Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - Walking Down the Aisle

After we were done with a few pics of just us, it was time to start the ceremony.

^Here are the beautiful wreaths from our florist Blue Ridge Floral Design

^I told our florist that I wanted green and white wreaths, but that I wanted them to look "modern" which for me meant not having traditional wreath florals like roses and hydrangea. I think she did an awesome job.

^And here is the inside of our tiny little chapel

^This is the view from the front looking out the door

^Our pew florals, which I also loved. Also from Blue Ridge Floral Design

^Here come the guys!

^Waiting outside the church

^I love this pic of my nephew! He escorted my Mom

^Waiting to head into the church

^Here I come! The families, groomsmen, bridesmaids, and flower girl came before but for the sake of brevity I'm skipping to the key moment

^Fiance watching me walk down the aisle

^Coming down the aisle. One of my friend's husbands had just whispered something like "you look awesome"...which is why I'm looking at him and not at my groom! Haha

^Now my eyes are where they are supposed to be! For such a short aisle it still seemed like a long walk when you have everyone watching you

^Finally, we're ready to start the ceremony! My flower hair clip is from Etsy seller Ella's Alley. When I bought it in Feb it was only $9! Her prices have gone up a bit but they are a steal compared to some of the other hair clips people are selling for upwards of $100 or more. I just didn't see the point in spending that much money and I was thrilled with how my little $9 flower came out.

Vendors So Far:

Video- Monachetti

Photography - Linda Wallace

Hair/Makeup- Daphne Latham

Dress Designer - Vwidon

Dress Salon - Promise for the Savvy Bride

Shoes - Vera Wang new from Ebay

Bracelet- Carolee

Veil- Occansey Design

Purse - Belk

Hair Flower - Ella's Alley

Flowers - Blue Ridge Floral

Suits- Men's Wearhouse

Ties - Wild Ties

Socks - The Gap

Bridesmaid Dresses - Maggy London from Nordstrom

Flower Girl Dress- Rare Editions from Dillards

Sportscar - Sports Car Rental

Reception/Accomodations - The Clifton Inn

Breaking News: AisleDash Retires

Its true! I just saw a post on AisleDash - another great bridal blog that I read fairly frequently. They've decided to retire from active blogging. I'm sad to see them go as they were always a great source of Bridal info.

Running of the Brides: DC - TOMORROW!

An event popularized by the Today Show among others, Filene's now world-famous "Running of the Brides" (a take-off of Pamplona's Running of the Bulls) will take place in DC - TOMORROW, August 1 at the Mazza Gallerie store in Chevy Chase. If you don't have your dress yet or are looking for a designer dress at a discounted price - this event is for you! Dresses will range from $25 - $700.

Here's how the Filene's site describes the event:
"The day of the sale, brides-to-be and their helpers line up early. When the doors open, they run full speed towards the racks. In less than 60 seconds, the racks are stripped bare (store employees have to hold on to the fixtures so they don’t topple). The women grab whatever gowns they can, haul them off to a corner, strip down to their underwear and start trying on dresses. Minutes later the trading begins. Every dress, no matter what size, style or color, gets bartered for another, as each bride tries to find the gown of her dreams at a cut-rate price."

Check out the website for more detailed info - and set your alarm clocks - brides to be get there EARLY - make sure you don't oversleep!

Our Invitations....

Okay, So everybody has received our invitations now, even our international guests---so it is time for me to present to you, my babies.

^ Sorry for the white boxes, I couldn't figure out how to blur the images, so these ugly white boxes are getting in the way of my invitations--but just imagine them as if they aren't there :) Here is the finished invitation, wrapped and ready to go. After much deliberation we used Silver and White Ribbon from Paper source to wrap the outside. Than we used the Xyron to make the M stickers that you see. Now let me show you what is inside!

^ What you see here is the invitation, which we had letterpressed by Paper-Source ( I highly recommend, it was competitive pricing, and they came out beautiful). Than FI and I cut the Stardream Mars Paper from paper source to put as a backing for the Invite.

Next step ( which I unfortunately don't have a picture of) was my aunts and Mom taped the stardream paper to the pocket fold, and the invite to the stardream paper. We purchased our Pocket Folds from Paper Presentation in stardream silver. I also highly recommend them, they were amazing quality, and worked perfect with our color scheme.

We than moved on to the inserts, we had four inserts total. All the inserts were printed on Stardream quartz paper from Paper-Source. We purchased the large pieces of the card stock for about $1.75 a sheet--in total we ended up purchasing about 30 sheets ( cleaned out the Georgetown and the Alexandria Paper-Source), but it was enough for all four inserts. We than spent a couple of hours at Kinkos, cutting the paper down to the right size, and than it was time to printing. We spent about 5 or 6 hours getting the design perfect/printing them out, and without further ado, our inserts :

^ Our Very Talented Groomsman designed this for us, we LOVE it. It shows our top 3 locations-Church, Reception Site, Hotel and of course the Metro.




^ Next up was our Reception Card--We put our logo at the top, and than kept it pretty simple.




^ We than included our brunch card, along with our wedding website, funny story FI and I forgot to include our website anywhere on the invites, so we had to run these thru the printer again at the last minute to add it!



^ We decided to use a postcard RSVP--the front had my parents name, but FI and Mine address so we could receive the responses! I must admit getting the mail is now my favorite part of the day! We also put a section for guests to write us a note, unfortunately we have only received a few that followed this request :)





^ The back of the RSVP had the usual accepting or declining--but we also asked if they would let us know where they are staying ( for OOT bags) and also if they would be attending brunch

So there you have it, the inserts and the pocket fold--Next up I will show the envelopes/Labels and it all put together!

Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - Just Us

Once we got to the chapel, and before the ceremony started, Linda took some photos of just us.

All photos below the work of Linda Wallace

^This is probably one of my favorite pics of just us form the entire wedding

^Totally unintentional but is anyone else thinking the Wizard of Oz?

^Definitely has a Dorothy marries a munchkin vibe.

^My awesome bracelet

^There it is again!

