Wedding

03.30.18

Photos by Lexi from Life in Motion Photo and Film

We finally got to have our wedding celebration this past March. It was a long awaited celebration with family and our closest friends. We were wanting something small and super intimate, as we legally were already married (thank you military) but never got to have a special moment with all our loved ones. Having some professional wedding planning under my belt, I knew exactly what I did NOT want to do. Coupled with the fact that I was planning everything from overseas, we focused mainly on the celebration part vs. the traditional... well... anything really. 

Printed this bad boy out at Staples for $3 and hot glued the flowers myself. Wasn't planning on keeping the sign, so it did it's job and is now recycled. 

I brought these wafer Manner treats with me across the ocean... they're so addicting!

Being nontraditional is totally fine in the book of "How to Plan a Wedding." The number one rule is to do something that is representative of you! I think we did just that. We called the event a celebration instead of a wedding and hosted multiple events over a long weekend. Our guest list was limited to the people who would be in our bridal party, if we had a traditional one. We found a house on Airbnb that our whole family could stay in and it doubled as our venue for such events. It definitely was more cost effective than blocks of hotel rooms and other additional venue fees, which was the icing on the wedding cake. Cake from Publix, obviously!

Let's start the nontraditionality. (I think I just made up a word. But it works!) Our save the dates were sent electronically. It made so much financial sense for us living overseas, plus we got an immediate response when we asked for postal addresses. Shout out to paperlesspost! When it came time for invitations, we did want a classic look. We went with simple font that I downloaded from Creative Market and I designed and printed the invites myself.  I also hand ripped and sealed them for a personal touch. I ordered these amazing recycled and seeded paper sets from Oak & Orchid that featured a gorgeous pink peony as the envelope liner (not pictured.) I was pretty much adamant from the beginning about there being zero waste from wedding stuff that typically just gets thrown away. These were an ingenious nod to the garden theme I was going for, and with zero waste! Because the invites were embedded with a blend of wildflower seeds, if planted and watered, they will grow. How cool! #LetLoveGrow.

It was very important to me to have our wedding the weekend of a Blue Moon, which is also the night we met, 6 years prior. Yes, I was that girl when we were dating that was scrawling our monogram and future wedding date on every scrap of paper in the apartment. 03.30.18. It was perfect. However, finding a perfect venue was QUITE a challenge, but it would up working better than imagined! I always dreamed of having my wedding in my grandmother's backyard in Ohio. She had a beautiful brick manor with crawling ivy and exquisite gardens. She spent years in the yard cultivating flowers and had her beautifully landscaped garden featured in magazines. There was a lovely gazebo used as an afternoon reading nook. She built a flowing creek with a bridge you could walk over onto dirt paths in the woods that my cousins and I ran through as children. We had many family celebrations in her house and played many years in that yard. It was just my dream as a young girl that I would also have the most memorable celebration of my life in the same location.

Maybe you could guess, but having the celebration at my grandmother's house was just not possible. Her house had in recent years been sold. If your first thought is to ask the new residents if I could rent their yard for a day it obviously was the next though in my head too. Unfortunately, the residents had gone one step further and had demolished the house. After renovations, it just wasn't the same to me anymore.

With life being so unpredictable and our journey as a couple quite a testament to such, it's just funny when it all comes together. That being said, Chris' very best friend was getting married the day after us. They were getting married in Orlando. So, we got to hold our celebrations in the city where Chris and I met! It was also a very central location for our friends and family which just made it easier on everyone. See, it all works out! I even found a house that had a yard and a private lake, an ode to my grandmother's garden.

I may or may not have been tearing up with emotion that "it's finally happening!"

The entire wedding weekend was planned by yours truly, and supported immensely by my mother's handiwork, sister's creativity, best friend's support, and Etsy. Oh thank goodness for Etsy! Again, with my experience in weddings, I've seen so much money and time spent on items that were just well, unnecessary in my eyes. To me, this day was about our family, friends, and framily (friends who are family) coming together to bond and be joyous. Nothing else should have taken away from the simple purpose for the occasion. Everything from servingware and platters to tablecloths were borrowed from family members. (Cue "something borrowed" aha moment!)

Anything that was purchased was to be reused in daily life. Example... my house is full of hydrangea bunches. It's a three-fold win in that manner, home decor+memories+cheaper= SCORE! The potted flowers used to simulate a garden are currently planted and thriving in my mother's garden. The girls' "cheers" champagne glasses were also their gift, and simple enough they could be reused again on many occasions. My earrings were "something old" that I've had for years and worn repeatedly. In addition (to the blue moon of course,) my shoes were "something blue" that I already had in my closet. My bouquet may look familiar, it's silk flowers that I assembled for our "elopement style shoot" we had in Seattle before we moved overseas. I ordered custom wood cut letters from Etsy that was then DIY-ed into a wreath that now lives on our front door.

The lace tablecloth for the dessert table was used at my mother's wedding. Another white tablecloth used was my mother-in-law's. My dress and veil were both made with love, and lots of time. My dress was ordered for $80 from Lulu's and the beaded appliques were from none other than my newest obsession, Etsy. My mother hand stitched the appliques on for weeks. The lace for my veil was also from Etsy, and cost just about $30. The veil material itself isn't the traditional tulle but it's close enough. I found it in a scrap bin at the local fabric store for $3.

