Oh, hey there! It’s me – remember me?! I disappeared for a while, but now I’m back. All is pretty much the same, except I’m a married lady now. Yup! Ross and I made it legal. I’ll be back with regular posting soon enough, but for now I’m going to do a few wedding and honeymoon recaps.

The big day all went down on August 6 at Port City Music Hall in Portland, ME. This is a pretty modern music venue that only occasionally does special events like weddings. We were happy to be the first “traditional” wedding they had – although, I’m not sure how traditional it actually was. We had the ceremony and the reception all in the same place (a crew flipped the room from aisle to tables after the ceremony).

All I can say is it was the best night of my life. It was special, wildly fun and so very us. Being surrounded by so many of our family and friends, it was just perfect. It certainly wasn’t your standard church and wedding hall affair, but that’s why I liked it.

Ok, enough of the yapping! Here are some photos. All of these (except one) were taken by our incredible photographer Bryan Bruchman. Sadly he is leaving Portland for Brooklyn very soon, but we were able to snatch him up before we left.

I love this shot! I’ll do another post on my dress and veil soon, but here is a little information. I purchased a 1950′s lace dress on ebay for $75 and adored the skirt. The problem was the top was hideous (think turtleneck). So, I had a dress maker remove the top and create a new bodice. Voila – custom dress! I loved it.

Can we say super cute wedding party? Yeah, we have good looking friends. We decided to go an un-traditional route for the groomsmen. Rather than tuxes they wore gray pants, white shirts, navy suspenders and light blue and yellow plaid ties (our colors were navy, light blue and bright yellow). I thought they looked so dapper! The bridesmaids wore navy one-shouldered Badgley Mishka dresses rented from Rent the Runway. Renting was the way to go, cheap, easy and pretty. It was especially great because my bridesmaids live from Massachusetts to Florida so all getting together to go shopping wasn’t an option. Highly recommended!

We made the sign!

Bouquets! These were a mix of blue hydrangeas, yellow billy balls and some green filler stuff that I can’t remember. Loved them! I designed them with my florist to go with my handmade centerpieces:

This is another post for another day, but I spent well over a year making hundreds of these blue and yellow “flower balls” every night. Though labor intensive, they were way cheaper than floral centerpieces and I really liked them. I’ll take some better pictures and post a how-to soon.

The beautiful cake! Ross’s sister Renee is a pastry chef so she made this gorgeous creation. I LOVED it. Oh, and it was tasty too!

We can’t forget about the wedding cake toppers! Call me a crazy dog lady, but I custom ordered these sweet little puggles from etsy just for the big day. I know, they’re a bit much, but so am I! Plus, we couldn’t have Franklin there, so he was there in spirit. I got them from a shop called The Pink Koala, who does all sorts of super cute toppers (humans too!). She customized the flowers and the outfits and I just loved them.

We’ll end with one of my favorite photos of the night. I think it looks like an album cover!

So – that’s it! This was definitely the best night of my life and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Here are a few pieces of advice I have for all brides. Make it personal to you and your groom, make it super fun, and enjoy every single minute of it (I didn’t stop dancing all night!).