Step by Step: A Fond Farewell

If your mind has wandered from the Stiletto festivities because there's so much fabulous wedding eye candy out there, let me quickly refresh your memory.

I primped and preened all morning long...

Source: Laurie Peacock

...while Mr. S donned his finest and got ready with the guys over at the church.

Source: Laurie Peacock

We said "I do" before our closest family and friends...

Source: Laurie Peacock

...then headed out and about for some beautiful pictures...

Source: Laurie Peacock

...and funny moments.

Source: Laurie Peacock

As our reception went on, we danced some dances and had a wonderful night that ended too soon!

Source: Laurie Peacock

And, from start to finish, that's all she wrote!

Source: Laurie Peacock

Well, not quite all she wrote. I wanted to say thank you to each and every reader who has left encouraging comments, given advice, and even shared details of your own lives along the way. I started blogging about our wedding because I thought I had so many great ideas, I just had to share them. But I really, truly learned so much from all of you. THANK YOU.

Blogging about the wedding has changed my life in so many different ways. I've made new friends, both near and far. I finally found my "blogging voice." Each and every day I'm able to look back on our wedding with so much happiness and pride - the day was beautiful, we were surrounded by so much love, and we actually pulled it off! Oh, and if I get really sentimental about wedding planning, I can simply Google myself, look at Google Images, and see my wedding plans picture by picture. Blogging is awesome like that.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity over the past year to share our journey. I'm sure I'll still be buzzing around the site, but please feel free to follow me on my new blog, Growing Kooky Together, where I share silly little details about our newlywed life, fun recipes, and random stories.

xoxo,

Mrs. Stiletto

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Vendor Review: Laurie Peacock Photography

As I've been traveling through my wedding day recaps, they wouldn't be complete without sharing about who made these recaps possible. The one, the only, the fabulous Laurie Peacock of Laurie Peacock Photography!

See this scrumptiousness that Laurie created?!

Source: Laurie Peacock

Mr. S, a photographer himself, is 100% credited with finding Laurie. We met with her and immediately booked Laurie well over a year before our wedding and never for one second doubted our decision.

Laurie has a very photojournalistic style, a great eye for detail and composition, and a fantastic, bubble personality to boot! She's so upbeat and fun to be around but still incredibly professional. I was completely put at ease the morning of the wedding when Laurie arrived at the hotel - I had my shoes, jewelry and rings all lined up and ready for Laurie to start shooting the details!

We were also lucky to have a second photographer for the day - Maggie Rife. Maggie was so much fun to be around, is a wonderful photographer and managed to catch far too much mischief with the guys in the morning!

There are so many talented, independent photographers in the Chicago-area and we were lucky enough to have two of them at our wedding. I could continue to rave about their work, but you should just go take a look for yourself. (Oh, and Laurie does some fantastic boudoir photo shoots for those of you who want some photos with sizzle!)

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Step by Step: Some Toasts, Thanks and More Dancing

After Mr. S and I had cut our cake and enjoyed our first dance as a married couple, we were able to sit back and relax for a bit. Finally!

Daddy Stiletto started off with a sweet welcome for all of our guests at the beginning of dinner.


While we were able to sit and eat (unfortunately, my dress was much better for standing and dancing than sitting and eating, so I felt like I couldn't breath very well and only had a few bites of our fabulous dinner), we tried to make it around to the tables and say hello to our guests. I'll be honest, having just 100 guests we still struggled to talk with everyone. I wonder how other couples handle making it around to 200, 300, 400 guests!



I definitely had some crazy eyes going on here. It was getting overwhelming and tiring, but so nice to making it around to (almost) everyone.


Toward the end of dinner, it was time for toasts (or, I think it was the end of dinner, we changed things up at the reception and I couldn't tell you what exactly happened when!).

Sister and Made of Honor Stiletto stashed the notes for her toast in the cute little clutch that I made for each of the bridesmaids - remember those?


Her toast was very heart felt and endearing, and even brought some tears to Mr. S's eyes, I think. She held it together much better than I would have!


Next up was Mr. S's best man, Matt. We had absolutely no clue about what he'd talk about, especially since he lives out of state and doesn't have stories about Mr. S and I together.


Once I realized where he was going with the toast, I could help but laugh! Matt and Mr. S love to talk sports, and I once saw an online chat between them where Matt had said "I'd love to be the best man at your funeral."

At the time, I didn't know that this was a line from some sports radio show, and was a little miffed that Matt had such a dim outlook on the wedding! Mr. S later explained it to me, and I didn't think another thing of it. Apparently Mr. S had also let Matt know I had seen it, so I quickly received an apologetic email from Matt.

