Blogging Brides!

We met Ashley last week, and now more on Ashley P, and her bridal party, this is a struggle for so many brides, I am so blessed that Ashley shared it with you!

As Holly, the previous Blogging Bride, said "One of the first steps in planning a wedding is picking the wedding date." When we got engaged in January of 2007 we knew our wedding had to be on July 25th. This date has a very special meaning to us in so many ways, we knew no matter what year it was, we had to get married on this date. After checking the calander to see what year this date fell on a Saturday we found that we were going to be getting married in 2009!


This year I started planning for the wedding. After figuring out where we were going to have the ceremony and reception and booking a photographer it was time to decide on the bridal party. It wasn't hard choosing who to include because we knew we only wanted a couple of close friends on each side. I chose my best friend from highschool, my best friend from college and my fiance's sister. He chose two of his friends from highschool and my brother. This was PERFECT; three people on each side and they were all super close to us, which is exactly how I wanted it to be. After I had responses from all of them that they would love to be a part of our day I thought we were set.

Then I got a text the last week of October that said "I have some bad news..I just talked to my advisor and study abroad in New Zealand starts in July, so I may not be able to be in your wedding." It was from my best friend from college, Emily. I immediately got that feeling, you know where your super disapointed so much where you want to cry. We met our freshman year in Biology class and have been friends ever since. I was devastated when I found this out, but I immediately began wondering who I could replace her with. I'm not a fan of the uneven sides of the bridal party so I knew I had to do something. Unfortunately, when thinking of who else I could ask I became stumped. There was not one other person I could ask to stand beside me. I didn't want to just ask any one, I wanted it to be someone I talked to often and who would always be a part of my life. Sure I have other friends from highschool and even a few from college that I'm still close with, but not REALLY close like I want the person that stands by me to be.

After realizing that I would only be asking someone else to be in my wedding so they could fill the spot, I decided against asking anyone. Although I HATE uneven bridal parties, I would hate it more if I had someone up there just to make it even. After this I decided there was only one thing that could be done if I wanted Emily to be a party of the wedding, I had to change the wedding date. The one thing I have been sure about since our engagement was the date of our wedding, it has very special meanings to me us. The thought of changing it never crossed my mind but knowing that if I kept this date and didn't share it with her it wouldn't be the same. I soon realized what I had to do, pretty soon I will be a June bride!

Remember this day is about celebrating the union of you and your partner with everyone you care about. Don't worry if things don't go quite your way. Be sure to relax and have fun, its your day!

{thanks Ashley! If you have a story you'd like to share, please email me at melissa {at} masterpieceweddings {dot} net}