Real Bride: Alyssa Alley

I will now be starting a "Featured Bride" post every other Friday! Get inspiration from real weddings! I will include advice from the featured brides, photos from their wedding, as well as vendor info from each bride so, if you live in the same area, you'll have ideas of who to call!

If you want to be considered as a featured bride, click here. Send this survey back with photos from your wedding and I will let you know if you are chosen!

I'll will start with me and my wedding! And if you want to check out some of my engagement pictures click here!

Your name: Alyssa Alley

Partners name: Zach Alley

Wedding date: 04-22-17

City, State: Lake Ozark, MO

Tell us more about you!

How long have you been together?

On and off for 11 years! We met when we were 16!

How did he propose? (Or how did you propose!)

In the most real way possible I think…I was sitting on our bed, surfing Facebook (of course!). Zach walked in, got down on one knee in front of me and said the sweetest things (it was such a blur of emotions I can’t remember what, but I do remember him saying my full name, haha!). I immediately said yes and we hugged and kissed and cried. I, of course, looked like a hot mess so the “We just got engaged” pictures are not something I will ever show around, but I wouldn’t change anything about it for the world!

What was your favorite part of the wedding?

Do I have to pick a favorite part? There’s no way… Our first look was amazing, him carrying me up the hill in my dress was adorable, the dancing (which I never do!) was so much fun, the s’mores bar over the campfire was awesome, the

photobooth was insane! Overall, my two favorite parts (sorry, I can’t pick just one!) was one – having my dog kids there with us in the ceremony, and two – the ceremony. Saying

my vows to the man I love, hearing him say them to me, all of it.

What went wrong with your wedding?

Lots went wrong. And lots ALMOST went wrong. It almost rained; I almost wasn’t ready in time; I almost forgot to put my lipstick on; I almost lost my engagement ring; I almost had a meltdown; I almost fainted multiple times (thanks a lot, disability); As for what ACTUALLY went wrong? I drank a little more than I meant to, one of the yard games I planned on having set up had technical difficulties and didn’t get set up, I got a few less pictures than I wanted because of running late and because of the almost-rain. My usher didn't get in the wedding-party photos (because my crazy bride-brain forgot to include his name in the list I gave to the photographer!), we way overestimated the amount of beer needed and ended up with more leftovers than anyone could drink in a year, and we ran out of time to hang up part of our decor. But hey, I didn’t fall into the campfire, I didn’t lose my ring, the dogs behaved, and I married the love of my life. I’d say that’s pretty successful.

Did you find any tricks to save you money?

So many tricks. Too many to list here; if you want some advice on where to buy cheap wedding decor, click here. And for sneaky ways to save money on your wedding click here.

If you'd like to know more about our Photo Booth and tips on how to DIY yours click here!

If you could go back and redo it, would you change anything, and what?

I would have a different day-of coordinator. And I wouldn't have asked someone I hadn't known very long to be a bridesmaid (but more about that in a later blog post!) Wow. I think that’s it…

Do you have any advice for new brides?

I have too much advice for new brides, hence the blog!

Did you over-plan or under-plan or was it just right?

I over-planned, just like I do everything in my life. But seriously, everyone was totally dumbstruck at the amount of detail my Mom/MOH and I put into planning this wedding, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Did any of your vendors knock your socks off?

So many of them! My photographer was amazing, not only to work with, but have you seen some of these pictures?! My dog trainer/handler was perfect! My DJ was killer! He listened to exactly what I wanted and made it work while still pleasing other people (and that is no easy feat, considering the bride wanted “Bounce” by System of a Down, “Wonderwall” by Oasis, and “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd!... What can I say, I have specific tastes!) Our cake turned out EXACTLY like the picture I showed them off Pinterest. AHHHH the bouquets!!! All the stuff DarlasBlooms made was simply breathtaking and I had never seen anything like them!

Did any of your vendors disappoint?

I won’t go into it too much, but a day-of coordinator is VERY important. Make sure you choose the right one.

What was one (or more!) special element in your wedding that isn’t in most? Our dog children in our wedding! Well, we had 2 out of 3 because the third one is too young and crazy and weighs 95 pounds. Ha! Also, the feather bouquets, yard games, s’mores bar, my mom as maid of honor and his dad as best man, the fact that it was at a camp and guests could stay on site!

What do you wish you’d spent more on (whether you were able to or not)?

A videographer. I REALLY wish I’d had one. Thank god my cousin did record a video of me walking down the aisle,

and he recorded my vows…but he missed Zach's vows (which is the only part of the entire day I REALLY cared about having on film!) I wish I’d hired someone... anyone to record that because part of my disability is that I have pretty bad memory problems--and here it is, almost 3 months later and I don’t remember what he said.

Where do you feel like you could have saved money or where did you overspend?

I should have not been so indecisive about my shoes (I think I bought 6 different pairs…yeah). I don’t know, I think I did a pretty good job of not spending. I think most people at my wedding thought we spent A LOT more on it than we did. But I also found a lot of really different, unique ways to save money! To learn more about how I did that check out this article!

How many guests did you invite vs how many RSVPed vs how many actually came?

I invited 105. I had 62 RSVP that they were coming. I ended up with 51 people actually being there.