# Shiloh's Wedding Thread



## SnowyShiloh (Nov 13, 2009)

My fiance, Paul, and I are getting married on August 1st, 2010 here in Alaska. It's going to be a small wedding with family only. We're inviting about 55 guests, but since almost all of them live out of state, probably only 20-30 will be able to make it. We'll be thrilled with whoever can make the trip, though! It looks like all of our closest family members will be able to come, which is fantastic. A lot of them are planning to have a vacation up here since they'll be here anyway, which I think is great.

We're planning on having the wedding ceremony in the beautiful botanical gardens at the university and the dinner afterward in a lovely event room at a local hotel. It's a complete gamble with the weather, so thankfully the event room is big enough to have the ceremony in if it's raining, or too hot, or smoky from forest fires. 

We've run into a ton of issues with the planning so far, but today we finally paid the deposit for the event room! Now we're picking Save the Date cards since all of our guests will have to travel. We want magnetic ones and like these bunny ones the best:

http://www.magnetstreet.com/store/details/market/517/productId/22488

How cute is that?! I was willing to go with a different design (that website has a ton of them), but Paul likes the bunnies and of course I love bunnies:bunnydance: What do you guys think?


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## JadeIcing (Nov 13, 2009)

I love it! Sounds like it will be a lovely event.


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## hartleybun (Nov 13, 2009)

:bunnydance:many congratulations! i love those magnets! what a great idea/souvenir. im getting the impression that bunnies are going to feature heavily in this wedding


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## Nela (Nov 13, 2009)

I can't wait for more details. Keep your head up, you will have a splendid wedding :rose:


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## kirsterz09 (Nov 13, 2009)

what gorgeous magnets, all the best for your wedding it sounds lovely.


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## undergunfire (Nov 13, 2009)

I LOVE those save the date's, very adorable! I bet your wedding is going to be amazingly beautiful.

I can't wait for the pictures! Ryan and I really want to visit Alaska some day, before we have kids.


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## slavetoabunny (Nov 13, 2009)

Do you have your dress yet? We need pics!


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## Luvmyzoocrew (Nov 13, 2009)

OMG i love the magnets!!!!! how cute!!!!1


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## SnowyShiloh (Nov 16, 2009)

Patti, no dress yet. I won't get one for several more months. Wedding's 8 1/2 months away, after all! I don't plan on getting a dress from a bridal salon or anything or anything that needs alterations. The dress may not even be white. I just want to find something I like.

We haven't ordered the save the dates yet, but we will be getting the bunny ones! Our event coordinator lady forgot to have us sign the contract for the room where the reception will be, so even though we've already paid the deposit, I don't want to order the save the dates until the contract has been signed. I am in the progress of blocking several hotel rooms for guests though.

In case anyone is curious, this is the cake topper we bought:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001BCFRL8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

And these are the champagne flutes:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002W6HGW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

The flutes are really tall!

In more depressing news, a couple friends of ours are getting divorced. They're only 23. Paul introduced them, they started dating about 2 weeks before us. We thought they were rushing into the marriage because they were 21, neither had been in a relationship before, and it was a long distance relationship for all but 2 months. They got engaged after only 6 months or so. It's a shame the relationship didn't work out


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## TinysMom (Nov 16, 2009)

*SnowyShiloh wrote: *


> Patti, no dress yet. I won't get one for several more months. Wedding's 8 1/2 months away, after all! I don't plan on getting a dress from a bridal salon or anything or anything that needs alterations. The dress may not even be white. I just want to find something I like.
> 
> We haven't ordered the save the dates yet, but we will be getting the bunny ones! Our event coordinator lady forgot to have us sign the contract for the room where the reception will be, so even though we've already paid the deposit, I don't want to order the save the dates until the contract has been signed. I am in the progress of blocking several hotel rooms for guests though.
> 
> ...


We had friends in NC who were married for a few years and then split up - we felt bad cause we had a lot to do with them getting together.

Earlier this year we found out she'd had a car accident and was laid up for a while - so he was helping with the kids and stuff and...the next thing we know - they're getting back together. 

