Wedding Week: Behind the Scenes Part 1

It took me an hour and half to get ready on our wedding day. It took my mom 3.5. I am not joking here!!

Needless to say, the day went a little like this:

"MOM. Mom. MOM??? are you ready yet??? Mom we are ready to get started and waiting on only you. MOM???????"

[we rented a beach house to get ready in. My something blue on the right]

[The cutest flowergirl I could ever ask for]

[I was always scared to get dressed in front of male photographer]

[but I got over it REAL quick. Nakey bride in the window!]

[I love the sea of blue]

[make-up by Adorne Artistry]

[mom]

[corset]

Jessie and My Now Sister-in-Law Ree

[check out that little diva!]

[my something borrowed: my sister's garter she never tossed. If you know my sister, you'd know why she never tossed it. Most conservative woman I know! ]

Love.

[Memily]

Beachy Bouquets.

Ready to do the darn thang. Let's go people!!!!!

[everyone wore their own jewelry and shoes. I'm a big fan of look the best version of yourself. Not some bridesmaid kidnapped by the wedding witch]

[Lynette]

Almost go time! From Left to Right [MOG Karen, Lynette, Emily, Stephanie, Jessie, Julie, Jennifer, Ree, MOH Romina, FG Cecily, MOB Ciria]

Wedding Week: The Hardest Part

So I really want to link up with BB for her "what I do for money honey" link-up, I lurrrve me some BB, BUT I promised I'd see these wedding recaps out. Good news for moi, my lovely coworker, Lindsey from creatively classy pretty much summed it up! Tada!! Yup thats us! Go link up with her!! Minus all that Aggie crap (HOOOK EM') that is pretty much what I do.
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and now, for the wedding recaps:

Matthew and I tied the Knot in Galveston, TX a coastal town outside of Houston. Galveston is not the prettiest of beach, but it’s the closest thing us Houstonians have, and it is very much a quick weekend get-away spot for locals.

Picking our date and venue was no doubt the hardest part for me. I always dreamt of a nautical style wedding on the water. But never in the sand. NEVER in the sand. Which may sound odd, but I was thinking pretty white yacht on amazing blue water, or off a cliff overlooking a lake?? I don’t really know, but this was my ‘wedding dream’ before I started planning, or was even engaged. Yes, you all know you scope out wedding venues before you get married. 

As I really started planning, I realized these two things were pretty much impossible within my budget. I researched destination weddings, knowing I could get the look of my dream wedding minus the obscene amount of cash, and had always thought it was a unique idea. But the more I thought about the destination wedding, the more saddened I became at how few of our loved ones could come.

Cue in Galveston!The “Quick” get-away, that amounts to an hour drive out of town. Does it have water? Check!  Does it have a Catholic Church for Matthew??Um boy did it ever. I googled catholic churches, and bam, this white beauty came up. This can substitute for a white boat right???

Ladies, it was love at first sight. And this was just through a computer. I knew it had to be good.

The church doesn't even look like its in Texas! People have to drive an hour away... is this a mini destination wedding?!? Yup. SOLD!!

And that was really how it all happened. I fell in love with the church, and the rest is history. Here are some pictures from the day. More explanation to come later!

Love love,

Pre - Wedding Week

So. It is kinda weird recapping your wedding when you feel as though you are somewhat settled into your marriage. That's because marriage is hard. Matthew sure has tested my patience a time or two in the past few months. Cough, cough house crap.   

Oh, and wedding day physique?  Check ya later! So what I'm basically saying is wedding recaps don't quite feel like I'm 'keepin' it real' at the moment. I mean weddings are all about rainbows and butterflies. Very expensive rainbows and butterflies to be specific.

Now, all this all this jib jab aside, I just can't go on without telling you about one of the most amazing days of my life! I blog about my life, I will always blog about my life, and our wedding day was literally perfect for us.

