10 favorite wedding moments
I’m back! I’m back!
I’m back from the most magical time I’ve experienced in my life so far. I married the man of my dreams, surrounded by the people we love most in our lives, and I thought it’d be meaningful to share ten of my favorite moments with you.
First, all four of our parents were there. We don’t take that for granted for a single second. Spiros’ father has been battling health issues, and we had thought that maybe he wouldn’t be able to join us. We are so incredibly grateful that our parents—and especially Spiros’ dad—got to experience this special moment with us, and we will never forget it for the rest of our lives.
My dad married us. We knew that we wanted our ceremony to be meaningful, and part of that meant having a connection to the person leading the ceremony. We had a civil ceremony before we left for Mexico to make our marriage official, and then worked with my dad to create a special ceremony and vows for our wedding in Mexico. My two favorite moments: When my dad mistakenly said, “Put the finger on the finger” (instead of “ring on the finger”), and at the end, when he said, “Spiros, you may now kiss my daughter!”
Wedding day started off with yoga and my closest friends. I didn’t have a traditional wedding party—only intimate family members—and so I wanted to do something special with my closest girlfriends before the ceremony. We started the day off with a yoga session and we couldn’t have asked for a better instructor. He guided us through some pretty complicated yoga poses and said, “If you don’t think you can do it . . . just change your belief.” Everything he said was so inspiring and he ended our session by asking us to set intentions for the day and for what we want most in our lives . . . I think most of us ended the session in tears, feeling more connected to our hearts than ever.
We asked everyone to join us for our first dance. We chose a Calum Scott song, “You Are The Reason,” and it was played by a pianist and violinist without any words. It was absolutely breathtaking. In the process of choosing the song, Spiros and I had an idea: We would dance the first 30 seconds or so by ourselves, and then we would invite everyone to the dance floor to dance to the song with us. There was a moment where I looked around at all the people we love dancing with us, and then I looked at Spiros, and we both had tears in our eyes. (And confession: I have tears right now as I’m writing about it. It was so special.)
Spiros gave a speech about happiness. In a speech that was completely unexpected and a total surprise to me, Spiros asked our guests to close their eyes and visualize what makes them happy. He shared about a time in his college when he felt defeated, and he said that visualizing what brought him happiness helped him move past it. He reminded us to be grateful for the things that make us smile and encouraged us to focus on what brings us joy and go after it. He ended by saying that when he closes his eyes and imagines happiness, he sees me.
We felt connected to our vendors. It was important to us that every person who shared this moment with us was connected to us and our story. Our DJ, Jake, used to spin music at the Student Maid office back in the day and even taught Spiros DJ lessons when we first started dating. I met our photographer, Jordan, years ago when she did an engagement photoshoot for two former Student Maid team members. At the time she was working at a resort while growing a photography business on the side, and many years later, when that resort was looking for a cleaning service, she told them about Student Maid . . . and that is how we opened our second location in Pensacola. Jordan has since become a renowned photographer and owns multiple businesses. She has decided to retire from photography to pursue her other business interests, and our wedding was her last ever. She brought her sister, Natalie, along, who is also a photographer, and they shot our wedding together. And finally, our hair and makeup genius, Abraham, has been helping me feel confident for years. He’s been there for every big professional moment in my life . . . website launches, being on the Today Show, the headshot for Permission to Screw Up . . . and I knew I wanted him to be with us on this special day. We recognized each of our vendors and told our guests how much they mean to us.
I wore my favorite red dress. After the ceremony, the plan was that I’d go back to our room to change into a white reception dress to dance in and eat in. But, the thing was, I had also brought a red dress that was my absolute favorite. My plan was to wear the red dress as an after-party dress . . . when the reception was over, I’d change into it and have a few hours to dance in my most favorite dress ever. On the way back to the room to change after the ceremony, I told Spiros I didn’t want to wear the white reception dress . . . even though it wasn’t traditional, I wanted to wear my favorite red dress to the reception instead and wear it the whole night. Spiros encouraged me to do it and be authentic . . . and here we are being announced as husband and wife in red!
We had an offerenda to honor our loved ones. We got married just before the Día de los Muertos holiday and wanted to honor the Mexican tradition of building an altar (or offerenda) containing photos and memorabilia of our family members who have passed on. Día de los Muertos is a joyous celebration, and we had several moments throughout the evening where we gathered around the altar to pay respects, remember our loved ones, and invite them in to celebrate with us.
Our family members gave speeches. The night before the wedding, we hosted a dinner under the stars. Our family members had prepared speeches and the night kicked off with my sister, Lauren. She found a letter that my dad wrote my mom on their honeymoon and read it to us, wishing us a love like theirs. She had everyone in tears, and then Spiros’ brother, David, took the mic and the tears continued. David shared memories of Spiros that demonstrate the kind of brother he is, one of them being a time in Greece when they were running around a track, and David couldn’t keep up with Spiros. Spiros passed David on the track and held out his hand. David grabbed it and they ran the rest of the track together, hand in hand. After David sat down, my parents gave a rap about our love story. They had us laughing and crying. Luckily a few people recorded these speeches so we can have them forever and ever.
I took a moment to look around and be completely present. Someone gave me the best advice before the wedding: To take a moment to stop, look around, be completely present, and soak up how special this moment is. I did that several times . . . I just stopped and looked around and all the special people who had traveled so far to celebrate this moment in our lives. I stopped and looked at Spiros and thought about how grateful I am that we found each other. I looked at our family members with so much gratitude in my heart. I had never experienced a feeling of being so present, and I need to give the biggest thanks in the world to our team . . . they completely took over my responsibilities so that I could truly unplug and be there for this experience. I didn’t check my email once in two weeks. Thank you team for the best gift you could have ever given me . . . I love you.
And with that, my ten favorite moments. It feels good to be back, and I have more love and inspiration in my heart than I ever thought possible.
Big hugs,
Kristen
PS: Hope you’ll join us for this week’s LIVE on Wednesday, 11/17, at 11 a.m. ET! I’ll be sharing more special moments from the wedding and some of my latest leadership learnings. You can register here: https://bit.ly/3kWe2kT
PPS: Have you heard about our R&R Virtual Retreat?! Hope you’ll join us on December 9th. Take some time to step away from the day-to-day, reflect on your growth in 2021, and set clear intentions for 2022. Tickets are $149 and you can secure yours here!
