Engagement Pictures

When we booked our photographer we decided to swap the engagement shoot that came with our package for an extra hour on the wedding day.  We really only wanted engagement pictures to use for our save the dates, and I didn't think that was more important than an extra hour on the big day.

I am fortunate that one of my bridesmaids, Lemon, is a budding photographer.  (Side note - she has an amazing etiquette/lifestyle blog, Oh My Goodness Gracious.)  I knew she was getting to know her way around the camera and I figured she would want an opportunity to get some practice in.  I was a little nervous to ask her for such a huge favor but she could not have been more gracious about accepting the challenge.  It turns out that she asked a friend to do her engagement pictures!  I hope I get the chance to pay this forward since I am trying to become a bit of a photographer myself.

Tallahassee has a lot of beautiful locations but I only considered one - Maclay Gardens. 

I sent Lemon a few inspiration photos but basically told her she could direct us as she chose.  One of my inspirations needed a view from high up, so she brought a ladder to help us get that shot!  How great is she?  We had two outfits - one casual and one formal.

First up are the casual photos:

Funny story about that last one:  Mr. B didn't understand what I was trying to say when I explained the vision I had for it so I told him to just stand there.  I ran up behind him and jumped on his back.  There is an amazing picture of me mid-jump that I will refrain from posting here.  What, you want to see?  OK...

I should have used this on the Save the Date to see the reactions.

How beautiful is this space?  I have lived in Tallahassee for over two years and have spent almost half the year here for the previous five - why was this my first time here?!

We then changed into more formal outfits.  By this time, it was hot.  January in Tallahassee is still January in Florida.  My hair wasn't cooperating as much as it had been and we were starting to overheat.  I hope none of that is evident to anyone else, though!

Spoiler alert - none of these are the pictures we used on the save the date!  You'll have to sit tight for the final product (and the major headache that could have been avoided).  

Looking at these pictures reminds me of how much fun the three of us had that day.  I am so grateful that Lemon was willing to give us her time and talents.  Was it worth it to choose the extra hour on our wedding day instead of having a professional photographer for our engagement pictures?  I think so!  Did anyone else have a friend take their pictures?

(All photos personal, courtesy of Bridesmaid Lemon)

A (Mostly) Kid-Free Wedding

This seems to be a pretty common debate in the wedding world - to invite kids or not?  As you will learn, I have the world's smallest family.  This means I don't have any little cousins our nieces or any other children I need to invite.  We do, however, have two very special kids on the guest list - Mr. B's son (M) and daughter (A).  That was pretty much where we decided to end the list of under-age guests.  Pretty much...

Trying to avoid this (Image via Etiquette Consulting, Inc. / Photo by David Murray)

At one point we thought about inviting the children of some of our guests who are friends with A & M.  With the guest list tight as it was, though, we didn't want to have to remove certain friends to make room for children.  No kids of friends - decision made.  We then thought about Mr. B's sisters' children.  There are only three of them in total and they are Mr. B's family - we easily figured out a way to make room for them on the list.

As cute as they are, we don't plan on this at our wedding (Image via 100 Layer Cake / Photo by Flory Photo)

That's about it - we are having an adults-only wedding with (up to) five children there.  Not the end of the world!  I don't plan on making coloring books or figuring out activities for them, which a lot of brides who have a kid-friendly wedding have to do.  They all get along so well and A & M love my friends.  They'll be too busy busting a move and eating cake to care that they're in the minority.  In fact, I think M will actually really enjoy being part of an adults-only crowd. 

We don't plan on asking our friends to leave their babies at home alone during the weekend, though.  I am looking into babysitting services to recommend to guests while they enjoy the wedding.  I know making a trip to Savannah is an expense and I hope families are able to make a little vacation out of it.  

The only question I have left is a pretty major one but not an uncommon one - how do I let guests know to make other arrangements?  I have a section on our website for childcare but not everyone will go to the site or notice the link.  I will use specific names on the invitation (John Smith, not The Smith Family), but I've heard brides complain about how people assume they can bring their whole family.  I was recently in a wedding that had the following at the bottom of the reception details, "Respectfully, an adult only occasion."  I like it!  But then will people wonder why the 5 previously mentioned kids get to go?

So now the important question - should I be safe and add wording on the reception detail card or should I assume everyone will know that we are only inviting the specific people listed on the invitation?  What did you do?  Did it work?

Giving Thanks

When you're engaged, you have a lot of reasons to send thank you notes.  I've been to celebratory happy hours and engagement parties and I still have bridal showers and all that other fun on the horizon.  It took me a few months to get my stride and figure out exactly what I wanted but I finally came up with a thank you note system that no one else has.

