Our Wedding - The Photos

Beautiful photos by Photography Anthology

Next up in my wedding recap series, I wanted to share with you some of our more formal photos from the day. We took most of our photos directly after our Ceremony, as Mark and I were really set on not seeing each other until we walked down the aisle. One of the most fun parts of our day was coming around the front of the venue after our Ceremony to this gorgeous rental getaway convertible. We were able to take some photos with it - the perfect vintage prop - but we also used it as a getaway car to the hotel at the end of the night. Mark and I both agree that driving through the countryside that night with the top down and a million stars gleaming was the most amazing way to end the day!

We also took some formal family and friend photos in front of our Ceremony site during this time too. I’m so pleased that the weather cooperated and that we were able to do all of this outside that day. I just love the background of the tree and flowers in these photos and the beautiful leaves on the ground!

Mark and his groomsmen took photos separately before the Ceremony. How handsome does Mark look in his green velvet tux against this crazy orange tree! These are some of my favorite photos of the day!

My bridesmaids and I did the same before the Ceremony - Mark was sequestered to his get-ready room and we roamed the mansion to get some photos. I am so pleased that we took a moment to get a photo of me in front of this huge beautiful window in the ballroom.

At the end of our photo-taking, Mark and I got to spend some time just the two of us. The light was so great, the air was crisp, and I wont lie: I cried a bit while we were walking around taking these photos - mostly because I just felt so much joy in that moment!

Our photographer and videographer did such an amazing job, not just with the two of us, but the entire day. I can’t wait to get our full wedding film back to share with you all!

After our photo and video session, we headed into our Reception to party with all of our people. A recap on that coming soon!

Our Wedding Invitation Suite

Beautiful photos by our wonderful photographer Photography Anthology

Hi friends- i’m here today with another post in my series recapping our wedding day! I’m sharing with you all of the details of our day, down to the nitty gritty, my reflections on the entire experience. Today, i’m so excited to take you through the process of creating one of my favorite elements of our wedding - our invitation suite!

Like I mentioned in my previous post about our Save the Dates - this element of our wedding is significant to me, not only because of all of the hard work that went into it (from many people), but also because it was designed with the help of my best friend and maid of honor, Hannah. She is so exceptionally talented, and though wedding invitations aren’t her usual medium, i’m so happy that she agreed to work with me on these, and even more thankful that her designs were given as a wedding present to us! (You can check out Hannah’s whimsical illustrations on her site here: hannahbessross.com. She even has a store where you can purchase prints and various other handmade goods!)

Hannah and I began the process by gathering inspiration. I made a private pinterest board and invited her to it. This ended up being one of the best decisions of the process, because we could remotely gather ideas, pull elements from other suites we loved, and communicate about every little detail, all while living in different states! I knew right away that I wanted a custom crest illustration that could be used throughout the suite. Hannah used inspiration from other wedding details, and from our story together to create the crest. One our Save the Dates, she illustrated two little love birds at the very top of our crest that were based on the gold metal birds we used for our cake topper (and now use as decor in our home!). She used florals and greenery that we knew would be reflected in our florals for the day, specifically lilies and phlox - that area very sentimental and special to both me and Mark. A version of the crest and other illustrations were used on each part of our suite.

Hannah also created an illustration of our venue, The Beverly Mansion for inside of the main envelope. I had seen others do this something similar to this, but never in this style and I really love the way that it turned out!

Once I knew that Hannah’s illustrations were going to be a focal point for the suite, I was able to decide on a simple, elegant layout for the informative text. I searched around for the perfect corresponding fonts, and ended up using two that I licensed from Creative Market. The next part was honestly the most difficult for me, as I had to figure out what wording we wanted to use (there are so many different options out there!) and how to lay out all of the information in a way that was both easy to understand and aesthetically pleasing. While I did most of the grunt work, it was so great to have Hannah to look things over and make edits and suggestions - especially since I don’t have much experience with designing with text in this way.

