Belated Honeymoon

I'm thrilled that Alex and I are finally taking our much-belated honeymoon. As of this weekend, we're headed to the South Pacific -- first Tahiti then the island of Moorea. Turns out that Tahiti is only 8 hours from L.A. and we got a great deal from Air Tahiti Nui. So for others out there considering honeymoon destinations, you can totally make it work if you do your research.

The *best* part is that we combined my Hilton points with some my mom gave us to get our room in Moorea. Then we were able to upgrade to an overwater bungalow! (see above)

I still have a few days to finish studying my beginner's French for the trip. And in the meantime, I'll be drooling over these great French Polynesia photos from photographer Catherine Mombourquette.

Happy One Year Anniversary!

Almost one year since our wedding, and more than five years since we met...I love you boo!

Our Wedding

I was thrilled when the wedding photographer, Tara, emailed yesterday to tell us she had wedding photos available!

I'm so thrilled with how they came out. The vintage look of her photos and the humor that comes across is so great. She's captured the details and the overall feeling we were looking to convey.

I can't stress enough to anyone out there in Houston looking for a wedding photographer or for family or other photos, Tara is the one! And her pricing is extremely reasonable!

Visit her website here!

Only two more days!

I'm off to Houston later this morning. I've been keeping myself (and pretty much my entire family) busy with all of the DIY projects still to be completed, but things are coming along.

Good thing I had this whole week off of work!

Alex and I just took this snapshot of us together.

It's unlikely I'll be able to post much this weekend; however, I'll be documenting everything in detail.

Thanks to everyone for all of your interest and support!

Braided Bouquet

I'm down to prepping for all the final wedding details since it's now *less* than one week away!

Love the braid on the sash of this bouquet. I'm planning on a creme satin ribbon tied around the base.

Jeweled Hair Flower

I'm still trying to figure out my hair and hair accessories. I've pretty much decided that I'd like to go with one side back, pinned with a hair accessory. The birdcage veil will be on for the ceremony.

I got a rhinestone hair comb previously, but it's rather large and doesn't hang well. Plus with this new dress, it doesn't go as well. So now I've been thinking about wearing a flower instead.

I love the one shown above and her dress has the same neckline and chiffon pleating mine does.

Jeweled flower and first image from Brass Paperclip on Etsy.
Second image from The Knot.

Colorful charm

Now this is the proper way to introduce a touch of color in a wedding.

Image via Meghan Aileen Photography.

Sparkly!

I must admit I love all things sparkly including this lovely display of crystals.

We recently purchased some very soft yellow crystal droplets to adorn some strands we're planning to drape over the altar.

I wonder given the color if it'd be too much to do anything like this; however, it's food for thought!

Image via Divine Order Photography.

Dance the night away

There are all these great animated .gifs of Mad Men floating around out there. This one I thought was perfectly wedding appropriate. Wouldn't it be fun to make one of the happy new couple dancing the night away?

Image via This Recording.

White Wedding Wreaths

The other day, my sister suggested perhaps putting a white wreath on the front door since the wedding will be at her house.

Given all there is to do, this may or may not happen; however, I thought of it when I came across this fabulous image of a white grosgrain ribbon wreath.

Image via my favorite wedding blog iDIY.

Weather Forecasting and a Mud Plan...

I've gotten a lot accomplished this weekend including fine tuning the back up rain plan for our backyard wedding!

I've also been looking everywhere for a 14-day forecast and have just found one on accuweather.com

We'll see how it changes, but right now, rain is forecast for the week before the wedding, but the day of is supposed to be dry and in the 60s. (knock on wood).

This however has made me worry about mud! To prevent muddy dress shoes in the grass (and tired feet on the dance floor) we'll be providing a basket of flip flops for guests.

Backyard Lights

I've been so busy wedding planning and bachelorette party having that I haven't blogged much. This past weekend was an absolute blast! Photos of my 35th birthday party / bachelorette party to come soon.

But we're down to the wire and are working on some final details. Such as lighting for the backyard. This is what I'm going for. Strings of lights over the tables, except our tables are long and rectangular. However, I imagine the effect being similar.

UPDATE: Below are a few shots of our backyard lights.  Many, many thanks to my friend Liezl who worked out all the details and did so much hard work to make it happen!!!

I've also included a few details on what was involved in making it all happen for any other DIY brides looking to do their own backyard wedding lights as well.

