Real Life: I'm Obsessed With My Venue

As I shared awhile back, Mr. C and I's wedding reception is taking place inside the replica Firehouse on the property of Landis Valley Museum. Our venue is a historical museum property, a "Village & Farm Museum" as it describes itself on the website. The property is over 100 acres and has several historic buildings on site, with the Firehouse being one of them. There's also an actual farm on the property, which houses lots of different animals. Don't be surprised if you end up seeing a horse or steer photobomb in my recaps.

I thought it would be fun to show you bees a little tour of the property, as it is absolutely stunning and has so many gorgeous backdrops for pictures! All the pictures below are wedding photos taken somewhere on the Landis Valley property, and it should be pretty dang obvious why I fell in love with this place at first sight. It should also be obvious that I spend way too much time stalking other past Landis Valley Museum weddings...whoops.

Photo by Brooke Courtney Photography

There's our Firehouse in the background! Photo by Brooke Courtney Photography

Firehouse doors! Photo by Shaw Photo Company

Photo by Shaw Photo Company

Photo by With Love and Embers

Photo by With Love and Embers

Photo by With Love and Embers

Photo by Brooke Courtney Photography

You can say I'm pretty excited to have my wedding here. I also think it's pretty great that while during the "coffee hour", my guests are free to walk around the entire property and explore a bit, too.

Like I've said before, while I never expected to have an actual wedding venue for our wedding day, and would have been fine with a church-gym reception, I'm so incredibly grateful that it ended up working out how it did. I am so happy to call Landis Valley Museum my wedding venue.

Are any of your weddings taking plan in/on museum property?

Let's Get This Party Started: Clownfish Edition

I'm not clownin' around when I say...I'M A BEE! Sorry, had to get that little pun in there somewhere. 

I am so very excited to have been chosen to be a blogger bee! I've been reading WeddingBee since I first got engaged and had all-things-wedding on the brain 24/7. I loved reading about the other bee's wedding planning journeys and now here I am, about to share mine. As Miss Clownfish. Whaaat?!

Since introductions can be a little awkward, I'll try to keep this short and sweet and full of pictures. So without further ado, the not-so-formal introductions...

I'm Miss Clownfish, a born and raised Pennsylvania native. I'm marrying Mr. Clownfish (ha, that's hilarious). We are both undergraduate students at the same college near Pittsburgh, and we have both fallen in love with the Steel City. Mr. Clownfish is an environmental science major, while I'm studying psychology. Mr. Clownfish loves sports of all kinds, and can yak your ear off about golf and hockey. I'm a self-proclaimed girly-girl by nature, but still love outdoorsy activities like hiking and fishing. Our favorites things to do together are thrift shopping, going on adventures in downtown Pittsburgh, watching Penguins games, eating all.the.food, and binge-watching our favorite TV shows. I also run my own wedding + portrait photography business! You could say I'm a lover of love.

Mr. Clownfish is an extrovert, while I'm an introvert. He loves a good beer, and I prefer frozen margaritas. His taste in movies include anything and everything superheroes and thrillers, while I can watch rom-coms on repeat. We are lovers of laughter and living life to the fullest. We are high school sweethearts and absolute best friends. At the end of the day, as long as we are with each other, we are happy and having a good time. 

we clean up alright, I guess. (Personal photo) 

First picture we ever took together...circa November 2009. (Personal photo)

Pittsburgh winters are no joke. (Personal photo)

We're always eating. Always. (Personal photo)

Freckles on freckles. (Personal photo)

After 5+ years of dating we are so dang excited to be getting married. We are planning a romantic, cozy, vintage-chic wedding celebration for about 100 of our nearest and dearest in a replica Firehouse on a gorgeous museum property. While our wedding is following the traditional layout + timeline we are definitely breaking a few "wedding rules" along the way. Since we are paying for a good bit of the wedding ourselves, I plan on breaking out my inner Martha Stewart (minus the jail time) to DIY some of the decorations I have my heart set on. I'm fully prepared to share the good, the bad, and the straight-up ugly with you guys, 'cause every bride to be knows this whole wedding planning process isn't always pretty, but it's always worth it. I have no doubt in my mind that the day I marry Mr. Clownfish will be the very best day of my life.

