Etsy Wedding Finds

Etsy is a wonderful place to purchase unique and/or custom items for your wedding.  Especially if you're looking to add extra personal touches to your day.  From wedding gowns to invitations you can find almost anything wedding-related on Etsy.

our guest book tree with some placed leaves... it filled up well in the end

I wanted to be able to display our guest book instead of putting it in a box and never looking at it again.  However, I didn't feel comfortable doing the thumbprint guest book tree because I didn't want to creep out my guests by asking for their finger print so this was my compromise.

The leaves are self-adhesive.  Guests sign the leaves and stick them onto the tree.  I highly recommend having guest book attendants to aid guests in the process.  You are going to be hanging this on your wall and you don't want a wonky looking tree.

The custom guest book tree I purchased is made by Absinthe Custom Printing.  

I wanted to have a custom wedding gown label because I thought it was a fun tradition.  I purchased a quatrefoil label with my initials and our wedding date.  I went with the quatrefoil because it's the symbol of my college sorority.  My seamstress sewed it into the bottom side seam of my dress in case I wanted to show it to someone at the wedding.

The custom wedding gown label I purchased is made by Initial Impressions.

I always wanted to wear a flower in my hair.  Choosing the right flower was the hardest decision for me-- the right color, size, look...  I finally went with a 4" peony (my favorite flower) made of white silk and white sheer with a rhinestone center.

The hair flower I purchased is made by Silver Pencils.

our guests loved our cake topper -- most had never seen one like ours

I wanted a customized topper that looked like Brad and me. And I couldn't forget Jack. After searching for a while I stumbled upon Lynn's Little Creations.

Lynn makes custom toppers starting at $65 for the couple (add $5-$10 per pet, depending on size). Most custom toppers I've seen are easily $100-$500+.

I wanted to get our program and guestbook attendants a little something to say thanks for being part of our special day.  I decided on rose resin earrings because I think they're cute and fun.

I purchased their earrings from Once Upon A Peony.  

For our favors, we gave our guests sugar cookies from Brad's favorite hometown bakery.  They had our college Alma mater's symbol airbrushed onto them. To seal the bags, I purchased these custom stickers from MAU Promos.

I also purchased our cookies bags from an Etsy seller.  I mostly bought them because I didn't have to buy 1,000 and they are BOPP (biodegradable, FDA approved for packaging food items; oil and grease resistant; water vapor, gas, and aroma barriers).

To see what size bag would work best for the cookies I was able to order a sampler package of bags from the same seller for less than $3, which was great.

I purchased my resealable BOPP flat cello bags from Artistic Ephemera.

The Wedding {Part Three}

Ready for a long blog post?  Just bear with me, it's the final part of my "The Wedding" Series.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to enjoy much of cocktail hour.  After the ceremony, we went back into the reception room and spent about 10 minutes relaxing and signing the marriage license.  Then, we took photos with Brad's family, some of my family, and the bridal party for about 30 minutes.  When it was finally time to go to the cocktail hour our DOC was saying that we should start getting into place for the receiving line.  

We had the receiving line right outside the reception room, so people could go through the receiving line and pick up their escort cards.  I know some people are against receiving lines, but I liked the idea of being able to say hello and thanks for coming to all our guests.  I'm not a fan of going table to table at receptions because I don't like it when I'm a guest at a wedding and the bride and groom want to come over and say hi to me while I'm eating.  That, and I feel like some people get missed because when the bride and groom come to the table some guests may be in the bathroom, getting food, etc.  The receiving line was our sure-fire way of saying hi to each and every one of our guests.

After the receiving line, the bridal party and Brad and I lined up for our introductions.  Brad's grandpa gave a lovely blessing, and then it was time to eat!  The food was delicious.  Brad and I both said that we were going to eat at our wedding, so we sampled everything. Once the guests started eating they caught onto the pasta saute bar, which created a crazy long line.  Part of the issue was that the caterers weren't going fast enough.  The other part of the issue was that it took at least 2 minutes to cook the food.  That adds up when you have 10+ people in line... with some people getting a plate for someone else...  People were still in line for pasta over an hour after dinner began.  

As our guests were eating, Brad and I really should have gotten up and gone and chatted with guests who were finished with dinner at their tables.  I tried getting Brad to go with me but he told me to just sit and enjoy everything.  (It did feel nice to sit down and relax a little.)  Looking back, I feel bad for not getting up off my butt and talking with our guests.

Around 8:30 our DOC told us that we should start the toasts.  Our Best Man, Andrew, and Maid of Honor, Natalie, gave wonderful speeches.  But if it were a competition (and I may be biased), Natalie would have won.  Her toast made everyone laugh and brought me to tears.

Then it was time to get up and cut the cake!  As I was getting up, I noticed that I had BBQ sauce across the bottom of the front of my dress!  Like 7-8 dime to quarter sized dots in a row!  I remember saying, "Oh my god... Oh my god... How did that happen?  Get the baby wipes," to my Maid of Honor.  She didn't know what was going on until I showed her.  I asked her how this could have happened because there was no way I spilled it on myself-- this part of my dress was under the table while I was eating.  She said that as the catering people were setting up one of them dropped an entire bottle of BBQ sauce and it got all over the tablecloth at the mini-pulled pork sandwich station.  She said that they merely turned the table around so it wasn't as noticeable.  Well, when I was at this station I went on that side of the table and my dress touched the tablecloth where the BBQ sauce was.  I was upset because the spilling of the BBQ sauce could have been handled much better.  Luckily, the baby wipes got most of the BBQ sauce out.

After the BBQ sauce issue, we cut the cake.  Brad fed me the biggest piece of cake, ever.  Haha.  Then, the DJ announced our first dance.  Brad and I stood on the dance floor and waited for him to start playing our song.  But no, he decided to play the last minute of the song that was playing instead of stopping it.  So we stood there and looked like dorks waiting for the song.  Seriously?  Our dance went well.  I was nervous because we hadn't practiced much since our lesson.  Our photographer captured my nervous face in one of the photos.  Ha!  Then, I danced with my dad.  My step-dad cut in about half-way through the song.  (This was planned.)  Brad and his mom shared a dance.  

While Brad and his mom were dancing I looked over and noticed one of the catering people cutting the cake like a 5 year old.  Some of the pieces were cut like cake should be cut and some were giant wedges.  I thought to myself, "Just let it go, Chelsea".  But I couldn't take it anymore.  I got up, walked over, and said, "Hi, can you cut the cake the normal way?"  She said, "Oh, well I've been eyeballing it to be sure that it's all used."  I replied (as nicely as possible), "This cake is made to serve 200 people.  There are 120 people here.  We did that on purpose so that we would have more than enough cake for our guests and to send any leftovers home with family.  Please fix these pieces of cake and start cutting it like it's supposed to be cut."  Then to my horror, she took the giant wedges that were already plated and cut them in half, but not down the middle going height-wise-- she cut them in between the layers!  Who does that!?  At this point, I had to just let it go and sit down because I was going to lose it on this chick.  Brad was exiting the dance floor when I was going to sit back down.  He said, "Honeyyy, what are you doing?"  

To which I replied, "Oh, nothing.  Just sitting down." Hehee.

When the first fast song came on, I hit the floor with my bridesmaids and the flower girl.  The rest of the night is kind of blurry because so much happened (no I wasn't drunk-- I only had a glass of wine and champagne the entire night).  :)  We danced, visited the DIY photo booth, and took some night photos.  I'm hoping to get the photos back and have them refresh my memory.  Ha!  

After the reception, we had to tear the place down.  We had to be out of there by midnight or we would be fined.  My DOC had 4 staff members there to help with the tear down.  Some of our family and friends graciously stayed to help, too.  We had the entire ceremony and reception spaces torn down, including the tables and chairs, in an hour.

All in all, it was a wonderful day.  It flew by so quickly.  I wish I could do it again, but get 8 hours of sleep the night before and stay on schedule.

The Wedding {Part Two}

Once I was ready, my photographer and I headed downstairs to the waiting limo.  Brad was on his way to our "First Look" location-- where we got engaged, with his dad.  For our "First Look" Brad was positioned inside the gazebo with his back turned to the direction I was coming from.  When everything was set-up by our photographers, I started walking towards Brad and our photographer told him to turn around.  When I got to Brad I remember asking him if he liked my dress.  He said yes.  I asked him if it was what he was expecting.  He said he thought I would go with something simpler.  Ha!

Brad and I took some photos in and around the gazebo.  Then, we went over to the Chemistry building for photos.  Soon our bridal party arrived in the limo.  We went around campus taking photos at various locations for a little over 2 hours.

We arrived at our wedding location around 4:00PM.  I say wedding location because we had our ceremony and reception at the same location.  Many members of our families were already there for photos before the ceremony, which was at 5:30PM.  We took photos with my side of the family and relaxed a little bit.  My bridesmaids went to work to get the dirt marks off of my dress from taking photos.

A little before 5:00PM the bridesmaids and I went into hiding in our reception room while guests started to arrive.  Then it was time to line up for the ceremony.  The music started... and to my horror it started to cut out as the grandparents and mothers were being seated.  I remember looking at my Maid of Honor, probably with my eyes bulging out of my head.  She looked at me and reassured me, "It's fine.  Don't worry.  He'll fix it" (meaning the DJ).  The music a couple more times, and I flinched.  Why was this happening?!  It cut out again as my bridesmaids started to go down the aisle.  My day-of coordinator finally looked at me and said, "I hope he fixes this and it doesn't cut out while you're walking".  Luckily, he did fix the problem-- the music didn't cut out as I walked down the aisle with my dad and step-dad.

Our ceremony went smoothly.  Well, except for me having to have our officiant repeat 2 lines of our vows for me.  I had the worse case of cotton mouth.  It was so hard to talk.  All I wanted was a glass of water.  After I messed up the first time, I thought that I was repeating everything wrong.  Brad was sure to remind me later that he said everything perfectly, and I was the one who goofed.

After the ceremony, Brad and I, along with our bridal party and parents went back into the reception room.  Everyone said congrats and gave us hugs.  We signed our marriage license.  I drank some water.  Then, it was time to move on to photos with Brad's family, followed by cocktail hour and the reception!

The Wedding {Part One}

First, let me say a big thank you for all your kind words about my grandma's passing... 
and about our wedding.

I thought I would write a post about our day.  I'm going to go chronologically here.

The day started at 7:30AM in our hotel suite.  I did not want to get out of bed because I went to sleep at 2:30AM.  Yeah 5 hours of sleep!  My hair stylist, who graciously agreed to drive the hour and a half to our wedding destination, arrived around 7:45 and started on my bridesmaid, Melissa's hair.  I jumped in the shower.  By the time I was out of the shower my makeup artist was there. 

Soon all of my bridesmaids were in the suite getting their hair and makeup done.  My Maid of Honor gave me an amazing gift-- a photo album from my bachelorette weekend in Chicago and a tear-jerking card.

The plan was to be done with my hair and makeup by 12:30 so I could get in my dress, take some bridal shots, and then get in the limo at 1:00 to go to our First Look location.  {Brad's dad drove him separately.}  I was a little late getting into the makeup chair.  Then, when I got the call about my grandma, I got delayed another half an hour.  My hair ended up taking two and half hours, but it was worth it in the end.  I ended up not getting done with my hair until 1:30.  My legs were shaking as I sat there getting my hair done, knowing we were not on schedule and the limo was waiting.  

As I was getting my hair done, I gave my bridesmaids their gifts-- a pearl necklace with matching earrings, personalized makeup bag, pink pashmina, and green and pink flip flops that I made.

I didn't get to take any bridal shots in our hotel room {something I regret}.  I hurried into my dress and put on my earrings, bracelet, and shoes.  As I was about to head out the door, Brad's mom showed up with my gift from him.  It was a beautiful heart-shaped jewelry box with "Mrs. Chelsea NewLastName" engraved on top.  There was a pearl bracelet inside.  I put it on with the pearl bracelet I was borrowing from my mom. 

Brad got ready in his best man's suite with the rest of the groomsmen, his dad, brother, and some other friends.  Brad was on schedule.  He actually took a nap after leaving our suite that morning.  Lucky.  While getting ready, he opened my gift-- IU cufflinks {our alma mater and where we met}.