{wedding day} the ceremony

photos by daniel meigs

the ceremony was the favorite part of the day for me. the old house the girls and i came out of was amazing inside..but you had to go up one set of stairs and come down another to get to the door i was coming out of...we had to take of our shoes for the trek..those stairs were steep!

Do: put aside money in your budget for microphones. i know they aren't a glamorous thing to spend your hard earned money on, but our guests were so grateful to be able to hear us..especially since we wrote our own vows. remember: they came to see you, yes, but they came to hear you too.

Do: think outside the box! i sat my parents on the grooms side, and vice versa. this way our parents were able to see our faces during the whole thing and it was comforting to look out and see my mom's smile.

Don't: think you have to have a seat for everyone. chairs can get expensive and they take up a lot of space. we had enough chairs for the immediate family and elderly, while everyone else stood. this created an incredibly intimate atmosphere..but i don't recommend this method if your ceremony lasts longer than 20 min.

Don't: forget to close your mouth when making your way back up the aisle during the confetti throwing. i was choking on a piece of stuck rosemary thru the rest of the night!

{random} one lovely weekend coming right up!

tomorrow is supposed to be 76 and sunny in the city. we can't wait! fh is taking the day off and first thing in the morning we have an appointment with her to do a little bit of this:

and then we are going to grab a bottle of wine, pack a picnic lunch and head out to the beach or a park to do a little of this...

...write our vows..together.

sigh.

you can go puke now. :) hope your weekend is full of sunshine and romance!

{ideas} rosemary confetti

the rosemary for my confetti showed up last week...and while i originally was going to do this, i decided to do something like this instead. although..when i pulled out the antique sewing machine my mother gave me ages ago..i realized. i don't know how to sew. at all. i thought, "how hard can it be?" .. ha. so to keep a long story short, i put the sewing machine back in the closet and did this instead:

oh..and i bought entirely too much rosemary. seriously..i have like 4 lbs. left. oops. anyone have any great ideas on what i can do with that much rosemary (besides cook. a lot.)?

{ideas} flowers & hospice

i keep having to remind myself to take a deep breath..cause y'all, i am so excited. i spoke with my incredibly nice, patient, and super intuitive floral designer late the other night. we went over flowers, style, colors..everything. she suggested some options without being pushy and i felt completely comfortable with her. in the end, she seemed just as excited as i was about what we came up with...

so here it is:

for the ceremony, we will have 1 bridal bouquet, 3 bridesmaids bouquets, 4 bouts total and 2 corsages for the moms. they will all have the feeling of this:

click on image for larger size

but using a lot of greenery and these flowers & herbs:

click on image for larger size

for centerpieces, banquet tables and cake flowers, we are using these:

click on image for larger size

also... 2 bay leaf and lavender wreath's to hang on each of the white barn doors:


and one large one to hang right above the fireplace:


i think the coolest part about the whole thing is that she can set up for perenity to stop by the next day and take the flowers from the reception to a local hospice hospital. what a wonderful way to celebrate life, flowers, beauty, and hope...

{ideas} savory confetti?

so remember when i was thinking of this for the confetti? well, i've totally changed my mind...since rosemary plays a significant role in our life (the herb, not the poor mother who gave birth to the devil), i've decided to include sprigs of it in our wedding flowers. then, today, i thought i should have a look at what the meaning of the herb is:

Legend abounds around this lovely perennial known as the "herb of remembrance." It is said that rosemary will grow particularly well in gardens tended by strong-willed women. Young brides traditionally carried a sprig of rosemary in their wreaths or wedding bouquets. The young couple may even have been brought together with the magic of a touch of rosemary, as in the refrain of an old ballad: "Young men and maids do ready stand/With sweet rosemary in their hands."

so strange.. when we first started dating, i would make dinner in my drafty little apartment in the attic of an old house. i would send my fh down to the garden, where i grew pineapple sage, thyme, jasmine, and.. that's right..rosemary, to bring up a few sprigs for whatever i was making. it reminds us of those days whenever we cook with it today and now it will remind us of our wedding day.

from here

so returning to the confetti, i'm hoping to make about 150 cones out of the same paper i used for the envelope liners..

and hang them from each chair with twine...

to kind of look something like this (minus the orchids, of course)...

from here (of course)

and of course we will include the little meaning from above and a short line or two as to why it means so much to us...i just hope a leaf doesn't poke me in the eye!

