I hope you enjoy today’s real wedding. My assistant, Karen and I had a great time working with Kimberly and Scott. Kimberly put so many personal touches on her wedding. We always enjoy seeing a true do-it-yourself bride in action. The beautiful photos below were done by Kate Rose Photography.

Susan: What was the most memorable part of the wedding day for you?

Kimberly: Walking down the aisle and looking at my husband to be and all of the hard work that I put into deciding colors and types of dresses and tux’s and spaces, it all came about beautifully and I could just breathe. Putting on my dress was pretty memorable too. I loved my dress, it was perfect. I am all about a large dress and all the frills, I didn’t want to take it off!

Susan: What was the most memorable part of the wedding day for Scott?

Kimberly: His immediate response was the wedding night. The anticipation of the wedding and having it all over with, then getting to have me to himself. He originally said when I asked him what he wanted for a wedding gift, that he needed nothing because he would have me and that was what he thought was his gift. So we went with it, he really looked at the wedding that way too, the reward for all the hard work we put into the wedding and being rewarded to have time for ourselves.

Susan: What were you most worried about?

Kimberly: The weather and guests. The weather, as we heard mixed stories of rain. The guests, as we didn’t have many, but wanted to make sure we made accommodations comfortable and were able to take time with all of the people who went out of their way and spent a nice amount of money traveling to Florida to share our special day with us.

Susan: What were some elements of the wedding that you handled yourself?

Kimberly: With my now husband getting sent overseas, we had a relatively small amount of time to plan the wedding and pay for it. We were engaged over Valentines weekend and planned the wedding during our vacation for June. Neither of our families were in a situation to help, so we had to cut costs at any way we could. I made my own bouquets and boutonnieres, as well as my save the dates, invitations and programs, my bridesmaids packaged my favors and put the programs together.

Susan: Did handling these things on your own cause you any stress, or did you enjoy every minute of it?

Kimberly: I am a pretty crafty person, being that I am an Architect and Interior Designer professionally, I love creating all of those beautiful things. Of course it was a bit stressful, because with some things I waited until the last minute, near the end you just figure…”if its not done, oh well.” None-the-less everything got done. Planning them out was easy and fun, sitting down to make them was tedious but I would do it again in a heartbeat, it added something special to my wedding that nobody else would have. Some people would rather have someone else do it, and that’s great. I knew if I did it, it would get done the way I wanted.

Susan: What made you decide to include your dogs in the wedding ceremony?

Kimberly: Jambalaya Beignet and Nola Gras were both hurricane Katrina rescues, Jambalaya I got from the SPCA during Katrina when they were over-run with animals in shelters, he was a puppy that they found somewhere in downtown New Orleans. Nola I got from the SPCA later, to which they believed they had the same mother. I had the dogs before Scott and I met. He brought children to the relationship, so it was only fitting I have mine (the dogs). So it was very important to us to include them all in the wedding. During a trip to my hometown in Minnesota we went on a venture to hunt down a tux for Jambalaya to which we added a pink tie and my mother altered the doll dress that came with Lauren’s (Scott’s daughter’s) flower girl dress, so Nola and Lauren matched. That was perfect.

Susan: Is there anything you wish had happened differently?

Kimberly: I wish we would have had more time. Its true what people say, that whole…stop and take a moment thing. With rooms reserved and being in control of the kids and the dogs and the family, Scott and I were running the show and telling people when to be at the hotel, what they were supposed to do and how they were supposed to walk down the aisle, and with who. We hardly had time to get ourselves ready after taking care of the kids and everyone else. Our second to breathe was in the room after the wedding with all the tux’s on a bellman cart staring at each other with Epcot in the background, saying “hmm…its over, that was it.” I think if we would have taken a few moments in between, alone, or just without chaos, it would have made us enjoy those moments we spent months crafting.

Susan: Do you have anything else you want to share?

Kimberly: The pictures are really what you look back on, to remember those things that went so fast you didn’t get to enjoy or notice. We are really happy we picked the location we did with the views we did, and making all of the guys in the family wear tuxes. The photos came out amazing and though it was SOOOOO hot, it was worth the outdoor wedding.

If you have questions on this or any other wedding related topic, please post for me here or send me an email to susan.southerland@pwg.com. Also become a fan on Facebook by clicking here and follow me on Twitter by clicking here.

Your partner in perfect planning,
Susan