Our Wedding: An ever-fix'ed mark

Bless, O Lord, this ring to be a sign of the vows by which this man and woman have bound themselves to each other; through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

I give you this ring, as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you; in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Guest Photo

Our Wedding: Clasping of hands, blending of hearts

The music changed to Vitamin String Quartet's "Smile That Way," Sam opened the doors, and it was time for my mom to walk me down the aisle.

Friends, we have come today at the invitation of Heather and Joshua to share in the joy of their wedding. This outward celebration we shall see and hear is an expression of the inner love and devotion they have in their hearts.


The Bible teaches us that God is love, and that love comes from God. From beginning to end, the Bible is a love story. There we read of God’s love for his people, of the love that send Christ to the cross, of redeeming love for the sinner, of abiding love for the redeemed.


God loved us, and created us to love others. Our lives find completion only as we love and are loved in return. Together, we can become what we could never be separately.

Pantone Fall 2011: Phlox - Wedding Inspiration

Wouldn't a fall wedding with purple touches in a rustic setting be lovely?

Earthy Leaves by Wedding Paper Divas

De Nueva Photography via A Practical Wedding

Sunday Simplicity #36

Millie Holloman Photography via Style Me Pretty

Pantone Fall 2011: Phlox - Wardrobe & Home

My favorite color is purple, so I was capable of going very overboard on this particular Pantone round-up.

LOFT Floral Print Bubble Hem blouse - I wore this for business day at work- it made me feel so professional and ladylike and goes well with gray or black pants.

American Eagle Dolman Cardigan

J. Crew Maisie Dress - my object of lust.

Vera Bradley's "Watercolor" is by far my favorite pattern this season.

OPI nail polish in Parlez-Vous OPI? via Daily Cookie

Pier1's Amethyst Glass Lamp

Pillows by VeeDubz and MiaandStitch on Etsy

Enjoy the purple!  There's even more on my Pinterest!

Our Wedding: Processional

Our ceremony began to the strains of "Butterfly's Day Out" from Yo-Yo Ma's Applachia Waltz.

Our minister, Mr. Spin, and Spin's dad (his best man) walked in 

together to take their place at the front of the ballroom.

Our Wedding: Prelude

Your soundtrack for reading this post:  the "prelude" playlist I created for our guests to listen to as they found their seats.  The theme for this list was classy Southern - traditional music with some modern bluegrass-inspired tunes thrown in.

As guests arrived at the War Memorial, they were invited to take a program, 

and could take a few minutes to sign our photo frame guestbook or leave us a wish...

Our Wedding: Bridal portraits

A.K.A. my most narcissistic post EVER.

Seeing myself as a bride for the first time.

My purple shoes got the most complements out of all of my bridal attire!  Purple has been my favorite color since I was eight years old and rocked a purple hat, Blossom-style.  I loved my shoes and they helped me feel like I was me and not some strange bride-girl.

Sunday Simplicity #35

Brenham wedding via Style Me Pretty

Our Wedding: I Heart Crafting!

As you all know, I was inspired to design and create a lot of our wedding decor.  Here are some of the finished products in all their glory on the big day.

The table numbers were one of the first craft visions I had when we decided that our wedding would have a vintage theme.  I was inspired by book page table numbers I'd seen online using the ubiquitous white Ikea frames, but there is no Ikea near us so I got my frames from the Dollar Tree.  I chose 15 wedding and love-related pages from some of my favorite books, scanned them onto ivory cardstock so they'd be uniform, and stamped numbers and flowers onto them with purple ink.  The finished product was very close to what I'd visualized!

 I thought a birdcage card box would go perfectly with our vintage theme.  I ordered the set of two birdcages from Save-On-Crafts.  I lined the bottom with moss by setting the cage on top of a piece of cardboard, adding a few dots of hot glue, and adding sheet moss from Michael's.  Then, I wrapped a purple ribbon around the cage and added a "cards" sign made with cardstock from our invitations that I trimmed with my paper cutter and pearl stickers.

I knew I didn't want a traditional guest book, and Mr. Spin had mentioned that he liked the picture frame guestbook we'd seen at a friend's wedding.  We found a black picture frame with a white signing mat on sale at Michael's, but I was at a loss for what to do with the small cage until I saw some wish boxes online.

Our Wedding: The guys get ready...

Once the guys were done setting things up downstairs, it was time for them to get (even more) handsome!

Our Wedding: The girls get ready...

When we got to the War Memorial, the girls and I were welcomed by Jeana, a staff member there and professional wedding planner who was already at work putting everything together.  We decorated the dessert table, chose arrangements to put on the mantel in the ceremony space, and did a few more little tasks before the guys started to arrive.  It was time for us to disappear and let Jeana, Coordinator C and the boys finish the work!

From the July heat and humidity and the setup, a few of my curls had started to fall out.  BM Philly to the rescue!

