sarasweddingdetails

Sara and Chris

May 30th 2009

Click HERE for DIY silk pomander instructions!

~Our story~

Chris and Sara met on September 1, 2002. They both happened to attend the same Labor Day Party that weekend. Neither of them were looking for love, but it tends to happen that way! Sara really didn't know many people at the party that night, so when she saw her friend talking to Chris, she decided to join the conversation. After a few minutes of talking with Chris, Sara realized that her friend had "disappeared" and it was jus the two of them. They talked the rest of the night that way. After the party, Chris asked Sara for her number and gave her a hug goodnight. He called her the very next day! That never happens! Their first date was the next week and they've been together ever since.

It's about time...

Chris and Sara had been dating for nearly five years when Sara started really letting Chris know that she was ready for the "next step". (Even though we're pretty sure he knew what she wanted before that!) Then finally at a friend's wedding in October, Chris told Sara that she should start looking at rings. It didn't take long for her to find the perfect ring! A couple of weeks before Christmas, Sara went to the jeweler and set everything up. She came home and gave Chris all the paperwork and said, "Ok, now it's all up to you!". Chris knew that Sara hoped for the ring as her Christmas gift, but he convinced her that it "just wasn't in the cards right now. Maybe in February." Little did Sara know that the day after she gave him the papers from the jeweler, he went to have the ring commissioned! Sneaky!

The proposal!

On Christmas Eve 2007, Chris and Sara were planning on going to Sara's parent's house for the normal Christmas festivities. But Chris said that he wanted to stop by the Boat House restaurant to visit his old friends and give them a plate of Christmas cookies. When they arrived at the restaurant, the owners had just turned off the light and the place was closed. So, Sara and Chris decided to head to her parent's house instead.

It was a normal Christmas Eve: eating, laughing and watching movies. But Chris kept asking Sara if she wanted to open her gift. She thought this was wierd, because Chris never really cares about gifts or when they're opened. So Sara gave in and said she'd open it. Chris handed her a long skinny box wrapped with a bow. She thought she was getting another bracelet! As she unwrapped the box and began to open it, Chris reached into the box and pulled out a tiny, black velvet bag. He pulled out the ring, got down on one knee and asked Sara to marry him! To top it off, Chris had proposed in front of Sara's parents, two brothers and grandma. What a great Christmas!!

What Sara hadn't realized was that Chris was planning on proposing at the restaurant where they met! But since it was closed, he changed his plans and did it in front of Sara's family.

Oh - and of course, she said yes!

My clever momma grabbed her camera and snapped some pictures of the proposal!

My daddy got all misty-eyed!

The Bling!!

I love my e-ring! The picture definitely does not do it justice! We had it custom-designed at J.H. Revell Jewlers in Bettendorf, Ia. They are the absolute best! We are also going to have a custom wedding band made to match! So excited!

The wedding band is finished! Its exactly what I wanted and looks gorgeous with my e-ring! Here are the computer-generated pics from the jeweler.

Here is a good view of the profile of my e-ring. Love it! (the wedding band is not what we chose)

Chris' ring.

We bought Chris's ring off ebay for $25 with free shipping! Woo hoo! Its plain tungsten and fits him just right!

The Color Palette

Our colors are light pink, chocolate brown and champagne with some ivory throw in there, too. And LOTS of fresh flowers! I am going for a romantic, classic feel to our wedding. We will have lots of candle light everywhere!

The Ceremony and Reception

The ceremony and reception will both be held at Oakwood Country Club in Coal Valley, Il. We originally had planned for an outdoor ceremony, but recently discovered we can have an indoor ceremony in the clubhouse. This is wonderful on so many levels! Its going to save us money and time. Not to mention no stressing over whether or not its going to rain! :)

The whole place is newly renovated this year. Here is a couple of pictures I took on my last visit. We will be getting married in front of the fireplace.

Their website is: www.oakwoodgolf.org

I had originally intended on hanging pomanders from shepard's hooks to line the aisle for the outdoor ceremony. Now I think I'm going to try to just hang them from the chairs somehow. We'll see.