For my first major DIY project I made our thank you notes from scratch.  I didn't set out wanting to do this but after sorting through too many options that weren't right for us, the thought came to me that I could just do this myself.  Although it took me a bit of time, it wasn't anything I needed special skills to complete.  I plan on using this technique in the future and I hope this tutorial is helpful for people who want to do something similar.

The supplies needed are:
-sheets of 15x15 navy card stock
-sheets of 15x15 cream paper
-pack of cream 5x7 envelopes (same cream as paper)
-hole punch (purchased previously from Overstock)
-spray adhesive
-paper cutter
-glue gun
-navy wax for glue guns (nostalgicimpressions.com)
-fleur de lis wax seal (gartnerstudios.com)

I purchased most of the items at Hobby Lobby and the paper was on sale for 40% off so I stocked up (hoping this wouldn't be a flop).  I used my paper cutter to cut the navy card stock to 5x7 and the cream paper to 4.75 x 6.75. I got three cards out of each sheet of paper, as seen here:

I plan to use the excess paper later - maybe for escort cards?

I then punched a fleur de lis in the lower right corner of each piece of cream paper.  (Side note - in a perfect world the hole would have been at the top but this didn't work with the punch I have.)

I then sprayed the back of the cream paper with spray adhesive and stuck them on to the blue card stock.  

After writing each note and stuffing it in the envelope, I stamped each front with our custom address stamp (purchased on etsy).

I then used a drop of wax on the seal of the envelope and pressed the wax seal into it.

I held the seal down for 10-20 seconds and then voila!  My bridesmaid Nole suggested using a wax seal on our invitations and I thought it would be a good way to tie everything together from here on out.

So that's that!  Are they perfect?  No, but that is kind of the point.  No one else has these cards and it sets the tone for the rest of our wedding.  I really do plan on using this technique for Christmas cards and other notes in the future. 

How did you personalize your wedding?  

(All photos personal.)

The Great Venue Hunt

Getting married in a city other than where you live makes finding a venue difficult.  Fortunately there are a lot of websites with pictures and reviews to help give me an idea of whether or not each place is even worth contacting.

Mr. B and I planned a long weekend in Savannah and I set up meetings with a lot of venues. I had one main requirement - I did not want to have my wedding in a hotel ballroom.  Don't get me wrong, I think that can work and be beautiful.  If I was going to have my wedding in Savannah, though, I wanted to show off some of its charm more than a hotel ballroom could.  Luckily there are a number of event spaces, homes, and restaurants to choose from.  Here are some we looked at, in no particular order.

Charles H. Morris Center

Image via Trustees' Garden / Photo by Allison Reisz

This venue was gorgeous on the inside and out.  It had a lot of exposed brick, a full kitchen, an amazing sound system, and it was pretty much a blank slate.  That blank slate thing was part of the problem - we would need to get everything - tables, chairs, napkins, forks, etc...  Although I loved the idea of being able to make all these decisions myself, the thought of actually doing all that didn't sound fun.  This venue was also a bit further away from the church than we wanted, which didn't work with our "walk everywhere" desires.

Bryson Hall

Image via Bryson Hall

This space was... just not right.  The location was great and the price was pretty good but I just couldn't see our wedding happening there.  It didn't have a lot of charm and I didn't particularly like what charm it did have.

Garibaldi Cafe

Image via Greg Ceo Wedding Photographer / Image by Greg Ceo

Garibaldi is an Italian restaurant with a beautiful ballroom upstairs.  It has chandeliers, mirrors, chavarri chairs, and a private bar.  One of the many benefits of having a reception at a restaurant is that everything is included.  Not having to coordinate with bartenders and napkin companies and chair people sounded like my kind of wedding.  This had the potential to be quite expensive, though.  We would pay for drinks by the glass so there was a chance we could have a huge bar tab at the end of the night. 

Brockington Hall

Image via Brockington Hall

Brockington Hall is a gorgeous mansion near Forsyth Park.  It has a lot of different rooms and definitely meets my character requirement.  Unfortunately its location wasn't ideal and the space was big for our needs.  I think I would have kept this on the list but Mr. B didn't like the idea of a lot of rooms, which would separate people. 

This is not every venue we considered but it is a pretty good representation of where we looked.  Before we even headed to Savannah, we had a strong leaning toward one venue.  We made dinner reservations at Garibaldi and didn't even need to wait until our planned visit the next day to make our decision .  It was beautiful.  The food was delicious.  They gave us champagne!

Is it perfect?  No.  The maximum number of guests we can have is 120.  This gives me anxiety on a daily basis.  What if people buy a lot of expensive drinks?  We can dictate what options are offered so this has the potential to not be disastrous.  The cons are definitely outweighed by the pros and we couldn't sign the contract fast enough.

Am I crazy for thinking things will work out??

The Party!

No, this isn't about our reception, which I am sure will end up being one of the most amazing parties our guests have ever experienced.  This is about something much more important - our bridal party!

