More Wedding Details....

Details, details.... that's what makes the big day special, right? So here are a few more simple things we did to make Daughter's Wedding Day perfect.... All of the ideas are pretty easy and inexpensive. It just takes some planning and thinking ahead so you can get it all done on time. Of course, every time I go on Pinterest I see an idea which I wish we had thought of before the wedding! Oh Pinterest, you are a dangerous thing....

We ordered an assortment of vintage looking bottles online and made simple paper tags with guests' names and table numbers and attached them to the bottles with twine. The florist placed airy flowers in the bottles and lined them up on a table at the entrance to the reception. These acted as escort cards for the guests, which they could then take home as favors. I have to say- they looked beautiful and I loved this idea!

Carrying that theme into the dining room extra bottles, votive candles, and Baby's Breath line the window sills....

Daughter wanted guests to be able to write notes to the couple, so we got this old box for just a few dollars at a flea market, she painted a cute design on the front, and it was placed on the gift table at the reception....

Daughter got her dress at David's Bridal, but we thought it needed just a little extra something.... we found this trim with beaded leaves at a shop in NYC at Christmastime, it was so perfect it was like it was made just for this dress.... We had the seamstress attach it to satin ribbon and stitch it to the waist of the dress for a sash.... It was a really simple way to make a dress bought at a large chain store special and unique for the bride.

Younger Daughter made a simple banner with cardstock and twine for the new Mr. & Mrs. at the reception...

Finally, I wanted to surprise the Bride & Groom with special wishes for their sendoff after the reception. My father-in-law had some old rough floor boards which he glued together. I painted this phrase on it and we placed it by the new couple's "get away car" at the end of the reception. It now hangs in their new apartment.

Here's to living Happily Ever After......

Wedding Details....

I can't believe it's been almost 2 whole months since Daughter's wedding. So much preparation leading up to it... and now it's over (along with almost the whole entire summer! I don't know how that happened.) We recently got the CD from the photographer (it took awhile, because it got lost in the mail.)

The worst- and best- thing about planning a wedding is all of the little details need attention. Sometimes those little details just become pesky and annoying (Is there really a difference between the ivory and the buff table linens?) But then there are the details that make the day really special.

Take for example, the groom's tie. My daughter bought this to coordinate with the groomsmen's ties- and then as a surprise, hand embroidered the back of the tie and surprised Jeff with it the day of the wedding. I am sure he will cherish it always, even when pink striped ties go out of style.... (This was my favorite detail of the wedding, even though most of the guests never saw it.)

My second favorite detail was the ring bearer's pillow. We wanted to do something a little different and we were looking online for some ideas. We saw a pillow made from an old handkerchief, and I remembered that I had a drawer full of hand embroidered linens that my grandmother made almost 70 years ago. My grandfather was in the Navy, and when they were courting my grandmother would sit in the evenings and do embroidery while waiting for him to come and visit, and to while away the hours when he was away.

I didn't want to cut up such precious family keepsakes, so we chose a table runner and wrapped it around a pillow form. (Just like wrapping a present). I used very large basting stitches on the bottom, and used a few stitches to tack a piece of grosgrain ribbon to the top to hold the rings (not the real rings- just fake ones from the craft store. The Best Man had the real rings in his pocket.)

After the wedding I was able to take out the basting stitches and the table runner was good as new (or good-as-old, actually). It was the perfect "Something Borrowed." Below is a photo of all 4 generations of the women in our family- my daughter, me, my mother, and my grandmother who embroidered the linens all those years ago.

For gifts for the Bridesmaids, my daughter found necklaces from an Etsy shop all the way in Greece.

We made the table numbers. My husband cut pieces of old wood from the fence around our house, then Youngest Daughter (aka Maid of Honor) hand painted the numbers. The rustic look was exactly what we were looking for for the table settings and venue.

More wedding details to come.... stay tuned....

And don't forget you have until Midnight EDT tonight to enter the Christmas in July giveaway here. Good luck.

More Wedding Candid Shots

I hope you are not tired of wedding photos yet- so many people said "I want to see lots of pictures!" so I am just obliging, ha ha. These were taken by friends and family, we are still waiting for the "official" photos to come in.

At the church, getting ready to walk down the aisle.

Her dad walks her down the aisle. 

The church was beautiful- we had the florist put a baby's breath garland along all of the pews.

After the ceremony, the groom helps the bride with her train.

The wedding party outside the reception venue.

 The married couple's first dance. Their song was 

"Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons

This photo was taken during the first dance also. 

I'm pretty sure that's Jeff's (the groom) head in the foreground.

The bride dances with her dad. Their song was "Your Smiling Face" by James Taylor 

(which JT wrote for his daughter, Sally).

