Where did you and your husband meet and how did you know he was the one?

My husband and I met through a mutual friend that I had known for a very long time. We were in College Station, hanging out, and Zack happened to be there with my other friend. Although we did not talk much that night, we had a few dances and the next day, he got my phone number from my friend. He called me, asked me out, cooked me dinner, and we knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together within the first two months of dating.

Where and when were you married?

Zack and I were married on July 16, 2011 in Anderson, Texas. The setting was an 1850′s historical church, Anderson Baptist Church. We are members there and the setting was absolutely beautiful and perfect. Even though the church had been restored, the rock walls are the original ones. Our reception was held at the Navasota Riverhall, which is a beautiful country setting, with amazing chandeliers and lighting.

What was your favorite memory of the day?

There are so many great memories from our wedding day. I had the privilege to wear my Gran’s wedding band that my Grandad had given her over 50 years before, as my “something old.” My Grandad is no longer with us so that was very special. Seeing my husband’s face standing at the end of the aisle when I was walking down with my dad is an unforgettable moment, and having so many amazing friends and family be there and help make our day special is something I will never forget. Another amazing memory is that all of my decorations were a surprise. I had people that I trusted to create a cake they thought I would love, flowers that I only contributed the vases for, and table decorations and set up that was done by the coordinator. This was my way of relieving stress and “letting go.” It all turned out amazing! Lastly, my parents never had their “first dance” so my brother, sister, and I dedicated a song to them so they could dance from the year they were married.

If you could do it all over again is there anything you would have done differently?

The only thing I would have done differently is have my ceremony videoed. My pictures are absolutely amazing, but I would love to be able to hear and see the music and people walk down the aisle and be able to relive those moments that I was not able to see since the bride is the last to enter.

Why did you decide to sell your wedding decorations?

My wedding decorations and dress were certainly one of a kind, but someone else deserves to have beautiful things as well. I think, by selling my decorations, that someone else can have a gorgeous wedding at a deep discount. Being able to share my things with others that will enjoy the same happiness is a rewarding feeling. You can find some of Monica’s decorations she has for sale here.

Do you have any tips or suggestions to help brides while planning a wedding?

Brides that are planning a wedding, let people help!!! Friends and family truly want to have a part in your big day. Find friends that are trustworthy and creative, give them a small vision of what you want, and let them run with it. It will all work out and it’s so exciting to be able to see their creations. Save money by shopping online, using coupons, and allowing friends to help. Also, try to have your hair and make up people come to you! It is so helpful to NOT have to travel the day of our wedding and it gives a true sense of unity with the bridal party when everyone can get dressed together. Don’t settle for anything less than what you want. And spend most of your money on the honeymoon. It’s the best part. Lastly, do not forget the reason you are getting married. It is not so you can have a beautiful wedding or an expensive dress. It is because two people truly love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together. Everything else is just small details compared to the rest of your lives together!

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Monica’s Wedding Vendors

Photography: Summer Lange Photography / Flowers: The Traveling Rose
Makeup: BCSmakeupartist.com / Cakes: Sweet Sisters
Coordinating/Bridal Party Jewelry: Brenda Wells Rehearsal Dinner: Mary Lavendar / Reception Dinner: Yaya’s Catering / Church: Anderson Baptist Church – Officiant: Bro. Kyle Childress / Ceremony Music: Jellyface Music / Reception Music: Kraz’d Kountry Band Travel Agent: Cheryl at Custom Travels Houston

Where did you and your husband meet and how did you know he was the one?

In 2002, we were both working at retail store in Wilkes Barre, PA. While I was working at the front of the store, three firefighters came storming in the building. Why? It turns out that the anchor store in the strip mall had received a bomb threat.

Seriously? In Wilkes Barre? You also have to remember that this was 2002; it had not been a full year since the horrific events of 9-11 happened. Any kind of treat was treated with serious precaution.

Therefore we evacuated the store immediately and instructed employees to meet at the “safe point”.

Since all the employees had to go to the safe point, the Barnes and Noble across the parking lot, I decided to drive myself. Just as I was pulling away, I saw that the new guy (aka Jesse) standing by himself. Being nice, I asked Jes if he would like a ride to the Barnes and Noble.

We grabbed some coffee from Starbucks in Barnes and Noble and sat outside chatting. Over the next few weeks we talked to each other randomly in passing… “Well why don’t you go out with a guy like me?” He would ask.

“Because I’m afraid of losing brain cells” I would respond.

However one Friday everything changed. I was working a morning shift and Jes had the pleasure of closing. In passing I joke “So, when are you taking me out?”

“How about tonight”

“Umm… (long pause)… s..ur..e”

“Great, I’m closing tonight so why don’t we meet at Eddy’s at midnight.” The rest was history.

