I want to share some of the little things that went into our wedding!!
Like the details and decorations.
Weddings can be extremely exciting and extremely exhausting to plan. If, I didn't have Ben's mom, Janet, as basically my all-star wedding planner, organizer and saint, and also my sweet-and-tiny mom dealing with the crazy emotions, details and dress I would've been a littttttttle lost.
Throughout my childhood (college years), I didn't really have this dream wedding in mind. More just me envisioning my husband and I playing with our kids, on our farm, with the dogs, in Connecticut, behind this beautifully-gross old barn that held toys, trinkets and animals galore (to be specific). That was always the dream. Not my wedding day.
Although, as Ben and I started talking about the idea of marriage I got more enthusiastic about the planning side. I wanted the wedding to describe us. Ultimately, I aspired to touch and create everything that was sent in the mail, devise or develop all that was displayed at the wedding and have all those who attended feel loved and appreciated. Those were my BIG goals.
Shortly after we got engaged, Ben and I went back to Utah for an engagement shoot. Big thanks to Margo, Trevor and Alex for brilliantly crafting and art directing the most beautiful scene.
Some of my favs from the day.
Next, we needed to send out "Save The Date" announcements.
Ben thought of a terrific idea for the design. He wanted clean and crisp. He said, "Kens stand on a chair next to that calendar, point to the date of the wedding and that'll be it." We put that final image on a postcard and off it went.
Then, it was all about finding inspiration for the day: like customizing the wedding invite and finding the dress.
Most of our inspiration was found through Pinterest and various magazines. Margo created an inspiration image with our favorite picture and colors. This small image became the center for the overall theme. Big thanks, Margo!
Janet kept very busy with all the finer specifics. Like creating a user-friendly guest checklist, calling around for chairs, visiting florists, arranging help, finding a pianist, growing plants for the reception, scouring the internet for unique ideas; the list goes on and on. What an amazing help she was!
Paul was a huge help with finding and booking catering. The man knows good food. We went with Indian (Bensey's first date was at the Indian Palace). YUM!
A few things, I wanted to spend time designing were our invitations as well as my wedding dress. In my head, I had the perfect image for both.
For the invite, we wanted it to embody the feel of our wedding. So, when you opened it up you could immediately understand the theme. Side note, I always loved when things came pouring out of wedding invites, and with that in mind I began constructing ours.
First, watercolor. Lil shoutout, my great friend Kaylee inspired me to start painting (watercolor specific). She's incredible. I'm ok. But no matter the result, the process is rewarding.
Next, the formal invitation. Plus, envelope.
Finally, the packaging.
The next big to-do was finding / designing my wedding dress. I always kinda thought it would be cool to have a wedding dress of my own, no clones. Ultimately, I wanted to piece together all the minor details from weddings dresses I loved, and make the dream dress. By this point, I had waaay too many ideas. And with that being said, I started to dislike everything I tried on.
Even tried my moms wedding dress as an option. Love <3
About a month from the wedding I still had no dress. My dad decided it was his turn to come with me to look at options. On this trip we found a "pageant gown" that we thought would work for the bottom half of my dress. We bought it.
Yikes. Forgot about this beauty. Talking my dad through the idea of chopping the dress in half.
Now that I had the bottom, I needed to find the top.
Later that week, my mom and I went in search of the top. We found it. I didn't really like it that much, but my mom insisted that we buy it. THANK GOODNESS FOR MOMS! It was the perfect match.
Made a few changes, along with opening the back. I loved the idea of having a long necklace follow down my spine.
I originally wanted something very very formal and sleek. This was definitely not the original vision. But I loved the new version with my whole heart. And had a feeling Ben would too.
After the dress was perfected, we all started back on the finishing quirks.
Pics from the month before the wedding.
Ben started work with Amazon.com over the summer. He lived in Los Angeles during our engagement.
Present for the Matron of Honor (my lovely sis).
Ben filled his weekends with beautiful adventures <3
Lil gifts for bridesmaids.
Made my mom try on dresses too. Love her SO much!
My dad and I built shadow boxes for my pic wall.
A trip to Colorado. Discussing flower placement for the wedding.
Our apartment in Pomona, CA. Ben's home then, but soon to be ours :)
The best help. Roxy girl.
Bridal shower treats. Thrown by my best friends moms!
Had to shockingly put down our family dog.
First house warming gift. Thx Nicole <3
Ben's SVC concert.
My mom went far and wide to find an assorted amount of candlestick holders for the center of tables. Thrifty!
When all the planning came to a close I felt that I had stayed true to my initial ambitions. Planning was a little bit of every emotion.
At this point, I was anxious to see Ben. My sweet, gentle and caring fiancé.