Apr26
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Wow, I feel like things have hit the gas lately with wedding stuff! All the little things need to be checked off, which has made things feel even busier lately but it’s also nice to have some things DONE. And, the hunt for wedding shoes is over! I wanted classic wedding heels that I could wear over and over after the wedding, so I splurged on some gorgeous nude pumps. More on that below + what else has been happening!
Meeting with our wedding planner
Tommy and I chatted with Marla, from Marla Lawson Events, for almost two hours last Saturday. We went through SO many little and big details. A lot of things I had on my mind for a while, but I wanted Tommy’s opinion, and with our schedules, it’s been really hard to find time to go through all of them. We knocked out a lot of decisions on this call and got clear direction on the items we still needed to work through. Marla also thought of so many things that hadn’t even crossed my mind. A lot of things are “nice to have” that I wouldn’t have done without her help. I’m so happy we’ll have a really nice wedding, that’s not over the top, has attention to detail and still feels like us.
The Little Details
With the help of Marla, we made decisions on party favors, frames to display some of our engagement photos, place cards and more. We also chatted about some ceremony logistics, e.g. who holds the rings, who holds my bouquet, etc. – things we had to talk through since we don’t have a bridal party!
I still need a cake stand and a cake server set but don’t want to spend a ton of money on them since it really just doesn’t matter. (Some cake server sets are $80+!) I like this cake stand from Anthropologie and I think this knife and cake server would work too! Any other suggested places to look? I asked some local friends and family about borrowing those items, but strangely, no one has them.
Finally figured out music!!!
I was originally planning just a playlist and speakers, but logistically, it ended up being way more complicated than anticipated. (Graylyn doesn’t have a sound system that works well for events.) We went the route of a single musician, James Tucker. He’s actually a sponsored artist who is moving to Nashville to write and record songs so I’m really happy we snagged him!! My friend Casey grew up with him and he’s INCREDIBLY talented. Seriously, go watch some of his Instagram videos. This, this, this and this are some of my favorites. Okay, they’re all favorites. He’s also part of a duo with Brad Matthews, a guy from England. I can’t wait to see where James’ career goes!
We are still working through the song selection for key times, i.e. ceremony, first dance, etc. We have some picked out but still need to decide on a few more.
Food Tasting
We did our food tasting at the Graylyn last week. It wasn’t quite as fun as our cake tasting (um, best day ever), but it was still good!
The chef has been accommodating with my dietary restrictions, which I appreciate. We didn’t love a couple things so we changed some options, but I’m sure it will all turn out okay.
(I have my outfit details linked here)
Venue Walkthrough
Marla came with us to the food tasting so we could do a walk-through of the venue and make a few decisions about layout. I’m SO glad she there since there a lot of decisions where I’m just like, “uhhh I don’t know!”
She also gave Tommy and me the SWEETEST gift filled with things that we will use our home together after the wedding – Savannah Bee Company honey, a “dog mom” and “dog dad” coffee mug set, a giving plate, coasters, a towel basket, a North Carolina cutting board and more. She even had a toy for Maizey (an eggplant, I died) and ordered my favorite gluten-free cookies from Boone (which we’ll have at the wedding!).
Hammering out the timeline
This has actually been one of my favorite things to do, once I started it. (I’m also the person who likes to map out by the hour and sometimes minutes how I’ll spend my weekends sooooo…) I was a little overwhelmed not knowing when we really needed to “start” the wedding stuff, e..g what time does hair start? What time do I need to put on my dress? So, I just typed up what my “ideal day” would look like, starting from the moment I wake up to the moment we leave the reception. The timeline started to come together pretty easily with that approach. I felt so much more at ease knowing the plan. (Tommy knows I LOVE plans 😉 )
I also leveraged the timeline resources our photographer provided, which were really helpful. He had some GREAT tips and I discovered a few things I’d forgotten about. I’m having him look at my first draft of the timeline since he thinks like I do: being rushed is the worst and time buffers are the best.
The Great Wedding Shoe Hunt is OVER
I mean, holy crap guys. The shoe hunt was insane, but it’s finally over after ordering (I think) 15 pairs of heels. I’ve never felt more high maintenance in my life. I narrowed it down to two options: these Agata bow heels from LK Bennett that my friend Anna found and a classic nude pointy toe pump. I took them both to my last dress fitting, and I actually LOVED the way the nude pump looked with my dress. HA! If only I’d known that from the beginning, it would have been a lot easier! 🙂
I like the idea of a special pair of pumps since it’s a shoe I will DEFINITELY wear a lot afterwards, so I ordered a pair of Manolo Blahnik BB Pumps and a pair of Jimmy Choo Romy pumps. If neither of those work (i.e. the right shade and comfortable), I have a trusty old pair of Sam Edelmans that I know will work. I’ll just need to get them polished before the wedding since they’re a bit beat up. Manolos and Jimmy Choos are a HUGE splurge, but I like the idea of having a shoe that will last me for YEAR vs. a one-time wear. (I have a friend who has a pair of Jimmy Choos from 2003 and she said they still look amazing!)
