Details, Detials, Details.

If you have ever planned a wedding, you know how many details there are to think about! Every little thing adds up to make your day spectacular. Now, not every wedding needs all of these little details. There are a lot of things that I probably didn't have to do, but I wanted to! I thought that it was my one day to make perfect, so why not add in personal details to make it just that!? Check out some of the little details that might have gone unnoticed by some of our guests, but made our day AWESOME:

I hand dipped our unity candle in white wax from a bare wick. I worked at a summer camp where they had a candle making activity, so a friend/coworker and I worked on it for days! The two candles are our baptismal candles that we used to add symbolism to the typical unity candle tradition. Our Mom's lit them at the beginning of the ceremony, which added even more to the meaning. Our Officiant loved it!

I love an extra bit of decor in a church (to really show off that it is a wedding, not just an everyday mass) so we had mini baby's breath wreaths hanging from the pillars on the sides of the church. I wish we would have used these again at the reception!

I'm not a huge fan of garters, but I felt like if we were going to do a garter toss, it needed to be legit! I bought the cheapest garter set I could find (because it wasn't that important to me!) and I bought ribbon and buttons to replace the cheap ones that were on it. It turned out to cost about $3 extra but I loved having a personal touch to them! I also did them for my bridesmaids! More on that in my DIY post to come soon.

Although I dislike this photograph, I HAD to tell you that I hand placed all of these crystals on my bridal shoes. Yep, I bedazzled a pair of white flats that I found online for $7 and I couldn't have been happier. Or more comfortable!

I loved my bouquet, but I loved what was on it more! My Grandfather had passed away from cancer when I was 15. He had put this hand-embroidered handkerchief in an envelope with my name on it and told my Mom to give it to me on my wedding day to use as my something old. She gave it to me a little before the wedding day so that it could be put on my bouquet to carry around with me all day! It was embroidered by my his mother. Wow.

I wanted baby's breath as something to tie all of the decor together from ceremony to reception, so I had the bridesmaids include it in their hairstyles! All the girls did something different with their hair, so this brought it all together. Some had it all over like above, and some had just a small tuft of it tucked into an asymmetrical design.

Speaking of baby's breath, these balls above our head table really pulled the flowers from the tables into the whole room!

Can you see them in the big scheme of it all?

We had a few different types of table decor. This was one option where we had charger plates covered in a baby's breath wreath and pillar candles. Some were blue candles like this picture, and some were white candles. Other charger plates were on the tables with large doilies and rocks on them instead of the flowers!

Another centerpiece we had were these tall wine bottle candelabras that I painted and put lace onto. I added the sparkle to the wine bottle candelabra and our florist added the flowers and candles during set up. They were gorgeous! 

As an art teacher, I loved the idea of having a coloring book available for the little ones to keep busy. I took photographs of Dillon and I and created a custom coloring book of us and our decor/cake/etc. for them! Of course, a Pinterest idea!

Here were the hand-bundled crayons that were too pretty not to show you.

It is so hard to see all of our day through just a few photographs, but I used doilies as a part of the reception. I made these doily wreaths and hung them on the windows in the cocktail area to make it more festive! I had the doilies already and only used hot glue and ribbon I had already to make them, so they were less that 50 cents a piece to make! They were just time consuming!

Wine bottles and doilies were a big part of our reception, so using the extra wine bottles we had to create time capsules for our guests to put advice/well wishes/letters into for our future anniversaries was awesome! I drew the numbers on free handed, and had too much fun! I can't wait to open them! (Pinterest idea again!)

I really loved creating escort cards by hand for all 360+ of our guests. It was fun to write down who was going to be there, and to make them feel special. We had them all on one table so the guests could grab their card to go save their seat that in the reception hall. This way, I didn't have to assign that many seats. It was a buffet style dinner, so it worked out great! I decorated the bridal party's cards a bit more than the others! (Again, see the doily I used? All of the papers were different colors that coordinated with our wedding colors: navy blue, copper, silver, and sparkly white)

I wanted a card box that we could reuse. My father-in-law is a carpenter, so I asked him to create a birdhouse for our card box that I could decorate! The top says "Love Birds" (It had nothing to do with the rest our wedding except the colors!) Although it was HUGE, it was perfect. It might end up being a dog house for a little dog one day! More on this project in that DIY post!