Of course, all was good and who would have thought it would later be a humorous start to Matt's toast?


Overall, we were both so happy to be surrounded by family and friends and hear their kind words.


At the very end of the toasts, Mr. S and I got up to say a few words of thanks. Well, I said a very few words before quickly passing the microphone off to him! Public speaking (even with family and friends) makes my stomach flip flop. Mr. S was much more of a natural and shared some sweet words.



Finishing it all up, Daddy Stiletto and I enjoyed a dance to Frank Sinatra's "The Way You Look Tonight." While I had been searching high and low for a great father/daughter song, I ended opening it up to him to choose a song that he liked, and this was a perfect fit!



Sadly, at some point our cake had to be whisked away to serve to our guests. Our topper and a bridesmaid bouquet held down the fort in its place.


As pretty as our cake was, it was equally as tasty! I had promised myself that I'd eat a slice of each flavor, but I stayed glued to the dance floor throughout the night. I finally gobbled down a piece after tracking down a fork from the catering staff!


The formalities were finally done so it's all dancing and fun from here on out!


*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next Up - We bust out our dancing shoes!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look
Step by Step: Gettin’ Ready to Walk
Step by Step: We Get Hitched
Step by Step: Strike a Pose in the Park
Step by Step: Urban Love in Oak Park
Step by Step: Lookin' Sharp - Reception Details
Step by Step: Cut a Cake and Dance a Dance

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Step by Step: Urban Love in Oak Park

Hold your horses, because I have a whole lot of fabulosity coming your way! While we had a lot of fun posing in the park after the ceremony, we had allotted most of our time for pictures throughout downtown Oak Park. We knew we didn't have time to head into the city for urban shots there, but Oak Park turned out to be a fabulous alternative.

For those of you who are familiar with Oak Park, we had our limo driver drop us off at the corner of North Boulevard and Harlem Avenue. From there we started walking east, stopping at whatever caught our eyes, and met the driver about an hour later at North Boulevard and Oak Park Avenue.

Straight out of the limo, one of my favorite shots. That needs to be framed and on my wall, pronto!




Oak Park has a great El/Metra train station, where we took some great shots. I couldn't envision how this would turn out, and I fell in love once I saw it.


Hmm...Mr. S can whisk me away on a train any day.



There happened to be a festival going on that day - "Oak-tober Fest"! We got a lot of stares and many well wishes as we walked through.





We were always very anti-jumping. It turns out, the jumping was a whole lot of fun! We didn't ask our bridal party to jump, but Mr. S and I gave it a shot. Sadly, this is the best out of the bunch, notice my feet planted firmly on the ground. Ladies, you must remember to SMILE when you jump. I did not, hence many angry looking jumping shots of me. And Mr. S and I could never get in sync with our jumps.


Love.



Yes, our wedding party was totally fierce. Don't they look like a force to be reckoned with?


Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. I'm not a naturally laughy, bubbly person. So I adore that Laurie caught a completely natural, carefree laugh on my part.


And also a very serious, sweet moment.


Us trying to look fierce. Who knew Oak Park had so many great murals? I had never really noticed them until we were scouted for good photo locations.


Once we hit Oak Park Avenue, our wedding party was more than ready to put their feet up! My one mistake was not considering the fact that they may not have been as excited to walk around in their fancy shoes as I was. While I was totally fine with powering through blisters and cramped toes, they were not! Fortunately we were way ahead of schedule, so we bought them a bunch of water and let them chill out.


After a bit of rest (and letting our photographers rest, too - they were working hard!), Mr. S and I headed over to a nearby park for a few more one-on-one shots. This was definitely a stand out of the bunch. These kids were playing football and made their best "Eww, you're kissing faces" for the shot. I'm normally not into things that are so posed, but this is so stinkin' cute.


One more sweet embrace...


...and dress shot...


...and finally, a bit of lovely flare...


...and it was time for Mr. S to flag down our limo to take us on over to the reception!


Did I mention that I love flare?


The sun was setting so beautifully at that moment, our photographers just kept on shooting after our friends had piled into the limo.


Fortunately, by the end of the day, I was a master at getting in and out of the limo in my heels and dress! It was definitely a well-crafted combination of grace and gymnastics.



Time to head on in and see the ballroom!


*Please note: All photos from Laurie Peacock Photography

Next up - All of the fun little reception details, including the cake of my dreams!

Previously in our wedding recaps:
Step by Step: Girls Get Ready
Step by Step: Guys Get Ready
Step by Step: First Look
Step by Step: Gettin’ Ready to Walk
Step by Step: We Get Hitched
Step by Step: Strike a Pose in the Park

Read more...