Hi! I'm Taryn, a writer, designer and soon-to-be-bride from Atlanta, Georgia. Sit a spell with me and catch up as I plan the wedding of my beer-loving, confetti-throwing dreams to the wonderful Mr. Williford.Everything is Gonna Be Alright
WordsDesignLove on Etsy
I’m an October Bride. I don’t know what I’m “ahead” or “behind” on, but I know this: We have a place, we have food and drinks, we have an officiant, and we just sent out cards to let our friends and family know about it. If nothing else gets done from here, it will all be fine. We’ll be legal, and everyone will be fed and having fun!
I keep thinking though, that something is falling through the cracks. That I’m just totally ignoring some huge aspect of wedding planning and I’m going to suddenly remember that I forgot to book a caterer or something. At least, that’s what happens in my panic-inducing wedding dreams. (Anybody else getting those?)
I think we all get too caught up in weddings and timelines. For me, it helps to imagine that this is just a big Oscar party or something. Would our Oscar party guests care if I dropped the ball on invites or choosing a cake flavor? Not really. I’d just send ’em an e-vite and pick up some cookies at the supermarket. Thanks to pressure from life and from the wedding industry, we brides set out from the beginning to plan the perfect day. But it won’t be perfect. It can’t possibly be. So if “oops!” you entirely forgot to book a caterer for your wedding tomorrow, just order some pizzas and take it in stride.
Whenever the stress gets to be too much or I wake up in a sweat dreaming that I’ve forgotten some huge piece of the puzzle and thinking I must be the worst bride ever, I just re-focus and remind myself that it’s just a party. Whatever comes up, I know I’m creative, I’m resourceful, and gosh darn it people like me. We will have this wedding come hell or high water and it will be the best day ever, even if it’s not perfect.
Traditions: Plan or Pass
In my last post about wedding activities, I mentioned that Mr. Rooster and I will probably be skipping some of the usual wedding traditions, like tossing the bouquet and cutting the cake. I thought it would be a good idea (for both your entertainment and my need to get things down on paper) to share a bit about what traditions we’re keeping, which we’re throwing out, and which we’re on the fence about.
We Do:
First dance & father-daughter and mother-son dances. I think the first dance and family dances are such special and tender moments. I’m not thrilled about having everybody’s eyes on me, but I am excited to share those special moments with my dad and husband.
MSN
Toasts. Ok, y’all. Roo and I love wedding toasts. The only thing we love more than wedding toasts is comedy. I can’t wait to sit back and hear funny stories from our best man and maid of honor. It’s like your own personal roast. Do your worst, wedding party!
Bachelor and bachelorette parties. I love me a themed party, and I love any excuse to get my best girls together for a night out. My ‘maids already know that I don’t want a big pink phallic bash, but I do want to celebrate together.
We Don’t:
Melissa Young via Southern Weddings
Not seeing each other until the ceremony. Here’s the thing, I’m not a laid-back person, but Roo really is. We balance each other that way. Whenever I wrack my brain stressing out about this stupid thing or that stupid thing, Mr. Rooster is the one who calms me down and lets me catch my breath. I would probably wreck myself if we spent our wedding day apart from each other for most of it. Plus, it’s our wedding day! I want to hang out with my almost-husband! So we will probably spend the night before together in our bridal suite, get ready separately, then enjoy a first look sometime that afternoon.
Bouquet toss. Custom states that the girl who catches the bouquet will be the next to marry. I really do love this fun tradition, but a huge majority of our guests are already married. So I’ll be throwing to, like, three girls. How about I just take a quiet moment to give them a flower from my bouquet and say “get married whenever the hell you want to”?
Garter toss. Roo going up my dress in front of everyone we know? No thank you. Although I love seeing garter traditions at other weddings, the thought of us doing it makes me terribly uncomfortable. Instead, we’re replacing it with our own thing: We’ll sign and hang up Roo’s wedding tie on our brewery venue’s tie wall at the end of the night.
Jayne B Photography
Veil. I reserve the right to change my mind on this, but I think I’m going to nix the veil. I don’t need one to feel “bridal” (whatever that means), and I think it will just get in the way. Besides, it will be tough to find one that matches since I’m not doing…
The white dress. Probably. In a story too long to share in a bullet, I bought two wedding dresses for a fraction of what most people spend on one. One of the dresses is white, and one is a pale pewter gray. I love them both, so I change my mind about which to wear every day. But more and more, I’m definitely leaning towards the gray one.
We’re…. Not Really Sure:
Studio Castillero via Style Me Pretty
Cake cutting. I want to do this. I think. But we might opt for small sweet bites and not even have a cake, so who knows. I’ll be fine if it happens, and fine if it doesn’t. As long as Roo doesn’t smash cake in my face, I’m happy (you hear that, honey? NO CAKE SMASH).
