The Villafuerte Wedding (finally! tang cups!)

So you know my love of hipster friend weddings right? Please refer to Katherine's amazing wedding for proof. All my friends keep getting married and having babies! For the most part I'm cool with that cuz a) i like to dance and b) i love babies! it just... works out.

Well I have yet another insider scoop on an awesome wedding. Can I share something with you? (read: "...with you, Sarah?") I was wary of this wedding. Sarah had a VISION... like no joke this girl is brilliant because to talk about it I was confused. It seemed like a lot of cool elements that made me really happy and then really sad cuz I didn't understand how they were coming together. Guess what?! Didn't matter cuz I wasn't the one getting married! And they did come together! it was GORGEOUS and totally Sarah.

The wedding was AMAZING! Take... equal parts fabric from all walks of life, plates from everyone you know's house, lyrics from hipster love songs, Hollowine (oh yes.), a secret chapel hidden in the trees, and the most beautiful custom made dress you've ever seen (for real this is a beautiful dress Sarah literally DREAMT up. I can't even...)and WA-BAM. Sarah and Manuel twenty-eleven. Sarah took "do it yourself" to a whole other level. There was handmade bunting, wood burned tree (with the ink pads so you put your finger print on it?! so cool!), her cake stands were tree stumps! Gah. It's hard to explain. I feel like I can't do it justice.

Her ceremony was at Funks Grove and it was the most idyllic place I've ever been. There were leaves falling slowly the whole time, it felt like a dream. And of course while I was there I tried to justify my place in the world and how life in general functions and tuuuurns... but the place makes you do that! It's all golden trees and white picket fences and love! WHY. It wears off after a few days. Don't worry.

Also I was "in" the wedding and had no idea. Like I had a little corsage made for me! Her Aunt Chris walks up to me and hands it to me and I'm like 'oh! um... no?' and she looks at me and goes, "You know your name is Abby right? You're the only Abby here." *crickets* sometimes... I'm kind of slow... hahaha

My camera was my iPhone and I did all the editing/photo framing on Camera + and Photo Frame (both $0.99 in the App Store. WORTH IT) I think it turned out pretty cool! The video is still a work in progress but it's almost dooone yaaay! I'll be putting all the photos you see smashed together up in a Facebook album too... unsmashed. let us move on : )

Sarah looked so beautiful it almost didn't make sense. She looked like Adele meets someone way more awesome that I can't think of haha... and I'm still HARDCORE in love with her dress.

Oh wait! That's not all. I didn't even get to the DANCING. First of all Get Me Bodied by Beyonce is... probably the best dance song ever made. There's instructions! You can't NOT dance. It's like... a commandment to dance. Love it SO HARD. Annie and Brent are probably THE MOST coordinated white people I've ever met. Okay... confession? I'm not a good dancer! I'm all shoulders and hips and booty bumpin'. Sometimes that gets you no where. But I DO bring da noise. Sometimes I bring da funk just to keep it interesting. But they... brought the house down. Highlight? Me and Katherine changing into pajamas before leaving... theeen hopping onto the dance floor for Ms. New Booty. Cuz you can't not dance to that. So much fun.

Quick letter to all my friends, I friggin love you. I love you and your amazing weddings. Please keep having parties in the future. Please don't forget to invite me. I will show up with my iPhone ready to party.

color inspiration from the Villafuerte wedding

I love weddings. Can I just say that? There's like palpable love in the AIR. I also love checking out the how a bride puts things together. By the way this is not my official wedding post (that is coming soon - when I'm not doing quadruple overnights at work - yeah i said it. FOUR.) but I did want to highlight one of my favorite things: patterns. Sarah's wedding was a patchwork of patterns that only worked because Sarah did them. For her reception she layered sheets on top of sheets on top of sheets in varying patterns, florals and stripes. The "uglier" it was the more AMAZING it turned out! This was my favorite.

to see them it makes no sense but on the table it looked BEAUTIFUL! I'd wear an outfit with these colors, with these PATTERNS, in them any time, anywhere. I thought it was BRILLIANT.

I don't really do 'color inspirations' but I couldn't help myself.

