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…that I didn’t even think twice about before.

Succulents in jars with burlap table runners.

Carrie Patterson via Style Me Pretty

…or just some potted ones.

Stephanie Williams Photography

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I never actually planned on having a wedding poster…it just kind of happened…here’s how it all went down.

Back toward the end of September I won a free poster size print from a blog giveaway!!!  (hooray for winning!!)  When I got the email with the info on how to redeem this free print…I noticed I only had ONE MONTH to come up with something!!  Well there goes my grand plan of waiting till after the wedding and having one of my favorite pictures printed.  I briefly toyed with the idea of dressing my two cats up in little outfits and taking their picture and having that printed*…but I quickly convinced myself that no…I should really use this for something WEDDING related!

That’s when I remembered all the lovely wedding posters I had seen on Etsy!

via ello there on Etsy

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It occurred to me today at the doctor’s office…that when you are engaged…you can easily have a conversation with just about anyone…and at any time.  Of course the subject of discussion is… the WEDDING!!  Why is it that all of a sudden I feel like the lady at the bank that helped us set up our joint account wants to have us over for her next dinner party??  And does the pharmacy tech really care about what flowers I’m going to have on the cake table??

It’s amazing how a shinny rock on one’s finger can suddenly make everyone want to know everything about you and your husband to be…where you went to school…how you met…where you are getting married and when…the list goes on and on.  Suddenly I find myself having 30min conversations about shoes and candles with people I used to just smile at and say ‘hello!’

Then when you go to wrap up the conversation…they end it with “oh you just HAVE to bring in pictures from the BIG DAY  next time you’re in!!!!”

source

Really….you really want to see my wedding album?  What so you think I’m just going to lug that thing around everywhere I go? (ok myabe I will)  …and then what…so I drive through the bank to cash a check and you want me to shove it in that drawer-esq thing to you??  Or the cashier at Target…do you really want me to hold up the line while you go through every page??

I’m guessing most people say this just to make me feel good…so for that 1 min as I walk away I can think to myself, “heck yes…my weding is gonna ROCK…that’s right…you WILL want to see my pictures because it will pretty much be the most awesomest of awesome weddings ever…”

Heck…if someone brought in a wedding album for me to look at everyday at work….I know I wouldn’t complain…would you?

Alright…we had the beautiful plum v-neck dresses from Nordstrom that didn’t make the cut… and then came the super cute purple and violet dresses from Amanda Archer that won my heart at first sight.

But then…then came Jcrew.

pic from Jcrew via Green Wedding Shoes

Tried and true, gorgeous and simple…BM dresses from Jcrew.  I remember when I first ran across the Spring 2009 line (yes way back in February 09) I fell in love…IN LOVE!… with the halter dress in the above image!  So stinkin’ cute no?!  I remember thinking 2 things… it is way too early to be looking at BM dresses…and oh wait…the price…yeah not so in love with that.  I realize Jcrew dresses are pretty darn reasonable but I know my ladies and I really didn’t want them to break the bank just to look fab at my wedding.  So…I just sorta “forgot” about this cute number.

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Before I continue the BM dress saga…I wanted to say thanks for all the comments on my last post!  I was truly overwhelmed by the response…I literally sat down with intentions of continuing the BM dress story…but instead that is what came out.  I guess it was just on my mind.  I appreciate hearing all your comments and I actually related to each one in some way or another!  So thanks for sharing your thoughts and stick around…we’ve got 8 more months together!

OK…so where were we…OH YES…I had just decided against the lovely plum dresses from Nordstrom and started the hunt for the perfect BM dresses…again.  That’s when fellow bride blogger Abbie emailed me the cutest dress on Etsy!

Behold…the Amanda Archer Pleated Collar Dress:

oh and what’s that I see…it comes in violet??

source

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…of being engaged….and we still have 8 more months to go.

some random thoughts at this point:

1)  On a “wedding-related” phone call the other day…the lady on the other end told me CONGRATS! with a lot of excitement…it took me a minute to realize she meant about my engagement…because ya know…that happened SO 12 months ago…

2)  I went to try on my dress/see it for the first time since I bought it 4 months ago…I told the lovely lady behind the desk that I bought it in June…getting married next June…she replied “oh yeah..I did the whole ONE-YEAR engagement thing too” (expressing that it is a looong time)…I didn’t correct her.

