About our wedding:
Family Snapshots • Professional Photos • Ceremony • Honeymoon Photos • Bridal Shower Photos • Planning, Stationary & DIY Projects • Vendors • Engagement Photos • Other Stuff • Resources
Well guys...We're married! Woohoo!! Even though there were a few hitches, the day went off catastrophe free! Chris and I were both very happy with the way things went. We've received many glowing reviews from our guests as well....and they weren't even solicited! Cause what are people going to say...
"Did you like the wedding?"
"No not really. It was the worst I've ever been to"....I don't think so.
More reviews to come!
All photos in the following section were taken by Tulsa photographer John Lew. He is rad and so are his photos. Please don't steal them or he will come for you in the night with flashbulbs.
To see more professional pictures visit our slideshow.
Getting Ready
A little hair rescue power.
I tried to touch up my makeup before the ceremony and succeeded at applying the wrong color of powder. "Ack! Fix me!" I cried, with what appeared to be a white stripe across my nose. Instantly, the maids were on it.
Ahhhhhhh! Flowergirls!!
Ceremony
Our flowergirls were two sets of sisters so the older girls were very helpful with the younger ones. It worked out great with no eruptions (At least none that I witnessed. I was a little preoccupied during the ceremony). I have the cutest cousins ever.
Me and my dad, right after we made each other cry for the 20th time. It's impossible to take a bad picture of the man. Me on the other hand? Red and blotchy all the way.
Sister and maid of honor extraordinaire Kelsey, with Nina (who is equally extraordinary).
Our friend Marty after giving the Sheva Brachot. This photo really captures his broodiness.
My grandfather performed the ceremony. He has officiated at every family wedding since the 1960's.
Happy Married People!
Reception
My mom and dad welcoming the guests and saying generally lovely and embarrassing things about me and Chris. In the background you can see our Ketubah and seating chart poster.
Signing the ketubah...Chris promises to keep me happy and satisfied for the rest of my life. HAHAHA!
Look how nice my leg looks! Must be a trick of the light.
Do not buy extra long sparklers! Obnoxious groomsmen will try to light you on fire as you walk by.
Details
For more information about the items in these pictures check out the Planning & DIY section.
A close up of a centerpiece ...
... and a bridesmaid bouquet.
Here I am with Maggie, from Aunt Pittypat's Catering (who is God's gift to stupid brides). I am in the midst of explaining to her what an idiot I am for mixing up tables on the seating chart poster. She painstakingly corrected my mistakes on the poster and the reception was saved from chaos. Hooray!
People
You lookin' at my man?! I'll cut you!
I am very grateful to Morrison Floral Co. for my non-cheesy gazebo.
Because of my family's love and appreciation for the study of Jewish culture, Chris and I chose to adapt the traditions of the Sheva Brachot and the Ketubah as part of our ceremony. These traditions added another layer of meaning and personalization to our wedding and we incorporated them out of respect for Judaism and the strong value that the Jewish faith places on the marriage covenant. I researched both practices extensively and to the best of my knowledge, our adaptations were as reverent as possible. If you're curious to find out more about these traditions there are plenty of sites you can visit including AskMoses.com and the wikipedia pages on The Ketubah and The Sheva Brachot.
Music Selections adapted for String Quartet:
Seating of the Mothers- Ashokan Farewell, Jay Ungar
Bridal Party Procession- Gabriel's Oboe, Ennio Morricone
Bridal Procession- The Luckiest, Ben Folds
Recessional- Vita Nostra, Ennio Morricone
Chris and I took our honeymoon in NY. Save the cruises for when we're old and retired. We've been talking about this trip since before we even started dating, so it was a great beginning for our married adventure. NYC rocked our faces...but killed our feet. Thank God for the 24 hr Rite Aid next to our hotel and the Dr. Scholl inserts it provided.
To see more honeymoon and wedding pics please visit my flickr site
These pics are from my May 7th shower at my house in Shawnee, hosted by two of my fabulous bridesmaids. To see more photos, visit my
flickr page.