Thank you, hive, for allowing me to share this wonderful, crazy, exciting journey with you. Let the Clownfish wedding story begin!

What Being a Wedding Photographer Has Taught me About Weddings

Working in the wedding industry as a photographer has taught me so much about weddings. Through working so closely with couples on one of the biggest days of their lives, I've gotten quite familiar with the ebb and flow of a wedding day, along with what makes the day flow easier and what usually causes the most stress. From all of these weddings I've taken away several key notes that I have kept with me while planning my own wedding. Naturally, I wanted to share them with you, too!

1) A TIMELINE IS A MUST

I capitalized and bolded this statement for a reason, folks. I cannot tell you how many times I have asked couple to send me their wedding day timeline only for them to respond, "We don't really plan on making one...don't you just need to know the start time of our ceremony and reception?". While you don't need to micro-manage every single second of your wedding day, it will help your day flow and will be helpful to your vendors, specifically your photographer, videographer, DJ, etc. With that being said, I plan on drafting a loose timeline in the few weeks leading up to the wedding and then making a solid timeline a few days before. I'll be emailing it to my vendors and will also be printing out a mini-pocket version for our wedding party and family members/friends who are actively taking part in the day. This leads me to #2...

2) Timelines are like bras (they're better padded)

Padded with time, that is. Every.single.wedding I've photographed has been behind schedule at some point in the day. While it never really ends up being a huge deal, it can be frustrating when a guest has to wait in their chairs 30 minutes before the ceremony because it took you an extra half-hour to finish your hair. With this being said, when you're making your timeline, always add more time than you think you will need,  especially for getting ready and taking pictures. There's a chance your hair or makeup artist could be late or maybe your photographer wants to take an extra 5 minutes taking some killer sunset pictures (and when your photographer mentions the "golden hour", go along with anything he/she suggests...trust me!). I plan on padding my "getting ready" at the salon time by an extra 45 minutes, so that even if the day is chugging along and going according to plan, I'll have time to just relax and take in the excitement of the day with my best girls! Photos are also a huge priority for me, so I am adding in lots of of picture-taking time before the ceremony.

Image via Jeff Frandsen / Photo by Jeff Frandsen

3) The day will go by in a blur- take a few minutes to soak it in!

The advice I give every couple before their wedding day: separate yourself from your guests (and your photo paparazzi) at some point after your ceremony to just be together, chat for a few minutes, gaze at your wedding bands, and soak in all the awesomeness and excitement of being a brand spankin' new married couple! I, too, plan on taking my own advice. While I don't yet know when this opportunity will present itself, I know that at some point in the evening, I will wander off to a nearby hidden spot to have a few private minutes with M. While it probably won't be longer than 5 minutes, and will probably be filled with long hugs and happy tears, I know that I will appreciate the opportunity and will look back on it for years to come.

4) Something will probably go wrong- handle it with grace

While I would love for my wedding day to go off without a hitch, I know that, inevitably, something will go wrong. I've heard SO many stories from past brides (a friend of a friend had the wrong color flowers delivered...yellow roses instead of pink. The horror!) and have personally lived through some of these problems with the brides on their wedding days. It could be a major problem (photographer cancels last minute) or a minor problem (wrong colored plates), but it will still be a problem and you will have to choose how to react to it. You could pull a bridezilla and throw around angry words and threats, or you could handle the situation with grace and total bridal poise. I am hoping and praying that on my wedding day I am able to keep my cool when problems arise, because wearing a white dress doesn't give me an excuse to be a jerk.

Image via Rustic Wedding Chic / Photo by Number 9 Photography

At wedding I photographed this past September, the bride's grandfather was hospitalized the day of the wedding. This threw a serious wrench into their plans and timeline for the day (not to mention all the emotions!) but she and her now-husband made the decision to make a trip to the hospital so that he could see them in their wedding attire and that he could get his boutonniere. While this could have ruined her day, she chose to stay positive and upbeat about the situation by being flexible and making the trip to the hospital to see her grandfather (who is doing very healthy today!). It meant so much to him that they stopped by before their reception and these are some of my favorite candid shots I have ever taken for a wedding.

