As a little girl, I used to imagine that perfect “say yes to the dress” moment. The room would be full of the ladies I loved and I would radiate happiness.
Then I grew up.
When I got engaged there were so many aspects of the wedding I couldn’t wait for: securing the perfect venue, menu tastings, dance lessons, etc. The one thing I could do without…dress shopping. Now I realize many people cannot relate to this feeling, but I know there must be a few that do!
This “outing” gives me a headache just to think about. Now, please keep in mind I LOVE shopping. My closet is busting at the seams and I can’t pass up a Saturday at the mall. To me, wedding-dress shopping isn’t really shopping. It is a monumentally public affair with a lot of pressure.
As much as I wanted to go by myself, I didn’t want to selfishly deny my mother this memory. (Though, she does have four other daughters to make memories with.)
After a very hectic rehearsal in the dark, our wedding party and families piled into cars and caravan-ed to Américas Restaurant for the rehearsal dinner. Mr. W and I were the last to arrive (since we had to basically lasso our moms into their cars after the rehearsal—those two are chatty Cathys!). We walked into the private room that we had reserved in the restaurant, where there was a romantic glow from the flickering of candles, soft Brazilian music playing in the background, and all of our closest friends and family settling in and getting to know one another. I wrapped the strap of my cross-body purse over the seat of a chair and started doing the rounds. I got to catch up with my sweet little brother, J, who I hadn’t spent much time with the week of the wedding, since he was wrapped up with mid-terms at his university. Hive, meet my brother:
Little Bro J and me / Personal photo
J and I were cracking jokes and having a good time—and anticipating the yummy Brazilian steaks that were supposed to be coming out soon—when the drama started. I wish I had a photo of what occurred next, because only a picture or video would really do it justice, but…here goes.
Well, bees, this is it: our final installment of the Bee Ornament Exchange for this year. And we’ve saved some of the best for last! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday this year!
Catch up on the series here:
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Because we plan on flipping the same space for the wedding and the reception, we wanted to limit the amount of decorations that would have to be shifted around and removed, and in general the easier it is to move around the happier I think everyone will be. Thus, we have decided not to decorate the aisle. Not only is our aisle very short, but it seems more of a pain than it’s worth. I however did want to have a little bit of decoration at the altar, since it will be in all of our pictures for the rest of time.
Thus, we are going to focus mainly on the front of the room when planning the ceremony decor. While I love the rest of our venue, I must admit the curtains aren’t my favorite part. I wanted something that would work in the space, tie back to our colors and theme, and yet wouldn’t clash with the curtains.
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Picture via Style Me Pretty / Image by Melissa DeSchamp Photography
Our venue graciously provides short pillars and vases that we can place things on to square off the area—see it in the left picture below. Many people use the vases to put flowers in, and I really love the visual.
