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I realized I haven’t posted pictures of our invitations yet! And I wasn’t even paranoid about wedding crashers. Anywho, I really wanted letterpress invitations more than anything else and it was my big splurge. But really, not that bad. I used someone local, Jenny Barry from Press Charming, and I brought in some art nouveau books I’d bought to try and figure out a design. Jenny sent me back so many possibilities and this is what we finally decided on!

We got a 5×7 invitation with a postcard size reply card (saved on postage for the envelope and the reply! One regular 44 cent stamp was enough for the invitation (we liked the king & queen so that worked out) and we used polar bear postcard stamps for the postcards (not my favorite but we didn’t really have an option and the colors didn’t clash).

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I really like the idea of out of town welcome baskets and the like but they were never really an option in my mind due to the cost & organization they require (knowing who is staying where, knowing who is coming –the rsvps were giving me enough trouble as it was). Garrett’s parents decided to get a block of rooms at the Embassy Suites solving part of that problem and Garrett’s mom wanted to make welcome baskets, so I lucked out. She used a “taste of Alabama” theme and the bags included goodies only to be found in the yellowhammer state. Here’s what they included:

Golden Flake Chips (in a variety of dill pickle, original, bbq, and cheese puffs).

(image from country living, they have a list of the best local chips in a lot of different states so if you are stuck for an idea check here! Zapps from Louisiana, Cape Cod from Massachusetts, and Kettle chips from Oregon are all ones I recognize)

Priesters Pecans (in little mini bags, divinity and pralines I believe, but they have a really tasty key lime pecan there as well)

(from Priester’s Pecans)

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(photo by my sister, ashley merrill, while frosting cakes in a kitchen that reminded her of the shining)

Things didn’t go according to plan with our wedding. I feel/felt like it was a huge fail on my part, not dealing with stress well and not delegating or getting things done ahead of time. I’m a huge procrastinator and I also was so stressed about the other people involved in the wedding that I didn’t get focused. I’ve gotten over it for the most part, but I’m sure at least someone could learn from my mistakes.

(photos by Kristen M Stewart Photography unless otherwise noted.)

I wanted a cake buffet instead of just having one big cake, and I liked the idea of having homemade cakes instead of bakery cakes, because then they would mean something personal to us. The main problem with that is that it required work from people other than me. I wish I’d made them all myself two days before, taken them to our venue for them to have in their cooler, and been done with it. My sister makes an amazing cheesecake though and my mom and sister were willing to make cakes, freeze them, transport them from NC to AL, and frost them here.

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(photo by kristen stewart photography –no she’s not from twilight but she’s just as fun)

One of the most fun things Garrett and I did the few weeks before our Oct. 3rd reception was to suggest music to our unbelievably talented DJ, Mitchell London.

I hadn’t really thought about the music at all, and hadn’t even decided to have a DJ until July. I thought we’d manage with an ipod reception, but I started realizing all that such would entail. Picking the songs (and the stress of trying to make it danceable! I would’ve died if no one danced), having an ipod and backup ready, having someone there to troubleshoot [I didn't like the idea of forcing any of our friends into work during the party, I wanted them to enjoy it!], what if it stopped working, did we need anything extra to hook up? So I twittered about needing a DJ, not expecting a response, really just to complain, and Mitchell messaged me to say he’d love to. Seeing how a lot of things went wrong in the course of our planning/doing, the music is something that went very right.

Even if you have someone you really trust doing your music, you need to suggest and request in advance. It will help the DJ out tremendously and increase your enjoyment of the night tenfold. Garrett absolutely loves music and has played instruments, formed bands with his friends, composed quartets and orchestral pieces on and off for years so I definitely wanted him to get involved. I had no idea how I was going to organize a list, and get Garrett actually interested in adding to it.

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(this one is by me, all the rest by Matt)

After our Blackberry Nuptials, Garrett didn’t really feel married. I don’t blame him at all, it’s hard to feel married when no one would recognize you as such, except for the room service guy who referred to me as “Mrs. Cummings”, which was delightful and made me quite giddy.

The morning of the 14th, we waited around for our overnight package with Garrett’s passport in it and got ready for the day. I ditched the long dress for the short Jessica Simpson number I purchased the day before we left for San Francisco, with the intention of changing into it after our ceremony to go to lunch on the 13th. I left my hair down, straightened it with my new straightener (apparently appliances go bad right before you get married, because my hairdryer passed on about a week before the reception), and opted for the same makeup with subtler lips. I was a little more incognito, and Garrett dropped the tie and jacket.

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(We were just at the point in our saga when it was discovered that Garrett’s driver’s license was expired)

When someone finally came out to talk to us it was to tell us no. Nothing they could do, this kind of thing had happened before, they couldn’t make exceptions, blah blah blah. Our only option was to make an appointment for the following day, have Garrett’s passport overnighted, and try again. Garrett’s parents were out of town and the passport was at their house so they had a neighbor get it for us and ship it off. I wasn’t really satisfied, I’d put on a full-length wedding dress, Garrett’s aunt had flown in from LA, Olivia was heading back to Chicago, Garrett’s uncle and his best friend had taken off work and this wasn’t repeatable for tomorrow.

