May weds

my lovely & creative friend emily married our friend don. it was beautiful. seriously, no one wanted the party to end. everything was beautiful even the weather. the dance floor didn't know what hit it when ted stole the show. later into the night, he was that guy who ripped his pants from crotch to knee. he ended up wearing a extra pair of the father of the brides. thankfully, they fit. my little brother was in town & met all our friends, danced till his heart was content, and tried all the local beers. 

after a full week, little brother & me spent the day in manhattan with two of our friends (whom are also sibs) that we grew up with. it was perfection. good pizza, good shopping, good service (hillsong with guest speaker judah smith), good surprise (aaron gillespie playing/singing his version of amazing grace)... all in all, i've been on overload for the past... month. i loved it. 

Update: Le Wedding.

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The Weekend

The weekend went by fast and I enjoyed everything. From the bachlorette party, couples shower, lunch with my family, the wedding, and ending up flying first class I had loads of excitement. Here are a few peeks from the weekend. 

We had lunch in a courtyard at Ramsi's in Louisville. Paul was finishing up mom's paella. 

Paul and I met up before my parents arrived and were able to check out a cute street in Louisville. We stopped for coffee and chatted. It's so nice to be able to catch. The picture was taken after lunch before heading to coffee. 

It was a lovely bright sunny day in Kentucky. I really was impressed with Louisville. I've only spent time in the downtown area. The area where we met for lunch was so fun. The house were gorgeous and their was plenty of green. 

The wedding was blissful. Felicia was calm the entire morning even though she was continually planning and making sure things were just so. She waited upstairs looking out at the guests to arrive.  My job was to tell her when to walk when the minister gave the nod. (I was a bit nervous.)

The kiss. Sealed the deal. The ceremony was beautiful. The minister was great. Once her dad gave her over to Kraig a little rain starting coming down. The minister did a great job to direct guests to stay seated and keep calm. He shortened the original plan and everything was still perfect. Immediately after the ceremony it stopped raining and no one seemed to be affected by it. Felicia's hair and makeup was still in tact. The only thing was they laughed through the whole ceremony. Great sports. If it were me, I would have probably cried. 

Everything came together smoothly and ended up being a great day to remember. I know she enjoyed the day just as much as all of her guests.

My dear friend is married. I'm so happy for her and Kraig. I slept thirteen hours last night catching up on lost sleep from last week and the weekend. I feel rejuvenated. 

We've Been Featured

I've been following Kat at Rock 'n Roll Bride for a while now. I always enjoying browsing through her blog. Makes me smile that she featured my blissful wedding day.

See the feature here.

Thanks Kat.

Anniversary Month

Some of my favorite moments of my wedding day.

Lil Ones

The picture is of a pretty darn cool kid I met a couple years ago on the street in New Orleans. Leaving him behind was real TOUGH. I miss being able to pick him up from school and help him with his homework. He used to spend Sundays riding around with me or coming to my house to eat and play board games. Anyways... He wrote me a letter. Didn't know how to address the envelope and it came back to him twice so he had someone email it to me. So sweet, and fromt his heart. I wish it was hand written but here it is.

The Day I Smiled to BIG

You dream about it.
You practice with your friends.
You laugh and getting gitty thinking about this.
Your wedding dress, your hair, your wedding day.

Throughout the whole night of our ceremony, reception, and into our honeymoon I was in love with my hair. I didn't want to take it down. I'd probably be wearing the same style today if I could have left it in. Can you believe I didn't even know how I was going to wear my hair walking into the Salon on my wedding day. I was more than nervous about it. You see, we did a 'trial run' and I did not like it at all. I had faith in my stylist. She worked her magic and I loved it (good thing, right?)!!

At first, I had no idea what I would like for either. As I slipped in and out of huge white gowns in one stuffy dressing room to the next, I started getting an idea what I wanted. I first fell in love with a dress at Yvonne La Fleur's. Yvonne's boutique is filled with reasonable priced sample dresses. If you purchase your dress their they custom make one just for you. Although, I loved it I knew I wanted to look more. I keep referring back to a J.Crew dress that was sadly 'out of stock' and 'out of my price range'. The search progressed and I wasn't really finding the dress. 


On a whim, I decided to look on ebay for the J.Crew dress I really like. There she was. I ended up purchasing my wedding dress for $45. A total steal!! I knew even if I ended up hating it that I couldn't pass it up for $45. A few days later, it arrived and all by myself I tried it on and loved everything about it. 

Taking help where it's offered

Almost immediately after Ted popped the question magazines filled my coffee table. All my girl friends cut out ideas, text-mail, and loads of emails. I enjoyed looking and looking. I knew that the decorations of the wedding were going have to wait until all the 'big stuff' was taken care of. I knew, I wanted a venue with lots of character for several reasons. I love simplicity. If the building was gorgeous than I could get by on minimal items to make the atmosphere. If my budget would have allowed believe me I would have went all out and personalized everything. 

