Baker Wedding: Getting Ready!

Sorry for the delay in sharing our wedding pics! To be honest, I wanted to submit them to Southern Wedding Magazine and you cannot post them on any other blog first before they do. However, I turned out to be way too impatient, so here we go!

 

Feel free to scan and just look at pictures if you'd like, I'm mainly typing this out so I can look back and remember all of the details one day.

 

Saturday morning, my mom and I woke up at my soon-to- be in laws' house. Just like Christmas morning, I was the first one awake and could not even think about falling back asleep. I looked at Facebook, Instagram, etc until my mom woke up. We were the first ones awake so we went downstairs and made coffee. With my cup of coffee, I began to draft Cameron's letter that would be delivered to him later. I tried not to let my mom see that I was crying. I was just so overcome with emotion and excitement that our day was finally upon us.

 

Once I finished the letter, my mom and I went back upstairs to take our showers. I put on one of Cameron's button ups and comfy leggings. The hair and make up girls (one being my MnOH's sister) soon arrived, as well as my bridesmaids! It was happening! I loved just hanging out with my best friends, as we all got prettified, talking about everything under the sun, snacking on some fresh fruit and turkey pinwheels, and sipping on some mimosas.

The "Bride's Room" sign has been passed throughout my sorority sisters, and I will be passing it down to Kristen in September. :)

 Once my ladies were done, it was my turn! I'm always SO nervous when other people do my hair because I am so picky. I don't really know why, because whatever they do is going to be 10x better than what I would be able to do. Luckily, Emily's sister, Liz, came through as usual, making me feel like a beauty queen. As every bride should feel on her wedding day!

My junior bridesmaid and flower girl arrived to finish getting ready with "the girls," and they immediately stole the show. They are just the cutest and sweetest things I have ever seen.

In between taking pictures of everyone, my (amazing) photographer, Juliet, took some detail shots of our dresses and accessories.

 

Shoes by Vera Wang Lavender, my Aunt Cindy's earrings, and my "something old" - a diamond watch from Cameron's grandmother.

 

 

Then, it was finally time to get dressed!

 

 My sweet daddy watching. :)

 

The guys arrived in style, on Cameron's family's sportfisher. (You might see it come into play again later. :) ) Not going to lie, when we were on the way to the venue, my sister called Cameron and he wasn't there yet. I thought he was still going to have to take a shower and get dressed so I was freaking out a little. Luckily, he was already dressed on the boat. Phew!

 

Stay tuned for more!



Wedding Wednesday: Pickle Bar!

File this under the category of "Why Didn't I Think of That??"

 

We all know about my love for pickles.

Spoiler alert - we had fried pickle chips passed around during our cocktail hour!

I even thought about making homemade pickles as our wedding favors.

 

But man, oh man, do I wish I would have seen this Southern Weddings post before our wedding!

 

Some people have bourbon bars at their wedding, but this couple had a pickle bar at theirs!

 

What kind of specialty bar would you have or liked to have had at your wedding??



Baker Wedding: Video Trailer!



 

I can't for the life of me get this video to get any larger, so to get the full effect, view it on fullscreen!

Favorite parts of the video:
-The song that is playing is our first dance song, "Heavenly Day" by Patty Griffin. I can no longer listen to the song without crying.
-The first look..pretty sure I was about to lose it when I hugged Cameron.
-Also pretty sure the part of me dancing with my Dad is when he stepped on my dress. :)
-Spending time with Cameron before the ceremony. Definitely helped calm our nerves.
-Cameron's brother pinching his nipple. Oh, brotherly love.
-My beautiful bridesmaids!

I do wish everyone dancing to the band and the send off were on the trailer, but I know it will be on the real video, which should be arriving this week!

Videography by My Memories Film

Wedding Wednesday: Bridal Portraits!

My first Wedding Wednesday post, post wedding. :)

 

I took my bridal portraits last October and it was excruciatingly painful to keep these photos (mostly) to myself.

 

My photographer, Juliet Elizabeth, mom, sister, BFF Emily and even Brady went strolling around dt Charleston on a Thursday afternoon. The weather was perfect.

 

I'd be lying if I said this post was going to be short and sweet, there are just too many favorites!

 

Sneaking in..shhh!

FAVORITE!

The things you do for love...

 

Photo I used for my actual bridal portrait

 



Wedding Wednesday: Advice for the Bride.

