Sparkly Rings

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend! Mine was wonderful, I met some more of Matt's extended family and he got to show me around where he grew up. It was so nice being with Matt for Thanksgiving, and yesterday was our easiest goodbye yet. (It was our last one! He comes to bring me back out west in two weeks.)

Now, I just have to get through finals.

Meanwhile, I'm loving these sparkly rings for the holidays.

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P.S. More rings.

Our Wedding Featured on Style Me Pretty!

We are so honored to have our wedding featured today on Style Me Pretty! Our photographer Adam Barnes did an absolutely amazing job capturing our wedding. Check it out here.

Thanksgiving

Happy early Thanksgiving! I'm off to see Matt (finally...we haven't seen each other since mid-October.) We'll have Thanksgiving with his family, and on Saturday we're having a reception for his friends and family that couldn't make it to our wedding. So excited!

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I have so much to be thankful for this year.

My new husband.

Chick-Fil-A's Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshakes. I'm obsessed with them. I may weigh 400 pounds come graduation.

That I found a recipe for Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshakes so I can make them every day for the rest of my life.

A new sparkly gold skirt.

My family.

My education.

That I graduate in 17 days.

Have a happy, happy Thanksgiving!

I've Found a Safe Place {A Wedding Video}

Have I mentioned that our photographer is amazing? A friend of his gave him a video camera to film the birth of his firstborn daughter, and he was able to do some filming at our wedding to practice. So thankful to have this.

**Edit: The song in this video is called "Safe Place" and it can be downloaded here.

{Our Wedding} The Reception

Just a few shots from our reception.:) Thanks so much for being so sweet about our wedding, it's been so fun sharing it with all of you!

© www.adambarnesphoto.com 2010

What I Want To Wear Today

Love this outfit.

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{Our Wedding} First Dance

I loved our first dance song. It was Ingrid Michaelson's version of "Can't Help Falling In Love." (Have a listen at the bottom of this post.)

I would like to say that our first dance was amazingly and utterly romantic but for whatever reason I got completely freaked out by all of the attention. Matt kept trying to dip me and spin me and I wouldn't go! 

I finally let him do a dip at the end. :)

© www.adambarnesphoto.com 2010

Tucked-Under Braid

Wouldn't this be so pretty for a bride?

Directions here.

{Our Wedding} The Decor

Our wedding was entirely DIY. While I'm finishing up school, I live with my sister-in-law's parents. Her mother, Janae, is incredibly talented and has an amazing eye. Since I was planning a wedding while still in school, Janae worked with me to perfect every last detail, I couldn't have done it without her!


Our guestbook was a framed mat that we had made, with one of our engagement pictures in the center. I can't wait to display it in our home!

Our centerpieces were fairly simple. Over the course of planning the wedding, we collected milk glass vases of varying shapes and sizes. We just ordered a bunch of loose stems from the florist, and arranged them in the vases the day of the wedding.

I am a details person. So many of the details were either made or from thrift stores. Our favors were stamped paper bags filled with candies. I loved how the candies looked displayed in their jars!

This is a more sentimental decoration, but I'm so glad we did it. We found an inexpensive garden trellis and strung pictures of Matt and I from when we were little.

Over the summer, my mom, sisters, and I made about two-hundred ribbon wand wavers. (Here are the instructions.) Sparklers were a no-go for the venue, so we opted for something less hazardous. :) I wasn't sure how they'd look with our guests waving them as we were leaving, but it ended up looking really pretty! Pictures of that to come. :)

I love this sign I bought from here.

Our gorgeous wedding cake, flavored with lavender. Made by my friend and bridesmaid, Lauren.

Our wedding started at 7 pm, so we had an all-dessert reception. A friend made ten, huge layer cakes and we ordered some fruit tarts from Whole Foods. (A lot of our cake recipes came from here.) Janae made the gorgeous croquembouche.

This was my absolute dream come true, and I still can't believe that we were able to have hanging, lit chandeliers at our outdoor wedding. I had collected five chandeliers, all from thrift stores (and all $12 or less! Thrift store owners were willing to barter when I told them it was for my upcoming nuptials.) We sanded them down, and re-painted them gold. One of my best friend's dad is an electrician, and he spent the day before and day of stringing the lights from tree to tree. I seriously felt like I was in a magical fairy-tale land the entire reception.

© www.adambarnesphoto.com 2010

Up next: Our first dancey-poo.

Bar Rings

These are the coolest ever.

found via | image via

{Our Wedding} The Ceremony

I loved how much of our family was involved with our wedding. Matt's dad is a pastor and he officiated the wedding. My cousin sang for our ceremony, my brother played the bagpipes, and my youngest brother read scripture. It was so meaningful to have so much of our family involved!

© www.adambarnesphoto.com 2010