5) First looks are always a good idea

It's no secret: wedding photographers love first looks. We love them for a lot of practical reasons...we are able to get more pictures of just the two of you, we don't feel like we're keeping you from your cocktail hour for ages, and we're usually able to capture both of your expressions (in the same frame!) as you see each other for the first time. We also love them 'cause a large majority of us are complete saps and love seeing your reactions when you first lay eyes on each other. Although I have not photographed a lot of first looks, the ones that I have photographed have been so stinkin' adorable, and I may or may not have teared up from behind the camera.

Image via Brooke Courtney Photography / Photo by Brooke Courtney Photography

I know that Mr. C and I are definitely planning a first look on our wedding day, both for our photographer's sake and because it's something we've both and our hearts set on. It will also give us the opportunity to get most of our formal portraits and bridal party shots out of the way before the ceremony. But mostly, I'm just excited to see Mr. C for the first time and not be surrounded by a hundred people, 'cause I know I'll be getting my happy-ugly-cry on.

I truly hope you got at least a little something from my suggestions, bees! I will most likely be updating this list as soon as wedding season gets rolling again in the spring!

Planning a Wedding in the Pinterest Era

Planning a wedding in the Pinterest era is both a tremendous blessing and a curse. I vaguely remember the day I was introduced to Pinterest...it was the fall semester of my freshman year of college, hanging out with a group of girlfriends, probably painting our nails and catching each other up on the day's happenings. A friend asked me if I had joined Pinterest yet, and started to talk on and on about the site and everything she'd discovered since joining. Once I heard that I could search through thousands of pins (related to outfits, quotes, and weddings, of course) and add them to their own specific boards, I was hooked. I, too, had to have a Pinterest account.

image via someecards.com

The trend caught on like wildfire and soon I was seeing the same twenty or so pins added to every girl's boards...you know, the cute fall outfit (complete with Starbucks cup and Ugg boots), the perfect wedding dress, the must-try-at-home soup recipe. It was my go-to website when a class was lulling me to sleep, or when my girlfriends and I wanted some downtime after a stressful day of tests. Within a month or so, my imaginary wedding was all planned out. My wedding board (aptly named: "The day I marry my prince". so basic. not sorry) was full of decorations and dresses and flowers and wedding pictures that screamed romance and beauty and well, perfection. I quickly discovered that's exactly what Pinterest is for...pinning "perfection". Sure, my hair will never look that great curled with tinfoil, and no, brownies don't taste as good without eggs, but hey, at least I can try, and Pinterest will tell me how to achieve it in 5 or so easy DIY steps!

When I actually got engaged, I revisited my Pinterest wedding board and found that almost all of the things I pinned a couple years ago (with no ring on my finger, mind you) no longer matched the vision I currently had for my wedding day, and if it did, I couldn't afford it. As I started actually planning our wedding day, I started getting disheartened that many of the aspects I wanted to include from my dream Pinterest wedding just couldn't be done, and if they could be, they surely wouldn't look like the picture! I wanted my wedding to be Style Me Pretty-worthy, like the weddings featured on Pinterest. Oh, those picture-perfect weddings that seemed to have gone off without a hitch. The weddings where every.single.detail was planned and executed without a flaw. The wedding that I wanted to have, or so I thought. Little did I know that many, many of the "wedding photos" are from styled wedding shoots and not actual weddings. Huh. Who would have thought?

image via someecards.com

I also quickly realized that with the budget I was working with, the budget that seemed SO big when I first started planning, wouldn't get me very far when planning my dream Pinterest wedding. So, what was I to do? I started from scratch, rebuilding my Pinterest wedding from the venue/dress/cake up. I started pinning things that offered more inspiration than just ideas for sheer imitation. I actually did end up pinning the wedding dress that did turn out to be my wedding dress, but that was totally just a fluke. I do plan on trying to execute some of the DIYs I have pinned, but on a much smaller (and less expensive!) scale.

I am no longer trying to plan the perfect, Pinterest-worthy wedding that I once was just several months ago. Of course, I would love for SMP to feature my wedding (what girl wouldn't?), but that's not the end goal of planning my wedding. The end goal is to marry my very best friend and host a lovely, awesome, wonderful party for all our friends and relatives. Our wedding day will be perfect to us, because it is just that...ours. The day will be full of love and laughter and tears and straight-up beautiful memories, and the decorations and cake and favors will have absolutely nothing to do with that.

