Wedding Flowers & Décor

Well my mission of finding flowers for the bridesmaid’s bouquets went very successful. After some disappointment, Amy happened to come across a pre-made bouquet that was almost exactly what I was looking for. It was a little small, but we used it as our sample and searched the store for flowers to make my own bouquets. I also added a little extra to make the bouquets a little more elegant and colorful. (I haven’t made them yet, but they will look amazing.)



I also found some awesome candle rings that I will use on the wedding tables. They will look so nice with an ivory pillar candle.

I found the same candle rings in a different color to use for the head table. They look like a champagne color in person. I haven’t decided if I will use ivory candles for these candle rings or if I will use another color. I will decide that later.

I am really starting to get excited now that I can start to visualize the reception décor. It really helps that I can use the “blueprint” from the hall to determine where all the decorations will go.

This Saturday Jeremy and I are going to meet with the lady from the hall. This will really help us see how people decorate for their weddings, since the hall will be set up for another wedding. Then we can get an even better idea for layout and what kind other things we can decorate and where to hang a sign and so much more. It will really help me picture how everything will come together.

Well as of today, there are 6 months and 10 days until the wedding. It can’t come fast enough. It seems like forever ago that Jeremy and I got engaged, yet it seems like just yesterday. I am sure that the time will go fast, but I am just really starting to get excited about how everything will come together and most importantly to see Jeremy on our wedding day. The day that we will finally be together forever, finally married. I think that will be the happiest day of my life.

Planning is going very well. I have had a lot of people ask me if things were getting stressful yet, and I have to say no. Things are actually going really well. I still think that some people are having a hard time “seeing my vision” but if they just trust me, it will all come together beautifully. Jeremy and I are doing things a little different than most people might do and I think that that has the tendency to make people a little unsure, but I think that they will look back and agree that it was great and that everything worked out just perfect.

So for now, I am just going to continue thinking of more wedding details but most of all enjoying this lovely spring weather. I was starting to hate the cold.

~Rachel

Photographer and Church

The last time that I posted I mentioned that I was still looking for a photographer, well Jeremy and I decided on our photographer. I am so excited to have her as our photographer. Some people may think I'm totally crazy, but our photographer is from Pennsylvania. I really wanted to find someone that did some amazing work and did some awesome editing. That is exactly what we have. Plus with Joanna coming from PA she will have a fresh eye for our town/area. I see so many photographers around here doing the same thing for every wedding and I really wanted to have something unique and different to capture our wedding day memories. I found Joanna through her xanga website that I frequently followed. (For those of you not familiar with xanga, it is similar to a journal, but online and you can post pictures.) Because of her xanga, I felt a connection to her before even meeting her. She will arrive the day before the wedding, so she will be able to scope out the area to get ideas for where to take our wedding pictures. She will also be able to join us at the rehearsal and the entire wedding day. I am very excited to have her as our photographer.

Before I booked Joanna, I was really struggling with deciding on a photographer. So many people told me “I don’t even remember the last time I looked at my wedding pictures.” For me, pictures are very important. I love to sit and look at pictures and I frequently pull out my old albums and look through them. I wanted something that I knew would really capture the special moments of our wedding day. After much thought and discussion, we decided to go with Joanna. I knew that she was really who I wanted and I don’t think that I truly would have been happy if I didn’t have her. And like they always say, ‘Don’t scrimp on what means the most to you’ and in this case pictures were what meant the most to me.

Here is a slideshow of some of her work. I can’t wait for her to take our pictures.

So Jeremy and I have been working on our guest list. Let me just say, the list is much larger than we anticipated. So we are going to sort through the list again and see if there are any people on the list that we haven’t seen for a long time and maybe remove them, but other than maybe a handful, I don’t think that the list will get much smaller. So because of this, we had to reevaluate the church. The church we were going to get married in only held 238 people, I know that would be too small to hold our wedding guests. So we are going to check into another church. And this church will be much closer to the reception which will make it much nicer on everyone, so that they aren’t driving too much for our wedding. I was really hoping to follow tradition and get married at the same church as my Mom and my Grandma, but I really don’t think that it would work. So hopefully everything works out.

We did get our DJ booked, so that was nice to be able to check off one more item on our list.

We have found a baker for our cake, now the hard part is to decide on what style of cake to go with and what it should look like. I have looked through numerous pictures and I think I am even more unsure now than what I ever was before. I might just stick with my original idea; it was a cake I designed myself. You’ll have to let me know what you think of the design. It was something that I just designed on the computer, and doesn’t show the dimension of the cake, so it looks a little awkward.

