Remembering This Summer

During college my summers were constructive and purposeful and memorable. My first summer after freshman year I went to a seven-week-long music festival in Western New York. The next summer I had an internship in DC, the next summer an internship in Hoboken, NJ. Each summer I was in a different place and with different people, accomplishing something unique and interesting for those few months in between school years.

In between my two years of grad school I was working hard on our cookbook with my family and planning my wedding at the same time. It was a beautiful summer filled with summer tomatoes and gorgeous recipes and lots of paper and ribbon and happiness.

Once there are no longer school years to divide and define, time starts blending together a little more, don't you think? It's not bad, just different. Other things make certain seasons or even months or weeks stick out in our memories. And I have a feeling that this summer, with its particular smells and moments and emotions, I think it'll be one that lasts and lasts.

I'll remember this summer for its joy. As we drove a short two and a half hours last weekend through the Blue Ridge Mountains and Northern Virginia's wine country up to a family reunion, I felt so much joy at finally being close to family. To be able to drive to see loved ones--amazing! This state, in all of its beauty, brings me joy and I'm proud to live in a place with history and old stone buildings that have been around for centuries and plaques on the side of the road that are fun to stop and read. Waking up in our sweet little house brings me joy. As long as my home is a place of beauty and peace and rest, a place where my family and friends feel safe and protected, a place filled with love and wholesomeness and honesty, then I've succeeded.

I'll remember this summer for our little screened porch. I catch myself sitting here and looking out at the trees with an involuntary smile on my lips. It's such a place of calm for me. I'll remember these summer mornings on the porch with a cup of tea and this blog and the birds and the streams of early sunlight peeking in. To have a place that is part of my home yet also a part of nature is magical.

I'll remember this summer for the ways God has proven faithful. These past few years were hard. I've sort of blocked out some of it but when I make myself remember how lonely some of those months were, it makes me exceedingly grateful for the here and now. The way forward was lit by faith alone.

As we grow deeper into our new lives and establish routines and build relationships, as it always happens, I'm sure a bit of the novelty and newness will wear off. Not that we'll take it for granted but there will be a settledness and a normalcy and a regularity to all of it. There's a beauty to this too.

But this time we're in right now, this summer of intensity and heart-swelling gratitude and deeply felt love of place and home and family and friends, I'll remember it for a very long time.

First moments

Day 17 of Blog Every Day in May: A favorite photo of yourself and why.

Today's challenge was an easy one for me. I immediately thought of our wedding day and specifically this photo, which captures one of the most beautiful, surreal moments of my life.

This was taken as we entered our reception. When we arrived at the reception venue after the drive over from the church, our wedding coordinator snuck my new husband and me up the fire escape to the second story of the hotel. We were going to make our grand entrance by walking down the stairs and into the main foyer where the cocktail hour was going on, and it felt so fun and playful to sneak up a back stairwell, totally out of sight of our wedding guests.

We convened in my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's room where I took off my fur jacket and my veil and put on my flower headpiece, had a small sip of champagne, and had a really nice, quiet couple of minutes with my bridesmaids, sister-in-laws, and my husband. Then we went to the top of the stairs to wait. I was so giddy with excitement!

My Dad then stood at the bottom of the stairs and gave the most amazing speech. My Dad is a writer and has a way with words that I will always admire, and his speech was just so heartfelt. It was beautiful and special and unforgettable. Then my little brother took the microphone and introduced us as husband and wife, and that's when we began walking down the stairs to lots of cheers and clapping and smiles.

I will never forget the joy of that moment, looking out at our beautiful loved ones, the man of my dreams at my side, our very first seconds facing the world together as husband and wife. I get butterflies in my stomach just writing this, and I'm so thankful to have a photo to remember that feeling by.

DIY Inspiration

I need your help! I've mentioned a few times that we have these beautiful notes our wedding guests wrote to us to read on our one-year anniversary. I really want to preserve and show them off in an artistic way (rather than just putting them away in a box somewhere) and I've been racking my brain for inspiration. Normally ideas for projects like this come fairly easily, but I'm having a hard time! I thought I'd share some possibilities and see what you, my dear readers, think.

