Just a quick note to say that two of my favorite wedding pals will be on the move in the next few months!

Gina Zeidler, who took our engagement photos and has taken about 8 billion other beautiful photos, is hitting San Francisco, Aspen, Georgia, North Carolina, San Antonio, and Charleston in the next four months. You can see her full travel schedule here and contact her for more info. If she’s going to be in your neck of the woods, that would be a GREAT opportunity to schedule an engagement, family, Christmas card, or portrait session! We love Gina!!

John & Emily : wedding highlights from Inkspot Crow Films on Vimeo.

Also, my peeps Inkspot Crow are taking their show on the road next summer! To help entice New Englanders to book them for wedding films (AS IF anyone needed extra encouragement), they are waiving all travel fees for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Connecticut! We’ve already discussed at length the awesome-ness that is ICF, so perhaps this is just the incentive you need to bite the bullet and get in touch with them. In the meantime, please enjoy our wedding highlights film once again. Can’t get enough of that thing — I watch it about once a week.

Hello, friends! John and I had a weekend filled with some of our favorite things — friends, family, and weddings! One of our dearest friends — we went to both high school and college with her — got married on Saturday, and John and I were honored to read at the ceremony. It was a quick trip (we flew up Saturday morning and back last night), but we still managed to have breakfast with friends and lunch with our parents in between wedding festivities.

Instagram from Bryce Covey, the photographer!

John and I have always known how lucky we are to have such a close group of friends from high school, but goodness, this weekend really hammered that home. Things have changed — five of our original eleven are now married, one is engaged, and two more are on that path — but it’s amazing how much has stayed the same, including our ability to laugh over the most ridiculous things. We’re scattered across six states, with two on the West Coast, so its a huge blessing whenever we can all get together, and even more so how easily we fall back in step with each other when we do.

The wedding ceremony was my favorite kind — carefully considered, meaningful, serious, and joyful — and as I said, we were honored to play a role. My favorite part, though, was the congregational affirmation:

We have witnessed the marriage of Jackie and George. They have made their vows in our presence and asked for our support in their life together. We also have the honor of affirming our commitment to them. I invite you to uphold Jackie and George in their promises by responding to the following questions:

If so, answer, WE WILL.

I was struck once again by the power of a marriage ceremony — what it means for the two people being joined together, but also by the commitment it requires of everyone who participates as a witness. Maybe it’s because we’re just a week out from our own first anniversary, but I was really touched by the depth of that promise. What a beautiful and joyful way of linking so many lives together!

Also from Bryce

Are you still close with your friends from high school? If you’re married, did you include a congregational affirmation in your ceremony? I’d love to hear!!

Happy Monday, friends! I’m here with the final post in our wedding series — at least for now :) I wanted to share our budget breakdown, in the hopes that it might be helpful for those of you currently planning.

A little background:
Date of wedding: September 15, 2012
Location: Southeastern Connecticut
Number of guests: 115
Contributors: My parents (43%), John’s parents (33%), John and me (13%), and my grandmother (11%)

I know that pie chart is tricky to see, so here’s the breakdown, from most to least:

33.7% ON CATERING | Includes food, staffing, bar, and tip.

17.4% ON RENTALS | Includes our 32×70′ Sperry tent with string and onion lighting, a catering tent, 15 high top tables, 11 8′ tables, 4 6′ tables, 9 36″ round tables, 2 bar back tables, 45 black chairs, a 16×16 black and white dance floor, four couches, 16 linens of various sizes from La Tavola, 16 basic linens from our local rental company, and a generator. The generator was a last-minute expense (like, the day before the wedding) that pushed this category way up.

9.8% ON PHOTOGRAPHY | Includes Tanja and Tia’s travel but does not include any sort of album.

6.3% ON CINEMATOGRAPHY | Includes a highlight and feature film; Inkspot did not charge us for travel as described here.

5.9% ON LOCATION | Our ceremony venue was free, so this includes use of the O’Neill’s Sea Porch and Sunken Garden.

5.8% ON FLOWERS | Includes 1 bridal bouquet, 4 bridesmaid bouquets, 2 small nosegays for our moms, 2 pin-on corsages for our grandmothers, 8 boutonnieres for the gents, 2 wreaths for the church doors, 21 small to medium centerpieces for the tent, 6 small centerpieces for cocktail hour high tops, and arrangements for the guest book, bar, and gift tablea.

