wedding wednesday: details part 1

One week later, we're back to Wedding Wednesday. Where does the time go? HAPPY LEAP DAY!!! I wanted to share the details of our special day. Things that often go unnoticed by some guests and others completely gush about. I thought instead of doing several different posts I would try to lump them together in two. I wanted to be able to share the flowers, the printed materials, the cake, the accessories and the important tid bits all in two posts.

It's All In The Details... PART I

Flowers, Accessories and Odd Bits

I think the best place to start is with the flowers. I could not have been happier with the arrangements put together by our florist he and his team did an amazing job! I wanted Autumn colors and never truly thought about incorporating bright green into this, but once I saw the flowers I knew it was the perfect pop of green to offset the girls dresses and our guys ties.

I had given my florist a ton of images for inspiration and told him flowers I loved. What he gave me didn't look exactly like any of the items I showed him but I mean that in a good way. I told him to do what he felt, use the flowers, his expertise and colors I suggested and give me something fun, something rustic and different. My only request in making my bouquet was that he incorporate my mother's tiara from her wedding day into the arrangement. I think he did an amazing job of not only doing that but highlighting it as well.  I absolutely love the wheat sprigs, and the berries that match Mike's flowers.

This is a better image showing off the tiara, and the fact that I wanted a fresh cut feel to the bouquet. I did not want it wrapped all the way to the bottom. My original vision was a garden wedding, something tossed together by friends and family for us, so I wanted the flowers to reflect that.

MY SECOND BOUQUET
In Loving Memory of Marjorie, My Mother

I carried a second group of flowers down the isle in memory of my mother. Six long stemmed white roses with a chocolate ribbon were carried and I placed the bundle where she would have sat for the ceremony. It was a special moment, and one that after reading our program explaining this act, most of my guests applauded my "In Memory" part of the ceremony. My photographers grabbed it for me after the ceremony and I have since dried the roses to keep for the future.

BRIDESMAIDS FLOWERS

I wanted my maids bouquets to be simple, timeless and not too over done. Originally I had thought a bouquet of Lily of the Valley blooms would be amazing... until I saw the price tag. [Note: the price is INSANE and probably only since has been amplified by Kate Middleton's wedding day bouquet]. BABY'S BREATHE IT IS! This bouquet was not only so fun but so affordable. I think it was the perfect pop for my girls to hold. I had intended to dry the left over bouquets [most of my girls left them since they would be flying home], and using them to stuff my Christmas tree but it didn't work out as planned.

Ends of the stems were tied with chocolate ribbon. 

JUNIOR BRIDESMAIDS & FLOWER GIRL

Mike's little sister was our Flower Girl and she carried a basket that I decorated with flowers to match her hair piece. For the Junior Bridesmaids I wanted the girls to have something young and fun to carry. They both are 10 and 12 years old and I didn't want them to have to bother with stuffy flowers. These Pom Poms were the perfect combo, and the green again - popped. Originally I thought he might just use the geraniums I was happy to see he added the bright mums too when I saw them for the first time. Ladies, sometimes when you let go of the Type A Bride personality... magic happens. Every, single, flower arrangement was a surprise for me and I loved them all!

GROOMSMEN FLOWERS

All the men in the wedding, minus the groom and fathers all wore simple sprigs of baby's breathe and lemon leaves for their flowers. I'm really glad I chose this. All too often the flowers for men are too heavy, and these held up great throughout the evening and all the dancing! Again I wanted the day to feel like a bunch of friends just picked flowers and put them on at the last minute, I didn't want the day to feel too contrived at all.

GROOM AND FATHERS FLOWERS

Originally I wanted to make Mike's flowers, but time was not on my side, and frankly I don't think I would have done such an amazing job myself with buttons or anything else. Mike chose his berries and we both were smitten with the wheat. Mike, my father and his father wore these. I didn't get pictures of Mike's mom and grandmother's flowers or the flowers for my program attendants. His mother and grandmother both had the beautiful green lilies for their wrists [as seen in my bouquet] and my program girls had white roses. I went with wristlets for them all.

RING BEARERS

ETSY, how do I love thee, let me count the ways! Etsy was my life saver through this planning process. I wish I could remember all the wonderful stores I shopped at to get items for my wedding but I will be honest it might take a year to write them all down. The ring bearer's pillow was a purchase from Esty. As well as Mike's cuff links, our guest book and many other little items along the way. We had two ring bears, they were Mike's two nephews. Only the oldest carried the pillow, he held his little brother's hand with the other. They did an amazing job!

RECEPTION SPACE FLOWERS

For the reception space we had these lanterns with flowers on 5 tables and low center pieces with the same flowers on all other tables. We had a sweethearts table, and not a huge head table. I wanted my guests to mingle and I wanted my bridal party to be able to sit with their dates. Most of the husbands and dates of our bridal party didn't know each other that well, and I figured that giving them all time to mingle and "snuggle" with their sig others would make the evening more full of love, and honestly who wants to sit on display while eating their dinner. I know I didn't, but I did anyway since I was the bride and all.