9/2/08: I purchased 300 pink silk carnations from eBay store:

http://stores.ebay.com/RoseysGarden-of-Silk-Flowers

They were a good price and came recommended from a fellow May 09 Knottie. I am going to attempt to make my pomanders as soon as I get the flowers in the mail! I'm so excited as this is my first DIY project! I will post pictures as soon as I get them done! :)

9/7/08: I made my pomanders! Click here to go to my DIY page! (Detailed intstructions and more pics!)

9/10/08: I finished my pomanders! Here is a pic:

Some inspiration for this look: (Images borrowed from www.theknot.com)

Most of my centerpieces will be these squ-round candle holders that I found at WalMart (cheap!). I bought large votives for them and plan on also using fresh carnations. It will look similar to this:

Table Numbers

With the help of my BM, Jess, and a borrowed Cricut, I managed to make my own table numbers! I used brown and pink scrapbooking cardstock, a glue runner and brown satin ribbon. The pink cardstock has a flourish pattern in glittery white all over - so pretty! They turned out just as I envisioned them. Although, I wish the ribbon was darker. But oh well, don't sweat the small stuff, right?!

Luminaries

I made luminaries for the centerpieces at the rehearsal dinner. They were pretty simple to make. I got the idea from Martha Stewart. I found the paper doilies on clearance for $0.25 at a card outlet store and a pack of 50 white paper bags is less than$2! Very simple, pretty and inexpensive! I used spray adhesive to get them to stick to the inside of the bags.

Favors

I hadn't planned on providing favors for our guests. I guess I generally feel its a waste of money! However, one of my BM's, Becky, is a chocolatier and offered to make large dessert truffles as favors for me as a gift! I'm such a lucky girl!! So here is what she wants to do for the favors. There will be one at each place setting and there will be pink bows instead of red. I also plan on making little stickers for each of them that say something like "Love is Sweet, Sara and Chris, May 30, 2009". The flavor will be my favorite, Death by Chocolate. Its a milk chocolate center with a marshmallow swirl and Heath Bar pieces. Yum! And these are pretty big - she uses the large scoop from Pampered Chef to make them. I guess I should've put a quarter next to them to show size!

So here is a pic!

Music

Seating of the family: "I'll Stand By You" - The Vitamin String Quartet (The Pretenders)

BM Processional: "Canon in D" - T. Carter Music Highland Serenade (Pachelbel)

Bride's Processional: "Through the Eyes of Love " - Marvin Hamlisch (Ice Castles Soundtrack)

Recessional: "Bittersweet Symphony" - (Instrumental) The Verve

BP Introduction: "Could You Be Loved" - Bob Marley

Bride and Groom Introduction: "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" - The Darkness

The Attire

The Bride

So after about 4 months of shopping and trying on probably 100 dresses (no joke), I finally found The One. All four of us got goosebumps, I choked up, Jess choked up and my mom started to cry. Also, when I came through the dressing room curtain Pachebel Cannon in D was playing overhead. The Pachebel Canon has been "my" wedding song since I was like 15! That was all it took!

Maggie Sottero Victoriana

New pics taken 9/16/08 - and about 10 lbs lighter! And this is the veil I ordered! LOVE IT! I also have on the correct crinolin, so this is the fullness that I will be wearing.

My Grandma! She bought me my dress - Love her SO much!!

Update 3/20/09: My dress and veil are finally here! It took nearly 7 months! Here are a couple more pics of me in the dress...

5/19/09: I had my final fitting and the dress fits like a glove! I took a couple of pictures of the bustle.

And I tried on these shoes, which I loved! But they are way too high! I decided on a different pair (below), but they were so pretty I just had to include them. (Dyeables - Tango)

The shoes that I've decided on are Colorful Creations "Prima". I ordered them in white. I got a great suggestion from one of the bridal shops I went to: they said that if you have white satin shoes and you want them ivory, just take ivory floral spray for silk flowers and LIGHTLY coat your shoes. She said its better than dyeing them because it doesn't bleed when it gets wet! But I've decided to leave them white. The color is not that much different than my dress and noone will notice!

Update 9/17/08: I think we've made some progress! After trying on my dress with a few different combos of earrings and necklaces, I decided (with the help of Mom and Jess), that larger earrings with no necklace looks the best!