So I guess sometimes things can work out - after detours.

Anyway - on to the real point of this post....I LOVE your cake topper. It is so....you....which is a compliment. I've never seen anything like that and yet it seems perfect for you - and I love the flute glasses.

I'm so excited for you - can hardly wait to hear more details, etc.


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## NorthernAutumn (Nov 16, 2009)

I NEED you to put your rings on somebunny's ears for the ceremony. 
Please, please, please do it!!!
Little ringbearer Rory


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## SnowyShiloh (Jul 29, 2010)

Well! This hasn't been updated since last year, but the big day is this Sunday, August 1st. Only 3 days left! Things have been crazy between the baby bird thing, visiting friend, and our trip to Seattle. I've been behind on things I want to get done but in the past day or so caught up pretty well. It seems like when I cross 1 thing off the list, 3 more get added! I'm actually not really nervous, I know everything will be okay. I'm pretty prone to being nervous so this is good. I did get sick and lose my voice for a while though which I think was because of the stress of everything.

Yesterday, these are the things that went wrong: Florist called to say they do not have the vases we want and have to use teeny tiny ones instead but we can go buy our own vases if we want. My mother has been making a gigantic ordeal over the size and shape of the flower arrangements (I'm no bridezilla, but she is most definitely a mother of the bridezilla), so of course she's freaking out. When she gets to town Friday, we're going to go look for vases. I honestly would be fine with the smaller vases. Funny that my biggest source of stress by far is my mother.

Other thing that went wrong is the purple organza overlays I ordered to go on our cake table and candy buffet arrived, but the company sent the wrong color. They sent royal blue and I ordered a very pretty pale lavender. I even ordered fabric samples first so I know what it's supposed to look like! Royal blue may be pretty, but it's definitely not going to work. So we're going to have to hit up some fabric stores and see if we can buy a replacement fabric. I'm sure it will be expensive and not look as nice (especially with the raw edges). It will be okay though.

Also yesterday we put together the trellis/arbor we'll be getting married under. All was going great until we went to put the top on, and the metal is twisted so it's a good inch away from where it needs to be. Paul was able to bend it into place eventually, but because we cannot transport the arbor assembled (car is too small), we'll need to transport it in 3 pieces (sides and top) so we'll be going through trying to force it in the hole there in the botanical garden. It will have silk flowers on it and I'm concerned that they'll either mangle the flowers or break the metal since it's not really supposed to bend that much.

Other than that, we have a good number of little things still to do and more things keep getting added. Such as finding purple organza and vases!


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## nermal71 (Jul 29, 2010)

To avoid the raw edges either trim them with fancy design scissors or you can get a liquid stitch and just press a quick hem into it and do it that way.....there is even a type of tape that's used for quick sewing repairs that would work


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## SnowyShiloh (Jul 29, 2010)

Cool, thanks for the suggestions! I didn't know about that. The vase issue has been resolved. The ones my mom picked are $20 each, ouch!


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## Nela (Jul 30, 2010)

Is she paying for them? 

Hope all goes well today and make sure you rest (do you know that word?) plenty for tomorrow! Congrats to you and Paul! :biggrin2:


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## Pipp (Jul 30, 2010)

I'm sure everything will be perfect!!! 



sas :big kiss:


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## SnowyShiloh (Jul 31, 2010)

Tomorrow!! Wow! I have stuff to do today but it will all be just fine. The rehearsal dinner was Friday night and it was so nice. Paul's mom and aunt had it in the apartment they're renting for the weekend and had SO much food- all kinds of breads, meats, and cheeses, and different salads and deviled eggs and chips and that kind of thing. Plus a giant display of cupcakes frosted with 2 shades of purple icing and white icing, with the letter S on top in chocolate. So cute and very pretty! Our families really got along well and the last people didn't clear out until 11 pm, 5 hours after it started.

