autumn in arizona...a real reader's wedding story

Melissa Dunstan Photography

When I get emails from readers it makes me giddy.  Like GID-dy!  And when I got this email from Kat, a fellow NAU Lumberjack, I freaked out!  Be still my heart.  Be still.  Thank you Kat for sending your journey ...your wedding was sooooooo lovely.  

When I began planning my wedding I found A Mountain Bride and it became a huge source of inspiration for me because Jes's wedding exuded the type of atmosphere that I was looking to create. It helped me realize that my wedding didn't necessarily have to have a theme or style; but that it could just be about us. I was so overwhelmed in the beginning realizing that by saying "yes" I had deliberately made my life very stressful by adding wedding planning to my already full plate of working full time as a store manager, and getting my Masters in History (did I mention Zachary was in school too; and that we have a 100lb German Shepard to take care of too?!) But the world of wedding bloggers are SOOO inspirational to know that other people have gone through the same things.

Zachary and I have a long history together, as we met at Freshman orientation after being at college for less than a day at NAU. We started dating 3 weeks later and had been together for 5 years when he proposed. He had my ring custom designed by a local artist, Will McNabb Jewelers. It's so beautiful; he had sapphires put in because he knows I wanted something a little more unique. Zachary proposed on 10-10-09 while doing our annual hiking trip in Lockette Meadow amongst the aspen trees, so it was only fitting that we would a) get married on 10-10-10 and b) get married amongst the Aspen trees. But that idea quickly faded away when we realized that our $10,000 budget wouldn't quite facilitate our vision. As most of our guests would be traveling from all around the country, and most were unfamiliar with the Southwest, Sedona quickly became a better choice to represent our lives together. We both wanted to get married outside and had no trouble at all finding an unforgettable location. We choose Red Rock Crossing; a FREE (ya heard me, free.) piece of Forest Service land along side Oak Creek with outstanding views of Cathedral Rock.

While checking out the spot, it was there that we realized our colors would be turquoise and orange; very reminiscent of the big blue skies Arizona possesses daily and the vibrant red rocks of Sedona.


We also knew that we wanted to have a simple, civil wedding. We had a good friend marry us and I wrote the entire 7 minute ceremony. The ceremony was one of my favorite parts of our wedding because I was able to express what things were important to us. We took a moment to honor family and friends who had passed and were unable to be there with us and also recognize those who are still denied the right of marriage. We also had a family friend read Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Both Zachary and I were uncomfortable writing separate vows for eachother and reciting them in front of every one. Instead, we wrote collaborative vows that we repeated to eachother:

I give you this ring as a sign that I choose you

To be my lover, partner, and my best friend, to the end of my days

Wear it, think of me, and know that I love you

We needed to save money in lots of areas with our high number of guests and our little 10k budget. So I handmade the save the dates as well as the invitations. I drew them, scanned them in, and had them printed on recycled paper at Kinkos. We saved ALOT of money doing that. Also, I looooove pumpkins and to go along with our budget and colors, we used pumpkins as our centerpieces, as either carved out tealight holders or as vases. It was a really fun DIY and an expensive way to create centerpieces. We also used pillar candles because I just happened to work at Armadilla Wax Works and also used turquoise and orange scented candles as our favors. All our guests loved the candles...so did the staff at the Heartline Cafe (our reception venue) and most the pillar centerpieces ended up doubling as favors when most of the guests took them home!!

I, unfortunately, was one of those brides who couldn't afford the dress of my dreams...it was an Oscar de la Renta for $12,000!!!!! I knew right away that I would have to settle for something else. I flew back to NY and went dress shopping with my family and friends at David's Bridal and found a dress that had similar qualities. I got the dress and veil for only $450 and needed no alterations - the dress fit me perfectly! However, when it came in the mail a few months later it sat in the closet and I kept staring it knowing something needed to be done to make it mine. So, I took it Anne's Alterations in Flagstaff and she added a bubble hem. It came out so beautiful and I felt so great knowing that no one else had my dress - it was unique to me - and the price was right!

Photography was the most important aspect of our wedding. We hired a fantastic photographer, Melissa Dunstan. She had done our engagement photos in the SNOW and we had so much fun working with her. Our chemistry worked so well together and she was able to capture our special JUST the way we wanted.

Zachary really wanted sparklers, so we left them on the tables and had people light them up for our first dance, "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison. It was truly magical. Heavenly.

 Even though I spent the entire 365 days leading up to the wedding doing every DIY project I could think of, pinching pennies, and planning for every little problem that could happen, I also reminded myself that I had to let go. My goal was two days before the wedding, I would stop. Anything that wasn't done - wasn't done. And sure enough when 4pm, 2 days before the wedding came, when I was in the midst of crying...I just let it alll go. On the wedding day, LOTS of things went wrong, that were TOTALLY out of my control; I was even late, but I told myself that it was a monumental day that would only happen once and I wanted to enjoy every second I could. Everyone still tells me that I was oddly calm (like weird) on my wedding day and asks how I was able to keep it all together. I just wanted to have a day about Zachary and I celebrating our life together. I remembered what was important and let everything else roll off my back. Being the control freak that I am, I'm surprised I was able to do it.

