{"id":16167,"date":"2017-12-18T12:38:53","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T17:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/?p=16167"},"modified":"2017-12-18T12:45:43","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T17:45:43","slug":"our-wedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/our-wedding\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Wedding"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Andieall photos by Christina Ward Photography<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The only way I can describe our wedding day is to say, it was just so, so lovely. All the details that I had spent time worrying about in the months leading up to it\u2014will the DJ show up?, will vendors have questions for me while I\u2019m off-site getting ready?, will I do that awful smile I do in all the photos?\u2014turned out to be a non-issue (probably with the exception of the smile\u2014of course I did the smile). Everything went off without a hitch. And while in retrospect it did go by in a blink\u2014especially the reception\u2014I still felt like I took it all in, like I was present enough to hear (cry through) my best friend\u2019s toast, happy enough to not care how badly I dance, and aware enough to kiss and hug Daniel a million times.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

I have been thinking about\u00a0how to share our wedding day with you for too long. I don\u2019t know the best way to format it,\u00a0so I’ve decided to take you through everything I can think of, piece by piece. If I left anything out that you’re curious about,\u00a0please feel free to\u00a0ask in the comments and I will answer!<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

The beginning stages of planning a wedding were so exciting but incredibly daunting. It was so much fun to daydream about all the possibilities. I would thumb through magazines and look at Pinterest for hours. There were beautiful big weddings,\u00a0sweet\u00a0\u00a0small weddings, elegant weddings, charming DIY weddings, indoor venues, outdoor venues, cool eclectic colors, simple yet stunning traditional colors…The first week of planning was spent mostly marveling at other people\u2019s beautiful ideas. I realized quickly that with enough time, money, and effort you can make any idea picture-book perfect, so I had to pin down what I actually wanted and then work from there.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

The first big decision was the size of the wedding. Neither of us wanted a huge event where everyone we ever met was invited, so we were deciding between a very intimate affair with just our immediate family and closest friends (about 20 people total) or a medium-sized event with about 75 guests (mostly family with a few friends). The logistics and cost were the main pros of the smaller event, but we decided that we had enough important people in our life we wanted to celebrate with to decide on the 75-person wedding. There was even a part of me that wanted to elope, just the two of us, but I feared I’d regret not getting to experience that walk down the aisle that a lot of us grow up dreaming about.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

The Venue<\/h3>\n

We knew we wanted to get married in Massachusetts, where we’re both from, but at the time of planning, we were still living in New Jersey. So our venue search took place entirely online. We loved the idea of a more rural old New England wedding in the fall, so Daniel\u2019s father and step-mom suggested we look at The Wayside Inn<\/a>, an historic 18th century inn located in Sudbury, MA. We looked at pictures and truly loved the aesthetic. It’s quintessential New England, with so much charm and character, and gorgeous green fields and gardens. I particularly loved the Martha Mary Chapel as a ceremony venue. I sent my mom and step-dad to scout it out and try the food. After we heard back\u00a0with how much they loved it,\u00a0we decided the book it, despite never seeing it in person. We\u00a0chose September 23rd, which seemed like the perfect time of year for a New England wedding.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

In March of 2017\u00a0we moved back to Massachusetts permanently with the hopes of buying a house. We put wedding planning on the back burner for awhile\u00a0when we found a house we both loved and spent most of the spring working on that. It was at this point that I realized I didn\u2019t care about the wedding as much as I thought I would. I think I loved the idea of having a project but the new house gave me so much to do that part of me was fulfilled. And now the wedding planning seemed more stressful than fun. I wanted to be married, but I no longer cared about the wedding itself. We had already put in a large deposit at the Wayside Inn, but we still considered walking away and just eloping. After a lot of thought, we decided to move forward with the wedding because of the money we already spent and because we knew\u00a0we’d love the memory and it would make our family happy.<\/p>\n

\"Andie

my beautiful flower girl, Victoria<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

Invitations<\/h3>\n

When it came to invitations, I was looking for an elegant floral\/botanical design<\/a>. After spending hours looking at what felt like thousands of invitations, my brain started to melt. Luckily, right when I was about to throw my computer out the window, I came across Citrus Press Co. and found an invitation I absolutely loved<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

The Dress<\/h3>\n

I waited forever and a day to go dress shopping with my mom and the sad but true reason for that is, I kept wishfully thinking I would lose 10 more pounds. I had spent the summer working out, eating healthy, and although I was proud of the progress I\u2019d made, I didn\u2019t exactly head into dress shopping with the body I thought I would. But when I buckled down and just WENT to Vows in Watertown, the experience wasn\u2019t nearly as hard as I\u2019d expected. I tried on a dozen or so gowns, narrowed those down to two, and ultimately left the store with a dress I absolutely loved<\/a>. It felt timeless and romantic, with lace and sheer long sleeves, and the best part\u2014it fit like a glove (however, I did end up losing a few more pounds by September, so I paid $300 for alterations two weeks before the wedding. Yikes). The only really disappointing aspect was that the lace tore in the back midway through the reception. It wasn\u2019t a case of it being too tight either\u2014in fact, I\u2019d gotten the dress taken in a week before the wedding\u2014and the rip wasn\u2019t even near a seam. It seems that the lace just was too fragile, and maybe it got snagged by a watch or bracelet mid-hug, or caught by the bag of my chair. It was upsetting that I paid so much for the dress and it didn\u2019t hold up, but by the time I noticed, I\u2019d had between two and four glasses of champagne (they kept refilling!) and barely cared.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

