k, so, rachel here as always.

i've picked my maids and matt and i have picked our colors. i've been working on an "invitation" for my maids to be a part of my party to send to each of them. i'm pretty sure they all already know they're being invited, but i need to make it official.

when it comes to dresses, i've got one who hates to show her arms, even though there's nothing wrong with them. one who worries about baby body, even though she doesn't have one. one who thinks she weighs too much even though she weighs less than most americans. seriously, if we're not all candidates for body dysmorphic, i'm not sure who is.

so, i'm letting them all pick their own knee-length cocktail dresses. my only criteria, minus "knee-length cocktail dress" is that the color be in the wedding palette. basically, my rule is: if you can find it in the feather of a (nonalbino) peacock, and it's not black or tan, you can wear it. with tan shoes. tan HEELS to be exact. tan = warm caramel from the wedding colors.

i'd love it if the dress could have some type of 20's flare, like fringe or drop waist or lace. but i'm not real picky. i made a handy wedding color guide for each of them:

and (hopefully) there you have it: the best damn bridesmaid dress guide on earth. i guess we'll see ;)

xoxo,
the bride

rachel here ;)

anyone who knows me knows that we aren't a couple that's going to register for china. not because we won't use it. but because we don't need it. i kinda already own it.

not only do matt and i collectively have 3 sets of everyday tableware, and not only do i collect alcohol-themed decorative dessert-sized plates — but i got a wild hair one day to hit replacements limited and create my own mismatched china set. i had a lot of fun:

i'm kind of in love with the set. and i looked all over for a company that rents vintage mismatched china in the north carolina area for receptions. and i found a few. crazy expensive.

but i really think it's a great way to decorate a table without needing much by way of centerpieces. i also really like the idea of really long communal tables, as opposed to rounds. so any centerpieces would need to be low so people can meet and talk over them. the table will really need something.

but i was starting to think my mismatched china dream would never come true, because of the cost.

until i saw libby's listing on tradesy for her full wedding vision, which included 285 mismatched dinner plates at $1 a pop and 402 mismatched salad plates at 50 cents a pop. even with more than we'd need, the cost would be less than renting.

libby and i are now working out transportation, through family and friends. so no crazy shipping costs for such a heavy delivery. here are libby's photos from her wedding:

xoxo,
the bride

rachel here.

when you sign up for an account with the knot, one of the first things the site tells you in their welcome email is, "congratulations! if you don't already have a great engagement tale, you better make one up quick because everyone will want to hear it over and over again." so, this one's up to you. did i make it up?

like i said, as soon as matt invited me to move down to texas and in with him, i started a private wedding pinterest board. and i wasn't the only one who thought a question might get popped down the road. my mom asked, "does this move come with a ring?"

but how is a girl to know? one of my friend's boyfriend-turned-fiance-turned-husband blindsided her when he showed up on her family vacation and asked her. i have another friend who totally saw it coming when her man suggested a romantic trip for two to the ville de l'amour.

but, matt? on our first valentine's day together he sent flowers the day after. one christmas he got me exactly what i wanted without even asking, while he skipped the present the next. i think he likes to keep me on my toes.

in fact, he told me that his dad "fake proposed" to his mom several times. for example: they were walking along together one day and ed stopped troy in her tracks, getting down to one knee. he said, "troy, it would make me the happiest man on earth if you ... would let me tie your shoelace so you don't trip."

i basically told matt that if he did that, he'd be in the prefect position for me to plant that wayward shoelace right in his face along with the rest of my foot.

when he got home from work one thursday with a $250 bottle of champagne, i got butterflies in my stomach and waited ...

and waited ...

and waited.

the only thing that was popped that night was a cork.

my cousin grace asked me if it was worth it. if it was the best champagne i've ever had. now, to be fair to dom, i usually put things in my bubbly. oj, elderflower, peach nectar. so the champagne is masked.

i told her that no matter what it tasted like, i felt decadent drinking it. which elevated the experience.

the next night he got home from work and whisked me off to austin, where we had reservations at one of my favorite restaurants of all time: austin land and cattle company. (yes, austin land and cattle, not the texas land and cattle chain restaurant.)

we started with escargot and cocktails. then we ordered a nice bottle of red. matt had a 3 lb steak, i had lobster over a beautiful rib eye. we each got a dessert.

i got butterflies all over again. and i waited ...

and waited ...

and waited.

that night we stayed at the driskill, in the vintage 1920's tower wing. i've always wanted to stay there.

and it was gorgeous, despite the tiny-pillow-to-large-bed ratio pictured here. we cracked open the mini-bar for a nightcap. the butterflies came back, and i waited ...

and waited ...

and waited.

the next day we had drunch with my friend courtney: engagement photographer (here's a groupon) and bridesmaid-to-be.

and i thought: "oh, wow! he got one of my friends in on it!"

i ate some great mexican food and drank some lovely pimm's cocktails on top of my butterflies while i waited ...

and waited ...

and waited.

then we drove back to killeen, no questions asked.

we got home and i pulled on my yoga pants, fuzzy cat slippers and hoodie, complaining about some ill-timed cramps. i got in the bed, snuggled under the covers and turned on the tv.

matt came over to be nice to me, seeing if i needed anything. next thing i know: he's saying all those words that guys say in the movies. he used my full name and everything.

