Finding the Florist

When choosing our florist, I tried not to be super specific about every type of flower we use. I know it can help to be a little flexible, especially when you are on a budget. I did my research and I learned that Hydrangeas are in season in October, which is perfect because they are one of my favorite flowers. I also like the classic feel of roses, which happen to be in season, too. Other than the two main flowers, I didn't want to be too picky with the types of flowers. Instead, I took the advice of Nancy Liu Chin of Nancy Liu Chin Designs. She recommends describing characteristics of what you want the flowers to look like. I told the final two florists we were deciding between that I like white, soft, romantic, and classic flowers.

I then created a checklist of the flowers we need. We aren't doing floral centerpieces, so this trimmed the list a bit.

Personal Flowers
- Bridal Bouquet
- 7 Bridesmaid Bouquets
- Groom's Bouttenierre
- 7 Groomsmen and Father's of the Bride and Groom Bouttenierres
- Flower Girl Item
- Corsages or Pins for the Readers
- Items for the Mother's of the Bride and Groom

Ceremony Flowers
- 2 Altar Pieces

Reception Flowers
- Transferring the Ceremony Flowers to the Reception Site
We originally told the florists we weren't doing anything for the ceremony, since we are on a budget, we think the church is beatiful on it's own and they have strict decoration requirements. But Newport Mom loves flowers and felt we needed something. We decided to do statement pieces that will work for the alter and the reception's cocktail area.

Other than giving the florists the two flower types, description words, a list of needs and showing them a few photos, their wasn't much else I conveyed. I didn't show them exact bouquets to make, but I did show inspiration pictures. I feel like it's a creative industry and since you don't tell an artist to copy someone else's painting, I didn't want to tell the florist to copy another's.

The two final florists were given the same information, but one definitely was above the other. I actually really enjoyed the meeting with our first florist. She was extremey nice and was willing to work with all of our ideas. She was little out of our budget, but because we really liked her enthusiasm, I kept her in the running.All photos from The Knot

At our second meeting, we again gave the same information, but the florist explained things I wouldn't have know about my inspiration pictures. He explained why some things may not work, and gave suggesstions of alternatives. I may not have agreed with everything he said (Sister Newport and Newport Mom did...it was things they already told me), but I did respect his honesty and proffessionalism. He did say he would do whatever I like, as I am the client, but wanted to give me a better understanding of things. He also wanted to include florals with our centerpieces. We are doing hurricane vases with candles, sand and starfish, with votives all around. He said he would throw in rose petals to surround our centerpieces to add to the look. So this was an extra perk and we a still are coming in at our budget.

We obviously chose the florist who was more creative , honest and willing to work in our budget!

Did you go to your floral appointments with a specific look in mind? Were you open to suggestions?

What's More Exciting?

What's more exciting than planning a wedding? Planning a life together!

For a year and a half, Mr. N and I have been planning our dream wedding. I have been oohing and ahhing over wedding dresses, venues, photography blogs, wedding blogs, all things nautical, cakes, stationery, diy projects, decor, and everything that goes into planning a wedding. I didn't think anything could be more fun.

Then, about a quarter through our engagement, Mr. N and I started to look for a house. We looked for almost a year before finding our dream home. To be honest it was exhausting and I much prefered planning the wedding, until in fact we found the dream home. Now my mind has shifted from wedding plans to life plans.*
Suddenly the registry is one of my favorite parts of planning!

Did you simultaneously go through two exciting life events at once? A baby, graduating school, a new apartment, new home, etc.???

*Don't worry, there are still plenty of wedding plans and projects to come...it may just be at a slower pace!

Thank You Notes & More!

One of my favorite engagement gifts was a book on writing notes, which conveniently included thank yous, from Sister Starfish. It's from the Hallmark "Gift Books" collection called On a Personal Note: A Guide to Writing Notes with Style, by Angela Ensminger and Keely Chace.

photo credit: Brooke Photography

I like the authors' attitudes towards thank yous. In the chapter introduction they explain that "great thank you notes tell people what they did- as well as how and why they did it-matters to us." It's a great way to view them as many people think opf the thank yous as a daunting task. to be honest, I love writing notes, but I think after such a huge occassion that has taken quite some time to plan, writing notes is probably the last thing I'll want to do. So it's nice to remember the importance of the note because the person probably did something really nice that made you happy.

