Come Visit Sweet Emilia Jane

{photo by EP Love}

I can't believe it has taken me this long to tell you about my new website! I started Sweet Emilia Jane way back in 2009 and I am so thankful for and amazed about how it's grown over the past three years! I get to work with some of the most incredible vendors in the most gorgeous of places with the sweetest of clients. It kind of rocks! We provide event design, planning and floral services. So please visit the website and say hello!

Southern Wedding Magazine!!!

Southern Weddings Magazines likes {un}Veiled Vows! Wow! I just ordered my copy of the latest issue last week and I had no idea this little blog was even in it! I am so honored to be a small part of such a fantastic publication. Maybe I should take this as a sign that I need to post a recap of the wedding soon. It was only over three months ago! Yikes! I'm still crafting and planning over at Sweet Emilia Jane, though, so please visit!

If you want to see the messiest, most DIY wedding Style Me Pretty has ever shown go check out this post. Oh yeah...and it's our wedding. :)

There are so many more amazing photos from Davina + Daniel of complete mischief and grinding on the dance floor. I'll share those soon. Promise. But for a badass slideshow click here.

And a little bit more...

photos from my uber-talented sis.

heck yes there was cake.

The tattoo table was rad! Even my conservative cousins were rockin' heart tats.

The girlies made their own bouquets. Such an amazing moment.

And the bombass tent that all of our incredible friends helped put together!

My sister took some incredible photos with her Diana camera during the wedding weekend.

She also surprised us with 1000 freaking cranes hanging from a tree.

And a hand-made teepee! She definitely got the majority of the creative genes in the family. She is so talented and also the sweetest, most generous person I know.

The groom getting a head smooch from the officiant (and my booty...ah yeah).

Portrait time.

I am crazy about this shot.

And finally the groom taking a moment before getting ready for the ceremony.

{Photo by my favorite Phinney. Her mama made us that quilt! Best wedding present ever!}

This photo pretty much sums up how we were feeling throughout the whole wedding weekend. All warm and fuzzy, surrounded by the love of our closest friends and family and each other. It was seriously intense and I was not quite prepared for what it would feel like standing up there with my husband and all these people who have been such a big part of our lives out there supporting us. I was overwhelmed and overcome with gratitude and love towards those people. I think we are still riding the high of it. If I had known the wedding would be so amazing and that marriage would be as crazy good as it is than I would have had a MUCH shorter engagement! Here is to two weeks as husband and wife!

I started writing this blog as a way to express and vocalize my wedding plans, fears, dreams and anxiety anonymously. Over the months, for various reasons (and because I can't keep a secret, apparently), more and more people that I know started visiting and joining the conversation. I was totally fine with that except I didn't feel comfortable being as open as I had been before and the blog started being more about the pretty with a few rants here and there. I have decided that 1) I don't want to focus on the little details anymore and 2) I don't want to waste my energy ranting. So, with much hesitation, I am going to stop updating {un}Veiled Vows. This blog has seriously changed my life. I mean, really, it has. Half of my good friends in San Diego I have met because of this blog. I can't believe I have only known them for a little over a year! I found something that I truly love, something that I can say that I am good at, and hope will become something I can turn into my full-time career soon. I have been introduced to many creative people and creative ideas. It makes me so happy that a world of open-minded, unique, creative couples and vendors really does exist and that there is an open, intelligent conversation going on about marriage and what it means to get married. So it does make me sad to be leaving it but I really want to spend the last couple of weeks of my engagement focusing on my husband-to-be and working on our new life together instead of thinking of what aspect of the planning I should blog about or worrying about nasty commenters. I will still be talking about (other peoples') weddings over at Sweet Emilia Jane because I do really still love weddings. I might come back after July 3rd and tell ya how it all went down.

Thank you so much for sticking with me through this and for all your insight and advice. You guys rock. xoxo.

Miss Erin, Jenna and I created a bohemian love shoot for the Inspired Creations Contest! Check out our entry here and here. Even more pictures here!

The Style: Sweet Emilia Jane & Erin Ever After
The Dress: The White Flower – Bridal Boutique
The Photos: flutter glass Photography
The Hairpieces: Lo Boheme

Coordination

{via}

Even though I plan and coordinate events for other people, and I understand how incredibly important a coordinator, especially on the day of, can be for a couple, I really thought that I could handle my wedding all by my little lonesome. Well, now I'm started to realize that I am a fool through and through. I don't want to worry about lighting 150 candles or keeping the booze full and I don't want my friends to have to worry about it either. Like one of my warriors said - "I am all yours and will do anything you want until the ceremony is over but after that game over. I'll be hitting the cocktails and the dance floor." A men. I am right there with ya. But now, of course, the funds are feeling a wee bit sad and there isn't a whole lot more room for any new expenses. Does anyone know of a budding coordinator in Massachusetts who wants to gain some experience and be a part of the most kick-ass wedding extravaganza EVER???

