This Tuesday June 22 is our two-year wedding anniversary - kind of hard to believe!
Our first dance
I wanted to pause today to take a few moments to recap some really special images and moments from the day. Now, of course, my wedding was two years ago and I may not be able to get active links to everything I used/did, but I will do my absolute best for you!
Our Invitation Suite:
I custom-made our invitation suite because it was so important to me to get it just perfect and include lots of local details. The first thing I worked on was the crest for our initials. Hint: finding a cute way to combine the letters B and Z is not the easiest. After many revisions, we settled on what you see below. We loved it so much we had it printed onto pillows that we used during the reception and that we now use as throw pillows on our bed!
Included in our wedding invitation suite was a map of local highlights so that out-of-towners could get a feel for what was around and locals could enjoy some art of our beautiful town.
A tip for my fellow brides: put a song request prompt on your RSVPs. We included a prompt that said "I promise to dance if you play:_________________" and we absolutely loved the responses we got and were able to forward along requests to our DJ before the big day!
The Details of my Bridal look:
The dress and veil were from BHLDN
(was called the Ariane dress, no longer in stock)
We got engaged on Christmas day in 2017 at my dad's house. It was the sweetest moment and despite the fact that we had been dating for 5.5 years, I was totally caught off guard. Zach did a great job. I immediately began to look for dresses and had an appointment at BHLDN Philadelphia by mid January 2018. My experience with them was fabulous from start to finish and I would recommend them to any bride. It was my first and only bridal gown appointment and was not stressful in the least bit. This dress was actually the first dress of six or seven that I tried on and ended up being the one. We had absolutely nothing picked out for the wedding at that point as far as a venue, or more than an idea of the season we wanted to be married in, but I just knew this romantic floral gown was the one for me.
The shoes were from Kate Spade x Keds
The jewelry was mostly family heirlooms. I'm lucky to have a mom with such beautiful, dainty pieces that perfectly accented my bridal look.
The Bridal Party and Menswear:
Zach, his groomsmen, and my bride's men all wore suits by The Black Tux. We needed something that was easily accessible for all because his guys were scattered about all over the country. The reviews were mixed, we had a great and easy experience with them, but several of his groomsmen had issues with sizing and had to make several attempts to get a suit that worked for them.
My bridesmaids wore dresses also from BHLDN (could you tell I loved them?) and shoes that matched mine from Kate Spade x Keds in pink. Picking out bridesmaid dresses is always a challenge, and it definitely took a lot of time and consideration to find something I knew my friends would feel comfortable and pretty wearing, but these were just so adorable with dainty details.
Guys, even my mom's dress was from BHLDN. I cannot express to you enough how much I loved them and how easy they were to work with.
A sweet tidbit:
We wanted to do something simple with our cake and keep it small. A bit of background for you - Zach and I both come from a background in the hospitality industry. We both worked in events at resort hotels in college where we had the opportunity to work many weddings. We've had our fair share of wedding cake and also saw how much it gets left behind while folks enjoy themselves dancing. So, we opted for an assortment of cupcakes that our guests could grab at their leisure if they wanted to, or totally opt-out if they preferred (apparently some people aren't dessert people, which is unimaginable to me, but different strokes for different folks).
Cake was made by local bakery Desserts, Etc.
Topper was from Etsy.
The glass blue bird is a family heirloom that belonged to my late grandmother on my dad's side
Our cake was just for us and just for the cutting moment which was very sweet and created the intimate moment we were hoping for. It was a 10-inch round "naked" cake with vanilla buttercream and lemon curd between the layers. Delectable. We regrettably did not save what remained for our one year anniversary last year, but man I wish we would have.
Our wedding favors were hand pies (two flavors: cherry and apple) made at a local bakery, Desserts, Etc. I wanted something people could consume and enjoy and they were such a big hit! Between you and me, I most definitely sampled more than 2 the day before the wedding when we picked them up, for quality assurance of course.
If you're local, I worked with a really awesome team of vendors based in the Harrisburg/Hershey area and I would highly recommend them all. Listed below:
Venue: Weddings on Memory Lane
Photography: Addie Eshelman Photography
Flowers: Rhapsody in Bloom
Catering: Mountain Laurel Catering
Cake and Hand Pie Favors: Desserts, Etc.
To Wrap It Up:
Honestly, I could go on and on with this post, and maybe in the years to come, I'll expand on some more specifics of the day, but I think this is where I'll leave you as we celebrate two years of marriage. If you have any questions about our special day, please let me know!