Color Scheme Inspirations
My Colors? Trout Stream and Paprika, thankyouverymuch. Judging from the looks on the faces of my vendors, my color scheme choices were a little unusual. I wanted something different that didn't include pastels or pinks, but that also wasn't too trendy. So, I went down to Lowe's, stole some paint chips to try out different combinations, and this is what I came up with (with a couple other examples to prove that I'm not the only one out there):
Stationary
I designed all my stationary stuff but farmed out the printing of the invitations to Paper Monkey Press in Berkeley, CA. They did such a fabulous job on the letter pressing! My design came out very sharp and the colors are so deep and clear... you would not believe how great these look in person!
Original invitation design
Bridesmaid newsletter
Save the Date postcards.
Thank you cards printed on my Gocco Press with papers from Papersource. Yay for Goccos!
Rehearsal dinner invites
Programs! 8 pages printed on my laser printer to save a little on print costs. As long as you don't get them wet, they're just fine.
The sandalwood fans were a great hit since temperatures climbed to over 100 degrees! We ordered 200 and only had 14 left over! I ordered these from WhiteAisle.com which had the most reasonable prices I found. Be careful, though, because they're scented... like sandalwood, go figure. The scent didn't seem to bother any of the guests though. We placed these on the ceremony seats with our programs. The tags are letter pressed, once again, by the wonderful Paper Monkey Press
1" Buttons! Designed by me and put together by the fine people at One Inch Round.
A special thanks to Chris for helping with all the sorting, cropping, folding, stapling and hole punching.
Our 22"x 24" seating chart poster. We framed it and put it on an easel in the barn.
The table numbers are pieces of balsa wood run through my Gocco Press. The Gocco Press rocks my face. Get one.
Our poor family tree got a little beat up in the truck ride after the wedding but here it is! The photos are b&w copies of our grandparents and parents on their wedding days (or early in their married relationship if no actual wedding photos could be found), one picture each of me and chris as children and one of our engagement pics.
We took a large piece of plywood, painted it light blue and then stenciled on the damask pattern. Ribbon, staples, molding and ¢99 wal-mart frames finished the job.
Our guestbook by World of Journals from Calliope Boutique.
Gifts for Bridal Party
1. Leather Journals from Anthropologie
2. Sugar Baby Lip Candy Glitter Gloss (It's not sticky!)
3. Acrylic "diamond" rings by artist Alissia Melka-Teichroew from greener grass designs
4. A necklace from Harold's Warehouse (hard to see...sorry)
5. A messenger bag lovingly handmade by me. I used different fabric for each girl.
6. Bride and groom tissues (not that I expect much crying from my crew...but they were cute and on sale...what was I supposed to do?).
7. I also made them screen printed T-shirts.
Shirts!
I had each member of the bridal party send me full length photos of themselves and then turned the photos into vector art silhouettes which were screen printed on shirts. I also used the silhouettes on the ceremony program.
The groomsmen received shirts with all the groomsmen, the bridesmaids with all the bridesmaids, and family and friends who came to the rehearsal dinner received the shirt with Chris and I on it. We also had rockin' khaki colored golf hats for the dads and granddads with our wedding date embroidered in navy. Keen!
My handmade garter. For those who know what they're doing- please don't laugh.
I struggled with whether or not to post a vendor review. Everything was so perfect... why dwell on the stuff that didn't quite work out? To save other brides the trouble of dealing with less than reliable vendors I've decided to go ahead and post grades. If you have any questions about why a vendor received a particular grade please page me and we can discuss it privately. I'm more than willing to give details but still would like to be discreet as all my vendors were great people...just not necessarily great vendors. Thanks!
