Our Guest Tree

I kind of yawn when I see a guest book. I’m not sure why anyone needs a book full of congratulations and I certainly don’t think couples frequent this book more than once or twice in their lives. I know several people who have made photo books (from sites like blurb!) and a couple people who used photo signing mats (like this one)... but I wanted something still a bit more creative.

According to Hudson Valley Weddings, the guestbook originally served a legal purpose. Historically, every guest at a wedding was considered an official witness to the marriage, and guests left their names and addresses on the marriage certificate because they were legally required to do so.*

Though an actual book is the most traditional form of guestbook, recently brides and grooms have been getting more and more creative (yay!). After all, a guest book is simply a place for guests to leave their names and good wishes for the bride and groom at the wedding... so, that could be anything, right?

 Luckily, the trend of wedding guest "trees" was showing up everywhere on wedding blogs, so I was really excited when we decided that a guest tree would be our form of a guest book for our wedding.

Not sure what I'm talking about?

A wedding tree is a drawn picture of a tree with no leaves (ours is poster size) - and guests "leaf" their thumbprint on your tree then sign their name next to it. 

Wanna see??

Pictures found here, here, and here. 

We ordered ours from the Etsy shop Lovli Day - I opted for the printable pdf, then my dad had it locally printed in Yakima, and I'm still on the hunt for the perfect brown poster frame for it. I love how it fits our reception theme and its way more representative of our personalities than a typical guest book. Plus I'm super excited to hang it in our house after the wedding!

Here's ours! 

Want your own wedding tree? What you'll need  :

1. Image of a tree with no leaves. Make sure its a big enough tree for all your leaves (aka guests!) - Lovli Day recommends : 11x14 : under 50 guests, 16x20 : 50-100 guests, 18x24 : 100-199 guests, 24x36 : over 200 guests. Make sure you put your names and wedding date at the bottom! Etsy is a great resource for wedding trees.

2. Various ink pads. Choose the colors of your wedding or traditional leaf colors. I purchased three different shades of green ink pads for our thumbprints

3. A fine tip sharpie marker for guests to sign their names

4. Instructions for guests. I think its especially cute to use the play on words "Leaf your thumbprint"

5. Last but not least, baby wipes! No one wants to spend your whole wedding with a green thumb, give them something to wipe the ink off with. 

* For the record, I can't promise you that the history of the guest book according to HVW is 100% correct, but its the only explanation I could find on how the tradition of the guest book started. 

First comes love, then comes dessert

Lets say you and your groom aren't wild about cake - and certianly not wild about wedding cake with fondant at $4.75 a slice. Solution : opt for a smaller, simple cake and provide lots of different homemade cakes, pies, chessecakes, cupcakes, cookies, you name it... and it becomes a dessert table!

I've loved the look of dessert tables for quite awhile now. I especially love when there is a small, two or three tier cutting cake right smack in the middle. I like the tradition and meaning of having a wedding cake - the joint task of the bride and groom cutting the cake is meant to symbolize their first joint task in married life and the gesture of feeding cake to one another is a symbol of the commitment the bride and groom are making. Plus, it is typically the last "item on the agenda" at your wedding reception and so some of your older guests will wait to leave until after the cake is cut.

I love the DIY route you can take with dessert tables too. Feature that delicious cheesecake that only your Aunt can make or get you bridesmaids together and have a baking party two days before the wedding. Is there a special dessert recipe in your family? Pick desserts that sound delicious to you and then make (or buy) them!

Some tips for creating a memorable dessert table:

1. Create visual levels. What this means is to use different heights to display the desserts on the table. Try to make the heights varying so the lower elements are not being blocked by something just barely taller than it. This creates windows of space so everything has a place and is equally visual weight. Try using different serving trays to help create the heights and also distinguish each dessert from one another. 
2. Customize your paper goods. A great detail to add to your table is personalized tags, signage, cupcake toppers, favor bags, etc. This way you can tie in the theme of your wedding, along with the color scheme you've selected, and also let people know what it is that they are having the pleasure of eating!  
3. Also remember to keep your theme in mind. If you are having an event with a really romantic feel, you probably wouldn't want to have a really whimsical decoration style on your table.

So I bet you're wondering... will we be doing a dessert table? ...You betcha!! With help, I made my own cake stands of varying heights, booked the oh so delicious Christie's Cakes to make us a fabulous two tiered cutting cake (with an incredible tasting buttercream rough frost like the one below, obviously!), and have asked a few bridesmaids, cousins, and even my Dad (!) to make various desserts (like cupcakes, cheesecake, and cookies). I can't wait to see our dessert table come to life at our reception - its one of the details I am most excited for!

What are you doing for your wedding dessert? Sticking to cake for everyone? How about a candy buffet? 

Or are you a dessert table fanatic now?? 

