Meant to Beeman - A Millbrook Vineyards & Winery Wedding

Melissa and I met each other a few years ago when she posted on Facebook that she was looking for cowriters for her blog, Picturing Disney. As time went on, we became friends and have shared some of the best and the worst life has thrown at us. And want to know something funny - Melissa and I have never met in person.  Needless to say that the day Melissa announced that she and her awesome beau, Jason, were getting hitched was met with endless congratulations and brainstorming about how I could assist her with her big day.

Before we worked on anything for her big day, we worked together on a design for both her Engagement Announcement and her housewarming party. When it came time to start working on her invitation for her big day, Melissa wanted to take a little bit of a slightly different direction. She wanted to share a little bit of a more rustic vibe with a little bit of modern convenience. 

Melissa + Jason's invitation was constructed with a tear away RSVP. That RSVP was a post card that only required a stamp to send out.

Needless to say that her big day was out of a fairytale, rustic dream. Here are some detail shots of her big day and some insight directly from Melissa herself.

What did your big day feel like?

"It was perfect. It was worth everything I went through before that. It was worth everything Jason went through before that. It was a fairy tale. It was crazy, and had its disorganizations and snafus, but our family and our friends and the people we surround ourselves with are the kind to laugh it off with us and move on. Our cups runneth over from start to finish, with love (and wine)!"

"My mother made our wedding cake and all of the book bouquets, she did it because she is wonderful and used to bake as a side hustle for a while. The books featured in the bouquets were: Bride - The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Bridesmaids - MacBeth, Pride & Prejudice, A Child Called It, Mists of Avalon, Everything Everything, Alice in Wonderland, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh."

What is the best memory from your big day?

"The knot tying ceremony with my entire family (Jay and the Kids) at the ceremony, and our first dance (When I Am Married by Wilder Adkins, performed by the Squids whose lead singer happens to be my Uncle."

Do you have any advice for future brides in what to look for in a stationer?

"Be honest with yourself and be fair to the stationer. I think some people expect miracles or have no idea what they want and then blame other people when things do not come out perfect. We had a vision and we had complete faith in Monique to bring that vision to fruition."

Did your stationery design reflect what your wedding looked and felt like?

"Absolutely, 100% from start to finish. I used to much chalkboard (painted with white acrylic paint rather than chalk) for decorations, similar to our initial announcement and Engagement/Housewarming invite, and mimicked the font on the Invites for a lot of the stuff I created. I also think the kraft paper was perfect for our romantic-rustic vibe."

Is there any additional advice you would like to share?

"Life is short and when you meet the right person you know it. If you don't know it in your soul. Don't settle, don't waste your time or your hustle on anything less than big love that shines in your eyes brighter than any constellation in the night sky. The person who makes your foot pop, heart skip a beat, and rights all your wrongs is out there for you. When you find them, don't let go, just be brave, smile, say 'hello', swipe right."

Vendors

Wedding Venue - Millbrook Vineyard & Winery

Pre-Wedding Venue for the Bride and Bridesmaids - Fairytale Cottage at Wing's Castle

Photographer - JacPfef Photography

Hair and Makeup - Revivalon Main Salon Spa

Caterer - Victoria's Wood Fired Pizza

Invitations - Only One Mark, Inc. (US!! 😍)

Officiant - Rev. Jim Rooney

Musicians - The Squids

Our Wedding - 11.11.11

Unless we are friends on Facebook, there is something I've never really shared with the world. You might have heard all of the funny stories, scares and precious moments during a meeting between sips from your coffee cup. But honestly, I can't believe it's taken this long to share it. 

Family, Friends, Blog Visitors - I give you some photos from our wedding.

Yup. The day 10 years in the making, 7 years dating; November 11, 2011 was the day that Gus and I were married.

According to Gus, his day got started with waking up at 5:30am. He was so excited, he couldn't sleep anymore. So instead, he ran laps around what would be our apartment complex to try to get tired but that didn't work. 😂  The rest of his day was spent hanging out with his friends at what would be our apartment, playing video games and hanging out. Once they were ready to go, he gave his groomsmen their gift (a flask with their favorite superhero on the front) and took a celebratory drink.

Back at my parent's house, I spent all day watching my favorite Disney Movies and spending time with my bridesmaids. My youngest sister even made a sign for the front of our house. Once we were all ready to go, we headed out to our venue.

