Wedding Wednesday #10- The Wedding Video

I know last week I said stay tuned for the bridal breakfast, but that will be a pretty long post and the truth is, this morning I don't have the time to write it and add the large number of pictures. I promise that post will come soon, but today I'm going the easy route and talking about our wedding video/videographer.

The two most important things to me when planning our wedding was hiring a great photographer and videographer. Those are the two things that will outlast Aaron and me and those are the things we will have to show our children and grandchildren one day.

We hired Carpe Diem Video Productions to do our videography and we were extremely pleased with the outcome. We went with the cheapest package which included a short highlight film and then we got bonus features that included the entire wedding ceremony, the first dances, the cake cutting, toasts, and our first look. It was so cool to watch the entire thing with Aaron after the wedding. It was the first time I got to see the parents and grandparents process in, the mother's light the unity candle, the bridesmaids walk down the aisle, the candle lighters lighting the candles, and the precious angel bell choir ringing their bells. I cried watching my bridesmaids come down the aisle to the gorgeous voices of Jessie and Laura singing "How Beautiful." I'm so glad I have all of that footage. It was also quite comical because Aaron had a microphone attached to his suit so you could hear him loud and clear every time he whispered something to me. It's pretty funny to hear what he said.

We let Jared (the videographer) pick out the song that the highlight film was set to. He did an awesome job. I hadn't heard the song before, but now I catch myself singing it all the time. When we got the video back, I think I watched it 434,453 times! When you watch a video that many times, you start to notice all the tiny little things.

Theses are a few of my favorite things in the video:
1. Please watch how the groomsmen are loving and hugging on each other during their photo shoot. It is hilarious to watch all those "big grown men" giving bear hugs to their friends. I love it. It makes me laugh every time.
2. I love how during our first look, I tap Aaron on the right shoulder and at first he turns to his left and then goes to the right. He was so nervous, he said it was instinct to turn the opposite way since he's used to people taping him on the wrong shoulder as a trick.
3. I love the part where my dad's voice cuts in during his toast. Makes me cry every time.
4. I love the part where it shows my mom and me holding hands during our family prayer.
5. I laugh every time I see Aaron's bitter beer face after he takes a sip of champagne during our cake cutting and toasting.

Thank you so much Jared for all your amazing work! We loved everything about the video and we are so glad we decided to hire you as our videographer! We highly recommend him to any future bride and groom. We will forever cherish these memories.

Without further adieu, here is the video:


Quincee & Aaron Highlight Reel from Carpe Diem Video Productions on Vimeo.

Gallery Wall Reveal!

I have been dreaming of a gallery wall for a very long time. I started a frame collection a long time ago with a vision of eventually creating a gallery wall. I bought various shapes and sizes of frames at every garage sale I could find. When our wedding rolled around, I painted and used a few of them for reception decor. After I moved, the frames just sat in a box for a long time. Finally, I got the urge to put them up on the wall. Truth is, gallery walls overwhelm me. I wasn't quite sure how to hang them, how they should be arranged, and what color to paint them. I knew that I didn't want a uniformed gallery wall where all the frames are alike and they hang in a very uniformed fashion. I wanted it to be more random. Although, I did think that I wanted all the frames to be spray painted the same color. The problem was, I wanted them all to be white, but our walls are off white. I couldn't decide on another color that I wanted them all to be. I asked my friend who is an art teacher for her advice and she said to leave them all in their original state. I wasn't quite sure how that would look because most of them are gold, brown, or white. I took her advice and I'm so glad I did. I love the way it turned out. I think it's very rustic and vintage. It fits in really well with the rustic style of our living room.

I had looked at almost every gallery wall pin on Pinterest, trying to decide how to arrange them. In the end, I got so impatient that I just started nailing and hammering. There was honestly no rhyme or reason to it. I didn't hang templates or do any measuring. The one thing I did do was set them out on the floor how I wanted them to look. All in all, it took me about 30 minutes to complete. I was a little nervous about how it would turn out, but I really like it. I am planning on adding a few more things to it eventually.

A Recipe: Crockpot Chicken Tacos

 

 

I found this recipe on Pinterest...imagine that. It was really easy, has very few ingredients, and it tasted delicious. Three must haves for me to even try it out. You can find the recipe here:

http://eatathomecooks.com/2013/06/my-most-popular-recipe-ever-on-pinterest-75-days-of-summer-slow-cooker-recipes.html

 

 All the ingredients mixed together in the crock pot.

 Serve it on a tortilla.

And add all your favorite taco toppings. We had rice and corn as our sides.

