Our blue & brown beachy themed OLD FIELD CLUB wedding (Blue Daisy, Verbena, CosmoNY..)! LONG review, PROPICS, TYcard, HM review **UPDATES: ALBUM P.3, ANNIV PICS P.4, SALE ITEMS P.5**

UPDATE 5/12/09

Some items left for sale to page 5! FM me w/ interest or for more info!

UPDATE 2/18/09:

Updated w/ my cousin's custom jewelry website- she made my BMs jewelry.

UPDATE 9/12/08:

Added our 1st anniversary portraits to p.4!

UPDATE 8/31/08:

I've replaced the poor quality screen captures I had up with high res pics (since we just finished our album and received all of them on disc), so the pics will be much clearer now, but the review may take a minute or two to fully load. Sorry!!

I added more pics too. Most are in hi-res now, but switching over the last few.

Also I added pics of our album and posted all of our layouts.

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Apologies in advance for the length of this very detailed bio, but I'm hoping that it will really help some girls. Before I review all of my vendors, I would like to include the back-story of how Nate and I met and what led us to marry on Long Island, because it is all of that which influenced me to plan my wedding the way that I did! If you’re not interested in that, please feel free to scroll down and check out the rest of my review. Enjoy!

HOW WE MET…

Nate and I met through a Christian group for singles. I heard of Christian Cafe (A++++ of course) from my mother meeting my now step-dad that way as well. Miles in between us (ALASKA TO PA!), we were both just looking to meet and share fellowship with other Christians our age. That was a void in my life that I knew would change everything for me....and it did, in the most amazing way!

We started talking back in November of 2003 and it was the most wonderful feeling to talk to someone who understands where you are coming from, someone who is as excited about God as you are. We had no idea where it was going. In fact, neither of us had any expectations or plans for a relationship. We were just friends who had a great connection, shared such a similar sense of humor that it was almost frightening! We just enjoyed having fulfilling conversations about our life stories, our faith and hopes. We lost contact for a while and then started talking again a few months later. It's hard to explain how we became a couple. I think everything changed once we began to pray about it together.

All too often people think that they know exactly what type of person they want to be with or should be with. They have this plan and picture in their head and move through life and relationships accordingly. The truth is that there is no better match-maker than God! We opened ourselves up to His plan, and trusted whatever that entailed...being friends, devoting ourselves to each other, meeting other people and supporting each other in that. It turns out, God opened doors for us and revealed that we were destined to be with one and other.

Nate proposed to me during our Christmas celebration together on December 16, 2005. It was one of the most touching and memorable moments of my life. We started our celebration with a romantic dinner at La Locandas, an Italian restaurant. It is a special place, being that the owner knows my grandparents from their roots in Italy. Our table was nestled in front of the fireplace, beside the Christmas tree. We had an amazing dinner and talked about our life together. Since this was our first Christmas together, it was an especially meaningful occasion for us. The mood had been set for a perfect night.

After dinner, we returned home to exchange our gifts. We were so excited! The gifts were laid out under the tree (adorned with beautiful butterfly ornaments), and we sat down to open presents. We alternated giving our gifts. I had noticed that each of his presents for me had a card attached with sequential numbering, which piqued my interest! As I opened each envelope with the gift, I read romantic passages on paper with burnt edges that Nate had written about our love and relationship- past, present, and future. It was hard to keep my eyes from welling up.

At first, the gifts were lighthearted or practical, and then became more meaningful and personal. The poetic letters were more and more touching with each gift! Sneaky Nate had given me gifts encased in small boxes that all could of potentially held a ring, so I began to suspect that something was going on. As I continued to open gifts, I was never disappointed in the least! The gifts were meaningful and so beautiful! Each one touched me in such a personal way. The second to last gift was a beautiful Tiffany’s silver butterfly necklace that has a special meaning to me, as it represents the memory of my father. The last gift presented to me was a pair of beautiful diamond earrings, which I've never had. At this point, I was so excited and touched. I didn't think that it could get any better.

Once we had finished, I told Nate about one more gift for him that I had hidden. It was a silver promise ring with a portion of a biblical verse engraved on the inside. The full verse is: 'Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity'~Colossians 3:12-14. The ring said 'In perfect unity.' It was my promise of devotion to Nate. (You will see below that we also chose this as one of our ceremony readings).

After receiving his gift, he pulled from the bottom of the Christmas tree one last envelope with no gift. He told me that he would instead like to read the last one to me. He also told me that he had one last gift to give me. He left the room and returned with a large ornamental box, which he sat down next to me. At this point, I was thrown! I thought 'what could it be!' As he opened the last envelope, I could see that he was becoming serious and emotional. So was I! He then read the last words of his letter (I had not known that each of the passages that I had already read were sections of a beautiful proposal letter). As the words came out, 'Jessica, to the world you are one person, but to me you are the world. Today I promise that I will love you always, and I get down on one knee to ask...,' I could tell that he was trying not to cry, but we were too overwhelmed with emotion. He got down on his knee and finished, 'Jessica Ann ____, will you marry me?' He opened up a box to reveal the most beautiful ring that I have ever seen. To which I replied, 'Yes, of course!' We both began to cry and held each other. I was in shock!

It turns out, Nate had the proposal letter made into a message in a bottle so that we would have it as a keepsake. That was what was inside the ornamental box. You'll see how messages in a bottle became incorporated into our wedding too!

