wedding - making pretty

the morning of our wedding started at about 9 a.m... nice & slow.
the weather was perfect & I was so calm. so relaxed. & highly sentimental.
Allison, being the sweetheart she is, brought over homemade cinnamon rolls that we all snacked on while we packed our bags for the day.
all of the bridesmaids arrived at our getting-ready venue,
& we spent the morning painting nails, taking turns getting our hair done, playing with make-up
& ohyeah, putting the programs together. (last minute detail. no biggie.)
we had music blaring, the windows open...
just an all around lovely day to get married.

 

mrs. bethune hanger - lila frances

hairband - untamed petals

wedding dress - pronovias

ballet flats - charlotte russe

I have to add that my grandmother & mom, talented seamstresses that they are,

listened to my vision for my dress & added the cap sleeves from the hem trimmings...

such an elegant addition.

I had no intentions of wearing a strapless dress,

so when I fell in love with one, my mom got on the phone with her mom, & figured out the solution.

these amazing ladies also constructed my veil in a day,

which is so special to have & hold onto, for my *someday* daughter to wear.

I just love that.
I also wore some of my mom's perfume that is just a classic smell of hers...
my something borrowed.
okay, that and her pearl earrings.

& lastly, yes. you read it correctly.

after searching high & low & waist level at every shoe store I could drive to or search online,

I was stuh-riking OUT in the shoe department.

it was either too expensive, too fancy or not unique.

so when I found these little flats at Charlotte Russe for a whopping $10...

I turned to Emily (my maid of honor & shopping voice of wisdom),

& she said, "yes. buy them."
as if she knew that I was thinking "buhht... Charlotte Rus... ehh..."

we stitched on the ribbon later that evening & presto.

my perfect wedding shoe.

we're almost to the "I do!" part!

clearly, my favorite.

for now, I'm going to settle into the couch with the husband for the rest of this Cardinals game.

World Series, babehhh!

xo, kelsey

wedding - rehearsal & dinner

such a whirlwind of a day, this was.

I don't even remember dressing myself, although I have a vague memory of Amelia curling my hair...

family was arriving, decorations were going up, & our wedding was suddenly in full swing!

it's probably bragging a little,

but I'm pretty sure we had the smoothest, happiest, non-chaotic rehearsal in the history of rehearsals.

thanks to agonizing "pre-rehearsals" to time the aisle walking earlier in the summer,
& our wonderfully spectacular coordinator, Amelia,

there wasn't a whole ton of work to do except getting to the end of the aisle!

our little flowers girls - Sara Kate & Corrie - showed up with paper pieces to practice dropping their flower petals...

& very quickly got bored with the whole process.

they're the best part of these photos ;)

I just want to hug whoever came up with the rehearsal dinner idea.

having so many faces in the same room that are so well loved is overwhelming.

we should get married more often.

one of the best things about a Bethune boy getting married is that Jared's dad makes the rehearsal dinner.

yes, makes it. all of it.
one of the worst things about a Bethune boy getting married is
being the bride & trying not to eat yourself into a coma because it's all SO GOOD.

we were treated to mediterranean cuisine & ohmylanta.

my dad still talks about it, & I still crave it. 

this last picture was snapped as everyone was leaving,

about 10 minutes before Jared took me outside for the big honeymoon location reveal.

that's right... he planned the whole thing by himself, & all I knew was to pack for a beach!

it was a really perfect, quiet moment after crazy day of running in 43542 directions,

as we stood under the October stars & he showed me a map, pointing to St. Croix.

"you said you wanted to see the sunset over the beach, & that you didn't want to fly for hours...

so we're staying on the west side of the island. you'll get a sunset over the ocean every night."

he's a dreamboat, I tell ya.

xo, kelsey

wedding - invitation suite III

so, the bridal party was totally game for our October wedding,

the save-the-dates had been sent,

the color palette chosen,

& it was suddenly invitation time.

there is something completely surreal about picking out invitations to YOUR wedding.

it was a magical time.

I had known for a long time that letterpressed invitations would be the ideal for our someday wedding.

however.

once we were engaged, I quickly realized that looking is a lot less expensive than purchasing letterpressed invites.

so! we did a mixture of DIY & letterpressed invite cards.

some of the DIY flair:

-hand dyed edges on our "dining & dancing" cards

-I designed "dining & dancing" cards

-hand cut + glued belly bands

-hand cut + tied "B's"

-invitation calligraphy by phoebe (sister-in-law) *wish I had a sample!

creating our invitation suite was a lot of work, & definitely had plenty of hiccups 

(like, only half of our envelope liner order arriving with no time to wait for more)

but certainly a labor of love, & a sweet time with family & friends as we put it all together.

Invitation + RSVP Card: Bella Figura

Envelopes + Envelope liners: The Paper Source 

RSVP Stamp: Stampout Online

Belly Band (paper + paper cutter): Michaels

Wedding website: WeddingJoJo

xo, kelsey

wedding - invitations suite II

we decided pretty early on to use this color palette:

I went from everything from yellow to salmon to mint before finally settling on this.

looking back, I'm actually pretty impressed at how well we stuck to it.

being the wedding-loving person I am,

I knew early on that I wanted a pretty feel - very romantic & rustic.

you'll see off whites, book pages & rosey/dusky colors in the rest of the suite, as well.

the save-the-dates were a little agonizing to pick out!

I kept telling my mom that I knew it'd be the first taste that the guests will get of our wedding's flavor,

so this process was incredibly important.

that being said, I think what we ended up with was perfect.

(apologies for the horrible lighting)

The save-the-dates

these lovely save-the-dates were fun to make & pretty easy... once the supplies were all in!

I quickly enlisted sisters from both sides to cut hearts for the envelopes out of an old book that Jared's mom provided,

& we set to work stamping 23rd's with the teensiest heart stamp (thank-you, Mrs. Alexander!).

I also had my heart set on upright (top-open) envelopes & we found the perfect color a week before they had to go out.

Jared's sister & I spent about 6 hours addressing these babies,

because as beautiful as my eggplant, upright envelopes were...

They sure could suck up some paint from that paint pen!

Bonding time, right, Phoebe?

Template: The Wedding Chicks

Heart stamp: Stampin' up!

Photo: Levi Bethune Photography

Envelopes + Paper: Paper Presentation

Paint Pen: Michaels

wedding - invitation suite

the minute we got home from our trip to DC (that quickly turned into the most exciting weekend ever!!),

my mom started planning to have both of the families + bridal party + our pastors over to my parents' house to celebrate together.
I had a week to pull together some bridesmaid cards, & came up with these in a pinch...

you know, in between snuggling with a precious new puppy & celebrating Christmas + 2 bethune birthdays + new year's eve.
the cards were blank from Target & I added the bee+stitching to the front.
needless to say, there was no needlework involved when jared asked his groomsmen to be in the wedding ;)


Stay tuned for Part II & III later tonight!