Here was my original idea--to frame them in a grid in a large gold frame (it would have to be quite large to hold all of the notes--the inside would need to measure 16' by 20'). The backing would be some kind of cream matboard. Part of the problem is finding the right frame that is large enough yet doesn't cost a fortune.

Image Source

Another more recent idea I had was to decoupage the notes, again in a grid to keep it neat and tidy, on top of a cream-colored dresser or a table-top. I have mixed feelings about this. In the photo below, I love how the map looks decoupaged to this sideboard. But I wonder if notes would look tacky? If I used a dresser, I thought it would be fun to paint the dresser ivory and the drawers gold (two of our wedding colors), but again, I can't decide if the decoupage element would look classy or forced. What are your thoughts?

Image Source / The Painted Hive

The last idea would be to break up the cards into three gold frames of different sizes and create a little gallery. This would surely be more affordable, because the frames are small and I could even possibly use thrift-shop frames and paint them gold. But the cards would be broken up, and I don't know if the effect would be as dramatic as the single large frame.

Image Source

I need your help! Which idea do you like, if any? Or, do you have a different idea? Don't be shy!

My Wedding Planning: DIY Bridesmaid Cards

Well, it's taken me a while to blog about these "Will you be my bridesmaid" cards because I had to borrow back the card I made for my maid of honor in order to photograph it! We finally got together and so now I can share it with you.

I asked my 4 bridesmaids (two of my husband's sisters, my best friend from high school, and my best friend from college) to be in our wedding almost exactly two years ago, in January 2011, which was almost a full year before our December 2011 wedding. I wanted it to be special so I made these cards and sealed them in an envelope tied up with twine and a piece of dried lavender. As you can see, this card is a little bit worse for wear--it has done a bit of traveling (she lives in Atlanta and had to retrieve the card from her parents' house in New York) and the gold ink is fading, the dresses are beginning to come off the paper, and it's a little bit crumpled. But I think the homemade/vintage/simple quality is preserved, and that's what I was going for when I made them. I wanted these cards to be sweet and pretty and from-the-heart.

For the bouquet on front, I bought little satin flowers and glued them on the front of the card and drew in the stems. I made the wedding dress out of doilies, and I cut the bridesmaid dress from a piece of ribbon that was similar in color to the actual "rhubarb" dresses. To get the stamp just right, I bought a magnetic stamp alphabet (similar to this) which made it quite easy. I simply lined up the magnetic letters on the magnetic tin and stamped it on the card. I love how the words are relatively lined up but it still has that homemade, "typewriter" look to it.

And they all said "yes!"

One-Year Anniversary Notes

Instead of having our guests sign a book at our wedding, we asked them to write little notes for us to read on our one-year anniversary. We tucked them away after the wedding and we didn't peek at them (I promise!) until our anniversary. It was such a fun surprise to read them and relive our wedding day! 

I'm now trying to come up with a way to make these special cards into a piece of art, so we can enjoy them always. I'm thinking that framing them in a grid with a wide ivory mat and gold frame (our wedding colors) would be beautiful. I really want it to look elegant and pretty, and not at all cheesy! Any ideas?

Framing Wedding Photos

Source: c497280.r80.cf2.rackcdn.com via septembergirl on Pinterest

It's been almost one year since our wedding and I haven't done too much in the way of framing any of our wedding photos. It's not that I'm interested in a whole gallery of our wedding photos, or that I need to frame a bunch of them. But we do happen to have some absolutely iconic photographs--taken by my brother and by our hired photographer--that are incredible photos in and of themselves and bring back the most wonderful feelings of our wedding day. So as we approach our anniversary I'm planning to frame two or three of these and give them to my husband as gifts (I'll have to tell him not to read this post!).

I was inspired by the lovely antique look of the photo of the bride that is pictured above, combined with a white mat, and placed casually on a nightstand surrounded by books. Here is my version of this look:

I found this rustic frame at TJMaxx and I printed the photo with an "antique" coloring, which is a little bit warmer than black and white. I love the way it turned out and I hope my husband does too! The next photo I frame will be one with my husband in the incredible cathedral we said our vows in. My dad once remarked that we could print a poster-sized photo of one of those cathedral shots--they're that good, and the church that grand and dramatic. 

