Wedding Story
Overall Ceremony and Reception Theme
“Simple romantic garden wedding“
Best advice you got while planning your wedding?
“I didn’t receive much good advice when planning our wedding because everyone has a different opinion. My advice to a bride is don’t stress about all of the little details. We had a pretty small budget and didn’t get to include a bunch of bells and whistles for our wedding and it was absolutely perfect. It’s just about having the people you love all together in one place celebrating love.”
Talk about your Budget
“We went over budget by about $5000. Where we were able to save money was on the food because we did an afternoon wedding (3:00pm – 7:00pm) and just had heavy and light appetizers. It was all finger food and everyone loved it. “We also saved on the cake by doing a small cutting cake and cupcakes. Wedding cakes are extremely expensive so we did a two tiered cutting cake so we could save the top tear for our anniversary and did three different kinds of cupcakes, large and mini. The cupcakes ended up being about $1.75 per person as opposed to the $6-$7 per person for a typical wedding cake.”
Highlights from the Ceremony/Reception
“My favorite part of our ceremony was our minister. We had a good family friend get ordained so that he could marry us, and it was one of my favorite parts of the wedding. It made it a lot more personal because he knows us both. He also did a lot of research with our families before the ceremony and added a lot of really special personal touches to the ceremony. “My favorite part of the reception would have to be the speeches. We had a small wedding party (4 total) so my husband had two best men and I had a maid and matron of honor. We were lucky enough to get speeches from all 4 of them and they all did amazing. Loved each and every moment of them.”
Wedding Music
“Since we didn’t have a DJ (another way to save money), I created the entire playlist. My husband and I picked a ton of songs that we loved and made a playlist of about 400 songs to play throughout the entire reception. We chose the following songs for our special day:
- Wedding party walked to an instrumental version of “Marry Me” by Train
- Processional: Canon in D. Major
- Recessional: “Best Day of My Life” by American Authors
- After photos, we all entered back into the reception to “At Last” by Etta James
- First Dance: “Always and Forever” by Heatwave
Wedding Flowers
“The boys wore white orchid boutonnieres and the rest of the flowers (arrangements and boutiques) were Hydrangeas and Peonies.”
Wedding Invitations
“We ordered our wedding invites online through Magnet Street”
Where did you go on your Honeymoon?
“We went to Morrea, Tahiti and stayed at the Hilton Lagoon Resort & Spa.”
Bride’s Attire
- Bridal gown was a beaded, strapless mermaid gown that was bought at David’s Bridal.
- Shoes were peep toe green apple heals – our accent color. Brand was Nina by Nordstrom.
- Wedding Veil: one-tier fingertip length with beaded edge. Get a great deal on a similar custom veil from our sister brand Classic Veils.
Bridesmaid Gifts
“I gave each bridesmaid earrings, purchased at Shane Co.”
Bridesmaids’ Attire
“Bridesmaids wore strapless, heather grey short dresses that were light and had a lot of movement. Shoes were colorful high heal sandals, purchased at Steve Madden.”
Groom’s Attire
- Groom wore a dark grey, three piece suite with a green paisley tie rented from The Men’s Warehouse
- Shoes were Allen Edmonds
- Necktie purchased at Macy’s
Groomsmen Gift
“One groomsman got a Shinola Watch and the other one got a pair of Allen Edmond dress shoes (both from Nordstrom).”
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