The Dress

Unfortunately for my pride, everyone (especially my mom) was right. They were right when they said "Don't set your mind on one style of wedding dress, try everything on first". Well me being A Very Decisive Bride, disagreed. I knew what I wanted for a wedding dress - I wanted lace, lace, and more lace! I wanted sheath, I wanted flowing fabric, I wanted a classic, timeless, elegant dress. 

(Like this Monique Lhuillier 'Scarlet' gown!)

On a random Saturday in January, my mom, sister, and I decided to drive to the Tri-Cities to "just try on" some wedding dresses. I tried on so many beautiful gowns but I fell deeply, madly in love with a form fitting, trumpet, 100% silk  (no lace!), Rivini wedding dress. 

And I simply couldn't leave the store without it... so I bought it! 

Just like that, I had my wedding dress (way ahead of schedule) and its nothing like what I was so sure I wanted. But its perfect! Absolutely, one hundred percent, perfect. Its so timeless and classic - it makes me feel elegant and mature. No bling, no beading, just me and a form fitting silk gown. Its everything I never knew I wanted, plus a whole lot more.

I bought it off the rack and although it needs a few alterations (I'm going to give it a true sweetheart neckline, shorten the length an inch or two, and let the seams out around my thighs just a tad so that I can dance the night away), its already a dream come true.

Guess what else?? 

I also just recently purchased a second "reception dress" - its a short, white battenburg lace (yay!) Betsey Johnson dress that I will change into at some point in the reception so I can really bust a move! AND my wedding shoes and a veil - but I will save those two for another post :-)

Was wedding dress shopping time consuming for you or was it way easier than you thought it would be?

When STD's are a good idea

Wedding acronyms are everywhere online. Most are self explanatory, but some can be slightly confusing. 

Since most of my FH's family, most our BP, almost all our friends will be coming OOT to the wedding, and we are getting married in a popular wedding month, STD's are essential. 

Did you understand what I said?

Since most of my future husbands family, most of our bridal party, almost all our friends will be coming out of town to the wedding, and we are getting married in a popular wedding month, save the dates are essential. 

So now lets chat about STD's! 

Save the dates are cards sent to potential wedding guests ahead of your formal invitations. This pre-invitation mailing officially announces your wedding date and lets guests know that they will, in fact, be invited to the celebration. Their purpose is literally to ask guests to "save the wedding date" and not book another event on that date. Of course, you don't have to send one if you don't want, but it will give guests the heads up about your wedding plans. Between travel arrangements and busy schedules, sending a save-the-date will increase guests' chances of attending your celebration. And that's the goal, right?

Save the dates are usually sent out six months to a year before the wedding. They are especially important for a destination wedding, a wedding with a large number of out-of-town guests, or a wedding around a holiday. Save the Dates provide guests sufficient time to make travel arrangements, and may even include information about the nearest airports and hotel blocks. They do not need to include much more than Who, What, Where, When, and your wedding website.

If you choose to include a picture of you two on your save the date, its nice to have taken your engagement pictures and use them. I knew that I wanted to take snowy engagement pictures and since Nate and I will be sending our save the dates in September, that meant we had to take our pictures this winter - a whole 18 months earlier than our wedding! 

So one snowy day in December, Jennifer, Nate, and I headed up to Camp Roganunda (which is empty and for sale!) - and here are some of our engagement pictures!

Here are some of my favorite sites for save the dates : Wedding Paper Divas, Minted, and Magnetstreet. 

And here is a helpful cheat sheet, if wedding acronyms are confusing you. 

So what are you doing? Are you planning on sending out STD's? 

6 down, 15 to go

I'm almost a third of the way through my engagement! 

As a sit here and think back over our 6 months of engagement, I'm actually surprised at all I/we have gotten done - and more importantly, without any stress. Just within the first month we had a concrete budget, figured out a date, booked our reception site and an incredible photographer, and even more! My good friend Andrea got married in October after 6 months of engagement and I have so much appreciation for all she accomplished in such a short time. One of the biggest lessons I have learned in my 6 months of engagement is that there is no right or wrong way to plan a wedding. I am very "list oriented", I love having schedules and organized to-do lists, so when I (almost immediately) strayed from The Knots "order in which things should be planned", it surprised me a little bit.  It was my first wedding lesson :  I learned how to just let things go. It doesn't matter if I do things "in order" - as long as it all gets done. Do what feels good to you, make decisions as they come (when you have time and energy), and relax. 

I've still got a lot of details to catch you up on - but I want to know, what was your first major "wedding lesson"? Did something surprise you? Is there anything you had to just let go of??  

Remember : There is no right or wrong way to plan a wedding, so just let it go. It just doesn't matter because in the end of all the planning, we will all (hopefully!) end up married to a wonderful person. That is what matters.