We were married in July 2011 in Northern California, where I grew up. We traveled from DC, his family traveled from New Orleans, and we had relatives join us from everywhere in between. It was an awesome day surrounded by almost 100 of our best friends and family. And I had entirely too much fun with all the little details.
Invitations
Our invitations were my labor of love. After doing some searching on different styles and options - and prices! - I decided with a little research and care I could make them myself.
I still love the final result of our invitations, but they definitely took me longer than expected. I love the design on the cards and the pocketfold I made by hand from large sheets of drawing paper from Utrecht. I also made a wrap-around address label and printed the address on cardstock, and printed the envelope liners on our home printer and cut to size.
Favors
We were able to agree on favors early on - it was practically our easiest decision! We wanted to share something from each of our "hometowns,"
New Orleans and San Francisco, that would be easy to assemble and
appreciated. It didn't even take us a minute to think of pralines and
Ghirardelli chocolates. I got boxes and ribbon in bulk from Paper Mart, of which we still have plenty left over. We packed each box with white tissue, and wrapped them with green ribbon, lace and a little "thank you" tag. The boxes were placed on every plate for guests as they sat down.
Flowers
Flowers were a huge sticking point for me because I did not want to use a florist. This was primarily because I knew what I wanted was very simple - tulips, mums and possibly carnations in white and green, in a "just picked from the garden" kind of arrangement.
With the help of my bridesmaids, we arranged everything for the tables, bouquets and the corsages for family. Each table arrangement was made of green button poms, white tulips, carnations, and pom daisies. For the bouquets, mine was exclusively white tulips, and each bridesmaid had a combination of roses, white daisies and poms. Everything came out exactly how I wanted. We even had enough flowers left over for the rehearsal dinner.
Centerpieces
Similar to the flower arrangements, I wanted to keep the overall centerpieces simple. I love all the beautiful, intricate designs that are out there that couples come up with, but planning from across the country and without the budget or manpower, simple was the way to go.
We had white table cloths, and while I originally wanted to have a lime green or navy runner, I ultimately decided I wouldn't have the time (or even the information needed about table sizes) to make this happen. After many different variations of candles and fabric combinations, I came across this doily tablescape on the sweetest occasion and was done. I found some packages of white round doilies in different sizes and when I came across a beautiful cream lace on sale I bought several yards to cut into rectangles for table lays. This lace was also used to wrap the favor boxes.
Each centerpiece had the lace table lay, three doilies - the largest one included the table number, and the flower arrangement. To add a little more color, I bought green vintage-cut candle holders from Luna Bazaar. With the favor boxes and the flower arrangements, the centerpieces complemented the venue well and were subtle and beautiful without a lot of fuss.
Second Line
My husband and family are from New Orleans, and we looked for unique ways to honor a few southern traditions with our mostly Californian party. We had a Catholic ceremony and decided the best tip to New Orleans we could have was a Second Line out of the church. For a description of a Second Line go here.
We couldn't have a band to follow, so we substituted a boom-box carried by the Best Man. My husband and I came out of the church first with umbrellas dancing to the music, followed by the wedding party who twirled handkerchiefs in the air. We had handkerchiefs printed with our names and the date and gave them to the guests before the ceremony, so they were able to fill in behind us. Everyone got a kick out of it - it was something most of our guests had never experienced before.
Dress
My dress was really something special, a third generation wedding dress originally worn by my grandmother and passed down. My mother wore it, and when I was a little the only wedding related thought I ever had was, I'll be wearing that dress! It's a gorgeous testament to the skills and workmanship of the 1940s. The bodice has a drop waist and princess seams which lead into a ten foot train, all made of 100 percent slipper satin. When my grandmother wore it, the dress had long sleeves and a sheer panel along the neckline. My mom altered the neckline into a semi-sweetheart, but otherwise left the dress as it was. She had a Priscilla of Boston veil in a beautiful lace that went with the dress perfectly.
