Our Wedding


June 17th 2006!



Wow! I can't believe we are finally married! We were engaged in April 2005 and I immediately came to the knot! Bios have really helped me and, although I never got around to making a planning bio, I definitely wanted to share the final results and vendor reviews.

We were married at the William Paca House and Gardens in Annapolis. We were blessed with beautiful weather, and now I can share all these pictures with you!
~images are best viewed in full screen~




One of my favorite pictures!



Invitations




These are my Save-the-Dates! Yes, they are three dimensional and I shipped them all in small white boxes. Since the wedding was in Annapolis and a lot of our family likes to sail, we really wanted to have a sailboat theme at some point. I also wanted to honor Maryland, so the sailboat is sitting on a folder with an image of an antique navigational map of Maryland’s Chesapeake watershed. I admit that these are a little over the top, but I have my own invitation business so my guests were expecting something big!



This is inside the folder with the Maryland map. It contains all the information for out of towners and for those who are just curious about Annapolis. We had hoped that even our local guests would make a weekend getaway of it.



These are my wedding invitations in the envelopes. The envelopes are vellum so you can see the design of the invitation through the envelope.



The invitations had two parts, one was the hydrangea cut out paper (which you can see better in the picture of my menus below) and a mint green folder that contained the directions, map, wedding website card, and response set. Unfortunately, these pictures don’t do them justice!



Directions and response set.



The invitations for our rehearsal dinner cruise!


Ceremony







My cousin was the ringbearer and the flower girl is my best friend's daughter. They stole the show!



We decided not to have any bridesmaids or groomsmen because my best friend just gave birth *one week* before the wedding (she still came to the wedding!) and Matt didn’t want to choose between his friends to pick a best man. Plus we wanted to keep the ceremony nice and short. Instead, we had our parents walk down the aisle in place of a bridal party. This is my mother, escorted by my friend James.



Here comes the bride!



Our ceremony in the gardens



We had an unexpected guest during the ceremony! This cute little cat sat down next to the guests and watched the whole ceremony. Eventually he took shelter from the sun and the children under the ceremony chairs. I think it’s a good omen!



I had the florist make this arch after I saw a very similar one in the wedding scene at the very end of the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice. The Paca House won’t really allow any decorations (or many chairs) on their nicely kept lawn, so I thought this was a festive alternative. Our cousins held it up as the wedding party came down the aisle and picked it up again as we left at the end of the ceremony.



The reception was held under the tents next to the house


Planning Details




My centerpieces were two dark purple, glass bud vases with a big stem of hydrangea in each and two tea light holders that look like little lamps with a dark purple glass shade. I also put two plates of meringue cookies on each table. I think they are adorable and a nice pop of white to contrast with all my purple and green.



My table numbers were actually the cover of a photo album, a different year for each table. So the guests at table 1994 got to see pictures of Matt and me from 1994. We started with baby pictures and went all the way through to our grad school graduations. The guests LOVED this and half way through dinner they started swapping albums between tables so everyone got to see lots of different albums.



The delicious cake with purple hydrangeas, I knew they would be big and beautiful, but I didn’t know they could get them so purple! Gorgeous!



We hung a canopy from the tent to drape over the cake table. I saw the idea in a European magazine with a feature on an outdoor wedding. They had it hanging from a tree, but we wanted ours out of the heat, so we hung it just inside the tent. It gave it a very ethereal, floaty quality that was really pretty and, as my caterer said, it was good for keeping bugs off the cake too! (apparently that happens all the time and somebody has to dig the bugs out before picture time! *yuck*)



Our guests went crazy for the Lime Fizz (fresh lime juice, a simple syrup, and champagne)! This was brought by waiters to the guests as they waited in the receiving line and was served throughout the cocktail hour.



Our seating cards



I used the same background paper for my invitations and my menus, it was nice to carry the same hydrangea cutout design throughout the wedding.



The food! This is the first course of a summer tomato and mozzarella salad. Our main course was local Rockfish with jumbo lump crab and a lime-ancho chili remoulade on top. Amazing. You can also see the thyme-basil bread, which is quite simply the best bread I have ever tasted.