The countdown is on
October will be here before we know it so I’m trying to soak in the joy of this time. I still get overwhelmed with gratitude that I get to spend the rest of my life with Tommy. We work so well together, even in stressful times, and just have so much fun together. Okay, I’m tearing up just writing this so I’ll stop gushing now! 🙂
Hope you’re having a great week!
Your turn: what was your favorite part of your wedding? (I may steal your ideas 😉 )
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20 responses to “Wedding Wednesday Update 10: Food Tasting, Timeline, and MORE SHOES”
My best advice is to stop worrying about the details. They dont’ matter and you wont’ remember them when you look back. Pick a few things (like 3) that are important to you. For us, I wanted nice wedding photos and good food. So many weddings have boring food and we didn’t want that. No one at the wedding cares about the details either, they are there to have fun and support you. I didn’t use a planner and I got married out of state without meeting vendors or seeing the venue. It all worked out just fine. No one will care what colors are on the table, what the decorations look like, or any of that stuff. They wont’ remember the music, they wont’ remember who carried rings and flowers. None of it matters. I would say: focus on the real purpose of the wedding – to marry someone you love. IMO it shouldn’t be about shoes, cakes, and decorations. It’s simply a day to celebrate. If you get caught up too much with the details you will start to forget the reason you’re getting married in the first place. 🙂
That is SUCH good advice! That’s actually how we started out our planning was identifying the top 3 things we cared about (venue, photographer and wedding size) and we figured that out immediately. Everything else is “nice to have” in our book, so when I start to get stressed out, I remind myself, “eh, it doesn’t really matter that much.” 🙂 I still have to have shoes and the cake is coming (as a gift) so I need something to put it on and cut it with, but really, exactly what those items are don’t matter to me.
That basket of goodies is amazing. Time is flying, October will be here before you know it!
My favorite part of our wedding was walking down the aisle, so I think you’ll have that covered! Otherwise I love that we did a first look and had tons of time for pictures beforehand so we were able to enjoy our cocktail hour. We did an impromptu receiving line after the ceremony which was great because it took the pressure off of going around to greet everyone since we already had. We were served our dinners first and had plenty of time to sit and enjoy them (don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t eat at your own wedding!) and then we walked around a little to chat with people as they were eating. Also we asked our venue to wrap up our leftovers and we actually got doggie bags with a whole fresh meal each! We preordered a ton of Wendys for our after party and had a friend pick it up around midnight, so all the drunk people could chow down. Oh also… our wedding and after party were all at the same hotel, so we actually ran upstairs and consummated the marriage between our reception and after party LOL, figured we’d both be tired and drunk later and I was right because we had people drinking champagne in our suite until 3 am! Good times!!!!
Ahhh I love hearing about your wedding! It sounds like it was so fun! I love that you snuck upstairs to consummate the wedding – ha! GO YOU!
I would DIE if I was up until 3 am. Our night is ending early (or at least that’s the plan haha).
Craft stores have some cheap cake stands, or I used Tradesy a few times to find items like that. It’s basically ebay for wedding decor and even dresses. We were married at a church and we arrived through a side door at the venue. They ushered into a small room with a table set for two and a bottle of champagne and literally immediately walked out without saying a word. It was nice to have the moment alone and also some time to eat a bit! We were also both sooo glad we did a first look and all the group photos before the wedding- we were able to get to the reception and spend more time with everyone. Seeing my husband down the aisle was still incredible and completely different surrounded by all our loved ones than when it was the two of us for the first look. I am like you and liked the day/details well planned. People told me it wouldn’t matter but I felt way less stressed knowing there was a detailed, planned timeline and backup plan for everything. Good luck with the final decisions!
I LOVE that you had a small room to yourselves – that is amazing! Thanks for sharing. Sounds like your day was so special and wonderful!! <3
Oh, and I totally agree that a first look sounds wonderful, and that seeing each other in front of friends/family will feel totally different from that too!
One of my favorite things about our wedding was doing a first look. I know people have mixed opinions on this but it couldn’t have been more perfect for us. We had terrible weather (a hurricane, seriously!) and were able to see each other and take pictures outside when the wind had died down a little bit. Had we waited any longer, we wouldn’t have had any outside pictures together because the weather got REALLY bad. It was so special to have that moment and then we were able to hang out in the bridal suite before the ceremony with all of our bridal party and parents and have the best time before everything got started. No matter what, the sweetest thing is that you are married at the end of the day.
