We came to find out first hand that planning a wedding can be very exciting, and very stressful, all at once. Having been thinking about our wedding day for a few years š I had a pretty clear vision of what I wanted it to look like.
I wanted to celebration that would bring together all of our friends and family, our favorite foods, and beautiful decor. As it stands now, it might seem like we always had our sights set on Iceland, but that’s not true.
We toured several local NJ venues, called catering teams at our favorite restaurants, even started working on some color palette and design ideas. But at every decision point, it felt like we hit a brick wall. This venue was too expensive, that one needed double the headcount. One restaurant backed out, another wouldn’t work with the venue we liked best.
I found out first hand how shockingly expensive flowers are. At a certain point, it became clear to me that planning an NJ wedding would be a part time job of orchestrating logistics and acting as the point of contact between seemingly limitless vendors.
After a lot of back and forth, we decided to withdraw from the process and take a second look at our priorities. It was then that we decided what we were most interested in was having a memorableĀ experience.Ā Maybe it wouldn’t be the wedding that we expected, but it would be one that was completely unforgettable to us.
Hands down the hardest part of deciding on a tiny destination wedding was culling down the guest list. We went from 80 of our closest friends and family, down to 30, and then ultimately down again to 15.
Once we had our destination settled, I started the work to find out–how the heck do you get married in another country?! I’ve never been to a destination wedding and had no idea how any of it worked; I’m actually still figuring it out.
But a lot of the planning process has become how can we show our guests the best time and incorporate all of our own interests and tastes whenever possible.
The very first thing that I did was to find a photograph who could capture the day in a way that I would be excited to display in our future home. The team we went with has been amazing so far. They’re suggesting destinations and are excited to shoot us in a landscape that they are so familiar with. And we’re exciting, too.
Having an editorial-style photography duo was just my first step to planning our big day. After [not too much] research, I came to decide on the Snaefellsnes peninsula as the best area for the day–our host hotel is one of the most popular non-city destinations for small weddings and elopements.
Though we are dealing with a language barrier, having the smaller guest count is taking some of the pressure off to have everything be perfect. I’m most looking forward to a stress-free day that we’ll remember forever.
Ultimately, planning is still underway and probably will be up until the minute we are married. We’re excited to do it differently, and will be ready to come back to NJ in July for a more informal celebration with everyone we had originally intended!
All our love,
Danielle and Peter
making life an adventure 