Mrs. Cardigan | Weddingbee

Mrs. Cardigan, Austin Age and Occupation: 21, Student/Soon-to-be Special Education Teacher Fiance's Age and Occupation: 20, Student/Soon-to-be Accounting Systems Analyst Engagement Date: August 16, 2009 Wedding Date: January 2011 Venue: Vintage Villas About Me: I'm a native Austinite who was raised as a die-hard Aggie. Luckily, I'm a pretty persuasive girl because I managed to convince my high school boyfriend (now fiance!), Mr. Cardigan, to ditch his hardcore Longhorn ways and join me up at A&M, where we currently reside with our adorable dogs, Cullen & Ranger. We're currently planning a bright, cheery wedding with a ridiculous amount of DIY projects that I can't wait to tackle! I love crafting in any form, reading, and margaritas (I think I love them the most!). Organization is what keeps me sane and I love helping others, which is probably why I ended up as an education major. It gets a little chaotic sometimes when you're planning a wedding among all of the papers, projects, finals, and certification exams, but we're having the time of our lives and we can't wait to get started on our journey as husband and wife - and we're so excited to share our wedding with the hive!

Year One

January 9th, 2012 @ 7:12 am by Mrs. Cardigan

On Saturday, Mr. Cardigan and I celebrated our one year anniversary. We both felt like it was a bit surreal as neither of us feel like there’s any way it’s been an entire year since we got married. It feels more like one month.

(Photo by She-N-He Photography)

It’s been an incredibly wonderful year full of all sorts of exciting events (like buying our first home, moving back to Austin, and both starting new jobs!) and we feel so blessed to be doing all of this together. I have to admit, though, I think we’re both hoping that year two has a little less excitement and a little more settling in and relaxing.
Read more…

Tags: anniversary, austin | 19 Comments

The Randomizer: Cardigan

December 6th, 2011 @ 8:07 am by Mrs. Cardigan

Oh, hive. I miss you. So, so much.

Sorry—just had to get that one out of the way.

I am so excited to participate in this series—I love the idea of pulling completely random photos from our wedding, especially since I ended up with a couple that I probably didn’t share the first time around. It was so fun to go back and look at some totally random photos from our big day (almost a year ago!) and re-live the experience.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

The Randomizer: Cardigan : wedding randomizer 12 1

Love this photo of Mr. Cardigan, Bridesmaid Audrey, and I doing the Cupid Shuffle in our Converse. Mr. Cardigan gifted me those yellow beauties on the morning of our wedding, and I still think about our wedding day every time I wear them. They definitely made dancing all night long much easier on my feet!
Read more…

Tags: randomizer | 16 Comments

It’s That Time.

June 22nd, 2011 @ 6:58 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

I’ve been staring at my computer screen for longer than I’d like to admit, trying to figure out how to say goodbye.

Hive, in the year that I’ve been blogging here, you have been the most incredible support system I could ever have asked for. You were there when I was stressing about choosing an officiant, you cheered along with me when I was insanely excited about our invitations, and you kindly let me vent when my guests wouldn’t send back their RSVPs.

I’ve received countless comments, PMs, and tweets from y’all and I genuinely feel like I can call each of you a friend. Your kind words have cheered me up on bad days, and your excitement over things that I know no one else would ever care about helped me stay positive when wedding planning got stressful. I’m so grateful for the time I’ve spent here, and I absolutely adore you guys.

It’s going to sound cheesy for me to say this, but blogging for Weddingbee has been life-changing for me.
Read more…

Tags: austin, pictures, pro pics, recap | 51 Comments

Take My Sweater: Inspiration vs. Reality

June 15th, 2011 @ 3:22 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

Many bees before me have written posts about their original inspiration board versus how the wedding actually turned out. I always loved seeing those posts, so I was very excited to get to do one of my very own.

Way back when I first became a bee (which was exactly a year ago yesterday!) I wrote a post about the inspiration board I was using for our wedding.

