Emily & Matt Tie the Knot

I flew back to Wisconsin last weekend to celebrate my best-friend's wedding. Emily and I have known each other since Middle School and she is the most selfless person that I know.  She and Matt have been dating for eight years! We all became friends in marching band and traveling to different cities to perform in the summers. Emily and I headed off to different universities, but we've always remained close.  She was the first person I confided in about Ryan thinking about marrying me.  It was an exciting and difficult time because people were really confused about it and very judgmental. She, however, always had my back.  Being her Matron-of-Honor this weekend was such a privilege.

Emily's parents grew these flowers in their backyard for their centerpieces. What an amazing budget saver and they turned out gorgeous!  They cut several flowers, filled them in individual containers and let us arrange them.  Emily had the vases filled with water and water beads and let us have at them.

Nathan, one of the groomsmen, and Matt, the groom, 

both helped us arrange the flowers and it was a blast!

I picked up coffee for all of us and of course had to have the barista write on the cups. I thought they turned out pretty cute :)

Look at all of those centerpieces!

The bride and groom at the hotel where the reception was held.

Sprinkling powdered sugar over the kolaches :)

The groomsmen at the rehearsal dinner, celebrating with a shot

Emily gave her bridesmaids this beautiful, engraved jewelry box and each one held a necklace with our first initial. I definitely wore mine throughout the weekend.

I chose to do my hair and make-up at home as a cost saver.  Salons for me are tricky.  I don't like having to pay for up-do's and because of that I learned how to do them myself.  I also find that many hair stylists have difficulty working with my hair or I end up having to fix the hairstyle. I joined the ladies a couple hours later at the salon.  It was perfect timing because the ladies were still getting their hair done and I had time to capture pictures.

Missing a couple of the bridesmaids, but here's Emily's bridal party

Me and my bestie

I designed the programs for the wedding and I loved how they turned out!

My favorite element was the "for happy tears" page which I added as a sentimental part and perfect for the ceremony.  Matt and Emily are both musicians, and Matt is a music teacher so the bar of music was perfect!

It was a Catholic ceremony and we got ready at the church.  Emily looked so beautiful in her dress!

The picture to the right is the speech I wrote for me and Kristen, the Maid of Honor, to say at the reception.  I framed it against scrapbook paper and gave it to Emily the next day at brunch.  I also gave each of the bridesmaids a CD of twelve songs out of the hundreds that we listened to the day before while getting ready.

This Kristen and I at the salon and I had a really great time having her as a co-partner in all of this. 

I learned a ton from this experience, especially being a MOH long distance.

I poured over Pinterest to help Emily in creating special details for her wedding and read a ton of articles.  The wedding turned out beautifully and I would love to share what I've learned and some of my thoughts on wedding planning/assisting in a later post!

If you liked this post, share it with others! If you feel particularly moved by it, leave a comment because I love feedback and discussion. Social media links are provided below and thanks for reading!