Weddingbee bios

Gal: She is a civil engineer working for a general contractor construction company.

Guy: He is self employed in construction, specializing in wood trim work like crown molding, stairs, railings, etc.

She grew up as a first generation American, daughter of two Romanian immigrants.

He is a Romanian immigrant. Moved to the USA in his 20s.

She comes from a large family of 9 kids. He is the youngest of 2.

They are both science nerds, she loves bridges and airplanes, he loves astronomy and playing PC games.

 

I was SO expecting the proposal this night. We had gone shopping for a ring a month and half earlier. Then he didn't propose for Thanksgiving, Not for Christmas, so I figured it has to be New Years or I was going to go insane.

And sure enough he did.

For New Years Eve/Day Countdown we went to Chicago's Navy Pier for the big countdown and fireworks show. Since it was freezing outside, we stayed inside of the pier until about 5 min till countdown. When the count down started, I just happened quickly. At zero he had the ring in his hand and asked if I would marry him. I said YES and the fireworks went off. It was quite romantic.

Since our engagement was on the shorter end, we decided not to go with e-pics and just invest that money toward better wedding pics. So, sorry.....no pics here for you. :-(

My bridesmaids were as follows:

Maid of Honor: My best friend and cousin. We have been friends since I can remember. Most of my life memories include her. Growing up we got into alot of mischief together and many good times too. It wasn't a difficult decision choosing her. (long dress, darker hair)

Bridesmaid 1: My younger sister. Not only is she my sister but a great friend. She has an amazing and funny personality too. (long dress, blond hair)

Bridesmaid 2: One of my first great friends that I made when I moved to a new city and church here in Chicago. At first we didn't get along, but somewhere along the way we became great friends. (short dress, dark hair)

Bridesmaid 3: Another great friend I made at my new church in Chicago. I met her when she became my choir neighbor (we sat next to each other in the church choir). (short dress w/yellow flower in hair)

Jr Bridesmaid: She is my youngest sister. At about 10 years age difference, she is like a lil baby to me. I love her to pieces. (the one in the front)

The guys in our wedding were friends of ours. (these descriptions not as great as the bridesmaids...sorry)

Best Man: The groom's best friend. (furthest right)

Groomsman 1: Close friend of the bride. We were good friends back in my high school days. (second from right)

Groomsman 2: Friend from church. (second from left)

Groomsman 3: Friend from church. (farthest left)

I have a huge family. There are a total of 7 girls (6 sisters) and 2 boys. Add my parents, 3 brother-in-laws, 1 sister-in-law, and 3 nieces, now you have a zoo. Not all attended my wedding (due to traveling issues.....they are live in different cities) but it was close.

Photo 1: With my dad

Photo 2: Some of the immediate family. I'm missing two of the sisters (they ran off to decorate the cake at the reception hall)

Photo 3: All the girls (7 total)

I got my dress from David's Bridal. It is made by Oleg Cassini, but I don't know the style number since it can't be found on the David's website.

The dress is all lace. I fell in love with the vintage look of it and the lace button-up back detail. And the lace train won me over. The sash that came with the dress was more like a ribbon, so I bought a sash (also from David's) in a champagne color. I had the sash altered to be a bit less wide so it didn't overwelm the dress.

I had my bridesmaids in two different styles of dresses from David's Bridal. The first was a long dress, Style F12732.  One of the girls had the sleeves of the long dress altered to be thicker. And then I had a short dress Style F13128. The short dress was paired with a chiffon shrug in matching color. The website is no longer displaying the shrug.

My Junior Bridesmaid Dress was Style JB3115 also from David's Bridal. The shrug she is wearing was something she already owned that I thought went well.

The girls had the freedom to buy their own shoes....with the order that the shoes were gold (I had to approve). I trust their sense of style so I wasn't worried there.

One thing we knew was that we wanted to buy a suit for the groom rather than renting. We figured it would have to be something he would wear again, so we were going to get a nice designer suit.