Here are a few pics :

Mariell E700 ( www.mariellonline.com )

I just felt that the necklace took away from the bodice and added a line or cut-off between my head and the neckline of the dress. Just IMHO, I didn't like it.

Jewelry Update 12/26/08: I am SO excited! Haute Bride is having a sample sale...And I bought 3 pieces! I never dreamed that I would be able to afford any Haute Bride jewelry! I bought 2 pairs of earrings (couldn't decide which ones would look better) and a simple 3 strand pearl bracelet. When I get them, I'll post pictures!

1/14/09: It's here! My beautiful jewelry came today!

These are the earrings I'm going to wear.

This is the bracelet! Its diamond white and sparkles like crazy!

Wedding Day Beauty

I plan on doing my own makeup for my wedding. I use Bare Mineral (Bare Esscentuals) Makeup for my base, MAC eyeshadows and Chanel Inimitable mascara (for now). I plan on wearing flase eyelashes. I want to glam up my eyes and wear a soft berry-hued lipstick. Hopefully I can find a long-wear lipstick that I like.

Here are some pictures of makeup that I like:

(I think Katherine McPhee is just beautiful!)

Catherine Zeta-Jones

When I was in NY on vacation, I had a makeup trial done at a MAC store. I was really happy with the results and bought most of the products to complete the look myself. I wasn't so sure about the false eyelashes, but they're growing on me. I also decided I want a darker lipstick. Here are some pics.

The Bridesmaids

I have four wonderful friends that are going to be my bridesmaids! I am so excited to have them share our Big Day with us!

After much deliberation, and trying on the dress MANY times, we decided to go with this BM dress:

Bill Levkoff 801 in Sable

All pinned up at the fitting.

With the bustle pinned up.

Flower Girl

I found a flower girl dress on eBay that resembles mine and is totally affordable (about $47)! Here are pics, but I will be removing the hideous flower from the sash! :)

I got the dress! Its super cute and great quality! (eBay store DressForPrincess)

Mother of the Bride

My mom and I went shopping and found her dress at the first shop! Its style #6667 in Cinnamon by Karen Miller. It was one of the more affordable dresses we found, too!

And these are the shoes we found that match perfectly. They are Coloful Creations "Favor" in bronze. The picture definitely does not do the shoes justice! The glitter is the exact color of the dess!

The Groom and his Men

I plan on picking out the nicest, cheapest tux we can find. I would hate to make the guys spend much more than $100 on a tux! And their vest/tie colors will coordinate with us girls.

Update 3/2/09: I booked the tuxes (including shoes and pocket squares) and they are only $100.95 each! I feel like I did the best I could, though I wish I could've found them cheaper!

Chris will match me in solid ivory. The groomsmen will compliment the bridesmaids in solid espresso vest and tie. The FOB and FOG will be wearing solid mocha vest and tie and the ushers will be wearing a mocha vest with an espresso tie (a combo of the dads and GM's).

Hair

I want my hair to be up and classy. I want it to look elegant and "done" but not too fussy or tight. And I told my BM's that they can do whatever they want with their hair. I made our appointment at Five Star Salon Spa. I love this place! It's got a "big city" feel to it and the stylists are all very professional and talented! (www.fivestartsalonspa.com)

I've decided to use knottie BabyGurlE's updo as inspiration for my hairstyle. I absolutely love it!

4/11/09: Hair Trial

My hair trial went great!! There is absolutely nothing I would change. My stylist did an awesome job!

I purchased my veil! It is Symphony Bridal 5182VL in ivory with silver details. Here are a couple of not-so-great pics I took. Please excuse the awful pics of me! :)

(The big design is supposed to be in the middle of my back)

Close up of the detail.

Flowers

Our florist is Lynn Carr with Clazzy Designs. I am so excited to work with her! She is so creative and very affordable! (Yay!) (www.clazzydeignsweddings.com)

For my bouquet, I will be doing amnesia roses with accents of wax flower. The amnesia roses look very antique and classy to me. They are a dusty-mauve (lavender) center with green on the outside. Very different.

Here are pictures of the amnesia roses:

For the girls, I'm going with light pink and champagne roses. Their bouquets will also be accented with wax flower. The bouquet below is the bridesmaid's boquet, but with a brown ribbon wrap.