One of the most helpful parts in the chapter is the breakdown of the note. The authors break down the structure of different types of notes, including thank you notes. They break the note down into 6 parts.

1. Greet the recipient
2. Express your gratitude
3. Elaborate
4. Compliment and look ahead
5. Restate your gratitude
6. Give your regards

photo credit: Nashan Photographers

They also give great adjectives to describe the gift. I find this helpful because when I have to write multiple thank you notes, it can get repetitive. It's nice to have a resource to and change things up. If my writer's block is really bad, I turn to their sample notes for some new writing style inspiration.

And if that doesn't help, they even include questions to get ideas going. A couple I find helpful include "How did you feel when you opened the gift?, If it is a gift of money or a gift card, how do you plan to use it?"

The thank you chapter is broken into three parts: gifts, support & kindness, and social events & hospitality. So far, I've nly used the gift section for engagement gifts, but I know the next two sections will be helpful when thanking our families and wedding party for their support and the vendors for their services.

photo credit: Lara Swanson Photography

The best part of the book is that it expands beyond thank you notes. It includes all types of notes from business to congratulations to sympathy and more.

It's great because I know I'll use this gift long after our thank yous are sent out.

Did you find any great resources to help you write your thank yous?

Dancing with Dad

I've been searching for awhile for the perfect father daughter dance song.

I love Cinderella, by Steven Curtis Chapman. It's a really sweet song about a Dad who's little girl is growing up. The song kind of emphasizes living in the moment and sharing one special last dance.

Rascall Flat's My Wish For You is another favorite. I recently fell in love with country music and want to include a bit at the wedding. It's such a perfect song forr either the father-daughter or mother son dance. It is about the wishes a parent has for their child (actually it isn't technically for parents, but that's the what I think when I hear it) . I think the lyrics are so perfect. FMIL Starfish thought so too. She told me that she was thinking of using it for the Mother-Son dance. Which is pretty awesome because I love this song and it's perfect because my future in-laws introduced me to my love for country music during our last vacation together.

My new love for Country led also led me to Tim McGraw's My Little Girl. It's a really sweet song about a father remembering special moments with his daugther, while trying to let go. Kind of perfect for a wedding!

And surprise, surprise, going with the country theme...I fell in love with Heartland's I Loved Her First. I feel like this is the ultimate father-daughter dance song. I've heard it at multiple weddings and it always gets me al ittle teary eyed. This probably would have been my first choice, but Sister Starfish danced with our dad to it last year at her wedding. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I used it again, but I want to have my own special song to dance with Father Starfish to.

Lastly, I recently heard Edwin McCain's Walk With You. If you haven't heard it yet, you should check it out. It's about a father walking his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. It's possibly my new favorite.

I've been debating which song to choose, and then I realized I should let Starfish Dad choose. I'm planning to make him a CD with my top songs and let him choose.

What song did you pick for your father daughter dance? Any amazing ones I'm missing on my list?

Dresses for the Girls, 2

After narrowing down a few ideas for the bridesmaids dresses, I decided I was in love with the simplicity of the Alfred Sung D446 on the Dessy website. Which is the dress on the right.

I called up every store in MA and RI that carries Alfred Sung. At the time, the Spring collection just came out and I could only find one store that carried the D446. So I booked an appointment at Flair Bridesmaids.

Well apparently I know nothing about fabrics. I had decided early on that I want the girls in a casual and comfortable fabric, nothing with a shine (I have it stuck in my head that shine equals fancy). So when I got to Flair I was surprised to find out that the D446 only comes in a shiny fabric called Dupioni. If I had clicked on the swatch on the website, I would have easily realized that this was a fancy fabric.

When I looked through the store, it seemed like everything was in fancy fabrics. But I explained to my consultant, Leah, the vibe and feel I was looking for. A bit casual, navy cocktail length, something that looks very "Newportish". Leah came up with a few options, some shiny, some not. I had Sister Newport act as a model and try on quite a few dresses. I ended up liking a few, but the one I loved was a dress by Coren Moore. It is absolutely perfect!

The Newport Girls will be wearing the Coren Moore "Courtney" dress in cotton sateen. To have my MOH, Sister Newport, stand out a bit she'll be the only one with a sash. I can't find an exact match, but here it is in silk. After narrowing down the choices, the Newport Girls and I booked a second appointment for fittings. Luckily they all loved it, or at least that's what they told me...... but seriously I think they really do! Which is so awesome. I was really stressed about finding something that they would all feel comfortable and look good in. I was so happy after each bridesmaid tried it on, it was super flattering on everyone! A couple even said they will wear it again and will have to schedule with each other so they don't all show up at the same event wearing it.

