We all know how stressful wedding planning can be, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to enjoy it. We’ve gathered some tips when it comes to handling wedding stress and soaking in all the great moments of being engaged! Continue reading "Handling Stress When Planning a Wedding" »
5 Things to Plan for on Your Wedding Day
Although your wedding day will be the most magical day of your life, there are a few things to plan for when it comes to all the special moments. Here are some things to think about when your big day is approaching! Continue reading "5 Things to Plan for on Your Wedding Day" »
The Final Days!!!!
The final days are upon us and I think back now to how it seems that just a week ago we were counting down the triple digits. Now we are just mere days away from our big moment!! In some ways, I am just ready to just do it. After all the planning and preparation, I am ready for the reward. In other ways, I am a bit sad that it the big event is almost over. Of course, knowing that it is the first day of the rest of our lives together makes things exciting.
Finalizing The Details
There have really been very few little details that have to be finalized in this last week. I worked so hard to make sure that everything was completed well ahead of time to make sure as little stress as possible this week. Now, I am a bit at a loss for things to do.
I should tell you that it is not just our wedding that we have going now. When we started our initial planning process, we were considering have a double wedding with my little sister.She and her husband had to rush a bit with their wedding plans because he is in the Air Force and was getting ready to deploy. So, I had thought it would be a great opportunity to have a renewal for her with all of her friends and family from home.
Instead, she surprised us by letting us know that she was pregnant with their first child! A little girl who will be born at the end of June. Since all of our family will be in town for our big event, we decided to extend the fun and have her baby shower the day after the wedding!
So now, I have what seems like double in-laws, friends and family who will be coming in to attend the events and double the parties to plan!! It really has been a lot of fun though and I will tell you about both as I go along.
The Day Before The Wedding
I figure the best way to do this is to walk you through our wedding schedule. On Friday morning, I will be taking my sister, my daughter and my stepdaughter to get manicures and pedicures and of course, lunch! Afterwards, we will meet at the Community Center to decorate for the reception and then later that evening we will gather everyone up to go to the Church for a quick rehearsal.
Our florist, Ken Cope, of the Corsage Shop, will already have the Church decorated with the candles that I have rented from him that he has decorated with our feathers. Yet another perk of not having live flowers…you can set them up ahead of time!
Mom was gracious enough, or perhaps crazy enough, to offer her house for our rehearsal dinner. She is preparing lasagna, fettuccine alfredo, bread, salad and some desserts as a quick and easy meal. With it being at her house I figured we would all be able to spend more time sitting around talking and hanging out after the meal then we would if we were at a restaurant. Plus, it will be a great deal cheaper.
Morning Preparations For The Big Day
On Saturday, Craig and I will be cooking a big breakfast for his family at our house. Later for lunch, we will be ordering some pizzas as we celebrate his sister Carri's birthday. Yes, we are marrying on her birthday! I figure that this could really work in my favor, as I can remind him of her birthday each year and she in turn can remind him of our anniversary.
After that, we are off to get ready! My bridesmaid Jennifer has always been great with hair and makeup. So, she will be lining us all up to make us beautiful. The Church has a great women lounge and restroom facility that will give us plenty of room for getting ready. So, all of our hair, makeup and dressing can be done right there which will save us from having to worry about weather, wind and wrinkles.
We ordered all of our groomsmen monogrammed money clips and I ordered cute pizza cutters and skeleton key bottle openers for my bridesmaids. With the exception of our daughters. For them, we ordered beautiful bracelets from Things Remembered.
Finally Here!
The wedding is at 6 o'clock in the evening and guest will be greeted ahead of time by prerecorded music from Corrine Bailey Rae, Norah Jones, Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald. Programs will be handed out at the door that list the order of the ceremony, the names of our wedding party, an invitation to the reception, a thank you from me and Craig and a quote from George Eliot.
When the big moment arrives, the lights will dim slightly and Jason Von Lurry, a friend and amazing electric violinist from Memphis, Tennessee, will begin playing "Variations of A Lullaby". An unusual piece for a wedding yes, but beautiful none the less and just what I had hoped for to set the mood.
As he plays, our "flower girl" Kiley, Craig's beautiful 6-year-old niece, will enter in her blue gown. She'll be wearing her venetian mask and carrying a shattered glass teardrop that glows blue like a lantern. As she walks down the aisle, the pew candles will light.
We are doing this by using remote control candles. Behind her will be our children. Brittany and Micah will go to the front and light the real candelabras there and then down the sides of the Church to light the candles in each of the stained glass windows before returning to the back of the church.
After completed, Jason will begin Craig's song choice of the evening, "Iris" by the GooGoo Dolls. I really loved the song and was happy that he had chosen something he liked. However, I was concerned that it would not flow with the rest of the live music that we would be playing during the ceremony.