BRIDE AND GROOM ACCESSORIES

Let me just tell you... I stressed about my shoes. I stressed about them more than anything else on my list of things, except maybe the jewelry, I stressed hardcore about that. Why did I stress about something covered by my dress? Well because I KNEW I'd want to have these shots taken.

 OMG SHOES!

 Don't you just love his shoes?

I'm really happy my tattoos don't stick out too bad in this shot! And yes, ladies he didn't wear socks, he doesn't like to unless it's freezing outside. Hey, it's his day too!

JEWELS AND BOBBLES!

Our Rings - Mike picked out my wedding band - I gave him ideas and I was starting to feel like I'd never find what I wanted. A simple, small delicate band with diamonds that was a bit antique was what I wanted. Nothing fit up against my engagement ring until he showed me this. It was perfect, a bit more modern than I wanted originally but in the end fit me perfectly! Mike's wedding band is made of wood. This was another amazing Esty find. I ordered two. Thankfully I did, probably about 3 months into the marriage he broke his at work. I saved the pieces as a keepsake from our big day. The price was wonderful, the service was great and now that I'm typing this I am going to do a special post all about the etsy people I've dealt with, they deserve it so stay tuned.  You all might be wondering why we went with a wooden wedding ring, the reason is because Mike is allergic to all metals. It doesn't matter what he wears it breaks him out. Gold, Silver, Titanium, Platinum, and all the other fancy metals the jewelers claim will be OK. I showed him the wooden rings and he was hooked. I love the one he picked.

My "SOMETHING OLD"

This ring belonged to my mother. It has been passed down from generations of women on her side of the family originally coming to them from over seas. There were only four of these rings made, and my mom's family owned 3 of them. It's very special to me. I wish they would have gotten a picture of my "Something Blue" - Mike's sister got me an amazing pearl with our wedding date and initials. I will share that etsy seller as well! SO cute!

My Jewelry - I stressed BIG TIME on these items.

I wanted a statement necklace from the minute I saw them featured in many of my bridal magazines. The issue I was having was... can I pull it off? Will it be too much? I had so much fear and doubt in my mind. When I found these gems on ebay [They are from J. Crew]. I was floored and swooned over them. Originally I was looking for green, or possibly a rose colored necklace to compliment my shoes. But when I saw these I felt like I had to have them. Even if I didn't wear them on my big day. I did this a lot, the second guessing. I stopped asking for people's opinions because that just confused me more. In the end I brought these, my bird cage veil and the hair clip I had made to the lodge. I figured I'd decide at the last minute. Necklace or earrings, both, or none. And I'd figure out what to do with my veil after my hair was done. Oh, did I mention I changed my hair from my trial too? Yes, I was that girl. But the hair I chose was actually easier on my hairstylist so that was good.

HAIR PIECES

I totally dropped the veil. The night before the wedding during our rehearsal after party for some reason I started to fret about my choices for wearing a blusher/veil or not. Mike's cousin, C who is 22 said to me "Veils are so last year." I'm sure he was joking but he kept insisting that they were dead, no one should wear them, etc. The next morning while getting ready I started to fumble with my bird cage veil before the girls got there. I finally said F-IT! No veil. Instead I went with the hair piece I made myself using flowers, some bling and bits of my mother's veil. It was really important to me to have my mother represented on our special day. Having her items from her wedding day made it really special to me. I also made a flower pin for my little sister-in-law, the flower girl. Her's had brown accents in it and she wore it all day the next day she loved it so much!

Mike's Cuff Links - These were awesome!

Mike picked these out and ordered them himself, even before I had shown him anything that I wanted to order like the pillow, and the guest book made of wood that was burned with a wood tool. These were the talk of the night, everyone loved them! We wanted our wedding to have a big nature feel, and trees seemed to be a running theme.

THE MEN'S TIES

Mike, the fathers and the ring bearers all wore chocolate brown ties with this tree printed on them. I squealed when I saw the little ring bearers ties, so cute, so adorable and totally clip ons!  All of the groomsmen wore the green ties shown above. Mike and I were so excited to find not only the tree design but the colors we needed for our special day [again esty is a miracle!]

 Our Wedding Programs

These were designed again by Mike and myself! The logo was displayed all over our printed materials, our koozies, and even on banners that were gifted to us, hand painted by a friend and also an esty store owner by commission.

Well there you have it - part 1 of the details from the wedding. My next post will be a bit more brief, showing off the cakes, and some of the fun at the reception and any little tid bits I might have missed in this post. I hope you enjoyed this! More to come!