Ms.Grrrl Bio|Posts

Before our wedding, I hadn’t really realized that going to someone else’s wedding is and entirely different experience than going to your own.  You’d think that would just be common sense, but it wasn’t for me.  I did not anticipate how overwhelmed I would be.  I was beyond overwhelmed from the moment that I stepped out to walk down the aisle to the moment that I stepped into the bar for the afterparty.  Being overwhelmed wasn’t a specifically good or bad feeling — it was just intensity, really.

I think that feeling of intensity was why receptions were created. Receptions are meant to be the release that follows an incredibly emotionally intense experience.  The problem is that, unless you have a planner, you’ve probably put more energy into planning the reception than the ceremony, so the reception feels like a continuation of the wedding — not just a party afterwards.

If you think this might be the case for you, I strongly encourage you to plan an afterparty.  I hadn’t realized how important it was going to be for me.  As soon as I got into the bar after our reception, it was like a giant weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I promptly spilled beer on my dress (and didn’t care) and started loudly toasting with my friends.  For me, it turned out to be an absolute necessity.

Ms.Grrrl Bio|Posts

All photographs by Kelly Prizel Photography

Our reception was held in the Red Barn at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA.  We ate good food and drank great beer (great beer was on our “will not compromise on this” list) and toasted with lots of champagne.  We sated our sweet-tooth with my aunt’s delicious cupcakes and danced to contra music provided by a local band called the Flying Garbanzos.  To sum up, we just generally indulged.

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You’ve seen the ceremony… now on to the little details!

All photographs by Kelly Prizel Photography

I went a little craft crazy with our wedding.  Which was weird, since I had never undertaken a craft project in my life up to that point.  I think I was just really scared that our wedding would end up looking like every other wedding in the history of weddings.  I’m not sure why that scared me so much — probably because I was unsure about my feelings about weddings and marriage in the first place.  So I crafted away for months and months (I’m not sure I would recommend taking on so many crafty details to anyone else — although I loved it, I did feel a little insane in the weeks before the wedding).  So here they are… all the pretty little details, for your enjoyment!

Escort Cards and Table Numbers

You may remember from this post, that I was particularly excited about these vintage math flash cards.  And they did not disappoint.  They were pretty, they were unique, and I think people got a kick out of ‘em.

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Ms.Grrrl Bio|Posts

All Photographs by Kelly Prizel Photography

One of my favorite wedding bloggers (sadly, I can’t remember which one… but I bet it was Meg at apracticalwedding, she was my wedding planning guru through the whole process) said that a personal, moving ceremony sets the scene for the entire wedding. She seemed to think that it didn’t really matter what happened after the ceremony because if people felt like they had just played a part in something deeply moving and sacred, they would experience the wedding as a wonderful event, no matter what kind of table linens or music or favors there were at the reception. That bit of advice really stuck with me and looking back on our wedding I think it is absolutely true.

We put a lot of effort into making sure that our ceremony was as personal as possible. (more…)

Ms.Grrrl Bio|Posts

We ended up getting ready in the public bathroom of the venue… which I kind of love.  I love that in our photos there is graffiti on the mirrors and I love that I had to grab hold of the bathroom stalls as I got laced into my corset.  In the midst of a beautiful day, it was nice to have a little grit.

All images by: Kelly Prizel Photography

Beau and her best man brother were all decked out in J. Crew pants.  Beau wore a matching vest and her brother wore suspenders.  We ended up getting Beau’s shirt at Club Monaco, which sells slim fitting shirts in an extra small.  They also will tailor shirts for free.  We had them shorten the length of the sleeves.  I think she looked pretty hot if I do say so myself.

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I did it… I used “wife” for the first time today on the phone with the utilities company.  It’s official… we’re definitely married.

I’ll use my word-use triumph as an invitation to start the wedding re-cap posts.   Let’s start with the salon:

All images by Kelly Prizel Photography

I totally put off making a hair and makeup appointment until it was really drawing VERY near the wedding.  I do not recommend this to others.  I had to make an appointment that was slightly too late and then I felt rushed trying to get into my party clothes and have all our formal shots taken.  I would definitely recommend getting your hair and makeup taken care of  five to six hours before the start of the ceremony.  Especially if you’ll have to do a lot of driving around from salon to hotel to venue.

My best friend and maid of honor was with me at the salon.  She took the opportunity to try and make me crack up while my makeup was being done.  This was particularly hilarous since I really couldn’t laugh or screw up my face in any way since there was always some kind of brush or pencil doing it’s intricate work on me.

Another tip…  no matter how ridiculous and expensive it seems… get a trial hair appointment.  I wasn’t going to do it becuase it seemed totally ridiculous, but my mother convinced me that it really was a necessity, so two days before the wedding I went in for a trial.  I didn’t really know what I wanted, so I just said “um… I don’t want to look too bridal, but I think it want it up… but maybe not.”  God, that poor stylist.  Anyway, she did my hair and I HATED it… I mean… really hated it.  I felt like I was going to prom and it just didn’t feel like me.  So I had her try several more styles until she got to one that I felt really comfortable with.  Before we got the the style that I liked, I felt really stressed out and uncomfortable, like I wasn’t going to look or feel like myself on my wedding day.  I’m really glad I didn’t have to go through that on the day of my wedding. Cause when wedding day rolled around, I was cool, calm, relaxed and ready to joke around with my best friend.

Oh… another tip… EAT.  Halfway through my salon appointment, I was FAMISHED and I realized that all I had eaten all day (it was 2pm), was a quarter of a bagel at 8am.  I had to send my MOH out to get me a smoothy, which I sipped very daintily while I got my hair done.

