(all photos by Jose Villa unless otherwise noted. please do not remove from this site without permission. thanks!)
Since Style Me Pretty and Jose Villa and Angel and Becker will be posting all about the wedding from their points of view, I think it would be fun for me to share some info about the behind the scenes stuff like where I bought things, and how the event came together.
I don't even know where to start with all of this, so I suppose I will start with Jeff and I, first separately, and in a later post, together.
First of all, as you know, Jeff's shoes were the very first thing bought for the wedding, you can see them here. But I don't enjoy being outdone in the shoe department, so I had to come up with a pair of my own that would be suitable for the wedding! Since our main wedding color was copper with the hundreds of pots and containers we acquired, I found these coppery shoes and fell in instant love! They are by Christian Louboutin (pictured here with my invitations by Kari Dyas:
The shoes, however much I love them, were not the first thing I bought for the wedding. I actually bought my wedding dress while shopping with my mom two days after getting engaged! Fun fact about me--I have never tried on a real wedding gown so it would be a fun experience when I got to do it for real. My mom was heading back to North Carolina after coming out for the engagement and party so we decided to stop off at The White Dress in Costa Mesa. The dress I bought after trying on only three or four dresses was actually the one in the window.
I should tell you, that although I AM an impulse shopper, I can't believe I bought my wedding dress so quickly. I second guessed it quite a few times--I wasn't sure it was unique or interesting enough for me, although I did think it looked good on my shape. I decided that i would just have to funk it up with hair and accessories, so I ended up keeping it. The dress is by Amsale, and the style is Coco:
My favorite item that I wore the day of the wedding was my crown, by Etsy seller Whichgoose. I knew that I wanted to do something more unusual than real flowers or some sort of prom-y updo, and when I found this crown, I was hooked! I think it photographed even better than I expected--I was thrilled with it. For $50, I considered it a steal. Also, I removed the ribbon that came on the back of it and replaced it with a ribbon from my mothers' wedding dress. Check it:
I should note that the fabulous and talented Nicole Deanne and her assistant Chelsey made the long trip up to do hair and makeup for me and all the girls. I think they did a wonderful job!
I probably bought 3 or 4 different necklaces to wear on the wedding day. My sister in law Cyndie ended up wearing one of them, you can see that I have a pearl one on in the black and white photos, but the one I eventually chose to wear that day is a gold one with all different flowers. I think it was my best wedding find, $20 at Shop Ruche! I think it looked really pretty and at that price, if there had been more I would have bought them for my girls also. However, it was the last one and I had to email Mai to beg her to sell it to me :)
Enough about me for now--let's talk about Jeff! Can we just pause for a second and talk about how hot my husband is??
Jeff's outfit was chosen with as much or more careful consideration than mine was, believe it or not. One of the things that Jeff really wanted was to look GOOD on his wedding day, and that meant reflective of his rugged, vintage inspired style, but also unique and classy. Sounds easy, right? We eventually chose grey and browns for his color palette, although his shirt does have some deep purple in the stitching as well. His suit is by Armani, tie by Tom Ford, shirt by Etro, and of course, shoes by John Varvatos:
Jeff and I decided to give each other a gift the morning of the wedding. The gifts were sort of a surprise (but not really). I knew that he wanted a watch, and he knew that I wanted two wedding bands. We both received what we wanted. Jeff's watch, for those wondering is by Cuervo Y Sobrinos, and was the only one of its kind in the US when I bought it. I got it at Horologio in Las Vegas at the Venetian.
You may or may not believe this, but as much thought as it took to get Jeff and I wedding-ready, it was even more time consuming to dress the groomsmen! If we had been smarter, we would have chosen one outfit, told them to go rent it, and been done. As it was, we kept changing our minds because nothing we could rent looked good with the wedding at all, which meant that the outfits needed to be 1. handpicked, 2. affordable, 3. in a WIDE range of sizes and 4. looking good with the wedding as a whole. Dressing the groomsmen was not the most fun part of the wedding planning, and I might never go to Men's Warehouse again, but I do think they ended up looking fantastic!
All of the groomsmen are wearing distressed pants from J. Crew. The vest also came from J. Crew. The suspenders are from Macy's, as are the four striped ties. The four solid brown ties are from Men's Warehouse:
Good looking and oh-so-smooth:
I've never once seen Jeff ride a bike, but I love this shot! He told me yesterday when we were looking at the photos that they are all laughing because the bike was broken and he couldn't get it to stop!
The girls were easier in a way, although their outfits were more complicated in that no two are the same. I knew immediately that I didn't want to have them all in matching dresses. We ended up with right about 90 guests, and 8 bridesmaids, so having that many people all wearing the same outfit would look ridiculous! I wanted them all in outfits in fall colors, and my only real requirements were that 1. I like their dress and 2. they show their personal style. I figured that by going super eclectic, it would either work out REALLY REALLY well, or not look good at all, so I'm glad they all pulled it off so amazingly well!
I did have a hand in choosing the dresses, or at least approving them. I was the only one who knew what all the dresses looked like since the girls live all over the country, so I tried my best to make sure that they were all in the same ballpark of length and dressiness. Other than that, they had free reign! I personally think that the girls together is one of the cutest details of the whole wedding--man do my girls have STYLE!! Oh, and they are all absolutely beautiful:
So many things I love about this photo and the people in it:
My mom and Jeff's mom also looked stunning:
How about these little flower girls?? Finding their outfits was also more challenging than I first thought. I ordered a set of tutu's early on off Etsy that when they came were long enough to fit ME and were COMPLETELY see through. Not appropriate. Luckily though, I was able to find another tutu designer on Etsy called Ruffles and Stitches who custom made the tutus you see here. I LOVED them!!
Next up will be all about the flowers and details, so stay tuned!