Happy Friday!

I don't have much time to post as I run around throwing things into a bag and showering to head down for my brother-in-law's graduation. I just wanted to be a good blogger and post something. So Happy Friday! Here's some of my favorite shots of wedding-y goodness to get you through until Monday.

The Day Before

The day before the wedding was kind of crazy. In hindsight, we probably could have been better organized, gave ourselves more times, and asked for a little more help. However, I was so specific about every detail, that I probably wouldn't have accepted any more help than we had. Mr. Tal and I spent the morning finishing a few last minute details and loading them into the truck and heading over to the reception site. There we spent about 4 hours on set up. We weren't smart enough to take pictures of the hall before and after set up but I have some beautiful detail shots.

(All Photos by J Wagler Photography)

All this was a joint effort between Mr. Tal, myself, Momma and Daddy Sal and Momma Tal. To start, we had to set up all the tables, literally. We had to take all the chairs off the tables and any that we weren't using we had to stack in the back. We had to move them into the place and put on the table clothes and set up the chairs. Once all the tables were into place we had to actually set them up to look all pretty. We decided to set up the smaller tables first, like the guest book table, the place "card"(aka the wooden disks) table, and the cake and gift tables. Once those smaller tables were set up, we moved on to the guest tables (without the runners because they hadn't arrived yet, haha, long story), first up centerpieces.

We had no choice but to assemble our centerpieces at the site because the manzanita branches in the pots would have been too high to transport and more than likely the pots would have fell over en route. So in our own little assembly line, Mr. Tal and Momma Sal filled the pots with litter (yes, we used cat litter, it was the most economical choice), then the branches were stuck into some floral foam and more litter added on top, after that the spanish moss and little birds were added by myself and Momma Tal, then the finished product was taken to the tables by Daddy Sal. After all those were in place we had to go around and add the strings of beads (cut up garland with wire added), and paper lanterns with battery-operated tea lights. Voila! Centerpieces were up and looking fabulous, in my humble opinion. After centerpieces came the wooden silverware wraps at every place, along with the bagged cookie favors and our table letters. Once we were done our hall looked transformed, and that was without chair covers, which were being delievered later that afternoon.

We all went our seperate ways early that afternoon to get ready for our rehearsal.

Next up, our rehearsal or why my day-of coordinator is worth her weight in gold.

Tune in next time for more tales from a DIY bride.

Guilty.

You know I read Weddingbee religiously and I fall in love with these bloggers and their weddings and then they get married and it's like poof, they disappear. I get so upset because want all the yummy details, I want to see how the entire wedding ended up turning out and I was always thought to myself, is it really that hard to do a recap? Now I'm looking a little sheepish because as you may have noticed,  I'm totally guilty of the disappearing act as well. It's weird because prior to the wedding I could usually manage a post at least every other day, yet post-wedding I feel like I struggle to get one out every two weeks. It's been crazy, job hunting, speeding tickets, graduations, hospitilizations, just trying to enjoy married life and stuggling to figure out our future (we'll discuss that more over at Tales from the SalTals our newlywed blog which is in constuction right now). But I have some time now and I have my beautiful pictures from Jackie so I can share my wedding in detail with you.

Where did I last leave off? Oh, that's right it was coming up on Wedding Week. The Monday and Tuesday of wedding week (April 12th and 13th) were final project days. Printing programs, wrapping favors, and getting everything packed up and ready to haul over to our ceremony and reception sites. It was pure craziness.

Monday, Mr. Tal was working furiously to make our wedding canopy work while I was fighting with my compter and printer to make the ceremony programs come out just right. Let me tell you our apartment is not big, so Mr. Tal putting up a 5x7 canopy in our living room while I am printing and assembling programs in the same room would have been a little comical, but adding the freaked out dog and two cats it was downright hysterical. Let's just say the canopy fell a time or two and not just because of inadequet structural support and my programs (and the ribbons that tied them together) got attacked by some kitty paws. I would have found it funny if I wasn't so stressed out.

Tuesday, I spent most of the day assembling programs, packing and cleaning since we were going to have some guest come over that night. Mr. Tal spent the day at work pretending to work while really figuring out how to make the canopy work. That night he ended up buying bigger bases, paint and gravel to finish up that project. Meanwhile, I asked demanded my friends Miss A and Mrs C to help put together our cookie bag favors while we watched American Idol. In return they got to eat any leftover cookies, so I think it was a win win.

Wednesday was my pamper day. Momma Sal had given me a card for my shower with Mr. Tal's family that requested that we get manicures and facials two days before the wedding. The facials didn't work out because I know that breakouts often happen in the week or so after the facials so we ended up getting mani/pedis and going out to a nice lunch together. It was heaven after all the stress of the last few weeks. It was really nice to spend some alone time with my mom before the big day. That night Mr. Tal and I packed up all of our wedding supplies (oh, how much bigger the apartment seemed) in his truck in preparation for the next day which was set-up and rehearsal.

I promise there won't be too big of a gap in between this post and the next.

Please tune in next time for more tales from a DIY bride.