Happy Fall Y'all!

I love days like today. When you wake up and it's 72 degrees outside and you don't have anything on the to-do list so you open all the windows, light all your fall candles, take the dog on a nice long walk, and put out all your fall decorations. These kinds of days make me really happy and really excited for fall and the holidays. Some people might think I'm crazy for already decorating, but it feels like fall and I couldn't stand to wait any longer. Fall is by far my favorite time of the year. For some reason, it just makes me happy. I tend to cook more, host more get together's, and spend a lot of time outside on our hammock reading. I am so anxious to see how pretty it is here when the leaves change. From what I've heard, it is going to be a gorgeous fall this year.

 

Here's what makes our house cheery during this fall season:

 

 The pumpkin wreath on our front door

 I bought these light up lanterns last year after Halloween on clearance at Pier 1. I like to shop after the holiday to find the best deals.

 Our front porch seating area. I plan on carving the pumpkin. It is a fake one from Hobby Lobby that you can carve or paint and keep it forever, instead of having to trash a real one when they rot. My goal is to get a new pumpkin every year and eventually have an awesome front porch display full of them, all decorated differently.

 The front entry way.

 I decorated this pumpkin last year with white thumb tacks.

 This is a new one that I decorated this year. I bought it at Hobby Lobby for 40% off after last season. You're supposed to put a monogram sticker on it, but they were out of  the letter D so I just painted it instead and glued a ribbon on the top.

 These little glitter jack-o-lanterns are from Dollar Tree. They light up and flash different colors. I thought they were cute and super cheap.

 I also bought these little pumpkins at Dollar Tree for $1 each. You can carve them also. I decided to paint them. I love how they turned out and the black on is chalkboard paint so I can change it up.

 Can you tell I love fun pumpkins?

 I also had to change our chalkboard in the kitchen to something fall related.

 I was so excited to get these silverware napkins out. Our foreign exchange student, Mariana gave these to us as a wedding gift. They were hand sewn in Bolivia. I thought it was really cute and very special.

It also came with a pretty table runner that we put out.

 

I always change out the hand soaps and candles in the house during fall. Here are a few of my current favorites.

 

 

Cinnamon Heaven hand soap from Bath & Body Works

 

 

Woodwick wax melts. I just discovered that they have wax melts recently. They are only $2.99 and they smell amazing. Our favorite fall scents are Fireside, Currant, Redwood, Sand & Driftwood, Applewood and Cinnamon Chai. You should try them out!

 

Bonfire Maplewood candle from Bath & Body Works

 

Happy Fall Y'all!!

Wedding Wednesday #9- Thanking Our Parents

 

One of our top priorities during our wedding day was to properly thank our parents for what they have done in our lives. Not only that, but also to thank them for giving us the wedding of our dreams and being so patient and helpful during the wedding planning process. I had a hair client who has a son that got married this past year and when we were discussing her son's wedding, she made a comment that really stuck with me. She told me that her favorite part of her son's wedding was that they made a point to thank/hug their parents at the very end before they exited the reception. She said it really meant a lot to her. I knew Aaron and I would thank our parents and hug them after the wedding, but then I got an idea to do a little bit more because we are extremely grateful for the wonderful parents we were blessed with.

 

I called Aaron up one day and told him I had an idea and I needed his help. We decided to make a list of 10 things we wanted to thank our parents for. Then, we would type up the list and frame it and give it to our parents on our wedding day. I thought it would be cool for them to have as a keepsake to look back at someday. Aaron came up with one thank you, then I came up with the next and on and on. It was really sweet to hear Aaron come up with reasons why he is thankful for his parents. It made me teary eyed reading it aloud to him after we finished it.

 

We also decided that we wanted a special moment alone with our parents after we did our first look. We wanted a time where we could give our parent's the gift and have a moment of prayer with them before the wedding. I'm so glad that we did this. Some of the pictures and video we got from that moment are my favorite and we will always cherish them! We were so thrilled the first time we went home after our wedding to find that both of our parent's had their gifts displayed in their homes.

 

 Above is a picture of the framed letter.

 

And here is what it said:

 

To Our Parents

-Thank you for raising us in a Christian home where we knew the Lord and went to church on a regular basis, even though sometimes you had to force us to get out of bed.

-Thank you for being our biggest fans at all of our many sporting events. It meant the world to us to see your faces in the stands. You ran a great taxi service.

-Thank you for supporting all of our dreams and goals, whether it be financially helping us through college, or moral support and believing in us.

