What I learned was that asking for help and doling out responsibility ahead of time wouldn’t have been a burden to any of them. They were all happy to help and pitch in any way they could to make my day better, and take some stress off of me. It was a feeling of gratitude, love and support I will never forget.

… And one thing you’re happy you did.

While planning for our wedding, I knew I wanted to have to worry about as little as possible. I wanted everything to be rather simple for ourselves as well as our guests. When I found a venue that was beautiful and interesting on its own and totally our style I was very excited. When I found out that the restaurant handled everything in-house, including the DJ, flowers for the decor, and all food and alcohol, I was sold. Their line was, “just get a dress and photographer and show up!” Of course it’s not that simple, but I really worried about as little as possible.