The ceremony: St. Joseph's Cathedral
Both Kev & I are Catholics and knew that we wanted a our wedding in the church. Since we aren't good Catholics...hey I never said we were good, just that we were...we don't really have a church we go to every Sunday. Or any Sunday for that matter. I did my research first as a lot of the time a Catholic church is going to jump you through some hoops first. Once I narrowed it down I started to call. A couples places I called were automatic no's because of the priest. I know they are holy & all but that doesn't give them the right to be a jerk. However, I liked St. Joseph's wedding cooridnator and as soon as I walked in the doors the decision was made. It's gorgeous!!! They do alot of weddings so they knew what they were doing, and I didn't even have to deal with the priest most of the time,who turned out to be awesome anyways though! The music was amazing in the church, and the ceremony itself wasn't quite as traditional as I would have thought. It was almost like a show in some ways, like we said our vows facing out towards all the guests instead of facing inward toward the alter. The guests were impressed on how the ceremony actually went. This place was great!
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| The front |
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| The inside: (Left) Alter,(Right) Back/Organ |
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| Our Ceremony |
The reception: Renaissance Columbus Downtown.
We knew we were thinking a hotel first as most of our family and some friends were coming from out of town. Stumbling right upstairs is so much easier than having to stumble somewhere else, or even to a taxi :) This was actually Kev's suggestion. Kev had been to wedding here for a friends' brother's wedding and had really liked it. He said the food was good, the room was nice, and the fact that it was a hotel with a bar & restuarant helped. We went and I was between two places. We choose here from alot of reasons, and I'm glad we did. Our event planner, Allison, was super helpful through the whole process, including the night of. She even saved the bustle of my dress as Kev's clodhoppers kept stepping on the back & finally ripped them out! The staff was fantastic alot of them even made a point to come up and congratulate us! The rooms were nice...the list could keep going but I don't have them time.
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| The hotel |
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| Our set up :) |
My absolute favorite thing about my wedding, besides the point that I was marrying my best friend. I fell in love with my dress the second I put it on. Once that happened I never looked back. I just love everything about it, the lacy top, the fitted middle, and even the poofer bottom. I never thought I'd be one to get something with poof. I loved the train and the lonnnng veil that completed the look. I got it in an ivory, which looks way better on my skin town than white. The process of purchasing was easy when it came to Bridal & Formal. They do not alter dresses there however, so I found an amazing woman here at Fine Tailoring in Powell, OH. It was a comfy dress, I didn't have to constantly pull up the top, really I didn't have to adjust anything once it was on! Did I mentioned that it also has pockets!!! I LOVE THAT!
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| The front |
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| The back. |
The accessories:Debra Moreland is Paris
I got my earrings, bracelette, and my hair piece from Bridal & Formal as well but it's actually handmade by a woman in Middleton Ohio, Debra Moreland is Paris. It was beautiful and I think it pulled everything together very nicely.
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| Hair piece, bracelette, and earrings |
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| The bracelette |
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| The hair piece - one of my favorite things. It's laying on my great grandma's hanky I carried :) |
Anthro could not have come out with a wedding line, BHLDN, in better time. I had no idea what I wanted to do for the girls. There are so many options, and most aren't that great =/I saw these though and I knew they were it. I love them, and I think the girls did. They were comfy, I tried one on. They didn't have to get them altered. They could actually wear them again somewhere else if they had wanted too. They moved easy so they could boogy the night away. I think they would say it was a good purchase, at least I hope. They looked great on all of them!
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| Ignore my veil-y mess. Look how lovely my ladies are :) |
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| You can get a bit of the how it looks outside and from the side. I think it looked great on all of them, it's probably because they are hott though and made the dress look good :) |
The flowers: Bloomtastic Florist.
The flowers were a tricky thing for me. Probably because I don't really know anything about them. In turn I had no idea what specific ones I wanted nor did I have any idea on how much they should cost. I think I ended up going to about 6 different places, ending with Bloomtastic. I automatically liked them there, they were nice, upbeat, and extremely willing to work with me. Heather made it very easy by going through pictures of flowers she'd done & asked me what I liked and didn't like. Then she got an idea of what colors I would want, the size of things. Their price break down was completely reasonable and was a locked in price, which no one else offered. They had a mid-term appointment that they actually did your centerpieces for you to see. You knew what you were getting and that put my mind at easy. Everything they did was great!
