simple days with bonnie rae

About a year ago I had a dream that Chase and I got married. In the dream we invited everyone to a big party and then when they got there we announced that they were actually at our wedding.

On September 23rd, 2017 that dream, quite literally, came true.

When I first told Chase about the dream he said, “That would be so awesome.” Neither of us are big event kind of people. We hate having the attention on us and we enjoy our simple, slow, intentional, minimal life. We knew we wanted our wedding to be the same.

We had thought about having our surprise wedding sometime in fall of 2018. We talked about it as a distant, exciting adventure we would plan eventually. We knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together but we were in no rush.

Then our little surprise came along. He turned everything upside down in the best way. Now, I am not the most traditional person. I do not believe two people need to be married to start a family or a life together, if that is not your way that is beautiful. But because Chase and I already knew we wanted to commit to one another forever it made the decision seem so simple.

Chase surprised me with our engagement. I knew that we wanted to get engaged but he planned the entire thing without my knowledge, which is actually pretty tricky with me, and it made it that much more special.

After engagement we still wanted to take our time with the wedding but this surprise wedding idea was still in the back of my mind. An engagement party two years after the engagement would seem strange, but we couldn’t plan a wedding before baby arrived- could we?

The answer is yes we could. With endless amounts of love and support from family and friends we pulled it off. My amazing cousin offered her home as our venue. One of my very best friends in the entire world offered to do the photography, my sister and soon to be brother in law took on flowers and decor, another beautiful cousin had an arbor- and just like that a wedding started to form.

We knew that not everyone would be able to come. But the reality is that we have so much wonderful family all around the country and we did not want them spending hundreds of dollars just for one day with us. We knew we wanted it to be as small and simple as possible and we knew we wanted it to be a surprise.

The day was for us. No one else, just us. We are lucky enough to have loved ones that understand our lifestyle and our choices. As Chase put it, “The goal was to get married.” And that’s exactly what we did.

Live a life that you value. In all that you do, realize that you can make decisions and choices that are best for you. Some may not understand, but that’s not your concern.

I’ve thrown away all of my masks so that what people see is my soul. Be you, bravely. In all things. I promise your heart will split open with joy.

“There is absolutely nothing in this world more irresistible than a person who inspires by simply wearing their soul on their sleeve.” Christopher Poindexter

More soon,

Bonnie Rae xx

All photos by: Erica Kait Creative 

P.S. If you want more detail on how we planned our minimalist, surprise wedding let me know, maybe it’s your way too.