Steps to a wedding: Bouts or no bouts?

To tell you the truth, this was never question that crossed my mind (or even worried me) during our wedding planning. If you ask my opinion about it, I probably won't have a straight answer to give you. I have mixed feelings. Generally boutonnieres are not a thing I'm into.

Just a quick search on google images for the word boutonniere and you'll see what I mean. I have chills all along my spine! Creepy! But then, as you get to know all this amazing creative people on web, you begin to see things in a different perspective, and you start to enjoy things you never did before. Like bouts. If not, just look at these...

via ruffled

via oncewed

Gorgeous, right? So, these got me thinking. Hum... Maybe wouldn't be such a bad thing... Actually now I see that, if done properly, it is as a great way to unify the groomsmen outfits without having the need for them to wear exact same suits, when that's the case (here there's no such thing as groomsmen or bridesmaids, and thank God for that).

via erin hearts court

via little miss martha

One day I found myself at one of those not-so-amazing wedding planning sites (don't even ask me why I was there. I'll spare you the pain and won't reveal the name) and saw a girl asking for help at the forum. It went something like this: Please help me! My future husband insists on wearing a white suit on our wedding but I'm afraid it will outshine me and ruin my princess day!! How should I talk him out of it? Well, I would be as concerned as she was, if I had such lack of brain! Oh, did I just said that out loud? Ok. I'm not gonna lie, I thought that girl was a bit stupid, sue me, but that thing got me thinking. It was meant to be OUR DAY! Not the day I would be marrying some guy. The same way I was not supposed to blend with the crowd, for I was the bride, I wanted him to stand out. Equally. (well, as much as possible... there's something about the bride we cannot deny)

We already had decided on his outfit, manly to go with the relaxed country feel we were having, the same as with my dress. He would be wearing a normal suit, no shiny satin fabric, no vest, no cufflinks, no handkerchief in the pocket, nor cravat with pearl pins. We went for a natural beige linen suit, but still... I started to doubt my own decisions. Was it going to be too simple? Looking back, it was perfect, as we envisioned. But at that point we question everything.

The question floated on my head till the very day of the wedding. More precisely about two hours before. I remember being alone at my room looking at my dress hanging and then it came to my mind again. I went downstairs and grabbed my bouquet. I look at it and smiled inside. Yes, I said to myself, as I gently plucked two tiny roses. Then I run out to my mother's garden and picked a piece of a beautiful a succulent (we both love succulents but ended not including them on the wedding). A bit of string and a safety pin, and it was done. From here, I don't remember much. I actually have no idea who delivered it at his home. I do know that my sister and his mom helped him having it placed. Why would that be?

**

photos by our friends João and Rita

Steps to a wedding: The shoes

If I can think of the best advice, wedding concerning, I read on web previous to the day, this was the one. Come on, a bride, wearing ballroom dance shoes? I would never ever thought of such a thing, and this is so clever! Ballroom dance shoes are made to look elegant and yet comfy. They are made for dancing, but they have heels. I assure you, this was a aha moment for me! So, what was I looking for?

* I knew I didn't wanted  white shoes, specially no shoes lined with the same fabric of the dress. (by the way, that is completely outdated!)
* I wanted something special, something different from the wedding shoes we see here.
* I wanted something I could easily walk on grass, but still look elegant, cause we were having our after party at a garden.
* I wanted something with a vintage feel to go with my dress, and at the same time that would go with the country feel of our outside/backyard/laid-back reception (no bling bling fuchsia shoes, definitely)

Instantly I fell for her shoes (do scroll down to see the whole pictures, they're worth it), but then, having them sent to Portugal turned out an impossible mission as no supplier seemed to send that label here. So I passed to plan B. I found that there is a really good portuguese dance shoes label, Rummos, and I found a little shop that sold them near us. And that's when I chose my shoes.

They are the most comfortable shoes I ever had my feet in. I love how they look a bit romantic and vintage. And the best, I never even remembered I was in heels the whole party! You know, that sentence, my feet are killing me! Never crossed my mind. My feet were happy!

If you're planning your wedding now, consider this advice: look for ballroom dance shoes. There are hundreds of shapes, for sure you'll have something for your taste and you can find them in every color.

Oh, and if you've been here for a while you probably know that my sister got married two months ago. After trying my shoes she said "I want shoes like this!!". Take a peek. The light in the pictures is deceiving though, her shoes are not the same color (nor shape) as mine. She also went for a higher heel as she had no reception on a yard like we did. Always great to pass on the knowledge!

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all photos by our dear friend Pedro

Steps to a wedding: Guest book, or something like that...

If there are things invented by the wedding industry that I really think that makes sence, the guest book is one of them. It always makes me smile reading those little messages and I think it's one thing we will treasure forever.

When we were thinking about how it should be, we just knew we didn't wanted it to be really a book. Something like that may work perfectly well for a limited number of guest, but definitely its not a practical thing when you have 200 guests like we did (I told you before about my big family). If you create a place for the book, people will get tired of waiting for their turn, they will most likely think of comming back later, but probably will end up forgeting it (been there, done that. I speak from my own experience). If you make the book circulate among the guests, at some point, when people start dancing and drinking more, it will end up forgotten at one corner and there will be lots of people that will never even come across it (been there too).

So, we thought about making little cards that people could grab and write whenever they felt like, and then drop them on our "mailbox". This is not an original idea, I know, but hey, who says everything must be original? The best advice I got from a teacher when I was taking my degree in Industrial Design was: you don't need to invent the wheel, someone already did that, use that knowledge and apply it for your needs.

**

photos by our friend Rita
last ones by me with the cellphone

Steps to a wedding: Something old, something new...

... Something borrowed, something blue.

