A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

My wonderful friend Katy Hafner sent this photo to me today.  She said she'd been holding onto it for 2 years and long story short, just got around to emailing it to me.  I opened her unexpected attachment and a huge beaming grin spread across my face. Marrying Logan was truly the best decision I have ever made. I have always been told I am a terrible liar and you can read my face like a book... Well, as you can see from my face, that man fills me with irrefutable giddiness and joy!  

Our Wedding Album (Better late than never!)

Our professional wedding album was not quite in the budget, so we decided to design our own using BLURB.  I am happy to say it is 70 pages and was under $150! I will be sure to give a full review once we receive it in the mail.


You may be thinking, well Abby you got married almost 2 years ago.... True, BUT I am a perfectionist and there's nothing like an international move to get my butt in gear to finish it up and order it! Since we are only packing clothes and a few pictures, I figured this would be something I would cherish and look at often.   Enjoy :)

Our Wedding | Make Your Own Book

Wedding Tips: Cutting Costs Part 1

Logan and I were on a really tight budget for our wedding. Just because your wedding can't be expensive, doesn't mean it can't look it :)   I wear our budget as a badge of honor knowing that we were able to pull it off for less than the average cost of a wedding these days! It took a lot of hard work (and tears) cutting some of the corners, but it saved my parents and us some serious cash and I am happy that we were able to help them out. It is, after all, ONE DAY. 

Below are a few ideas to help your wedding be more budget-friendly. I had SO many, I am dividing these into 2 posts.

1. My dress was purchased at this ADORABLE Bridal Boutique called Circle Park Bridal in Addison.  They offer "cash & carry" dresses that you buy right off the rack.  The owner, Andrea, is a sweetheart and used to be in the wedding industry in NYC until she got fed up with people taking advantage of brides.  So after she got married, she decided to open her own, more affordable bridal boutique without the unfair markups.  She said she is shopping at the same bridal markets where the pricier boutiques in town are shopping so the quality is just the same.  She offers a variety of beautiful dresses for under $1,000! Be sure to call ahead and make an appointment.  The place is adorable- white, black, and hot pink and all of the women are sweet as can be and make it a priority for you to have a meaningful and special experience.
2. Alterations were done by a mutual friend of my moms out of her home.  Unfortunately, bridal boutiques can sometimes require you to use their alterations services and they definitely take advantage of that opportunity.  Lucky for us, we could shop around to find the best prices and it turns out Honey Prestage was! (My alterations- and we had a lot of them - were under $150!)
3. We found a woman who did our wedding cake out of her home as a side business/ hobby.  We dodged the massive mark-ups that most bakeries are guilty of and found a woman who took her time preparing our cake individually with love. 
4. We chose to bypass the wedding favors.  I had a ton of cute "French themed" ideas, but at the end of the day those go unnoticed or in the trash. 
5. We went with a DJ over a live band.  I wanted a dance party and although the energy is not the same as you would have with a live band, if you have fun friends (which I do) then this can shave off thousands (literally) of dollars!
6. Nixed group transportation. Oh my goodness, this was a hard one for me to give up because I really wanted the wedding party to ride from the church to the reception together, but at the end of the day it wasn't in the budget. Instead, we had the Houston's borrow their parents nice Lexus, and chauffeur us from PCBC to Delaney.  It was a peaceful and relaxing break from the chaos to reflect and chat before the whirlwind evening began. 
7. VENUE VENUE VENUE!!! Find a unique venue that doesn't need a lot of decorating, lighting adjustments, etc.  If you find a pretty backdrop, you don't have to spend lots of money making the room "come together."
8. Location: By going outside of Dallas (although we were still in the DFW area), the prices dropped pretty substantially.  People are willing to make the drive from the ceremony to the reception because you are worth it and that's where the fun begins!
9. We had family and friends officiate and do the music in our ceremony. We are blessed with ordained ministers and musicians on the Misegades side, so that was lucky.
10. We used 1 big flower arrangement at the front of the church that was transported to the buffet table at the reception.  Kill 2 birds with one stone and it looked amazing. 
11. We bought all our own centerpieces from Hobby Lobby and just paid for flowers instead of renting decorations.  This could be a more expensive option depending on where you got the center pieces, but Hobby Lobby was a great deal! Plus, now my mom and I have cute and meaningful decorations for our home. CANTON is another GREAT place to find cheap and adorable decorations and hostess gifts.
12. We opted for no wedding planner. (At times when I was going crazy balancing a full time job and the stress of calling vendors and setting up appointments, this was really hard but we made it through and my mom was a huge help!) We did, however, have a wedding planner included at the church.  Most venues include one for the "day of" in your pricing package.