So, Jason stepped in and removed the lyrics and is instead using the instrumental version and he is playing the vocal part on his violin. It is beautiful! During that time, Craig will enter from the front of the Church with the Minister and his groomsmen will escort in our mom's and grandmothers and then my bridesmaids will enter carrying their venetian mask.
Now, cue the moment I have waited a life time for! I used to teach children's theatre here in Caruthersville and was privileged to meet some very talented kids along the way. One is the daughter of my close friend and bridesmaid Amanda. Her dad is a talented musician and singer himself and he will be playing the piano as Alaina sings Rascal Flatt's "God Bless the Broken Road" and I enter on the arm of my Dad.
I was concerned at the length of the song and did not want any awkward moments of waiting. So, I have decided to let her begin singing and then have the doors opened on the chorus for my entry. As I get to the end of the aisle, I have small peacock feather bouquets to present to each of our moms and grandmothers. I believe that this should cover the length of the song, putting me back in place just in time to be given away. 🙂
The ceremony will be like almost all weddings. Instead of a unity candle, we will be doing the blending of sand ceremony. We will each have a small bottle of sand (that is me, Craig and our children) that is in the color that we each selected. As the Minister reads about the blending of our family, Jason will softly play, "All I Ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera, a favorite of mine. We will each pour our sand into one single container. As we leave the ceremony, we will exit to Nickelback's "Never Gonna Be Alone".
A Night Of Dining, Dancing & Cake
After the ceremony, we will snap a few pictures and then move to the local Community Center. Walking up to the ceremony, the path will be lit with blue Moroccan style lanterns. These were my first wedding purchase!! Our entrance song is different, we are using "Por Ti Volare", which is a beautiful opera song, BUT we are using the version from the movie, Stepbrothers as it is a favorite of our kids and something that they will recognize and enjoy.
The hall will be done in low lighting and lots of blue accent lighting. Each table will have the Eiffel tower vase in various heights with the peacock feather and glittered sprig arrangement with a blue up light placed in them. On our table, we are going to use a long and low arrangement with our monogram in it, blue up lighting and of course, a couple of peacocks!
Over our dance floor, we will have small round glass globes of blue hanging at different levels. My good friend Cameron, will be our DJ. He always does a great job and was kind enough to do this for us. The cake table will hold our wedding cupcake tree and instead of a groom's cake, we will be doing a kid's cake. This is a surprise for the kids. A three layer cake, with each layer decorated with a miniature version of them and the things that they love. I am really excited about it!
For food, we are doing simple finger foods. Chicken salad on croissant, ham and swiss on rolls, a dip, some pinwheels and things like that. We are also doing a white chocolate fountain with a fruit tray, pretzels and Micah and Brittany's favorite…Cookie Dough Balls! On another table, we are doing a cheese fountain, lol, another tribute to the kid's love of Will Ferrell movies. There will be chips and veggies sitting around it.
It is Craig sister Carri's birthday, so we plan to play a special song for her. We also have a couple of songs that are special to the kids that will be played. Micah is a fan of Corrine Bailey Rae and so we will be playing, "our song" for she and I to dance to, "Put your records on". Craig and Brittany have always considered "Sweet Child O Mine" their song, but he wanted something to slow dance to. So, Alaina (the one who is singing me down the aisle) has put together a slower rendition of the song that she will be singing for them.
After the toasts are given, I will be doing the Thank You to everyone as Craig hates public speaking. After, I have a special surprise that no one else knows about. Originally, I wanted to have Adam Sandler's "Grow Old With You" played. I had asked my brother-in-law, Aaron to consider playing something special for my sister on his guitar.
I found out that he knows how to play that song. So, he will be singing and playing it for her and all of us. We are not doing the traditional garter toss and bouquet toss, I have always hated the way it singles the lonely crowd out. So for the rest of the evening, there will be cupcakes, dancing, fun and a great start to a new life.
The Day After
Well, there it all is, the chance of rain is up to 60% and I am a little nervous about it. But otherwise, I am so ready to go! The following day will be filled with taking everything down at the reception site and putting everything up at the shower site. Then afterwards, we are off to Sandal's in Montego Bay Jamaica! Hopefully everything will go as planned, but I will report back to you later and let you know if any little snags occurred and how I could have avoided them 🙂 When I next speak with you I will be Mrs. Craig Williams!!!
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Peacock feather photo provided by deepapraveen via flickr.
Nearer and Nearer….
I wanted to do something a little different for my engagement pictures and for our wedding invitations as well, but I also did not want to spend a whole lot of money doing it. One of my favorite places in the world is the City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri. If you have not been you need to go, as it is a child and adult playground like no other you have experienced. Secret passageways and tunnels open into beautiful caverns, ten story slides and so much more. I knew this was the perfect place to take pictures because there were so many options.
