wedding post finale: favors!

I hope you are not completely sick of my long and drawn-out wedding posts! Today is the last one so of course it had to be our favors! For an inexpensive favor that we thought most people would actually use we created a cd with some of our favorite love songs, many of which were used throughout the wedding.
The mister designed our cd cover and back (not pictured but super cute) and we printed them out onto cardstock. I then sewed them all together and believe, some looked better than others!

We also included a note inside each cd letting guests know about a donation we made to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in honor of my dad who has been lymphoma-free for over 3 years now! We decided to make that donation the start of a tradition we will continue each year on our anniversary. This was a way to make our favor more personal but make sure our guests had something to take home as well.

Like I said, lots of the songs on our cd were used throughout our wedding but the full list is below:

1. Maps (Acoustic).... Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2. Sweet Disposition.... The Temper Trap {I walked down the aisle to this}
3. Hopipolla... Sigur Ros {perfect background music for guests entering}
4. Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse...Minus the Bear {first song on the first mix cd he ever made me}
5. Love and Some Verses.... Iron and Wine
6. My Girls.... Animal Collective
7. Hey Ya.... cover by Obadiah Parker
8. I Want to Know Your Plans.... Say Anything
9. Such Great Heights.... Postal Service
10. Marry Song.... Band of Horses
11. Not that Simple.... dredg
12. Lucky You.... The National {first dance}
13. Home.... Edward Sharpe and the Magentic Zeros {what we walked back down the aisle to}

Instead of linking to each of those I made a grooveshark playlist where you can listen to (or download) the whole thing! We've really enjoyed all of these songs and the moments they have helped us capture and we hope our guests did as well.
Thank you so much for letting me share so much our wedding journey and day with you, it truly was a labor of love. We had the absolute best time, learned a lot along the planning path, and couldn't be happier to now be husband&wife.

xo-k&j

{Click the link above to make a donation or find out how you can help out a cause very dear to us at lls.org}

favorite shots

Besides all of the photos I have posted here there are a few more moments from our wedding day I'd like to share. Our photographers were wonderful and really captured everything from the biggest celebrations to the small, quiet moments we got to enjoy throughout the day. Some of my favorites are from those unassuming times when we weren't posed or standing in front of the crowd, maybe we were just waiting, trying to hold our composure in those seconds before the big moments happened, or maybe we were just really, really enjoyinng ourselves.
getting readywaiting
right before the walk
brotherssweet grandparents
mom and dad
rooftop
lots of sky.

The entire day was filled with lovely moments but these photos are our proof that they all really happened and we will be able to carry them for years.

The ceremony

Our wedding ceremony was short and sweet but I think we covered all of the bases, made sure families were happy, and most importantly made some very important promises to one another. Like I have mentioned before the weather cleared about 30 minutes before we got started and even though we were under a tent we were still surrounded by sunshine.
The bridal party walked down to a Sigur Ros song and my father walked me down the aisle to The Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition". It was emotional and powerful and perfect.We traded rings and I promised to always fill our home with art and color while he promised to always fill our home with music. Then we both promised to always be brave.
We kissed in front of a wall of colorful fabric garlands and then walked back down the aisle as husband and wife to "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

first looks

I guess the whole first look thing is a new tradition but me and mine were all about having a quiet moment together before the ceremony to make sure we were both breathing correctly. So about 10 minutes before the ceremony began our photographers brought him upstairs to where I was getting ready, hid him around the corner, and had me head around for a first look.
It was great and I really recommend it. It gave us a chance to see each other before the BIG moment and it was incredibly reassuring to see that we were both calm, excited, and ready to take that walk. You are surrounded by so many people while getting ready that day, people that are excited, stressed, anxious, helpful, and hyper, but the one person you are thinking about is hidden away from you all day. Taking that moment together RIGHT before you have to stand in front of a huge crowd brings you back to the moment and reminds you of what this day is all about- you and them.
This moment for us was brief but I remember feeling giddy and surprisingly calm. Even peaceful. I knew no matter how crazy that morning was, he would be the one thing that would bring me back down to earth.

wedding week part IV: more fashion

Ok so I got a little behind and now wedding week has turned into wedding weeks. Today I am sharing the rest of the wedding day fashion, the groom and bridal party.
The mister knew he wanted to be in something simple, no tuxedo and no suit jacket. So he opted for an all grey ensemble with a pop of color in his tie. His pants and shirt were Kenneth Cole, his vest I found at Macy's on sale, his tie we ordered from MeandMatilda on etsy, and his watch was his grandfathers. I think his favorite part of his outfit may have been the classic wing tip shoes we got from Aldo. I thought he looked perfect and he was comfortable, which made him happy.
We asked all of the guys to wear grey pants and a white shirt and them had them accessorize however they wanted. I was impressed.

