Putting on a white dress.

I LOVED everything about my wedding attire. That is the way it should be, right? I see women all over the internet second guessing everything… and I did that as well, so I have no right to stand on a soapbox. But, I am here to say: LADIES, no regrets! Make all your choices with that in mind! It makes getting dressed on your wedding day a lot more fun.

The final four

I thought before I share the pictures of me getting all dolled up, I would talk about some important accessories. There’s usually four essential additional items that most brides want… something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

My something old:

Let's get this started!

Waking up the morning of your wedding day is a surreal experience. I was thinking, "OH, well this is it!" I felt very ready for June 22, 2012.

Remember this? We've come a long way! My personal photo.

We rehearse

Most of you have probably fallen off the radar, but I want to finish up this wedding journey.  I am eager to turn this blog into a keepsake, which means I have to create an ending for this story.

So, here’s to the beginning of the end of a wonderful experience.

Photo by Kristen Taylor Photography

Afterthoughts: Trying out hair and makeup

A long long time ago, I decided to have a hair stylist and makeup professional do my hair and makeup. I am pretty good with updos and smokey eyes, but I wanted to feel special on my wedding day.

 I was super prepared for the hair and makeup trial. I brought Sara (the hair gal) and Jenny (the makeup gal) all kinds of pictures off the internet and from magazines. Most of my favorirtes were from magazines but here's a few from the internet:

Pretty hair found on ProjectWedding

 

Pretty eye makeup found on SMP

 

Décor that dies and thus cannot be resold.

Aka: Flowers. It feels weird to me to spend tons of money on décor that you can’t use afterwards. I am selling most of my wedding décor, so I feel like the money spent on that stuff is warranted. Originally, I wanted only a few flowers here and there to keep the budget down. Things changed when I formed a more solid idea of what I wanted, though... I wanted a fun wedding, but I also wanted elegant touches to the wedding. Nothing is more beautiful and elegant than white tables and white flowers to me. However, all white can look washed out if not done right, so I decided we would use purple as our pop color. Hence, I wanted lots of purple and white flowers. Also, I wanted it to look like we picked everything from the garden.

Some of my inspiration pics. Both of these photos are from StyleMePretty (I think!)

Afterthoughts: To DOC or not to DOC?

Two days before our wedding, I had a bit of a freak-out. No, it wasn’t about whether I wanted to get married or not. It was about whether I had gotten myself in over my head when it came to wedding décor. Ultimately, I was afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to enjoy the weekend because I was too busy setting up and then taking it all down. I think other brides who DIY a lot of things might relate to my fears a little bit. There’s definitely an up side to hiring professionals to do everything on your big day – you don’t exhaust yourself before your party even begins!

We want this...not that...

(photos  stolen from friends of me dancing and me trying not to fall asleep as the end of the night)