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I never thought that Mr. Mole and I would hire a videographer for our wedding. We talked about it very briefly, then crossed that line out on Martha Stewart’s wedding budgeting tool. There were a couple of reasons for our decision. First, we had some trouble coming up with occasions when we would watch the video. Anniversaries, maybe. But when else? At dinner parties with unsuspecting guests? (Suprise! Here’s a video of us!) When Mad Men was on re-runs? I was talked into buying a DVD of my college graduation, and almost eight years later I have yet to even crack open the case.
Second, we worried that a videographer would feel intrusive at our small wedding. I have attended weddings where the videographer is front and center during the ceremony, creating a barrier between the bride and groom and their guests. From my “research” (read: my compulsive viewing of Four Weddings on TLC) I know that this is often a huge complaint of guests. I suppose that these guests could just watch the video later, but I wanted everyone to be able to have a clear and unobstructed view of the real deal.
Image via WeddingVideographyHouston.com
There was one thing I knew I needed to have at my wedding, way before I was even engaged. (Besides the groom, of course. And a white dress. And a videographer. And an open bar…) And that was…
Image via Style Me Pretty / Styling by Amy Atlas
…a candy buffet! I’d seen them all over wedding blogs (and all over party blogs too) and they’re always the prettiest part of the whole affair. I found pictures like these, with colorful candy-filled apothecary jars:
I have BIG hair. Legit. I am not exaggerating. Ask anyone I’ve ever lived with. Without product or styling (sometimes even with it) my hair is like a HUGE big ol’ fro. It takes many ounces of hair gel or scorching temperatures of hair straighteners to tame my mane. It’s usually curly. If weather conditions permit I will straighten it. And, that’s only for weekends/special occasions. It’s too much work otherwise. I envy those girls who can shower and go and their hair dries perfectly straight. RUDE!
I tend not to photograph myself when my hair is in its natural state. So here it is with some gel and a hair iron. I was adventurous there for a few months by both gelling my curls and ironing my bangs. Yes, I know- mind numbingly shocking….
I want to drink that beverage again!
If you remember back to when I was debating the trends of current weddings, I mentioned that I wanted to include mustaches since they are a stupid and fun part of my life, but that they would not be mustaches on sticks for a photo booth because we weren’t doing a photo booth. So, how did I incorporate them? Escort cards!
OK, I don’t know if they even count as escort cards since we didn’t really have assigned seating. But I made everyone a card with their name on it to mark their seat once they had picked one, so they wouldn’t get back from the bar and find someone had stolen their seat. I put a sign saying as much next to the table where they were laid out (in alphabetical order—I was somewhat organized!) I forget the exact wording of the sign, but it was something along the lines of, “Feel free to sit wherever you’d like. Place your name card at your spot to hold your seat!” And, in case you’re wondering, letting people sit wherever they wanted worked out fine. We made sure we had a whole extra table on top of the number of people we were expecting so people would have enough room to spread out, but not so much room that anyone was left at a table by him or herself. Everyone found friends to sit with and I didn’t hear any complaints about the situation.
Anyway, here are what the cards looked like, except instead of Beloved Guest, they had the person’s actual name, and the typography at the bottom wasn’t kind of wonky like it is in this picture.
Personal Photo
Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
Or should I say eight other dresses! In case you haven’t figured it out, I am talking about bridesmaids’ dresses. Long ago I fell in love with mismatched bridesmaids’ dresses like these:
Image via Nine Seventeen Eleven / Photo by Lane Dittoe
I absolutely love the coordinating colors and unique look of each bridesmaid. I think it is an awesome way to allow each girl to have her own style and feel comfortable. That being said, I didn’t know how to do this with eight girls realistically, and still end up with a semi-coordinated style.
So I decided if I couldn’t have mismatched colors, I would at least have mismatched styles! I decided on a purple/gray color (not really sure how I came to that decision) and knew that I wanted long chiffon dresses (light enough for summer with a more formal feel!).
It’s finally time to get to the good stuff: Wedding day! These recaps have been a long time coming. I held off at first because I just wasn’t ready to dive back in. I didn’t want to rush them out like they were another time-sensitive obligation. But then life caught up with me (see Mrs. Panther’s recent post that really hits the nail on the head. I need not be redundant. My story: new puppy, moving, more responsibility at work, I lost sight of blogging in my inability to prioritize my life, and then it had been a year).
But now it’s time to share our beautiful pictures, all the details, and the touching and funny moments of our wedding day.
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| Lorraine Daley Photography |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
After finding my dress, my next mission was shoes. (I would love to show pictures, but the mister assured me he wouldn’t be able to avoid the temptation! So you’ll have to get by with my rather elusive description.) My dress is a very classic modified A-line gown with a bit of a vintage look. (I’m sure that doesn’t help at all!) I wanted a shoe that reflected a similar style. I also knew that I loved color, but I wasn’t necessarily set on it. I wanted something somewhat delicate and definitely feminine. The downfall was that it had to be a flat/kitten heel.
