There's a new kid in town :D

Hey guys, I think you might enjoy a new blog called 'Styled' that I've just created. It's still coming out of it's shell, but I love it already :) 

I needed a place that was devoted to event prettiness and creativity.

Hope you all find bunches of inspiration in it.

Happy Tuesday!!!!

Guest Post-Wedding Planning On Your Own and With a Budget "A Labor of Love" :)

A wonderful friend of mine has graciously agreed to share her wedding for this blog. The pictures below show a bit of how lovely it was, which made the budget an even bigger surprise! Brides on a dime, be encouraged! More than that, the personal touches made this a special wedding; the type that inspires me for my wedding someday.


Enjoy!

Remembering A Labor of Love

Perhaps one of those remarkable things about my wedding are the stats:

250 Guests

7 Bridesmaids, 7 Groomsmen

1 Meal served

1 Custom wedding gown

In a historic German Opera House venue in Downtown New Braunfels, TX

…Budget: $6,000 (and when the dust settled, we had spent less than $5,500)

I think there are two basic trains of thought when planning a wedding.  The first is to basically cut corners where you can, do what you can do yourself, take advantage of connections and resources available, and maybe even compromise on a few things that you wanted, all in the name of a fun challenge and having a budget-minded, but “labor of love” wedding.  The second train of thought is to throw all sheets to the wind and have everything done by professionals in order to ensure all friends and family can sit back, relax, and enjoy the event, even if it takes a few years to pay off.  There is nothing wrong with either approach, but we chose to accept all of the offers for help that were given to us and go with the first method.

This is definitely one of my favorite pictures and definitely the one most people remember my wedding by.  Make sure to get some fun ones!

One of the biggest blessings to be was that my bridesmaids - all friends from different times and places in my life - hit it off with each other immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My inspiration for my wedding came from citrus fruit.  Even a year and a half later, I still love the way yellow, orange, gray, and lime pop out on a dark gray background.  My mom thought gray was an awful color choice and fought it much of the way, and I compromised on that a lot.  I had wanted the bridesmaid dresses to be gray or pewter, but oh well.  The girls had fun with green (c:

My dear friend and sister to my Maid of Honor let me borrow so many glass items and floral arrangements from her own wedding - not to mention put them together beautifully.  Better than I could have imagined for sure!!

Waiting to be paired up and head down the aisle!

I can’t even list all of the help that we received in our 8 month long preparations.  Dorm mates helped with the handmade invitations and programs, amazing, talented friends did the decorations, my cousin’s husband learned how to play Blue October’s “Calling You” on guitar for our processional, close friends did our MCing and DJing, many of my mom’s friends pitched in a LOT to serve food, long-time family friends in the photography business gifted me with their time, talent, and photos.  My parents, uncles, and some of the groomsmen arrived a few days early to BBQ all of the chickens and briskets themselves ahead of time – I would estimate that over 50% of my guests were involved in some way in making it come together for us.

I have received some criticism for putting my friends and family to work.  If I had it to do over again, if any of them felt used or taken advantage of, in a heartbeat I would have had a tiny family-only wedding.  We only asked those who offered - we had to assume their offer was genuine and not just polite!  I hope and pray that they know now how much their effort means to us and that they do not feel taken advantage of.  This might be something for brides-to-be to keep in mind. 

My talented aunt made my wedding dress.  How could a bride get any luckier than to have someone offer this gift?  I am extremely grateful to her and I loved it.  However, the flip side of the coin is that if you have someone giving you something like this so generously, it can be difficult to be honest if you don’t like something.  Just another thing to keep in mind (c;

I did NOT know he was going to dip me, but he did it successfully and smoothly (could have been a disaster!)

After I came up for air, catching my balance.  Also, a good shot of the tile ceiling (c:

We married and partied in the same room at this historic German opera house in Downtown New Braunfels.  The original wood floors and especially the tiled pewter ceiling won my heart.  And the price on a Sunday was only $800 if I remember right.  