That's all of the photos for now, until the photographer's pictures come in and then we'll do this all again... but with better photos. Also, eventually I will get some work done in the studio and have something to show you. But don't hold your breath on that, I'm still trying to get my bearings. Not much seems to be getting done these days. I'm still trying to settle back in. And the house and yard are a mess, and I feel like I should be getting them in order, doing all of the things I said I would get to "after the wedding." So it's after the wedding and I haven't done them yet. Sigh.

Some Wedding Photos

Today I am going to show you some photos that hubby took with his iPhone. We won't have the official photos from the photographer for another week or so.

The rehearsal on Thursday night. The church was beautiful. 

The groom and groomsmen patiently waiting outside the church before the ceremony on Friday evening. The weather was perfect.

The bridesmaids after the ceremony.

Samantha and Jeffrey with the ringbearer, junior bridesmaid, and junior usher.

Mr. and Mrs. Schultz at the reception.

Phew!

The bride has walked down the aisle, the "I Do's" have been said, the happy couple is on their honeymoon.... and hubby, younger daughter and I are going to take some much needed time off.... We are headed to the beach for a few days for a little R and R. In the meantime, stop by Kiki's blog to see what she's been up to with my Oh Holy Night fabric.... It is in stores now, and you know summer is a great time to start on holiday projects because you have lots of time to "play" (no oh-my-gosh-it's-Christmas-Eve-and-I-still-have-27-tablerunners-to-make-for-gifts panic.)

More wedding photos to come....

Wedding Inspiration

The big day is finally here.... Daughter is doing a guest post today...

Well, hello there!
Today is June 8, 2012, which is a very special day for me. I am getting married today.  I am so very excited that not only do I get to start a life with my best friend, but I get to see a lot of hard work pay off and many things I've only seen in my mind come to life.
So today, I'd like to share with you some of my inspirations for my wedding.

Source: stylemepretty.com via Samantha on Pinterest

I have loved this cake for a long time!  I am having different flowers, but I love the simplicity of the white piping and the burst of color with the flowers.  I also really like the different shapes of the tiers; it's such a simple change, but really makes for an interesting piece of art!

Source: elizabethannedesigns.com via Samantha on Pinterest

We ordered a bunch of glass bottles from Bella Luna Bazaar to do this kind of favor for the wedding.  We also went a step further and made luggage tags for the necks of the bottles; part favor, part escort card!  Putting the two together saves time and money.

Source: blog.hairandmakeupbysteph.com via Samantha on Pinterest

Lastly, I am in love with this hair and makeup.  It is timeless and timely and I just want to be this girl.  I always wished that I was better with hair and makeup, and seeing this makes me wish that even more, because then I could do this every day.


I can't wait to share pictures from the wedding with you all in a few weeks.  My fiance and I are off to San Juan, Puerto Rico tomorrow, and then we will be on a ship to the southern Carribean!  It's all such an exciting and promising journey, and I can't wait to begin!

Happy pinning, and happy weekend!

Samantha

It was really a surprise!

Daughter ended up being very surprised for her Surprise Bridal Shower (thank goodness! we pulled it off!!) All of the stories, lies and stress paid off....

My friend made this beautiful cake. The heart and butterfly are cookies. Youngest daughter and I made additional desserts- petit fours, brownie bites, and miniature cherry cheese cakes.

Also on the menu: Chicken Marsala, Eggplant Parmigiana, Penne alla Vodka, Green Beans Almondine, and salad. (We ate it but didn't photograph it- typical.)

For a Wishing Well, we used a laundry basket- guests could bring small household items and useful "odds-and-ends" to fill the basket. Later, it will be handy for actually doing laundry....

Here is daughter with her bridesmaids:

And here is the happy couple:

And June will be here before we know it.

More Bridal Shower Photos

The table settings for the shower turned out very pretty. Buying flats of annuals and re-potting them ourselves was really inexpensive. Our color scheme was light pink, fuchsia, spring green, and yellow. We found the paper plates at Michael's the week before spring- the colors were perfect.

For a fun game, youngest daughter came up with a "Mad Libs Bridal Shower Edition." The games were on the table for the guests to work on while they waited for the bride-to-be to get there.

We held the shower in our church hall. We found this lattice arch, already decorated (with the perfectly colored pink flowers!) in the closet. I bought the pink parasol from an online wedding supplier months ago, not really knowing what I was going to do with it, but once again, the color was perfect.  This brown chair was not the most attractive piece of furniture in the building, but we did our best to cover it in crepe paper and balloons.

I'll have a few more photos next time- the bride, the groom, the bridesmaids, and the cake.... Very important stuff.

For more photos, click here.

PS Anyone else having trouble with Blogger? This was supposed to post on Friday and I noticed this morning that it never did.