I wanted to modernize the dress just a touch, but keep the beauty of the fabric intact. I found an amazing seamstress to work with and she understood my vision immediately. We removed the sleeves (it was a July wedding, and slipper satin is heavy), and took in the shoulders slightly with the new seam. Then we added panels of lace from my mom's veil to the bodice of the dress and kept the buttons from the sleeves to use on the very front of the neckline. The end result was gorgeous and a wonderful way to honor the most important women in my life. We plan to preserve the dress again, and let the next generation decide if they'd like to keep the tradition going in some way for their wedding.
A special edition to my dress came from the same friend that made the pralines. She made a lovely flower pin for my hair out of cream satin ribbon, a little bit of lace and some blue beads. They were the perfect accessory for my very curly hair.
More Details
While these are most of the main details, there were several other fun bits we included to make our wedding "ours."
Instead of boutonnieres for the guys, my husband had the clever idea to make tie tacks and cuff links with Lego men. Each groomsmen had a set based on their interests or what fit their personalities the best - baseball player, racecar driver, ninja, Buzz Lightyear, Darth Vader... we had a lot of fun searching for three of each. My husband chose a king for himself, and we found a princess in blue, which we added to my bouquet for a little more "something blue."
Our cake topper was also an easy joint decision. We were flipping through some wedding magazine and saw pear-scented soaps that read "A Perfect Pear" on the box. The idea came instantly to mount two pears on the top of our all white cake with a little banner on green ribbon that said "a perfect pair." It came together at the last second with the help of my bridesmaids, but it was a sweet touch on our lovely white cake.
We finished dinner with a more family tradition. When coffee was served, each table received a little plate of Italian cookies as something to finish the meal with before cake. We bought the cookies from Stella's in San Francisco, the closest thing to a real Italian bakery we can find so far from Brooklyn. The cookies worked out well since they could be snacked on for the rest of the night.
The day after the wedding we had about half of all the flowers back. We gave some a friend who took them to a hospital, some decorated my parents' house, and with two bouquets my mom and I made a special trip to the cemetery to visit my paternal grandparents and uncle. It was a little somber after such an energetic day, but my grandparents and Uncle Jimmy have always held a special place in my heart and we knew they would have had a blast at the party if they could have been there with us. We took each a bouquet of flowers, a handkerchief and a favor as a token of how much we wish they could have been with us. In a way it was a very peaceful end to the weekend.
I had a ton of other little projects - escort cards, programs, rehearsal dinner invites, and bridesmaid gifts - but after all the paper punching, sewing, and pouring over wedding blogs for inspiration, these were the ones that really stood out in the end, and the details that meant the most.
Instead of boutonnieres for the guys, my husband had the clever idea to make tie tacks and cuff links with Lego men. Each groomsmen had a set based on their interests or what fit their personalities the best - baseball player, racecar driver, ninja, Buzz Lightyear, Darth Vader... we had a lot of fun searching for three of each. My husband chose a king for himself, and we found a princess in blue, which we added to my bouquet for a little more "something blue."
Our cake topper was also an easy joint decision. We were flipping through some wedding magazine and saw pear-scented soaps that read "A Perfect Pear" on the box. The idea came instantly to mount two pears on the top of our all white cake with a little banner on green ribbon that said "a perfect pair." It came together at the last second with the help of my bridesmaids, but it was a sweet touch on our lovely white cake.
We finished dinner with a more family tradition. When coffee was served, each table received a little plate of Italian cookies as something to finish the meal with before cake. We bought the cookies from Stella's in San Francisco, the closest thing to a real Italian bakery we can find so far from Brooklyn. The cookies worked out well since they could be snacked on for the rest of the night.
The day after the wedding we had about half of all the flowers back. We gave some a friend who took them to a hospital, some decorated my parents' house, and with two bouquets my mom and I made a special trip to the cemetery to visit my paternal grandparents and uncle. It was a little somber after such an energetic day, but my grandparents and Uncle Jimmy have always held a special place in my heart and we knew they would have had a blast at the party if they could have been there with us. We took each a bouquet of flowers, a handkerchief and a favor as a token of how much we wish they could have been with us. In a way it was a very peaceful end to the weekend.
I had a ton of other little projects - escort cards, programs, rehearsal dinner invites, and bridesmaid gifts - but after all the paper punching, sewing, and pouring over wedding blogs for inspiration, these were the ones that really stood out in the end, and the details that meant the most.
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