We were overwhelmed with how our vendors, family, and friends made the day so incredibly meaningful. I know, I know, it sounds so cliche... but I'm being 100% honest. After going through a lot of stress to get to the day, it was just so worth it. Our honeymoon was a complete high. We were just so happy with our wedding day.

Some say, "I want to relive the day!!" Now moi? I would never say this. Something I would say: "I want to plan a whole NEW wedding!!" Like the Winter wedding I always dreamt of. Or the engagement party turned actual wedding I always wanted. Every wife says it.. "If I could do it all over again I'd do it this way...."

Well, you only get one chance, and here is our story!!Check back sometime tomorrow, (possibly later in the day) for the first of my wedding recaps. Finally I know!!

Oh, and If you are new around here, and would like to stalk some of my earlier wedding-related posts.. check these out... I was kind of a crazy blogaholic bride :)

• My first post, which I want to edit so badly.. but I wont - our Engagement Post
• Buying my wedding dress
• How I asked my matron of honor
• How I asked my bridesmaids
• Save the date
• Honeymoon 1, Honeymoon 2, and Swimming with Dolphins

See Ya Tomorrow.

-Tessy

The Nail Files: Wedding Edition

Its FRIII UHH DAYYYYY. Hecks ya. I'm buried at work, so I'll get right to it.
Linking up with Tara and Vicki for one of my favorite link-ups.

Here are the best pics I have of my wedding nails:

[ I wouldn't take pictures til someone brought me wine. ]

I wore Essie Wedding Collection 2012 "Like to be bad"

Whoever named this polish needs to be fired. and I am being totally serious. The name is not remotely wedding related, and I admit that bugged me. But it was the only soft pink in this years wedding collection, and it had a touch of glitter to it which I thought was a plus. A few polishes that I was having a hard time picking between were: Opi 2012 Wedding Collection "Mimosas for Mr. and Mrs." and one of pinky faves Essie "Muchi Muchi"

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Here are my current nails:

I posted this picture to IG last night, asking everyone to pick a color. EVERYONE picked blue
Essies "bikini so teeny" 

Well, I had already started painting before everyone answered. and Blue nails make me uncomfortable. so I ended up with this. Who knows.

Julep "Natasha" and Essie "Fear or Desire"

 and happy birthday to my dear emilia! Can't wait to celebrate!

look at us in college!! so funny!!



{College - Sophomore year}



{Senior Year - Los Angeles}

Have a good weekend guys!



Bridal Portraits

Happy Monday Dears!

It took me so long to download our wedding pictures, and I am still caught up in picking our favorites. I love so many its really flipping hard, but as I sort, I want to share some pics from my bridal portraits. I had this whole plan to use these pictures for a scheduled post the day after our wedding, but that post quickly fell to the bottom of my priorities when the wedding circus took over my life about 2 months ago.

This was the first time I got my makeup and hair done, as well as the first time I got to shoot with our wedding photographer Akil Bennett, because we took our engagements with Matthew’s sister. I took bridals at Moody Mansion, a Historical landmark in Galveston, Texas. I felt it was important to keep my bridals in Galveston because, everything was happening in Galveston so might as well keep it consistent right?? I also very much considered myself to be a modern vintage bride, and this place was all the rage for the ‘vintage’ feel. What I didn’t think through, is that given the historic nature of this place I was not allowed to sit on or really get remotely close the furniture. So all of my pictures are standing. HA!

So. A little bit about my wedding dress: I wore the Pronovias 2012 “Benicarlo” from the Dreams Collection. It was about 1000 bucks over my dress budget, but I didn’t flinch when I bought this dress. It was definitely the source of an argument or two (or three) with Matthew but I dismissed all his comments pretty much. lol. You only get married once, and if you really knew me, you'd know that I fancy a new dress like no other (I live in dresses because they hide my big hips). Literally nothing was stopping me from getting this dress, AND I dreamt of wearing a Pronovias for quite some time. The only person that was with me when I found my dress was my sister, and I actually went to buy it alone. The whole entourage thing wasn’t for me. My favorite part of a wedding is the surprise of seeing the bride in her dress for the first time, so I really did not show a lot of people what it looked like beforehand.