Living in the Pinterest era can have it's perks, but for real-life brides trying to plan their dream weddings on a budget, it can be a real source of disappointment when their pins don't always become reality. I firmly believe the quote, "Comparison is the thief of joy". When we start to compare our weddings to those around us/on Pinterest, it can cause us to lose sight of what the most important aspect of the day is...marrying the love of our lives. By all means, pin your little hearts out, but don't let the comparison of "perfect" weddings steal your joy when planning your own.

Have any of you bride-to-be's felt the pressure of planning a "perfect" Pinterest wedding?

Let Them Eat Donuts

Let's talk about wedding cakes.

First off, they're hella expensive. $500 + dollars...for CAKE? Absurdity. I understand that cake bakers and decorators at experts at what they do, and deserve to be paid for their amazing cake skills, but there was no way I was forking over hundreds of dollars for flour, sugar, and fondant. So when it came time to talk about our wedding cake, which is often talked about like its the MOST IMPORTANT CAKE EVER, I knew I wanted to head in a much different (cheaper & more delicious) direction.

Guys, I'm serving donuts at my wedding.

Not just any plain 'ole donut, but the most delicious mini gourmet donuts my mouth has ever had the pleasure of consuming. M and I are so excited to be serving Fractured Prune donuts at our reception in lieu of wedding cake. Since we are doing a breakfast-for-dinner wedding, the donuts made perfect sense, both for our wedding vision and our wedding budget. Also, you can't deny how downright adorable these "donut bar" pictures are, right?!

image via Love, Ramsey Blog

Fractured Prune is a small, local donut company that got its start in Ocean City, MD. They make their donuts in store and hot hand-dip them in a multitude of glazes (19 to be exact), then cover them with the yummiest toppings (13 and counting). You can choose from one of their specialty donuts, or custom-make your donut with any of their glazes and toppings. It's a dream.

image via Fractured Prune

Just so you can get an idea of how crazy delicious these donuts are going to be, here are some of our favorite donuts and the ones we are thinking about serving at the wedding...

1) Morning Buzz - Mocha Glaze + Cookie Crumbles

image via Fractued Prune

2) French Toast - Maple Glaze + Cinnamon Sugar

image via Fractured Prune

3) Salted Caramel - Caramel Glaze + Sea Salt

image via Fractured Prune

4) Black Forest - Raspberry Glaze + Mini Chocolate Chips + Powdered Sugar

image via Fractured Prune

Are you drooling yet? M and I knew that these little donuts would be the perfect addition to our wedding foods. Figuring out the logistics of it was something that took some time...how many donuts will we need? Do they even cater? Aren't they gonna be messy? Will our guests really miss wedding cake?

Before we could for sure decide on serving Fractured Prune donuts, we had to make sure they would be able to handle a large order (100 or so donuts). So over our fall break from school, M and I decided to go on a Fractured Prune date and ask one of the workers there if they would be able to do it. This is how the conversation went...

Me: "Hello! I was wondering if I would be able to order a large amount of donuts for my wedding next year. I wasn't sure if you guys would be able to fulfill that large of an order..."

Worker: "Oh yeah, we do large orders all the time! How many were you thinking?"

Me: "Probably around 100 donuts...is that doable?"

Worker: "Yeah! We did an order for about 900 donuts for Father's Day!"

Me: "Awesome! How far ahead would I need to call and put in the order?" (Note: I totally thought he was gonna say a month, a couple weeks...nope)

Worker: "At least the night before!"

Me (wide-eyed): "Wow. Okay. Great!"

Let's just say I do NOT plan on ordering the donuts for my wedding the night before! It was a definite weight off my shoulders to know that not only can they make the donuts, they can also hand-deliver them to my venue the day of for a small additional fee. Making the decision to serve the donuts at our wedding was one of the easiest ,pain-free decisions to make...now if they could all be this easy! 

Am I totally crazy for not serving a cake at our wedding? I'd love to hear your thoughts and feed-back!

