I’m so happy to have Jenn of Midwest “Mom”ments here today. She’s a local KC gal whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in real life (for a couple of minutes in the pouring rain….we’ll have to meet up again sometime!). She’s sweet and kind and someone I always look forward to talking to online.

Her blog is full of cuteness, with her two daughters as the stars, and very real, when she posts about things like her miscarriage and going back to work after enjoying the life of a SAHM.

She’s also talented…check out her Etsy shop (I, myself, have bought three sets of wall plaques already).

Welcome, Jenn!

When we planned our ­wedding, we had a small budget to work with (around $10,000) and a large guest list (350 people), so we had to minimize cost wherever possible. I designed and hand cut our invitations, programs, and party favors. My husband and the best man barbecued and catered our reception. And we asked a friend to videotape the ceremony.

I was confident in my friend’s abilities. (He works in the movie industry doing special effects; he was even on the team that won an Oscar for “Pirates of the Caribbean.”) I didn’t want anything fancy, just something to record those poignant moments that I knew would be a blur in my memory. I envisioned DH and I curling up on the couch with a bottle of Asti Spumante on subsequent anniversaries, toasting another blissful year, and reliving the joy of our special day via DVD.

After we got back from our honeymoon in Ireland and developed a gazillion pictures (only to discover that the pixel setting was on a lower quality than we thought), I was excited to see the wedding photos. They were gorgeous! Everything was as beautiful as I remembered. I couldn’t wait to see the video as I imagined it could only be more breathtaking to see those images in motion.

Unfortunately, my friend was busy with a work project. (FX jobs generally run on a contract per movie, so when he doesn’t have a movie, he’s slow, but when he does, he works like a maniac.) So it was a couple of months before the DVDs arrived in the mail.

I was so excited that I decided I didn’t really need to wait until our anniversary to watch it. I knew DH would disagree, so while he was out one night, I popped it in the player and sat back, ready to be wowed by the awesomeness that was our wedding.

The quality of the video was fine. The events recorded on it? Um, yeah. Not so much.

I had forgotten that the minister had dropped the ring. I had forgotten that the sound went out for a minute. I hadn’t realized that by the time we walked out of the church, my legs were tired from pretty much standing for eight hours already that day, so I actually waddled down the aisle. (Yes, really, people, waddled.)

With each minute that ticked by on the timer, I discovered another flaw. I was cringing by the end, mortified that we had ordered extra copies for our parents and my husband’s grandfather who had been ill and unable to attend the wedding.

My idyllic day was destroyed.

We’ve been married seven years. Haven’t watched the video once on an anniversary. But we’ve perused the photo album dozens of times.

My advice to those of you who potentially have a wedding in your future is this: skip the video. Go all out on the photos. Those will capture the tender moments, and the rest will blend together in your memory as an overall day of perfection. Don’t let the reality of a video ruin it for you.

*********************************

Show Jenn some love (especially if you’ve had this experience–yikes!), then go follow her on FaceBook, Twitter, and her blog.