Some inspiration..

I decided to put together another mini-inspiration board. My first one was compiled when I was still thinking of using turquoise and red as the main colors, and I never made a newer one to reflect the color change to turquoise and clementine orange. I pulled a lot of these pictures from ones that have been sitting on my computer for a while, and was able to use one from my actual venue :)))

The bottom right picture is one from Smilebooth.. if I had my way this would have been the first thing we booked.

Alas, I am poor, and can't afford Smilebooth. But I love the idea and have much more to write about the photo booth topic in the future!

Also.. those puff balls in the middle? Be prepared for a post on those things soon, too.

Ess Tee Dee's

That's the most creative I can be with a title for the first of what I'm sure will be 473982 posts about save the date's, or as us bee's like to refer to them, STD's. And yes, like most people, that still cracks me up. They really need to give you a manual before you start delving into the whole online wedding world.. I was severely confused with all the acronyms here on Weddingbee for a good two weeks when I first started reading.

Anyway, you should all know by now that I'm a planner. When I first started seriously thinking about the save the date's, we still had 18 months until the wedding, at which point we also already had a venue, invites, preliminary guest list, dj, possible photog, and my dress. #overachiever

I quickly came to the conclusion that we MUST have save the date's, 1. because I like making pretty things, and 2. because 99% of our guests are out-of-towners, coming from Philly and various parts of New York. And I was determined for them to be a DIY.

At first I was thinking about doing something with a Scrabble board:

sorry about the blurring!

It's cute in theory but it just looks a little all over the place in reality, at least in my eyes. It would be more in depth than what the picture shows and on the classic board, of course, but still. I'm vain and want our picture on it somewhere. And while we bust out Scrabble weekly and it's definitely "us", it just doesn't fit with what I'm envisioning.

So.. scratch the Scrabble.

Then I thought maybe I could do something with our engagement photos..

...and I quickly realized that I was doing a terrible job at designing them. Don't laugh at how bad these are. They're also kind of boring, and I want something more FUN. Granted I was just messing around for a few minutes to see what I could whip up, but I really want something more us.

So my current (genius) idea is inspired by photo strips.. you know the ones you can get at the mall or some restaurants that are (usually) black and white and you have four vertical frames to fill with shenanigans?

I've seen other couples do something like this for their STD's. I think it's so much fun! I would set up my Mac and take a couple pictures of us, most likely holding hand-made signs saying "save" "the" "date" "6.xx.2012", using one for each frame. After printing, I'd adhere them to some magnet tape and cut them out, so everyone would get a photo strip magnet!!

I don't know why this excites me so much, but it does. Mr. Foxy and I had a mini photo shoot a few months ago using said method of picture taking, so here's a basic idea (sans hand-made signs) of where my mind is off to:

Sorry about the faces. Still not sure why we felt compelled to take a bunch of crazy pictures of ourselves. But you get the idea.

So.. thoughts? What did you do or what are your plans for STD's?

Venue revealed!

I don't really need a big lead in to this because you can just look at my hover cloud/bio thingy and see that we're getting married at the Vandiver. Kind of ruins the surprise, doesn't it?

Anyhoot, I had been looking at the Vandiver Inn for a while. A few things let me know right away that this place could very well be our wedding venue:

1. Fantastic reviews on Weddingbee & Wedding Wire. Check.

2. Their website has a whole section dedicated to weddings.. with basic price points listed. Chhhheck! This hardly EVER happens, at least with most of the venues I was researching. There's usually a fun game where you email or call and wait for a response back that can take days or weeks, and I'm an antsy pants. One place I looked at didn't respond for 5 months.. what?!

4. Those price points listed? Are totally in our budget. BIG CHECK.

3. The day of coordinator (hereto referred to as DOC) answered my email and called within 48 hours. Check check check.

4. It's located in Maryland, on an inlet that leads to the bay. This means water. Lots of water.. and having grown up 10 minutes from the beach, I'm a total sucker for that. :))) Check x10.

