Still here!

I haven’t been around this blog much lately, with so much other stuff going on, I’ve even neglected my more current blog (daisysdeals.blogspot.com) the past week or so!

I do see that I’m still getting several hits per day, so hopefully some of my past entries are still relevant! I think I’m needing to rethink the concept of this blog so that it can continue! )

Happy Birthday and New Blog Intro!

 

One year ago today, I started this blog to chronicle my marriage preparations for my wedding last summer! It was SUCH a great opportunity to share with friends and family, make a record that will last for a lifetime of my wedding experience, AND a great chance to network and connect with other brides and vendors!

One of my favorite things was being a Bride Blogger for Ashley’s Bride Guide! It was a great experience that helped me meet a lot of my favorite vendors! And Ashley herself is amazing AND can throw a great party!!

The BEST  of the BEST you can find here:

Cakes by Shara   -    blog
Bledsoe Photo    -    blog
Designs in Paper-    blog

All of these people went above and beyond and made me feel more like a friend than a customer! They were all AMAZING!!

This isn’t the end of this blog, but it probably will be a little less frequent (not that it wasn’t sporadic to begin with!). I still have lots of ideas on sharing about my newlywed life, and it’s possible that I will be helping to plan a wedding this summer, so that will give me lots of great wedding stuff to continue blogging about!

Today, on the anniversary of this blog, I am unveiling a BRAND NEW BLOG!!!!

 

You all know I was a “Bride on a Budget,” and now I am a “Wife on a Budget!” Saving money is in my genes! My grandmother and mom have always been great deal seekers, and it’s pretty much come naturally to me!

Around the time I started planning my wedding and got introduced to the world of blogging, I started discovering not only wedding blogs, but money saving blogs! I discovered SOOO many ways to save money using coupons and other great deals you can find online.

I’ve had so many people ask me about how I do it, that I decided to create my own blog to help! This blog will be updated OFTEN, hopefully daily! Visit my welcome page for an intro and visit the rest of the blog  for great ideas on saving money!

One of my weekly topics is “Wedding Wednesday,” where I’ll share great ideas for saving money while planning a wedding, or for attending (gift, travel ideas, etc!) I’m excited to be able to tie this blog to my new one in this way!

So, check out the vendors (even if just for ideas if you are far away!) AND be sure to check out and bookmark my new blog!

Full Wedding Recap!

Finally, the recaps are complete! Here’s a more convenient way to read through all my recaps if you are just now catching up! Click on the links below each representative picture to get the full scoop on our wedding!

Pre- Ceremony

The Ceremony

The Cake Reception

The Dinner Reception

Dance Fever- Dinner Reception Part 2

Hope you enjoyed! Thank you all for being a part of it, whether in presence or in thoughts and prayers! It truly was an amazing day!

 

Happy Feet!

My photog has loved taking pictures of our feet since the very beginning…and while some people have crazy phobias of feet…I think they’re pretty cute! (usually!) Here is a collection of cute feet and shoe pictures Shanell took, from our engagement on through the wedding!

Engaged Feet

Not quite ready for feet!

Two Shoe Bride

Nervous Bride Feet

Bridesmaid Gear

“Is it time yet?” feet.

Little girlies feet patiently watching the ceremony

Maids in a row

First Dance Feet

Tappin Toes

Where are the feet that belong in all these?

Funny that I never even noticed how many people were shoeless towards the end! But I have been to many a wedding where I’ve shed my own shoes! That’s why *this* bride wore flip flops!! My feet were actually still HAPPY at the end of the night! My maid’s shoes were pretty comfy themselves, but they weren’t flip-flops, so some of them eventually came off!

Dance Fever!

Although my new hubby is NOT a fan of dancing and 3 dances was all I got out of him, it was more than I’d thought I’d get! Everyone else however, danced like crazy! The kids were hilarious! During every official dance and otherwise, kids were galloping and waltzing all over the dance floor! It was a blast!! I got in as much dancing as I could when I wasn’t otherwise distracted with pictures, talking with guests, trying to take it all in, etc! It was during the dancing that my the hubby disappeared quite a bit to avoid having to get out there!

Apparently there was even a lot of dancing going on before Ray and I even made it to the reception…I LOVE these pictures of my little girlies swirling around! My photographer had a great time with them! (and don’t their dresses look cute! Made by the two little twirlers wonderful mom!)

