Our Dream Winter Wedding

I can hardly believe it was already a year ago that we were in the thick of planning our December wedding. I spent any spare time I could find researching venues, vendors, and themes. With only four months, I thought it would be difficult to pull together the wedding of my dreams. That was a lie, my friends! With dedication, help, and a flexible mindset, it can be done. I am so thankful to CJ, friends, and family members who helped me along the way. It might not be for everyone, but I had a blast planning our dream winter wedding.

Our highlight video <3

I’m excited to walk through our magical day, share about our wonderful vendors in Bloomington & Indianapolis, as well as some helpful tools for planning your own wedding (or a friend’s). All photography is by our sweet friends Jordan Leffel and her second shooter Erin Manson. They are incredibly talented and helped to make our day run so smoothly! I have linked our vendors under the photos and throughout the post.

Details

Soon after we set the date for December 15, I knew that I wanted to incorporate deep red, navy, and gold with white flowers and lots of greenery. My sister-in-law Sarah is a graphic designer, and designed our beautiful invitations. She sent a wax seal with our initials, which gave them the sophisticated, old-time essence we were going for. We received so many compliments on these, and we keep one hanging on the fridge!

One of the things we didn’t want to splurge on was a cake. We had no intention of doing many traditional things at our reception such as cutting the cake or feeding each other the first slice. I don’t even like cake, and our love for Saturday morning donut runs confirmed that we had to have them. So we ditched the cake and bought 450 donut holes from Long’s Bakery. It turns out that we should have gotten more, because they were gone before dinner! So delicious, and 1/3 the cost of a cake.

We both love books, and dream of having a library in our home one day. CJ read the entire Harry Potter series in under a year because he knew that I loved them. It didn’t take long for us to decide on a book themed wedding. We used books as centerpieces, customized bookmarks as party favors, and our table numbers were actually the first page of Pride and Prejudice.

We stumbled upon The Cyrus Place online one day after being disappointed by a couple of tours at other venues. It’s an old church that has been turned into an event center. CJ says that when I get really excited about something, I twirl around. This place definitely made me twirl when we first walked in! It couldn’t have fit our theme better. Jillian was our coordinator, and she and Cyrus were a delight to work with.

Getting Ready

Getting ready was such a special part of this day. I got to spend hours with all of my favorite girls from different seasons of life. We caught up, drank mimosas, and took lots of photos. What could be a better way to start the day?! There were laughs, tears, and memories I will never forget.

The groomsmen, ushers, and fathers got ready before getting to the venue. The Cyrus Place has a “mancave” in the basement, where they played some games and drank some Jim Beam. It was the perfect spot for them to hang out while we were getting ready.

I finished getting ready with the mothers, my maid & matron of honor, and the photographers. It was the calm before the storm!

We didn’t write our own vows, but we did write letters to each other to read before the first look. It took some pressure off during the ceremony, and we get to keep these words to look back on.

First Looks

I had three “first looks”: with my bridesmaids, my dad, and CJ. It was so fun seeing everyone’s reaction. I was on cloud nine seeing CJ for the first time since our rehearsal dinner, and I was ready to get married already.

Wedding Party Photos

I was so disappointed that rain was in the forecast all day. It was better than snow, but I wasn’t sure how our pictures would go. Jordan was THE best and picked up some bubble umbrellas on her way. The rain and overcast skies made for perfect pictures, and turned out to be a blessing. Although I pictured a “dream winter wedding” to include snow, I’m so grateful that the weather didn’t keep people from coming.

Ceremony

I’m pretty sure that I blacked out during the ceremony. I was so nervous that I don’t think I took a breath until we kissed. We had good friends play the strings as guests were walking in, and DJ Connection (Jovet) played the music we had picked out for the rest of the ceremony. I used several “Sleeping at Last” instrumentals and we all walked out to “There Will Be Time” by Mumford & Sons. Kyle Leffel shared the gospel with our guests, and our pastor Chris Jones walked through Ephesians 5:21-33. We chose these verses because they give such a beautiful and real picture of a Christ-centered marriage. I can say confidently that the Lord was glorified, and that is all we could have hoped for.

