Help me Plan my "no-plans" Wedding!

I was just flicking through channels on television and came across the Sex and the City movie. It made me think of how Big never showed up for the big extravagant wedding. This lead me to realize how much our wedding plans had changed since I first started this blog - so I decided to start fresh.

For starters, remember how we were planning on getting married this summer (August 2011) in my hometown at my mother's lake? We had started the wedding plans - the color scheme, the guest list, catering, etc. Every day we would toss around new ideas, or I would find something online and share it with Phil to get his opinion on it. Nothing was set in stone, but we had started talking about it with our families and they were excited for the actual planning to begin. We, on the other hand, were forcing ourselves to get excited about planning. At first we were exciting about it, then we started the planning process and realized that planning is not fun! Then one day, over the holidays, Phil and I were looking over the details and going back and forth about renting a place for the wedding reception or just renting a tent and having a combined wedding/reception at the lake. That's when it hit us, we were planning a beautiful wedding, but it wasn't our wedding.

There's this line in the Sex and the City movie that Carrie uses to describe the chaos of the wedding: "I let the wedding get bigger than Big". That is exactly how Phil and I were beginning to feel. In the beginning of it all, Carrie planned a small wedding of 75 and even had picked out a simple white label-less suit to wear. Then everything changed and it became this big wedding - a beautiful wedding, but a wedding she never really wanted. 

We weren't too far along with the wedding plans, so it wasn't a big deal to simply press the pause button on it all and breathe. The funniest part? Throughout all of this, we realized that the main issue is that we don't even want to actually plan a wedding. We're not planners. In fact, we are both way too ADD to ever follow through with any plans. One day we want purple dresses for bridesmaids, the next we want turquoise (Yes, Phil is the kind of guy that can actually give me his opinion on this stuff). We're the type of people that half way through making supper often don't even feel like eating what is being made anymore. Plus, we all know how neurotic I am - I was having anxiety attacks just thinking about having to put together a guest list! I guess that is why people hire wedding planners. Sadly, we can't afford J-Lo. Plus, we change our minds every day - with clients like us, any wedding planner would go crazy. We got to talking about how we actually envisioned it, all plans aside, and it reminded us of how years before we were even together, (**Spoiler alert for those of you who read This Little Love of Mine**), we joked around about getting married under a palm tree in 2012. "A beach wedding!" I exclaimed in delight as Phil and I cuddled on the futon during one of our talks. We quickly picked up the nearest laptop ( have I ever mentioned that we have 4 laptops in our tiny living room? Geek Alert!) and we Googled (yes, I used it as a verb - just go with it) beach weddings. After a bit of research we decided that the no-hassle 2012 beach wedding would be perfect for two completely neurotic best friends to get married. Little to no planning required. All I need is my dress, passport, and my man on my arm and we are good to go (and maybe a bikini to get my tan on). We will have to wait until this fall to decide on a date, but we are looking forward to having a combined wedding and honeymoon. We will get to spend a week relaxing with family and close friends, followed by a nice little beach ceremony and then we will stay an extra week alone for our honeymoon. The best part of it all: we only have to plan the wedding once we get there, ha! In a day we make all the decisions and don't have time to change our minds about flowers or food. Perfect! I think this is a decision we can stick with - and hopefully keep the anxiety at bay. ;)

Oh! And because the plans changed, the dress changed too. I have been looking at a few different options, but of course, I can't decide. What do you think?

Should I go with a simple wedding dress?

I love how flowy these two are, but i'm kind of loving the neckline and back on this one:

OR still go with a fancy dress - but a little more low key, like an A-Line Strapless Dress?

I would love to know what you think. Leave a comment below, or comment on the This Little Love of Mine Facebook Page.