I knew from the get-go that we would most likely have lopsided sides of the bridal party and I was okay with that.  When thinking of who I wanted to stand with me as I married Mr. B, one question came to mind: Who do I want to get ready with on my wedding day?  Who would I miss if they weren't there with me, getting our hair and makeup done together?  Who do I want to distract me with dance parties and mimosas in case I get nervous or stressed?  OK, that's more than one question but you get the idea!

I am blessed to have so many amazing women in my life.  I have college friends, work friends, adult friends, etc.  I will go ahead and cut to the chase here.  I have ten bridesmaids.  Ack!  I know, I know.  None of them were people I included for the sake of including them - they are all people I love deeply and would feel incomplete if they weren't getting ready with me.

Oh, add to that a junior bridesmaid (Mr. B's daughter). We aren't having a ring bearer or flower girl so it all evens out, right?

 

At least we won't be this big -

Tony Romo's wedding (Image via The Today Show / Photo by Badgley Mischka)
Yes, apparently she separated her bridesmaids by hair color.

Mr. B has six groomsmen, which made it easy for us to decide how the processional will go.  Mr. B and his best man will be up front at the beginning and then the wedding party will walk down the aisle in groups of 3 (2 bridesmaids for each groomsman).  I'm sure the guys will feel awesome walking two beautiful women down the aisle, especially Mr. B's 12 year old son!

I wanted to ask my ladies in a big/grand/Pinterest-inspired way but time was not on my side.  I called the women who do not live near me and asked the others over dinner or a glass of wine and they all said yes!  These women have already been such a wonderful presence in my life and I cannot wait to see how much fun we have in the months ahead.

Is it crazy to have ten bridesmaids?  Or would it be crazy to not include everyone who is so special to me?

Wedding Theme

I always knew weddings have a general theme to them but I never really though about what mine would be until it was time to start making some decisions.  I knew I didn't want a lot of mismatched/random elements and that I liked the idea of everything looking cohesive.  So, what would our "theme" be?

It didn't take me long to decide I wanted the fleur de lis to play a central role.  It is the symbol of my beloved city of New Orleans and it can be incorporated into almost every detail.

Please note - it can also be used in a lot of tacky ways.  Looking for inspiration was more difficult than I imagined but I knew what we ended up with would be uniquely us, and that was my main goal.

Some example of FDL wedding items that are not for us -

Way too much going on for my taste (Image via Momental Designs)

This just looks uncomfortable (Image via Overstock.com)

As much as I love the Saints, I don't think Mr. B would approve
(Image via Yes We Wed/Photo by Papillon Perspectives)

The first wedding item I purchased (maybe before the engagement?) was a fleur de lis paper punch from Overstock.  I thought I would make my own invitations and use the punch as much as possible.  I have since booked a vendor to print our invitations (more on that later!) but the paper punch has not gone unused.  Stay tuned for my first major DIY where I break in the punch!

After we settled on the theme we then decided on colors.  For an October wedding I knew pinks and yellows and all the beautiful pastels were not going to work.  I wanted something classic - something that would appeal to all ages and would be timeless.  Enter: navy, gold, and cream.



Martha Stewart knows what's up (Image via marthastewartweddings.com)

Navy bridesmaid dresses?  White flowers?  Hints of gold?  Sign me up!  Settling these two major details helped guide our vision for everything else.  I know everything will not work together completely but that's OK.  Armed with my guidelines for cohesion, I was ready to start the real planning.

How did you get inspired?

The Major Details

Once we returned from our "engage-moon" it was time to start planning.  Where would we get married?  How many people would we invite?  What would our color scheme be?  So many decisions!  Fortunately we had a long car ride right after we got back where we were able to hammer out most of the major decisions.

First things first, we needed to decide where.  I grew up in the northeast and Mr. B grew up in Tampa.  Neither had much appeal to us.  I would have loved to get married in New Orleans but it wasn't at the top of Mr. B's list.  We lived in Tallahassee but neither of us had a real connection there.  As we were talking we remembered one of the best trips we had taken and the decision became easy.  We spent our first anniversary in Savannah, Georgia, and had an amazing time.  I think of it as "New Orleans Light."  It has a rich history, great food, and some of the best squares and parks I have ever seen.  One decision down!

Forsyth Park - how beautiful is this??  (Image via WikiTravel)/Photo by J. Myers)

In Forsyth Park during our first Savannah trip, February 2012.  Personal photo.

The next decision was not nearly as easy - we needed to decide when.  As I've mentioned, Mr. B has Florida Gator football season tickets and our fall Saturdays tend to revolve around going to every home game and watching every away game.  A lot of our friends are in the same position so it became evident that under no circumstances could we get married on a game weekend.  We knew we wanted to get married in the fall (not too hot, not too cold, not my busy season at work) so this created a bit of a problem for us.  Numerous calls to the athletic office left me no better off than each one before.  New teams were joining the SEC and the schedule would not be finalized for months.  Awesome.  You can plan a wedding with no date, right?



