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Once upon a time I thought I had a pretty good handle on the whole wedding dress situation. I was not shopping for a dress, I had a pattern, a seamstress, some fantastic fabric swatches and even a fitting under my belt. Smooth sailing and blue skies ahead. No worries in the world.
In fact, one could say that I was feeling a bit smug over the whole thing. I had cut all the stress out of wedding dress shopping. It was nothing but perfect, custom made fun for this Aardvark! The only major thing left to do was order the fabric I had so carefully selected months ago and wait for January to roll around for my first real dress fitting (as opposed to muslin). Easy peasy lemon squeezy right?
Wrong.
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Remember my initial color inspiration and how I eventually chucked it to start anew? Well, y’all, I’m ready to share a very important update! I’ve finally found the inspiration I was looking for! I knew that I was all about yellow, but for some reason I was fighting my girly-girl nature. I must admit that it took a lot of long hours in front of the computer screen, but with my (non-DIY’ed) blue Mason jars in hand, I knew I was onto something. The combination was fresh and spring-y, perfect for our May wedding. Aqua blue and yellow it was! (Phew, that was easy! Who would have known those little jars would have been so instrumental in my decision?) But just to prevent any future waffling and wavering on my part, I decided to throw in some green and rose pink accents. (See, I couldn’t fight the pink!)
Top row, from left to right: Bouquet via Kelly’s Wedding Flowers Gallery; Love Birds Topper via Vintage Green Modern on Etsy; Cupcakes via Wedding Magazine / Cupcakes by Cakes by Robin; Monogram via Charming Little Nest / Monogram by Southern Proper Monogram; Shoes via Hayden Olivia / Photo by Critsey Rowe; Sign via Family Attic on Etsy; Arrangement via White on Rice Couple
Bottom Row: Table setting via Green Wedding Shoes / Photo by Edyta Szyszlo Photography; Bouquet and bow ties via Southern Weddings / Photo via 1313 Photography; Lemonade stand via Brenda’s Wedding Blog / Photo by Bello Photography / Styling by Desiree Spinner Events
I don’t want anything that looks too baby/nursery, so I’m going to make sure to keep the yellow and aqua vibrant. (But I do love how the other colors add visual interest.) Best of all, the color combination fits my vision of “Southern vintage/shabby chic,” which I must admit was partially inspired by our menu.
How did you come to your final color decision? Were there other parts of the planning that helped you decide?
I am back to civilization after a mini-vacay to Mexico in honor of my college suitemate’s wedding! Now that the vacation laundry is cleaned and put back away with the rest of the summer clothing, and the post-vacay depression is setting in, something else has settled in too… I’M NEXT!
Yes, this was *it.* The LAST wedding I will attend before I’m a Mrs. The last wedding I was calculating into my equation for when to go full speed ahead on starting on all the little wedding details. Lawd!
Before I get started on the 9,000 things on my list, I think it’s only fitting to share some Mexican wedding fiesta-ness with the Hive. Unfortunately, I lacked a lot of photography skills during the trip so the amount of good photos to choose from was slim pickins’.
I blame it on this…
Many fruity shots
I had mixed feelings about doing a dollar dance during our wedding reception. Asking our guests for money when they had already bought us presents (and many of them had also traveled to our wedding) seemed inappropriate. Then, I learned that it was a tradition at Cuban weddings. I was trying to incorporate different customs from our different cultures, and this one seemed like an easy one to include. I decided that it was silly to worry about judgment from our guests; these were our closest friends and family!
If you’re having the same debate, I highly recommend going for it. The dollar dance became of my favorite parts of our reception because it was such an efficient way to mingle. In the midst of a busy day, it granted me the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with many of my guests.
We started off with our maid of honor and best man.
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bokmeowbev’s ceremony aisle was decked out in pink rose petals
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In some cultures, pearls are said to represent tears. As such, brides are cautioned against wearing them on their wedding days so that they do not begin their new lives with sorrow. Interestingly enough, there is also a counter superstition: pearls take the place of a bride’s real tears, thus eliminating any sadness and leading to a joyful marriage.
If the latter superstition is true, I am going to be one happy wife. (We won’t talk about the implications of the former!) I absolutely love pearls, and I am going to be wearing them on my wedding day. In fact, I am going to be wearing a lot of pearls.
Remember those Kate Spade shoes that the hive helped me decide to wear? They have pearl details on them.
