wedding stuff: the Reception

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

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Our reception was planned to be the ultimate party (or at least... the ultimate party for us). So when it was all over and everyone kept commenting on how much fun they had had, I knew we had done our job. I tried to set it up so there was always something to do, no matter what you were into. So the list of activities (and work) felt like it was never ending. 

While we were taking pictures, we invited everyone to come play lawn games with us. We took advantage of the huge yard we have and set out a few adorable oversized games. 

1,2,3,5, and 6 taken by Christian Unser // 4 taken by Morgan Rosenberger

I feel like a broken record, but even these games have a ton of loved stuffed into them. The signs were written by my cousin and his girlfriend. The dominos set was made by my grandfather, the awesome Scrabble set was made by my mother-in-law, and the Kerplunk game was made by my dad.

Under the tent, the decorations were all done by some people from our church. We have a rather small congregation, and these people have watched me grow up, so they're almost a part of our family. I was so humbled by the work they put into making everything lovely.

photo taken by Morgan Rosenberger

We got to display the dresses of my Granny, my mom, and Adam's mom. It was such a great touch, but it also added a bit of humor to the night. Everyone kept thinking they were ghosts!

photos taken by Morgan Rosenberger

We didn't get any pictures of it, but we made cones out of books for people to put their lavender in while they waited to toss it. It was a great alternative to birdseed. I smelled wonderful all night!

photos taken by Morgan Rosenberger

right photo taken by Christian Unser, photo on Jones taken by Kinsey Mhire,
left photo taken by Morgan Rosenberger

It'd been a dream of mine since high school to get my face on a Jones bottle, so of course we had to buy some personalized bottles for the head table. I only wish we could have bought some for everyone!

photos taken by Morgan Rosenberger

photos taken by Christian Unser
photos taken by Morgan Rosenberger

Since we were having so many dessert options, decided to have a small cake. There is a girl who we know who does cakes, so I was thrilled to be able to have her make mine. I loved how colorful it was inside!


My Maid of Honor's husband had put together this awesome photobooth for their wedding, and they were kind enough to let us use it. If you can get a photobooth for anything ever, I totally recommend it. Looking through the photos later made us laugh so hard!

After cake, cupcakes, and pie it was time to really party. We spent the whole night dancing, playing games, laughing, and talking to friends. 

And it was the best.



To see all the posts in this series, click here.

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wedding stuff: the Tables [part two]

Thursday, January 22, 2015

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Just wanted to show you guys some behind the scenes photos of the work that went into the reception on my end.

The first mock table! Even  this one looks super cute... in my humble opinion.

I loved putting together these favors. Adam and I decided at the beginning that we wanted the favors to be fun, cheap, and something we made together. So we bought all of the supplies, put the pumpkin seeds in all the pretty little envelopes (So people could "watch our love grow," because he proposed with a pumpkin, get it? aaah... yeah.), bagged everything up, stamped and stapled them all by ourselves. I even drew a little piece of art to go in each of the bags!


One of my favorite memories from my preparations is the day my maid of honor came to help me do some projects. It took us all day to dye those pieces of fabric, which we later cut apart for the napkins. It's not that it was really time consuming... we just tend to get distracted, haha.




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wedding stuff: the Tables [part one]

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

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Boxes of lace, a fridge full of flowers, thirty (ish) sets of china, a shipment of berry baskets,  pounds of candy... these are a few of the things that I spent months collecting to decorate our tables for the reception.


Each table had a berry basket of question books, a bouquet of book flowers (most of which had been made by my super talented mother-in-law),  some taffy, some straws, some candles, and a kids activity bucket.


photos by Christian Unser


Each individual place setting had a unique plate, a dip-dyed napkin (which we let them take home), a favor bag, and a menu that was taped to a paper bag for their chips (mmm nachos).

photos by Morgan Rosenberger

There were some moments when we were putting together our mock tables where I was worried that it would look less whimsical and fun and more just... cluttered. But I pulled in my design team (aka my mom and my grandma) after a little tweaking and some more arranging, we were able to get everything looking balanced and fresh.

On the day of the actual wedding, I had time to put together one example table, and then I had to designate people to put together the rest. I'm not going to lie, it was hard for me to walk away. (I always want to make everything just so.) But, of course, the people I asked to do it did better than I could have imagined. I mean, you've seen the results. Don't they look like something out of a dream?

To see all the posts in this series, click here.


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wedding stuff: the Wedding

Thursday, January 15, 2015

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 How can I put into words how absolutely and wonderfully cheesy a traditional wedding ceremony can be? I really can't. The wedding was the point where instead of having my hands in ALL of the pies, like I had been up until about two hours before, I was forced to focus on the experience, and live in that very moment. Other people dealt with the stuff which required thinking. I was just there to stare into the eyes of the man I loved. (To the point of creepy, honestly.)
I was VERY lucky (seems like that's the theme of my whole wedding, but seriously, I was so blessed throughout the whole event) and was able to have two talented photographers at my wedding, both with very unique styles. The resulting pictures have helped me remember that day, which is very helpful, because honestly it was all of a kind of euphoric blur.
The wedding wasn't perfect. Me and the man couldn't get our unity candle lit, our soloist couldn't get through the song because she was crying (aww), and a few other things happened that made everyone who was attending laugh, which was perfect. I love that people were casual enough to enjoy every bit of that day. And I especially love the mishaps, because those are the things that really stick in my mind. They're some of the most memorable moments of that day.

(Recognize that pattern? My grandmother used the invitation design to make the banner!)
Above photos are by Christian Unser.


My ring is from GraceWaltersDesigns on Etsy.
Adams ring is from RobandLean on Etsy.
(His has dinosaur bone in it. How cool is that!?)

To see all the posts in this series, click here.





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wedding stuff: the Dress

Monday, January 12, 2015

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My mom made all of my prom dresses. All four years that I went. So it was always a given that we would be making my wedding dress. Whenever I found a dress I liked, I was able to pick it apart and take note of the elements that made the dress stand out to me. The result of all of these years of dress gazing was that I was able to design my dress to be exactly what I wanted, and go through the (literally) blood, sweat, and tears to get it made. 


We bought the fabric at Jackmans in St. Louis. We had gone into the store with a plan, but after experimenting with the fabric we realized that we didn't like the lace was going to hang. So we sat down right there and redesigned the whole skirt, going by a sketch I had done two years ago.


Next my mom made the pattern. And when I say made, I really mean frankenstiened together. Using a base for the actual dress (Vogue 8997) and another base for the train (Vogue 2788) and the measurements we learned when we made the trial dress (over 10 inches had to be added). This is the part where we I tell you that my Mom is basically the most fantastic ever. (Oh, because not only was she doing this, but she was also making all three of the bridesmaid's gowns.) (She volunteered to do all this, because she's basically Superwoman.)


Then it was all hands on deck. My grandma came up, and she, my mom, and I cut, pinned, and sewed our little hearts out.


The result was stunning. A dress from my dreams, come to life. I am seriously humbled by the love that was poured into this gorgeous creation. 



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