We went with one of my closest friends and bridesmaid Leslie. We spent part of the day posing, laughing, changing clothes and posing some more and got some really great shots. From there, I went to my friend Amanda.
Another bridesmaid, who along with her sister-in-law, edited our pictures. Amanda then turned the pictures into a collage for our wedding invitations that made my eyes well with tears the first time I saw them. They were perfect and we sent them off through an online print shop for printing.
I had them in my hands by the end of the week and was so excited. I had used card stock and made smaller cards to insert with our invitations. On them was a watermark of a peacock, accented with a small rhinestone that Craig meticulously placed on each card and across the top it read, "Wishes for the Bride and Groom" and explained that you could write your message to the new couple and bring it to the ceremony with you.
I have never understood the concept of a guestbook and instead wanted to do something more personal that we could keep and enjoy. I started to have cards for people to fill out at the church but I thought that if they had a little more time to think about what it was they were going to write, then they would be more likely to take part in it.
On our invitations I also included a wedding email address that I had set up so that people could RSVP, ask questions or send in their well wishes(2011WilliamsWedding@gmail.com). We took these things and placed them in their envelopes, sealed them with our monogrammed postage stamps that we had printed complete with peacock feather (thanks zazzle.com!) and sent them off as we anxiously awaited replies.
I work as a columnist at the Democrat Argus, our local newspaper, so the next step was to write our wedding announcement. I kept it very simple, including our children in it as well. I know that is it typical for people to use an up close picture of the two of them but again, I wanted to do something a little different.
This is a small town and most anyone who would care to read it knows what we look like. So instead, I went with a picture of us sitting in a window sill at the City Museum, silhouetted by the outside light. It was also used in the collage on our invitations. It turned out great and I have received several compliments.
No Flowers Here!
Did I mention that I am not a big traditionalist? Well, one thing that I do not care for and find a little wasteful is flowers. I don't like the fake version and it seems such a shame to waste the real ones that are so expensive and die so quickly. So, I am going with peacock feathers. That is right, not a flower will be found at our wedding!!
I have rented the aisle candles, window centerpieces and front candelabras from a local florist and he will be decorating them with peacock feathers, a little bit of greenery and blue velvet ribbon. Remember the wish cards I mentioned earlier that I included in my invitations? Well at the entrance of the church will be a bird-cage on a stand, sitting on top of it are two ornate peacocks with ribbons trailing down. This is where guest can drop off their cards.
The boutonniere for the guys will be a single peacock eye with an ornate pin to hold them in place. My bridesmaids will be carrying beautiful venetian mask on sticks instead of bouquets and I will have one similar to theirs, that in creams instead of the darker blues and golds. Even my "flower girl" will be wearing a mask. And no, she will not have flowers, instead she will be carrying a shattered glass blue tear drop that will be lit up. I will explain more about her role later on.
Our Reception Decor
For the reception, I discovered that I could rent the tall class Eiffel tower vases for $15 each or I could buy them for $7 each at Save-on-crafts.com. Wanna guess what I did? LOL, I bought the vases for each guest table and my talented mom and two of her sisters, my Aunts, made these great arrangements to place in them with peacock feathers, sword feathers, twisted glittered sticks and lots of sparkle. We are placing a blue floralyte in each one so that the arrangement will glow.
For the head table, we are doing a long, low piece that will stretch across the front of the table filled with greenery, a couple of peacocks and lots of sparkle along with some blue under lighting. This way no one will have to look around anything tall on the table. I am very happy with them and since they are not fresh flowers that will wilt, we were able to do them early on, allowing for less stress as the big day quickly nears. I also purchased these really pretty round glass globes that will be filled with iridescent shred over a small blue light and hung at various heights over the dance floor. The first items that I purchased for our wedding were these beautiful blue Moroccan lanterns that I got on amazon.com for a mere 87 cents a piece! They will be hung from low crooks to light the walkway into the hall.
My Dress
This may come to a shock to many but I still had not found a dress and was starting to worry a bit. For most brides, this is their first buy and something that they had dreamed about for a lifetime. I knew what I wanted as far as color, but that was it. I had tried on many wedding dresses at hundreds of stores to no avail. My bridesmaids were outfitted, my flower girl and even several of my guest were telling me what they were going to wear but I had no idea.
I had decided that the reason I had not found anything yet was because I had not been shopping with my mom. So, she and I planned a day to go dress hunting. We went to Bay, Arkansas where I had been told about this great dress shop in the middle of town called Jessica's Bridal & Formal. We went and wandered the aisles with some very wonderful and helpful women. I tried on a few but nothing really caught my eye.