^I really like the way Fiance looks in this one...very happy

^Could I look more arrogant? Anyone who knows me is thinking "why yes, you often do."

^In front of our cute little chapel

^Liking the way fiance looks in this one too

^Just hanging out

Favors vs. No Favors?

Favors or no favors, that is the question? I must admit the idea of favors has boggled me since I first encountered a birds nest of sugar coated Jordan almonds at a cousins wedding. Why? I wondered... I'd read the symbolic meaning of the almonds however, as I looked around the room no one cared; I saw children playing table football with almonds, adults with puzzled looks picking birds nest apart at their tables and when the reception concluded I found a ballroom littered with almonds left at the tables and on the floors and again I wondered what's the point. Today I think of a wedding and I believe it is a opportunity for friends and family to help a couple celebrate their choice to walk through life together. The couple or couples parent's plan a great party with at the very least food, drinks, and some sort of entertainment. All this is planned for the guest enjoyment so why is it necessary to give guests a gift for attending? Isn't a invitation to a wedding a gift in itself? The "favor" which in my opinion is nothing more than a unappreciated afterthought with the couples name on it is a wedding racket and a huge drain on a wedding budget! Who's really going to use the playing cards with your picture, or weird apple butter you made and stuck your monogram on. I'm not one of those people who hangs around weddings until the end to snatch a centerpiece all I need to take away are a a few photographs and some great memories. Now I am planning my own wedding and being constantly reminded by venue directors, caterers and my mom that I must decide on a favor because as they all say, "you can't have a wedding without favors..." Whatever! I've entertained the idea of making a donation to a charity in the name of my guest but I don't want to impose my beliefs on them what if they don't want to support the charity we select. I also thought about making cookies or fudge or something but really, who has the time? Second, after the wedding cake who needs more sweets! I don't know what I'll do but I'll keep you up to date on any new ideas I find. Here are a few unique ideas I found at The Knot:

A sterling silver luggage tag with a personalized thank you note. (Cute since all of our guest will be traveling.)

How about a recovery bag for when the party wraps up in the wee hours of the morning! (Vitamin Water, Excedrin, and a snack bar.) Or a breakfast bag with some instant coffee or tea & a muffin for guest to munch on as they head to the airport!

A tissue for your tears... This is a nice idea offering a hanky to your guests as a useful keepsake perhaps with our monogram...

A $1 dollar lottery ticket & a shiny new penny in a vellum envelope! Lucky in Love; give guest the opportunity to win back some of the cash spent on getting to our destination wedding !

An uplifting or inspirational read for the plane; hmmm... I'll keep you posted on our decision!

Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - The Ride

One of the most fun parts of the wedding was getting to drive around the entire weekend in the 1959 MGA we rented from Sports Car Rentals. I wrote before about how much we were looking forward to it...but the reality was even better. Fiance was in heaven all weekend. And the best part...the entire weekend was only $180. No...not the hour, not the day...THE WEEKEND. Best deal of the wedding. Limo-schmimo.

All photos below the work of Linda Wallace

^Here it is parked outside our reception site/accomodations, The Clifton Inn.

^Of course since it was an older car it had older features...like a tiny rearview mirror, barrel breaks, stick shift, and a knob you had to pull to help make it start!

^Fiance drove with his brother to the chapel. I took our wind-free RAV4 for the trip to the chapel

^There they go!

^And here we are at our adorable chapel, getting ready to take some more pics

Vendors So Far:

Video- Monachetti

Photography - Linda Wallace

Hair/Makeup- Daphne Latham

Dress Designer - Vwidon

Dress Salon - Promise for the Savvy Bride

Shoes - Vera Wang new from Ebay

Bracelet- Carolee

Veil- Occansey Design

Purse - Belk

Flowers - Blue Ridge Floral

Suits - Men's Wearhouse

Ties - Wild Ties

Socks - The Gap

Bridesmaid Dresses - Maggy London from Nordstrom

Flower Girl Dress- Rare Editions from Dillards

Sportscar - Sports Car Rental

Reception/Accomodations - The Clifton Inn

EAD- A New Resource for Vendor Reviews

I was really excited last week when Elizabeth Anne Designs launched their library of all the great vendors they've featured on their site, but I was thrilled today to see they have added a "Vendor Review" section as well. It's easy enough to find lists of vendors, but as a bride I found THE BEST resource was honest reviews from real brides.

Remember that resources like these are only as good as we make them! The more brides that contribute the better we can get the word out about good vendors, bad vendors, steals, and up&comers. I've decided to try and add at least one review a day from my own wedding so that I don't feel overwhelmed!

Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - Out For A Stroll

The following series of pics I call "out for a stroll." Our photographer just took shots as we walked around outside our reception site. So simple, yet the pics turned out so well.

All photos below the work of Linda Wallace

Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - Posed Photos

Once we had the big reveal it was time to take the posed family photos. Don't worry, though, I'm not going to post most of those...I always found it kind of boring when people posted family photos cause nobody besides myself knows those people so it's not very helpful for other brides. But I will post some with the bridesmaids/groomsmen.

All photos below the work of Linda Wallace

^Before we went for photos we had to get the flowers! This is my calla lily bouquet from Blue Ridge Floral Design and my purse! I looooved my purse. I don't know why I even wanted one, but I did, and I searched high and low and never really found anything that I liked that wasn't insanely expensive. I ended up buying something that was "o.k." Then the day before the wedding I had a last minute errand to run and ended up at the Charlottesville shopping mall (which is tiny) and the only real department store they had was a Belk. Which is a pretty inadequate department store...but there on a sales rack marked down half off was my no name brand purse. It matched my dress perfectly and was only $25!

^Here is one of the groomsmen's bouts, also from Blue Ridge Floral Design

^Here we are with all the groomsmen. Navy Blue, three button suits from Men's Wearhouse, navy blue ties with green shamrocks and groom's kelly green tie with navy blue shamrocks from Wild Ties.