Stay tuned for the rest of the wedding photos (as soon as I edit the pics in Camera+ lol - thank you iPhone) and blog post soon!

m.o.h. behind the scenes

Being a bride is like a marathon runner with a sprint to the finish at the end. Being a maid of honor is like the bride getting on your shoulders and having YOU run the last 200 yards. It's all about being selfless and literally NOT THINKING just acting, which is what I did all weekend. Quick decisions (which, I found out I am the queen of), wrap, go, run, get, be, here, NOW.

*sigh* I can't recount every detail because there were a LOT of details. Jayme was a gorgeous bride. Like ridiculously gorgeous. She had model collar bones and the tiniest waist made by not being able to keep anything down the week of the wedding LOL and a wonderful husband waiting for her at the end of what seems like the longest aisle in the world.

I almost didn't make it in my heels. Really, I can't stand heels. They HATE me and made that really clear at the ceremony when I stood in them for an hour. I sincerely thought I was gonna die... I kept mumbling to Jen next to me, "Today is it... Jesus is gonna take me today... I'm goin today..."by the grace of God himself I made it haha.

The photo session was amazing and I truly can't wait to see the photos done by Jake & Jen of Two Birds Photography. I think I creeped them out... I was SOOO excited to finally meet them that it just... became too dang much. So much for trying to get them to be my eventual bffs. But for real. Fail.

The reception was a good success... her dad's speech made me tear up and their first dance made me cry. The food was AWESOME and I got to dance the cupid shuffle (my secret favorite) so all in all it was a successful wedding! I even got complimented on being a good maid of honor. I mean come on... that's awesome.

the gorgeous bride

their ADORBZ custom cake topper via Etsy

ok can I be real with you guys? after I got on the bus to go home to Chicago I burst into tears and didn't stop for a good 10 minutes. It was... stress compacted onto stress compacted onto stress that i buried and smiled through because, like I said, i wasn't there for ME. I actually still feel like crap! It felt like 5 days of 'do this, do this, do this, do this. done? NOW GO HOME.' It wasn't anyone's fault it was just a whirlwind week and I kinda needed to hold it together for everyone's sake. I think once I stopped moving my brain instantly processed 5 days of CRAZY and it just like BURST out of me. To be honest I really did want to spend time relaxing with my friend (somewhere in there) and get away from the stress of being HERE but, DUH Abby, weddings aren't PEACEFUL EVENTS. Maybe i didn't prepare myself (but in the back of my mind i knew) for what to expect stress level wise. My face is currently broken out in like some sort of stress hive pattern? It's awesome haha. i have a couple days off this week and I think I need to just recuperate and SERIOUSLY de-stress. i hope to meet up with Maggie too.

sorry this wasn't the glamorous "Royal Wedding" post you were hoping for and that's cuz i was on the inside and NOT the bride. If you're a good m.o.h. you probably won't be refreshed and rested. but you'll have done a DANG good job at the role you were picked for... and i did. i should have majored in multitasking in college.

also i have about 16 thousand more stories for you if I ever tell you in person. Including Aunt Ru... I might actually do a post about her. two words: SHE CRAZY. like for real i was sufficiently scared of her. another time... another time

blurry as it may... at least i look dang cute in that dress. it will be worn again : )

epic weddings and bon voyages

Hey guys, breaking from Rhode Island support (though if you want to hear about it read here!) for a bit to talk about the most epic wedding I've ever been to... EVER.

I'm pretty sure you've heard me talk about the wedding of my friend Katherine and how buh-freaking excited I was about it. Yeah nothing could have prepared me for the most beautiful wedding I've EVER. SEEN. pictures? pictures. GO.

can you see the three cakes? are you aware of them? CAN YA SEE THEM?! and the wreath?! MADE OUT OF BOOKS?!?!?!?! is your BRAIN exPLODING?! also there were tears on pictures 1, 2 and 4. I cried a good portion of half the day. I mean happy, "Omg how is this so perfect?!" tears. Yeah. I love them. It was kind of like the day didn't happen it was THAT awesome.

Move to Sunday! where we said goodbye to the coolest manager at the square. We said bye, took lots of awesome photos by Magali, ate lots of pizza and danced to... Neil Patrick Harris. Yeah that happened. It was grood work bonding. Did i tell you i loved my job? I do. totes magotes.

This weekend is Renegade Handmade and I'm just as excited! Artsy hipsters! ASSEMBLLLLE!!! Will post on that soon. Looking for some yarn to make some SWEET knits to help for Rhode Island! wahoo!