My Wonderful Wedding: Part 1

You guys. I don't want my wedding to be over, but it's been a month and a half of blissfully married life already. I keep re-living the day and being happy that it was so wonderful. I've already gotten my pictures printed and hung all around me, and they always make me smile.

Since I'm a blogger, I thought I'd share the bits and pieces that made up my amazing day!

The Rings - The diamonds are all from my family. The center diamond in my engagement ring was the ring my mom and dad put on layaway when they were engaged and visited every week. The two other diamonds are from my great-grandma's wedding ring, and Cory's parents' original engagement ring. The wedding band is made up of my mom and dad's anniversary diamond insert. The smaller diamonds are slightly different shapes and sizes, but I love how the asymmetry makes it unique. I chose a swirl type base and had the other diamonds added in. My ring was originally made by a local jeweler in my parents' hometown, but unfortunately there were some major issues with it. Thankfully, my mom's friend one town over was able to fix it for me, and design my wedding band to nestle perfectly within the customized engagement ring. If you live in Western Massachusetts, definitely check out Ted's Creative Jewelers! His custom work is GORGEOUS and I truly wish I had come to him in the first place. Cory's ring is titanium, and he got it from Hannoush, a local jewelry chain.

The Invitations - Cory made them! They came out gorgeous and we had so many people ask where we got them or if they were super expensive. I think, in total, we paid about $300 for the paper, ink, and postage. Cory hand-lettered them on a borrowed press, and we backed them onto purple paper and tied with twine and a tag with our initials. Then I went through with butterfly stamps for some extra flare. If you're interested in hiring Cory as a reasonably priced designer or printer, you can reach him on his business Facebook page.

The Wedding Party - I was so lucky that Cory's friends are my friends too, because our whole wedding party felt like one big happy family. My party included Allisonn and Jenn, two of my best friends from elementary school and high school; Jessika and Jill, my two best friends from college; and Emma, Christina, and Lauren, who became my best friends once I graduated and started living on my own. Emma and Jenn shared the role of Maid of Honor, and they were amazing. Emma lives in MA, so she was able to pop over at a moment's notice to help my mom, and was a huge help once I was home as well. Jenn provided morale support in Texas, and then kicked into MOH gear once we both were in town. Cory's party included both our brothers (Andrew and Trevor), his best friend Chris from college, our friend Jess who became our friend in Austin but has known Cory since high school, and John and Dan, who were my good friends in high school (I even dated Dan!) and became Cory's friend when we started dating. We all had SO much fun together and our respective Bachlorette and Bachelor parties were a blast.

The Dress - I'm extremely lucky that so many of my friends are so talented! My good friend Cristen runs Aliber's Bridal in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and I knew that's where I would find my dream gown. I used to model dresses for her store at bridal shows, so in exchange I got a little discount, too. Cristen REALLY knows her stuff. She already knew what I liked since we were friends, but I've seen her work with strangers too--after researching your personal style, she pulls a number of dresses on the day of your appointment. Based on your likes and dislikes in your first round of trying on, she narrows the search until you find your perfect dress. My dress was absolutely gorgeous, and I think it was the third or fourth dress I tried on. Fitted sweetheart neckline with large lace details in a less traditional pattern (I loved the modern look), with a flowing skirt with just a tiniest hint of pink. We jazzed it up a bit with a crystal belt, which gave it the little bit of sparkle I was hoping for. It was so flattering and so pretty. For my shoes, I wore cowboy boots. GUYS. Cowboy boots are the BEST wedding shoe, hands-down. My heels didn't sink in the soft grass, I was able to keep them on all night for dancing, AND they doubled as a sort-of purse to keep my phone in for pictures. I highly suggest them to anyone.

Wedding Colors/theme? - I've always loved purple and rose, so those colors were prominent throughout our wedding, with bits of yellow as a highlight. I let my bridesmaids pick their own dresses in a dusty rose color (called "Quartz"), which was easiest at David's Bridal since they were across the country. The quality of dress wasn't perfect, but I didn't want my bridesmaids to spend more than they had to. Cory picked khaki colored suits with lilac details (in "Wisteria" also from David's Bridal) and although they didn't match the bridesmaids perfectly, they complemented each other well. We didn't set out with a wedding "theme" but because we put in so many little details of things we loved, there was a sort-of half Texas Rustic, half butterfly theme. My bridesmaids wore cowboy boots, which ended up being a great decision for our outside farmland wedding, because one of my maids of honor stepped in cow poop!

The Venue - We could not have picked a more perfect venue. I have always dreamed of a rustic outdoors wedding, and had looked at a few outdoorsy venues (farms, orchards, etc) before my mom suggested The Salem Cross Inn. It was absolutely perfect. Not only was it nestled on a few acres of farmland (there were COWS out there!) but it was originally a colonial inn. I don't know if I've mentioned it on this blog before, but Cory grew up doing Revolutionary War reenactments with his family. So it was the PERFECT aesthetic for us. We were married outside by the gazebo, and had our reception in the gorgeous barn room attached to the main restaurant. There were so many areas of the grounds that were perfect for pictures! Thankfully, the weather held out, but had it rained we would have had the wedding in the "basement" area--which sounds weird but it had big bay windows looking out into the farm land, pretty lights hung on the walls and hanging from the ceiling, exposed wooden beams, and a large fireplace--so even that would have been gorgeous!

...Okay so, I'll have to cut this into two blog posts. Check back for Part 2!