Let's start with, well...what else but the dress?! I knew I wanted something with no beading, nothing sparkly of any kind, and not princessy. I liked Jcrew style, but wanted something a little less simple. I went to Amy Kuschel Bridal in downtown San Francisco, and that place seriously rocks. Everyone is really nice, its a big airy space, and they didn't seem to mind when my 4 bridesmaids busted out some champagne, and promptly split it all over the floor. The dresses are unique and detailed in different ways than just beading and tulle. You can't really tell in the this picture, but the bus of my dress wraps around in a really interesting design.
For the seating chart, I bought the background paper from Paper Mojo and my Mom tackled the horrible task of printing out everyones name and managing to fit them all exactly on this board.
Oh Etsy how I love you. I ordered these adorable little cake toppers from Naked Peggies's etsy page. I sent Suzy a picture of Eric and I, as well as links to my dress and his tux. The detail she did is amazing. Literally my dress looks EXACTLY like my actual dress, and she even got my hair to look exactly right, which is tough since its a wierd color of reddish blondish brownish.
The ceremony took place at TBS Ranch in Palo Cedro, Ca. Its a tiny town about 15 minutes east of Redding. They have a gorgeous outdoor setting for the ceremony, and then a large barn for the reception. My mom found that awesome arch at a local gardening store, they let us borrow it for the wedding for free! It was supposed to be behind us with mason jars of flowers and candles hanging from it, but turns out it would only stand by itself in the grass, so in front of the aisle had to do.
The flowers were by Mallery's, located in downtown Redding. We did Mason jars with flowers down the aisle, and then plain vases we got from Ikea for the centerpieces. All of the centerpieces were different, which I loved.
My crafty mom made the ring bearer pillow based off a pillow I saw in another wedding. The model is my 3 year old nephew Jake.
My 3 amazing and talented bridesmaids offered to make the wedding cake. They spent the 3 days before the wedding baking, frosting, and hanging out at my parents house. It was their first wedding cake, and by far the best tasting cake I've ever had. Just thinking about it give me a carrot cake craving......
My 5 year old twin nieces were the flower girls. If you get to the end of the aisle and you still have flowers in your basket, really, what else can you do but dump them on your brother's head?!
I had both my parents walk me down the aisle, because I wanted my Mom to be a part of the wedding. If you think about it, the bride's mom kinda get the shaft at weddings. Dad's get to walk the bride down the aisle, the first dance, the toasts. What do Mom's get? Just months of planning.
She cried the entire way down
My brother Kurt (an amazing musician, check out his website www.kurtmaire.com) played the guitar as everyone walked down the aisle. For the bridal party he played "I go to the barn cause I like the" by Band of Horses, and "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes when my parents and I walked down.
My Dad is a Bishop and can legally marry people, so we decided to have him marry us. It was his first wedding, and he got nervous and we completely forgot to do the rings. We only realized after the first kiss because my mom was in the front row whispering "the rings! the rings!"
I thought he held it together amazingly well because he didn't cry at all during the ceremony. But I love his face in this picture as you can tell he's trying to hold it back.
Bridesmaids dresses are from Jcrew, and were a whole lot brighter in person than they looked online. I almost switched to grey dresses after seeing them in person, but everyone already had the dresses so I decided to save them the hassle. Note to any brides getting dresses from Jcrew: wait to order the dresses until you receive a color swatch!
My bridesmaid Lisa caught the bouquet, she just announced she's engaged.
This picture is proof of the dance off that occurred between Eric's uncle and our friend Alex. I LOVE this picture.
We had a photo booth set up with hats, and props. It started so innocently, and got a little interesting towards the end of the night!
All the photos are by Mischa Photography.
Other details I won't include pictures of due to the already massive size of this blog: horseshoes and bocce ball, beer served in mason jars, yellow pinwheels, BBQ, and crazy dancing. All in all, it was a good day.