Jesse and I might do things a little backwards than most couples. We started living together in 2004, engaged in 2009 and married in 2011. I guess that we like to take our time before making big decisions.

The major reason for the long engagement period was we could not figure out what kind of wedding we wanted to host. We would look at blogs and fall in love with the destination beach weddings and dream of the warm sand between our toes.  However, what beach? What country?

To add an additional twist into our wedding planning, my family (excluding my parents) lives in England. Jesse’s family lives in Upstate New York. Traditionally the couple gets married in the bride’s hometown, we grew up in Northern California, however currently we live in Philadelphia. So where do we host a wedding?

Growing up I was always jealous of friends that could run to Grandma’s house when they had a minor disagreement with their parents. Jesse comes from a huge and caring family. Here was my chance to get the extended family network I never had. It wasn’t easy; in fact it was quite overwhelming. So many personalities!

Every time we spent time with Jesse’s Grandmother, she always mentioned couples that got married on the “hill” had the best marriages. It didn’t matter where we were, we could be at one of her Grandchildren’s wedding and she would always tell us that the weddings that happen on the “hill” are the ones that last. In 2010, we were tired of trying to accommodate possible guests, tired of looking into elaborate elopement get-a-ways, and his Grandmothers words kept ringing in my ear. We had to get married on the “hill” – her hill – the one in her backyard.

What was your favorite memory of the day?

The day really flew by rather quickly. However, I have to say once I got out of the car, met my father in front of the house and started walking towards Jesse, the day was pretty magical. My dad and I had a quick chat on the walk down. “Shan, you doing alright? Are you nervous?”

“Dad, walk faster will you… we really don’t have all day for this?”

When we finally met up with the officiant and Jesse, it finally kicked in. OMG – everyone is looking at me. ECK! Then I started hearing the tears from my mother… oh geez, there goes my knees.

“Ha-ha, look she is finally shaking! She must be nervous after all.”

Thanks, Dad. I knew I could count on you to point out the obvious.

Honestly, I really didn’t expect to have all the emotions of the day to hit me right then and there. It did… like a ton of bricks! I don’t know if it is my favorite memory but it’s definitely the one that sticks out the most.

If you could do it all over again is there anything you would have done differently?

Overall, the wedding was wonderful! I am so glad that I convince Jes to have it at his grandparent’s home. The location was perfect and we could not have asked for better love and support from his extended family members.

Why did you decide to sell your wedding items?

Why not! I don’t need 13 lanterns hanging around my house!

Do you have any tips or suggestions to help brides while planning a wedding?

The idea of planning a wedding three hours away from where we lived actually stressed us out, so we decided to hire a wedding planner. Since we where on a budget, we arranged for her to provide us with vendor support, recommendations and handle the day of coordination. This was the best purchase we made for the wedding.

In order to help with the planning, I opened a Dropbox account to share files with our wedding planner. I would save blog posts that would evoke the style we like and drew sketches of what the tables should look like.

A wedding is about the union of a couple and the elements of the wedding should reflect the couple and their styles. We stressed over the details that we felt reflected us as a couple. We decided to embark on DIY projects that showcased our tastes and us. Many people think of DIY wedding projects and little things like tears of joy packages come to mind. Take a step back and really think about the elements that will add a true benefit to your event. It can be as simple as picking a non-traditional drink menu!

Since we are from Philadelphia, we decided to serve only Philadelphia area brewed craft beers including Victory’s “Summer Love”. Jesse built a table container so the beer could stand upright while in ice and he made the same style of containers for the wine selection.

I’m glad we chose to have cupcakes. We were able to have margarita flavored cake with a tequila frosting, a Guinness flavored cake with Bailey frosting and a purple velvet to tie in to the rest of the event.

One of the antiques that can be found in Jesse’s Grandmother home is an old fashion teacart. It has been used in every wedding held at the home since it was purchased, so we had to find a way to make it a feature in ours. We decided that it should showcase the three family weddings that took place on the hill prior to us. Since it is was painted black and we decided to brighten it up by adding milk vases and bright flowers to it. For an added treat we left a dish filled with mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, our favorite candy.

Since one of our reception tables featured painted Ikea lanterns, we used a large lantern in the same style and cut out a slot on top for our cards. For our guest book we made a guest tree. I made this myself by signing up for Adobe’s free 30-day software and played with purchased stock graphics for the tree. Since I had the free trial software, I then created postcards for each place setting explainimg our donation to Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society.

