yours was the first face that i saw

i'm so excited to share a video from our wedding with you today! we didn't hire a videographer for the big day, but asked some of our family and friends to shoot video when they felt inspired to. i am so very glad we made that request because so many special moments were captured.

our photographer friend, who took some pictures of our ceremony, compiled the many, many short iphone and camera videos and made a beautiful little film. here is a short clip from his work, set to one of our favorite songs.

wedding week: favorites

and for the last wedding week post, i give you a smattering of some of my favorite pictures from the wedding. i can't say enough good things about our photographer and i really don't think i'll ever tire of looking through these photos! 

thanks for indulging me and following along this week!

images: lorenzo de gregorio photography

wedding week: details & decor

because we didn't hire a wedding planner, i'm particularly proud of all the little details we created for our wedding. armed with my wedding inspiration board and great vendors, james and i put together the pieces of the wedding that made it feel so very us. 

my brial bouquet from flora chicago

personalized flasks c/o liquid courage

groomsmen's tommy hilfiger ties in burlap sacks with hang tags and metallic hemp string

paper goods designed by us and printed by dun-wel lithograph

frames from forever21 (no longer available) and hand-painted by me 

macarons from alliance bakery, scalloped stickers from whimsy whimsical

poms c/o paperwhite designs

cake from alliance bakery and designed by me, flowers from flora chicago

images by lorenzo de gregorio photography

wedding week: the reception

we wanted our reception to be intimate and fun for our guests and to have the opportunity to really enjoy our time with them. we only made it about half-way through the room before we were morally obligated to hit the dance floor, but we hosted a brunch the next day and got spend a bit more time with friends and family.

i can honestly say i had so much fun at our reception and dancing to the last song with some of our favorite people around us was one of the best moments of my life.

update: i should probably add that the picture of james groovin' on the dance floor is in response to the best man ending his speech by telling james to do his best jagger. see this video for an explanation.

images by lorenzo de gregorio photography

wedding week: fashion

i'm so happy with how our wedding fashion turned out, especially considering the drama around my wedding dress. i followed my instincts and went with this tulle and lace layered gown and i'm so glad i did - the fabrics gave it the feminine and romantic feel i wanted and the cut of the dress and shorter train kept it unfussy and comfortable. 

my bridal consultant suggested the augusta jones lace sash with beading and crystals, which made the dress special. i had the sash sewn in and it's still one of my favorite details from the wedding. i was not going to wear a veil originally, but i loved how bridal it made me look and feel. i had no idea what to do for shoes until a month before the wedding when badgley mischka released the ever-popular lacie in peach! if they hadn't, i would have picked these beauties.

i love that james' accessories were so meaningful: the cufflinks were picked because they are reminiscent of the lovers' knot ring he bought me early into our relationship and he wore the watch his dad gave him for graduation. 

while i did want a feminine and romantic feel to our looks, i wanted them to be timeless and elegant too. james went with a classic black tux and we opted not to match the groomsmen's ties with the bridesmaids' dresses. the groomsmen's boutonnieres were actually supposed to be peach, but looking back, i like the classic mix of white, grey and black. the boys look so sharp, don't they??

i was set on finding pale peach chiffon dresses for the girls, but that turned out to be a lot harder than i thought. i opted for these rosy peach dresses from j.crew just as they were discontinuing the color and i'm happy my girls got to the the style they wanted.

  

images by lorenzo de gregorio photography

wedding dress: watters 

bridal shoes: badgley mischka

bridal jewelry: the left bank bridal finery

bridal hair comb: dana castle

hair + makeup: carley martin

bridesmaids’ dresses: j.crew (color no longer available)
bridesmaids' necklaces: banana republic (no longer available)

groom’s tuxedo: tommy hilfiger

groomsmen’s suits: dkny
groomsmen's ties: tommy hilfiger
rings: ben bridge