The long walk

The walk was the most emotional part of my wedding day.  Until then I was cool as ice.  Not nervous, not anything but well numb. I wondered if I would ever feel like a bride and not just a wedding planner that is getting married.  Well, it happened.  Just as I was getting ready to walk down the aisle I asked for my daddy.  We thought that he wouldn't be able to make it because he went to the emergency room, but there he was, my Daddy.  The man whose shoulder I sat on when I was 2, the one who bought my first car fro me.  The man who spoiled me beyond belief.  He hasn't always been a great father but at that moment I forgot it all and just realized that here was my daddy.  I ran up to him and he reached up to me.  The cancer has stripped his ability to walk and he is now in a wheelchair.  I asked him if he wanted to walk me down the aisle and he said no it was too cold he wanted to just watch from the window.  And after he gave me a hug and we shared tears, my stepdad who was also in tears asked if I wanted to push him down. I said no because I didn't want my dad to feel uncomfortable and to be cold.  Then it was time.  My stepdad and I got to the door.  Then we couldn't decide who walked first it was hilarious!! He said I should go, I said he should go, in the end we both went :o)

My cousin captured this shot with his camera (he dabbles in photography).  I love the look on my stepdad's face in this picture....

I cried and laughed the entire way down te aisle. I am not sure how that works...

This is one of my favorite shots thus far.  I was telling my stepdad "Oh I think we are supposed to be walking and then I found it hilarios that I forgot to walk!! Go figure!"

This is my Oh God please stop crying face...

I didn't succeed and burst into tears again. I didn't realize I was bawling so much but I sort of like this picture.

Proof that I didn't cry the entire time lol!!!

Were you emotional when you walked down the aisle?  This was really the only moment that I was tearful.  I was just laughing and excited the rest of the time and in planner mode...

Getting ready...

Right before it was time to walk down the aisle, Kitty (the owner of No. 2 Vance), allowed me to stay in her office while we were being staged to walk down the aisle.

I love this shot. My little girl must have noticed that she was in the pictures and looked up at Krystal.

The traditional "bride on the stairs".  This is my sister-in-law's favorite.

Gotta show those pearlie whites lol!!!!!  Notice the feathers on the shoes. I was soo concerned that my dress would be dirty from the steps.  My venue was a converted printshop which is actually still in use as a printshop.

The millions of buttons adorning the back.  You can really see the fabric here of the dress.  Not bad for $300, huh?

I didn't even know that she was taking the following shots. I was sooo nervous and excited!

I love the raw truth of this picture with the hairs out of place and all. It reminds me of an old Ebony magazine spread.

This is the money shot to me.  It is beautiful and emotional and captures the essence of me as a bride.  I am so happy that I chose Krystal to be my photographer!!!

I'm married now!!!!

Marrying my husband was one of the best days of my life thus far.  The experience was bittersweet since we moved everything up so that my father could be there.  The process was not without its hiccups, even for a professional wedding planner.  My caterer (a family member) who was supposed to handle the food and the preacher pulled out.  In the end, everything worked out as planned and I am now Mrs. H.  We went slightly over budget with the catering fiasco but in the end everything worked itself out.  We ended up spending around $2800 on everything.  Without the gifts of linens from my bestie we would have been under $5000, still way under the national limit.  Without further adieu here are our pictures.  In a later post I will show how we even made money on our wedding. 

When our guests arrived they were greated with the bubble basket and by the ushers passing out programs.  Beside that table was our donut buffet which evidently was a huge hit.  I know that because I never saw the donuts lol!!!!!!

We used submerged orchids for the deck railing and the aisle decor.  Simple, chic, elegant, modern, yet traditional.

Here is the aisle decor that I chose.  My former company sold the monogram aisle runners and as a gift, the artist that I worked with made this for me.

The framing of the view was extremely difficult to describe to my bestie and to capture.  I wanted something more modern than the arch and less costly than the cedar altar.  She does pipe and drape regularly and I decided that it would be the perfect "frame".  I purchased the chandelier from Mrs. Star, a Bee that blogs on weddingbee and the rest is history.  Here are the few inspiration pictures that I found.  Forgive me for not knowing the source.  I literally had to find it on my blackberry and save it there since I was without a laptop.  If anyone knows where it is from let me know!! The first picture was my inspiration for the chandelier. I loved how it hung over everyone.

This picture showed the way that I wanted the fabric swagged to frame the view of the Mississippi River.  Thank goodness the photographer's watermark is there!!! 

Another picture of the chandelier:

Love the sky!!!!!

Anyone else go crazy right before the wedding?!

