Perhaps we should start where I started?

It all began, just all as my design projects begin, with a mood board and a color palette. It’s been fun now to see if we were really true to it (yes and no, thankfully). And it’s always been funny when people ask me, “What are your wedding colors?”, and I really can’t find the right words, wishing I could just show them this board instead. It’s so much easier for me to speak visually.

… Mom, Dawn, Courtney and I picked out the flowers for the wedding. This is just a sample “bunch” (and I’m certainly not the best at arrangements, Courtney will be the mastermind of that later). We ordered some peonies too, but they weren’t “sprung” yet. They will, however, be ready, gorgeous and softly opening 4 weeks from now. Yup, just 4 short weeks…

And of course, Dawn made it the most special just doing what she does best: creating beautifully inspired vignettes, so thoughtfully befitting of the person she throws the party for. A-MAZING details…

Drawers filled with turn-of-the-century baubles sharing space with crusty bread.

Mannequins outfitted with their own vintage veils. A cake adorned with an encrusted brooch.

We ate delicious cold-weather chili in her mix & match china and vintage napkins.

The invitation (oh my, I can’t wait to share that with you – stay tuned) included a handmade recipe card… everyone brought their favorite one to share with me. You’ll see why that is so meaningful in just a second…

Fresh macaroons were hidden amongst glamorous jewelry and candles. (I think I ate 5, they were so good!)

We shared craft tables, where everyone got their own can to decorate however they liked. The cans will later be tied to a vintage bicycle, kind of like our “get-away car”. I think it is so fun that I get to have something inspired by each girl at the wedding! So fun.

Aren’t they amazing? (I have some incredibly talented friends.)

This is pretty much what I felt like all day. Crazy happy.

But there were also some tears: Mom made me the most thoughtful gifts, and I shared a note with everyone she wrote… (yah, we passed the tissues around!)

… about the recipe cards that she had saved from my Dad’s mother (Ethel), who passed away when I was 18. She had saved them all these years, and took out the recipe book Ethel had orignally given to here… where she pasted in recipe after recipe from family and dear friends. I’ll use this book to place all the recipes the girls gave to me at my shower.

And I even got a basket signed by everyone who attended.

I mean, can it get any more thoughtful? “Thank-you” just doesn’t suffice. I am more than blessed, I am more than thankful. What an amazing day… I left Dawn’s house thinking it all just went by too fast. I can’t even imagine how I’ll feel the day of my wedding if I felt like this today.

So very loved.

Witt thoughtfully reminds me that if “you don’t enjoy the process, it isn’t worth doing”, so I tried very hard to be in the moment this year. Because truly, it isn’t really about the final product, right? It’s that you get that time with your family and friends to enjoy the traditions, whether new ones or old. This year, I got to spend it with Witt and his Dad, along with Mom & Dad, Grandfather and Miss Ellie. We took all our turkey and trimmings up to my bro’s cabin in Blue Ridge, and did our newest tradition of taking a walk down to the river and train tracks after the giant meal.

It was a really wonderful day. And I couldn’t be more thankful for my dear friends and family this year. Oh, and Miss Ellie. (Even though she’s sticking her tongue out at me in that picture above!)