WHAT LED A JERSEY GIRL LIVING IN PENNSYLVANIA TO A LONG ISLAND WEDDING…

In the initial throws of wedding planning, I felt incredibly overwhelmed. I had absolutely no clue where to start. I lurked on “Knot” bios and found wonderful ideas. I knew that I wanted a blue/brown wedding and I started to fall in love with Asian touches (like blossom branches) and unique lighting ideas (like hanging lights and/or lanterns). The two things that I did know for sure were that I wanted a small wedding and to marry by the water, but Pennsylvania (where I live now) is not the ideal location for that.

That is when I started leaning towards a destination wedding. Initially, I had actually set my mind on Italy, where my grandmother was born and where I have family living today. We wanted to marry on the gorgeous Amalfi Coast, but once I started my planning, this wonderful hypothetical just did not work in reality. It was far too difficult to plan an entire wedding from so far away and it wasn’t worth it to us when we realized that only our immediate family would be able to attend. I shifted my focus to closer destinations, and found beautiful venues in Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, etc., but we still dealt with issue of likely not having much of a turn out because of the travel.

I can not even remember exactly what it was that led me to Long Island, but it seemed that without me being fully conscious of it, everything was pulling me there! My father, who passed away from brain cancer in 2004, had lived on Long Island for about the ten years or so before he passed. We had a tumultuous relationship in earlier years after my parent’s divorce, but once we received the news of his illness, talk about putting everything in perspective!!! The Lord blessed me, my two sisters and my father by bringing us all back together, though it took something so incredibly heartbreaking to do it. We spent that last year visiting my father very often; it felt like we spent most of our time in New York. Fast forward to wedding planning, everything converged at one point to bring me to settling on a Long Island wedding. I don’t remember whether I had come across the Old Field Club online and then came across Bonnie’s (an LIW 08er- BeachBum05) bio on the knot because of that, or whether seeing pictures of the Old Field Club in her bio made me look it up. Anywho, huge thanks to Bonnie for her part in all of this and directing me to LIweddings.com I never looked back at the “knot” again!I emailed Bonnie to ask about the Old Field Club. It had the EXACT look that I was going for! It was a smaller venue on the water and the reception room had high wood-beamed ceilings with strands of lights wrapped around them (come to find out, they actually decided to take those down). It was that hidden gem that I had been searching so hard to find!! And I knew it was the place we would marry, before I even got a chance to see it in person. What really sealed the deal for me, I knew I was meant to marry there, when I realized that Port Jeff- one of my father’s favorite places and the place he took my sister and I to visit during that last year when he was sick- was only a few miles down the road from the Old Field Club! Needless to say, it was the one wedding venue I visited and I was SOLD!

Now…on with everything about our blue & brown, beachy-themed, sorta casual wedding!!!! One of the best days of my life.

PRE-WEDDING

LIW
A+
A HUGE thank you to Ron, Liz, and the whole site crew for creating this incredibly helpful website!!! Without LIW and all of you very sweet ladies, there is absolutely no way that I would have been able to plan my dream wedding in LI.

E-Ring
Tiffany & Co. A+
Come on, what girl doesn’t love Tiffany? You know that smile that creeps up on you when you see that little blue pouch!!! DH has wonderful taste. I didn’t help him at all and I love my Tiffany’s solitaire with platinum band! It is perfect for me. Tiffany’s has great customer service and beautiful products!




Save-the-Dates
Invitation Consultants A+
The save-the-date search wasn’t as drawn out and difficult as my invitation search, thankfully. I found the one that I loved fairly easily actually, called “wrapped blue.” It features a sheer wrap and printed card secured by a decorative striped ribbon. Invitation includes blank sheer wrap, printed sky blue card, 15 inch pre-cut striped blue and mocha ribbon, and bright white envelopes. Minimal assembly. I believe I ordered 100 and they were very reasonable (around only $170). I got many compliments on these!


With our wording


TIP: LADIES, THINK LONG AND HARD ABOUT ALL OF THE PEOPLE YOU PLAN TO SEND SAVE-THE-DATES TO!!! I think we were way too excited and quick to send a save-the-date to everyone and their dog! In retrospect, huge mistake that caused a lot of unneeded stress!

Invitations
Now & Forever A+ for service & B+ for paper quality
The invitation search was frustrating for me!! It was months of searching, with one of three things happening again and again: finding very little that fit what I was looking for, finally coming across something I loved but absolutely REFUSING to pay an obscene price for paper that will be thrown away, or finding invites that I loved and being so indecisive that I would be posting invite polls on the ’07 board left and right (sorry ladies!). Finally, with very little time left, I came across the now-and-forever website and found exactly what I was looking for- a cute light blue invite that fit our theme with a very reasonable price! The invite is called “Bloom Invitation” and the color is “Mist” (it comes in several other colors). The design is long stemmed flowers in bloom in white and I used mocha colored text. There was some sort of spring sale running and also a discount code offered. You can only use one code though. And my total came to a mere $200, and that was even after my STUPID mistake of ordering 100 when I only needed to order 50! The quality of paper is probably a tad thinner than most would like, but I thought they were fine and wasn’t too concerned with that. They also shipped within 3-4 business days, which is super quick! Everything was packaged in a very orderly manner and they included tips for stuffing invites and had the different pieces all labeled so as not to confuse you. Overall, ordering through them was a very pleasant, quick and easy, experience and I would recommend them!

