Wedding Wednesday -- my first trip to a Wedding Dress shop (sort of) ended in me buying a dress (sort of)

That's right -- my very first trip in person to look at wedding dresses ended with me buying a dress.

But not in the way you would think.....let me explain.

MVP and I went to Lynchburg, VA last year for a wedding.  I asked if we could go a little earlier than planned to scope out Church Street Bridal, a place that had been recommended to me on WeddingBee.  Church Street Bridal gets designer dresses donated to them from folks like Kleinfelds (of TLC's Say Yes to the Dress), think previous season styles or sample dresses.  They then sell these for a HUGE discount and the proceeds are used to help women and children in the Central Virginia area. A wedding win-win to say the least.

While I didn't find "the one" when I visited, the folks at Church Street Bridal were beyond friendly and I quickly followed them on Facebook so I would know when new donations came in.  MVP and I went to grab lunch and while we were there, I got an alert on my phone.

A Jenny Packham Mimosa sample was available for purchase from Vows Bridal Outlet (of TLC's I Found the Gown).  This was THE DRESS I dreamt about, lusted after and pinned more times than was necessary.

via

Some quick texts back and forth with my mom and the dress was purchased and on its way to my apartment.  I was on cloud nine -- I couldn't believe my good luck!  

While it was not the way I had originally envisioned buying my wedding dress, it did involve some of the know-how I had learned from watching so many hours of wedding-related TLC shows, that is for sure!

However, this did not end up being the dress I ended up with....more in another post :)

Wedding Wednesday -- our wedding had a logo

I am usually better about writing if I have a "regular column" so to speak.  Since I had no time or mental focus to write about the wedding while I was planning, I thought maybe I could share some of it now that it is all said and done.

Something I realized early on in the process were that weddings had ....evolved, shall we say?  There were so many unnecessary and over-the-top new things that people were doing, I felt really out of the loop. But one of the bandwagons I *did* jump on was having a wedding logo.

Sounds ridiculous, right?  Trust me, I put that thing to GOOD USE.  I found One Fine Soiree on etsy, and after a few emails back and forth describing the look and feel I wanted, she sent us 4 amazing samples, and we chose the below.

I used it for the stamps for our wedding invites, made thank you notes out of it, put it on welcome bags, put it on the cake bags, MVP used it as part of his gift to me....I even used it as my facebook profile pic.  

But I think my favorite use was our wedding card holder.

You guys, I had the WORST TIME trying to find a card holder that was not super corny or look like it was highly flammable.  When I finally DID find one I loved....well it was two weeks out and they could not ship it in time.  

Then, I got an idea.  On my OWN and not from Pinterest!!  I swung by Homegoods and got a large glass apothecary jar for like, 12 bucks.  Then I taped a print out of the logo inside, busted out my favorite Sharpie paint pens and went to work.  

And voila -- a card holder that is not only un-cheesy, but something that can be used in our home in some way.  Super proud of my crafting skills on this one!  

Is there something you crafted for a wedding or a kids birthday party or some other event that you are still patting yourself on the back for? Do tell!