I wanted our card box to look like a vintage travel case since we were planning to have a honeymoon registry. In the end, the honeymoon registry went out the window, but I kept this idea anyway because I loved how it turned out. I got a vintage clarinet case from the thrift store and I reupholstered the inside (time consuming, but easier than it sounds). Then I covered the outside with vintage travel stickers and added a luggage tag with our info.





These are our programs and song sheet. The program lists the wedding party and the order of events during the ceremony. My one special request was to have the song “Be Thou My Vision” played during the ceremony. I printed up small song sheets on card stock so that the guests could sing along.



Yummy, yummy candy buffet! The only note of caution with the candy buffet: Ours was set up during dinner so that guests passed the buffet as they were going from the dinner tent to the dancing tent. Half of our guests never made it to the dancing tent though because there was a bottleneck at the table where all of our adult guests stuffed themselves with candy! I thought the whole thing was pretty funny.



Our guest book



The dress! My friend made this dress for me based on a concept in my head… it came out so well, it is like she was reading my mind! Basically, we already had a white silk, strapless gown (on sale after prom) and I removed the black accents from it. Then she used an old bridesmaid dress pattern to create a skirt out of lace and a camisole top (using the same lace as at the hem of the dress). She sewed both pieces to the underdress and fastened on the ribbon that ties around my waist to cover the stitching in the middle. I used the ribbon to create a bow in the back with no knot (so it didn’t poke me in the back all evening) and then I tacked that down so it wouldn’t move.



This is the best picture of my hair and hairpins. As you can see in other photos, from the front my hair looked really natural, swept back, and in the back it was a lot of little pin curls fastened at the base of my neck. I took the veil off after the ceremony so I wanted my hair to look nice underneath.





Our wedding day was also my niece’s 1st birthday! We chose our wedding date in May 2005 and on June 17th, 2005, my SIL went into labor! We wanted to share the day with our niece, so I had a birthday cake made by the same bakery that did our wedding cake. It is based on a Martha Stewart design and I made the boat topper out of the same materials used to make the boats for our save the date invitations. After dinner, I asked our guests to sing Happy Birthday to our niece as the birthday cake was brought out. My SIL started crying immediately and our niece responded to all the attention by putting both hands down directly on top of the cake! Then, with a big smile on her face, she licked her fingers.



Our band plays a variety of music, but their specialty is Zydeco. What a great sound. Yes, he plays the accordion, and the trumpet, and the washboard, and so many other instruments! Our first dance was to “In my life” by the Beatles. They also performed classical music for our ceremony. This is truly a very talented group of musicians.



We used these fantastic (battery operated) paper lanterns throughout the tent. A friend hung them from the side and top of the tent with ribbon. Since the Paca House is quite old, I didn’t want to overtax it’s electrical system so I thought these were perfect! Also, no wires to trip over! They were a beautiful and easy decoration.



Thank you notes!



Sparkler send off!




Rehearsal Dinner Cruise




We had our rehearsal dinner on a chartered yacht that docked at City Dock in the Annapolis Harbor. The boat took a three hour cruise of the Severn River. Our Maryland Summer Picnic food was catered by the same caterer who catered our wedding, but we saved a little bit by not having any servers.



We really wanted guest to be treated to local fare, so I designed what we called our Maryland Summer Picnic. It was catered by the same caterer who catered our wedding, but we saved a little bit by not having any servers.



The tables were decorated with Maryland (for me) and Tennessee (for him) flags, as well as tea light holders in the shape of crabs. My MIL also found some mardi gras beads with a plastic crab pendant and gave them out to everyone.



The inside cabin was quite spacious, important in case of rain!



Fortunately, it didn’t rain and we also enjoyed the upper deck!


