Monthly Archives: February 2011

In no particular order…

1. Our rehearsal dinner

Our rehearsal dinner was amazing! We wanted something very different and distinctly Door County. After the rehearsal our most immediate family and friends drove about 20 minutes (being treated to the start of a phenomenal sunset over miles and miles of open farmlands along the way) to the Square Rigger Galley in Jacksonport for a traditional Dutch fish boil on the beach! We sipped cocktails while frolicking and squishing our shoes into the sandy beach of Lake Michigan, watched as gorgeous oranges, pinks, purples and reds streaked across the sky over the water as the sun set, warmed ourselves around the kettle of fire as our food cooked in it, enjoyed the “boil over” explosion to signal that our food was ready, ate a delicious fish boil meal (whole salty steamed white fish with butter and fresh lemon, whole fingerling potatoes, whole mini onions, carrots, and cherry pie), doled out gifts to our sweet wedding party, toasted our engagement and impending marriage, and watched the moon rise over the lake as the fire glowed on. It was so relaxing and exciting and fun. A perfect night with our dearest family and friends.

2. Getting ready

Getting ready for your wedding is so surreal! I opted only to have my mom, my sister and my sister-in-law with me to help. You’d honestly think I had no idea how to dress myself. I literally didn’t lift a single finger – someone put my petticoat, my dress, my bracelet, my necklace, each earring, my shoes, my cape and my veil on me. They zipped me in and fluffed me up. It was quick, quiet, peaceful, and uncomplicated. Kate told us about the first time Ted mentioned me, and my mom and sister shared their stories of when I first told them about Ted. We noshed on fruit and veggie trays to fill our bellies. I wasn’t giddy or nervous. It was just really nice to be totally catered to and to have those moments alone with these women to reflect on how far Ted and I had come.

3. Walking down the aisle

This moment is just as nifty as everyone says it will be. I walked down the aisle to our pianist playing the song “On the Lake” composed by Aaron Zigman for the movie The Notebook (you can listen to it here). I may be the biggest sap on this planet but I adore this movie and the music is truly, beautifully, passionate. I stepped into view and started my walk just as the music swelled right around the 33 second mark. I wasn’t nervous or anxious, just incredibly overjoyed. I had a huge grin plastered on my face and I literally could not stop smiling. I stared directly at Ted the entire way down the aisle. It was like no one else was in the room. Ted’s look was the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen. He smiled a big toothy smile when he first saw me, then his eyes welled up with tears, and then he just simply smiled. There is nothing in the world quite like this moment and it is one I’ll always remember, even without pictures.

4. The ring bearer pumpkin

This moment was funny and unexpected, but such a great release in the middle of our wedding ceremony! When it was time to exchange our rings, Fr. Bob asked our best man for them. Barnie sheepishly stepped forward holding a pumpkin with our rings tied to it. Ted and I began to snicker, then Barnie started grinning from ear to ear, followed by our parents and the bridal party, and it just escalated from there. It was contagious. Soon everyone was chuckling because of the story behind the pumpkin and the looks on everyone’s faces. When we thought of the pumpkin ring bearer, we had no idea that anyone would find it funny. But looking back, I guess it was. What a happy memory!

5. A mid-day gelato break

After the ceremony we started in on the obligatory photo shoots. We took the family portraits and the wedding party pictures, then we headed out alone with our photographer and best man to get some newlywed shots. We started out in the tiny quaint Egg Harbor downtown. We walked by a delicious little homemade gelato & gourmet popcorn shop called Double Delites where we enjoyed a mouthwatering cherry gelato the previous summer. Ted stopped in and the owner congratulated him and gave us two free cups of gelato. We sat on a park bench in the middle of town surrounded by colorful, leafy trees and ate our gelato. To be so happy to begin with and then to have the savory flavor of the gelato on your tongue just when you’re getting hungry and want nothing more than to relax with your new spouse was so perfect. We got some adorable photos and we have the fond memory of us relaxing, sharing gelato in our wedding gear. I recommend that everyone eat ice cream on their wedding day!

