our wedding invitations (& witty response card) were from bella figura & i fell in love with their letterpress, design & paper. can't get over their 2011 line & all the details. ryan, want to get married again? (click on each image to be linked to that design!)
paper, wedded bliss Thu, February 3, 2011 at 1:00 PM 
back with a few more answers to your wonderful questions!
i always love hearing about marriage and any advice you have for us brides-to-be (especially if you have advice about being engaged... i have five months left!).
i tried a bunch of times to write something new, but i kept going back to what i wrote in my final wedded bliss post -- i also think it says a lot that i still feel the same way i did right after we got married. with no further adieu:
there is so much i could say about planning our wedding, and even more importantly our marriage, but in short, it was such a bonding experience for us. we kept it small in terms of numbers. ryan's family is wonderfully big, so truly this wedding was our family and dearest friends (all 124 of them!)
we didn't have a wedding planner, didn't have a big budget, & were paying for some of it ourselves. we weren't living in the same place or where the wedding was, and we did it all in six months. ryan was in naval flight training (one of the hardest parts for that matter), i had a more than full time job and all this to say, we made planning this wedding a shared experience and something that brought us joy.
i'm a tad bit type a :) and a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to arts and crafts -- and i have a wonderfully patient husband. we did the programs while watching episodes of entourage or west wing and talking about our days. we held each other accountable for not spending our time or money on things we didn't think needed to be a part of our big day. we kept our focus on our marriage and making our guests feel really loved.
we made plenty of mistakes: i had a dress crisis 65 days before the wedding and had to find a new dress, the sandwiches were delivered three hours early- while the art center was still open, we couldn't find a clear rubber band for my hair even though we had 10 girls in the house, but at the end of the day, we were married and oh, so, happy.
so, my best advice, is to take a deep breath, constantly ask yourself if this is bringing you joy and best you can, soak up being engaged. the best news is, being newlyweds is way better.
(i tried to pick two photos that showed we kept our attention on one another, i think that made all the difference.)
wedded bliss Tue, February 1, 2011 at 8:17 AM 
banners at a wedding reception?! i feel a new wedding trend coming on, watch out cupcakes and photo booths! check out the whole, gorgeous wedding here.
wedded bliss Wed, October 13, 2010 at 2:46 PM 
my sweet friend amanda kay recently got engaged to an awesome guy named austin. i literally cannot wait for him to be her husband. they took these absolutely stunning engagement photos at sunrise in a field near athens, georgia.
when i emailed her begging her to let me share them with you, she told me they were taken by the woman behind one of my favorite blogs, wethreepilgrims! i literally jumped out of my chair when i found out. paige also has an absolutely lovely etsy store. you want to know the ridiculous part? this was her first engagement shoot. holy cow, if you live near athens and are getting married soon, i'd be trying to convince her to do another one ;)
p.s. you can check ryan & my engagement photos here & here! xo
p.s.s. the beautiful bride to be told me about this incredible article in the new yorker on the obama's early thoughts on marriage.
wedded bliss Mon, October 11, 2010 at 8:00 AM 
earlier today i got to share some photos & thoughts on what i LOVED about stirling & clem's gorgeous wedding, now you get to hear from the bride herself!
Our wedding was perfect in every way - overwhelming! but perfect. We got engaged in Jackson Hole, WY last July when we were on a trip with 6 of our best friends. I was utterly and completely caught off guard and it was so special to have some of our favorite people there to celebrate with us. Right after Clem proposed, before we went back inside, he told me he had already booked the church! We were scheduled to get married June 19, 2010. So our planning got off to a running start!
wedded bliss Tue, October 5, 2010 at 12:00 PM 
tonight we had a dear friend over for dinner. our house isn't in full swing entertaining mode and we really just wanted to spend time with him, so i kept it really simple. i grabbed some blue moon pumpkin ale, an amazing rotisserie chicken and some barbeque sauce - and voila, barbecue chicken sandwiches. with some vegetables, it was a meal! as i was getting ready to grab the last thing at the grocery, i realized he was going to be at our house in 40 minutes and i was already hungry. i grabbed some chips & salsa and immediately thought of the chip & dip platter i had just unpacked -- it would look fancy!
then i immediately thought, after almost a year of marriage, there are some things on our registry i use all the time. i thought i might share for you brides to be and those making a place a home in case it helps you navigate the endless options out there! you can click on the images above, but from top to bottom -- these lanterns from pottery barn have been so great -- inside or outside, they just make a room. right now they're on the mantle in our living room! i'm a huge fan of classic white, so for our dishes, i did the PB classic white and lloovvee it. i can constantly change what else is on the table, make it casual or fancy and feel like i will never grow tired of it. i remember being torn about copper pots. i think they look so cool, but are they a ton of extra upkeep? well, after a year, they look great and i haven't cleaned them once. (on the list for this weekend!) i like the "used" look and think they add so much character to a kitchen. not to mention, they're great to cook with. not shockingly, i registered solely for pottery barn white towels. they're really luxurious and you can bleach them and they look like new! finally, my trusty chip & dip platter from PB. it's one piece (read: easy to clean) and i use it all the time -- spinachokes, guac, hummus, anything!
the most important thing is to register for things you as a couple know you will use & love. if you spend tons of time outdoors -- register for new sleeping bags to begin your lives together with or that tent you've had your eye on. if you spend lots of time in the kitchen, register for that fancy cooking gadget you thought you'd never have. your guests give you gifts as a gesture of their warm wishes for your lives together -- give them some good hints!
give, wedded bliss Tue, September 28, 2010 at 11:16 PM 
aren't these GORGEOUS wedding cakes by magpie's in dc? lots more here on junebug weddings. (p.s. here's our wedding cake!)
wedded bliss Wed, August 25, 2010 at 11:00 AM 