Finally, they pulled out this dress that at first glance I cringed at because it was ivory. Totally not what I had wanted but I agreed to try it on for mom. It was sleek and simple, comfortable, with a short train and had the most beautiful blue and crystal stones on it that would match the bridesmaids dresses perfectly. Still, I was hesitant because I had been so sure that my dress would be champagne. I had even bought shoes in that color already! We decided to go to one more dress shop, but Mom looked at the woman and with a smile said, "We will be back". Twenty minutes later we had returned and I finally had my dress! Proving that sometimes what you think you want, may not be what you want and that you should be open to try on other things. Had I not, we might be picking out sneakers to match my wedding jeans!
Let them eat cake!
I had gone to a bakery in the nearby town of Dyersburg, Tennessee on a recommendation from a friend. Craig and I both went to the meeting and had a great time sampling cakes and choosing colors and designs. I was really impressed with the woman as she made suggestions and drew out our cake in the fullest detail. She told me that she would call the next day and give me a price and that in a couple of weeks I could bring her color swatches from the wedding and our cake monograms (the wedding was almost two months away at this point). Time went by, no call, I dropped off our things but she was not there.
Two weeks before the wedding, I was finally able to reach her. Only to have her act as though she had no clue what design, colors or anything about my wedding cake. I was not sure if she had lost our information or what. I go through it all again, she promises to call with a price…again. The next day I call her back because I still had not received a call from her. She tells me that someone will have to pick up the cake because she has since promised to do another wedding and that she won't have time to deliver ours and that it is going to cost us $500.00. That is $5.00 a slice and NOT going to happen. I cancel, go and pick up my toppers and start making arrangements for something else.
Because we want our kids to have a prominent place in the wedding we had decided to have a kid cake instead of a traditional grooms cake. A friend of ours here in town is a very talented cake artist who is just starting out so we asked her to do this cake for us. It is a three separated tiered cake. Each layer is the favorite flavor of one of each kid and will be decorated with things that they like and a little figure of them. Brittan's will have him in hunting gear, with guns and race cars and all the things he likes. Brittany's will have her in her cheerleading uniform and Micah's will be covered in art supplies. I can not wait to see how it turns out.
Since we had this cake we decided not to go with a wedding cake, but to instead do a cupcake tree. Randall Crawford, a local restaurant owner and all around great guy that I grew up with, offered his services. We decided to go with chocolate, vanilla and strawberry cupcakes that will be placed on this beautiful stand and decorated with ribbon and feathers to match our theme.
Dressing the guys
This could have been the easiest part of our journey yet!! I knew that we wanted to use our local men's shop for the tuxedo rental. So, we went in and in a matter of mere moments had found the perfect tuxedos and then moved on to looking for vest. Guys are so lucky, one book is all they need to chose their outfit from! GRRR!
I realize that at most weddings the groom wears the light-colored vest in white or cream, but as I have said we do not believe in having to keep with tradition and instead want to do what we like. With blue being Craig's favorite color and me having blue accents in my dress, we chose the blue vest and tie for him and the silver vest and ties for the groomsmen and my dad. From there, we contacted the groomsmen and had them go by their nearest men's shops (because they all live a couple of hours away) and had them just call in their measurements to our shop and Walaaa!
The wedding day is drawing near and there is still so much to share! Coming up next…Our final wedding day plans!
On To The Basics…
Wedding planning was well under way after the proposal. We knew that we did not want to wait for a long time because we had waited long enough to find one another as it was. We set the date for March 26th, 2011 and started working to get everything together. (Yes, that quick!) There were three basic rules that we were going by.
One, we wanted a wedding that was ours. Traditions and customs were not important to us. What was important was our kids, and that was our number two. We wanted to make sure that they were very much included in the big day, just as they would be for the rest of our lives. And finally, we did not want our wedding to be cheap but we did not want to start out our lives together in debt for one day of fun. So, a DIY wedding it was!
Where We Will Exchange Our Vows
First things first, I have never been an outdoorsy kinda girl (I have this vision of a swarm of bees going straight up my dress like a bad remake of The Bird's), so we booked the church. I have always loved the Eastwood Memorial United Methodist Church here in Caruthersville, Missouri. It is beautiful, old and the perfect size for our family and friends.
Stained glass windows pointing toward the heavens, an arch of pipes sweeping across the front that connect to the pipe organ, which is the largest in this part of the United States, and beautifully carved wood throughout. This was a place that made you speak in hushed tones and it was exactly where I wanted to exchange our vows.