Our wedding was themed after the movie Aladdin. We kept the main colors navy and gold with accents of other bold colors that reminded me of all the treasure found in the Cave of Wonders. We had place card holders that were small golden elephants, Moroccan lanterns centerpieces instead of flowers, and my favorite detail, a magic carpet that we would be married on. And another detail we decided upon was dressing up our ring bearer and flower girl as Aladdin and Jasmine. I'll let you keep scrolling to enjoy the magic that unfurled that night. 😉 ✨

One of the major snafoos but one of the funniest moments of our wedding was that unfortunately, the DJ could not play the song I had chosen to walk down the aisle to. When they tried to play it, a loud boom screeched over the sound system 💥  and my poor ring bearer ran back up the aisle screaming for his dad. Thankfully we had a backup song from some Disney themed instrumentals that we had playing prior to the ceremony. So a lesson for all: have a backup plan and don't stress if something goes wrong. It will just forever be part of your wedding day story. 😅

And WE GOT MARRIED!! The rest of our night was filled with lots of laughter, dancing, and more memorable moments. 

And there you have it...our big day in a nutshell. It was a day we will never forget.

The Invitation That Started It All

Isn't it funny that for most of us, the one thing that holds the highest significance why we start our businesses or new life chapters isn't something that everyone gets to see? Funny enough, I was made aware some time ago that I've never shared an actual image of our wedding invitation. This was just a part of our story that I hadn't thought about before. Of course, I've told our story of how our business started to clients and vendors. It's been one of the bits of information that remained after our rebrand back in August. But this is the first time our invitation will be seen (unless you were a recipient of the invitation of course). 😉

Photo Credit: Dipp Photography

Something I would like point out is that this wasn't the first invitation I had made before. In fact, I had been creating invitations for some very important family celebrations such as both of my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversaries and helping a one of my dearest friends with her bridal shower and wedding invitations. These weren't elaborate invitations at all, not like what you've see from me today. But...our wedding invitation was the first real moment I got to create something that reflected the people behind the event. It was a lot more personal and meant so much more.

You see when it came time to decide on our invitations, I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted to let guests know exactly how magical this moment in our lives was going to be. While we visited a few invitation shops, they just didn't have what I was looking for. Needless to say that the more "Nos" I received, the smaller I felt. If it hadn't been for Gus' encouragement, we would have probably gone with some plain, mundane invite that everyone else was using. 

Don't get me wrong...it was a ton of hard work. I bought shimmer paper to really give the "shining, shimmering, splendid" feeling I desperately wanted to glow from the invitations. My mom found invitation packs at Target 🎯 on a clearance rack that had similar, delicate design that my wedding dress also had. I looked up through countless rules of invitation etiquette while adding some new twists to personalize our invitation suite a little more. We may have also sent them out a little later than we should have 😅 , but the results were worth it. 

So what would be my one bit of advice if you choose the same route that I did for my wedding day? PLAN AHEAD.🗓  Do your research and see if the cost and time spent (because it will take a lot of time) is really worth it for your time frame and budget. I have had cases where brides have come to me either having experience with DIY projects or know how design, but just didn't have the time to create their invitation suite. Designing them yourself can also bring extra purchases like paper cutters, extra paper and envelopes for "just in case" boo boos. 😱 🤕 

Well, that's that. Now you can't say you haven't seen our wedding invitations. 😜 😁  And maybe...just maybe...I'll be sharing some of our wedding photos too. 

Hargrave Ever After

We first met Brittany and Glenn at the first bridal show we had ever participated in. :) We clicked immediately. Similar to our story, Brittany was having a tough time finding nautical themed invitations that had a little bit of Disney magic to them (without cuing in our favorite mermaid or missing clown fish). ;) 

Incorporating the colors mint, navy blue, gold and a little inspiration from the Disney Cruise line, we came up with a design that was perfect for this November Bride. We even added a little bit of Star Wars inspiration upon Glenn's request. ;) 

If you carefully notice, a little bit of pixie dust adorned each table number. :D

And I would be remiss not to include at least one photo of the lovely couple. ;) 

Venue - Lighthouse Point Yacht Club

Stationery - Only One Mark, Inc.

Photographer - Amber Sycz Photography

Bridal Gown - David's Bridal

Hair - Hair I Am, Again By Rori

Makeup -  Melanie Jane