Well, EAD, we’ve come to this…my last wedding recap!

What a wonderful, beautiful, joyful, and emotional journey this has been, blogging and sharing with you lovely readers.

The final images I wanted to leave you with were from our exciting exit from the reception!  Originally we had wanted sparklers, but due to Colorado fire dangers, they aren’t allowed….

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Let’s face it: a lot of wedding gowns aren’t usually exactly, well, warm.  Especially if you’re having a spring or winter wedding, your options for wraps may seem limited to some sort of white satin wrap-type thing.  But why not get a bit creative with your snuggie?

Photo by Belathee via OnceWed

LOVE this greenish-yellow cardigan…

Photo by Parker J via OnceWed

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Every bride knows how important her parents are on the day of her wedding.  Even if they can’t be there physically, they are there in heart and spirit.

My parents were absolutely amazing.  There were so many things going on, but what shone through was their love and devotion….and what more could a bride want?  There are so many things I want to thank my parents for, so I wanted to devote a post to them…

Because my dad was calm, cool, and collected.  He gave me a piece of silver for my shoe (note to upcoming brides, it’s good luck to have one!), a compass to pin in my dress (for my grandparents, who are always “guiding me”), and endless hugs.  To be cliche, I would have been a lost mess without him!

Because my mom hugged me so tightly, smiled so enthusiastically, and ran everything behind the scenes so it went off without a hitch.  She’s made me who I am, and her amazing personality really came through at the wedding.

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Well, I’ve shown EAD a lot of my wedding: the bridal party, the ceremony, and the flowers, to name a few recent posts.  What I haven’t shown you yet is any of the work that went into the week of the wedding!

One of the realities of a DIY wedding is that it’s a significant time investment, and could easily drive many a bride crazy, especially the week of her wedding.  However, the DIY details also definitely made our wedding: it kept it from becoming a cookie-cutter shindig, which was my biggest nightmare.  For any of you brides considering doing your own flowers, I thought I’d give you a sneak peak into what went on behind the scenes with the centerpieces and bouquets:

The sustainable centerpieces actually only took about 30 minutes (with 2 great helpers!) to complete all 24.

They were made up of live herbs, soil, and green moss.  The herbs were all replanted after the ceremony, and it’s so cool that reminders from our wedding are growing in people’s gardens!

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We were so happy with the way our reception turned out…unfortunately, due to the rain and ceremony switch, it ended up taking an hour to set up!  This meant less time for toasts, less time for dancing…it was all very complicated, and it was definitely the last thing we expected.  We decided to go with white tables and brown runners, and I was glad we went with that in the end, as it was a bright burst of light in the rain-darkened room.

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Something big happened during my wedding week…something bigger than a rehearsal dinner, bigger than a bachelorette spa day, bigger than getting my favorite peonies for the bouquets…

my best friend and bridesmaid Lisa got engaged!

Now, not only did she get engaged…she also managed to hide it from me for roughly 20 hours until I realized something was up and dragged it out of her.  Just goes to show what a great friend she is–she didn’t want to distract from the wedding at hand.  I’m SO glad she ended up telling me, though…it made my week that much more special and I’ve never been happier!

Lisa’s favorite color is yellow, just like her bright, sunny, cheerful, sweet personality…so I thought I’d create an inspiration board for her wedding that fits right in with her bubbly-ness!

{Clockwise from top left: Salt and Pepper shakers from MissGaylee’s Etsy shop; invitations from Tulaloo’s Etsy Shop; flowers from Martha Stewart Weddings; dress by J.Crew; car photo from National Geographic; boutonniere, Our Labor of Love Photography via OnceWed; shoes, The Studio Nouveau photography via Lucky Me!; dress, Anthropologie; bouquet from Martha Stewart Weddings; cupcakes from Our Labor of Love Photography via OnceWed}

Yellow is such a fun, upbeat color, especially for such amazing and laid-back folks as Lisa and her now-fiance Eric.

I can totally see them using lots of Billy Buttons, the groomsmen in seersucker suits, Lisa in beautiful yellow flats, and the lovely couple driving away in a classic yellow car!