It was fitting for Dillon and I to have this quote (like we saw on Pinterest!) because his groom's cake was a Maker's Mark bottle. He is a huge whiskey fan, and I love my wine so it was cute to have on our cake table as a conversation piece. Also, see the groom's outfit on the whiskey bottle? There was a dress on the wine bottle too. The wine bottle we used was the one we drank on our engagement night. We are waaaaay too sentimental! I also designed all of our signs to match our wedding invites that I created too! 

We did the traditional garter toss and bouquet toss. We saw a Pin that said, "You're Next" on the football that you wrap your garter around to throw to the men. We had a sports based grand march, and did some pretty hilarious handshakes/stunts/skits to go with it, so the football garter toss fit perfectly. I even windmill pitched  the bouquet like a softball instead of the traditional toss. We got so many compliments on tying it all together!

Some other details we included but didn't get photographs of was decorating the bathroom and having bathroom baskets full of personal goodies. We put fabric over the stalls and hung big bows on them. We went ALL OUT for our wedding! The guests walked into the bathroom and said, "EVEN the BATHROOM?? What haven't you done!?"

And... all I thought was, "Mission Accomplished."

Mother Daughter Bracelet

Throughout our wedding planning, my mom was a huge help! She did so many amazing things for me. She was full of surprises throughout the entire year and a half. From trying on her wedding dress to organizing my bridesmaids to wear custom t-shirts when dress shopping to giving me the "something old" that my Grandfather had put in an envelope for me before he passed away. She was always doing small and big things to surprise me!  She was so sentimental through it all and made me feel so special.

Here we are putting the bracelet on!

 My mom took the beads/buttons and lace from her wedding dress and had a friend hand embroider a gorgeous design to make a bracelet for me to wear on my wedding day. She gave it to me as a Christmas gift, and it made me cry so hard! It is the most touching gift I have ever received. Having a piece of her and her wedding day was phenomenal! She had a long sleeved wedding dress with a lot of lace and buttons, and after letting my sister and I try it on, she cut off the sleeve and took some buttons and pieces from it to make this for me!

Most of the beads were bought to match my dress, but it was still beyond sentimental! It will make an unbelievable family heirloom. I knew I wanted a statement bracelet to wear on my wedding day, I just didn't know it was going to be so precious to me!

 

Like the idea? Please Pin and Share!

Recreating Memories

My last post gave some tips to use when taking some DIY Engagement Photos. It got me thinking about how many photos we re-created throughout our wedding! I wanted to make some great "pinnable" images for you to see and share this idea! Think about the memories that you hope will be important to you, and ask your parents about their favorite memories from their wedding. My mom went through her old photo albums with me and picked some of her favorite photographs for me to recreate on my wedding day, then I asked my mother-in-law to do the same (which was SO fun to do with her because I hadn't ever seen her wedding photo proofs before, just the ones hanging in the house!)

We are very lucky to have parents with long lasting and loving marriages. It was important to us to keep this tradition alive by taking these photographs!

 My husband and I were also married in the same church as my parents were 30 years before. It was very special to my mom. The other church we were going to get married in was the same church that his parents had been married in! Either way we were bound to make great memories!

Here is the example of our engagement photo remake! One of my favorites! I'm hoping to use this pose/combination of poses to take for anniversary pics for years to come. Maybe even with some little ones eventually!

My mom did some amazing things for me during my wedding planning process. One was to take parts of her dress to create a custom beaded bracelet for me to wear on my wedding day. Growing up, I always loved this photograph of my late Grandmother and my Mom on her wedding day. We both really wanted to share a similar memory together! I love that we have a similar look on our faces too! 

 

My parent's were married in 1983. The photography was done on film, and these double exposure images were very special and unique. Now, with digital photography it starts to look pretty cheesy, but how cool to see next to each other! 