My Wedding Planning: DIY Spiced Nuts as Favors

There are just a few more pieces of our wedding that I'd like to write about as part of my Wedding Planning series. I've been wanting to write about our wedding favors for a while now, but I decided to wait until we were closer to the warm, cozy, gift-giving season, which these spiced nuts fit into perfectly. In other words, these favors are lovely for weddings but I think they make unique gifts for just about any other occasion, too.

The winter before our wedding, I found this sugar-and-spice candied nuts recipe and made a few batches to jar as gifts. The next year, when our winter wedding was upon us, I decided to do exactly the same thing for all of our lovely guests. But first I began collecting jars.

Lucky for me, my mom was a big canner and used to make lots of jams and jellies and so she had dozens of vintage glass jars tucked away in our basement. She was downsizing and decided she wasn't going to be doing much canning in the future, so I happily gathered and cleaned them all to use for my favors. 

To make them extra cute, I knew they would need tags. I hopped onto the Paper Source site (where I'd gotten so many other wedding supplies) and they had these exact "H" cards, in dusty rose, and on sale! It was meant to be. I used leftover gold ribbon from our wedding invitations to tie them up in a bow.

Two weeks before the wedding, I made the spiced nuts in my parents' kitchen. I had bought 20 pounds of raw almonds, walnuts, and pecans at a good price (I think at Sam's Club) and I had gotten out my mom's biggest mixing bowls and cookie sheets and pans. I made batch after batch after batch! It was a lot of fun, and while it took hours, it was really very easy. It did require attention and constant stirring, but it was such a joyful task. It made my wedding feel oh-so-real!

I loved the way our florist chose to arrange the jars at the reception, among dozens of candles and lemon leaves and vintage family wedding photos that I had been collecting for months. It was so special and it took my breath away (the photos don't do quite it justice). 

(This last photo is not related to favors but I thought I would include it because it was another thoughtfully arranged part of the reception. On it are more vintage family wedding photos, as well as blank cards that we asked our guests to write notes on, which we will read on our one-year anniversary. We can't wait to see what our friends and family said and to relive this magical evening.)

All photos by Robin Fox Photography

My Wedding Planning: Ceremony Music Part 1

Robin Fox Photography

Today I want to share some of our wedding ceremony music with you. We had a lot more music than is typical for a wedding, so I will share some now and more later. And I want to add that if you are a bride-to-be planning your wedding, feel free to use any of our ideas or email me to talk about it further.  My husband and I both viewed our ceremony as the most important 45 minutes of our wedding day, by far, and as a classical musician, I spent many hours choosing which music would bring the most beauty to our service. There really is so much to choose from--if you are interested in something other than standard wedding music, I would love to help.

If you're anything like me, the sound of an organ filling a cathedral brings goosebumps to your skin and tears to your eyes, so the organ played a big part in our ceremony. Our wonderful organist joked that I was really making him work, much more than most brides! I think he very much enjoyed it, though.

I chose to walk down the aisle with my dad to Handel's "Largo" from the opera, Xerxes. In this piece, the organist typically begins quietly and then gradually builds in sound all the way to the end. We had the bridesmaids and groomsmen walk out first as the piece was still quiet and mellow, and as the incredibly beautiful and powerful ending approached, the doors were closed, and then opened a moment later as my dad and I walked together down the aisle. It was magical. In fact, the gorgeous sounds filling my ears were so moving that it took a moment for my mind and eyes to focus on who was waiting for me at the end of the aisle! So I had two heart-stopping moments right after each other--when the doors opened on my dad and me as Handel ushered us down the aisle, and when I saw my husband-to-be for the first time that day.

I couldn't find a recording on YouTube that does justice to the piece, but the version found on this recording (track 2) is very much worth the 99 cents. 

In the middle of the ceremony, we had a beautiful voice and piano duet. We hired a gorgeous soprano to sing a piece called "Du Ring an Meinem Finger" ("The Ring Upon My Finger") which is from a set of songs by Robert Schumann. The set is called Frauenliebe und Leben (A Woman's Love and Life). She sang this right after we had said our vows and exchanged our blessed rings. Here is a translation of the poem, written by Adelbert von Chamisso, that Schumann set to music:

Thou ring upon my finger, my little golden ring,

I press thee piously upon my lips, piously upon my heart.

