Rachel Poythress takes on wedding planning, prepping for her big day

When Rachel Poythress talks about her upcoming wedding to fiance Aaron Hawkins, she smiles. Not because she’s really excited about the planning process and the details and decisions that go into it, but because her wedding will be exactly how she wants it.

“It’s actually kind of stressful,” she says of the planning process.

She has a clear idea of how she wants the wedding to work, Poythress says, and she has a strong sense of personal style.

That’s important, she says, because instead of a wedding planner, Poythress is using several online tools that may not have been available just a few years ago.

Thanks to advice from an app by theknot.com, tasks are broken down into monthly, weekly and daily to-do lists.

Cutline:Rebel checks out her mother's, Rachel Poythress, save the dates.Laura Simon

Her Pinterest boards serve as great inspiration, and she’s using a spreadsheet to chart expenses.

“I Googled that,” she says of the spreadsheet.

Poythress, whose wedding is set for Jan. 27, 2018, says a lot of her big decisions were easy to make.

“It is very different to be planning my wedding that will occur during not the traditional wedding season,” she says, adding several vendors such as photographers and caterers have more flexibility in the off-season.

Poythress says she wants her wedding to be elegant without being stuffy. She still has a lot of decisions to make, but, she says, those decisions are a lot easier because she knows what she likes and doesn’t like.

LAURA SIMON ~lsimon@semissourian.com Bride-to-be Rachel Poythress works on planning her upcoming wedding to Aaron Hawkins.

Old St. Vincent’s Church in Cape Girardeau, where their ceremony will be held, already will be decorated for Christmas, Poythress says, although her theme is definitely not Christmas-related, or New Year’s Eve either, for that matter.

“I’m doing a winter whimsical woodland theme,” she says, “or at least that’s what Pinterest calls it.”

There’s no shortage of help from family and friends, either, Poythress says. Her mother, Bonnie, has a shop in Downtown Cape Girardeau, as does her cousin, Jenna Beussink, who owns Renaissance at 139 N. Main St. in Cape Girardeau.

They’re far from the only family members she has who are good at making decorations or helping with decisions. One aunt worked for a florist, for example.

“They have a great sense of style,” she says.

LAURA SIMON ~lsimon@semissourian.com Bride-to-be Rachel Poythress works on planning her upcoming wedding to Aaron Hawkins.

“I haven’t bought many decorations yet,” Poythress says, adding she’ll wait until closer to the wedding for that. Storing decorations would be a challenge, she says.

Poythress has been to several weddings, she says, and has a good idea of what will and won’t work for her and Hawkins on their wedding day.

“We’re working with an adventure theme,” she says, because they both love the outdoors. Hawkins is a duck hunter, she says, and they enjoy kayaking and hiking with their dogs.

And, she says, getting married is a really big adventure they’re taking on together.