Once all of the elements of the suite were designed, I had them printed by the wonderful Alaina of CheerUp Press. This was sort of a last minute decision, as I was originally planning to print these myself, but decided that the extra cost of letterpress and a nice, thick, beautiful paper was worth it! Although it ended up being a bit more costly than i’d originally thought, I’m so glad that we went through with it, because the quality, dimension and texture really made all of the difference in person! Alaina is such a talented designer and creative - so if you’re looking for someone to work with whether it be printing or a full suite design (even non-wedding related projects) i’d highly recommend her services.

The last element of our invitations were the envelopes. I always knew that I wanted hand-lettered elements for my wedding day, so we worked with Kerry of Calligraphy by Keri to do both our Save the Date and Invitation envelope addressing, as well as our place cards for the reception. I was looking for more of a timeless style of lettering, and Keri specializes in those more traditional techniques. She did such a beautiful job, and is an amazing person - she definitely became a friend during the process, and is someone i’ll always be glad my path crossed with.

The envelopes themselves were ordered from LCI Paper - specifically the Merlot color with Euroflap in size A9 for the Save the Dates, and A7 for the invitations. When looking for envelopes, they were definitely the company with the most colors to choose from! Before printing, Alaina was able to color match perfectly with LCI to make sure our ink and envelopes matched!

Last but not least is one of my very favorite details: vintage stamps! Though it did take me a bit of time and a few trips to the post office to figure out exactly how many stamps I needed per envelope to get each item shipped, it ended up being such a special touch. I spent a couple of evenings searching for the perfect stamps for our invites, and ended up buying the vast majority from Vintage Postage Shop. If you’re looking for vintage stamps of any kind- Etsy is going to be your best friend! I chose each of the the stamps myself, but many Etsy sellers will help you curate stamps for any project you’re working on! This is one of those things for our wedding that it seemed like no one understood my obsession with when I first explained the idea but everyone loved when everything was together!

The process of designing and compiling all of the elements of our wedding invitations was admittedly one of the more challenging elements of planning our wedding - but it’s also one of the parts that I will treasure forever, because I know how much hard work went into them from both myself, and my many talented helpers! There are so many easier routes to go when deciding on wedding invitations but, if you’re creatively inclined like I am, I encourage you to consider doing some of it yourself - not only does it help cut costs, but it makes those details that much more special after all is said and done!

Our Wedding - The Details

Flowers via State & Arrow / Chair Via Lost & Found Vintage Rentals / Veil - Custom Made

Well, friends, the wedding is over. The cookies have been eaten eaten, the sentimental bits are stored away, the photos are back, and we are (almost) recovered from our honeymoon, so today I wanted to begin a series recapping our amazing day beginning with the details of course! I’m most definitely biased because i’m the one who picked out most of these details, but I felt like all of the thought and effort that went into really added something special to our day. We didn’t just buy accessories or decor to have it, but we worked hard to carefully chose items that we wanted to have in our lives, forever.

I am so so in love with my wedding dress! To the point that I feel a bit sad I wont ever get to wear it again. I told Mark the other day that I might just have to put it on now and again for fun. Though it turned out to be everything I wanted, the journey to get to this dress was a little stressful. Believe it or not - many wedding dress shops do not have very many plus size dresses in store to try on. I went to a few - but they just didn’t have exactly what I wanted. I tried my best to keep an open mind though- and I did try on a lot of beautiful dresses, but I kept going back to a dress I had pinned right after we got engaged. It had blush undertones and a beautiful 3D floral applique detail and romantic off the shoulder “sleeves”. I kept thinking about this dress that I just decided to see if I could track it down within driving distance. I found the designer, and a shop that carried his line in store about an hour and a half away from me. The only catch was that they didn’t keep this particular style in store. So - my Mom and I made the drive down, the shopkeeper took my measurements, I tried on a few similar dresses by the designer, and long story short: I ordered my dress without ever trying it on. Talk about stressful! But - it was the best decision ever! It fit so well and only needed a few small alterations. When it comes to wedding dresses, people have a lot of opinions but here’s mine: just trust your gut. Sometimes you know even from just a photo or two!