^Socks from The Gap

^Bridesmaid dresses from Maggy London at Nordstrom. Flowers from Blue Ridge Floral. Bridesmaid hair from Daphne Latham.

^My cutie flower girl in her Rare Editions dress from Dillards.

^Once photos were over we all began to leave for the church. Linda captured this great photo of my Dad looking on as fiance and I shared a moment.

Vendors So Far:

Video- Monachetti

Photography - Linda Wallace

Hair/Makeup- Daphne Latham

Dress Designer - Vwidon

Dress Salon - Promise for the Saavy Bride

Shoes - Vera Wang new from Ebay

Bracelet- Carolee

Veil- Occansey Design

Purse - Belk

Flowers - Blue Ridge Floral

Suits - Men's Wearhouse

Ties - Wild Ties

Socks - The Gap

Bridesmaid Dresses - Maggy London from Nordstrom

Flower Girl Dress- Rare Editions from Dillards

Save the Date!

Sorry I've been away so long I've been helping out with my sisters Las Vegas wedding which is rapidly approaching and completely neglecting my own wedding plans. I did however, manage to complete one DIY project in my absence. Previously I posted the save the date magnets we decided to use from Magnet Street and I've been searching for an inexpensive yet creative way to send them; well DIY project #1 is complete! In an effort to cut cost I opted to send our save the dates attached to postcards instead of in envelopes. This creative idea cut our postage cost in half allowing us to send the magnets for 27 cents each even with the magnets attached! This project was so inexpensive and yet it really sets the tone for what will be a "destination" wedding. Have a look!

Washington DC Postcards
I purchased 150 identical postcards
from a vendor at the monument for twenty bucks!

Mini Vellum Envelopes from Envelopemail and a handy glue gun held our save the date magnets to the postcards and only cost $10.95!

FYI, I just got a Magnet Street Promotional Code offering 10% off and free shipping: WEXPC10

Expires: 9/30/2008

Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - The Big Reveal

Like many couples, fiance and I chose to see each other before the wedding so we could have more time for pictures and not take time away from being with our guests. For us this was a good decision and I really like the moment we had to ourselves before we started out.

All photos below the work of Linda Wallace

^Fiance came and I got me in my room

^He looks impressed enough I think ;)

^Time for the twril

^Gotta check out the back

^This is my "i have on lipstick so don't mess it up" kiss

^Wow, we're actually getting married

^Time to go meet our families for pictures

^Here we come down the stairs to see our families

^Look how happy everyone is! This was as good as walking into the church for the first time

Vendors So Far:

Video- Monachetti

Photography - Linda Wallace

Hair/Makeup- Daphne Latham

Dress Designer - Vwidon

Dress Salon - Promise for the Saavy Bride

Shoes - Vera Wang new from Ebay

Bracelet- Carolee

Veil- Occansey Design

Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - Getting Ready

Now that you guys have already seen my awesome wedding video, I'll start the recap of the day in photos. All the photos below are the work of our wonderful photographer, Linda Wallace. I've spoken before about how I chose my photographer and we were really happy with Linda's work. We got over 1,000 photos! And for the price...I feel like we got the steal of a century.

Much like my preferences with video, I really wanted a more photojournalistic style. Not that I don't love all those photos of brides jumping in the air (actually I hate those) or everyone standing in a wheat field (yes I do like these), but I wanted more of a journal of the day as it actually happened. I just feel that these photos will stand the test of time better.

That's not to say we don't have posed photos...just not a ton.

Of course it all begins with the getting ready....

Remember you can click to enlarge!

^Here I am with my great and incredibly affordable Charlottesville based hair & makeup artist, Daphne Latham. She was so much fun to have around.

^Daphne's kick-a$$ tattoo

^Talking with bridesmaids/family as I get ready

^I wanted a lot of curl since it's the opposite of how I normally wear my hair. Daphne made the curls very tight so that they would loosen the closer we got to the ceremony.

^I had a room all my own to get ready in that was next to my bridesmaid's room, my sister's room, and my sister-in-law's room. I liked this cause people could come in and out and chat but everyone had their own space to go back to and get ready.

^Here I am checking out the makeup in natural light. That's my dress behind me!

^There is my beautiful Vwidon dress from Promise for the Savvy Bride that I blogged about forever ago. To my knowledge this is now the only picture of this particular style anywhere online.

^And here are my awesome Red Satin Vera Wang shoes (if you remember, I got these brand new on Ebay for a steal)

^ I got so many compliments on my shoes all night long. If you are on the fence about colored shoes then all I can say is "DO IT!" It was so much fun. And remember, your guests don't read wedding blogs all day, so they have no idea that this is a huge trend. So many friends and family members thought I was so "original." Ha...if only they knew how un-original I really was!

^Now I've slipped into my dress. And I got into my dress all by myself! I never really understood why it takes 8 bridesmaids to put on a wedding dress. Mine was easy to get in and out of.

^Here I am putting on my wedding bracelet from Carolee that I loved.

^Getting ready to put on my shoes.

^ Look! I could put my shoes on all by myself too! Though I did have proper bridesmaid supervision.

^And now it's time to put the veil on

^Daphne getting things just right

^I wouldn't say all that fretting I did over veil length was worth it, but I was pretty happy with the length of my Occansey Designs veil. It was long, but not so long I felt like I had to keep up with it.

^I must not look too shabby if I got looks like this from my bridesmaids.

^Here I am...all done....ready for the big reveal.

Next up: the total look and seeing soon-to-be husband for the first time.

If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It

I just got back from my future brother and sister-in-law's wedding. Not only was it beautiful, it was incredibly inspiring if you want to have your wedding in an unconventional venue. Their idea was to have a multi-venue, three-stage wedding and trust their guests to move easily from one venue to another. Sounds impossible, right? It worked really, really well, and was a great culmination of all their hard work and organization.

The ceremony was held on the London Eye.

It threatened to rain that day but it took all the positive thinking we could muster to keep the clouds from spilling over.

It was so cool to have the sense of floating in mid-air as they said their vows.