I LOVE the idea of a first look. And that’s so lucky that you had those photos before the wedding turned horrible!!! One of our priorities is having quality time with just the two of us — so the evening doesn’t pass in a blur without us really being able to soak it all in together — so a first look sounds like the perfect solution.
I’ve had amazing luck with a local wedding yard sale group I found on Facebook–I’ve bought almost all of our decor items from there at a fraction of the price! There are also a surprising number of people selling wedding-related items on Craigslist (we got the ball jars for our flowers there and they were a steal). Definitely poke around online and you’ll be surprised how much you find. I can’t tell you my favorite part of my wedding just yet but in 18 days I’ll be able to 🙂 🙂 Good luck!!
Ahhh good idea! Didn’t even think to look for decor on Facebook!!!
I can’t believe your wedding is so close! I hope it’s WONDERFUL!!! Can’t wait to hear all about it! xo
I’m one of the last in my friend group to get married so I literally thought about the things I actually remembered from their weddings. Like someone mentioned above, the small details do not matter. Instead of favors we are making a donation to a charity, I’m not wasting money on programs, my wedding day coordinator is doing the centerpieces from her stash of supplies (because I literally can’t tell you what was on a table at a wedding I’ve ever been to), etc. I just want to have good food (I love to eat haha), an epic party celebrating with our closest friends and family and a kick ass photographer to capture all the fun. We are doing a first look and have planned for a short period after the ceremony for just the two of us to soak it all in before we head into the reception. We are also renting a beach house for the wedding party to stay in together so it will be a full weekend of fun!
Oh, it’s coming so soon!! You are so on top of everything! By the time October rolls around, you will be in great shape 🙂 And I agree, the small details don’t really matter much on the actual day, but I understand the need to at least have the basics 🙂
For my wedding, my mom, mother-in-law, and my mom’s friends made our cakes:) We had 3 flavor (lemon poppyseed, chocolate with chocolate buttercream, and carrot) and our wedding cake was chocolate. My mom found several glass cake stands at thrift and antique stores. They were beautiful! I love the cake knife and server you picked out from Anthro!
It’s hard to pick a favorite part of my wedding, but one was that I surprised my hubby with a song. My brother played the guitar and I sand “I Get to Love You” by Ruelle 🙂
Have your photographer pull the two of you away during your reception for sunset photos. Just the two of you away from the party (well, and your trusty photographer) and have a quite celebration that you’re OFFICIALLY hitched. I think that was one of my favorite parts… during the dance our photographer slipped us out and up on the rooftop for sunset pictures and we just stayed up there for awhile enjoying the moment!
I guess this is the first time I’m catching that you aren’t having a bridal party. I love this idea honestly! After being in more weddings than I can count and having a very small wedding party (2 on each side) I like the idea of no wedding party. Just wondering your reasons.
I got my cake stand from Hobby Lobby, wood stand for $15. Spray painted it the perfect shade of gold and added some glitter paint. It was elegant yet still rustic looking and in total cost me about $35. And I’ve had multiple friends borrow it. I only need a small cake stand though because we had cupcakes for the guests and just a small cake for us to cut.
Favorite part of our wedding: Seeing my groom before the ceremony and having 5 minutes of just us (captured by our sneaky photographer) and dancing with my brother holding a picture charm of my dad who passed away several years ago.
I loved every second of our wedding, but as everyone mentioned above-all of those small details I went crazy over didn’t matter at all. No one noticed the centerpieces weren’t quite what I had designed. My favorite 2 things we did were taking our photos before the wedding and second having our caterer make us a picnic basket of food to take with us. One of my favorite memories is sitting on our hotel room bed at 2 am eating from our basket. You don’t get to eat anything at the wedding, usually, and it was so nice to have yummy food when the adrenaline finally subsided. Oh, and just take a minute to really look around and take it all in. It goes by in a blink!
One more thing I thought of! Have your photographer take pictures of your guests. I don’t really care about all of those close ups of my rings. What I do care about is having pictures of all the people who were there! Babies grow up and people pass away, so it’s really neat to see that moment in time years later.