Oh our rehearsal was Friday afternoon too. It went quite well and I'm sure our officiant (who has never done a wedding before) will be great. The only thing is I started bawling right after she had me start to practice my vows and again during a blessing she read at the end. It isn't even the real thing! I'm afraid I'm going to blubber my way through the whole thing. I really hate crying in front of people and do NOT cry gracefully or even very often (unless it's pet or small child related). I guess it's a good sign though that I love Paul enough to cry just thinking about our vows


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## hartleybun (Jul 31, 2010)

:hugsquish::jumpforjoy:enjoy your day!


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## BlueCamasRabbitry (Jul 31, 2010)

Congratulations on your big day tomorrow!!  

Emily


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## LuvaBun (Jul 31, 2010)

Have a wonderful day, Shiloh.

All the very best to you and Paul 

Jan


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## slavetoabunny (Jul 31, 2010)

Just because you got married today is no excuse for not updating us and posting pictures. (I hope you know I'm joking) I can't wait to hear how your special day went.


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## NorthernAutumn (Aug 1, 2010)

:toast: To Shiloh & Paul; Congratulations on your wedding! 
Wishing you all the best in all the years to come!


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## Daenerys (Aug 1, 2010)

*NorthernAutumn wrote: *


> I NEED you to put your rings on somebunny's ears for the ceremony.
> Please, please, please do it!!!
> Little ringbearer Rory



My friends had their tortoise be the ring bearer, they strapped a pillow to his shell and their son carried him down the isle to them. It was adorable!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! on your wedding! Can't wait to see pictures


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## TinysMom (Aug 1, 2010)

Happy Wedding Day!


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## missyscove (Aug 1, 2010)

Congratulations, Shiloh!


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## JadeIcing (Aug 1, 2010)

Wishing you the best!


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## Myia09 (Aug 1, 2010)

Happy wedding day! Good luck!


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## SnowyShiloh (Aug 12, 2010)

It's update time! We got back from the honeymoon on Monday and I've been busy doing other things, then the forum died so I had to wait to post.

All the pictures here are ones I took myself or ones that guests took! Some people are still going to send me photos and we have the professional ones to look at as well. The photographer did not stay for the reception (would have cost too much), so I'm relying on my photos and other people's photos. We had 4 disposable cameras sitting around too that the kids mostly used, I dropped them off the other day and we're going to pick them up tonight so I'm pretty curious about what we ended up with!

As for the actual wedding day, it started out very rocky. The night before, my mother was doing her dictator routine and acting like she was getting married. DEFINITELY a mother of the bride-zilla. She was very stressed out and argumentative and on the verge of a meltdown, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. She made me stay up with her until 4 am so I only got 3 hours of sleep. Worse than that, she made my aunt, uncle, cousins, brother, and brother's girlfriend get up at 7 am (after not being allowed to leave her apartment until 2 am) to help us set up the reception room! I felt like she was using my relatives as slave labor, but to say anything would have made it a thousand times worse. I just thanked everyone profusely for helping and will also thank them in the thank you notes. They really did so much!

The weather was great. We've had a cool summer and it was pretty gray and rainy in the days before the wedding, but thankfully there was not a cloud in the sky on the wedding day! This is something I'd worried about for months (even though I had multiple contingency plans) since we really wanted to get married in the garden. It was also the warmest day so far this summer- in the mid '80s. There was a breeze though, which was very nice because it kept everyone cool and we don't normally get breezes here. The breeze also meant my grandpa's wife could attend the ceremony. She's allergic to bees and the garden is full of them so she was going to stay in the car, but because of the breeze blowing the bees around she felt comfortable coming to the ceremony. I'm so thankful for the blue sky, warm weather, breeze, and lack of smoke from forest fires as the night before had been a little smoky.

So, the morning was spent setting up the reception room. Mom had a mild freak out when one of the flower arrangements came out of the fridge partly frozen. I had warned her about putting them close to the back of the fridge on the top level. Please note that *I* was perfectly calm and knew it would be just fine- I ended up buying some white roses at the grocery store and simply rearranging it a bit. It looked fine and no one was the wiser. 

How the tables were arranged, we had 2 long tables. You can see the napkins are folded into hearts and my cousin wrote the names in calligraphy, which I stuck into the fold in the middle of the heart.