I had dreamt it, the tranquil, lovely dream of childhood,

I found myself alone and lost in barren, infinite space.

Thou ring upon my finger, thou hast taught me for the first time, 

hast opened my gaze unto the endless, deep value of life.

I want to serve him, live for him, belong to him entire,

Give myself and find myself transfigured in his radiance.

Thou ring upon my finger, my little golden ring,
I press thee piously upon my lips, piously upon my heart.

Lovely, isn't it? More to come on our ceremony music in future posts!

Old and New

Because photos of my engagement and wedding rings were left out of this post, I took matters in my own hands and decided to take a few myself. These are no NZ shots, but they will do, thanks to the camera my Dad recently gave me.

Can you guess which one is old and which one is new? (The answer is in the post mentioned above.) One is practically brand new, handmade in New York City last fall. The other is decades old, also handmade, and belonged to my husband's great-grandmother. She was married in 1933, which makes the ring roughly 80 years old.

The reason I ask if you can guess is because, to me, they are both timeless. I really think that neither one has a particularly antique or a particularly modern feel, and this is something I love about them. I don't think they will ever look dated. It still amazes me when I remember that these two rings were hand-crafted many dozens of years apart.

As a girl who adores old things, but also loves creating new things from scratch, I would say that the duo on my left hand suits me perfectly.

My Wedding Planning: First Dance

I will be posting more on our wedding music later (specifically the ceremony music) but I thought that sharing our first dance song would be a fun Friday post. Here it is!

Our best man did a wonderful job announcing our first dance after his beautiful speech. After a minute or two of us dancing, our bridal party, and then our guests, joined us on the dance floor. It was a great way to start the dancing part of our reception!

I'd love to hear what you and your husband danced to at your wedding! 

p.s. My little brother got up and sang this song later in the evening, which our band had learned just for him! It was incredible, and our guests loved it!

p.s.s. Also, one of my best friends from college (who was a vocal performance major) sang this for us. We had quite the talented guest list! 

My Wedding Planning: Bridal Accessories

Having a winter wedding allowed me to wear some exceptionally beautiful accessories (if I do say so myself). Not that I couldn't have worn beautiful accessories if I'd had a summertime wedding. But there's something about wintertime that begs for dramatic pieces--feathers, rich colors, fur. I loved choosing these special items for my wedding day.

Finding the perfect shoes was easier than I thought it would be. I found these shoes online, months before the wedding, and they were even on sale! I thought the poof on top was whimsical and wintery, and the color was bold and fun. The pointy toe made them dressy, even though the heels weren't incredibly high (which was good, because I'm tall as it is, and I wanted to be comfortable for a night of dancing!). 

Photo by Noah Zinsmeister

My hairpiece, which I wore for the reception after taking off my veil, was SO much fun to wear. Would you believe it if I told you that it was handmade by my sister-in-law? As my bridal shower gift, she was sweet enough to make a few different styles and she let me pick my favorite. They were all lovely but this was the most stunning. She even graciously added the feathers (a feature of one of the other pieces) for an even more glamorous, snowy look. Isn't she so talented?

Photos by Noah Zinsmeister

And now for the all-important wedding jewelry. For a while, my husband and I wanted to design a pair of earrings for our special day. We thought it would be fun to create a piece that would become a family heirloom. I had a vision of rose gold and rose quartz and diamond (or crystal) teardrop-shaped earrings. But all of the jewelry stores we visited quoted us extremely high prices, and none of them seemed to really understand the look we had in mind.

The summer before our wedding, my mom and mother-in-law and I were shopping in a small boutique in my hometown and I found the earrings you see below. These were the exact shape I wanted, and so I decided to buy them as a model for the ones I (still) wanted to design. I thought it would be easier for a jeweler to understand what we wanted if they had a model, and I hadn't given up yet on my desire to make my own!

When we got home, I tried them on with my veil and both my mom and mother-in-law said "Wow. Forget using these as a model--these are your wedding earrings!" And they were right--they were simple and understated, yet so dramatic.

The bracelet I bought online from Othelia Grace, a vintage-inspired bridal boutique. (I think they have recently re-designed their shop--I was not able to find this bracelet or any others online, just necklaces and earrings and headpieces).