Dillon's parents were married in 1988, and had a similar favorite wedding photo for us to re-create. It was important to me to have a photo from them as well! My mother-in-law had another great photo for us to recreate, but we never took the shot on our wedding day. It was very disappointing that we didn't remember! The day is just SO full!

I hope this makes you think about recreating some memories that your family members have had before you! I think it would be amazing to find some really old family photos to remake, but then again, it is all about YOU on your day! Enjoy.

Have a beautiful day :)

DIY Engagement Photos

Engaged!? Congrats! This is such an exciting time in a girl's life (and I think a guy's too, even though they play it cool) and it's time to capture your happiness! Professional engagement photos have become a big trend, but how are people affording all of this? There are some amazing and talented photographers out there who do a GREAT job, but why pay for engagement photos if you don't have to?

I'm a lover of photography, and appreciate the good stuff! I took a basic photography class in college as an art education student and figured I had enough background to do it myself. As soon as I was engaged I looked into photos, but didn't want to pay for it. My Mom had told me that although engagement photos are popular and seem so important at the time, you won't have them hanging in your house for years to come. They get overshadowed by your wedding photos as soon as you are married. Mom's sure do know everything, don't they?

So this is a do it YOURSELF post... but we didn't truly do it ourselves. We had my sister (my maid of honor) as our photographer. However, I did the editing to make them look more like a professional could have taken them! My sister had no prior experience and she would even tell you that she isn't an artsy person. She did a GREAT job taking a bunch of photos for us with my point and shoot camera. No need for a big DSLR camera here people, just something that will have enough pixels to produce quality prints!

BEFORE TAKING PHOTOS:

• PREP YOUR CAMERA:
• Set the camera to the largest photo size possible. This will allow you to make large prints, should you need or want them. It will take up more room on your memory card, but it's worth it.
• BE PREPARED:
• Pack extra batteries. Larger photo size = more battery life used.
• Pack an extra memory card! Be on the safe side.
• PLAN YOUR WARDROBE:
• Wear appropriate clothing (something without lettering/brands) to keep them timeless. You'll notice that my husband didn't do this. We were traveling in Kohler, WI and he packed nothing to wear, even though we talked about it! (Men!) 
• FIND INSPIRATION:
• Go on Pinterest, Google Image Search or find other examples of engagement photos that you love. Print these off or make notes to bring with you on the day you take photos!

Now that you have all of the necessary stuff (not much, right?) it's time to smile and say, "cheese"!

Yes, this shirt REALLY bothers me. I know I need  to just pack it for him next time!

WHILE PHOTOGRAPHING:

Taking as many photos as possible leads to candid moments!

• TAKE AS MANY PHOTOS AS POSSIBLE
• Photographers often take two hours or so to take great engagement photos and give you many, quality images to choose from. When you DIY, you're not always going to have it in focus, have a great angles, or great lighting. Take those same two hours to enjoy the experience and give you or your stand-in photographer time to get used to the camera. (We only took photos for about an hour including travel time to different spots, and we had a lot of photos to choose from but only a handful that I really loved.)
• GO TO YOUR FAVORITE LOCATIONS/SPECIAL SPOTS



These shirts I'm okay with :)

• Love a sports team? Have a special spot? Make these shots more personal by having the backgrounds you love! Use this as an excuse to go see some sights or visit memory lane to make the photos even more special. Not many photographers will go traveling to your favorite places, instead they use generic backgrounds or locations that people might have seen before. 
• USE YOUR INSPIRATION:
• Grab those photos/notes and reference them for ideas for poses. It is very weird to pose for the camera when you're not used to it. These will help break the ice, but don't forget to be yourself! Use them for references for framing/angles/compositional shots too. This is the easiest way to show your non-professional photographer what you are looking for.

 Now that you have taken your photos, you need to use a photo editing program or upload them to a photo editing website that you like. I am savvy with Photoshop due to my degree in art education but there are great ways to edit your photos if you are not up to date with software! Search online and find something free that you like!

