Wedding Dress

When I was little I always wanted a Vera Wang wedding dress - but since it was a bit out of my price range, I can still say I wore Vera Wang on my wedding day, I just don't have to say that it was my flipflops for my reception. I wore really pretty latte colored heels from Kohls for the wedding, and then these cute flipflops from Kohl's for the reception.

I have a post below talking about the wedding dress, here are some pictures. I absolutely loved this dress, it was amazing! To view this dress online, click here. I ordered the dress from Mary Carol's in Chebanse.

Flower Girl - David's Bridal

The flowergirl definitely has the most choices - she doesn't have to worry about hips, waist size, or anything - we had all the options in the world and knew this could last a while because there were so many fun options. Luckily my flowergirl likes dressing up and didn't mind shopping around. We went to David's Bridal first because my maitron of honor had to get her dress too. We tried on a whole bunch of dresses, and the found the perfect one. We ordered it in Champagne and it was just beautiful.

I bought the shoes at Payless (cute gold slippers), the jewerly & purse from Mary Carol's, and the head piece from David's Bridal.

The Girls Dresses: Serene and Style

First attempt - these dresses were gorgeous, but a bit too much - but the candy apple dress color was so gorgeous!

We liked the strapless, but one of the ladies is a mom and would be bending down a lot all night to pick-up her girls and didn't want to be showing everything. The lady on the left ended up staying with the strapless (she looked amazing, it fit her body really well).

This dress fit amazing on my lady on the far left, although she ended up altering it by making two straps out of it and it looked really great (plus then she could wear a bra). This dress is hard to wear with a bra. The lady on the right with the pink dress had a hard time getting her size D girls into the dress - it is really fit for more like B or C size cups.

This was almost perfect - the lady on the left altered her straps, the lady with the black dress looked amazing and didn't change a thing, the lady on the right with the pink chose a different dress with a sweetheart neckline, and the lady on the right went for the illusion alter dress instead so she could bend down. My younger sister was also in the wedding (as you will see below, and she went for the regular halter top dress without alterations).

The end result:

The girls dresses (left to right); Halter, Strapless, Illusion Halter, Sweetheart, Halter turned to Strap

I took me only one trip to one bridal store to find my dress (more on that next), but for the girls dresses we looked at a bunch of different websites and stores. My girls are from three different states (Ohio, Virginia, and Illinois), so we had to do our research before our only weekend shopping together. We bought our dresses at the end of March and mid-April, and the wedding was in September, which was really good timing. All the dresses were in by mid-July.

David's Bridal had the best prices, and with being a national company it was easy to find local David's Bridals for my girls to order near their home.

Originally I really wanted Horizon for my color, but it was way too bright (would've been great for a summer, outdoor wedding though). One of my girls was trying on a dress and the only color in her size was Serene and we didn't like the dress, but we loved the color so much that we changed it.

As a photographer of many weddings, there is nothing I hate more than when brides fit the dresses around one girl (usually the one with this amazing body), and the rest of the girls have to squeeze into the same dress style that looks horrible on them. I couldn't do that to my girls - so they got to choose whatever style they wanted. The only compromise was that they wear the same color, and we choose all short/tea-length/or long.

Now I must say my girls have amazing figures, but the above pictures give you an idea of what the dresses look like on girls with different cup sizes, waist sizes and hips. The biggest thing was actually not the waist size (David's Bridal is great about hiding tummies and hips and not being too clingy), but the bra size - a lot of the dresses were made for B and C cups.

Men's Warehouse - Photos of the guys

All the photographs below are by S1 Photography in Chicago, IL.

For anyone out there trying to match their Serene bridesmaids dresses to a Men's Warehouse vest and tux, here are some pictures:Here is one of the groomsman in a Men's Warehouse midnight vest & tie, and my bridesmaid in a gorgeous David's Bridal Serene dress (it was originally haltered, and she had it altered to be two-strapped).My husband really wanted a platinum vest, but with his fair skin, red hair, and myself in a champagne dress, after trying on a different vest from Men's Warehouse we loved the Latte vest and tie! It was perfect with a light skin tone and looked great against my champagne/ivory dress. For the Dads we did the classic black and it looked amazing!

