It was like a giant family reunion, especially for my dad’s side of my family. His cousins made the trip and I hadn’t seen most of them in decades! We also got to spend time with two of my cousins and their beautiful babies, who we hadn’t gotten a chance to meet  yet. It was wonderful to catch up and see how happy my parents were surrounded by their amazing family and friends. The afternoon was laid-back and fun, just like Ben and Lana.

My mom was the mastermind behind the entire event and she did a beautiful job making everything come together. In addition to making several homemade sweets, she had Kelly’s Bakery and Cafe cater and everyone raved about the delicious spread. My favorite dishes were the bacon-wrapped dates and ham, cheese and apple butter croissants. I plan to recreate them both soon for the blog!

My dad, of course, was in charge of the beer. He made an amazing dry-hopped Saison for the occasion. It was fantastic. Having a dad that brews beer seriously ups his coolness factor — my friends are always asking when he’s coming to Indiana next because they love sampling his creations. Once we move later this summer I think I’ll have to have him come over and teach me how to brew!

After a month of nonstop travel, I’m definitely ready for a relaxing weekend in Bloomington. I need to get back into my cooking/workout routine, which has been seriously thrown off the past two weeks. My body has had way too much sugar and is in need of lots of fruit and veggies. Looking forward to getting back on the meal prep train this weekend!

The post A Wedding Luncheon For Ben + Lana appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.

The moment I saw James at the end of the aisle all of my worries faded away. I couldn’t stop smiling and I didn’t care whether the flowers looked right or the room was too small. In that moment it felt like just the two of us. Everything was perfect.

The night flew by, ending just as beautifully as it began. The DJ played “Wonderful Tonight” and James sang the words as we danced to the last song. It’s not the details of decor, the color of my lipstick or the taste of cake I remember from that day. It’s those little moments that were just ours.

It’s hard to believe it’s been an entire year since our wedding day. In some ways, it feels like the year flew by. But when I look at everything we’ve done over the past 365 days, I’m amazed.

Here’s a list of superlatives to describe our first year of marriage. I asked James to play along for this one, too and it was so fun to hear what he thought were highlights. If year one is this good, I can’t wait to see what we experience over an entire lifetime.

Biggest Milestone

Babs: Taking our first big trip together! Despite dating for several years before tying the knot, we hadn’t been on a vacation together that was longer than a few days. That changed with our honeymoon. And it was an absolute blast.

James: Starting the process of buying a house was a big milestone. We haven’t bought one yet, but going through all the paperwork and looking at homes together is a big step.

Toughest Challenge

Babs: House hunting — and the search isn’t over yet! What started out as a fun process quickly became stressful after making offers on several houses and those falling through, for a variety of different reasons. We’re still searching for our future home and have learned so much in the process. And it hasn’t been easy! But it’s been great for our relationship. Learning to compromise and putting your spouse’s needs above your own occasionally is an important part of marriage.

James: Buying a home is the worst experience ever. Period. Attempting to buy in Bloomington, Indiana doesn’t help because there are very few options. Just when you think you’ve found “the one,” someone will swoop in with a quarter million dollars in cash and buy it so quick it’ll make your head spin. The constant heartbreak of seeing homes we love suddenly drop off the market really drains all the joy out of the search process for both of us. I would have given up weeks ago if not for Babs’ optimism as the yin to my pessimistic yang.

Most Memorable Meal

Babs: Our first meal in Italy at Sorrento’s Inn Bufalito. We’d been traveling for hours via airplane and train and were so happy to finally be at our destination. And by the time we got there, we were starving. The tasting platter of different mozzarella and the warm focaccia was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I’ll dream about it until we return.

James: Our last meal in Italy was my favorite. We dined at Il Giardino di Albino, a place in Rome we had walked past earlier and tried to get into only to realize it wasn’t open yet. It was worth the wait: the fettuccine al limone was incredible.

Favorite Trip

Babs: Our honeymoon to Italy. It’s a trip I dreamed of taking for years and I was so happy when we landed that I started tearing up. We got to visit places I’d read about for years and each stop was more beautiful than I ever imagined. Sharing the experience with my best friend made it all the more special.