WHILE EDITING:

•   LEVELS:
• Levels in a photograph refer to the brightness of the whites and the blackness of the blacks while keeping all the mid-tones. If you have a software program, like Photoshop, look for levels as a new adjustment layer and play around with them to make your photo pop! You can also use the contrast feature for this but levels are more subtle to me.
• OVERLAYS
• Add texture to your photograph like a pro does! I found this awesome tutorial and some freebies from a very artistic photographer, Jessica Drosin. Click HERE to see a video tutorial for Photoshop Elements. She uses some heavy Photoshop techniques in her photography, but you don't have to!
• CROP OUT DISTRACTIONS
• Have an awesome shot? Make it better by cropping it closer to you and your fiance or using the Rule of Thirds to create emphasis.

If it's your personality, go a little crazy with editing and have some fun with it! No, we did not carve this tree!

I'll be the first to tell you I'm not a professional at this!  I am an artistic person with some pretty shallow pockets! And like all of you, I have the ability to do internet searches to find simple tutorials/examples that either teach or inspire me to do it on my own! (Which is what I hope this post does for you!)

It was very true that our engagement photos were not important to us after we got our wedding photos back! They do make great memories though, and are very helpful when you want to showcase you and your fiance in your engagement announcement, at your engagement party, or even your bridal shower! We loved this engagement shot so much that we did a re-make of it on our wedding day! These photos are up in our living room, all four of them!

Have a beautiful day!

Wedding Bells!

Exactly six months ago I married my best friend and soul mate. I thought that this was the perfect day to start blogging about my wedding! Yes, I said "blogging" so expect more posts and more planning details. Weddings are all the rage on Pinterest right now, and although I used a lot of ideas from there, I also used a few of my own! I loved personalizing the wedding to really show off our personalities and the union of our two families! We were married in the same church as my parents 30 years before us, which only starts the sentimental and meaningful touches that we added to our day!

Much like today, July 27th was unseasonably cold! We were actually fortunate to have a wedding with overcast skies and 60 degree weather because it made for some gorgeous outdoor photos and a lot less sweating than anticipated! We were so blessed to have everything go smoothly and as planned!

Dillon and I met in elementary school, he actually hated me in the 5th grade! Yes, hated! I have to say I was an obnoxious 10 year old, so I don't blame him! We started dating our freshman year of high school and have been together ever since I asked him to be my boyfriend on Yahoo Messenger..... not the most romantic story in the world! We were voted best couple in our senior yearbook and were the captains of the volleyball/football and softball/baseball teams. We even wore the same number.... even though he claims he had it first! We weren't dating when we both chose #8. It's still our favorite number to this day. Unfortunately we just weren't ready to get married on 08/08/08, the summer we graduated high school

We were engaged for a year and a half before getting married and dated for seven years before getting engaged. He proposed on a random Wednesday night after my late lecture class at college. He told me during class via text (yes, I was on my phone!) that he had a surprise for me. It barely crossed my mind that he would propose. I had talked myself out of every time that I ever thought about it because I never wanted to ruin the surprise! After dating for so long I was getting antsy for the proposal, as we were both ready for it! If you have read my post "14 Months" you would know that I was going through some rough health issues and needed a boost! He definitely gave me one. (He had mentioned that all of my health scares really showed him that he couldn't spend the rest of his life without me in it. What a babe!)

As an art teacher and avid arts and crafts girl,  I was obsessed with the DIY side of my wedding. We were on a budget, but I had big dreams! Check out the pictures from my amazing photographer, Nics Pics. I hope you can see how happy we are, and maybe get some inspirations for your big day (whether it's around the corner or just a Dream Wedding Board on Pinterest)!!

This post is the first in my series of posts about this wedding planning! These posts will be based on:

• DIY Engagement Photos
• Recreating Memories
• Details, Details, Details
• Personalize your day! 
• Be Sentimental
• My DIYs
• Bridal Beauty
• Bachelorette/Bridal Shower Do's and Dont's
• The Ceremony
• The Reception
• In Retrospect: What I'd do different/the same
• Married? Now what!?

"If at the end of the day you are married to your best friend, then everything went perfect!"

