Bella''s wedding pics

[Bella_mezzo]

this is the last one....and now we''re married...back to your originally scheduled programming

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Lulu and Freke and ErinLeigh,

Thank you so much!!! Hopefully now that i've got the resizing figured out I'll post more frequent photos. (Photo shoot of our rings is currently planned for tomorrow

)

Here's our story....

Dated for almost 8 years, broke up in early March 2009 (mostly b/c we weren't engaged but also b/c there were some underlying issues that needed to be resolved.)

Started dating again in late June (though unbeknownst to me he started saving for a ring in March!)

Got engaged August 8, 2009

Got married October 3, 2009

We live in NYC, my parents live in rural PA, his family lives in rural Louisiana and most had never flown before (and didn't want to)

We wanted a smallish wedding. By the time our parents weighed in on the guest list it had swelled from 100 to 350! We invited them all, but many couldn't come b/c of the short notice.

We had about 150 guests, tons of kids, and almost all of the people that we really wanted to be there.

It was truly the best day of both of our lives.

The dress: Maggie Sottero CLaire (bought on ebay for around $100)

flowers: cymbidium orchids, dendrobium orchids, hypericum berry, lily grass, and orange roses from fiftyflowers.com (nope, I have no floral background, just a major can-do spirit

vases, ribbon, floral supplies, and curly willow: save-on-crafts.com

I wanted to bake the cake, but my mom freaked since I was only flying in from NYC Friday morning and the wedding was Saturday morning, so we found an area baker who used my recipies

bridesmaids: everyone picked their own dress. I specified a knee-length cocktail dress in any shade of brown. EVERYONE picked espresso and two or three of the attendants picked the exact same dress.

groomsmen: wore any dark suit they had with a white shirt and Tuba picked out the ties and gave them to them as their gift.

Veil: $11 on ebay, beaded haircomb $8 on ebay

Hair and makeup-DIY (his sister helped me to curl my hair since I have no patience with that and one of our friend's helped with the make-up but we just used my products)

flower girl's dress: ebay

photographer: found her on craigslist and she's AMAZING!!!! really, really, really great. and this was only her 5th wedding!!!!

The reception venue wasn't awesomely gorgeous (it was a Radisson hotel ballroom) but in our price range it really was the best available in the area, it looked pretty good with the simple white linens and orchids.

DJ: we were going to just use an ipod, and created an awesome playlist, but at the last minute the venue said they couldn't accommodate an ipod. So, we hired a DJ, made them use our playlist, and it was great. People are still talking about the playlist. We considered it a major success since we had country folk from western PA, african americans from small town Louisiana, asians from NYC, other friends and family from all over the country, and the chef from the venue on the floor dancing together (the bus stop was unsuprisingly the biggest hit).

It really was such a fantastic day. We were really chill, and our motto was "at the end of the day, we're married"

If you've read this far and made it through the photos you deserve a medal or something!

XOXO,
Bella

 

[Deelight]

Congrats Bella your wedding looked amazing - so much love and happiness

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Thanks Deelight! It really was amazing!

Oh, I forgot to mention, we did our wedding album on mypublisher.com and its fantastic! The software is easy to use, the print quality is AMAZING, and the paper and binding quality is really exquisite.

 

[honey22]

Bella, you are are beautiful bride!!!! You make a gorgeous couple. I am totally envious of your hair. And your cake is to die for, sounds delish!

Congratulations!!!!

 

[LilyKat]

Everything looks so gorgeous! You make a great couple. I agree your photographer seems amazing!

Congratulations!!

 

[Po10472]

You looked radiant and soooo happy.

Loving the petal shots oh, and the American Gothic one.

Congrats to you and yours!

Po
x

 

[rhbgirl24]

Beautiful pictures! Congrats!

 

[oddoneout]

Beautiful wedding. The church is amazing and you look great in your dress.

 

[purselover]

What great pictures, you guys look so happy!!! I love your DIY flowers you are extremely talented and the cake sounds and looked delicious. The last few pics of you and DH in the petals are amazing, you looked fantastic. Congratulations

 

[Inanna]

WOW!