Lisa, if you’re reading this…you’d better let me help you plan your wedding! ;)

Much love,

-B

We totally lucked out with our bridal party.  Dr. dave’s and my friends got along so well, and we ended up having a blast taking pictures before the ceremony.  We staked out some locations the day before the wedding, and stumbled upon a relic from my past: the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.  This is where I used to get math tutoring!!! No joke. Exciting stuff here, people.

Anyway, our friends were great sports.  Even though it was raining the ENTIRE time we took pictures (hence holding the bouquet over my head in one of the photos below!), they all smiled, grinned, and laughed their way through the photos.  I think the flasks might have helped…

(Click on any photo to enlarge!)

Love this one…get it done, Lis.

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Once we got up to the altar, my sister and dave’s younger brother shared a reading from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin:

Love is a temporary madness,it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
That is just being “in love” which any fool can do.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.
Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.

As soon as dr. dave and I heard this reading, we knew we had to have it in our ceremony.  Not only is it sweet, it spoke to both our hearts and tied in to our Oak tree invitations and programs…we couldn’t have planned that if we tried!

We chose to write and read our own vows to each other.  We kept them short and sweet, and didn’t hear what the other wrote until the ceremony.  Here are Dave’s:

Today is the best day of my life, and I love you. I love your passion for life, love, and happiness.  I love the way you look at me and smile.  I love your sincerity and cherish your gentle nature. I know that you are my soul mate, and I promise to stand up for you, I promise to respect you and be faithful to you. I promise to always be your pas de deux partner. (A little homage to my ballet past, thank you very much!)

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Before the ceremony, we had some time to hang out at our venue and just relax a bit.  We were certainly unorthodox, as I was wandering around checking on last-minute details, and dr. dave and I saw all of my guests before the ceremony even started!  It was great being able to mill around and greet guests and friends before the ceremony, and it certainly made me feel so warm and happy knowing that all my family and friends were there for me.

I like this shot of my dad watching my sister and I give each other a good luck kiss before the ceremony started.

This was our cellist for the ceremony.  He and dr. dave’s brother played a beautiful orchestral version of “Love and Some Verses” by Iron and Wine for the processional.  It’s a song that we both love, and hearing it made my heart swell with joy!

These mason jars were originally for the mantle of the fireplace, but when we moved the ceremony indoors we decided to line the aisles with them.

A far-back shot of the ceremony as people began to arrive!

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Hello, dear readers!  Sorry for the long break.  I’m getting ready to start up a business here in SoCal (DIY brides, let me know if you need a hand with DIY wedding flowers…it’s the basis of my biz!) so it’s been a bit crazy ’round here!

Flowers were such a hugely important part of my day (see here, here, here, here, here, and here!).  Since I was a little girl, I’ve always loved flowers…gardening with my mom, terrariums, patio gardening, arrangements…I love it all.  So I knew my wedding had to be lush with real, fresh flowers that also didn’t overpower the venue.  To accomplish this (without spending thousands of dollars–all of our flowers and materials cost about $500), I set about making spreadsheets, practicing bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres until my fingers were raw.  I went back and forth the entire 15 months on colors, flower types, roses or no roses… and had to settle on the heartbreak of NOT ordering my beloved peonies.  Just when I’d sorted through all of our wholesale flowers and found peace with my lack of peonies, my bff bridesmaid Lisa and I decided to run to a nearby Whole Foods to pick up sushi for lunch…and there they were.  Right by the entrance, a rack full of beautiful, blooming peonies…on sale.  We grabbed as many as our little arms could hold, and I couldn’t have been happier.

My bouquet, which consisted of the peonies, vendela roses, dahlias, veronica, button mums, freesia, and fringe tulips.

We planted all of our herbs for the centerpieces that week.  We also used them to line the rainy windows when we had to move the ceremony indoors!  The scent of the verbena and lemon thyme was so soothing.

A shot of the table settings with the beautiful table runners handmade by my amazing mother.

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