Weddingbee Blog

So, remember this guy?

Source

Well, I had every single intention of using it to create our envelope liners. BUT, after having our invites printed, and deciding on our envelope colors, it seemed crazy to add another color to our invitation mix, let alone another element. And, as you’ll see, we did exactly that. We did not add an envelope liner.

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I’ve had our invitations back from the printer since before the July 4th holiday. And, let me tell you, I swear they’ve been staring at me the entire time. I had them printed pretty quickly, so we were just waiting on our map to finish printing and for our envelopes to finish being calligraphed. The second those last two pieces arrived, I immediately started assembling them. I had a goal to get them out by the third full week in July, and I was doing everything possible to make it happen (side note: So, it is the third week, and they have yet to go out. We’re aiming for a Thursday drop).

Me assembling invites (Not quite the fan of this one, but Mr. A insists it shows “personality”. I’m not sure I agree).

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I don’t know about you, but I definitely do not like to dress up in toilet paper wedding gowns, or have people try and guess a bunch of facts they probably don’t know about me.

So, what am I getting at? Well, back when Mr. A and I first got engaged, one of the very first things I told my friends and mom was that I didn’t want an all-girls’ shower. I wanted to have a shower for both Mr. A and me, that way we can celebrate our pending nuptials with our friends and family. After all, it is the both of us that are getting married. And, as much as that Le Creuset cookware is for me, the Wusthof knives are for him.

(Please note that I would be happy with any shower, but given the fact that neither of us really get a chance to see any of our entire families, we both loved the idea of having a gathering of our friends and family, but I digress.)

Right before the 4th of July, we received a pretty little card in the mail.
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Besides being crazy busy with the fact that we are officially under the 100 day mark, I managed to take a little break thanks to some wonderful news I received last week.

My best friend (MOH Argyle) is engaged!

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What happens when you schedule your food tasting and leave your camera at home?

You get to experience my super awesome Blackberry photos (apologies in advance!).

Last Wednesday, the Mr. and I headed down to Windows on Washington during our lunch break to taste out two of our options for dinner. We are doing a combo entree, which will contain two small portions of some sort of protein, so we would be tasting two different entrees, a side and two different salads.

So, what did we try?

Chicken Sonoma: Chicken breast with artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and an herb wine cream sauce. Mmmmm…

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Forgive me. I’m backtracking here. As I never really “formally” shared our wedding ceremony location, or our reason behind choosing it.

The day we got engaged I already knew where we were going to have our ceremony. I wasn’t one of those brides who had her wedding planned before the engagement. In fact, I was quite the opposite - I pretty much never thought about it, OTHER than a ceremony location.

I’m not a religious person, I did not attend church as a child, and although I attended a private, Catholic university for college, religion was honestly something that never came up. It was for that very reason, I knew I did not want to get married in a church (but trust me, I LOVE church weddings). So, what was the obvious choice? This gorgeous, greenhouse of a structure:

Image courtesy of Lisa Hessel Photography

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Back in March I decided to have my hair and make-up trial. I knew I had a summer full of friends’ weddings and traveling and gearing up for our own wedding that trying to squeeze something in with my hair stylist/makeup artist would be pretty close to impossible.

Argyle Mom and Argyle Bridesmaid KD tagged along with me so I had extra input, and someone to man a camera. I came along with two photos. One of something messy, a la Kristin Bell (see: first photo from this post). And, the other courtesy of Weddingbee reader, FutureMrsBaird.

So, we tried the side bun first. And, because I wasn’t 100% on what I was going to wear in my hair, we substituted with a random hair flower I had.

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I love, love, love to wear my pearls. I at least always have my pearl earrings in everyday, and wear my pearl necklaces when I can. It’s pretty much a staple with my wardrobe. Shoes? Check. Pants? Check. Pearls? Check.

BUT, for the wedding day, I’m hanging up my pearls (well, laying them in my jewelry box).

Why?

Because I found the most awesomeist necklace to wear:

Image courtesy of D.I.G.

Not only is this sucker red and funky and fun, but it’s also made from reclaimed felt. In other words, it’s eco-friendly. Score.

