And a special glimpse into weddings from 2007 :) 10 years?!?! What? How did that happen? Where did the last decade of my life go? Oh yeah…it went down the rabbit hole to die on Pinterest and be replaced with really ridiculously gorgeous weddings. And maybe just a little intense, but still so so gorgeous. All the same, I look at my wedding and while I don’t have darling chalkboard dessert table signs, or custom laser-etched oyster shell seating charts, it’s still beautiful in all its classic simplicity. So if your DYING to see what a typical wedding in 2007 looked like, scroll on down! I got a good laugh seeing how much has changed in the wedding industry in the last ten years! Engagements Like these engagement photos for example. When I was getting married, the photo-overload announcment was so so popular! Do you guys remember those? A tri-fold wedding invitation with a collage of love on it. I saw announcements with upwards of 12 photos somehow all stacked in there. It was something amazing that's for sure! And back before the days of having a professional shopper to perfectly style my engagement outfits and a hair and make-up artist to give me flawless skin and bouncy Revlon hair, there was just me, Big Sexy Hair root pump, a round brush, a hair dryer, and so many tears. But the important thing...I guess... is that I felt beautiful that day and when I look at our pics I can see how much my husband loves me. Maybe I’ll tape this picture of him looking at me all lovey-dovey to his face the next time he’s upset at our Costco bill. It will be so much better to look at while he's ranting away than his “Phillip Angry Face”. Also, when I see those smokin’ hot engagement sessions all tousled together in their beautifully decorated studio loft, I have to give a little chuckle at how nerdy and not model-y we are :) Bridals Did you guys even know that back before formal couples sessions…DO NOT CALL THEM GROOMALS! (and yes I’m shouting at you in a loving way)…brides just got pictures taken. Alone. All by themselves. It was called bridals and we did it because of this tradition of the groom not seeing the bride before the wedding. Do people even know about that anymore?!?! FYI it’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding day. Or at least it used to be...like one hundred years ago. Also, there was this thing about bridals where we got all dressed up and fancy for our photos. I poured over magazines of updos, got my nails done (cause florist hands are joke), bought a great bra to get the honey’s up where they belong, and splurged on real jewelry. I must be getting old and cranky because I look at most bridal styles today and think to myself, “Isn’t that just how she wears her hair to work?!? Hanging down in loose waves and blowing all over the place all messy like? Why didn’t she do something more formal and special for her wedding day???” So enjoy the olden golden days of formal wedding updos and trying to make your hair extra Extra EXTRA special. Oh oh oh and remember tiaras?!?! Back before flower crowns I HAD a crown. A real one. And I totally felt like a princess in my tiara. Loved it! Oh. My. Gosh. We can all thank Charlie’s Angels for this uh-maze-ing photo series. But praises be for the wedding-shoe revolution where we all finally figured out that wearing heals all day is horrific, so we mutinied and wore white bridal flip flops. And felt so cool about it. Er-mah-Gosh scandalous! The number one question I get asked is whether or not I did my own flowers for my wedding day and the answer is, “No freaking way!” This may sound crazy, but as an artist, it’s hard for me to love my own work because I can see every minor imperfection and it drives me crazy. But, when another artist hands me their beautiful creation all I see is the effort, care, and beauty that went into creating something truly unique and beautiful for me. So, while I helped my florist design the bouquet style and look I wanted, I didn’t do the actual arranging. And hats off to my florist for creating a bouquet that would set the trend for the next several years! How awesome that we pulled together a loose, organic, free-cascading bouquet 10 years ahead of its time?!?! My florist was a true artist! These were the days man! And I love my whole entire album of me :) *snortlaugh The Wedding Day Many of you may not know it but back before grooms wore whatever the heck they wanted for their weddings (looking at you, you jean and suspender clad grooms!), they only ever wore black or white suits and tuxes. None of this grey/navy/taupe/jean & suspenders stuff. So when my fiancée said that his hill to die on was a chocolate brown tux? I died a little inside. It just wasn’t done. It threw off my entire color palette for crying out loud! But it was his “Thing” so we went with it, and now I’m glad I did, otherwise every anniversary would be like, “Remember how you didn’t let me wear a chocolate-brown tux at our wedding?” One thing I’m really glad about is that we got married pre-Instagram filters. So, our skin colors look regular – not tinged with blue, orange, or green, although that’s pretty too…ahem. As cool as photoshop is, sometimes the editing goes a little over the top and it’s either so over-exposed trying to achieve that light and airy look that everyone looks like ghosts and all the details