The Makings of a Memorable Wedding

Weddings that are planned and personalized down to the last detail are all the rage these days. As I’ve written before, it’s really hard to live up to those expectations when you’re on a budget and don’t have endless time to DIY everything.

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.

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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?

Anniversary Gift Ideas For Him

Earlier this week, one of my readers asked for anniversary ideas for her husband. I always find it difficult to buy for men, so I know the dilemma she’s facing!

I asked Luke to think of some ideas and here’s what he came up with:

For the coffee drinker:

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a nice french press

For the Trendy Techie:

bag

Shoulder MacBook Sleeve

ipad

Pocket Ipad Case

phone

Leather phone case

For the Day Tripper:

duffel

5–Day Duffle

pass

Leather passport holder

For the City-Man:

watch

Vintage Field Army Watch

shades

Aviator Shades

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Galoshes

For the Outdoorsy-Type:

knife

18-Tool Knife (a little scary, but Luke insists any guy would love one)

jacket

Light Down Jacket

For the Man-Foodie:

whisk

Interesting Whiskey (bottle can be engraved too)

rub

Good Grilling Rubs

scotch

A Bottle of Scotch

I am also a big fan of DOING something together to celebrate an occasion. That could be a steak dinner, comedy show or weekend getaway…just something that give you some uninterrupted QT together.

What do you think? Any ideas you’d add? I’m interested to hear from the men – would you like to receive something on this list for a present?

Engagement Gift Idea

When Luke and I got engaged, I was  lucky to have my friends and family surround me with excitement and support. Looking back, those first couple weeks were probably when I needed them the most – having a new ring  on your finger and starting the wedding journey can be  a little bit intimidating!

I remember one friend in particular sent me a little congratulations gift, which I LOVED and use every single day. It was a tiny, silver elephant whose trunk was used as a ring holder. I remember it meant a lot to me that she had gone out of her way to help me feel special.

I was on Etsy the other day and came across these adorable personalized ring holders, that I had to share with you.

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How cute are these? Any newly-engaged girl would probably just love this little, personalized home for her new bling, right?

Now will one of my friends PLEASE get engaged so I can buy this for them??

Our Wedding Video!

Our amazing videographers, Ashley and Brian Newman, finished editing a montage of our wedding!

(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. :)