Afterwards we were hustled to the pier to have lunch on this paddle steamer, which went up and down the Thames. Let me tell you, maneuvering on a boat with champagne is a tricky proposition. It takes a few minutes to get your sea legs.

Finally, we walked to Tower Bridge, accompanied by a bagpiper, for dancing. Do you see the green bar connecting the two towers? Those are walkways that used to allow pedestrians to walk from one side of the bridge to the other if a ship were going through, like you see here. There are two of them, and they can be rented out for parties. Here's what one of them looks like from the inside.

(Sorry about the crooked picture--I guess I hadn't, uh, gotten my land legs back.)

It was amazing to feel like we were on top of the world, and it was a perfect ending to the whole day--we started in the air, went to the water, and finished up in the air again.

When I heard this three-stage wedding was my FBIL and FSIL's plan, I was really worried. Could they expect their guests to be able to move easily between all three venues? Would people get lost or tired?

In the end, none of that mattered--it was simple and fun to go from one place to the next. Besides, people were so happy and excited to be there that they didn't mind walking on cobblestones or wading through tourists to get where they needed to go.

If you want to have your wedding in an unusual place or do something a little bit out of the ordinary, do it. Don't let naysayers tell you that you can't have what you want. If it's your vision, and you do the research and the legwork to make it happen, it's very likely to succeed.

Our Rehersal Dinner

This past weekend FMIL was visiting FI and I to help with some wedding planning necessities,and just for a fun visit! On the list of to-do's was check out the location for our rehearsal dinner and to make the rehearsal dinner invitations.

We accomplished both of these tasks ( yay!) I will have more on the invites later--but right now I need to gush about the rehearsal dinner location...that's right gush :) With the wedding less than two months away, its that time where we have to contact vendors that we made contracts with a year ago, and in our rehearsal dinner's case--look at a space we hadn't looked at in a year. I must say that i was pleasantly surprised when I saw the space. When we had looked at the space a year ago, there was an event going on in it, so we couldn't get the whole feel of the space, but on Saturday we got to go in and take pictures---so without further ado I present you some pictures from where we will be having our rehearsal dinner --Sequoia. If you remember from my post a year ago ( if you do great memory I'm impressed :) ). Sequoia appealed to FI and I because we had spent a lot of our courtship down at the waterfront, and Sequoia is a favorite restaurant of ours. So we were thrilled when we decided on using the private State Room at Sequoia for our rehersal dinner.




^ This shows the openness of the room




^ I think my favorite part--Our beautiful private two level balcony




^ Another view of the balcony--I love the staircase!

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the private bar that is included, but there is our own private bar in the room. We are still finalizing the menu with the catering company, but I love the food at the sequoia and we are so excited to share one of our favorite restaurants and places in DC with our close family and friends.

Brides Bash Back in JABFest!

Ok, so having been feeling beyond overwhelmed in the last couple of weeks, I discovered a great way to get out some of my aggression without hurting anyone or leaving friendships destroyed in my wake. Ever feel that way? You'd like to kick one of your bridesmaids, not-so-politely remind a vendor that they work for YOU, or even tell your MOBzilla where she can go stick her peonies? Here's the perfect answer: JABFEST!

I love this guy! Muttonhead is the man! And, even if you are not on Facebook, you can JAB too!

My favorite insult so far is "crusty eared mouthy pirate!" What jabs have you thrown? Please share!

Dress? Check; Shoes? ...

Since purchasing my wedding dress waaaay back in March, I've been on the look out for the perfect pair of wedding shoes. A long time ago before I even got engaged, I saw a picture on The Preppy Wedding of the most perfect wedding shoe EVER. Meet the J. Crew Big Bow heel: white dye-able satin, with a big flat preppy bow on it, and a nice low heel!

Beautiful, [sigh]...from J. Crew via The Preppy Wedding.

Sadly, J. Crew stocked this shoe so long ago and it was so popular, it no longer existed by the time this girl was in the market for white dye-able shoes. Boo. I cruise e-Bay for it occasionally, but no luck yet.

So with the perfect preppy shoes out, I decided I wanted blue shoes! Haven't much luck with shoes the perfect shade of blue either. Still contemplating dye-ables, but I'm not crazy about the styles.

On Zappos today, this little number caught my eye:

from www.zappos.com

They don't blow my mind, but they are pretty cute. Bow? Check! Low heel so I can look adorable and hit Mr. Fairfax's shoulder with my pretty little head in just the right place while simultaneously not sinking into the grass at our outdoor ceremony? Check! Check! Grosgrain trim? CHECK! Plus my dress has a horizontally pleated top and so I'm looking for anywhere I can incorporate stripes or the semblance of such. I'm ordering them tonight to check 'em out. Yay for free returns with Zappos!

One of the fringe benefits of having bought a dress on the cheap is it makes it really difficult to rationalize crazy wedding purchases. Example, in a world were the wedding budget had no limit, these would be my shoes of choice:

from www.myglassslipper.com

However, I cannot justify purchasing white shoes that cost roughly half what my DRESS cost. But believe me you, if I see these on e-Bay, Mr. Stuart Weitzman will be walking me down the aisle along with my dad.

A couple other shoes I've considered are these two pairs of flats from Blue Tux:

from www.bluetuxshoes.com

The Elise, above, is the closest thing I've seen to my dreamy J. Crew shoes. Pro: They are dye-able so I could have blue shoes AND shoes with a bow! Con: They might be a little too flat, I think my dress needs me to have a smidge of height above my 5' 6". Also they're pretty pricey as they fall in the $100 range. This would definitely be a splurge.

Below are the Sophie also from Blue Tux. Adorable right? Pro: BOWS! Love the bows. Con: Even flatter than the Elise...and maybe a little flower girly?

from www.bluetuxshoes.com

Have you purchased your wedding shoes yet?

Well Hellooooo Groomzilla!

Since my wedding I'm almost completely out of the wedding blog reading business (enjoying getting back to normal life), but I ran across this new blog today and had to share!