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Wedding Tips: What I am SO glad I did

Here is a list of a few things that I am so glad that I did. They worked well for me, so take it for what it's worth!

Invest slowly in hostess gifts. This is usually my first tidbit of advice for brides-to-be! You need gifts for everything and everyone... bridesmaids, hostesses for showers, groomsmen, flower girls/ ring bearers, anyone that pitches in to help with your wedding - the singers, the officiators, the readers, the mom's friend who agrees to set everything up, etc. You get my drift...  While you are out shopping around (even if you don't know who will be throwing what yet) invest in cute notepads, necklaces, tote bags, etc. that you could gift to anyone. These little expenses add up quickly so it helps to purchase them slowly as you go.


My bridemaids got Michael Kors watches (hooray for Fossil perks!)



Date night the night before the Rehearsal Dinner. I cannot stress to you how needed this evening was. My SIL Erin started the Date Night tradition when she got married and I will be passing this one down for generations. The wedding week is stressful. You have company coming in town and vying for your attention, family members who don't read and keep calling you asking you questions and directions, and a To Do list a mile long. Set aside the night before the Rehearsal Dinner (or any night the week of the wedding) with your groom-to-be. No exceptions. Make this a well known fact to your family and friends and do not turn on that cell phone! Spend some low stress, quality time together. This was the night we exchanged gifts as well, which was very relaxed instead of rushed on the wedding day. PLUS, I wanted to be in the room when I gave him his gift rather than having my sister deliver it to him on the actual wedding day. We ate at a nice restaurant, drank a few glasses of wine, and I finally was able to settle my nerves and relax. It really put the whole weekend into perspective.

BONUS: Erin also suggested that I surprise Logan and walk him into Victoria's Secret after dinner to pick out a honeymoon outfit. This clearly was his favorite part of the evening. It really set the tone and made both of us excited about not only the wedding, but the honeymoon too! :)


I loved watching Logan's reaction when I gave him his wedding gift, a John Lennon epiphone guitar.



Keep the day spaced out and low key with PLENTY of extra built in time for last minute delays such as: missing wedding shoes, traffic at 3pm, and in impromptu football game in the front yard of the church :)  I have to admit, most of my stress and tears were wedding planning-related, but the day of I was in no rush, relaxed, and little things didn't phase me! I knew we had plenty of time built in to accomodate anything that could pop up.

Our Private and Personal Last Dance: I surprised Logan for our last dance and had the entire room emptied out while the DJ put on "Shelter" by Ray LaMontagne... everyone else was outside getting ready for our exit and we had 3 minutes of uninterrupted time together to reflect on our evening, unwind, soak it in, kiss slowly, and spend our first quiet moments together (just us 2) since we had become husband and wife. This was by far my favorite moment of the reception and one of the few moments that is not a blur. Just the 2 of us, reflecting on what just took place. 

Wedding Journal: I gifted Logan this wedding journal that I had been keeping since 2004 on our wedding night. Prayers, song lyrics, pictures, wishes for my future husband.  Once I met Logan (I am talking within 5 days), my entries shifted into our relationship and charted it from the night we met, to our engagement, to our wedding day.  I wrote my last entry the morning of October 30th, in the hair salon tucked away in the silence of an empty room. We read entries throughout the honeymoon and still haven't finished reading it together :) So happy we have a record of that first year of falling in love and all the emotions that came along with it.

We took AS MANY pictures as we could before the ceremony. Although we didn't opt to do "first glance" pictures, we took all of our wedding party pictures in the sunlight before the ceremony. This cut our post-ceremony pictures in half so we had longer to enjoy our reception :)

Got married in a church & waited to see Logan until the wedding.  I don't know if you are like me, but something about the build up of being with my dad, hearing the organ music, saying "Dad, this feels like a movie" and him not wanting me to talk to him b/c he was about to lose it still gives me that tight feeling in my throat.   The beautiful traditional organ music blaring the same tunes I hummed to myself as a little girl and two of Logan's best friends telling me I looked beautiful before opening those big heavy doors as I walked down the aisle, watching Logan bawl his little eyes out when he saw me for the first time... there is nothing like it. It is exactly how I envisioned it yet so much more than I could have imagined. It is a moment I will cherish forever. My heart overflowing with gratitude for God and His grace and bringing me to this moment in my life with a man I surely don't deserve. An out of body experience I surely would not trade for anything.

