Welcome! If you are just now joining us, you can catch up by reading the previous installments of our wedding series here. If you're one of my dedicated readers who is all up-to-date, then I'd like to say thank you for sticking around and for the support! Without further adieu, let's start with the groomsmen attire!
Aren't they just adorable? Anyway, you may have noticed beforehand that our wedding was really relaxed in terms of attire. The boys didn't wear tuxes - not even suits. I had them in light khaki pants and a pool colored button-up shirt which both came from JCPenney's. We didn't feel that the formal-ness of tuxedos (or suits for that matter) fit the vision we had for our wedding. We wanted something comfortable and fun that adequately fit the carnival them. However, we did dress them up a little bit by adding satin red ties from Men's Warehouse and matching red suspenders that I ordered online. (Kudos to my sister-in-law Lauryn for the idea about the suspenders. They seriously made the outfit!) Lastly, they had matching boat shoes from Payless.
They cleaned up pretty good, didn't they? You might have also noticed the guys were not wearing your typical flower boutonniere. Let's get a close up for you:
If you ignore the fact that R.J. is licking icing from the wedding cake off his fingers, you can see the prize ribbon boutonniere. In the blue center, is the word "Groom." The center of the groomsmen boutonnieres said "Groomsman" with the exception of Clay's which said "Best Man." Perfect for the carnival theme, no?
I'm not going to lie though. I really wrestled with how I felt about these ribbons the whole week before the wedding. Since carnival-themed prize ribbon boutonnieres are not too common, I had to make them. Since tutorials are far and few between, I came up with my own which you can go back and read here.
My main concern after I made all six was that they looked like something for a child's birthday party. I definitely did not want to cross over that line. My mother thought they were absolutely adorable and would work perfectly. However, I was still not sure. R.J. then graciously came to the house after a 14 hour work day and put on his entire outfit complete with the boutonniere to put my mind at ease. After seeing it all put together, I was finally convinced the boutonnieres were acceptable.
Speaking of the groom, here are a couple insights into some special mementos he had with him that day. First, R.J. wore a pocket watch which belonged to his grandfather. After his grandfather passed, the pocket watch was handed down to him. Since then, R.J. had always wanted to wear it on his wedding day and indeed he did! You can see it hanging out of his pocket in a lot of the pictures in previous posts. Second, his mother gave him a pin of two little golden footprints, also worn by his grandfather, to put on his tie. You can see her pinning it on him in the picture below.
As for their shoes, I found these at Rack Room Shoes. Originally, I had purchased a pair for me to wear on the big day. After wearing them for a while, I thought they were perfect for my girls. They were the right color and had a low wedge heel so we could walk through the grass for the ceremony. Plus, I kind of liked the fact that all six of us had the same shoes.
For their bridal gifts, I gave each a pair of red drop earrings and a matching bracelet to give the pop of red in their outfits. You can see the jewelry best in this picture of me and my sister-in-law Lyndsey!
As for my attire, I'll start with my hair, hair piece and jewelry. I wore my hair in a low chignon, styled by Regina at Studio Seventy-Seven. I was at a constant back and forth with my mom about my veil. She tried her best to talk me into a birdcage veil that would cover my eyes. However, I just couldn't stand it being in my face. I've never been one to like veils anyway. They just aren't me. [Here I go again being all nontraditional...]
Trying her best to coax me into one, mom bought me a hair comb, feathers and netting for me to play with. I looked at some tutorials online and before I knew it, I had crafted my own hairpiece. I decided I liked the netting - just not around my eyes or my face. When we did my hair trial with Regina, I absolutely fell in love with it when she wrapped the netting around the bun of my chignon. It was bridal. It was elegant. And thank God, it was out of my face.
My hair piece also had glass pearls on it which matched my earrings and necklace. Which brings me to the jewelry! As for my earrings, my maid of honor, Tessa, gave me an antique gold pair of pearl earrings that matched the sash on my dress perfectly. They were simple, elegant and not flashy just like I wanted. My earrings then inspired my necklace which my mother and I painstakingly crafted together. You wouldn't think putting together a necklace would be more than simply stringing beads on a string, but it's hard! It's difficult arranging everything just right and making it actually look good. However, I think we did a darn good job!
Here's a closer shot of it (ignore my dead cow face):
Now for THE dress. I actually had two! How diva of me, right? I'll explain my reasoning, but let's start with the actual wedding dress. With my wedding dress, I did exactly what everybody warns you NOT to do: I bought it online. To my defense, there was a good reason I bought it online. It was only a whopping $50 from The Limited. That's right! I got a brand new $400 wedding dress for only $50. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't be out that much money anyway. However, I LOVED IT!
Alright, pick yourselves off of the floor. As good as the price was, it did come with a huge, floppy bow on the side that I hated. I also knew from looking at bridal magazines I wanted a sash. Every dress I loved had a sash on it so it was obviously a sign! Thus, when I took the dress to the seamstress, I asked to have the ugly bow removed and for the sash to be put on. In the middle of the floppy bow had been a really pretty (and REALLY SPARKLY) brooch that I really liked. I look the brooch off of the bow before taking it to the seamstress and simply pinned it in the middle of the finished sash. Total cost of my wedding dress: $100. Never would've guess that, huh?
Here's the best picture I can find of the sash and brooch for you.
Now then, after the father/daughter dance, I ran and changed into my reception dress which I found at Dillard's for $38. I wanted a reception dress for two reasons. First (and most importantly) with sitting in the rumble seats in the getaway car, there was absolutely, positively NO way for me to get into the seats without ripping my dress. That sucker fit me like a glove so much that I couldn't even sit up straight. I sat with a lean because it wouldn't allow me to sit up. Second, my wedding dress was really heavy! Even though it doesn't really look like it, there is a TON of fabric under that thing. It was hot and sweaty. I didn't want to be suffering through the whole reception lugging it around. Thus, I resorted to my reception dress which was a simple, white crochet dress.
To tie it in with my previous wedding attire, I made another sash from the same material to tie around my waist. After getting into the reception dress, I took the brooch off of the wedding dress and put it on the sash of the reception dress! And here you have it!
and
I did keep one tradition which I think is fun: wearing something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue! However, I did not have a sixpence in my shoe as the saying goes. My something old? The fabric lace flowers from my granny's wedding dress that were in my bouquet. My something new? My earrings that Tessa gave me for my birthday. My something borrowed? An embroidered handkerchief from Italy from R.J.'s Nana. My something blue? My garter...which didn't really count because it kept falling off my leg while taking family pictures. I ended up ditching it before the ceremony. However, Nana's handkerchief had some blue sewn in it.
Last, but not least comes my little flower girl/junior bridesmaid, Aaliyah, and her attire! She already had the dress because she was the flower girl in her aunt's wedding a few months before. She's definitely a professional at being a flower girl now. Instead of buying a completely different dress, we simply did some things to make it our own for our wedding.
Using fabric leftover from my own sash, I sowed Aaliyah one as well. If you look close enough you will notice three fabric flowers sewn to the front of the sash. These three flower echo the pattern and style of my wedding dress. Mom and I ended up tea dying the flowers to blend in better with the sash. To finish off her sash, I hand sewed beads leftover from my necklace in a pattern around the tea dyed flowers. Can you see the similarities we tied into both dresses now? She wore red, velvet shoes with a fabric rose on top to tie in with the roses in my bouquet too.
Woosh! All done. Guess what? We only have two more installments to go: Trash the Dress and Budget and Advice. That makes me a little sad to think it is almost over. Again, thanks to those who have been following this series the whole time. You're awesome!
Can't wait to see what you guys think! Leave me some comments!
Over and out!
Miranda
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