6. Photo shoot fun

Our picture-taking time was so much more fun than I expected it to be! In addition to the giddy newlywed high, our photographer was excellent and fun, and our best man totally went above and beyond to get us phenomenal pictures. We wanted lakefront sunset photos and we had the perfect location in mind. However, balancing on sharp, jagged, uneven rocks in heels isn’t exactly easy. And I was covered in tiny black tick-like bugs. At one point Ted glanced at the back of my dress and my veil and said “holy shit, you don’t want to see the back of your dress right now.” When I asked why, he said “Because it’s totally black. With bugs.” Since the sun was setting, Barnie was given the assignment of balancing awkwardly on a rock and holding the photographer’s flash umbrella. He honestly looked like he was fishing. We had a light breeze and the idea to throw my veil into the wind for an airborne veil shot was born. Barnie held my veil in one hand and the flash in the other. On the count of three he threw my veil into the air and on the word “go” I snapped my head closer to Ted. It took many tries to achieve an awesome bunch of shots but between the bugs and the rocks and our high spirits we were all laughing and joking and having a great time, as evidenced by this playful picture above. Who knew photo shoots could be so fun?

7. My dad’s toast

My sister’s toast was creative and sweet. Our best man’s toast was funny. Ted’s dad’s toast was very nice too. But my dad’s toast just turned me into an absolute sobbing mess. He had thought about all the advice and quotes he had been given or found to be true about love and marriage over the years and wrote it all down and passed it onto us. Love is so universal that I think everyone at our reception was mesmerized and gripped by his words. He had almost completed his toast when I burst into tears and he wasn’t able to finish. He and I hugged tightly, then Ted hugged me as I tried to wipe away the snot and pull myself together. There was no awww’s or applause from our guests, just beautiful, stunned silence. Our photographer was so touched that even he asked if we would forward a copy of dad’s speech onto him. It was incredibly beautiful, wonderful, and memorable. A true gift that I treasure every day.

8. Our first dance

Our first dance song was called “Lucky As Me,” a sweet, very rare and practically unknown song from the play Escanaba in Love, a show Ted did a lighting design for. The first dance, I think, is always a little awkward. You’re aware that all eyes are locked on you, watching your every step. We’ve both had previous dance training and we took a two-hour swing dance brush-up course before the wedding, but when it came to our first dance, we just held each other and swayed, barely moving. We whispered and kissed and laughed and just held onto each other tightly. It wasn’t like we were in our own little world, since we were very aware of our guests gazes and presence, but it was romantic and loving, definitely a moment we’ll always remember, especially because the song’s lyrics were so perfect for us. 

9. Dancing with my friends

The crazy singing, the carefree dancing….it was just fun. We danced to swing music and big band classics, and 80s, 90s and early 2000s hits. We twirled and skipped and leaped and flailed and ran around the room after most people had cleared out to the bonfire area – just like the high school hooligans we once were. It was a blast and there’s just something magical about acting like a kid again with your best friends on the day you get married.

10. The bonfire

We finished off the reception with a toasty bonfire. We roasted marshmallows, made s’mores, drank hot chocolate and hot apple cider, and played with glow sticks. It was a fun, and warm, and happy. Everyone gathered around and enjoyed the heat, the goodies, the conversation and each other as we burned glow sticks and pine cones, sipped steaming cider, and got sticky from the s’mores beneath the glow of a full moon on a chilly October night. I love weddings that provide entertainment and weddings that are just a little bit different and I’m so happy we were able to do this. It was one of my most favorite moments of the weekend.

Honorable Mentions:

1. Driving in the convertible

We drove a classic convertible 68′ Oldsmobile Cutlass that Ted’s family owns as our “getaway car” from the church to all our photo locations. Our photographer, Matt, climbed in the backseat and off we went – flying up and down the winding hills of Egg Harbor through the tree-lined paths. Matt literally hung out of the side of vehicle at all manner of wild angles – he was a superhero – to snap us some brilliant shots. It felt amazing to just be together, all dolled up in our wedding day finery, cruising in a snazzy car with the cool wind whipping against our faces and the smell of the fresh, clean country air. It was marvelous! I remember getting to the top of a hill and with a fantastic view of the lake and feeling absolutely on top of the world. Ted honked the car’s horn several times and we threw our hands in the air and shouted a hearty “wwooooo!” It was a rush!

2. Flaunting the Newlywed Status

The night after our wedding mostly everyone was still in town on vacation. We’d spent the cold, rainy day at the park, the pizza joint, and the theatre with our family and friends. That night Ted and I were going to meet his sister Kate and brother-in-law Tim at a nice restaurant to celebrate our joint anniversary (them – 6 years, us – 24 hours…their anniversary is the day after ours!) before heading back to the resort to finish off the wine and wedding cake at our friends and family night. We parked the car and started to dash across the street in the drizzle. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but a sweet lady next to us commented on something – the rain, how nice Door County is in October, how happy we looked, I don’t know – something, and then she mentioned that she’d been happily married for X number of years. This was our first real opportunity to gloat, so we did :-) We proudly proclaimed that we’d been married for 24 hours as we held hands, laughed and darted across the street toward the bright lights of a restaurant, hoods covering our heads, pants rolled up, and rain splattered. She was happy for us, and we were happy. You only get to say you’ve been married for just 24 hours once in your life and it sure felt nice!