Non-pro


Pro pic


Rehearsal lunch
Setauket Pastaria A+
The only time available for our wedding rehearsal the day before our wedding was mid-day, so we decided to do a rehearsal lunch at 1:30pm rather than a dinner. We had a small group of about 25 and wanted to do something pretty casual but nice. I looked into menus and pricing info at many different places for my ILs, and we decided on the Setauket Pastaria after reading about as a recommendation on LIW. And we are SO glad that we did! The plans, to my dismay, were made very last minute (about a week and a half before hand) and they still accommodated us. It was perfect for accommodating a group of our size. The ambiance is so cute, like a small Italian café. The food was delicious!!!!!! Everyone raved. And the service was absolutely outstanding!!! The staff was incredibly sweet. I can not say enough good things about the Pastaria!





Grooms cake (for rehearsal lunch)
Audrey’s Bakery A for taste & C for look
DH is writing his first book and hopes to become a published author, so I knew I wanted to have a book cake made for him. I also chose an inspirational quote from one of his favorite poets- Thoreau, to put on the pages of the book. I talked to Tom about surprising Nate with the groom’s cake for the rehearsal lunch when we met with him in person to choose our wedding cake, but I didn’t have clear enough ideas of exactly what I wanted so I figured Id call him and order it once I did. I called him a few weeks before the wedding and ordered the book cake. In retrospect, I wish I was much more clear and detailed and sent pictures, because it didn’t end up coming out as I had hoped. Grooms cakes, in my opinion, are supposed to be really realistic but this just kind of resembled the shape of a book. It didn’t look like an actual book. I told them specifically I wanted chocolate brown writing, but they did it in light blue. I wasn’t crazy about the decorative flowers on both pages (the cake didn’t look masculine at all), but I understand they probably felt like it needed something else to not look so empty. And I really should have been prepared for this... DH didn’t understand what a groom’s cake was or think it was a big deal in the moment. Haha. He just figured, oh a cake. The biggest embarrassing part was that they didn’t get the quote right!! Instead of “Go confidently,” it said “Go compently.” I remember it was really noisy when I was reading him the quote over the phone, but, come on, compently isn’t a real word. As for taste, though, DH still talks about how much he loved their peanut butter mousse and chocolate cake. All of this being said, they did AMAZING for our wedding cake (read below)! And I have seen other groom’s cakes by them, which looked amazing. So I think that, maybe, this was just a case of me not giving enough direction/not being specific enough.



BM gifts
I ordered the girls monogrammed mini-totes from The Palm Gifts. They get an A+ for customer service & B- for fabric quality. They have a ton of different types of totes and cute fabric designs. The girls loved them and get a lot of use out of them, but I personally felt that for the price, the fabric wasn’t the greatest quality and I wish I had paid more attention to just how small they would be. In retrospect, I would’ve ordered them larger totes. I then filled the totes with the “Runaway Bridesmaids” gift (3 in 1 body wash, bubble bath and shampoo) from Bath & Body Works, flip flops from Old Navy, and day of jewelry custom designed and made by my cousin Melissa who has her own website for custom jewelry- Mella Beads. The jewelry was my favorite part of their gift. My cousin has been making beautiful jewelry for a few years now and we all get so excited when she surprises us with a jewelry gift! I was frustrated that I could not find any jewelry that I liked that incorporated blue and brown for my bridesmaids and then it hit me that I should ask my cousin to design our jewelry! Her prices are reasonable for custom jewelry and she did an incredible job on the earrings and necklaces, made of all swarovksi beads. My girls loved them! FM me if you would like her contact info to have her make your bridal or BM jewelry. I will also post her jewelry website here when it is finished. She gets an A+!

Some of the gifts





GM gifts
We knew that our GM would LOVE Reef’s Mick Fanning Bottle Opener Sandals, which have bottle openers on the bottom! We picked out a different pair for each guy, that we thought matched their style/personality. We bought them from Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS) in Exton, PA. They go along with our casual and beachy theme and the guys did love them. A+. We also bought them their “Opal stripe” neck ties in blue for the day-of from the Perry Ellis website.





WEDDING APPAREL, ACCESSORIES, HAIR, MAKEUP

Wedding gown
Marisa dress from Lizelles Boutique in Havertown, PA A+ for boutique alterations & B- for customer service
I started exploring different wedding gown styles online soon after we got engaged, to see what look I was drawn too. And it was the same look again and again- simple, classic, lace gowns or gowns with lace detail. I knew from the get-go that a poofy, princess style just wasn’t for me! Initially, I was set on a Monique Llhujier gown, because I LOVE the look of almost all of her dresses. And then I came across Marisa’s 611 with the lace jacket (611J) and fell in love with it before ever seeing it in person. I knew that this was the dress! I did a store search on Marisa’s website and found the closest bridal boutique that carried the Marisa line was in Havertown at Lizelles, so I checked beforehand to make sure that they had that particular sample, and then went in to try on gowns for the first time. She brought me about 5 different gowns, almost all of them were lace or had lace detail, and they were okay but either too heavy for me to feel comfortable or not the most flattering. I tried the Marisa gown last and like I had already felt from the start, it was THE ONE and we bought it then and there! Of course, it was such a quick decision that it scared me a bit and I questioned my decision a little bit. Maybe I should have tried something totally out of character just to see, etc. But I’m glad that when I look at photos from our wedding day, I know that I chose the right dress for me. It’s a dress that I will be happy with years and years from now.