One tip that a married friend of mine gave me right before the salon appointment (I met up with friends in town before hand for a few minutes).  Relish your salon time… it’s the last relaxing time you’ll have all day… drink it in.

Next post… getting ready with my Beau.

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Phew.

We did it.

We got married… and lived to tell the tale.

I’m so overwhelmed that I’m not quite sure where to begin:

1. I cried.  a lot.

2. I felt completely overwhelmed by emotion from the moment we walked down the aisle until the afterparty started post-reception.  Completely overwhelmed. Like beyond overwhelmed. Perhaps that is why I cried. a lot.

3. Beau’s vows were perhaps the most beautiful thing I had ever heard in my entire life.

4. I feel like I could sleep for a month and still be tired.

5. I realized that you can plan and plan and plan and plan, but you will never be prepared for the actual event… it was like I was swept up in a tidal wave and pushed along at a breakneck pace, held in the arms of everyone in my life that I love, until finally landing gently at a bar and handed a beer and told to relax.

Ms.Grrrl Bio|Posts

Oh my god.  I get married a week from today.  The weirdest part is that a certain calm has descended on me.  My to-do list goes around the block and there are some really quite important things that definitely have not gotten done yet, but I’m just chuggin’ along without worry. I think it’s because my entire family has started worrying.  Seeing them in a frenzy has made me realize that I don’t have to be in one anymore.

Last night I finished my “yay!” flags for people to wave as we recess back down the aisle and they’re exactly what I wanted.  My mother has been packing up the boxes and boxes and boxes of sea glass and river rocks along with the vintage milk bottles that she’s collected all year for the centerpieces. I’ve been steadily cutting out triangles from fancy paper to make banners.  My aunt is flying all around town looking for a birdcage for the cards that folks bring.  My fiance is sending in all of our balance checks to various vendors and delighting in the fact that we have not gone over budget (yet). My mother is buying up cases of wine for the rehearsal dinner.  My grandmother is making schedules of who is cooking dinner when for the entire week leading up  to the big event.  My mom’s architectural lighting friend has been cajoled into coming up early to help with the lighting for the rehearsal dinner and wedding.  And I’m just sitting pretty. Feeling happy and ready to go.

All year, in my frenzy, I read other bloggers talking about the calm that descends on them pre-wedding and I totally thought that I would not enjoy the same relaxing state — but, it turns out that I’m ready to just enjoy myself through this whole thing.  That feels really good.

Wish me luck… I’ve got a weeks worth of  last-minute planning ahead of me… let’s see if the calm can stick around.

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The dress… it has arrived.And I could not be happier.

It was a looooong road to get here.  When we first got engaged, I shopped around the internet looking at photo after photo after photo of wedding dresses and by doing so, came to the conclusion that I really wanted a short one.

Then I took some of my co-workers with me to a bridal salon and didn’t realize that I would basically have to get naked in front of them.  It was awkward and I didn’t feel right in any of the dresses. Plus… there were none that rose above floor length.

Then my maid of honor took me to David’s Bridal (where she had gotten her dress) and I really didn’t feel right in any of their dresses — they made me feel chubby and the material was all itchy and I felt like I was in a wedding factory.  (She looked awesome in her dress from them — it just wasn’t for me).

Right after our failed David’s Bridal escapade, we decided to walk around SoHo and look in all the fancy shops for a fancy dress that I could wear as a wedding dress and we came across Morgane le Fay.  A shop that sold the most beautiful big, white, float-on-air dresses I had ever seen.  They were nothing like your ordinary wedding dress, they were unique and beautiful… and… of course… three times my budget.  I was ready to get one (but my cost conscious maid of honor talked me down).

And then, after scrolling through (literally) 90  pages of etsy.com wedding dresses, I came across Janay Andrews of Janay A. Handmade and I fell in love with her amazing wedding dress separates.  EVERYONE in my life thought I was CRAZY to order a custom dress without seeing the designers work in person and without getting measured at her shop.  And about two days ago, I was starting to agree with them. In fact, I had a not-so-minor breakdown in which I made Beau agree that we could fit it into the budget for me to go back to Morgane le Fay and buy a $3,000 dollar wedding dress last minute because I was SURE that my custom dress would be awful.

But… it arrived in the mail yesterday and Beau laced me up when she got home (there is no way I could wait until our wedding day to get her opinion), and we both agree… it is PERFECT.

I can’t believe how lucky I am… I have a custom, handmade, dupioni silk wedding dress with lace details that cost me $755, including shipping and I ADORE it.  I really do.

Ms.Grrrl Bio|Posts

I bet it’s a little weird that my escort cards will probably be my favorite thing about the wedding… but I think they might. I’m a little bit obsessed with them — and they arrived in the mail yesterday from the ebay seller that I bought them from!

I’m not sure where I got the idea — but I’m really excited about it: we’re using vintage math flashcards as our escort cards and table numbers! We’re going to write each of our guests’ names on a math flashcard whose answer is the number of their table (we’ll back each card with pretty paper so that our guests have to do the (incredibly easy) math themselves. What I really want to do is write guests’ names using a typewriter, but I don’t have one and I’m not sure where to find one for cheap.  So… we’ll see… it might just be handwritten.

Then for our table numbers we’re going to place a flashcard with the answer side showing on each table and guests will have to match their answer with the table.My only concern is that this might be confusing for our guests — I think what I’ll do is write directions like “solve your problem to find your table!” on one of the chalkboards that I started making last week!

How else can I make sure that these work as well as they should?