I don't have any photos of my rings, but I'll share the story on them. They are a mix of old and new--my engagement ring is a solitaire round diamond in a low setting with a delicate band, and it belonged to my husband's great grandmother. My wedding band was custom designed and made for us in New York's diamond district (I got my jewelry-designing wish after all!). The band has micro-pave set diamonds and a gentle curve, made to fit around the low-set diamond on my engagement ring. I adore these rings and the special ways they came to be mine.

Photo by Noah Zinsmeister

The purse I carried (actually, my maid of honor carried it!) was a Nordstrom find. It was the perfect dusty rose color, and matched the bridesmaid dresses and my shoes. I was glad that I thought to buy a purse--I needed a spot for my lipstick and lip gloss, my cell phone, some oil-absorbing sheets that all the girls used in the limo before going into the church, and bobby pins. And this Versace Bright Crystal perfume was a wedding gift from my sweet husband. He told me later that when I walked down the aisle to meet him at the altar, the lovely perfume scent wafted over him.

Photo by Noah Zinsmeister

Finally, here is a shot of my wedding veil and the fur coat I wore to and from the church. The veil was a simple as can be--a two-tiered oval cut veil with a raw edge. I did not want any beading or piping or lace on my veil as I was aiming for an ethereal look. I wanted the edges to simply disappear! And the fur coat was my "something borrowed". A family friend had gotten married the previous December and she wore this precious little shrug. I was so happy to borrow it from her--especially because my husband and I walked the 5 or 6 blocks from the reception to the hotel we stayed in that night, and it was a little chilly!

Photo by Robin Fox Photography

I would love to hear from you--what were your special wedding accessories? What do you plan to wear, if you're a bride-to-be?

Photos by Robin Fox Photography

My Wedding Planning: DIY Wedding Invitations

                    All photos in this post taken by my talented brother, Noah Zinsmeister                                         
Today's wedding planning post is a big one! Of all the elements that went into preparing for our wedding day, I believe I spent the most time on our invitations. I don't think I'll ever forget the hours I spent that June and July of 2011 at my parents' dining room table tying ribbons, cutting paper, embossing and stuffing envelopes. Not to mention all of the fun choices I got to make that spring about fonts, colors, beautiful papers, and overall design. Suffice it to say that I loved it--those hours were very well spent!

As I mentioned in a previous post, all of the supplies for our invitations came from the Paper Source. We heard about the Paper Source from a friend of my mom's whose daughter made her own wedding invitations too. Little tips from friends can make such a difference!

I got started by attending a wedding workshop at the Brooklyn store, where we learned the basics about how to style our own wedding invitations using their paper and supplies. This was great--there are so many color choices, and enclosure types (I didn't even know what an enclosure was before the workshop!) and envelope sizes and styles to choose from when designing wedding invitations, and the women running the workshop were so helpful.

                                               

We had a winter wedding and our colors were cream, gold, and rhubarb (a dusty rose). So for the invitations, I decided on cream paper for the invitations, RSVP card, reception card, and the outer envelope. I used rhubarb for the enclosure that would hold all of the smaller pieces, as well as for the little RSVP envelope. And I used gold paper to line both envelopes and gold ribbon to tie around the enclosure. By the way, my family thought I was absolutely crazy for tracing, cutting out, and gluing in my own envelope liners! But I think in the end, they saw how beautiful this extra touch was. 

                                                          

The sketch that you see above is The Lincklaen House, the historic hotel and restaurant in my hometown where we held our reception. (On the back of this card is the information on the time and location of the reception.) I found this sketch very randomly one day in my old room--it was from a set of note cards and this was the last one left. We had just decided to hold our reception here and I thought it would be lovely to scan the sketch and include it in our invitations. Thanks to my dad's scanning expertise, it worked perfectly!

We designed the fonts and layouts and wordings ourselves, but we did outsource the actual printing. The print shop at the local college where my mom worked at the time did a lovely job (at a very reasonable price). We brought them the paper, and they printed and cut everything to size. 

Above is our wedding program, which we also designed and made ourselves. I remember cutting and hole-punching and tying these little ribbons with my husband and brother and parents over Thanksgiving. I love those memories!

