Today, Kevin and I celebrate our two year wedding anniversary! I’ll be totally cliche’ and say that time really does fly when you’re having fun. I can’t believe it’s been two years since our special day.
Planning a wedding can be intense and stressful for anyone, but there is extra stress for plus size brides-to-be. I am a classic Type-A personality and am an over the top perfectionist. I also tend to get stressed out easily. Given all of this, I would have expected to be a total basket case when it came to planning my wedding but I managed to keep it all together and had a super relaxed day.
In honor of our anniversary, I thought it would be fun to share some info about our big day.
Here’s a quick trailer video that our videographers at First String Media put together for us:
Our Venue: The Carrick House in Lexington, KY
The Carrick House is by far my favorite wedding venue in Central Kentucky. We looked at around a million locations and nothing compared. I loved that you could have the entire event in one location and that they had their own catering company & wedding coordinators for the event.
Our Catering: Lundy’s
Lundy’s is the in-house caterer for The Carrick House. They did an incredible job with food and drinks. The bartenders were especially a hit with the crowd!
Our Transportation: Vintage Bentley from Gold Shield
We were married on the front lawn of The Carrick House, and given the layout of the property needed to have a vehicle drop my dad and I off at the end of the aisle. I chose a classic Bentley which was really fun. I was pleasantly surprised by how relatively inexpensive it was for such a special touch.
Our Pastor: Nate Head from Southland Christian Church
Our pastor was INCREDIBLE! I’ve attended a lot of weddings, and I’ve never heard a pastor make the ceremony so special and tailored to the couple. Nate took the time to get to know us and ask a lot of questions about our relationship (how we met, our biggest fight, etc.) and incorporated special stories about us into the ceremony – some that none of our guests had ever heard.
We had so many guests rave about what an incredible job Nate did.
Our DJ: Soundwave Mobile DJ
We hired Larry from Soundwave Mobile DJ at the recommendation of a friend. It was THE BEST decision we made. We really wanted our reception to be a fun celebration and music is the best way to set the tone for the evening. Larry just got it! The dance floor was full all night long and we felt like we had been hit by a bus the next day from dancing our hearts out.
Some of our favorites from the night:
Our wedding party entered the reception to “Shut Up And Dance” by Walk The Moon
We entered the reception to “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours” by Stevie Wonder
Our first dance was to “Make You Feel My Love”, the Adele version.
The father/daughter dance was to “My Girl” by The Temptations.
The mother/son dance was to “I’ll Be There” by The Jackson Five
Our Photographer: Dustin Stevenson Photography
I went to high school with Dustin, and knew from the start that we wanted him to shoot our wedding. He also did two engagement shoots for us, one in Kentucky and he came to New York where we lived at the time to do a shoot for us as well!
Dustin made us both feel so comfortable and relaxed and we knew we could trust him to capture our day the way we wanted it.
Our Videographer: First String Media
Video is something I wasn’t sure I needed, and we almost cut it to save money. I am so glad we decided to get the video. I can just imagine showing this to our kids one day and think it’s so special.
My Dress: Sydney’s Closet
I know that finding “the dress” is always a big topic of conversation with weddings, especially for plus size brides. My dress is actually the first thing I checked off my to-do list. When we first got engaged in December 2014, I found what later became my dress on the Sydney’s Closet website when it was not yet available for sale. It was scheduled to become available in March 2015, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the dress for those three months. On the day the dress became available on the site, I knew I had to order it. There was no way I could risk it selling out. I had no other details planned for the wedding, so everything else was planned around the dress!
Cake: Martine’s Pastries
Martine is an incredible baker and pastry chef, hailing from France. She came highly recommended from several friends and our wedding coordinator at The Carrick House. We went with layers of pistachio and champagne cake with white chocolate and raspberry filling. I know those flavors sound weird, but they were specifically recommended to us by two different people and when we tried them at our tasting, we understood why.
Marine’s recently opened up a shop in downtown Lexington where they serve their yummy treats daily. I can’t wait to check out the new storefront soon.
Our Hotel: Gratz Park Inn
This hotel is currently closed for renovations, but it is a lovely boutique hotel with equestrian themed rooms. It’s also only a block or two from The Carrick House. It will be a luxury Hilton boutique property when it re-opens. I can’t wait to visit!
Our Rehearsal Dinner: TheMerrick Inn
The Merrick Inn is a Lexington staple. They serve Kentucky classics like fried chicken and Kentucky Hot Browns but also offer steak, seafood, etc. I love the atmosphere of the restaurant, especially the patio.
I’ve considered putting together a blog series about wedding planning with tips on budgeting, picking the best vendors, finding a dress, etc. Let me know in the comments – would this be helpful for you?
