March 13, 2023

Wedding Details

Claire and Connor's December 9th wedding was a great celebration! We had such a wonderful time planning and preparing for their big day and wanted to share some of the links and parts of the day with you.

The excitement and planning started the minute Connor asked for Claire's hand in marriage. The engagement party was a successful surprise and kicked off the wedding season for our family. Here are some items that are great for planning and gifts for the bride to be.

Click here for links for Engagement and Wedding Items

Check out my earlier blog about the bachelorette party we hosted for Claire at our lake house last summer. Claire had two beautiful showers with friends and family. The engagement time was filled with many celebrations for the engaged couple. Having white dresses for the various bridal events was a must and Claire did a great job of dressing the bridal part!

Links for White Dresses and Accessories

Once the large components of the wedding are agreed upon - the church and/or venue, music, wedding party, florist, invitations, rehearsal dinner location, the small details fall into place. One of the little details we enjoyed brainstorming and working on were the welcome boxes for out of own guests.

Welcome boxes are a great touch to have in the guest rooms for guests. There are so many creative ways to assemble a welcome box or bag.

Claire and my Mom knew they wanted to use a white box and ordered a couple of sizes from Amazon. They used the larger size box. Next, they determined a theme and decided to use the wedding colors, emerald green and white, to guide the collection of items for the box.

My Mom wanted the box to include something sweet, something savory, a non-alcoholic drink as well as champagne. She walked through the grocery store and looked for food in green packaging. The savory was a small bag of rosemary bruschetta from our local grocery store. Using local items is also a nice touch for out of town guests to enjoy. The sweet was a bag of mint and dark chocolate bag of individually wrapped Ghirardelli chocolates as well as a little bag of Tate's mini chocolate chip cookies.

There were two cans of Perrier water placed inside frosted plastic cups with the C and C wreath logo printed in gold. The personalized cups were ordered online from Totallypromotional.com. A split of champagne was centered in the box. A small muslin drawstring bag contained a makeup remover wipe, a packet of Emergen-C, a pack of Happy Tears tissues and Simply Mints. The little travel sizes are perfect for guests to stick in their pockets or handbags. Everything was nestled in shredded white crinkle paper.

The boxes magnetically closed, were easy to stack and made for a simple delivery to the hotels. My Mom made a few extra boxes to leave at the hotel in case there was a mix up. She also made a few extras in smaller boxes and had those available at the brunch the day after the wedding.

Welcome Boxes Links

Claire and my Mom had the stationery designer create a beautiful welcome card that coordinated with the wedding invitation. It gave transportation details and things to do in Cleveland. The outside of the box had a large round sticker with their C and C logo in gold. They ordered the label from Stickermule.com.

Having everything organized and prepared made the day of the wedding far more enjoyable. We had a pack of white usable white shopping totes with everything organized and labeled, ready to go a few days before the wedding. This system made it simple to deliver items efficiently to the wedding planner and have the necessary items for the wedding day. Elizabeth and I each used our Maid of Honor bags from Claire to transport and store our jewelry, shoes, etc. We designated a closet in Claire's room for all things wedding. As items arrived - our handbags, faux fur wraps, pajamas, slippers and Claire's wedding items - we kept them in the closet.

Wedding Day Links

Because the bridal party was so small, Connor and his family got ready at a nearby hotel and then came over to the venue.

Elizabeth, Claire, my Mom and I were set up in a large room with the makeup artist and hair stylist. We had lunch in the room, opened presents and wore our matching pajamas. Elizabeth and I wore emerald green satin pajamas monogrammed in white. Claire had white pajamas monogrammed in emerald green and the date was embroidered on the hem of the top. My Mom wore a coordinating emerald green blouse, which is a good tip for the Mother's of the Bride - find something coordinating to wear with the bridal party.

After a fun day of hair, makeup, lunch and getting ready together, Claire had the first look with our Dad. It was a really sweet moment right before her and Connor had their first look. Our two families enjoyed champagne and appetizers while we watched the first looks and took family photos with the photographer.

We had a fun time taking family photos at the base of the beautifully decorated staircase.

Our two families boarded the bus at the venue and traveled to the church for the 5:30 pm mass and ceremony. The church was candlelit with candelabra decorated with greenery at the ends of the pews. The mass was beautiful!

