I had so much fun planning our wedding and I’ve wanted to share some of the details in a blog post for a while. There were so many helpful resources I found when planning and I hope I can help some other brides out there by sharing them!
I'm a big picture thinker and knew that a lot of the little details probably wouldn't go as planned anyways, so I really tried to focus on the overall feel of the day and preparing more for our marriage than the actual day itself. We planned everything ourselves with the help of our amazing family and friends, and incredible day-of coordinator, Mikayla Gabaldon. Our photographer, Redden Wood, her second shooter, Jackie Nunnally, and our videographer, Isaiah Rendon, could not have captured the day more prefectly.
THE INVITATIONS
I designed my own save the dates and invitations in Adobe Creative Suite and worked with the amazing, Libby Herwig, who handled all of the printing. Working with Libby was a great experience and she was able to use a printing vendor at wholesale cost which was so helpful when it came to staying within our budget. AJ's grandma gave me her lace handkerchiefs the day of my wedding and we included them in the detail shots-- they mean so much to both of us.
GETTING READY
We got married at a venue an hour outside of Dallas called The Emerson. The reception house and ceremony chapel are next to each other on a large, beautiful property with a view of horses and green fields out of all of the windows. We had a rainy April wedding day which ended up making our ceremony feel very cozy and the lighting was magical. Thankfully with the rain, we were able to do our ceremony and reception mostly indoors, with some dancing outside once the drizzle held off more towards the end of the night. Another thing we couldn't have predicted-while we were getting ready it started hailing--Dallas, Texas in April and somehow we got hail. We just laughed and rolled with it, and the weather ended up leveling out by the time the ceremony started. The temperature was in the 60s and the overcast lighting was great for photos.
For bridesmaid gifts, I gave my girls little paintings and white long sleeve collared shirts with their names embroidered on each one. One of my best friends, Elsa, has a family member that owns an embroidery shop and she helped me so much with these- I ordered plain white button down shirts online and shipped them to her shop. I chose a deep forest green thread for the embroidery and when they arrived, I used a seam ripper to remove each tag that they originally came with, and ordered custom clothing tags here. I was able to put a sweet message on each one and my mom and I sewed the new tags into each shirt with a sewing machine. I love how clean and classic they turned out.
THE CEREMONY
AJ and I didn't want to do a first look, but I did one with my dad which was so special. AJ and I talked a lot about what we wanted the ceremony to be like in our premarital counseling and we wanted it to feel peaceful, worshipful, and like a glimpse of heaven. One of AJ's Younglife leaders from highschool, who also did our premarital counseling with his wife, officiated our wedding, and we had one of my best friends from college lead worship with the song "Goodness of God" while AJ and I took communion. The bridesmaids dresses and house party dresses were from Petal + Pup and the groomsmen suits were from Generation Tux.
BRIDALS & PORTRAITS
My makeup artist, Sharayah Lee, did a great job of keeping my makeup and hair natural. I wanted to look like myself on my wedding day, and I usually like to keep my makeup minimal. I got eyelash extensions which I highly recommend- they lasted a few weeks so it was nice not having to wear much makeup on the honeymoon with them on. I got my dress from A&Be, it is a dress designed by THEIA . My shoes were Badgley Mischka and I borrowed my veil from one of my best friends, who also loaned her veil to another of our best friends--it felt so special that we all had used the same one for our weddings months apart.
For AJ's suit, we used The Knot Standard and chose a light tan linen to match the springtime colors. They are able to do custom embroidery and I put our wedding date in my own handwriting stitched in the inside pocket of his suit jacket.
THE RECEPTION
We kept our decor pretty minimal- I got all of our candles and votives in bulk online, used the bridal party peony bouquets for floral arrangement on the tables, used white chairs and tables, which maximized the beauty of the landscape out the windows. The landscape views brought so much lush green color to the space.
For the napkins at our place settings, I ordered cheese cloth by the yard on Amazon and my friend and I cut them into napkins in front of a movie together one night. I got my plates at Target and ordered the gold forks online.
THE DANCE PARTY
We used CFE Productions for our lights and speakers, and our friend Kyle was our DJ. I ordered glow up flower crowns for the bridal party, which are out of stock now but some similar ones are here.
So blessed with the best army of people around us. Cheers to the best day ever!
Leave a comment