There are MANY favorite parts. First, I am SOO incredibly glad we splurged for a videographer. That video is SO special to us and it truly captured people’s happiness, emotion, and all the fun we had. I’ve watched it SO many times, definitely more than I’ve looked through the photos. I liked NOT having a first look, because the photographer got my husband’s reaction in the church at the time we first saw each other, which I love. I loved that I was on my dad’s arm as my husband saw me, because it truly brought home what the whole experience means – a father walking his daughter towards her husband and giving her away. I thought it was important for my dad to see the emotion and smile on my husband’s face, just as I did in the very moment. I did not care about the food AT ALL. I honestly just picked the cheapest option. I did not do favors, because many people end up leaving them on the tables and forgetting them anyways. I definitely wanted great music and I remember dancing the ENTIRE night with some great pictures of friends, family, and even my grandma with her walker. haha. Just remember that no one really pays attention to the details we (as brides) focus on. They’re there to support you and party with you – great drinks and music are the things guests pay the MOST attention to. I’m a big runner, as it seems you are. I got up at sunrise on my wedding day and went for a short run by myself. I would HIGHLY recommend this if you can. It was my 30 minutes of total silence with myself and my own thoughts. I set my intentions for the day without anyone or anything to bother me. I promised myself to be IN every moment, consciously try to remember it all and etch it into my brain so that I could remember how I FELT. The level of excitement, happiness, contentment, and FUN is pretty unmatched in life. There are few times ALL of your friends and family will all gather in one room to celebrate you and your love ….don’t let it slip past you in a flood of details. Consciously be aware of all the happiness and love around you so that the day doesn’t fly past you too quickly! ENJOY every single second! It truly was the best day ever and I love looking back to that fabulous day! 🙂
I loved planning our wedding so much and the day of was amazing. The food and our “theme” were my favorites. My husband and I are very into hard rock music and going to concerts is kind of our thing. So we had an elegant rock n’ roll wedding. The colors were black and white, the food was amazing (make sure you take the time to eat) and the reception was FUN! Our tables were named after concert venues, we played dance and rock music, and had gorgeous, huge curly willow branch and tealight centerpieces. We had a blast dancing and hanging out with everyone. Oh, and we had a dessert table with take home boxes instead of favors…no one has any idea what to do with the votives or shot glasses that are usually given. Then we had brunch with everyone who was still in town the next morning. It was a nice way to thank everyone.
Our wedding was almost 11 years ago and our family and guests still talk about it!
I have a cake knife and server that I intended to be shareable – it’s been used three times now, I think. It’s definitely more traditional than trendy, and intentionally not monogrammed – but I chose it with the idea that I could share it and eventually pass on to my kids. (You’re welcome to borrow it 🙂 )
Hmm… Favorite parts of my wedding. Looking back (19+ years!) I think I would say the dress, the cake (it’s all we got to eat at the reception!), and the photos. We did have a basket full of reception goodies to take with us afterwards, and our hotel was kind enough to reheat some things for us. May seem odd that something consumable was one of my favorite things, but I don’t care for traditional wedding cake (I know!). We had multiple flavors. I really think the most important thing is planning a day that will make you happy and truly celebrate the partnership you have created.
I have enjoyed reading this series – your happiness is so evident!
We were married just this May. Since it was a second wedding for both of us, I already knew what I wanted to focus-on what my husband and I wanted. We chose not to bow to expectations/traditions and do exactly what we wanted. It was still pretty traditional while very much reflected the two of us.
1. We skipped a lot of traditional things like garter/bouquet throws, formal wedding cake, specialty dances (father-daughter, money dance, chicken dance yada, yada, yada). because we just didn’t want to do it. I And since it was our wedding, we didn’t. Not one person seemed to notice. Skipping these traditions gave us more time to spend time with our guests and I felt less like I was on display. I definitely had fun and enjoyed the company of our guests.
2. I loved the food we served. Our reception was held at our church and started at 11 am (strange church rules). We also had to stay within our budget which limited us. A lot of placed we looked suggested BBQ foods because it is relatively inexpensive, easy to serve and most people like it. Problem is, *I* don’t love pulled/smoked meats (yes, I am quirky). Additionally, my husband and I are really BBQ kind of people. So, we served a buffet brunch of eggs, sausage, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, assorted wraps and sandwiches, pasta salad, smoked salmon, yogurt parfaits and fruit/cheese with iced teas, lemonades, water, and hot beverages. It was so nice to see people’s faces light us when they say the unexpected biscuits and gravy and sausage next to fruit and parfaits!
3. I loved my non-traditional wedding dress. I knew what I wanted, but had a problem found it, until I ventured away from the “wedding” dresses. My dress was actually a mother-of-the-bride dress. It was modest, yet fitted and feminine. I tried it on in black, but ordered it in ivory hoping it would look okay and it did.
4. Finally, I loved the non-traditional wedding cakes we had. Instead of a formal wedding cake (or cupcakes), my sister made various flavors of Bundt cakes (all gluten free and some vegan/gluten free). We displayed 6 cakes on a table using cut glass cake plates of varying heights ( bought at Goodwill). I borrowed my sisters serving set.