Whoa, I just stopped to catch my breath for the first time since…I can’t remember. Probably since the beginning of November. I’m pretty sure I turned 31 some time recently, but I guess we’ll never know.

Now that I’m nearly two months a newlywed, I can reflect back on what it took to get married, have a wedding, and what we learned from it all.

What it took to get married is a 30-year long story filled with trial and error, error and error, joy, adventure, learning, sorrow, mistakes, regrets, and veganism. The fact is, I did what I once thought was a long, distant glimmer of hope. I got married! I’m not saying that getting married was the end-all, be-all defining moment of our lives, but it’s an awesome union that starts the next chapter in a life together.

It was a lot of trouble, there is no downplaying that. But it was worth it. During the reception, Mike and I kept saying, “this is the best party I’ve ever been to.” Easy to say for us.

Real quick, here are a few things we learned along the way.

1. Be decisive. Even if you don’t care what color table linen you have, you need to have an opinion about it, or outsource it to an expert. We had good wedding coordinators, but I trusted a lot of the design aspects to my design-oriented, then-fiance. We did outsource our decoration ideas to our florist who did an amazing job of containing our concept of kind of woodsy, Moonrise Kingdom whimsy.

2. Some things borrowed. Why stop at one thing, as the tradition goes? I borrowed my wedding dress, shower dress, bachelorette dress and rehearsal dinner dress. I borrowed supplies for the reception (signage) and ceremony (guest book sign, cake cutter and server). I borrowed earrings and a pearl necklace heirloom. I would have borrowed more if I didn’t have such big feet. As for the dress, I bought an overlay to go from strapless to sleeved for $275. Mike wore a suit he already owned but bought a new tie and pocket square. It is a special occasion after all.

3. Unplug. A ceremony where just the photographer is taking photos is the way to go. Our photographers even gave us a discount and the pictures turned out much better than seeing someone’s cell phone case. Have your guests focused and present. Also, heavy makeup does not look good with cellphone flashes. I learned that the hard way (not pictured).

4. Communication. My extended family did not know they were supposed to stay after the ceremony for formal pictures. Why? Because I never told them. Don’t assume anything. Also, have an adorable flower girl.

5. Be particular. Particular and my husband go hand-in-hand. We thought we would give the DJ some liberty, along with our playlist, but we found out that was a mistake. If you are picky about music, give your DJ restrictions. He might think he knows your tastes, but this stranger doesn’t know you from the Cha-Cha-Sliding bride from last weekend (not pictured).

It was an amazing and happy weekend. The best part is now things are returning to normal and there is no more wedding planning! More updates to come!