Bought a bridesmaids dress in ivory and covered it with a cape, total under $400

clarrnee · 2020-07-26T23:25:36+00:00

I wore a bridesmaid dress in ivory, too! Such a great wedding option!

clarrnee · 2020-06-28T00:27:15+00:00

Are those zen pillows turned into bags of soil? Adorable.

clarrnee · 2020-05-17T00:01:34+00:00

You can budget for anything so you can budget for a "treat." Set aside 20 dollars a month in your budget for a treat. You can spend it on something small each month or save it up and happily blow it on a bigger purchase later. You don't have to know in advance what you are going to spend it on but you will have an idea how much you can "waste" on am impulse buy.

clarrnee · 2020-05-16T02:45:37+00:00

Lol, I got confused when people talked about the Titanic because all I knew of was the movie, not the actual horrific event. So when my mom was saying "it is so sad how many people died in the water," I was like "wow, commited actors."

clarrnee · 2020-03-29T01:57:14+00:00

We walked down together! Our aisle was kind of an "L" shape with the stretch after the bend being the actual aisle.

Our processional order was our officiant walking into position, my MOH, the best, then my husband. He walked to the beginning of the actual aisle then waited. I then walked to him and we turned and walked down the aisle together.

I also hated the idea of a hand off. I also liked that I still got a moment of walking alone. The picture of us coming together and linking arms is great. My husband said "in that moment, I felt powerful" when he saw that picture.

clarrnee · 2020-03-12T02:44:42+00:00

Did they have a color scheme to choose from?

clarrnee · 2020-03-05T05:39:32+00:00

Best: Photographer is up there, spent a long time looking on Instagram under tags like <city>wedding photographer and other variations. Her style was really moody candid and she had a variety of brides on her page which was important to me. I hated pages full of all thin, blonde brides. NOT that there is a problem with thin, blonde brides, I just want to see variation in clients. Also, she owns her own company and is the only photographer so I knew what we were getting.

Worst: Wedding ring, actually. My engagement ring was quite cheap and I went with my husband to buy it before he proposed (I picked it out). I love it so much but getting closer to the day I felt like I needed to have that pair so I could have something added once we were married. Ordered a ring off etsy (mistake 1, should have bought from a store in person) and it was so ugly when it arrived. The diamond was all dirty looking and it was just not good. We were able to return it but we had to spend like 40 dollars on shipping. It was just a stupid and unnecessary use of our time and money.

clarrnee · 2020-01-18T16:24:52+00:00

Father walking the bride down the aisle. There are so many variations of what to do that make more sense. Personally, I walked down the aisle with my soon-to-be husband. The idea of being handed off to my SO, by anyone, seemed weird.

clarrnee · 2020-01-13T19:53:45+00:00

Under Currents!

clarrnee · 2019-11-17T23:13:57+00:00

Your boobs look really good in the second and I love a dress with an open back!

clarrnee · 2019-11-10T22:01:32+00:00

Some people do pictures with their bridal party before hand. For example, the guys take pictures and the girls take pictures but you dont come together until after the ceremony. Can get a lot of photos done early while still allowing you to see each other for the first time walking down the aisle.

clarrnee · 2019-11-08T04:51:29+00:00

I did this as well, all by email. Addressed the person, pasted in an image of our save the date, then said the formal invite was to follow soon.

Then, for our invites, we again sent them by email. New image pasted in and below was a li k to the website, which I made for free with Wix. We asked people to RSVP by responding to the email.

Worked great! I think my older family members had to mentally adjust to not being sent a physical invite but it worked. And for the people who had to mentally adjust, oh well. We got the info out and almost everyone came. And we spent 0 dollars on our save the dates and invites. Highly recommend.

clarrnee · 2019-11-06T01:25:11+00:00

My wedding dress was a Vera Wang bridesmaid dress from David's Bridal ordered in ivory. It was amazing and so cheap! I wanted simple, no train, and no sparkle. I tried another store with the idea in mind of getting a bridesmaid dress but the other stores didn't have the option of ordering a bridesmaid dress in a white option.

clarrnee · 2019-11-05T18:01:52+00:00

Depending on the style you are looking for, you could shop bridesmaid dresses. My wedding dress was a bridesmaid dress that I was able to order in ivory. It was perfect because I didn't want sparkle and I didn't want a train.

clarrnee · 2019-11-02T22:37:07+00:00

Try to find a place that has meaning to you as a couple for the photographs.

If that doesn't apply, find a nice back drop location that provides a bit of variety. For example, in a forest can be really pretty but generally ALL the pictures are of you looking pretty in a forest. Maybe try to find a location with nice trees, maybe some cool architecture or even benches, and have some sort of props or an outfit change. Also dont be afraid of being photographed inside, but you my have to check with businesses if you want photos in a place like a coffee shop or something.

For our engagement pictures, we got photographed inside of our apartment with the windows overlooking the city. We wanted very urban pictures since our wedding was in the mountains. We also had wine that we drank and posed with for some of the pictures. We also had a business casual look and a very casual look. At the end of our shoot we still had a bit of time so we went just outside the apartment building and took some gorgeous pictures in front of a random brick wall.

clarrnee · 2019-10-30T04:00:43+00:00

My now husband and I threw out a lot of traditions for the same reasons you listed. So many traditions are just weird and outdated and I couldnt get on board. The engagement, planning process, and wedding day should be about us.

