A few months before our wedding, I was really struggling with what to get my bridesmaids for their gifts. You’ll remember this (rather desperate) post?

Well, I came up with putting together what I called a “wedding day survival kit” for my girls. I started by looking for a gray handmade tote bag on Etsy (gray was one of our wedding colors) and wound up with these fairly basic bags from Etsy seller Fantella (who was great to work with!). I thought these bags were simple enough to suit all of my bridesmaids’ varying tastes. They make great casual weekend bags and are big enough to fit books, laptops, whatever!

{author’s photo}

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I have a blog crush on the lovely Rebecca’s Clover & Bee.  Her blog is filled with seasonal and homey ideas like these eco-friendly sugared almond wedding favors created by McMaster & Storm.

{created by McMaster & Storm for Clover & Bee}

Such a charming gift or favor idea and I especially love the use of natural coffee filters trimmed with pinking shears to line the cylinder box!

Out of everything that went into the preparation for our vow renewal, I probably had the most fun and least stress planning the day after brunch.  It was held at South City Kitchen in Midtown, just steps from our hotel blocks and our venue from the vow renewal the night before.

Orange as a wedding color has always inspired me, so I knew that I wanted to use it for the brunch.  It’s so fresh and clean!  I kept things super-simple, bringing in only one accent color (yellow) and using lots of fresh fruit as decor.

Each place setting was decorated with an orange wrapped in parchment paper and tied with raffia.  The leaves were goccoed with “Bonne Annee!”, French for Happy New Year, written in calligraphy by Laura Hooper (continuing the slightly-French theme that was carried through from our RSVP packets, do not disturb signs, menus, and other printed items).

{Jessica Claire}

The bar was lined with oranges and lemons, purchased from Whole Foods and donated to a local food bank after the event.

{Jessica Claire}

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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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I have collected shot glasses for our entire marriage, so it was only obvious that shot glasses should be our favors for the vow renewal.  After doing lots of research, I came across a tutorial on Weddingbee for goccoing on glass and set off to create my own custom etched shot glasses.  Here they are, encased in their custom handemade boxes, at each place setting.

{Mark Brooke}

To etch glass, all you will need is your trusty gocco, painters tape, q-tips, and Armour Etch glass etching cream, which you can purchase at your local craft store.

Prep: burn a gocco screen with your desired design (burn multiple to a screen if your design allows).  After the screen is burned, cut the screen around your design, leaving a sizable margin.  Thoroughly wash your glassware.  Using painters tape, tape the screen as tightly as possible to the glass.

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I am all about practicality. I am not a pack rat - never have been. If I haven’t used it, worn it, looked at it, touched it or seen it in over 6 months - it’s in the garbage. Bill and I have had some disagreements about our “stuff”. He has a lot - I don’t. He feels like I am trying to get rid of all his. I’m not - I just like it my way right? (I am getting better with this. My therapist calls it “letting go”).

I (we) wanted my (our) guests to have a practical favor they could take home and use. I got my favors from Beau Coup - a great site for gifts! I have thrown out countless single shot glasses, beer glasses, and votive candles. My thought? If you are going to give someone something - have it be something they can use. I don’t want to spoil the gift if my (our) guests are reading this - so I will reveal the favor after the wedding!

I also wanted my guests to have a program that they wouldn’t throw out immediately and could actually use!  {August can be the hottest month of the year in Rochester, NY I didn’t want anyone fainting}. I guess programs are practical to begin with - they guide everyone through the ceremony and tell you, who’s who!

I was 100% inspired by Anna Melcon Bond of Rifle Design:

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Pie on a stick? Yes please!

{Tutorial from Luxirare found via CRAFTzine and WritheM of the Night}

While I am in the middle of planning our wedding for October, I am also a full time wedding planner.  To be honest, I get much more excitement and joy out of planning for other brides than I do planning my own wedding!  I think it’s because I don’t get stressed when it’s someone else’s wedding.  I am much more confident in my abilities as a planner than I am when it comes to making decisions for our wedding.

We were recently involved in the planning of a backyard reception after the couple were married in Vegas. The reception had a very simple budget and one goal: to celebrate their love with their closest friends and family. I believe this goal was definitely achieved!

