Wedding Blog - it’s a bride’s life - real brides blogging ’til “I do!”

After all the extensive planning and effort, one of the best parts of your wedding day is to see all of your ideas come to life. It is incredible to see everything come together, and take shape in ways that you have only dreamed about! Here are a few photographs of some of my favorite details from our wedding day…

Above are the decorations that beautifully accented the aisle. The flowers and embroidered ribbons were hand made by my amazing Aunt Lorri (thank you so much!). The scroll shepherd hooks were provided by CheringtonMetalcraft from Etsy, and the lanterns were purchased from Jamali Gardens.

The flowers, including the ones shown above, were provided by Michael’s House of Flowers, from Forest City, PA.

Here are the flower petals that we gave to our guests for tossing after the ceremony. My super crafty mother made the cups that held the petals, and the petals were purchased from a local flower market. It was so much fun being showered with rose petals as we made our walk up the aisle!

Here is the beautiful ring pouch that we used for our warming of the rings. This was also made by my Aunt Lorri.

The ring bearer/flower girl wagon was decorated with a lovely wood burnt sign made by my mother, and supplies bought from local craft stores. The kids looked so unbelievably cute together in the wagon!

The escort cards were a fun DIY project, which doubled as a wedding favor!  The glasses were purchased from Discount Mugs and the candies were personalized m&m’s with our names and wedding date printed on them.

I wanted something a little different for our guest book, and I absolutely loved the way our thumbprint guest book worked out! Our guestbook was provided by SugarVineArt from Etsy.

Here is a glimpse of our centerpieces, which turned out really lovely! The centerpiece lanterns were purchased from Jamali Gardens and the votive candles were purchased plain from Quick Candles, then decorated with supplies brought from local craft stores. The tree slice base we cut and prepared ourselves, from a tree a neighbor recently cut down.

The banner (which I absolutely love!) used to decorate the fireplaces was also created by my mom. The other decorations were purchased from local craft stores.

I just love this picture of us with our cake; we were laughing at my terrible cake cutting skills! The flowers decorating the cake were handmade by my Aunt Lorri, and our cake topper was purchased from TheCakeTopperShoppe on Etsy.

We really did have an amazing day, and I can not thank everyone enough for helping us bring everything together! Perfect wedding day… check!

Pictures of the centerpieces, the fireplace decorations, the cake cutting, and the last picture shown of the ceremony by the lake were provided by Lauren Brimhall Photography.

Our wedding was a success, I am a married woman! I can not believe how quick the day flew by… it was a wonderful blur of excitement and emotion. I really could not be happier with our day, everything truly was perfect. Looking back on things now, I can see a few lessons learned that I would love to pass along to the engaged ladies out there.

Pad your Plan!

I created a basic itinerary for our wedding day, allocating certain amounts of time for hair, makeup, photos, etc. I thought I had set enough time aside so that I would not be rushed; I wanted to be able to relax and enjoy the day. Unfortunately, I had slightly underestimated how long it would take to do things such as my hair and makeup. I ended up having to rush a bit more than I had hoped in order to be ready in time for the ceremony to begin. I would strongly recommend that you round up your allocated times a little. Adding a little extra time then you anticipate needing will help you to feel calm and relaxed, and to enjoy your day a bit more.

Expect the Unexpected!

Regardless of how much you plan, working on every last detail, not everything will go exactly as you plan. Realizing this ahead of time will help you. Don’t freak out if thing go a little awry; the little glitches will help to add something special to your wedding day story. For example, during our ceremony we conducted a “warming of the rings“. The rings were passed around before the ceremony began, and when my dad sat down after walking me down the aisle the ring bag was passed to him last. He did not realize what it was and promptly put it in his pocket. When the priest got to the portion of the ceremony where he asked for the rings, it appeared that no one had them! An awkward minute or two passed while people frantically looked around for our rings, when someone remembered that my dad had placed the ring pouch in his pocket! We all had a good laugh, and then the ceremony proceeded as planned.

So just remember ladies; relax and enjoy what will be one of the best days of your life. Thank you to everyone that helped make our day a success!!!

All pictures from Lauren Brimhall Photography

I can’t believe how fast the time has gone by. In less than one week I will be a married woman! This whole experience has been incredible, and I am so thankful for the fantastic people in our lives that have helped us out along the way. Wedding planning is unlike any other task I have ever tackled, and I have learned so much throughout this process. I think it is only right to pass along a few helpful tips to anyone out there just beginning their engagement experience.

For those of you newly engaged women out there: Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses! Being engaged is such a wonderful period of your life. Try not to get too stressed out to enjoy this fun and exciting experience.

One big way to reduce stress is to stay organized! Trust me; it will keep you sane later. Take advantage of websites like The Knot and Wedding Wire. These websites offer tons of useful tools that help you organize everything from checklists to seating charts to budget management. And most of these resources and completely free! Also, keep yourself informed and inspired by checking blogs like this one from time to time. Here you can get tons of great ideas from other creative brides all over the world.

Lastly, you should definitely delegate things whenever possible. I’m sure there are lots of people in your life that would love to help and get involved in planning your wedding. Reach out for help when you need it. The people in your life will be happy to get involved, and it will make your life easier! The next year of your life is going to go by in a blur. So have fun and good luck planning the best wedding ever.

All week we have been finalizing our music choices for the reception. Narrowing down the choices for each moment from our entrance into the reception, to our first dance, to our cake cutting song has been really tough. There are so many great choices out there to pick from! There are a few online resources that have been really helpful in confirming our choices. For example, Wedding Wire has a long list of great song suggestions for both the ceremony and the reception. You can even suggest songs that aren’t yet on the list for other couples consideration.

Rhapsody is a great resource to easily find and listen to nearly any song you can think of all in one place. They have a library of over 13 million songs, which are all readily available. This service will cost about $15 a month, but you get a free 30 day trial before you start paying this fee. It is great to be able to listen to every song that we need to hear, without spending too much time trying to find them.

Lastly, Pandora is another incredible music resource. This free website allows you to get ideas for songs by typing in a particular artist or music genre. Pandora will find other songs similar to that artist or genre that you may not have thought of or even heard of before. It can open up a whole new bunch of possibilities!

Now off to call the D.J. to let him know what we have decided!

My fiancée, Shamus, has been great at being involved in every part of our planning. He even got involved in his own ‘Do It Yourself’ project. Shamus brewed his first ever batch of home brewed beer! Actually he made two different batches; a seasonal pumpkin beer and a raspberry beer. We have been calling these beers our “I Do Brews”! We plan on serving his beer for the friends and family members that join us after the reception has ended.

I think it was fantastic that Shamus had his own creative outlet where he had complete control. He got really into this project, and he enjoyed creating something himself for our guests. While it is definitely important for the bride and groom to work together to plan a wedding, having something that is just your own can be really nice too.

Luckily, we have a friend that is experienced in brewing beer; he was a huge help in teaching him how to get started. But don’t worry if you don’t have anyone around to help you, there are tons of great resources to help your guy learn a new skill, or find a some way to be creative. Find a local class or do a little online research to get the ball rolling. I would definitely recommend every groom-to-be find an outlet where he can get creative, and experience his own DIY project!