Do you know this bride?

I have a little experiment in mind and I need your help! I've gone Pinterest searching for the most viral wedding photos that have circled (and are still circling) in the past couple of years and I am trying to find the owners!

If you are the bride in one of these photos, the groom, the photographer, or if one of these weddings belongs to you/you know who it belongs to, please contact me!

Thanks a bunch! And stay tuned to find out where I'm going with this!

...but I can't tell you until I find these people :)

If you know any of these people, took one of these photos, or if one of these people is you, please contact me at jenn@theoverwhelmedbride.com please and thank you :)

And if you want to help me with this little experiment, please share!!

Your Not So Viral Wedding

Think back to when you were a little girl and first dreamed of your wedding day - marrying Barbie and Ken in your living room with your Beanie Babies as the wedding guests. My sisters and I even set up our own ceremonies in the entry way to our house using every chair we could find!

Can you remember how you pictured your wedding day as a little girl? A stunning church with a reception in a large, beautiful banquet room? Or a beautiful country club ceremony with bright green rolling hills and a lake in the background?

Tall, delicate, wine glasses that were so clear that they sparkled with the light of the chandeliers and silverware so polished that you could use them as a mirror. Everything was going to be perfect, pristine, and of course, classy.

The bouquet would be full of huge, white roses while wearing a white gown and a simple but elegant veil slightly longer than the train of your dress.

When you were a little girl, did you every picture your guests drinking wine out of a mason jar? Or wearing a dress that wasn't white? Or using haystacks for seats at your ceremony?

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE rustic weddings. And I love when brides change traditions and create their own. And for many of you, that was the look your dreamt of from the the time you were a little girl. But for many of us, social media has impacted our view of a beautiful wedding so much, that we don't even know what we want anymore.

Have you seen the saying, "My wedding isn't a success until one of my photos goes viral"? Sorry to break it to you, but the photos that go viral are the ones that are innovative, creative, and different. If it's already been done before and every bride is doing it, then it's lost the creativity and the personality it once had.

We have become so enthralled with copying every Pinterest photo, pinning and completing every idea we see from even before we are even engaged, and just going with the social media flow.
Why not make your wedding personal? Why not make your childhood wedding dreams come true and instead of just choosing what is "in" the year you are getting married, be different. Your wedding day signifies much more than a pretty dress and some flowers. Your wedding signifies two beautiful individuals coming together and creating one life, for the rest of your lives. Don't you want that to reflect your style? Your personality? And you as a couple?

My advice to you is to make your day your own. Believe me, I love Pinterest for inspiration. But what I love even more is a wedding day that leaves guests saying, "That was totally Frank and Jenn" rather than, "Oh yeah, I've seen that cute idea on Pinterest before!"

If you've never worn cowboy boots in your life and you can't stand the smell of horses, then is a wedding in a barn really going to be the best representation of you as a couple? Again, barn weddings are absolutely stunning! But they are not a great representation of everyone and because of these social media trends, weddings have begun to lose their meaning, their true significance.

So make your wedding day your own. Be innovative. Feel free to choose what you like and not be influenced by anyone else...or anything else. This is your wedding day and you are only going to get this day once so make it the best representation you can of you as a, now, married couple.