Next up were the decorations for the wedding, the church is so beautiful that it does not need anything to enhance it. But I have always loved the beauty of candlelight so decided to go that route. As I said in an earlier post, I like things that are different and I also love the theatre. The beauty of it's dramatics were something I wanted to include. So, an evening candlelit wedding at 6 o'clock it was! I had a lot of ideas for little bits of "flair" to throw in along the way, but I will wait to share those with you as we get closer to time 🙂
All The Little Details
From there, we booked the local community center where we would host our reception. With the backbone of the event taken care of, the rest was just a matter of filling in the blanks. I love party and event planning so to me this was very exciting and fun. My biggest challenge was to slow down and separate things. I am very organized, I love list and checking things off, so on top of my many handwritten and typed list, I also downloaded a couple of wedding planning apps to help along the way. Sometimes, I have to make myself slow down and decide what I really like from what I just think is cute. Often I get over excited and began to collect a hodgepodge of things instead of sticking with my theme.
Next up, was my bridesmaid selection. My maid of honor was simple to choose, my sister Ashley would fill that place. Without doubt or question the next two spots were filled by my daughter, Micah and Craig's daughter, Brittany. Then my three nearest and dearest friends who had been such an asset to me through the years that it was only fair they share in their time of celebration with me. So Leslie, Amanda and Jennifer were called on to stand with me.
Craig in the mean time wanted to host a competition to decide his line up. He was thinking of something in between Survivor and Fear Factor with a rose ceremony at the end but fortunately he just went with his best friend Shane as his best man, his son, Brittan, his brother, Casey, his cousin Trey and his good friends, Jason and Nic. Putting us at six and six, which was a little larger than we had originally planned but getting them all in was important to us.
Finding The Dress
I had begun looking for my wedding dress first online, then in a few bridal shops. The only thing that I knew for sure was that I wanted it comfortable and I wanted it a champagne color. Not so much because of it being a second wedding, as I said customs do not mean a lot to me, I simply liked the color. I got together with the girls and we went bridesmaid dress shopping. Craig and I both loved the color blue and chose it for the main color scheme of the wedding.
Our bridesmaids are very different in their sizes and my sister will be well into her first pregnancy by the time the big day comes. We wanted everyone to feel good about their dresses, to look good and comfortable.
I felt that the best way to do this was to let them choose their own style of dress, just simply keep them all long (which to me seems more formal) and in the same color of blue. Fortunately for us, David's Bridal does just this and made it very easy for the girls to go to the one nearest them to try on and order their dress. In the end, I was very happy with their choices, they all picked very similar dresses and looked beautiful.
My dress however was still no where in sight and I was beginning to get a little frustrated. I did however find a great pair of shoes while shopping with them at David's Bridal. They were on sale for $20.00 and were not only comfortable but were the exact champagne color that I loved so much. So as of that moment, I was getting married in a pair of really cute heels…not good!
Stay tuned for the rest of my wedding details, planning and stories that you'll enjoy!
This wedding story was brought to your by Wedding and Party Network. Want to share your wedding story? Contact social@weddingandpartynetwork.com.
Our Once Upon A Time…
As a single girl who had been divorced for a couple of years, I had developed the belief that there were no good guys left out there in the world. That the stuff that made movies was nothing more than the romantic fantasizing of a wishful writer and that I would never find that "one" who would make everything bright and bubbly. After a series of rough spots, I was at a very low point in my life and was beyond even wanting to date much less looking for someone to spend a lifetime with.
Until…Cue one Craig Williams, a rice grader from DeWitt, Arkansas, a place that I had never even heard of. In his line of work he traveled a lot, going from one grain elevator to another, grading the rice barges that were being loaded. He would usually be there for one week a month, sometimes more.
During that time, we got to be pretty good friends. We found that we had a lot of the same interest, the same sarcastic humor and always had a lot of fun talking. But there was never any discussion about dating and when he was away I would never hear anything more than an occasional text asking about river stages, barges or maybe a movie that he had watched at my suggestion.
After one visit, I could tell something was on his mind, but didn't want to pry. A day later, I received a text asking for advice on how to ask a girl out, after a brief discussion he finally said, "Have you not figured this out yet?" Two days later, he drove three hours to meet me for our first date. It was through the week and I had to make it an early night because of my daughter but it was the most I had laughed in a long time.
When I met my Mom that evening to pick up my daughter Micah I said, "Now this one has potential!" Shortly after, we went on our second date, my family reunion!! I told him repeatedly that we could wait and do something another time, but he insisted that it was fine. By the end of the day, I knew that this guy was a keeper. He had been great to Micah and to my family. He had pitched in and helped out and never once did I feel the need to mediate or keep him involved. After that, we started seeing more and more of one another.
Sometimes he'd drive for hours to meet, only to have to turn around and immediately drive back for work. We continued to get closer and I was constantly amazed by all the little things that seemed to fit together so perfectly. The similarities that I had never realized and by how much fun we had trying new things together. I had finally found someone that I could spend hours sitting and talking with, never realizing how quickly time had passed. But still, I was hesitant and insisted that I would never "settle" again. Although somewhere, deep down inside, I knew that this was the guy not only for me, but for my daughter as well. I watched as he melted her heart and mine and we settled into the glow of contentment together.