Vendor Reviews and DIY Guide



William Paca House and Gardens: Wow, this place is gorgeous. I felt like we were cheating in our pictures because it is so beautiful that everything turns out well. Beth, the manager, is the most friendly person ever, and happy to work with you on details. There is no built in coordinator though, so it’s good that you can only use their recommended caterers who already know the venue. The downside to this place is that they have cranky neighbors and therefore the music (live music only, no DJ’s allowed) has to be kept kind of low and must be off by 9pm. We didn’t have any problem with this in the end, but it definitely stressed me a little when I was looking for a band. It also is a smallish venue… we fit 96 for our seated dinner. You can squeeze in more with different arrangements. Since it’s in the city and historic area, parking is tight. In the end though, I can’t imagine having the wedding anywhere else and all the small compromises we made for the venue were totally worth it and ultimately for the better. Guests were stunned at how gorgeous the venue was and the beauty of it let me get away with a very, very small flower budget! Highly recommend.

Wedding Coordinator: Wedding Savvy, Inc., Annapolis. RAVE! Racquel and Louise are fantastic. They are both very nice and highly professional. I enjoyed all my meetings with Louise and I really felt like she would lay down in traffic to make sure everything went according to plan (which it did!) Also, on the day of the wedding, it wasn’t just her… she brought a staff! I didn’t expect that and the ladies she brought were also very nice and professional (all dressed in suits!). Can’t say enough nice things. Highly recommend.

Caterer: Ken’s Creative Kitchen. Double RAVE! My parents already knew Ken from events they have attended in Annapolis and when I asked around about other caterers, *everyone* said “Oh, we only use Ken.” He is fantastic beyond belief, has years and years of experience, and makes some of the best food you have ever tasted. If you don’t have a wedding coordinator, don’t worry, Ken and his expert staff practically do everything for you. My coordinator kept saying “Oh, I am so glad you are using Ken” because it makes her job easier and he feeds them really well too! He mostly does events in Annapolis and Baltimore, but I think that is more of an exposure thing, I think he would probably be happy to do Washington if asked. A very, very professional staff… they all wear formal wear for serving at your event and are so good, you don’t even notice that they have just served your whole table. Highly Recommend.

Invitations: Me! All of the invitations, the programs, and other paper items are my own creations. I have my own handmade invitations business called Red Letter Day. Check it out at www.rldinvitations.com

Band (Ceremony & Reception): Dixie Power Trio, www.dixiepowertrio.com. We love these guys! When we were looking for band we saw a lot of bad DVD’s of bands who clearly just do this on the weekend and are only “wedding bands.” These guys are not, they are professional musicians and very talented! The leader Zach, plays many different instruments and sings. For a small additional fee, he also played our ceremony music, which made my life a lot simpler. I refused to even think about hiring two different groups. Ceremony music was traditional, they also honored my special requests. Reception music is varied… zydeco is their thing, but I have heard them play swing, country, all sorts of stuff. They play at a lot of local venues if you want to check them out, there is a calendar on their website. Highly recommend!

The veil: The veil is from A.C. Moore craft store and it only cost (with coupon) $8!!! It is a gorgeous veil and looks *exactly* like the veils I saw in bridal salons for over $100. They have several veils to choose from, mine was a double veil with a rolled edge in ivory. If you are looking for ways to save money at your wedding, this is your number one item!

The dress: My dress was handmade by a friend using lace from G Street Fabrics in Rockville. G Street is undoubtedly not the least expensive game in town, but they have a reliable, quality selection of wedding laces to choose from. I didn’t want to run around looking at a lot of stores and G Street definitely provides one stop shopping, at least in Rockville, which I believe is their largest location. If you time it right, they also have 30% off all fabric sales several times a year. They also send out coupons if you sign up for their online newsletter.

Men’s attire: Matt’s suit is from J. Crew. Custom sizing and free alterations if needed, but ask about that before placing your order. Tie and pocket square from Hecht’s. Shoes from Nordstrom.

Hairpins and earrings: The hairpins I got from ebay, private seller. The earrings are from Ann Taylor. Oh yes, my shoes (which you can’t see in any of the pictures) were Dyeables that I purchased from Nordstrom, but never dyed because they came the perfect off white color.

