Real Wedding: Victoria & Will

I am really excited to share this wedding with you of fellow blogger, Victoria and her husband Will.

Victoria spent a lot of time working on countless details of the wedding and I loved all the vintage charm shown throughout each element. They infused so many personal details and at the end of the day, it reflected them perfectly as a couple.

From Left to Right: As an officer in the Navy, Will wore his white dress uniform as well as most of the groomsmen. The guys that weren't officers were dressed in white tuxedos.

For favors, each guest was given a CD compiled of songs chosen by the couple - including a 'hidden track' to make each one unique. They were wrapped in kraft paper, tied with yellow and white ribbon and tagged with a track list and vintage aviation imagery.

The signature cocktail was a throwback to the 1930s, originally published in a bar guide from 1916 by the bartender from the Hotel Wallick in Times Square. Victoria added a photo of her and Will from the Intrepid, a museum and naval carrier located in New York City.

Hues of yellow were infused throughout the wedding decor, as seen in the bride's bouquet by Anthony Brownie.

Groomsmen in white tuxedos and naval uniforms with the flower girl Madison. Her dress was purchased online and decorated by her mom (and Victoria's SIL) with matching yellow butterflies. Don't you just love this idea?

Escort cards were tied to miniature compasses and on the back side contained a quote from Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms":

At night, there was the feeling that we had come home, feeling no longer alone, waking in the night to find the other one there, and not gone away; all other things were unreal...We were never lonely and never afraid when we were together.

The reception was held at the Harvard Club and included Will's friends and fellow officers serenading Victoria with "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling" from Top Gun.

The vintage theme continued with an old typewriter setup for guests to write notes to the couple, to be opened on their 5th Anniversary. Victoria scoured ebay for vintage airmail envelopes and decorated them with vintage postage and rubber stamps. Love, love, love this idea!

And as a surprise to Will, Victoria hired artist Leeanna Chipana to paint during their reception. The final piece now hangs on their wall as a constant reminder of that special day.

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse at this amazing wedding and special thanks to Victoria and Will for sharing their day with our readers!

Real Wedding: Jessica & Eric, Part 2

I promised you some more images from the creatively infused wedding of Jessica and Eric and today's post is filled with the countless details of the day..

Wow! Don't you just love this gorgeous candy display - it's so vibrant and fun! And we're certain finding ten different candies that are yellow and do not all taste like lemon is quite a challenge. Also love the way their rings are perched on top this singular goodie bag!!

Wooden utensils look so elegant wrapped with mint paper (of course, Jessica being the Budget Savvy Bride she is, used leftover paper from their invitations and programs to lend some color to the display!)

Using the same design elements from the invitations and programs, the bride designed her own labels for these wine bottles. Its such a tiny detail that has a really large impact on the look of the day.

More from Jessica:

I totally recommend seeing your fiance before the wedding. It took a lot of the nerves off and we were able to get photos over with ahead of time so we could enjoy our reception with our guests, plus it gave us time to get creative with our photos.

A friend of ours had his dad bring this awesome old car for us to ‘drive away in.’ Really it was only for pictures but I LOVE the way these pics turned out!!

From their first dance, 'Thank You' by Led Zeppelin:

(IG note: I personally love this song and it was the one my husband and I requested for our processional, but just never ended up happening...)

Vendors

Venue: The Historic Home of Sam Davis, Smyrna, TN
Photography: Chris and Adrienne Scott for Evin Photography
Makeup Artist: Amy Lynn Larwig
Coordinator: Tara Milam of Lavish Events
Caterer: Miller's Grocery
Veil: Kasia Fink
Bride's Jewelry: Candy's Art
Gown and bridesmaid dresses: designed and made by Dena Bathgate of A Special Touch
Music: Ricky Roche
Rentals: Classic Party Rentals

Be sure to visit Jessica's blog to see tons more photos and find out how Jessica and Eric ended up with such a fabulous wedding on a real-life budget!

Real Wedding: Jessica & Eric, Part I

One of the best pleasures of having a blog is getting to know our readers, and I am overjoyed to finally share with you the wedding of one of our most devoted and faithful readers, Jessica.

Since her blog, Budget Savvy Bride began in May 2008, Jessica has been planning the ultimate colorful and fun wedding - all while keeping budget and savvy-ness in the forefront. Through the past year, I've gotten a chance to learn about this adorable couple and have enjoyed every minute of their planning.

A talented graphic designer and DIY extroidanary, so many of the details from this event were crafted and designed by this talented bride. From the vibrant yellow and turquoise color scheme to the glamour of her bridal veil, Jessica and Eric took a series of roller-coaster events, paired them with cost-cutting measures and every though a few last minute scrambles came into the picture, the result was a beautiful and heart-felt wedding.

From the bride herself:

I can honestly say that our wedding day was the best day of my life thus far. I planned so much and spent so much time on DIY projects and personal touches and in the end it went by in such a blur. But a happy blur. :) We faced some obstacles the week of, seeing as how we had planned an entire outdoor event and there was rain slated to roll through our area the entire weekend. The night of the rehearsal dinner my DOC, venue director and rental company came up with a completely alternate setup for the wedding the next day. Talk about chaos!

In the end everything turned out perfectly and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. We were married under a covered porch at the Sam Davis Home, and then we flipped the space into the reception. Groomsmen and other guests helped move the chairs and situate the tables, and no one minded a bit. I got so many compliments on all my little details from our guests and that really meant a lot after putting so much time into everything. The rain even held up for most of the day- we were able to take all our photos outside, and the cloudy skies made for such rich colors in the photos. Photography was priority one for me and I couldn’t be happier with the moments that were captured by our photographers, Chris and Adrienne. I was on a roller coaster of emotions that day and they were there to catch every laugh, tear, and ugly cry, haha.

I am proudest of the steps we took to save money- doing a lot of research and finding the most cost-effective options. We paid for most of the event by ourselves so that was a huge accomplishment. We were able to do it all without going into debt! Woo-hoo! :)

Throughout her planning, Jessica posted countless stories of her plans. Since her and Eric paid for the majority of the wedding themselves, there was craftiness around every corner. Her invitations ended up costing an incredible $1.11 a piece!! I loved that during every step of the process she encouraged her own readers to help her choose their favorites including a vote for their favorite Save the Date to a chance to help select a perfect color palette.

Loved all the bridesmaids in coordinated dresses. The subtly in the colors is sheer perfection. And seeing these dapper groomsmen in a beautiful sea of khaki suits makes me long for a romantic Southern getaway.

Flowers we done by their coordinator, Tara Milam of Lavish Events in Nashville. The bouquet at top has all yellow mums, daffodils, gladiola. I'm adoring those pomanders Jessica crafted the weeks leading up to the big day (at $5/each a totally smart cost-saving solution to ceremony decor). A tutorial can be found here.

Ebaying yielded blue mason jars (according to Jessica, they were her splurge at $2.50 each) and thrift stores supplied additional containers for their centerpieces ($.30-$.50 each). All the table runners were made from burlap purchased at the farmer's co-op for a total cost of $40 (that includes all 15 tables!!)

Love, love, love this sock shot. In fact, I think Mr. Cupcake may have worn the exact same socks on his wedding day as the groomsmen. Check out Eric and his Best Man in the yellow pair!

Since there's so many amazing photos, I'll be sure to do a second recap later in the week with a complete list of their vendors and lots of more great pix of this adorable couple.

Stay tuned!!!