SPOUSES LOOK BACK AT THEIR ENGAGEMENT PERIOD AND WEDDING:

• It was the wedding of my dreams. I originally thought that we were spending too much money, that it was too big of a deal and that we did not need all that stuff. What I found out, was, that it was priceless. A memory that could not possibly hold a price tag and a moment in my life like none other.
  
  
• A wedding, even a small, intimate one, will take up lots of time, even if you're determined not to let it do so. In the span of 4 months, we traveled to Europe, moved into our house, moved other furniture into our house, and, oh yes, got married. We're still trying to catch up and return our lives to "normal." I wouldn't change anything, and we've had a wonderful year, but we're also looking forward to next year, with much less to do.
  
  
• I don't know if we'd do anything differently, but people should recognize that things will go wrong, and that it's not the end of the world.
  
  
• Don't cut the cake until both mothers have seen it.
  
  
• It was a garden ceremony, close to nature, in the outdoors on a beautiful day with all the special people in our lives--I couldn't have asked for anything more.
  
  
• If we did it all over, we would be a lot less stressed out over all the planning.
  
  
• Our ceremony was great because it was one of the few times the whole family and our most treasured friends were all together to share our special day, and witness our pledges of love for each other.
  
  
• It was simple and sweet like we wanted it. We had the type of ceremony we wanted.
  
  
• We had the usual problems from vendors, i.e., wrong color ties on the tuxes, order from the party supply house messed up. We laugh about things all the time! This is the only way to release stress. It keeps the big problems small and the small problems minuscule. As the day approaches and you both get the jitters, relax and laugh about it!
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• We were going to be our own caterer and bar tender and set up the party by ourselves! We learned very quickly that this would have been a large disaster! We had about 300 guests coming and there would be no way that the bride and groom could put all of this together along with getting married. We have a lot of friends that offered to help, but when the process began, most of them had other events in their lives that interfered with the plans! We changed our minds and catered it all out! Best decision we made throughout the wedding. This reduced our stress by about 80 percent!