Real Bride: Sarah Hendren

When you're a wedding blogger and your best friend gets married, special attention must be paid! I would love to introduce all of you to my best friend in the whole wide world - Sarah Hendren! Sarah and Matt had a truly beautiful, budget-friendly wedding and I was so excited to be a part of it in so many ways! Not only was I her matron of honor, I also got to design her invitations, do her hair and makeup and help her with a lot of her DIY decor (check out my tutorial on her agate slice table numbers that I made here!)!

Your name: Sarah Hendren Partner’s name: Matthew Hendren Wedding date: May 20th 2018 City, State: Fulton, MO

Tell us more about you!

How long have you been together?

6 years

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

He brought home our favorite Chinese food and in the container was a ring box and he asked. It was cute and silly, but I did it a year later with a cookie cake that said "Will you marry me?" It was fun. :)

What was your favorite part of the wedding?

Our ceremony because it was so us and very nerdy. We wrote it ourselves and included some funny, nerdy vows.

What went wrong with your wedding?

Nothing aside from a bit of rain... but I hear its good luck.

Did you find any tricks to save you money?

Yes a lot of DIY and substituting for cheaper items.

If you could go back and redo it, would you change anything; and if so, what would you change? I wouldn't have had one of my bridal party members in it, so there would not be any whining. (Drama!)

Do you have any advice for new brides?

Enjoy it. Take it all in before you miss it. I did not take a drink of alcohol until we were packing up.

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

It was just right

Did any of your vendors knock your socks off?

Yes, our DJ from complete wedding and events he was so badass, we loved him.

Did any of your vendors disappoint?

No they were all amazing.

What was one (or more!) special element in your wedding that isn’t in most?

Between our custom made wine with labels and the uniqueness of the ceremony I can’t choose one. Also, having my best friend Alyssa Alley design our wedding invitations added an extra personal touch!

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

I wish we had had an actual cake instead of just having cupcakes.

Where do you feel like you could have saved money or overspent?

I actually don't think I overspent on anything! I did really good at saving everywhere I could!

How many guests did you invite vs how many RSVP’ed vs how many actually came?

64 invited and 45 rsvped. Around 35-40 showed up.

Wedding Venue: Serenity Valley Winery Caterer: CoMo Smoke and Fire Photographer: MTJ Photography Videographer: n/a Planner: My maid of honor, the owner or Bride2BrideBlog and Bride2BrideDesign, Alyssa Alley DJ/Band: Complete Wedding and Events - Joe Dress Designer: Davids Bridal exclusive Bridal Salon: Davids Bridal Bridesmaids’ Dress Designer: Purple: Amazon and Rose Gold: SheIn Bridesmaids’ Salon: n/a Menswear: Savvi Formalwear Officiant: Mary Morgan Trousdale Dennehy Florist: Myself Jeweler: Zales and Amazon Hair Stylist: Alyssa Alley Makeup Artist: Alyssa Alley Cake: Smallcakes Cupcakery Invitations: Bride2Bride Design Bartender: Serenity Valley Winery