Since I was already falling in love without even laying eyes on the place, I made an appointment for Foxy and I to meet the the DOC (who's really more of a quasi-wedding coordinator.. she's seriously amazing) and take a tour of the place. After an hour and a glass of wine, we were sold. Two weeks later we faxed over the signed contract. BAM. Venue: donesky! This totally goes against my usual indecisive nature, but when I just love something that much? I get impulsive and hope it works out.

Some background for you: the Vandiver Inn is an old mansion that is now run as a family owned bed and breakfast and has really seemed to have found a niche in the wedding market. The town it's in is so cute and quaint, like it was taken from some old, historic New England town and dropped in northeast Maryland. The water is two blocks away, and 'downtown' is about four blocks away and full of cute little shops and restaurants. It's almost as if we're getting the upstate New York feel, while still staying in Maryland. Score!

Also? If you sort of recognize the place.. it's because Mrs. Lox just got married there!!

There are two other smaller houses affiliated with the Vandiver Inn, located right next to it. The Vandiver has 8 guest rooms (where Foxy and I + family will be staying), and the two other houses have another 9 rooms total (for more family and wedding party). I LOVE this, because we can all stay together and it will make getting together for the rehearsal (dinner) so so so much easier.

Images via Vandiver Inn

The mansion itself has a very rustic and old town feel, like the town itself. There's a porch that leads into the first floor of the mansion, where the cocktail hour will be. If the weather permits, they can open the doors and windows (that act as doors) so people can mingle both inside and out on the porch. There is also a grassy area with a few tables for people to sit at out front.

Images via Vandiver Inn

The outdoor ceremony location is to the right of the mansion, between the Kent house and Murphy house.

Images via Vandiver Inn

Is it lame that I can already imagine walking down the aisle to that pretty gazebo? (Which makes me think.. how am I going to decorate?!)

And last but most certainly not least, the reception will be in the pavilion just behind the mansion!!

Images via Vandiver Inn

How great is that? It can be open air on nice days (picture on the right) or closed off on crappy days (left), so you don't need to worry about rain. The string lights on the ceiling are already in place, and you can add extra decorations pretty much however you want. To us, it's perfect.

One of the greatest things is that the wife of the family who owns the place (Susan) is also the head chef.  They get all their ingredients from local farmers and produce stands and cook it on site in a kitchen no bigger than a closet, so you know it's fresh. They even have their own herb garden and borrow herbs from neighbors if they need other kinds! How freaking adorable is that?! I just may move here after the wedding.

Oh.. and, lets be honest.. the deciding factor?

There's a street named Red Head Way two blocks away. Um, hello.. meant to be?!

In search.. of a venue

Pretty much the instant Mr. Foxy and I got engaged, I ran out to buy a bajillion wedding magazines and started researching venues. I quickly realized that weddings are wayyy more expensive than I thought they were. I mean, I knew they could be pricey, but couldn't I do a great wedding with all the fixin's near DC for under $10,000?

Oh shut up, Nelson.

Image via Dangerously Awesome

That would be a big fat no. I already knew that we couldn't afford a wedding where I grew up on Long Island, so I decided to look in upstate NY near where Foxy grew up. His parents currently live on one of the Finger Lakes, which I thought would be perfect because there are tons of wineries in the area, and I love me some wine. The only problem is that apparently the Finger Lake region of NY is a huge touristy area. Who knew? Not like I grew up in NY or anything. Bler.

Despite the fact that upstate NY was more expensive than I thought, I kept searching for places up there for us to look at on our July visit to his parents'. In all reality, the average prices up there were on par with or even above what the DC/MD area was offering. But it was pretty and Foxy seemed to really dig the fact that we'd get married upstate. Mostly because we could get Dinosaur BBQ (if you haven't heard of them, look them up then drop what you're doing and go get some NOW) to cater if we had it up there.

My dream wedding vision turned into us having a large tent with hanging lights and lanterns everywhere, preferably at a winery, and serving Dinosaur. They'd bring in a huge BBQ pit to cook all the food in, right there in front of everyone. It would have been amazeballs and it would have been so quintessentially us.