My bridesmaids wore White by Vera Wang floor-length, V-neck dresses from David\u2019s Bridal in the color Mercury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

Hair and Makeup<\/h3>\n

For me, choosing hair and makeup was one of the more stressful parts of wedding planning and that\u2019s entirely because I am flat-out neurotic when it comes to anything beauty-related. I had maybe half a dozen trials during the summer and though I was happy with a few, in the end I knew I could only surrender my hair to someone else. I had to do my own makeup.<\/p>\n

Still, I wanted to offer my bridesmaids and mom the option of a glam squad. So I enlisted the help of I Do Hair and Makeup<\/a> to style their hair, and Trinity Kizer<\/a> to make them up. All of my gals were gorgeous.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

Photography<\/h3>\n

The one thing I did not procrastinate to plan was photography and I\u2019m so relieved about that, because we were able to snatch up the amazing Christina Ward<\/a> before she was booked full with fall weddings. I cared about the quality of our photos more than just about anything else wedding-related, and spent hours online searching for someone whose style I loved. Christina\u2019s portfolio was bright, timeless, and gorgeous.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

She was so accommodating and easy to work with, made Daniel and I feel completely comfortable, and we seriously love how the pictures came out.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

The Ceremony<\/h3>\n

Since neither of us are religious, we wanted someone close to us to officiate our big day. I thought of our mutual friend, Justin, who we’ve been friends with for 14 years (we all met\u00a0on our first day of college!). He’s funny, charming, a natural performer,\u00a0and we knew would do a\u00a0fantastic job. Daniel and I wrote some notes about what we love most about one another, along with a short script, and Justin took over from there. He was amazing. We kept the ceremony short and simple, which I think is the way to go.<\/p>\n

For the processional, our parents and bridesmaids walked down the aisle to Vitamin String Quartet\u2019s version of Regina Spektor’s \u201cUs.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>My wonderful brother walked me down the aisle, and it was the most special part of the day for me,\u00a0to the tune of Des\u2019ree\u2019s \u201cKissing You\u201d by Stringspace<\/a>. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>And for the recessional, we played \u201cMaybe I\u2019m Amazed\u201d by Paul McCartney and Wings. We made sure to start the song right at the 1:16 mark of this version<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

Flowers and Decor<\/h3>\n

We worked with Allison at the Frugal Flower<\/a> in Sudbury after the Wayside Inn wedding coordinator recommended her. She was incredible. I had an idea of what I wanted when we met with her and she suggested different options based on our preferences and budget.\u00a0Allison decorated the chapel and reception area and was such a dream to work with, accommodating all of our requests at a very reasonable price.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

Thankfully, I have a mom with the most stunning sense of style. Decorating is her passion and I knew she would\u00a0enjoy picking stuff out and figuring out the best way to set it up, so she took the lead.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

I\u00a0also need to\u00a0mention that my mom was without a doubt the MOST BEAUTIFUL thing at my wedding. I can’t take how gorgeous she looked.\"Andie<\/p>\n

Music<\/h3>\n

We booked a DJ just a few weeks before the wedding.\u00a0At first were unsure if we wanted to have traditional dancing because neither of us are big dancers and we didn\u2019t know how many of our guests were either. But we decided it was probably necessary, so we booked a DJ, Frank Pietroski, using Thumbtack.\u00a0Frank is an old school radio announcer and did such a great job. He played music for our ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

We gave him a list of songs we definitely wanted to hear and a few we wouldn\u2019t and let him handle the rest. He kept the\u00a0reception\u00a0lively and joyful, and we were shocked at how many people danced the whole time.<\/p>\n

The Food<\/h3>\n

We decided\u00a0to do a buffet because a.) it offered the biggest and best array of food, and b.) Daniel and I\u00a0love buffets.\u00a0During cocktail hour, we\u00a0had passed hors d\u2019oeuvres (petite beef wellington, scallops wrapped in bacon, phyllo-wrapped asparagus, cheese and charcuterie…), then sat down for two plated courses (crab cakes and salad), followed by a\u00a0huge spread of\u00a0prime rib, roasted turkey with stuffing, crab-stuffed filet of sole with lobster sauce, roasted potatoes, vegetables, and mac and cheese. We were really happy with the food. It\u00a0was homey New England comfort food, which is exactly what we were hoping for. For dessert, we had two cakes because, well, we live for cake\u2014a double chocolate one, made by the Wayside Inn, and a white cake with white frosting, from my favorite bakery: White\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

We\u00a0took most of our pictures before the ceremony but because I was running late (surprise!) we did some more pictures during the cocktail hour. We were introduced when we walked in and did our first dance to Leon Bridges\u2019 \u201cHome.\u201d<\/a> Daniel heard the song\u00a0a couple of years ago and thought I\u2019d like it so he suggested using it as our wedding song. We loved the old school sound and wanted to avoid something too overused so it was perfect. My maid of honor Kate gave\u00a0the MOST beautiful speech (I laughed! I cried!) and then we ate dinner, talked to all of our friends and family , and did some dancing. Before we knew it the night was over.<\/p>\n

\"Andie<\/p>\n

After so much energy, stress, money, and time was spent focused on this one day, the next morning we felt relieved it was over and happy that it happened. All of it was so worthwhile and now I\u2019m glad we have\u00a0all the memories from our first day as husband and wife :)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

all photos by Christina Ward Photography The only way I can describe our wedding day is to say, it was …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[999],"tags":[1169],"class_list":["post-16167","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-wedding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}