Take My Sweater: Inspiration vs. Reality : wedding austin color schemes 110

(Photo credits, starting at the top, left to right: Rebekah Westover, The Knot, Minted, Tiger Lily Florist, Project Wedding, Bride.net, Ruffled Blog, Big Wedding Tiny Budget, J.Crew, Rebekah Westover, Daniel C. Photography, She-N-He Photography, Ruffled Blog)

Well, I put together another board with actual photos from the wedding, and I was kind of shocked to see how true I stayed to my original inspiration!

Tags: austin, color schemes | 31 Comments

Take My Sweater: Day-After Photos

June 13th, 2011 @ 4:28 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

About three weeks after our wedding, Mr. Cardigan and I met up with our amazing photographer, Melanie for our day-after shoot. Because we had decided to forgo a first look, we didn’t have a ton of photos of the two of us from our wedding day, and we wanted to make sure we had plenty of photos of us all gussied up.

The thing I loved most about this shoot was how relaxed it was. Mr. Cardigan forgot his tie at home, so he was tie-less. I left my hair down and curly, and I didn’t care if it was messy. I plopped down on the floor of a dirty bar in my dress and didn’t even worry about whether or not it got dirty. It was fun, playful, and easy, and I absolutely loved every second of it.

We did the shoot in an old house-turned-bar in downtown Austin called Lustre Pearl and I’m so glad we did – even though people gave us crazy looks when we told them the shoot would take place in a bar. The photos turned out spectacularly and I’m absolutely in love with them.

Tags: austin, photography, pictures, pro pics, recap | 42 Comments

Take My Sweater: And We’re Off!

June 9th, 2011 @ 7:12 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

I was not ready for our wedding to end.

I could have stood on that dance floor all night and danced my heart out with my best friends, but sadly it was time to go. Our guests went outside, gathered their bubbles, and waited for us to come out.

Take My Sweater: And We’re Off! : wedding austin pictures pro pics recap 12 1

We ran outside to a shower of bubbles, cheers, and love, and it was one of the most wonderful moments I have ever experienced. I caught quick glimpses of the faces of the people I love smiling at me as I left for my honeymoon with my husband.
Read more…

Tags: austin, pictures, pro pics, recap | 20 Comments

Take My Sweater: Let’s Dance the Last Dance

June 7th, 2011 @ 3:19 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

After what seemed like minutes (but was actually hours and hours of amazing dancing), it was time for the last dance.

As the strains of Don’t Stop Believing came through the speakers, we all joined together to belt out one last favorite song.

Take My Sweater: Let’s Dance the Last Dance : wedding austin pictures pro pics recap 1 1

We got almost everyone on the dance floor with this one, even Daddy Cardigan who had never heard the song (WHAT? Yeah, I know, it’s ridiculous). Luckily, he was a good sport about it.

Tags: austin, pictures, pro pics, recap | 15 Comments

Take My Sweater: Photo Booth Fun

June 3rd, 2011 @ 1:01 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

I’ll admit, I was concerned about our photo booth. I worried that it would be in the way, I worried that our guests wouldn’t be interested, and I just worried all around about the photos that we’d get (or maybe I should say lack of photos?)

However, I am so, so, so glad we did it. Our photo booth photos are some of our favorites from the day, and when we’re looking through them it’s clear that our guests loved participating in it.

As much time as I spent dancing (which was a lot) I spent a ton of time in the photo booth. I wanted to be sure I had photos with everyone I could possibly get photos with, and I’m so glad that I made sure to spend a lot of time there, because I really cherish the photos that we have.

These photos don’t need a lot of narration, so let’s just get to it!

Take My Sweater: Photo Booth Fun : wedding austin pictures pro pics recap 1 1

Tags: austin, pictures, pro pics, recap | 24 Comments

Take My Sweater: Favorite Songs

May 31st, 2011 @ 4:34 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

The entire dance portion of our night was amazing, but I will say that there were two songs that stuck out in my mind as favorites of the night.