I hand stitched the lace onto the veil for a solid week. However, my mom and I sat on the couch together and got to bond while doing so. She stitching appliques, and me the lace. Saving hundreds of dollars on the veil and hundreds more on the dress was just an additional benefit. When my dad asked if he could contribute to the dress fund, I told him I spent less than $100 and he almost had a heart attack. In a good way! His daughter that can't live without a good wardrobe, obsessed with nice things, and was a diagnosed shopaholic by thirteen... he couldn't believe it. I'm currently smiling remembering his reaction. I think I made him proud?!

We started off our celebration weekend with a good ol' cookout themed to our favorite colors, RW&B. (You probably know our first fur baby is also named after this.) We had a huge blow up cooler in the shape of an Uncle Sam hat. We had burgers and Publix chicken tenders, because they are the best. If you don't know, you're missing out. We obviously had many fried mozzarella cheese sticks too. If you could guess, by this point I quit my pre-wedding diet. The night Chris and I met he bought me cheese sticks and it may or may not be the main reason I fell in love with him! We also had a section of "Red, White and Blue Moon beer" because, well you should have picked up on this by now. We met on a blue moon! Hopefully it's all coming together now!

For what would traditionally be called a rehearsal dinner, we went somewhere that totally captures our fun and relaxed spirits... Chuy's Tex Mex! We filled our bellies with all the chips and queso we could and told funny stories. We toasted with crazy straws that spelled out "bride" and "groom." We laughed while the young boys ran around in circles in the room. It was an overall enjoyable evening in a fun environment and we all left wondering how we were going to fit into our dresses the next morning.

It was very important to me to do one thing traditionally. I wanted our family pastor to marry us under God and in front of our family. Randy is such a genuine person, and his sermons are filled with much lightheartedness and a dose of reality. He always knows what to say and is a warm soul. We have known him for many years, and he even came to our house and preached at my parent's 20th anniversary and vow renewal. He and his family have become part of our family. You can see his wife Kimberly leading the prayer with me and the ladies in my family in earlier photos. There was no one else I would have wanted to bless our marriage. I mean, he was also in the Air Force! So he's totally the coolest. Just look at his plaid jacket!

Chris vowed that he would always have the window seat on our journeys, but I would be the reason the journey is worth taking. I told him it doesn't matter where we live, he is my home. I also vowed I would make him homemade Chipotle because the closest one is about 1,019.67 miles away from where we currently live.

ALL

THE

EMOTIONS!

We walked down the aisle to the only song we could agree on that meant something to both of us... Everything is Awesome from the Lego Movie. It's funny and upbeat, but the words literally say "everything is better when we stick together, side by side you and I, gonna win forever." It works, right? We're a little bit more goofy than serious so it was perfect for us. Plus it signaled the party starting for everyone! Mimosa time! Oh yeah, that was another thing about how our celebration was nontraditional. It was a Friday morning that led into everyone's favorite meal of the weekend, brunch!

We had an outstanding brunch spread that literally took over the entire kitchen. And you must understand how big this kitchen was, we had a full size industrial fridge! So that our guests could enjoy the day and step in some pics, we hired a private chef. I am so grateful to Chef John Procacci! He cooked anything that I could have wanted for a gourmet brunch and included fresh squeezed orange juice and even guava smoothies! (See me in the last pic- I couldn't put the smoothies down!)

me, my mother, my grandmother (but don't call her that- she's Nanny)

Poppyseed lemon crepes with blueberry cream cheese filling, french toast with roasted banana compote, grilled peaches with vanilla bean, honey and granola... my mouth is watering remembering how amazing everything was! If you've been a bride I'm sure you understand that you just don't get to eat everything during your celebrations. Chef John was very understanding of this fact and not only did he do the shopping, prep work, cooking and plating, cleaning and washing and drying, he also packaged up leftovers and set them aside in the fridge! Everything he did was beyond my expectations. I snuck into the fridge twice more that evening and again the next morning for a repeat brunch because it was THAT GOOD! You'll be able to tell from the pictures below that everything was devoured!

Chefs are not widely known for being super personable, but the guests couldn't stop commenting how charming Chef John was. If you are in the Orlando area and need a private chef for a graduation party, intimate wedding celebration, retirement party, whatever! Do yourself a favor and hire the Top Private Chef John.

These are my sorority sisters. "It's not four years, it's for life." It's cliche but it's so true. These women have been there for me in many seasons of life. We've shared so many of life's defining moments. In fact, we celebrated the wedding of one of these gorgeous ladies just the week before!

Because again, we were doing a very nontraditional celebration, there were no seating assignments. We had tables throughout the house and back patio set up for everyone to mingle and sit wherever they liked. Some people were even sitting on the couch, true family style. It was a relaxed situation- after all, we were all framily now! 

Thank you for reading all about our very special day. Thank you to all those who helped make it a reality! It will be a day that is never forgotten.

Photography: Life in Motion Photo and Film

Chef: John Procacci at Top Private Chef

Hair & Makeup: Ngoc Nguyen at LeJeune Artistry

Dress: Lulu's <on sale for $27!>

Earrings: J.Crew

Freeze dried real flower petals for toss: flyboy Naturals

Vow Books: Charming Charlie

Seeded Paper Invitations: Oak & Orchid

Etsy: Custom dressing robe, champagne "cheers" decals, bride and groom engraved hangers, custom regal portrait, gold picture frames, "mother of the" coffee mugs, giant tissue paper flowers, monogrammed wax stamp, silk ribbons, and more!