“I was never the girl that had been dreaming up her wedding since I was 5 years old,” said the recently married Annie Ceder, “I never even allowed myself to flip through bridal magazines until I was actually engaged!  That said, I had an idea about the overall style I wanted the wedding to have.  I wanted it to feel a little fancy and glamorous.”  Annie married Carl Ceder this past November in Dallas, Texas at Holy Trinity Catholic Church and hosted a reception at The Crescent. She is co-founder of the blog, The NOW Stylebook blog with her best friend Elizabeth Midgett and after keeping up with her Wedding Wednesday posts all last year- I absolutely had to do a follow-up post on this gorgeous event!

So, without any exact notion of how she wanted her wedding to look like, how did she begin to plan her own once engaged?  Where did she find inspiration? “It was never really a wedding inspiration for me,” she said, “I based my planning on a Vanity Fair magazine cover, where they have all of the actresses together and they are on set.  It just really caught my eye. They were wearing these gorgeous pastel dresses and they were glitzy and so glamorous.”  The magazine gave her an idea to mix pastel colors with black.  Additionally, she found inspiration in the Chanel Spring 2011 Paris Fashion Show. “The girls are in black, white, pastel colors, with a lot of pink,” said Annie.

 

Annie and Carl’s Save the Date! More here…

Annie’s gown by Vera Wang

Annie’s Wedding Invitation – more on her calligraphy craze here… !

 

Annie and Carl were engaged last February.  After Annie’s parents interviewed about 4 wedding planners and after choosing Holly Tripp of Holly Tripp Event Design, they began the wedding planning.  “We had a 9 month engagement, which I feel was about the right amount of time to plan a wedding,” said Annie.  And, what was it like to work with Holly?  “She was great, she was wonderful,” she said, “My dad picked her because he sensed that they would work really well together (and they did!).  And the moment I met Holly I absolutely adored her!”  How about Carl?  Did he help with the planning?  “At first I dreamed that Carl would come to every appointment with me,” she said, “The first appointment I took him to, was a 3 hour meeting with a potential floral vendor. I felt so bad for him! What was I thinking for having him come look at design related appointments?  So, from then on, he attended the cake and catering tasting meetings- which he enjoyed!”   As for wedding related blogs and websites, beyond her Vanity Fair magazine spread and the Chanel Spring 2011 Paris Fashion Show, Annie felt there is a lack of resources on the website for her particular type of dream wedding.  “There’s Style Me Pretty, 100 Layer Cake, and blogs that offer inspiration for more rustic type weddings- which I love- but it wasn’t the look I was going for,” she said, “There really is a lack of websites that focus on more ballroom types of weddings.”

Throughout the process, Annie adhered to her budget, and found creative ways to be sure she was still getting what she wanted without going overboard when it came to pricing.  For instance, when she found her dream Save the Date on a letterpress website that was completely out of her budget, she used it as inspiration and found a studio that could recreate the same look in her price range.  “We ended up using Park Life Press in North Carolina,” she said, “They were great!  And, my dad hired the fabulous calligrapher Debi Sementelli in Dallas.  She worked on the calligraphy and sent the artwork to Park Life Press. They created a plate and made the Save the Date!” As for the wedding invitations, they found them at Paper Source in the mall.  “They were Crane,” Annie said, “And, they were having a sale.  They were classic, traditional, glamorous- just perfect. Debi did all of the calligraphy for the envelopes.”

 

Elizabeth and Annie – bloggers behind The NOW Stylebook

Something old? “A lace handkerchief Carl’s mom gave me before the wedding- it was his great-grandmother’s.”

Something new? “My dress!”

Something borrowed? Something blue?  “A sapphire ring that I borrowed from my best friend Kaylan.  Her husband gave it to her the day her son was born and her son is my godson- very special to me.”

 

As for the bridesmaid dresses, Annie noted this might have been the most difficult aspect of the wedding on which she had to make a decision. “Oh my gosh, this was the one thing I agonized over,” she said, “Remember the Vanity Fair cover I mentioned? Well, I had this vision that my bridesmaids would wear different colored dresses, similar to this photoshoot.   I researched and shopped around finding different bridesmaids dress (and even regular dress) designers that could help evoke this ethereal feeling that this magazine spread has.  My best friends and I went to Stanley Korshak and loved the Amsale dresses in chiffon – they are light, airy and come in a variety of styles.  So then I had each girl pick a color – black, dark grey, light grey, pale pink, pale blue… and they could pick it in their own style.  I agonized over whether or not this would look random.  I even did a blog post asking for feedback.”

Annie just couldn’t decide what each one of her bridesmaids wearing a different color and style of dress would look like all together.  “At the end of the day, I decided it wouldn’t look cohesive and would just look a little off,” she said,  “After all, the dresses in the Vanity Fair spread are by Elie Saab and other amazing designers.  Not trying to knock Amsale, but the look wasn’t quite the same. That said, I opted for all black, and the girls could pick out any style as long as the fabric was chiffon.  I made the right decision!”  She’s right, the classic look of her bridesmaids in the beautiful black Amsale chiffon gowns of their own style choosing was classy, elegant, timeless- yet, still very glamorous!

