dressing the bride....

After the bridesmaids got dressed in one of the King Suites at our bed and breakfast, my MOH Lindi, my mom and I went to the main house of the b&b to my mom's room to "dress the bride" - we decided to do a "first look" [the next post]. I got dressed upstairs in my mom's room and then I went down the stairs to my groom. So here are some additional bridal details and the "getting dressed" process...

My beautiful dress...

My bridal hair....

"Dressing the bride"

putting on those last final touches....

the final product - tada!

borrrowed, blue, old & new... [bridal details]

I put a fair amount of thought into my something borrowed, blue, old and new - and then a little bit of it was just happenstance. These pictures are some of my favorites of the wedding because it highlights some items that are very important to me and that I wanted to be a part of our wedding.

Something Blue:
Well, my undies were my original something blue (lovely pair of unmentionables from two of my besties and bridesmaids Kelly and Lindsey) and also my shoes played a more "visible" role of my something blue.  Here are my shoes ($12 from Target), that I fancied up with shoe clips ($22.50 from Absolutely Audrey). Along with my bouquet that my bridesmaids, mom and I made ourselves!

Something Borrowed:
The majority of my jewelry was my something borrowed. I borrowed a beautiful pearl bracelet from my mother-in-law and earrings from one of my best friends and bridesmaids Lindsey (that she wore in her wedding). I opted not to wear a necklace to just keep the simple look that I was going for and to not detract from the detail of my dress.

Something Old
I wanted to have honor both my mom and dad on my wedding day and instead of buying a new purse I used one of my mom's vintage purses, which was just beautiful and perfect. Also, the idea of my wedding without my father was definitely a difficult one so I knew he had to be a part of it in many ways. One of the ways that I carried him with me was I carried his pocketknife [that he always had with him] in my pocket through the duration of the wedding. Not something super visible, but something close to my heart and special to me.

Something New:
So originally my something new was going to be my wedding dress but on the day before the wedding DJ surprised me with a beautiful diamond ring. I never had an engagement ring as we eloped and just exchanged wedding bands. When his mom was moving his grandmother from NJ to GA she found a diamond ring that belonged to DJ's Great Aunt and called DJ to see if he wanted to make a ring for me. They had been planning this for months and his mom had a beautiful ring made just for me and I can't even explain how touched I was by DJ and his family and their love and generosity. It was one of the most special moments of the wedding and I was genuinely surprised and still can't stop looking and my beautiful ring(s)....

So there they are my beautiful something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new! Now because I'm a picture junkie here are some of my other favorite "bridal detail" pictures - enjoy! :)

Hey Ladies... [my bridal party]

I can't even begin to explain how amazing my bridal party was... they're five of my favorite ladies in the world and the best part is that they all loved each other too. I loved getting to spend time with them that week, they all came in two nights before the wedding and we had a massive slumber party at our house Wednesday night, they helped with massive amounts of wedding prep on Thursday and then Friday was the wedding day. They were so helpful, loving and supportive - having them stand up with me and the time with them definitely were one of the best parts of the wedding!

When it came to "dressing the ladies" we went with simple strapless black dresses from White House Black Market (on sale for like $50, you can't beat that). The tops were pleated and they had POCKETS just like my dress, hooray! During our ladies weekend I gave them the colors that I wanted the bridesmaids shoes to be and they picked their colors and we went from there. I gave them their jewelry and bright colored Victoria's Secret PINK sweatpants as their bridal party gift and they looked absolutely amazing and beautiful if I do say so myself... here are some of my favorite bridal party pics - enjoy!

some of the bridesmaids bouquets (that they made themselves)

bridesmaid's shoes!

my loves!

yeah, it was just a little cold that day...

these are some of my favorite pictures of the day....

yay POCKETS!

aren't they the cutest??

Men of the Wedding

Here's the first of a who knows how long series on the wedding... I've just about gotten over my sickness and blogging hiatus and work is starting to slow down so hopefully I can these out every day or so - so the first part of the wedding recap fun is going to be about how we styled the wonderful handsome men of the wedding.

We decided from the get-go that we wanted the guys to wear converse, two button black suits and a bright colored tie - and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. We gave the guys their ties and bright colored fun socks as their groomsmen gift and they looked super sharp in them!

DJ's blue converse & tie.... 

DJ's older brother Mike helping him get dressed...

 I know, he's adorable...

"the boys" - oh boy.....

some of the groomsmen showing off their snazzy socks...

 don't you just love this shot?

get ready, the girls are next! 

just a sneak... [wedding pictures]

yes, I'm still alive and did get married last week... the wedding was amazing and unreal and now I'm just super sick (of course that would happen the week before and after the wedding) and am now in Napa on business (sans my husband) - c'est la vie....

but I didn't want to leave y'all hanging too long, here's a sneak peek of some wedding photos - enjoy!

 I'll be posting more throughout the next few weeks, get excited! :)