In the next months, I met some of his family and friends and instantly felt that I had known them for years. The only concern that I had was in meeting his children. I loved listening to Craig talk about them. He always beamed such love and pride when he spoke about his daughter Brittany and son Brittan.
On September 25th, 2010 we joined our families for the first time and all of my worries were forgotten. These two great kids that I had grown to love before I had ever met them were nothing short of the wonderful that I imagined them to be. Beautiful, smart, talented, kind and so accepting.
After the first weekend, Micah, who was 11 at the time, began imitating everything that Brittany, then 16, did from hairstyles and dress to gestures and slang. And Brittan was the perfect compliment to her tomboy side, ready to hunt and race. Little by little, I began to realize that the crazy, fun kind of love from the movies I once cringed at, was very possible.
On October 20th, 2010 in the same spot that Craig and I had spent so many hours lost in conversation, where he had first told me he loved me, he asked me to be with him forever. I said yes, and to my surprise he pulled out a ring that he had been carrying with him for two weeks.
After a lot of laughs, hugs, kisses and tears, he asked if the ring was ok. I laughed and jumped up telling him to wait there. I came back with a ring that I had bought for a Halloween costume a couple years before. The evening I wore it I had told everyone, "I will never marry again unless I am presented with the real version of THIS ring." The ring Craig had bought was almost identical, another sign that things were just as they were supposed to be.
Stay tuned for the rest of my wedding details, planning and stories that you'll enjoy!
This wedding story was brought to your by Wedding and Party Network. Want to share your wedding story? Contact social@weddingandpartynetwork.com.
Taylor-Johnston Wedding: Down To Two Digits
99 are the official number of days until the Taylor-Johnston wedding. For so long, I have counted with three digits, but the long-awaited break through of getting into 2 digits is finally here. While I must admit that I am extremely excited, I suddenly feel an immense pressure because I realize all that is left to do and plan. This is the point where the thought of eloping enters the mind, but it is way too late for that now. So, on with the planning we go.
First Meet Hannah (Me)
I’m a "DIY (or at least try to), change my mind a million times, brightly colored, not so organized (though I’d like to claim to be), procrastinating and most importantly unique” kind of bride.
Meet John, The Groom
He is a builder in the Navy and has allowed me to plan every part of our wedding. This is in part due to him being deployed to Asia for the past 9 months of our planning process. Every now and then I will ask him “What do you think about this” or “how do you like that” and every response I get is quoted as “It’s whatever you want babe”. He is the most laid back person I have ever met and could care less about planning anything as long as I pick what I like-so I must not complain.
How We Met.
We met in the spring of 2007 in Gulfport, MS while we were both attending “A-School” for our jobs in the Navy. John “claims” he had his eyes on me then, yet the only memory I have of him is when he tackled me on the beach during a volleyball game and made my knee bleed. Tear, I know. However it was not until May of the next year that we met up again.
I had gone to Gulfport for a friend's baby shower and ran into him there. After a few weeks of trying the long distance thing (I go to school in Memphis and he was stationed in Gulfport), we both knew we could and would make it work. He “popped the question” in October of 2009, so here we are after many weekends of driving the 5 ½ hours back and forth between Gulfport and Memphis planning our wedding.
Now that you have all of our not so important back ground information, it is on to the planning process. These are just the basics for now.
Location, Location, Location
When making my decision for my wedding venue, I knew I wanted it outside. However, since I wanted to have my wedding in Paragould, this has narrowed my options to very few. Luckily, my parent’s friends, David and Patti Snodgrass, have graciously allowed me to have it at their new house in Bronze Leaf Estates. After looking at many reception locations, we decided on Sage Meadows. Despite the small size, I was in love with the large patio and interior décor. I am determined to make everything fit. Like I said early, I am great at procrastinating. Therefore, we are still unsure about where we will hold our rehearsal dinner. So any suggestions/ideas will be greatly appreciated.
Wedding Colors
Oh colors, why must there be so many to choose from? Anyone who knows me can easily say that I am anything but plain. White and black were just out of the question when I was deciding on my colors. I originally wanted to have a “rainbow” wedding, where each of my bridesmaids wore the same dress just each in a different color.
However, after looking at thousands of bridesmaid’s dresses, I realized that it was impossible. I could not find a dress that I liked that came in all the colors that I wanted. So, the colors I decided upon were bright blue/turquoise, key lime, and a grape purple. Just a little bright don’t you think?
I have six bridesmaids; two girls will wear blue bridesmaid dresses, two girls will wear key lime and the other two will wear purple. When it comes to my colors, I want each one used equally. I am weird about all things being “symmetrical or parallel”. Everything in my wedding will incorporate these colors including, invitations, flowers, tuxedos, decorations, etc. My main thought behind my wedding is that I want everything to be colorful and FUN. I think these colors will help do both.