 

And now the wild boys! (video of the boys is much funnier than these pictures! Ray’s groomsman’s son, my cousin’s and nephews were dancing kings- and they knew it!)

Did you see the beads around the boys necks?? I had tons of stuff laid out on the kid’s tables, spilling out of sand buckets…games, jewelry, toys, lots of stuff to keep them entertained. Most of the beads, ended up on the BOYS – Mardi-gras style! I’m just hoping they didn’t steal them from the girls Mardi-gras style!! Ha!

My bro Craig and my good friend Josh were my DJ’s. Josh has known my family for years, so they did a great job picking out tunes! His wife was also my lovely coordinator! So of course, they picked out a very fitting song.

Their most obvious choice was “Stacey’s Mom.” Oh yes….it was a requirement and yes, my mom does have it goin’ on! The groomsmen dragged her out on the floor and they along with myself and my bridesmaids loudly serenaded her through the whole song! Now, my mom– is NOT a music listener! I don’t know that she’d ever even heard of the song before- except for the time I played it for her on my phone to show her it was her ring tone! They tried to get Ray to help serenade her out on the dance floor, but it didn’t happen!

It seemed like every time I tried to dance with my maids, I got pulled away, but we still had a blast!!

Betcha can’t guess what song we were dancin to here! I thoroughly protested against group dances, but for some reason they’re always requested at weddings! So, I just went with it! As long as the YMCA wasn’t on the playlist!

But….ummm….what exactly is going on here? Can’t say I remember this moment, but it kinda looks like the YMCA?? Or was it “Shout” and everyone is “throwing hands up?” Oh no!

However, I am ok with the dance line! It’s always funny!

My grams requested a special song for us to dance to…although I pretty much hate the song, I’ll do just about anything for her! After all she’s 85 and can still get down, so let her have her fun! She requested “Achy Breaky Heart.” Yes, you read that right. Supposedly in honor of a certain student I used to teach (since Grams is a little too old to actually know any of her songs, but knows her dad’s! Ugh!)

She grabbed me and a couple of my youth girls and created her own “line dance.”

And these pictures pretty much express how crazy things were all night!

 

Did you notice who was missing from all of these pictures?? He didn’t get back in the action until our last dance! Since he’d told me he wasn’t dancing after our first and the one with his mom, I didn’t pick out a last dance song.  No worries, plenty of people to pick that out for me….let’s just say a little Marvin Gaye was going on….and I’m glad that I was married because it would’ve been embarrassing dancing to THAT in front of my guests! Hehe!

Then it was time to take off for our bed and breakfast in our balloon filled car! The guys had to beg my dad for the keys to the rental so that they could do something! I know I’m particular, but I did NOT want to drive off in a car with dirty things written all over it, so that’s why we got a rental! That, and driving away in a Mustang convertible on your wedding night is just pretty darn amazing! Besides, I’ve already ridden with Ray in a car with filthy stuff and condoms hanging everywhere. Last year when my BFF got married they decorated BOTH their cars not knowing which they’d use and we had to drive her husband’s truck!

 

THE END!

(or at least, the end of what you get to know about!!) 

Dinner Reception

As previously mentioned, we held a cake reception and a dinner reception after our wedding! We wanted to be able to have the traditional dinner/dancing reception, but didn’t want to have to limit the guest list due to the higher cost of serving guests dinner! So we decided to do both! Everyone was invited to the cake reception, and family, wedding party, and anyone who helped with the wedding were all invited to the dinner. It was hard to decide who to invite to what, so that was what we came up with!

Our dinner reception was held at Old Natchez Country Club in Franklin, TN. Our coordinator, Debbie was fabulous! She made sure that every detail was put in place and carried through, from setting up our table designs, working with the chef on the perfect menu, shooing the kids away from places they shouldn’t be, to making sure that Ray and I actually ate something!

(I love that you can see my chocolate fountain in this pic!)

We had a buffet dinner, which I never saw, since our plates were brought to us, and which I heard was wonderful but didn’t really even taste it until we ate our goodie bag they sent with us later that night! The best stuff was the Coconut Chicken, with a mango sauce, and Marinated Flank Steak. Oh, that and the cupcakes and the chocolate fountain!

Of course, here is where the cupcakes I have so long raved about (here, here, here, and here!) made their debut! People are STILL talking about these babies!

