Loathing the Liberty Bell

I am in Kentucky for two weeks for work. Small town, thank-gawd-there-is-a-Walmart, Kentucky. So, I left the husband this morning with a gentle reminder to purchase stamps for our wedding thank-you cards, apply said stamps to said cards, and mail said cards at some point this week. Before I knew it I had an e-mail from the husband stating that he had purchased the stamps and was putting the cards in the mail.

I hit speed dial on my phone pronto to no avail. I resorted to a panicked e-mail to inquire as to what stamps he had bought. A response came stating "Liberty Bell Forever Stamps." My heart sank. I feverishly replied to the e-mail and pleaded for him not to affix the stamps if he hadn't already. But it was too late. The deed had been done. Our thank you notes, calligraphied with the perfect plum ink on darling white linen envelopes were defaced by the liberty bell.

And for a moment, like all of you, I cringed. But then, I got over it. After all, the husband was just doing what I asked of him! In fact, he did it so quickly that I didn't even have time to think that I should have specified that he buy these stamps or even these. Once I told him that I didn't really want to have the bell stamps on our envelopes, you could hear how disheartened he was. But he didn't know any better. He was just trying to accomplish a wedding-related task so that it would be hanging over my head. And that is just another reason why I love him.

So friends, our thank you notes are making their way to our guests, liberty stamp and all, and will be shared with all of you some time this week!

Isn't this invitation suite adorable?! Right down to the thank you note, above. From style me pretty.

Late Afternoon Inspiration

I wasn't going to post anything today. And then, in going through some archives, I stumbled back across jonathan canlas' work and spent my lunch hour catching up on the weddings he has shot recently. I was and am amazed at his work.

So, today's post has not just one pretty picture, but many. All from this wedding
The stunning bride and groom in one of my favorite pictures, to date.

The two pictures above and below should be blown up, framed, and sitting on their mantle or hanging above a fireplace. Don't you agree?

As if her dress wasn't gorgeous enough, check out her shoes!

And the bridesmaid dresses!!!!!! Are you kidding me!? Dear friends that are not yet married, but will be soon and are going to have me be a part of your wedding party (ahem debbie), please please please please please let these (in any color combo) be your BM dresses. I will love you forever.

One last favorite. This on has Christmas/Holiday card written all over it, don't you think!?
lovely pictures via: jonathan canlas photography
P.S. Do you tweet tweet or twitt twitt? If you aren't already, you can follow me on twitter here.

Toss Balls

Remember this picture from yesterday's post?! I just had to find out more about this wedding, originally posted at once wed. Friends, if the old car with the ribbon and tin cans, the quaint white church, and that adorable suitcase carried by the bride wasn't enough to make you fall in love with this wedding, look what's next. Toss balls. Looking for something unique for guests to toss as you exit your church/ceremony venue?! Worried that bubbles will stain your dress (FYI: they didn't stain mine!)? Not wanting to shell out the moolah for real (or silk) rose petals that are a pain to clean up? Toss balls are the answer my friends.
This bride got creative and resourceful. She found acrylic pom pom balls (at any craft store) in her wedding colors, made adorable containers adorned with the name of the bride and groom, tied them with ribbon, and filled them to the brim. Tell me guests wouldn't be delighted to shower you with these?!

Another adorable detail, the four wreaths that hung in the windows of the church. Just delightful.

Check out the wedding via the link above to see more details from this wedding. And let me know if you allow your guests to shower you with toss balls (which would be so easy to clean up afterwords, unlike roses or streamers)!

Pictures by millie holloman

Getting One Just to Get One

Just a follow-up on yesterday's post on getting away. Diana from Another Beginning made the comment "you could rent a sweet convertible for the entire day for much less than a limo! And you still get the photo op!" adorable picture found at life love lipstick
So true. Please, friends don't be the bride that gets a limo just to get a limo! Look into getting a convertible or antique car to rent for the two of you to share the whole day. Have a family friend with a pretty ride drive you around (it can be their wedding present to you) on your wedding day. At the end of the day, you'll find yourself saving, just like we did, "I'm so glad that we didn't spend all that money on a limo!"

photo by lisa lefkowitz found via ritzy bee
Another bonus to a convertible car (or a car you can roll down the windows): When we left the church and rode around town for a while with the top down, so many people waived and honked after seeing that we were a newly married bride and groom. It left me smiling from ear to ear. If you're in a limo, no one can see you! Just a thought.

Side note 1: I am totally supportive of limo's/party buses if they serve the purpose of getting the bridal party to and from the pictures in between the ceremony and the reception or if you have quite the distance between venues.