"Smile, Kiss, Repeat!": Clownfish Engagement Pictures

Being a portrait photographer myself, this part of being engaged was one of the things I was looking forward to the most. I cherish pictures, and believe that pictures are so very important to have, especially when documenting such a special time in your life. Engagement pictures are one of my favorite things to shoot, and even though I feel comfortable behind the camera, appearing in front of it is another story completely.

M and I chose my good friend and super-talented photographer Rebekah of Rebekah Viola Photography to take our engagement pictures. Rebekah is an absolutely incredible photographer and I knew she would do an awesome job making Mr. C and I look good (trust me, I'm the most awkward person ever when a camera is on me). I wanted our pictures to capture our personalities and who we are as a couple. Rebekah definitely has a certain "style" of photography, meaning the poses she uses and the way she edits her pictures. I have loved her work since I first saw it and I even have had the opportunity to second-shoot with her this past summer. She's fun and creative and exactly the type of photographer I wanted to take our engagement pictures!

We chose a local apple orchard as the location for our pictures, which provided for some pretty gorgeous backdrops. It really was the perfection location except, well...the smell. It was toward the end of the apple-picking season, so there were literally hundreds, maybe thousands of rotting apples everywhere. Not exactly the most romantic environment, but Mr. C and I had such a blast taking these photos and truth be told, we got used to the smell after just a few minutes.

Taking these pictures was also really good "practice" for our wedding photos. Since Mr. C and I are practically the same height, I was actually kind of nervous about how that would look on camera. It's a lot harder to do the romantic "lean your head into his chest" thing when one has to physically crouch down for that pose to even happen. We learned what poses worked for us, which ones didn't (we attempted the "lean head into chest" pose...nope. not happening on my wedding day), and how to get comfortable in front of the camera. Well, maybe a little too comfortable.

At one point during the session Rebekah told Mr. C to whisper something in my ear to make me laugh. Well, he leaned in close and whispered, "Guess what?.......I just farted." So romantic, babe. I totally thought he was going to answer his question with "I love you", but no. Just the typical make flatulence joke. Gotta love him.

I'll stop the yacking and just show you my favorites....a lot of my favorites.

All photos courtesy of Rebekah Viola Photography.

                        

Mr. C says that his hair is "on fleek" in photo. I'd have to agree.

My absolute favorite of them all...and the one we chose for our Save the Dates!

Oh ya know. Just casually strolling through an apple orchard. NBD.

Having these pictures makes me even more excited for our wedding pictures! I've already looked at our engagement pictures countless times, so I have a feeling I'll never ever stop looking at our wedding pictures. We plan on using these photos and creating a photo book out of them to be used as the guestbook on our wedding day (a DIY I haven't put much though into at this point, but hey, I still have plenty of time, right? Right?)

Sorry for giving y'all a mega overdose of Mr. C and I's faces today, just think of it as my way of getting you prepared for our recaps.

Did you and your honey get engagement pictures done? Any funny stories from your session?

I Bought a Pre-Loved Wedding Dress

Bridal confession: I bought a used pre-loved wedding dress. As a girl who's closet is made up of mostly thrift-shop clothes and big-sister hand-me-downs, this news should come as no surprise. If you read my last dress-related blog post, you saw that I absolutely fell in love with the Mori Lee 5108 wedding gown. Sweetheart neckline, ruches bodice, mermaid fit..everything about it was absolutely perfect...

Besides the price. Yes, the gown may only be $650 (at least at the salon I found the dress at), but to a college student with student loans and a photography business, putting that much money into a dress felt selfish and a little absurd. Of course, I realized early on that wedding dresses are freakin' expensive and that my dress budget of $500 was a little unrealistic. Which is why after I fell in love with my slightly over-budget wedding dress, I began to get discouraged and wondered whether I would just have to suck it up and buy the dress full-priced.

Enter Tradesy. While searching all things bridal related, I happened upon a magical, beautiful website that allows women to post their pre-loved designer clothes for sale, as well as weddings dresses and other wedding accessories. Basically, a classier version of eBay where everything is "Buy it Now" instead of auction style. I was in heaven.