Hair and makeup: Makeup done by me! My hair was done by our longtime hair dresser Mary Luddy. Unfortunately, after working a lifetime with the harsh chemicals used in hair treatments, she has developed allergies to the chemicals. So, she is definitely available for on site hair do’s, but only for ladies that don’t have any chemical treatments in their hair (no coloring, no perm, etc). My mom and I don’t treat our hair in any way, so she came right to the site and we both *loved* our hair. Plus, she stayed through the ceremony to help me take my veil off afterwards. Highly recommend.

Candy buffet: The containers came from a lot of different sources, some of which I don’t know because my mother bought them. The two tall containers came from Marshalls, one bowl came from Target, the trifle bowl is from Crate & Barrel, and two of the other bowls were early wedding gifts! I couldn’t find scoops that I liked, so I used pieces of silver serving ware from my mother’s collection.

Card box/vintage suitcase: The case itself came from the thrift store, but all of the other elements are retail. The fabric came from G Street Fabrics, the vintage travel stickers are $5 for a book on amazon.com, and they have a great assortment of luggage tags at Paper Source.

Table décor: The tea light lamps are from Pier 1 (but last season) and the small bud vases were from Target (two years ago). Meringues are from Trader Joe’s.

Guest Book: This is a Kolo album. I replaced the ribbon that came with the album with the same ribbon I used for all of my other items.

Florist: Black Eyed Susan in Gambrills, MD. I didn’t place a lot of importance on the flowers, so I pretty much walked into the shop, saw a picture I liked and said, “I’ll take this.” She said that she would make that bouquet and have all the other items revolve around the same design. In the end, everything was beautiful, but whereas the picture I selected was a bouquet of things found in an English country garden (lots of herbs etc) and I specifically requested hydrangea, the items she sent had tons and tons of white roses in them. Where did the white roses come from? There wasn’t a lot of hydrangea, there were very few herbs, and everyone’s corsage was white roses… I felt like she must have had another order with white roses and she wanted to use all the leftovers on me. Again, everything she sent over was beautiful, but I really don’t think any of it resembled the picture that I selected. Because I didn’t care, I wasn’t very specific in the contract with her so in a way it is my own fault, but I feel as if she did not really put forth a good faith effort to meet my request. Recommend?

Cake: Cakes Plus, Laurel, MD. This is another vendor about which I am lukewarm. In this case, I ordered two cakes and I took them two pictures of the *exact* cake I was looking for. I am not super picky so what they sent was great (see pictures), but honestly neither one really resembled the pictures. My friend who had seen the baby’s cake picture (you can see it on the Martha Stewart website) laughed at how off base it was. Still, it was cute and suited the purpose. If this was my only issue with this baker then I would ignore it, but they also were extremely difficult to get in touch with. They obviously have a ton of business and therefore they don’t have a lot of time to spend with you (about ten minutes) when you go to the store, plus they leave you on hold for twenty minutes if you dare call back later. Plus, they were so booked that they had to deliver my cakes two hours before the caterer would arrive. I guess the cakes just sat in the kitchen. Cake was delicious though. Recommend?

Photography: Friends and family! Everyone has these fancy digital cameras now, it seemed like a shame to interview a million photographers who won’t even let you have the digital copy of your photos after the wedding. I wasn’t very worked up about photos, I just wanted one really good picture of us together for keeps, so this method worked out really well for me. Now I have CD after CD of pictures taken by friends and family… I can make as many prints as I like and email away! I do have some tips though, if you are thinking of going this route, feel free to page me.

Rehersal Dinner Cruise: Yacht chartered by Watermark Cruises, Annapolis. The boat we selected is the Lady Sarah and it is only a few years old. Wonderful inside and out. Watermark people were very relaxed and easy to deal with (this was one of the groom’s only tasks and they weren’t mad when he didn’t send the checks on time). Highly recommend.

Accomodations:The Inn at 30 Maryland, www.30maryland.com. What a beautiful home. 30 Maryland is a historic home, just around the corner from the Paca House, and it is run by a very nice and very talented chef. The rooms are gorgeous and have wonderful amenities. Highly recommend.