3)  A few weeks ago we received a Save-The-Date from a couple friend of ours getting married a little more than a month BEFORE us…we haven’t even designed ours yet.  (PS…they got engaged this summer)

4)  Within the first 6 months of being engaged I got my ring cleaned oh around 10 times…since then…maybe once.

5)  Thinking about Christmas I got excited thinking it will be our first Christmas as an engaged couple!!….oooooh waaaiiittt….nope…we were engaged last Christmas.

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I realize I have yet to tell the story of my own dress-finding adventure…but you’ll have to wait a little bit longer because right now I’m ALL about making my ladies look fabulous!

Finding the bridesmaid dresses was not exactly something I was looking forward too.  That’s not to say I don’t LIKE BM dresses…I just have never been a BM myself and have no idea what it is like on that end!  The whole act of forcing my friends to spend their hard earned $$ on a dress they might hate and in a color they would never otherwise wear just didn’t sound fun to me.  Thus I avoided searching for BM dresses like the plague.

Sure I had some “ideas” if you will…I envisioned cute purple dresses on each of my girls carrying bright green flowers…smiling and dancing the night away all the while telling me how FABULOUS their dress is and how they CAN’T WAIT to wear it again and again and again….  ok so maybe my “ideas” were more like bride-fantasies.

Anyways…one of my go-to BMs assured me that it is up to me ultimately…and I should pick something I like.  I agreed and thought…actually yes there is one dress in particular that I keep seeing and really really like…

from Nordstroms

It is cute…affordable…the perfect deep purple color I was hoping for…oh and has been all over the wedding world…

via Jonathan Canlas

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ack!  So I’m sorry for being MIA lately…I have good reasons…some of which I’ll share with you all very soon!  But I just COULD NOT WAIT to show you some of our Love Shoot pics!!  Khara is pretty much awesome and a half…and well…we’re kinda cute too :)

LOVE this black and white one…

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As expected…while I was back home over the Labor Day weekend I was bombarded with wedding questions.  Most of them were typical, where’s the wedding gonna be, what does your dress look like, what type of flowers will you have…and then there’s my mom.

She tends to ask the most detailed questions and when I stare at her funny she says, “well people are asking!”…to which I reply…”really mom…people are asking you if we’re going to have programs for the ceremony?”  Not that this isn’t a legit question…in say 8 months when we are actually thinking about ceremony programs!!!  How am I supposed to think about programs when we don’t even know what our ceremony is going to be like?!

Truth be told…I actually have thought about what I want to include in our ceremony.  Along with the traditional stuff…music, vows, readings…there are a couple other “things” that have caught my eye recently…

Tree Planting:

Similar to the unity candle and the “sand mixing” alternative….in the Tree Planting Ceremony the bride and groom plant a tree together!

source

The general idea is to have a small tree in a pot, and then have the bride and groom both add soil.

found here

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Pre-wedding blog reading Steph would have just called and asked her friends/sisters to be bridesmaids…

Wedding blog junkie Steph knew that asking her friends/sisters to be BMs required something a little bit more special…I mean after all these girls are gonna be by my side on the big day and destressing me when the time comes so why not show them how much I appreciate them from the get-go?!?

Taking inspiration from posts via Miss Ducky on Weddingbee and the Budget Savvy Bride herself…I set off on my first official wedding related DIY adventure. Be My Maid cards!

I liked how BSB cut out sketches of dress styles she liked…and I liked that Miss Ducky used pictures on the front of the cards of her and the girl she was asking…so I did my best to put these two ideas together.

step 1: make dress sketches. drinking wine is optional but highly recommend.

step 2: trace and cut out favorite sketches on pretty purple Martha Stewart cardstock…add cute details with silver pen.

step 3: find cute font and print out whatever text on inside of grey cardstock paper…I don’t remember the font but I’m pretty sure I got it from dafont.

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