This is the first picture ever taken of us together, at my 16th Birthday party...I had been too shy to invite him, so my sister did it for me! That's also one of my bridesmaids (Megan) in the front. My dad had flown her down to Florida from Cleveland as my birthday gift.
Before my senior homecoming in high school (1999).
This is before FI's senior prom, 2001. Before his prom started we were walking around downtown St. Pete, and people kept congratulating us on our wedding! We thought it was funny. And, a mere 5 years later, it will be true! :-)
Us before a Gator football game in 2002. Go Gators!
This is us in the Cayman Islands in 2004 (also where we're going for our honeymoon). The resort we stayed at had a Newlywed Game as part of their evening festivities, and they had let us play even though we weren't even engaged. In this picture, we had just WON! We beat 3 sets of newlyweds, and a couple that had been married for 7 YEARS! We won a bottle of rum and a set of rum cakes, yum.
And this is before the fabulous Cavs v. Wizards play-off game 6 in 2006. This picture was actually posted on the Cavs website!
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Engagement Pictures
Engagement photos were taken by Erica of Tait Photography, by the FDR Memorial and Tidal Basin in DC
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And now onto the wedding plans!!!!
The Bridal Party
My beautiful sister Heather will be my maid of honor! I'm lucky to have a sister like her.
This is me with my cousin Molly, one of my bridesmaids, on New Year's Eve 2006.
This is another bridesmaid, Megan. She's an old childhood friend from Cleveland. Here we are at Jacob's Field in 2004.
This is Kristina, my college roommate and the fourth bridesmaid.
This is Eric's brother Ronnie, with his wife Stephanie. Ronnie will be a groomsman.
This is my fiance with Groomsman Jeff. Jeff and Eric went to high school together, were college roommates, and Jeff is still our roommate now in DC.
This is Eric with groomsman Ryan, his childhood friend.
FI with groomsman John, his friend from high school.
To ask the girls to be my bridesmaids, I made them these frames with black and white pictures of us as kids for Molly and Heather, and a nice recent pic for Megan and Kristina. The mats are all in their favorite colors, and I bought cards for them too. They loved them!
For Heather
For Molly
For Megan
And for Kristina!
>
Here's Heather's all wrapped up, you can see the card.
And, here's Heather opening her gift:
Awww sisterly love!
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Planning Pictures
The obligatory disclaimer: I started collecting pics before I even thought about making a bio, so if any of these are yours, page me on the West Coast FL board for credit or removal! Thanks! :-)
The Ceremony: Trinity Lutheran Church
I chose this church because it has a very "northern" feel to it...it is just a different architectural style than most Florida churches. It is located in downtown St. Pete, next to the Coliseum. The Pastor there is Pastor Van Horne, who is very nice.
This is the aisle that I will walk down!
My favorite part: the stained glass windows! There are 3 windows on each side of the church, as well as in the front above the altar.
Here's a wedding at the church, this is knottie Belle309kt. So beautiful!
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The Reception: The Grand Ballroom at the Mahaffey Theater
The Mahaffey Theater has just recently been remodeled...in fact, they are still finishing it up. It is just gorgeous though, with great views. This is the front of the theater where the guests will enter.
This is the side of the building. The ballroom is actually that row of square windows on the second floor.
This is the staircase in the lobby of the Mahaffey. The ballroom and cocktail hour area are on the second floor.
This is the upper atrium, where we will hold our cocktail hour.
The view from the upper atrium
The Grand Ballroom
Some of the views from the Ballroom windows (the fountain in the first picture will be on during the reception)
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Decor
The colors: deep red with light blush pink accents
For centerpieces, we're thinking of doing something with cherry blossoms (silk), but it's still up in the air. Here are a couple inspiration pictures:
The first is from knottie ihearttim, and I can't remember where the second is from.
Some other centerpieces I like:
I'd like to do something like this along the bar
We are definitely doing this! We'll have a rose tucked in the napkin at each place setting. First pic is from Martha Stewart, second is from knottie beachbride2.
We'll probably do something like this to decorate the church pews, from knottie Mrs.Bond. I think I'll use a satin ribbon instead of the tulle, though.
I like these table numbers, from knottie ptginesa.
Thinking about doing poppers like these for favors, filled with chocolates and maybe a little crossword puzzle or something like that. My grandma used to get these for the whole family at Christmas and have them set out at the dinner table. I think it might be fun to re-create that....but we'll see. I'm not sold on the favor idea at all just yet.
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Flowers
I want a bouquet of JUST red roses, like this one from Knottie Effy386.
Another shot of Effy386's bouquet, love it!
I also was considering holding a prayer book decorated with roses instead of a bouquet. My grandmother did this for her wedding, and I thought it might be a nice tribute to her, considering that she and my grandfather are the ideal example of true, till-death-do-us-part love. If I decide on a bouquet anyway, I will tie her wedding ring to the stems with a pretty ribbon in her honor.