Our place settings:





An arrangement with the candles lit later:






Candy buffet. The candies ended up being taffy, Raisinets, jordan almonds, dark chocolate kisses, almond kisses, malted milk balls shaped like eggs (we had a slight bird theme), pastel colored M&Ms, peach slices, meltaway mints, gummi berries (I'd been trying to keep the colors white or pastel or purple or chocolate colored but my mom wanted to add them even though they're black and red and I didn't want to say anything), and jelly bellies. I think I may be leaving something out too. Instead of plain scoops and tongs, we used some of my mother's antique ladles, spoons and sugar tongs. It was very cute and a ton of work went into it!!


























The bags for people to fill- I found purple ribbon with white dots that matched the napkins and the little tablecloth the bags are sitting on.






We finished getting everything set up at about 11, then went to get the cake from the grocery store and a couple extra bags of candy for the candy buffet as well as lunch from the deli. The cake was so beautiful! Some girls dream of their wedding dresses growing up, but I dreamed of my wedding cake. It tasted even better than it looked. The middle layer was chocolate and that's what most people ended up choosing. 

After eating lunch and finishing the reception room, my cousin and friend did my hair and make up and everything while our other relatives went out to the botanical garden to set up the benches and arbor. We were all finished by about 2:30. No one else was ready to go, so Paul, my friend and I headed out to the botanical garden to get dressed out there. The photographer was due to arrive at 4 and my mother took her sweet time getting there, which was making me nervous because I had of course forgotten to bring my bouquet and necklace and she had them. We got started a bit late with the photos, but it was okay. It was just photos of Paul and me walking around the garden. I'm so glad we picked such a nice photographer and can't wait to see the pictures.

When we were done with photos, it was wedding time at 5 pm! Everyone was there. I couldn't believe it was finally time. I was excited, giddy, overwhelmed, thrilled. I of course ended up crying my way down the aisle with Paul, which was uncomfortable because I am very not into crying in public because I'm a pretty private person. I managed to pull myself together though as the officiant did her thing. Paul's brother, my friend, and my brother did their readings. My brother's reading was from The Velveteen Rabbit. Very appropriate because our mother read us that book all the time when we were kids and I am a huge bunny lover of course. My brother got very choked up and cried during his reading, which made me cry. We ended up alternatingly crying and laughing, which made a lot of the guests cry and laugh too. It was pretty sweet 

After the readings came the vows. I practically whispered mine to Paul and he said his very loudly so everyone could hear. For the ring exchange, his mother handed him my ring and my mother handed me his. 

vows:






me putting the ring on Paul's finger:






A bit more talking from the officiant, a rather awkward kiss, and we were married! Hooray! Everyone blew bubbles and we went back down the aisle, me crying happily of course.

The ceremony surprised me in some ways. First of all, I loved the ceremony itself- we were able to pick everything we wanted to be read. It lasted about 10 minutes, maybe a little less. I had been worried that a bunch of people would stop and watch us the entire time, but honestly, I wouldn't have noticed if an entire tour bus of people were watching (which the garden people told us might happen!). I couldn't even tell you where any of the guests were sitting. I also am not a very sentimental person and managed to not cry through the entire ceremony (only parts of it!), and I wonder how other women make it through their wedding ceremonies without crying. I'll never forget looking into Paul's eyes as I recited my vows or sliding the rings on each others fingers. I was also surprised by how not nervous I was in the days before (and minutes leading up to) the wedding! Stressed and tired, but not nervous. As much as I love and adore my mother, I know I would have been significantly less stressed and tired if she hadn't acted the way she did. I'm just thankful my mother is alive and could come to my wedding though!

After the ceremony, there was of course lots of hugging and tears and the photographer got a picture of all 28 of us together. Several people told me how much they loved the ceremony and how touching it was. Then we signed the marriage license and everything and headed to the reception.