However, I realized that tents are expensive, many places wouldn't let us bring in outside caterers, and I was liking the idea of having to travel 7 hours to get to our wedding destination less and less as time went on. Plus, I really didn't want to plan it from so far away. That just sucks. We ended up only looking at one place while visiting in July, and quickly crossed it off the list. It just wasn't what we were looking for.

So I picked up my DC/Maryland search.


(Sidenote: Even though we're literally about 20 minutes away, I crossed out Virginia because I don't really like Virginia.. nothing at all against anyone who lives there or likes it, but I have this weird name association thing. Like, I refuse to eat from any restaurant named Lardo's (it's real, trust me) or Potbelly... it disturbs me. I really don't want to live on a street like Gun Powder Lane because it's so dismal. So I really don't want to live in Virginia, or get married there, because, well.. it looks and sounds like vagina to me. Sorry guys. It's the truth. I know I have issues. I'm sure Vagina Virginia is a wonderful place to live.)


Back to business. My main criteria was that the catering cost per head had to be under a certain amount for me to even begin to look at it. I was so hell bent on having an outdoor wedding on a Saturday in June; no wonder good prices were/are hard to come by. I found a few places that could be possibilities if some adjustments were made on our part, but the ones I wanted we couldn't afford, and the ones we could afford I didn't want.

And then. Then! We found it. You know that feeling that you get when you find the right dress? Both Foxy and I got that when we found the right venue...

..more to come!

The ones that weren't

So now that I've told you about my dress (!!!!), I thought I'd share a few more dresses that didn't make the cut. I mean, who doesn't love a little more wedding dress porn? I know I do!

Part 1 brought me to Village Bridals, Macy's, and David's Bridal.

Part 2 was a pretty extensive look at the David's Bridal collection.

The very first dress I tried on at DB was what I like to call the "mullet dress".

Oh, baby! Are you nervous yet?

Image via 80's Tees

Anyway, being serious. It's actually called a high-low hemline, because the front is shorter than the back. This dress looked so freaking cute on the model, and I thought that if I got this dress (for really cheap), I could get a kick ass pair of heels (hiii Louboutins). The front looks real cute, right?

DB CT326

However. Different story from the side view. For my first magic trick, I will turn to the side and show you my thick, ever expanding torso.

Yea. It's not that bad, but hive? I'm not that big. And the dress size was definitely right. It just made me look like I weighed 100 pounds more than I already do, and I'm trying to lose weight even now. So.. no. This was not going to work.

The next dress I rather liked. It fit me pretty well, but I knew it wasn't the one. Also.. when I previously showed Mr. Foxy a picture of the dress on the model, he said it looked like a nightgown.

 DB WG9830

I'll admit, he did have a point.

I went on try on a few more dresses at DB, which were so bad that they didn't even warrant pictures. This was one of them:

Oleg Cassini CRL277

I already have a pearish shape, but I seriously looked like a big ol' pear in this dress. A big, albino pear. No thank you. (Also? Foxy thinks all lace looks like a doily. I wasn't really letting that rule my decision, but I didn't want him to just see doilyness on our wedding day.)

Thus ended the David's Bridal extravaganza.

Onto RK Bridal: I honestly don't know the majority of the dresses I tried on there, in part because we weren't allowed to take pictures of me in them and in part because some of them were huge misses. However, the one that was a big contender and competing with my winning Allure dress was this one:

Maggie Sottero style RD1068

I actually had this gem in my dress inspiration section of my wedding binder for a while. Gorgeous. I liked this one about as much as I liked the Demetrios 3137 dress.. high up there, but wasn't getting that warm fuzzy feeling.

And that, my friends, sums up my wedding dress search! I probably tried on a total of about 25-30 dresses before I found mine. How many dresses did you/have you already tried on?

I did it!

I bought a wedding dress! Already!! Well, my technically my mom did, but it's officially mine!

First, a recap:

I tried on several dresses in a relatively short time frame. I went shopping a total of four different times, with each one having something that I decided I could live with if I needed to.

The first option, if you recall, was Demetrios style GR181.