 

                   

Here’s my favorite pictures of our decor. I worked my butt off planning all of this, since I’d kept the church decor simple and left the cake reception up to my mom and Sherri! While I didn’t actually put any of this out, I worked hard on buying, ordering, and designing it all! The lovely escort cards (which I was THRILLED with!) were done by my friend Susanna, with sand dollars I bought at one of my favorite beach shops in NC. (So yes, some things really were from the beach!)

During our official dances, we invited other couples, fathers and daughters, and mothers and sons to come join us about halfway through the respective songs. It’s kinda awkward to just sit and stair at one pair of dancers.

Our first dance was to “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers. My all time favorite song!

 

Our Father Daughter Dance was “Cinderella” by Stephen Curtis Chapman. It had just come out when I got engaged, and my dad had to listen to it for months in order to make it through the actual dance! He cried when we “practiced” a couple months before!

I loved seeing the other fathers dance with their daughters!  Here’s my brother, Rob, dancing with his girls, my brother-in-law Hector and Kaylee,  and then my Jr. Bridesmaids dancin with their daddy.

 

His Mother son dance was to Christina Aguilera’s “Por Siempre Tu” (Her Spanish version of “I Turn to You.”). He was super cute dancing with his mom, as was my brother Craig with our mom, and my sis-in-laws- Carla dancing with Nicholas and Lindsey dancing with Baby Grey!

After a few dances, it was dinner time!

Then a few impromptu speeches!

 

 

After all that, and an outdoor picture session (which I’ll feature pictures from later!), it was time for some serious dancing! It was so crazy and fun, it merits its own post! Stay tuned!

(I’m currently playing with layouts, as I didn’t love the sidebar placement on the last and trying to get my pics to show up normal! Sorry if you see a few changes!)

Cake Reception!

Our wedding featured TWO receptions! Because we had such a large amount of people, we went with a short, cake reception immediately following with everyone who came and then a formal reception with the wedding party, family and everyone who helped with the wedding!

Our cake reception was a lot of fun!  We started it off by gathering all of my students on the front steps of the church to get a picture with thier newly named teacher and her hubby! They were so cute and all so excited to be there!!

Our wonderfully yummy cake was made by my good friend, Jen who among her many talents also bakes cakes on the side! After giving her my vision of what I wanted, based on the cute cake toppers I looked at here, this is what she came up with and it was EXACTLY what I wanted!!

My new hubby’s surprise was a Cubs Baseball groom’s cake, made by my new bro-in-law’s mother-in-law! How’s that for new family connections! ) Mamma Tessie’s does fantastic “theme” cakes, so I couldn’t resist the great designs she came up with for the groom’s cake! This was the winning option!

This reception was held in the church’s basement/fellowship hall. And yep, its exactly what you think of when you hear those words!! I wasn’t completely thrilled with the thought, but it was the most convenient/cheapest option. My mom assured me that she would find plenty of helpers to decorate and make it look less “basement-y!” Although, you can only do so much…I did LOVE the decorations!

My mom enlisted the help of my hairdresser! Yep, my hairdresser! My mom just happened to be getting her haircut and discussing wedding plans with Sherry, who has been cutting my family’s hair for almost 20 years (no one else is allowed to come near me with scissors!!), when Sherry started giving my mom all sorts of ideas and even offered to help! Not only is she an amazing hairstylist, but she also designs/makes costumes and sets for her daughters dance recitals and really has a knack for decorating! She took charge and with the help of my sis-in-laws and other friends she made the basement beautiful!!

The walls were covered in bedsheets- yep, bedsheets!- made to look like curtains to cover some of the “vacation Bible school” type paintings. Then lots of candles, shells, sand, palm trees and other goodies helped to transform the room!

All the kids had a blast with our  mini-candy bar!

It was so fun to see lots of old friends and students and meeting new family!!

 

 

 

 

 

And tons of bubbles sent us on our way to the dinner reception!

Recaps return!!

Thanks to my lovely friend Ashley recommending that I check out Irfanview to reduce my wedding images, they are all now in a lovely, smaller format, much easier to use and will make my recaps so much faster and less frustrating!! So sorry that there has been a LONG delay…yes, I realize that I haven’t been posting much, and I personally get frustrated with other bloggers who do the same! I have been tinkering with blogging ideas now that I am a Newlywed, and am going to be re-focusing my blog towards that, plus unveiling a new blog with a brand-new focus soon!  I may also be assisting in planning a wedding from quite a distance soon, so stay tuned for those details!!  Until then, come back to read the rest of my own recaps and my newlywed thoughts!!