James: Italy. It was a whirlwind of a trip and not one we will soon forget. We had talked about doing it for years so it was incredible to finally be able to go. Being in such a beautiful place with my best friend was amazing.

Most Valuable Lesson

Babs: There will be times when your spouse needs more from you than you need from them and vice versa. Sometimes one of you has a long, stressful day at work and that means you need the other person to step up and cook dinner, do the dishes, clean the house. None of that’s worth keeping score over. Sometimes you’ll need to be the stronger one, and that’s OK. That’s the beauty of marriage — you have someone to help hold you up when you feel like you’re about to fall down.

James: John Lennon once sang, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” That is so very true. While we are constantly working towards the future and making plans for it (e.g. buying a house, planning a Fall vacation), it’s important to stop and smell the roses once in a while. Live in the moment. Don’t lose sight of the little things that are happening all around you in the current moment as you focus on the future. Look to the future, but cherish the present.

Biggest Surprise

Babs: Marriage didn’t really change our relationship. And I think that’s a good thing. I didn’t expect anything drastic to happen after we said, “I do,” but I don’t feel much different than before we were married. I was already committed to our relationship, crazy about James and planning my life with him by my side. Several people have asked me what’s changed since getting married and the only thing I can think of is I have a stronger sense of pride. I’ve always been proud of James and who he is as a person, what he’s accomplished — but there’s something about being able to say, “Yeah, that’s my amazing husband” that makes it even better.

James: To somewhat continue from the last prompt, the biggest surprise is how quickly time moves. It doesn’t feel like it’s been a year yet. Wasn’t Christmas just a couple weeks ago? It’s comforting to know we are the constant for each other in the whirl of time that is life.

Favorite Wedding Moment

Babs: This one is a toss up. It’s either when James was rubbing my hands during the ceremony, trying to keep me calm as I fought back happy tears, or when he sang to me as our song played during the last dance of the night. I will carry those moments with me always.

James: It’s hard to pick a single moment. The entire day was such a blur of sensory overload. I focused on hanging onto certain snapshots of the day. To have so many close family members and friends together for a big party was incredible. The entire night felt like it lasted 10 minutes because it was so much fun.

The Best Is Yet To Come

Babs: I can’t pick just one thing that I’m most excited for because everyday is an adventure when we’re together. Whether we’re just sitting around at home binge watching Game Of Thrones, exploring a new route on our bikes or venturing to far off places, we have a blast. Every new experience I have is one I want to share with James and I’m excited for a lifetime of more.

James: I’m excited for this summer. It’s always my favorite season because we are so active. From hikes to bike rides to swimming at the lake to #porching, we have a lot of fun together in the summer.

The post The First Year appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.

Miraculously, we both held it together.

We had to move the ceremony indoors, which made me very nervous because the space was so small. By moving a few tables around and asking a couple of guests to stand, we pulled it off. While it wasn’t what we had planned, many people told us after the ceremony they loved how intimate it made the ceremony feel.

Seeing James’ face at the end of the aisle made my stress about everything going as planned quickly fade away. I couldn’t stop smiling knowing in a matter of minutes we would be married.

We hired a cellist to play during the ceremony and I surprised James by walking down the aisle to Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight.” Shortly after we started dating, James told me the song reminded him of me. It’s been our song ever since. Although, James said he was so caught up in the moment he wasn’t paying attention to the music.

My sister officiated the ceremony, which I wrote and tweaked up until the week of the wedding. I also asked her to write some of her own words of wisdom to us. What she wrote was beautiful and played off of the theme of riding in tandem, which made our tandem bike backdrop all the more perfect.

About halfway through the ceremony, my sister told us to join hands. We were both on the verge of tears and James kept rubbing my hands the whole time. It made it feel like we were the only ones in the room. I will always remember that moment.

We both wrote our own vows, which we heard for the first time during the ceremony. This was my favorite part. It was so meaningful to be able to make promises about our life together in front of our family and friends. Here’s what I wrote to James:

James, from the moment we met, you just got me.

Fresh off a trip to Nashville, I’d returned to South Bend disappointed I didn’t find the cowboy of my dreams.