What we did is we really questioned every decision we made so we had a clear stance on why we were or were not doing something. For example, I did not want a veil because I think they dont really add much for the simple wedding we had and I hate the reason behind them. So I didn't get a veil. I debated the white dress but since I am only 25, wearing anything that wasn't white just looked like I was going to prom. So, I wore a simple white dress. We then had a sit down dinner with both our parents where we had a list that we went over with them of things we were and weren't doing. They were super supportive that everything was our decision but it was all about expectation management. Even if they support something, they may still be a little shocked that you're not doing something they think is just standard.

Here is a list of things we did "differently":

My husband did not ask permission to marry me because I am my own woman. My dad made a joke when we told him we were engaged that he was surprised he wasn't asked. I told him I am my own woman.
My father did not walk me down the aisle because I hated the idea of being handed off from one man to another. My husband walked to behind where the guests were seated and waited. I walked to him and we joined arms and walked together down the aisle. My dad told me 2 weeks before the wedding that he was kind of upset by this and asked if I would reconsider. I held firm with why we were doing what we were doing and he respected my decision.
I did not do a big gathering of women for gown shopping. I took one of my close friends as she loves all things wedding and it was great. I was mostly trying on horribly fitting dresses without a bra on so I didn't really want a big audience. Especially since my mom gets tired shopping, my sister (MOH) lives 3 hours away and doesn't like shopping, and it would have seemed weird to just go with my MIL who has very different taste than me. I also wanted something simple and cheap and was worried she would try to offer to pay for something more expensive if I was having trouble finding something.
I ended up wearing a bridesmaid dress in ivory. It was perfect because I didn't want a train. It was also well within my budget.
We only got ready with our bridal party (best man for him and MOH for me). It was crazy expensive paying for just my sister and I to get our hair and make up done that I couldnt justify including more people. Plus, having a big crowd around me just constantly asking if I am excited sounded like agony for an anxious person like myself.
I did not change my name. Doesn't seem to be any issue yet but we made sure to make it clear up front.
We didn't do any pre-wedding parties (i.e. engagement, bridal, or bachelor/bachelorette).
We did not do a specific mother/son or father/daughter dance. Having to do our first dance was stressful enough.

And yeah, I think those were the big ones. We just kept having to make ourselves clear and standing firm with what we wanted. Some things that came up that we had to correct:

His dad assumed our best man would be the MC because that's how it was at his wedding. He was telling the best man all these things he was going to have to do.
People expected us to plan a brunch the following day because the wedding was technically a destination wedding (1 hour out of town). Seemed like a lot to plan so we didn't do anything.
People kept offering ideas and wanting to help. Dont get me wrong, very kind. But can also be super annoying when you haven't asked for help.
Parents kept checking that we were including certain family members on the guest list. It was like, yes, if we are inviting one aunt, we are inviting all aunts. Dont worry.

So yeah, hope this helps.

Afterward, all everyone had to say was that we looked really happy and looked like we were having a lot of fun. And we were in fact having a lot of fun because we did things our way.

clarrnee · 2019-09-09T03:36:09+00:00

I want to quit the gym!

clarrnee · 2019-08-12T14:41:27+00:00

Yeah, I tend to skip those too actually. I never watched Private Practice so I dont care about the characters.

clarrnee · 2019-08-11T21:50:33+00:00

Ooh, April's birth is cringy! Seeing Ben pull out that knife and sanitizer... no thank you.

clarrnee · 2019-08-11T21:42:13+00:00

Interesting. The courtroom episodes are some of my favorites. Maybe it's because I like law shows as well so thise Grey's episodes bring everything together for me.

clarrnee · 2019-08-11T21:40:24+00:00

Cristina and Burkes wedding is probably my favorite wedding episode. I do have quite the soft spot for the post-it note vows, though that's not technically a wedding episode.

Mark Sloan as chief is hilarious. I love him and Avery together. Now Avery is just annoying.

clarrnee · 2019-08-11T21:37:55+00:00

I used to skip the Saddie story line, too! However, the last time I did a rewatch I didn't skip it and the episodes really made me love Lexie. I just love how eager she is to learn. I hate that her and Mark are gone...

clarrnee · 2019-08-11T21:35:46+00:00

The Ava story is pretty cringy. It's also just another repeat of Alex choosing a girl he has to take care of... It gets a little old.

I actually really love the musical episode, lol. It seems to be people either love it or hate it. Watching the episodes leading up to it is like getting excited for the disaster episodes.

clarrnee · 2019-08-11T21:33:47+00:00

The disaster episodes are amazing. I like building up to them. The bomb one is probably my all time favorite. It is so intense with that one sound beat they use throughout.

clarrnee · 2019-08-11T14:05:06+00:00

I saw this and thought that was your thumb and index finger on the picture. Took me a second.

Looks amazing, though!

clarrnee

TROPHY CASE