Our Wedding


Planning our wedding was seriously the most fulfilling thing ever! I never really realized how much passion I had for planning events until I took on all the planning. I’ve been asked by so many people where and how I planned it that I thought this would be a great opportunity to just let you all know right here. Ryan and I got engaged December of 2010 and we immediately set the date. June 17th. Yeah, not a lot of time. I think the first thing that every couple needs to think about before making any plans is what is most important to them for a wedding celebration. After pondering over this for a couple of weeks we decided that we wanted a unique experience and a fun dance with all of our family and friends. I immediately started searching venues on every wedding blog out there; my favorite was The Wedding Bee

I came across a place called The Enchanted Barn and I knew I had to see this place for myself. Me, Ryan and the folks all took off in the dead of winter to take a tour of the barn. I’m talking 10 degrees and in a non-insulated freezing cold barn. It was perfect. 
From there came all of the details. The dress, flowers, invitations, caterer, cake, DJ, photographer, etc. First of all, I am a very frugal person. It was really yard for me to see how much everything added up to see I made it simple. I wanted a short dress for a found a simple dress from Unique Vintage and had it altered to my liking. 
Speaking of dresses I’ve never had so much fun then when I picked out the bridesmaids’ dresses. There was no question that I would find them through ModCloth and as soon I saw them I knew. I really hope that these will not be dresses that sit in their closets for the next 10 years never worn. My goal was to pick a dress that they can wear again and I think I did a pretty good job.
I didn’t want to do flowers and centerpieces through a florist. So I found someone on Craigslist that rents out Vintage Blue Mason Jars for events. Then I contacted some shops on Etsy to price out who could offer me the biggest bang for my buck. I chose Ilze Lucero Props and Bridal and she did an amazing job of piecing together my inspirational photos to make something unique just for me.
Invitations were a tough one for me. I would choose one and then change my mind over and over again. Seeing that they are the first impression of your wedding day I do feel that they are a pretty big deal. I decided that I wanted my invitations to match everything in the wedding from programs to table designations so I purchased a template from Uniquity Invitations.
One thing that I didn’t stress about was the meal. Who doesn’t like pulled pork sandwiches and cheesy potatoes? Just think, people don’t care what the food is as long as it’s good. You don’t have to get all fancy and spend tons of money on prime rib when half the people don’t eat it anyways. The cake was another story though. Ryan doesn’t like cake, unless it’s my white chocolate cake recipe, so we chose three flavors of cupcakes; white chocolate, strawberry, and lemon. We got the cupcakes wrappers from A Little Lollipop Tree on Etsy. Easy to just grab and eat, no cake cutting fee needed!
I had the hardest time trying to figure out how to do table designations with a personal twist. Then it dawned on me, me both love classic country music incorporate that. So while on a Sunday drive me and my dad stopped at a thrift store and they just happened to have a bunch of old 45 records. I used the same font that was used on the programs and such and printed out names of classic country music singers. My dad made some little wood stands and whalla!
As you have probably already guessed I used Etsy A LOT for our wedding planning. We got everything from the unity candle to the bridesmaids’ gifts from there. I highly recommend using Etsy as a planning tool because it really brought out a more personal feeling to the whole experience.
The last but certainly not least most important thing with our wedding was the photographer, Cadence Cornelius. She did an absolute amazing job on capturing our special day I cannot believe it. If you are currently planning your wedding do not skimp on photography. We took finding a photographer very seriously even though we didn’t have a large budget to work with. I wanted to look back at our photos in 30 years and be able to feel that day still and I think Cadence did just that.
If I had it my way I would plan wedding professionally but until then I will eat up all the fun details that make a wedding special to each couple.