Our ceremony was a labor of love. It took the entire family to help with its creation. Jesse’s uncles regularly bale hay on their property, therefore we were able to use some of the bales for free! Jesse’s mom created the quilts to cover the hay, his father built the planter boxes, and his Aunt spent hours every week deadheading all the petunias to make sure the planters where nice and full for the wedding.

For a surprise to the family, we had set up a table of champagne in front of the ceremony sites. We displayed a picture of his Grandparent’s when they where young along side this poem, author unknown:

“Those we love don’t go away,

They walk beside us every day,

Unseen, unheard, but always near,

Still loved, still missed and very dear.

Please toast to their memory and the new ones we are about to create.”

So, why have champagne before the ceremony… well, why not? I was reading on a planning website that a champagne toast is the biggest waste of money at the reception. I totally agree, mostly because its after cocktail hour and I already have a drink in hand.  This was the one element that our traditional style parents asked us about – Are you doing a champagne toast? Not wanting to say no, we decided that we would reinterpret the tradition.

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Shannon and Jesse’s wedding vendors

Wedding Coordinator and Florist: Maria Montemagno, All Occasions by Maria Photography: Erin Abbey Photography / Entertainment: Request Mobile Music Officiant: M. Shane Cook / Cupcakes: Pixie Cakes / Catering: Terra Cotta Catering
Bride’s Dress: J.Crew / Groom’s Suit: Michael Kors / Hair & Make-Up: Bride DIY’ed

Where and when did you meet and how did you know each other was ‘the one?’

DREA: I met my husband John on a dating website.  I had been on 67 first dates in the period of about a year a half.  I dated all kinds of interesting guys – but never really had that moment when I thought “this is the guy I should be with.”  When John and I went on our first date, I thought he was awesome. We had great conversation and he was thoughtful and funny. But in my mind, there was no chemistry. It took me about 24 hours to realize that I had been dating people with whom “chemistry” for me meant that I felt I was needed. That I was filling a void in someone else’s life. With John, he didn’t need me to fill any void in his life. He was great on his own and looking for a companion to add to his already great life. I decided that was exactly the reason why I needed to see him again. Since then, we’ve had a wonderfully fulfilling, stable relationship with tons of real chemistry – a respect, admiration and attraction for each other. I feel so incredibly lucky to be the person he chose to marry.

JOHN: What I liked most about Drea at first was her creativity – how many people do you know who majored in art AND math in college? She was smart, funny, kind, interesting, adventurous. And pretty. Fairly soon I realized I was always enjoying myself with her, no matter what we did, and she both challenged me and supported me constantly. I think that’s what’s made our relationship stable and fulfilling

Where and when were you married?

Do you have any tips or suggestions to help brides while planning a wedding? And/or tips on how to save money on a wedding? 

DREA: I work in television and so planning events feels very similar to pre-production on a shoot, so it’s not an uncomfortable place for me. But I think for most people who don’t plan and make lists, I would recommend getting started as early as you can and just taking one thing at a time. I looked at a lot of photos online, which was helpful since we did all of our own decor and lighting. I shopped quite a bit in downtown LA for fabrics, our rings, flowers – everything was cheaper there but you had to roll up your sleeves and dig for it AND be willing to bargain! We liked the DIY, rustic look so really went for it with our signage and the whole look of the wedding.

I highly recommend carrying around an iPad or photos in a binder so that you can talk to the vendors and tell them exactly the look you’re going for – or if you have a number of inspirations, to ask for their advice.

JOHN: On a DIY wedding like ours, have a good sense of what you are able to do yourselves and what you’ll need professional help doing. We knew we wanted a lot of lights, and while we were able to string them, we did hire someone to run power to the back of our yard and put in poles that supported cables to which the light strings attached. The same person actually built our arbor, but I designed and built the system for putting up the curtains quickly.

Guys, think of this as an excuse to use power tools.

1. Gold Tree Branches 2. Gold Chargers 3. Gold Frames
4. Gold Vases 5. Gold Elephant Tea Lights 6. Gold Favors

Jessica and her new hubby Aaron, share a kiss on their wedding day.

This Unity Candle Set is for sale on BravoBride, perfect for a couple with a last name starting with ‘S.’

Where and when was your wedding held?
The Thompson House and Gardens in Bogart, GA on March 12, 2011.

You can buy Jessica’s toasting flutes and cake serving set for almost half off.

Why did you decide to sell some of your wedding items?
I wanted to sell some of my wedding items, because I knew another bride would love to have some of the unique things from my wedding. Also, I knew that I would never use them again.

Would you recommend selling used wedding items to other brides?
I would recommend this to anyone and the website made it very easy to sell my used wedding decorations. I only wish I had used this website before I got married.