If you haven’t already, start by reading Parts 1 and 2…. Pre-Ceremony and Ceremony posts! (New photos and content added today to the Ceremony post as it was interrupted by my picture problems!!)

The Dress and the best place to get it!

I imagined for a long time what it would be like to finally pick out that beautiful white dress I’d wear down the aisle to meet my love. I did NOT imagine the way that I would find it turning out like it did!

Several years ago, I’d decided that I wanted my dress to have some blue in it. I found a picture in a magazine of a dress that I loved before I’d even met my hubby (yes, I know I’m one of *those* girls!), and I had even seen it in a store while looking for dresses with my sis-in-law, Lindsey. But that was a few years back, and it was on a discontinued rack, so I figured I’d be starting all over again.

My mom was on the hunt for the perfect dress for me not long after I got engaged and had me draw a sketch to get a better idea of what I wanted. She mentioned that visiting a nearby consignment store in Hermitage might be a good idea- just to look. I kind of brushed off the idea thinking I’d never get my dress there, but thought it couldn’t hurt to send her to look. She went off to that store, and my bridesmaid Kelley and I set off to visit several of the “elite” boutiques around the Nashville area,  where we ended up having  no luck! I was never helped by anyone, never able to try on a dress, and once we were even run out of a store for taking pictures (apparently it was posted that you couldn’t take pictures, we honestly never saw it, even after being told it was there!).

Dissapointed and getting nowhere, we heard from my mom that the consignment store had found my “perfect” dress. Still not believing it, I decided to go anyways, because if someone there had already picked out a dress for me, it had to be better than what I’d already experienced!

So we headed for Hermitage and Memories Consignment store.

The store, owned by Diane   Allmon, has been around for a long time. In fact, I remember visiting it in highschool looking for prom dresses, which was well over 10 years ago now! Some of my friends even sold their old dresses there later on. I never bought anything there, and my own memories of it were that, although there were some nice things, most of it was a bit older and outdated.  Last May, due to arson, the entire shop burnt to the ground leaving only the few dresses that Diane had in her car at the time. The man who set the shop on fire was eventually caught, but nothing survived the fire and Diane had to start it all over again. And she has with great success!!

Former site of Memories. The foundation and sign are still there, although the store itself moved a block or so down the road!

The store is FILLED with wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, mother’s dresses, and flower dresses. Even if you don’t BUY your dress here, it’s a great place to make some money SELLING it, and a great way to help a fantastic woman rebuild her store.

During busy times, any store gets a little chaotic, but things were still lookin good the day I returned to take photos, despite what Diane said about it being a mess!!

 

Working hard to provide for her children and grandchildren, Diane has done a great job rebuilding her store and making it a success! From the moment you walk in the door, you feel right at home and welcomed in by her southern charm. And when she says she has just the dress for you- believe it! She really just might! She is an amazing, encouraging, and down to earth woman. The kind of person that you can tell is willing to do whatever she can to help you. She doesn’t advertise, so she relies heavily on word-of-mouth to get her business out there!

As soon as I walked in that first time, I told her who I was, and she immediately went and pulled out the dress she had been holding just for me. I thought it looked nice, but still wasn’t convinced.  So I looked through all the dresses she had, picked out a few more, and headed in the back to try on a few dresses with Kelley’s help. I tried on her suggestion first- and loved it! But still thought I should try on a few more. Who buys the first wedding dress they’ve ever tried on??!

But, the first one, was THE one! I was sooooo thrilled to have something HUGE already taken care of, after only weeks of being engaged! Diane even showed me some veils and tiaras, and even her selection of tuxs that she rents! She just about has it all!

Although Diane offers alterations at a GREAT price- I got mine for free through a family friend (and mom of the cute jr. bm below!) who was also making some dresses and altering my bridesmaid’s dresses. If I didn’t have her, I probably would’ve gone with their alteration service.

Here is my dress….it is a David’s Bridal dress, but I never had to set a foot in David’s to get it (haha!!)

With my lovely Jr. BM, Olivia- modeling our dresses together! (I made it big so you can see details!)