The customer service wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t good. It is a small bridal boutique and you would imagine that they would be very customer service oriented, since word of mouth is so important with places like that. To me, when you are working with brides, its is an incredibly special time in their lives (especially dress shopping), and it would be nice as an excited bride, to get that warm, welcoming feeling when you’re at a bridal boutique, to have people remember your name. smile, etc. I just think that type of pampering feeling goes a long way and I did not get this feeling at all any of the times when I was there. Even when I brought my whole bridal party there to try bridesmaid dresses.

The alterations were pricey. They charge a flat fee of $395 for any bridal alterations (this includes pressing your dress & veil), which I think is ridiculous. Imagine you had very minimal alterations to make. In my case, my alterations were quite extensive so it worked in my favor. Before my fittings, my dress felt so heavy, and with my mobility issues, I was very worried that I wouldn’t be able to walk around all day in the dress. We made some changes to the inside of the dress, added something around my waist on the inside to hold me in, little tabs around the top on the inside to keep my bustier from showing and to keep my dress up so I wouldn’t have to hike it up all night, we shortened the length of my train to make it easier to move in, and we did a one point bustle. Ling is the woman there who does alterations. I was her first bride since starting there, which would have really freaked me out if I didn’t hear that she had had about 20+ years of experience at Suki’s, which has an amazing reputation on the mainline in PA. She did an incredible job with my alterations and used techniques I have never even seen! I was so psyched with how the dress felt on me at the second and final fitting. I could walk around with ease, which set my mind at ease for the big day! Priceless!

Sidenote: I tried a few veils on while trying dresses and knew right away that a veil wasn’t for me!!! I looked and felt so silly! I couldn’t find one style that I liked and I knew that it would be just one more thing that felt was getting in my way when I was walking around, especially if it was breezy or windy. I have seen so many pics of that from weddings, and it gives me sensory issues at the thought. Id feel like I was stuck in a bug net. I settled on just a pretty hair comb for the back of my hair instead. Worked for me!











Bridal shoes
Shoebuy
Nothing too special for shoes. For me, it was more about what I could get around in easily than the look. So I went for the simple and comfortable “Chablis” by Dyeables in white satin. I love shoebuy! They have free shipping and all kinds of other discount codes all of the time and they ship super fast.



Undergarments
Long line bra & “Bride” undies from Victoria Secret
I used to hate strapless dresses because I could never find any strapless bras that I felt held me right. But I didn’t want to feel limited to certain cuts when picking out the most important dress Id ever wear. Thankfully, my mom picked me up VS Seamless Bustier and it was just what I was looking for. It wasn’t horribly uncomfortable or anything. I only wished it was a bit longer so I didn’t feel like my lower tummy was being pushed out. It worked perfectly for me though. It’s a bit pricey but Id def suggest it, especially to girls with larger chests like me. I need something to hold me up really well and that was perfect.

I also wanted to find some cute underwear that said “Bride” and VS happened to have some. They are white and the writing is done with swarovski crystals. I can’t seem to find them on the site now though, so I am not sure whether they sell them anymore.

I also loved my “Something Blue” tank from there! I wore it while getting ready that morning.





Garter
Smart Bride Online
I bought this light blue garter when I thought that I would be doing a garter toss. I thought it was really cute and a nice plus that it is adjustable so its not a “one size fits all” that chokes your thigh, lol. Even though we decided last minute not to do the garter toss, I was still going to wear it day-of, so our photographer got a pic of it, but when it came to the rush of getting dressed day-of, I totally forgot.



DOJ
Hair comb from Perfect Details
Since I decided not to have a veil, it was important for me to find a hair accessory I loved. And I thought with a half up/half down look, a hair comb in the back would be a nice touch. After much searching, another LIW bride suggested that I check out perfect details and the “Adam’s rib” hair comb by Paris caught my eye right away. It was a pricey piece because it is custom made, and it took about two months to come in, so keep that in mind if you’re ordering a custom piece from them. The different shades of pearls blended perfectly with my dress, and ended up looking so nice with the rest of my DOJ! I am not sure whether they are still making this piece. FM if you're interested in buying.

Non-pro pic


Pro pic


Bracelet & Earrings from Anna Bellagio A+ for product quality & customer service
I had seen a picture when we first got engaged from a dress twin’s knot bio and it was of her wearing this amazing bracelet on her wedding day.

Fast forward a year later and I had no clue who’s bio it was or who made the jewelry, but after posting a pic of it on LIW, another bride afrodyt2000 found it on Anna Bellagio. It is called “Daria Pearl and Crystal Bracelet.” AB jewelry is beautiful and so reasonably priced. I was so psyched to find the bracelet after MUCH back and forth about DOJ!!! I have received SO many compliments on this bracelet. And to think, it was so inexpensive. It was exactly what I wanted.




I then settled on AB’s “Ellie Pearl Earrings.” At first I was worried that the shades of pearl from my hair comb and the necklace wouldn’t all mesh well, but they all went perfectly. Flower designs and clusters of crystals tied them all together as well. And AB had incredible customer service. They ship fast, in the cutest pink boxes and there is a personalized note with the order. Just a nice touch!