On Monday, I posted on Facebook that I was a wee bit majorly stressed. Lots of people came through to calm me down and offer some advice. So I thought it would be fun to share!

 

 

"Enjoy every moment. Only you will notice when things don't go as planned, I promise!! Everything will be perfect! Focus on your love!

 

"It's going to be more perfect than you imagine!"

 

"Have a drank!...its like a drink but stronger"

 

"Just smile and sit back and let it roll!"

 

"Wine is a wonderful thing."

 

"Just remember, all brides feel this way right before the wedding. Yours will be perfect and just enjoy your last few days before you start that new life with Cameron. Try not to stress as that will give your adorable face and smile permanent wrinkles :) Now, if that didn't scare you enough not to stress----then go and have a big glass of wine."

 

"Too blessed to be stressed!"

 

"Just think about the honeymoon."

 

"Take a deep breath Megan...it will be beautiful just like you!"

Wedding Wednesday: The Final Countdown!

It's here! The final 10 day countdown!

 

Today I thought I'd just go back in time and briefly re-cap the fun, and rarely stressful, past 13 months!

 

December 2011 - We're Engaged! And Proposal Story.

 

January 2012 - Date and Venue Chosen, How I Asked My Bridesmaids (by far, my most viewed post) and Introducing My Bridesmaids.

 

March 2012 - Found my Wedding Dress, Introduced our Band and Photographer.

May 2012 - Took Engagement Pictures!

June 2012 - Introduced the Dreaded Checklist.

August 2012 - Bachelorette Party! Part One, Part Two. Introduced the Florist.  Sent out Save the Dates!

 September 2012 - Invited our Wedding Party out for a Booze Cruise.

October 2012 - Rehearsal Dinner Inspiration, Groom and Groomsmen Attire, Talked More About Bridesmaid Dresses, Took Bridal Portraits (Inspiration Post).

November 2012 - Engagement Pictures Featured on The Wedding Row.

December 2012 - Bridesmaid Gift Ideas, Groomsmen Gift Ideas, Engageiversary.

January 2013 - The Parties/Showers Begin! Oyster Roast and Bridal Shower, Booked our Honeymoon,

February 2013 - Stock the Bar Shower, Talked about Wedding Nightmares, Invitations Post.

March 2013 - Wedding Month!

---------------------------------------------------------

Today I picked up the marriage license! Ironically, Shannon and her fiance, who are getting married the weekend after us, were applying for their marriage license at the same time!

And for the fun of it, because I think it's interesting, here is the breakdown of our RSVP numbers:

Total number of people invited - 344

Total declined - 46

Total confirmed - 283

Total people still MIA - 15

Happy First Day of Spring!!!

Wedding Wednesday: Random.

Yep, it's happening. That feeling of being overwhelmed. A million thoughts running through my mind.

 

Thankfully, I had Tuesday off from work and also have tomorrow of so that is a huge help to let me run all of those errands that keep piling up. Of course people offer to help, but as most of you married ladies or soon to be married ladies know, there are just things you need to do on your own.

 

Tomorrow I'm meeting with the lead singer of our band and her manager and I'm super pumped about that! Music was one of the most important things to both Cameron and I when it came to planning our wedding.

 

Then I'll make my way over to Mt. Pleasant and FINALLY get our signs to Shea so she can make them all pretty. And stop in Michael's to pick up any last minute crafty things we may need.

 

OH! And I got to see my wedding band yesterday! It is beautiful and sparkly! I thought it was going to have to be a curved band and I was kind of not excited about that since it would look really awkward when I wore it by itself. But instead, the jeweler cut a notch underneath my engagement ring so a regular band will sit up under it and lay flat against it. Kind of hard to explain.

 

I think that's it for now. I really don't know what the point of this post was. I think I just needed to put all of my jumbled thoughts down on paper the internetz.

 

Here are some of my favorite recent wedding posts from fellow brides to be..

-Megan and her fiance had an awesome lawn & garden couples shower thrown for them last weekend. Check out the cake!

-Beth posted an awesome post about things she is doing differently for her wedding. We're with her on the no garter or bouquet toss! She is getting married the week after us!

-Nancy and her fiance are having their engagement pictures taken this weekend and I can't wait to see them!

-I love keeping up with Shannon's updates since her wedding is just a week after ours, also in Charleston!

 

PS - Shout out to Carly who got engaged last weekend!!

 

17 days, y'all!

Wedding Wednesday: March (AKA WEDDING MONTH) To-Do's!