I invite you to invite everyone else

So I have seen many invitations over the years - my father is a pastor and we have had our fair share of weddings since I could remember. I would get excited when I allowed to open the envelopes and check out each piece in a extensive creative check.

Now I know that those brides can have the tiniest piece of mind that those cards they spent hundreds of dollars on were well appreciated.

I had no idea how much wedding invitations were - it's pretty crazy. As a guest, I appreciate the cards and try to hold on to them until at least the end of the wedding (until it inevitably gets lost at the hotel, after it's use of the map of directions and reception address is up). Therefore, I can only imagine that most other guests do the same. Which equals a lot of money on something that is only really going towards a maid's trashcan in the end.

So we decided to make our own. We actually got very lucky and went to a store going out of business (it was one of the stores always way too overpriced, however I do feel for the employees becoming unemployed soon), and got a great deal. So now we have the paper and create our own hopefully creative and discounted invites.

On the other hand, here are some amazing invitation websites if you don't want to worry about throwing your fiance's printer out the window when it decides to mess up when you try to print them out on your own (disclosure: I did not use any of these companies for my invites):

Icing on the Cake Designs - These are amazing, creative invites. A little pricey for our budget, but probably a good deal if we would've saved for more than a few months.

VP On Sale - Great deal and it looks like they really take care of you.

David's Bridal - Yep, they have dresses, tuxes, and even invitations! They are nicely coordinated and quite cute. I also like that they have reviews from real brides.

Vista Print - I used them for my save-the-dates and loved them.

For the theater-themed weddings - Invitation Consultants - so cute and some are more expensive than others, but if you don't want to worry about designing them on your own, these are awesome!

Another great website for the theater folks: Invitation Box

For the photo folks these sites are awesome:

Photo Card Chef

Photo Wedlock Invitations

Some other reviews I found online:

"go to printsmadeeasy.com they are really cheap and professional. You'll have to use the postcards section but it can be easily transformed into invites. I used it for my sisters wedding last year. 300 cards for 29.99 plus shipping."

"I am a graphic designer and I use VistaPrint for a lot of things. I did not use them for my wedding invitations, as I created my own unique ones. However, I did use VistaPrint for response cards. I got 100 postcards for about $8.00. I waited until they had a special (which is pretty much once every other day), and uploaded my own design that was printed in glossy color. On the reverse side, I had them print me and my fiance's address in black and white. I would definitely recommend using them for response cards.

The materials I purchased for my invitations came in packs of 50. I need about 60 invitations, so I am considering getting 10 or so from VistaPrint to send to a few people that I know probably aren't coming anyway. They will be nice, just not as nice as the ones I custom made. I would definitely say that they are better than any you'd buy at Wal-Mart and print at home. Their print quality is fabulous!"

"not sure your budget but willowtreelane.com has complete invitation packages for cheap i got 100 invites with everything you need to go with them for $93"

"I used Vista Print for invitations to my casual outdoor wedding. The service was prompt and very cost effective. I got very simple, tasteful invites, response cards, thank you cards, and envelopes all for less than I would have paid for invitations alone from another source.
Highly recommended. There is a lot of freedom in design options and you do not have to use cookie cutter formats or text."

"I used VistaPrint for our company business cards and they came out great. I have a wedding website which I sell wedding invitations at low to high prices. Just click on the link with the flashing invitations at http://weddingsuppliesunlimited.com."

"Mine were $500.00 for 175 and I made them but I used high quality paper. You can make them as cheap as $2 per set
http://www.budgetweddinginvitations.com/...

So look here and you can see what you can get at what price so the cheapest you could do is about $150.00-200.00"

"Like everyone has said, it does depend on where you get them and the like. I bought mine at Office Max and made them myself! Everyone loved them and had no idea we did them at home.

It was a white overlay with text over a picture of the two of us in black and white. I loved them.

Orientaltrading.com has the exact ones I bought in Office Max. Here's the link. http://www.orientaltrading.com/applicati..."