{via}

Oh and ps: we are 30 days out now. And here is some 30 day out advice* -

I wish I had stuck to my guns more and not given into what other people told me I HAD to do. There are elements that are not going to feel like us or ours. I mean they're stupid little details and I probably won't give a crap about them on the day but, right now, I kind of wish I had told everyone to just eff off and deal with it. So if you have a gut feeling about something don't compromise. Sure there will definitely be times that you have to give in a little bit but keep the things that are important to you and express who you are as a couple.

*I think this post was a bit misunderstood. I am not looking for a pity party here. The majority of our wedding will be all us and will be f*ing amazing. I just wanted to let those out there who have a little bit more time to plan to know it's OK to put their feet down and not compromise on things that are important to them.

The mister has some long, silky locks right now. I think he feels like it is his last harrah as a young man before he gets married and his hair falls out (just kidding). Anyway, he was planning on cutting it off before the wedding but I actually think the long hair is pretty hot so I'm trying to convince him to let it stay. Here are some sharp grooms with little to no grooming.

{via Once Wed, Bride's Cafe and Once Wed}

Hey Sister/MOH

I was inspired by Coquette and Dove's posts to create a dream outfit for my sister and maid-of-honor.

Dear Sister,

If I had any wiggle room in the budget I would buy you all these accessories to go with your pretty dress.

{sweater, belt, necklace, shoes}

Does anyone have any ideas for a creative processional? The thought of making our girl friends walk arm in arm with our guy friends makes me gag.

UPDATE: Thank you all for your advice and suggestions. We have decided just to have all the dudes standing up with the mister and just the ladies will walk down the aisle. Still somewhat traditional but not as awkward as some other processionals I have seen.

{via}

I just made an appointment to get my hair blown out at 9am (!!!!) on the day of the wedding*. I am so excited to scratch this off the to-do list as EVERY SINGLE wedding related nightmare I have is about me not having my hair and makeup done and the ceremony about to start.

*I'm doing my own hair but I am not capable of using a blow dryer. Plus this salon uses bumble and bumble which I refuse to buy for myself but love.

The invites are gone, gone, gone! I have a little glimpse of life back and that's very exciting. Except the in-laws-to-be continue to invite more people. What? Is this legal? We have ZERO invitations left yet they keep running into old friends that HAVE to come to the wedding. And ya know what I do when this happens? I invite them. I bitch and moan in private and then I invite them because I have no fight left in me. If 150 people show up...not sure where we are going to put 150 people...then I will gently remind my lovely mother and father-in-laws-to-be that they INSISTED that so-and-so from way back when be on the list. I hope we don't run out of booze.

Has Anyone Tried This???

Does it really, truly exist? Can I put into champagne? Anna commented about elderflower liquor and champagne which is one of MY FAVORITE drinks in the whole world. Originally, I was going to use St. Germain in one of the cocktails except I found out it's hella expensive. I was trying to figure out if there was such a thing as a ghetto version of this sweet, sweet nectar when I came across the IKEA Elderberry syrup. Has anyone tried it? Can I use it in a champagne punch*? I'm going to IKEA right now to find this.

UPDATE: This tastes nasty. There are two different types of concentrate at IKEA and I got the one not pictured here so I'm not sure if it tastes very different. I mixed it with champagne and it was pretty gross. I'll have to experiment in other ways.

*We are doing a champagne punch and another cocktail (McCool Mule, anyone? Thnx

Jamie!) instead of champagne toasts. We would only be able to afford crappy champ and that's no fun.

{via d*s}

I need some cocktail suggestions. A simple, sweet cocktail that requires no crushing or muddling just a bunch of booze and some ice. And no whiskey - that stuff turns me into the devil.

Another ridiculous article coming your way (via jezebel)! Apparently, weddings bring out the most cliche personalities in women so BEWARE. I'm pretty sure that after the being friends for 29, 20, 10 years I know my girls pretty well and I'm not worried about any surprise personality disorders popping up. And, hello, if you were really their friend wouldn't you love them because of (or in spite of) their "funky, dyed hair" and tattoos? "Be cognizant of friends who march to the beat of their own drummer." God forbid, our friends have personalities and styles of their own!

And in regards to romance - "If the thought of a bridesmaid getting busy in the banquet hall's bathroom makes you cringe, rigid requests, like a 12-hour vow of celibacy on the big day, are perfectly legal." Fornication at my wedding is not only allowed but STRONGLY encouraged! Mingle and be merry people!

There was never a question in my mind about who I wanted by my side the days leading up to and at the wedding. I'm pretty lucky to have a bunch of rad ladies in my life who have known me through the good and the bad times and know how to handle my crazy. I have no doubt in my mind that these girls will rock out and totally MAKE the party happen.

We received the sweetest little package of photos from davina + daniel the other day. I know you're probably sick of looking at our ugly mugs but look at this face! I love that pup.

And I couldn't resist showing a couple more of my favorites.

What Wedding Planning Looks Like

{I apologize for the crappy cell phone pic. BOTH of our cameras broke!}

Fabric, paper, envelopes all over the table and floor. Garlands hanging from the walls. What you can't see from this cell phone photo is all the cat fur in the carpet since I haven't had any free time to vacuum. Oh and I won't show you but trust me when I tell you this is the cleanest room in the house. Not.pretty.