Real Weddings: Emilie & David

This weeks Real Weddings post is brought to you by the very lovely Miss Emilie Wallace (well really, Mrs., but I was channeling Julia Roberts in My Best Friends Weddings...). She and her handsome husband were married around this time last year, and I am thrilled she decided to share some of the pictures, and advice, from her very beautiful very special day with all of us here at Peppermint Bliss.

Enjoy!

I picked out my bridesmaids dresses at an adorable boutique in New Orleans called “Wedding Belles”. They had a great selection of gowns but I immediately feel in love with these dresses by Jenny Yoo. The back of the dress had a train that followed the girls as they walked down the aisle, but then was bustled for the reception. All the girls looked so pretty in their dresses!

I loved all the boys’ boutonnieres. They all wore orchids, the groomsmen wore green and David wore a white one. David and I both had 13 attendants in our wedding party, which sounds like a big number, but I am just so thankful that everyone we love was able to be a part of our special day. So my advice to future brides, don’t let anything limit your wedding day, be true to yourself, because it only happens once!!

The church where we were married is very colorful, lots of stain glass and primary colors, which didn’t really go with our “rustic fall” theme. So I decided to go with white and green flowers at the ceremony to tone down some of the bright colors in the church and I love how these aisle markers turned out.

David is Catholic and I am Methodist, so for our ceremony we wanted to make sure both faiths were represented. We actually had two officiants, my minister from Chapelwood UMC and David’s priest, who drove in from Lake Charles for the occasion. The priest accepted our vows and the minister pronounced us man and wife. It really worked out great and made the ceremony very personal to our families and us. In this picture David and I are about to walk down the aisle and head to the reception, we are just so happy to be married!

We had a rustic fall theme which was inspired by the season of our wedding. At first our colors were chocolate and coral but that kind of evolved into all fall colors in general. And while I wanted it to be in the traditional southern style, we wanted to tie in some rustic/country influences as well.

Mr. & Mrs. Wallace!

We wanted a lot of flowers and a lot of candlelight at our reception.

{Editors note: How GORGEOUS are these flowers!?}

As weird as this sounds, when I first tried on my dress I thought what a beautiful cake it would make! The a-line skirt of my dress had these delicate folds that really inspired the cake. The flowers that were etched on the cake also came from my dress.

{Editors Note: I absolutely love this idea, it keeps the cake classic and timeless white, while personalizing it for you!}

For David’s cake, I had Susie, from Susie’s Cakes, replicate Tiger Stadium or as it is better known as “Death Valley”.

David and I both went to LSU and are huge Tiger fans.

Since we had won the National Championship in 2007 it seemed only fitting to have the BCS game against Ohio State playing on the jumbo-tron! I found a small DVD player with an attached screen and they were able to attach it to the cake, it was awesome!

The best part about it was that it was a total surprise to David. He truly loved it and I have to say I am quite proud of how it turned out!

{Editors Note: I would marry Emilie in a second for a cake like this, what a great surprise!}

Our band, Soulfire, was amazing. They had so much personality and were incredible performers.

They really kept the dance floor hopping and played great fun music!

I think my parents had the best time out of everyone!

For our guest book we did something a little different. We had our photographer, Brooke Schwab (who is amazing by the way!!) compile our engagement photos into a book that our guests signed at the reception. The notes ended up being kind of yearbook-y, which made it all the more sentimental to us and the best coffee table book ever!

At the end of the ceremony guests each grabbed a rose from the “W” display and threw them at us as we left. The rose petals had already been separated but then placed back together for the arrangement. All the flowers reflected our rustic fall theme.

Any Wedding planning advice for other brides?

I hadn't really ever pictured what my "dream wedding" was until I started planning it. And for the first few months of being engaged, I was really overwhelmed with achieving perfection and I let myself get pretty stressed out over silly details. It wasn't until I finally came to terms with the fact that my wedding was a reflection of David and me, not something out of a magazine, that I was able to let the little things go and really enjoy the process.

OH! And don't plan your wedding for Hurricane Season, Ike was a very unwelcome guest...

What was your favorite memory from planning your wedding?

My favorite memories of the planning were actually running around Houston with my mom trying to squeeze in all my appointments since I wasn't able to come into town very often. Getting lost trying to find the cake place or spending way too many hours playing at the stores where I was registering. But as far as the wedding goes, the ceremony was really special to me. The reception was just a blur, but a blast! And while I loved every second of the whole thing, the best part to me was the honeymoon!!