This is my grandmother and grandfather on their wedding day, and a good shot of her prayer book! I would love to re-create this shot. I think it's so beautiful.
Boutonniere idea
Love these bouquet ideas for the bridesmaids
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Save the Dates
Our Save-the-Date magnets from Vistaprint(minus our website on the bottom).
The front of my DIY STD card (this one was my mock-up, so there are some spacing issues that did get fixed). Local guests got one with just the front side, but out-of-town guests also had additional info on the back:
The back of the Save-the-date with info for OOT guests, which includes information about the nearest airports, accommodations, and rental cars
DIY STD supplies: -Envelopes from Envelopemall.com
-Paper from Paper Source
-Scotch clear mounting squares purchased from Staples, used for attaching the magnet to the card
-Printable labels that we planned to print our monogram on to seal the envelope, but never did (I got lazy)
-Corner rounder punch from Staples
-Zots adhesive dots from Paper Source, used to attach the blush pink cards to the red base card
-Magnets from Vistaprint
*DIY Instructions available upon request (contact info at bottom of bio)*
Me assembling the STDs - My first DIY project!
FI was in charge of putting the stamps on
Mailing the finished STDs! I was happy to have them done!
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Invitations
We had our invites designed by Design by Sofia, who has been so wonderful to work with so far! Here is an early draft of the invitation she is designing for us:
The top is the front of the invite with the beautiful cherry blossom graphic Sofia created for us. The bottom is the back of the invite...the pink strip is a ribbon, which will have the reception and RSVP cards tucked underneath it. We're still working at it, this was just an early mockup, but I am soooo excited about how they are coming along!
Below are some of the invites we relied on for inspiration:
From White Aisle
From BellaTerra
Here are my beautiful inviations when they arrived! Love them.
My invitation-addressing workstation. I addressed all of them by myself in one night!
One of my "just for fun" invites, and half a shot of our Zazzle stamps (Pic of the Jefferson Memorial and cherry blossoms that FI took)
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Other Paper
Love this program..I can't remember where I got the pic
Bridesmaid newsletter, front and back. (Shutterfly cut off the sides a little bit, but you get the idea.) I designed it in Powerpoint and printed it on brochure paper. I used it basically just to let the girls know about the website and get the discussion started about dress options. The girls seemed to like it!
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Cakes
LOVE the detail on this one, from www.bakemeacake.net
From knottie kristinp36: I think this cake is gorgeous, and very unique.
Beautiful cake from knottie mrs.amy86
Our Groom's cake inspiration! It will be the Gator head logo. FI wouldn't have it any other way!
GO GATORS!!!
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The Bridesmaids' Attire
My gorgeous bridesmaids will be wearing Bill Levkoff #315 in Cranberry:
This is the website picture, and I hate it. I would NEVER have picked this dress for them to try based on this picture. However, in person it is gorgeous. It is very flowy and light, which will hopefully keep them cool in the summer heat. It was by far the most flattering dress they tried on!
Here it is on Heather and Molly! They love it.
I guess the dress actually comes with a long rectangular brooch on the side where it gathers, but I don't know if I like it with a brooch at all or with that brooch in particular. We may try something else. This pic is of Heather modeling it with a different brooch style.
They're going to be beautiful!
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My Dress
Right after I got engaged, before I even wanted to start looking at dresses, I stumbled upon a picture of this dress:
...Maggie Sottero's Capri. I was completely taken aback because this was THE DRESS that I had been picturing in my mind for years, without having looked at any magazines, or websites, or whatever. This was literally my dream dress. So, I tried on the Capri Marie (similar dress, different neckline) at a bridal salon and loved it, but wasn't ready to be done with the dress shopping thing yet.
Well, I couldn't get this dress out of my head and after a couple of months I stumbled upon it on Ebay. It was a bridal store selling the store sample of the dress, in my size and the colors I wanted! I ended up getting it for a great deal and it fits me perfectly. The only alterations it needed were a bustle and some minor tightening of a few of the beads.
Here are some pics from my first fitting, 6/23/07:
Love it!
Seamstress pinning up the bustle, which you can kind of see in the mirror (I didn't think to take a pic of the actual bustle, duh)
Me and my sister/MOH at our fitting
For anyone who might be wondering, this is the white/blush version, and I am wearing it with a 3-hoop crinoline, which I also got from ebay ("angelsbridal").
A few more shots of dress details:
The back...excuse the sunburn and the fact that it's not laced up properly!
Close-up of the beading on the bodice
The detail on the pick-ups
Closeup of the corset back (laced properly!)