Reception & Sendoff

People who know me well, know that I love to dance. I had been taking classes at Arthur Murray for two years before meeting CJ. When we got engaged, he joined in on my lessons, and we learned a Viennese Waltz. Our first dance was “From the Ground Up” by Dan and Shay. Unfortunately my dress was too long, and we were slipping all over the place. We went back to swaying, and I think we were both a little thankful. I learned that CJ is an amazing dancer, and I hope to take lessons with him again one day!

One thing that was very important to me was cutting the traditions and getting to dinner and dancing quickly. That has always been my favorite part of weddings, and nothing is worse than a slow moving reception (in my opinion). So we did speeches, first dances, and got our guests fed and on the dance floor. I can truly say that I was able to experience and enjoy our reception to the fullest. We said hello to everyone we could get to, and then broke it down with all of our favorite people the remainder of the evening. The best part of a wedding besides marrying your best friend, is having all of the people you love in one place.

Planning a wedding?

Here are the 7 resources I used the most:

• The Knot- There are several wedding planning websites, but I think the Knot is the most comprehensive. It comes with an extremely detailed checklist that adjusts to your wedding date. You can add or remove certain checklist items, and they have thought of everything! I logged in to my profile every day. The timeline told me exactly when to get things done so that I didn’t fall behind schedule. There is even a tool to create a wedding website with your story, registry, photos, and everything your guests need to know. Very simple to use, kept me on track, and saved me so much time.
• Etsy– I purchased my templates for signs, some bridesmaid gifts, and even some decorations here. It is amazing how many creative shops are dedicated solely to weddings. I spent so much time browsing on here, and found some great deals! It’s a great way to support small businesses and they have some of the most beautiful details that fit our wedding theme perfectly.
• Pinterest– This is a given…I used Pinterest to get inspiration (way before I even met CJ). 😉 I loved creating inspiration boards. You can even make your bridesmaids collaborators on certain boards so they can add inspiration, too. My florist actually created a board for me to add inspiration for her. It was definitely a must-have for planning.
• Friends and family– Most of my vendors were either friends/family, or were referred to me by friends. Leverage the people in your life to save $ and to include the people you love the most on your day. Our wedding party and family members helped SO much the day before, the day of, and the day after. There is so much work that goes into setting up and cleaning up that I didn’t even think about. Be sure to make a detailed plan for the people helping you so that you can enjoy the whole weekend without worries. People were more than willing to help and I felt so loved!
• Wedding planning book– I used an Erin Condren AND Kate Spade wedding planner which I received as engagement gifts. I prefer writing things out on paper, even though I used the planner on The Knot. It is so much fun to cut and paste from magazines, and to write notes that you might not think of while using online tools. I get to keep them too, which is so special.
• Facebook groups- Decorations went way down on the priority list as we set the budget since there are so many other costs that go into a wedding. A friend added me to a Facebook group for weddings, where people share reviews and buy/sell used decorations. I found most decorations on this page, and even re-sold many after. This group was a life-saver and I’m sure there are more outside of Indy.
• Google Sheets- CJ and I were constantly in here, editing and keeping track of our budget and guest list. The guest list and budget directly correlate, so it very important to keep an eye on these constantly. These are details I did not enjoy working with, and led to tears many times! Guests=money, and I wanted to invite everyone. 🙂 Google sheets helped us to stay organized and make practical decisions. The best part is that others can work in one sheet at the same time. You can also export your sheet as an excel document.

At the end of the day, planning should be fun, not painful. You get to marry your best friend, and that’s all that matters. These resources helped us SO MUCH. I hope that you will find them helpful too.

Our full wedding video <3

If you enjoyed reading about our dream winter wedding, check out my post about our honeymoon! Did you plan your own wedding, or hire a professional planner?