This week's WeddingCrushWednesday couple goes to Mr. & Mrs. Jeffries. I had the pleasure of meeting the bride, Amanda, when I was a Pharmacy Technician Instructor at a vocational school in Northern Virginia. Amanda was one of my evening students and I adored her as a person and student. She is a little compact individual with an amazing personality and I always knew that she would be a success at whatever she set out to do. I was excited to reconnect and interview her and her new husband, Brian, about their wedding experience. The couple currently resides in Virginia with Amanda's adorable daughter, who's grown up so much by the way, and plan to expand their family in the near future. Brian is a Financial Advisor and Amanda has made a career as a Pharmacy Technician, working at a Home Infusion Pharmacy, which I'm extremely proud of. The couple seem to be doing very well and happy being newlyweds. I hope you can take the time to read about their wedding experience. Enjoy!
How and where did you two meet?
"We met on Match.com." -Amanda
How long did you date before you got engaged?
"It was about a year and a half." –Brian
How did you know she was the one?
"We just clicked immediately. She met a lot of the qualities that I wanted in a wife. She's smart, she's beautiful, and she's funny... sometimes... I just knew she was THE ONE!" -Brian
How did you propose?
"She was working late shift that night so what I did was do sort of an Easter Egg hunt in the house since it was around Easter. I put little clues in each egg to find the next egg. They were all clues of things we had done in our relationship. It led her to the fireplace and then I got down on one knee in front of the fireplace and proposed to her." -Brian
Did you cry or have an idea that the proposal was coming?
"Well I didn't know it was coming that day. I knew it was coming, but I didn't know when. Then that day I had just gotten off work and I'm in my scrubs and I walk in the door and the lights are dim, there are candles everywhere, and rose pedals everywhere so at that moment I kind of knew what was happening." -Amanda
Wedding Date: September 19, 2015
Outside Ceremony & Reception: Chestnut Hill Bed & Breakfast in Orange, Virginia
Approximate expense: $7,500
Color Scheme: Burnt Orange, Red, and Plum
Where did you get inspiration from for your color scheme?
"It was kind of a Pinterest idea. It was a September wedding so I literally just typed in 'September Wedding Colors' and that's what popped up and I loved it." -Amanda
Did Brian help with the planning or did he just say 'you do it all and I'll just show up'?
"I want to say with certain things he was kind of just like 'whatever I don't care', but when it came down to the DJ, the music, the food, and stuff like that he was very much involved." -Amanda
What caused the most stress while planning?
"The music was stressful because she and I didn't always agree on what the music should be. We eventually compromised and sort of got a genre of music that we both liked and then we sort of each picked 5 songs that neither person could override. That way we both had 5 songs that we could play that we wanted. It all worked out because we each got the 5 songs and we told the DJ we wanted Classic Rock and Modern Country and he stuck pretty close to that." -Brian
"Oh my goodness... I only can pick one?! Ummmm, I would say the cake/cupcake process. I had a cupcake tier and in the middle of me planning and everything like that; the bakery ended up shutting down and this was literally months before the wedding. I was freaking out and the owner didn't even tell me that she shut down. I found out through Facebook that she did, so I would definitely say it was a bad experience with that whole thing. She ended up showing up, which at that point I wasn't really sure that she would show up. By the wedding day I was kind of like cupcakes are cupcakes and if I have to I'll run to Walmart and get cupcakes. I kind of told myself that it's not that big of a deal and I would figure it out. At the time of all the planning and the whole process I would probably have to say that was the most stressful part." -Amanda
What was the most helpful while planning?
"I didn't have a planner so I would say that Pinterest was the best tool for me. One of my bridesmaids is a very Do-It-Yourself type of girl, so between her and I we came up with a lot of ideas that we wanted to use. Pinterest definitely was the way to go, at least for me anyways." -Amanda
"I think the venue was pretty helpful because they had a lot of already 'approved' vendors. A lot of the people that we picked ended up being on that list and they were very helpful and gave a lot of direction." -Brian
What was your best memory of the day?
"When I got to kiss my bride. It was nerve-racking up until then, but once that got done I knew we were good to go from there." -Brian
"I'd have to say when I was walking down the aisle and my dad gave me away. I could see tears building up in Brian's eyes. That was definitely my favorite memory." -Amanda
What was your worst memory of the day?
"We did bow ties and I decided that I was going to tie my bow tie. I wasn't really good at it and no one at the venue knew how to do it either. I had a backup plan which was this clip-on one, but I had to make my brother run because I left it in the car. It was kind of like a last minute thing to get my bow tie all fixed." -Brian
"I'd have to say that I don't think I was really organized with telling my photographer what pictures I wanted. My worst memory is not having my grandparents in our family photos. I'd say the worst part of that day was just not having important people in some of my photos. I think the photographer even asked 'Where's the grandparents?' but it was just so chaotic trying to find everybody that we didn't get to get those pictures." -Amanda
Looking back on that day and everything that went into planning your wedding and seeing where you are today; would you do it all over again and the same way?
"I feel like I'm pretty pleased with it. I feel like now that I've gone through it I think it was good. I would have definitely taken a few different steps to ease some of the stress of it, but I think it was good how we did it." -Amanda
"I'd agree with Amanda. I've had multiple people that have come up to me telling me that we should do it again, so if you have people coming up to you saying that then I think you've pulled off a pretty good wedding." -Brian
Do you all think that you may renew your vows in the future since you had such a successful wedding?
"I believe in renewing vows, but I don't think we would make such a big deal as having another wedding." -Brian
"Yeah, I think that we would probably just go on an expensive vacation with just us two and celebrate that way." -Amanda
Was you wedding day everything you expected, more, or less?
"I think it was everything that we expected really." -Amanda
"Yeah I agree. For me I knew it wasn't going to be perfect and I kind of had to convince Amanda of that. I kind of knew things were going to happen like the cupcakes and the bow ties, so we knew we would run into mistakes. It all went well and we pretty much stayed within the timeline, so in my opinion, it all worked out the way it was supposed to." -Brian
What was your most wasteful purchase in regards to planning your wedding?
"For me the party favors were definitely a waste. I would say that was a big waste of money. I think I came home with pretty much all of the party favors. We had a little chalkboard theme going on and they were little chalkboard tea light candle holders. I think they were really cute, but I don't think people knew that they were sitting there to take. I had a table displayed in the tent and I thought that as people were walking out that they would see them and grab them. There was a little sign that said thank you for coming and stuff like that. I just think what I would have done differently is put them at the individual tables so the guests would have seen them and knew to take them." -Amanda
What is the best advice you would give to someone else planning their wedding?
"I would say definitely take your time. I've heard of people getting engaged and then 3 or 4 months later that they want to get married. To me that doesn't seem very realistic as far as budgeting money and the whole planning process. I would give it at least a year of planning." -Amanda
"I would say compromise with your bride, but also don't be afraid to take. The one thing I wanted to have control of during the wedding was wearing what I wanted to wear. I got to be different and got to stand out. I wanted to be comfortable up there and stand out as the groom and I got to do that." -Brian
Thank you for taking the time to read this week's Wedding Crush Wednesday post and I hope you stay tuned for more tips, guidance, advice, and pure wedding entertainment.
HAPPY PLANNING FOLKS!!!