<p>Thank you, aibarr, for sharing your pictures. You were a beautiful bride and the wedding was lovely. Looking at the pictures, I felt like I was there. The photographer did a fantastic job and I loved the creativity of the shots!</p>
<p>Oh my goodness, I didn’t even know we were on the Knot’s website. (Living the dream of internet-savvy brides across America. ;))</p>
<p>aibarr, I’ve probably said this before, but I absolutely love your wedding and pictures. The painting idea is a great one – it’s easy to tear your hair out trying to match the carpet and the bridesmaid’s shoes and the cake topper, but I think avoiding matchiness is prettier.</p>
<p>Aibarr–great wedding reception. It looked like it was a lot of FUN. Thanks for sharing.</p>
<p>One thing in vogue with modern weddings of which I approve, and which seemed to be the case in aibarr’s wedding: </p>
<p>My D was a bridesmaid in her first wedding over the holidays. The bridesmaids were told to get themselves an LBD (Little Black Dress) and a red sash was provided by the bride. What a great idea, because then you wouldn’t get stuck paying oodles of money to get a dress that you’ll never use again (like in the film 27 Dresses).</p>
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<p>Thank you! I have DH to thank for half that idea, to be completely fair.</p>
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<p>It took a lot of convincing on my part to get my wonderful bridesmaids to understand that it didn’t matter at all to me what they wore… they decided they wanted to match, though, and when they finally realized that they could decide what they wanted to wear on their own, it took them a day to settle on those cute little navy tea-length numbers from J. Crew online… and got them on sale! I provided the lavender pashminas and the jewelry, made by a dear friend of the family who is an amazingly talented professional silversmith (PM for her website if you’re interested). Not sure about the dresses, but I’ve definitely seen them get a lot of mileage out of the jewelry since the wedding.</p>
<p>There are so many good, practical ideas for weddings out there, leveraging connections and using creative resources… Sites like The Knot help with this, and looking for cheap ways to replicate points out of the Martha Stewart magazines is a fun challenge. It <em>can</em> be done! =)</p>
<p>I noticed the necklaces also. The matching shawls and necklaces are just the touches that bring the bridal outfits together.</p>
<p>How neat to see Mollie & alibarr’s pictures! Thanks for sharing! </p>
<p>I was married a few years ago, and people told me (they were right) that one of the most important things at your wedding (apart from the people & the commitment!) is the photographer. I agree 100%! After the flowers and favors are gone, that’s what you’ll have.</p>
<p>alibarr–the slideshow was lovely and your photographer was almost exactly like ours – we wanted a natural, journalist style that captured the emotions of the event (not stiff, posed shots). I can see the joy/bittersweet feelings of your day. The ones of your dad are particularly touching.</p>
<p>I have a framed, sepia-toned, un-posed shot from my wedding of my husband gazing at me. We keep it in the kitchen. When I was home alone w/our newborn a year after our wedding – tired, stressed, cranky – I’d just look at that tender, beautiful photo and it would help get me through the day. lol.</p>
<p>All I could think as I watched the slideshow is “I know that man! How do I know aibarr’s dad?!?!” </p>
<p>!!!</p>
<p>re: response cards.</p>
<p>I agree that handwritten acceptances are “proper.” Unfortunately, some of the people we invited 26 years ago didn’t know that, and when confronted with an (engraved!) wedding invitation and separate reception invitation, didn’t know what to do! Some did not respond at all. Some returned the reception card in envelope with no return address and just wrote “Yes” on the card; no idea who was saying yes.</p>
<p>So, unless the B,G and family are all members of the prep school, finishing school elite, I would now say that practicality demands response cards.</p>
<p>As Ms. Manners might say: alas!</p>
<p>Consolation: do you still have the recipe for those curried chicken phyllo triangles? Yum.</p>
<p>owlice-
Do you really know aibarrs dad??? Thats wild! </p>
<p>I am inclined to agree with those who feel a potluck wedding is a little tacky. Maybe it is a regional thing, but if I am travelling to a wedding out of town, I would have no way of preparing food to bring. Seems a little unusual. Now, if it was a small, informal gathering of close friends, thats different. I co-hosted a fun pot luck bridal shower many yrs ago where not only did everyone bring something, but they sent the recipe ahead of time and we put them together in a little book and handed the book of recipes out to everyone. That was fun.</p>
<p>I agree that whoever is hosting and paying for the event has the right to decide who is/isnt invited. We had to make this decision for our older s’s bar mitzvah many yrs ago. We had invited kids down to about age 10 included, but had to draw the line somewhere (partly because the space we had was a bit tight, and also, if we had over a certain # of kids we were going to be required to hire security and we were already over budget). And, the party was at night and the younger kids get tired. We arranged babysitting for out of town younger kids in the hotel. A local friend (whose older s was invited) wanted to bring her younger s also to the nighttime party “so that he would get practice to attend bar mitzvahs in the future when they were older”. I felt bad, but let her know of the limit set by the hotel. To this day (10 yrs later) I think she is still offended that we didnt invite both her kids. I do feel badly, and in retrospect could have just not told the hotel the #s increased (though I woudnt have had seats for both of them). But then, others whose kids werent invited might have been hurt that theirs werent invited. Its always a tough call.</p>