When we got to the reception, first thing we did was take the family photos out in the gazebo area. It was so nice of the photographer to be willing to come out to the reception for photos- we only paid him $500 for the portrait session (which was going to only be Paul and I at the garden, ceremony pictures, and family photos at the garden) and it was his idea to come to the reception to take family photos. He also got some photos of the cake and the candy buffet. This isn't really bad, just weird... remember Paul's cousin who invited herself and her Paul and child to the wedding and Paul didn't even know this cousin existed because no one ever talked about her and he apparently only met her once as a very small child? And then when they returned the RSVP, they wrote in the name of someone else? That someone else was their brand new foreign exchange student who just arrived less than a month ago. Very sweet girl. Cousin insisted on the foreign exchange student being in the photos of Paul's side of the family. I didn't want to fight it, so there is now a cute little Thai teenager in several of the family photos. A little odd. I was a foreign exchange student for year and would have felt very odd being included in the wedding photos of a random relative of a family I had just moved in with. My brother's girlfriend wasn't even in any but 1 picture. I don't blame the exchange student of course, just think Cousin is a rather odd, though nice person!

After photos, people dug into the appetizers, which were crab stuffed mushroom caps, smoked salmon canapes, and potato skins. The potato skins weren't fancy, but they sure got devoured! So did the other appetizers. The catering folks actually pushed dinner back to 7:30 because people arrived so late from the garden (they wanted to look around since it's beautiful, of course!) and the photos took about 20 minutes. Dinner was buffet style and completely beautiful. The food was fantastic. We had caesar salad, plain green salad with assorted dressings, rolls, rice pilaf, garlic mashed potatoes, a great veggie blend, halibut dijon, and prime rib with horseradish sauce. People in particular went on about the halibut and several people said it was the best wedding food they'd had.











After everyone ate, both of our fathers, my brother, my mother, and a few random aunts and uncles made toasts. I wasn't sure if there would be any toasts so that was a nice surprise. Then Paul played his cello for everyone. 






After he finished, I let everyone know about the guest book table (we had an awesome guest book, we set up a separate table with the pages and markers and pens and let people go to town) and explained the candy buffet, since people had been ogling it but no one had dug in yet. I also encouraged people to move around to the other tables if they wanted and to go outside if they liked. In addition to the room we rented, we got the beautiful gazebo area which has lots of flowers and a patio with several tables. So people went to work on the guest book pages, loaded up bags of candy at the candy buffet, went outside, and generally relaxed and had a good time.

Guest book table earlier in the day:




































I bought some extra giant take out containers for the kids to fill with candy. They definitely approved! The boys are my new nephews 






Some time after that, we cut the cake because the frosting was melting! It was fairly warm in the room- I thought they had air conditioning, but apparently not. It wasn't too uncomfortable for us though (and it was much nicer inside), though it did make the cake suffer some. Paul and I cut slices for everyone. We also had lemon tarts that came from the catering people (they actually cost more than the cake!), but they weren't that great and not many got eaten. Paul had really wanted wedding pie but the catering folks said we could not bring in pie, but they could make the tarts. Everyone liked the cake though!






melting, oops!










After cake, everyone pretty much just mingled and got to know each other more. There was lots of laughing. I think people enjoyed themselves. I was happy for the small number of guests because I got to talk to everyone for at least 15 minutes or so. 

There were two catering people taking care of everyone, and they were so nice. They thanked me for being such a nice bride (apparently they've had bad experiences!) and said they really liked our reception. We gave both of them flower arrangements to take home and encouraged them to take candy from the buffet. They said they'd never seen anything like the candy buffet and one of them took pictures of it to post on Facebook, which I think is pretty funny.

People started leaving at about 11 pm and Paul and I left at 11:30. All in all, it was a wonderful wedding. Perfect for us. Paul and I had a great time and I think our relatives did too. The planning and preparations were excruciating at times, and I wouldn't want to do it again, but (hokey as this sounds), I think it was worth it in the end! Our wedding was definitely a bit different- small number of guests who were all family (and one friend who is more like family to me than most of my relatives), a nonreligious ceremony, no dancing or bouquet/garter toss, but with an awesome candy buffet, cello playing from the groom, and a pretty nifty guest book. I wasn't sure if people would really want to fill out the guest book, but of 26 guests, we got back 22 pages and several of them were a couple filling out the page together. 






