The Alternative to Getting Married That No One Really Talks About
My boyfriend and I “made it official” in a different way.
The story starts five months ago.
All my planning as a maid of honor culminated in my best friend’s wedding to her high-school sweetheart.
It was an outdoor affair set on a woodsy, 40-acre backyard backdrop. The wooden altar was handcrafted from cedar trees on the property. The cake was hand-mixed by a local baker. The gathering was small — immediate family and close friends only. As many weddings tend to involve, there were a lot of happy tears, stressful hair-tearing, and at least one distinct point where a dress was in need of a seamstress.
Even with a small gathering and lacking all the bells and whistles of a traditionally big, white wedding, it was stomach ulcer-inducing. Added to that was the expedited planning (for the couple’s personal reasons) for a wedding that was merely an idea only 8 months prior.
Whatever Pinterest board dreams I might have possibly had for a small wedding, they fled my mind during the planning process. I was entirely convinced after being a maid of honor that a wedding just wasn’t for me. So I began to wonder, is there another way? And not only considering a wedding but marriage in general.
