{Mallory, Chris, me & Tony observing karaoke. Tony’s tan is on point.}

Mallory Moye is one of Tony’s co-workers on Hart of Dixie, playing the adorably hilarious Wanda on the show. She’s one of those girls you meet and instantly think, “Oh! We should be best friends,” and she and her husband Chris have since become good pals of ours. She is a big-hearted woman of many talents (did you see her “Fancy” parody music video?! Amazing.) who can now add Planning A Wedding For 120 Guests In ONLY THREE WEEKS to her list of achievements. Given the fact that it’s taken me over a year to pick out a dress and I’ve recently googled “cost of a private fireworks show” (answer: TOO MUCH, YOU CRAZY), I can use all the help I can get in planning my own wedding. Mallory has a really beautiful wedding story about what happens when life has different plans than you do, and it is a wonderful reminder that all that really matters at the end of the day is love and family. She was kind enough to share her story here on the blog, along with some tips for brides who don’t want to agonize over floral arrangements for 19 months… Thank you for guest blogging, sweet Mallory!

Annie, first off, I’m a huge fan of your blog. Thank you so much for having me as a guest! I love watching you and Tony scour over yummy foods and play with your furry puppies. It’s been so wonderful getting to know you both better and seeing your year of wedding prep progress!

Planning a wedding is hard, y’all! (Embracing my inner Lori Allen. I’m a huge Say Yes to the Dress fan – NYC and ATL.) I’m going to tell you how to plan a wedding for 120 guests in three weeks. Crazy? Absapooply. But it’s possible. I know, because I did it.

Here’s how it all happened…

Our very first picture together. A princess birthday party.  I’m the redhead in the pink dress sitting next to my best friend and the birthday girl Emily with the pink bow in her hair. Little did I know that I’d be marrying the little boy in the red shirt (in the far left corner).

I was four and Chris was nine. It was love at first tiny sight. Okay, so not exactly, but Chris’s sister Emily and I have been best friends since we were three years old. Growing up, Chris was always Emily’s hot older brother.  It wasn’t till one summer after my sophomore year of college that he first put his hand on the small of my back, which changed everything.

80’s bar. 2007. The night Chris made his first move. I was completely oblivious, clearly.

Okay, now we can skip to…

On May 19, 2014 my sweet, loving boyfriend Chris proposed in Norway. A total surprise! So perfectly us. We took a canoe out on this crystal clear lake, he made fun of the way I paddled saying I “paddle like a second grader,” then we pulled up to an island in the middle of these beautiful Nordic mountains where classy me popped a squat in some bushes. To my surprise when I returned, Chris had laid out a blanket with champagne and a picnic. When he proposed I was still wearing my silly life vest! It was the perfect combination of romantic fantasy and real life.

We made plans. I returned to LA. We talked about a fall wedding in 2015. Lapped up our luxury of ample time. Unfortunately, life had other plans. On June 1, Chris’s father was diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer where his prognosis was grim. To say the least, it was a terrible miserable time in our lives. Suddenly nothing else mattered more on our wedding than having all of our parents there. I needed to return to work on June 30th for Hart of Dixie’s season four, so we decided to have a small wedding just with our families by the end of the month.

We actually got married by a judge in downtown Athens a few days before our wedding ceremony. Chris’s uncle married us, and he isn’t ordained. This ended up being one of my fondest memories from our wedding.

I was never interested in things like invitations or save the dates or gift baskets for out of town guests, which worked out well, because we didn’t have time! Having spent months gazing at dresses on Pinterest (pre-engagement), I suddenly needed one – like now! Totally opposite of the way I imagined, I drove to the dress store by myself and tried on wedding gowns for the first time ever. I went to Glamour Closet in LA and the ladies were so super sweet to me. (Annie also just informed me that a portion of their proceeds go to research for Parkinson’s disease. Another great reason to love them there!) The second dress I tried on, happened to be Oscar de la Renta, I fell in love with. I tried on a ball gown, for my mom and Randy from SYTTD, but with an outdoor wedding in June, Hell nah!

The ball gown that never was.

So my dress and I boarded a plane the very next day Athens, GA bound. We met with our terrific wedding planner, Natalie Bradley at Soiree by Natalie Bradley. She was AMAZING. We planned the wedding in two hours – from how we were going to get to the hotel to what music we wanted during the ceremony. Decisions were made lightening fast, which actually helped! There was no time for second-guessing or adding extraneous details. Appointments with the caterer, florist, hair stylist, and makeup artists were made within hours. Don’t worry. We still had all the traditional family hysterics and bride meltdowns. They were just condensed! We had to find a new caterer within a week of the wedding, and I had a terrible experience with a makeup artist who apparently (I found out the hard way) is used to doing beauty pageants. “I’m not done yet. It’s going to look worse before it looks better. Trust me,” she said. Words you never want to hear from someone painting your face. Yet even with all the panic and craziness, everything had a way of working out. It truly felt like the universe was giving us a little grace during a very difficult time.

My terrible test run with a beauty pageant makeup artist.

As Chris and I approach our first seven months of marriage and he sets up his PlayStation in our new home, I am most grateful for our family and friends who dropped everything to be a part of our day. It turned out absolutely perfect.

Our adorable flower girl (my niece Amelia) and ring bearer (Chris’s nephew Will).

Brides, here’s some advice from a newlywed (for what it’s worth):

1. Plan, plan, plan ahead. Have a rain plan and most likely you won’t need it!
2. Don’t leave anything to the last second. I had a meltdown on the morning of our wedding when Chris and I were out in 90-degree weather trying to get parking signs in the hard ground. Avoid anything on the day of!
3. Don’t drink too much on the day of. Previously mentioned meltdown caused my bridesmaids to fill me up with Riesling. To say the least, I was a little hung over and dehydrated during the reception. No bueno!
4. Enjoy yourself! Don’t stress about saying hello to every single person. I promise they will understand. It’s your day!
5. Surround yourself by only those you love. Nothing else matters.
6. Don’t fret the small things. I recognize this is much easier said than done. I understand my entry is a little tongue and cheek. If you and your fiancé fight. Have no fear. That is totally normal. I look back now and laugh at the fact that Chris and I argued over those parking signs in the 100% humidity or bickered over the passed hors d’oeuvres. None of it matters. No one will remember them, but they will remember you acting like a crazy person.
7. Family drama will arise. People will freak out. Mothers might refer to your day as ‘our’ wedding. Seek solace in your partner. You’re in this together.