I still wanted a ceremony. That day. Not to mention, my wedding invitations included an announcement that we would be getting married on August 13th! We weren’t going to have them reprinted. Garrett had a tie on that said 13! I wasn’t going to spend the rest of that day single, no way.

We had plans for lunch at 12:30 so we decided to head that way. I’d intended to change before lunch but we only had so much time after sitting in the City Hall for so long. So we made do and headed towards the piers where the restaurant was. We stopped in a wine shop and split a bottle of champagne between all of us, which definitely made the morning more bearable. I’m a lightweight, and two glasses was plenty enough to give me rose colored glasses.

(photography by olivia leigh photographie)

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Ahh, where were we? Olivia had just arrived, we finished getting ready, and we were off.

-I had Garrett wait in the bathroom while I put my dress on since he’d never seen it and I wanted to have that moment. Then, I tried to have him help me bustle it but the hook was all but invisible and I ended up taking the dress off, finding the bustle, and putting it back on. I was glad I practiced tying the sash before we got there, I was able to get a decent bow by myself and I really like the look of the sash.-

(all photos in this entry from olivia leigh photographie)

It was only about 5 blocks to the City Hall so we figured we would walk and get some pictures along the way. Little did I know one of my shoes was prone to slide off my foot (When I first got the shoes they were too tight but apparently my attempts at wearing them in had some negative side effects, and I need to buy some kind of inserts before our reception), so I was slow and annoyed.

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Subtitle: Why people usually don’t try to get married on the 13th.

All images are from Olivia Leigh Photographie

I couldn’t sleep at all on the night before our wedding day. I had thought about getting flowers when we got to San Fransisco but it seemed like too much trouble (I can’t get around the city at all) and I called the florist too late to get a delivery. It bothered me. I wanted a bouquet. And then I talked myself out of it (what’s the point of a bouquet? I had fantasies about throwing it to a stranger post wedding, but outside of that I couldn’t see the point. Plus, ranunculus was out of season and would’ve required 2 weeks in advance to order from Holland). I eventually got to sleep and had a nightmare about my mom making me wear some flower wreath around my neck. Ick.

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(author’s collection)

So, about 2 months ago Garrett and I talked about eloping. This isn’t the first time we’d talked about it, and based on the many occasions I see engaged people blog or comment about just wanting to elope and get rid of the stress, we weren’t alone. Because of the intimacy and privacy that elopement entailed, we were planning to become official the day before our “wedding” at the courthouse anyway. I really liked the idea of it being just the two of us and Garrett liked the idea of not being in front of so many people. Garrett thought we could just elope to the courthouse early, when I said “no, no, no. you don’t elope to the city you live in.”

We’d been talking about going to San Francisco for a few months; his uncle and best friend both live there. I thought that sounded like a great place to get married and I’d never been to California. Once I saw how gorgeous the city hall was I knew it was a much better deal than being gawked at in a line at the courthouse here in Birmingham (of course, the courthouse here has some gorgeous art deco architecture that I would’ve taken advantage of). So, we made plans, booked a photographer, made an appointment, and added an announcement to our invitations (to be posted soon, they just went out!). August 13th, 2009 would be our official wedding day. I would wear my dress and he would wear a suit we got for a mere $200 on sale at Banana Republic. I freaked out a little about taking my dress on a plane (for those considering it, I used a garment bag that folded up into three sections and unfolded part in the overhead bins, and because of my dress’s material I really didn’t have any wrinkles and didn’t even get it steamed).

We decided to let the next few days be our honeymoon, opting for a longer trip for our anniversary when we would have time to save up (because, hello, getting married is super expensive). We didn’t make too many plans, except that we would have lunch right after the 10:30 ceremony with Garrett’s aunt from LA, uncle, and best friend. I knew I wanted to include a few touristy sites and eat great food.

Stay tuned for our very eventful adventure. I’ll just say we didn’t get hitched without a hitch.

I just wanted to let you know, in case you wake up to a zit somewhere dangerously close to the big day, that I found something that worked for me!

image source

I always use the neutrogena on-the-spot benzoyl peroxide (because it’s hard to find the cheaper off brands with a comparably low percent, and 10 percent dries skin out which can make it more irritated and break out more!!). I put it all over my face every night and dare the zits to come out. Somehow they still do when I’m stressed. And with wedding planning I’m definitely stressed.

So last night before bed I decided to dab a whole big blob of it onto a stubborn under the skin painful zit that had worried me for a few days. I didn’t rub it in. When I woke up, it had gone down completely! Me=impressed!

I’ve heard that toothpaste can dry out zits and I think I even tried that when I was younger. And a wedding coordinator told me that the men’s toner at the clinique counter (4 or 5) is stronger and that if you hold a q-tip with that stuff on it to a zit for a few minutes it’ll go away in a few hours. Good to try for ones you wake up with.

What are your little beauty secrets?