What traditions are you sticking to?
Games, Dancing and (Domo Arigato) Mr. Roboto
Our brewery venue is big and open, and as a result, everything’s happening somewhat in the same place on our wedding day. We’ll hold a ceremony on the patio, then immediately open up the connected tasting room (they share an indoor-outdoor bar) to start on the reception. That means no traditional “cocktail hour,” because, when you think about it, our whole reception is kind of a cocktail hour. We’re feeding our guests from a made-to-order food truck and nixing the whole assigned seats thing. As soon as we recess down the aisle, our guests should start eating, drinking and mingling the night away.
Because we have a long and open reception, and because we’re opting out of some traditional wedding activities (no bouquet toss or cake cutting here), I want to make sure there’s lots for our guests to do all night.
Games
Meredith Perdue
I’m not sure if it’s a Southern thing, but it seems like nearly every bar down here in Atlanta is filling their rooms and patios with games like Cornhole, Shuffleboard and Bocce Ball. They’re becoming increasingly common at weddings, too.
Monday Night Brewing
Because Monday Night Brewing hosts tastings a few times a week, they’ve got cornhole and a keg-hoisted shuffleboard table already set up inside (the events gal told us they might even have a Bocce court installed on the patio by the time our wedding rolls around). We’re going to let our guests play to their heart’s content all night. Maybe we’ll even find some ways to personalize the games, like getting monogrammed bean bags in our colors or something, if there’s time (which there won’t be… but I’m still in the optimistic stage of wedding planning).
Dancing
Paige Jones
Roo and I both love to dance, so we’ll definitely have a DJ spinning all night for anyone who only accepts wedding invites for the chance to get out on the dance floor (and for the free booze…. I kid! I kid!). I’m thinking we’ll have the DJ play more pop tunes at a lower volume during “dinner” (aka when the food truck first opens), then amp it up for late night. We scored a great deal on a new Atlanta DJ, too, because we booked another service from their creative collective…
Robot Booth
Robot Booth
I’ve heard people wax about how photo booths are “so yesterday” for weddings, but I really don’t care. They’ve always seemed like a ton of fun, and offer another way (besides our amazing pro photog) to capture memories. I always thought a photo booth would be out of the budget for us, but we managed to kill two birds with one stone booking DJ Cuttlefish and Robot Booth together at a discount from their creative collective, Far Out Galaxy.
If you’re in Atlanta or San Francisco, check out Robot Booth. Instead of a “booth,” this gear is actually a standalone camera and printer that your guests control with a remote shutter. They can snap as many photos as they want, then the Robot Booth attendant helps them narrow it down onto four shots which get printed on a photo strip keepsake. At our wedding, the Robot Booth will also take the place of a guestbook, when our guests tack their photo strips inside an empty scrapbook and jot down messages for us (I’m thinking we use colorful patterned washi tape to stick the photo strips down, because I’m obsessed with washi tape).
We’re going to position the camera in front of the Great Wall O’ Ties at Monday Night Brewing (the photos below are from the last time Robot Booth worked a wedding at our venue), and I’m incredibly excited thinking about the shots our friends will snap!
Robot Booth
Robot Booth
Robot Booth
I’m hoping the combination of these totally different activities is enough to keep our guests from feeling bored. We will still tackle some of the traditional stuff, like the toasts and first dance, too. What are your favorite ideas to keep wedding or party guests entertained?
What the Men Might Wear
Mr. Rooster is a great dresser. He dresses up for work every day (suiting up occasionally) and has a crazy obsession with neckties and cufflinks. I always thought he would have a strong opinion about what he and our groomsmen would wear, but he’s surprised me yet again. I learn every day that his laid-back attitude knows no bounds.
Reaction GIFs
He has some ideas, of course. We agree that tuxedos are too formal, but he thinks looks without suit jackets are too informal. He wants the groom to stand out from the groomsmen, and he’s set on french cuff shirts (see: cufflinks obsession) and definitely not having roses in the boutonnieres. But beyond those little details, it’s open season for me to pick out our menswear looks.
Styling by Soigne Productions, shot by Michael and Anna Costa via Elizabeth Anne Designs
Everything else is fair game.
We decided early on that we’d just have our men wear whatever black suits they own. It’s easier and less expensive for everyone involved. What I need to pick out is just the accessories—shirts, ties, socks, boutonierres and pocket squares—for our guys. But even though I’ll make the final decisions about the attire, I really want Roo to like what he and the men are wearing.
We turned to Pinterest to find some common ground. Searching for pins of “groomsmen,” I had him point out the looks he liked or didn’t like. I thought we would be on the same page for a lot of this stuff, but the man loves to surprise me. Roo always ended up picking out photos of groomsmen who looked like the missing members of Mumford and Sons. You know, suspenders, tweed vests, the occasional straw hat. It’s a lovely look for rustic barn weddings, but not what I had in mind for our modern soiree.
