(Nearly) One Month a Bride!

We did it!  We're back to the real world, already paying bills as Mr and Mrs, and tonight we just got our professional photos back.

This post is the promised list of vendors we used in our wedding and prep!

-DJ: Peak Entertainment
Now, I will note that while these guys are rather expensive, I would not have gone with anyone else in retrospect.  The DJ was professional, courteous, unobtrusive, and played the PERFECT mix of tunes.  I can attribute some his understanding of our music tastes to the fact hat our friend Michael coached me on what popular dance tunes we absolutely needed to include - I noted a bunch of preferences on their song list, and the DJ did a great job in "filling in the blanks" as to what else we would like.  Additionally, they have this funny (and totally true) statement in the info packet (paraphrased): Your event isn't a music appreciation class.  Great music is not as likely to get people dancing as something with a strong beat and catchy tune.  Knowing this, and having selected the right "base" mix of tunes, we had a great experience with Peak.

-Cupcake Baker: Keri's Cupcakery
Keri Hart is a long time friend of Steve's family, and she recently started selling fancy cupcakes on the side.  When we settled on cupcakes instead of standard wedding cake for our guests, Keri was a logical choice, and we are so glad that she accepted the (rather gigantic) job!  She met with us well before the date to taste test various chocolate cupcakes, and then a week later to test various lemon cupcakes.  She let us mix and match the styles of frosting, filling, and cake, until we had two perfect selections.  Additionally, she kicked total butt in researching a gluten-free chocolate version for our gluten-intolerant guests.  The 200 cupcakes were gorgeous, delivered perfectly on time (without any casualties), and tasted like heaven.

Bride and Groom Cake Baker: Maureen's Sweet Treats, in Barre VT.

After unsuccessfully trying to order a cake through a hoity-toity baker, I wandered downtown and stopped into Maureen's in the early days of their presence on Main Street.  I immediately felt like I was walking into a Pinterest/Martha Stewart/DIY success - the location is sweet, welcoming, and staffed by the baker herself, Maureen (and a friendly dude who might be her husband.  If he's not her husband, the guy clearly cares about the business, 'cause he's been there whenever I've gone in).  Maureen sat down with me right there, and in less than 10 minutes we'd planned the perfect, simple wedding cake.  The final product cost less than her estimate, and was perfect.  She even matched the blue of the flowers to our wedding colors.  Win.  Total win.

Photographer: Isaac Wasuck, Wasuck Photo

The real star of our vendors list is definitely our photographer, Isaac, and his team.  All of the photos in this post are from Wasuck, and we couldn't have been happier with the attention and quality (and sheer quantity) he provided.

We came across Isaac after being unexpectedly "dumped" by our planned photographer 28 days before the wedding (not really her fault, there was miscommunication and an apparently missing deposit check - photographers don't work on promises alone, do they?).  Through the recommendation of a friend of my Maid of Honor, we contacted Isaac and found that not only is he super talented, but was also available on our date.  His base package was more than twice our original photographer, but due to lower guest numbers than budgeted, we decided to swallow the cost in favor of what we knew would be beautiful photos.

Isaac blew us away.  We paid an additional fee for a photo booth and ended up getting a THIRD on-site photographer as part of it.  All three were the epitome of professional - Steve's mother can't recall seeing them around during the ceremony, they were so discreet.  When it came to photo processing and the final product, Isaac drove down to Barre to give us the files, and presented the two flash drives in a theme-appropriate box with a few "teaser" prints on different types of paper.  As of this moment, I'm having trouble stopping myself from constantly perusing the files, they're just so great.  

He caught us all in candid moments, lovely poses, and even captured little unexpected details (flowers, hats, table decor, the spaceship/time machine).  

You'll see more photos in the blog as we roll out all the details - if you're not convinced that you need to hire this guy yet, just wait.

And that ^ is just a tiny fraction of what we got.  Put these photos to good music, and it's almost like I've gone back in time myself...

Shut Up and Take My Money!

I am itching to reveal all of our various vendors and sellers through whom we've purchased or contracted goodies, but until it all shows up without issue, I prefer to keep company names quiet (just in case something happens beyond anyone's control - I would hate to have it reflect poorly on these great businesses).  There will be a big list with examples at the end though!

Some to look for:
-Cupcake baker
-Bride and Groom cake baker
-Photographer
-DJ

That said, I feel pretty confident "out"ing a few of them now.

First Up: Our Save the Date designer, Party Monkey, www.etsy.com/shop/partymonkey
Cute layouts, super fast design, excellent customer service, super affordable.  If we had had all of our photos and such ready in time, we totally would have bought the postcard/photo style in their shop.  Still, we printed via snapfish and had a great overall experience.

Second: Our Invitation/RSVP designer, Hydraulic Graphics, www.etsy.com/shop/HydraulicGraphix
I actually found them via a Smashing Pumpkins "Tonight Tonight" style Save the Date on etsy, but continued on to find their ticket-style invitations.  We fell in love with the hot air balloon ticket, and ordered it right up.  A couple days later we were printing the tickets in my living room, and had the postcard RSVPs printed locally for under $30.  The biggest cost in the whole process was actually in the parchment paper and envelopes we chose.  Still, our invitations (sans postage) cost under $100 and looked awesome.

Next: Favor bags from Rooted Manor, www.etsy.com/shop/RootedManor
We loved the simplicity of offering a candy buffet (Steve's cousin in Michigan had a pretty awesome one at his wedding last year, and we couldn't help but steal the idea).  Enter: matching candy bags!  Rooted Manor was affordable and quick, and fixed the misspelling in my name well before shipping our order.

