Newport Nuptials: the Kick Off!

After some time basking in newly-wedded photo bliss, I'm finally ready to officially start the Starfish re-caps!!! Our wonderful photographer sent us our photos just a short six weeks after the wedding. He also posted about 40 photos within 12 hours of the reception end time to hold me over, which I greatly appreciated. :)

I've been putting off the re-caps for awhile partly because this is my favorite season and I'm busy enjoying all this new free time with my husband (Istill love saying that), family and friends. But, I also put it off because it's really hard to put all of those emotions into words.

Our wedding day was truly the happiest day of my life. I have never been surrounded by so much love and happiness. Seeing all of the people who have supported and loved Mr. Newport and me throughout our entire lives, as individuals and then as a couple, in one room was incredible. I couldn't stop smiling all day.

I don't know if I'll truly be able to capture all of the love, happiness and excitement I felt that day in my re-caps, but I hope I can do our wedding day justice. I also hope you enjoy following along! I've had so much fun sharing the planning process, it's about time I share the rest. :)

Photo by our incredible photographer David Bibeault

Creating the thank you notes was bitter sweet. For a wedding loving girl it was sad, because I knew it was the end of my wedding planning. Thank God I have Weddingbee to relive every detail of the day! To be honest though, it also felt great because diy projects and wedding planning is time consuming!

Since the wedding is over and projects are complete, I've had much more time for friends and family. Including these lovely girls. Can you guess who they are? ;)But back to the project at hand. By the time the wedding was over, I was pretty burnt out. I had orignally bought 6 navy thank you note sets from HomeGoods for $2 each. They fit our theme perfectly, but were a bit boring. I planned to use these, but a few guests commented that they loved opening the wedding mail they received from us...save the dates and invites. So I felt pressure to come up with something more unique.

Enter the envelopes. I wanted easy and cheap. I printed two wedding photos and used my Paper-Source envelope liner kit to create the liners. Super easy. I had printing paper, I had ink and I had envelopes. This was the big "detail".

Then for the actual card, I embossed "Thank you" on note cards. Again, super easy! I would go into detail on how to actually create the envelope liners or emboss, but both have been covered on the Bee.

I know many people have mentioned they don't think people notice envelope liners, but I've already had two people tell me they were upset they ripped their card open. One told me I should have wrote "Do not rip open" on the outside of the card. People do (sometimes) notice details! :)

Were you happy when you completed your final wedding project? Was it a bit sad?

Things Happen

Sometimes things don't go the way you plan on your wedding day.....like Mr. Newport may have dropped the sauce from his slider on my dress during cocktail hour or one of our bridesmaids may have spilled a glass of wine on Mr. Newport's shirt during the first hour of the receptoin.

But things happen. You just get a shout wipe and clean it up or you roll up your sleeves and keep on partying.

Unexpected things will happen on your wedding day. It's all about how you react to it. The most valuable lesson I learned from Sister Newport was to roll with the punches. Our mis-haps were minor, hers, not so much. The day of her wedding her videographer never showed up and he never called. She realized this on the day of and instead of stressing about it and letting it ruin her day, she had the time of her life.

So this is just a reminder to all you future brides. If something minor or even major happens on your wedding day, don't let it bring you down. You can't control everything, but you can control how you handle the situation. So relax and enjoy your wedding day. You only get to do it once (hopefully).

Married Bees, did anything unexpected happen at your wedding? How did you handle it?

Mama's Song

Over the past two years of planning and even beyond, Newport Mom has been amazing. When Mr. Newport and I moved home to Boston, she let us live with her (for what ended up being three years) to save for the wedding and our first home. She bought me my first bridal magazine subscription- before we were even engaged. She, along with the other parents, contributed financially to help make our dream wedding possible.

a planning trip to Newport

To say she "helped" make our dream wedding come to life would be an understatement. She was by my side through pretty much every vendor appointment, diy project and added fun events along the way.

another planning trip in Rhode Island- we stopped at a vineyard on the way to our tasting

I didn't do a mother-daughter dance at the wedding, but about a week before the wedding I heard Carrie Underwood's song, Mama's Song. It got me pretty sentimental and reminded me of my relationship with Newport Mom.



Newport Mom has always been a bit protective of me. I'm her youngest. I know it's always been important to her for me to find true happiness; she's never wanted me to settle.

Girl's weekend in Kennebunkport

Newport Mom and Sister Newport always had a song (2 actually), and we never had any. As soon as I heard this song, I knew I found it. It just really represents our relationship and Mr. Newport. She adores Mr. Newport- which is good since we all lived together for three years!

At the Boston Shower

Since I'm the youngest, I think it was hard for Newport Mom to see me get married and grow up. It's kind of like a chapter closing. My favorite part of the song is when Carrie says, "Mama there's no way you'll ever lose me. Giving me away is not good-bye." I know Newport Mom already knows that, but I love that part regardless.