<p>Anyone have good stories of the most ridiculous/outrageous/gallish requests that were made by guests of you when you hosted a wedding or bar/bat mitzvah? I found that the best way to reduce the stress around the time of the event was to keep a mental “list” of these ridiculous requests that you neither had the time or desire to do. For example, my SIL is a great seamstress. For her older s’s bar mitzvah she was making a tapestry with him to hang at the service and donate to the synagogue (it was beautiful). I might add that my SIL isnt jewish, so putting together a bar mitzvah event, also for a special needs child was a handful. Her sister, I suppose thinking she had lots of extra free time on her hands (!!) , asked her (my SIL) to make her a dress to wear to the event! Uh. No. She wasnt even making her own dress, let alone make a dress for someone else.</p>
<p>aibarr, what I love the most about those photos is the glow of confident happiness in your eyes and in your smile. Thank you for sharing.</p>
<p>jym, it appears that I do not, from aibarr’s and my recent PM exchange, but I have a pretty good memory for faces (yes, I’m the one who will run into a woman in a restroom, look at her, and say, “Hi! We think we went to elementary school together; you’re so-and-so, aren’t you?”), and I know I’ve seen that one before – it must be on another person, however! It was a real shock: “I know that man! How? From where?” was my immediate reaction, and more pictures convinced me further. </p>
<p>Some people have “twins” out there in the world, though – now I just need to figure out whose aibarr’s dad’s is so they can meet!! :)</p>
<p>[AshleysBrideGuide.com</a>, the most helpful wedding directory for Nashville brides](<a href=“http://www.ashleysbrideguide.com/blog/2008/10/02/nashville-weddings-kira-and-joe-a-nashville-brides-story/]AshleysBrideGuide.com”>http://www.ashleysbrideguide.com/blog/2008/10/02/nashville-weddings-kira-and-joe-a-nashville-brides-story/)</p>
<p>My daughter’s wedding was featured on this website. Here’s a few pics, a video clip and some info. The cake was made to look like tooled leather. It was so cool and so GOOD. The reception was country-themed with gingham tablecloths and country-western decor. I think the first number in the video is my daughter singing with her husband playing piano. They are both musicians (not their day jobs now).</p>
<p>What a treat to see that, MOWC! I loved the look on your d’s groom’s face as she walked towards him! Thanks for posting. And I loved the photos of aibarr as well.</p>
<p>This thread is fabulous, and a lovely distraction from FAFSA for me! My d says her BF of 2 years is “the one”, who knows, lol, but I have bookmarked this thread!</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing that, mowc!! Congrats!!</p>
<p>I just recently had a conversation about a rehersal dinner that really surprised me too.</p>
<p>A coworker said she was watching what she spent because she was spending $10,000 for a rehersal dinner for 120 people! I was shocked . . . she said there were 7 attendants & I am sure some out of town guests . . . but I think people are inviting many more to the rehersal dinner than in the past. And this is not a wealthy woman.</p>
<p>MOWC, awwhhh, what a great wedding! Thanks for sharing the video. It surely captured a lot of the bride and groom’s emotions and love. Your D was a stunning bride!</p>
<p>" coworker said she was watching what she spent because she was spending $10,000 for a rehersal dinner for 120 people! I was shocked . . . she said there were 7 attendants & I am sure some out of town guests . . . but I think people are inviting many more to the rehersal dinner than in the past."</p>
<p>I think I had 75-100 at my rehearsal dinner, 20+ years ago. I was married in St. Louis (where my parents lived at the time) but my extended family was all from the East Coast, so that’s how it was. And my husband’s family was all from Chicago. Some people due to family circumstances simply have lots of out-of-towners.</p>
<p>$10,000 just for the rehearsal dinner? Yikes! Just imagine what the whole wedding cost! </p>
<p>Weddings are like college in one way–you shouldn’t go into massive debt to pay for one!</p>
<p>MollyB, aibarr, and MOWC, thanks so much for sharing the beautiful pictures and video.</p>
<p>I’m a church musician and have been involved in a couple of hundred weddings over the last 30 years or so. One of my favorites was the wedding of the girl who babysat both of my kids when they were young. For many years, her mom and grandma had saved every wedding photo Christmas card they received. They probably had at least 300 photos, which they framed and used for reception table decorations (they borrowed as many silver and gold frames as they could and also bought some). It was really fun to go around to all of the tables throughout the evening and see the wedding photos of all of our friends and their kids as well as those of the bride’s relatives.</p>