My girls are all so stylish on their own that I knew I would never ask them to wear matching dresses, that never even crossed my mind. Instead I asked them to all choose a grey knee length dress that they felt great in. Any style, any shade. They then each chose a pair of the LelaRose shoes and a color to have them dyed. They each wanted a different color so it worked out perfectly. My mom and I made the necklaces and bracelets for them, based on one we found at Anthropologie but for a fraction of the price. They were absolutely gorgeous- and I was happy knowing they were all comfortable in what they were wearing.
It was important to us to have these dear friends and family members standing with us on this special day and I think they looked pretty darn good doing it.

wedding week part III: fashion

Our attire was one of the easiest parts of the wedding to make a decision on, maybe because I had been planning this dress for years now. I didn't know the exact dress I wanted, of course, but I knew that there would most certainly be an addition of color. Layers and layer of colorful tulle, giving me the feeling I was wearing a giant cupcake. That sounds a little crazy but it was exactly how I felt and it was perfect.
So the search for the dress began and at the start I was hesitant to walk into any wedding dress shop. My poor mom and sister had to deal with a really grumpy me on our first trip but we kept looking (safely online) and surprisingly found my perfect dress at David's Bridal. We bought it the first day I tried it on because it was on sale and we could already picture exactly how we it would look once we added our touches. My friend Allison generously made the cupcake layers that after several fittings we ended up pinning to the inside lining. She did such an amazing job and I couldn't have been happier with her color placement and construction- perfect! My mom created a bustle so that after the ceremony we could pull up the back of the dress and show more of the color.My shoes were Lela Rose for Payless- we had all the girls pick a different color and had them custom dyed. Mine were my something blue. If you are looking for cute colorful shoes, this is seriously the best deal.
My jewelry was from Macy's and altered by my mom, my feather hair clip from Aldo and my birdcage veil made by Deeds and Petunia on etsy.

Tomorrow- the mister and the rest of the wedding party!

wedding week part II: details

For anyone in the midst of wedding planning I think the amount of inspiration online, on blogs, and in print can be incredible and simultaneously overwhelming. I definitely had moments of not knowing how to mentally organize everything I was seeing and how to start actually deciding what little design details I wanted to include in our wedding. There were so many diy trends and ideas that I fell in love with and I think those are the things that really make an event special. As time went on I was able to sift through all of the inspiration and was slowly able to curate, even if some decorations were made and never used, so here are some of the little details that made the final cut.
These sweet grey and white striped straws were the first thing I bought for the wedding and I love this shot of my sister and her sweet tea here.
My mom and I collected and painted these heart wreaths to hang on the outdoor chairs, at the end of each row.
My little sister picked out the perfect guest book for us.
We designed our ceremony program to be simple, legible and to match our invitation suite.
And of course you've seen the flags I created for the 100 cupcakes our dear friend made. I ordered the japanese washi tape for these here.
Lastly, I used skewers, kraft paper, and leftover fabric from the outdoor garlands for these taller flags for the cheesecakes. Unfortunately they never actually made it onto the cakes, but I still love how they came out and may add some to my shop.

It's all in the details.

wedding week part I: decor

Lot's of exciting things happening this week- photoshoots and interviews, custom projects and some new furniture being delivered- yay!

But here on the blog I am devoting this week to sharing all of the details of our wedding. I hope you aren't sick of it yet. We got our photos from our photographers this past weekend and we are so incredibly pleased with how they came out. Joey and Jessica are so talented and creative and were the perfect pair to capture all of the details of our day.

Today I want to share some of the decor and details we created and used. Inside we kept it pretty simple with some birdhouses we painted for the tables, on top of tree stumps and paired with white ceramic birds.
We scattered little hearts and circle confetti we punched in coordinating colors around the table decorations.
Behind the dessert table we layered several of my paper garlands in peaches, pinks, mustard, and neutrals.

Outside we wanted to keep it even more light, airy, and simple and it is a good thing we did seeing as we ended up having to work around a huge white tent (really the only down side to the whole day). The ceremony decor was one of my favorite projects of all. I custom dyed muslin for these fabric garlands- it was so much fun to mix and create all of the shades I was looking for. I love how these came out and hope to make some more of these for future projects or sales.

And by some miracle all of these different design elements seemed to come together aesthetically. Tomorrow- the details.

dessert details

I am quickly realizing that these wedding posts may be impossible until we get the professional shots back from our photographers- in a couple months. Friends and family took some great shots but they just don't cover all of the details and handmade aspects of the wedding that I want to share. Believe me, you don't want to see the 50 shots of me walking up and back down the aisle. So for now I will just share some of the best we have gotten from our loved ones that shared the day with us, and the real breakdown of the day may just have to wait until later.

But let's start with the sweetest part of the day- the desserts. Our dear, dear friend Sara works at a bakery and she generously made all of our desserts after hours at the bakery for just the cost of supplies. She is incredible and made all of our 100 cupcakes (pink lemonade and lemon almond) and 7 cheesecakes (2 oreo, 2 plain, orange creamsicle, chocolate raspberry, and white chocolate strawberry) for under $100!! Everything was so delicious and even though we thought she had way overbaked we actually ended up with only one leftover cheesecake and a couple cupcakes. I think some people had a taste of everything on the table and I don't blame them.
The photo above shows the table before we put out the cheesecakes. The rest of that table was simply decorated with a few logs, flowers, and our signature white birds and birdhouses.
I made the little cupcake flags from cocktail toothpicks and japanese paper tape, with a little help from my mom and sisters. I had also made lots of assorted flags and banners for the cheesecakes but somewhere in the day they never quite made it out, oh well, one of the casualties of a wedding I guess.
We kept the rest of the tables pretty simple. We collected lots of different style and size birdhouses when we could find them on sale at the craft store and painted them with various shades of aqua and yellow. Justin and my dad cut all of the logs at his family's country property and we combined those with the houses, some white ceramic birds from the craft store as well and simple shapes we punched and scattered on the table. The day before the wedding I was super delighted to find the simple yellow "billy button" flowers at the local grocery store and we put a couple of those on each table in tiny clear glass vases. We knew we didn't want large floral centerpieces and these elements just seemed to be much more fitting for our whole style. Modern meets rustic.