Wedding

Spring Bride

by Jessica on April 18, 2013

in Friends, Jessica, Springfield, Verizon Voices, Wedding, Weekend

Last weekend marked 3 weeks until my best friend Rachel gets married. I made the drive down to Springfield for her amazing wedding shower and hilarious bachelorette. Kasey, one of the bridesmaids put together an awesome shower that included lunch, games and painting.

Lunch was an amazing array of sandwiches, snacks and dessert. I loved the chicken salad. Very little mayo, and savory rather than sweet. The mango salsa was also to die for. I also had a little of the pesto tortellini. Yum!

For dessert she had prepared four types of cupcakes, two regular-sized and two mini. She also had macarons and cream cheese mints, as well as plenty of candy. Don’t mind if I do!

There was also spiked punch, fruit-infused water (I want one of those pitchers!) and blue lemonade.

After lunch outside, we moved inside to play a few games including wedding-themed Mad Libs, Pictionary, and the gum game. She really rocked that though. She knows her man!

Then she opened her gifts…

Afterward some of us retired to the couch to relax (I had pulled an all-nighter the day before and still felt a little tired) while others painted pots and birdhouses on the deck. It looked like a lot of fun, I wish I hadn’t been so tired.

Rachel then surprised us each with a bucket of goodies. So sweet, and so her!

The party dispersed and I had about 2 hours to kill before we planned to meet up for the bachelorette. With nowhere to be I decided to go to Target (for a blanket and pillow, which I had forgotten) and Barnes and Noble to waste time. I almost never have free time, let alone time to go shopping, so this was a welcome break.

Random sights at Target:

The toy section always makes me want kids. Not babies, kids. Can I just skip all the baby stuff and move straight to the fun?

Random sights at Barnes and Noble:

S’mores tart. Need I say more?

I then grabbed a coffee and headed toward friends Becca and Toni’s house for the bachelorette. At the risk of violating bachelorette code, I’ll just say that we ate a ton, drank a ton and stayed up far later than I have on my own accord for YEARS. It was a blast. More sleepovers!

The countdown is on, just a few more weeks!

What’s your idea of a party?

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DIY: Wedding Rehearsal Bouquet…

by Jessica on June 22, 2012

in Cool Stuff, Crafts, DIY, Jessica, Wedding

…or alternatively titled, “putting my BFA to good use.”

I resisted calling this a “how-to” because I completely failed to take any process shots and only pulled out my camera at the end as we were packing it for transport. Yesterday, my friend Christina “Chris” came over and we made a rehearsal bouquet for Ashley’s upcoming nuptials to Chris (different Chris) next week. I couldn’t wait to share it, and I figured it was such a “lesser” detail of her wedding that she probably wouldn’t mind me sharing with all of you.

Neither Chris or I have ever made one of these, but it ended up being surprisingly simple. We threaded three white plastic appetizer plates together with some thick black bunting from her shower decorations (her colors are black + grey + yellow), which not only held the plates together in a pyramid-like shape but gave us enough leftover for the “stem.” I like the dimensional effect three plates created versus piling all the decorations onto one plate like you typically see.

I then wrapped a long strand of English Netting around the plates and glued the ends with a hot glue gun. Chris then made dozens of tissue paper flowers in the various colors, which we glued straight to the plates, much like you would with say a piñata.

Woops…I did not mean to obscure Chris’s face with the bouquet.

Once it was filled with all the paper and ornaments it could handle, we fed the bunting through a toilet paper roll, snipped the excess (leaving about 3-4 inches), and filled the gaps in the toilet paper roll with paper and lots of glue to hold it in place. We then covered the toilet paper roll with Crate and Barrel ribbon (glued on either end), much like you would a real bouquet and tied additional wire-framed ribbon around it for decoration. The structure of the plates and ribbon also created a bonus little hiding spot for a surprise for Ashley on her rehearsal day!

We are pretty happy with the way it turned out. When you hold it, it really feels like a bouquet! Congratulations Ashley and Chris!

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Unsolicited Wedding Advice

by Jessica on September 10, 2010

in Family, Wedding

A snippet of the official photos from my cousin Nate and Sarah’s wedding back in June. Too cute, and I’m envious of their photographer.

My advice: Hire a good photographer. Spare the extra expense. If you get a funky vibe, your intuition is probably right.

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Congratulations!

August 25, 2010

Neil’s youngest brother Alex and his fiancé Audrey. They got engaged at the Wizard’s game on Saturday! If you were around me Saturday, you know I was on pins and needles waiting to hear the news. I say don’t stress the tiny details. What’s your best wedding planning advice?

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Keeping Tradition

August 10, 2010

Because we spent our first anniversary in Montana, we’re just now getting around to a few of the things we said we’d do. Well actually, this one wasn’t our idea, someone said we had to do this, so we said “sure, why not.” Apparently the tradition started as a christening rite for a couple’s first [...]

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Nate and Sarah’s Wedding Weekend

June 30, 2010

We had a blast at my cousin’s wedding in Minnesota this weekend. It’s always an awesome time seeing my family. Throughout all the changes, the moves, and distance, they are a constant and an amazing support system to both Neil and I. The weather this weekend however, was the complete opposite. I’ve never been under [...]