One of the first things you did when we met was pull out a picture of yourself dressed in a cowboy hat and a giant belt buckle at the Wyoming rodeo.

It didn’t take me long to figure out you definitely weren’t a cowboy — you were taking their pictures.

But, it didn’t matter. By then, you’d already lassoed my heart.

Life with you since that day has been such an incredible adventure.

Every moment I spend with you is a moment I want to last forever.

You’ve opened my eyes to new experiences and my heart to endless possibilities.

I promise to try my best to do the same for you over the course of the rest of our lives.
I promise to make you laugh loudly and often.
I promise to be your biggest cheerleader — even when you’ve lost faith in yourself.
I promise to always make you a birthday cake.
I promise to be a great listener — to really hear what you’re saying.
I promise to always support you and do what I can to help you achieve your dreams.
I promise to never let you drink bad beer.
I promise to put you and our relationship first.
I promise to do everything in my power to make you ridiculously happy.
I promise to always be your ally.

And, most of all, I promise to be your best friend, your partner in crime and your partner in life.

I look at these promises more as privileges — I get to laugh with you and cry with you, care for you and share with you, build a life with you and live with you forever by my side.

I love you more than I thought possible and I still can’t believe I’m lucky enough to be standing here today, marrying a man better than anyone I ever could have dreamed up.

James’ vows were the perfect balance of funny and sentimental. I’ve printed them off and displayed them in our wedding shadow box so I can read them everyday:

Barbara, you are my best friend, my inspiration, my one true love. I am inspired by your kindness, your love, your beauty inside and out. Your smile can brighten the gloomiest of days. You make me laugh, you make me banana crepes, you make me happy. You stole my heart and I want you to keep it. I love you.

I promise to love you, hold you and honor you.
I promise to grow old with you and never stop growing with you.
I promise to be honest, kind, patient and forgiving.
I promise to love you through sunshine and storms.
I promise to love you forever and always.

After exchanging rings, it was time to seal our marriage with a kiss! The ceremony only lasted about ten minutes, which was the perfect length to me. Standing there in a room surrounded by everyone we love is the happiest I’ve ever been.

My sister pronounced us husband and wife and we walked out on cloud nine, ready to celebrate with a night on the dance floor.

The post Our Wedding: The Ceremony appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.

Happy hump day, friends! I hope your week is going well. I’ve decided to bring back my Wedding Wednesday posts for the next few weeks — mainly because I never finished my series of wedding recap posts I started in September. I got so caught up in work and the honeymoon that I completely forgot. Better late than never, right?

The day of our wedding I got up bright and early (after hardly any sleep) to head out and get my hair and makeup done. I looked outside and saw clouds hovering and rain steadily coming down. I knew then we would have to move the ceremony inside. I tried not to dwell too much on the weather and a sweet package from my friend Molly helped take my mind off what was beyond my control. Molls gave me the package and instructed me to open it the day of the wedding. Inside was a beautiful, heartfelt card, as well as a bicycle scarf and a large makeup pouch that says “Today is going to be the best day ever.” It was the sweetest gesture and reminded me what really mattered on such a special day.

After a quick breakfast with my parents, brother and maids of honor, I headed out for my first appointment of the day. In hindsight, I wish I would have taken my maids of honor along. I went alone, thinking some solo time first thing in the morning would allow me to clear my head and start the day stress-free. That wasn’t the case. My makeup artist was more than 20 minutes late, which pushed the rest of the day back. I was so stressed by the time I left I nearly called James and told him I needed to see him before the ceremony in order to make it through the day without having a breakdown.

Luckily, my hairstylist had a mimosa waiting for me at my second appointment and made sure I made it out of the salon in plenty of time to relax a bit before the ceremony with my best girls. We rented the gorgeous Julie Vrooman Suite at the Vrooman Mansion in Bloomington for the girls to get ready in. They’d been there for about an hour doing their hair and makeup by the time I arrived, so we had some time to snap a few photos in our matching rompers and enjoy some celebratory champagne before getting dressed.

I also opened a card and gifts from James at that point, which helped calm my nerves. He knows how much I love all things Kate Spade and got me a stunning bracelet to wear in the wedding and an adorable “Mrs” necklace to wear afterward. I cherish them both, but not as much as the beautiful card he wrote.