Pearls on the toes
My mother is also going to be giving me for my birthday a pair of crystal and pearl earrings. They were the perfect find, especially since they match my dress’s belt!
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
In my last post, I recounted the heartbreaks I incurred through venue searching. First I had to just say no to a downtown Chicago loft wedding, and then I had to say sayonara to the suburban version of an urban loft wedding. At this point, I was quite literally out of options.
Personal photo
This is my “at my wits end” face.
I went back to the drawing board (or the Google Docs, if we’re being literal) and revamped my list. I started looking at hotel ballrooms and banquet halls, even ones that hadn’t been updated since the ’90s, even ones that had a marquee near the road saying “Congrats Kurt and Trudy.” I looked at country clubs, museums, outdoor/tent receptions, even restaurants. I looked at expensive places and cheap places, places that considered bread and butter to be one of the courses in their five-course meal package, places that included a single carnation on each table as the centerpiece, and places that would throw in a chocolate fountain for free, just for me (but don’t tell anyone). I looked at places near my house, near Mr. Unicycle’s parents’ house, near the airport, near my office, and beyond—pretty much a 15-mile radius from as far southeast as Chicago to as far northwest as this place.
With 325 guests at our wedding, we knew it would be hard to talk to everyone that was there. For us, it was important to be there at the start of the cocktail hour so we’d have extra time to visit with our guests. I’m so glad we did it this way rather than being fashionably late, because we actually got to spend time chatting with family and friends!
When we walked into the reception for the cocktail hour, we were greeted with this pretty table.
When they walked in the room, they saw our version of a guest book. We made a wishing tree and asked guests to write wishes for us on tags, and then hang them on the tree.
As I’ve mentioned before, Mr. Elk’s parents are fresh-off-the-boat Irish immigrants who moved here in their 20s. (Note—gratuitous personal photos of our trip to Ireland)
No I am not pregnant, and no, Mr. Elk does not have an amputated right arm—TERRIBLE photo.
Meet the little man in our wedding party. I’m going to call him Spidey after his favorite hero:
Personal Photo
Now, I’m not exactly what his formal title is right now. I can’t decide if I want him to carry something like this:
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If you’ve spend as much time as I have trolling the internet for wedding inspiration, you’d be hard-pressed not to come across photos of engagement sessions and weddings using the illustrious ampersand. Whether the couple was holding one like in this photo from my A-MA-ZING photographer, Valerie Demo, or it was hanging between the bride and groom chair at the reception, I just knew this was one detail I couldn’t live without.
Image via Heart Love Weddings / Photo by Valerie Demo Photography
After making a few trips out to the local craft stores, I noticed that this little symbol was hard to come by. None of the stores seemed to carry them, and the ones I found on Etsy were perfect but kinda expensive. I figured there must be a way to make one DIY-style. After some extensive Googling, I came across a tutorial from Chelsea at Two Twenty One.
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After we were married, we walked down the aisle and out the door our guests came in. Then we went in another door of the building, into the ceremony side. Our venue was essentially two large empty rooms side-by-side, with a big sliding wall in the middle that you can open to connect the two of them. I just couldn’t figure out a plan for how to get the guests nicely into the other room, and eventually my mum suggested that as we’d already done our photos and everything, we just zip around and welcome the guests into the reception half of the building, like a receiving line. It worked so well! We opened two panels of the sliding wall, and everyone filed past and gave Cinnamon Buns and me a hug and some well-wishes, so we were certain we got to talk to everyone there at least once that night.
(guest photo above)
Above you can see what I mean about the sliding wall. The platform where we got married is to the far left in this photo—you can just see one of our orchids.
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Hi bees! I posted this on the boards, but wanted to post it here as well. We’re planning a meet up soon to get together, celebrate the holidays, and de-stress with wine…or your drink of choice!
Where: The Melting Pot in Durham, NC. 7011 Fayetteville Road, Suite 101, Durham, NC 27713
What: The Melting Pot has a “Girl’s Night Out” Special, where ladies can get cheese fondue, salad, and chocolate fondue for $19! Guys are welcome to come too—you just might have to pay more for your fondue goodness.
Image via CitySearch
When: Thursday, December 8th, 7:30.
Let me know if you can make it, as they need reservations a few days in advance. Hope to see you there!
I have already shared a couple of photos of how drop dead stunning my sister, MOH A, looked on her wedding day last May. But in order to share another detail of my wedding day look, I am going to turn to a few more photos of hers.
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| Photo by Edward Fox Photography |
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