A Breakdown of Planning My Wedding.

29 Nov

Nick and I got married on August 18th, 2023 at Bissell Tree House. When I was wedding planning the more tips other brides shared with me, the easier it was to find what I was looking for. So I wanted to write a blog breaking down everything I did for my wedding in case it would maybe help out another bride with their wedding planning process. This blog is literally everything I can remember that I did (or purchased) for the big day. (:

All photos were taken by my lovely photographer Ryon E. Photo

Getting Ready

My bridesmaids and I all stayed together at the Homewood Suites Hotel in downtown Grand Rapids. The hotel room had 2 bedrooms with a king bed, 2 queen beds, and a pull out couch so it was perfect for me and my 6 bridesmaids. It also was plenty of room to get ready in the next day without feeling to crammed.

MAKEUP - LJ Artistry

Leanne was so kind and did an amazing job on not only my makeup but all of my bridesmaids. I even made a few changes from my trial and she was so helpful with finding my perfect bridal look. I cannot reccomend Leanne enough. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to do my makeup. Also, my moms and mother-in-laws makeup look so good. She did airbrush on all of us and I recommend it.

HAIR - Grace Schafer

I absolutely love Grace! First, she works so fast. We were ahead of schedule which does not happen often on wedding days. Second, my hair looked perfect all day. The headband I was wearing did not move and the curls held all night! All of my bridesmaids loved their hair as well and I loved how each bridesmaid was able to wear their hair however they felt comfortable.

ACCESSORIES

My headband is from Davie & Chiyo but it looks like the website doesn’t exist anymore?

My earrings and bracelet were from Macy’s online. The brand was ETTIKA for both.

Here is the link to my Veil.

My shoes were from Davids Bridal.

My dress was from Jenna In White.

My bridesmaids pajamas are from Gap Factory and my pajamas are WeWoreWhat brand. I couldn’t find green pajamas for my bridesmaids that I loved so I decided to just pick a fun summer color! I also wanted everyone to feel comfortable while getting ready so I decided to pick a PJ set with pants and short sleeves.

And we used these IKEA champagne glasses for mimosas in the morning.

Wedding Party

For me one of the hardest things to coordinate was the bridesmaid dresses. I decided to do a mix between Birdy Grey and Davids Bridal satin dresses. For Birdy Grey I went with Moss Green and for Davids Bridal I did Eucalyptus and Martini Olive.

My tip would be to order the dresses yourself. After looking at so many swatches, I was overwhelmed. I ended up ordering the dresses and having my sister try them on and it was super helpful. I probably wouldn’t have selected these shades of green if I didn’t see them in person first. Just make sure to check the stores return policy!

The colors look so good all together!

Florals

My bouquet and the ceremony ground pieces were designed by Joy & Bloom Design Co. Alicia was amazing to work with and I am still obsessed with how my bouquet turned out.

For the bridesmaid bouquets and reception table decor I purchased about 4-5 buckets of flowers from Creekside Growers and we made everything ourselves about 2 days before the wedding.

Reception

Ceremony & Reception Venue - Bissell Tree House

We rented the chairs from Events by iCandy. They were great to work with, very responsive and we had no problems on the day of. We also rented all of the candle hurricane covers from Pair-A-Docs. Amelia was amazing!