As I stepped into my dress, each of my bridesmaids played a different role in helping me get dressed — whether it was tying the bow in my sash or helping me get my shoes on. My mom also helped get me ready to go. I wanted to make sure they all felt included and knew how important it was to have them stand by my side on my big day.

Once I was all ready, everyone left the room and the photographer helped guide my dad inside with his eyes closed. James and I didn’t want to see each other before the ceremony, but I wanted to do a “First Look” with my dad. The series of photos our photographer snapped of the big reveal is something I will treasure forever.

After that, I invited my mom in and gave both of my parents their gifts of personalized handkerchiefs. We exchanged several hugs before they headed off to the venue to help the guys get ready for the ceremony. James and the groomsmen spent most of the day at my parents’ house relaxing before getting dressed and heading out to the venue early.

The girls and I spent a little more time with the photographer at the mansion taking photos on the beautiful porch before heading out to the Davis Lodge for the ceremony. My amazing Uncle Bill chauffeured us out in his van, pulling us right up to the side door of the venue to shelter us from the rain. The one good thing about almost everything running behind early in the day was I barely had time to think before I got into my dress. If there was more down time, I’m sure I would have spent it worrying about the weather or the logistics of the ceremony.

By the time we got inside the venue, we only had about two minutes before the ceremony started. Before I knew it, I was walking down the aisle, getting ready to marry a man who is more amazing than I ever dreamed.

You can read more about our wedding: 
The Rehearsal
Setting Up The Venue
Bridal Party Gifts
My Favorite Wedding Etsy Finds

The post Our Wedding: Getting Ready appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.

After spending all day the Friday before our wedding getting the venue setup, I was absolutely exhausted. I had about an hour of downtime to shower and get ready for the rehearsal and dinner and I was starting to silently panic. The weather was awful on Friday and the forecast for Saturday wasn’t looking much better — nonstop rain.

The one thing I kept saying leading up to the wedding is that as long as Mother Nature cooperated, everything would go smoothly.

Boy, did I jinx myself.

As our friends and family started to arrive to the venue Friday night, it became clear we needed to come up with a plan to hold the ceremony inside. We knew this was a possibility, but we really hadn’t thought about the logistics. We decided the mantel with the tandem bike on it would serve as the best backdrop. It would require us to push some tables off into one of the separate rooms and ask some guests to stand. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the only way to make it work in the small space.

As soon as we came up with a plan, the rehearsal got underway. While we didn’t hire a wedding planner, we did hire my mom’s friend to serve as a wedding coordinator for our big day — and we couldn’t have done it without her! I ran the rehearsal, but she watched closely so she could help make sure the ceremony went as planned on our wedding day.

I was pretty flustered throughout the rehearsal because I was so hung up on the weather. I just couldn’t help it — the one thing I couldn’t control was going wrong. We ran through the ceremony and headed over to Swinger’s Grille for our rehearsal dinner. We’d originally planned on holding the dinner at a local brewery, but had major issues with service during the planning process. Swinger’s ended up being perfect.

We had a BBQ buffet (one of James’ and my father-in-law’s favorite foods) and cocktails for guests. It was great to be surrounded by all of the people we love the night before the wedding, when my nerves were running high.

Between eating and mingling we handed out gifts for those in the bridal party and the people who played a role in our ceremony. We decided to hold off and give our parents their gifts on the day of the wedding.

One of my favorite moments of the whole weekend happened after the rehearsal dinner, when my parents opened their home to anyone who was in town to come over for wine and homebrew. The night ended with a large group of our friends down in the basement, sampling my dad’s beer. We toasted to our upcoming nuptials with everyone before saying our goodbyes.

Being in the basement surrounded by love helped put things in perspective for me — who cared if it rained? We had everything we needed. Not even Mother Nature could ruin our day.

The post Our Wedding: The Rehearsal appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.

Happy Sunday, friends! I hope you’re enjoying the long weekend so far. We’ve kept things pretty low key because it’s been so long since we had some down time to relax and get chores done around the house. Today’s been the perfect balance of laziness and productivity!

