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The days leading up to our nuptials were hectic. Since we had decided to opt against a wedding planner we were putting this whole bash together ourselves. A bash that not only included a wedding, but a welcome luau for the out of town wedding guests, Isaac’s graduation from med school, and a send-off brunch. I was riddled with anxiety wondering if we could pull this off. And my anxiety manifested itself in my belly big time. By the morning of the wedding, I was bloated to no end, despite opting not to drink or eat anything on my forbidden list. This was a nightmare scenario for most brides but I just kept reminding myself that even if I didn’t quite look the way I intended I’m was marrying my best friend and he loves me in any way I look. 
Things did not go according to plan. I did the flower arrangements and spent my morning and early afternoon purchasing flowers from Trader Joe’s and assembling the centerpieces at our venue. Those centerpieces would inevitably not end up on the tables the way I had instructed but no one seemed to notice. We really didn’t anticipate how long it would take to put the venue together and how many people we would realistically need. Our venue Young at Art Museum in Davie, FL was absolutely amazing though and their staff assisted more than we ever expected they would to bring our vision to life. A vision that evolved several times during our wedding preparations because as a fully running museum new exhibitions kept changing the look of the place. To the point that some foil was added to our dining room just the day before the wedding and required some adjustments to get all the dinner tables in.
My husband Isaac is the real champ of this story though. After I left (albeit an hour behind schedule) he put all the rooms together in just under 2 hours. Like I said things didn’t quite go according to plan but it still looked beautiful. Also, it helps to have a really cool venue, great music, good food, and loads of booze, and I promise you no one will notice the missing parts of the centerpiece arrangements.
Once I finally got my hair done, I completely calmed down. Instead of renting a limo to take us from the hotel to the venue one of my bridesmaids ordered us an Uber Luxe and it was perfect since we weren’t moving to another space, there was no need to have a limo driver waiting for us for hours. And once we got to the venue, our amazing officiant Dr. Ben Abo took over and guided me and my ladies to where we needed to be. Before you knew it we’d said the vows we’d written and our music hit and we were married!
I got a permanent person now! Stress wasn’t quite over after the ‘I Dos’ there was still the whole issue of the first dance. We had only practiced our first dance medley once because well there’d been no time what with house hunting, planning the whole wedding, Isaac graduating. I just told Isaac where I’d be starting from and we proceeded with our Carribean Queen/Ain’t Nobody dance. I didn’t trip over my dress and fall so from that standpoint it was a success!
I had a wardrobe change because wedding gowns are hard to dance in y’all! And we danced, danced, danced thanks to the sounds provided by our NYC DJ Kid Chalupa. We danced so much we almost forgot about the gluten-free vegan cupcakes from Parlour Vegan Bakery. I think some of us were still pretty stuffed from the amazing dinner provided by Miami Grill Catering. Their stuff was delicious but you know the Bride and Groom don’t get to eat much (there were lots of people to say hi to you know), though we did get a few bites in thanks to our friends Emily and Ben. Everyone loved the food and has kept raving about it 3 weeks later. But we almost forgot about the cake. Thankfully, someone remembered and we scarfed those down in the Knight Gallery which was the scene of probably the best dance party I’ve ever been to, if for no other reason than my Mom even danced her face off.
At the end of the night, everything was just how we wanted it. All we really wanted was to have a great party for our friends and family to celebrate this next chapter of our lives together. I feel so blessed and loved. So many friends and family made it out even though they had to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to get here. I relished seeing each and every one of them. Each and every person we invited helped shape us into the people we are today and ultimately into the couple we are. Everyone was so kind and generous and we really can’t wait to share more of our milestones with all of them as we continue this journey together as the Goldszers.
At some point, I’ll put together my advice for brides on a budget or do-it-yourself brides. For right now, I’m just trying to think about the highs of the day. I’m married and in one piece.
Our honeymoon has several legs to it. The first leg consisted of Asheville, NC and for the second we went to San Francisco, CA. If you’ve been following me on Instagram you may have seen some of those stories. The last leg of our honeymoon we’ll be going to Detroit,MI for the Movement Music Festival over Memorial Day weekend. Sometime before that we’ll be closing on our house in Charleston, SC. So expect lots of new content in the coming weeks. I missed you lovelies!
