We bought 15 strings of cheap plastic globe string lights to decorate and light the yard for the wedding. We left them out all summer and the globes filled with rain, but somehow those $10 lights survived the drowning, and after we removed Every. Single. Globe. from Every. Single. Bulb. and dried them in the sun, we decided to tack them up in our attic suite.

This is what I had hoped for, but feared was impossible – a wedding that was not disposable, cheap or frivolous. A memory I could smile at, think fondly of, and move away from without regret or debt.