Today I’m rolling out the first in a series of posts about our wedding day. I’m splitting it all up so the posts don’t get too long. It’s still so hard to believe it’s been three months since we said, “I do”! Please let me know if there are any specific details you’re curious about.

The days leading up to our May 30th wedding were very hectic. Because I decided I wanted to do everything myself instead of hiring a planner, we had a lot of little details to finish, like tying the tags on hundreds of homebrew favors. I enlisted the help of family and friends to get everything together. We spent the day before the wedding at our venue, The Davis Lodge, putting up decorations.

My poor father-in-law had the task of hanging dozens of paper lanterns from the large wooden beams inside. He’d hang a few and then ask me if they needed to be higher or lower and I seemed to always make him change the arrangement slightly. He was so kind and didn’t complain one bit! It looked amazing. We got a good deal on the lanterns by ordering a variety of sizes from Oriental Trading and then using coupons at Michael’s for white pom poms and lanterns.

We had two mantels to decorate and knew they would need some drama because they really are the focal points of the venue. We incorporated a tandem bike theme throughout our wedding because of our love of cycling and my amazing in-laws were able to borrow a blue tandem bike for us to use. We put it on top of one of the mantels and tied lots of balloons to the seats and handlebars, then surrounded it with flowers and candles. It looked better than I ever imagined.

The same bike shop also lent us a yellow Schwinn that we used to decorate near the front entrance of the venue. We found a bike basket at a flea market in town and had the florist fill it with a beautiful array of flowers.

Next to the bike outside, we placed two old doors that we repainted and distressed on easels and ran twine across the front so we could attach escort cards using clothespins. I spent a long time handwriting those escort cards and then arranging them in alphabetical order.

To decorate the other large mantel inside, we used large, metal letters my mom snagged from TJ Maxx. Our florist, The Frilly Lily, came to deliver flowers the night before the wedding and was so helpful in helping us figure out the best way to arrange everything in the space. She filled a large, copper tub that was my grandfather’s with baby’s breath and daises. All of the vases we used came from my grandfather’s antique bottle collection and all held varying arrangements of hydrangeas, daisies, baby’s breath and billy balls. It matched the shabby chic setting perfectly.

We used white tea lights throughout the venue to help give the lodge a romantic ambience. We bought about 200 from the dollar store — so much bang for our buck! You can never have too many candles.

Once we had some of the big decorations out of the way, we got to work on getting the tables put together. They were all decorated with beautiful table runners my mom spent weeks sewing. The tree stump rounds were rented from Old Oak Vintage Rentals, which saved us money and the hassle of cutting down a tree.

I made the table numbers using tags, craft paint and a Martha Stewart stencil. They only took about ten minutes to make but turned out great!

The rest of the venue was decorated with a variety of artwork we either bought specifically for the wedding or were already using in our home. We snagged several wedding-related $10 prints from Hatch Show Print  during a trip to see my brother in Nashville last year. We had them dry mounted and incorporated them throughout the venue.

We also tried to incorporate artwork that represented our personalities — a print we bought at our local farmer’s market, locally-made prints of cameras and typewriters. People loved those little details.

Luckily, James is great at graphic design. Not only did he design our Save the Dates and invitations, he happily put together several signs we used throughout our venue to let people know about our wedding hashtag and to direct people to our guestbook.

But perhaps one of my favorite decorations was a collection of family wedding photos we displayed. It featured pictures from our parents’, grandparents’, aunts’, uncles’ and cousins’ weddings. Our family loved being able to see all of those pictures and reminisce. I’m so glad we have all of those photos to treasure and display in our home.

The day before the wedding flew by quickly and before we knew it it was time for the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner! I’ll tell you more about that later this week. Until then, enjoy your extra day off for the holiday!

The post Our Wedding: Setting Up The Venue appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.

I can’t stop smiling. James and I have spent the past two days constantly looking through our wedding photos, which we got back this week. It’s so much fun to relive the special moments of our big day through pictures.

Our photographer, Stephen Haas, did a great job capturing the mood of the day. We didn’t let Mother Nature rain on our parade!