As the two families processed down the aisle, we walked right back onto the bus and went directly to the venue. Upon arrival at the reception, the band was playing, guests were greeted with glasses of champagne, the food stations and bars were open! Claire stepped aside and the bridal concierge bustled her dress and the makeup artist did a quick makeup retouch.

We also had three different soft seating areas available for guests to sit, relax and talk. For one of the areas, we had an armoire opened and the florist filled it with battery operated candles and beautiful flowers. Not only was it inviting, the space made for a beautiful photo backdrop for our guests.

The format for the reception was a big cocktail party. In addition to three open bars, we had a beef and turkey carving station, a pasta bar, sushi and raw bar, cheese and crudite, and many passed appetizers. Guests were able to meander and eat a variety of foods.

Claire and Connor spent the first hour greeting guests inside the main door and then Claire did an outfit change. She removed the lace top and added a diagonal off the shoulder piece to her dress. The result looked like a completely different dress! The newlyweds were announced. They cut the cake and then my Dad welcomed everyone with a beautiful toast to the new couple. The groomsmen gave their toast and then Elizabeth and I toasted Claire and Connor.

The dance lessons paid off because the new couple were charming on the dance floor. They danced to Frank Sinatra's The Way You Look Tonight. Claire's dance with my Dad was darling and so was Connor dance with his Mom. If you are engaged and thinking about doing dance lessons, it is worth it, just so you have some confidence on the dance floor. The dance was delightful for the guests to watch as well.

The rest of the reception was a fun celebration with lots of dancing to the twelve piece band. At about 10:30 pm, the staff walked around with trays full of late night snacks. There were a variety of chicken fingers, tater tots, corndogs, sliders and fries served in cute white diner baskets with parchment paper liners.

Around 10:00 pm, the wedding planners put our favors out for guests to take when they left. We had ornaments with the C C wreath logo printed on them in gold. My Mom put each ornament in a white gauze drawstring bag with a note the stationery designer made thanking guests for attending. The ornaments were dispersed among four metal handle containers. One was left with the valet parkers, one at the coat check, one in a seating area near the elevators and another by the exit. The next morning we passed out extras to the employees and also brought them to the brunch.

With a half hour left to the reception, Claire and Connor changed into going away outfits. Claire wore black tuxedo type pants, black high heels, a white strapless bodysuit and put the lace top from her wedding dress over the bodysuit. My parents have her a quilted black Chanel crossbody with two white interlocking C's on the front as a wedding present. The lace little jacket will be fun to wear maybe on their first wedding anniversary as well.

Connor changed into gray pants, a white button down and a red tartan plaid blazer. They danced one final dance and then left for an overnight at the Ritz Carlton. They left the next morning for their honeymoon to the Cayman Islands.

This is a fun picture someone snapped of the five of us right before Claire went to change into her going away outfit!

This is the best photo we have of the outfit. Such a festive way to end the wedding!

We stayed up late talking and rehashing the entire evening. The florists left us ten arrangements for a brunch we hosted for family and our out of town guests. It was nice to know we had a brunch to keep the celebrating going and it offered an opportunity to spend more time with out of town friends and family. The four of us all wore touches of red plaid to the brunch.

We were so busy relaxing and enjoying our guests, this is the only photo we have from the brunch. We had an abundant buffet and a variety of tables set up. There was also a bar with two seating areas and smaller tables. The space was ideal for mingling, eating, conversing and relaxing together.

EXTRA THOUGHTS

Some little extras that were helpful during the wedding. The woman that owns the bridal shop where we purchased Claire's dress offered a bridal concierge service. She was in charge of Claire the entire day and evening. She steamed and pressed all of our dresses, bustled Claire's dress and helped her with outfit changes.

The second thing that was a great extra was the wedding planners took my phone for the day and videotaped the day with my phone. When the reception started, the wedding planners handed my phone to another person we hired through the videographer. She used my phone at the reception to capture footage. It was so fun the very next day to have video and images on my phone. We were able to set up a shared album and Claire and Connor enjoyed the video while on their honeymoon.

Hopefully you enjoy the recap of Claire and Connor's wedding! We are so happy to have Connor in our family. His family is wonderful and we loved celebrating with all of them. The most memorable part were the huge smiles Claire and Connor had on their faces all day!