Aisle Rose Petals
T here have been many points where I was surprised by how much a certain wedding item cost – it also seems like as soon as you put the descriptive word of “wedding” with a product, it triples the cost. The most surprising had to be the cake cutting fees issued by a lot of venues (at one location, we were quoted $1.50 per slice), the champagne toast costs (quoted anywhere between $1.50 and $2.50 per glass), and the cost of “wedding” flowers. Thankfully, we were able to avoid or minimize these costs dramatically (our venue doesn’t charge a cutting fee, we’re not doing a champagne toast, and we made our own bouquets out of fake flowers). The one item that I wasn’t able to cut the cost down as much as I would have liked...
Check In With the Photographer
A few days ago we had our second meeting with our photographer, Brandon Vick. It’s been well over a year since we last spoke with him, so there was this small inkling in my head that made me question if we had made the right decision. Photography was one of the most important aspects of the wedding to me, and so feeling comfortable with my decision is a big deal (moreso than anything else wedding-related… other than the groom!). We met at a Barnes and Noble, which was a very comfortable atmosphere. I wasn’t 100% sure what we were going to go over, but then I remembered that just touching base to make sure such an important vendor is still on board, understands the aesthetics you are going for, and gets your personality is incredibly important,...
Hair and Makeup Trial Run
L ast month I had my first hair and makeup trial run with Chrissy, from Special Occasion Hair Designs. I’m not very big on makeup and often feel uncomfortable when wearing a lot of makeup, so I brought one of my bridesmaids, Ryann, along with me. Ryann and I have had many discussions about makeup (because she’s so good at it, and I’m just not), and she’s gone with me to Sephora to let them show me some options before. So I knew I could rely on her to give me her honest opinion on how I looked (even if I felt uncomfortable). Chrissy was very welcoming when we arrived at her home studio. Right from our first meeting, I felt like she really understood the aesthetic I was going for. She listened and understood when I explained that I...
The Wedding Bands
A s we explained on our Engagement Story page, my engagement ring was custom designed by Dave and myself, and then made by the very talented Stephen Isley. I already knew what I wanted my wedding band to look like, a simple band with diamonds inset in the same manner as the sides of my engagement ring. Dave, however, had no idea what he was looking for in a band design. We looked at a lot of different ideas online, but nothing really stood out to him as the design he wanted on his finger forever. During the decision process, Dave’s parents mentioned that they still had Dave’s grandfathers wedding band – a simple, thin gold band – that he was welcome to use if he wanted to. Dave thought he might want something more modern, so we continued to...
Wedding Dress Alterations
I just realized I never made a post about this! So the information is dated by a few weeks, but relevant nonetheless. After I purchased my wedding dress from David’s Bridal, they were quick to sign me up for an alterations appointment. As my date and time approached, I started doing some searching around the internet of what to be prepared for. Were there things I needed to bring? A specific way I should dress? Should I have my hair done? etc. I found a few wonderful sites that explained the things you should be prepared for (bring your ACTUAL wedding shoes if you have them, different types of questions to ask, and the most common alteration types), but I also found a few sites where women were lamenting about their poor alteration results from none other...
Handmade Invitations
I have to admit that there was a moment where I threatened to buy off-the-shelf invitations to use, if David didn’t finish the design of our invitations… but now that they are all done and sent, I’m so glad I didn’t follow through with that threat! As I mentioned in our Save the Date post, we drew our inspiration from these sheets of Nepalese Peach Blossom paper that we found at the Rochester Art Supply around the corner from where we work. David began by designing the actual printed portions of the invitation: the wedding information card, the ceremony rehearsal and dinner invitation card, the RSVP card and the directions card. We printed these on our work printer, on sheets of thick, textured paper purchased online (and made specifically...
Wedding Registry
D avid and I have lived together for a while, and we have a fairly established home life. We might not have a lot of stuff (like furniture), but we do have all of the items in life that we “need”. When thinking about our registry, we knew we were going to have to shift the way we think in order to come up with items that we wanted to put on our list. Over the last few months, we’ve really tried to think of items that we might not need, but that we would really truly love to have. Neither of us are huge on asking people for things – it makes us both a little awkward. So we wanted to make sure every single item on our wedding registry was something we truly wanted. We didn’t want to add items “just because”, especially not...