And that concludes my 10.22.10 wedding photo recap! Thanks for checking it out :-) Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Honorable Mention:

In no particular order…

1. Our toasting flutes & Door County wines

The flutes we chose were Waterford Crystal Wishing Achievements. They’re pretty tall and unusually heavy for toasting flutes, which gave them a grand and regal feeling. They sparkled beautifully in the light and the etched markings on them were so unique that they were clear winners as soon as we saw them. To go in them, we provided around 60 bottles of locally grown Door County fruit wines. The flavors were Swedish lingonberry, peach, black cherry, red raspberry, honeycrisp apple, cranberry, and cherry chardonnay. As cherry growing and wine-making is such a rich part of Door County’s tradition and economy, we’re glad we were able to treat our guests to a true Door County experience by opting to use delicious local wines made at the winery right down the street. We’re not sad that we have leftovers either :-)

2. My personal effects

Okay, so I know I’m totally cheating by lumping five details into one slot on my top 10 list, but there were just too many favorites so I had to do it! As a little girl, I’d always imagined my wedding would be in the Texas hill county, where I was born and raised. The cowboy boots were my little piece of Texas. The eyelet garter was made for me by my mother since I love eyelet and I distinctly wanted something simple and non-froofy – which, by the way, is nearly impossible to locate in the wedding world. The hair piece was an Etsy find and the essence of earthy autumn chic. It’s colorful and playful nature appealed to my sense of the anti-traditional. The little envelope clutches were custom made from another Etsy seller for myself and my bridal attendants to hold our day-of necessities. Clutches are classically functional and are much more original as a “down the aisle” hand prop than a bouquet of flowers. Most of my jewelry was a gift from Ted – he has amazing taste! I adore the simple, understated elegance of the square cut diamonds. The best part is that I can, and I do, wear them often!

3. Mason jar candle centerpieces & wood slices

Yes, another two-for-one. Might as well take advantage of the opportunity to squeeze in as many favorite details as possible, right? While I certainly like flowers, I’m not a huge lover of flower centerpieces. They’re expensive, expected, and will die in three days. Instead we picked up a case of mason jars and some pillar candles and made our own ambient-lighting centerpieces. To spruce them up I added a copper satin ribbon and baby pine cone from my mom’s pine cone collection to each jar. They were theme-appropriate, easy to make, unexpected, budget-friendly, and we have plenty left over to enjoy for years to come. On the tables they were surrounded by orange and white mini pumpkins and larger pine cones. Ted’s friends, a husband-and-wife team, engraved two large oval tree bark slices with our married names and wedding date for us. They sat on the entrance table at the reception and they now decorate our house as well.

4. Our ring bearer

You know the story. Ted proposed in a pumpkin patch at Uncle John’s Cider Mill in Lansing, MI with my ring atop “the perfect pumpkin.” The year before that he searched freezing Michigan in November for a pumpkin for me to carve after a raccoon ate mine. Pumpkins have always been special to us. Since we opted not to have a flower girl or a ring bearer, it seemed fitting to give the honors to the one who got us into this mess in the first place. Not only was this detail very personal to us, but it produced a pretty hearty laugh from our guests during the ceremony when our best man presented it. Humorous, festive, and personal is always a winning combination.

5. The flowers

Ever the one to shy away from the norm, I didn’t want traditional flowers either. Instead, we opted for mostly plants – specifically succulents (in the cactus family) and pine cones. We ordered a small bunch of cream and sunset colored mini calla lilies and 50 different waxy succulent plants from a farm in California. I used a glue gun to stick some baby pine cones to plant wire to include in the bouquet as well. My mom designed and assembled the three bouquets, two mothers’ corsages, and all the men’s boutonnieres the night before the wedding. She’s a fantastic flower arranger! We tied the bouquets together with mustard yellow crushed velvet ribbon and attached a T&L bouquet charm that I had custom made onto mine. I was always drawn to a more colorful wildflower looking bunch over a perfectly full, manicured bouquet and I’m very happy that I was able to include the succulents I’ve always liked and exclude super-girly flowers in the process. 