Non pro


Pro pic


Brooch from White Aisle
I ordered the Pearl and Crystal Flower Brooch, which is currently on backorder and they have limited quantities, from White Aisle when I was not sure how I would be tying my sash. Here is a pic from a dress fitting showing how I planned to wear the brooch if I went with this sash style.

Ultimately, literally last minute on the day-of (after our photographer had already taken pics of it), I decided to tie the sash as a bow in the back and there was no room for this pretty brooch. But it would have went so perfectly with the rest of my DOJ.



MOB Dress
Barrie Pace
My mom is particular and she had a hard time deciding on what to wear. She tried so many different options, and ultimately settled on this two piece, tan jacket and skirt with a slit from Barrie Pace, and I think it was perfect. It was dressy enough, but not overly dressy for our more casual wedding and the color blended well with everything.



Flower Girl Dress
Strasburg children
I was desperate to find my niece/God-daughter her flower girl dress, because we waited til the last minute on this one. Bad idea. I bought a flower girl dress on ebay, but it ended up being horrible. It was more yellowy ivory than a pure ivory and, it didn’t mention in the description that the bow was held on by velcro and snaps! The quality was very poor and unfortunately they don’t accept returns. I do not recommend buying from seller zach0306. This being said, I happened to come across the Strasburg children store in Lancaster, PA and thought it couldn’t hurt to see what they had. Their dresses were such high quality, perfect ivory, beautiful satin brown sash…perfect!!! My niece loved wearing it!

Non-pro pics



Pro pic



FG Basket & RB Pillow Set
The Knot
I was so glad to come across the light blue basket & pillow set from the Knot’s wedding shop. Perfect color! Arrived fairly quickly. They loved holding these!

Non-pro pics



Pro pic


DH’s Suit
Banana Republic

We knew from the get go that we didn’t want black tuxes! It would be a pretty harsh look for what we were going for, especially next to such a light/icey blue. We wanted a lighter, more casual, beachy look, which led us to light tan/stone colored suits. I found a fabulous one on Jim’s formalwear and we were set on using that for DH and all of the GM. We thought it would be super easy for them (all OOT GM) since all of them had a store that is a Jim’s Formalwear retailer nearby to rent or buy from. We were going to have them get sized wherever and give us their sizes to give to a JF retailer on LI so that when they came in for the wedding, they could pick them up and try them on for any last minute alterations. Well, fast forward to about 4-5 mos to the wedding, it ended up being way more complicated! The retailers either didn’t have the suit or said it would be too difficult to coordinate, or any number of other issues. So we looked into similar suits at Jos A Banks, Men's Wearhouse, After Hours…..nothing! We couldn’t find the right shade of tan in any of those suits and when it came close, the suits were way too heavy for a summer wedding. We were told by many of the places that we’d never find what we were looking for up North here, because the suit we were hoping for was more of a Southern style, summer suit. Whatever.

I wracked my brain to think of any other light suit I had seen. Thank GOD I had a flash in my head of Kittythestray’s DH’s light tan suit. It was EXACTLY what we were looking for!!!! I went to her review, which said they bought his at Banana Republic. We bought it right away- the 'Modern Twill Suit' (it is not up on their site anymore, since it is a summer suit but they have the same/similar ones up each summer)! His dress shirt was their 'Royal oxford shirt' in white. I am almost positive his tie was actually from the Donald Trump signature collection from Macys- the 'Tonal Rib Tie' in light blue. The suit only needed minor alterations bc DH has ultra broad shoulders and a trim waist. DH and I LOVED that suit and highly highly recommend it to anyone looking for a similar style for a summer wedding!

And for DS, who was a Jr. GM, we bought him an outfit as close to the GMs outfits as possible- shirt was from Macys, khakis from Gap Kids, and tie was the 'boy's stripe tie #1501' in brown from the Absolute ties.




GM Outfits
Banana Republic
With a groom in a light tan suit, I had seen pictures of two options for GM: they wore the same suit as the groom or for a more casual wedding, they wore a dress shirt and dress pants. These are the pictures of the looks I was choosing between...

'The Looks'


Ultimately, since we knew we were likely to have an incredibly warm day in August and we wanted a more casual style wedding, the first look was perfect! We found Banana's 'straight khaki pinstripe dress chinos' in light khaki (that matched DH’s suit pants) and a 'solid chambray shirt' in light blue. We bought them their ties, the “Opal stripe” neck tie in blue from Perry Ellis. They used their own brown belt and shoes. Thank goodness we did not do the full suits for all the guys, because it was in the 90s and they were sweating profusely through their outfits. My one sister was hysterical laughing during the ceremony because she could progressively see their sweat stains getting bigger and bigger, the sleeves and pants legs were slowly getting darker and darker, haha!

We are so psyched that this pic/our GM outfits are in THE KNOT'S BEST OF WEDDINGS 08 ISSUE (see center below)! They liked the attire for a beachy wedding look and of course Blue Daisy's photography!