I Groomzilla....You Bride, is written from the wedding obsessed GROOM's perspective. He only has a few posts, but from them I can tell two things 1)He loves his Bride-t0-be and 2) He's all about the wedding details.

Add this one to your reader for some new perspective~

Inspiration

Did you ever wonder how to put together those neat inspiration boards you see everywhere in wedding-planning-land? Yeah, me too.

So thanks are in order to The Doctor's Wife at Sippycups ARE for Chardonnay for this great post on how to make your own inspiration board like a pro!

Here are a few of my favorite inspiration boards by other more board-savy folks than myself.

A blueberry wedding from Style Me Pretty. I love the Bouquet and the little blue lobster on the invite.

This Paris inspired board is from Elizabeth Anne Designs. She does weekly (I think) boards in specific color palletes--If I remember correctly this one is black and cream with colorful accents.

I love how bright colors just pop off of navy blue! And this marigold pops with real sophistication, doesn't it? This is from The Preppy Wedding, and an entry about budget preppy weddings!

Making our own votives

This past weekend my wonderful parents and aunts came up to the D.C area to help FI and I finish up our invitations. I will post on those soon, I promise---but first I want to talk about our second DIY project, making our own votives.

I had read the posts by Mrs. Jasmine and Mrs. Emerald about creating your own votives, and knew right away I wanted this to be one of our projects.

I ordered 144 plain votive holders and 10 hour flame candles from QuickCandles for $80.




Than FI and I went to Paper-source to find paper that we wanted to wrap them with. As you know our colors are Silver/White/with Splashes of Red. So we thought we would wrap them with white or silver vellum. Since we couldn't decide we went with both White and Silver. I can't find the picture on Paper-Source, but you will see it on the finished project!

Once we had the supplies we waited until the family got there on Saturday, and put them straight to work! My Aunt Lisa started off by cutting out a template--she wrapped a normal piece of paper around a votive, traced that paper onto card stock, cut it out and wah-la a template. Thank she traced the template onto the sheets of vellum with a pencil and my mom and Aunt Cindy were put to work cutting it out!



^ Mama Alexandria hard at work



^ Aunt Cindy Alexandria cutting away--can't you tell they are sisters, same cutting style :)


^ Aunt Lisa Alexandria, taking the cut vellum and putting it onto the votive. She used a mixture of vellum tape/double sided tape.


^ The sisters hard at work--you can see the pile of pre-cut vellum sitting there--they had the assembly line down!




^ Close up of one of the final votives--this was the silver and white paper--we also have half of the votives with white vines.




^ A final box of votives--ready to go rest for two months until we pull them out and put them on our tables!

I love love LOVE the way they turned out, and it helped to show me that it is great to delegate projects. I am so thankful that I have my wonderful family to turn to, to help me. Just remember that YOU don't have to do everything, delegate tasks to family/friends who I'm sure are willing to help, and the job can get done just as beautifully!

Getaway Dress---

SO the invitations are FINISHED along with another DIY project--but I want to wait until I can get the pictures downloaded to blog about those--so hopefully tomorrow :) In the mean time I've encountered a "glitch"--which I will definitely post about, hopefully after I get it fixed ( keep the fingers crossed)..so in the meantime I thought I would talk about the "getaway dress".

I know this is an "old fashioned" idea from when brides would leave straight for there honeymoon--but it is making a comeback, and since FI and I are planning to go out after the reception, I wanted to slip into something more comfortable. Now that the wedding is getting closer by the day, it's time to start looking for "the getaway dress".

This dress doesn't have to be white--but personally I would like to wear a white dress.



^ I think this dress from nordstorm is adorable! It's under there wedding dress section of nordstrom, but for only $168 , I feel it could be a great "getaway" dress.




^ This dress also from nordstrom, i feel is fun and flirty--but I'm not sure if it's TOO flirty? I love the beading though!

My final contender for now is






^ Sorry for the poor picture quality, this is a suite that is currently on sale at Macys for $148 ( in case you aren't aware Macy's is having a huge sale !).

So I am playing with the idea of either a suit or a cute dress--what are your thoughts? Are any of you changing into a "getaway outfit"?

Wedding in the Sky

(photo via London DiaryStar)

I'm going to be out of town for a few days because my brother-in-law to be is getting married in London. He and his fiancee had an amazing idea for an untraditional venue--they're going to have a "wedding in the sky" on the London Eye, the big Ferris wheel that goes high above the Thames river. This is what we'll see when we look out the window:

(photo via London DiaryStar)

It's such a great idea to say your vows while overlooking the city you love.

I'll have many more beautiful pictures when I get back!

Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - The Video

I know I've been major MIA lately, but I'm back to go through the details of my wedding day!

Unlike most brides who like to reveal the wedding to you piece by piece starting with the beginning of their day I'm going to do the exact opposite and show you the whole thing all at once and then go back to the details! I'm going to start with one of my favorite wedding vendors, our videographer - Michael Eller from Monachetti.

Check out our awesome video below (don't worry it's only about 6.5 minutes, so it'll be a good little break from the work you're supposed to be doing).

^Needless to say much of the video quality is lost when it's played through youtube, but the original is full sized, super crisp, and the lighting is better.

I've spoken before about my earlier disdain for wedding videography, so no one was more surprised then me that one of my favorite things from the wedding is something I once swore I didn't even want.

Here are just some of the reasons I'm thrilled with Monachetti -

1) Unobtrusive - Mike from Monachetti was barely noticeable throughout the day. I've seen videographers at other weddings with huge cameras, bright lights, and the cameraman literally in the face of the bride, groom, and guests. But with Mike there were no lights and no giant cameras, and he definitely wasn't in my face...just him and a handheld. I barely noticed he was there.

2) Open - For the most part, I'd like to think I'm not too demanding of a bride but I did have a couple requests. I wanted the video to be in black and white and I wanted the music to be completely un-wedding related (and no country). I didn't want any of the good ol' standards like "at last" or "the way you look tonight." This wasn't a problem. And even after all the editing was done and I wanted a couple extra things added they had a new version done up in less then 24 hrs.