Yes, we caught that typo!

Next up: Our engagement photographer, Seth Beebe
Seth may be our friend from the early days, but he also happens to be a stellar photographer.  We dragged him up to Hubbard Park in Montpelier with all of his fancy equipment, and he was able to capture more than a few candid, lovely shots of us only looking somewhat doofy (not his fault, we come that way default).  He made us laugh, we had fun, and then he did some kind of post-production wizardry to make even my ridiculous face look good.  We got a small selection of the best photos in both color and B&W, and we'll cherish them for years.

See? Magic.  I look good.

Finally: our seamstress, Michelle Thorstrom of Damsel in this Dress, www.etsy.com/shop/damselinthisdress
Now, DitD is based out in Utah, and is a thoroughly unlikely place for someone to buy a wedding dress, right?  Well, thanks to years of geekery and etsy addiction, I felt pretty confident purchasing over the Internet.  DitD corsets are comfortable, adjustable, and customizable with just about any fabric options.  So, in April 2013, I nabbed a gorgeous silver underbust corset and began to build my wedding dress.

Actually, Steve bought it for me <3

Fast-forward to January 2014 - I was frantically trying to find the right fabrics and come to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to be able to make a white wedding dress work and still be happy myself.  So, I went for a light silver skirt, white blouse, and light silver overbust/upper corset jacket.  I dropped $80 on high-end fabric and sent it to Michelle for approval, and got the green light!

Then the problems (and subsequent reasons why I LOVE DitD) began...

I got an email from DitD about a month ago saying that despite the pre-approval, none of the fabrics I selected were going to work (the skirt fabric clashed unexpectedly, the corset fabric puckered, and the Venice lace wouldn't sew easily. Cue freakout. 

Clashing skirt fabric? Michelle wasn't going to let me walk down the aisle like that

Fortunately, they had back-up fabrics that worked, and all made it safely to my hands.  I even got the "puckery" silver vest corset thrown in as well. The items fit beautifully, and even the silver one, once on, looked absolutely perfect.  Here's a sneak peek at the dress...

You didn't really think I'd reveal the WHOLE thing before the wedding, right?

The picture above shows the white fabric option up top, sans sleeves.  I am pretty sure, however, that I'll be wearing the not-as-puckery-as-thought silver version in May.  Just wait and see!  And, as always, I will extoll the wonder of shopping with Damsel in this Dress - I was not going to be allowed to walk away with a sub-par product, nor did I have to pay for the correction.  I ended up paying for the extra corset out of gratitude, but it was never required.  Seriously - small businesses win, especially when they're run by caring superhuman seamstresses.

Michelle also did the entire bridal party set: 8 royal blue overbust corsets with black venice lace trim, and 8 black full length skirts.  Aside from a shipping goof-up (and an incorrectly measured bridesmaid), the massive, truly custom order came out perfectly.  I'll post some photos when I get better versions taken in good light!

***

So, even a DIY wedding has some things that just need to be made by the professionals.  Go by word of mouth, scope out your options, and above all: ORDER WELL IN ADVANCE.  The earlier you get this stuff done, the more time you have in case Murphy's Law prevails.

Twenty Days to Go

Welcome!

This blog is a space for photos, ideas, and musings on our upcoming wedding on May 17, 2014.
A little background...

I never thought about a "dream" wedding as a kid; I always assumed that dream weddings were for people with wealthy families (or families-to-be), and that since I could not count on marrying wealthy, I would have a lovely small ceremony and reception.  I thought this right up until about a year before my wedding, when my fiance and I were joking about having a renaissance-themed wedding (and how beautiful it would be, but impossible for our families to comply).  He turned to me and said, "You know, we could have a themed wedding.  Do you want to do a steampunk wedding?"  I felt gobsmacked at the thought.  We had been dabbling in the steampunk culture for some years, and loved the romance and sophistication juxtaposed with the grit and grime of invention.  I thought, maybe not full steampunk, since that's expensive...but Victorian-inspired...

And so our real planning began.

We scoured Etsy for the right Save the Dates, began looking into reception venues with enough character to float the idea pretty independently (without needing to break the bank on decorations - so Elks lodges and city hotel ballrooms were out).  We found an abundance of ideas for decor and paper needs, but had a deal of trouble finding a venue.

Vermont is a beautiful small state, where the low population and glorious views make it perfect for a destination wedding.  What we did not like about our home state was the price of those beautiful views, and the lack of certainty about weather.  Vermonters have a saying about our fickle climate, "If you don't like the weather, wait an hour." Also, if we had had the option of a small wedding (under 100 guests), fine homes or barns all over the state could have accommodated us for not a great deal of money.  Unfortunately, our invite list was well over 150 guests, and the only country homes or barns able to handle that volume were sorely out of any price range we could dream (think: Shelburne Farms, Riverside/Amee Farm, aka $30k+ weddings).

The lovely Amee Farm in Pittsfield VT, and a  total dream wedding location

Finally, in the late summer of 2013, after striking out on a smaller venue that we loved but could not get specific costs from, we found a surprisingly lovely compromise: the Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, VT.

Surrounded by beautiful Lake Morey, lovely gardens, and a rolling green golf course, the resort was a surprise on so many fronts.  They offered an all-in-one location that would shelter our guests in unexpected adverse weather, and an itemized list of every possible cost.  We were able to craft our event logistics efficiently, which left us completely open to playing with the theme.

 

And Play We Did...