In honor of our upcoming trip to Jamaica, I though I would share some never before seen footage from our honeymoon in Negril (all g rated - promise).
We're here!
Snorkeling!
this is my absolute favorite picture from our honeymoon!
Bob Marley Shot
Time to go home
I think going on a honeymoon right after our wedding was one of the best decisions we've ever made. We spent a lot of time debating whether or not we should spend the money (here, here, and here) and I'm SO glad we decided to. We had the time of our lives and I couldn't recommend Couples Negril more. Even when I'm really stressed out, memories of our honeymoon make me smile.
Yesterday was our ten month wedding anniversary. I can't believe how quickly time has gone by since saying " I do." This first year of marriage has been so sweet and everyday I am glad to be married.
But, there is also a bit of a sadness in saying goodbye to being Just Married. And, I'm embarrassingly sad to say that I've come to the end of our wedding day recaps. But, just like every good story, every wedding day also ends. And seeing as how my wedding day ended more than ten months ago, I think its time for me to write this final post.
We got all dressed up, took our pictures (here, here), we said our vows, food was eaten, the cake was cut, and we danced the night away. And before I knew it, the DJ was playing our last song.
{Press play to hear our last song, The Adventure by Angels and Airwaves}
I wish I had pictures to show you, so that you could see how magical the last moments were. But, I don't. Our photographer was long gone by then. But, I don't think the pictures would do it justice anyways. Because the magic was not in the aesthetics. It was in the connection between me and Neill.
Neill and I danced together, gripping each other tight. Everything else melted away. We looked into each others eyes and sang to each other
I cannot live, I can't breathe
unless you do this with me
I cannot live, I can't breathe
unless you do this with me
I cannot live, I can't breathe
unless you do this with me
I cannot live, I can't breathe
unless you do this with me
I cannot live, I can't breathe
unless you do this with me
I cannot live, I can't breathe
unless you do this with me
And we just knew. We knew we had gotten the wedding of our dreams. We knew that all the hard work we put into our relationship had given us a strong foundation to start out marriage. We knew that we were in it together, one hundred percent. We knew how lucky we were to be there, at that very moment, together and happy and madly in love. We knew that the future was waiting for us.
Here I am
And here we go
Life's waiting to begin.
Life's waiting to begin.
Thanks so much for letting me share my wedding day with you! It has been so fun to look back on our wedding and I'm even thinking of getting a book made of all of my wedding day posts (read them all here). I know I wouldn't have even thought write this all down if not for you guys, so I'm really grateful to have this blog as an outlet.
Did you and your sweetie share a last dance? What was your last song? What do you remember about the final moments of your wedding reception?
Okay. I'll be honest - this post is just a catch all to document some of the little details that went into our wedding.
We ordered our invitations from Hello Lucky and had Nicolas Lama, a friend, design a custom wedding map for us.
Neill and I got matching custom converse made and also gave a pair to each of Neill's groomsmen (minus the "I DO"). Unfortunately, I ordered mine about too big so I don't get wear them. But, it is fun for me to see Neill wearing his wedding shoes!
Here is a picture of my list minute wedding day jewelry from The Left Bank. For the longest time I was planning on wearing pearls, but then the week before the wedding my mom and I took a trip to The Left Bank and I completely changed my mind.
Our lovely and ridiculously expensive Ann Wood cake-toppers. But damn, aren't they freaking adorable? I spent way more time thinking about our cake-topper than I did what jewelry I was going to wear!
The card box, our guest book, the wedding favors, and the little signs to go with them were are official DIY projects for the wedding. We made the card box by connecting two mini suitcases made by Paper Source and cutting a slot on the top for people to slip their cards into.
We designed our own guest book using photos from our engagement session and had it printed with blurb.
And for our wedding favors we put together little goody bags of treats. Guests could choose jelly beans (sweet) or pistachio nuts (salty). We tied each bag with ribbon and a mini-thank you card we ordered from moo cards. We also put together gift bags for all of our out of town guests, but unfortunately we didn't get a picture of that.
And that's it! As you can see, we didn't go crazy with the details. But, we tried to do enough to give our wedding a personal touch.
Since a big portion of our wedding ceremony centered around exchanging rings, I think our lovelies deserve a post of their own. Plus, buying our wedding bands was one of the most exciting ohmygodwearereallygettingmarried moments of wedding plan. Quite fittingly, while we were busy getting ready, our rings enjoyed a little photo-shoot of their very own.
And here is one last bling shot from after we exchanged rings. I'll admit, sometimes I enjoy just getting lost in the sparkles.
Before officially ending our wedding recaps, there are a few more things about our day that I want to share. I've already described the events of the day (like uh getting married!), but I also want to share all the little details that I spent a year and a half thinking about obsessing over.
The flowers are one of these details. And yes - I am now in a place where I can admit that flowers fall under the category of "details" and not under the category of "big life decisions." What brought about this sanity? Besides the fact that our wedding was more than (gasp) seven months ago and I've gained some perspective, I can honestly cross my heart and hope to die say that I did not notice the flowers at the reception one bit. I was paying attention to so many other, more important things (like my new husband and dancing my arse off) that the flowers just simply didn't register.
Now don't get it twisted - the flowers were gorgeous and I'm about to show you photographic evidence of this. And most likely - if they were anything less then perfection I would have noticed. And that could have been a buzz kill. Thankfully, Elizabeth at Arai Garden did a phenomenal job. She *got* what I was going for with very minimal explanation on my part and executed it to a tee.
Elizabeth dropping off the bouquets
Just for fun, let me remind you of what my inspiration was for the bouquets.
And here is my lovely bouquet! I just couldn't have been happier with how all of the bouquets turned out.
my bouquet was feeling very triumphant
Don't worry, I didn't let the ladies have all the fun. Neill, his groomsmen, and the fathers each got a boutonniere and the moms wore corsages.
For our reception flowers, I knew I wanted to stay away from identical flower arrangements on each table. I was drawn to pictures that had a mis-match, shabby-chic, vibe to them (follow the link to see original post). Since Elizabeth's whole store basically has the aesthetic I wanted for reception, I knew I was in good hands. Neill and I diligently collected vases and mason jars before the wedding, dropped them off to Elizabeth a few days before the reception, and then she worked her lovely magic.
Asrai Garden nailed it right on the head! I mean - those flower arrangements are pretty much rocking my socks off. Even though flowers are just details in the grand scheme of things, it still makes me happy to know that the flowers were just as beautiful as I imagined them to be.