Months leading up to the reception, clear wine bottles were collected, washed and labels removed in order to serve sweet tea…

Hundreds of hours were spent creating these lovely paper roses for the centerpieces…

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My last two posts of my week-long wedding recap are mostly photograph-based.  Not that I don’t love gabbing about our wedding incessantly, but I think the pictures speak for themselves when it comes to little itty-bitty details (and when it comes to my last post: my favorite photographs - obviously).

I will say this… the details made our wedding.  Even if no one notices the little things separate and apart from each other (as you will), they notice the big picture - which is comprised of all those little things.  So chin up as you obsess about escort cards and chair ties (oh the arguments my mother and I had about chair ties), guests will notice that you put the time and effort into making your wedding personal!

Some of our “little things”…

• Our tables were all named after important places in each of our individual lives and important places to us as a couple (our birth places, our colleges, our universities, where we met, our favorite vacations together, etc).  My mom hand-wrote all the escort cards in her fabulous handwriting and they were displayed on a French Memory Board that I made out of an orange silk fabric and lacy ribbon.  Continuing with the “important places” mini-theme, Evan and his mom danced to “In My Life” (”there are places I remember“) by the Beatles for their Mother-Son Dance.

• My love of paper was carried out through the celebration: hurricane candles wrapped in yellow and ivory paper hung from the trees at our ceremony and the same paper formed the cones filled with flowers marking our ceremony aisle and wrapped the vases of our tall centerpieces.

• The Groom’s Cookie Bar that was featured yesterday not only boasted over 700 cookies homemade by my grandmother, but also included take home bags emblazoned with “k & e: how sweet it is.”  Our first dance was James Taylor’s “How Sweet It Is.”

• Lots of “our songs” were not quite first-dance-appropriate… so we featured our favorite quote from one of them - Widespread Panic’s “Climb to Safety” - on our wedding program.

• I’ve already written about my mother’s wedding gown, but I also wore the garter that she and all my aunts were married in, as well as the six pence they all stuck in their shoes!

• My dad, who is not a tuxedo kind of guy, sported his custom made Chuck Taylors that I got him last Christmas at our reception - they were a huge hit!

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In 100 days, Mr. Obama:
-acquired a dog
-proposed and passed an economic stimulus package
-expanded the Children’s Health Insurance Program
-signed a law requiring equal pay for women
-ordered the closure of a notorious detention camp

Whether you like him or not, you have to admit that he was busy.

One hundred days until wedding day I’m considering what’s left to be done, and I don’t think I’m going to be as busy as all that.

It’s hard to tell, but there are 200 unbaked cookies in plastic wrap and ziploc bags.  Another batch and we’ll be set for favors.

Not pictured: finishing bridesmaid gifts, assembling and sending invitations, finishing various projects involving moss, ordering flowers, confirming rentals (ugh) and putting together instructions for day-of setup (much ugh).  I could not be a wedding planner.  The dry logistics are nowhere near as much fun as baking cookies.  Nor even sewing chair covers.

Also, somehow I’ve taught my dog to do this.  He does it all the time, which is totally distracting me from working on wedding projects.

While planning our wedding-etsy is one of the first sites I would visit when looking for a particular item.  I searched etsy for someone to make my dress before I found the ONE.  I spent hours on etsy looking for just the right birdcage veil and fascinator-before I found Kasia Fink.  

Here are some of my favorite etsy finds for our wedding, and some for gifts for my maids!

These awesome custom ties from etsy seller, Toybreaker

This adorable clutch from seller, Angee W.

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There are lots of little details that us brides get hung up on.  When I first started planning our wedding, I wanted to do EVERYTHING I came across.  As the planning continued, I realized that I needed to pick things that were the most important to me, and go from there.  With that being said, we are still ending up with FOUR favors for our guests rather than just one.  We have the Popcorn Bar, which I’ve told you all about…and then we have these fun additions:

A basket of flip flops on the dance floor… so our guests can dance the night away…

{found here}

And a basket of pashminas!  Our venue is in the North Georgia Mountains in the fall-while the weather may be warm in late October, I’d rather be safe than sorry and have pashminas as an option for anyone who might be chilly…

{found here}

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