Our Wedding: Bridal suite-ness

While the girls and I got ready in the bridal suite, our photographer took some time to take a series of beautiful detail shots.

My favorite ring shot of the day

My something old and something blue... the locket on my bouquet was a graduation gift from BM Breeze when I earned my Master's degree and is engraved with my maiden name initials.  I wear it almost every day.  For the wedding, I slipped in a picture of my dad, so that he could walk down the aisle with my mother and I in spirit.  Only me, my mom, and our photographer knew it was there.  That was the advantage for me of a locket instead of a clear frame- it wouldn't make any family members sad.

Sunday Simplicity #34

Sam DePoy-Warren

Our Wedding: I whip my hair (into shape)

I wish I could say that I had all DIY projects finished a week before the wedding.  Nope, I was still working the morning of.  I got up early to wrap ribbons around the handles of our bouquets.  There may have been some other last-minute projects, but if there were I have blocked them out.  Once we had eaten breakfast and showered, BM Philly and I threw some Tom Petty into my car's CD player and hit the road.

Roanokers reading these posts know that this is a magical box.  And this is what greeted us when BM Philly and I got to Salon 7 to get beautified...

Our Wedding: I Heart Thrifting!

Our wedding incorporated a lot of DIY and thrifted elements.  Since we did not hire a wedding planner, we were able to have total control over the design of our wedding- but had to get creative about how to get the vintage-inspired, elegant look we wanted on a tight budget.  That's where thrifting and DIY came in, and it was a nice coincidence that our wedding date was I Love Thrifting Day in Roanoke!

Chalkboards

Venue Photo

I had fallen in love with the idea of menu chalkboards after seeing them on lots of bridal blogs and in magazines, but ready-to-use chalkboards can be expensive.  Like many brides and craft bloggers before me, I discovered chalkboard paint.  To create each chalkboard, I bought picture frames from Goodwill, spray painted the frames with ivory Krylon spray paint, distressed them with sandpaper, and then painted the glass with chalkboard paint.  I used a chalk marker for the lettering.

Our Wedding: I Heart Thrifting and DIY!

Our wedding incorporated a lot of DIY and thrifted elements.  Since we did not hire a wedding planner, we were able to have total control over the design of our wedding- but had to get creative about how to get the vintage-inspired, elegant look we wanted on a tight budget.  That's where thrifting and DIY came in, and it was a nice coincidence that our wedding date was I Heart Thrifting day in Roanoke!

Chalkboards

Venue Photo

I had fallen in love with the idea of menu chalkboards after seeing them on lots of bridal blogs and in magazines, but ready-to-use chalkboards can be expensive.  Like many brides and craft bloggers before me, I discovered chalkboard paint.  To create each chalkboard, I bought picture frames from Goodwill, spray painted the frames with ivory Krylon spray paint, distressed them with sandpaper, and then painted the glass with chalkboard paint.  I used a chalk marker for the lettering.

Venue Photo

This frame had a great pattern, so I sanded it quite a bit.

Milk Glass

Venue Photo

I collected milk glass for months before the wedding, and it was all from local Goodwill stores!  I found that the best store for large pieces like the ones shown here is the Westlake Goodwill, but I also found quite a few pieces in Vinton.

Venue Photo

The "milk glass" cake stands were a cheat- they're actually from Pier 1.  But the vases are thrifted!

Books

For our centerpieces, I looked for books with wedding-related titles, like Bartlett's Words for the Wedding, shown above, covers in our wedding colors like Ultimate Wit here, books with significance to our guests, like Coal Miner's Daughter on my mom's family's table, and books we personally love, like the Harry Potter series and Catherine Marshall's Christy.

I found these initial mugs at Ross.

Our wedding party's table had a Nicholas Sparks book because MOH Breeze and I love him!

Our Wedding: We rehearse.

In retrospect, I wish I had delegated someone to take pictures of our wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I didn't, so all I have are some shots from my friend S's camera phone.

Friday afternoon was a bouquet- and centerpiece-making party at my house. BM Philly and I got started pretty early, and were joined by BM Breeze and Coordinator C around lunchtime (and Breeze brought some yummy Bojangles sweet tea and sandwich fixins!). I was very thankful that I'd recruited help with the flowers, because we were working right up until time to go rehearse.  I took the lead on most of the bouquets. I'd start with a "base," maybe one hydrangea and three roses, twist the stems and have someone hold them while I wrapped them with floral tape, and keep adding that way until the bouquets looked full and pretty.  The girls were kind of nervous to get going on the centerpieces - maybe they thought I'd go Bridezilla on them if they weren't perfect? I finally made some "prototypes" for them, let them know I really trusted their judgment, and let them go to work putting roses, leather leaf, baby's breath, and lisianthus into milk glass. We had a little time to get into our dresses and throw on a little makeup, pack our cars with vintage books, centerpiees, and other various wedding decor, and then it was time to go!

