Our wedding: one year later!
It's been more than one year since our wedding! I love weddings- even random stranger's weddings on TV. I loved planning my wedding and now I like reminiscing about it.
I have already written about our crazy wedding week on the blog. I don't say 'crazy' lightly. We drove to New York, got married, drove back to Wisconsin, had our reception, and moved to France... all in less than a week.
That was written before we had our professional pictures. So, when I found this wedding survey online, I thought it would be fun to do while the details of our big day are still relatively fresh on my mind. (Professional pictures were taken by Lisa Ruth Photography in NY and The Paper Elephant in WI).
How long in between the proposal and the wedding day?
A little less than 6 months! We got engaged on April 2nd, 2016 and were married on September 28, 2016.
Did you have a wedding theme or vision in mind before you started planning?
Yes. Sparkles. Lots of sparkles. With some French flair thrown in (that was my plan before getting engaged to a Frenchman, might I add).
Did you have help with wedding planning?
My mom helped a lot! Unfortunately David wasn't able to help since he was in France for most of the planning process. Let's be honest, he didn't really care about the details anyways.
Was it a local or destination wedding?
Both- sort of. Our ceremony was in upstate New York and our reception was close to home in Waukesha, WI.
Did you have a small or large guest list?
We had a small group at our actual wedding and a not huge but sizable group at our reception. 14 people came to our New York ceremony, and we had about 100 guests at our reception.
How big was the wedding party?
Pretty small! I thought I would have 3 bridesmaids but ended up with 4. David thought he would have 3 groomsmen but ended up with 2. We rolled with it.
What did the bridesmaids wear?
Pink lace dresses. My sister/Maid of Honor wore a silver necklace and shoes. The other girls wore gold necklaces and shoes. Elvera showing up all the way from Africa was a happy surprise, so she just wore what she had!
What were your wedding colors?
Pink, silver, and gold.
Indoors or outdoors?
I hate the outdoors lol. That was never happening. And thankfully it didn't, because it was rainy on our reception day.
Did you see each other before the ceremony?
Yep! I thought about doing a "first look," and I also thought about making sure we didn't see each other until we were inside the temple... but in the end both seemed unnecessary. David saw me in the hotel lobby and then we drove over together. It was more relaxed that way.
Describe your wedding dress and look.
I wore an Allure dress with some custom alterations. The top was white lace with a beaded back. The skirt was full and fluffy in a blush pink color. I also wore sparkly silver/gold 4-inch heels and a pearl headpiece, bracelet, and necklace. There were lots of pearls and sparkles going on.
In addition, I had a light pink sequin evening gown that I wore at our wedding lunch in New York and the dance party in Wisconsin. There's no way I could have sat in a car wearing my ballgown.
Where did the ceremony and reception take place?
We got married in the Palmyra LDS Temple. It is a small temple in a small town surrounded by beautiful green scenery and a lot of history.
Our reception was at the Waukesha Rotunda- a beautiful building that I didn't know existed until I started wedding planning. It was built in the early 1900s and was originally a bank. I loved the pretty columns and having our dance party under the dome.
What kind of food did you serve?
The day of our actual wedding, we had a nice lunch in downtown Rochester, NY with the small group of family and friends that made the trip.
Our big dinner at the reception was catered by Chef Jack's. We decided on having different stations so everyone (even the picky eater bride and groom) could have exactly what they wanted. We had a meat-carving station, burger station, mac and cheese station, and mashed potato station. Not to mention other sides (like salads #health), and delicious hors d'oeuvres (like mini grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup). Everything I had time to try was delicious- they did a great job!
Describe your wedding cake.
I designed a simple but pretty 4-layer cake with Classy Girl Cupcakes in Milwaukee. The layers were decorated with roses, ruffles, pearls, and polka dots. The flavors were Nutella (duh), Strawberry Lemonade, and S'mores.
What were the decorations like?
This was a fun part of wedding planning, but it was a lot of work! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. We found pretty much everything at Hobby Lobby or on Etsy. I will have plenty of vases and candles to decorate my house with next year ;)
Describe your first dance.
We danced to the Blue Danube Waltz. David LOVES classical music, and this song was very special to him because it's a tradition with his mom's family to listen to the Vienna New Year's Concert (featuring this song) every year. I liked it because it was princess-y and not your typical first dance song. Before David had to leave for France for the summer, we took waltz lessons to step up our game.
What personal touches did you include at your wedding?
Some of my favorites were personalized M&Ms as party favors (with our names, wedding date, a picture of us, and even a Hebrew Mazal Tov), cootie catcher quizzes at the table to learn more about the bride and groom, and a French-American stereotype-themed photo booth.
We also played a slideshow I made of some childhood pictures.
When did you leave the party?
Some couples have a "send-off" and leave before their guests, but since it wasn't our wedding day and we weren't leaving on a honeymoon, we stayed until the bitter end and danced until the last dance. No regrets there- we didn't want the fun to end.
Did you go on a honeymoon?
Not really. On our wedding night, we stayed in a nice hotel in Niagara Falls and stopped to see the falls before driving to Wisconsin the next morning. We couldn't do a long honeymoon because David couldn't take off the time from work. I can't really complain though... we've been able to do so many amazing weekend trips around Europe this year. We're still going to try to do a longer "official" honeymoon at some point.
What were the best and worst parts of the wedding?
