Wedding!
Recaps
Wedding Recap 1: Getting Ready + First Look
Wedding Recap 4: Family + Wedding Party Photos
Details
My dress was from Priscilla of Boston.
Our bridesmaid dresses were also from Priscilla of Boston. I asked our bridesmaids to choose a knee-length dress in a shade of blue. They all ended up with different styles, but they looked fantastic together in the end! Our officiant chose a dress in a deep purple so that she would be set apart but still coordinate with the bridesmaids.
Our officiant was our friend, Cordelia, who got ordained in order to conduct our ceremony.
Both the ceremony and reception were held in the rooftop sculpture garden (and Fresco restaurant) at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Since the location was so gorgeous, we did very little decorating!
We served hors d’oeuvres and made-to-order small plates.
Our photographer was Blue Dandelion Photography. We LOVED both our engagement and wedding pictures…highly recommend them!
I made our Save-the-Dates out of one of our engagement pictures.
We ordered our invitations from Paper Source
I designed and printed our guest book through blurb.com using our engagement pictures.
The day before the wedding, my parents and I went to the Dane County Farmer’s Market to pick out flowers. Rather than planning out exactly what I wanted beforehand, I chose to buy whatever was in season and looked good. We ended up with ranunculus for the bridesmaids and flower girl, and lilies (my favorite!) for me. They looked great, we saved a lot of money, and we supported local businesses.
Something Old….
Pins on my headband are actually clip-on earrings that originally belonged to my great-grandmother (mom’s side).
Something New…
My dress was new, as were my shoes!
Something Borrowed…
The pearls I wore were left by my late grandmother (dad’s side) to my little sister. She allowed me to wear them for my big day!
Something Blue…
I wrapped up my bouquet with a blue ribbon.
Our Wedding Philosophy
Several aspects of our wedding were not “traditional.” We liked it this way. We wanted the wedding to reflect us and our relationship.
The “wedding industry” often says that you should spend x% of your budget on invitations, y% on the flowers, etc.
Dan and I didn’t.
We had a relatively “small” wedding budget. It really isn’t small, but when compared to the average cost of a wedding today (almost $30,000!!), it isn’t large.
So we didn’t spend hundreds of dollars on flowers that would wilt, or invitations that most people wouldn’t keep.
We spent money on our location and the food, because this is what people will remember. (And as a foodie, I couldn’t have sub-par food at my own wedding!) We spent money on the things that are important to us.
I am not judging people who do want a more traditional wedding, or who do pay for pricey invitations, flowers, etc. It just isn’t my own, personal style.
