David and I met as interns  on Capital Hill. Our love then grew through a 5-year long-distance relationship. We were able to survive despite our pursuit to become a doctor and a lawyer. He was at the University of Michigan School of Medicine and I was at the University of Maryland School of Law. We encouraged each other. David proposed to me on May 15, 2011 in front of both of our families. It was amazing! I graduated from law school on that day David proposed and we got married the day after he graduated from medical school.    David and I really didn't have much money to have a huge wedding, but we wanted the wedding of our dreams. We decided to plan everything ourselves. For decoration, I tried to create as many ideas as I could. We had a signature drink called "The Huxtable". We used mostly orchids as our flowers. We made our own seating chart   by downloading a free template and printing it out on a huge foam board. We could not afford a backdrop   to go behind the bridal party, so we made one out of tissue and two enormous peg boards. It was awesome. Many people wanted to buy our backdrop, but I gave it to our linen designer because he gave us crazy discounts.    David designed our guestbook by using the Apple iphone photobook application. It was awesome. He came up with the title "Witness to love: David and Susan's Wedding Day" for the cover and then on the inside he stated this, in part, "Bearing Witness: Thank you for being a witness to our covenant   with God as we commit ourselves to join as one..." I was moved deeply by his beautiful words.    We make our ceremony programs. We had a couple of gifts for guests. We gave them a handkerchief with our initials at the church, candy from the self-made candy bar display and stainless steel measuring spoons that said "love beyond measure".    We had a great wedding and the guests enjoyed themselves. By sharing my wedding story, I just want to tell you that you can have a wedding that you want within budget. Why did the writer and David decide to plan everything themselves?
Because they had no time to find helpers. Because they wanted to save money in this way. Because they thought they were able to do that. Because they wanted to make sure everything was perfect.