The best: the peace and happiness I felt on the wedding day, and sheer amount of fun we had with family and friends at the reception! The worst: the stress of planning and making sure everything got done, and the stress of packing everything and moving to another country so soon afterwards.
All in all, I don't have any regrets! We have great memories and some great pictures to look back on. Our first year of marriage has been a fun and memorable one.
I have already written about our crazy wedding week on the blog. I don't say 'crazy' lightly. We drove to New York, got married, drove back to Wisconsin, had our reception, and moved to France... all in less than a week.
That was written before we had our professional pictures. So, when I found this wedding survey online, I thought it would be fun to do while the details of our big day are still relatively fresh on my mind. (Professional pictures were taken by Lisa Ruth Photography in NY and The Paper Elephant in WI).
How long in between the proposal and the wedding day?
A little less than 6 months! We got engaged on April 2nd, 2016 and were married on September 28, 2016.
Did you have a wedding theme or vision in mind before you started planning?
Yes. Sparkles. Lots of sparkles. With some French flair thrown in (that was my plan before getting engaged to a Frenchman, might I add).
Did you have help with wedding planning?
My mom helped a lot! Unfortunately David wasn't able to help since he was in France for most of the planning process. Let's be honest, he didn't really care about the details anyways.
Was it a local or destination wedding?
Both- sort of. Our ceremony was in upstate New York and our reception was close to home in Waukesha, WI.
Did you have a small or large guest list?
We had a small group at our actual wedding and a not huge but sizable group at our reception. 14 people came to our New York ceremony, and we had about 100 guests at our reception.
How big was the wedding party?
Pretty small! I thought I would have 3 bridesmaids but ended up with 4. David thought he would have 3 groomsmen but ended up with 2. We rolled with it.
What did the bridesmaids wear?
Pink lace dresses. My sister/Maid of Honor wore a silver necklace and shoes. The other girls wore gold necklaces and shoes. Elvera showing up all the way from Africa was a happy surprise, so she just wore what she had!
What were your wedding colors?
Pink, silver, and gold.
Indoors or outdoors?
I hate the outdoors lol. That was never happening. And thankfully it didn't, because it was rainy on our reception day.
Did you see each other before the ceremony?
Yep! I thought about doing a "first look," and I also thought about making sure we didn't see each other until we were inside the temple... but in the end both seemed unnecessary. David saw me in the hotel lobby and then we drove over together. It was more relaxed that way.
Describe your wedding dress and look.
I wore an Allure dress with some custom alterations. The top was white lace with a beaded back. The skirt was full and fluffy in a blush pink color. I also wore sparkly silver/gold 4-inch heels and a pearl headpiece, bracelet, and necklace. There were lots of pearls and sparkles going on.
In addition, I had a light pink sequin evening gown that I wore at our wedding lunch in New York and the dance party in Wisconsin. There's no way I could have sat in a car wearing my ballgown.
We got married in the Palmyra LDS Temple. It is a small temple in a small town surrounded by beautiful green scenery and a lot of history.
The day of our actual wedding, we had a nice lunch in downtown Rochester, NY with the small group of family and friends that made the trip.
Our big dinner at the reception was catered by Chef Jack's. We decided on having different stations so everyone (even the picky eater bride and groom) could have exactly what they wanted. We had a meat-carving station, burger station, mac and cheese station, and mashed potato station. Not to mention other sides (like salads #health), and delicious hors d'oeuvres (like mini grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup). Everything I had time to try was delicious- they did a great job!
Describe your wedding cake.
I designed a simple but pretty 4-layer cake with Classy Girl Cupcakes in Milwaukee. The layers were decorated with roses, ruffles, pearls, and polka dots. The flavors were Nutella (duh), Strawberry Lemonade, and S'mores.
What were the decorations like?
This was a fun part of wedding planning, but it was a lot of work! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. We found pretty much everything at Hobby Lobby or on Etsy. I will have plenty of vases and candles to decorate my house with next year ;)
Describe your first dance.
We danced to the Blue Danube Waltz. David LOVES classical music, and this song was very special to him because it's a tradition with his mom's family to listen to the Vienna New Year's Concert (featuring this song) every year. I liked it because it was princess-y and not your typical first dance song. Before David had to leave for France for the summer, we took waltz lessons to step up our game.
What personal touches did you include at your wedding?
Some of my favorites were personalized M&Ms as party favors (with our names, wedding date, a picture of us, and even a Hebrew Mazal Tov), cootie catcher quizzes at the table to learn more about the bride and groom, and a French-American stereotype-themed photo booth.
When did you leave the party?
Some couples have a "send-off" and leave before their guests, but since it wasn't our wedding day and we weren't leaving on a honeymoon, we stayed until the bitter end and danced until the last dance. No regrets there- we didn't want the fun to end.
Did you go on a honeymoon?
Not really. On our wedding night, we stayed in a nice hotel in Niagara Falls and stopped to see the falls before driving to Wisconsin the next morning. We couldn't do a long honeymoon because David couldn't take off the time from work. I can't really complain though... we've been able to do so many amazing weekend trips around Europe this year. We're still going to try to do a longer "official" honeymoon at some point.
What were the best and worst parts of the wedding?
The best: the peace and happiness I felt on the wedding day, and sheer amount of fun we had with family and friends at the reception! The worst: the stress of planning and making sure everything got done, and the stress of packing everything and moving to another country so soon afterwards.
All in all, I don't have any regrets! We have great memories and some great pictures to look back on. Our first year of marriage has been a fun and memorable one.
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