BM Dresses
Bill Levkoff dress from Lizelles A for dress & C+ for boutique service
I tend to prefer the look of tea length dresses over full length, especially for an afternoon, summer wedding. I also love the look of any BM dress with a sash as well, so that along with the colors blue and brown are what we worked within. I was not very happy with the selection of BM dresses at Lizelles to be honest, but we kind of shopped there out of convenience. My whole BP is from OOT so they had to travel to me for shopping and my two sisters have kids so we really did not want a drawn out search. I feel bad in retrospect, because I think we could have probably found something that they all liked more if we were all willing to check out a few more places, but ultimately we ended up with Levkoff’s 220 in Euro Periwinkle (an icey sky blue) with a chocolate colored sash. All of them say the dress ended up working out fine, that they felt very comfortable in it and like how it looks in pics, so that’s good! Just want to also point out that I did not like the service at Lizelles at all when I had my BP there looking for dresses. They weren’t very friendly, attentive, or helpful.





BM Shoes
Shoebuy
I loved the look of slides with a tea length dress, but my sisters were a little picky about which shoes we chose. I totally understood bc it can **** to have to walk in uncomfy shoes all day! They also wanted to make sure the heel was a decent height, so they didn’t feel “stubby.” They decided on Touch-ups “Trista” dyeable shoe, which we found on Bellissima Bridal Shoes website, but I found the best price for them on the Shoe Buy when you consider the free shipping. The shoes are hot! And they looked great with their dresses. They had them dyed to match their chocolate sashes. They all loved how they look but they all ended up kicking them off or putting on flats to dance, so maybe a bit uncomfy in the end, but what pretty shoes aren’t?

Sorry, no great close-up of their shoes


Non pro- un-dyed


Hair
Roseanna Amador from CosmoNY A
Right away I assumed that I would need to get my semi-permanent “great lengths” extensions again for the big day (if you need info on great lengths or want me to suggest a technician, FM me!), because my hair is extremely thin and wasn’t long enough to achieve the look I was looking for.

My only concern was that not every stylist knows how to work with those kinds of extensions, and I didn’t want to deal with that unneeded stress. After much searching on LIW, I saw DCSFreez AKA Denielle’s trial with Roseanna Amador from CosmoNY, and she used clip-in extensions for length and body. It was the same exact look I was going for and I called to set up a trial with Roseanna right away! I sent Roseanna pics of my hair ahead of time so that she could try to bring in a good match for the clip-ins. I lucked out! The dark brown clip-ins she brought in were literally a perfect match to my hair color. She did not rush at all, was very pleasant, and exceeded my expectations. I bought her clip ins right then and there (they are her own line of clip-ins that she had designed, 100% human hair, can be worn again and again, can be styled as your own hair, very comfortable) and booked her on the spot!!

Trial- day of I wanted less height, otherwise loved it!



Day of, she arrived early as planned and got right to work. She worked around our schedules, but also kept us on track with timing. Everyone loved their hair. One of my BMs at first had a middle part, but Roseanna had no problem adjusting it to a side part at my BMs request. Everyone’s hair complimented their face shape. She had great suggestions for those who weren’t sure what to do. And, the best part is that, my hair that day looked a million times better than it did at my trial and I didn’t think that was possible. I was SO concerned about my curls falling out, but they lasted pretty darn well the entire night!! She did my curls one barrel smaller than most of the other girls to account for mine possible falling and she also used a lot of spray, which held my hair perfectly. About that though… in some pics, I have that really hard hair look, evn wet looking, which I am not crazy about, but overall it was not a big deal. The other thing I wish looking back is that I would have had her trim the extensions so they weren't so long/heavy. Overall, I am very happy with her work and definitely recommend her! I've also dyed and used my extensions a couple times since then and they still look/style great!







Makeup
Marti from MAC A
Marti did makeup for my sister’s wedding in 2005 and I was in the BP. I typically do not let ANYONE else do my makeup… ever. Not even my grandmother very often, who is an AMAZING makeup artist and has been for about 35+ yrs. It’s just that I am very picky over what I like and I have difficult skin to work with so I prefer to do it myself. Well I ended up loving my makeup at my sister’s wedding, so when it came to be my time, she was the first and only person I thought of. So many people have asked me about her work after seeing pics, unfortunately ladies she lives and works out of NJ so I am not sure how feasible it would be for a lot of you to use her. But she does do a certain amount of out of state weddings, so as long as you were willing to travel to her for the trial, I would contact her about availability. She does not have a website because she works mainly through word of mouth, she is very popular in NJ, but I do have her phone number if anyone would like it, just FM me!

I went for my first trial and showed her pics of a very smoky eye. She did exactly what I showed her perfectly, but I went home and I just didn’t feel like how I envisioned myself looking on my wedding day. I think the smoky look just didn’t work for me. It felt too harsh for an more casual afternoon 'beachy' wedding, so I called her back and set up trial #2 where we went for lighter bronzy shades. That was it!!!!!!! Only thing I'm not entirely crazy about is that MAC foundation can feel a little heavy.

(Disclaimer: I was having bad skin issues at the time, so go easy on me!)
Trial #1



Trial #2



On the day of, she arrived a little bit late, after hitting some traffic coming from NJ unfortunately, but she had more than enough time to get to everyone without rushing. She also worked with everyone’s schedules. Her signature seems to be a very intense eye (that I LOVE), which not everyone is comfortable with at first, so some of my BMs were surprised but they all said that they ended up loving it and feeling great. They all looked like vamped up versions of their beautiful selves! My only very minor complaint is that my look on the day-of seemed to be a mix of trial #1 & 2, but I didn’t want anything from #1. I wanted exactly what she did in #2, so I wish she wrote it down as we were going along during that trial instead of just doing it from memory on the day-of. At least, when she heard me talking about it, she did come over and lightened it up for me. Anyhow, everyone complimented me on my makeup and at the end of the night, many people told me I looked the same as I did when I first walked down the aisle…everything held up amazingly. Marti is such a sweet person, has so many good suggestions (TIP: ahead of time, she suggested that I buy MAC’s blot powder for when I got shiny (I still use this every day now) and the lip-gloss she used on me, so that I could reapply- lifesaver on the day of!!!!), and went above and beyond for me at my trial/day of in any way that she could possibly help. Adore her. I highly highly recommend her!!!!!