3) Real - Husband and I aren't super models. Our wedding isn't going to be in the next issue of Martha Stewart. We're real people, with a real wedding, and I wanted an authentic video of the day. I LOVE the documentary style of our video. What I hate most about other forms of wedding videography is the overuse of what I call "tricks" - like putting everything in slow motion to make it seem more dramatic, or using soft focus to make things seem romantic. I didn't want our wedding to seem like a Hollywood production. I wanted it to be real. I wanted our video to show us how we truly are....real people---not movie stars. I wanted our video to reflect how our wedding really was. I think Monachetti really captured the spirit of the day.

4) Unique - I've said it before and I'll say it again. No one in our area is doing what Monachetti is doing. Their work is unique, and in my opinion exceptional. I truly believe that other videography companies in this area will have to adapt and follow Monachetti's lead. They represent the new generation of wedding videographers. Modern brides will never look back.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

What does the W Hotels and booty parlor have in common? Everything a Nearlybride and her maids need to relax, have fun and become a little bit spicier on the sly.

W New York - The Court and W New York - The Tuscan have come together with Booty Parlor to create the ultimate girls getaway weekend. The Girls Getaway Package are perfect for bachelorette parties being hosted in the Big Apple. Everything you could possible think of to have a good time is included in the package including:

• Two of Booty Parlor's Flirty LoveKits or Booty Parlor Frisky LoveKits (including kissable body shimmer, naughty bubble bath, Good Girl/Bad Girl Whipper Tickler and more)
• One Copy of Dating Mating and Manhandling: The Ornithological Guide to Men
• Two Cool Cocktails to enjoy in the W Living Room
• A wonderful room at either W Hotel - The Court or The Tuscany

Each lady can also get one-on-one Mojo Makeovers where they can shop for sexy beauty products, lingerie and bedroom toys--all in the privacy of their W guest room.

Be sure to book your getaway now, because they're certain to go fast. Stays can be booked Thrusday through Sunday, from now until Dec. 30. With rates starting at $509, this bootylicious deal is not to be missed.

Happy partying!

DIY Programs

I went to Paper Source one afternoon to browse and get a feel for the products available for do-it-yourself projects. I was really into scrap-booking in high school and have always loved putting together invitations and such. There was no Paper Source were I grew up, so we had to go (walking up hill both ways in the snow) to Michaels in my youth. :) Needless to say my jaw hit the floor when I walked in the door and stayed there. Paper Source just has so many cool toys and paper and STUFF! I was a kid in a candy store...or maybe just a bride in a stationary shop.

I'm not 100% sure I'll DIY our invitations, but I will DEFINITELY be DIY-ing the programs and I collected quite few ideas on my visit to Paper Source.

I loved the over size hang tags.

They would make a great backing for a4x6 size program using contrasting text paper and a ribbon or metal brad to fasten the pages to the hang tag.

Program information could be printed on the paper and then cut with an exacto knife or paper trimmer to fit the hang tag.

www.michaels.com

I also liked the book mark card for a similar style program, but in a larger size.

The folded backing is also a cool option. The backing is a little bit heavier (think card stock versus regular paper), so this would be a good way to create a slightly more formal DIY program.

Here are a few examples of the program ideas I had that I found on the knot and knottie bios!

from The Knot and Knottie Bio Mrs.Arego

These two styles can be accomplished with the hang tag or book mark. The brad is attached at the bottom, but I think I'd prefer to to the brad at the top.

from The Knot

I luuuv the super preppy plaid ribbon on this folded backing style program

All images from Paper Source unless otherwise noted

The Get Away!

photo credit

Since we're having an early afternoon ceremony and a cocktail reception, we'll be leaving our reception at the lovely yet early hour of 8pm. When we first chose the cocktail reception, I was a little sad to think we wouldn't be dancing into the night, but then I realized it opened the door to all kinds of fun after reception options! Among the many ideas we've considered are dinner with the wedding party or an after party at a favorite bar, both of which require a get away car (and get away outfit...more on that later).

In my wedding dreams, I see us departing the ceremony in a cool old classic car, maybe something baby blue with fins? Our venue has an awesome driveway that loops around right at the entrance, which would make for a spectacular exit and dash into the back seat!

My dilemma? Where on earth do you find a classic car for hire (with a driver please--gotta have a DD) in the Metro area??? Help a sister out, ladies!

photo credit

Opportunity or Stress Inducer?

photo credit

The fiance and I generally eat decently, and while we exercise, it's what you'd call sporadic at best. We both like to walk and I also run. I usually end up signing up for 2-3 road races through out the summer because it takes the "you just paid $35 to run a 10K, get your butt on the road" to keep me on track.

I've been thinking though that with our long engagement, F & I could have the ultimate motivator on our hands: Wedding, Wedding Photos, Wedding Tux, and Wedding Dress (eek!). We have about 15 months ahead of us, so why not make the most of it? My theory is that if we can use the wedding to re-mold our eating and exercise habits for 15 months, it might stick after the wedding!

We've decided to make a concerted effort to make better food choices, cut back on nights out and alcohol consumption, take lunch to work more often, and try to walk together 3 times a week. We also talked about trying out the South Beach Diet together, but we're opting for baby steps right now. In addition, I've ramped up my running of late (I'm supposed to run this on labor day).

I've known other couples who have bought gym memberships together in preparation for their wedding and subsequent beach honeymoon. We also know a couple doing Weight Watchers together to get ready for their December wedding.

Having a buddy to go through this with is great--raise your hand if you had a work-out buddy sophomore year of college to lose the freshman15 (me!). But I could also see how it could create extra wedding stress as the day gets closer. Will it create too much pressure? Will there be nit-picking over the how much pasta we're eating or skipping a work-out? possibly, but we think the potential health benefits make it worth a shot.

Are you doing anything special diet and exercise related in preparation for your wedding?