One of the most enjoyable parts of wedding planning for me was choosing my day of accessories. I really kind of went all out - but I did a lot of research. I made a mood board with ALL my dress and all of my details on it before I ordered any of it, just to ensure I liked it all together. The only item that I wasn’t sure about was my garter - so the week before, I chose to add some gold embellished pieces that I took from a hair piece i’d decided not to wear - and it ended up being one of my favorite accessories!

We knew early on that we wanted to share personal vows during our Ceremony, but I went back and forth over whether or not having vow books would be worth the cost. I am SO HAPPY that we chose to add this small detail, because not only were they so special to have on the day of, but now they are one of the keepsakes I will treasure forever. To have our vows to each other written in our own handwriting is really so, so special. We also love the flasks we got for our wedding and use those from time to time as well. I wanted to get a little gift pre-wedding for Mark to add a little bit of spice to his outfit, and these beautiful vintage French cufflinks were just the right thing!

I knew that I was going to need some flat shoes for our Reception - and boy am I glad that I had some! I actually changed out of my heels directly after the Ceremony because my feet were going numb. That’s what I get for not breaking in my shoes before the wedding! I also wanted to make sure that I had a jacket because in October in Ohio, its likely to get chilly in the evening. It was so nice to have this as an option, and we got some pretty cute photos with it at the end of the evening too! To make the jacket - I just found something that I thought would fit our color scheme/theme and purchased a customized iron on patch from an Etsy shop! The patch didn’t stay on very well after the wedding, but I still have the jacket- and all of the photos to remember how special it was!

Last but not least is a detail that I didn’t pick out at all, but that was one of my very favorite parts of my day! My Mom gave me this beautiful locket at my first bridal shower with photos of my late Father and Grandmother - so that they could be with me all day. We chose to add it, along with a ring of my Dads, to my beautiful bouquet.

There are plenty more photos and details to come soon! I hope that this post helped inspire you if you’re currently planning a wedding. At the end of the day, it’s really not about any of the “stuff” but picking out details you love sure can add some sentimental value to your day!

Our Wedding Film

Loooong time, no talk, huh? Things have been so busy since our wedding, that I haven’t really had time to post much here, but i’m excited to being sharing all about our day here. Mark and I recently got our full wedding films back, so I wanted to start by sharing that with you today. As a wedding filmmaker myself, I had really high expectations for our film. Well, Evan at Livemore Weddings knocked it completely out of the park. We loved our sneak peak so much, so I knew that this video would be killer too, but it still ended up being beyond any expectations. We’ve watched the film multiple times already, and i’m still pinching myself that THIS IS MY WEDDING! Truly, a huge thanks to Evan - what a beautiful keepsake he has created for us to treasure the rest of our lives. I hope you enjoy viewing the film, and if you’re looking for a videographer, be sure to check out Evan’s other work.

We’re Married!

Wow friends - i’m a wife! I still can’t believe it! Yesterday I got married to the most amazing man, and it turned out to be better than I ever could’ve imagined. It was truly a whirlwind though - more so than I could’ve ever anticipated. It went by so quickly. Anyway, I wanted to check in here quickly, if only just to remember how I felt right after getting married. I ditched my phone all day yesterday, but our wedding planner Leda was kind enough to share some wonderful photos and video on Instagram (follow her @eventshelddear) so i’m excited to share a sneak peak. ALSO, we ALREADY got a peek from our videographer (Livemore Weddings) and I wanted to share that with you two. This video had Mark and I in tears. It’s everything we could’ve ever wanted, and we are so excited to see the full thing!

Anyway - i’d better go because I have so much to do before we leave for Barbados tomorrow. There’s leftover food and alcohol all over our apartment, and I haven’t packed a thing! Oops!