5.4% ON BAND | Includes fee and tip.

4.5% ON GIRL ATTIRE | Includes my gown minus the amount we sold it for, alterations and cleaning post-wedding, my shoes, and half of my veil (I split it with my sister in law!).

2.7% ON HAIR & MAKEUP | Includes hair and makeup for the bride, as well as some subsidizing of hair for 5 others and makeup for 6 others.

2.3% ON STATIONERY | Includes 90 9×18″ custom-designed flat-printed invitations and envelopes, 90 response cards and envelopes, save the dates and envelopes, and postage for all of the above.

2% ON RECEPTION/COCKTAIL HOUR DECOR | Includes the four ottomans and four side tables we purchased from Ikea, all of the silver centerpiece vessels, our cubbies, candles, photo frames, etc.

1.6% ON THE CEREMONY | Includes bell and bow materials, our string trio, travel costs for our pastor, etc.

1.2% ON BOY ATTIRE | Includes John’s tux, tuxedo shirt, dress shoes, suspenders, cuff links, and tailoring.

1% ON DAY-OF COORDINATOR | This was a bit less than usual because Diana is a friend of ours.

.25% ON MISC. DIY PROJECTS | Includes various frames, signage materials, calligraphy ink, stickers for the poppers, etc.

.13% ON OTHER | I actually realized this entire category was made up of ribbon – ha!

Whew! I hope this was helpful! Note that this did not include our wedding bands, gifts, rehearsal dinner items, or our honeymoon or minimoon. I tried to include everything else but certainly could have missed a few things.

WHERE WE SAVED:
— I sold my gown post-wedding and recouped more than 50% of the cost. A designer gown would have been out of the question otherwise.
— I borrowed most of my accessories from friends and family or wore things I already owned. Marget and I also split our veil.
— Paying our bar on consumption versus a fixed price per person was a huge savings for us — over 50%.
— Our ceremony spot was so beautiful that we didn’t feel we needed any additional decor beyond the door wreaths.
— We splurged on custom designed invitations, but saved on flat printing versus engraved or letterpress.
— I made most of our signage with materials I already owned instead of paying someone else to do it. I also addressed our save the dates and invitations myself.
— We opted to drive my car instead of rent a vintage one for the day, and I restrained myself from purchasing custom cocktail napkins.
— We played a custom CD at cocktail hour instead of hiring musicians.

WHERE WE SPLURGED:
— A videographer. SO WORTH IT.
— Having a tapas style reception meant our staffing costs were much higher than they would have been over a buffet or sit-down style, but it was the bedrock of the “feel” we were going for.
— A Sperry tent versus a standard frame or pole tent.
— John’s dress shoes were about six times as expensive as mine (ha!) but because they’re dress shoes and not tuxedo shoes, he can wear them to work, church, etc. for years to come.
— We booked a luxe, large hotel room for Friday and Saturday night instead of staying at our nearby homes. The gals used it to get ready on Saturday morning and John and I stayed in it Saturday night.

Those are just a few examples for each category — I’m sure I could list many more.

One last thing I wanted to say: Weddings are my passion, and I’ve had a vision for my own for a long time. We have wonderfully generous parents that were happy to contribute to our special day, but early on I knew there were going to be costs going above and beyond the usual ones that I simply wouldn’t expect them to cover — namely top of the line photography and cinematography. We spent WAY more on capturing our day than most people would have, and it was important to me that John and I helped make up that cost. I started saving in college for our wedding, and I don’t regret it for a second. (Granted, not everyone knows who they’re going to marry at that point, but I did!) If you think you fall into the same category as me, start saving your pennies now! :)

I’d be happy to try and answer questions in the comments!

P.S. If you’d like to compare our percentages to the “average,” check out this link or this link.

One of my January goals was to list an entirely new product in the shop. Not only did I do that — I’ve already sold a few! Whoo!!

The concept is not entirely new — I’ve seen DIY versions around blogs + magazines and even at Marget and Seth’s wedding (so cute!) — but I thought it would be nice to make an option for those who don’t feel like taking on the project themselves. I have a listing up for a set of 25 right now, but feel free to request a larger number. I’m also working on adding more colors!

Check them out here!