Our Wedding: the morning of

I spent my wedding eve with two of my bridesmaids at my parent's house. It was a very low-key night, though one of the smoke detectors kept chirping for new batteries, which delayed our sleep a bit! 

That morning, I woke up pretty early, I think around 6, ready to start my day! My wedding day didn't officially start until noon, when we were arriving at the venue for hair and make-up. Let me tell you, that morning seemed to go on forever! I had a quiet breakfast with my parents, and then the girls started waking up. 

a fitting coffee mug from Ashley Brooke Designs, if I do say so!

Side note: I drank SO MUCH fluid on my wedding day, because I was a bit nervous that I was going to faint during the ceremony - I had already almost fainted at two bridal fittings, and have a penchant for fainting in the past, so was determined to make sure that I kept my blood sugar level up for the wedding day!

We hung out until around 11 or so, and then headed to the venue. My cousin had beaten us there, and sent a photo of the ceremony chairs being set up. It was starting to get very real!

Once we were all there, the girls at Body Bliss and Spa immediately got to work on hair and make-up. Sarah, the owner, had given me a timeline in advance of when each girl was getting their hair and make-up done throughout the day, which helped my nerves tremendously. Since I was getting married at 4:30 and wasn't arriving to the venue until 12, I was a bit nervous that Sarah and her team wouldn't have everyone done on time, which included me, five bridesmaids, and two mothers.

I needn't have worried, though, because they were done with plenty of time to spare. It's such fun getting your hair and make-up done, and the girls did such a great job. I even wore false eyelashes for the occasion!

The bridal party got ready upstairs in the main house of the venue, while the guys got ready in an old cabin on the property. Since Matt and the groomsmen were in such close proximity, I was confined to the upstairs, and caught glimpses of the ceremony and reception through small windows that afforded a view of the goings-on. At one point, I was standing on the toilet, craning my neck to look out the window at the reception pavilion!

After a quick lunch of wraps and chips, we popped a champagne bottle (or two) to celebrate!

Emily and her assistant Morgan arrived shortly thereafter, and I gave them a bag that I had already set aside with all of the "details" that Emily might want to photograph - invitation, welcome bag, perfume, shoes, etc.

During the rehearsal the day before before, I had given the girls robes from Plum Pretty Sugar, with the intent that we could get ready in them. It made for such adorable photos!

At this point, I was starting to get a bit antsy, so when Emily said to me, "let's put your dress on, girl" I was about ready to burst from excitement!

Since my dress had so many layers, I needed a lot of help from my bridesmaids!

One very special gift from one of my sister-in-laws was my "something blue," an embroidery of my married initials with my wedding date, which I had sewn into my dress. It was such a sweet and thoughtful detail.

Once my gown was on, with my gorgeous bouquet in hand, us girls went outside for some portrait shots before the wedding.

To be continued!

Photographer: Emily March Photography / Day-of-Coordinator: Ashlee Adams of The Sutherland / Hair and Make-Up Artist: Body Bliss Salon and Spa / Invitations: Ply / Bride's Dress: "8724" by Justin Alexander / Bride's Shoes: "Couture Bow Pump" by Valentino from Nordstrom / Bride's Hair Comb: "Bella" by Hair Comes the Bride / Bridesmaid Dresses: J Crew

Bridal Accessories

One of my favorite wedding accessories was my hair comb. I decided to not go with a traditional veil for a couple of reasons:

1) To help with the budget, I decided that this was one of the items that I could forego

2) When I tried on veils with my dress, it seemed "off" somehow, almost as if the veil was competing with the dress. I think it's because there is so much tulle in the gown itself that a gauzy veil just looks superfluous 

3) Matt wasn't too keen on me wearing a veil, and so I wanted to respect his wishes

Since I wasn't going to wear a veil, I did need a little something extra to go with my dress, because I wasn't wearing any jewelry, either. I had planned on wearing this kate spade bracelet, but when I tried it on with the dress, it just didn't look right.

photo by Emily March Photography

That's when I got the idea of wear a pretty hair comb! I found one at the cleverly named Hair Comes the Bride, and was so happy with the piece. It looked so elegant in my hair, that I don't think anyone even realized that I wasn't wearing a veil!