Picking out the cake flavors

The week leading up to the wedding, I gave Newport Mom the new Carrie Underwood C.D. and told her to play our new song. She loved it.

Was your mother a significant part of your planning process? Did you let her know how much it meant to you in a special way?

A Newport Tradition

A little DIY rewind.....

Every year at Christmas, Newport Mom has always made a ridiculous amount of cookies, so when I asked her to make about 200 for the wedding, she was up for the challenge. They are perfect to make for weddings, because unlike other cookies that taste better within a day or two of baking, sugar cookies have a longer shelf life and can be made in advance. We decided to use Newport Mom's sugar cookie recipe, which has been around longer than me. I asked Newport Mom for the recipe to share with the hive and she even added a few tips. Sugar Cookies
1 cup margarine (2 sticks softened)
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Mix cream, margarine and sugar until fluffy
Add vanilla and egg to mixture and mix well
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt and add to mixture
Mix everything well
Cover dough with waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours
Divide dough into manageable amounts and roll out over floured waxed paper
Cut dough with cookie cutters and place on ungreased cookie sheet
Bake in 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes
Tips:
Press metal spatula into dough and then flour to help remove cut cookies from wax paper onto cookie sheets.
If you like crispy cookies, roll the dough out thinner and remove from the oven when the sides just start to brown.
If you like a chewy cookie, roll the dough out thicker and remove from oven right before the sides begin to brown.

After the cookies were baked, the next step was to decorate! I had to work the morning they started decorating, so I came home to a kitchen full of cookies and icing. The first cookie I saw wasn't what I expected. They had tried out a meringue recipe for the frosting from Allrecipes.com (we love that site), which had awesome reviews, but it didn't look pretty. Luckily while I was gone, Sister Newport told Newport Mom after 2 cookies it was a no-go and they moved on to plan B.
As plan B, Newport Mom made her special glaze - which I thought she planned to do all along. I asked for the recipe and she said she can't give one because she doesn't measure, but all it is, is confectionary sugar and milk mixed together. She said you need to mix it until it comes to a consistency you like. I was surprised, I've had these cookies a ton of times and had no clue the glaze had only two ingredients. With the exception of the colored glazes, which she added some gel food coloring.

Then we got to work. We iced the cookies. I was pretty awful at it, so I was put in charge of the detail work.

Newport Mom was a jack of all trades and pretty much did everything from the baking to icing to decorating. She used a piping bag to put details on the light house cookies.
I made a mess with it, so I used a red candy decorator for my detailed work.

After two fun mornings of decorating, the cookies were complete! I'm so excited we got to include my favorite holiday tradition into our wedding, although with Christmas around the corner I may have burnt Newport Mom out with her cookie making. Hopefully she'll be up for round 2 in a couple of months! This is one project I definitely couldn't have done on my own. Newport Mom and Sister Newport were amazing!

Did you have a lot of help with any diy projects?

In Living Color

Everything about our wedding was navy and white. I've really wanted to include color somewhere, but wasn't sure where. Then it hit me, the thank you gifts! I wrapped part of the bridesmaid's gifts in fun colors. It's not a huge detail, but I was excited to include the fun pops of color.

I started with the thank you notes. I'm obviously not joking when I said I want to infuse some color. I went a little crazy at Paper-Source and bought note cards and envelopes in lots of bright colors. I also got a few rolls of wrapping paper to make the envelope liners. I then embossed "thank you" on the cards and added some bright stickers. And this is just the beginning of the brightness. There are many more bright details to come.

Did you feel the urge to include lots of fun pops of color into any wedding details?

The Newports got MARRIED!

About two years ago, Mr. Newport proposed. About two weeks ago, we said I do. I didn't think I could possibly feel happier than the day Mr. Newport proposed, but our wedding day blew that theory out of the water. Our wedding day was better than I could have ever dreamt. I had all these worries leading up to the wedding day of what could go wrong, and there was some stress the week leading up to the wedding, but when the day finally arrived, it was absolute perfection.

I've never experienced the level of happiness I felt on that day. It's hard to put into words, but after two years of planning and preparing, to finally have our dream wedding happen surrounded by all of the people we love, was just incredible.
It wasn't just an incredible wedding, but a whole weekend that I can't wait to share with you. Everything surrounding the day was amazing. If your debating a semi-destination wedding, I really recommend it, it was so amazing spending extra time with family and friends during such an emotional weekend.

The wedding was just the cherry on top. I never had the chance for a signing off post, so I'd like to thank you all for letting me share our story. It's been so amazing to have a place to share every idea and plan with others who are going through the same thing. Your comments and feedback have meant the world to me. So many times I turned to you for advice and you always deliver!

I can't wait to start my re-caps and share every detail with you! But, I'll have to wait for all my pro pics. While I'm waiting, I have a few posts I was hoping to share pre-wedding, but never got to. But for now, it's time to unpack and enjoy my last few hours with my husband (I love saying that!) before he heads back to work.

All photos by our incredible photographer David Bibeault