The Wedding Vendors
Choosing all of my vendors came as a fairly easy task to me. For my wedding cake and food, I chose Lea Ann Tyler. She has been a friend of the family for many years and runs a small catering business out of her home. If you want to find food that is “melt in your mouth” delicious, she's the one.Her husband, Scott, does an impeccable job of decorating the cakes, as well. If you do not have a caterer yet, I strongly suggest you check her out and her prices are very reasonable. I believe her business has really flourished here lately, and I would recommend her to anyone.
For my wedding flowers, I chose Miss Rosie’s House of Flowers out of Lepanto, AR. Miss Rosie is exceptionally helpful, especially for me, the kind of person who has absolutely no idea when it comes to flowers.
All I knew is that I did not want roses, the rest I could honestly care less about as long as the flowers are pretty and are created with my colors. She has prepared flowers for others in my family and they were beautiful. So, I have no doubt in her.
And for my wedding planner, I chose none other than the one and only (in my opinion) Mrs. Alice Miles. She was my 5th grade teacher way back when and has done many weddings in the past. She knows all the etiquette rules, registry tips and everything else in between. I truly believe she is going to be my lifesaver throughout this process.
Stay tuned for the rest of my wedding details, planning and stories that you'll enjoy!
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I Said Yes To My Dress!
Wedding planning is in full force and I hope you're ready to hear what I've done next. Since my location and date are set, the next thing I wanted to check off my wedding to-do list was my wedding dress. This won't come out of a lot of bride's mouths, but wedding dress shopping was extremely easy for me. However, wedding dress shopping is a must for all weddings. It provides a memorable experience that you won't soon forget throughout your wedding planning process. Here's my wedding dress shopping experience that I got to share with my mom. I absolutely loved that I got to share this time with her and there were even a few tears. Hope you enjoy!
Style Number And All!
I'm probably unlike many girls and knew exactly which dress I wanted when I walked through the door, style number and all! Even though I knew which dress was for me, I still wanted to try on all the beautiful dresses that I saw. I loved browsing through all the different styles and did somewhat question my choice, since there are a tons of different gowns out there.
A Little Researching
So, I'm sure you've read that I have a lot of friends getting married. Which, benefited me because I saw the exact style dress I wanted on one of my friends. I searched beautiful wedding dresses online through various websites to find a similar style, which is unique and a new wedding trend. Exactly what I wanted! However, I always said since I was a little girl I wanted a princess, extremely poufy wedding dress.
I'm sorry, I don't want to explain my wedding dress at all since me and the groom are doing the not seeing each other the night before the wedding and especially my dress. I want it to be a surprise and I can't wait to see the look on his face when I finally walk through those doors.
Finding The One
Anyways, I was so set on this dress that I was just going to order it without even trying it on. Mom talked me out of that afraid that I wouldn't like the fit on me. I trusted her and found a bridal gown shop close by and scheduled a time to go look at it. We went one Saturday and when I walked through those doors, and my dress was the first dress I saw. It was fate!I grabbed it up and immediately put it in a dressing room. We then started browsing through different styles, I seemed to be picking out the same style of dress and mom started picking out long-sleeved gowns. Not really what I had in mind, but I offered to try it on if she absolutely wanted me too. Thank goodness she didn't care.
The dress I picked out before I even got to the store was the first one I tried on, mom's tears began to fall. I tried on several more and it was narrowed down to two dresses that I loved. However, I had to stick with the one that I knew was "the one". So the dress is ordered and the waiting begins for the arrival!
Well, here is my "say yes to the dress" moment, and if there is anything you can possibly take away from this dress story, it would be to look at a lot of wedding gown photos to get some sort of an idea of what style you would like.
However, it could all change once you get in the dressing room. It's moments like these that makes wedding planning all worth while, and especially once you walk down that aisle. Can't wait for everyone to see my dress!
A Romantic, Bumpy and Crazy Wedding All-In-One
I wanted to share a fun, bumpy and crazy wedding story that everyone I know will enjoy. They are very good friends of mine and she is one of my best friends. In fact, I'm just going to call myself her wedding planner and decorator and maid of honor, because I was just that and loved every second of it. So, I couldn't resist sharing it on Wedding and Party Network and hope everyone enjoys it and hope you can take one thing away from it, PLAN!
Josh & Abby's Engagement Story
This is a couple that has known each other since they were in 5th grade. Josh always liked Abby throughout high school and I'm pretty sure she felt the same way, but it was never the right timing for them. However, I do remember when our high school play was going on and they got "pretend" engaged.
Obviously, it was fate right then. Unfortunately, they didn't start dating until a couple of years after high school and since then they have never spent a day apart. Pretty much the rest is history.
