Wedding Planning Update

Happy Thursday friends! I haven’t shared much about wedding planning lately, so thought I’d give ya a little update. We are getting married August 10th of this year (crazy!) and actually have a good amount of planning done. I tend to get decision anxiety, so it hasn’t come naturally for me, but luckily have a pretty specific idea of what I want and am trying to be as low maintenance as possible. There are a few things Dave and I cared strongly about, but otherwise have been flexible!

photo by The Malicotes

Lexington wedding vendors we’ve booked:

Venue: We’re getting married at my church, First Presbyterian, in downtown Lexington. The reception will be at Lexington Country Club and rehearsal dinner at The Apiary. We met with our pastor a few weeks ago and made a few decisions about the ceremony, but still need to figure out specifics like scriptures and songs.

Photographer: The Malicotes. A photographer was one of the first things we booked and I knew I wanted to work with Kelsey! She and her husband Matt are so easy-going and fun, I knew we would be comfortable with them. We already took our engagement photos and I’m obsessed.

Band: Flavor Big Band. A band was probably our main priority. We booked a Motown/big band that is going to be so fun! We worked with Rob Kirkpatrick who was so helpful in finding exactly what we were looking for.

Dress & Bridesmaid Dresses: Twirl. My best friend manages Twirl, so it was a no-brainer to shop there. I won’t say much about the dress except that I love it! We also picked out bridesmaid dresses at Twirl. I thought that I would do everyone in the same dress, but ended up mixing patterns and styles and I think it’s going to look so good. If you are trying to do an eclectic look, I will recommend working with one shop or designer so that you can actually see the dresses in person together/guarantee that the colors are the same.

Hair and Makeup: Blush + Glow. I’ve worked with Allison before and am always so impressed by their work! Also, I’ll say it was harder than I thought to find someone who did both hair and makeup. I preferred to use one person for both as opposed to coordinating multiple.

Flowers: Stems. My mom has worked with Bonnie for years and we use Stems at work, so it was an easy decision. We haven’t picked out our exact flowers yet, but I’ve been gathering inspo on Pinterest. I want to use a lot of greenery and maybe incorporate succulents into my bouquet.

photo credit: Pinterest

Wedding Coordinator: Scripted Events. We booked a month-of coordinator to tie up all the loose ends so that my mom and I wouldn’t be stressed about coordinating deliveries/all the day of craziness. We had a pretty good idea of what vendors we wanted and the look we were going for, so didn’t need a full-on planner.

Save The Dates: ZOLA. 100% the worst and hardest part of wedding planning is making the list. I have a pretty big family, Dave and I both went to college out of state so have multiple friend groups and both our parents have big friend groups, so it was painful to try and whittle it down to a reasonable number. When we finally got the list done we ordered save the dates from ZOLA, where we also built our wedding website and registry. It took about 15 minutes to design and I love that we could do it all in one!

Cake: Sugar Forest. One of the best parts of planning so far! We did tastings at a few places and landed on Sugar Forest because her cake was so moist and delicious. I’m going for buttercream icing in a textured look with flowers and a vintage cake topper that my grandmother and mom had on their wedding cake. 

photo credit: Pinterest

The next big things on our list:

Find a stationer (didn’t even know that was a word, ha!) for our invites. Would love a recommendation if you have one!

Pick out rehearsal and reception menus. The fun part, finally!

Decide on a honeymoon itinerary/hotels. We booked our flights (!!!) to Singapore and Bali and have an idea of where all we want to go, but need to nail it down.

Finish registering. We started registering on ZOLA, which I’m obsessed with. You can register from all different brands, like Crate and Barrel, Le Creuset, Dyson, Kate Spade, all the major kitchen brands and so much more. Even experiences like Delta, Airbnb and Winc gift cards. My favorite part is that you can also register for funds for things like your honeymoon or house down payment. We are also registering locally at L.V. Harkness. I will say registering is a bit more overwhelming than I thought it would be. Trying to figure out what I’m going to want my kitchen to look like for years to come without knowing what kitchen I’ll be in is hard!! We’re also considering adding Bed Bath and Beyond or another retailer that guests would be able to shop at in person. I’m definitely the kind of person that wants to do everything online, but I realize not everyone is like me so I may need to give people more options. I would love any registry advice you have – please feel free to leave it in the comments below!

Wedding day transportation. We’ll need something to cart around all 22 members of our bridal party 😉 IDK if we’ll do a fancy getaway car, I don’t really have strong feelings about it, but feel like it’s one of those things you’re supposed to do.

I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things, but we are feeling good about the process. It’s starting to get real and Dave and I are so excited. We start pre-marriage classes later this month and have started to plan for moving in together when we get married. So dang excited. Thanks so much for cheering us on through this! PS: if you’re interested in the wedding planning process, you can check out how I asked my bridesmaids here.

Biscuits & blessings,

Leels