Looking through all the pictures, I am reminded of how much our friends and family helped us with various aspects of the wedding. When we got engaged, and were just starting to think about how we envisioned our wedding, we both agreed on the idea that we wanted it to be a celebration of our family, friends, and of our love for one another. We recognized the level of talent and creativity we had within our reach, and we wanted to utilize that, and do things as "handmade" as we could. That said, my "handmade wedding gifts" post, would not be complete without recognizing the gifts that were given in the form of talents contributed to our wedding - from start to finish.
Soon after getting engaged, January 2010, we went home to Binghamton, to celebrate with our family and friends there. I can remember looking through a wedding magazine, and seeing a Save The Date that had been printed on a vintage hanker-chief. As soon as I saw it, I knew - I had to figure out a way to make this work. Initially, I thought it would be way too expensive, but after further investigation, and some EBay stalking, I discovered I could actually get the hankies pretty cheap - CHECK. Next, how to print them? At first I thought gocco, but that didn't work out so well. The font was too small and the ink too goopy. Then, David reminded me that our good friend Matt, screen-prints T-shirts! AND, David thought he remembered Matt screen-printing hankies for one of his bands!! I was beyond excited at the thought that we might actually be able to pull this off.
The end result exceeded my expectations! They came out beautifully! There were probably about 15 different hankie designs. David and I had fun picking out specific hankies to match specific guests' personalities and styles. We wrapped the hanker-chiefs around the RSVP cards and tied them up with ribbon. The RSVP and Save The Date post cards were both designed by our friend (David's co-worker) Andy.
Mindy, one of my bridesmaids, is a hair stylist. We've been friends since college, and somewhere along the way, she gave me the nickname, "lady lovely locks." When she offered to do my hair and make-up for the wedding, I was stoked! We did somewhat of a trial run for the hair a few weeks before the wedding - enough of a trial run to at least get an idea of what I wanted . . . but let me tell you, when I looked in the mirror (and even more so when I saw the pictures) I was just blown away. She did such an amazing job. Mindy also made my hair fascinator - which was gorgeous!
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| photo by KMD Creations |
It's funny because when I was planning everything, I had somewhat of a vision of what I wanted things to look like - but it was hard to explain to people. I couldn't describe specifics, it was more of a style. For the flowers, make-up, hair, etc. I gave the people doing them a vague idea of what I wanted, and then trusted them to do their thing. I just knew It would work out, and that I would love it. And everything really did come out perfect! Just what I had imagined, but hadn't been able put into words, or find the right picture. It was just perfect.
Jeff, Andrea, and Brian, our dear, dear friends at the Owl House in Rochester, NY gave us the rehearsal dinner of our dreams! Brian, who takes the credit for introducing David and I, put his heart and soul into creating and making a simply scrumptious dinner. He always spoils us (and we love it!)Boston misses Chef Van Etten! I think everyone there, was in awe of both the Owl House, and the dinner. If you are anywhere near Rochester, do yourself a favor and go to the Owl House (and more than once!)
Oh, and Jeff's Mom did all our flowers!
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| photo by KMD Creations |
One of the biggest, and best decisions we made when planning our wedding was the choice of our photographer. Kristen and Todd at KMD Creations were absolutely the best! They really went above and beyond what we hoped for. We now have lots of stunning photographs, and two new friends! The week of the wedding, we got our guest book in the mail, accompanied by this little DVD of some of our engagement photos. An early, and totally unexpected wedding gift. It was such a nice surprise during a kind of stressful week.
Another "big and best" decision was our choice of venue. From the moment we walked into Artisan Works, we knew we had to find a way to make it work . . . there was just no way we could not have it here. It was unique, vintage, modern, busy, crazy, and just "us." During the cocktail hour, the coordinator there pulled us aside and said the owner of Artisan Works had something for us. The painting of the bride and groom is now hanging on our bedroom wall, and is a lovely reminder of what a beautiful, and perfect day it was.
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| photo by KMD Creations |
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| photo by KMD Creations |
There are still a couple of handmade gifts in the making - both of which we are really excited about. My brother and sister-in-law gave us the very generous gift of having their best friend do our videography. The editing is still in the works, and we cannot wait to see it!
And, you're not going to believe this one, but our good friend Todd is making us custom jeans! He is currently apprenticing under a designer in New York, and is specializing in denim. Finally, the perfect pair of jeans - I can't wait!
I'm sure this won't be last of my wedding reminiscing. -L
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