"Just for fun" I decided to search whether anyone was selling my Mori Lee gown...and I struck gold. I happened upon my exact dress in the exact size I needed for $315 (including shipping). Um, what. Before I allowed myself to get too excited, I contacted the seller to ask whether there were any physical blemishes on the dress and if it had been altered to the point that it would not be able to fit me. She was quick to respond and told me that no, she had not done any altering to the dress and that yes, the dress looked great, although it needed a proper cleaning. Pretty sure this listing was meant for me!

I quickly bought the dress (which ended up being $295 after a $20 first-time-buyer credit was deducted. #winning) and started praying that this really wasn't too good to be true. What if it arrived and did not fit me at ALL? What if the dress had some awful flaw the bride failed to notice (or mention!)? What if I didn't love it after all? I literally could not stop thinking about the dress for the entire two weeks it took for it arrive.

I decided to have the dress shipped to bridesmaid CC's house instead of my college mailroom, cause how the heck would I explain why I'm carrying a giant box with my wedding dress inside all the way across campus? When CC texted me to let me know the dress arrived (and let's be honest, I tracked that baby all the way from California) I rushed over to her house with an anxious, excited, nervous feeling in my stomach. I was about to try on MY wedding dress...

Well, guys...it was perfect!

It was better than I could have ever imagined, and it fit like a dream. Upon closer inspection of the dress, I saw that it needed a good cleaning as that the very bottom hem was rather dirty (since the bride who wore it before me had an outdoor ceremony). I realized, though, that since the dress needs to be hemmed a lot all the slightly dirty spots at the bottom will be getting cut off anyway. Beside the little bit of dust and dirt at the bottom, the dress was in excellent condition! *cue happy dance*

I tried on my DIY belt that was quickly nixed, and for good reason. I found a MUCH better replacement!

So there you have it guys, my gorgeous, pre-loved wedding dress that cost me less than $300. I'd call that a bridal win! I can't wait to show you guys how I added fun accessories that extras to make this dress my own. Here's a hint....lots of sparkle ;)

Our DIY "Save the Dates"

I knew early on in our engagement that I wanted to send out Save-the-Dates. There are several reasons I wanted to send them out, with the most important one being that our wedding is over a holiday weekend. A lot of people travel for Labor Day, either to visit family, take a vacation, or just plan "down time" for themselves over the long weekend. M and I decided to send out our Save-the-Dates in the form of a postcard, since that seems to be a rather popular way of mailing them out. I also loved imagining our postcard Save-The-Date hanging on our friends and families' refrigerators (am I the only one who check's out other people's Save-the-Dates when I go to someone's house? no? okay, then.).

While we could have easily used a pre-existing design and simply put in our picture, we wanted to make our Save-the-Dates unique and one of a kind. It would also save us lots of money...So, I decided to design them myself.

Although I definitely don't consider myself a DIY-diva, I will admit to being pretty alright at Photoshop. Meaning, I know how to work with layers, add pictures and text, etc. Anything beyond that needs to be Googled, pronto. Luckily, these mad Photoshop skills came in handy when designing our Save-the-Dates.

We first had to decide on the picture we were going to use, which was a hard task since we loved ALL of our engagement pictures (coming soon!). Once we selected our favorite among the bunch, I searched high and low for inspiration via Pinterest, Shutterfly, and other printing companies. I wanted Mr. C's input when looking for inspiration, and together we decided we liked the simple, yet modern designs where the focus of the Save-the-Date was on the picture...

Image via Wedding Paper Divas

image via Wedding Paper Divas

Using these images (and others) as guides, I got to work designing our Save The Date. After playing around with the design for several days I finally, finally came up with a design that both M and I liked. It was simple, said what it needed to say, wasn't *too* girly, and we loved the image that we decided on...

front....

...and back!

After we finalized the design, I searched for a printing company that could print them for a reasonable price. I knew that I would only need around 50 Save-the-Dates, but I decided to order up in case I needed to re-write them (which, in hindsight, was definitely a wise choice!). I decided to go with Vistaprint, since they allowed me to upload my OWN design to be printed on their standard postcard-size cards. I was able to have 100 cards made (and shipped to me!) for less than $20. Score!

personal photo.

