Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue...

I know some brides don't bother with this old tradition, but I think it's cute!  So, I actually put some thought into these.  

Something New:

This one is easy.  Most everything I wore on our wedding day was new.  So, take your pick: my dress, my veil, my shoes, my jewelry, etc.!

Pictured: Lots of new!

Something Blue:

My shoes!  I searched long and hard for these.  In the end, I kind of gave up and settled for these.  I'm happy I did though.  They were comfortable (I wore them all day AND all night!) and the wedges prevented me from getting stuck in the grass (or breaking an ankle).  

They served their purpose... plus I have worn them several times after the wedding.  :)

Something Old and Borrowed:

These two ended up combined for me.  My aunt brought me rings that belonged to my grandmother and grandfather.  My grandmother's ring fit on my right ring finger so I wore it.  My grandfather's ring didn't fit so it was placed on the stems of my bouquet (after it was wrapped in ribbon).  It served this purpose, plus it let me have some part of my grandparents there with me since they both passed away years ago. 

Grandma's Ring

Grandpa's Ring

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the rings specifically.  I wish I would have.  Oh well.  What's done is done!  And, I can still see them in some of the pictures anyway.  

So, there you have it.  My something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.  I'm not sure that I believe in the "luck" it's supposed to bring, but I still enjoyed being a part of the tradition.  :)

The Bouquet Toss!

Immediately after the garter toss, we rounded all the single ladies up and did the bouquet toss.  Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as entertaining as the garter toss.  ;)  

Anyway, a little mood music:

I chose Bill Conti's Gonna Fly Now (that's the theme from Rocky).  Again, I thought it was cute (but I hoped that the bouquet toss wouldn't turn into a boxing match!).  

Thankfully, no boxing match erupted.  ;)  Unfortunately, more pink. I do love the paper lanterns, though.  :)

Photos courtesy of Howie Hartman of Double H Media.

Miss something?  Catch up here:
We arrive in Pennsylvania

We begin setting up

We stock the bar (and skip a rehearsal)

We have dinner and play games at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

We eat R2D2 and open presents at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

We bask in the glow of our paper lantern triumph

We finish setting up the tent

Wedding Day Details: The Favors

Wedding Day Details: The Set-Up 

Wedding Day Details: The Rings

Wedding Day Details: The Chair Signs

Wedding Day Details: Odds & Ends

The Girls Get Glamorous

Philip Gets Gorgeous 

Closeup: The Ladies 

Closeup: The Guys 

Closeup: The Bridal Portraits

Our First Look 

Pre-Ceremony Photos

More Photos of Us

Our Mini-Rehearsal

Partial Family Portraits

Wedding Party Photos at the Ceremony Site

Even More Photos at the Ceremony Site 

Grandparents, Parents, and Wedding Party Walk Down the Aisle

The Bridal Entrance... 

Ceremony Part I 

Ceremony Part II 

Ceremony Part III 

Ceremony Part IV: The Sand Ceremony 

Ceremony Part V: The Vows 

Ceremony Part VI: The Handfasting 

Ceremony Part VII: The Ring Exchange

Ceremony Part VIII: The Final Reading 

Ceremony Part IX: The End! 

The Recessional 

Pre-Reception Wedding Party Photos 

The Reception Begins

More Reception Photos

Thank You Parasol Photos 

We Cut the Cake 

Our First Dance 

The Father-Daughter Dance 

The Mother-Son Dance

We Get Our Groove On: Part I

We Get Our Groove On: Part II 

The Garter Toss!

The Details: Random Bits

I've got a bunch of other random photos that don't really fit anywhere else.  So, I'm just going to pile them up in this post.  ;)  Enjoy!

The flowers turned out really well.  We put a few stems of Baby's Breath in a mason jar and put two on each table.  I just put a simple ivory ribbon around each mason jar.  The bouquets were just wrapped in ivory ribbon and I put a series of pearl tipped pins in a line down the stems.

We had some extra paper lanterns so we just placed them on tables around the room.  The ones pictured are on the gift table.  

This is a close-up of the DIY I Spy photo scavenger hunt pages that I made.  They were wrapped in the napkins which were placed on the center of the plates at each place setting.  The vanilla sugar favor was then placed on top of that.  

This is just one of the candles from the centerpiece before it was lit.  You can see the books and luminary in the background. 

And, these are from the cake table.  The forks were all lined up so beautifully.  It's difficult to tell, but the forks are actually plastic-ware, not real silverware!  I was so pleased with that purchase (more on that when I do vendor reviews)!  The cake serving set is really nice.  I'm glad I splurged a little on it.  I may eventually have them engraved.  Maybe.  ;)

Anyway, I think that's about all the detail shots I'm going to do.  Next up, (finally) the girls get glamorous!

Photos courtesy of Howie Hartman of Double H Media.