Emilie's friend, bridesmaid, and overall fantastic human being Sarah had this to say:

"Emilie and I met each other in high school and instantly clicked. She is one of my silliest, most loyal, and fun friends-- even though she never returns any of my phone calls. I remember when she brought this cute cajun boy David home for the holidays when we were in college and I knew right away that he was the one for Em. His thoughtful and driven personality is the perfect match to her creative, spontaneous nature. They married the fall after we graduated and I can't tell you what an amazing wedding it was. I was so honored to be included. We all love Emilie & David so much, it made for a really fun party...I hope some of the dancing pictures make the cut!"

Thank you SO much Emilie for sharing your wedding with us, and Congratulations to you and David on your One Year Anniversary!

xoxo

Real Weddings: Chatty & John

Chatty & John's wedding was the first wedding I have been to where I really knew both of them, and their relationship, really well. It brought a whole new meaning to the idea that the people in the church are an extension of your relationship and are there to support you not only in the exchange of your vows, but in your marriage as well. Needless to say, even though I couldn't understand a word of their ceremony (It was beautiful, and in the Greek Orthodox church, and I don't speak Greek) I still found it incredibly moving and cried like a wee little baby.

Chatty's family is Greek so they held the ceremony at the Greek Orthodox church in Houston. Although it would be hard to tell from the outside, the church is incredibly ornate on the inside, which informed a lot of Chatty and John's decisions regarding the attire of the bridal party.

The Bride had her dress made, a great option for anyone who just can't seem to find their hearts desire out there. Look at that beautiful pleating detail!

"A white sport coat, and a pink carnation, whoaaa I'm in the mood for romance"

The groomsmen all wore white dinner jackets which is such a great twist on the traditional Tuxedo, especially for a Southern Summer Wedding.

As you can see the inside of the Church was incredibly ornate and did not need too much in the way of additional flowers or decoration...

The hot pink bridesmaids dresses (What a kind bride Chatty was to outfit her ladies in these gorge Tadashi dresses that they can definitely wear again) looked fabulous against the background of the Church.

Hot pink and white sport coats, perfection. What a good looking bridal party!

Not to mention...I know they say rain on your wedding day is good luck...But weather like this? How could that be anything but a major blessing!

Their reception venue could not have been more convenient...directly accross the street from the Church so guests just walked right on over. In the dining room they decorated with this beautiful gauzy drape with twinkly lights strung behind it, it made it feel glowey and magical!

I LOVED the flowers and cakes. The brides cake was a pure classic white with their new monogram.

And the grooms cake (a southern tradition, it can be anything from a dark chocolate replica of the brides cake to a more whimsical Ace of Cakes style confection depicting the groom and his hobbies/interests) was a fishing basket complete with trout! Adorable.

What a beautiful couple!

Opa!

One of my favorite parts of the evening, the Couples getaway!

The left in this rickshaw! So hillarious and joyful!

Congratulations to John and Chatty. Your love and marriage is a blessing to all of us who know you!

I will be back later today with fabulous ideas for a Big Fat Hot Pink Greek Summer Wedding inspired by John and Chatty!

Real Weddings: Louise & Gabe

I could not be more pleased to bring you the wonderfully unique wedding of Louise and Gabe. Louise is the beautiful big sissy of my bff Mayzr, and I absolutely idolized her growing up (and still do). I remember going to see her in Little Mary Sunshine (I must have been in Kindergarten), and afterwards campaigning with my mother to change my name to Little Mary Sunshine. It's a mouth full, but I think it has a nice ring to it.

I had the pleasure of attending Louise and Gabe's wedding a few years back, and it still stands out as one of the most joyful, love-filled, personal weddings I have ever been to- not to mention one of the best parties! I could go on and on but Louise really said it all, listen up Brides-to-Be, this is some quality meaningful advice...

{Get us to the church on time!}

What was the theme you chose for the wedding?

The theme of our wedding evolved over time. It ended up being inspired by the song ‘Oh, Happy Day’. Starting with our invitation which invitation included a DVD that my husband and I had a lot of fun making. You can check it out at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5324856432730941768# . Our choir of friends sang ‘Oh, Happy Day’ at the end of our ceremony and had all of the guests singing and dancing in the aisles.

{Our friends sing “Oh, Happy Day” and got everyone dancing in the aisles all the way to the reception}

**Editor's Note** Louise studied acting at NYU so her friends are ENORMOUSLY talented, we are talking classically trained Opera singers, not Karaoke.

What were your wedding colors?

I could never quite narrow down the color choices for the wedding. I knew I wanted it to have a joyous and vibrant feeling. So, ‘bright colors’ became the color theme! For the guest’s attire, I requested ‘bright colors and black tie’. It looked fantastic. We lucked out in that the places we held our ceremony and reception were so gorgeous that they did not need much added decoration. So, our guests in their glorious bright colors became the added décor.