It fit fantastically and hugged me in all the right places and made me look sassy. The downfall, for me, was that it wasn't really on par with the vibe I was going for with our wedding. If I were getting married in a church, maybe, but not for an outdoor wedding (which we're having, btw). So, while I still kept option one in the back of my mind, I knew it wasn't the dress.

The second option was my favorite for a long time - Demetrios style 3137.

I saw this one in a magazine and fell in love with it right off the bat. The actual dress I tried on was huge and a bit broken, so I know the fit and look would have been different than what is pictured above, but I still really liked it. I thought it was nice - the neckline and rouching were super flattering and the skirt was simple but structured, giving it a nice flow. The problem? It was a bit pricey and I wanted/needed my Foxy Mama to see me in it. I also never got "that feeling". In all honesty, I was pretty sure it didn't exist. Or I didn't have a soul. One of those. Point is, looking back, I really really really really liked it, but love? I didn't know the meaning of the word yet.

My search continued to David's Bridal, in hopes of finding a nice dress for a cheaper price. I made two trips there, the second of which I never posted about because it was pretty lackluster. My favorite out of all those dresses was option three, DB style WG3077.

It was a great dress for a great price. Was I in love? No, not at all, but it could do if I needed it too. Such a crappy way of looking at a dress, huh?

A fourth option was also from DB, style ES9808.

Basic but really cute. And it had pockets!!! Which I still think is the coolest thing ever. But the material was eh.. not really what I was going for. It was nice, but.. it just wasn't it. I imagined liking it much more than I actually did.

Cue a wedding dress search hiatus (aka two months). Foxy Mama and I spoke briefly about possibly looking at some dresses while I was in NY for Thanksgiving last year, especially since Macy's at Herald Square has a Demetrios Bridal salon, complete with my 3137 dress that I wanted her to see. We ultimately decided to head out for a bit on Black Friday, with three places in mind: 1. RK Bridal, 2. Macy's, 3. Alexander Boutique in Queens, where she bought her wedding dress.

Long story short, our first stop at RK Bridal was also the last; we ended up canceling the appointments at both Macy's and Alexander's.

Because yes, I found my dress!

The dress. Option five, number five with a bullet, the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

Bahahahahahaha. I kid.

What, you didn't think I'd give it up that easy, did you?? Patience, my bees, patience.

I will tell you that it's by Allure. And it has everything. The deep sweetheart neckline, which was a must. The flowy chiffon fabric that flows when I walk. The V-drop in the back. And buttons. Buttons all. the. way. down. It's my favorite part!!

Oh, and I can't forget the shnazzy piece of hair bling my consultant "jacked" me up with. Which I will actually show you!

Since the dress came in well under the $1000 price point Foxy Mama gave me, I was able to get that too. Helloooo Swarovski crystals. Love you. In fact, I loved how my consultant gussied me up so much so that I am seriously considering being a short-haired bride. Never thought I'd say that, but I'm loving the way the hairpiece looks with the way my hair was styled then!

And remember that feeling I said I thought didn't exist? Well, it does. I almost started crying because I loved the dress so much.. I was that happy. I didn't want to take the dress off. I just knew that it was the dress I'd get married in. And I knew that I didn't want to look at one other wedding dress. I'm done. This is it. I'm officially in love.

Did you get that 'feeling' when you found your wedding dress?

Website Warbles

I've been doing a lot of wedding website trial runs lately. I started out with The Knot, moved onto WedSpace, and ended up with My Wedding, which I still wasn't happy with. Now I don't need the créme de la créme when it comes to a website, but I like to customize. And make things colorful and personalized. And, I don't know, justify something to center if I really want to. None of the aforementioned websites were giving me that option, and I was getting mad. Fox growl.

So then I thought, what if I recreate a Blogger (or WordPress) site to make it look like a normal website, and have that be my wedding website? GENIUS. I basically know how to edit and format Blogger to make it do something close to what I want, so I gave that a go. Then I kept hearing how fantabulous WordPress was, so I tried that. And failed miserably. I don't know you all do it.

