Signing Off...

As the title indicates, this will be my final post, but before I say goodbye, I wanted to post some photos of the big day. In all honesty, The Backyard Wedding turned out to be more beautiful, more fun and full of more love than I ever thought possible. I'll be eternally grateful for every minute and every detail, from the sheer giddy girlish joy of finally becoming a bride...

...to getting to pose for photos with my amazing family and non-bridesmaids...

...to walking down an aisle lit by candles on my dad's arm...

...to hearing my dad read the ceremony we'd written together while I was looking at The Backyard Groom and crying happy tears...

...to getting a new piece of bling...

...to becoming husband and wife...

...to staring moony-eyed at each other all night...

...to seeing a simple suburban backyard turned into my dream wedding venue...

...to getting some new family members...

...to dancing with my dad...

...to getting cake smashed in my face...

...to dancing with The Backyard Groom, I mean The Backyard Husband...

...to seeing all my favorite people having fun on the dance floor...

...to just plain being MARRIED!

Thank you for following along on my journey to the altar. Blogging about my experiences as The Backyard Bride made all the stresses of planning a wedding so much more enjoyable and memorable for me. As I move on to the next phase of my life, I wish you all the best for your weddings and, more importantly, for everything that comes after the "I do."

xoxo,

The Backyard Wife

Picture Preview

I think we're getting close to having pictures ready to share, but I couldn't wait any longer to post this one.

The Backyard Wife

It's official! We lucked out with some truly gorgeous weather on Saturday night, and our little backyard wedding went off without a hitch. I literally had the time of my life surrounded by all the people I love most in the world. I'll have pictures and much more after we get back from our honeymoon, but for now, here's a photo MY HUSBAND snapped of me getting down on the dance floor. Cheers!

The final countdown

Today is my last day at work before the wedding, making it also my last day at work as a legally single lady. Today is also my last Thursday as a legally single lady. Tonight I will be hanging out with some of my favorite ladies in the world celebrating the end of that singleness. Tomorrow we put the finishing touches on The Backyard, and we rehearse the ceremony that will unite us forever. Then Saturday is it, the day we officially become husband and wife.

Thank you to all of you who have been following along on my journey and offering your input and advice. It's been so much fun to share all of my plans, albeit anonymously, on this blog.

I can't believe that the next time I post, I'll be The Backyard Wife!

A new something blue

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the horror of realizing during my dress fitting that my beautiful light blue Hanky Panky underthings with "Bride" on them in rhinestones showed through my dress. So sad and so back at square one in trying to find my something blue.

In my hunt for something different that wouldn't take away from the accessories I'd already planned, I came across some blue rhinestone shoe appliques on a blog. I can't remember where I first saw them, but I Googled for a place to purchase them and stumbled on Mindy Weiss' eStore. For $3.75, those bad boys were mine.

They arrived last night, and I easily peeled them off to put on the arches of my red wedding shoes. Check out the finished product (sorry about the iPhone camera shot):

I love that any time I wear the shoes after the wedding, I'll still get a little flurry of bridal bliss when I take a peek at the soles.

Tailor Made

I have so many more wedding things and photos to blog about, but I'll probably hold off on most things until after the big day. But just in case any other Austin brides out there are in need of a tailor, I wanted to offer a quick review of mine.

In early October, I was eagerly following fellow Austinite A Bride...Again's tailoring tales. She graciously sent me emails detailing her experiences with her tailor after her initial glowing review inspired me to contact her. Over the next couple of weeks, she had to deal with some bumps, which she is now detailing on her blog, so I decided to look for someone else.

After searching for bridal alterations on Yelp, I came across Nelda's Tailors, which was not only highly rated, but also less than five minutes from my office. My experience with Nelda's was great. I brought my dress in with only three weeks to go until the wedding, and they still finished all the alterations with more than a week to spare. I had the bust taken in, the hem shortened (tricky business with beaded organza) and an absolutely gorgeous French bustle put in, all for half the price of what Alfred Angelo had quoted me for alterations.

So for any Austin brides out there, I highly recommend Nelda's Tailors on Airport Blvd. In fact, I think I'll be taking all my post-wedding married clothes there to be altered as well.

I'm getting married in five days, yo!

I cannot believe The Backyard Wedding will be here in five days. I just can't wrap my head around it. And to add fun to even more fun, my birthday is tomorrow, and all my favorite ladies (aka, the Non-Bridesmaids) will be rolling into town on Thursday for my bachelorette party/hen night. Non-Bridesmaid C. even made a similarly awesome invitation for the party that echoes our wedding invite.

So with five days to go, the weather is lovely here in Austin and looks to continue on track with that loveliness through the weekend. I could not be more excited.

The past few weeks have been nonstop drama and activity, and I'm thrilled to just sit back and enjoy everything as much as possible for these next five days. I won't bother recapping all that's happened in the past week, but suffice to say, it has literally been nonstop. I need a breather. And I'll like that breather even better if it comes with champagne.

One week from now, I'll be married. I just can't believe it.