8 ways to Get Up When the World is Falling Down

My last post felt little "Woe is me", don't you think? Well the truth is, I think life feels like that for a lot of people, they just don't want to admit it. How did we get sayings like "The grass is greener on the other side" or, "When it rains, it pours"? From people thinking what they have or who they are or what they do in their life isn't worth it. There are many instances where I thought it was pouring. And it was. And that's okay.

 I've never been diagnosed with depression or anxiety, but I have been to a point where I started to understand how people could feel that way. I think a lot of people have, but like I said before, they don't want to admit it. My entire journey was full of people telling me, "It could be worse". As soon as that was said to me, I would think that they were right, until it did get worse: Until I was diagnosed with more blood clots, until my leg re-opened and regressed, until I developed blood clots in my other leg, until I did get an infection, and so on and so forth. Don't get me wrong, there are SO many people in our world starving, fighting for their lives, battling cancer, withering away due to sickness, losing loved ones, battling abuse, getting bullied and undergoing so many different challenges. My point is that everyone has their own challenges, and although some may be more difficult than others, it doesn't mean that what you are going through isn't important. What is important is that you keep your battles in perspective. So how do you get through the tough parts of your life? How do you come out with a positive attitude despite it all? I've had a little time to think about my experiences and have decided that I would have loved to give myself the following advice:

1. Trust in God.
Put your trust in God. He will be your guidance. He will provide you with the strength and love that you need to get through this. Even when you don't attend church, even when you doubt it all, have faith. Pray. Be thankful. Be faithful.


2. Focus and Express Your Frustrations
Use any chance you get focus your energy, your sadness, and your anger. Focus on your issues, draw them, paint them, write about them, blog about them, make a movie about them, write a song about them do something about them in your own way. Please do NOT focus your frustrations into another person other than yourself. You are not the center of anyone else's universe but your own (and maybe your Mom, Dad or Fiance'). Please don't go focusing your frustration on another person. Keep it personal. Do it in a way that makes you happy and gets your frustrations out. This is so therapeutic, and might just produce some amazing/famous/life changing work. So believe in yourself and get it out!

3. Distract Yourself
Alright, now that you have all of your focus on your problems.... you should probably stop thinking about them for a little bit. You should still be a productive member of society. Find something you love or would love to learn. Pursue it, and do it with all of your heart. Volunteer, get a job, blog about crafting, make purses, and plan your wedding!! Do something that makes you think about something other than your issues, and even better, makes you think about someone else or other, larger, more worldly issues. It will give you some perspective and you might even do things you never thought possible.

4. Do you BEST. 
Feel like giving up!? That's okay, but don't use it as an excuse to not give your 100%. You are an amazing, strong, powerful woman with so much to give to others. Don't lose that identity now. Give your 100% and settle for nothing less. That being said, don't take on too much. Step back from a few things. Stepping back doesn't mean that you aren't doing your best... it means that you ARE. Do what you can do, but do it as best as you can. I mean this physically and mentally....try your best and you will be your best.

5. Stay Positive
Use this as your mantra. Everything in life is easier to tackle when you have a positive outlook. If you can just force yourself to look at the glass half full, even if it takes you a few different angles, you will be happier. And isn't that what life is all about? Being happy?

6. Trust Your Gut
You're great at looking at the brighter side of things, but don't be thinking, "I'm getting a chest cold, it's not too hard to breathe. I just played a great game of volleyball!". You need to trust your nagging gut feeling that is saying, "It really hurts to breathe and I've never felt this way before, I should go to the doctor". Those instinctual thoughts aren't something to mess around with. You were five minutes away from staying in bed all night in May 2011 instead of going to the emergency room. Acting on that gut feeling was a life or death decision, keep making those important, "trust your gut" decisions.

7. Balance Your Life
You're problems/battles will become an added part of your life. You already have school, you're fiance' your family, your friends, your jobs, and your clubs to be a part of. You will go to the doctor A LOT, and you will need to move your schedule around.  Not only are you juggling all of the other things you are used to, you are adding another thing to your already full plate. Remember when I said that you should take a step back if you need to in order to do your best? I meant it! If you can't rid yourself of something on your plate altogether in order to make room for your battles, then take just a tiny bit back from a few things to split the difference. Make sure that you can balance everything in a healthy way.