Side note 2: My friends Jenn and Stephen rented a party bus for 2ish hours in between the ceremony and the reception. It transported the wedding party AND their dates/significant others from the church to downtown Cincinnati for pictures and then to the reception hall. It was beyond amazing because there was plenty of room for everyone (and coolers) and the bridal party's significant. others/dates didn't have to sit around for a miserable and lonely 3 hours in between the venue change.

Side note 3: If transporting your whole bridal party is a must and you are a fan of thinking outside the box, why not rent a school bus for your travels!? The idea has been featured on plenty of photographers blogs, and the resulting pictures are quite adorable. You can rent a school bus for the day (in Indianapolis) for around $300. So I think that this idea would work on any one's wedding budget.

photo found at whitebox weddings

How I Tied the Knot: Bubbles and Getting Away

Previously in the post, tying the knot: the bubbles and the get away, I shared some of my favorite pictures of our exit from the church. Now, it's time to let you all in on the details behind our exit and the lessons that I learned from that aspect of our wedding day. And, of course, some pretty pictures to display along the way!

Originally, I wanted to do something different for our exit from the church. I thought that ribbon wavers were the answer. I could make them myself, use ribbon in our wedding colors and end up with some fabulous pictures from the exit.

But then I priced it out. By the time it was all said and done, each ribbon waver would cost me about $.60. Seeing as how I wanted to make 100 of them, I had to consider if the ribbon wands were worth $60 (plus time and labor) in my eyes. By the time I got around to actually making this decision (2 weeks before our wedding), I was worried that guests wouldn't want to shake the wavers, never wanted to see another DIY project, and didn't think that our exit picture was worth the $60 in supplies that it would cost to make the wavers.
So I went to Walmart and found a box of 100 little bubble vials in the bridal/craft section for $14.99. And that, my friends, was how easy my mind was made up. Bubbles it was.

Thus, Lesson learned # 11. Price out your exit strategy. In the end, just go with the bubbles. Kids and adults love blowing bubbles and the pictures always turn out wonderfully.

Speaking of pricing it out, before you get your heart set on a limo or party bus...start calling around. These pretty rides cost more than you think, and most come with a minimum time requirement. Since we couldn't rent the limo/bus for just an hour to take us from the church to the reception, we were going to get it for 4 hours to take us to the from the hotel to the church and back. The quotes for a limo started trickling in at $150+ an hour. Plus 20% gratuity. Bare minimum we would be paying $750 for the limo (buses were even more expensive) and attempting to squeeze our 16 member bridal party (plus a cooler...haha) inside one.

When we started looking at the logistics of our day, a limo/bus just didn't make sense. We had Chris and the GM take their photos first. Then the BM's and I joined for our group shots. After that, the GM left the photo site and returned to the hotel to get their dates/significant others and headed to the church so that they could be there in time to hand out programs/usher guests to their seats as they arrived. The BM's and I took our pictures together once the GM's left and then headed back to the hotel together. The BM's took their dates/significant others to the church and Chris and I rode together, in his car to the church. It worked out perfectly. My uncle had his convertible waiting for us as we exited the church and it made for a couple cute photos and didn't cost a dime.

Lessons learned #12: Unless your ceremony venue and your reception venue are eons apart or you are going to take pictures in between the ceremony and the reception, you don't have to rent a limo/bus for your wedding day. Although they do make for some cute photos, they also can take a huge chunk out of your budget. No BM likes to be squished into a limo next to the GM that she is paired up with anyway. Most of the time, it's just not worth it. Instead, ask family and friends if they know of a "cool" car that the two of you can borrow for the day. You'll get some extra (and well deserved) time alone and the pictures will be just as adorable, see below.

previously in the series, "how i tied the knot": getting ready, our first look, bouquets and boutonnieres, socks and shoes

all pictures by: nicole green. please link back to tying the knot when posting any of these pictures.

Poll Update

I thought it would be fun to take a minute and recap the various polls that I have ran on my blog and let you know how your results compared to actual results!

