sjr1079 - Stacy and Chip

Chip and me!

(credit for photo: Barb@inspiredportraiture.com)

Hi! Welcome to our little spot on the web. Chip and I were married on March 22, 2008. Soon before that, Chip's company transferred him to Virginia Beach, Virginia. Then, over the summer, I moved down there with him. We have two dogs we love very much. They are the only "children" we plan to have anytime soon.

Below, you will see some of the planning from our wedding. The links to the left lead to our professional wedding pictures and home pictures, etc.

You can find me on the Baltimore board on The Knot or The Nest.

Location

Our wedding will be at Overhills Mansion.

The outside of the mansion and one of the fireplace mantels we can decorate with our own picture frames.

The view of the long ballroom and one of the staircases in the lobby.

This is where we will have the ceremony. We'll have an arch set up in front of the fireplace.

The Ring

It is exactly what I wanted. I have short stubby fingers so I needed that width band. The wedding ring has the same channel set stones.

His Ring

It is titanium and gold.

DIY

I did as much stuff DIY as I could for the wedding. Not only did it save money, but I enjoy it.

Save the Date

We used this image to make postcards using VistaPrint. On the bottom, we had the words, "Did someone say wedding cake?" to explain the dogs looking away. In reality, it was a 95 degree day so their tongues were hanging out and our neighbor walked outside and the dogs both turned towards them :).

Invitations

I also used pink envelopes and lined them with a white paper that had little pink hearts on them. The best part is they cost about $30 or less per 100 and can be mailed with one 41 cent stamp.

Table Numbers

The pictures are our dogs... Jake in a bowtie and Zoe in a wedding dress. On the back of the frames, I will have a copy of our menu for each table.

Monogram Banner

Once I sew the edges of this, it will hang in front of our sweetheart table.

Card Box

I decided to do the picture frame card box. I will put it on a lazy susan. Right now it is sitting on my soon to be wedding scrapbook.

Favors

Since I was little and heard the idea, I wanted to give a plant or seeds so people can start growing something in honor of our wedding and as we start our lives together (sounds cheesy, I know). I painted the pots and added the ribbon. I actually ended up making the seed packets and used the same flower stamp used on our invites. I will add a picture ASAP.

Our other favor, given as people leave, is a little bag with 2 cookies per couple. One is shaped like each of our dogs. The tag on the bag lets people know that we are donating money in their honor to the 2 shelters where we got our dogs. People who know us know how important our dogs are to us and we have included them wherever possible, without them actually being there :).

Centerpieces

We totally decided to change up the centerpieces from my original idea (just the wooden roses) because my mom thought it was too simple. So, we have added some silk flowers, etc.

(ribbon with monogram on it (ignore the stick and my fingers)

Layered Program

This is our program. I may add a stamp that says "Love of a Lifetime" (our wedding song) on the pink part at the bottom. I printed them all on my home computer. It took probably about 10 hours of work to make about 100 of them. My MOH helped a little and so did my FI (shockingly!).

Guestbook

I made our guestbook on Picaboo. The words are to our wedding song, Love of a Lifetime, by Firehouse. We decided we liked the way this came out too much to let people sign it, so I created a calendar (March through February) online also. People can pick their favorite month and we'll see their messages throughout our first year of marriage. I'll put a picture of it soon.

Cake Table Letters

I didn't want to do "I Do" but wanted something. So, I did C <3 S.

Reserved Signs

These will reserve the seats for our parents during the ceremony. I'll use ribbon to attach them to the seats.

Bridesmaids Gifts and Jewelry

I made the 3 girls' necklaces and earrings using light pink pearls and brown ribbon (see pic on left). The picture on the right is my inspiration pic. Then, you can see the final products. They will wear these for the wedding. I also got them pink soft bathrobes with their names embroidered on them, Ralph Lauren bath bag sets, and a set of flavored chapsticks. All the girls are given the option if they want their makeup done too.

Seating Card Board

I will slip the escort cards into the rows of ribbons. The escort cards will be done on the same paper (white with pink hearts) that I used for the envelope liners. I will print the name and table number on cardstock and attach it to the heart paper.

Bathroom Basket

Activity Book

I will put these in the OOT bags for people who have kids but are not bringing them to the wedding. There are mazes, word finds, coloring pages, and other fun stuff inside. I believe I altered mine from one I found on shanbrite designs.

Make-Up

I did trials with a dept. store, Mary Kay and DIY. I was not completely satisfied with any of them. Then, I did a trial with Knottie TheresaInMD, makeupbytheresa@gmail.com and was very happy. Below are the pics from my trial. She also did my mom and my maid of honor. The makeup stayed on for hours and hours. She also understood the look I wanted, which was a smoky eye that wasn't too exaggerated or club looking. I thought she did a great "pretty" smoky eye :). I'll probably add fake eye lashes too.

My MOH

My Mom

All 3 of us

Hair

Below are pics of my hair half done, and thus half up, and all done. I think I may actually do half up though. I have not decided totally. In order to get the fullness and curl, a hairpiece was added to my hair. Let me know which you like better... all up or half up? My seamstress is going to make a headband with extra beading from my dress so it will match the dress and bring some sparkle to my hair without a tiara since that's not my style really. Originally for the trial, I used 2 barrettes but since changed the jewelry I will wear so the barrettes no longer match.

Jake wanted to tell me he loved my hairdo :). The middle pic has my hair half up (of course it would be done neater). The last pic is with it all up. You can see the highlights well too... it is from the hairpiece mixed with my hair. I also have rhinestone bobby pins mixed in.

I'd like the front to be more like this, and then more lift behind the bangs.

Flowers

My bouquet. It is wooden roses.

All the bridesmaids' bouquets, corsages, and bouts are also wooden roses like my bouquet.

Cake Topper

This might be my favorite part of the whole thing. It was made for us by an ebay seller (Pamkins I think... if you want her email address, let me know).

It is our two dogs! Zoe as a bride and Jake as a groom.

Cake

Our cake will have pink flowers with brown leaves.

Bridesmaid Dresses

Both dresses are Alfred Angelo. The one on the left will be worn by my 2 bridesmaids and the one on the right by my MOH. I told them any knee length AA would be fine but the 2 BM agreed on the same one and the MOH has a much different body type and her dress is better for that. I ordered the dresses online Pearl's Place for a significant discount.

Dress/Jewelry

These pics were at my first fitting. Excuse the hangy thing hanging out in the first picture.

The earrings and necklace are from Premier Jewelry (style is Cassandra).

It is from David's Bridals. I did not even look elsewhere. I looked at my dress as something I will only wear once and refused to spend a ton of money on it. I went in with pics of what I wanted and the woman got all of them for me to try on and 1 that she thought would look good on me. Of course, the one she recommended was the best! I wanted white, no train, and simple without beading. I got ivory (tried it on in white, but ivory was much better), beaded with a chapel length train. My dress arrived 10 days after they ordered it.

Shoes

My mom is not happy about it but I like leopard print and want comfy shoes. Realistically, you will not even see them so it doesn't even matter.

Engagement Pictures

If you borrow any of these, please credit me (Knottie Smilee1079) and Barb at Inspired Portraiture. She is an amazing photographer in the NJ/NY area. www.inspiredportraiture.com