My colleague, friend and former guest writer, Thi recently shot her engagement session with the Talented Becky Hill of Becky Hill Photography and I adore how their photos turned out! You can really see their personalities shine through with the locations, props and smiles.

Aren’t they an adorable couple? I can’t wait to see their wedding pictures when they get hitched this fall. Check out their full engagement session here.

Oh, and I love that yellow dress, Thi!

The concept of selling my dress seemed like a no-brainer to me since the darn thing was EXPENSIVE and I will never wear it again, but I was taken aback at the responses my friends/family had to the idea.

Them: What do you MEAN you may sell your dress!?!?

Me: I mean, I may sell my dress.

Them: Doesn’t it have sentimental value to you?

Me: It DID but now, taking up room in my minimal closet space, it’s more an annoyance.

Them: What if your daughter wants to wear it?”

Me: A) By the time I have daughters getting married, wedding dresses will probably be in black with a 60 ft train.

or

Me: B) Based on Luke and mys massive heights, our daughters will be 6’4 and would never fit into my dress.

:)

In all honesty though, selling wedding dresses has become a hot trend. It’s a great way for former-brides to recoup some $$ from that dress they wore for 12 hours and it lets other brides, who may not have budget for an expensive dress, feel beautiful on their day for less.

I’m still not 100% going to sell it though, as many people have told me that a wedding dress can end up having a lot of sentimental value to the bride, her family and eventually her daughters. I think I’m going to wait and see if I get any nibbles and then go from there.

About My Dress

So if you’re in the market, or know someone who is, my dress is a gorgeous french, alencon lace gown. It’s by the french designer Cymbeline and is called “Agadir,” and has been professionally cleaned with no flaws. (better photos coming)

It’s a street size 6 to 4 and I was just at 6′  with heels when I wore it. I’ll even throw in a matching floor-length veil. Asking price is $1,800 (44% discount off store price).

Email my at abattylife@gmail.com if you’re interested!

We got our CD of photos from Jeremy yesterday and there were sooo many amazing photos (about a 1,000 total!). I’ve cut it down to my favorite 200 and posted them on Facebook.

Click here to check them out and add me as a friend if we aren’t already!

Upon walking into the Four Seasons, we were met with some out of this world floral arrangements.

And the most breath-taking aisle I’ve ever seen!

This was the first Jewish wedding I’ve been to, and it was really neat experiencing all the unique traditions and customs. For instance, Dana walked down the aisle by herself and then her and Josh walked in circles around each other. Anyone know what the significance of that is?



After the ceremony we took in all the beautiful details during the cocktail hour and beginning of dinner.

Like the cake…

And the centerpieces…

My friend Molly popped a squat on the custom-made couches!

Butter-flowers. (I loved these for some reason!)

And even a custom-made dance floor…

Then their AWESOME band took the stage and got everyone dancing.

I think it’s safe to say everyone had a blast. Thanks for inviting us Dana and Josh! Mazel Tov!

The two most recent wedding I attended were here in Chicago for two of my girlfriends. First was Erin’s. Erin is a college friend of mine who also happens to work with Luke…she even introduced us at her birthday party three years ago!

Erin made a gorgeous, elegant and very classic bride. Her reception followed suit too! It was held at the Union League Social Club, which really embodies old-world Chicago with the dark wood, chandeliers and amazing artwork.

They had a live band that got everyone dancing…

Luke and I loved the slow songs…

My favorite part of Erin’s reception was when her father-in-law took the stage to play some traditional Irish music. Brian, Erin’s husband, and his family took center-stage to show off their Irish step dancing skills.

Everything about Erin’s wedding was gorgeous, classy and fun! – just like Erin herself :)

I must say, one special moment of the evening for me was when Erin’s mom stopped me (we’ve never met) to tell me she is a abattylife reader! That was pretty cool.

Mrs. Fitzgerald and Erin…you put on an amazing wedding! Thanks for inviting us.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a recap of the other wedding I attended recently- black tie and the Four Seasons, ooh lala!

Now that my wedding is over, I’ve realized that it’s not making every little detail personalized that makes a wedding memorable, it’s about the one or two things that really stand out in people’s memory. Think about it. When you recap your experiences at someone’s wedding, do you say “they had 10 things that were hand-painted with their monogram!”

Probably not. You likely WOULD say though, “They did XYZ that I’ve never seen done at a wedding before. It was so cool.”

For Luke and I, the special things we wanted to stand our from our wedding were our swing dance, the personal notes we wrote to each of our guests and Batman-themed table names. Everything else was just icing on the cake.

I think it worked too, because we’ve gotten a lot of comments from people saying they remembered our “details” and were impressed with the level of thoughtfulness our wedding had.  Honestly though, we really didn’t focus on the little things like favors, monogrammed matches or centerpieces at all! It was just those few personal touches we paid attention to.

What aspects of your wedding did you focus on? What ended up being the things your guest remembered most?

(I’d suggest watching it full-screen to avoid ads popping up at the bottom.)

At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted/needed a wedding video. It wasn’t really in the budget and I despise seeing videographer’s ruin weddings with their crazy lighting and excessive crew.

But then a few of my friends told me they were really happy they had a video to remember the moments from the day. So I used my resources and reached out to Jeremy Lawson, my photographer, and he suggested I connect with the Newman’s who were just starting to do weddings.

I’m so happy I did, because they offered to film and edit our wedding for FREE since it was their first one! They were a dream to work with…no crazy crews, no appearing in the background of all my photos, no bothering me during the day. They are the biggest sweethearts too.

If you’re in the Chicago-area and are looking for budget-friendly videographers, Ashley and Brian are tops. Their rates are $500 (WELL below the normal $2,000-$3,000 most videographers charge) and they do a wonderful job capturing and editing the day into a montage.

Here’s their email if you’re interested! bnewman269@yahoo.com Tell them Liz sent you. :)

Love that Abattylife.com got a shout out! Be sure to leave Jeremy and me lots of comments…us bloggers like that. :)

We did so many cool things like powered hang-gliding, hiking to secluded waterfalls, snorkeling and lots of time by the pool. Of course we also ate some amazing meals, most of which had gorgeous sunset views.

This slide show showcases some of the best parts of our trip.

Please excuse the extra-wide screen, I wanted you all to see the full extent of the photos. There’s a lot, so if you want to skip some, click the player to go to Picasa and see thumbnails.

I can’t wait until we can go back!!