First off, you look so radiant and gorgeous. I love your hair and makeup. You and your husband look so happy together. Secondly, I''m absolutely blown away by your flowers! They look totally professional from the bouquets to the bouts to the centerpieces... fantastic job! Love your cake too.

Congratulations!!!

 

[AmberGretchen]

GORGEOUS - you looked lovely and so radiant, and your photos and wedding look beautiful. Congratulations!!

 

[Bella_mezzo]

thanks so much everyone!

IRL my hair is super straight, so I was glad it (sort of) took the curl. It got flatter as the day progressed, but stlll looked decent

The flowers really weren''t that difficult. It took me and 4 bridesmaids about 3 hours to do them all (we did them the day before the wedding) and we saved so much. it made the flowers I wanted much more affordable.

 

[joelly]

You look so gorgeous!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!

 

[dsgirl81]

Your pics are just sooo adorable! congrats!

 

[noelwr]

wow, so beautiful! my favorite is the one of you walking down the stairs.

and you say you did this on a pretty low budget??? you really can''t tell.

 

[wannaBMrsH]

Gorgeous wedding! Congratulations!!!!!

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Thanks Noelwr!!!

Yep pretty low budget, mostly DIY/ebay, and planned in 6 weeks. (It helps when you have 8 YEARS of dating to figure out what you might like

)

P.S. Can i just say how gorgeous your bouquet was! I had seen it earlier and LOVED it and just made the connection this weekend that that was you

So pretty, I love how the blue just pops!

 

[noelwr]

thanks bella!

I loved your flowers as well, and I *still* can''t get over the fact that this all happened on a low budget and now you tell me within 6 weeks?!? I am pretty sure you could market your services for other ladies needing help with their weddings.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

I would so love that! If the NYC economy turns around in a few years it might be a really fun (though stressful) career move. For now, I''ll just have to use pricescope for my outlet

I''m helping my college roommate plan her destination wedding in San Diego. She got engaged two weeks ago and is getting hitched in March 2010. It''s really fun helping her plan and it''s a totally different wedding from mine (hers will be like 20 people on a beach followed by lunch). She hates planning weddings so she and her FI picked a date and I found her venue, reception site, florist, etsy invites, etc. Super fun!!!

My DH thinks I''m nuts, but I''m really creative and I like this kind of stuff. I currently work for a major cultural organization in NYC but am working on an MBA as well. I want to run a community-oriented cultural organization, but in the back of my mind I keep thinking wouldn''t it be fun to start a bakery...have my own wedding/event planning business...open a florist....

We''ll see where things end up, but I have a hunch I will continue having a pretty circuitous career path

 

[Blackpaw]

wow love the photos bella

everything, yourself included, looked beautiful

congrats on being married!

 

[princessplease]

What awesome pics!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pinki]

Everything is gorgeous and your photographer is amazing! As you said they were budget friendly, it definitely does not look like it!

 

[katamari]

Date: 12/29/2009 11:40:20 PM
Author: Bella_mezzo
american gothic

LOVE this one! Your bouquets are super cute, too! Congrats and welcome from lurkerdome.

 

[Tuckins1]

Everything looked wonderful Bella!! Congrats!

 

[Skippy123]

beautiful couple!! What a beautiful wedding and great pictures!!! MANY CONGRATS

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Thanks again for all the complements!!!! The flowers were surprisingly easy and the hair was really kind of a lucky miracle that the curls stayed for a while

We loved our wedding so much and had fun with all the DIY projects. I got lots of great ideas from the LIW and BWW thread when I was lurking. I definitely never cared about photographers, invites/programs, welcome bags before I started browsing your threads

(Also, I''m psyched to have finally left the anonymity of lurkerdom and "come to the dark side" of pricescope

)

I''m already working on my next jewelry project

so I think pricescope is having other influences too

 

[ladypirate]

Oh my gosh, your pictures are gorgeous! You look so beautiful and you and DH look so in love with each other. Congratulations!!!!!

 

[exoticisabella]

So very beautiful!

Congrats and Happy New Year

 

[treefrog]

You know Bella... I like when I can't quite pick a favorite picture. BUT when I have trouble picking 5 favorites... wow.

Looks fantastic!

I'm almost certain I've been in that church once before. I wouldn't remember it by name but I'm pretty certain.

Congratulations,
Treefrog