1 Year

One year ago today we were getting ready to make this thing official.  Leading up to the day of (we had a long engagement and I'd had over two years to anticipate it) I thought that people saying their wedding day was the best day of their life was a total cliche.  Well, I've gotta say that it's definitely up there.  There's just something about having all those really important people there to watch you take that big step together as a couple.  It's hard to beat.

Brian, being married to you is everything I'd hoped it would be and more.  I can't to see what life brings us in the years ahead.

So I guess we're not newlyweds anymore, right?  Today is probably going to be pretty low-key- we're going out to dinner and we'll have a wedding cupcake, of course!  But we're gearing up for our trip to NYC next week!  How was your weekend, friends?

{Want to see more of our wedding?}

Wedding Wednesday: Invitations

Better late than never, right?  I've mentioned before that our wedding invitations were one of my main focuses in planning our wedding.  They were a huge undertaking and they were one of my favorite things about the wedding, so I had to share them with you at some point!  I took these photos yesterday, which are far from perfect, so over six months after the fact, the invitations have seen better days at this point.  But here they are!

I designed all of the elements of the invitation suite, and then ordered the printed elements and the paper from Cards and Pockets, who I really can't recommend enough.  If you are a long time reader you might remember that I had our invitations sent to my old apartment in Charlottesville by accident.  Cards and Pockets was really helpful as I was freaking out over their online chat service.

I'll try to keep the "How I did it" part of this post short, because I could go on and on, and you probably aren't that interested.  Basically if it looks like handwriting or a drawing, I did it on paper with a calligraphy pen and indigo ink, and then photographed it and photoshopped it.  I was able to make sure everything was reproduced and looked how I wanted it to that way.  Looking back that probably wasn't super efficient, but knowing what I know now about graphic design and whatnot, I'm actually impressed that they came out as good as they did.  I still love them these many months later.

The only things that we printed ourselves were the address labels for the RSVP envelopes, and the little monogram that went on the belly band of the invitation.  The monogram and the silhouettes (which I also did myself in Illustrator) were used on tons of details throughout the wedding.  Assembly was a HUGE ordeal.  My mom, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and brother's girlfriend were SO helpful.  I did the calligraphy on all the envelopes by hand, and I also embossed the return address emblem, which was kind of a nightmare.  That meant that all the assembling of the folders, belly bands, stuffing envelopes, and sticking postage was left to my "team," and I can't thank them enough.

Whew!  Sorry that was so long.  If you're looking for more of the wedding, here are the posts from Wedding Week.  I'm linking up with Joelle today for Wedding Wednesday!

6 months

Six months ago today Brian and I tied the knot.  I have to say that in our six months of marriage, it isn't just what I thought it would be: it's better.

Happy Monday, friends!

You can find more pictures of from our big day in the Wedding Week posts!  Photo by JMK Photos.

Christmas Card 2011

Christmas cards are one of my favorite things about the Christmas season (duh, I LOVE mail!)  I knew that as soon as Brian and I got married, Christmas cards would be forthcoming.  Designing them this year was easy.  I just used one of our wedding pictures, and added the text I wanted.  I was going for simple and classic.

I designed them myself and then had them printed at Vistaprint.  I've ordered things from there before and I like it a lot.  It's so easy and the quality is pretty good.  But you just can't beat the price!  They have such good deals.  I was really pleased with how they turned out.

Did you send Christmas cards this year?

I waited to post these so that most people would have gotten them (except for my love Julie in Macedonia!) Law school friends got kinda screwed in the Christmas card mailing, so if that's you holler at me and I will give you one!

wedding week wrap-up

Our photographer pulled us away for this little mini-shoot in the alleyway during the reception, and I'm so glad she did.  These photos might be my favorite from the whole wedding.

Well guys- that's it for Wedding Week!  Five days and over 100 photos.  Thanks for following along, here are the posts in case you missed them:

engagement photos
getting ready and the first look
the ceremony
the reception
the details

You can also read about our honeymoon! (Part 1 and Part 2)

I wanted to do a full listing of all our vendors. They each did such a great job!

Photographer: JMK Photos
Videographer: Victoria Shirley Productions
DJ: Derek Tobler
Caterer: Eric Stamer Catering
Cupcakes: Charlottesville Cupcake
Dress: Oleg Cassini for David's Bridal
Groom and Groomsmen suits: Joseph A. Banks
Bridemaids' Dresses: J. Crew

the details

It's so funny how your perspective changes.  Before I got married, the wedding details would have been my favorite thing to look at.  Now, I think they might be my least favorite.  But I think blogging the final result of all the projects I thought so long about is very exciting!

