Well, hive, the time has come for me to bid the ‘Bee goodbye. I wanted to put down a few final thoughts as I wrap up my last days as a blogger.

#blessed | Photo by RRG Wedding

Are you changing your name? Yes. Anyone else out there currently have a surname that can also be a FIRST name? Do people with whom you have worked for years sometimes accidentally call you by it?

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I’ve gotten to the point where nothing planning related feels as good as checking something off my list. And I just knocked off a big (at least for me) one—I nailed down my bridal accessories.

If you read my post on accessories from a while back, you know I was seriously waffling about what to get. But at this point, I’ve got it nailed down…and I’m thrilled with the final look.

I ended up deciding to mix gold with pearls on my accessories—and even though the actual rings are silver (remember how pretty they are?!?) I think it’ll work. Of course, I don’t have a picture of my final “bridal look” on me…but as a refresher, here’s what I’m doing.

Hair: I fell in love with a couple of hundred-plus-buck hair combs at BHLDN, but given that my day-to-day look is a ponytail, I couldn’t justify the expense. Enter Etsy, and BridalShopCollection, a local (to me) vendor who does beautiful, affordable combs—and she’s QUICK with custom work, too.

I love the mixture of pearls and rhinestones, and it really pops against my hair color. It’s about five inches long and SO delicate. | Image via BridalShopCollection

I loved a lot in the shop, but I only wanted one longer, asymmetrical comb, so we worked on a custom piece that I’m obsessed with.

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All photos by the wonderful Robert Gigliotti, unless otherwise specified!

We had feasted and toasted and first-danced, but before people could really let loose, we had to do the parent dances.

Action shot of joking about how awkward this is

My dad and I danced to “You Can Close Your Eyes” by James Taylor, and Ben and his mom danced to “In My Life” by the Beatles. Both highly recommended based on length as well as non-sexual language.

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All photos by the wonderful Robert Gigliotti!

As our salad course was served, our DJ, Rachel, called for our maid-of-honor and best-man speeches. I knew my sister was nervous as she had never done one of these before, but she nailed it—her speech was a perfect mix of humor and touching sentiment, and just the right length.

Note that it was written on a cocktail napkin. From OUR cocktail hour.

Then the best man spoke. His speech is a memory that will live on, as his “funny anecdote” was an amazing story about Benjamin trying to “reinvent himself” in college freshman year. The two of them went to both high school and university together, and when it came to his attention that Ben had been trying to drop his diminutive nickname and go by something more “manly,” the best man just about died. Naturally, Ben’s attempts were thwarted after that, and he was to remain nicknamed for life. Our guests exploded with (not unkind) laughter upon this reveal and to Ben’s credit, he took it all very graciously.

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So we’re having a semi-destination wedding—far from home for me, but someplace comfortable, easy, and familiar. After all, I grew up in Chicago, and I know full well that I can pick up any last-minute extras there.

As my dad always says…you’re not going to Siberia.*

But I’m always one to be hyper-prepared, because it helps keep my anxiety in check. And a big part of being prepared is keeping lists. I’ve got two different packing lists (one for Chicago, one for the honeymoon), a list of stuff to take care of on our trip to Chicago next weekend (where hopefully I meet the lovely Mrs. Sixpence for a beer), and then there’s the big list: things to do before leaving.

With a month until I fly to Chicago, there’s a lot to get done. Here’s what I’m looking at:

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All photos by the wonderful Robert Gigliotti!

After we made our entrance and cut the cake, it was time to sit down to dinner!

Festive atmosphere = accomplished

Looking around the dining room, I was so pleased with the work that our venue coordinators, Suzi and Amanda, did in setting up the decor according to my insane and tedious specifications.

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*All photos by the wonderful Robert Gigliotti!

The ceremony was done—we were married! As our guests filed out and ran toward the beer, Benjamin and I swung around and headed back up to the altar for our formal family photos. We were short on time at this point as there was a mass in half an hour, so we powered through the various permutations of family and party.

Details of note: MOH dress from J. Crew, boutonnieres from Dilly Lily

Three of my former students (now in college) with whom I was particularly close made it to the ceremony, so I insisted that they each come up for a quick picture to put on the ‘Gram.

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All photos by the wonderful Robert Gigliotti!

After doing our first look and taking some lovely photos, it was time to head to the church. As I mentioned, riding to my wedding in a random taxi was NOT the original plan.

All will be well…eventually.

No doubt about it, the most stressful moment of the whole day was this: after the first look, we had planned on handing the dog over to my dad to drop at the boarder’s, and then he would come back to the Drake, pick us up, and drive us to the church.

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Secret fact about me: I minored in Shakespeare, so of course I couldn’t resist that title for a post.

Now, as you may remember, I’m planning on doing our own flowers—or at least our own centerpieces for the wedding. We’re working with an awesome florist on bouquets and other personal flowers, but I actually enjoy flower arranging, so I figured I’d do something fun and relaxing (for me) right before the wedding.

Bonus: It’ll save us a bunch of money. And I’ve enlisted some awesome people in my life to help, so it won’t drive me bonkers. 

After reading Mrs. Sixpence’s post about floral doom, I decided something: I need to start doing trial runs of the centerpieces, ASAP. So this weekend I started playing around with size and shape.

Mini roses, stock, carnations, and eucalyptus (seeded and regular)

To be clear, the colors are right, but I’ll be working with different flowers the day of. Though TBH, I like carnations. They may be a “filler flower” to some (thanks, SATC), but I think they’re pretty.

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*All photos by the wonderful Robert Gigliotti!

After my bridal metamorphosis had been completed, we went down to the room that Ben and Robert had scouted in which to do our first look.

Ben, pretending to fasten his cufflinks

I waited briefly for the signal from the best man, and then Benjamin and I had our Big Moment.

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