Some bustle ideas:
I adore this bustle from knottie jbella130, but I'm not sure how it would look on a pickup dress. So, here's some pickup bustle ideas:
First is from knottie jaqattack, and second is from knottie bride071706
First from knottie cdnmandy and second from knottie nannersp
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Other Attire
My Mom's dress (except in pink), which she got from Chadwicks for a GREAT price. Here she is modeling it with me:
Isn't she beautiful? She's really going to steal the show, I think.
Rehearsal dinner dress, from JCrew.
Rehearsal dinner shoes, I found them on sale for $7 and they're very cute! They'll be good to wear on the honeymoon, too.
I love the "Mrs." hoodie idea to wear while getting ready on the wedding day, but since I am an August Florida bride, I think I'll pass on the sweatshirt. So, my Florida version is this halter top from www.customizedgirl.com!
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Hair & Makeup
I'll be wearing my hair all up and curly, largely because of the heat and humidity of Florida in August!
My inspiration - so romantic!
Pics from my hair and makeup trial:
Closest shot I have of my makeup - I love it!
The back/side with hair brooch from qvc.com
Side view
Different lighting, with the veil
Just for fun - I love this shot of me and my mom in the mirror when I first put on the veil (which was hers!)
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Jewelry & Accessories
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE knottie camacho's veil and this picture! So beautiful.
My mom is making my veil out of her own old veil! Here I am holding it up with my dress:
She wore it attached to a juliet cap, which she removed and attached it to combs for me. This was before she had changed it, but I just wanted to get an idea of what it would look like first! I think this will be a great "something old."
Front veil shot with the blusher at my hair/makeup trial (after my mom altered the veil for me)
My wedding shoes! Nina Ettora in Pink, purchased from Solestruck.com
I'll be wearing these earrings from White Aisle:
They're much sparklier than they look in this picture. I really like them!
I'll be wearing this brooch in my hair, from qvc.com, the Jacqueline Kennedy collection.
My something blue, and an early wedding gift from FI! A blue topaz (his birthstone) ring - I love it! Here it is live and in the flesh:
And of course, the most important jewelry of all - THE WEDDING BAND! It's a simple platinum band, that matches the band of my e-ring perfectly. I think it's very classic and elegant, and can't wait to wear it!
The usual "doesn't do it justice" ring shot of my engagement ring and wedding band together
FI's wedding band! It was quite a feat to find one he loved, but this one was definitely it. He loves the brushed gold center. Purchased from Helzberg Diamonds
Other accessories....
I am planning to order this monogrammed garter from angelthreadsnyc.com, in white
My Gators toss garter, purchased on ebay from seller lcwmw (Store name: Custom Garters)
This is a swatch of the Scottish tartan for my maiden name. I plan to pin a swatch of the tartan fabric to the inside of my dress, both as one of my something blue's and to represent who I will always be underneath! (is that corny?)
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Honeymoon
We'll be going to Grand Cayman and staying at Morritt's Tortuga Seaside resort:
FI's dad has a timeshare here that he is letting us use. We've been here several times together already, so we know it's fabulous! Plus, it will all be new when we go - they're just finishing up rebuilding after most of the resort was destroyed in Hurrican Ivan. We had really wanted to go somewhere new for the honeymoon, but this was so much more affordable thanks to the timeshare, and really the only downside is that we already know how hard it will be to leave when the trip is over! So, I'm excited. Here's a few more pics:
The view from the verandah/restaurant - this was pre-hurricane, though, so this had changed a bit now.
A hot tub, pool bar, and disappearing-edge pool on the beach - niiiiiiice!
Another shot of the disappearing-edge pool, isn't it gorgeous?
And just for fun, a couple pics of FI and me when we were there last (June 2004):
Relaxing :-)
On a Sunset Sail
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My Vendors
*For vendor reviews, please see my Married Bio*
Ceremony Location
Trinity Lutheran Church
Contact: Pastor Van Horne (727) 822-3307
Reception Location
The Grand Ballroom at the Mahaffey Theater
Contact: Jill (727) 892-5746
Bridal Gown
Maggie Sotteros Capri, bought from Ebay store "Bridals Best"
Bridesmaids' Dresses
Bill Levkoff #315, ordered from RK Bridal
Engagement Pictures
Innova Photography
(Washington, DC)
Wedding Photographer
Jason Angelini Photography
Caterer & Bakery
Catering by Olympia
D.J.
Rob Sword of Sword Sounds
Wedding Coordinator
Amanda Allen of MMD Events
Invitations
Design by Sofia
Hair and Makeup
Darla Stafford
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (813) 929-9263
*If you need to reach me for any reason (photo credit, questions, whatever) page me on the West Coast FL board, or email KNOTTIE.MRSMEW @ YAHOO.COM*
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Thanks for looking!