After some shopping around and not finding anything, I had some luck. The building that I worked in had a shop that made custom suits for men and they were having a sale.

The groom had a suit he already liked of the fit, brought it with him, they took some measurements, made adjustments, we picked the fabric, liner...etc.........and less than a month later he had his custom made suit AND a custom shirt to go with it.

He looks quite handsome and it fit perfectly. He has worn it several times since.

I loved my updo. When my trial went well, I immediately booked my hairstylist. And she didn't disappoint on the wedding day.

I knew I wanted a great hair accent piece and I really really don't like tiaras. At first I thought of doing a jeweled comb. Since I love Etsy, I started my search there. But I quickly fell in love with the idea of having one of those pretty fascinator combs with feathers or a pretty flower. I found a few I liked, but I wanted something with green. After not finding something, I contacted one of the sellers that I liked and asked if they can do a custom piece. Several emails and design ideas later, here was the final product. And it looked perfect in the updo. (etsy seller will be put in my vendors list)

I decided to invest in having my makeup airbrushed, and it was definately worth the money.

Most of the makeup was airbrushed (foundation, blush and some eye color). The rest was applied traditionally (lip color, mascara, rest of the eye color).

I also had fake eyelashes, which I loved. I may need to do this more often. It made me feel beautiful. And from the picture below, you can see my reaction when I first saw myself in the mirror.

I love the color green (which if you see my wedding bio, you can see).

So my engagement ring (and wedding ring) is a simple peridot with mini-diamonds around it. I chose not to do the double band thing. I just don't see a point to it and am not big on jewelry anyways. So one ring is good for me.

The other simple band is the groom's ring. It is also a pretty simple band with a couple small embedded diamonds.

I think my shoes were just the most fantastic find ever. I knew I wanted green shoes from the beginning. Yet I was willing to settle for very fantastic white or gold if I found some and couldn't find green. So after much searching and not find green shoes, I purchased a pair of beautiful white shoes with matching handbag off ebay.

They are of the brand Dune, which are mostly found in the UK. Their website has amazing shoes. These were mine that I purchased.

 

 

And of course, right after those shoes arrived, I found my perfect green pair. They are of the brand Irregular Choice (another fantastic UK shoe brand). Their website is currently down, but I actually found the shoes on this other site.  They are still available for purchase if you like (and in purple).

My family is blessed with an ability to arrange flowers. Yet none of us are florists. Having figured out our great ability, we have yet to ever hire florists at our weddings, instead making our own arrangements.

My bouquet is made up of Amaryllis flowers and Freesia. The freesia have a beautiful smell. And I love the white amaryllis. These were combos I had never seen before. I wrapped my bouquet first in a shiny green satin that I had (mainly to mask the floral tape) then it was wrapped in lace that matched my dress. And topped off with a beautiful pin/brooch I bought off ebay for a steal of $6.

The bridesmaid and junior bridesmaid bouqets were similar to mine with amaryllis and freesia, but I also threw in a rose or garden rose and some gold artificial leaves I purchased. They were also wrapped in the shiny green fabric but then with ribbon.

All flowers in my wedding were DIY. I have an amazing family of talented sisters and cousins with green thumbs and some major craftiness.

  Buckets of the flowers (pictured Ranunculus)

 The assembly line of centerpieces

The finished product. The vases are plastic but urn shaped. Flowers include roses, garden roses, ranunculus, freesia, some filler greens, artificial plastic lemons and not so easy to see but also some gold plastic leaves.

The finished product on the tables at the reception:

 

My DIY Favors were inspired by a Martha Stewart halloween treats.

I bought test tubes in bulk of a website, with cork tops. I then purchased Jelly Belly Beans in various green and yellow colors/flavors. Mixed all the beans in a bowl, and filled them. Topped them off with corks and labels I printed on semi-clear labels.

I got many compliments and let me say, those were some good jelly beans. Mmmm mmm! I'm still eating my leftovers.

