WedLog

So, as it turns out, avoiding matching dresses is not as simple as it sounds.

In an effort to avoid stumbling upon pictures in some forgotten album someday that look like this …

… we decided to avoid matching dresses.  But we would like it to look at least somewhat coordinated, so that the pictures don’t have horrid color combinations.  So I went shopping with them and our moms last weekend to find non-matching dresses.  In a strange twist of fate, they both ended up liking the same J.Crew dress anyway!  So I insisted on different colors, at least.

So all was well and I was warming to the same dress concept.

But then one sister was having second thoughts about another dress and the other sister ordered hers didn’t like it in person.  So several emails later now it looks like we might be leaning toward these from J.Crew (left) and Calvin Klein via Nordstrom (right):

…which look pretty nice together, actually.  And if we coordinate fall flowers* I think I kind of like where this is headed.  But these dresses aren’t quite in our hands, yet, so there may be more iterations of best sister shopping to do.

From Snippet & Ink.

Such pretty flowers via Once Wed:

I love this wedding, featured on Brooklyn Bride.  I love the vibrant autumn colors, I love the simplicity of the outfits, I love her hair, I love the ties, I love the personal feel, I love the fun, I love it.

To see the whole thing, click here.

Some choice excerpts:

Ceremony: We really cared about creating a ceremony that represented us. We spent a lot of time finding Bible readings that would speak to all of our guests, including one that mentions crafts (Proverbs 31 –
“She obtains wool and flax And makes cloth with skillful hands“) and chose the Gospel reading about Zaccheus, a childhood favorite of mine because I’m short. We also wrote our own vows, which is unusual for
Catholic weddings, as well as several smaller parts of the ceremony.

Music: For our ceremony, we really loved the idea of strings for most of the Mass, but this required a lot of extra work. Hire Conservatory Alumni worked with us to personalize the service and transcribe music
traditionally played on other instruments. I walked down to the aisle to “Anne’s Theme” from “Anne of Green Gables,” which sounded so beautiful in strings. And for our processional, they played an
instrumental version of U2’s “Beautiful Day.” It was just perfect. For our reception, we used the Downtown Band from Hank Lane, who were a total blast.

What I couldn’t make myself, I bought on Etsy.com because I really wanted to support independent artists. Myra at Twigs and Honey made my hairpiece, but I ended up swapping the center flower out and adding
one that matched our colors more. I bought cute flower earrings from Luxe Deluxe, and our ring holder, which was engraved with the same ee cummings poem, was from Palomas Nest. (Sadly, this got lost at the
reception!) I wore my mother’s pearl bracelet and carried my grandmother’s vintage handkerchief; Jon wore his grandfather’s cufflinks. And we bought our rings at Clay Pot in Park Slope.

Alright. So, we’re 7 months out from wedded bliss and I think we’re ready to bring the mainly-inspiration phase of the planning to a close. Let the planning and decision-making begin! Here are a few planning-related things on our plate this week/month …

We took a rather big leap last night while in the flowers aisle at Whole Foods last night – we decided not to have “wedding colors” in a traditional, specific sort of way. We know what we want the wedding to feel like – a modern twist on rustic charm – and it’s going to be October, so fall colors will abound. Other than that we’re ready to free-style it. As you (may or may not) know, we aren’t hiring a florist. The restaurant is providing simple flowers on the tables and I plan to head to the farmer’s market the morning of to pick up some fresh flowers for us ladies to carry around with us. So we decided not to have a specific color in mind, but to get whatever strikes our fancy that morning. We’re asking the Best Sisters to wear brown, as brown is a nice basic fall color and everything else will flow from there. Jeff will probably wear some sort of green tie, or green and brown, or maybe a little orangey/yellow with green – we’ll see. I think it will all come together and we will easily avoid the matchy-matchy look, which isn’t really our style.

We hired some musicians! A string trio to be exact. We’re pretty excited about them and now all we have to do is decide what songs they need to play. I have some ideas for soloists but I haven’t nailed anything down, yet … it’s on my to-do list.

We need to schedule our marriage prep program. We have some options, one of which is a weekend retreat upstate. That’s what we’re leaning toward … I should email them. Other than that we’re all set with the Church – we just need to figure out the order of things for the ceremony. It’s going to be a mix of traditions. So far, this is what we have come up with:

*Processional – Jeff, me, and our families get to the altar one way or another.

*Greeting/Opening Prayer – by Father Murphy (hopefully with some kind of introduction to this multi-religious event)

*Old Testament/Torah Reading – by someone in Jeff’s family who can read Hebrew and English, as we want this read in both languages

*Secular Poem/Reading – (if permissible, we have to double-check) by one or two of our non-religious friends (Ben, Nick, Emily, Sarah, someone like that …)

*Psalm – sung by the above mentioned soloist

*New Testament Reading – by a friend/family member from Cara’s side (to be determined) … we found a reading about charity and good works that we both liked

*Gospel Reading – by Father Murphy … we found a good reading about building on a solid foundation that we both liked

*Prayers of the Faithful – by someone in Jeff’s family who can recite a Jewish blessing before the prayers, which are usually general intercessions and will include prayers for deceased family members

*Sign of Peace – not usually part of a non-Mass but one of my favorite things, it’s just a brief moment of shaking hands and/or embracing those nearby to extend peace to them

*Lord’s Prayer – maybe/maybe not … haven’t decided

*Wedding Vows

*Signing of Ketubah – this is a Jewish marriage contract, it’s basically signing your vows and it’s usually pretty and something we can frame and hang in our home. We plan to make it ourselves/with the help of Kelli

*Blessing of Rings

*Stomp on a Glass – Jewish tradition symbolizing that even at joyous times we must remember the destruction of the Temple (i.e. we can celebrate and be joyous but we should still be mindful of the fact that there is suffering in our midst)

*Recessional – we leave the church and begin our marriage with a party!

So we need music/songs for the processional, psalm, sign of peace, Ketubah (maybe), and recessional. Any suggestions??

Also, should we have a hupah? If so who can make it? I’m thinking something simple – 4 natural looking (read: sticks/branches/etc) poles and very simple/sheer fabric. Hmmm…?

Okay, and most exciting thing right now is our Save The Dates. They’re in the process of being made and they’re awesome! Here’s a sneak peak …

Here’s Take 2.  I really like it!

mood: charming, modern Brooklyn

colors: browntone, green chrysanthemum, urban grey

flowers via SMP, suit by JCrew, window imagie via Snippet&Ink, coffee photo by Photoshoparama, poster and bridge via Snippet&Ink, scrabble via Classic Bride, bulletin board via Snippet&Ink, typewriter via Snippet&Ink, envelope via Snippet&Ink, cupcake photo by Simply Photo, chrysanthemum photo by akrutka, paper goods via SMP, brownstone photo by aimelaine, bridal party via Kimera, green shoes via Snippet&Ink, Scottadito wine cellar via nymag.

Check out the inspiration board I dug up on Snippet & Ink.  It’s almost perfect!  I’m putting the finishing touches on my own inspiration board - take 2 - and I’m stealing like half of this one:

We were inspired by the greens and greys at Crate and Barrel yesterday.  We added an ivory and a brown and we’re liking the combination.  Its fun to play with colors!

via Colour Lovers

I’m loving the color scheme here.  Especially the green and blue layer on the top left.

I’d add brown.

From Hello Lucky via SMP

I really like green chrysanthemums.  A lot.  I would love a simple bouquet of just a few green chrysanthemums tied with a satin ribbon.  I think I want all one type of flower in my bouquet, and green chrysanthemums would be great!

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