"rachel jane cook, you know i love you. it would make me the happiest man on earth ..." then he pulled out this lovely, 1920's vintage filigree white gold ring that fit perfectly on my finger.

so after all the butterflies and all the waiting, what was a girl to say? well, i'll tell you. i said, "can i think about it?" hahahahahaha. he said "no," so i said "yes."  and all of that happened the weekend after labor day, 2013. one year to the day before we walk down the aisle.

that's our story and i'm sticking to it.

xoxo,
the bride
(for those of you who don't know: rachel is an advertising copywriter who majored in fiction writing in undergrad.) ;)

rachel here, reporting live from bridedom.

i've been telling you i was gonna post how matt and i met, and then remet years later. i'm surprised you've never heard this one. i kinda tell it to everyone. even strangers. but maybe you just wanted to read it again, i don't know.

it all started with ralph davidson palmer, or ralphie walnuts as i've been known to call him. he's one of matt's theta chi fraternity brothers, one of my former co-workers and our forever friend.

i was working at mullen at the time, with ralph. and even though kelly cheung and i were far too long out of college to be attending a frat party, when ralph invited us to a house party he was attending as an alumni (alumnae?), we went. (ok, i was far too long out of college. whatever, age police.)

i'm not going to get into the details of a frat party. this is a family site. but, imagine animal house, old school or abc family's greek and you've pretty much got it.

this was before the days that cell phone numbers are automatically printed on business cards. so when i saw matt and thought he was pretty cute, i scrawled my cell phone number on the back of one of my cards and gave it to him.

lo and behold, the fates parted, the stars aligned, and ... matt never called. we saw each other every once in awhile over the next 3 years through ralph. but we'd each settled down into long-term relationships and just gave each other a friendly "hello."

then came labor day weekend, 2010. and, once again, ralph brought us together. but this time we were both single. the three of us ate at bib's downtown and then met friends out at single brothers and moved on to rec billiards. it was an amazing time. i have an entire facebook album dedicated to it. 

and matt ASKED for my phone number. because who keeps a business card for 3 years? this time he called. and we went on our first date the next weekend. 

and when he came to pick me up, what did he have on him?

my 3-year-old business card with my completely illegible cell phone number scribbled on it. (that's what you get for scrawling your number on the back of a business card in the dark. no wonder he never called.) this is the point in the story that most people say "awwwwww, he kept it?!?" 

and that, family and friends, is why (even though we didn't dtr until the collins' wedding celebration the following april) we celebrate the weekend after labor day as our anniversary and why we've chosen that as our wedding date.

so now you know ;)

look for my next installment: the proposal. coming to a computer screen near you soon-ish.

xoxo,
the bride

p.s. special thanks to erin clake lesica, andrew pitman and the aforementioned kelly cheung for sitting with me at the fox and the hound in winston-salem and giving me day-of first date pointers back in 2010.

rachel here (of course) ;)

you've seen it on pinterest. get yourself some mason jars (or any clear glass) and pour paint on the inside, manipulating it into a thin coat covering the entire thing. turn that bad boy upside down and let it dry.

so, i went to home depot and got sample cans of our wedding colors. this is the tale of how it went.

(not well.)

i poured paint into the bottom of the jar. it took more than i thought. then all the rest took less. (lesson kinda learned)

i swirled it around and then turned it over. i know you can't just turn them upside down flush with a surface and expect them to dry. without air, it's just one wet party. so i propped them up on the lids.

they looked great. not so much the next morning ...

they were still wet in the morning, but looked like crap. like rivers in dried mud or something.

so, i took a foam brush and painted the inside with a thin coat, also basically moving around the still wet paint.

i let that dry, right side up, over night.

and that worked.

introducing our wedding colors: peacock blue and warm caramel with accents of rich navy, pure purple and eloquent ivory.

xoxo, 
the bride

there are etsy sellers who make them, tons of brides who pin them, and several laborious how-to's on them: wedding exit wands. 