I’ve had to stop myself from constantly posting picture after picture on Instagram. It’s hard not to! Seeing the smiles on the faces of our family and friends brings me so much joy.

Now that we have all of the photos, I plan to tell you more about the details of our wedding and the days leading up to it. I’ll roll those posts out over the next couple of weeks. I can’t wait to tell you more about how it all came together (lots of wine and craft paint)!

It’s hard to believe we’ve been married three months already. The summer flew by! But, that means our honeymoon is less than two weeks away. We are both so ready for a vacation and some quality time together.

Until then, we’ll just flip through these photos whenever we need an escape.

The post Reliving Our Big Day appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.

Confession: I’ve had my wedding bouquet sitting in a brown paper bag on our kitchen table for nearly two months. Parts of it were molding. Gross, I know.

I saved it after coming across this awesome idea for a wedding shadowbox during the wedding planning process. I thought it was such a touching, unique way to  forever capture some of the details of our wedding day.

I finally got around to putting mine together this week and am so happy with the results. I was able to salvage some rose petals and billy balls from our wedding flowers to incorporate in the display. Has anyone else had issues with drying flowers? My bouquet looked and smelled pretty disgusting, despite following online tips on how to properly preserve it.

I’m a super sentimental person — I’ve saved every love letter and card James gave me since we started dating — so having this on display in our home makes my heart smile.

And, it only cost about $50 and an hour of my time. Here’s how I did it:

First, I stopped by Michael’s and picked up a shadowbox frame, pearlized straight pins, spray adhesive and some fabric. I chose a 16 x 20 frame based one what I set aside from our wedding to put in the frame. I also decided on a white fabric with little white polka dots because I didn’t want to distract too much from the items I was showcasing. A solid color fabric would work well, too. All of these supplies only cost me about $50 (tip: download the Michael’s and Retail Me Not apps on your phone — I use them both for coupons and never pay full price).

Once I had everything I needed, I played around with how I wanted to place all of the items. I decided to display our vows, our invitation, our Save the Date, James’ boutonniere, my hair piece, a home brew favor tag, my garter and some flowers from our wedding.

Next, I cut and hot glued the fabric to the shadow box backing. I did this by first straight pinning the fabric to the board, trimming the extra, then removing pins one side at a time and applying hot glue. Make sure to pull the fabric tightly to avoid making wrinkles.

I attached the items using a combination of hot glue and straight pins. For items that laid flat, hot glue was enough to keep them in place. I used pins on the garter, flower bunches and hair pin. In most cases, I was actually able to hide the ends of the pins underneath the items.

I ended up rearranging the items slightly as I affixed them to the board.

Once they were all in place, I very carefully sprayed the entire display lightly with spray adhesive. Everything was secure before then, but I just wanted to ensure nothing would fall out of place.

I think my favorite part of the shadowbox is our vows. I ended up re-writing mine on a nice piece of stationary because the paper I had them written on for our wedding day got lost at some point during the reception. We were too busy having the time of our lives to notice! Being able to look at those vows on a daily basis will serve as a reminder of the spouses we hope to be and how lucky we are to have found one another.

I can’t believe how beautiful the end product ended up being — and how easy it was to throw together. You can make these shadowboxes for so many occasions — a kid’s first birthday party, a fun family vacation, even to memorialize a loved one. I hope ours is something that will be passed down for several generations.

The post Wedding Wednesday: Making A Wedding Shadowbox appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.

So when it came time to choose the booze for our wedding, we knew exactly what we wanted: good beer and good wine. We served Bell’s Two Hearted and Oberon and Oliver Winery Shiraz and Creekbend Vignoles. All of our choices were hits with our guests, but especially the beer. At one point during the reception we almost ran out! But, our amazing bartenders (if you’re in Central Illinois, I highly recommend Redbird Catering) ran out to refill our supply. They brought back some Not Your Father’s Root Beer, which ended up being the most popular beverage of the night. Who knew?!

Liquor will be one of your biggest wedding expenses, so I highly recommend deciding on drinks as early as possible in the wedding planning process. Here are a few tips to help guide you through the process of selecting the right option for your budget and making sure your guests are well-hydrated when they hit the dance floor!

