A Foxy Fête: The Guestbook

Yes, the guestbook gets its own post. From start to end, this thing took a lot of time, a lot of love, and it absolutely had it's fair share of frustrating moments. So I have to do it justice.

Plus, I'm kind of obsessed with the way it turned out!

All photos by Exclamation Imagery unless otherwise noted.

If you recall from wayyy long ago, I started out with my bum traced drawing of the UP house, with the intention of having it eventually be turned into a fingerprint guestbook. It was fairly decent on it's own, but not perfect by any means. As luck would have it, once I turned to the 'Bee for advice, fabulous hive member Miss.E helped a sista out and was able to vectorize the image for me. And it was perfection.

personal images

From there, I was having a helluva time trying to do decide whether to color in the image to mimic the actual UP house, or have it mimic our venue's color scheme (since peachplum09 so kindly pointed out that the two look very similar.. how did I miss that?!).

personal images

In the end, it was a tie. I asked real life friends, I asked you guys, I asked myself about every 5 minutes.

Ultimately, I went for sentiment and decided on the green to represent the Vandiver! So I went to Vistaprint, uploaded my design, placed my order, got my package.. and it sucked. I mean.. it really sucked. The quality was horrendous. My original traced drawing looked better. Seriously.

((I would totally insert a picture here to show you just how bad it was, but I'm pretty sure I threw it out in a matter of minutes. Just trust me on this one.))

I don't know what happened, and I briefly panicked (and got mad that I spent $30 on something useless). So I turned to the manstore (kinda like manwhore, but more store-y) I always turn to in a crafting crisis (that would be Michael's), bought a frame and some poster board, printed out my own copy of the house, oh-so-carefully cut it out, and glued it to the correctly sized poster board. Then I free-handed some stickers at the bottom. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am.

Not too shabby for a complete DIY, right?!

So for the wedding, we had this baby out during cocktail hour, then moved it to a small table at the reception just in case there were a few stragglers who still needed to print it up.

You can also glimpse our UP inspired card mailbox here, too!

I also made sure there was a sign next to the frame to clue people in as to what they should be doing. And, since I was still really torn about the whole color-of-the-house thing, I decided to make the sample house on the sign in the actual colors of the UP house.. best of both worlds!

personal icky cell phone pic

Overall, it turned out to be a hit, and we now have it proudly displayed as part of our living room decor.

another personal icky cell phone pic

Now I do have a few tips, in case you're planning on going the route of a fingerprint guestbook:

1. In addition to having a sign with instructions, be sure to get your bridal party and/or family to start off the fingerprinting at the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding, or while getting ready the morning of. It (hopefully) ensures that guests will figure out what to do a bit more easily!

personal cell phone pics courtesy of Foxy Mama

2. Have Wet Naps for people to wipe the ink off their fingers, and a small trash bin for them to throw used ones away. This way, no one has an excuse not to do it!

3. Speaking of which, if you have any guests who have a super fancy job that they can't always talk about.. they won't put their fingerprint on your guestbook. We definitely learned that one.

4. Also, people still don't always get what to do, even when you tell them. We had a lot of "floating" balloons.. and some genius thought it would be super fun to put their fingerprints in the windows of the house. (Something Foxy and I are still kind of annoyed about, to be honest!)

But anyway. I still think it came out pretty spiffy!

(The other slightly annoying part of all this is that someone evidently took my artwork a few months back and tried selling it as their own on Etsy, until a group of us contacted her & reported her behavior to the site. So.. don't steal my artwork. Kthanks.)

Would you consider a fingerprint guest book? Do you have any other tips for future brides about them?

Miss a recap? Catch yourself up!

It's Wedding Week! - The week of the wedding started out pretty hectic, but we made it through (relatively) unscathed.

We're Cool People (who had to deal with a slight change of plans) - On Friday, we made our way to the venue, had a relatable moment on the radio, and learned about some last minute changes that we made an effort to take in stride.

Practice Makes Perfect.. And Crabs Don't Hurt, Either - After most everyone was settled in on Friday evening, we had our rehearsal followed by the best dinner ever - a Maryland crab feast!

Rise and Shine! - Wedding morning was soon upon us, and I woke up at the crack of dawn ready to get prettified.

Pretty Women - Over the course of the next several hours, myself and the girls hung out, got our hair and makeup done, had a photo shoot, and drank champagne.