Paper used for Invitation, RSVP card, Reception card and Wedding Program // Color: Luxe Cream

Outer Envelope // Color: Luxe Cream

Enclosure for Invitation, Reception Card, and RSVP card and envelope // Color: Rhubarb

RSVP Envelope // Color: Rhubarb

Paper used to line outer envelope and RSVP envelope // Color: Antique Gold

Ribbon // Color: Vintage Gold

Labels for Guest Addresses (not pictured) // Color: Superfine Soft White

(DIY Envelope Liner Template Kit)

(Embosser for return address on outer envelope)

My Wedding Planning: Save the Dates

Our virtual save-the-date

I've been trying my best to blog about my wedding planning in the order that everything actually happened, and I think that what came next was sending out the save-the-dates for our winter wedding.

Having a winter wedding was a decision we sort of fell into and it ended up being the absolute perfect choice. My husband is in the Army and has very little control over his schedule and after exploring some dates, we realized our best bet would be to have our wedding during Christmas leave, a guaranteed time off from training. We spoke to the Cathedral where we wanted to have the ceremony and they had December 30th available, a Friday evening, nestled between the magic of Christmas and the excitement of New Years. My parents’ anniversary is December 28, another special sign that this was the right time for our wedding. And my husband and I have always loved the romance of the holidays and I knew that our part of Upstate New York would look especially lovely with a blanket of snow and twinkling white Christmas lights.

To let our friends and family know about our wedding date, we did something a little bit different than the traditional mailed postcard or note--we sent virtual save-the-dates via Paperless Post! I highly recommend this fun alternative. The card is emailed to each individual recipient as an envelope with the guest's name on the front. When you click, it leads to the Paperless Post website where the card is beautifully displayed after it pops out of the envelope. (This description might sound cheesy, but it really is so well done, tasteful and classic). The design choices tend to be understated and simple, and everything from the fonts, to the shape of the card, to the color and pattern of the envelope liner can be hand-picked. It's affordable, and you'll save some paper, too! 

The click-able, personalized envelope that the card arrives in

We had used Paperless Post previously to send out an engagement announcement, and after our wedding, we sent a card to all of our guests thanking them for celebrating our day with us and sharing a link to our wedding photos.

If you're looking for a chic, affordable, very 21st-century way of announcing your wedding date, you can't go wrong with Paperless Post!

My Wedding Planning: Finding My Dress

Photo by Noah Zinsmeister

I don't take any credit for this photo above. It's one of my absolute favorites from our wedding day. It was taken in the hallway in my parents' home, right after I had put on my dress, veil, and jewelry, and was walking down the hall to take a last look in the full-length mirror before heading to the church. My little brother, an amazing photographer, was talking all of our getting-ready pictures and so he gets credit for snapping such a lovely shot. One of my sister-in-laws, who was a bridesmaid, noticed me walking down the hall and saw the light streaming in the open door, and suggested that Noah take the photo. So she also gets credit.

And finally, my beautiful dress gets credit. Like any eager bride, I began searching for my dress almost immediately after getting engaged. I was living in New York at the time and so was my sister-in-law, and we had a blast visiting bridal salons together in the exciting, early days after her brother proposed.

Photos above by Noah Zinsmeister

A few weeks after our initial looking, my mom took a trip down to New York and she and I went to this gorgeous boutique as well as the Pronovias Flagship store. I had been eyeing so many of the Pronovias gowns online and was really attracted to the simplicity of the dresses, the lack of beads/flowers/bows (which I had decided I didn't like), and the rich fabrics that are their signature.

I tried on so many amazing dresses, and my mom and I had such a wonderful time together. Since the bridal consultant in the store usually helps the bride get dressed, my mom got to sit and relax and wait for me to come out wearing gown after beautiful gown. We both felt completely relaxed and patient--so many of the dresses were lovely and could have been the one, but we had a sense that the perfect dress was still out there waiting for us to find it. So at the end of the weekend, we were thrilled that we'd made so much progress figuring out what I liked and didn't like, and were excited to keep looking. 

We found my Pronovias gown at a small boutique in my hometown a few weeks later. After trying on the gowns at the flagship salon in New York, I was pretty sure I would end up with a Pronovias dress, and we were lucky that this local boutique carried lots of Pronovias (at much more affordable prices, too). 