Threads by Jack London, shot by Tim Coulson via Green Wedding Shoes
Rock band or wedding party? The world may never know.
In my opinion, we needed something more quirky and fun, with graphic prints and bright colors. Being, you know… not a man, I’m not totally confident in this whole menswear thing, so I kept an eye out while scanning wedding blogs for inspiration for groomsmen looks Roo and I could both agree on. We both love mixing patterns creatively. And I discovered my favorite pattern for men’s dress shirts is definitely gingham. I think it can look really chic (and not at all country) in the right doses.
Eliza J. Photography via Style Me Pretty
The right way to gingham.
I hadn’t really found anything we could settle on until recently when, in spite of my endless searching, the perfect groomsmen inspiration ended up finding me in a twist of fate. While Googling something wedding related that I don’t even remember, I spotted the photo below from an Art Deco Australian wedding from Green Wedding Shoes.
Threads by P. Johnson & Drake’s London, shot by Jonathan Ong via Green Wedding Shoes
It was perfect! Graphic, modern. The groom stands out with a dress shirt in green gingham, incorporating a color from our wedding palette and the gingham print I love so much. There’s a bit of pattern mixing going on with the black Swiss dot neckties, but nothing too crazy. And I love that graphic black and white pocket square. Swoon. The mismatched flowers weren’t something we had considered before for the groomsmen’s bouts, but I really dig the look here. Thankfully, Roo does too (and he’s been especially picky about boutonniere flowers, so that’s a huge win for us), although he insists that the ties in this photo are blue and not black. Whatever. What does he know?
I was curious to know what it might look like with our men’s black suits. So I did what any sane girl would do. I went to Photoshop.
Image > Adjustments > Replace Color. Bam!
My Photoshop experiment showed me two things: (a) I have to admit that Roo was right and the ties are actually probably navy blue in this photo, and (b) I really, really like it! So far, we’ve only gotten as far as a cursory search for some of the elements that make up this look, but I did order a black Swiss dot necktie and two swatches of green gingham hues from Proper Cloth, a custom shirt tailor in Manhattan. I would love a striped black pocket silk that comes to a square at the corner like the ones in the photo, but I found a cool geometric printed square from Hugh and Crye that would work if we need it to.
Proper Cloth, The Tie Bar, Huge & Crye
We’ll wait to see when the tie and swatches arrive if we really like the look together (and together with my gray dress–a story for another day). Until then, I need to find bridesmaid dresses. And fast.
Anybody else feeling like they’re finally hitting their stride with this wedding planning thing?
How to Find and Buy Vintage Stamps
One of my favorite parts of wedding planning has been designing and putting together our Save-the-Dates. Our whole philosophy about throwing this big fete was to make sure our friends and family have a good time. It’s why we decided to allocate most of our budget to a cool venue and great food. It’s also how we’ve justified spending more time or effort in certain areas of planning over others. From start to finish, Mr. Rooster and I want to make sure our guests are excited about the wedding and know we’re stoked to have them there. It was important their first introduction to our bash, our Save-the-Dates, to feel fun and totally capture the feel for the day. Plus, who doesn’t love getting happy mail?
Photos of invitations on wedding blogs and Pinterest were a huge inspiration in designing our Save-the-Dates. Composite photos of an entire suite laid out together really prove how powerful little details can be when you tie them together with a big picture. Beautiful wedding stationery is thoughtfully curated and made personal with the finest details, down to the stamps on the envelope. An assortment of vintage stamps chosen to represent your lives and shared interests is a great way to weave your personal story into your wedding stationery.
Yours is the Earth Shop/Etsy
That said, going the vintage stamp route can be really expensive. A vintage stamp dealer, like the type recommended by Martha Stewart, will charge several times the face value of stamps. It eats up a huge chunk of your stationery budget, not to mention that it’s just plain annoying. I mean, we’re essentially dealing with currency here. It’s totally aggravating to pay $1 for a 15¢ stamp.
There’s ways around spending a fortune, of course. The best vintage-stamp-buying advice in the history of ever came from Miss Cowboy Boot, courtesy of her stationer, Sarah Parrott: Use dealers and stamp catalogs to decide which stamps you’d like for your envelopes, then seek them out on eBay. Assuming you’re not looking for something incredibly rare and valuable, you can locate a ton of vintage stamps on eBay at or near face value.
I say “near” face value, because going the vintage stamp route will definitely have a bigger bottom line than just buying a book of Forever stamps from the Post Office. Most sellers want to turn a profit and sell sheets of stamps for a little over face value, but even if you find a sheet undervalued, you’ll still need to account for shipping costs. And unless you really plan ahead to ensure that you have the perfect mix of vintage stamps adding up to exactly 49¢, you’ll likely end up sending out a few envelopes with 50¢ or 51¢.
