our wedding: ceremony details

Here's some more photos from the ceremony. We're so blessed to have had a photographer who took note of the details we worked so hard on for so many months. She's my hero.

Our ceremony musician, a friend of Mr. FP's and a local musician who did an awesome job. Or, at least, so I'm told. I was a little too focused on walking down the aisle to hear him. Pathetic, I know. He played "Today" as everyone walked down the aisle, which ended up being very appropriate since he openly admits to having a man crush on Joshua Radin.





Tree face! These bad boys are scattered all over the trees at the cottage and they're all unique and hilarious.


Our program attendant, sitting patiently. Thank goodness for calm children.


Our programs. I made 80 of these and I have absolutely no desire to ever do that again. The only consolation in the seemingly never-ending program assembly process? The cute little owls.


Our amazing handmade rings done by fabuluster on Etsy. We cannot thank Jess and Brent Williams enough for these pieces of art that we get to wear on our fingers. And I'm thankful to have some good shots of them because mine never quite did them justice. Read more about them in these posts.



Our rings in their nest. I think our ring bearer may have been a little thrown off guard when we told him he'd be carrying a nest, but he rocked it.


Our vow sheet which we shared. Complete with typo.


The chairs. Which took me way too long to set up. Good thing they're pretty, or else I'd hate them.


One of my favorite things about the ceremony, Mr. FP's feet. The choice of Converse had been much debated in the past (his dad informed him that he "can't get all dressed up in a suit and then wear sneakers"), but I'm so thrilled he wore them. I can't help but see a pair of black high tops and have them remind me of him, even though I know millions of people wear them. But, hey, I'm not alone in that. My little cousins once saw me wearing Converse and proceeded to make fun of me for wearing Mr. FP's shoes. Because, of course, no one else in the world wore them as far as they knew at the time. I love kids.

puttin' a ring on it

As I mentioned before, our wedding bands have arrived! I feel like it's been so long since we actually started the process of getting our rings that I'm thrilled to finally have them in hand (pun intended).

Looking back at previous posts, I realize that I haven't said a single word about what's been going on with the rings since one of my first posts, so it's time for some serious updating.

A few months ago, I came across Etsy seller fabuluster and their amazing fingerprint rings. Immediately after seeing them, both Mr. FP and myself fell in love with the idea. Although my initial reaction was apprehension because we'd obviously have to order them online without ever seeing them and I wasn't so sure that the indents from the fingerprint would feel comfortable against the skin. Luckily, I was able to address all of these concerns ahead of time and Jessica assured me that the rings would be smooth and guaranteed that we'd get what we paid for.

At that point, it was full steam ahead. Honestly, how many couples in the world have each others fingerprints on the inside of their wedding band? Um, none that I've come across. Fortunately, the idea has been garnering some serious praise and it's definitely well deserved because we could not be happier with our rings.

Not only are we saving a bundle, but we're supporting local-ish (they're only 5 hours away from us) and independent artists. Being able to constantly communicate with Brent and Jessica made the process that much easier and although I put them through hell with my indecision, we ended up with exactly what we want, so it all worked out.

The actual process was fairly easy, although time consuming since we had to ship things back and forth. The whole thing starts off with a fingerprint impression kit that we stressed over because we wanted our finger impressions to turn out perfect. Although they weren't all great, we got 4 different tries with one kit, so it ended up okay in the end. And only a few weeks after receiving our impression kit, the rings were practically done.

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I found it was much easier to see the fingerprint impression through the photographs of Mr. FP's ring because his is wider. The detail on the actual rings is incredible.


And because we're weird, the first thing we did after opening the box was check to make sure that the impressions match our own fingerprints so for 3 minutes, we just sat there inspecting the fingerprints. Mr. FP was convinced that mine didn't have his, but he was looking at it sideways because he's stupid like that sometimes.

Originally, we'd planned to have rings that matched exactly, but that changed after browsing through the shop. I ended up choosing a variation on this ring so mine would include diamonds & sapphires (of course) in white gold (to match my engagement ring) and Mr. FP opted for a modern design with lines in sterling silver.


I can't say enough amazing things about the whole thing. Jessica and Brent were open to practically anything. These ones worked perfectly for us, but their shop is full of a wide variety of styles so if you're in the market for some seriously unique wedding bands, I would highly recommend checking them out!

woodland weddings

The latest inspiration board comes from one of the fastest growing wedding themes out there: woodland weddings! Maybe it's only a result of my shameless addiction to Etsy but the woodland theme for weddings seems to be popping up everywhere lately and I have to say, I love it.

Although we decided early on that we didn't want to commit ourselves to a strict theme or color combination for our wedding, both Mr. FP and I seem to be drawn to all things woodland. And even though most woodland items scream fall wedding, the simple and natural qualities of most woodland-related ideas are go well with our outdoor wedding. So I've been scouring Etsy lately for ways to incorporate these elements into our day without overdoing it and this has been the result. For in case this wasn't enough woodland for you, try searching Etsy's categories for "woodland wedding" for even more inspiration. Enjoy!

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Top row from left: the silver dipped leaf necklace is from briguysgirls; the lovely boutonniere is one of many from myrakim who has some amazing collections for bridal parties and is available for custom work; these bird seed hearts are from naturefavors; for one of my all time favorite tree toppers, check out the super romantic Rose Garden cake topper here.

Row 2: custom eggs in a nest for place cards or guest favors; feather garter is also from myrakim; silver leaf necklace with your choice of gem.

Row 3: 14k white gold birch ring from esdesigns; amazing ceramic buttons from beadfreaky who does some amazing work and all kind of different designs (I'm hoping to somehow incorporate these into my DIY boutonnieres because I love, love, love them); super romantic ring bearer pillow from bstudio who also has many designs; set of 3 natural white birch tea light candle holders.

Row 4: uber unique bridal bouquet from AprilHilerDesigns; my all-time favorite ring pillow... er, nest from JloveS; birdhouse boutonniere from HeartFelted who was a finalist in the DIY Weddings Crafts Contest with Etsy and Martha Stewart Weddings which you can read about here.

On the Hunt for Wedding Bands

Wedding bands have perplexed me since day 1 of our engagement. I am so happy I didn't have any input into the choice of my engagement ring because I am notoriously indecisive. So a decision this big (I mean, come on, we will have them for the rest of our lives so I'm feeling the pressure) is next to impossible for me. Thankfully, I have the internetz to help me out on this one.

And once again, Etsy has been my got to source for the wide array of choices. I love the eco-friendly choices at mcfarlanddesigns especially this gem (pardon the pun):


And, although I love my engagement ring to death, it was really expensive. Much more than I probably ever wanted to spend. And in spite of the fact that I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world now that I've fallen in love with it (just to reassure Mr. FB that he made the right choice), if I'd found something like the amazing stuff from onegarnetgirl I might have encouraged him to spend less money on something like this:


Another great thing about buying handmade wedding bands is that a lot of them come in sets which will match perfectly since they're created to go together instead of buying from jewelery stores who carry all different brands. I love the look of this set (from esdesigns) since I'm a fan of a wider band than most traditional bands have:



And through my extensive research, Mr. FP and I have finally found something that we can agree on (what a shock, I know). They're made by a husband-wife business in Maine and we're going to get them customized to suite our tastes since they can make almost anything.

I'd share a photo, but Mr. FP is so impressed with them that he doesn't want to share our secret with anyone yet. I know, how rude. But secret or no secret, I can't wait to see how they'll turn out. Let's keep our fingers crossed, shall we?