WedLog

I think that waiting until the morning of the wedding to pick out my flowers is going to kill me a little bit, as I like to have things planned and detailed with plenty of time to spare.  But it’s worth it because it would be worse to try to deal with a florist and the hastle and the coordination.  I really love the very simple use of flowers here (via APW).  And I really love the look of this first picture.  Everyone looks happy and not overly matchy, but nicely coordinated.  And I love the single flowers that the ladies have and the simple use of one type of flowers for a very natural, modern looking bridal bouqet.

We’re thinking about alternative things to carry down the aisle.  We’ll both be walking arm-in-arm with both of our parents so I don’t want to carry anything too cumbersome.  But we’re thinking about each carrying half of the ketubah with us and maybe a single flower or a few of the same flower.  Which reminds me - we should start thinking about what we want the Ketubah to look like and who’s going to design/draw/print it … oh, and what it’s going to say …

Also, we finalized the order of the ceremony (with a little help from my mom).  Thankfully mom thought to consider the flow in terms of standing, sitting, and transitioning from one thing to the next.  She’s good to have around for things like that.  And for other general motherly wisdom.

On another note, my dad bought a new suit.  That he may or may not keep for reasons I’m not entirely sure of.  But before he did, he wanted to make sure he wouldn’t be dressed too similarly to the groom.  Jeff is wearing a somewhat unique suit with some novel attributes (subtle, don’t worry).  Anyway, I laughed at the idea that my dad might wind up in something similar - he didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would wear a daring suit of any kind.  Then I found this picture and I laughed.  Aren’t they a handsome couple?  This was taken right around the time when they got married.

Oh, and that’s a 1977 Toyota Celica in case you were wondering.  It sparked a fun conversation at work this morning when I passed this picture around.  I’d kill to have that dress my mom is wearing.

We already bought a few yards of some kitsch-vintage-wallpaper-esque fabric to use as a backdrop for funky portraits at the wedding, but now I will have to hunt down an ornate vintage frame or two so we can achieve this awesomeness:

via swissmiss

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 …

I want to carry green flowers and I liked this bouquet of white flowers with one little green guy in the middle.  I think that would look nice for the Best Sisters.  And the more we think about the colors the more we’re thinking green, brown, and grey are going to be the main ones - so if the lovely ladies found brown dresses, that might be nice …

via SMP

I totally love this idea of displaying a family tree-esque chart of wedding guests.  It’s a cool thing to keep but it’s also neat to display and see who else is there and how they relate to us.  I’m thinking about making my own (instead of paying someone else to make one) but I love this idea!

these are from Melangerie via Brooklyn Bride

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: