Flower girl dresses - the choice

Wayyyy back in this post in January I shared with you my hunt for flower girl dresses.  Now that I have plenty of adorable pictures of the girls in their dresses, I wanted to share them with you!  First....let's discuss this picture.  It is by FAR one of my favorites from our rehearsal.  We weren't sure how they would do walking down the aisle together, and during the rehearsal there wasn't even technically an aisle.....but off they went! and then Laura got this shot with the groomsmen behind them and I just about died.  SO stinking cute.

Anyway, back to their dresses.  I had done lots of brainstorming, and knew I wanted them in white or navy to coordinate with the groomsmen. I sent the information I had to my cousins to ask their input.  One of the things my cousin Nicole mentioned in her email was that both girls often wore Carters - a brand we carry at work!  I did some more online research and ended up finding this adorable dress!  Carters is great because they often have the same styles in both baby and toddler sizes, which is what we needed.  Both of my cousins loved the dress - so we made the decision and bought it!  The dress is perfect, cotton and simple and NOT expensive! So many dresses you find online that are officially "flower girl" dresses are crazy expensive, especially when the girls are so little and will literally wear it for a couple of hours.

I told Nicole and MaryAnne that shoes & hair were completely up to them, I wanted to keep things simple and easy!  They couldn't have been more adorable.  Both girls wore matching white bows in their hair, and little white shoes.  Below are a few pictures from the night that show the girls in their dresses - they couldn't have been a better match for the day!

perfect little ladies walking down the aisle!

they made it!!!

enjoying the handmade wedding favors

modeling the back of the dress ;)

As I said before, I knew the girls would look cute in anything - and I am SO glad we were able to find something pretty and simple.  and, just as I suspected, they stole the show!  S did an amazing job - she was able to hold her flower basket AND H's hand and guide her down the aisle without any difficulty!  I mean, really, could they be any cuter??

The Wedding Cake!

Ahhh, the wedding cake.

Back in this post, I shared the inspiration I found when it came to wedding cake!  I thought now I'd go back and talk you through our cake tasting/trying/picking process.

Ant and I knew that we didn't want just a wedding cake.  Dessert is just about my favorite thing ever {no matter how full I am, there is ALWAYS room for dessert!} so I wanted there to be a variety of choices when it came to dessert at our wedding.  Our caterer doesn't specifically do wedding cakes, but does do other desserts! So as part of our menu with them we set up a dessert table that included key lime pie, cannolis, cheesecake tarts, and hazelnut chocolate cake.  That being said, we had to have a wedding cake!  So we decided to get a smaller, two tier cake...that would give us something to cut, and feed a few of our guests too!  Some of the original inspiration I found for two tier cakes were these:

Via SMP

Via SMP

Via SMP

I knew we would be using Mystic Market - they have done graduation cakes for us before, and their new bakery chef did our engagement party cake too!  We reached out and made an appointment for a tasting - and showed up with lots of pictures of things we liked, but no real idea of what we wanted.

The tasting itself was amazing - I never thought there'd be such a thing as too much sugar....but I was just about at my limit by the time I was done!  We decided on vanilla cake with strawberries and creme frosting for the bottom tier, and chocolate with cream cheese frosting for the top tier.

As far as design goes, Ant actually ended up being full of helpful, decisive opinions when it came to this topic!  We were trying to decide if we wanted all white, or some color...and he said we should go with some blush.  We decided on an ombre effect - so that it was pink but not TOO pink.  I wanted the cake to have texture, without being crazy...and had seen a lot that had a rose or ruffled design to them.  Ant, knowing my preferences, didn't think that was quite right, but liked the "polka dotted" look of one we had a picture of.

When we left that day, we had decided on polka dots and blush ombre, but the only photo I had brought was the one above, with a much brighter pink color.  When we got home I did a little more research and emailed her the pictures below to show the color I was more interested in, and the dotted look!

source unknown

Via SMP

The middle cake - our dotted buttercream! Via SMP

The last minute addition I made was the flower - I had been looking into cake toppers and not loving anything I was finding...and I remembered that the Felicia had said something about maybe adding a big flower - so I emailed Noreen! She was more than happy to bring a larger garden rose to add to the cake - which I think was the perfect addition!!!

picture thanks to our DOC Jen!

Photo from the amazing Alicia Ann Photographers
Flowers: Earth Blossoms!

I was outside taking portraits when Felicia showed up to deliver the cake - and was so excited when I saw the final product! It was perfect.  Small, and simple, and so so pretty.  and the best part - it was SO delicious!!!  We had the top tier in our fridge to save for our anniversary...and ended up busting it out the day we got back from our honeymoon - we couldn't help ourselves!

The most important question I have for you! Did you actually get to eat your wedding cake???

Wise Guys: getting suited up!

It was been a longgggg time since I did a Wise Guys post - so I thought I'd back track, and run you all through the fun process of choosing the suits that the guys wore on our big day!

We knew almost immediately that the groom and his men would not be wearing tuxes.  The Branford House is about as grand as it gets, and I really want the feel of the wedding to be simple, pretty and fun…which means all of our details and decisions were based around brightening up the Branford House.  Ant is not a tux guy.  Not that he doesn't look absolutely adorable in a tux {see below}…but a black tie affair just wasn't quite the feel we were going for.  The girls are wearing short dresses, and it's a wedding in the middle of the summer - I wanted it to feel fresh and light!  So navy blue suits it is.  I figured it would also be a perfect way to give it a nautical yet classic feel, without going too overboard.

Ant and some dapper looking groomsmen at a wedding last Sept!

We started our search for suits at JCrew - we knew we loved their navy blue suit, and I wanted Ant to try it.  Doesn't he look dashing??  I was totally supportive of him splurging on a suit for our wedding, but he ultimately decided that it wasn't a necessary expense {he was probably right}- and that it made more sense for him to match the guys - so we moved on!

I loved the stitching on this suit...

We then went to Men's Warehouse, where we tried a few horribly bright blue suits on, before finding this one - which was on sale for a very reasonable price.  The guy at the first location was very nice, and helped us figure out all the details....so we planned a trip to go back to Men's Warehouse with Ant's best man, a groomsman, and one of my bridesmaids.  That visit turned into a customer service nightmare!  I have never had a worse experience in my life - and to keep a long story short, we left Men's Warehouse without suits, and very worried that we might not be able to find 10 navy blue suits within our price range.

My husband is sort of the best - and knows exactly how to calm me down...so he suggested we at least go check out the Jos.A.Bank down the street, to see what they had to offer.  We met with a salesmen and told him what we were looking for....and he told us he thought he'd be able to help.  While looking around at the various navy blue options - Ant and his friends stopped in front of this sign, and decided it was the look they were going for.  With that suit - the salesman told us he could do buy 1, get 4 {4!!} free - making each suit just under $200 each!

the inspiration

A much happier bride to be

They clean up nice!

The beauty of working with Jos.A.Bank is that they have locations everywhere - Ant has a groomsman who lives in Nebraska - and we were able to send his suit to the store there for him to be fitted.  Even within Connecticut, a few of the guys ended up having theirs sent to locations closer to them!  Average alterations were only about $30 for hemming, etc...and now they all have suits that they can wear again!  Since they weren't renting - it also got rid of the hassle of having to go pick up the suits the day of the rehearsal, and worry about dropping them back off.  Each guy already had his suit ready to go!

Ant looking better than the model...

What did your groomsmen wear??  Getting 10 guys on the same page with anything can be quite the task, so this was certainly something I started planning early, which thankfully saved me a lot of headaches later on!!

Branford House RW: Alicia Ann Photographers

EEEKKKKK.  Mrs. Mascia here!!!  We are officially back from our honeymoon and ready to start married life in the "real world".  I know my wonderful MOH has kept up with things for me while I've been gone, and if you follow me on instagram you've also gotten a few updates, but I am SO looking forward to getting to reflect on our day, and share all the beautiful details with you now!!!  Ant and I are so thankful - we had the PERFECT day on 8/8, with beautiful weather and beautiful people and more love than we ever could have dreamed of.

I thought I'd kick things off with my {very biased} favorite Branford House RW post of all time - by Alicia Ann Photographers.  Ours!!  The blog post went live while we were on the beach in Antigua and I was literally squealing like a little girl, and then crying over the images - they are stunning.  They capture the day perfectly, and I can NOT wait to see the rest!

As always, here are a few of my favorites {which was an almost impossible task to choose} but PLEASE follow the link to her blog to see the rest! and let me know what you think :)

My MOH Speech and Best Wishes to Rachel and Ant

Hi everybody!

This is my last post during my MOH week on the blog, and I'm sure now that Rachel is home from her honeymoon you will be getting a ton of really fun, exciting posts this week! =)

Today I'm sharing my MOH speech with you, since this is my last post here on the blog, and the end of Rachel and Ant's honeymoon, it's my way of wishing them the best as they begin 'real' married life!

Hi everyone. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Melissa, Rachel’s maid of honor. Rachel and I met in 6th grade when we were in the same class at school. We quickly bonded over practicing walking down the aisle of my bedroom. My keyboard had an automatic play setting so we would set it to Canon and take turns being the bride and maid of honor as we walked around my bedroom with fake flowers we stole out of a basket from the hallway of my parents house. That was the year we locked each other in as maid of honor.

Rachel is like the sister I wasn’t genetically blessed with. She is stubborn and bossy and I’m terrified to lend her things because she’s so messy I don’t know if I will ever get them back. She tells me things exactly how they are. She doesn’t sugarcoat for me and if I’m acting stupid she tells me immediately. Rachel is also the most supportive of me in everything I do, she is my bffl, my best friend for life.

The second time I ever met Ant was when Ally and I went to visit Rachel during her study abroad in Spain. When I found out that he was there only a few months after they had met I wasn’t sure if he was completely nuts or just madly in love. It turned out to be the latter. I knew he was a perfect match for Rachel because during our stay, our first night in Spain overlapped with his last night there. Ant asked for permission to stay in a private room with Rachel separate from Ally and I. Little did he know Ally and I were already told by Rachel that was how it was going to work anyways.

Rachel and Ant balance each other out perfectly. One of them is patient, the other is not. One of them is a planner, the other is not. (I’ll let you decide which is which) But together they create a perfect balance. With all that being said, I have complete faith in their love for each other and their marriage and I know that in 50 years from today we will be back here celebrating their 50th anniversary. 

To Rachel and Ant, may your love last forever. 

Thanks for reading along with me this week, come by and visit me at BalancingOnMyToes.

Welcome home Rachel and Ant!!!

Wedding Gift Printable

Hi everyone, it's Melissa again checking in while Rachel is away on her honeymoon!

I usually blog all things organization, so I thought I would make up a little printable to share here with you that combines my love of organization with Rachel's love of weddings. This printable is yours for free and is available here.

Above is a preview of the printable I've created with Rachel's wedding colors! Since she used blush and navy I thought I would include those =)

I know when Rachel gets back from her honeymoon she will be strapped with the responsibility of writing thank you notes and it is so much easier to write everything down in one place. I also like the idea of being able to keep a list of gifts you received so you know how to reciprocate during your guests future weddings. 

I hope that you find this helpful, remember you can download your own copy here!

Have a great day everybody! =)

MOH Taking Over The Blog!

Hi everyone, it's Melissa (Rachel's MOH) and I'm here to take over the blog while Rachel is on her amazing honeymoon!

I blog regularly over at Balancing On My Toes but I promised Rachel I would give you a few updates while she's away!

Rachel and Ant's wedding was absolutely amazing. Every moment was perfect and I am so lucky that I got to be such a big part of it. I thought I would share a few pictures that I have from the rehearsal dinner and wedding day, I know Rachel will be doing a full recap when she gets back from her honeymoon- but I don't want you to have to wait that long to see how beautiful everything was!

See you guys later this week =)