Glamorous Vintage Wedding

From the Bride:My husband Matt and I had heard about each other for years through our mutual friend Josh, but never had the opportunity to actually meet until one fine summer night 3 years ago when we finally all went out to dinner. Within minutes of meeting, Matt and I were completely enamored with each other, and Josh quickly became the third wheel (the three of us laugh about this often now). Josh joked that night that he was going to start writing his best man speech and sure enough, 3 years later he was our best man and gave the most memorable speech.

Matt and I connected on so many levels, including our love of great food, music, traveling, and cats but the most memorable part of the evening was when I learned that Matt shared the same birthday as my late father. It almost felt like fate – like my father was looking down on me and had sent Matt to me from above. As cliche as it sounds, I knew within a week of dating him that I wanted to marry him!

Two years into our relationship, Matt surprised me by planning a vacation to Japan which is where my mother’s side of the family is from. I grew up visiting Japan every year but as an adult, I hadn't been back in 6 years so I was ecstatic! Little did I know, he had a proposal planned, which he did in front of my family at a beautiful ocean-front resort that we were all vacationing together at. The ring was everything I had ever dreamed of, and extra special because Matt had spent months designing it himself using CAD (he is an engineer so this was so appropriate!) We all cried and celebrated with champagne – it was surreal!

Honestly the day was practically perfect and I have no real complaints or regrets, but there were a few minor things.

I will say that I do wish I would have taken a lot more time dress shopping.  In the end, my dress turned out amazing and I loved it, but only after extensive alterations and a lot of money spent. I bought it the first day I ever went to try on dresses and this was before I even knew what I really wanted as far as style, cut, etc.  I ended up spending WAY more money than I wanted on very complicated alterations to make it into the dress I longed for.  If I had taken more time to look around, try on more dresses, and really be sure of what I wanted, I could have avoided the emotional stress and strain on my wallet for going through major alterations.  My dress was originally more of a fit to flare (in my opinion, an A-line) and I wanted more of a tight mermaid silhouette. I also realized I really wanted a dress with buttons down the back. The neckline was too high and so was the back and it just felt so unflattering all around.  So I ended up paying to have Augusta Jones matching buttons sent from England and I also paid a LOT of money to do the following alterations: Lowered neckline, lowered back, had buttons sewn on, complete shape change from A-line to tight mermaid, and even had the inner corset trimmed down because you could see it from the outside.Another thing I wish was that I should have asked to see the gold fondant that my cake baker was going to use.  I showed her many pictures of the rich gold color fondant I wanted and she said she had that exact color gold...but in the end the gold on my cake ended up looking more like a yellowish, glittery gold.  It still turned out beautiful but I wish I had known what kind of fondant she was going to use.I was also a bit bummed that I didn't get more bridal pictures on the pink couch from Found Vintage.  We tried to get some shots but the sun came out just then and ruined the lighting. We said we'd try again later but of course we ran out of time and had to get the wedding going.  I loved that pink couch and knew for years that I was going to rent that couch from Found no matter what! I wish I had taken more time to get properly photographed on the couch.I also wish my hair and makeup were a bit different in that I wish I would have stuck to my normal style of make up and worn darker eyeshadow and more eye make up in general. But I think it looked really great over all. As for my hair, I loved it from one side (where it was parted) and I wish I would have stood on the other side for the ceremony so that side would have been in all the pictures.I wish I would have purchased more birdcages to hang from the trees! I had about 10 but you could barely see them!

Here is the breakdown of what we spent on everything.  In total, this came out to be $46,710 and this does not include the rings ($20,500), bracelet (gift from groom - $5000), and honeymoon ($9,000).Venue (Site Fee): $3500
Venue (Rentals of chairs, linens, heaters etc.): $2900
Photography: $4000
Cinematography: $2800
DJ and Photobooth: $2040
Flowers: $4100
Hair & Makeup: $600 (including trial and tips)
Catering: $14,000 (including tip)
Cake and desserts: $600
Chandeliers: $300
Vintage Rentals from Found (furniture and some props): $1800
Invitations: $600
Save the Dates: $70
Miscellaneous decor (glass candle holders, birdcages, frames, bunting flag supplies, cat portraits, ceremony set, table numbers, guestbook, etc.): $700
Day of Coordinator (including 2 assistants): $800
Wedding dress: $5,000 (including alterations)
Veil: $500
Crystal Belt: $590
Clutch: $145
Earrings: $85
Shoes: $250
Garter set: $30
Flower fascninator: $125
Groom's and groomsmen's suits (we paid for all of them): $1000
Groom's shoes: $175