• Blog Header Poll: 57 of you said that you loved the header with the shoe shot in the middle! So, take a peak! The new header is simply adorable and I hope that you love it too!
• Pick & Choose Our Invitations: The second invitation design had the most votes, but when it came down to it, I didn't have enough time or patience to totally re-do the invitations. So I went with #1, the original, with some minor changes. For the most part, I am at peace with how they turned out.
• Perfect Plum Peeps: The majority of readers, told me to go with the plum peep toe shoes on our wedding day over the traditional bridal white shoes or both white and plum shoes. And that's exactly what I did! And I think that we all love the results!
• Ribbon Wavers: Most of you wanted to see the ribbon wavers be a part of our exit strategy, with 17 of you vouching for bubbles. When I priced it out, the ribbon wavers would have cost me $75 + countless hours of labor to make. And I just didn't have the time, nor the desire to spend money on dowel rods. So we went with the bubbles. For $14. And I couldn't have been happier.
• Veil: High or Low. I wore the veil low, as the majority of you voted for. It worked with my hairstyle and it worked for all of the hour that I actually wore the veil.
• Anticipated Moments. Most of you were looking forward to the first look, and I assure you that it was everything that you will ever imagine it to be. But the other options (getting ready, walking down the aisle, the pronouncement, and the first dance) were just as wonderful.
• The Registry. We took your advice and registered at BB&B and Macy's. But we skipped Crate & Barrel, since there wasn't a store in Cincinnati (where half of our guests resided). I would like to say that our Target registry worked out just fine, after all the horror stories we heard (about difficulty of returns). FYI: If the Target item was purchased off your registry and you want to return it, go to the bridal registry kiosk at the store, print off your purchase log/completion list and present it to the service list. You'll get a merchandise credit. No problem.
• RSVP We went with the standard RSVP reply that you suggested, "accepts with pleasure or declines with regret." The RSVP's turned out perfect, so thanks for helping with this little dilemma!
• Cards or Chart I made a seating chart, seen here. Most of you voted for the seating chart over an escort card and I have to admit that it was perfect. We put it on an easel in the hall outside of the cocktail hour. As the guests entered they were able to find their respective tables and sign our blurb guest book. We saved paper and a lot of hassle (cutting, set-up, and clutter of escort cards). More details on the seating chart to come in a future post!
• Balls or No Balls We went with no poof balls (inspired by this bride). Even though most of you loved them, we didn't want to distract from the beauty of the church and I didn't want to force my MOH to fold pieces of tissue paper for months in order to make the balls. In fact, we had no church pew decorations at all, and I don't think that anyone noticed/cared.
• Rehearsal Dinner Invites Chris' Mom was kind enough to send out rehearsal dinner invitations. She picked them out herself , and they were adorable. The majority of you said that they aren't necessarily necessary and the need for a formal invitation of the rehearsal dinner just depends on the situation and the guests that you are having. I agree completely.
• Reception Seating The majority of you voted for a sweetheart table, but we were lucky enough to be to make up our own seating arrangement. A post on this aspect of our wedding day is soon to follow!
• Save the Date Pictures As seen here, we went with the B&W picture on the circle for our save the date cards. They were a hit.
• How Do We Get There. Although you voted for a classy car for the bride and groom, we actually went with none of the options listed in this poll. More to come on this topic!

I leave you with a beautiful picture from Ben Chrisman I don't think that we need to take a poll to agree that the love and the emotions in this picture convey l-o-v-e.

How I Tied the Knot: The Socks and Shoes

Previously in the post, tying the knot: the shoes and tying the knot: the sock shot I shared some of my favorite pictures of my shoes and the socks the guys wore. Now, it's time to let you all in on the details behind our footwear and the lessons that I learned from that aspect of our wedding day. And, of course, some pretty pictures to display along the way!

Not sure if I ever gave you a peek at the bridesmaids shoes. Aren't they beautiful!?

The shoes were black satin with a gathered detail along the top that matched the top of the bridesmaids dresses. They were perfect in every way. What's even better?! They were buy one get one half off at Charlotte Rouse. Each shoe factored out to be about $17 each. I gave them to my bridesmaids as gifts.

Lesson learned #8: Check every store for potential bridesmaids shoes. Don't just limit your bridesmaids to dyables they will never wear again! Everyday mall stores have cute (and colorful) shoes that can be turned into bridesmaids shoes in a heartbeat. You just have to search for them.

I know I already shared shots of my plum shoes with you here, but here's another. And the best part?! $39.99.


Lesson learned #9: I found my shoes at Bakers. Don't settle for white bridal shoes that you don't even really like. It's not a rule anymore that brides have to wear white shoes. See lesson learned #8 and look at your favorite stores (and on-line) for shoes that will make you happy and give you that bridal glow.

The socks were a gift to the groomsmen that we purchased at banana republic. The deal: buy three at $6.50 each. So the 7 socks for the GM plus a pair for Chris cost us a little over $50.



Lesson learned #10: Look at stores like j. crew and gap along with banana republic for argyle socks throughout the year. They make for great GM's gifts and great sock shots!

previously in the series, "how i tied the knot": getting ready, our first look, bouquets and boutonnieres
all pictures by: nicole green. please link back to tying the knot when posting any of these pictures.