It took a fair amount of work to make it happen because the area where we had all the tables set up was in the middle of my sister's huge yard, so we had to hammer a bunch of PVC poles into place to support the strings of light.  The strings were so long they ended up weighing a bit too, so we had to hammer the posts pretty deep into the ground to support the weight.  We also had a generator hidden away to plug them all into.  We borrowed that from Liezl which was great because she had one that wasn't too noisy, and we tucked it away behind the garage.

My sister had lights on the patio and a bright light in the middle of the yard which also helped to make sure there was enough lighting overall.

We timed it so that we were in the grassy area eating by candlelight at sunset, but by the time it got dark out, we'd all moved over to the patio which had more lighting.

I was very thrilled with how it all turned out.  Between the strings of lights and all of candles on the tables, the lighting was beautiful and romantic.

I included this last one because i just love the lighting, and it kind of cracks me up as well.  Even in November, there are mosquitoes in Texas, so we had a few cans of repellent on hand just in case. (We also had the grass treated in advance too.)

Hanging Flowers

I'm completely in love with these incredible hanging flowers! It's all so romantic, perfect for a wedding. The photography is pretty magnificent as well.

View more of these photos from One Love Photography here.

Wedding Polaroids

I'm pleased to say that we're all set to have polaroids at our wedding. Just trying to decide whether I want them at the photobooth (like this!) or for photos of Alex and I. Perhaps I can find a way to do both.

Top images via Snippet and Ink. Second to last by Mark Van Etten on Flickr, last image by Uberzombie.

Fabric Photo Walls

I've mentioned doing a fabric photowall, also referred to a "photo booth" for the wedding, but until now, I hadn't done a proper post on it.

I love the idea of a fun fabric (I might go with stripes), most likely gray so it's more timeless. And lights and garlands on top of it. Lights like above and garlands like this or this.

Our Blog of Love calls them "smile booths," check out their site for lots of great background ideas like this last one (and of course, wonderful photos!)

Feathered flower accents

I'm going home again this weekend for more wedding prep and lots of birthday celebrations. Part of the fun will be getting crafty for the wedding, including making my veil.

Since I got a new dress, I needed a new veil (since the old one was white). And I've decided to go with a flower accent on the veil rather than the silver rhinestone hair comb.

This veil accessory here really strikes me and I realized it's because the flower is made of feathers! All feather drama is too much, real flowers don't pin easily in my experience as they are too heavy. And just plain flowers sometimes just look too fake, so this feather flower is perfect.

Available from Brenda's Bridal Veils on Etsy.

For Alex

Image via Swiss-Miss.

34 Days and Counting

Just 34 days until the wedding. It's also 5 weeks, and that sounds better though! I've pretty much got wedding on the brain 24-7 these days, but I'm happy with how things are proceeding.

Previously, I had a monthly to-do list, but I think it needs to turn into a weekly one at this point.

I'm just focused on keeping it fun!

Where Can I Buy Gray and White Striped Ribbon

I'm trying to find gray and white striped ribbon that looks like the ribbon above.

Anyone know where I can buy this online? I've found every color except gray!

UPDATE: While I didnt find exactly what's shown above in gray, I did find this, and it totally works for me...

Yellow Bouquets

We're doing our own bouquets. Originally, I had planned to go down to Houston's flower district on Fannin, but some friends recently mentioned that they aren't the freshest and the selection isn't what it used to be.

My sister does a lot of flower arranging however and has a place that she orders from.

Since I'll now be ordering in advance, I need to figure out our flowers. I'd been thinking about yellow for the bridesmaids and white/off-white for me, but I might mix in some yellow with mine as well.

The yellow bouquet above is just perfect though! I'd also like to mix in some green and even some succulents.

After a bit more looking, this arrangement below would be the perfect mix for me! Love the dangling accents too. (I'm sure that's the technical term).


Top images via Green Wedding Shoes. Bottom image via Style Me Pretty.

Wedding Photo Wall

I've posted previously on the photo wall I want to have and possible props that might be fun. I'm still thinking through the logistics of it but absolutely love this chalkboard speech bubble. I think I might have just found the perfect photo accent!

Check out all the fab pics from Lisa + Geoff's wedding on 100 Layer Cake.

The Kiss!

Love the idea of capturing the big moment in an animated gif like this one. Charming!

Image via Snippet & Ink.

White Pedestal Vase to Welcome Guests

I love these soft yellow roses in this striking white pedestal vase. Perfect for the entry table.