Back to Blogger I went.

I'd like to say I was relatively successful.. here's a preview of what I have so far!

It's still a work in progress, but I have to say that I'm kind of loving it. Our colors will (should) run along this general theme:

So it's kind of all matchy-matchy with the background, which I love. Now to actually get some content on there, besides my beautiful shining face. Hah.

Do you have a wedding website? What host site did you ultimately decide to use?

How engaging!

So I discovered this gem of a Groupon deal last April - a $425 one-hour photo session with Brooke Bready Photography for the low price of $65. That's a discount of 85!%!! Craziness. I was checking out the amazing deal, loving Brooke's amazing photography, and ultimately decided it was the perfect opportunity to use for an engagement photo session.

The kicker? I wasn't engaged yet.

Here was the rationale behind my thinking: we were on track to get engaged/be married, the Groupon was good for a year (and if we weren't engaged by then, well then, grrrrr), and if for some reason I actually was not engaged by April of 2011, I would get my friends together and have a BFF glam photo shoot. Genius. And no, I did not tell Mr. Foxy about buying this for fear of appearing psychotic.

However! It must have been good luck or something, because 9 days later, on April 18th, he proposed. I was able to schedule a session for September with Brooke, admitted my pre-engagement engagement-photo purchase to Foxy, had a good laugh, and was so excited to get our pictures taken at Brookside Gardens in Maryland.

Then I found out three days before the shoot that Brookside was hosting a "Children's Day" and the park would really not be the ideal place to have an engagement photo session. They basically denied our permit request (not that we really needed one anyway..) and I was kind of bummed. After some searching online, I found some great e-pics of other couples by the C&O canal in the Georgetown area of DC. This was already one of my favorite parts of DC, and figured it would actually be better than Brookside Gardens because of the water, unique architecture, little bridges, etc. So off we went!

I got a CD of the pictures within two weeks (longest two weeks everrrrrr) - here are some of my faves!

This is honestly one of my favorites, because Foxy and I are almost permanently making

weird faces at each other. It's how we communicate ;)

I like to call this our "indie/alternative CD cover shot"

This one has a funny story: we were on the corner of M St and Wisconsin Ave (very busy intersection) at 7pm on a Saturday night.. so yea, it was busy and we were trying not to die with all the people and the cars but still look cute. So as we are being disruptive to all the people walking by, one guy just comes in and starts moving my body and posing me, telling my "ANGLE YOUR BODY IN!" "STEP YOUR FRONT FOOT FORWARD!" "YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!" "LOOK AT HIM AND SMILE!" There we were, feeling like awkward turtles to begin with (poor Foxy, this was like nightmare central for him) and this guy just starts yelling at us (in front of like a hundred people) that we suck at posing. He eventually gave up and walked away. And this was the result. Slight fail, I think. Oh well!

Definitely love them!

So the question is.. did you "preplan" your engagement at all?!

I do declare

So this is completely random and not so much wedding related, but about a year ago, Mr. Foxy and I reached a new level in our relationship. We took the big leap.. into domestic partnership! (Cue applause.)

We decided that since I would be going from a desk job with good health insurance to one as a massage therapist with likely little or no health insurance at all, we'd add me to Foxy's plan through his job. In order to do so (and since we aren't getting married for another 8+ months), we had to fill out this fun little form:

I mostly get a kick out of being able to choose from the terms fiancé or domestic partner, and criteria #5: we swear that we are not related by blood closer than would bar marriage in the state in which we reside. 

But I guess it has to be said!

Anyone else out there reaping the benefits of domestic partnership before marriage?

My first Dress post.

We're jumping right in, hive. It's dress time!

First and foremost, you all must know that I was obsessing over this one dress for the longest time:

It's Demetrios 3137. I've looked at and written about it so much that when I searched for it in Google images a few months back, my Weddingbee user pic came up. No lies.

That being said, I went wedding dress "shopping" three times in the first four months of my 26 month engagement.

The first time I went was on Long Island with my bff/maid of honor numero uno, Copper. They didn't have my dream dress, but I still tried on several dresses that were just "eh".. I had no idea (and a very exact idea) of what I wanted.

