Selling the dress...

After much contemplation, I have decided I will sell my wedding dress. I figure, I am not having children, so there's no daughter to try and force to wear it (hahaha) and since I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, space is at a premium.

So if anyone wants a beautiful lace sweetheart fit and flare, check out the ad:
ONCEWED

Sparkle and shine...

Next up is our jeweler - that's right. We went to JARED! They took care of all of our wedding ring and jewelry needs and did a spectacular job. The rings were as ordered, looked awesome, and I had no problems taking my rings in to get sized as well as having "dots" installed to keep the ring from 'spinning' since it was top heavy (highly recommend for folks that have a top heavy ring and skinny fingers with possibly big knuckles... darn violin playing!)

They also were where my mom got my wedding pearls - which I love and still wear on special occasions. Thank you again mom :)



David's awesome Notre Dame cufflinks were from cufflinks.com

Takes a lot to look awesome :)

Next is dress, makeup and hair :)
My dress was of course a Marisa dress (Priscilla is the dress name) that I purchased from Hannelore's in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. The sales folks were very helpful and patient, even when a few members of my party were *ehem* indecisive. They helped me find the perfect dress in the perfect color, and ordered it perfectly and on time. Their alterations folks are a bit pushy - I can't remember who my person was, but due to that, and the prices they quoted for the alterations, I went to the awesome Angie Cavallaro for my alterations instead. (read about that experience here) I will let you know that Hannelore's is NOT cheap, and they pretty much insist on appointments. I have heard horror stories with folks who think that its like David's Bridal or something and just "drop in" and expect the same level of service. Take my advice, make an appointment and you will be more than happy.

My makeup was done by the makeup artists at Kingsmill Resort and Spa in Williamsburg, Virginia. The staff there took the time to work with me and create a great natural but formal look for my wedding day. Angel, my makeup artist was funny sweet and very talented. I cannot thank her enough for making me look flawless on my big day!

My hair was done by yours truly. And for those of you who are follicularly challenged like I am, I highly recommend RPG Show for not just special occasions but for everyday look awesome hair :)

My veil was purchased online from weddingveil.com - the customer service folks were VERY helpful and even sent me swatches so I would know what colors to order. The veil came quickly and was just as I ordered! Thank you!

Location Location Location....

For the location reviews, as most of yall know, we used the historic Sir Christopher Wren Chapel at my alma mater William and Mary for the ceremony. The ceremony went awesome, and I was so excited that I was able to book the Chapel on the date that I wanted. Louise is very helpful and the deposit for the Chapel is also tax deductible since its a historic site! :) So if you are alumnus and want a beautiful setting, I highly recommend (contrary to popular belief, BOTH bride and groom do NOT have to be graduates - only one has to be alumni).



For the reception venue, we chose Colonial Heritage Golf Clubhouse in Williamsburg, Virginia. The venue it self went well with our theme of historic looking charm and a beautiful view, not to mention the green lawns and the great price. Being that we had booked about a year in advance, they were able to give us an awesome price which included prices of the food and drink. And because it was an all inclusive venue, we didn't have to worry about renting any china or silverware either. While the venue itself went through several coordinators during the year leading up to our wedding, and we didn't exactly get along with all of them, the wedding itself went off without any issues. I would however stress that you make sure all things promised up front end up in the contract in written form, (as you should with all your vendors) so there are no misunderstandings later on, or if your venue should change coordinators like ours. If I hadn't been diligent in keeping all correspondence we might have had a few "misunderstandings".



For the main hotel for the wedding party, family and guests as well as the site for the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding we used Williamsburg Hospitality House. The hotel I knew well from years of being at W&M - they had taken good care of us during Hurricane Floyd when our dorms had flooded and most of Williamsburg had lost power. The rooms were very roomy, clean, and had all the amenities that we needed. The bridal suite which became the honeymoon suite was HUGE, and perfect. It included a little kitchen, dining room, living room and bedroom (If I remember correctly we had the Monroe suite). Icing on the cake is the prime location of the hotel smack dab in the middle of Colonial Williamsburg by the infamous delis and the historic old campus of William & Mary. The food for the rehearsal dinner was uber yummy as well and the staff was very accommodating for all our requests! Also helpful - the staff was able to create a room block for us as well (being that it was a holiday weekend) and was able to tell me how many folks had booked the hotel so I could make the proper amount of welcome packages for the guests.

All pictures by DeAnna Casey Photography

Reviews :)

Ok I have to admit, the wedding came and went and so did my first anniversary. I have had a bunch of draft entries just waiting to be published but haven't had the time to get cute pictures and whatnot to go with them so they sat in my draft folder.

Seriously I have been uber busy...


But I figured to help any of the other brides out there in the midst of planning I should at least offer all my reviews for each of the vendors that I contracted during my wedding journey.

This includes:
The wedding ceremony venue
The wedding reception venue
Transportation
Make-up
Hair
Rehearsal Dinner venue
Hotel that hosted my guests
Photographer
Cinematographer
Cake Maker
DJ
Lighting and Linens Rentals
Dress Shop
Wedding undergarment shop
Tailor/Dress Alterations
Bridesmaids Dress Shop
Groom and Groomsmen Outfitter
Jeweler
Honeymoon
Florist
Wedding Photo Album

Did I miss any? Well stay tuned. I know it sounds like a lot but most of these are short and to the point, and have been done forever, but I was for some reason holding on for pictures to attach for the entries.

So buckle your seat belts and enjoy the reads :) *cracking knuckles*

lighting the way....

Once we figured out that we were going to do candles for the centerpieces, it was pretty easy to find a design we liked. While I am sure yall read about the total SNAFU that ordering the vases online was I wanted something simple to do and elegant, AND something that used all the extra vases we had.

After scouring the "internets" for ideas, I kept running across these pretty little numbers (pun intended):

Source

And while beautiful, I was NOT prepared to pay that much to just order them. SOOOOO I searched online to find a place to teach me to make them. I mean it couldn't be THAT hard right?

I found THIS little gem of a tutorial: Candle Table Numbers

It was exactly what I wanted to do!

So I ordered my own self adhesive vellum sheets and printed out my table numbers in my favorite Jane Austen font from www.dafont.com

and affixed them to my extra 7.5 cylinder vases and....

Source - DeAnna Casey Photography

BAM! how nice is this?!?!

i thought this was a vacation...

I decided a while ago to take a whole week off before the wedding to de-stress and get last minute stuff done for the wedding. Good thing I did!

There were quite a few last minute things I had to get done:
1) assemble luminary table numbers
2) make wedding mad libs
3) make guest book cards
4) get my dress cleaned and steamed
5) find something to wear for the rehearsal dinner
6) make the escort cards
7) make the signs for the guest book table and escort card table
8) oh yeah and finalize all the details with the vendors...

it might not look like much but lemme tell you it might as well say "build a rocket that goes to the moon". I was already stressing about everything, whether things would go wrong, whether people would even show up, whether my dress would look good, whether people would have fun, *sigh* I am freaking out all over again just thinking about it all.

but the beauty of lists, is that you start with a bunch of things and you can have the satisfaction of checking everything off the list.

so first up ... luminaries!!! :)