6. I Spy cards

I saw the idea for this online somewhere and fell in love with it! A fun, clever way to keep your guests entertained and a sneaky way get some killer photos in the process? Count me excited! Ted had already mentioned putting a disposable camera on each table for guests to capture candid shots with, and this just fit in too perfectly to ignore. On the entrance table we placed a bushel basket of disposable cameras, a sign identifying the purpose of cards, and the cards themselves – printed on heavyweight card stock with our leaves motif. Add a kitchsy little explanatory poem and list a few jazzy things for your guests to spy on and you’ve got instant wedding fun! As a guest I know I’d be stoked to see something entertaining like this at a wedding, and as the bride I can say I definitely appreciate some of the awesome pictures that resulted!

7. I Like You banner

Have you ever read the short children’s book I Like You by Sandol Stoddard? If you haven’t – get on it! It’s unspeakably adorable (as would be anything that features black and white sketches of bonnet-wearing crocodiles dancing). The text’s choppy, rambling structure captures the giddy feeling of loving someone – friend, sibling, parent, or spouse; the message is universal. The words and thoughts are simplistic, yet strikingly honest and truly heartfelt. The illustrations are sweet and eclectic. It really is just one of those lovely whimsical books that makes you smile really big and immediately plunk the book into your shopping cart at Anthropologie, not caring about the 75% markup because you need this book immediately. I gifted it to Ted once and the literature so accurately described our relationship together that we decided to incorporate into our wedding decor by photocopying each page onto beige card stock and stringing them together with clothespins onto a line of twine to create a sweet, meaningful book banner. You can read the full text here.

8. Kids’ activity booklet & welcome booklet

I think some the most fun I had during the wedding planning process was creating these two babies! I really got into designing these booklets and loved the result! I had all the creative license in the world to do what I love – write creative, informative, and fun booklets to welcome, guide, and entertain our guests – both big and small. The welcome booklet was attached to the Out-of-Town guest gift boxes with twine. This booklet contained a welcome & thank you letter, a weekend schedule of activities & events (including a winery tasting & tour, a welcome party, sightseeing at Peninsula State Park, a pizza and gelato picnic, seeing Guys & Does at American Folklore Theatre, a family & friends night, and Sunday brunch), directions, contact information, a who’s who guide of guests, a list of places to go, things to do, area restaurants, a little Door County information, a Sudoku puzzle, a personalized “about the couple” wedding crossword puzzle, an answer key, and a few funny wedding comics. The kids’ wedding weekend activity booklet featured autumn & wedding related coloring pages, a word unscramble with a secret code, a scavenger hunt, a word search puzzle, a maze, a tic-tac-toe sheet, and a family tree. The hours upon hours of work these took to produce was so worth the outcome!

9. Save the Dates

The credit for these little beauties belongs entirely to Ted. I envisioned the initial concept and mentioned to Ted that I wanted leaf shaped save the date magnets. He immediately informed me that I was crazy because cutting 75 leaves out of thick magnet paper would be unbearably excruciating at best. I persisted and whined long enough that the poor guy probably got tired of listening to me and eventually gave in. Using all kinds of software programs, Ted created the leaf, the internal pattern and marbling shading effect, and together we agreed on the wording. Once it was fully designed, Ted set to work purchasing glossy magnet paper, going through a lengthy trial and error process with his printer until he achieved color and quality perfection, printed them, and using a pair of scissors he cut out 75 leaves with their microscopic stems, twists, and curves by hand. I think it took him three days and his hand was permanently cramped. He did all this work for us and our wedding. He is a truly awesome, talented guy!

10. Our cake topper

I adored the concept of our cake topper, and in the end, I did love it and I thought it was a neat personal touch. However, the actual receiving of the cake topper was less than ideal. I ordered this custom-made cake topper back in early July from an Etsy seller and it was supposed to be finished at the beginning of October. In a nutshell, this completely wonderful seller with fantastic talent and excellent reviews fell pretty far short of our expectations. I’m sure this was just an isolated incident because all her other reviews were stellar, but we received only half of what we ordered (missing were two additional mini cake toppers in the shape of our logo helmets, and a replica of our wedding rings on the mossy grass in front of the pumpkins on the main topper that she “ran out of time” to make – she had 4 months) and I received it via overnight mail the day before our wedding. I honestly didn’t believe it was going to come at all. But in the end, it was still a beautiful, unique topper and I’m so glad we went with something more original than the standard-issue bride & groom topper.

