2nd Annual 'To Have and to Hold Wedding Blog Party'

I was cordially invited by Stephanie at Angelic Accents to join her 2nd Annual Wedding Blog Party today. She has such a lovely collection of wedding things and some great inspiration pictures, so go ahead and make a visit to her and all the other participants for the blog party and have some fun!


I have had several posts over the last couple years with a few pictures here and there of my 2007 wedding, which I have mentioned also in other posts. Just yesterday, I did a 'bridal themed' lucheon tablescape for Tablescape Thursday, click HERE if you'd like to visit that post.

Weddings are times for celebration, excitement, happiness and the joining of two lives. I was 36 years old at my wedding, but I was as giddy as a school girl. I called our wedding theme "Vintage Modern" because I wanted it to have vintage elements, yet be sophisticated and trendy.

Here's a picture from my own wedding. (I also have one on my sidebar). My dress was not white, nor was it exactly cream colored. It was called ' Diamond White', kind of like an 'antique' white. It was an A-line dress, strapless, but completely covered in lace, so it had a kind of vintage look, despite it's modern silhouette.

It also had lots of sparklies on the lace. In person it was quite stunning. I always wish that wedding dresses looked as beautiful in photos as in person; it's hard to capture the details sometimes in photos. I had two veils, which I bought on eBay. One was a shorter elbow-length and the other a detachable cathedral length, which I took off after the cermony.

I did take close-up views of my dress after I picked it up from my last fitting. This is the top bodice.

And detail of the lace with all the tiny pearls and iridescent beads. The color looks more exact in this picture too.

I had some pictures from one of my fittings too, so here I am wearing it (with one of my veils). This was after work, so my hair was a mess!

And this was how the chapel-length train was to be "bustled".

As a crafty DIY kind of person who loves to make things, of course I had to do my own flowers. I didn't mind using faux flowers; today's faux flowers are so pretty and look so real. Many of my guests didn't realize that my flowers weren't real.

This was my bouquet. I had found a pretty enamel brooch at an antique store to decorate the ribbon-wrapped stems.

The brooch

Each of the bouquets had a jeweled pin with the person's first name initial.

My bridesmaids' bouquets were very similar to mine.

Here's a picture of us with our flowers before the ceremony:

I also made several flower arrangements for the reception; the name card table, our sweetheart table, the table centerpieces............

Place card table bouquet........

Small bouquets in silver mint julep cups for the centerpieces on half of our reception tables.

And for the sweetheart table:

I also made the cake topper for our wedding cake:

I used two sweet green birds instead of a wedding couple on the cake topper. The great thing about faux flwowers is that they don't die! I have them now as keepsakes, displayed in my home.

Can you see my cake topper on the second shelf? It's next to our peacock toasting glasses and the cake knife and server engraved with our wedding date.

I made a lot of other things too; the invitations...........

They were pocket fold invites. This was how they looked on the outside....

 and unfolded;

The actual pocket fold envelopes I ordered from a wonderful print shop, but the rest of it I made and assembled myself. I printed the invites on my own printer at home. The mailing envelopes were all addressed by hand (in Spencerian writing, which I did myself) and had a monogram wax seal for a fun, Victorian touch!

I also made the name place cards.........

I did the Spencerian writing myself here also. It's sort of a hobby.

I also made the wedding programs and I made them to look like fans.........

We had someone we knew who does cookies and cakes for events make cookies for our wedding favors;

But, of course, the little tags I made myself..........

To make table signs with the assigned table numbers, I used my collection of vintage cabinet cards that show wedding couples. I have a lot of them with wedding couples. They are one of my favorite subject matters in old photos.

I used a temporary adhesive to mount them on card stock so they wouldn't get damaged. I wasn't able to find a good photo of them on the tables at the reception. I don't think my photographer knew that I wanted photos of the centerpieces.

I have many of them, but here are just a few.............

Knowing my fondness for these, my mom even found one for me when she was in Budapest in some tiny little antique shop..........

Fittingly, we chose a very beautiful historic hotel for our reception. This is a picture of the grand ballroom where we had our reception:

And this is actually a post card that shows the magnificent main entrance of the hotel and the vaulted, painted ceiling.

You can see a little bit of the hotel in some of our photos taken after the ceremony.

And last but not least.....I do have a couple of bride dolls to share........

My Gibson Girl bride doll, which I bought way back in the early 90s. (In this picture she is a little rumpled from being in storage)

And the bride doll my mother made me. She used a Barbie doll with brunette hair and then made the exquisite thread-crochet dress and bouquet. She even styled the doll's hair into an up-do and made the veil herself.

Thanks for joining me! I hope you don't mind the loooonnng post!