I knew that the engagement was coming because she had talked about it a little so I bluntly asked him when he was going to propose. Josh told me when and I'm very proud of myself for not telling her. It was New Years Eve and they had went out to dinner with another couple and just went back to their hotel room, a pretty low-key New Years Eve.
It was midnight and he casually asked "what's your New Years resolution?" She rambled on about who knows what, maybe to not procrastinate so much or not to speed as much, who knows? Josh answered with "Well, mine is to be the best fiancé ever." He then got down on one knee and proposed. Starting the year off perfect.
Wild & Crazy Wedding
This wedding was nowhere near wild and crazy, it was actually really low-key. The wild and crazy part came from the planning. It was set for October 2, 2010 in her dad's backyard. Next it was moved up from October to July 17,2010, their 2 year anniversary. It was then set for Destin, Florida, nut the oil spill happened. Next it was the Memphis Botanic Gardens, but it turned out to be a bigger hassle since it was for a smaller wedding and they have a huge family and absolutely couldn't cut anyone.
Abby being aggravated and wanting to elope from the beginning decided on Jamaica. That was changed because no one wanted to miss seeing them get married, of course! I'm sure it was switched around some more, but you get the picture.
After a whirlwind of locations, it was set for July 17, 2010 in her dad's backyard. Now on to colors, decorations and cake. Abby's motto: "It will all work out." and it did, even with her procrastination. Wedding planning isn't really her thing. I felt like anytime I asked her something she would say "I don't know yet."
However, they couldn't have asked for a more perfect wedding fit for them. The weather was great since it did downpour on our rehearsal dinner. The lawn had been perfected, chairs were in place and their gorgeous deck was decorated with summary daisies and beautiful daisy pomanders. It was a perfect Summer wedding and they even got Jamaica for a honeymoon.
An October to July wedding at various locations with a lot of "I don't knows," ended up absolutely perfect. Their Summer wedding was too pretty to describe and completely fit them as a couple. Abby and Josh will have an absolutely amazing and happy marriage that will last a lifetime.
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A Perfect Proposal, 5 Years In The Making
Hi, I'm Kelly and recently started writing for Wedding and Party Network, which is perfect because I am in the process of planning a wedding. Perfect timing. I thought it would be a fun experience to write about it, provide a few wedding ideas and keep people entertained with my fun wedding stories. I will be talking about the ups, downs, my wedding diy's and all the wedding planning in between. So I hope you enjoy!
The Perfect Proposal
First off, I will provide some background on us. Meet Bart, a laid back guy who enjoys watching baseball and movies. I'm not so laid back at all, could honestly care less about baseball and can barely find time to sit down to actually watch a movie. Not opposite at all! How did we meet? I was actually really good friends with his sister, I knew she had a brother, but never met him until after 4 years of knowing her.We finally met and the next week we were on our first date. We clicked and have been together a little over 5 years now, 5 years and no proposal. Another fun fact to go along with the proposal story, we have a lovable, wonderful and amazing Pomeranian named Bella who is the absolute best dog in the world. If you can't tell, she's our number one kid!
Now, this is the perfect proposal for us! I have been talking wedding nonstop because 5 years of waiting is a bit ridiculous for me and I was ready. I'm not big on surprises and enjoy knowing them so I was actually telling him how I would like my wedding proposal done, preferably at an airport. I thought it would be the sweetest thing to be proposed to in an airport, however that didn't happen. It was better. We had already gone and looked at engagement rings so he knew exactly which one I wanted, like the one from Tiffany's. Which again, didn't happen but he did an amazing job picking out my ring! I'm very proud!
I come home one day talking on the phone, give Bart a quick hi and run upstairs to finish my conversation. Of course, I was talking wedding with one of my friends, who is actually going to be one of my maid of honors. After 30 minutes on the phone I get off and I see Bart walking in the room. With wedding on my mind, I say, "When are you going to propose?!". He laughs and says, "I don't know Kelly" and then proceeded to tell me if I found the ring I could have it.Frustrated I decided to give up and get on the treadmill and Bart being amused goes back downstairs. With little motivation, I start to get ready for the treadmill and then I hear Bella come racing up the stairs. I look down to see her wearing a t-shirt saying, "Will you marry me?"
Bart follows and gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him and opens up an empty ring box. I think I responded with "Are you serious?" Bart finally asks me if that means yes. Well, of course it does! The empty ring box was perfect because he still hadn't found the perfect ring for me yet, which meant he was truly looking. I finally got it and it's perfect!
Later, he ended up telling me how he had found someone to actually monogram the shirt, but I was pestering him way too much that he decided to just make it by himself. This was the perfect proposal for us because it incorporated Bella.
This is the first wedding post with more to come. I've recently booked the perfect chapel, reception venue and photographer. I'm a big planner and have everything exactly planned out in my head so I hope you enjoy my wedding process as much as I do!