Laine & Pete

It looks like I wasn’t quite finished with updates tonight, I’ve just confirmed violinist Bethany Daniel for our wedding ceremony. Depending on her contact’s availability we may add a cellist to create an ensemble. You can listen to her work here..

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Well, I have a lot of updates today.

We ordered our wedding invitations (Thank You Kathy!), we decided to go with the crane invitations mentioned in my last post. I’ve also placed an order with In-vita paper studio on Etsy for a custom map to include with our invitations, since GPS and mapping websites do not provide accurate directions.

We’ve finally decided on a caterer, Down South Delights is going to provide the food and bar service for the wedding reception. We’re not revealing all our tricks just yet, but the menu is going to consist of three action stations (including a sushi station) and seven different hors d’ oeuvres.

Finally, I’ve decided on a hair stylist and makeup artist who can come to the house while the girls and I get ready. It just makes it easier and less stressful on everyone if we don’t have to run around town the day of the wedding to get to a salon. I’ve chosen Mary Elizabeth Long to do our hair and makeup.

I’m torn between doing the invitations myself and just ordering them. Obviously ordering the invitations would be much easier on me and more convenient, but I’d get way more bang for my buck if I did them myself. I found instructions on how to make gorgeous DIY dupioni silk pocketfold invitations. They are really stunning when they are completed, but look like a royal pain to put together.

I actually started to mock up how ours would look if we went this direction. I scoured for hours on various royalty free stock image websites and finally found a vintage blooming tree that I love on stockxpert. I mocked up the invitation with the tree image and used Freebooter font for our names (download complete template here). This is what the full pocketfold mockup looks like.

I ordered sample cardstock from LCI paper and silk from Fabric Freak. But, the colors are all wrong on the silk, even though the swatches look like a very light cream online they are much darker in person. The opposite happened with the cardstock, it’s much lighter in person. So, now I’m debating ordering more samples (LCI shipped extremely quickly, I had it in 2 days; Fabric Freak took about a week) or just chucking the whole idea and ordering invitations.

I fell in love with these gorgeous plum blossom invitations from Crane & Co, but it doesn’t give me a lot of flexibility with how much information I can include with the invitations. Since we have so many people coming from out of town, and GPS/mapping websites don’t give you accurate directions to the venue, I really want to include directions with a map. I suppose I could create that on my own and just put it in with the crane invitations, but it won’t match the paper and ink exactly and that might cause my neurotic bridal brain to twitch. Here are the crane invitations:

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We’ve booked the florist, we decided based upon Benjamin’s recommendation (my brother) to go with Oshi International. We met with the owner, Perri, and he’s officially my favorite vendor. His work is amazing; this man is not a florist, he’s an artist. He’s also incredibly charismatic, flexible, and kind. If I could clone him and have him plan my entire wedding I would. Here’s a little preview of what my bouquet is going to look like, I fell in love with the green and white striped lady slipper orchids months ago and Perri is going to make it happen. I can’t wait!

Pete went to Nashville to look at some venues and we found one! We’ve decided on Spring Haven Mansion in Hendersonville Tennessee. It’s a gorgeous plantation and was built in 1825. We’ll have the ceremony in the front of the house and the reception in the back. Check out their website for more pictures.

I’m full of updates today! This one was definitely unexpected, but we’ve decided that logistically it’s going to be too difficult to have the wedding at a private residence. For the comfort of our guests (any my sanity) we’re looking into alternative venues in the Nashville area. Pete is going to Nashville Tuesday to scout out some locations so hopefully we have a place nailed down next week.

Well, I have some bad news and some good news. You want the bad news first you say? Well, it looks like due to unforeseen circumstances Clarence Dobbins will not be able to play at our wedding. I was heartbroken when I found out about this, but of course we understand.

Now to the good news, Clarence was kind enough to get us in touch with the one and only, Richard Waters. Clarence and Richard were the only two people I could imagine playing at our wedding, and it looks like we have Richard Waters and the Blues Boyz confirmed. Thank you Clarence and Mom for arranging this!

You can check our Richard Waters and the Blues Boyz here.

You didn’t think we’d forget about the boys, right? We have the tuxedos picked out, it’s a very classic 2 button tux with a white shirt. Pete will wear an ivory tie, his groomsmen will wear black ties, and my “bridesmen” will wear platinum ties. We’re ditching the vest/cumberbund option in order to keep it classic and understated.

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Mallie (mother of the flowergirl, and my cousin) found a gorgeous dress for Lacey and ordered it today. It’s ivory so it will match my dress and the accents on the bridesmaids dresses. We’re making some serious progress.

She found it on cottoncandydress.com and it was just $48 + shipping.

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Once again, Clarice’s Bridal saved the day. Michelle and Dena came with me today and we decided on a Bari Jay silk chiffon dress for the bridesmaids, each girl will have a dress in a different color with ivory trim.

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