The Musical-Feast for the Wedding

Music is a big influence in both Dustin and my life.  We wanted the wedding for the music to be different from the typical wedding music (no "Here comes the bride").  Our wedding theme is romantic, so our music mainly from the romantic era.

Dustin's musical life has always been about the saxophone.  I have always fantasized about a string quartet.    Neither of us was happy with the other.  SO we had to compromise!  Piano makes us both happy, so we are going to have a pianist (Dr. Adams, a piano professor from WCU) and a vocal soloist (Courtney Umphlett, an SAI sister).  Done!

Dustin was in charge of choosing music, but he couldn't seem to decide.  We spent MONTHS picking this out, so I hope you enjoy.  Feel free to look up some of the music on youtube!


Prelude:

• Dawn - Marianelli (From Pride and Prejudice)
• Humorersque, Op.101, No. 7 - Dvorak
• Waltz in Ab Major, Op. 35 - Brahms
• The Maiden's Prayer - Badarzweska
• Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 62 - Mendelssohn
• Wedding Day at Troldhaugen - Grieg

Seating of Families & Wedding Processional: Clair de Lune - Debussy

Entrance of the Bride: Meditation from Thais - Massenet

Song during the ceremony: Wedding Song (There is Love) - Stookey

Recessional: Polonaise No. 3, Op. 40 - Chopin

What was the music for your wedding like???

Flowers Make Everything Better

Flowers are an important part to the decor of the wedding!  Our wedding theme is romantic.  Our music is all from the romantic era, and we are using candles EVERYWHERE! (My church has over 200 votive candles we can use :D).

The florist is a vendor that you should look for early on.  It's important to price compare.  Honestly, it is the most expensive part of my wedding, and we are trying to not have too many.  Luckily our florist is the head of the decorating/flower committee at my church.  She is familiar with the venue, and I believe will do a great job!

Now to the fun part!  Our flowers for our wedding.

My bouquet is mainly going to be sweet peas. Hopefully it will look exactly like this!

The bridesmaids and junior bridesmaids will have white calla lilies bouquets, smaller than this.

The boutonnieres are going to be made out of picasso calla lilies (pictured below) and green hydrangea.  The mothers and grandmothers will have a mini-bouquet with picasso calla lilies and other assorted flowers.

In my hair, there are going to be two purple lisianthus.

We are going to have hurricane glass candles with ivy in the stain glass windows.  There will also be a flower arrangement display in the entryway and loose flowers in the church choir loft area where it will be filled with candles.

Our centerpieces will be simple and have purple orchids in square vases (and candles).  Not sure the type of orchid though.

Finally, our cake will have purple freesias.

WHEW!  I think that's pretty much it!  Flowers/design can be a very complicated area of the wedding!

What did/will your flowers (especially the bouquet) look like!?!

Wedding Invitations are OFFICIALLY in the Mail!

If you've been following my blog, you see that Dustin and I have been working furiously on our wedding invitations.  It was a very tedious process (especially if you have 175 invitations going out to over 250 people).

First I had to tie ribbons on all of them.

Then we included labels with our registry, and printed labels for the addresses.  We wrote names in the inner envelopes, included RSVP cards, and put the addresses on the outer envelopes.  Not to mention hand writing the names on the extra invites our parents came up with.

Then Dustin worked really had to put wax seals on the outside.

Finally, we bought stamps and placed them on the envelopes!  They were all in the mail by March 5!

All of the hours of hard work was worth it!  Can't wait to hear back from some people.

Finally my tips:

• Make sure to allot time for the work of putting the invites together.
• Order extra invitations for the people you forget to invite.
• Go to the post office and have your invitations weighed to make sure you have to correct postage (especially if there's a bunch of extra stuff on it!).
• When budgeting the cost of your invitations, remember to include the cost of postage!

How to Handle a Dress Fitting

First I would like to share my experience, and then give some tips for you!

The last couple of weeks, I've been busy with meetings for the wedding, as well as getting my dress fitted.  I would like to note that it is better to wait to the last 6 weeks to go to your first dress fitting because your weight does tend to fluctuate during your engagement (whether you loose weight or gain).  However, because of the make of my dress, I was confident that all I would need is a hem and a bustle.

When I got to David's Bridal my fabulous SAI sister and wedding dress consultant Jessica literally had to SQUEEZE me into that dress.  Big wake up call! I still fit into the dress, but the slip was a little bit too tight for my taste.

Luckily, my shoes were the perfect height for me to not have a hem, so I had a bustle put in (so no one steps on the train during the reception).  I have the double french bustle, which is in the picture below.  Now my dress looks nothing like this, and the bustle looks a little different, but you can get the point.

When I came back on Friday, with a couple bridesmaids this time, I had lost an inch from my waist and everything fit perfectly!  The bustle looks great, and it will be perfect for the big day!

Now some important information for you to know about fittings!

• If you have a busy schedule, or your bridesmaids live far away, you don't have to have people there with you at every fitting.  BUT you need to have someone there at the final fitting.  They learn how to put you in the dress, and how to tie your bustle.
• There is a certain order to put everything on (this is good to know for the big day).

1. Bathroom
2. Shoes
3. Slip
4. Bra
5. Dress

• If the store where you buy your dress has shoes, at least consider them.  Try some on and see if there is a pair of shoes that will help with $ by not having to put in a hem!
• When you are working out, especially between dress fittings, don't lift weights (thanks Jessica!).  Your main focus should be cardio because if you do weight training, you may not fit in your dress because of your muscles! 

If you have any other tips, feel free to share!

HONEYMOON PAID IN FULL!!!

Last week, we made the last payment on our honeymoon!  It is PAID-IN-FULL!!!!

In case you didn't know what we are doing....

We are going on a 7-night cruise on the Carnival Dream!  We will leave from Orlando and go to Cozumel, Mexico; Belize; Isla Roatan; and Costa Maya, Mexico!

CAN'T WAIT!