Kris and Chris’ vibrant wedding was featured last week on Wedding Chicks!

With the feature, Kristen chose to share some words about how the wedding planning process went for her. We felt her words were extremely important to share with the wedding industry and other brides because of the often unattainable image a woman is expected to meet for her wedding day!

From our stunning bride Kristen:

“I’ve known this was going to get posted for a few months, and I thought I’d use this moment to say something that I wish someone had said to me:

I am here to say that I got married as a plus size woman, and I regret nothing.

If you are a bride or a groom (or if you are a parent or in the bridal parties!), do not feel like you must get caught up in the diet culture around weddings. As a bride, I was asked all the time if I was dieting for the wedding and given (not so) subtle reminders that “these pictures will last forever!!” by people I knew and a few complete strangers. While I decided to assume all these comments were well-intentioned, they still stung. It’s not news to me that I’m plus size, but the reminders did a good job of making me feel like I was making a mistake and should delay our wedding so that I could have a better chance of being waif-thin on our wedding day.

But I’m so glad I didn’t.

Planning a wedding is stressful. If you’re like us, you’ll probably learn things about your own family & friends while making seating charts or picking menus. People have so many opinions! (If you’re planning a wedding during COVID-19, you are experiencing this on a whole new level, I’m sure, because now you must add the health of every one of your guests to your list of reasonable concerns.) During that stress, I didn’t need the extra pressure of calorie counting or buying a dress a size too small as an incentive. Nor did I want it.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t want to feel beautiful on my wedding day. It just means I already feel beautiful the way I am, and I decided not to let anyone change my mind about that or make me feel less than beautiful. And you know what, when I look at our pictures on this blog post, I feel gorgeous. I see how happy I am with Chris. I see the amazing, incredible joy I was feeling in that day as Chris and I picked each other forever. I am glowing in every picture. I see the person I decided to spend the rest of my life with because he makes me the best person I can be.

So, if you are in the midst of wedding planning, don’t let the threat of “these pictures will last forever” hang over your head like some doomsday cloud. These pictures are your memories of a magnificent day. No matter what you look like or what size you are, you are worthy of a day to celebrate the love you’ve found against all odds in this crazy world.

If you do want your pictures to last forever, spend some extra time finding a dream team for your wedding day. Our wedding planner, Gina (La Cosa Bella Events), got us through many unexpected adventures and helped us communicate our vision from Day 1. Our videographer (Twenty-One Films) captured our day and how much fun we had beautifully. Our dear friend Kate Hutchison made our incredible cake (Love & Butter Baking Co). Anna (Meristem Floral), took one picture I found on Pinterest and used it to create the most incredible flower arrangements I’ve ever seen. Perry (Perry Vaile Photography) was everything I could ever ask for and more in a photographer. I called my Mom as soon as I got our photos back and said, “I look so happy.” And isn’t that what it’s all about? I found my person. It didn’t matter what I wore or what I weighed. Perry’s photography captured the fact that I was overflowing with infinite happiness and I’m so glad I’ll have these pictures forever.”