Want to guess how much my dress cost?? Just take a guess!! Unfortunately, the dress was only available for rent, since it’s hard for Diane to keep dresses without trains on hand (I had never wanted a train on my dress), and they are often used for homecoming and occasions other than weddings. But really….will any of my future daughters want to wear my dress?? Probably not!  Plus, I could do literally anything I wanted to it! Shorten, add straps, add embelishments, whatever! Did you take a guess yet?? Was your guess under $100?? ) Who gets a wedding dress for $90?? Me! Who thought I would? Not me!!

I love being frugal and saving money wherever I can, and this was a GREAT place to do it! I got the dress of my dreams, and didn’t have to fork over half my wedding budget to do so! That really helped us have a much more elaborate reception that we originally thought we could have! If I’d kept the dress, it would’ve gone straight to a box  to be preserved after being drycleaned (which probably would’ve cost close to or more than what the dress cost me!), to be taken out someday by my daughter, only to have her say “Ehhh….not really my style…” (I did this with my mom’s!!), and then go back to the box unused and taking up space!

I loved that the dress was strapless, and thought it looked good- when I was standing still! (in the above picture its still too loose so it’s not up where it should be and you can kinda tell it doesn’t fit quite right!!) But I knew that I would be pulling at it all day, and be self consious if I ever bent over!  So I had straps made from material where the hem was taken up, had it taken in several inches (it was a big size-which was good for my chest area!!Hehe!), and had blue tulle added to where it V-ed in the front and already had white tulle.

 
In between alterations…it was done just enough to take it to the beach for “bridal portraits!” It was still a tad too big and the tulle blew away with the wind!

So after I got back from the beach, we took it in more and sewed the tulle down better for perfect results! Here are a few final pics the day of! I surprisingly couldn’t find a photo of just me in the dress, head on! But  I’m not very much a “take a picture of just me”- type person!

 
Love how you can see the blue in this one!

And I was thrilled with the results!! I was adamant about a dress with no train, because I didn’t want to be the bride who you have to back off from to be careful not to step on my dress! I wanted to be able to move around freely, dance freely, hug freely, and not have to worry about carrying it! Adding the straps to it definitely helped too!

I also rented a tiara from Diane, as I couldn’t find any in other stores that I liked for a decent price. They either looked too cheap, too elaborate or too expensive! It cost me around $10 to rent the tiara, which I loved a whole lot more than any other’s I’d seen, even in bridal boutiques!

And to complete the outfit…here are my shoes (and my toes with little flowers!) They are from New York & Company, one of my favorite stores! I also had a bright aqua blue pair I changed into for the reception! My feet didn’t hurt all day long!!

 

I couldn’t have done it without the help of Diane and Memories! If you are on the search for your perfect dress. Definitely check her store out! And if you’ve already found yours, keep it in mind for selling your dress after the big day! If you do go, tell her that Stacey sent you! See if she ever remembered to look for this entry I told her I’d be writing! )

 

Memories Consignment Shop
Diane Allmon
4983 Lebanon Pike
Old Hickory, TN 37138
391-4931

 

(all photos from my personal collection or Bledsoe Photography)

Vote for my favorite Cupcake Maker!

 

Image from cakesbysharalunn.blogspot.com

Spice Cake with Dulce De Leche Filling
and Vanilla Bean Mascarpone Cheese frosting

Even thougn I’m slacking on the wedding blog “writing” lately, I’m not slacking on the reading! Still keeping up with all my fave sites (which you can find over there on the right side of the page!) and checking out what my favorite wedding planners and vendors have going on!

Just came across a contest that Cakes by Shara has entered (if you been reading my blog for any length at all, no explanation needed! If you need to know how great she is, just check out my cupcake entries!) Better yet, if you’ve tried her yummy goodness, or just feeling being kind today- go VOTE for her in an “Iron Cupcake” contest! You can even get the recipe by visiting her blog! As I have been completely obsessed with everything “fall” flavored lately, these sound absolutely scrumptious! I’ve been making apple butter, apple crisp, caramel dip, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pancakes, and anything else I can get my hands on- enjoying this season of lots of yummy goodies! I even made my own apple cinnamom potporri! Maybe I should start blogging about that instead! Haha!

At any rate, check out her cupcakes and many other talents and click on the link in the cupcake post to vote for Shara!!