Weddingbee Blog

Remember when I decided that I didn’t care to “create” a blog-worthy looking stack of books and instead took meaningful books off our very own bookshelf to create our own blog-worthy stack of books?

This DIY project cost us nothing. Three books off our bookshelf that each represent a different significant moment in our relationship and leftover ribbon. Turned out pretty nice, didn’t it?

Above is a photo of our DIY tri-fold bilingual invitations (instructions for tri-fold pocketfold and invitation panels). I actually forgot to bring the invitation to the wedding venue. I had to text one of our brideswomen to bring it with her that morning. Another oops. Go ahead and put that invitation inside your wedding binder and get it to your DOC (if you have one).

Using leftover invitation paper and our same wedding font, I made a sign for our bridal suite. We kept closing the door on the sign, though. Thank goodness Hanssie took this photo before the sign turned to mush.

By the time I finally needed to put together our civil-ceremony programs, I was out of card stock and really didn’t want to DIY too much. I made this in Microsoft Publisher, saved it as a PDF, and asked Brother Hot Wings to get them printed in color, double sided on white card stock at Kinko’s/FedEx. I figured it would only cost about a dollar per program. WRONG! It was over two dollars per program. Ouch. Plan for that program, or else it may be a last-minute money pit.

The brideswomen bouquets had roses and carnations, with lettuce in the center. You’ve seen these bouquets held by the Wingmen and the Hottie women—now see it with little Cody.

I really didn’t care what our flowers looked like. The only request I made was for phalaenopsis orchids to make an appearance. I really wanted a bridal bouquet of only phalaenopsis orchids and for the men to also wear them as bouts.

On my bouquet handle, I had my “something borrowed.” I borrowed this brooch from Mama-in-Law Hot Wings. It originally belonged to Mr. Hot Wings’s great grandmother, Claire. What a great honor.

We hung these crystal chandeliers at the front of our wedding “altar” on shepherd’s hooks to continue our chic aspect of the “Coastal Chic” theme.

I haven’t discussed it yet, but we did a love-letter-and-wine-box ceremony as part of our civil ceremony. More on that to come. For now, you can admire this lovely box that Mr. Hot Wings and Papa Hot Wings semi DIY’ed using an abandoned box from Sister-in-Law C, and the beautiful displays that Auntie Hot Wings made for us.

I know you’ve seen my shoes before, but let’s see them in black and white now. So pretty. I just can’t get enough.

Ring shot with the fortune cookies we provided with lunch.

photo by Brenda Swann

How about another cool ring shot that our DOC Brenda Swann took when they were in her care?

guest photo

Remember these parasols from our brideswomen formals? They doubled as ceremony decor.

In these next photos, you can see what it looked like walking down the aisle. Doesn’t the hanging chiffon give it a dreamy, resort feel? I really loved that.

Photo by Brideswoman Run into Flowers

So we’ve made it to the ceremony. Can you believe how many posts it’s taken to get here? Look below, that’s how many. If you plan on having a tea ceremony and formals before the civil ceremony, that’s how much more “stuff” you’ll have to plan for. Oh, but this is just a tease; next I want to show you what happened right before my walk down the aisle when all the photographers and videographers ran off to set up for the civil ceremony.

*All photos by the ever fab Hanssie Trainor unless noted otherwise*

Do you need to catch up with the hotness?

• Spilling the Beans on Our Recaps (wedding video)
• With this Wing: Let the Recaps Begin
• With this Wing: Welcome to Our Wedding Weekend
• With this Wing: Let’s Practice
• With this Wing: Street Taco Rehearsal Dinner Details
• With this Wing: Wedding Eve
• With this Wing: Make Me a Hottie (Women getting ready)
• With this Wing: The Wingmen Clean Up Well (Groomsmen get ready)
• With this Wing: Tea Ceremony Prep
• With this Wing: Tea Ceremony Details
• With this Wing: Tea Ceremony Processional Gifts
• With this Wing: Tea Ceremony Processional
• With this Wing: First Family Lunch
• With this Wing: Wedding Party Gifts
• With this Wing: Wingmen Poses
• With this Wing: Family Poses
• With this Wing: The Little People
• With this Wing: First Look (Again)
• With this Wing: Hottie Women Strike a Pose
• With this Wing: Wedding Party