Everyone commented on how our wedding was so full of joy and happiness. We loved having our friends and family there to celebrate our love and life journey together. Of course, I wish we could it all again <3 and...I was sad that our dog wasn't there, but they don't allow dogs on Forest Service land.

Hope this is good inspiration for fall brides :o)

flagstaff wedding: be still my heart

Oh boy did my gal Sarah Neal outdo herself with incredible photography on this glorious wedding.  I am left inspired...and even more in love with Flagstaff than before.  This might just be the most beautiful wedding I've ever seen.  It's just my style.  Check out Sarah Neal's site...this is just part 1 of the wedding...I can't wait to see more!

best guest "book" ever

All photography via A Sophisticated View

I had to post this sweet Flagstaff wedding - perhaps I'm feeling a teeny tiny bit homesick and images of Northern Arizona help.  What can I say?  I haven't been home in 6 months and it doesn't look like we'll be going back before NEXT Christmas...wowza...that just seems like soooo far away.

Anyway.

I had to share with you this couple's amazing GUEST TABLE.  Instead of having loved ones sign a book at their wedding, they literally busted out a gorgeous wooden table.  The guests used wood burning tools to add their well wishes, draw pictures, and sign their names onto their kitchen table!  I've never seen this done before and I think it's such a charming idea. So unique, and what a treasure.

etherial flagstaff bride

Claire Eliza, one of  Flagstaff's newest/hottest/freshest photographers, recently sent me these gorgeous bridal portraits and I went straight ga-ga over them.  They were shot at Buffalo Park - a location so near and dear to my heart - and to so many Flagstaff dwellers (it's a gorgeous park with panoramic views of the San Francisco Peaks, with a superb running trail that is soooo perfect)!  I'm in love with the way she captured the warm Arizona light...and I'm so impressed with this bride's romantic selections!

Beautiful beautiful beautiful!! 

Did you get bridal portraits?  I got them done a year before our wedding because a friend of mine was starting a photography business (and I totally lucked out!).  I love the pictures she took of me. 

ENTER TO WIN FREE VIDEO save-the-dates AND birth announcements HERE!

flagstaff engagement session...in wildflowers

Just when I thought I was getting "over" weddings and stuff - Sarah Neal, my fave Flagstaff photographer, (she shot our engagement pictures last summer!)  posted the most GLORIOUS Flagstaff engagement session.  It highlights alllllll that is magical and beautiful of Flagstaff - makes me yearn to be there...really truly...my heart strings are barely still attached.

I really hope Tommy and I end up living in Flagstaff someday.  See for yourself...this engagement session is beyond glorious.  

real life: northern arizona wedding

I about fell out of my chair when I saw Anna's gorgeous wedding photos...and then I actually did fall outta my chair when I found out this wedding took place at her parent's glorious Northern Arizona home!!  Wow.  Anna and her husband created some beautiful details for their wedding celebration... thank you for sharing you special day Anna!!  (PS:  I always enjoy her blog,  Life Be Delicious - a lovely blog, full of recipes and diy projects!)

Well I've never done a guest blog post and am honored to share with you my wedding today. I got married last April 24, 2009 and here is the whirlwind details of the big day. Originally I had wanted to get married at my parents but then in 2005 my brother got married on our front lawn and it was a LOT of work so I told my mom I didn't want to put her through that. However, when we got engaged in June of 08 and started looking at venues in Phoenix I realized there really was no other place I would like to start our lives together than where I grew up, not to mention where we got engaged. Once we really believed we could fit on the front lawn and then have enough tent space for the reception I started working on the church...

We are both Catholic and wanted to get married "in" the church but under God's sky so...in a nutshell: I asked my priest in Buckeye {my hubby's hometown and my then residence} and he essentially said an outdoor wedding was a no go. We really enjoyed him and had originally planned on him marrying us because he truly is an amazing, caring and fun pastor. However, I didn't feel like he wanted the wedding to be outdoors and didn't pursue it very much, so I went to my dad's parish in Cottonwood and asked Father David...and he said, "Of course!" to the outdoor wedding. I couldn't have been more thrilled, blessed and ecstatic that I could have such a meaningful place to share our sacrament of marriage. {Side note: The Cottonwood church was currently under construction to have a gorgeous 1,500 person capacity church but they were still in a small modular building that can only hold about 320 max which worked out because we ended up having over 400 to the wedding}

  the front lawn converted into the wedding zone

Once Father David was on board the "wedding" process was a breeze. I have never met a more caring, relaxed and comfortable pastor. He was a complete blessing and both my husband and I were extremely honored and blessed to have preside over our ceremony. Next up, reception...to be brief we had many people pitch in and I couldn't have been more thankful. We rented all of our tents, tables, linens, plates/silverware, lights, dance floor and anything else from a local place {Verde Valley Rentals} which was so nice to do instead of having to get it from Phoenix. I liked supporting our local business and I didn't have to stress about adding more tables and chairs last minute since they were right in town. 

  No chairs until after the ceremony but a glimpse of the centerpieces. Half were down and half were up but they didn't put the "up" ones up until closer to the ceremony since we had a little wind early in the day.