Not knowing what to do for the exit (rice, bubbles, sparklers, etc.) but wanting to be different, we came up with kazoos and clappers from a party store.  It went over great!

 

Little sister had mixed emotions, what a sweetheart.

 

When I look back at the pictures, sure there are things I would have done differently, but I remember the part each person who helped played and can’t help but be thankful for them each time.  And I got my man, the most important part of all!!

Kendra's blog http://artandother.blogspot.com/ is chock full of fun reading and practical advice :) Follow!

Thank you again Kendra for sharing!

Traci and Zach, December 18th, 2010 :D

This is the wedding of a good friend of mine. I LOVED her colors because they are unique & classy. The color champagne was a bit difficult to come by but it came together better than I hoped!

Remember the inspiration board for this wedding that I posted a while ago? 

There was some tweaking as the big day approached. That should be expected. Plan to be flexible and you will have a phenomenal day! :D

This is how the reception hall started out...

This is four hours later...

...and these are during the reception :)

The reception was a blast thanks to DJ Casey Brown and caterer Traditions!

Photographer Tracie Grogan made her debut as a wedding photographer and it worked out quite well :) More of her work can be found here.

Petals handled all of the floral arrangements and did an exceptional job coming through with some last minute changes. :)

Now enjoy more scrumptious wedding moments :)

( Yes, those are Toms :) )

Each of the bridesmaid's bouquets matched the boutonniere of the groomsman they walked with :)

( I LOVE that Annabelle's dress is a miniature of Traci's :D )

Tip: If using sparklers, get the long ones so everyone has time to get theirs lit before the sendoff

How about some 'bloopers'? ;) 

Supposedly this has to do with the jacket being small....I'm not convinced :P

I DO know they actually met this donkey while taking pics downtown. The groomsman directly in front of it doesn't seem too excited about the hairy mammal... 

No words.... :)

Traci and Zach, thank you for letting me be a part of your incredible day!

WEDnesday WEDding Shot :)

Here's a teaser from my most recent wedding that I can't wait to blog in full!

It was such a relief to see the vision executed as, or better than hoped :)

Thanks to lots of willing hands, and a wonderful bride this turned out to the prettiest receptions ever held in the venue that was chosen :) That's not my opinion, that was said by a few seasoned veterans. I love my job :) Thank you God

Events...

   Another favorite thing is my part time occupation of Event Coordination. This has spanned everything from church conferences to weddings. Here is my prettiest event to date :) The Villasana-Warren wedding, in May.

They chose to have a 'First Look', where the bride and groom meet alone, before the wedding ensues.

I highly recommend it to every future couple.

You cant beat these expressions  :D

Instead of a traditional arch, we framed the altar with Jean's favorite color :)

I love how kids make the simplest things adorable! 

The bridesmaids dresses were a bit tricky...

The perfect color could only be found in a floor length style. Thanks to a quick thinking bridesmaid, and invaluable seamstress, these were easily altered :)

...and came out stunning :)

Word of advice; brace yourself for all kinds of nutty behavior, from the ones you love most, on your wedding day. Sad but true. In their defense, they are completely unaware of what they are doing ;)

ahem. :) Back to the wedded loveliness...

... a few more lovely details that made the day :)

...for the guest book table...

...for a table at the reception...

tip: Buy flowers in bulk, have them delivered to a trusted friend who will make your arrangements. The selection might not be as varied, but florists charge five to ten times what bulk costs.

finally some r&r for the wedding party...

AND last but not least, the best part of all....

havin a PARTY!!! :D

p.s. I would recommend having a good dj/playlist, to help everyone find their groove ;) There are no professional pic's but the MOG was seen doing the cuban shuffle ;-D

Also helpful, for an amazing wedding overall, is a stellar photographer like Alex Maldonado :)

See his blogs on Jean and James at

http://alexmphotography.com/20100412/bridal-photography-palestine-tx-2/

and

http://alexmphotography.com/20100602/wedding-photography-palestine-tx/