Do you have any other advice for future brides?
I would advise future brides to hire a wedding planner. This makes your life a lot easier and takes a lot of stress off. My wedding planner made sure my day went smooth and even got a last minute reception babysitter. Reception babysitters are the way to go. The babysitter entertained all of the children and this allowed the parents to have fun at the wedding.

What was your favorite memory from your big day?
My favorite memory was having our “first look” momment. We saw each other before the wedding, so that we could take pictures before the reception. Our photographer got some really great pictures from that special moment. It did not take anything away from the moment and it freed up our time to be with guests at our reception.

Jessica and Arron’s wedding vendors:
Florist The Thompson House
Photographer Deanne Segars- Beyond the Lense
Dj- Randy Burton
Wedding Cake Sugar Kneads
Wedding Planner Jesse from The Thompson House and Gardens

1. Bird Bridal Set 2. Bird Cage Tea Light/Placecard Holders
3. Handmade Bird Cake Topper 4. Love Bird Wedding Centerpiece
5. Bird Placecard Holder 6. Bird Nest Decoration 7. Bird Wedding Favors

This picture is so beautiful I even want to hang it on my wall!

When you were searching for a wedding dress, what style were you looking for?

After looking at tons of websites and through magazines I was so overwhelmed, I knew I needed to try some on. I didn’t want anything trendy that would cause me to look back in 10 or 20 or 30 years and say, “yuck! that is so 2000′s!”. I wanted to go for a look that was more simple, yet gave a classy, slightly vintage vibe. I couldn’t find anything in bridal magazines that jumped out at me, so I decided to just go out and look locally. I knew I definitely wanted a dress with wide cap style straps, which is next to impossible to find many dresses out there today. I didn’t want to be one of those brides tugging on her strapless dress the whole time. I ended up purchasing a size 10 strapless dress off the rack. It looked like a potato sack, but I knew once it fit my frame, it would give me the look I wanted.

I purchased my wedding veil from BravoBride. I knew I wanted the veil to look like it had walked straight out of a cathedral in Spain. The La Sposa veil was originally a cathedral length veil with a blusher. I paid $175 from a girl who’s wedding was delayed and she was unsure if she still wanted this style. I got a few extra pictures close up of the lace edge and ran on a lot of hope that it would match well with my dress; color, lace and beading. I ended up having my seamstress remove the blusher and the veil looked perfect! It really pulled together everything to give me the look I wanted. So many people complimented me on the veil for it’s regal look.

Melissa was married in a Catholic church that happened to have the longest aisle in Louisville. She knew this veil would give her "wow" factor she was going for.

Would you recommend buying a used wedding dress to other brides?

I definitely think buying used wedding gowns is such a smart idea. I was constantly on BravoBride looking for items that I could buy gently used from others. Why not?! It’s crazy to spend thousands on a dress you only wear for 8 hours. Pay 1/2 price or at least less than retail. I bought items for our reception including the cake knife and server, toasting flutes, bird cage for cards, and more. I also sold lots of items from my wedding that I knew I no longer needed since it was all done.

The La Sposa veil was a perfect fit for Melissa's gorgeous gown.

Where and when was your wedding held?

St. Agnes Catholic Church in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday, September 17, 2010.

St. Agnes Catholic Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

Where you a DIY bride?

I did make tons of crafts for my wedding (all the programs, all the table numbers, chair signs for the wedding party,  place cards for all guests, favor boxes, custom bottled waters, ‘yipee’ and ‘yay’ flags, menus at every seat, kids goodie bags and activity books, drink menus in the bar, etc).

I even lovingly designed my custom logo that shined on the wall behind the dance floor and made coffee filter pomanders to decorate the room. I was certainly busy for the year before!

The couple's first dance with Melissa's custom logo in the background.

Melissa's favorite find was a Barbie and Ken wedding ornament set that she used as a cake topper. She plans to hang it on their Christmas tree every year to remind them of their wedding day.

Thank you so much Melissa for sharing your big day with us! It’s obvious how much time and love you put into planning your wedding; it turned out beautifully!

Here are some of Melissa’s wedding vendors that helped make her day possible.

Photography: Kriech Higdon Photography
Flowers: Millennium Events & Floral
Reception Venue: Frazier International History Museum
Make Up: Lorraine Allen
Accommodations: Seelbach Hilton
Transportation: Person to Person Limo
Caterer: Jarfi’s
Dance Lessons: Shall We Dance
DJ: Night Owl DJ’s
Wedding Coordinator: Sunny Sky Events
Hair: Cutting Edge

1. Clover Embroidered Table Overlay 2. Emerald Green Crystal Necklace
3. Bowtie 4. Green Bridesmaid Dress
5. Green Satin Shoes 6. Erica Koesler Celtic Tiara 7. Green Clutch