The Charity Wedding

I am turning this post over to Alicia, the creator of “The Charity Wedding.” I filmed the whole process. The video below is a small overview from their amazing wedding day. Since Alicia has a blog of her own, I felt taking her own words would best explain what she and Kyle’s goals were. Enjoy! It’s a great story, and a great idea!

“Kyle and I were married on October 15, 2010. When we began planning our wedding, we felt discouraged, as we were having a hard time spending such a large amount of money on one day for ourselves.  We believe in giving back and living a life of purpose. Neither one of us enjoys being the center of attention, and while we knew we wanted a wedding to celebrate our love for each other with our closest friends and family, we knew there had to be a better way.

We created The Charity Wedding as a means to raise both money and awareness for several charities during the planning process and with the wedding itself. We asked vendors if they would be willing to donate or discount time or services. We set a $10,000 budget and committed to donate what we didn’t spend on vendors to local charities. Each month, we organized a different fundraising or charitable effort to help bring exposure to as many groups as possible. The charity theme gave our wedding a greater purpose, and instead of feeling discouraged, we began to feel motivated by the thought of helping others. Our goal was not only to raise money and awareness for charity but also to help other couples to think about their weddings a little differently and try to find ways to give back through their love for each other. It was an honor and blessing to be able to impact the lives of other people through our wedding. We find joy in knowing that even after the day is over, people are benefiting from the process.

This would not have been possible if it were not for the amazing support of our generous vendors. We give them full credit for turning this unconventional wedding idea into a reality. They are undeniably some of the best in the business, and they handled every last detail with professionalism and class, all the while never asking what was in it for them. We are eternally grateful to them for giving us our dream wedding.”

I would love to see more couples giving back, doing something more positive for the planet when planning their own weddings. It does make a difference, even if it’s something small.