Can you guess what was our "something blue"? Yes, you guessed it right. The flowers over our heads. We didn't put a lot of though into what should be tossed when we were getting out of church, as opposed to almost everything else. We just knew we didn't want rice (it's the tradition here) for two main reasons, first I didn't wanted to be removing rice grains from my underwear the rest of the day (that can be pretty annoying... that and having it all over the head, after spending so much time getting hair done!), and second and most important, I think it's a waste of food, and I find it disrespectful to those who have none to eat.

I had an extra bunch of white chrysanthemums to remove the petals, cause white and simple is my thing. The place we rented for the party had lots (I mean tons) of beautiful blue agapanthus, so it occur me: something blue! We picked up a nice bunch and removed the little blue flowers. I loved the effect of the white petals mixed with little blue blossoms.

**

photos by our friends Pedro and Rita

Steps to a wedding :: A kind of engagement session

Yes, kind of. It was not truly a photo session, there was no photographer involved. Actually, let's not call it like we got engaged because, really, we were engaged ever since we knew in our hearts we wanted to spend our lives together. There was just the matter of the date. One day we just knew, it was time.

First, about the engagement session thing, we don't have that tradition here in Portugal, it's not a thing people do, and it was not a thing we intended to do. One thing, though, we knew from the beginning. We wanted our pictures on our wedding invitations.



So, we grabbed every excuse we could to get away by ourselves (as if we needed any...), take the camera and shoot lots of pictures. We took them ourselves, first using the machine timer, then we ended up buying a remote four the camera, which I can say it was the best thing we did. Still, you may not believe, the best pictures ended up being the ones taken with that 10 sec timer! Go figure...

Those were really great moments, and we could not be that comfortable and happy if there were a photographer in the middle of it. It was about being together, enjoying ourselves and trying to capture our essence, if that is anyway possible... And the result were not professional, but really happy pictures, just as we wanted.

**

all photos by me

Steps to a Wedding: gathering thoughts

A year ago, before I started this blog, I  was trying to organize my thoughts and my memories of all we've done for our wedding. I wanted to report everything so that we would be able to tell our children one day. Also, I wanted to share our experience, because 'listening' to other people's experiences all over the web was what got us going through the whole thing, so it felt like something I needed to do.

I thought of starting a blog. Later came the idea of showing our crafts and my design work, and why not start a little business? Then again, the easy way was to start with a blog.

So, both the ideas came together and this place was born. The business thing is a bit on hold, just because I have some big things in hands right now, but it will come out in full strength! About the wedding sharing thing... If you ever got to read my about page (look at the top. yes, right there.) you already know that our wedding was a totally DIY thing. I must say those were some quite overwhelming months we had, and I needed to be fully recovered to properly be able to have organized ideas to share. Then came my sister's wedding... so, a break was definitely in order.

Now time has gone by, everything is where it should be, and I'm ready to start. So, fasten your seat belts, there's a new series starting over here! This is just the prelude. If your searching for inspiration for your wedding I'm hoping to see you back here soon. In the mean time, if you care for some good advices and some really good wedding reading, grab a cup of coffee and read what this smart ladies have to say: Mindy, Meg and Amanda. I really recommend this for a start.

I'll be updating this post with links of the entire series to come, so come back!


Check them here:

• A kind of engagement session
• Something old, something new...
• Guest book, or something like that...
• The shoes

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photo by our friend Pedro

A Year!

We're leaving in a few minutes. The husband should be arriving any moment for us to go. And here I am writing this. We're going for our little-second-honeymoon, because tomorrow it will be A YEAR since we've started this adventure together. It has been a year of joy and struggle, for we're starting something important here. We've promissed each other never to give up on what we believe, never give up on the love we have, and never give up lightning the flame. Love is a never ending construction.

This is another journey in our lives. We'll be back on wednesday with photos, stories, and lots of hapiness smiles.

24 of July. Our day. Because thats how we think love should be, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Wish all of you all the love.

**

photos by our dear friends Rita and Pedro

Scenes from a wedding | Cenas de um casamento...

I must say I putted a lot thought into about whether we should offer the typical wedding favors. To tell the truth, the idea itself really annoys me... Key-chains and cigars were definitely out of the question. The concept eventually grew naturally, as our day began taking shape in our heads.
And, suddenly, yes. All made sense. It was not about giving away any crap that would be quickly buried in the bottom of a drawer, just because that's what people do at weddings. It was about giving a piece of ourselves, a piece of our love and share our experience. Share LOVE.

Devo dizer que ponderei bastante sobre se deveriamos ou não oferecer a típica lembrança de casamento. Para dizer a verdade, a ideia em si não me agradava muito...  Estava fora de questão oferecer porta-chaves ou charutos. O conceito acabou por ir crescendo naturalmente à medida que aquilo que desejávamos para o nosso dia tomava forma na nossa cabeça.
E, de repente, sim. Tudo começava a fazer sentido. Não se tratava de oferecer uma porcaria qualquer que iria parar rapidamente ao fundo de alguma gaveta, só porque é o que as pessoas fazem nos casamentos. Tratava-se de dar um pedaço de nós mesmos, um pedaço do nosso amor e partilhar a nossa experiência. Partilhar o AMOR.

mikado game | jogo mikado

Love is a game we can not play alone.

O amor é um jogo que não podemos jogar sozinhos.

tea bags | saquinhos de chá

Love is warm like a hug, tasty like a kiss and comforting as kind word...

O Amor é quente como um abraço, saboroso como um beijo e reconfortante como uma palavra...

cd's... the soundtrack of our day | cd's... a banda sonora do nosso dia

Love is a perfect melody that make us vibrate inside!

O Amor é uma melodia perfeita que nos faz vibrar por dentro!

jam jars | frascos de doce

Love is sweet! But gets bitter if not shared.

O Amor é doce! Mas azeda se não for partilhado.