Our wedding is 16 days out and I feel like everything is semi-homemade!! Here are the projects that I have just completed within the last week:
Flowergirl basket:

Wedding sign:

My so ugly it's cute bouquet (I love this damned thing)

My shoes are a bit more complete than this, but yes I am doing crystal encrusted heels...

Our ampersand

My scrapbook hostesses' gifts:

My bridesmaids notecards

I don't have much left to do, I need to pack the girl's gifts in their totes so I don't have to do it the week of the wedding.   Finish my heels and make another wedding sign... I also need to get an extra shepherd's hook, but I think my mom may have one for me to use to point the way to our wedding...

What you shouldn't be doing 21 days before the wedding... But I am soo excited

You shouldn't be finding more projects to add to the list!  Remembering how difficult it was to get to our venue I decided that I wanted to make those cutesy wooden signs.  Not the ones that look like the rustic "Fishing" signs but the really couture Edwardian Script signs.  Ones that look like this:


                                                                  From Etsy Seller: Funkifolkart

Or this in black from Weddingbycolor's Love him first.

My landlord was taking down a few picket fences from our backyard and I thought to myself OMG these would be perfect signs. I already have silver spraypaint and black acrylic paint and paint brushes. I could make this work.  After going on my favorite wedding inspiration site, Weddingbee, I decided that I could do this. All I needed was a sheet of typing paper, and to shade the back...

Then I would spray paint the wood...

And I would just have to trace it on the wood, and it would magically transfer. A bippity boppity boo...

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Well, Cinderella would be ashamed.  What I ended up with was this ugly as cariacture of what it was supposed to be.  OMG. This is terrible. I am supposed to be a professional.  Notice even my stepdaughter to be's paintbrish stopped when she saw this.

So then I decided to "fix" it because that's what I do... I decided I would spray paint the paper and then trace over the letters in black and affix that to the sign.

Yep, still a fail and man oh man can I not friggin' paint.  So then I decided, hell rustic isn't THAT bad.... (a temporary moment of insanity because how in the hell does rustic go with feathers and chandeliers, I'm not too sure).

Then I remembered that, WAIT. I should just do chandeliers and can get a bride and groom stamp! I pulled out my trusty ink pad and chandelier stamp because all though I cannot paint, I CAN stamp pretty effectively and efficiently I may add.

Happy enough with my progress for the day, I went to bed.  Thinking I can't believe how badly I f'd this one up. I mean OMG this is terrible. And I even texted my mom to say that this was a complete failure and I was glad that stepdad Mocha was making a sign to hang the banner that my mom had sewn.  About four hours later a light bulb went off.

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I got it!! I remembered that I had bought letter stamps for another project about a year ago. I pulled it out and began my first stamp. It was working!!! Here is what I ended up with.  Yes you can still see the ugly Edwardian script monstrosity that I created in the back, but did I care, NOPE. I figured it out!!!

Here it is in another light with the obligatory Fleur de lis added from my new state...

You can still see the stupid W (cursing myself) from my earlier screw up, but did I care?! Nope. It was working!! My fi and stepdaughter-to-be came outside because I believe they thought I'd lost my mind. And well.... I agree but I was soo excited to show them this lol!!!!!  Although even my stepdaugther noticed it was crooked :D

Here is my final picture from this morning all dry and yes admittedly crooked.

Did/Is anyone else doing projects the last few weeks before the wedding?  How is it turning out?  I am sort of happy with this one, especially after I do it straight in a line, although I may leave this one as is and just do the other side lol!!!!







Bridal Portraiture.. Yay or Nay?!

Lately the wedding bug has bit me.  You'd think because I work and live with weddings all day that I would know exactly what I want.  Well you're wrong!!!  Yes I juggle all things weddings, but lately I feel like I am striking out.

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I keep thinking that I must have bridal portraits. I mean this is the only time that I will ever wear this dress, these shoes, this veil all together, so why not relish in the moment, right?  Why not use my change to compile a wonderful set of pictures even if it's a few?

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Here are some of my favorite bridal shots that make my heart pitter patter....

                      Courtesy of Elizabeth Anne Designs

Anyone who knows me... Knows this is me...

Bridal Portrait

Courtesy of Jennifer Shumacher

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Did you take bridal portraits?  Were they worth it?  If so, why did you take bridal portraits?  Feel free to leave me links to send my photog!

Sigh and now I am in love with lace!!!

OMG Wedding Bee inspires me all of the time and now: well, I want this too lol!!! I love the hint of bling at the top and honestly I saw the brooch at Hobby Lobby very recently!!

From Lace Cake