are totally blown out, or it’s so heavily moody and tinted that colors of skin, clothing, the landscaping, etc. all start looking a little wonky. Sometimes I get photos back from weddings I’ve done recently and I feel bad because the editing has made it impossible to see all the details the bride worked so hard to achieve. I love photographers who have a nice, subtle hand with the editing and use just enough to enhance the picture, but not so much that it detracts. The Reception I'm looking at images from my reception and realizing how simple it was. I got married about three years before brides started using Pinterest for wedding inspiration and while that's a great tool, it's overuse has led to the idea that your wedding is nothing without all of that fluff. My husband and I chose Sun River Gardens as our fantastic venue because it could stand alone without extra décor other than linens, centerpieces, and a framed portrait from my bridals. By the time we added in the cake vignette, and a flat-screen TV playing our wedding video, it was more than enough to look at! We got married sans the chalkboard signs, vintage buntings, eclectic chair collection, creative place settings, custom balloons, and all the other stuff stuff stuff Pinterest pressures us into needing and it was still a gorgeous wedding and reception! I was able to take money otherwise spent on decorating and put it into coordinating wedding outfits for our large families, which I felt really added to the look and feel of the final images from our wedding. Although I should have known my 10 brothers and brothers-in-law would be nothing but mischief for wedding pics. We also were able to splurge on a great videographer and the most AMAZING cake. Five tiers of bridal glory for all to see and eat. Everyone except me that is. One bite people that’s all I got. One stinking bite of all that amazingness. If I had a do-over, I’d go grab myself a piece of cake and be like, “Um yeah of course we can hug it out…after this cake.” K – there are so so many amazing things that you can DIY for your wedding day that will actually save you money. Catering is not one of them. Learn from our mistakes. Catering real food for hundreds of guests (not just sugar cookies and soda) takes a ton of time and money and is a logistical nightmare and you will end up spending as much money doing it yourself as you would paying a catering company. It’s not a maybe. It’s a fact. My mom and a family friend absolutely outdid themselves putting on a fantastic buffet for my wedding day, but goodnight they spent so much time and effort on it and it cost exactly the same as having a catering company do it. So, while I love and appreciate all the energy my family went to, trying to save some money here, and I loved all the eye-catching food they prepared, in the long run it would have been easier, less stressful and cost the same to hire a catering company. The only consolation is that my mother’s cooking is AMAZING and the food tasted fantastic. Can every catering company say the same?!?! Probably not. For future family weddings, though, I think we’re all ridiculously glad our youngest brother married a culinary school graduate with loads of catering experience :) On a side note – does anyone even DO chocolate fountains anymore?!?! Or remember those punch waterfall fountains where the punch spilled over a cascading waterfall and then dripped into our cups on little chains? Those were so so cool. I hope you enjoyed this little walk down memory lane with me! It’s fun to pull out the old wedding album and reminisce over all the trends that were so poplar decades ago. I’m sure we’ll only be laughing more and more as we hit 20 and 30 year anniversaries! Just remember in today’s highly stylized world to use Pinterest for inspiration, but don't ever let it fool you or pressure you into thinking you HAVE to have it all in order to be married, have a great home, or enjoy a fantastic lifestyle. No one is going to walk into your ceremony and say, "Did you see how we weren't greeted with a professionally scripted chalkboard sign with greenery bunting and handed an organic, hand-pressed, 100% biodegradable menu?" And if they do, those aren't the kind of friends you need in your life :) Splurge on the few things that are really important to you or your fiancé and then take a deep breath, let the rest go, and enjoy your special day! Preferably with a fancy updo because goodness knows I truly have no idea and will never understand why brides want to look like it’s just another day at the office with their hair down and loosely curled. *Side Note: Many of the businesses I worked with on my wedding are just absolutely some of the best in their industry! I’ve compiled a list of my wedding vendors so you can check them out for yourselves!
Photography: Michael Lloyd Photography Bridal Photography Venue: The Shops at Riverwoods Wedding Ceremony: Salt Lake City LDS Temple Reception Venue/Linens: Sun River Gardens Florals: Solstice Studios Cake: Cakes by Dawna Dress: Latter-day Bride Bridesmaid Dresses: Latter-Day Bride Flower Girl Dresses: Gymboree HMUA: Lisa Ballard Shear Xpressions Rings: Shane Co. Invitation Suite: Pro Digital Photos
1 Comment
Shayna White
8/23/2017 01:19:03 am
You two are so babyfaced!!!
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