Overall, I'm super pleased with the experience I had with Vistaprint. The cards are printed on a thick, glossy card stock, perfect for postcards. I received my cards less than a week after I ordered them, and they came all bundled together inside a cardboard envelope. The only "gripe" I have with Vistaprint is that their standard postcards are not truly postcard-sized, as I realized when the cards arrived with a bit more cut off around the edges than I originally designed. Not a big deal, but I would have been bummed if words would have been cut off. Luckily, I learned to always design printable materials with more white-edge room than needed, just in case.

If you aren't as "Design-it-Yourself" inclined as I was, Vistaprint also has pre-made, pre-designed Save-the-Date templates (both with and without space for a picture). My money-saving tip for you if you are going this route...go through the "Marketing Products" section of Vistaprint for your postcards, NOT the actual Save the Date postcards under the "Invitations & Stationary" section. For some reason, the Marketing postcards are way cheaper. Like....less than half the price, cheaper!

I am so pleased with how these turned out! Sure, they are not the fanciest, most spectacular Save-the-Dates, but they're ours, so that automatically makes them my favorite. Our family and friends also love them and are already talking about how they can't wait to receive them. We also saved mad money on them and came in way under budget with them, which is a definite plus. I can't wait to mail them off!

Did you ladies send Save-the-Dates? Did you opt to use a post-card?

Finding My Dress Without Losing My Mind

The part of wedding planning that every bride dreams about...finding her wedding dress! I, like many brides that have gone before me, spent many hours pouring over bridal magazines and Pinterest looking at wedding dresses. Vintage weddings dresses, traditional wedding dresses, silk wedding dresses, tulle wedding dresses...I was wedding-dress obsessed. Heck, I was dress-obsessed long before I was ever engaged, let's be honest. I watched countless episodes of Say Yes to the Dress, dreaming about the day I would finally be able to go into a bridal salon in search of the perfect wedding dress.

Literally me when watching SYTTD. Gif via TrueGif

A mere week after getting engaged, my friend (and bridesmaid) CC begged to take me dress shopping..."just for fun". With a brand new sparkly ring on my finger and wedding visions in my head, I was powerless to say no. CC and I arrived at a bridal salon, giddy with excitement and ready to try on some dresses. The goal of the day was to figure out what style of dress I liked the best and what style looked the best on. I went with no definite idea of what I was looking for, and was ready to try on everything and anything! 

The sales associate that helped me that day let me go through the racks myself, which I appreciate so much! I was able to see the dresses up-close and personal (as well as the prices!) before trying them on. CC picked out some dresses she wanted to see on me, and I picked out several styles of dresses as well....poofy, princess, sequined, mermaid, tulle, silk, lace...nothing was off limits. 

After trying on a few different styles, I decided that I was definitely NOT a ball gown bride. This style of dress was not flattering on me at all (I blame my short torso) and I didn't like how I lacked a figure in this style. Once I tried on a mermaid-style dress, I was sold. I knew this was the style of dress for me, and I felt so beautiful in the tight, figure-flattering mermaid/trumpet styles. While I had tried on a few dresses that I really liked, I didn't have the "magical bridal moment" in any of the dresses. I totally expected this, since this dress-shopping trip was just-for-fun and totally would NOT be the time I actually found my dress. Ha, little did I know!

While picking out dresses at the beginning of the appointment, I had found a dress that looked eerily similar to a dress I had pinned several months earlier (before I was ever engaged). Thinking that it could be "the" dress, I decided to try it on last. Ya know, save the best for last mentality.

From the second I put it on, I knew it was my dress. CC (also with tears in her eyes) knew it was my dress. Once the sales associate placed me in front of the big mirrors, "jacked me up" with a veil and belt...I was done for. No other dress could compare to how I felt in this beauty!

Mid-cry. I was definitely tearing up! Personal Photo

Personal Photo

Yes, bees. I chose "the" Mori Lee 5108 as my wedding dress. Also known as the "Most Pinned Wedding Dress", and the dress I pinned long before I knew I was going to be a bride!

image with MoriLee.com

Gif via WiffleGif.com

Sure, my wedding dress will never be the most unique, or one-of-a-kind, but...come on...it's so beautiful! It's so perfectly me and I am absolutely in love with it. Is it weird to be in love with a wedding dress? #brideprobz

Soon, I'll share how I actually purchased this dress for $295...for real.