If someone received an "A+" it' was because they really really deserved it, went above and beyond their obligations, and were just generally rad. "Plusses" were not handed out lightly.
ceremony and reception location: Harn Homestead, OKC A
officiant: Harold Mathena (Grandfather)
photographer: John Lew (Tulsa) A+
caterer: Maggie, Aunt Pittypat's Catering A+
florist: Richard, Morrison Floral Co. A
bridal gown, bridesmaid & flowergirl dresses: Mo, Bridal Showroom C-
tuxes/suits: Bridal Showroom C-
ties: Dillard's Penn Square
makeup: Britany at Dillard's Penn Square Prescriptive's Counter B+
musicians: Joseph Guevara, Oklahoma Strings A
rings: Trish, Schober's (Tulsa) A+
premarital counseling: Tim Youmans, First Baptist (Shawnee) A
rehersal dinner: Trattoria il Centro A
cake: Debbie Schwab A
rentals: Bill Veazey's Party Store C
letterpress shop:Paper Monkey Press (Berkeley, CA) A+
day-of coordinator: Joanna through Morrison Floral Co......a tough one to grade. Was she crazy with a penchant for destruction? Yes. Could I have done it without her? No
Debbie Schwab was nice enough to drive a cake sample to Shawnee all the way from the outskirts of Edmond (about an 1 1/2 hour drive). Chris was a little impatient... couldn't wait for me to make the coffee, much less get forks out of the drawer. Can't take him anywhere.
A few engagement pics for your viewing pleasure. John Lew, Photographer
That's all you get....and much more than you wanted I'm sure. Pictures were taken around downtown Tulsa and the Gilcrease Museum.
Engagement Story:
Chris (My DH. duh.) proposed while we were in Chicago in June of '05. After his planned proposal location ended up being lame (Bah to Navy Pier), we wandered around Lake Michigan (that's right, all the way around it) till he found a small, gated, memorial park. When we walked into the park, a cop with a bull horn was driving up the walk closing the place for the night. Chris asked me to wait by the fountain and went down to talk to the cop. I , being stupid, was completely oblivious and couldn't figure out what was so great about the fountain that he would bug a cop to let us stay.
The cop was nice enough to let us stay after closing and waited for us by the gate... only after he asked Chris if he was "really sure he wanted to do it." I said yes and our teeth clanged awkwardly together when we kissed...just like a couple of 12 year olds... cause we're cool like that.
So thus we were engaged. Yay us!
an interesting angle...right before he proposed.
Custom made by Schober's in Tulsa, with filigree and lots of unique details. Chris designed it himself. We're both very proud of him.
Nov. 5th, 2005 Get Together at Nonna's in Bricktown
mrsbong/Emily, codysBride2be/Nicole, ChiOcutie/Erin, LeCirage/me
I was bored so I grabbed some cardboard and painted a picture. Chris thinks he resembles the Rock. I say he has nice caps.
A painting from one of my parents' wedding photos.
A Christmas gift for my cousin.
Our puppy Fiona. She's part maybe corgi, part probably beagle, with some brendle mixed in. We adopted her from a no-kill shelter and she is fantastic.
Knotty Bios:
Casalita
Mrs. Amazon
OKCBride2B
AntiBridezilla
AcademyBeldam-
Excuse me whle I take a second...I flippin' love this bio! If only I had found it before my wedding...that would've been great. First Dance is Cat Power's "Sea of Love" so she has to be awesome (a song which has been on every mix tape I've ever made for Chris)...couple that with good taste in music, mad DIY skillz, a love of birds and C'a del Solo and she could just be my knottie soul mate. That's it. I married the wrong person.
NoSoup4U
BombshellBride
stierwaescherin
tattooed_bride
missdottie
mrs.meteowrite
hannikan
Read these Books!
By posting these images it is my desire to spur your creativity so that you come up with great designs that reflect your own personality, however, please be respectful of my work and do not copy directly from this bio. Each design featured in this bio is an original and the creative property of Le Cirage Designs.
If you are interested in design work or creative help for your own wedding, please contact me at lecirage at yahoo.com, or page me on the local Oklahoma board. You can also visit my site FeelingisMutual.com for more information. Thanks!
Please credit me or my photographer (or both!) when using these images for your own bio.
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