Wedding Diary Month 6: The Thick of It


Hello from almost the halfway point of wedding planning! At this point, we're over six months in and a little over 7 months away from the big day. I shared a little diary of what we had done so far after one month so I wanted to stop in and share where we're at now. We're officially on some of the big things!


Created and Sent Save the Dates
This part was SO much fun, and I could not be more excited about how these turned out. I spent a while looking up designs, but ultimately I decided to design them myself for three reasons. First, I had a vision of what I wanted on the back of the cards, and any predesigned ones I found also included the backs. Second, I knew I wanted to get them printed using Vistaprint or something similar to save on cost. And lastly, I started to notice that all of the designs I was drawn to were simple and typography-based, which I knew I could do myself. 

I really can't take credit for the backs of the cards at all, but I'm still way more proud of them than I should. When we realized that our wedding date was on Friday the 13th, my sister-in-law/bridesmaid, Gabi, joked that we should put Michael Scott's line from The Office on them, "I'm not superstitious, but I am a little stitous." So of course, I ran with it. I've been very vocal about my deep love of Holly Oddly (both as a person and her work), and at the time, Holly had been cranking out some pretty amazing pop culture portraits that I just adore. I asked Holly if we could commission her to create a Michael Scott for the Save the Dates, and she was incredibly kind enough to create this for us. Fun fact: Holly had never seen The Office before (which is crazy given how much of the same TV we both love), and her drawing this motivated her to start the show!

Less fun fact: after we got these in the mail, I discovered that I had put the wrong website address on them. After a minor freak out, I contacted Vistaprint, and their customer care was super helpful and sent us corrected ones at no cost. Phew!



Set Up Our Website
 The cool thing about getting wedding planning in in 2019 is that there are SO many options for this that make life easier. I decided to go with Zola since I liked the website designs better than others, and they make the process extremely easy. It took some time for Jon and I to write everything, but in terms of setting it up, Zola has templates for all of the pages we needed. I really love the design we went with, and it was so much fun choosing photos and writing the content. We're also going to do our RSVP's through Zola, which is SO much easier than having to track down everyone to send theirs in the mail. This also means we can cut costs on the invites and can fit everything on one card. If you're interested, you can check out our website here

Started a Registry
We can all agree that registering is the best part about getting married, right? Obviously. We still have some more to do this (and plenty of time), but so far it's been a blast starting this. Jon and I have lived together for a few years so we don't need a ton of home stuff, but we decided that we want to upgrade all of our hand-me-downs and cheap stuff to nicer and more long-lasting things. We picked out most of that stuff at Target, and then we used Zola's registry to add some fun things (like gift cards) and some bigger gifts that Zola allowed us to set up as group gift options (like luggage and plane tickets). That means that our guests have the option to contribute a little to something rather than us asking someone to buy $800 tickets.

While we created a small-ish registry of home goods, we had the most fun setting up a honeymoon registry. We did this through Traveler's Joy, and we love that we can ask people to contribute to specific items rather than just a lump sum for the trip.

I do have to say, it's been fun working on this, but it also feels weird asking people to buy us so much stuff! 



Bought a Dress and Shoes
The big one! I feel like I need to write a post about dress shopping on its own because it was such an experience. For a while now, I had a plan: got to a couple stores to try on traditional dresses just for fun and to humor my friends and family, but ultimately go with a short, retro dress that was vintage or by an independent designer. I gave up on the vintage dream pretty quickly because of how difficult it is to vintage wedding dresses in any size larger than a 25" waist. So here's all that I tried on:


  • Two Chi Chi London dresses from Modcloth - I didn't really think that I would go with either of these, but it was during a big 40% off sale and they were returnable, so I figured it didn't hurt to try them on. They were both cute, but the quality wasn't there, so I sent them back.
  • A Dolly Couture Retro Wedding Dress - I ordered one dress from Dolly Couture for home try-on (they charge $40/dress to do this so I only tried on one). I was 100% convinced I would buy this dress. It was adorable and everything I wanted. However, I tried it on after trying long dresses, and once I had done that, the short dresses felt too similar to what I wear every day.
  • Two Bridal Stores - I planned a big day of shopping and brought all 5 of my bridesmaids, my mom, and one of my sister-in-laws with me. It probably was too many people, but I really wanted them all there. 
When I first started trying on long, traditional dresses, I felt SO uncomfortable. I didn't feel like me, and it didn't help that I had 7 women and the bridal stores employee staring at me. But then I started trying on long ones that felt a little bit more style. And man, what an experience. I was shocked at how they made me feel, and in this case, it actually really helped to hear the reaction of everyone around me. The dresses were such good quality and some of them made me feel better than I have about my body. 

After the first boutique and lunch, we went to BHLDN. I was SO excited about this, but if I'm honest, it was a bit of a letdown. Being in Anthropologie was great, and the gowns were gorgeous, but I quickly went back to feeling self-conscious in my own skin when I put them on. Even in my size, the dresses felt like they were made for women without curves, and none of them had the quality or the structure that the dresses did in the first store. 

After sleeping on it, I went back to the first store the next weekend with my mom and Jon's mom (who sadly had gotten sick the week prior). I tried on a couple that I had been thinking about again, and I ended up getting one of the ones I had tried on the week before. It is NOT what I expected to choose at all, but I love that I'm going with something that feels more special and one-of-a-kind than what I had intended. I also found shoes a couple of weeks later, and I'm just as excited about them!



Started Buying Decor
Oof, this has officially been the hardest thing. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't struggling to make decisions here, but I've been a regular at Michaels lately and have finally started getting some stuff. I think I have the centerpieces figured out, but I still need to figure out...well, everything else. Help!

Started Planning the Honeymoon
I won't keep you in suspense any longer - we're going to New Orleans! Neither of us has a ton of money to spare on a trip, so Jon and I started thinking of domestic locations we'd want to visit. We came up with the idea for New Orleans pretty early when we decided that we'd rather do a city than a beach. I've only ever been once (as a kid and just for a few hours on a cruise), and Jon has never been. Plus, we both love the idea of live music, lots of history, and ALL the food. We're planning on eating everything, doing a cemetery store, and I'll drag Jon to a couple of vintage stores.

My parents have a timeshare, and they were incredibly generous enough to offer us its use for the week there. The New Orleans location is actually right n the heart of the city, so it felt perfect. We still need to get plane tickets, but the timeshare has been booked and we've started planning!


3 comments

  1. I’ve always wanted to visit New Orleans! I’m sure you guys will have a blast!

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  2. 1) I love reading posts like this and it also reminded me of writing posts like this and all the love and joy there is in weddings!

    2) Smart move to sleep on the decision of choosing a dress. I think there can be a lot of pressure and euphoria in choosing with a large group but taking your time and making sure it feels right is more important!

    3) New Orleans! What a great honeymoon choice!

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  3. Ok now I'm just creeping around your entire wedding website...nbd. It looks great, btw! Zola really seems to be the move these days. And I love how much you guys put into writing the copy on the entire site! I enjoyed it!

    V impressed that you designed your own Save the Dates!

    I can't wait to see your ensemble! Isn't it funny how you can have an idea in your mind, and then go with something completely different that you like even more?

    Also, NOLA is *such* a cool city, and what an awesome honeymoon destination! You guys will love it.

    Priya the Blog

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