My wedding dress

I've blogged about my wedding dress hunt before, but now I can finally show you some photos of the actual dress!

I ordered my dress in February, and at the end of July I got a happy call that my dress had arrived! Truthfully, I was a bit nervous that the dress wouldn't fit. When I ordered my gown in February, I decided to go a size down, since I was between two sizes, and thought that a smaller size would mean less alterations (and less money). I was very happy that it fit perfectly.

I did decide to get a crinoline layer taken out of the skirt, since it was a little too "Southern Belle" for me. I am from the North, after all! The hem of course needed raising, which the seamstress did little by little, over the course of four bridal fittings.

We did have a bit of a problem with the bustle. Originally, the seamstress made a 9-point bustle, but when the sales girl, the seamstress, my mom, and the maid of honor couldn't seem to find the buttons and line up the points correctly, the seamstress decided to make it a bit easier by only doing 3 points, which I was very grateful for. I kept envisioning everyone at the reception waiting, as the clock ticked on, and my bustle still not pinned!

One thing that I don't think I mentioned in my first post regarding my wedding dress was the fact that I didn't have an immediate emotional reaction to my dress. I liked it, sure, but I didn't have a "moment" or anything.

With that said, one of the telling ways that I knew that the dress was for me was the fact that after I tried on a few gowns, I wanted to put the dress back on. And when I had it on, I didn't want to take it off! And as the wedding planning progressed, and I had my hair and make-up trial, I wanted to put the dress back on, to see everything together! I would say that all of these things were a good indication that while I may not have gotten emotional, I picked the right dress for me.

Our wedding invitations

Well hello! It's been awhile since I last updated my blog...four months to be exact! A lot has happened since then, but perhaps the biggest thing is that I got married! I kind of left you all hanging with my last post about my March goals, but I am back now to chronicle my wedding.

The good thing about taking such a long break is that now I can share everything all at once, since my wedding day has come and gone, as sad as that is. It was a truly beautiful day, on all accounts - spiritually, emotionally, and physically. I am excited to share it with you!

Today, let's talk invitations!

I had no clear direction on what I wanted our wedding invitations to look like, I just knew that I didn't want them to look plain. While I can appreciate a classic invite, I kept being drawn to invitations that had a little something extra - a pop of color, a cute monogram, or a fun envelope liner. The wedding invitations are most likely the first thing that your guests will see regarding your wedding, and so I wanted to set the right tone and feel with our invitations.

After some careful consideration, I started working with Molly Gaither from Ply to design my invitations. Molly was truly a gem to work with, and I wholeheartedly recommend her, for the following reasons:

1) She is so sweet, and was just as excited about my invitations as I was

2) She was sensitive to our budget, and never made me feel like I was "skimping" on a design decision. Case in point - I really wanted letterpress invites, but when the budget just simply wouldn't allow it, Molly pointed out that with a digital print, I could personalize my design and add as much color as I wanted - which was exactly what I was going for

3) She clearly loves what she does, and was incredibly patient during the design process

4) Lastly, she took my inspiration and created a beautiful invitation suite that looks better than what I had envisioned. It can't get any better than that!

After I decided to work with Molly, she went right to work creating a design. I shared a Pinterest board of my wedding invitation inspirations, and  we were off!

I can't remember how many rounds we went through - I think it was about 6, but once we got through the basic structure, it was essentially small tweaks until I declared them perfect, and that was mostly changing the color scheme of the different elements of the suite.

And here is the finished product!

photo by Emily March Photography

The gold glitter envelope liner was an extra addition that I felt would really make the whole suite "pop," and I think it had the desired effect! Molly hand-cut all of the envelope liners, so it was nice touch. 

The envelopes were addressed by Calligraphy by Carrie, who also did the escort cards and cupcake flavor cards, but more on that later. I have atrocious handwriting (I blame the fact that I am a lefty!), and so it was important to me to have a beautiful addressed envelope for our guests.

What do you all think? I truly loved them, and I hope you do too!