{ideas} ceremony music

so i've never been the girl who does what everyone else has done. i like what i like...i hate what i don't. and for me...the traditional wedding march song is just not ... me or even us. i wanted a song that would make everyone understand how i feel about my fh...about our past we've shared and about how we imagine our future together... i struggled for awhile and when i first heard this song, there was no doubt that it had to be played... i've known for awhile, but have kept it a secret. i don't want to keep it a secret anymore...




a musician in the family will be playing this tune...just like this..with one guitar. and there will be no other song...my girls will walk to this too..i hope to come out during the last verse.

sigh. it's perfect.

{ideas} newsboy caps?

i just adore this pic (unsure of where i grabbed it from, if it's yours, please let me know so i can give you credit):

i showed it to the fh, and he was excited with the idea of using the ivy style caps for the groomsman. so we are seriously thinking about it...they will all have on the same color pants...a khaki linen, and they will all have the same white shirts...but different ties and now possibly different little hats! here are some ideas...

from here.

from here.

and from here.

hmmm...what do you think?

{ideas} glowing inspiration...

a coworker of mine recently got engaged and she was kind enough to let me share her gorgeous inspiration board with you...

i like that her first inspiration board totally focuses on the mood and setting...she calls it "lights & leaves." she is determined to have a plethora of lanterns and soft candlelight amidst an umbrella of trees...just beautiful.

{ideas} let it burn..

i saw this tutorial and about fell out of my chair. i'm in need of a lot of candles for our reception..a few large ones to go in the fireplace, and others spread about the tables and outside...i love the idea of having my new last initial pressed into a big ball of hot wax...

do any of you have experience with making your own candles? is it difficult? cheaper? worth it?

{ideas} aisles that wow...

from here.

the perfect spot

i found my ceremony & reception site 4 days after the ring was on my finger. was it because i am a bridezilla in the making? perhaps. was it because i am a woman who knows what she wants? could be. but mostly i think it's because i had to...

after our whirlwind of a time in new york, we got on a plane and headed south to nashville to visit friends & family for the remainder of our vacation. it was the first time we had been back to nashville since we moved to the west coast a year prior. everyone was excited about the news, but no one seemed more so than his aunt kerry and his mother holly.

while holly planned the impromptu engagement party, kerry had me in the car faster than i could say "we're engaged!" we visited churches, gazebos, and much more...but when we arrived at an old plantation that was located just down the street from holly's lovely home, i just had a feeling it would be the one...we drove up the long winding gravel road lined with lush green trees. at the end of the road was a sweet, white picket fence and a yard that stretched further than i could see . the house was magnificent, but the garden is what caught my eye. i could see it...us saying our vows at the iron gate, flowers rejoicing in the garden that would surround us...natural wooden folding chairs in the lawn by the house and family gathering under the old magnolia tree. it was breathtaking. we put down the deposit the next day.

personal photos taken at traveller's rest plantation

i knew i wanted to get married in may, although the rain might be an issue on our special day, it really is the perfect temperature for an outdoor wedding. we had discussed memorial day weekend, and really felt, at the time, it would be wonderful for our travelling guests to have a long weekend to have plenty of time to get back. and of course, there was another couple interested for the same day, although they had not put down a deposit to save their date. here we were with a dilemma...we could put down a deposit and steal another brides date..or we could choose another. we opted for the latter and felt confident in our choice that the weekend following memorial day would be just as lovely.

a week later, the wedding coordinator from the plantation phoned to tell me that the bride had changed her mind on the venue and that i could have the memorial day weekend date after all. i kindly declined. "i love my date," i told her. and i really do.

for any bride looking to book a holiday wedding, please take a moment to read about the bride featured on oprah who chose a 4th of july weekend. it is absolutely heartbreaking and it may help you decide when you want your special day to take place.

i am ever so grateful to everyone involved for the time they took to help us find our perfect spot. knowing we won't be able to return to nashville before the wedding, it's nice to know one of the important decisions about the day has already been made.