Photos above by Robin Fox Photography

My mom and I both fell in love with this dress when I tried it on. The neckline and the ruching were unlike anything I'd seen. I loved that the dress was fitted asymmetrically through the hips and flared to a fuller skirt, and I thought it had a sophisticated elegance about it. The consultant said it reminded her of Old Hollywood, Audrey Hepburn style. And I knew the train would be stunning for our cathedral ceremony.

Photo by Robin Fox Photography

What's amazing to think about now is that before getting engaged, I saw myself in a form-fitting lace wedding gown. Total opposite of what I ended up with! I tried on lace and I tried on dresses with a more fitted silhouette and they just didn't work with my build. To create the most flattering look for my figure, I needed a fabric with more shape (my dress was silk taffeta) and a cut that had more fullness at the bottom. 

So my advice to brides is to be as open-minded as possible when trying on wedding dresses. You may be completely surprised by the styles and shapes and fabrics that best flatter your figure and make you feel as beautiful as can be.

My last bit of advice is to go shopping with your mom. It's an unforgettable--not to mention fun!--experience. The two weekends my mom and I dress-shopped together were as special as mother-daughter weekends get.

Photo taken by my aunt at the day-after brunch at my parents' house

My Wedding Planning: Engagement Photo Shoot

Because I'm newly married and had SO much fun planning my wedding, and because brides can't get enough wedding inspiration (I know because I was constantly scouring the web for ideas!) I thought I'd start a series of posts on my wedding planning. Today is a great day to begin because today, July 30, my husband and I have been married for exactly 7 months! Our wedding was on December 30, 2011, and it could not have been more perfect.

First of all, being engaged is a really beautiful time in a woman's life, I think, so my personal advice to all brides-to-be is not to rush the engagement period. We had a year and a half between the proposal and the wedding and this time allowed us to fully soak up all of the love and excitement that surrounded us as we, and our friends and families, prepared for our special day.

One incredibly fun thing we did about 4 months after my husband proposed was an engagement photo shoot. At first I didn't think that engagement photos were really in the cards for us--my husband and I were still long-distance at that point and figuring out when and where and how to take them was tricky. I was also a little bit skeptical about engagement photos, to be honest, because a lot of the ones I'd seen seemed very trendy and had the tendency to look a bit too orchestrated.

But we got lucky--one of my husband's classmates in flight school at the time mentioned casually one day that his wife was a photographer. So I looked her up online and saw that she was very talented, and had just the style I liked. Over the phone, I explained that I wanted our photos to look as natural as possible--that I wasn't in love with photos staged in front of trees or lakes or fields, and I was hoping instead for photos that were sort of vintage, quirky but timeless, and rustic.

I suggested we start at the Army Aviation Museum on post to take some photos in front of the helicopter my husband flies (as I said, quirky!) because I thought it would just be so fun. Don't be afraid to do something different with your engagement photos!

After being told by the museum security guard to please leave (he didn't like that we'd adjusted the rope around the helicopter...oops), our photographer, Jennifer, took us to a few spots she'd found for us. The first place was a large parking lot with two huge storage crates sitting off to one side. I think she saw that we looked wary, and said, "Just trust me." So we did, and these photos are exactly what I was hoping for. I just adore them. They look vintage and urban (quite a feat to pull off in Southern Alabama), and I love the rusty, earthy look of the crates on either side of us. She completely understood the vision I had in my mind.

Our last spot was another brilliant pick by Jennifer. She brought us into the tiny town of Enterprise, Alabama, and walked us over to a beautiful wall she'd found. It was painted a pale blue, had a fun stucco sort of texture to it, and there were two darker blue windows perched up on the second story. I love these photos. For some of these, Jennifer told us just to "play," and I really like that she captured the relaxed playfulness in our faces.

As you can see, we decided not to do any outfit changes during the day. Changing outfits along with the scenery is something a lot of couples do in their engagement shoots, but it didn't feel like us. I'm not even sure I could have gotten my husband to change if I tried! But more importantly, it just felt more natural this way, less fussy.

We're so glad we have these photos documenting this special, special period in our lives. We used these photos as part of our "save-the-dates," for a Christmas card/engagement announcement, and on our wedding website. It was a fun chance to celebrate our engagement, laugh and have fun in front of the camera, and practice for that oh-so-important photo shoot that is the wedding day!