A Simple Ceremony::Outdoor Decor

Sorry I've been gone for a few weeks, it turns out that planning a wedding and having a full-time job (like almost all of us do) sometimes can be a little overwhelming. But now I'm back and less than three months from my big day! Holy cow! I like saying less than three instead of a little over two (whenever I hear two, it makes me anxious). So, besides having an overwhelming amount of this to do (even though up until now, I've felt as if my planning was flawless), I am still constantly gathering new inspiration, which is absolutely KILLER if you are actually trying to make decisions. From all of the gobs of beautiful things I've seen, here's my plan for the ceremony. My ceremony will be outside my parents home under a lovely tree. I'll enter through our front door to rows of natural wood chairs and make a winding path around to the end of the aisle and all the way up to meet JB. I've always been in to a clean, somewhat industrial, earthy aesthetic (that makes sense, right), which I plan to carry through the ceremony. We won't have an altar, or really anything other than the tree up by where we'll stand, however, to make things festive, there are a few things that I've decided to add to the decor (only a few), so here's my guide for festive-ing up your ceremony.

1. Find something unique but simple that you can use again. My mom has always taught me two things about shopping: 1. buy for the long-haul 2. don't buy small stuff (she's not in to chotchkies).  So heeding her advice (I've been making staple housewares purchases for years) and with her help, we found 5 beautiful round metal candle pieces that will hang in the tree behind us. One more piece of mom advice for making things look perfectly undone and chic, choose odd numbers, specifically 3 or 5.

Clockwise from top left: one, two, three

2. Add something living. For me that's easy, the tree. However, at the end of the aisle I will also have a few (probably 3) pots or holders of some sort with living plants and I'll have a eucalyptus garland around the front door.

one, two, three 

3. Keep it simple and stay true to yourself. This is what I've been struggling with! There are so many ideas that are beautifully executed to choose from that it is absolutely overwhelming, however, what I've been trying to remember to help decide what I do and don't want is: would I pick this any day, or just today? Think about you and your lovey's true style, what do you two like and go from there. For me and JB, it's simple, we don't like clutter or anything too girly. However I've been on the edge of buying and cutting pink ribbons for a ribbon curtain on multiple occasions. Here are a few more things that have almost made me drop all plans and start fresh.

Clockwise from top left: one, two, three, four I wanted to change our names after I saw this:

Can you imagine a root beer themed wedding?! The BEST!

Are y'all having trouble making decisions? How are you decorating your ceremony?

Rehearsing::The big dinner

Since JB and I became engaged, we've been planning, re-planning and constantly discussing the rehearsal dinner. We quickly found out that most of the places we'd love to have our dinner either 1. Don't make reservations for parties on Friday nights during dinner time, 2. Are ridiculously far above our price range, or 3. Don't have a space large enough for our group. We aren't having a HUGE dinner...just near 50 people, but turns out many restaurants accommodate around 35-40 in their private rooms. After searching and searching for the perfect place that's meaningful to us, but also has the unique food we love, I think *fingers crossed* we've finally settled on a new restaurant near our houses, Next Wood Fired Bistro & Vino Bar. With the location decided, now it's time for us to start brainstorming the fun stuff! Here are a few of the things I'd love to do at the dinner and my style inspiration for our wedding-eve.

1.Postcards: I want postcards sitting at the tables for people to leave us notes, advice, drawings, etc. At the end of the night, JB's mom will collect them and then mail them to us, one each week until we have them all! I'd love to get one of these Pantone postcards each week. Wouldn't they make the CUTEST little album!

2. Music: It's always important to JB and I to have the music we love playing at our events, so the rehearsal dinner is no exception. At our venue, they normally have a guitarist, but we're in a separate room and may not be able to hear his music. If not, here are a few songs we have to play. P.S. The linked playlist is on Spotify, which I LOVE. If you don't have it yet, you should, you can share songs with friends, listen to basically any music you could ever imagine...it's just great.

3. My style: I bought my rehearsal dinner outfit at the end of last summer (when all the whites were on sale), but here is my inspiration for my outfit. I'm even thinking that I might wear an antique hat or headpiece, because why-the-heck not. What are you wearing for your rehearsal, are you going formal? Casual? I'm wearing a skirt and top (all in white, of course), so I guess I'm right in the middle.

one, two, three, four, five

 4. The After Party: What do you think about an after rehearsal dinner party? Have you had one, been to one? I'd love an opportunity to see a few people who weren't at the dinner before the craziness of our big day. Let me know about these later-night, after-dinner get togethers! 

 

Videography::Dreamy and Whimsical

Videography is something that I've always wanted incredibly bad for our wedding, but nothing (until now) ever quite seemed to work out. Have you seen some of the incredible wedding videos out there?! They are AMAZING, dreamy, whimsical....more than simply a tape-recording of the day, that's for sure! Here are two videos that I keep going back to because I simply can't get enough. Stick with me because *gasp* the second video isn't a wedding video, but it is BEAUTIFUL and the aesthetic that I want for my wedding (also, I'm absolutely in love with food, so this video [for me] is quite fitting).This first one gets me EVERYTIME. The pink church, the gifts and Wonderwall...just watch, you'll see. http://vimeo.com/26502282

Now, this is the wedding-less video, but I'm pretty sure that you're about to fall in LOVE with Tiger in a Jar just like I have. The dreamy lighting, documentary style and just wait for the ombre pine nuts!

http://vimeo.com/25385248

Now that you've seen those two BEAUTIES! Look at Jonathon Link Studios, the amazing videographers that I am going to have the privilege to work with for my wedding. They are an adorable husband-wife duo and JB and I are thrilled to have them on our team. Here is one of my favorite videos they've done, but really I love them all!

http://vimeo.com/19527209

Two of my favorite things about Jonathon and Kristin Link are: 1. They are attending our rehearsal to get a better feel for how the day is going to go down. 2. They are shooting our wedding with 3 cameras (!!!). We met with them this past weekend to talk about details and were just so impressed with everything they had to say, I can't wait to watch our video for years to come!

I love the gift exchange from the first video and I always love when videos include pre-wedding preparations, but what are some other things that I have to make sure to leave time for my videographers to capture (other than the obvious ceremony and reception traditions)?

P.S. I'm less than 5-months out! Also, I found this the other day in a book at Pottery Barn and had to share...