This is just a mess of a picture.

(No idea who made this dress)

Facial expression says it all. Although I did kind of like this at the time.

(Pronovias San Patrick Postal)

Just when I thought I was done meandering, I found a Demetrios dress that was similar-ish in style to my love, 3137. Copper and I made a last minute decision, tracked down my consultant, and tried it on.

Yowza.

(Demetrios GR181)

I couldn't stop staring at myself. Vain, much?

I was very close to declaring this THE ONE and calling it a day. I loved it. It fit me like a glove. It looked amazing and was incredibly figure flattering. But... it wasn't 3137. I needed to try on that dress. And this one almost seemed a little too formal for the general vibe Mr. Foxy and I are going for at our wedding. So Copper and I left the store happy with the end result and with a few sneaky pictures, as you have seen.

The second trip happen two weeks later, with foxy brideslady A. I decided to go straight to the source, to a Macy's bridal salon in Virginia, sponsored by Demetrios. Naturally, they had my dress, as well as several similar ones. And it looked just the way I hoped it would - the only downside was that some of the rouching on the body of the dress was messed up and broken, and the dress was about 3 sizes too big so the layers didn't quite settle right.. but even after all that, I still fell in love.

Awkward turtle.

Sigh. Love love love love love love love. The one caveat? It was about $400 over my (Foxy Mama's) budget.

So off I went to appointment #3.. alone. I decided to hit up David's Bridal to see what they had, and also to appease Foxy Mama. First up was a dress sort of similar to Demetrios 3137, but it just wasn't quite there.

(DB Galliano Signature SWG354)

The next was a big poofy ball gown that I liked more than I anticipated but made me look like I had one of those shrunken heads.

(DB CWG322)

 And then, to my surprise, I kind of fell in like with a very simple gown reminiscent of Maggie Sottero's Carly. Except this one was only $500. Seriously.

(DB WG3077)

I even got a picture with my consultant in a bridesmaids dress similar in color to what I want my girls to wear!

So that's that. I found a few I really liked and one I loved, but I still wanted to go shopping with Foxy Mama, or at least hear her opinions on the dresses I already tried on. While I very much liked the last dress.. I still couldn't get over the Demetrios one. I just felt so good in it. Maybe there would be a magical sale at just the right time or someone will be selling their used one? :/ I was definitely hoping!

Anyone else have difficulty finding a dress because of the price, or whatever reason?

Waiting..

...for our engagement pictures that we took on Saturday!

A little back story here:

There is this great email/online service called Groupon, where companies and businesses offer services at a discounted rate in hopes of promoting themselves and gaining business. Example: You get $20 worth of food at a restaurant for only $10, or, in my case, a $425 one-hour photo session with Brooke Bready Photography for the low price of $65. That's a discout of 85%. Craziness!

So I got this gem of an email on April 9th of this past year; I was looking at the amazing deal, Brooke's amazing photography, and the opportunity that I could use this as an engagement photo session! The kicker? I wasn't engaged yet.

Here was the rationale behind my thinking: we were on track to get engaged/be married, the Groupon was good for a year (and if we weren't engaged by then, well then, grrrrr), and if for some reason I actually was not engaged by April of 2011, I would get my friends together and have a BFF glam photo shoot. Genius. And no, I did not tell Scot about buying this for fear of appearing psychotic.

However! It must have been good luck or something, because 9 days later, on April 18th, he proposed. I was able to schedule a session for September with Brooke, admitted my pre-engagement engagement-photo purchase, had a good laugh, and was so excited to get our pictures taken at Brookside Gardens in Maryland.

Then I found out, three days before the shoot (last Wednesday), that Brookside was hosting a "Children's Day" and the park would really not be the ideal place to have an engagement photo session. They basically denied our permit request (not that we really needed one anyway..) and I was kind of bummed. After some searching online, I found some great e-pics of other couples by the C&O canal in the Georgetown area of DC. This was already one of my favorite parts of DC, and figured it would actually be better than Brookside Gardens because of the water, unique architecture, little bridges, etc. So off we went!