While we'd been doing all that, the boys had been busy as well- buying booze!  They made a run to Kroger for wine and beer for the reception and stocked the big fridge in our venue's kitchen. There was another couple getting married on Sunday the 10th, so they had to rehearse on Friday as well. While they rehearsed at 5:00, the bridal party helped Mr. Spin and I set up whatever we could in the reception space and lobby of the War Memorial. Our venue director told us to put the centerpieces with hydrangeas in them in the fridge with the wine because they made her nervous, but she said the ones with just roses could stay out because the air conditioner would be on all night.  At 6:00 it was our turn to practice getting married.

It took a while just to get everyone situated.  I was thankful our venue director suggested having someone stand in the very back of the room to make sure everyone was spaced out correctly.  We asked the other people on hand (mostly family members and significant others of wedding party members) to space out in the ballroom so we could tell how loud we needed to be.

We interrupt these wedding recaps to bring you a peach pie!

Warning, ladies:  when you get your husband into a habit of watching the Food Network with you, and when he looks over your shoulder at yummy looking things on Pinterest, you are both going to end up wanting to cook.  For me, the "I want to cook something" desire usually leans toward baking, and for the mister it leans toward stick-to-your-ribs man food.  For our Labor Day dinner, we did a little of both.

I had been wanting to make a fruit pie for a while, and thought a peach pie would be a nice way to say farewell to summer, before I move on to apples, pumpkins, and pecans.  I used Paula Deen's Nita's Secret Peach Pie recipe and will edit here to reflect what really happened :)

Peach Pie

Servings:  8

Prep Time:  I prep as I go, baby.

Cook Time:  45 minutes

Ingredients:

- 7 cups peaches, peeled and thickly sliced (I used frozen peaches that had been dethawed in the microwave)

- 1/2 lemon, juiced

- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ¼ cup flour plus additional flour for crust-rolling surface
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 tablespoons butter
- Jiffy pie crust mix for two 9" crusts
- 5 tablespoons water
- 1 egg

Directions

Pre heat oven to 425º F.


Make your Jiffy pie crust by adding five tablespoons of water to the mix one by one while stirring with a fork.  When it's doughy, separate into two balls and roll out the first ball on a floured surface.  I guess if you're fancy you'll make your pie crust from scratch.  I guess if you're lazy you'll use a frozen crust.  I tend to fall somewhere in the middle.

Roll one half of the pie dough out to fit the bottom of your pie pan, allowing a 1” over hang (oops, mine did not have any over hang) and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

In a large sauce pan, add peaches, lemon juice, sugar and flour and stir until coated. Bring fruit mixture to a low boil. Reduce heat to low and cook until fruit is just slightly tender. 

Remove the pan from heat. Stir in almond extract, nutmeg and three tablespoons butter.  I am not sure what function the butter serves except to make this a legit Paula Deen recipe. Allow the filling to cool slightly.  Of course, you will have to taste one of your peaches and let your husband taste one too, and it will be delicious.

Remove pie pan from refrigerator and fill with the cooled filling (I used a slotted spoon). 

Roll out the second crust and decorate the top of the pie.  Make sure you have some kind of ventilation in your top crust.  A lattice is nice.  Squiggles are easier.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg together with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush the top of your pie with the egg wash.

Bake for 10 minutes then lower heat to 350ºF for an additional 30 minutes or until the top is golden and the fruit is bubbly.

Dinner cooked by the mister:  steak, potatoes, and carrots.

Mr. Spin pulled up the following YouTube video to accompany our dessert:

Our Wedding: How To Prepare DIY Wedding Flowers and Floral Cost Breakdown

Inspired primarily by a Weddingbee boards poster and Mrs. Earrings (who inspired my wedding in many, many ways as you'll see in these recaps), I had decided to DIY my wedding flowers, from bouquets to centerpieces, after getting a ridiculous estimate from a florist.  After a few trial runs with flowers from Kroger and Fresh Market and help from a few YouTube videos, the only things I "outsourced" were the boutonnieres and corsages, which I didn't feel like I could do well.  

On the Thursday before the wedding, the boxes arrived!  To get the variety of flowers I wanted and save money, I ordered from three different websites.  I had won a gift certificate from a contest I entered at Inspired Bride to Blooms by the Box, which helped our budget a lot!  When I called about the gift certificate I got to speak to the actual general manager of the company, Larry Fox- which boosted my confidence about ordering flowers online and in that company quite a bit.

This is what wholesale flowers should look like when they arrive!  Wrapped in foil bubble wrap, then plastic wrap around the flowers and cool packs.  The hydrangeas also had wet cotton around the cut ends of the stems to keep them as moist as possible.

Sunday Simplicity for Labor Day Weekend (#33)

Simply magical, via Snippet and Ink