Treely, Madly, Deeply: All The Things (The Details Post)

I know that the Wedding Industrial Complex is A Thing and it puts a lot of pressure on Brides to have the 'OMG MOST PERFECT DAY EVA' day - but Hive, all outside pressure aside, my wedding day really was one of the (if not the) best days of my life.

Looking through these detail pictures makes my OCD heart happy because I really do feel that my vision (even if it changed a bit) was brought to life. 

All photos via Limelight-Images unless otherwise noted.

Our centerpieces:

Our centerpieces started out as a grand idea that would be a semi-nod to the Zelda lanterns and fairies, combining two loves of both Mr. Palm Tree and myself, and resulted in what you see in the above pictures. Like quite a few of my ideas, this got pushed to the "if I have time list". I had purchased much of the items needed sporadically throughout the course of our engagement and the week prior to the wedding, I sat down with my cousins B and O and we threw them together. 'Aqua' colored marbles that I purchased from various craft stores, blue fairy berries hidden amongst them, this shredded filler that BM Y amazingly found and purchased for me that I still can't remember the name of, and they were topped with assorted yellow silk flowers purchased from JoAnn's. The lighting in the above pictures really doesn't do them justice, but then again, there isn't a lot of justice to be done: simple yet effective. Moving along.

Fun Stuff: 

Our Bride and Groom Mickey ears, purchased by BM Blackout as a surprise for us.

One of the best inventions ever, our tumbler cups that I originally gifted to my girls at my shower. These were purchased from Debi DelaCruz on Etsy (on Cyber Monday - hint to all Brides-to-be planning to shop: DON'T FORGET ABOUT CYBER MONDAY! I scored so.many.deals). 

Our favors, Bride and Groom cookies, homemade by a wonderful baker friend of mine. You can find her website here. She's pretty fabulous and one of the cakes. 

Our cake, by Brenda McGee, which was included in our package at The Fez. I did not care one iota about our cake so this was Mr. Palm Tree's baby. My wonderful DOC/Friend E decorated the cake table with the extra flowers and, even though you can't see them in this lighting, assorted fairy berries. 

Our place cards, another  'they'll be cool if I have time" thing. Bought the templates from Staples, I think, and printed these out the night before our rehearsal dinner. Boom.

These programs were nearly the death of MOH Mem, Mr. Palm Tree and myself. I painstakingly designed them and was super proud of them but Hive, please learn from our mistakes and unnecessary hard work (also mentioned in the post about our invitations): OUTSOURCE ALL OF YOUR PRINTING. Getting the right parts to print on the right sides and then figuring out how to turn them around and dealing with the ink running out and computers freezing and just. . .it was a mess. We were in tears of laughter over it the night before the rehearsal dinner because by the end of it all, some things that were supposed to be gray were pink and what else can you do at that point?

As you can see, DIY played a veeeeery tiiiiiiny role in our wedding. This is super representative of real life. I am far from DIY savvy, as I've stated many times. Our personal touches came more from the decisions we made and our actions: the music that we played, the reasons behind our wedding colors, our vows. 

I made a sort-of haphazard Inspiration Board way back when. Let's revisit and compare, shall we?

Once again, my MS Paint Skillz hard at work. From left to right: One via Bells and Whistles; Two via Style Me Pretty / by The Rhoads; Three via Sun Kissed Weddings; Four via Sakura Photography; Five via Wedding Channel; Six via Curbly; Seven via Wedding Wire; Eight via Etsy and Nine via Etsy

All photos courtesy of Limelight-Images except for the top left, which is courtesy of BM Y.

In this case, I'd say reality beats the inspiration by a landslide.

Treely, Madly, Deeply: My Somethings - including my bees and some familiar jewelry!

We all know the saying: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue. There's the line about the sixpence in a shoe but to be honest, I didn't know that existed until Weddingbee so it was not even remotely on my radar. I loved all of my somethings and am happy to be able to write about them.

All photos via Limelight-Images unless otherwise noted.

My Somethings: 

Don't hate on my hanger, guys. ;)

My beautiful dream dress was considered as my Something New. Is this considered cheating? I loved this dress and am truly sad that I will never wear it again because I felt like such a beautiful Bride in it. This comes from a place of complete honesty that is devoid of any sense of arrogance, I promise, but I felt like it was my wedding day and that I was stunning. I hope that every Bride feels this way on her wedding day. 

Once I get my dress cleaned and snip a piece of it from underneath for some future daughter/niece/cousin/someone of a future generation, I plan to donate it. I haven't decided where. . .maybe Goodwill, maybe Brides Against Breast Cancer. Regardless, it won't sit in my closet for the rest of my life, because it is truly too special to me to have that fate.

All The Things

As our special day looms on the horizon, Mr. Palm Tree, MOH Mem and I are busy tying up all kinds of loose ends to get ready for the weekend. Bees like Miss Scepter have written about the day before the day before and I'm here to follow suit. Spoiler Alert: I didn't get to sleep in and have been on-the-go since about 8:00am. Boy, this shindig and the whole lifetime together thing better be worth it. . . ;)

Please accept my lack of an interesting segue and feast your eyes on All The Things, Palm Tree style:

The Nails

Many Bees have written about getting their nails did - Mrs. Turkey treated her girls to Nails and a Nosh, Mrs. Boa Constrictor discussed her bold color preference. This girl went to a nail salon in a mall, recommended by a friend, and opted for a gel manicure and pedicure in hopes that the color would last through the wedding AND the honeymoon.

You can't really tell because of the flash but I do have an accent finger! Some extra sparkle. :)

Purple is my favorite color and it's not played a single role in our wedding so I wanted to incorporate it somehow. My fingers and toes are this subtle, shiny shade and I'm super pleased.

Dun-Dun-Dunnnnnnn: The Palm Tree RSVPizzle Breakdizzle!

I think I'm losing my mind, so just be aware that it's entirely possible I'll start talking/writing like a a loon. With less than three weeks to go, a minor list of to-do's, an incredibly packed work schedule, an even more packed personal schedule that doesn't really lend itself to food, water and/or sleep, I'm just going to exist in a permanent state of delusion. That's okay, though, because it will all be so worth it. :) I just wanted to give fair warning to all. 

Anyway, Hive, it's here: the Palm Tree RSVP Breakdown. I've always loved these posts from other Bees and the Type A nerd in me loves to see things categorized so neatly. 

We invited 226 people (93 invitations), in hopes that about 200 would show. Our total guest count is 186.

Our First Event as an Engaged Couple

When Jon and I attended our first event as an engaged couple, I was reminded of when Miss Wizard wrote about their First Event experience on WeddingBee. It made me realize that I could write about ours, too! 

So naturally, I went into the wedding with this mindset. I would excitedly tell Bridesmaid Y, who was also at the wedding with Groomsman Y, "I can't wait to write about ____ on the blog!" 

personal photo | Schrends Do A Wedding