Did you stress about finding the perfect bridesmaid's dresses? Did your girls end up happy with your choice?

Dresses for the Girls

My first bridesmaid dress shopping experience was with Sister Newport when looking for her bridesmaid's dresses. We went to Priscilla of Boston and I was in love with their dresses. Sister Newport chose to do a few different styles and the dress I fell in love with was one of them. I told her I loved it so much that I asked if she would mind if I used it for my future bridesmaids. She said go for it.

Michael Sparks Keegan photography

Funny enough the only girl who ended up wearing it, also happens to be in my bridal party, Bridesmaid M. I was in love with the dress because of one amazing detail....the bow in the back. Bridesmaid M is modeling it in the photo above.

I fell in love and was pretty sure it was the dress, but the more we planned, the more our vision became defined. Coastal, laid-back, elegance seemed to be the theme and a shiny satin material just seemed a bit fancy.

I decided to look around. I decided it had to be navy, cocktail length and a more relaxed fabric.

I deicded to check out Ann Taylor, as most of my work clothes end up being from there. Which is how I know they contstantly have 40% off one item promotions going on. I was looking for a deal. I found a gorgeous dress in navy, but it seemed like every time I went to the site, they only had a few sizes. I also realized it was an online only option, which meant we'd have to pay for shipping to try them out, unless I could find a 40% off and free shipping sale at the same time. It also didn't have the more relaxed fabric I was looking for, but it stayed on the back burner.

Sources (Clockwise from top left): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The Ann Taylor dress was such a favorite, it ended up in our attire inspiration board.

As I was debating on the Ann Taylor, Alfred Sung came out with a new spring line. I checked out the Dessy website and fell in love with a couple of his new designs.

These were the top three contenders.


Did you have a definite look when picking out your bridesmaid's dresses, or were you pretty open when going shopping?

A picture is worth...????

Choosing the photographer was one of the first wedding planning tasks we accomplished. I must have e-mailed between 15-20 different photographers. I had no clue what our budget was, but since I am a girl who loves my memories, I was willing to splurge.
Reflecting back on the process, I should have been better about narrowing my choices before contacting all of those people. Everyone I contacted, in my opinion, is exremely talented and therefor they probably don't have a lot of time to waste e-mailing people who aren't seriously interested. At the time of contact I thought I was interested, but I just hadn't done enough research and budget planning to know exactly what we were looking for other than someone extremely talented.

I spoke with photographers ranging in the low 2K range to over 10k. The photographers over the 10k range were pretty amazing and depending on what your looking for they may be worth every penny..... but as a bride on a budget, they were knocked out of the search immediately. Luckily after a lot of searching I found a photographer who I think is worth the 10K, but doesn't charge it!
It came down to a few photographers who I set up appointments with. The first one was David Bibeault. He was recommended by a videographer we had met with. He had the lowest prices in our search, which oddly made me wary. I went in with low expectations. I always think, you get what you pay for. So I was willing to splurge on our photos because I want them to be amazing.
He made me change my whole perspective on "you get what you pay for". In my area, everyone I contacted seemed to be right around 5k or up for photography packages with what we wanted included (Engagement Shoot, Full Day Coverage, Rights to Photos, Wedding Album, Online Viewing, Disc of all Images). When we met with Dave, we not only loved his prices, but him as well. He really put us at ease. His work was amazing and totally changed my perception on the cost of things. I feel really lucky to have found him. When we first booked him he had a pretty basic site with some galleries, but a few months after booking he updated his site and started a blog and facebook page, which made me like him even more! Now I can check out his most recent work. Most of the other photographers had blogs, which really gave me more insight into their work and style. I wasn't sure what to expect from him, until I actually met with him.

The lesson I learned during the process of looking for our photographer was to do your research before contacting vendors and know that there are hidden jewels out there. If you find someone in your budget, who you doesn't have a lot of work on the internet, take the opportunity to meet him/her and give them a chance.

Did anyone else learn how to better deal with vendors and what to expect from vendors after your first few bookings?

All photos credited to: David Bibeault