Okay, okay now bear with me as I play devil's advocate...  there are many pros to consider with outdoor weddings and first glance pictures.  At most churches, the photographer is very limited in what and where they can shoot. Since its a "worship service," most churches do not want it to be distracting. Therefore you often don't get the zoomed in, up close and personal, forward facing photos that an alternative venue can allow for.  We also (since we got married in the fall) had rushed couple shots directly after the wedding was over 1. Because we were fighting daylight literally and 2. Because we were on a tight time table to get the group pictures taken so people could head over to the reception in a timely manner.  When you take first glace pictures, you do still get raw emotion, you have some QT precious moments with your groom on an otherwise fast-paced day, and you get to take your time, use the sunlight, and take as many pictures as necessary to get those perfect shots.  So you first glance/ funky venue people- I salute you and totally support your decision as well!

Splurged on a worry-free photographer. Those memories will last us a lifetime and the day is SUCH a blur, I am happy to look back and remember who all was there to celebrate with me. I also (not once) had to request for Sarah Kate to take a picture of this or that...she was just there, present...the entire day, documenting it on my behalf so I could re-live it a thousand times until I am old and gray and fantasize about fitting into that gown again.

Sign in "Guestbook" frame.  I loved this because it is now displayed in our home instead of collecting dust on a bookshelf or coffee table somewhere. I love to look at it and read a comment as I pass by it every once in awhile. It makes me feel so loved to look at how many people made time in their schedule to see us on our big day.

 

Dance in entrances of Wedding Party. I think this trending pretty big right now, but it set a really fun tone for our evening and everyone got to see the Wedding Party and their fun personalities.

All Inclusive Honeymoon - No penny pinching, fruity drink OR steak limit, and zero bank account checking... We walked into our honeymoon knowing exactly what we would be spending.  We also chose Playa del Carmen because it was a resort within a city. We had a blast venturing into town and not feeling "stuck" on the resort in the middle of nowhere... we got to shop around and rub elbows with the locals. WORD TO THE WISE: We used Trip Advisor like it was the Bible.  We ruled out a TON of resorts by reading customer reviews from this site. I highly encourage you to do the same! We decided on The Royal and it was everything and more than we were expecting. I want to go back again someday for a special anniversary :)

I hope you found these helpful.  Again, these are just written from my personal perspective and experience as little nuggets of wisdom to consider.  The great thing about YOUR wedding day, is you make the rules, break the rules, ignore the rules... Do what works with you and your personality.

Wedding Tips: What I wish I had known

Source: ruffledblog.com via Shannon on Pinterest

Here are a few things that perhaps didn't go as smoothly as I would have loved... all in all, that fact that there are only 5 is pretty good! :)

1. Take a sleeping aid the night before the wedding.  

Now I am not telling you to pop pills if you don't need to, but if you have ever had trouble sleeping in these scenarios: the night before a big interview, the night before your first day of school, the night before a huge competition or game.  YEAH... I am talking to YOU... Why would your wedding day- AKA the biggest day of your life to date-  be any different? The stress, the butterflies, the anxiety, the excitement... I wasn't able to fall asleep until after 3am and had to be up at 7am the next morning to shower for my big day.  (I called Logan bawling the morning of our wedding b/c I was so dang tired. Poor thing freaked out that I was having cold feet at first haha!)

*Note: Do a practice run on that sleeping aid. I am a freak show and "Nyquil" actually does the opposite and wires me.

2. Pre-made, typed out "shots" that you want your photographer to take. (Specifically the group & family shots directly after the ceremony and any key details that you really put thought behind.) 

Being put on the spot and trying to remember is impossible and risky... Although I had my typed out list, I had 3 that I missed and don't want you to forget, so learn from me:

• Logan and I ALONE at the front of the church
• Me w/ the flower girls only
• Shots of our buffet table at the reception (that one is random, but we put so much thought into our All American and French cuisine to fuse the two cultures, I wanted it captured. Photographers typically don't shoot the food, just the cake so if it is important to you make sure to request it!)