Don't worry, I'm not marrying one of these guys (Image via Beacher Report/Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images )

We went on a scouting trip and finalized our venues - but still no date.

We booked our photographer - but still no date.

We finalized our wedding party - but still no date.

One day I went on espn.com for some reason (I really don't remember why - that is one of probably 3 times I've been on that site) and I caught a glimpse of an article mentioning the 2013 SEC schedule.  Victory!!  I had to piece together a few sites but I finally figured out which October weekend would be our wedding day.  I quickly finalized the date with the church, reception venue, and photographer.  It worked for everyone and it was a huge weight off my shoulders.  Now the real fun could begin!  Am I the only one out there whose wedding date was based on football season??

The Proposal!

Ahh, the proposal.  No matter how much I thought I would know when it was going to happen, nothing prepared me for the moment it actually did.  Don't get me wrong, I knew he would propose at some point.  We were living together, we talked about our future, we knew we would get married one day.  We always said getting engaged/married would be like lightning striking.

If lighting ever strikes, we are not registering at Bed, Bath, & Beyond!  (After a particularly horrible experience.)

If lightning ever strikes, where do you think we will get married?

Where will we go on our honeymoon if lightning strikes?

To understand how we ended up at the proposal we first need to go back to (almost) the beginning.  I casually mentioned to Mr. B during one of our first dates that I have always wanted to go to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.  We looked at pictures and he fell in love, too.  Well, a year and a half later, we were on our way!   

Source

We had a very early flight but luckily the Tallahassee airport is tiny so we were able to get checked in and on our way in no time.  As we were checking our bags, Mr. B asked the woman behind the counter if there was any bad weather around or any lightning to be worried about.  She told us everything was clear and we should be fine.  Half asleep, we started to head to security.

A large painting caught Mr. B's eye and he pulled me aside to look at it.  A painting at the Tallahassee airport.  At 6 AM.  Huh?  He then mentioned asking the woman at the counter about the weather and he said he didn't want to have to wait for lightning to strike.  Before I even realized what was happening, he was down on one knee with a ring in his hand.  I don't know if it was the hour or the shock, but it took me a second to say yes.  With a new ring on my finger, we headed toward our plane.  I snapped a quick picture of my new jewelry before heading off to Atlanta. 

Personal photo.

We spent our layover calling friends and family and eating breakfast burritos.  I hate talking on the phone so an impending international flight was the perfect excuse to make some calls without having to hang on for a long conversation. 

The next four days were spent at an all-inclusive adults-only resort, Iberostar Grand Hotel Bavaro.  It was the perfect way to celebrate our new life together and just soak everything in - just the two of us.  We had plenty of celebrations with friends once we got back but those few days were just us and they were perfect.

I always knew I would know when he was going to propose.  In fact, on our trip I kept thinking, "This is it!  He is going to propose now!"  I would then remember that he already did and he managed to surprise me. 

An intimate trip was our perfect way to celebrate - what did you do?  Were you surprised or did you know it was coming?

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog!  I realized that I am in the middle of a project that will take a year to plan and then be over in an instant - our wedding!  I wanted a place to memorialize all of my ideas, agony, victories, and fun throughout the planning process.  So here we are!

First, let me begin by telling you a bit about myself and my future husband.  I grew up in New York/Connecticut and made my way to New Orleans to attend Tulane University.  Although I left the city during Katrina, a part of it will always be in my heart.  That is probably why I am having a very New Orleans-inspired wedding (more on that to come!).  I now live in Tallahassee, Florida and work for the State Senate.

Working for the state introduced me to many people and opportunities, but the most important of them all is my future husband!  Geoffrey grew up in the Tampa area and attended the University of Florida.  He made his way to Washington, DC before finally settling in Tallahassee.

We met through work about seven years ago and for the first five years we were simply good friends.  In October of 2010 I moved to Tallahassee permanently and Geoffrey was in the process of ending his first marriage.  Our friendship grew stronger and the rest is history.  Geoffrey has two children who will both have a role in our special day.

So who are we?

We like to travel.

In Columbia, SC after the USC/Florida football game

 We like endurance sports.

Before running the Chicago Marathon

We go to a lot of Gator football games, travel as much as we can, eat as many nice meals as we can, and swim/bike/run to make up for the rest of it.

We aren't your average couple.  We have 16 years between us and Geoffrey has a daughter and son from his first marriage.  We make it work and we are excited to start the next chapter of our lives together. 

I am excited to share this journey with the outside world and I look forward to feedback!

KH