Nine and a Half Months to go...

November was a busy month and not busy in terms of wedding planning.

I did fit in a day of shopping for bridesmaids dresses with my maid of honor, matron of honor and junior bridesmaids. We had a lot of fun and narrowed it down to three dresses we all really liked.

I had a hard time deciding between the three. Every time I looked at the photos we took of us trying on the dresses, I came away liking a different dress. Individually, each of the dresses are great, but I wasn't sure how the dresses with a bit more beading would look with six girls wearing them.

We found a junior bridesmaids dress that matches the middle dress and can add the matching brooch as well. When I saw all of the girls lined up wearing the dress with the brooch, I just loved the way they looked together. Simple but elegant. And it is flattering on all body types. That's why I ultimately decided on this dress, (in plum):

 

Next I'll have to start thinking about shoes and accessories, for both me and the girls!

It's exciting now that the details are coming together. I can picture my bridesmaids in their dresses, standing at the alter at our church, and me walking down the aisle in my dress! Nine and a half months to go... !

Wedding Favors

I've been stuck on an idea for wedding favors. Often, wedding favors are impractical and get left behind by guests. My fiance and I agree we'd like favors that are useful or that our guests will be able to enjoy.

I finally found a great idea that both my fiance and I love and I think our guests will love too - personalized pints of apple cider as wedding favors!

My fiance and I love fall, and one of our favorite things about this time of year is fresh apple cider. It's delicious both cold and hot! What better way to share this with our guests than to give out cider as our favors?

We can make our own labels to personalize them. I've already talked to a local farm market about ordering them for the wedding.

Not only will our guests enjoy them, this fits perfectly with our rustic, fall wedding!

Rustic Decor

Now that I've decided on a theme and centerpieces, I've been full of ideas for the reception decor. Our reception venue isn't very rustic, so I'd like to bring in some decor that will accentuate the look and feel of rustic elegance.

I fell in love with the idea of using twine and clothes pins to hang photos or escort cards (or perhaps both!)

We can print our programs on natural paper and use plum ribbon to tie them together and bring in the color of the bridesmaids dresses:

These circular slabs of wood create a very natural feel

I like the idea of using wooden frames for tables numbers or using a few wooden frames for photos on the escort card table.

I'm excited to incorporate these different ideas!

Rustic Elegance

In an earlier post, I talked about themes - you can read about it here. I expressed my frustration that choosing a theme felt overwhelming and restricting.

But, as I said in that previous post, I think a theme can emerge in the details. I didn't start out the wedding plan process with a specific theme in mind. Rather, a theme seemed to emerged from the things I like.

The fall season keeps coming into play. I don't exactly have a typical two-color scheme, but rather I love plum for my bridesmaids dresses and like the way the fall colors will really pop against the dresses.

I seem drawn toward rustic, outdoorsy elements like in these pictures:

But we're not having a barn wedding or an outdoor ceremony, and our reception venue isn't exactly rustic.

I've been afraid that I'm trying to pull in an element that isn't really going to work with our venue. But when I started thinking about my gown which is beaded and beautiful, and the plum bridesmaids dresses which have an elegance to them as well, I realized when I pull it all together it's more of a rustic elegance. We don't have to be in a barn to have a rustic wedding. We can bring in those natural elements and tie them together with the pretty plums and candles that have a more elegant feel.

Lantern Centerpieces

It seems every other wedding-related decision I make, I second guess myself. I thought I had decided on the submerged flower with a floating candle centerpieces. But I couldn't stop thinking about these beautiful lanterns I found in the seasonal section of a local store.

I love the brownish/copper color. These are perfect for fall. At about 13 inches tall, they're just the right height for the center of the table without interfering with guests line of vision while seated.

I found some pictures of beautiful lantern centerpieces:

I think the lanterns give a nice rustic, fall feeling and with candles inside the lanterns and votive candles on the tables I can still create a romantic look. We can dress it up with some flowers and/or fall leaves.

The lanterns also come in a larger (19 inch) and smaller (9 inch) sizes that we can use in other areas of the reception hall. Here is a picture of the larger lantern with three candles:

Lantern centerpieces are more in line with the look I am trying to achieve. Now I can incorporate the rustic theme with more fall decorations (more on that to come!)

We booked our Church!

When we started looking for venues for our reception, I started with a very broad range of search parameters. I spent a lot of time and did a LOT of research before I finally narrowed it down to the more realistic options.

So once we (finally) booked our reception you would think I would have taken a better, more direct approach to finding our ceremony site. You would have thought wrong.

Once again, trying to think outside the box, I considered a wide variety of options. I looked at galleries and museums, barns and B&Bs. Most of these options I found to either be outside our budget or not large enough to accommodate our wedding party. I had to rule out an outdoor ceremony simply because the weather at the end of September in Western, New York can be pretty unpredictable - so that ruled out the gazebo at our reception site as an option.

After coming to terms with the fact I wasn't having any luck finding a unique ceremony location with an intimate, cozy feel, I began looking at local churches and non-denominational chapels. Finally, we found something that was just right for us. This church is welcoming and friendly and not to mention beautiful with stained glass windows and rounded wooden doors that will make for an excellent backdrop for photos! It has everything we were looking for.

I'm so happy with our choice and relieved to be able to check this item off the list!

Submerged Flower Centerpieces

My latest wedding project has been deciding on centerpieces for the reception. My mom and I have thrown around several ideas and I've finally come to a decision.

I'm all about romantic lighting and having lots of candles, so candle centerpieces seem like a perfect choice. I came across some great ideas:

I love this look with the submerged orchid.

And I love the staggered look of cylinder vases in different heights.

My mom surprised me by sending me a set of vases with floating candles. I couldn't wait to the light them!

I love the look of these - very romantic and elegant. And they give off a surprising amount of light!

The vases are 6", 7.5" and 10" tall.

The next day I picked up some gemstones from a local craft store to experiment with stones to decorate the bottom of the vase.






I started doing some research online and found some great resources for submerged flower centerpieces. Check out the great information on MochaRoseDesigns.blogspot.com

This suggests that the flowers that work best for submerging are orchids, calla lilies, roses, hydrangeas and tulips.

Once I meet with my florist I will have an idea what type of flower we can submerge. That's next!