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First off, we are not doing the garter toss or bouquet toss. I originally did not plan on wearing a garter at all, but found myself swooning over a lot of the awesomely designed garters from Florrie Mitton and Julianne Smith. I just couldn’t bring myself to buy a garter when I knew we weren’t partaking in the tossing tradition (of which really bothers me – the tradition, that is).

On a whim I entered a blog contest expecting to not win. Lets be honest, I never win anything. Ever. Not the lottery, nothing on the radio, zilch.

One sunny morning (we can pretend it was sunny, okay?), I got a lovely little surprise announcing that I had one the contest. Score!

So, what did I win?

Source

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So way back when I first started planning, I nixed the idea of a calligrapher. Why? Well, I just wasn’t feeling the formality of it. While our wedding is “formal”, we wanted guests to not feel like it was a black-tie affair. So, I thought I would design some fun wrap-arounds.

That is, until, I found Jessica of Penned and Pretty.

This girl has mastered the art of modern calligraphy. Don’t believe me? Check out some of her work:

Pretty Perfect

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I’m super Type A (in case you missed that memo), so knowing all of the details for our trip, making sure we got travel insurance, and working with a really knowledgeable travel agent were all crucial pieces to me. It’s also why we booked our honeymoon nearly two months ago. So, with our ideas in mind, I contacted Laura at Bliss Honeymoons to help us out. Let me just say – she and her team get a big “A” for AWESOME. Seriously. Absolutely recommend her (and her team)!

We chatted on the phone for a bit so she knew what we were looking for, and within a week, she sent us an awesome proposal with three different options. The best part? All three options were around the same price. The hard part? Deciding between the three. Actually, not really. That was the easiest part and most obvious part.

So, what did we choose?
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Minds out of the gutter people. I’m talking honeymoons here. No actual mooning.

Mr. A and I had one place, and one place only, on our minds when we started our search. Greece.

Why? I kid you not, I have loved the island of Santorini since 7th grade (just ask my Mom). I had to do a project for school, as part of our “school Olympics” in which my group represented the nation of Greece. Instantaneously I was over the moon for that island, and well, the entire country. There is seriously something so magical about those white buildings and blue roofs. No?

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So, what was the problem? Greece is not cheap, in case you’re wondering. While Mr. A’s parents so graciously offered to pay, we couldn’t ask them to pay for a trip to Greece.

We did a bit of brainstorming and came up with three potential options.
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I do not like to DIY.

Gasp. I said it. Please don’t judge me.

I love to craft. I mean, practically my entire childhood exists within several scrapbooks I put together. But, I can hardly muster the energy for a DIY project. However, I do LOVE to see everyone else’s DIY projects (some serious envy going on).

With a guest list nearing 300 (yes, you read that correctly), DIY-ing anything for that many people makes my head spin. So, I’m a big fan of PSE. You know, “Paying someone else” to do it (a phrase keyed by friend Meagan).

Here’s a little background:

1. I originally thought we could hang our paper lanterns. And, then 20 seconds later I snapped back to reality. Who am I? Nuts? So we hired Exclusive Events to handle the hanging of our paper lanterns, and to do some other fantastic event production decor (lighting, mostly).
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In an effort to find as many friends’ and family wedding portraits as possible, I employed the help from my parents and the Mr’s parents. Not only that, I created a “plan” of sorts to get started. How’d I start?

1. Send out a mass email to friends and family.

You’d be surprised to know how many people responded. Obviously, all of our friends who have gotten married in the last two years were able to email me a copy, but even those who have hard copies responded to say they would make a duplicate of one of their originals. Score.

2. Ask Mom and Dad to tell everyone on the family (who doesn’t have email) to dig through their photos to find one.

Oddly enough – this worked out pretty well, too. My parents have received quite a few in the mail (as in snail mail). I’m pretty stoked about this. And, when Mr. A’s parents return from their 6-month stay in Florida this month, we’ll be able to gather a few more.

So far we have about 20 photos, with promises of several more! And, a few weeks ago, my parents were down visiting with my grandpa (my Dad’s Mom), and they were able to find these beauties:
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I’ve asked for one thing as a wedding gift from my future husband. Most girls want a pair of diamonds or jewelry of some sort. However, I want a few sweet photos that look like this:

Image courtesy of James Christianson Photographer

So… I asked for these:
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