Rachellelogram,I don’t have any pics online handy but this is almost exactly the same dress she wore in 2007.
http://www.sears.ca/product/jolie-long-matte-dress/648-000050013-639634
That’s beautiful! That’s almost exactly the dress I was looking for for my wedding - I wanted a flowy, chiffon kind of look. I think I was just ahead of the trend - I couldn’t find any chiffon dresses in 2002.
Congrats and best wishes!!!
I’m glad you took the advice for a fancy white dress. When my husband married his first wife (who he loved and honored until the day she died), they were poor and couldn’t afford anything fancy. He once overheard her telling a friend that she had always regretted not having a white wedding dress, and of course he always regretted it.
I didn’t want a BWW, my husband did. In retrospect, I’m glad we did it that way.
As to the big day…remember to deal with parking if it might be a problem.
Oh, and you want thigh high stockings under your dress. Its much easier to deal with skirts that way.
PS. I love your ring.
Just wanted to congratulate you!
Congratulations!
I do not know how many people you are planning to have at the wedding and reception, but you can look into venues where it can all happen at the same place. For ours it was the local Elks club. Ornate ball room, guests sitting around tables for a social hour before the ceremony, then wedding procession, and afterwards the reception, catered as part of the package. Went over real well with everyone. Don’t think it cost too much. We had never cared much for a church wedding, then uprooting everyone and going to a different local for a reception.
You have plenty of time to plan. Just remember to laugh at whatever goes wrong and keep enjoying your day. No amount of planning will make everything turn out he way you think it will, so shoot for general happiness and let things fall as they may. Keeping the circus in one area helps.
Oh, and just about anyone can marry you, all you have to do is get a one day permit from the local authorities, you do not have to find a judge or put up with a preacher you are not familiar with. The attorney who coincidently happened to know both of our parents and families for a long time, got a permit from the city and married us.
Congratulations!
Ooh, I realise I forgot to give you my #1 wedding tip!
Keep as much of your wedding plans to yourself as you can (that’s the plural you, you and your fiance). As you’ve already seen, you can get a great idea, investigate it, then discover it’s really not feasible. But if you’ve told a lot of people about it, you can feel obligated to go ahead anyway. When people ask about your planning, be vague and non-committal, that way no-one knows what to expect and you can change your mind without having to justify it to anyone else.
Yup, we got the word last weekend. My sister and I are already planning the cake.
Posting to update, because everyone loves updates: wedding is this month! The details are all ironed out. We’re getting married at an outdoor pavilion at a local state park. I bought some teal and white tulle, and we’ll be decorating with that instead of crepe paper (because dear god, do I ever hate crepe paper). My sister’s doing our cake–she’s legit, it’ll be fondant and everything. My mom is buying flowers. I opted for silk calla liles, so we’ll get to keep them forever. Groom’s parents are paying for most of the food. Our guest list is about 35, and Wegmans take-out catering offered the best options at our price point. No photographer, but believe it or not! There’s actually an app for that. We’re asking guests to take pictures and upload them to a shared site. No music, no dancing. The reception starts at noon and we’re hoping that everyone will clear out by 5 at the latest.
I really overdid on the favors, tbh. I created 96 stickers to put on 96 plain white matchbooks that say “A perfect match!” with our names and the date. And 3-D place cards filled with blue candy. And blue pinwheels.
It’ll be the first time I’ve seen family since leaving the midwest 2 years ago. Should be a good time, but I’ll still be relieved once the pomp and circumstance are over.
I’m happy for you and hope all goes well.
I really like the down-played version of your plans. More people should jettison the wedding industry in place of simple plans. My wedding 20 years ago cost $15,000. Worst investment ever!
Bonne chance!
Enjoy your wedding, then go on to enjoy your marriage a million times more.
My mother says this, too. She says the idea is not to suggest to the bride that she pulled off an upset victory in snagging the groom, while reminding the guy he is lucky to have won the hand of such a treasure.
I’m happy to see this update. I’d been thinking about you in the last couple of weeks and I was wondering how things were going.
It sounds lovely. Wishing you a stress free happy day.
Congratulations! And it sounds like you have everything well arranged.
Wedding favours are awesome - I’ve liked the ones at the weddings I’ve been to that have had them (the most recent was chocolate bars with stickers of the couple on them). It’s nice to give your guests a souvenir, especially if they give you a gift.
What are you doing about gifts, btw? The last one I went said, genuinely, that they didn’t expect a gift. But there was a cardboard post box off to one side so that anyone who wanted to give money or a gift card could do so. They didn’t want stuff because, well, this is 2015 and everyone has a toaster. Nice way of doing it, I think, so that gift-givers can still give but nobody’s pressured to.
Congratulations it all sounds wonderful! I love that you didn’t feel the need to conform, and did it your way! Well done!
Also, I adore the whole perfect match favours, very cute!
(But I gotta ask, why make 96 for a wedding of 35 guests? I’m inventing all sorts of ridiculous reasons, in my head now! I’m leaning toward a parallel universe type reason!)
Here’s to a fantastic day for both of you!
raises virtual glass of bubbles
96 matchbooks because I wanted everyone to have at least 2, and our original guest list was in the low 40s.
Great thought! I have a gift box because our families will want to give money (6 bucks on amazon, woo). Not expecting anything large though, since everyone is traveling anywhere from an hour to 12 hours away.
Many thanks for all the kind wishes 
There’s a line in a book - the name of which I’ve forgotten - where one character remarks to another that he always gives wine at weddings because then it’s enjoyed by both. So if you’re thinking about setting up a cellar, that might be something to consider.