The first was Bohemian Rhapsody. Kind of a random song to play at a wedding, I know, but it was played at Bridesmaid Audrey’s wedding because we used to rock out to it all the time with our friends from college. Bridesmaid Audrey, her other bridesmaids, and I stood in the middle of the dance floor at her wedding and screamed along to the lyrics while everyone looked at us like we were crazy. So, it was only appropriate that we played it at our wedding too.

Our guests didn’t seem to mind.

The photos will be taken to a whole new level if you listen along while you look.

Tags: austin, pictures, pro pics, recap | 17 Comments

Take My Sweater: Just Dance

May 27th, 2011 @ 6:38 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

Once all of the formal dances were over, it was time to PARTY. I kicked off my heels in favor of something more comfortable…

Take My Sweater: Just Dance : wedding austin pictures pro pics recap 13 1

Tags: austin, pictures, pro pics, recap | 22 Comments

Take My Sweater: Dad & Daughter

May 25th, 2011 @ 2:53 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

After Mr. Cardigan and I finished up our first dance, it was time for me to dance with my dad.

When it came time for Daddy Cardigan and I to choose what song we wanted to dance to, it was not as easy as I thought it would be. I e-mailed him a few ideas of songs that we might want to do, and my mom called me the next day and let me know that he had tried to listen to the songs at work but had to stop because he started crying.

That’s right, my big, gruff daddy started crying at work listening to father-daughter dance songs.

He tried again at home a few days later, and picked out one of the songs I had sent him. We were both very nervous leading up to our dance because we both thought we’d burst into tears, but I experienced the same feeling I had earlier that day when I was walking down the aisle—I was so happy and excited that I just couldn’t cry. The song was incredibly touching, and the father-daughter dance was wonderful, but it (thankfully) didn’t bring either of us to tears.

And now that I’ve told the story of picking our song, I’ll leave you with some photos and the lyrics to the song we chose.

Take My Sweater: Dad and Daughter : wedding austin pictures pro pics recap 1 1

Tags: austin, pictures, pro pics, recap | 21 Comments

Take My Sweater: First Dance

May 23rd, 2011 @ 5:43 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

After everyone had their fill of cupcakes, the dinner portion of the night was over and it was time to dance! Our DJ asked everyone to move into the reception room, so Mr. Cardigan and I could have our first dance.

Take My Sweater: First Dance : wedding austin pictures pro pics recap 11 1

Way back when we were first engaged, I thought that we would have a choreographed first dance. I wanted it to be unique and fancy and amazing. But then we couldn’t afford the lessons, and while I was disappointed I soon realized that it was almost better this way. We wouldn’t have to stress about having a perfect first dance, and we’d be able to relax, enjoy ourselves, and just bask in the glow of being married.
Read more…

Tags: austin, pictures, pro pics, recap | 13 Comments

Take My Sweater: It’s Cake Time!

May 20th, 2011 @ 3:30 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

Ahh, the moment everyone had been waiting for. Time to eat cake!

Tags: austin, pictures, pro pics, recap | 30 Comments

Take My Sweater: The Toasts

May 17th, 2011 @ 3:40 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

One of the parts of our wedding that I looked forward to the most were the toasts. I always love listening to the toasts at other people’s weddings, and I was so excited to hear what our loved ones would say to us on one of the biggest days of our life so far.

Daddy Cardigan was up first…

Take My Sweater: The Toasts : wedding austin pictures pro pics recap 1 1

He started with the most important thing—letting everyone know that the Aggies were up in the Cotton Bowl against LSU by a couple of points.
Read more…

Tags: austin, pictures, pro pics, recap | 15 Comments

Take My Sweater: Dinner

May 12th, 2011 @ 2:30 pm by Mrs. Cardigan

After Mr. Cardigan and I made our way to our seats with our bridal party, it was time to eat! I was looking forward to having some time to sit surrounded by all the people I love most and just relax and talk with everyone. The day had been so hectic and emotionally-charged up until that point, and it was wonderful to have some time to unwind and enjoy ourselves!

Mr. Cardigan’s grandfather started us off with a word of prayer…

Take My Sweater: Dinner : wedding austin pictures pro pics recap 11 1