Family Pics + A Giveaway!

Getting family photos taken is never easy, and the task becomes more & more daunting as we add to our brood, but I'm always so happy we put forth the effort. I'll treasure these forever. 

Our favorite photographer, Stacy, (who has shot our family since our engagement photos!!) was SO generous to offer a free tree farm mini-session to one lucky winner!! Head over to our Instagram (@henandco) to enter!! 

the guest room

When we bought our house, every room but ours was a 'guest room'. AKA we had way too much space and not nearly enough visitors :) Now that we've added in a baby, a couple offices and a whole lot of stuff, one guest room is pushing it. I would love to go crazy in this room and make it fabulous in every way, but being realistic, we will eventually have another child and our poor guests will have to shack up in Collin's office, sleeping soundly next to the printer. :) So we've done what we can with it and made it the perfect guest room for now. It's very serene, crisp and quiet - which I adore. I'd love a headboard and some more art, but that's just more to buy now and get rid of later :)

A lot of the pieces in this room have meaning, which I think make it really cool.

The furniture is from Collin's grandparents and was in their bedroom for many years. We were super close to them so it's an honor to have it in our home. We've talked about repainting it, but there's something charmy and slightly kitschy about it's original cream & gold state.

The wreath on the window is the same wreath we used on the altar at our wedding - it was a quick, last minute addition at the craft store less than 24 hours before the wedding and I absolutely LOVE it. Super inexpensive and has a big impact.

The typewriter was my grandparents and was given to me as a gift when I was younger.

The candle holders were used to light the unity candle and remembrance candles at our wedding - so they hold a very special place in our hearts as well (Collin might not say the same, because he probably has no idea they're the same candle holders, but whatevs. men...). 

so come on in ... and stay awhile!

Because this room has the most amazing lighting (not easily seen by my amateur photo skills), we took some of Baylor's newborn photos in here and they ended up being some of my very favorites. Ps...the pics of BB as a newborn were taken by the AMAZING Stacy Jacobsen ... you really should book with her - I promise you won't be sorry!

we're going to the chapel

Since we're still getting to know eachother, It seems as though we have a lot of catch up to play. 

Collin and I got married in 2010 and it was pretty dang perfect! 90 something degreees outside, blue skies and white puffy clouds shaped like hearts. wait...what? We got married on Friday the 13th...some of you may say that's a bad omen. RELAX! It was perfect. And if you're not into karma like myself, then I highly suggest it. We got engaged in December and usually, planning an August wedding, we'd run in to a lot of booking issues. Strangely enough (not strangely), everything was open on Friday the 13th, making my life as our wedding planner quite easy! 

Our wedding was at an awesome old warehouse turned wedding venue and we had the most AMAZING experience. SODO PARK by Herban Feast. They did EVERYTHING for us and it was the most relaxing, beautiful day. I couldn't recommend them more highly. 

Collin is quite a little social butterfly so as much as we might have loved a small wedding, this may as well have been the Justin Bieber concert. It felt like everyone and their mother was there. But believe you me — the dance party was AH-Mazing.

All in all, weddings are such a special day and truly personal to each couple. We put a lot of ourselves into our wedding and couldn't have been more thrilled with how it turned out. Now, if you don't mind...let's take a walk down memory lane. 

My dress was a mish mash of sorts. I bought if from David's Bridal and it came with a little beaded belt on it. Beads are SO not my thing, but I loved the fit of this dress and the price couldn't have been more right, so I bought it with full intention to change it. Funny thing is, I didn't even touch it until 2 days before the wedding. ENTER sweating, freaking out and shaky hands while trying to cut apart my wedding dress. NOT smart, but whatevs. I bought a clip on flower from Anthro & a Flower sash belt from JCREW, merged the two together with my terrible sewing skills, sewed them on a champagne silk ribbon and that was that. It turned out better than I could have expected...and really gave my dress a personal touch. 

We decided to go big on our venue, so we had to cut down on a few other aspects. We were a flowerless wedding (not nearly as sad as it sounds) but we made up for it in other ways! I made each of our bouquets with drawer pulls from Anthropologie & the like. I threw some tulle & ribbon in for good measure and voila, a fun little bouquet. We got TONS of compliments on these and each bridesmaid was able to keep her bouquet. It was really fun. 

I would have to say that one of the greatest parts about our venue was that it spoke so much for itself that we really didn't have to decorate. The old exposed beams, chandelier lighting and raw textures were perfect additions to our photos and we were able to keep costs at a minimum because of it. 

 

We are huge WSU fans so Cougar Gold cheese was a must for appetizers. SO freaking delicious.

One of my biggest fears at a wedding is open seating. It brings me back to recess in Elementary school where you're wondering who's going to pick YOU. I'm all about eliminating the risk, people. We decided to seat all 315 of our guests (oi vey) at assigned tables. I had a bunch of old windows and used paint markers to write out the tables & guests.  It worked out really well.
 

Thanks to Stacy Jacobsen for the amazing images - she's a GENIUS.