-Thank you for teaching us right from wrong and staying firm with the rules when need be. We are thankful you were sometimes strict and not always trying to be our friends. We are who we are today because of your moral preachings.

-Thank you for showing us a great model of how Christian marriage should be. We would not have found such a great lifelong partner, had we not watched your love for each other unfold.

-Thank you for showing us a love for the outdoors and enjoying God's creation. Thank you for not allowing us to sit inside all day and watch TV and play video games.

-Thank you for always making us feel loved...for giving us hugs and kisses often and always telling us "I love you." We've never once questioned if we were loved.

-Thank you for always being so patient with us when we borrowed your things and didn't put them back where they belonged, when we left a mess, and when we had bad attitudes and talked back.

-Thank you for wiping our butts, drying our tears, medicating our bumps, cuts, and bruises, and being there for us when we needed our "mommy and daddy" most.

-Thank you most of all for being our Mom and Dad. Without you all, we would not be here today. We thank God for choosing you all to be our parents here on Earth. We could not have hand picked better ones.

 

We Love You,

Quincee & Aaron

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Stay tuned next week for my bridal breakfast!

Wedding Wednesday #8- The Get-away Rig

 

Riding away in a pedicab was one of my favorite memories of the day. My best friend's brother owns one and uses it for college game days. When they mentioned we could borrow him and the pedicab, we just had to take them up on the offer. Since our wedding was shabby chic/vintage, I knew it would fit the part. We didn't have a long way to go from the church to the reception site....it was only a few blocks, but it was a fun few blocks. We rode right through campus corner. We were laughing the whole way because everyone was honking and yelling at us. We might have even ran a red light...oops!

 

With the help of a few great friends, we decorated the pedicab a few days before the wedding. We used banners, burlap, tulle, fabric, and spray painted cans.

 Our fabulous chauffeur. He even dressed in suspenders and a bow tie!

 We were a little bit worried about whether or not he could pull our weight and if we would fit in the seat with my dress.

He did awesome and made it look easy...although I don't think it was. It was very hot outside too.

 You should definitely give Zach a call for your next event or game day.

 So much fun!

 Taking a stroll around the block.

The decorations.

 

Stay tuned next week for our parent's thank-you gifts.

Wedding Wednesday #7- Angel Bell Choir

 

Instead of going the traditional route and having a flower girl and ring bearer, I did something a little bit different...and some would call it a little bit crazy. In place of a flower girl and ring bearer, we had a 17 piece angel bell choir. And I must say, it was the cutest darn bell choir I've ever seen. You see, I have a huge family and most of my cousins have young kids and I just couldn't choose between them all. I love them all so much. Therefore, we decided to include them all. They walked down the aisle before I came out ringing real hand bells that the church provided. They didn't ring a special melody, they just all rang however and whenever they wanted, but they picked out bells that would sound good together. All the boys and girls wore white and khaki and they looked so cute.

 

I'm not going to lie, I wondered if it would go smoothly with that many kids sitting through a wedding, but to my surprise, they were phenomenal. Not one of them made a peep, they did exactly as they were supposed to and it turned out great. When all those kids and their parents showed up to the rehearsal, I will admit, I thought to myself, "oh man, what have I gotten myself into." It was like a zoo full of people and kids in that church and I just knew we would never get them all to be quiet or cooperate. They proved me wrong. The pastor whistled for everyone to sit down and be quiet and the rest of the rehearsal, they were dead silent and did exactly as told. It went by smoothly and quickly. I was so impressed with them! They were so well behaved.

 

I didn't get to see them process in at the wedding because I was in the back, but everyone told me they were fantastic. I got so many compliments on the angel bell choir. A lot of people told me that that was one of their favorite parts of the wedding.

 

Just a few days ago, I got our full wedding video back with footage of the entire ceremony. I watched it as soon as it came in the mail. I was so happy to finally get to watch the bell choir process in. They were darling....and they made me cry. I'm so happy they were all a part of our wedding....and I hope they had fun doing it!

 

 How do you get that many kids to look at the camera and smile all at once? With an amazingly patient photographer. It wasn't easy, but I'm so glad we have this picture!

 Seriously, how cute is this picture? I absolutely LOVE IT!! Definitely a framer.

 ....and the ringing begins

 The little one in the front was the youngest one. She had just turned two.

 

 

 

To read more about how I asked the kids to be a part of the wedding, you can read my blog post here: http://quinceetaylor.blogspot.com/2012/10/psalm-1273.html

 

Stay tuned next week for the getaway rig and probably one of my favorite memories from the day!