(Photo by Stephen Haas Photography)

1. Set a budget. 
Because liquor will be one of your largest wedding planning expenses, you need to decide early on how much you’re willing to spend. This will help you determine whether you can afford a cash bar, open bar or limited open bar. And don’t worry about what other people will think if they have to pay for their own drinks. This is your wedding and it’s all about what you want and feel comfortable spending.

2. Prioritize.
Decide what’s most important to you — quality or variety? You may be able to afford a full open bar, but one that only includes well liquor. Or, you may decide you’d rather spend your money on higher quality beer and wine. Do you really want champagne for the toast, or are you OK with guests drinking whatever they already have in their glasses?

3. Consider connivence.
We knew a good portion of our guests would spend a lot of their time on the dance floor, so we decided against having real wine glasses for the reception. We used clear plastic cups, which worked so much better. We also decided to have the bartenders serve bottled beer. Although it was slightly more expensive than a keg, it was much faster and less messy. Plus, someone started a spontaneous spin-the-bottle dance off — so much fun!

4. Calculate.
In my opinion, this is the hardest part. My calculations were a little off for our wedding since we ended up running out of our initial beer supply. I read several different guides online that said to count on guests having one drink per hour at the reception. I knew some of our guests would barely finish a glass of wine and others would down several bottles. I went through our guest list and labeled the non-drinkers, light drinkers and heavy drinkers. I figured three drinks for light drinkers and five drinks for heavy drinkers. That worked out perfectly when it came to calculating the overall amount of alcohol we would need. Where I messed up was in the beer to wine ratio — we ordered 60 percent wine and 40 percent beer. I should have adjusted that ratio based on the preferences of our guests. You can use an online wedding alcohol calculator to help you ballpark the costs.

The post Wedding Wednesday: Choosing The Booze appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.

The costs can be overwhelming at times — and  not just for the bride and groom. Being in the wedding party is an honor, but it comes at a cost. Many of our friends traveled so far to be part of our wedding day. Knowing that, we tried hard to make everything as easy as possible for the people who stood by our sides. One of the ways we did that was by giving them some of the clothing and accessories they would need for the big day as gifts. And, we were able to do it in a way that was affordable for us, too!

Because the girls were all picking out their own, unique bridesmaid dresses, I wanted to get them jewelry they could wear during the wedding that fit their personalities and style. I  bought all of the girls necklaces or a bracelet and earrings from JCrew Factory, which has a great selection of beautiful, high-quality jewelry that won’t break the bank.

All of the girls sent me pictures of their dresses ahead of time, so I had some idea of what type of jewelry to get for each of them. I was still a little nervous about everything looking OK together, but the necklaces worked perfectly. Could the girls look anymore stunning?!

I also wanted to get something fun and comfy for us to wear while we got ready for the wedding. I initially planned on buying lightweight, floral robes for us to wear — until I saw the cost. Nearly $400?! YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.

Instead, I went on a hunt for cute, plain rompers that I could have embroidered with the girls’ first initials. I went to just about every store I could think of and finally tracked down these great rompers at H&M. They’re so soft and under $15. My mom had a local quilt shop take care of the embroidery work and the rompers ended up being adorable. They allowed us to get ready without getting overheated and will serve as great pjs or swimsuit coverups!

Picking out gifts for the guys was even easier.

Early on in the wedding planning process, we decided we wanted the guys to wear khakis, shirts and ties instead of renting suits. It was a cheaper option for the groomsmen and we hoped they would be able to wear the clothes again after the wedding. The only item we had them purchase were the pants. We bought navy, gingham shirts from JCrew Factory as part of their gift, but sent them to the guys early so they could make sure they fit (they did, thank goodness!).

We waited until the night of the rehearsal dinner to give the groomsmen the rest of their goodies — Ralph Lauren ties and ridiculously fun socks. Their outfits came together exactly how we envisioned them and we’re so happy to know a couple of the guys have already worn their entire ensembles again!

We included handwritten cards with all of the gifts that explained how important each person was to us. That seemed to be everyone’s favorite touch — proof you don’t have to spend a fortune to show your gratitude.

The post Wedding Wednesday: Bridal Party Gifts appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.