Weddingbee Blog

OK, so maybe I just said my official farewell last week, but I’m so excited to pop back in and share some dress yumminess!

Mrs. Powder Puff shared her favorites from the Chicago Bridal Market this past Sunday… from the sheer amount of dresses that we drooled over, it was fun seeing what dresses she picked out as favorites compared to what I wanted to share! There literally was a dress there to fit every style, from blingy and modern to lacey and romantic. Thank you, Kate and Catherine from Project Wedding for letting us spend the day with you!

So, let’s get going. We’ll start with the pretty and end with the OMG WOW.

This gorgeous dress was probably one of the standouts from the Watters & Watters show. It’s simple yet detailed with small tiers coming down the dress at an angle. I love seeing dresses that have no beading or lace, but still give you some wonderful detail.

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If your mind has wandered from the Stiletto festivities because there’s so much fabulous wedding eye candy out there, let me quickly refresh your memory.

I primped and preened all morning long…

Source: Laurie Peacock

… while Mr. S donned his finest and got ready with the guys over at the church.
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I’m baaaaack! I firmly believe that I have loved doing my recap posts so much, I have stretched them out for as long as I possibly could. No, seriously. My time on Weddingbee is rapidly winding down, as I think I’ve shown you almost everything there is to be shown.::tear::

But, I just had to show you some live action from our reception. We didn’t opt to hire a videographer, but we had many friends who used their digital cameras to take footage of the day.

As I watch these video snippets, as low quality as they are, sometimes it makes me wish that we had shelled out the extra bucks for some professional video. On the other hand, I wouldn’t change a thing. Some of these clips captured the most random moments of the day and offbeat snippets of conversation that I doubt a professional would have captured/kept.

Beyond the special dances and other details that I won’t bore you with, here are some highlights from the day.
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Hi everyone… umm, remember me? I know, I know, it has been far too long since I’ve shown my face around here. I’ve been seriously dragging my feet finishing up ye olde recaps. But, in case your memory has completely been wiped of my existence - I’ll give you the down and dirty highlights.

I had some rockin’ hair and makeup. My husband got himself into some sticky situations before the wedding. We had so much fun taking pictures around Oak Park. I (umm, I mean, we) had a fabulous, fabulous cake.

OK, so now that you’re caught up and can kind of remember my bee existence, let’s dive back into the recaps!

Figuring out what DJ to hire was something that, quite honestly, I just didn’t want to deal with. I had no clue how to choose a DJ or what to look for.

And then, we thought about our friends’ wedding in St. Louis about a year before ours. Everyone danced. The DJ did his thing, wasn’t cheesy, played great music. We heard through our friends that he was also interested in breaking into the Chicago market. That sealed the deal.
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It’s that time of year already! I can’t even believe it. I’d like to think that Mr. S and I will get our little Christmas tree out of storage and decorate with our el-cheapo Target ornaments (you know, the ones that come all in a big container for $4.99 and look like metal but really aren’t?), but we’re probably too lazy for even that.

Hopefully, though, Mr. UPS, Mr. FedEx and Mr. USPS will be dropping off the many gifts we have ordered in the past week so that we can get to wrapping and at least make the place look a little more festive!

Anyway, in the spirit of the season and in honor of those brides currently planning winter wonderland weddings, I give you my ornament inspiration board, full of silver, sparkle, and everything nice.

Inspiration:

Source

Blissful winter wedding:
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As I’ve been traveling through our wedding day recaps, they wouldn’t be complete without sharing a little about who made these recaps possible. I’m talking about the one, the only, the fabulous Laurie Peacock of Laurie Peacock Photography!

See this scrumptiousness that Laurie created?!

Source: Laurie Peacock

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It’s a sad day when I have to say that my recap posts are quickly winding down! But, it’s a fabulous day because I’m sharing a lot of the little detail shots that didn’t end up in the other posts, yet are oh-so-spectacular.

Even though I experienced massive dress envy along the way, I still can’t help but love the floaty, dreamy feel of my dress. After asking for no beading, no lace but some sort of detail and all for under $1,000, I really lucked out.

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All the toasts were shared and champagne sipped. Our special dances were done and thank yous complete. There was nothing left to do but hit the dance floor for the night!

However… before we get into the good stuff, I have a confession to make. I. Can’t. Dance. Whew, there, I said it. Having absolutely no rhythm, moves, or confidence on the dance floor was a huge concern for me leading up to the wedding. Brides always seem so confident and happy on the dance floor, and I knew that wasn’t me.

I didn’t want to consume the required number of alcoholic beverages to give me the false confidence required to even enter the dance space. What’s a bride to do, you say? Fake it till you make it!

OK, confession time is over, onto the fun.

Our fantastic wedding party took to the floor…

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After Mr. S and I had cut our cake and enjoyed our first dance as a married couple, we were able to sit back and relax for a bit. Finally!

Daddy Stiletto started off with a sweet welcome for all of our guests at the beginning of dinner.

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Even though we were able to sneak in and see the ballroom before the reception, it was SO exciting to come back in to a room full of guests! It was so fun to be introduced as the new “Mr. and Mrs. Stiletto”!

Because we nixed our head table at the last minute in favor of having everyone sit a different round tables, I had a momentary freak out about where the wedding party would go once entering the ballroom. We were all sitting close to the door we’d enter through, so it would be a rather lackluster grand entrance if people went straight to their seats!
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Without further ado, I give your our fabulous, fabulous cake from Sugar Syndicate:

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Hold your horses, because I have a whole lot of fabulosity coming your way! While we had a lot of fun posing in the park after the ceremony, we had allotted most of our time for pictures throughout downtown Oak Park. We knew we didn’t have time to head into the city for urban shots there, but Oak Park turned out to be a fabulous alternative.

For those of you who are familiar with Oak Park, we had our limo driver drop us off at the corner of North Boulevard and Harlem Avenue. From there we started walking east, stopping at whatever caught our eyes, and met the driver about an hour later at North Boulevard and Oak Park Avenue.

Straight out of the limo, one of my favorite shots. That needs to be framed and on my wall, pronto!

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After the ceremony we loaded up in our super-sized limo with our wedding party and fabulous photographers to go have some fun. We had allowed about 2 1/2 hours for pictures and chose locations very close to the church and reception, so it was a really laid back and fun time.

My first job as a wife? Making sure Mr. S’s shoelace was tied!

Our first photo stop was Lindberg Park in Oak Park. We had scoped it out the week before the wedding and I loved the garden of prairie grasses with a path winding through it.
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Whew, as far as changing names goes, I’m grateful to just be changing a few cards and documents rather than changing one of these babies:

Source

Claudia is one lucky lady I’d guess. Anyway.

I was absolutely dreading the whole process from start to finish. It seemed very mysterious and confusing and like it would be difficult.
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Walking down the aisle was so incredibly surreal, but I was very, very happy that the aisle wasn’t long - I was ready to get to Mr. S!

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