Paper-Source Invitation Class

As everyone knows from my previous posts, I am in love with Paper-Source...shh don't tell my fiance :) Paper-Source is where I have purchased all of my paper for all of my wedding projects--I love every thing about the store! We are so lucky, here in the DC area to have TWO Paper-Sources so close to us! I live less than a mile from the Paper-Source in Alexandria, however last night I ventured into Georgetown for a class on Wedding invitations and more, and it was spectacular!

I wish I had pictures to share, however Forgetful Ms.Alexandria forgot to bring her camera! I strongly recommend these classes to any bride out there who is thinking of doing a DIY anything. Even though FI and I are doing DIY invitations--This class was also about the programs/menus/escort cards--everything! I not only learned an awesome way to Tie a ribbon which I will share with you as a step by step WITH pictures I promise---when we make our programs---But I also learned how to emboss a stamp--and because of that class we are now embossing on our invites!

This would be the perfect class to drag a bridesmaid/mom or in my case I brought the FI ( first guy to ever take the class :) ), although he was hesitant at first, he even admitted that he learned a lot and was glad that he came.

So take advantage of the wealth that we have in the area with TWO paper-sources! Even if you end up not using there paper, they have a lot of great ideas that you can borrow from! The next class is specifically on Wedding Invites but it is Sunday, July 27th from 10am-1pm , here is the link to register . You also receive a 10% coupon off of Paper-Source merchandise when you take the class, which FI and I used immediately :)

I hope that everyone has a great weekend and I will have Plenty to share next week--and hopefully FINISHED invites to show you!!

Wedding Guest Dresses That Won't Break the Bank

The shopping blog Mighty Goods has got the...er...goods. Check out their feature on dresses you can wear to weddings for under $100.

Cute, no?

PhotoBooth--

Hello again--I am sorry for the MIA--FI and I moved at the beginning of July, and we STILL do not have Internet at our new place ( keep the fingers crossed that we are getting it TODAY!)--However no Internet and no cable has helped FI and I be semi-productive with wedding planning--however the traveling and two weddings ( yes two ) that we have had in the past couple of weeks has deterred that a little bit.

My parents and Aunts are coming up this weekend to help us finish our DIY invitations, and some other DIY tasks---which I will have plenty to post about, and with just over 2 months to go, It is starting to get in full swing!

However, without any pictures available of DIY right now--I thought I would post about my current conundrum-- to Photo-booth or Not to Photo-Booth.

I have been playing with this idea since FI and I got engaged almost a year ago ( ahh where has the time gone--in just one short month I have been blogging a YEAR, enjoy the time girls, because it goes by SO fast)!! Anyways--and now that the wedding is inching closer, I still love the idea, I just don't know how plausible it is. I have contacted a couple of places in the DC area, so far the best bet seems to be PoshBooth.




I contacted them and they currently have a Wedding Package which includes:

- Double Prints
- High resolution digital image files delivered on CD-ROM
- Best Guestbook Ever!
- Up to 4 hours service Unlimited photos for the duration of your event (color or B&W)
- Friendly & knowledgeable on-site technician
- Setup and breakdown of booth
- Free delivery Metro DC and Surrounding Counties
- Prop box
- 60 day password protected web hosting of photos on www.poshbooth.com (each event has a unique password

--The parts that appealed to me are the double prints and the online website, however the cost of all of this is still out of my price range ($1300). They do have other packages that start at $1100, and the ability to customize the print so that it would say our wedding date and names on it, is appealing. I am just unsure if we are able to make that financial commitment. We have talked about a DIY photo booth, but we are doing a "DIY Video Confessional" ( more on that later), so I don't want to "over-do it". What are your thoughts? Have you used a DC photo booth that is great, any recommendations? Let me know!

I will be posting on a LOT in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned for DIY- Out of Town Bags/Programs/Invitations/Seating Cards/Table Numbers and much much more :)

Binding It Up, Part II

This is my inspiration binder. It's just a simple binder I got at OfficeMax (it's actually a "Euro notebook"--I'm not sure what that means other than it's prettier than the typical three ring binder). I put in page dividers with sections for gowns, flowers, tables, invites, beauty, the cake, and the ceremony. At the moment I'm just using wedding magazines like Martha Stewart and Instyle Weddings for inspiration. It's been hard for me to put design and home magazines in context for my wedding, but I'm sure that will change once planning goes into high gear.

Vane over at the fabulous blog Brooklyn Bride suggests that what you really need are two binders--one for inspiration and one for business cards, contracts, invoices, pictures, etc. Here's her notebook to keep administration and documentation all in one place. For this you'll want business card holders, sheet protectors, and so forth.

If you really want something beautiful that will keep you organized, this Russell + Hazel wedding notebook has everything all together, sheet protectors in different sizes, extra wide section dividers, coordinating adhesive notes, the whole works. It's like a Trapper Keeper for grownups. They also have downloadable templates for things like guest lists, bridal salon appointments, day-of-wedding checklist--just about everything you can think of to keep yourself organized. It's pricey, but very cool.

Baltimore Cupcake Company Comes to D.C.!!!!

YAY! I will be the very first to admit that I am a certified cupcake snob. I can't help it! And my very favorite cupcakes have arrived in D.C.!!

Photo by Martha Fitzsimmons via The Baltimore Cupcake Company

The Baltimore Cupcake Company has teamed up with ladies of Hitched Salon in Georgetown to bring their delicious and whimsical little cakes to Washington. Deliveries will be made daily, so you can stop in and pick up a two-pack or six-pack (I'm really liking this new meaning of six-pack) any old time you want.

How perfect for bridal showers or bridesmaids luncheons or birthdays or baby showers or Tuesday afternoon...I mean is there is really a time when cupcakes are not appropriate? You can also place a special order 48 hours in advance and pick up at Hitched. Just call The Baltimore Cupcake Company at (888) 990-0133 to place your order for any flavor and quantity.

Classic Baltimore Cupcake Company flavors like key lime, vanilla and chocolate will be available along with toasted marshmallow, and an exclusive new flavor, coconut framboise! YUM!