For centerpieces I let my mother-in-law have full reign and I loved it. I didn't have to think nor worry about them. Originally I didn't think I would do flowers since they are kinda costly but she wanted them and said she would gladly take care of them. How awesome is it that my husband works with a guy whose family owns a wholesale flower shop in Phoenix?! And what are the odds?! So, we were very lucky to buy our flowers from them and not to mention they loaned us a trailer with A/C to transport up north! My hubby's uncle was a blessing and brought them up the day of the wedding all assembled in the vases from Buckeye. My MIL had a friend who is that person who doesn't work in a flower shop but did once upon a time and does an amazing job with floral arrangements.

You can see the flowers on each side of us were way more than I ever dreamed of! 

After the ceremony they moved them over to the cake table.

The meal is where I was originally nervous for my mom to get overworked. I wanted her to enjoy herself and not be busy prepping/cooking/serving. So this is how we handled it...it was a combined effort of many. We hired a restaurant {Manzanita Inn} to do the meat, tri-tip and lamb. Seriously, phenomenal. My family and my husbands family both ranch cattle so it was important to us that the meat be perfect. Originally my mom wanted to do prime rib but sadly, I'm not that big of a fan and I just love tri-tip...if you have never had it you must, soon!! My husbands family used to be in the sheep business as well so she wanted to surprise him with lamb for the meal, he was surprised and the guests loved it! My mother, sister and grandmother and myself did the green beans {I think we washed, cut and prepped about 90 pounds...I was over them by the end of it}. So I mentioned we raise cattle and thus are involved with cattle industry groups so we had our local cattle women's group serve at the wedding not to mention handle a variety of other things {side note-they've done it before for fundraisers, I actually remember working at another ranching families wedding when I was younger as a cattle woman member}. My mother has the best recipe for gourmet potatoes {delightful, cheesy spuds} and at the cattle women's meeting the week prior my mom and wonderful sister-in-law distributed the ingredients necessary for people to whip up some batches, not to mention that my SIL and mom made several themselves! The day of the CW {cattle women} did the salad and basically put out and served all the food {rolls, salad, green beans, spuds} and handled the water/iced tea/lemonade station making sure it was constantly replenished. The restaurant cooked and served the meat. And we had 2 couples friends of the family each man a bar to make sure the beer, wine and margaritas were flowing. We definitely saved money by doing a lot of the work ourselves as well as buying most ingredients {minus the meat} ourselves and having "non-official" caterers work at it.

I just loved how special the day was made with so many people pitching in and making it so memorable. I literally didn't stress once during the whole day and I owe that to all the help of so many people. In writing this it made me remember how much thought and planning went into it and I cannot begin to fit that all into one post...there are so many other things I would tell you but most of all I would say soak it up, it's only going to happen once so enjoy it, it's also only one day out of so many more so don't get so stressed over it.

So to wrap it up here are a few more pictures of the big day to show you just how special it was to us. 

Me and my girls. Obviously my colors were turquoise and brown...I had their sterling silver/turquoise necklaces handmade by a friend of my sisters in Cottonwood, AZ. I was honored to give them to them and thought they were perfect for the day. 

  I'm not a big fan of the pictures by myself but I had to share this one. See that little red heifer in the background? She was a star of the show, during the wedding little kids were enamored by her and watched her patiently through the fence. She was in the background of many pictures and I just love her for it. Side note- I had my bouquets done at a shop locally and I loved it-2 dozen roses blown open, tulips and calalillies (s/p?) and something that was extremely special--my grandmother's handkerchief from when she graduated from nursing school was wrapped around it. I had a dozen roses for each bridesmaid wrapped with turquoise ribbon.

 My hubby and his guys. Our photographer was Britta Van Vranken from Tucson and she did a phenomenal job.

 Having a little prayer with my ladies before go time.

My nieces Dylan Marie and Grace Katherine were perfect! My mom has a quilting friend with tons of rose bushes and she got fresh petals that morning for them to throw.

Our nephew Robert decided to carry the pillow in his mouth which I just loved. If the flower girls or ring bearer don't break the ice with a little laughter I don't think a wedding is complete. The pillow my mom made for us.

This is during the Lord's prayer and this is both of our fathers holding hands during it. I think it symbolizes our families joining and it makes me overjoyed and sometimes a little teary eyed when I see it.

 I love this picture because it looks like a whirlwind around us but we just feel alone. You can also see my videographer of whom I loved! Taken Video Productions from the valley were the best and I treasure my video very much.

 I love this sheerly because of the mad hops my bm Holly has there on the left!

 I had to have a picture by this pear tree in our orchard. It's one of my favorite trees of all times.

I had one request for cake: butter cream. We got it from Safeway and it was perfect. I decorated the cake table with pictures of our parents and all four sets of our grandparents all on their wedding days.

Please notice the small children all around. It was literally like a family reunion for my side and we both wanted to have tons of kids there to share in the joy so that was definitely a highlight having dozens of kids running and playing.

We are big dancers and the floor was packed all night. Here is my husbands grandma and great aunt getting down.

 And we are now living happily ever after.