3. This goes for a DJ or band... GO LISTEN to a wedding or event where they are performing before booking them.  

I give you full permission to be a wedding crasher for a night! My DJ was only $500 and came recommended from a coworker so I thought- hey the price is right and she has good taste so we are good to go! Now I doubt anyone noticed or cared because a dance party is a dance party, but I gave our DJ a playlist and he did not stick to it.  I had key songs I wanted him to play and he definitely strayed off the path playing things like JOURNEY (cringe) that I had told him beforehand to stay away from. Basically, I felt like he put on a generic wedding playlist that he probably had used at many of his weddings and pushed play. It didn't feel personal to me after I had put so much thought into my recommendations. So make sure to have open communication and clear expectations. 

Also- make sure he/she knows and sticks to the schedule.  (Maybe get your MOH to monitor this) I noticed people were starting to leave because it was getting late, and we still had yet to do our bouquet and garter toss.  Me (the bride) had to go ask the DJ to please do it... NOW.  He did not stick to my schedule. Again, probably no one noticed, but that is not something the bride should be stressing over.

4. A tid bit: No one goes to a wedding expecting to hang out with the bride and groom.  

On our honeymoon I was going through a list of names feeling guilty for not talking very long (in some cases at all) to some of our guests, especially those who came in from out of town. Just know that you will not have time to catch up on life and have a meaningful conversation with each guest. Its tempting to want to though, considering this is the one day in your life where literally all of your favorite people are together in the same room.  

I now see the beauty in a Bride/ Groom receiving line or walking table to table during dinner and just saying a quick 1-2 minute hello to everyone. That way you make the rounds, speak to every single guest, and don't have to keep getting dragged off the dance floor to catch up with people :) Call me selfish, but I love to dance! Plus you can avoid the post-wedding "I didn't talk to XYZ and I feel bad" honeymoon guilt.

5. Make a point to stand facing your husband and watch him and his mom in the spotlight. 

This is a shout out to Logan and an apology. I had my back turned almost his entire Mother/ Son dance because people were trying to talk to me and I was so excited to see them and catch up.  I still feel bad about this. Luckily its on film, but I remember severely hurting his feelings and hate that! This is honestly the only point in the evening where all eyes are off you and focused on the groom. Give him his moment to shine :) Logan- I have re-done this a zillion times in my head and I apologize again and I love you!

 

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Wedding Tips: My Complete Vendor List

Ceremony: Park Cities Baptist Church, Ellis Chapel

Reception: Delaney Vineyards in Grapevine

Cake: A coworker of my moms bakes wedding cakes as a hobby out of her home. And let me tell you, our wedding cake was to die for!

Invitations & Wedding Programs : Becky Wade - A close friend of my moms. She was fantastic and helped turn our vision into reality.

 

Catering: CN Catering (We had to use one of the 4 that Delaney recommended and I am going to be honest- I would not recommend them.  They were very unreliable and unorganized. HOWEVER, the food was outstanding so that was a plus.)

Flowers: Donna Jenkins - This is actually Katie Norris' mom. She does flowers as a hobby out of her home and is very fair in pricing and I cannot begin to tell you how talented she is.  She has a zillion books for you to go through and makes a "trend board" for you with your wedding colors.  She is extremely sweet, knowledgeable, and passionate.

Photographer (Engagements): Katie Norris

Location: Deep Ellum, White Rock Lake, Downtown Dallas

Photographer (Bridals and Wedding) : Sara Kate Barger

Location of Bridals: Cotton Mill in McKinney

 

DJ: Pedro... came recommended from a Fossil coworker.  More on that later, but I would not recommend him. Moving on...

 

Hair & Makeup: Heather Kitsoulis at The Blue Room (she now works at Halo and extremely talented at what she does- I was very pleased with how my hair and makeup turned out!) 

Getaway Car: Gifted from my stepdad Chris. I honestly think it MADE our wedding. It was like a pretty bow that tied the whole package together and made for an amazing backdrop on some of our most memorable and favorite photos.