Photo from Hitched

It all starts tomorrow (Wednesday, July 9), don't be surprised if you see me in line for the first cupcake. ;)

Hitched is located at 1523 Wisconsin Ave.
Store Hours are Tuesday -Thursday 12pm-8pm,
Friday 11am-6pm & Saturday 9am-5pm

Baltimore Cupcake Company Cupcakes
available during business hours

Binding It Up

Hey everybody, did you have a good 4th of July weekend?

(thanks to Foodista)

I had a bit of extra time on my hands because of the lovely long weekend so I decided to tackle a project I've been meaning to do for a couple of months. I have a ton of wedding magazines lying around my apartment so I thought it was high time to take out my favorite images and use them as inspiration of what I want my wedding to look like.

I'm happy that I have a way to show a florist, bridal gown consultant, or caterer exactly what I have in mind for the look of the wedding without dragging my laptop around. Sometimes low tech is just more convenient.

I also found out that I really shouldn't try any DIY projects as I am totally incapable of cutting in a straight line. Whenever I tried, the page ended up at an angle. Well, we all have to know our limitations.

The Man Shower

(photo credit www.macaleer.blogspot.com)

There comes a time in every man's life when he decides to make the ultimate commitment. He selects a ring. He writes down his proposal. He asks for his lady love's parents' permission for the honor of making her his wife. And then he thinks, hey, how come she's getting all the free stuff?

Fortunately the Canadians have rectified this problem with the "man shower," which is basically like a bridal shower but with more beer, more power tools, and more Rock Band (this sounds better than a lot of bridal showers I've attended). Gift wrap is strictly optional; one attendee says, "You bring (the gift) in the plastic bag you bought it in."

Grooms often feel overlooked in the wedding process. It's always considered the bride's day, but people forget that the groom is marking an important lifetime occasion as well. These "man gatherings" are a way to honor the groom and to make him feel like an important member of the family. Right?

Or, says Summer Krecke, executive editor of WeddingChannel.com, "they're wising up to the fact that there are gifts involved."

Checking Vendor References

Dilbert by Scott Adams via www.stangbangers.com

When I read Miss Cream Puff's post over on Weddingbee the other day about having to break-up with her photographer, I let out a little sigh of relief that I've been checking vendor references all along.

There are scads of articles, threads, posts, etc. out there in wedding-planning-land with great suggestions on what to ask when interviewing potential vendors. I've been using the "What to Ask" Printable Checklists on Real Simple Weddings and they're an excellent guide. However, I haven't seem many resources for collecting references for vendors.

My thought is, in the regular working world you wouldn't hire someone to work for you without checking their references first, so why hire a vendor without checking references?

Thus far, Mr. Fairfax and I have our venue, caterer and photographer contracted and I've checked (or attempted to check) references for each one. Most wedding professionals should be able to provide you with a list of 2-3 couples they have worked with who are willing to act as references. One caveat, the Mr. and I did find in our brief experience that if a venue "moonlights" as a wedding reception hall (i.e. if your venue is really a historic home, that does weddings versus a wedding venue that happens to be a historic home), they are less likely to have references available. But hey, you've always got the The Knot and Wedding Wire to do a very informal check.

I've listed a couple of my standard reference questions below that are generic enough to apply to most vendors.

• How many people did you have at your wedding and what type (indoor, outdoor, formal, casual, etc) of ceremony and reception did you have?

• Who else did you consider and what made you choose [vendor]?

• How was communicating with [vendor]? Did you feel that they were responsive to your e-mails/calls? Was the level of responsiveness consistent throughout the time leading up to your wedding? What about after the wedding?
  

• How flexible/open was [vendor] to changes in your contract once the contract was signed?

• Were there any charges on your bill that came as a surprise or were added at the last minute?

• How would you rate the [vendor's] professionalism, level of service, etc.?

• How would you rate [vendor's] cooperation with your other vendors? Did they facilitate coordination and help everything run smoothly? Were they problematic for your other vendors?

• What do you wish you had discussed with [vendor] prior to the wedding that you did not?

• In hindsight is there anything you would have done differently? Picked another [vendor]? Stipulated a few specific items in the contract, etc?

AND THE MILLION DOLLAR REFERENCE QUESTION:

• If your best friend were getting married, would you recommend [vendor] to her? Would you have any hesitation or reservations about recommending [vendor]?

For us, these questions accomplished a two big things: 1) We knew we would feel more confident about our vendor choices if we got solid references. A reference check can help avoid situations like poor Miss Cream Puff's. 2) We would know our vendors better. Generic example of #2: one reference I got for a vendor mentioned the vendor is MUCH more responsive to phone calls than e-mail. Had I decided to use that vendor I would have been a savvy consumer armed with information about my vendor, rather than a frazzled bride who can't figure out why my vendor won't respond quickly to my e-mails!

I have other caterer/photographer/venue specific questions I'm happy to share if you shoot me an e-mail at [email protected].

Did you do a reference check on your vendors? What questions did you ask?

Destination: Matrimony

It's the first day of July, so everybody's thinking about summer vacation. It's not surprising that the current issue of Instyle Weddings and one of my favorite wedding blogs, Manolo for the Brides, are featuring articles about destination weddings. It's so hot and so sticky who isn't thinking about a nice beachy vacation spot right now? (photo credit Emily Perello)

Doesn't that look nice?

But do you actually save money on a destination wedding? It does mean you don't have to invite as many guests, and you generally do use an all-inclusive resort, which is great. But you also have to plan an entire weekend of activities, and because your guests are stranded at your destination with you, you're responsible for their transportation and more of their meals for the weekend (at least you have to find them restaurants).

So I'm not sure that a destination wedding is all that great for the budget. What I am looking forward to is spending a whole weekend with my family and best friends. Since I'm putting so much effort into the reception, it just makes sense to help people make a weekend out of it if they want to, and it means we have more time to spend with everyone.

But how much do we have to be responsible for? We've currently got activities planned for Saturday daytime, Saturday evening, and Sunday (the wedding). Do we need to do something Friday night? Should we plan an activity for Monday morning, for those who are waiting for late flights? How much is too much and how much is too little?