Our Wedding

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I was engaged on May 24th, 2012.

And I was married on November 3, 2012.

I started my wedding planning first and foremost with this idea layout.

I simply put together a word document with my photos and ideas.

It helped to have something to show vendors when I was selecting items for my wedding.

It also helped me stay on track so I didn’t get overwhelmed with new options.

I just simply stuck to my original plan.

My goals for the wedding were:

• to have lots of color and pattern
• to make sure everything and everyone was comfortable
• to not misuse friendships in order to get “free” stuff
• and to make sure that at the end of the day we had enjoyed ourselves

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The wedding “venue” was my parents home.

I felt very blessed to be able to get married at my parents’ home.

The ceremony was in the back yard and the reception was in the front.

It worked out perfectly.

My grandmother gives each of her grand kids a family Bible when they get married. So instead of doing a unity candle during the ceremony, together with our parents we signed our new family Bible.

My mother collected all the information from the different sides of the family and then filled out all the genealogy in the front of the Bible for us. It was a great gift.

And my brother James built the podium and the arbor.

Don’t tell my mom that a picture of her garage is online, but this was flower central at a chilly 7am.

The arbor was covered with Fall branches and persimmons.

Virginia, Mary and Denise did such a great job on the flowers!

I had always said I would never have an outdoor wedding because I didn’t want the stress of possible bad weather.

I just have to tell you all the weather on this day was a complete miracle from God.

My wedding day Saturday, Nov 3 was 68 degrees and no humidity.

Just three days before it had been 40 degrees during the day and raining.

My good weather prayers were answered.

I rented three golf carts for the day and they were a life saver! They helped transport us all over the property and get guests back to their cars.

Food buffet getting all prettied up.

All the flowers had to be kept in the shade until the last minute because the sun was wilting them.

My bridesmaids: Annie(sister), Holly(sister-in-law)and Nancee Lee(sister)

Ceremony flowers.

I found the groomsmen’s shirts on clearance at the Ralph Lauren Outlet in Gaffney, SC. They perfectly matched the three colors of the bridesmaids dresses.

Guest Book Table- loved the flowers!

And I used a small crocheted tablecloth as a runner on the guest book table. My great grandmother made it many years ago.

My husband designed and made our guest book and pages.

He drew the abstract image of our engagement (fly fishing, no less), had it cut out of sheet metal.

With the help of my littler sister and sister in law, we made these simple Kraft paper cones to fill with potpourri to toss.

You can read about the cones in this post.

I filled them with lavender, rose buds and mini pine cones.

1 bag of each was more than enough to fill 150 cones.

Cones to Toss:

• Lavender Flowers – 1/2 Pound …Ultra Blue….Culinary Grade
• Rose Buds and Petals Red – 1 lb
• Mini Pine Cones
• Duck Brand Brown Kraft Paper Roll

We had about 160 guests.

We had lots of things on the menu but the roast beef on pretzel rolls stole the show!

A collection of old and new linen napkins were used at the reception.

$5 chalk boards plus my mom’s great handwriting.

I purchased all the southern bottled drinks at Abbots Farms in Gaffney, SC.

My sister did an awesome job on my simple semi- homemade cake.

The cake was served from a glass cake stand that my mother received as a wedding gift on her wedding day 29 years ago.

My mom made all the fitted ruffled tablecloths for me, I found the oversized brown gigham at Mary Jo’s.

Sweet potato cakes from Brick Street Cafe($30 each) and apple pies from Costco($10 each)

My aunt made chocolate almond toffee as my favors.

It’s my great grandmother’s recipe.

We didn’t have ANY leftovers. :)

I made the favor tags from a free template on weddingchicks.com and purchased the stripe Kraft bags from Etsy store, Pretty Tape.

All this wedding business made everyone thirsty apparently.:)

I designed my outfit as a lace wrap dress.

My design evolved several times, but I loved the way it turned out.

And I was SO comfortable all day.

At the reception I used cheapo “decorator”  tri pod tables covered in white tablecloths I found on craigslist and pieces of leftover burlap from another friend’s project.

I used the side tables with rented chairs to create conversation circles for guests.

The tablecloths were going to cost me $14 each to rent, I paid $3 each on craigslist.

And the tables were going to cost $25 each to rent, I paid $7 each.

I paid Sharon with Celloasis to play for the entire event, 2 1/2 hours. It saved me money in the long run because she provides all her own audio equipment. $$$ saved because I didn’t not have to rent any audio equipment at all. And she is amazing! Check out some of her music here.

And the two people who made all this possible: my parents.

Me with all my siblings

My parents, all my siblings and their spouses

Photo by mary mckittrick photography.

And the payoff to all the hard work was that at the end of the day we were married.

Want information on our laid back honeymoon? Go here.

Wedding Announcements:

Because I limited the guest list to 150 people I did send out postcard wedding announcements the day after the wedding so that people I had to leave off the guest list didn’t feel too left out.

Vendors:

We took to the Woods– floral design, ceremony, photography

Brick Street Cafe– sweet potato cakes

Sharon Gerber Celloasis– music for ceremony and reception (She is amazing!)

YellowbrickGraphics– invitations, announcements, and programs

Program by YellowBrickGraphics, photo by Mary Campbell

Jennifer Diachenko- custom-made wedding dress that I designed

Belk– Groom and groomsmen’s attire, bride’s shoes and earrings.

Cordial Churchman– Groom’s bowtie

Magnolia Bridal– bridesmaid dresses (I saved $$$ here on my bridesmaids dresses)

Danielle Miller Jewelry– We made our own wedding bands in her workshop. See our post here and here.

Willow Florals– flower arrangments for the rehearsal dinner.

Renew Salon, Rebecca Illsley

Cones to Toss:

• Lavender Flowers – 1/2 Pound …Ultra Blue….Culinary Grade
• Rose Buds and Petals Red – 1 lb
• Duck Brand Brown Kraft Paper Roll