Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Something Borrowed to Something Blue

A friend of mine just recently got engaged and has asked me to post some of the details from my wedding. I had much the same wedding as any other girl, but I did add some creative touches to make the day unique.  Some of these touches are still remembered by guests and mentioned regularly even though our wedding was over four years ago in July of 2007.
Something Old:  I always had the dream of wearing my mother's wedding dress as my something old, but when I got engaged and asked to try it on, I found that not only was her white dress stained a pee-colored yellow with time, but also that my mom was super skinny! Let's just say that it zipped, but I couldn't really breathe too well! So, I went with a plan B. I found a lace handkerchief from my grandmother that I decided to incorporate into my attire. I have heard of people carrying it or sewing it into the dress, but I wanted it to be visual without having to directly hold it.  Instead, I took it to my florist, Marina, and asked her to wrap it as part of my bouquet.  I just love how it turned out...

Something New:  My dress, veil, and shoes were my something new.  The unique aspect was the added touch I did with my shoes.  I asked each of my bridesmaids to sign the bottom and write a little message.  Each of them had walked with me on my journey through life and through the craziness of planning of wedding, so it was fitting to have them walk "with me" down the aisle. Although nobody saw this aspect, I did mention it in the program which informed guests of many of the "special touches" or details I added to our wedding day.
Something Borrowed:  I borrowed a necklace and earrings from my best friend, Jennifer, and hair clip from my friend, Michelle.  Both girls were bridesmaids in the wedding. One unique touch that I incorporated into the wedding was labeling each bridesmaid with a specific characteristic that I absolutely love about them. This was an idea I got from a friend of mine's wedding, and I just loved it.  For example, my friend Nazly is my constant source of laughter, and I have so many funny memories together, so her characteristic was "Laughter".  I created little tags in our wedding colors and attached these to each of the girl's bouquets. It was also mentioned in the program.
As a gift for each of the bridesmaids, I crafted an album of our friendship.  Each girl had a "How we Met Page," a "Favorite Memory" page, and other pages with photos and notes tracking our friendship. The last page was a spot to put a photo of us from the wedding. I gave these to the girls the night before the wedding.
Something Blue: To add a touch of blue, I asked my mom to hand stitch our names on wedding date into my gown in blue.  She did an excellent job.  If my daughter asks to use my wedding dress years from now (I had mine preserved so it hopefully will stay white!), then it will be neat to have this touch and add her wedding information as well.

For the sake of length, I think I will break up the posts about our wedding details into three posts. Stay tuned for "I Do...Added Touches" and "Wedding Reception: A Personal Touch".  Also...please comment on this post to add your thoughts or ideas for brides!

*All photos taken by Joel Eckman Maus of Studio EMP, Inc.

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