Our first plan was to have the ceremony and reception in the French Quarter at Musee Conte' Wax Museum. This venue was doable if we set out to both work second jobs (or we were thinking about getting married 'on paper' and collecting our marriage income which in the end we didn't think was wise). The building was rustic with wood beams, wood floors, brick walls, french quarter charm, and a the museum would have been open for the reception. Halfway through our wedding planning, we both had a revelations. We were planning a big event for everyone. Yes, we loved the venue. Yes, we loved all we were planning. However, we were working outside of a reasonable budget. We starting thinking BIG on a small scale.

Back to reality, we ended up booking out church which we loved as well. Keeping with a minimal guest list (like i mention on my cake post). Our church is building which actually had the same charm as the Musee Conti. 

I worked alongside one of my wonderfully talented friends Mya Frey with our flowers. She ended up picking out and picking up our flowers the week of the wedding. She knew the 'idea of what I wanted' and she ran with it. Although, if I were to plan away again I'd probably give up something in order to spend a little bit more on flowers. But what we had, I loved. It wasn't my 'first choice' but it was beautiful. 

Working again with our treasure Mississippi wood, orchids, candles, and mason jars we filled the atmosphere. I ended up spending $300 for all decorations and flowers combined (not including the fabric for the backdrop).  

A small scale

Setting a budget. 


We had a small budget. Right around $2,000. Originally, we had thought this can't do and tried to push our date back in hopes of working for a bigger budget. Then, reality set in and thank God it did. Why would we prolong our engagement and work endless days to feed our guests a little more, a three tiered wedding cake, and a few more invites.

Location.


Our church is located on Magazine St. in Uptown. It has the charm we were looking for. (Brick walls, wood floors, gorge bar, art decor, etc.) Limited space, second floor venue (no accommodations for wheelchairs, which ended up not being an issue since ted's grandparents weren't able to come), and a one room for everything event made us nervous at first. Scaling down our guest list to 100 people and working with a 'one room space' in the end worked out just fine.

Cakes.


Other corners were cut including looking around for wedding cakes. I looked around and gasped at prices that were half of my entire budget. In the end, I knew everything would work out even if I wasn't spending a fortune on wedding cakes, flowers, my dress, etc. I went with the flow.

I ended up thinking about ordering a small decorated cake and then purchasing a large sheet cake to cut pieces for guests. I do think this could have worked but it wasn't translating into exactly what I would like.

Decor.


I knew I wanted to bring wood into the decor. I love wood. I had thought about bringing wood into the decor and finally thought about placing cake rounds on blocks of wood. It was my way of bring the outdoors in. Living in Louisiana, I could never trust the weather, hair spray or bobby pins for an outdoor wedding.

Ted found gorgeous wood while working the Mississippi banks and brought it home. Perfecto. He cut it up in three cascading blocks. I ordered three cake rounds (1) 10 inch, (1) 8 inch, and (1) 6 inch. I explained my vision to the bakery and they ran with it (exactly how I had pictured). I wanted a simple whispy icing. Then placed orchids and little twigs.

Florii-DA

A short weekend trip was in order. Jessica and I drove over to see Sleeping at Last play. Mya and Nick booked the show. Due to Mya's bridesmaid duties in a friend of our's wedding she wasn't in town to see them.

We enjoyed the show for her.

We also enjoyed her bed and cute little house in Pensacola.

I just love hanging at the beach even when it's cold. We found a cute little bagel shop on the beach and checked out an Art Festival.

We were back in time for me to pick up ted fix up and head to Karla's wedding.

Mr. and Mrs.

My first post for *a.toodle.lee.do*

It's been a few short months since we took the plunge and said 'I do'. we are now living the happily-ever-after part. We are enjoying the day to day mundane married life. Simple but makes my heart so happy.

Our wedding. A week of smothering southern heat but it led us into the perfect evening to celebrate with our friends and family. The skies were bright blue after a cooler cloudy morning. I was thankful for the cloudy morning as a few special girls and I had a breakfast in a courtyard on Royal St. before I headed off to the Salon with my maid of honor.

Leading up to June 27, 2009, I had many thoughts race through my head. My future with my closest friend. The wonder of engagement bliss. Wedding plans. Special moments with close friends. Talks with my mom. I put a lot of thought into making the wedding ceremony and reception fit into our budget without sacrificing what I wanted.

I knew I had a small budget to work with [stay tuned...] but in the end I loved everything. If I had more money I would had thrown a few more this and some of that. However, I loved my wedding day. From start to finish, I was so surprised about my ideas coming to life.

Most importantly, I will be spending my life with the best partner I know Ted Ryan.