Anniversary Week: The Long-Awaited Wedding

I hope you guys have enjoyed learning more about how my husband and I got together--I've crammed a lot of info into a week of posts! But for this last post for this special series, I wanted to share some details from our wedding. (aka, my first photo dump! ;)

First, I have to tell you my dress story. You should know that I'm a huge Say Yes to the Dress fan. When the time for wedding dress shopping came, I had my heart set on a few Maggie Sotteros, made an appointment at a place where I thought I could try them on, and made an appointment also for David's Bridal. I really only planned to try on at the first appointment, not buy anything. So I was totally not in a this-is-the-day-I'm-getting-my-dress mindset at all. I kind of wish I had been now!

We were having a grand old time, even though they didn't have any of the dresses I wanted to try, and the place wasn't busy at all, so I had my consultant's full attention. I tried on about ten dresses, and saw one hanging up that she'd pulled for me. Ruching, flowers, taffeta, zipper back, amazing price: "Did I try this one on?" I asked her. I put it on, walked out to show my mom and sister and started squealing like a little girl as I looked at it in the mirror. Every new aspect I noticed about it, I was like, "Oooh, and this! And this!" I had THE moment, guys. Totally just like on the show! It came out of nowhere when I wasn't expecting it at all and knocked me over--just like Daniel did actually!--and I couldn't leave there without buying the dress, a Mori Lee I'd never seen before. Needless to say I cancelled my David's Bridal appointment. ;)

Bridal portrait photo credits to my best friend in the world, Mindy. (Actually 90% of all these photos are by her, and the rest are by friends and relatives, with a couple by me.)

This would be Mindy, credited above, my incredible Maid of Honor. I love this picture from just before the ceremony.

The ceremony took place at my and Daniel's church, whose sanctuary's color scheme happened to match that of the wedding.

Note the iridescent beaded curtain in the background. You'll be seeing more of that.

Our rings on my bouquet. Notice the carnival glass beads--a Vintage necklace--wrapped around the handle.

And more carnival glass beads adorned the bouquet.

In case you didn't already know, I LOVE old houses. And this uninhabited one happened to be owned by our church.

Carnival glass vintage necklace, and bouquet and boutonniere made by me.

More details: my bridesmaids' dresses, all the colors in vintage carnival glass (specifically amethyst carnival glass) // the bridesmaid jewelry // my bouquet and one of the bridesmaid's bouquets (which I also made) // one of the carnival glass centerpieces // the gluten free cheesecakes in our color themes (part of the most amazing gluten-free reception food ever to be had) // some of the color-coordinated tables.

I knew that everyone expected me to have an orange and gold wedding. So I decided to do something different and have a "juicy elegance" wedding! "Juicy" is how I describe iridescent colors and jewel tones. So incorporating my love for vintage Fenton amethyst carnival glass, I pulled from its many colors and used such pieces throughout the wedding, including as the centerpieces at the reception.

Now that I think about it, it was actually a pretty diy wedding. I made all the bouquets and boutonnieres (one of my favorite parts of the whole wedding was making those actually. I had a grand time). For the backdrops behind us at the ceremony and behind the cake table, we sewed organza material to arches and I individually tied each beaded strand to the arches (that was fun...). We placed roses in the vintage glass bowls for the centerpieces. And I wrote our vows and the song that we sang together in place of your usual unity candle. Daniel actually photographed the background for our invitations and we designed them (I loved them). Among many more details!

Then we honeymooned in Jamestown, VA, a place I'd visited with family twice several years before and absolutely loved. Daniel planned it all and kept the destination a surprise--I love surprises. :) 

We had a fantabulous time and really just relaxed the whole time, watching movies and eating a lot of gluten-free Dominoes pizza, instead of doing a lot of sightseeing, which is kinda what you do in Jamestown... But it was wonderful. And we also had gluten-free cheesecake a lot ... maybe even for breakfast. :D

But the best, best part of all of this is that we. are. married. Exactly what we waited for for so long. Happy Anniversary to my amazing, handsomest-man-in-the-whole-world husband. <3

P.S. Linking up with Thinking Out Loud, Lovely Thursdays, Fab Favorites, and Link Love.