Dressing Up - Soon enough, it was time for me to slip into my dress!

Dapper Dudes - At the same time, Foxy and his guys were ironing and getting into their suites - and Foxy was opening his wedding day gift!

The First of Many Looks - We had our first look, and both felt so much better after being able to see each other for the first time that day.

A School Bus Photoshoot - Our vehicle of choice for the day was a school bus, which we turned into a photo op both inside and out!

Smiles and Sun - The photos continued by the lighthouse and pier.. with sunglasses and a few funny stories along the way.

ALL The Family - We then met up with family at the lock house for even more pictures, and I started getting a bit antsy and having problems with my dress.

And Then There's Us - I kinda-sorta-maybe forgot all about couple and bridal pictures. Thank goodness for our amazing photog reminding us!

Final Touches - Slight chaos then ensued in the minutes before the ceremony started, consisting of me getting sewn into my dress and the boys getting their bouts pinned on at the last minute.

And So It Begins - The guests arrive, the wedding party lines up, and the ceremony space is revealed - complete with programs, white knots, and bubbles!

All I Want Is You, Will You Be My Bride? - The time had finally come - we all made our way down the aisle while my stepdad and stepbro played and sang a beautiful, acoustic version of "All I Want Is You".

Take Me By The Hand and Stand By My Side - In other words.. the ceremony!

Bubbles and Bustles and Beverages, Oh My! - Bubbles are blown, my bustle is tied in, and cocktail hour commences with lots of love, hugs, and drinks.

A Foxy Fête: Bubbles and Bustles and Beverages, Oh My!

I wish I could tell you that we walked down the aisle as husband and wife amid a sea of bubbles, and then show you lots of pictures that you could go pin on Pinterest as "superawesomeOMG bubble recessional at wedding!!".

However, this is all I've got for you:

All photos by Exclamation Imagery unless otherwise noted.

 Me, looking like a giddy donkey with five bubbles off to the right of Foxy, and a few lovely guests blowing them nowhere near us. Oh well. At least I tried (and know that they worked)! So my only  takeaway for you is this: if you're in need of a quick, easy answer for bubble solution, hit up Michael's. Can't beat $1 bottles of solution!

Anyway, back to the good stuff: our remarkably bubble-free walk down the aisle was quickly followed by the rest of the wedding party, and then finally, our parents.

Word on the street is that there was lots of intermingling, hugging, congratulating, and just plain happiness post-ceremony (as there should be, right?!).

Foxy and I happened to miss most of this, though, seeing as we were pretty swiftly hustled back into the house immediately after our walk down the aisle. We had previously decided to not do a receiving line, and did not want to linger around and unintentionally create one. Hence, I went to the bridal suite, and Foxy went to the bar.



(Side note: Since I missed seeing all this in person, you can only imagine my delight when I finally saw some of these happy, smiling pictures.. tears in my eyes? I totes had 'em.)

Back in the bridal suite, my ladies were busy doing their thang and bustling my dress (and drinking champagne, obvi). I have to give them credit - MOH's Blondie and Copper got that baby tied up in less than five minutes! I honestly didn't believe them when they told me it was done, which I blame on the half-hour plus, super intricate bustle that Brideslady M had on her wedding dress a few weeks before.. that thing was a freaking puzzle! (Mine was also completely different and was just a simple five point French bustle, but that's neither here nor there.)

At this point, we were all getting rather antsy in our desire to get out to cocktail hour to drink mingle.. that was the whole point of pre-ceremony pictures, after all! So with the bustle done, we had a quick toast..

..I briefly reconvened with Foxy Mama..

..and we all made our way out to cocktail hour! You better believe I was all over the food as soon as I stepped out there.

As was my dad, apparently!

There were pecan-encrusted cheese balls (I think). There were mini crab cakes (I think). There were little chicken taco things (I think). I mean.. it was all freaking delicious, and that's all I really cared about!

(Well, that and our amazeballs playlist, that I have saved on my iPhone and still listen to. Details soon, should you want them {or not}.)

Cocktail hour itself took place both inside the main Vandiver house, as well as on the front porch. Outside, you had the bar area - another thing I never saw (at least not in its full glory) until pictures from our photog and guests started pouring in. (One perk of being the bride: people get drinks for you.. no waiting in line!) I'm kind of sad I missed seeing it in person, though, because I'm completely obsessed with how everything looked.. especially with our cute little signature cocktails and handmade chalkboard signs (that I finally figured out)!

