Friends, we have a wedding album! It’s been a long time in the making (2.5 years!), but it’s here, it’s gorgeous, and I couldn’t be happier.

When we were budgeting for wedding photography, we decided to put all of our resources into purchasing talent, not products. Our “package” only included wedding day hours, not albums or an engagement session or anything else. This was 100% the right choice and I would make the same one again in a heartbeat! Tanja was worth every penny. But, I did want a wedding album at some point – it’s one of my 60 Before 30 goals!

And I didn’t want just any album. We purchased Artifact Uprising wedding albums for our parents, which I loved, but for our one heirloom wedding album, I wanted the works: leather, classic styling, and thick, lay-flat pages.

I looked at Tanja’s albums first. She only offers one option, and it starts at $2,500. As much as I thought her albums were beautiful, there was simply no way that would ever be a feasible option for us. I kept looking, but it seemed like all of the albums I loved were only available through a photographer (not surprising, but still disappointing!). Then, I found Milk Books.

It was as if the angels started singing. Their Cream albums are actually used by photographers for clients, which starts to tell you about the quality. Lay flat board pages? Check. Art paper? Check. White leather, a beautiful presentation box, and simple and elegant layout options? Check, check, check.

Cream albums are still expensive (they start at $595 for a 20-page album), but compared to the options available through most photographers, they are a steal. Also, having been subscribed to the Milk Books newsletter for the past few months, I’ve noticed two nice things – they often run sales up to 50% off (seriously – I’ve seen at least two!), and you can pre-purchase an album at any time (during sales!) and then design and order it when you’re ready. So nice!

The Cream online layout system is good, but not perfect. I wish I had had the option of moving pages around, since it was hard to know how much room to allocate for certain parts of the day right from the start. I loved how simple and aesthetically pleasing the layout options were, though – it would be hard to design an ugly album!

Also: strange to design pages featuring yourself :) But, you know, I figured grandchildren might like to see one day.

Keep in mind, these pages are BIG. That full-bleed photo above measures more than a foot wide, and the wingspan of the open album is a whopping 28 inches!

I think if I had realized JUST how large the photos would print, I would have included a few more of the layouts with multiple photos. Let that be a lesson to y’all! These ended up being some of my favorite pages.

It took about a month for our album to be produced and shipped to us, and we had a mini viewing party when it finally arrived! We haven’t looked at it too often since, but that’s okay – I wanted a real wedding album not because I expected to crack it open every morning, but as an heirloom for years (and people) to come. That’s exactly what we got.

If you’re married, do you have a wedding album? If so, was it included in your photography package, or did you buy it separately? I’d love to hear!!

P.S. More wedding photos.

The kind folks at Milk Books offered me a discount on our album. Regardless, I’m just thrilled to share the best wedding album source I’ve found!

I have been working overtime the past few weeks, making and sending piles of tinsel stirrers for sparkly NYE parties and weddings! I don’t usually get to see photos of these beauties at their final destinations, so when my friend Maddy sent me photos from an editorial she asked for my assistance with, I wanted to share! I love the navy, gold, and silver together.

You can see much more on Green Wedding Shoes. Hugs to Athena Pelton for these lovely images!

And with that, I’m signing off until after Christmas! My family is here and I’m excited to hunker down and be cozy and lazy :) I’m not really much of an NYE celebrator myself, but I’ll meet you back here for my 2014 in review post on December 31st – one of my favorite traditions. Until then, I hope y’all have the merriest Christmas!! xo

John and I are coming up on our second anniversary (September 15!) which means our dear friends Jackie and George just celebrated their first anniversary (September 7!). I shared a little bit about their wedding right after it happened last year, and you may also recall the inspiration board I put together for Jackie back in January 2013. I thought you might like to see how everything came together, and of course, the photos from Bryce Covey are too good not to share! I’m pretty proud of that photographer recommendation – he’s blown up since 2012! :)

Yes, Jackie is one of the cutest people in the world. We’ll just get that out of the way right off the bat. Is she not a modern day Audrey Hepburn?

This sweet groomsmen photo was one of my favorites!

John and I had the honor of reading at the ceremony, and we were so happy to do it! I might be getting mixed up, but I’m pretty sure I remember Jackie telling us that the only time she cried at the ceremony was during our reading (aww!!). This is only fitting, because when she read at our ceremony, she got choked up right at the end, which made me start sniffling, too.

The cocktail hour and reception were at George’s parents house, and let me tell you, there are few things I love more than an at-home wedding – and one with a Sperry tent, to boot! His mom’s collection of vintage floral linens was used on the cocktail tables, a detail I loved.

Sliders! Pigs in a blanket! Pizza! The food was totally up my alley.

John and I had the pleasure of being the only two guests that got to be in both the high school and college photos. That’s the high school group on the left! I’m going to give a little shout out to Amelia and Jeremy here because I’m guessing they are reading :)

Jackie is one of the kindest, smartest, most compassionate, funniest, and all-around loveliest people I know. I’m so grateful to have the privilege of doing life with her, and so very happy that she found her great love. Here’s to many more September anniversaries!

Any questions on sources for this lovely New York wedding, just leave them in the comments and I will try to answer them (or Jackie will – she is one of my most loyal, and favorite, readers!).

Plans for Natalie and Joe’s wedding are coming along wonderfully. In fact, this week we made a big decision: bridesmaid dresses!

From the beginning, Natalie knew she wanted something long. She didn’t need all three dresses to match, but she wanted at least one person to represent emerald, the anchor color in their palette. With that in mind, we collected inspiration for a few months, including these lovely examples…

Photo by onelove via Style Me Pretty (dresses by Alfred Angelo)

J. Crew

Katch Silva via Style Me Pretty

When He Found Her via Wedding Chicks

J. Crew

via Vogue

True emerald dresses are hard to find! We requested swatches from several companies, but were totally perplexed when some didn’t come labeled with which swatch was which color — how is that helpful when you’re comparing similar shades??

Another (happy) wrench was thrown in our plans when we found out Marget (lady of honor) will be eight months pregnant at the wedding!! Because a standard gown won’t really be an option for her at that point, we tentatively decided to find one (emerald) dress for her to wear, and then a different, teal-ish dress for the other bridesmaid and me to wear. Marget is pretty settled on a Two Birds dress, since she’ll be able to wear it even when she’s not pregnant. We think the rich peacock shade from J. Crew will be a good complement, so I ordered the Nadia (love that style!) and I think Kate is going to order the Megan. Hopefully we’ll look a little something like this all together:

I just knew we should wait for a Weddings sale event to bring the price down, so I patiently checked my inbox every morning. And oh happy day, the sales email arrived this week!! 25% off gowns, bridesmaid dresses, and bridal accessories through March 3rd. If you’ve been waiting to make a J. Crew Weddings purchase, hop on it!

Now we just have to see if everything looks good together in person, because even with swatches, it’s still so hard to judge! Fingers crossed we can check this item off the list for good soon :)