{I requested that guests wear “bright colors and black tie.” Check out the colors. Gorgeous!}

How did you decide on the location and feel of the Ceremony?

The Ceremony: The ceremony was the part of the wedding my husband and I were not willing to compromise with our parents on. We took a huge risk and did not tell them what we were planning. They were very nervous and they tried their best to squeeze it out of us, but we didn’t give in. We held our ceremony as a sacred experience and wanted to make sure it was genuine to us and our union. I did not get married in the church I grew up in. In fact, I had quite an eclectic combination. We got married in a Quaker Church with a Methodist minister. And neither of us is Quaker or Methodist! We just loved the space and were very inspired by this particular minister. It just shows to go ya: there are no rules. Do what moves you and makes your heart sing.

{This was Juanita Rasmus, the incredible minister for our service. I went to a service at her church in Houston and knew she was the one. We had a very untraditional service, but she got it right away. In fact, after the service, my grandmother said, “Well that was beautiful, but I’m not sure if they’re actually married.}

I don't think I have ever danced so much at a wedding, how did y'all create such an lively atmosphere for the reception?

The Party: Our intention for the reception was to have a blow out party. We wanted everyone to have a rip roarin’ time. We didn’t like how so many weddings pause the flow of the party to go through the typical motions. At the same time, we wanted to include a lot of the traditions. So our solution was to sandwich them into the beginning and the end. At the start of the party, we did speeches/toasts, the first dance and cut the cake. Then just before our exit, we threw the bouquet and garter. We did not do a seated dinner. We had the food out and lovely tables so guests could eat whenever they wanted. The band was fantastic and kept the dance floor filled all night long. Love train……oh yeah!

{As far as I’m concerned, no wedding is complete without a Love Train!}

Any advice for future brides?

Planning my wedding was no easy task. Between my husband and I, we have 8 opinionated parents who all wanted a say. There was a lot of back and forth and around and about, but it all paid off big time. Learning to work with your fiancé and both of your parents to come up with the right decisions for your wedding is part of what a wedding is about. It is a time to get to know one another and it sets up how you will interact from here on out. It is practice for learning how to create your own life with your fiancé, while not forgetting who you are and where you came from.

So far, planning a wedding is one of the most challenging things I’ve done. If you think about it, there is so much at play. You are trying to plan the best party you’ve ever thrown while coming to terms with and preparing for the REST of your life. All the while, trying to keep your daily life moving along. It can be heavy. Seemingly meaningless decisions turn in to heated debate. Why do you think there are countless magazines, books, and reality shows solely devoted to this affair? My advice when trying to find your voice in it all, is to get a scrap book- cut out pictures, take notes, don’t rush and soon your look and feel will come together. Between parents, planning from across the country, and graduate school, it took me almost 2 years to get down that aisle.

Planning our wedding with all of our 8 parents was tough, but each person clung to the part of the wedding he/she cared most about. In the end, it turned out perfectly.

Oh, Happy Day!

{My dress was Alvina Valenta. It’s not a cut I thought would look good on me, but when I tried it on both my mother and I knew it was the right one. It was the easiest decision of the whole affair.}

{I drove to the church in a limo with my father. Just the two of us.}

{This picture captured the beauty and spirit of our wedding ceremony. It was a truly magical experience.}

{It rained a bit...}

{...So we got these bright umbrellas...}

{...Hey! Rain on your wedding day is good luck, right?}

{Our photographers were fantastic. They climbed up into crazy spots to get the shots they wanted. I love this bird’s eye view of our first dance.}

{My husband Gabe and his friends choreographed a dance that they did in the middle of the party to “Get Down Tonight”. It ended with them lifting him on high.}

{We had a photo booth with a blank notebook placed outside of it instead of the traditional guestbook. Our guests had a great time with it, and we have a hilarious notebook of the photos. I totally recommend it!}

{This is my “choir of friends”. Instead of hiring musicians for the service, I decided to use my talented friends. It made the ceremony more personal- they sang at the reception too!}

{Tradition, Tradition}

{Our grand exit leaving the party (we had no idea we were about to get pummeled by confetti)}

{Sticking with our “bright colors” theme, my mother surprised us with a confetti fountain for our grand exit. It got a little out of control. We still had confetti stuck to us when we woke up the next morning!}

{Our getaway car was my brother’s truck. We rode in the back of the truck, in the rain, covered in confetti. It was a blast. When we got to our hotel, a town car pulled up behind us. A pristine bride and groom got out. They had just gotten married at the country club. We looked like two bats out of hell compared to them. I loved it!}

Thank you so much Louise for the great advice and sharing your amazing photos!

Check back in later today for more ideas inspired by Louise & Gabe's Wedding