Attire: 

• Dress: Circle Park Bridal in Addison (Something New)
• Shoes: DSW Shoe Warehouse 
• Jewelry:  Etsy "K Garner Designs" + Spice (next door to Cotton Island)
• Broach: Vintage- My grandma Nanny's :) (Something Old)
• Undergarments: Nordstrom - "sticky boobs" b/c I hate strapless bras and I LOVED my Hanky Panky "I Do" panties (Something blue) 
• Flower Girl Dresses/ Ring bearer tux: Impressions right by Sam Moon- SUCH a steal!!! 
• Garters: (1 to throw, 1 to keep): Stardust Celebrations 
• Veil: Annie Houston's - I loved the long fairytale length plus the meaningful factor since Logan and I met at their wedding (Something borrowed)

Other Details:

• Ring Bearer Bowl: Etsy "Palomas Nest" - you get to customize this! We put "With this Ring 10.30.09" it is a GREAT keepsake!
• Cake Toppers: Etsy "Naked Peggies" - customized to look like my wedding dress and match our hair color, etc. Unfortunately, they no longer have a store but you can find similar cake toppers HERE. 
• Sign in Guest book frame: Bed, Bath, & Beyond 
• Reception center pieces & frames for bridal portraits/ engagements: Hobby Lobby 
• Wedding Scrapbook: Etsy "It's My Day"  - This was customized with my wedding colors and showers.  It was a stress-free way to have a pre-made scrapbook that I just literally got to fill in/ glue pictures in.  The rest was cute and done for me!

*Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or need contact info for any of the above vendors.  abbymisegades@gmail.com

It's All in the Details...

So the wedding day FLIES by and it is typically hard to catch all the thoughtful details that you put into the day amidst the chaos... As I was designing my wedding album, I realized that there were some BIG parts missing. I called my wonderful friend Katie Norris (who did our engagements) and asked if she thought I was weird for contacting her after I had been married for over a YEAR and if she would be willing to shoot some additional detail shots from our special day. She did NOT think I was weird, and agreed to help us out :)

I think they turned out WONDERFUL!!! I now finally feel like I can complete our album. All the details that I had thoughtfully planned, are now accounted for. (One of those images is the the image above that I made our Blog banner- its my favorite!)

Katie knew that we had our reception in the barrel room at Delaney, so she used dark, rustic colors and woods so that the images would not look out of place in our album.


love this shot! we never got a shot of our 3 rings all together :) And of course, my lovely Eiffel tower in the background. I actually gave each of my bridesmaids, house party, and family members this very Eiffel tower ornament at my bridal luncheon as a memoir from our weekend. (Thank you Restoration Hardware!)

I had Logan's ring engraved with "Pour Toujours 10-30-09" Which means forever in French :)

our cake toppers were my favorite! We had them custom made from Etsy! You can't really tell, but my girl's wedding dress was painted to look like mine :)

I bought this on Etsy as well with the intention that Griffin would use it instead of a ring bearer's typical pillow... after watching him sling the pillow around at the rehearsal dinner, we opted to keep it as the pillow ;) The plate is adorable and says "With This Ring" and our wedding date "10.30.09" - its a great keepsake!

My second favorite image. This was my grandmother's broach and I wore it at our reception to represent / honor her. I loved that the bottom right crystal fell out... it was perfectly, imperfect.

These were an adorable etsy find- my earrings for the church ceremony.

I wore the broach and chandelier earrings to spice things up at the reception!

oh brother... the tale of the wedding shoes! Read the story HERE. Needless to say, there was NO WAY these puppies would be photographed except for a stressful last second (literally) shot before I walked down the aisle! They were a great find at DSW thanks to my bridesmaid Katie! I wanted something to complement the flower embellishment on my dress and these were exactly what I was looking for but SUPER hard to find! (Katie Norris had to photo shop the HECK out of these b/c my shoes were so dirty by the end of the evening- she did awesome!)

My beautiful ring and garter... this was my "something blue"- it was the lightest blue I had ever seen! I loved my lacy garter!

We have zero shots of our food tables... dang! Hard to re-create that, but we did still have the menus my mom did calligraphy on. We wanted to have a theme- All American food (above) and French cuisine crepes!!! (below) Then we had a fruit, cheese, and salad bar at the long table in the middle. It was so yummy and a fun way to blend our heritages.

BIG FAT THANK YOU TO KATIE NORRIS!!! I love our images.

I hope you enjoyed hearing the stories behind each detail as well :) Have a great weekend- hooray for GORGEOUS weather.... Spring. Is. Near. Hallelujah!