Honorable Mentions: First off, if you’re still reading – congratulations! You’re either a real trooper or really bored; I know I’m long winded. There are so many more favorite details that I could go on for days. But that’s not the point of a quick photo recap. Instead of boring you with more details I’ll just quickly list the honorable mentions because they were all lovingly designed and handmade by us, so they deserve some credit! Doing everything yourself is no small task and we’re really proud of our work. In no particular order honorable mentions go to our postcard invitations, the envelopes & wrap-around labels, the ceremony program, mass song sheet, day-of schedules for the wedding party, signage, “just married” car banner, “Mr. & Mrs.” sweetheart table banner, the cherry sours in galvanized buckets for favors (another tribute to Door County) and the Out-of-Town welcome gift boxes for all our guests when they checked into the resort that included apple cider packets, gingersnaps, water bottles, and caramel popcorn balls – all autumn goodies! Our customized guestbook platter, the Door County coffee table guestbook, and totally awesome cutout and pop-up thank you cards for our family and wedding party were not made by us, but they were all were custom orders and truly great details. Another big hit was the glow sticks. I’m not quite sure why I was so hell-bent on having them, but I was. In my mind they were necessary. I’ve always loved glow sticks and had so much fun playing with them and apparently our guests did too! They were a hit!

Tune in tomorrow for my Top 22 Favorite Wedding Photos!

I promise it will be 95% pictures and only 5% words! :-)

It’s my day off and I have plenty to do. There’s the library books to return and the search for new ones to borrow, things to print, forms to fill out, coupons to cut, and information to be looked up, to keep it simple. There’s also a house to dust and vacuum, laundry to be washed, and meals to be decided upon, but those can wait until the weekend. When all that’s done there’s a basement and garage to reorganize, vacations (possibly a honeymoon!) and little weekend getaways to be planned, and wedding albums to be designed and ordered. I always feel like I’m so much busier on my days off! Luckily, it’s belligerently cold outside again so I don’t have to fight the temptation to throw on shorts and a tank top and lounge on the porch with a lemonade and a good book, or take off rollerblading down the block, or shoot a few hoops like I will during the spring and summer months instead of plowing through my “this should get done eventually” list.

Before I get around to all of this though, and in lieu of the ever trendy “wedding recap” posts – which consist of D.I.Y tutorials of cutesy handmade wedding details, unending photo storyboards, and lengthy minute-by-minute descriptions of every tiny little moment that happened on w-day – that hog many all newlywed blogs for like seven weeks straight, I’d like to attempt to narrow down our nearly 1,500 wedding photos that we received from our pro photographer, family’s cameras, and disposable table cameras into my top favorites.

My blog project over the next three days will be to create a photo list with accompanying short descriptions of my Top 10 Favorite Wedding Details, my Top 22 Favorite Wedding Photos, and my Top 10 Favorite Moments from that entire weekend (10.22.10)!

This is an incredibly daunting task. A good chunk of the 900 pictures we received from our pro photographer were truly excellent, and there are some pretty amazing treasures gleamed from the disposable cameras as well. Conservatively, I probably have close to at least 350 favorite photos in about 15 different categories ranging from Details, to Getting Ready, to Ceremony, to Reception, to Portrait Shots, to Newlywed Pictures, to Rehearsal Dinner, and more! I adored so many details from our wedding since we handpicked, designed, and handmade nearly everything ourselves. I love so many of the pictures for so many reasons – some because they are outright hilarious, some because the lighting is magical or the angle is artistic, some because the emotion, whether sappy or happy, is so clearly, beautifully and prominently center stage that you just can’t help but be drawn in by it, and some because the whole image tells a great story. This is going to be a huge challenge – and I’m warning you now, if I absolutely cannot contain myself, there may be a short list of runner-ups. But I’ll try my darnedest to stick within my 10.22.10 boundaries, because I’ll eventually have to narrow them down for the wedding albums anyway.

So be sure to tune in for the next three days (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) for my anti-wedding-recap wedding-photo-recap & awards! HA!

Before I scurry off to be a productive, responsible citizen, I’ll leave you with these few gems to start us off. They don’t count for any of my top favorites as they’re not technically wedding photos, but they deserve major credit for getting the ball rolling.

Enjoy your Wednesday and check back sometime tomorrow for my Top 10 Favorite Wedding Details!