So many of my friends, peers, and followers are engaged/getting married within the next two years. It is such an exciting time! Today I wanted to help some of you who may be thinking about starting to make their wedding registry – or it may even help those of you attending wedding and bridal showers as guests choose what to give to the couple.

Cookie-cutter lists of things to add to a registry are somewhat useless. So many people are at so many different stages in their life when getting married, and each couple’s lifestyle may require different tools. Some people may be home owners, while others rent, and some live with extended family. Some couples may have kids, some may have animals, etc. So today, I’m going to share with you five things we use regularly that we received over the past year as bridal shower and/or wedding gifts – and no, money/gift cards isn’t one of them (but of course they are appreciated and go to good use).

I am finally sharing what everyone wants to hear about – the wedding reception! Yes, a wedding is about the ceremony and the union between a couple. But let’s be honest, we all look forward to the fun part – the reception. I am glad to report that we got a lot of positive unsolicited feedback about our reception and wedding in general. During the day itself and the weeks after, people were telling us that we had one of the best (if not the best) weddings they had ever been to! I know I am biased, but I felt the same way.

Cocktail hour was one of my favorite parts of our wedding day. If you’ve read my previous blog posts about our wedding, you’ll know that we used the time during cocktail hour to socialize with our guests rather than take more photos. I am so glad we made the choice to do so, because we had a blast!

Plus, who wants to miss an opportunity to have appetizers and drinks with friends? 

Weddings are not cheap. And if you’re like me, you want to get a good bang for your buck! After planning 2 completely different weddings for my husband and me over the past year and a half – and being heavily involved in my sister’s wedding in 2016 – I have definitely gained some knowledge and insight into the wedding world.

No, I’m not going to tell you to invite fewer people (though that certainly is effective). While we had a small destination wedding (about 40 people), I know that isn’t practical for everyone, and we definitely stepped on some toes by not inviting many people. But overall, we were very happy with the size of our wedding.

Here are some ways we saved money on our Palm Beach wedding.

I missed y’all last week! With the 4th of July weekend, things got a little hectic and I didn’t get the chance to finish up this post. But I am excited to finally share our wedding ceremony with y’all!

I feel like the ceremony is the one thing I really haven’t shared any pictures of. But it was absolutely more beautiful than I could have ever imagined, and I am so glad we had it where we did!