5 pin-worthy things from my wedding, even though Pinterest didn't exist at the time

Five years ago today, I was antsies in my pantsies excited about tomorrow...which five years ago, tomorrow, would have been my wedding day.  (word of the wise:  if you're going to write 'antsies in my pantsies' don't accidentally leave out the first 's'like I nearly did...inapprop although probably accurate.  tmi).

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

anyway, I'm one of those pin-lovers of today that feel a tinge of envy for all the brides that get to borrow and make-their-own all those beautiful ideas from pinterest.  Gah.

So in honor of my 5 year anniversary of my wedding eve, I am here to share with you five pin-worthy ideas from my big day, because even without Pinterest and a bajillion awesome ideas floating around via the internet, I still pulled a few goodies out of my sleeves (just kidding, I didn't wear sleeves that day, but ya know what a mean).

Before the dawn of Pinterest, my dear friends (and PinBrides who may have found their way here) - These were my Pin-worthy details from our October 2008 wedding.

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

1. My Something Blue.  Brandon and I are high school sweethearts.  Our high school colors were blue & white and we were the Blue Jays.  Brandon was (and still is!) an amazing athlete, especially though as a basketball player.  As part of his wedding gift from me - I persuaded both his high school and college coaches to give me his 'home' basketball jerseys and then I got them framed.  (He loved them!).  Since I also snagged his away high school jersey (which was blue), I cut a little square out of the bottom and pinned it to the inside of my dress as my Something Blue.  A little reminder of how young and lucky we were to have met in high school.

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

2. Fall Flowers & Foliage.  Thanks to the guidance and support of my awesome florists, we were able to have beautiful and unique flower bouquets and accessories at our wedding.  I was hopeful that we could stick to a fall theme with our October wedding, and the bouquets that were assembled including 'Pods', were perfect.  My bridal bouquet included big white roses and sprinkles of white throughout, ya know, to 'bride it up.'

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

The bridesmaids carried similar Pod bouquets without the bride-y white flowers and our flower girls wore matching flower wreaths atop their precious heads.

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

For the guests that got a little extra special treatment (Mums, Grandmas, Church Readers, Godmothers), we had similar mini corsages (or pin-ons) for them as well.  (Our male special guests got boutonnieres - see below about those).

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

3. Camo vests & turkey feather boutonnieres.  My outdoors-loving husband was ecstatic to learn that he was able to find Mossy Oak camo vests for his tux options.  All the groomsmen, ring bearers, Dads, and my Granpap wore black tuxes, white shirts, and their Mossy Oak vests.  Who says camo can't be fancy?  It certainly does look good-looking, if I do say so myself ;)

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

Our boutonnieres including a spray of fall flowers (matching our bouquets and corsages) beautifully arranged with an actual turkey feather.  With many hunters in our extended family, we had enough turkey feathers to go around for every boutonniere that day.

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

photo credit:  Michelle Misner

4. Table tops.  As we were going for the 'it's fall and also we're paying for this wedding on a budget' theme, we used that for inspiration for our centerpieces.  We got married in a fire hall, ya'll (also that's pretty customary around here where we grew up) but we needed the space (ahem, with 430 guests) and we're pretty country.  So our table tops were decorated with tall simple vases (dollarstore.com) filled with sticks (collected from my parents' woods) and sprinkled with some fake fall leaves.  I also snagged a ton of mason jars from the Trader's Guide and we had tea lights lit inside of them for dinner.  It was extravagant but it was simple and beautiful to us.

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner

Because I like reading things in moments of waiting (like at a wedding reception dinner table), I also created triangle table tops for each table.  One side included a guest thank you from us with a Special thanks to those that helped prepare for the reception (family members that baked cookies, helped set up, and our Guest book attendant who took Polariods of guests (hi Yemily!))  Another side included a run down of our music from the night - our song:  Stay with You; John Legend, The Wedding Party song:  Cowboy, Take Me Away; The Dixie Chicks, Father/Daughter Song:  My Girl: The Temptations, and Mother/Son Song: There You'll Be; Faith Hill.  The last side included common wedding traditions and why the exist - like why we wear our wedding band on the third finger on our left hand, and why the groom sits on the right and the bride on the left.

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner

5. Candy toss.  We had lots of kids attend our wedding because I was a teacher and always a big kid-fanatic.  And really, at this point with that many guests on the invite list - we figured you might as well go big or go home.  We loved having kids there and know its not possible or a good idea for all wedding receptions to include children.  I wanted the kids to feel included, but also wanted them to steer clear of the bouquet/garter toss since that's a potentially very awkward/inappropriate situation.  So we cranked up the song Candy; Bow Wow Wow's version and asked all the kids to join me on the dance floor.  Then I threw candy from a basket like a wild woman while kids ran and collected all over.  We did this directly before the bouquet and garter toss.

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner

So there's my contribution to wedding pinmania, Internet.

Hard to believe that it has already been five years and sometimes not hard to believe at all.  Love is funny like that.  More on the sentimental happiness tomorrow:)  

But for now, let me make this proclamation:  Even without pinterest - our wedding was chalk full of joy, laughter, dancing, and love.

Photo Credit:  Michelle Misner