We are currently waiting for the pictures (they were just taken two days ago, after all), but I will be eagerly checking the mailbox daily until we get the DVD of our pictures.. which of course, I'll share!!

Where did you guys take your engagement photos? I think I love looking at them more than wedding photos, because you can usually get a good sense of the couple's personality and such :))

Tuesday Tunes

I wanted to jump aboard the Music Monday bandwagon, but figured everyone else was doing such a fantastic job that I would spread the love and do Tuesday Tunes. Clever? Not so much.

However, I figured that I have a lot of ideas and songs floating through my head, some that I'm just obsessed with and some that I would love to have play at significant points at my wedding.

This week's list: possible first dance songs.

Rhythm of Love - Plain White T's

I feel I need to explain this one. Aside from the fact that it's a fantastic song and the video makes me all giddy inside, I have this weird fascination with the Plain White T's. I remember getting their CD way back before anybody even heard of "Delilah"in 2004/2005-ish, when my favorite song was "Anything" and "Delilah" was just some sweet romantic track at the end of the album. Then they exploded, and they make a radio hit once a year or so (ok I'm off my 'I was so cool' soapbox). Last year, I was obsessed with "1 2 3 4" when I heard it/saw the video, and thought that would be a perfect first dance song. Now, I kind of want "Rhythm of Love" as a first dance.. or even a processional/recessional song? It's just so happy and summery! And yes, I'm getting married in June, so it would work.




1 2 3 4 - Plain White T's

See above.

Even Now - Dashboard Confessional

IN LOVE. With almost every Dashboard song out there. But this is a top, top contender, and I hope that you go over to iTunes or somewhere else and listen to it.

Stolen - Dashboard Confessional

Again, see above. The Vitamin String Quartet actually has a gorgeous instrumental version of this that would work as a processional/recessional song!

I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

Unfortunately, this is out of the running because it seems like everyone and their mother has now used this song as a first dance. Nothing against it, I still love it, but I have so many other options now!

Such Great Heights - Iron and Wine

While I love the original by The Postal Service, this remake brings tears to my eyes every time. Would be absolutely perfect for a first dance.. or processional. I can totally see myself walking down the aisle to this. Ugh I'm melting as we speak (and listen.. which I am, to this song).

..I just realized I have a lot of poppy songs on this. Oh well, they are just too good, IMO. I should probably run any/all of these by Scot, huh? It's ok, we have time, which means I'm sure I'll have many more options should none of these work.

Any songs you guys love and had as a part of your wedding? Or want to or wish you did, etc?

Wedding flashback!

You know what I love?

Flashbacks.

You know what else I love?

Weddings (obvs).

So why not have a little wedding flashback time?!

A while back while my Foxy Mama was at her apartment running around and getting things together for the weekend and her wedding the next day, I decided to go through some old photo albums while I waited. Among those photo albums were two small ones from her and my dad's wedding way back in 1980 (I think). I've seen these before but I always love to see old photos of my parents, especially when they were together; I don't really remember them ever being that way, so it's nice to see. Plus, she just looked so happy and beautiful in the pictures and I just love seeing them! So I took some pictures (of pictures) to share with you all!

Foxy Mama with her bridesmaids.. is it crazy that I kind of love their dresses?

I've decided that I kind of need to try her dress on.

So scandalous! And it's ok - I agree that my dad looks like Napoleon Dynamite.

I swoon over this car. The day after the wedding, with my nana (on the right).

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However, I must say, as cute and happy as they look.. I have never seen Foxy Mama as happy as she has been this past year with her new hubs JCC. He is perfect for her, and a perfect way to end this post is to show my gorgeous mom now, on her wedding day 30 years later, looking better than ever.

Aren't they just the cutest?

(Btdubs, I totally wrote this as I was watching Bethenny getting Married?... the episode where she actually gets married. Perfect.)


Have you gone back and browsed through your parents wedding album(s)? Isn't it fun to see what they wore and looked like?!