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| Candle Centerpiece |
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| The small & big center pieces. I think they look different in the light & dark, and I like them both :) |
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| Alter piece |
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| My bouquet |
I knew Alice was in the running for cake from the beginning. I have had several friend use Alice at their weddings and her cakes were always so yummy. We also decided early on that cake wasn't something we were willing to spend a ton on. It's cake, you eat it, end of story. We had a little tasting with Alice and I knew right then that she was going to be the one to take on the cake. We got 350 servings for less than $1000. How's that for a deal. She does very nice, simple, classy cakes which is something we wanted. Nothing to fancy, even though it's more fun that way. She worked with the florist to get the flowers on there and she ensured the cake topper was just right :) Also, if you get a referral she gives you new top of the cake for your one year. Hmmm who needs a cake lady? The cake topper is from Dances with Clay on Etsy.
I was referred by my wedding planner for this one. She had used them at her own wedding and really liked them. I'm going to second that and even go further by saying they were AWESOME! They use iTunes so they can pretty much play whatever you want. Also, unlike alot of DJ they actually listened to our likes, and followed the paper we gave them about the things we wanted played and the things we didn't. Jacob was the DJ and he was extremely professional and was a good announcer. They really only get business by referrals so you know they are good and unwilling to settle. I would suggest using them for any event!
The Photobooth: ShutterBooth
I could not be anymore happy that we got a photobooth. The pictures were also our favors so that kind of killed two birds with one stone. The pictures were so stinkin' hilarious I cried several times from laughter looking at the scrapbook & the online gallery, and the free CD we got of all the images (bonus #1, you'll definitely get ALL the pics :D). It gives you and your guest something with to do & leave with great memories to look at! I know all the guests had a blast with it, it shows in the pictures :) ShutterBooth itself was very professional, they do the scrapbook for you if you choose to do one, and they also supply props (but aren't against you getting your own if you have a theme or something). The picture quality was good & we even got to "design" our own logo :) It matched the invites! Definitely, definitely get a photobooth if it's in the budget!
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| Friends. My mom & mother-in-law. Friends |
The Invites: WeddingPaperDivas.com
I'm going to start by saying I hated invite hunting. There are so many, no, entirely to many options! I think I looked through thousands of pages of invites. However, the ones we choose, I am crazy about! I love them, that's all I can really say about it! lol. Going through a website was pretty easy, I pretty much filled in a template with the information that I wanted displayed. You could pick different templates depending on what your situation is. Example: Both parents displayed, just the Brides, formal time display vs informal time display, grooms/brides middle name. It's like that for all the pieces you order. The more you order, invite, info cards, RSVP cards with envelopes...the more you buy the lower your price :) Told ya, a lot of options. I still love our invites! Just sayin'!
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| The invite set: Invite, Info Card, Reception Card, and RSVP card |
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| Invite |
Other vendors we used:
Tuxes: President Tuxedo
Transportation: Urban Express (we got the Trolley..cheaper than a limo)
Bridesmaids gifts: a mix of The Spoon Sisters (little message birds) , earrings from Etsy, and a couple other small things.
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| I got the unpainted ones & painted them myself |
Groomsmen gifts: Engraved Kershaw knives (it's the exact one Kev has, so he liked sharing that with them & feels all men should have a nice pocket knife!)
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| Disclaimer: BE CAREFUL! These are extremely sharp, one of the groomsmen found out the hard way. It closed on his thumb & left a nice little gash..and when I say little I mean big..there should have been stitches! |
I think that is finally call folks. I'll have more just wedding pictures soon & of course the honeymoon to follow. There is so much I want to share, keep an eye out for more wedding :)
3 comments:
The flowers sure do look different in the daylight; I never would have thought about it [the difference]. Either way, they were very pretty! Note to yourself: your mom really, really enjoys reading this blog but cringes when she see you type: alot. Now that you're all big-girl-married it's time to step up to the spelling/grammar plate, please! Your mother will be even more proud of you! :)
Your dress was amazing! So beautiful, and looks like everything else was too :)
Mom - I know, I didn't notice the difference either until those pictures! Lol I'll work on it mom, you know it's never been something I've been good at. Thanks, A LOT! lol.
Audra - thanks :) I loved my dress! I have a feeling I'll still be putting it on from time to time :)
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