The Ceremony:

I blogged and blogged about our letter in a wine box ceremony that we were doing. So here it is:

The box: (from Home Goods)

The inside of the box with the glasses (Crate & Barrel, engraved at Things Remembered), the wine and our love letters:

The box with the ribbons for our Celtic tying the knot ceremony:

When I first starting to take the walk down the aisle I was nervous. I was nervous because I don't walk well in heels and my shoes were high! I was nervous because 140 people were staring at me and I was nervous because about half-way through my walk... there were 3 measly steps I had to take. Steps UP that is...


And I tried to take those steps. But... I got stuck.


As in, I LITERALLY couldn't move. My dress wouldn't allow my legs to bend. :) So my daddy had to lift my dress for me. And when I got to the top I sighed a huge sigh of relief -- comic relief that is... and it came at a perfect time because my Groom... well, he was losing it. :) But after my little "incident" he smiled.


While we were standing up there, it was weird to me that I hadn't gotten a chance to greet our guests yet! I had been hidden, remember? So, I found myself making eye contact with guests and smiling and mouthing "hi!" but then I thought... hmm, this is a little serious "LET'S FOCUS". haha. Our officiant was amazing and the reading we chose was perfect -- and something I'll definitely share, but in another post.

We said our vows (and neither of us stuttered)... and exchanged rings:


And after that (literally it was like 20 minutes, maybe shorter...) and a couple "I do's" it was done:


And we kissed:


I took my flowers back... aren't they pretty?


And this time, my HUSBAND had to help me on those steps:


And then came the formal pictures during cocktail hour.

I won't be blogging the formal pictures because those are shots I'd rather wait for our professional pictures to share. So tomorrow will be the start of the reception and the beginning of all my DIY projects. Are you pumped? :)

Something Old...

Sean and I are purchasing our actual wedding rings on our honeymoon in Ireland. So as stand in's for the ceremony we are planning to buy Sean a very inexpensive band -- just to go through the motions of exchanging rings. I guess it's a good thing this isn't going to be in a church... because our rings will surely not be "blessed". Whoops.

As for me...

I plan to use this ring as a "stand in" wedding ring AND my something old. ;)


It was my great-grandmother's ring and my aunt Christine (who also helped address my invitations!) has offered to let me borrow it! Yay!

Picking out all these little details makes everything so exciting!

Wedding Plans.

We chose our invitations today! It was a long, but really fun process. Hopefully, we'll receive the proof in a week and the actual invitations 7-10 days from then.

We also talked about our table settings (linens, chairs, etc.) and set-up our rehearsal for Thursday, July 14th. I like that it's 2 days before the wedding that way if we're out late for our rehearsal dinner we can still sleep in on Friday. ;)

I mentioned to Sean that I thought it would be a great idea to wait until our honeymoon to buy wedding rings for each other and buy them in Ireland -- and he loved the idea! So we'll be going to a store in Westport, Ireland which is the same place my mom got her wedding ring from!

I've been pretty obsessed with claddagh rings ever since Angel gave Buffy one for her 17th birthday (I was a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan). So since these rings originate in Ireland, I guess around Galway... it seems pretty fitting that I choose something similar for a ring that I will wear for the rest of my life.

The most common version of the ring looks something like this:


The crown represents loyalty, the hands friendship and the heart love. Cute, right? This ring wouldn't exactly fit with my engagement ring, though. However, check out this ring...


It's not the best picture, but if you can tell it has the same claddagh ring symbols (crown, hands, heart) and it's surrounded by "Celtic love knots". I'm in love.

I've heard of a lot of people buying fake wedding bands to wear on their honeymoon (so they don't risk losing the real ones) and I guess we'll be doing things a little differently. It looks like we'll be buying fake wedding bands to make it through our ceremony... and buying the real things on our honeymoon!

Wedding Bands

I haven't been able to choose a wedding band. I [sort of]-[kind of] wish Sean would just pick it for me so I didn't have to make a decision!

Some styles I like are:



I'm having a really hard time imagining what the band will look like with my engagement ring. I mean, I went to a store and tried a few on, but I still couldn't really see it.

Hopefully, I'll know soon!

Wedding bands!

I know, I've been a little MIA lately. I'm just so busy... I'm not sure with what but my time really seems to be occupied!

This weekend, for the very first time, we tried on wedding bands. ;)

Exciting? I know!

Sean found the style he is looking for... the "hammered look" and I'm still very undecided. I'll post some of my favorites this week.

Right now, I'm going to bed and hoping for a snow day tomorrow. =)