Photo by Mrs. Guinea Pig

Photo by Mrs. Pony

left: photo by Exclamation Imagery | right: photo by Mrs. Pony

Something I was able to see were the decorations spread throughout the inside of the Vandiver - though I do have to admit, most of them were really just things I grabbed from our house at the last minute, thinking "oh hey, this can go somewhere, right?!".

Eh, it worked. We also lucked out because the inside of the house is pretty swanky on its own - not much decoration was really needed! I'll take it.

While we didn't plan it this way, the cocktail hour actually ended up being our "social hour" - I was able to see and talk to almost everyone who came to our wedding, which worked out incredibly well given the lack of receiving line post-ceremony and casualness of the upcoming reception. Talking, walking, drinking, and mingling was abound!

Posing with Officiant Em before she changed into her party outfit!

Hugs for the stepbro and his to-die-for singing voice.

Hugs for ALL the boys.

Groomsman Brother & his oh-so-sweet girlfriend!

Crab cakes!! And the crew from work.

Funny story: NOT his kids. (They are hers though!)

Truth: they ARE his kids (and wife)!

Brideslady Bunny Love and posse (also the crew we went to Mexico with!).

Telling everyone my earrings are made of rock candy.. and having half of them believe it.

My dancer loves!

Chatting with Foxy's family.

Two of the most amazing people ever - Breezy B (hair guru) and E!

Loves for my hometown friends & family.

I found some very special guests!!

All too soon, Foxy and I were being whisked away from the action yet again, this time to see the reception set up before everyone else filtered in (and to hide ourselves before being reintroduced as Mr & Mrs).

Hive, I can't even tell you how freaking thrilled I was by how everything came together! While I was around to help decorate and direct the night before and earlier that day, most of the "magic" happened during pictures and the ceremony - this was the first time I was able to see everything all together, and oh my gosh, it was probably the 39084932nd time that day that I had tears in my eyes! I promise to share more details soon, but just believe me that pretty much everything I had been picturing in my mind for the past 26 months was suddenly right there.. and it didn't look like someone just threw up lace and lanterns and mason jars everywhere (cause I seriously thought it would.. I had nightmares). Success!!

Has anyone else had fears about all your ideas and details not coming together in the end??

Miss a recap? Catch yourself up!

It's Wedding Week! - The week of the wedding started out pretty hectic, but we made it through (relatively) unscathed.

We're Cool People (who had to deal with a slight change of plans) - On Friday, we made our way to the venue, had a relatable moment on the radio, and learned about some last minute changes that we made an effort to take in stride.

Practice Makes Perfect.. And Crabs Don't Hurt, Either - After most everyone was settled in on Friday evening, we had our rehearsal followed by the best dinner ever - a Maryland crab feast!

Rise and Shine! - Wedding morning was soon upon us, and I woke up at the crack of dawn ready to get prettified.

Pretty Women - Over the course of the next several hours, myself and the girls hung out, got our hair and makeup done, had a photo shoot, and drank champagne.

Dressing Up - Soon enough, it was time for me to slip into my dress!

Dapper Dudes - At the same time, Foxy and his guys were ironing and getting into their suites - and Foxy was opening his wedding day gift!

The First of Many Looks - We had our first look, and both felt so much better after being able to see each other for the first time that day.

A School Bus Photoshoot - Our vehicle of choice for the day was a school bus, which we turned into a photo op both inside and out!

Smiles and Sun - The photos continued by the lighthouse and pier.. with sunglasses and a few funny stories along the way.

ALL The Family - We then met up with family at the lock house for even more pictures, and I started getting a bit antsy and having problems with my dress.

And Then There's Us - I kinda-sorta-maybe forgot all about couple and bridal pictures. Thank goodness for our amazing photog reminding us!

Final Touches - Slight chaos then ensued in the minutes before the ceremony started, consisting of me getting sewn into my dress and the boys getting their bouts pinned on at the last minute.

And So It Begins - The guests arrive, the wedding party lines up, and the ceremony space is revealed - complete with programs, white knots, and bubbles!

All I Want Is You, Will You Be My Bride? - The time had finally come - we all made our way down the aisle while my stepdad and stepbro played and sang a beautiful, acoustic version of "All I Want Is You".

Take Me By The Hand and Stand By My Side - In other words.. the ceremony!