My disability has complicated wedding planning in a few ways, but it's also made it a little more enjoyable. Sometimes it's been frustrating to find no examples of how other brides in wheelchairs planned certain details. I was definitely not the girl who had been planning her wedding since childhood. I'd never bought a wedding magazine until I was engaged. There were many many times I had no idea how to answer the question, "What to most people do?"
...about the cake.
...about the flowers.
...about the garter toss.
...about the last dance.
Finally, it hit me, "Since when do I really care what most people do!?" I realized that it's possible to acknowledge tradition without making the event one huge and expensive showcase of conformity. Since then, It's been exciting for us to blaze our own trail.
Today-I'm sharing a few details of our wedding. Some of the choices are related to our disabilities and some are not:
1. The hair: I'll have my hair pulled back with lots of curls. This picture from eHow.com is the inspiration.
I had a trial-run yesterday with my hair dresser and loved it. My veil and a sparkly headpiece will be perched on top of this creation. I got my veil altered to hit just at my elbows. Long enough to fit my vision but short enough not to catch in my wheel and rip off my head!
2. The bridesmaids: I didn't like the look or prices of any of the dresses from actual 
bridal shops. Instead, my lovely bridesmaids and I found this tea length strapless satin black dresses that everyone ordered in their own size. One of my bridesmaids is in a wheelchair and (like me) has to find kids' sized shoes. So the pressure to make everyone look alike was relieved. No matter what any of us do, that won't happen!
3. The crew: I'm really happy with the team of wedding artists I've assembled. They've been helpful and are so friendly. First, there's my photographer, Julia Christopher. I love her documentary style. Her work is beautiful and I can't wait to see our pictures. Our invitations were handmade by Just Another Day Designs. Another etsy store, 2 Birds Stone, made our maps and a monogram. Both these artists were quick, creative, and so much fun to work with. I'd recommend them to any bride. Then there's the DJ's at Complete Music. Their online planning sheets have made planning our reception music easy and fun. We have decided to ban the hokey-pokey, but might allow just one electric slide-for all the walker folk!
4. The cake: We wanted a cake that had the height of a wedding cake, but didn't tower over us like an iced skyscraper. The woman baking our cake, Leora Blevins, will be decorating styrofoam layers that she's cut down some to minimize the height. We'll have three round layers that will be wrapped with black satin ribbon. Our cake topper is two birds..why walk when you can fly?
5. The shoes: Oh how it pains me to type those words. I originally sought fuchsia high heels but eventually admitted defeat in that search. Try finding those in a size 1. Actually don't-it'll only depress me if you do! I came to the realization that few people would actually see my shoes and I am happy with these little jeweled beauties to the right.
6. The flowers: One of the benefits of my wedding date is we'll be able to use the flowers left from Easter. Rather than spending money on lots of cut flowers, we collaborated with a friend from Inside Out Designs who specializes in landscaping. We'll have pink hyacinth bulbs as centerpieces in glass containers filled with stones. I can't wait to smell my reception! Ben at the Milam House is another floral genius that is crafting all of our bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres. He's adapted my bridal bouquet so I can hold it while pushing my chair.
Only 9 days to go until I'll get to see all these details in action. I'm proud of our ability to stick to our budget. In most categories, we spent even less than we'd planned! Most importantly, the elements of our wedding will represent us. The countdown continues!
If you've been married or think you might be someday, what details did you or could you live without? What aspects turned out to be memorable that you didn't expect?