If you’re willing to do a little leg work, the vintage stamp route doesn’t have to cost a lot more than basic stamps. I bought enough postage for 50 save-the-dates and 50 wedding invitations for just under $90, or $40 over the cost of traditional postage. Decide if $40 is worth it to you to send mail to your guests with quirky personal stamps. If it is, here’s some advice and strategy for getting it done:
- Stamps are identified with “Scott numbers.” When you find a stamp you like, use its Scott number to find more like it on eBay. I found a great deal on Florida stamps because the seller had misspelled it as “Forida” in the listing; searching by the Scott number let me find exactly what I needed no matter what it was called.
- Know your terms. A block is a group of at least four un-separated stamps. A sheet is a full unit of printed stamps, but the amount varies; small stamps are usually printed in sheets of 100, while larger stamps are printed in sheets of 50, 25 or 20. “FV” refers to face value, and “MNH” stands for “Minted Never Hinged,” an indication that the stamps are like new and have never been canceled (so they can be used as postage).
- Buy different stamps from the same seller to save on shipping. Shipping cost can make this project unmanageable, if you let it. But many eBay sellers will discount shipping if you buy more than one of their products. Be smart about where you buy your stamps and there’s huge savings to be made. After deciding on a certain stamp, I always located more than one well-priced sheet from different sellers. Then I’d look through those sellers’ other inventory to find other stamps I was interested in to help decide who to buy from.
- Don’t get caught up in auctions. It’s easy to get attached to a certain stamp once you’ve put in a bid. You can quickly go way over value and over budget if you keep bidding to win an auction. Decide on a limit before you bid and stick to it. If you don’t win that sheet or block, search for another. There’s also plenty of stamp sellers who offer “Buy it Now” prices, making it easy to stick to a budget.
We got a bunch of different designs for different reasons, but we tried to buy stamps that all shared the same feel. That is, they were modern, bright, bold and shared some of our wedding colors (like green, black, radiant orchid or coral). Here’s what we picked out and why:
- Florida Statehood (Scott 2950, 32¢) because I’m from Florida, myself and many of my family are Gator alumni of the University of Florida, and because it had green, purple and coral in it.
- American Music (Scott 1252, 5¢) because we both love music and I liked the simple design with black and red.
- Georgia O’Keefe Poppys (Scott 3069, 32¢) because it added a feminine touch and shared our colors.
- Project Mercury (Scott 1193, 4¢) because… well, I just really liked it. Although I wouldn’t call it one of “our colors,” I do want to work some sort of cobalt-y blue into the wedding in a few places. So this is one of them. Deal with it.
- Canada (Scott 1324, 5¢) because Roo grew up close to Canada, and has an absurd knowledge of Canadian geography and history that I love to quiz him about. Plus the green graphic hills on this stamp are beautiful. My bridesmaid and fellow graphic designer fell in love with these at first sight, too.
- Sugar Ray Robinson (Scott 4020, 39¢) because both of us and so many of our friends are huge sports fans, and I really loved the design on this one, inspired by vintage boxing posters (even though the stamp is only six years old).
- Plan for Better Cities (Scott 1333, 5¢) because it’s blue. And has a cool design. And says “city.” Just another way to inject the urban vibe of our wedding weekend wherever we can.
- Professional Baseball Centennial (Scott 1381, 6¢), again, for the sports thing.
- Freedom of The Press (Scott 1119, 4¢) because I love how bold it is in black and white. Plus I’m a writer and majored in journalism, so it fits.
Pack and Post/Etsy
Pack and Post/Etsy
- Flowers of America (Scott 1876-79, 18¢) because pretty.
- Mineral Heritage (Scott 1538-41, 10¢) because so so pretty.
So, no, they don’t all make perfect sense, but I think they look good together. And they’re definitely an upgrade over the Liberty Bell, am I right?
Getting them onto the save-the-date envelopes was an easy afternoon. I cleared the coffee table and separated the stamps into piles. Then, I grouped them based on what looked good together and what added up to at least 49¢.
Then using a glue stick, I stuck them on. When I started stamping our envelopes, I found the gum on these old stamps to be unreliable (and it tasted really bad), so I turned to the glue stick for a way to get them on the envelopes without continuing to lick 100-year old glue. (I did lick the first few; I’m not proud.) The glue stick was the perfect solution!
Because I ordered stamps for both our save-the-dates and our invites, I stashed the remaining stamps into a cheap photo album. Each 49¢+ grouping of stamps got its own pocket.
Do I love the outcome? Yes, absolutely. Was it worth the little extra cost? I think so. I hope our guests are excited to get these envelopes in the mail, and I hope it gets them excited for what’s to come.