My girl’s hair & MU








WEDDING CEREMONY/COCKTAIL HOUR

Ceremony location
The Old Field Club A+
The OFC is a hidden gem that I feel blessed to have come across. It has the exact look that I was always hoping/searching for for our wedding. Tom is the Maitre-D there. If you’re looking into the OFC, don’t make my mistake and try to communicate via email. I found that out fairly quickly and started to use the phone instead. I was not very happy with communication early on. I would wait a long time to hear anything back after leaving voicemails, but as it got closer and closer to my big day, communication improved 95%, which I was THRILLED about. It began to ease my anxiety of everything falling into place. I was a little annoyed that we had to wait so last minute (less than a month) to set up a time for our rehearsal, but I sort of understand that they are a social club and put their large events in front of something like a rehearsal.

Dropping off tons of boxes of ceremony/reception items the day before at the rehearsal was a little frightening. I wrote down where everything should be, but relinquishing everything I had spent so much time and effort to plan was anxiety provoking...just hoping it would all come together somehow. And WOW, Tom pulled through for me in every way!!!!!!! Everything, literally everything, was in its place and trust me I had tons of items. I left a lot of the decor up to him (as far as me bringing the shells and beachy touches but not dictating where he should place them) and he did an incredible job placing those details through out the hall. I can’t tell you how impressed I was. Tom made everything that day running as smoothly as possible. I was worried about walking down the aisle, since I have mobility issues from a medical condition. My pop-pop was of course on one side but I still needed something else on the other side. Tom put out his hand for me to hold for balance as I had to walk over the slight step before walking down the aisle. Small things like that mean a lot to me.















Officiant
Father Michael Callahan A
I was Catholic at the time of our ceremony and DH is Protestant (we now go to a wonderful non-denominational Christian church- it is pretty much like a Protestant church), but we never really focused on our religious differences. Instead, we always acknowledged how both of us wanted to have a Christ-centered ceremony and marriage. The most important thing for us and what brought us together is our faith, so we wanted an officiant who would focus our ceremony on all of that. We set up a time to meet Father Callahan, who is from an order of married Catholic priests, which means his ministry is no longer associated with the Catholic church (if you want more information, check out C.I.T.I.), and he was very pleasant and we liked that he seemed very laid-back and willing to tailor the ceremony to us and our beliefs/values. We got a good feeling from him and booked him right away. He was very helpful in that he sent us suggestions/choices for readings, vows, ring exchange wording, etc. He was good with communication, and we mainly contacted each other through email. He also asked us to, separately, write down why we love each other and send it to him, which we did. And it was nice to hear, day-of how he incorporated that into our ceremony. I was SO nervous after walking down the aisle and getting up there, but focusing on the meaning of his words really helped to calm DH and I, and to remind us of what this whole day is about- God and the two of us. I felt so bad for him dressed all in black because that day was SCORCHING HOT!!!!!!! But he dealt with it and did a wonderful ceremony for us.




Ceremony readings
Choice of readings was very important to us, as is our faith. We wanted to include these two beautiful passages from the gospel to reflect what this day was about and what is truly important to us. My step-dad and DH's father read the scripture.



1 John 4:7-12 (God's love and ours)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son[a] into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.



Colossians 3:12-17

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Wedding bands
Whitehall Jewelers- Exton, PA location A for ring quality & service
DH & I went to pick out our bands together. Our only ideas going in were that we didn’t want any gold, DH wanted comfort fit, and I wanted a platinum band that was thin enough to match the thinness of my Tiffany solitaire e-ring. The woman who helped us was very pleasant. You know jewelry stores, some people can come off as a little phony or pushy. They weren’t too bad about this her though. She showed us a variety of rings, and DH ended up with a white gold 6.5mm comfort fit (update: he lost it in the ocean while on vacation this summer, so I'll be buying him a new and different one since it had a lot of scratches on it already anyways since DH never took it off) and I ended up with a thin platinum band with diamonds going half way around. We’re both very pleased! We didn’t even realize that we went when diamond was the stone of the month, and there was also a sale going on, so that was a nice perk too! The service was nice and attentive. We ended up getting our rings engraved with our initials and date as well.




Photographer
Blue Daisy Wedding A+
I had always felt that the photographer is probably one of the most important vendors… the person who captures the highlights and emotion of your day for you to look back on for years and years to come. I knew that I wanted someone who had a very unique, creative vision, and didn’t just capture your standard wedding shots. Details, colors, and emotion…I wanted all of that to pop in our pictures! Bonnie had actually pointed out to me another bride’s proofs who married at the OFC. This bride, Imavolio, had used Marianne from Blue Daisy Weddings for photography. I fell in love with those beautiful pictures, and Mariann’s photojournalistic style. Thankfully, when I contacted her, she was still available for my date and I booked her right away. She was very helpful even in the process building up to our wedding. I was clueless about how the timeline should unfold day-of, and Mariann had some very helpful suggestions for me. She is great about returning emails/phone in a timely fashion as well. She also sent us a form about a month before the wedding so that she would know our timeline, who everyone is, must take/formal pics, things to be aware of, etc.

