the story of our wedding // how to ask your wedding party

so… you’ve said yes. (yay!) but now the pressure is on you the pop the question… to your girls! long gone are the days when you simply asked someone to be in your wedding party, oh no. there are now props and goodies and hashtags involved. it was so fun to search for all the ridiculously unique ways to ask my gals and envision myself creating these adorable care packages with homemade cake with our wedding colors in a mason jar and a dove that would fly out when they opened it and Parisian music would start to play… and then i remembered that i don’t do shit like that. and so, i came up with my own idea that better fit my style as well as my skill set.

i love photos. and take oodles of them. i like documentation. i love being able to look back and remember. i love nostalgia. so i decided to make photo collages to ask my girls to be part of my big day. i started by taking stock of ALL the photos of me and each girl and created folders for each one. pic monkey (free!) is my photo collage editor of choice, but go with what you feel. i did a mix of old and new photos and then added space for me to speak from the heart. i added a frame that fit each girls personal style to finish it up and make it something they could actually use.

to tie it all together i bought mini bottles of champagne and added my own special label. boom. wedding party accomplished. i should note that in the fella’s world it goes a little something like this:

“hey, so ah, you know you’re in the wedding right?” “yeah.” “cool.”

did you ask your wedding party in a snazzy way? i would love to hear about it. also, we are officially less than 300 days away until #happilyeverbica

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the story of our wedding // part one {the engagement}

the story of our wedding // part two {the ring}

the story of our wedding // engagement photos

the story of our wedding // engagement photos

        

there are different milestones along the story of our wedding that make me ask, is this real life? when we booked our venue and locked in our date; when i bought the dress; when we took our engagement photos and now, when i’m looking at our engagement photos. this is real life. i’m getting married! so much excitement. so much to share. so much love. on the docket for today, my dear friends, is our engagement photos.

as mentioned our photographer is the incredibly talented, Matt Addington. we decided on Loring Park area near downtown Minneapolis for the location; we could get some nature backgrounds, city backgrounds, and could have #starksthepup join us for some. after lots of Pinteresting, some fashioin consulting from my stylist Tash, and a trip or 2 to the mall [b] and i were all set with 3 outfits (much to [b]’s dismay – he was hoping for just one. that was cute.) changing in the car proved to be interesting but i made it work and thanks to our friend doogie who came with to help try to wrangle #starksthepup. and to hold my purse. thankfully the weather was perfection and fall colors in minnesota never looked better. it was so much fun and despite the pup being an absolute lunatic, we even got a couple good ones with him.

we got all the proofs from Matt on Monday and i don’t feel like it’s any sort of exaggeration to say that i’ve looked through all 371 2 or 10 times. i couldn’t have imagined them turning out better. matt captured our crazy little family exactly as we are. thank you so much, matt, for putting up with a lunatic dog and a ridiculous couple who kept sticking there tongues out at each other and creating these beautiful images. cannot wait for you to capture our wedding day!

outfit 1: sweater The Limited, jeans The Limited, necklace Francescas, shoes DSW

outfit 2: dress Express, tights Nordstrom Rack, boots [similar] DSW, necklace The Limited

outfit 3: sweater The Limited, jeans Express, necklace BG Loft, shoes DSW

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you may also like…

the story of our wedding // part one {the engagement}

the story of our wedding // part two {the ring}

the story of our wedding // part 2 {the ring}

so i just learned that Wedding Wednesday is a thing. which is fantastic. and also gave me the reminder that i needed to post part two of the story of our wedding. [you can find part one: the engagement here] part two is full of sparkle and selfies; the ring.

i couldn’t be happier with my ring. and yes, i did pick it out. [b] and i looked online a little, and i went once with my dear friend lys to try some on once just to get an idea. i truly had no idea what i wanted. ok maybe a little, i wanted sterling silver, and modern vintage, unique without being odd, and classy sassy. it’s hard because the diamond store websites don’t let me select those as filter options. so when [b] was in china last year my momma and i went to jared and after some searching i had narrowed it down to 2 rings, i had one that was the front runner, but i wanted [b] to feel like he got some say. :) (#hewenttojared)

now, if you give a girl a ring, she’s going to want to show people. but if you give a social media diva a ring, she’s going to want to take selfies and call them #blingshots. and they’re going to be, wait for it, awesome. it’s exciting and crazy to have a ring on your ring finger and you just might find yourself doing some things you have not done before, suchas: because it’s so shiny you kind of just want to stare at it while it sparkles. and request that others join in. and making sure that when you’re in photos your #blingshot is showing in all its glory. and when you take #bouface selfies you suddenly only can use your left hand to hold your bou in the photo. and your friends may call you out on “accidental” #blingshots, or even request them. being engaged is funny like that.

in case you were wondering, which of course you were, it’s 325 days until the wedding! i know, right? so much excitement and many things to share with you on upcoming Wedding Wednesdays [and maybe some other days, too.] toodles!