I opted for a very simple veil at the last second. I honestlyhad always dreamed of a bird-cage-esque veil, but we all agreed that the dress already had a lot going and did not need any other distractions. I added the veil out of fear, that 10 years from now I wouldn't 'have a veil' in my pictures. You are probably thinking, "do what you want Tess" but as planning went down I realized my appreciation for certain traditions that I did not want undo.

I freaking died over the feathers in bust line at the store. You can see a them  better in the picture above and below. When I put this dress on I knew within 15 minutes that this was it, and I had tried on about 20 already. I loved the belt, and how the corset back reined in all my junk. Seriously, corset back is so clutch I highly recommend it. I also went bra-less because I did not feel that I needed one given the tightness. My ribs were also sore for two days after our wedding. The price we pay ladies, the price we pay.

I also had all these ideas of props etc., to use at my bridal shoot. Well I basically procrastinated, and  only remembered to buy sunglasses. Go figure. WELLL, it ended up working out perfectly when we decided to give out sunglasses as wedding favors at our reception. I chose one of these fun pics to display right next to our sunglasses.

Gosh I could go on and on about how much I loved my dress. Interestingly enough, It was completely not what I thought I would buy. I was going for lacy sleeves and form fitting when I was looking, so buying the big poofball was a surprise to me and probably my friends who figured I’d go for something more contemporary.

now, a bigger question - how many brides have sold their dress?? Have you thought about it?? I have seriously considered it lately, but Matthew says its a bad idea. Thougths??

Our Wedding Pictures are Here!!!!

Ahh!! Here is one of my all time faves from my Bridal Session!!

Be back soon!

Ketchup + Weekend Update

So I blogged once last week. Oopsies! It was a nice little break. What was I doing all week? being the booziest little lush Spending a lot of time with friends. Matthew’s best friend turned 28, We had to see a co-worker off who landed a new job, we had a girls night out on the town that I just couldn’t pass up, and one of Matthew’s close friends took us out Saturday night as a late wedding present. Oh and it rained. Like an abnormal amount. These pictures sum up my life lately:

[bar food]

Freaking love this Kiki La' Rue dress. Borrowed it from Kristen and its just so cute.

Bulldogs are really entertaining I've learned.

 KK

 

I have no pictures of Brenner's, where we went on Saturday. But it was amazeballs, and if you are in Houston you should definitely check this place out. Needless to say, my body is screaming for a detox.  I think scream is an understatement. And I think Matthew feels the same. He’s all grumpy-like because I’m not cooking and cleaning, but whatevs, I had me some fun! Fear not Matthew (do you read this??), detox is on its way, as well as a scary boot camp that I signed up for off of groupon. 

Before I hit the health train, which mind you I haven’t rode since before the wedding, I am making some huge decisions on the house. I went to a big selection appointment Saturday, and we thought we did amazingly well. So decisive! Ha. That lasted about 12 hours. Because they sent me to tile and décor for JUST kitchen backsplash – and I pretty much changed my mind on everything. Totes my style ya’ll. Check out all this crazy store:

I mean woudlnt you change your mind too?! Bish showed me half my options! GTFO! Of course I picked a bunch of stuff that was not standard. Hey, some of it was cheaper than what they offered, so good day to you Mr. Builder. 

So, that’s that. Glad to be back blogfriends. And thanks for the support with my stressiness last week. I felt a million times better after I hit publish, and it was a great reminder of why I love blogging. For some reason the written word helps me process everything, which sounds super mushy and gushy but hey – it’s the truth.

Now go check out Sami, Dana, Leeann and all the other weekend updaters. They’re some cool bloggers I have enjoyed getting to know lately. 

Happy Monday :) 
Tessy