8. GET HELP
Get help and work with someone/something to get better. There are amazing people in our world who are happy to help and weirdly get satisfaction from helping you do your best, be your best and succeed. You will find an amazing team of doctors and therapists to help you through it, but find those friends that will help you. And take the help. Always take it, and thank them for it!


So what do you think? If you could go back and time and give yourself advice, what would it be? I hope this advice to myself will help some of you with your own battles. Feel free to add or change some of this advice to fit your own situations right now. Please let me know what you think of this, feedback is appreciated!

14 Months...

Artwork I made in my Drawing III class at Stout

Alright, here is one of the few "While I was away" updates I didn't want to write. However, I feel like I can't move onto the good stuff that I want to share without first explaining the bad stuff. You might already know that I have dealt with a lot of health issues in the past couple of years, but you're probably asking what type of health issues that might be? Well, get ready for a crazy story that might be a little confusing. Believe me, I'm still confused! So much of my battle with blood clots, doctors, questions and lack of answers has helped me shape my outlook on life, one that I am hoping to share in little bits and pieces on this blog. I am a firm believer in staying positive and praying. I had to do a lot of this lately..... and here is why:

 I had blood clots in my lungs in May of 2011 (right before my 21st birthday) and was put on Coumadin therapy for 9 months due to the size and quantity of blood clots in both lungs. During that last month I noticed a red, sore, warm spot on my left calf. I hadn't bumped it or ran into anything, it just began hurting. I was nervous it was another blood clot, knowing and understanding the symptoms of one. I went to the ER, scared, even though I was still on blood thinners. Luckily they told me it was a deep bruise caused by being on the blood thinners and advised me to let it run its course, elevate and ice. So I did.

When the 9 months of Coumadin therapy was up, I was able to go off of blood thinners and I was so happy! The doctors knew about my bruise on my leg and figured it was because my blood was very thin that month. With my blood at a 4.1 INR I was about 4 times thinner than a normal person, which is at 1.0.  They still advised me to go off of my blood thinners, and wanted me to come back in 7 days to have some genetic testing done that we couldn't do while I was on the Coumadin (due to interactions).

Visit andreagretzinger.weebly.com to see more of my art portfolio

I played in a club volleyball tournament the day that my leg wound began (4 days after going off of the Coumadin). I went to the ER on January 30th, 2012 due to the horrible bruise and inability to walk. It was another blood clot, this time a DVT behind my knee on my left leg... the same one with the intense bruise. Also, my INR was down to a 0.5 in six days after being at 4.1.  I was instantly put back on blood thinners and Lovenox injections.

While playing volleyball the bruise started to show up and my leg started to swell. By the end of the day I couldn't walk. I couldn't walk for about 2.5 weeks and was on crutches thanks to one of my roommates letting me borrow them to get around! (View video below to see the entire process of this leg wound!)

At times I didn't know how I would get through it, but 14 months of wound therapy and a TON of doctor and specialist appointments later, I have a knarly scar and and a better relationship with God. He has gotten me through all of this and constantly gave me the strength and courage I needed.  When I didn't have that strength or courage, He showed Himself through my friends and family and all of their support and love. I never did thank all of those people as much as I wish I had. They were angels.

Viewer discretion is advised!!!! If you can't watch a surgery on a TV show without getting nauseous, I highly suggest not watching the video. It's a slideshow of every photo I ever took of my leg (which was basically every time I changed the bandages). Also, full screen viewing of this video will highly diminish the quality of photos, they were from my old, non-smartphone.

My wound therapists said this started as  "A textbook leather eschar" and have used me as an example at a lot of their conventions and presentations.  During the healing process they told me that I had no epidermis left and was down to the adipose tissue (the fatty layer before your muscles). If you have gone through, or are going through anything like this, please contact me! I haven't heard of anyone else going through anything even similar!