My Hopes for Marriage

I recently came upon these words about marriage that my sister shared and I want to make sure that I always remember the, As we’ve planned our wedding, it’s been so easy to get lost in the details - the flowers and decor and chairs and food and money and all of the annoying little details. These last few days before we get married though, i’m forcing myself to let go of all of those silly worries and to focus, instead, on what it’s really all for. If there’s one thing i’ve learned working in the industry it’s that wedding days are simply what they are: there will be laughs and hugs and tears; there will be beautiful moments and there will also be some things that don’t go as planned. Some random member will say something cringe worthy, and someone will probably wear jeans. Someone will most definitely be late. It will be one day of our lives and then it will be over. Marriage is so much bigger than that one day. I hope that my heart can hold that truth through it all.

I hope that marriage will have magical days, but I know it will have dull days too. I hope that on the magical days, I can have the awareness to soak in every last bit of it. I hope that marriage is full of belly laughs and silliness and never acting our age. I hope that in my marriage, when i’m angry and frustrated, I will take the time to remember why I made the commitment in the first place, and why I loved in the first place. I hope that marriage is a soft place for me to land when the world is hard, and that I will be that for my partner too. I hope that marriage will be like having a built in best friend, a never-ending sleepover, and a forever number one fan. I hope that marriage will be simple in some ways and complicated in other, but fulfilling always. I hope, more than anything that i’m good at marriage. That I can learn to be good at it. I hope that I live a long long life, that I grow old and gray and wrinkled with Mark and I hope that at the end of it all, my marriage was the greatest thing i’ve ever done.

Our Save the Dates!

Last week marked six months until our wedding day, and that means its time for Save the Dates. After a few nights of stuffing and stamping, we dropped them at the post office, and off they went! Now that most everyone invited to our wedding has received them, I thought i’d share a little glimpse on here!

Our invitation suite, including the Save the Date, are truly special to me because I designed them with my best friend and Maid of Honor, Hannah. She is a super talented illustrator based in the Chicago area, and I was so honored when she agreed to collaborate with me as a wedding gift.. It has been so fun to work on together, and I will forever treasure this design and the memories i’ll have. What an amazing gift to be able to treasure.

. Be sure to check out more of Hannah’s work on her website.

When beginning the design process, I collected a lot of inspiration and began to narrow down some elements that I was drawn to. The most important aspect of the suite to me was for it to set the tone for the rest of the wedding - elegant, classic, and moody.

Once we had the design down, it was time to print! I had sort of a change of heart at the last minute, and we ended up working with Alaina of Cheer Up Press to have all of the elements letterpressed. She was so great to work with, fit us in on a tight deadline, and did a truly beautiful job. Mark and I both agreed that it was 100% worth it, and that the dimension that letterpress creates really put the entire design over the edge. Alaina also designs custom invitation suites, so if you’re getting married, and aren’t lucky enough to have a super talented illustrator for a friend, then I would definitely look into working with Alaina!

From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to use a calligrapher and vintage stamps for our suite, but I am still blown away by how amazing they turned out! Special thanks to Keri of Calligraphy by Keri who did such a beautiful job. We’ve also hired her to do some custom calligraphy for the wedding day as well, and I can’t wait to see more of her beautiful work!

I sourced the stamps from a few different etsy shops, but the majority came from Vintage Postage Shop. Liz was so very kind, and the stamps came so beautifully packaged. I chose the stamps myself, but she also has an option to curate a selection for you! I got enough stamps to send our Invitations as well, and am even more excited for those!

Using vintage stamps was admittedly a bit complicated, but totally worth it in my opinion. I’m planning on a whole blog post just about how I went about figuring it out for all of you getting married (or really just sending any special mail - they could be used for a lot of occasions)!

Sending out Save the Dates was admittedly a bit more emotional than I thought it would be, though i’m sure others might find that a bit weird. When we went to drop them off, I felt a bit nervous all of a sudden. I put a lot of love and time into them, and felt nervous about them getting lost or damaged. More than that, though, it made it all start to feel more real! Once our friends and family started receiving them, I was getting texts left and right and it just filled up my heart. I know that the next six months are going to fly by and I truly cant wait!