A random picture my aunt took- our hands are over my bouquet, which was peach roses, white spray roses, purple stock, and baby's breath. Just like the flower arrangements.


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## Anaira (Aug 12, 2010)

Nawwww...*melts down* Looks like you had a wonderful day, Congrats! I love the pictures, it's so sweet. I'm glad everything went well.:heartbeat:


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## slavetoabunny (Aug 13, 2010)

What a beautiful wedding! Congratulations Paul and Shiloh!!!!!!


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## TinysMom (Aug 13, 2010)

Wow - what a beautiful day you had (in spite of your mom) - and what great memories you'll have of it.

I can hardly wait to see the photos you'll be getting from the photographer.

I love the candy buffet idea....awesome.


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## JadeIcing (Aug 13, 2010)

Very pretty.


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## kirbyultra (Aug 13, 2010)

What a beautiful wedding! I have to agree, sometimes the simplest things are best, why complicate perfection?  I'm sure your wedding was like a breath of fresh air for your guests  Most importantly, you and your husband will always remember the day fondly.


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## cheryl (Aug 13, 2010)

Lovely pictures Shiloh,everything looks beautiful...I love the candy idea


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## SnowyShiloh (Aug 13, 2010)

I didn't mean to complain about my mother so much- I belong to another wedding forum where I shared all of my wedding plans and preparations with a bunch of other women, and was very open with problems with my mother so it was relevant on that forum. I didn't want to type that giant thing twice so I just tweaked it a bit when I posted it here. I probably should have left out the mom stuff. My mom is very overbearing and controlling, but I also love her more than anyone else in this world aside from Paul. We actually DO have an excellent relationship too. It's just our personalities are quite different (I'm much more laid back... if that wasn't clear already) and she is very high strung and gets stressed out easily, which leads to giant screaming fits on her part. My wedding was definitely stressful for her! It all ended up great though and once the ceremony and reception were underway, she was perfectly wonderful.


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## LuvaBun (Aug 13, 2010)

Sounds like an awesome day - you and Paul look so relaxed and happy. 

I think most moms' stress out at their daughters' wedding. I know mine said she wished she could do mine again, just so she could relax and take more of it in!

Congrats 

Jan


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## SnowyShiloh (Aug 13, 2010)

Exactly, Jan- and it seems like the more you love someone, the better they are at driving you crazy. Thankfully, Paul is very good at not driving me crazy, but my mother most definitely IS.


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## Pet_Bunny (Aug 14, 2010)

Congratulations! I am so happy for the two of you.

What a great wedding! I am glad everything turned out so well and some how it was magical. The cake looked wonderful. This is the first I heard of a Candy Buffet too. I would of loved the Jelly Bellies. :biggrin2:


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## SnowyShiloh (Aug 14, 2010)

Thanks, Stan! The candy buffet really went over well. Who wouldn't like getting a bag to fill with 11 different kinds of candy as their wedding favor? Since we didn't do any other decorating really (the room was already decorated in a style that coordinated well with what I was planning), the candy buffet ended up being a good focal point. The jelly beans were good, too- the orange colored ones were pink grapefruit flavored, the white ones were coconut, and the more clear white ones were cream soda flavored. I picked them based on their colors, not their flavors, but they did taste good. The jelly beans in the champagne flutes were supposed to look like champagne- do you think I accomplished that?


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## Pet_Bunny (Aug 15, 2010)

*SnowyShiloh wrote: *


> The jelly beans in the champagne flutes were supposed to look like champagne- do you think I accomplished that?


Yes the cream soda jelly beans would be the bubbly in the champagne. :biggrin2: The champagne flutes are unique too. It must of took alot of jelly beans to fill them.


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## kherrmann3 (Sep 1, 2010)

A little late for this... But congrats! It looks like you had a beautiful wedding! Will says he liked the candy buffet idea, too!


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