 

Chanel Spring 2011 Paris Fashion Show

Annie’s Inspiration boards on The NOW Stylebook

The Vera Wang sash Annie wore to her reception

Annie’s Valentino shoes

The Texas Boys Choir sang at Annie and Carl’s wedding

The Salem-Ceder Wedding Party

When it came to her wedding dress, Annie noted it to be one of the most effortless decisions throughout the wedding planning process.  “I thought this would be the hardest step of the process, but it was actually the easiest part, ” she said, “We went to Warren Barrón Bridal in Highland Park Village,” she said, “It was the first place we went. I had my mom, my dad there, and my three best friends – Katie, Elizabeth, and Kaylan (you have the store to yourself).  I tried on 4 dresses and this was one of them.”  She absolutely loved it.  “I tried it on and my dad and I started dancing in the store by the window,” she said, “People were walking by the store and they were cheering- they could see us dancing through the window.”  She also purchased the Vera Wang black crystal sash at Warren Barrón that she wore to her reception.

“I actually purchased my veil at David’s Bridal,” she said, “During the ceremony, it was the long cathedral length and Holly cut it to a shorter length before the reception.”  As for shoes, she wore two pairs.  “I wore my dream shoes,” she said, “Pale pink satin Valentino pumps with a gold mesh bow with pearls in them- so pretty – during the ceremony.  As for the reception, I needed shoes that would match my black sash that I changed into.  I wore Jimmy Choo heels I purchased at Nordstrom Rack for $200.  They have black Art Deco-esque stones on the top and matched the sash perfectly.  They were the shoes I brought to Warren Barrón when I went to try on the dresses.“

 

At the ceremony, Annie was excited to share the Texas Boys Choir sang throughout the mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church.  The reception was held at The Crescent. Was it difficult to decide upon a dinner menu?  “Surf and turf wasn’t really in our budget,” she said, “So we decided on a menu with a Texas twist.”  All catering was in-house at The Crescent – they baked her wedding cake as well. “My favorite cake is Pillsbury Funfetti – so the inside of the cake was actually just that,” she said, “The outside is a flower cascading down the side, the layers were frosted inside- iced pink, and the outside was fondant.”   As for the band?  “My parents drove to see bands perform,” she said, “We decided on Cuvee.  They were great!  And, then when the band stopped, we had DJ Brian Prescott fill in – it really helped because people couldn’t tell when the band took a break!”

Her absolute favorite part of the wedding was walking down the aisle.  “Some people dread it,” she said, “But it’s so special to see all of your friends, family, your best friends on the alter- I saw Carl standing there.  And, walking with my dad was super special.  My other favorite part, was being on the dance floor with Carl and just everyone and using my veil as a prop all night!  I was dancing under it with friends and flinging it around.  I also played the cowbell on stage with my friends!”  The most challenging aspect was seeing everything come together as she’d hoped.  “It was trusting my vision was going to come to life in the ballroom,” she said, “But, a lot of the elements that I used in my wedding planning weren’t exactly wedding elements!   I was trying to make my wedding look like this inspiration board that wasn’t necessarily a wedding board.  It was putting trust in my amazing vendors that everything would come to life and eventually it did!”

As for advice for future brides, what would she tell them?  “Well, Carl and I practiced dancing a few times before the wedding, but when I was trying to dance in my wedding dress- it was a disaster,” she said, “I don’t think the train of my dress was bustled properly, so I was tripping over it the whole time.  It’s comical now, I was falling all over the place in that dress.  So, make sure you know how to do the bustle really well and pay attention to the fact that you are going to have a huge train and not on the same clothes as when you are practicing!”  She also said it helps to stay really organized throughout the process.  “Find one point person, who is going to handle everything,” she said.

Her wedding reception was decorated by lovely bouquets and vases of flowers throughout the space.  How did she decide on these?  “I always knew I wanted to carry white peonies,” she said, “As for the bridesmaids, I agonized at first and almost chose an all-white wedding.  But, with inspiration from the Chanel fashion show again, I decided doing shades of pink with a trusted florist who was great, Stacey at The Wildflower.   Her personality was just great to work with!” And, where did Annie and Carl spend their honeymoon?  “An all-inclusive resort,” she said, “The Secrets Maroma Beach in Mexico and Four Nights at the Banyan Tree in Mayakoba.“  Was it perfect?  “So fabulous! It was the Riviera Maya in Mexico so our friends and families were worried we were going to be killed by drug cartels, but we’re still alive,” she laughed.

 

Thank you to Annie and The NOW Stylebook for sharing these lovely photos and an even more fantastic story with Nonsense & Sensibility!

Annie & Carl’s vendor list:

 

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