Our ceremony was a 'sit-down' ceremony approximately 1 hr 15 min long. So we had a backdrop done for where we sat and two arrangements  on the sides.

The backdrop was some ugly wood partition that was covered with green fabric (can't remember the fabric type). The pillars were also ugly wood covered in the same fabric and wrapped with gold plastic leaf garland that I bought right after Christmas on sale at Micheals.

The florals are arranged in plastic urns from Home Depot (don't they look like stone?). Flowers include amaryllis, garden roses, regular roses, freesia, ranunculus and filler greens. The lemons are artificial lemon branches from Pottery Barn. (The lemons now double as an arrangment of their own in my home.)

All decorating (the backdrop & Pillars) and the floral arrangments were DIY by myself, family and a couple friends.

The icing design that we choose was just simple. Truthfully, I don't even remember what flavors we chose. The bakery only did the cake, my sisters decorated it with the ribbon and flowers.

My more comprehensive list of vendors (with ratings on performance) is located on my website. But I will do a quick run through here.

Dress: Oleg Cassini (Style???) from David's Bridal

Sash & Veil: Also from David's Bridal

Hairpiece: Custom made by Etsy user Jennypickle

Shoes: By Irregular Choice but purchased here

Bridesmaids & Junior Bridesmaid: David's Bridal

Groom's Suit: Custom made/tailored at Andrea Vagna Custom Clothiers.

Groomsmen: They wore their own black suits with matching ties purchased on Amazon.

Rings: From Ultra Diamonds store location in downtown Chicago. The Bride's Ring. The Groom's Ring.

Ceremony Location: The church we both attend, Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church.

Reception: White Eagle Banquets located just north of the city in Niles, IL.  

Cake: See Reception. The reception hall used a baker that they work with. Not sure who.

Photographer: The best EVER!! Anna Guziak and her husband. My wedding photos on her site HERE.

Hair: Cathy of Identity Salon in Elk Grove Village (847-584-0377). She traveled to the location and did the hair for the bride, 2 bridesmaids, mom and one of my sisters. Great Job on everyone.

Makeup: Done by Jules of Makeup by Jules. She can be contacted by email: jules@makeupbyjules.com

Alter Rentals: Rented from A Abbott Party Rental in Lombard, IL. Included were two pillars, the backdrop and the pastor's podium piece. All were not too great looking so were completely covered by fabric, but very cheap to rent.

Invitations: Were semi-DIY. I bought the Martha Stewart "Customizable Gilded Frame Invitation Suite" and customized it with my own stamping in gold. I printed out the invitations and RSVP cards on my own. And for an added touch, a small line of a Shakespeare sonnet on the envelope flap. (This invitation set is also found at Micheal's stores but for about $20 more...buy online if you can)

Guestbook: Handmade by Etsy user RedOtter. It wasn't something custom ordered, but matched my wedding perfectly.

Flowers/Florist/All Arrangements: I did not have a florist do my flowers. My family is quite florally talented, so we went the DIY route on all things: Bouquets, Boutonnieres, Centerpieces, Alter Arrangements, and Cake Flowers. However, I will say that I ordered my flowers online from Fifty Flowers and from The Flower Exchange.   The artificial lemons in the centerpieces were purchased at Micheals the larger lemon branches in the alter pieces were purchased at Pottery Barn.  The alter vases/urns were from Home Depot. The centerpiece vases and much of the floral supplies came from Direct Floral Supplies (a great online wholesaler for cheap).

Aisle Runner: Custom sewn by ME!! Fabric, thread and paint from Joann Fabrics.

Favors: Jelly Beans in Test Tubes. I got the candy from Jelly Belly's website and bought them in 16 oz boxes of different colors. The test tubes are a hard plastic (to avoid glass accidents) and purchased with corks from Lake Charles Manufacturing in bulk for 250.

If there is anything else you see and I missed, ask me and I'll add it if possible.