Inspiration

My fiance David is a musician. While trying to figure out a theme for our wedding I came across an article that referred to a music/musician themed wedding. I remember thinking, "that sounds cool." I googled and found several images, some decorations for sale, one or two websites, but mostly lots of pics of sheet music inspired "stuff." I love black & white pics, black & white decorations, etc. Since I'd already changed the color of the bridesmaids dresses from dark purple/lapis to little black dresses (not matchy matchy) I thought "this might be IT." I did some more looking. I looked on Etsy, I looked on Ebay, I looked on wedding websites, in magazines, etc.

What it all acme down to was this: I found the niche between the two of us, that thing that helped bring us together (friends and music), and am using it as our theme. Our wedding/reception isn't going to be some formal shindig with a cocktail hour, nor will it be in a church or in a "venue," we're having it at my parents home. The wedding will be in their front yard and the reception in the backyard. We're having barbeque and the fixin's, beer, lots of family and friends, and some flowers and mason jars with tea light candles in them, and probably a couple of  bottles of Jack (my dad will haven hidden in the "mancave" for himself and a few of his close friends/relatives), and we're probably going to have a homemade red velvet cake withe wedding topper on it....and as I sit here thinking about everything (like my DIY wedding invitations that I'm working on, or my gunmetal grey dress that I need to have altered to tea length and my silver Cinderella shoes to match, or how I don't really give a rat's ass about whether or not everyone we invite shows up so long as the important people do, and most of them are either related to us, in the wedding, or both) I realize this just might be my dream wedding come true.

Would I want to have the fancy church, the cathedral train and veil, the sit down dinner and cocktail hour, the wedding planner, florist, etc...? No, not really. I'm a little stressed out about planning it myself, but at least this way I know it is about US.

Wedding angst

I'd only been engaged 2 weeks, and already "the wedding" angst had started. We had trouble picking a date that didn't coincide with anyone's birthday, anniversary, etc; then there were people who were trying to invite themselves into my wedding; then my daughter didn't want to be pregnant when we had our wedding...SO we finally decided on September 8, 2012. 
We wanted something sweet, romantic, fun, and most of all something that was a celebration of our commitment to each other. We checked into a few places, nothing really seemed right. I was talking to my dad and he suggested we have it in their yard. Now you should understand, my dad doesn't just have a yard, it's about 13-14 acres of trees--oaks, pines, gum, etc. The area in the front yard we were looking at for the ceremony has 5 trees that make a nice sized circle-perfect to put an archway in. The area in the back he's talking about has enough trees for shade but would be perfect for tables and chairs, a tent or three, and to even have a dance area.  The picture just shows a small part of the front yard.

David agreed it was a beautiful spot, and genuinely liked the idea. So we had agreed on the When, and the Where, and the Time. Now we just needed to figure out the colors, the Who would be standing with us, along with a lot of other details.

Surprisingly enough, I heard from more than one person that I could not wear WHITE. Both David and I have been married before, but neither of us had ever had a WEDDING. We were both married previously by a justice of the peace...Since I'd been married before I SHOULD KNOW that I CAN"T WEAR WHITE. I know lots of people who've gotten married again and worn white. WTH? Tradition? Well, I researched Tradition, and found that women didn't wear white until Queen Victoria wore white and then it became the "thing."

So I searched for wedding dresses, tried on numerous ones....And all along I kept looking back at several I'd seen that were gunmetal grey. I came close to buying a white one with red trim from David's Bridal that made me feel like a princess...But while we (me, my cousin, and my daughter) we happened upon a gunmetal grey prom dress. It was GORGEOUS!!! My fiance liked the gunmetal grey dresses I'd shown him online, and this dress was prettier, less sexy but more beautiful. SO, I tried it on.

AND WOW!!! I got it because it was the perfect dress, not because people said I couldn't wear white. I got it because once I alter it and make it tea length and it fits perfect it will be THE DRESS I imagined. And the perfect combination of what David wanted and what I wanted.