I’m not a super-tall girl, but at 5’7”, I am above average height. The dress I ordered fit me perfectly at the length it was, but the catch was that I would only be able to wear a minimal heel. I did have the option to add additional length, but at a couple hundred bucks for a few inches plus extra alterations fees, it just didn’t seem practical. (Plus, I’m a total flats girl anyways. I love you, Tory Burch!) With Momma and Sis Hawk in tow, we hit up every major department store in Richmond, plus made a trip to the Williamsburg outlets. I was extremely disheartened, finding really only two viable options:
(Please excuse my horribly swollen feet after a full day of shopping)
(Left: Vera Wang Lavender Label “Luna” flat, Right Kate Spade “Marlena,” which comes in ivory)
The next day we visited Carytown, a quaint area in Richmond’s uptown neighborhood featuring strictly boutique shopping. In the first store we visited, I found these:
It was finally time to party! I always love when the couples enter their reception. The songs they chose, the smiles, the energy—oh it gets me giddy inside just thinking about the wonderful that is the couple’s first introduction. We lined up behind the big ballroom doors while butterflies quickly fluttered in our stomachs. Zeb and I had just enough time to jump into the photo booth for a quick picture before it was our turn to enter. Lucky we did too, otherwise we would have never stepped foot into the photo booth we were so excited to have. Our guests fully enjoyed it but we were just too caught up to remember.
Speaking of remembrance…remember when I told you we had to bribe my nephews to walk down the church aisle? Well well well, now you know what we bribed them with. It’s top secret information so don’t tell anyone—Spiderman and Batman are actually my nephews.
The kids entered into the reception to Katy Perry’s Firework. I always get so teary eyes listening to that song.
::insert (in)appropriate joke here::
So you know how some people are two dress brides? Well I’m not that (yet).
I’m….
…ready?…
…a two Save the Date bride.
Yea, that happened. I told you I was indecisive. Here’s the deal:
I’ve posted a whole bunch (way to much) about how much I was (over)thinking about the STD\s. I really appreciated all your suggestions (particularly on this post); it seemed the winner was option number 1, but I started getting self-conscious about how many pictures of myself and Foxy were on there. I mean sure, we’re dreamboats, but I didn’t want it to be overkill. So I finally decided on a combination of two previously shown designs, and it looked something like this:
I ordered them from this wonderful website called CatPrint for super cheap, and a few days later I had a nice little stack of 3.5×5 cards.
I consider my mom to be a stylish lady. Her hair always looks great (seriously, everywhere we go she gets compliments, it’s turned into a ridiculous joke), her makeup is always nicely done, and she is always wearing cute clothes.
So the search for the Mother of the Bride dress should be super easy, right? Wrong.
The search for my dress was much easier than the search for her dress. Seriously, and it has nothing to do with my mom being overly picky or anything. It is the simple matter of the options for MOB dresses are not great. They are either matronly looking or kind of hoochie mama.
Read more…
We took a lot of love and care in crafting our ceremony. So rather than describe it word by word, I would rather post it here for you in its entirety. It is a work of art we’ve already made and I love it as is. Nothing I could write here could improve upon these moments. What I can tell you is that I cried the entire time. I don’t remember the faces of my guests, or their reactions. I remember Mr. Lox, the officiant, and me. I remember fishing tissues out of the pockets in my dress. And I remember thinking that this ceremony, the one we lovingly handcrafted, was easily the best thing we made for the entire day. So here it is my dears, so that you too can share in what I’m still sure is the best thing we made for this day.
Convocation
Ladies and gentlemen, we have come together this afternoon to celebrate with Mr. and Mrs. Lox who have fallen in love and chosen to marry.
In honor of this great purpose, let us pray.
marriedalready25 is selling a pair of Stuart Weitzman pumps with rhinestone embellishments and hidden platforms. She’s asking $200 for the size 9.5 shoes.
Have a wedding item for sale? Post it with pictures in the Weddingbee Classifieds, and you might see it featured on the blog!
Other great items for sale:
I’m not gonna be coy with you guys: I can honestly say that I love my hair. I don’t often admit to liking things about myself. I guess people are less likely to call you a bridezilla if you’re self-deprecating. So before I go on and on about how much I love my hair, I’ll self-deprecate for a few sentences: I look like a 12 year old. I have gaps in my teeth. I’m extremely cheap. And I’m totes awk.
That being said…my hair rocks. No, it rawks. It’s friggin sweet, you guys. OK, it’s not actually that great. But it just may be in the running for my best feature. Coming in at a close second is, um…nothing. (See, self-deprecation for the win.) I always say there are two hair types: hair that needs to be styled before you leave the house, and hair that doesn’t. Straight-haired chicks are always jealous of curly girls and vice versa, but neither has to do much of anything to their hair between showering and showing their face in public.
Image via curly-hair-styles-magazine.com
Curls! Purty!
I wrote a post about our thoughts on our honeymoon way back in September. Why is it that when you’re planning a wedding, anything more than two weeks ago feels like it was way back when?
We were thinking Mardi Gras and we were thinking Hawaii. Well, after checking some prices online, we were re-thinking everything. Mardi Gras was do-able, but Hawaii was out. This being the one part of the wedding Mr. Kettle and I were footing the bill for, we couldn’t spend up all our money or we’d be living off of wedding gift cards and love for a few months post-wedding.
I don’t exactly remember how the idea originiated, but it was inspired by my idea to spend part of my honeymoon celebrating Mardi Gras. There are Carnival celebrations all around the globe at different points of the year.
What’s Carnival you say? Glad you asked.
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| Image via Brazil Carnival |
And his name is Dusty. Dusty Miller.
Image via flowershopnetwork.com
Looking at this picture, I’m not sure why I love this plant. There is nothing particularly appealing about it when it is all alone. BUT…add in some gorgeous peonies and a few garden roses, and my heart starts pitter pattering out of my chest!
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