(Images borrowed from www.clazzydesignsweddings.com)

These are the wax flowers. I think they're so cute! They look like little strawberry blossoms!

Since my FG is going to be so little (22 mos), I am going to have her carry a tiny kissing ball made out of mini carnations. It will probably look similar to this:

I will be doing fresh floral arrangements on all the tables at the reception. And to accomplish this within my budget, I decided to use carnations for the centerpieces. I just love how the carnations look when they are all bunched together. I will also have several votives on each table.

I will be doing a sweetheart table for Chris and I and then four Reserved tables around us for the Bridal Party, their significant others and our parents/immediate family. The centerpieces for the reserved tables will be the BM bouquets in these hurricane vases purchased from www.save-on-crafts.com.

To decorate our sweetheart table I am just going to put my bouquet in a pretty vase with some votives around it.

The Cake

Our cake lady is awesome! She is very talented and the most affordable I could find. And to top it off, she only does one cake per weekend! So I get her undivided attention for our wedding! She also decorates the cake table for us, so we won't have to worry about that!

I think we've found a winner! After much deliberation and internet-searching, I found a design I love. I think it fits the feel of my wedding perfectly. The flowers will be a mixture of all the flowers I'm using for the wedding (roses, carnations, wax flowers and white stock).

The bottom tier will be chocolate and lemon cake with raspberry filling and the top two rounds will be pink champagne flavor. We also got two 1/2 sheets: white with strawberry swirl and yellow with bavarian cream and fresh strawberry filling. There is also going to be a 12" round cake that will be devils food/chocolate with raspberry filling and a chocolate ganache icing. So excited!! :0)

(Image borrowed from www.cakedreamsbysally.com )

These are some other cake designs that I considered.

(Images borrowed from www.bridalinsider.com and www.theknot.com)

All things paper

I am DIY-ing all my paper-related items. I bought a set of print-your-own invitations with response cards and envelopes on eBay super cheap! They came out to be about $0.30 each! The postage is going to be more expensive than my invites! They are a simple ivory card with an embossed filigree pattern down the left side. Very pretty.

I had planned on making paddle fan programs for the outdoor ceremony. However, now that we are having and indoor ceremony, I will be looking for an alternative. I'll probably just do something basic.

I decided to do photocards for our STD's through www.shutterfly.com and they turned out great!! I also found a coupon code for 15% off! Yay!

Photo and Video

I am one lucky girl! We hired the talented Creative Wedding Package to photograph our wedding! Todd and his crew are extremely professional and laid-back and go above-and-beyond as far as wedding photographers are concerned! We set our first engagment session for mid July and our second session was in October to catch the beautiful Midwest autumn leaves. We had our first session at the Deere-Weiman House gardens in Moline, Il and the second session at John Deere Corporate (the Glass Palace).

(see link at top of page for engagment pictures!) (www.creative-wedding-package.com)

For our video we hired Ruby Media Services. I am really excited that I could include this in our budget! I think that in ten or twenty years we'll look back and really appreciate having a video of our wedding day. Chris doesn't agree with me, but oh well! We're doing it anyways! lol! Ruby Media is very talented and do 'cinematically edited videos, music videos and love stories. I just can't wait! (www.rubymediaservices.com)

Day-Of Coordination

My mom and I hired Exceptional Events to coordinate and help plan our wedding. Peg Terry has been a wonderful advisor and she is so experienced! She has been very helpful so far in the planning process. I call her even if I just need to vent about my uncooperative FI! lol! She will be providing "Day of Services" the day of our wedding. So if there are ANY problems that whole day, none of us will know it until after the wedding! All problems and questions will be directed to her! So Chris and I and everyone else in our family and Bridal Party can relax and totally enjoy the day! Thanks Peg! (www.excepevents.com)

General inspiration

(Images borrowed from www.theknot.com and www.flickr.com)

Honeymoon

We booked our honeymoon in Jamaica! We will be staying 6 nights at Couples Swept Away, Negril. I am so excited! We spent a bit more than intended, but I'm sure it will be worth it! Yay!

www.couples.com

Obligatory pet photos!

Our baby is named Daisey. She is a 2 yr old yellow lab . We just love her! So I had to include some photos of her! She's such a good girl! She's also a certified Therapy Dog now! :)