In retrospect, I think I would have posted these all mixed in with the action shots.  But hindsight is 20/20, and here we are.  I'm just going to bullet the different projects as I see them.  As you can see, our wedding was a total labor of love.  If I don't mention something and you want to know about it, feel free to ask!

• Basically we made all the paper products and signs.  If you see handwriting, it's probably mine.
• Silhouettes were definitely a thing for me, and I made one of each member of our bridal party for the program.  I knew I wanted fans, so I designed them to fold over and my awesome aunt and I taped them together on the fan handles.  Most of the fans had cool wavy handles that I ordered online, but somehow that wasn't the one to make it for the photoshoot.  That's wedding planning for ya!
• The invitations were definitely my baby as far as the DIY projects went.  Unfortunately, somehow I didn't get a picture of the inside and all the things that went in them!  That may just be a blog post for another day.  The printing and paper was all ordered from Cards and Pockets.  They did a great job! I also did the calligraphy on all the envelopes.  My mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law spent many hours stuffing envelopes and assembling the invitations with me.
• My mom and I picked out fabric, and my other amazing aunt made the bunting and some squares that we used on the tables outside and around various places.  I now have them at my apartment to use, and I love them!
• Our signature cocktail was whiskey sours.  My grandfather apparently made great whiskey sours (I wasn't old enough to drink them!) and we used his recipe.  My mom and I scoured craft stores for ribbon and a group of friends helped make the drink stirirers.  We also had lemonade for the non-drinkers.  I think one of our family friends ran out and got lemons for us at the last minute.  I didn't make them, but I just thought they were too pretty to leave out!
• The flowers were done by my  aunt and her friend, turned day-of-coordinator!  (I didn't repost the ceremony flowers, but she did those too, everything except for the boutineers which we got for pretty cheap at Harris Teater)
• One of my mom's best friends made the burlap table squares and that beautiful box for cards on the gift table!
• My mom bought those little topiaries for at Michaels and my aunt made the little labels from scrapbook stuff based on our save the dates.
• The cupcake picks were another group effort.  I used that calligraphy emblem on a lot of things, and I just printed a ton out and we punched little circles and the backing out of paper from the inviations and kraft paper cardstock.  We bought lollipop sticks in the baking section and taped them on with double sided tape.  It was a fun craft party!
• Most of the frames we used for signs we already had- we're still trying to match pictures to frames and put everything back where it went!
• The cupcakes came from Charlottesville Cupcake, and Maria made my dad's little cake as well.
• I barely did anything for the favors.  One of our family friends makes the most amazing almost sugar cookies every year for Christmas.  They generously offered to make heart-shaped sugar cookies for our favors.  They were frosted white and had little clear sparkly sprinkles.  I think a group of about 6 or 7 of them- basically two of my mom's friends, and their daughters, who are mine and my brothers' friends, whipped out a TON of sugar cookies.  I gave them the packaging and they did the rest.  It was such a relief to have someone take care of these for us!  They tasted delicious and they looked perfect.

Wow, I just wrote a novel.  Thanks for reading if you're still here.  Tomorrow I'm going to be wrapping up wedding week!  Come back for the final installment!

the reception

Happy Wednesday, friends!  I think this post will be the hardest to do of all the Wedding Week posts... there were just so many pictures to narrow down!

The finer points:

• All of the toasts were killer.  Really killer.  Let's just say that there were not a lot of dry eyes in the house.  And I need a box of tissues when I sit down with our wedding video.
• The cupcakes were totally amazing.  They were so amazing that even if they are 10% as good when Brian and I go to eat a frozen one (or dozen) next August, they will still be delicious.  Yum.
• We sang happy birthday to my dad, whose 50th birthday the week before had been kinda overshadowed by wedding planning.  It was so much fun.
• Everyone was so happy.  When I look at the pictures, it totally shows.  I love that.
• The dancing was such a blast.  I had been kinda worried that no one would dance because of the time of day.  False.  Love Train was definitely a highlight.
• The man next to me in the get low picture?  That was our DJ.  He put on the Cha Cha Slide and then participated.  Love it.
• There was a full-out brawl for the bouquet.  It was ridiculous.  And awesome.  One of my childhood BFFs caught the bouquet.
• The guys were not quite as enthusiastic.  My baby brother caught the garter.  
• We didn't do a formal exit.  Instead, we tromped down to the corner (the UVA bar scene), on foot, with our friends and went to a bar.  The rain held off until we got there.  When it was time for Brian and I to leave, one of my childhood BFFs hailed us a cab in the rain.
• Meanwhile, my parents and their friends drank wine on the balcony and watched streakers in the rain.  What better way to end such an epic day?

Tomorrow I will be posting details and DIY projects!

Again, all photos by JMK Photos.