The Save-the-Dates

I made them with Photo Shop and VistaPrint and a bit of help from my advertising and design-guru, Anya. I incorporated a few of my fav ideas: baby pictures, cute 'engagement' pic (although it was taken in the summer), calendar idea, and then on the back has all the info and a magnet we put on.

As the fairy tale becomes a 'crazy' reality

I was chatting with a good friend of mine, Alyssa, at a party last weekend. She is getting married in December, and became engaged to her lovely fiance, David this past Thanksgiving. At the party a friend of ours asked how all our planning was going...and I was relived to hear someone else say (out loud) that it was much more stressful than they thought it would be.

She's worked for a long time making cupcakes and cakes for weddings, she knows how it goes and all the planning. I spend about 15-20 weekends a year attending or taking pictures for weddings, I know how it goes. Well, we thought anyways.

She figured out earlier than I did how expensive invitations and centerpieces are, so she decided to make her own. I realized that a few weeks ago, and now am following the same path. It makes things a bit more stressful - but luckily Taylor and his family are a huge help.

The biggest thing that makes it a bit of a "painful" process is not having my mom and the majority of my best friends and maids of honor here with me. I luckily have Taylor and his amazing family, and my good friend, Michelle who was a maid of honor twice and is so awesome.

However, it is so hard doing this without my mom sometimes. Not that I can't technically do it alone, it's not so bad, but just not having her here for the moments I always thought we would do together.

Luckily my friends are coming in March, and my mom is coming soon after my wedding dress comes in (early summer), so I am lucky to have those moments to look forward to.

Though it really makes me think twice about moving away and having kids - I can get through this okay, but it would be much tougher to go through all the craziness of first-time pregnancy without my family or friends from home closer.

How low can shoes go?

So my fiance is only 2 inches taller than me...in his sweet shoes that he's gonna hate by the end of the reception he maybe gets an extra inch with a heel. My dress perfectly fits all 5 feet and 10 inches of me...without heels on. Therefore, due to his height and the dress I can only get about 1 inches in heel height. Which is, by the way, totally fine with me because I'm not a heel person. I am jealous of the heel people though - all the Jaclyns and Michelles out there that can strut their stuff without falling, totally jealous - but I lack the high heel gene. Instead I got the clumsy and tall gene.

Ideally, I would love just to find an awesome slipper that I could wear in and outdoors...but most slippers aren't built that way. Here are some contenders though:

Totes® Isotoner Classic Satin Ballet Slippers

Isotoner Classic Satin Slippers


Isotoner Rose Quilted Ballerina Women's Slippers with Rhinestones


Bridal Shoes Boutique: Bridal Ballet Shoes


Ellie .5" Heel Silver Wedding Shoe


Low Heel Open Toe Bridal Sandal Andie-5763


Janie Low Heel Slide with Bow


Seriously, if I can find this in white, it's so in:

JACQUES LEVINE Kraze Marabou Satin Low Heel Slippers

Top of the cake to ya!

So, I'm a pretty creative person so when it comes to the cake I want to be super creative. My best friend Laura first offered to create a cake for me - and I was very excited because she is very good (if you need a cake email lacameragrl20@aol.com). However, with our alcohol package for the reception we get a "free" cake - and if we bring in our own magnificent cake they don't subtract the cost of their cake...price is the same. Therefore, Laura suggested just creating a cool cake for my shower instead, which is still very awesome of her.

So now my cake will still be delicious and cute...but I want it to have that super cute something.

Insert me looking up cute cake toppers online for an hour today.

Some are crazy expensive ($500 for a topper for cake!) and some are crazy reasonable ($30 or less for the cool and super popular monogram ones), so here are my favs. Oh and I'm leaving the one I picked off here (for now) because it's my "gift" to Taylor (I know the bride is supposed to get him a watch, but he doesn't like watches...and I know what other present you're thinking about...but Grandma, I already got him a helmet that holds two beers with straws for Christmas). So I'm gonna buy the uber cute cake topper that Taylor will love, and that will be his pretty sweet gift (and maybe some guitar strings & picks).