as a bride and groom exit you can't throw confetti because that's littering. you can't throw rice because that hurts the birds. you can't throw birdseed because that attracts the birds, and the bird shit. flower petals are prohibitively expensive, and are brown by the time the event is over. bubbles can actually cause spots on some fabrics, like expensive dress fabrics you wear to weddings. many venues are prohibiting sparklers as fire hazards. 

so what is the modern couple to do when it comes to their big send off? enter: exit wands. you post a sign that says something like, "wave the bride and groom into the future," or "a colorful ending to a magic night," or "wave your wand and make a wish of happiness for the couple." and each guest takes a wand of ribbons and bells to wave as the couple exits. they become the wedding favor in the new reality of NO wedding favors.

you can buy them on etsy, but you only get two colors per wand and it's like $75 for 50, plus shipping. and they all look the same. so why not make your own? especially if you have a lot to make and a lot of time on your hands.

i made mine (200 of them) for $1 a pop, thanks to a sale at hobby lobby. and they're each different, so it'll be a colorful send off.

what you need:
12" dowel rods (see what fits right in your hand, i used quarter inchers)
ribbon: 2' lengths (3-4 per wand) x the # of guests + extras
crafting bells
a hot glue gun
time

would be great to have:
an extra pair of hands

so, basically, i spent a day acquiring approximately 1400 feet of ribbon, 200 dowel rods in a couple of diameters and over 200 silver crafting bells in several sizes  and then cutting the ribbon into 2' lengths, some 4'. for the thinnest ribbon, i used 4' lengths folded in half. i strung the bells to the middle and used that as the folding point. when you cut your ribbon: if it's satin or organza you can hold the cut edges over a flame for a hot second or three to seal the ends from fraying. i wouldn't suggest doing that with the burlap or lace ribbons ;)

i looked up how-to's online. EVERYone is using eye screws and jewelry rings for the bells. i'm so not that fancy. so i just strung my bells on the ribbons.

pictured here is my practice one with only 2 ribbons. basically it goes like this:
1) select your ribbon combo
2) string a bell onto the skinniest ribbon
3) tie an overhand knot, loosely (with the bell in the middle)
4) put the dowel through the knot
5) put a very small dollop of hot glue on the dowel where you want the knot
6) tighten the knot over the glue
7) again. and again. and again.

and, next thing you know, you have some pretty cute wands for your dream wedding send off. 

all in your wedding colors and all hand-made by you.

love it. love you.

xoxo, the bride

rachel here again. with the low down dirty on pinterest. it's making the wedding industry CRAZY. brides, planners, photographers, wedding sites — the entire industry — are killing themselves, one upping eachother for more pins. and the more pins out there the more new, obscure and expensive "traditions" there are to have and to hold and to live up to. 

i won't lie, i started a private pinterest board called "secret garden" pretty much as soon as matt asked me to move in with him. i only ever shared it with one person. it was one of my guiltiest pleasures. i just knew a wedding was the next step and i had to be ready.

i look back at it, it's still private, and it's all over the place. things i'd never actually do, dresses i'd never actually wear, colors i'd never actually pick. but looking at it shows me all the possibilities and makes me second guess any decision we've already made and dread the wealth of decisions coming up. 

whatever, pinterest. no matter what we do, it will be perfect. because it will be us.

but it also gives me a little bit of a d.i.y. bug. maybe a big d.i.y. bug. so ... i spent two days making 200 wedding exit wands in the colors we've chosen for our wedding. what's a wedding exit wand? well, instead of confetti, birdseed or sparklers, they're something to wave as the bride and groom exit.

like this:

and, in true pinterest maven form, i'm going to blog a how-to. right here, then pin it. even after that diatribe. because not to would be predictable ;)

xoxo, 
the bride

rachel here. i was going to tell you our genesis tale in this blog post. you know, how we met and how we remet years later. but then i got to listening to music. and am really digging these six songs:

i'm totally getting ahead of myself. we haven't even booked a venue yet. and venue will solidify date. and a date will solidify colors. and on and on and on. but i for sure have my favorite. i asked matt to make a list of his favorites too (he suggested dancing lessons, that will be fun!), but of course he hasn't done it yet. #firstworldbrideproblems

so, that genesis tale will have to wait. but it's a good one. so i can't hold off too long!

xoxo,
the bride

welcome to our wedsite.

in the coming days we're going to do it. we're going to tell you how we met, what our first date was like, how he popped the question. it'll all be here.

we imagine you'll see posts from rachel as she picks colors, faces the realities of a budget, laments that she's not a d.i.y. bride, and on and on and on. we expect that matt might not ever participate in the blogging activity.

but for now, we're going to go to bed. just because google apps customer service called at the ass-crack of dawn doesn't mean we have to stay up. or that "the first 48" isn't more interesting than anything we'd have to say now.

so, welcome to our site and our story. nice to have you here.

xoxo, the mcmillans