Miss something?  Catch up here:
We arrive in Pennsylvania

We begin setting up

We stock the bar (and skip a rehearsal)

We have dinner and play games at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

We eat R2D2 and open presents at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

We bask in the glow of our paper lantern triumph

We finish setting up the tent
Wedding Day Details: The Favors
Wedding Day Details: The Set-Up 
Wedding Day Details: The Rings

Wedding Day Details: The Chair Signs

DIY Baby's Breath Boutonniere (Trial 1)

Today, I tried my hand at making a Baby's Breath boutonniere to go with the Baby's Breath bouquet I made yesterday.  It wasn't quite as successful.  This is what I was going for:

(Source)

And this is what I ended up with:

I think it looks okay for my first try.  I need to make the stems a little longer so that I have more to work with.  I feel like there is something missing.  Also, the bout is a little too ... "bushy."  It's kind of out of control.  I'm not sure what to do with the bottom of it.  Right now, it's just wrapped in floral wire.  

I think it's got potential.  I have some ideas for where to go with it on trial number 2.  I'm sure it will be beautiful.  :)

DIY Baby's Breath Bouquet (Trial 1)

I bought 2 bunches of Baby's Breath from King Soopers three weekends ago.  I haven't had a chance to do anything with them until today.  I finally decided to try my hand at making my own bouquet today.

This is what I started with:

There were 3 stems in each "bunch."  So, I had 6 stems to work with.  First, I sorted them out and trimmed them up so that the flowers would be more even.  Then I wrapped them in floral wire and trimmed up the ends.  

Then I grabbed some ribbon I had lying around.  I wrapped the stems up in it and then put in some pearl tipped pins to hold the ribbon in place (and to snazz it up a bit!).  Then I tied a bow around the top.  And, this is what I was left with:

I know it's not perfect, but I'm really pleased with it.  I mean, I only spent about 5 minutes on it -- tops!  So, I now have complete faith that we can get these bouquets done very quickly before the wedding.  And, I know that the flowers will last!  These flowers are already 3 weeks old and look almost as good as the day that I bought them -- just a little crispier!

Baby's Breath Bouquets

When I first heard that, I thought: bland, plain, ugly.  I mean, surely there is a reason that Baby's Breath has been known as a "filler" flower for so long.  I don't even like Baby's Breath as a filler in bouquets, so I definitely thought I'd hate bouquets of only Baby's Breath.  

That was until I saw this:

(source)

I can't believe how much I love this bouquet.  It is so simple but so beautiful.  The satin ribbon just really sets it off.  As soon as I saw this bouquet, I did a little more research.  Then I found this featured wedding on The Bride's Cafe.  I'm in love.  

I mean, look at this bouquet:

Ahhhh!  I just love it!  The bouquets are just so cute!  And if those weren't enough, just look at these from the same wedding:

I just love the Baby's Breath boutonniere!  It's just right. 

And, if the bouquets and bouts weren't cute enough, how about a little Baby's Breath decor?  So, so, so adorable!

I really want to do these bouquets.  The only problem?  Because of my budget, I'm DIYing my flowers.  I will only be arriving in Pennsylvania on the Thursday before the Saturday wedding and there is going to be a ton of other stuff to do in those 2 days.  I don't want to have to deal with putting together bouquets in that time.  But, I don't like the look of the silk Baby's Breath as much as the real Baby's Breath.  

I've come up with a few options.  I am going to go to the local craft stores and see if I can find any silk Baby's Breath that I like.  If I can't, I'm going to do a little flower drying experiment.  

Sam's Club sells real flowers.  They carry Baby's Breath for incredibly cheap.  So, even if my experiment fails, I won't be out a whole lot of money.  I found a few tutorials on how to dry Baby's Breath (I like this one the best) and I think I can make it happen.  

I'm a little excited to see how it turns out.  I'll be sure to keep you all updated on that adventure! 

Back to Bouquets

I'm still thinking about what to do about flowers. I've spent some time searching to see what other people have done. There are some really creative people out there. There are lots of alternatives to flowers.

There is the clutch/purse:

I really like this idea.  It's cute and convenient.  The bridesmaids can still have everything they need with them while still looking cute.  Plus, the girls could still use the purses after the wedding.  

Then, there is the feather bouquet:

Aren't they cute?  I like these because they're less expensive than flowers, but done right, they still look really nice and elegant. 

Next up, the button bouquet:

I think these look cute, but they're definitely not for me.  They're just a little too modern and... I don't know how to describe it... cold maybe?  They're just not right for me.  

Now, the beaded bouquets:

Depending on the way the bouquet is made, I do like these.  They're original and adorable.  They're definitely eye-catching.  However, these can be quite expensive.  I saw some of these on Etsy for upwards of $1,200.00.  WAY out of my budget.  I don't think I'd end up with a bouquet like this anyway.

Also, there are the parasols:

I think these are more common for beach weddings (to shield them from the sun), but they are certainly cute.  They aren't the right fit for our wedding, but I do like them.

Next are the fans:

So, so, so cute.  I really like the idea of these instead of bouquets.  They are really adorable.  I like that there are lots of different things that can be done to spice up the fans.  They are a serious consideration of mine, especially since we're having an outdoor wedding (you never know with the Pennsylvania weather how warm it will actually be). 

And, last up:

These are definitely different.  They use ball ornaments and tulle.  These are actually lit up (the "how to" can be found here), but if I did these, I wouldn't have them lit up.  I do like the idea of this bouquet because my centerpieces actually use ball ornaments (a topic for a different post!), so the bouquets would coordinate.  

So, if my bouquet/flower decision making wasn't difficult enough, I have TONS of other options to think about.  Not that I mind... it's really fun to think about all of the options!  :)  What are your favorites?