This was definitely the original idea, just getting something traditional and making them have our hair color...it's still a classic:
http://www.thatsmytopper.com/product/view.php?product_id=

016940&affiliate_id=1508

These ones were more what I was originally thinking, and I like the mix and match hobbies - for us it would totally be me on the phone, and Taylor with the golf clubs:
http://www.thatsmytopper.com/product/view.php?product_id=019553&affiliate_id=1508

This was also pretty darn sweet, and once again if I could afford I'd be all over these 'Picture to Figure' toppers - http://www.microdwarf.com/

I really like the idea of the Mix and Match Bride and Groom Cake Toppers, I could do the red hair for Taylor and brunette for me and it isn't crazy expensive - http://www.weddingaccessories.net/-strse-941/mix-match-cake-toppers/Detail.bok

This Magic Mud awesomness one was by far the coolest, but a bit expensive for my wallet. But, if I could afford it than it would be this or the 'Picture to Figure' ones - www.magicmud.com


I think I have only seen these at maybe one wedding I have been to, but with the whole Bobble Head phase, I'm surprised I didn't see more: http://www.headbobble.com/couples.html

Taylor would probably die if our cake topper was all pretty and Glitzy, but they are quite cool and very popular: http://www.topperswithglitz.com/

These are pretty incredible...you really are Captured in Clay, unfortunatly $500 of your wedding budget is also captured in these super cute toppers: http://www.capturedinclay.com/caketops

The ever popular monograms, this website was recommended the most (aside from just going to Michaels or a craft store): http://www.whitecrushwedding.com/

These are also expensive ($350) but very unique, and something you could put on the mantle for years to come: http://www.handmadecaketoppers.com/

I didn't completly love these, only because they didn't have what I was looking for, but they had a bunch of unique toppers: http://www.affectionately-yours.com/cart/home.php

I went to a lot of websites where brides were desperatly searching for a occupation or hobby intwined topper for her fireman husband, fishing soulmate, or to show off the fact that she was an awesome nurse, here are the toppers for you guys:

- http://jwcaketops.com/wedfigurines/Occupationsuniforms/occupationsuniforms/occupationscover.htm

- http://jwcaketops.com/wedfigurines/hobbiesinterests/hobbiescover.htm

Free Wedding Stuff!

Join this wonderful thing called Freecycle to meet some of your wedding needs for free!

Earlier this week I sent out an email on the freecycle networking mailing list that I was getting married in September and was looking for anything wedding-related.

I was so happy to receive a bunch of emails from past brides that just had their wedding stuff (that they would never use again) around, and were happy to give it away for free! Most of the stuff was only used that one time and still looked great.

A Very Christmas Proposal

While wishing on a star. While looking up at a ceiling that spelled out "will you marry me" in glow-in-the-dark stars. After opening a secretly already carved pumpkin. On top of a roller coaster. After a bath. During a walk surrounded by the most perfect scenery.

These are all amazing proposals that some of my friends (or friends of friends) have experienced throughout the past few years - and they were all incredibly sweet and personal to each couple.

I imagined my proposal since pretty much I know what the word engagement meant. I once imagined a moonlit stroll on the beach. Then there was the exaggerated dream of going out on a boat with candles everywhere. Oh - and of course about a million more that would pop into my head after watching "A Wedding Story" on TLC.

However, I never could have imagined something so sweet as what my new fiance, Taylor thought up.

He made a DVD of photographs we had taken throughout the past two years, and set it all to one of our favorite songs. At the end of the very sweet video, it said "turn around"...and when I did there was Taylor on one knee in front of my Christmas tree, telling me the sweetest things I'll always remember. I was in the moment - until he said those four words: Will you marry me. I had heard those words about a million times between all my chick flick favorites and reality tv shows...but when they were said to me it was just surreal.

It wasn't until he told me he asked my father for his blessing, and my dad instantly said yes, that I started to get a bit emotional. It was just so wonderful and sweet.

So this is the day that started it all...everytime we schedule a trip to check out reception places, or different websites for tuxes and dresses, we remind Taylor, "it's all your fault," and he just smiles and says, "I know."