(Top Layer has brown scroll work at the top and bottom of the cake with a monogram in the center. Remaining Layers have white scroll work at the top of the layer with a brown satin ribbon around the bottom of each layer. The entire cake is iced with a tan buttercream icing.)

This Saturday (my birthday) I am going shopping with Amy and looking for wedding décor, particularly our wedding flowers. I am hoping to be able to find flowers that I use to make all of our bouquets. So hopefully I have some luck and can find exactly what I’m looking for.

I hope you all have a great weekend and I hope that you are all enjoying reading the blog. I have had many people tell me that they really love reading the posts and checking out the pictures. Eventually you will also be able to RSVP for the wedding through this site or our knot.com website. There is a link in the top right corner of the screen to direct you to that website.

**Oh by the way, I have had a bunch of people shocked when the find out or see that my dress is posted on here. So I thought that I would let you know that Jeremy doesn't ever read this so there are no worries. : )

Current Tasks being Worked on:

• Reserving our Officiant(s)


• Finding the "final" church


• Sorting through & Finalize our Guest List


• Start looking for Bouquet Flowers & Décor

Thanks Again ~ Rachel

Dress Shopping

This past Friday I made my first appointment to look for wedding dresses. I invited the bridesmaids, my mom and Jeremy’s mom to join us. It was rather overwhelming when I first walked in and looked at the room full of bridal gowns. You start to ask yourself, “Where do you begin?” It was fun though; we just started pulling things that seemed to match what I liked. Before long there was a dressing room full of dresses. I started to try on the different styles and look for the reactions of everyone. There was one particular dress that everyone loved, but I just wasn’t thrilled about. It was a little poofier than I wanted and it had the gathered material in the back, so many people have done dresses like that lately, I just wanted to stay away from that. After trying on a dozen or so dresses I found the dress I loved. It was beautiful! It was a fitted style like I was looking for, but will a little fullness at the bottom. The bodice was covered with silver beading that went across the chest and back to the left hip. It has a low v-back, which makes it look very elegant. Then I put the veil on. I wanted a longer veil, this one goes to about the back of the thigh and I plan on attaching it at the bottom of my head. The veil is beautiful, it matches the dress perfectly, and you would have thought that they were made to go together. I am so excited to wear the dress; this makes me so antsy for October to get here.



We were also able to find our bridesmaid dresses. They are a champagne color and will have a chocolate brown sash around the waist. (The picture shows a different color sash.) Unfortunately I was unable to find the color green that I really wanted, so we are going to compromise and have the girls carry green bouquets. I think that the dresses are really elegant; I know all of the girls will look beautiful in them.

I was also able to get an idea of what the guys tuxes will look like. They will all wear chocolate brown tuxes. Jeremy will wear an ivory colored vest and tie while all the groomsmen wear green vests and ties. So our green color will be tied in with everything.

Here is a vague idea of what everyone will look like the day of the wedding, just picture the guys in green vest not this blue color. It is bound to look beautiful.

We have also begun to accomplish allot of the beginning planning. We have a hall, church, cook, piano player and attire picked out. We are making the final decisions on a dj and photographer, which should be decided by the end of this week.

Current Tasks being Worked on:

Booking a DJ

Finding a Photographer

Reserving our Officiant(s)

Cake Ideas

If anyone as any suggestions for any of these topics, feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks Again ~ Rachel

Some Wedding Ideas

Well the wedding planning has begun. Granted, I knew in advance about our wedding date, so I was able to start looking for ideas before we got engaged, that has been a big help.

Our wedding colors are going to be shades or Brown, Green, Tan and Ivory.
Here are some swatches: I like these colors for fall much better than the traditional red, orange and yellow. I am excited to see everything come together.

Here are some ideas I have found for bridesmaid dress. I still have to find my dress, but once I find my dress than we will conquer the bridesmaid dresses. This picture is what I am thinking of for the colors of the dresses, not necessarily the style.

My plans for the decorations at the wedding are to use brown table linens and run a wide green ribbon down the center of the tables. I am thinking of using allot of votive candles and some flowers, branches and river rocks. I really like the natural and earthy feel and I think that it will really look nice but still be simple. Here is an inspiration picture that shows where some of my ideas have come from.

For now, that is all that I have to share. Once more things are decided, I will be sure to share that info with you. I hope that you enjoy "seeing" our wedding come together.

Current Tasks being Worked on:

• Booking the cook


• Finding a DJ


• Finding a Photographer


• Start Wedding Dress shopping

If you have any suggestions for any of these tasks, feel free to leave a comment.

I want to wish everyone a Very Happy Easter!
~Rachel