September 2023: Wedding Planning: The Calm After the Storm

“If I cry at my wedding, it’ll be because I’m overjoyed that the planning is finally over.”
It’s an experience that one can only understand having been through it and survived. A rite of
passage. When I think back to the innocent chap I was back in January at the beginning of this
journey, I wish I could go back and prepare that young man for what was to come. The flowers,
the seating arrangements, the scheduling, the chairs (that’s right, there are different options for
chairs one must consider during this process). Today, I feel like Steve Martin at the beginning of
Father of the Bride, which used to just be a comedy to me but now serves as the holy grail for
anyone planning a wedding. But without the buildup and the magnitude of this whole production,
we wouldn’t have gotten the same incredible results and relief that all of the stress and worry
were without warrant. As I sit here on a beautiful Fall day in Nashville, I am so thankful to have
had such an experience and to have been able to celebrate such a monumental. I’m also excited
to close this chapter and bask in the quiet for a bit.

Buying a New House Just Before You Get Married
“Buying a home is like getting married, except instead of
committing to one person, you’re committing to a 30-year
mortgage.”
If you really want to add some excitement while planning a wedding, why not buy a new house
while you’re at it? It’s actually quite common because you get so burnt out from talking about
the wedding, you need another major life change to take your mind off of what’s been consuming
you for the better part of a year. Buying a new home is always an intense feeling in the moment,
filled with fear and uncertainty. Am I timing this right? Am I going to be able to make these
higher monthly payments? However, everyone wants to come back from the honeymoon and
start a new chapter in a fresh space. Now 3 months after the big move, it all worked out how it
was supposed to and I can’t imagine having done it any other way. When the right house finds
you and you’ve been thinking about upsizing for a long time you have to go with your instincts
and have faith that everything is going to be ok. And it always is!

The Aftermath
“My most brilliant achievement was my ability to persuade my wife to marry me.”
-Winston Churchill
After nearly a week in Mexico where we sat in the sun, enjoyed incredible meals, and relaxed for
the first extended period probably all year, being home might be the best part. Part of me keeps
wanting to go back to the action of being surrounded by so many friends at once but the other
part is so thankful it happened and that we’ll always have that moment to tap into. You can’t put
a price tag on an experience like that and if I could go back in time and tell myself to not stress
so much and that everything would work out, that would be my main takeaway. Not only am I
grateful for having met my now wife, I am also sending out a huge Thank You to all of my
clients who have put their faith in my services over the years, without which, none of this would
have been possible. On to the next adventure!