Wedding Blog

You’ve seen our announcements, but what about our Thank You cards?

We decided to use photos for those too, but this time, I opted to order them from Shutterfly.

I chose the blank photo note cards. They come in boxes of 12 and are blank (duh) inside. Because of this, I used Photoshop to just write our sentiment on the pictures themselves. The cost was about $40…

Remember the announcements I was going to send a few weeks after the wedding? Yeah… well… It was more like 7 weeks. I have an excuse for 4 of the weeks: I was waiting for pro-photos. But the other three weeks? I was just procrastinating.

Anyway, I finally got around to it. Since I’m suffering from the post-wedding lethargy (which makes us put everything wedding-related on…

Our wedding took place on September 9, 2009 in Hillsboro, North Dakota at the Traill County Courthouse. There were seven guests: our four parents, two siblings, and one mutual friend. Our original budget, set back in March almost on a whim, was $1000.

This post will break down the costs of each element of the wedding. Then I’ll tell you how close we came to our…

A good while back, I presented you all with this inspiration board.

Mr. Mary Jane and I hadn’t planned on having a reception. But Mr. Mary Jane’s parents offered us a picnic! I created save-the-dates and invitations for the picnic, and they were sent to much of the Mary Jane family, a few of our friends, and friends of Mr. Mary Jane’s parents.

The picnic was to start at 6, and Mr. Mary Jane and I arrived at…

Well folks, that was it for my pro photos (aside from the family-shots, but did you really want to see those? Yeah, didn’t think so. You don’t know those people anyway). Shawna and Kory did an excellent job capturing our wedding, and Mr. Mary Jane and I were so glad to have them there. They took basically the entire afternoon out of their day to…

After the vows were said, the papers signed, and the hugs administered, it was time for more portraits!

We sent our families on their way back up to Grand Forks, and spent a little time touring Hillsboro (or the area directly around the courthouse, at least) with Shawna and Kory. They’d arrived in Hillsboro early and had already scouted out a bunch of fun backdrops for…

While taking pre-wedding portraits, our two families had arrived at the courthouse. Mr. Mary Jane’s parents and mine had never before met, so this was kind of a tense moment (for me, at least). Would they like each other? Would they get along? When you’ve got such a small guest list, you really have to hope that no one will offend each other or anything…

[All photos in this post are credited to Shawna Noel Photography.]

After slipping on my beautiful new ring, we headed inside to snap some portraits. Shawna and Kory had arrived at the courthouse early and scouted out a bunch of great photo opportunities. We laughed, joked, posed, and followed their lead, trying to take full advantage of the amazing turn-of-the-century architecture and style found throughout the…

[All photos in this post are credited to Shawna Noel Photography unless otherwise noted. I’ll take credit for randomly cropping some of ’em. Hehe.]

When I left off, Mr. Mary Jane and I had finished dressing and primping at home and were ready to head out the door.

The wedding was at 4:30, and we were going to meet our photographer at 3:30 to take some photos…

Confession: I don’t have any pics us getting ready, and that’s how I wanted it. Why? Because it was a process pretty similar to when we get ready for work in the morning, but with more hairspray and fancier clothes.

All of our getting-ready efforts took place here:

We woke up to the alarm clock at 7:30 on September 9, 2009. Everything felt the same… our bed, our house, our routine. But today was definitely no ordinary day. It was our wedding day!

Mr. Mary Jane showered and got dressed in his usual clothes, while I selected sweats and an old Grateful Dead t-shirt. I didn’t shower… yet: the wedding wasn’t until 4:30 and…

Well, this is it! The start of my recaps. It’s going to be the worst kind of recap though: the kind with no pictures. Sorry, next time, I promise. I’ve been posting sparingly over the past few weeks, but I hope most of you will remember me: the courthouse bride. I was married on September 9.

If you’ve been following my posts, you’ll know that Mr.…

For a week or so, talk of announcements and Thank Yous and presents for parents has been pretty much on hold. This is (mostly) because we’re still waiting on our pro-pics. Sure, I’ve got plenty of friend-and-family photos, but I want you all to really experience our wedding (by being bombarded with all the photos, all at once!).

Well guess what? Our pro-pics are alllllmost ready! I’m hoping to pick them up on Monday.

Compromise can be a bad word, or it can be the best thing ever. In a recent post, I talked about the fine line between expressing yourself and alienating your guests. Some people choose to walk it, and others choose to place themselves squarely on one side or the other. Mr. Mary Jane and I chose to walk the line… just a little.

Before I show…