Friday is wedding month!!

No more putting these things off until next month! This is it!!

 

As a reminder, below was my to-do list for the month of February:

-Purchase Cameron's wedding band - Check! Still waiting for the call to say it's ready to be picked up though.

-Purchase bridal portrait to display at reception - Check! And it's been received.

-Reserve the hotel room for the wedding night (yep, I'm cutting it close!) - Check!

-Purchase Cameron's wedding present(s) - Check! We decided to save the big gifts for our one year anniversary. I did get him something small and meaningful. :)

-Finalize cake - Check! So excited to see it and taste the deliciousness!
-Purchase fabric for lounge pillows - Check! Grandma Anna is making them and they should be ready by this weekend!

-Purchase random items like bins for koozies, something to put cards in, etc - Semi-check. Got the card bin. That's about it.

-Get signs to Shea for calligraphy - Nope.

-Stock the Bar party thrown for us by our wonderful wedding party! - Check! It was so fun! See recap of it here.

 

And from now until the wedding week before the wedding, I need to:

-Wrap all gifts.

-Cameron needs to order groomsmen gifts.

-Finish timeline. All I have to do is fill in the blanks for the times all of the vendors are arriving.

-Get signs to Shea. For real.
-Make signs for road.

-Purchase baskets for koozies and bins for pom poms. For real.

-Purchase more frames.
-Last shower is this weekend!

-Finalize all invoices / orders.

 

 

Is it weird that it still doesn't feel real? That it will actually be ME walking down the aisle to a handsome groom. MY handsome groom.

Wedding Wednesday: Invitations.

Grab a seat and a cup of coffee, because this post might be a long one.

Before getting engaged, there were a few things wedding related that I thought to myself "why do people spend so much money on or care so much about these things?" Invitations were one of those things. I just didn't get it - you open the invitation, glance at the few key points like date, time and location and then either throw it in the garbage or post it on your fridge until that day comes..and then throw it in the garbage. They were just one of those things that I didn't want to spend a lot of money on. But then when it was actually my turn, I totally understood why people spend so much time on picking out an invitation. They set the tone for the wedding!

Back in March last year, when I wasn't even thinking of ordering invitations yet, a Groupon popped up in my inbox for wedding invitations. I thought to myself "I bet this company is going to be super cheesy, but I'll take a look anyway."

Boy, was I glad I didn't automatically delete that email.

Before I purchased the Groupon, I visited their website to make sure there was a design I was interested in, and looked at their prices to make sure the purchase was worth it. The Groupon was to spend $299 and receive $800 worth of product. Saving $500 off the bat is a great deal if you ask me! The company was called Delphine Press and come to find out, they had recently moved from California to Charleston! Pretty sure this is why they ran the Groupon in our area.

I knew I wanted an invitation that was very simple and classic. Letterpress would have been nice, of course, but it was more than I wanted to spend on invitations. We decided to go with the Monogram invitation and matching RSVP card. The standard invitation only came in white and since I wanted them to be ivory, I had to upgrade to the "off white cotton" invitations and envelopes, which at $.20 per invitation, rsvp card and 3 different types of envelopes, it adds up quickly. Minor complaint. However, there were a lot of font colors and types to choose from. I chose "jet black" as my color and "karolina" as my font.

The proofs came within 6 days and even though I ordered the Monogram invitation, I was debating on whether or not to keep the B or just delete the monogram all together. I worked with a girl named Brelyn and after 3 days of tweaking the invitations and rsvp cards, I finally signed off on the proofs and they were off to production!

I honestly can't remember how long it took for the invitations to arrive on my doorstep, but it must not have been too long if I can't remember. The only small issue I had with the shipment was that some of the envelopes came in white, when they were supposed to be off white. I contacted Delphine, they apologized, and quickly sent the correct envelopes.

And now, the reveal!

Another minor complaint, was that I wish the writing was bigger and filled up more room.

 

All in all, for 200 invitations, rsvps, rsvp envelopes, outer envelopes and inner envelopes, went spent $573. Without the Groupon it would have been $1373. I'm only posting pricing for future brides so that they can have an idea of what invitations cost, because I had no clue.

I received many compliments on our invitations, which made me thankful because of all of time and effort I spent into picking out the perfect one!

All in all I was very happy with my experience with Delphine Press and would use them again! They also offer other paper services such as thank you cards, cocktail napkins, etc!

38 days to go! Holy moly.