Day of, Mariann and Amy arrived right on time and started snapping away- photos of my dress and all of the details. Then we had Amy go take pictures of the guys getting ready and their formal shots outside around Danfords. Those shots came out great. Mariann stayed with us and got great getting-ready pics and formal shots of us before we left for the OFC. They were very unobtrusive, and I rarely remember being aware of them taking pictures during the ceremony/wedding, but wow...they captured all of those special moments! She worked within our schedules, energy/comfort level, etc. My only minor disappointment is that we forgot some pictures, like a close-up portrait of me once I finished getting ready, one of my DH, formal shot of me and DH with both sets of parents, me and DH’s with both of our families together, and some other minor details. It seems like the “in-the-moment,” “capturing real time” photos are Mariann’s specialty, so if you’re looking for more traditional or formal portraits, make sure you have that clearly outlined ahead of time. Which makes sense…most artists work best without any constraints or instruction. Ultimately, even the posed pictures came out very nice though. (TIP: Bring a copy of your list of formal shots with you and have someone you trust hold on to it. You totally forget in the moment!!! And can you feasibly expect your photographer to remember which family members you said you wanted formal shots of in the moment?). In the grand scheme, the pictures we did get really make those few missed shots incidental! Mariann is one of my favorite vendors, if not THE favorite!!!! I HIGHLY recommend her and Amy for their incredible work. I feel so blessed that I have these gorgeous pictures to look back on forever!

We chose collection 3, which included two photographers for 9 hours (Amy, her second photographer, was there for our wedding and we are so thankful, because she captured all of those spontaneous moments between formal shots. We love those!!) , unlimited number of photos taken (we had 1000+), a minimum of 600 images as 4x6 unmarked paper proofs (we got our proofs on 9/26, so excited! They came in a beautiful photo box personalized with our picture, wrapped in tissue of our colors, along with a small photo book of glossy prints of highlights of our day...such nice touches!!!) and the same images as small and large file high resolution pics on a DVD once you finish your album. This collection also includes a custom designed 10x10 album with 40 sides (20 pages). Approximately 3-4 weeks after the wedding, an online private gallery was made available so friends and family can also view and even purchase the wedding images. One nice perk is that a few days after the event, she posts quite a few “teaser pics” on her blog. After seeing those, we were so relieved and eager to see the rest of our proofs! Mariann also designed our thank you card, which we are very pleased with!!! She has been incredible to work with, such a pleasure throughout the entire planning process. Always getting back to me very quickly if I have any questions at all, always giving very helpful suggestions, etc. And her work...well it speaks for itself!!!!! Beautiful. She was so awesome and incredibly patient with me during the album planning process. I emailed her 100-110 picture numbers and she got back to me in about 2 weeks with the first version of the layouts. Now I tend to be very anal retentive about layouts- its an obsessive thing where I need everything to be in order, symmetrical, even visually, etc. I know, PITA right? But she did such a great job and then I just sent her all of my little nit-picky changes until we got it all right, within about a month.

TIP: My two biggest bits of advice here are when narrowing down photos, its easy to get overwhelmed. Make a yes, no, and maybe pile. Then break down the pics into categories by choosing your favorites for each part of the day- getting ready (guys, girls, hair, makeup, etc.), details (jewelry, dress, rings, invites, flowers, program, invite, etc), ceremony (ring exchange, vows, kiss, etc.), CH (food?, guests, band?, etc), reception (entrance, first dance, father daughter, son mother, cake, food, guests, CPs, place cards, venue inside and out, etc), formal family portraits, bride and groom portraits.......you get the point. Try to tell the story of your day through the pics. And YES, it IS okay to ask for changes until you're absolutely 100% in love with it. It's the album you'll have forever, so love it! I felt bad at first too, but I think most couples make changes and most photographers expect it.

Here is our slideshow that Mariann made for us

Here is the Thank You card she designed for us


Below are just SOME of our favorite pics (besides the tons all over this bio!)







Anticipation

First seeing each other, SO glad we waited, even if we lost the opportunity for more pics!


He said he was starting to tear up here







May He bless your marriage!

Re: MY OBSCENELY LONG REVIEW- 8/12/07 OLD FIELD CLUB WEDDING (BLUE DAISY, ELITE SOUNDS, ED TRAVERS, AUDREYS, VERBENA, COSMONY, MAC, FR CALLAHAN, TRAVEL SOLUTIONS) TONS PRO PICS!

Great review. Love how you kept your color theme through out the wedding!

Congrats.

Re: MY OBSCENELY LONG REVIEW- 8/12/07 OLD FIELD CLUB WEDDING (BLUE DAISY, ELITE SOUNDS, ED TRAVERS, AUDREYS, VERBENA, COSMONY, MAC, FR CALLAHAN, TRAVEL SOLUTIONS) TONS PRO PICS!

You really had a PERFECT wedding!! Every detail was beautiful and so meaningful! What a beautiful story about you and your husband- how you met, the proposal, and your strong faith that bought you together. May you both have many years of happiness!! Congratulations!!