Planning our wedding was exciting and intimidating at the same time. While our wedding was in Arizona, we were stationed in Virginia, and 95% of my family was in Minnesota. Luckily my grandparent's winter in Arizona, and to call them lifesavers is an understatement.
Photography
The most significant stressor was finding a photographer to capture these moments that would last forever. My biggest want (which was more of a need) was to have our pictures look like us - I didn't want any whitewashed or dark and moody pictures - Stephen's tux was blue; I wanted it to look blue, my bridesmaid's dresses were a blueish/gray, and I wanted them to look blueish/gray... You get the point.
I did so much research on photographers - Instagram was a great place to start, but I found most of them stuck with the editing trends, which makes sense; that's what gets likes! Finally, I turned to Google and searched photographers in the Phoenix area, scoped out some websites, checked pricing, and narrowed it down to 3.
Many people told me to go with who I felt most comfortable with, and I thought that was weird advice until I found our photographer, Tony. It was instantly a match; everyone's advice made sense. He just clicked with Stephen and me - he cared about how we met, asked what kinds of things we like, and got to know us. (He also did our engagement pictures, they were amazing!) Here's his website 🙂
Archway
At first, I wanted nothing to do with an archway simply because I didn't want to take away from the mountain that would be behind us.
After Pinteresting my heart out of weddings without archways, it just looked empty. The archway gives a focal point for the guests and photos. As you can see, we went with one and I have zero regrets!
Head Table
I didn't want a sweetheart table, but I wanted us to be the focal point, so we went with a semi-sweetheart table. We had our table in the center with a small space between us and the bridal party - I loved it!
I got our last name cut out of wood (96") (Stephen and my grandpa painted it black) to hang above our table - I found it from an adorable store on Etsy, I linked their website here. My mom and I also went to Hobby Lobby to grab a bunch of miscellaneous canisters and candle holders of several different sizes to be displayed around our table.
The venue only allowed fake candles which turned out to be a blessing - they were far easier to set up and they came with a remote making it easy to turn all of them, then off at the end of the night. We bought different size and made sure they flickered to simulate the appearance of real candles, click here for the tall, skinny ones and click here for the shorter ones.
Table Decor
When it came to table decor, my grandma brought up an important detail - you want the table decor to be low so people can hold a conversation across the table without flowers in their faces.
I had my dad and brother make several tea light holders, and we bought gold, sparkly votives for the tea light candles to add sparkle in contrast to the wood - I loved the way this turned out! We also added flowers and candles throughout the table to warm up the wood tables.
I also made a last minute decision to make the table cloths a similar color to the bridesmaids dresses; I didn't want them white because I felt they would be super bright in photos during the reception - I'm still thrilled with this decision.
*Tip - we had the family members sit at round tables because it's easier to hold conversations when people are in a circle versus rectangular tables - we kept the rectangular ones for the younger crowd haha.
Food
The food was not a top priority for me, it was more about the food being at the correct temperature and people being fed enough. Because of this, we decided to go the buffet route so people could get seconds, and even thirds! This also worked well because Stephen wanted to be involved with the food options, so he had free rein to do as he wished.
For desserts, we chose to do a dessert table and used a local baker in Arizona, Sue Jacob's Cakes Bakery. We had several different types of desserts, which worked out great - everyone had choices, and we got to share our cake with our family the next day. I also want to mention our cake topper, it said Mr. & Mrs. Fraser, it was so delicate and everything we wanted - I've linked the Etsy store I got it from here.
Seating
This was another focus of mine - many people told me to let people sit wherever they wanted, but I didn't want people worrying about getting a seat during cocktail hour.
My sister-in-law made a frame directing people to find their saguaro and we had Etchings by Emma make acrylic cactus for each guest and put their table number on the back.
Another reason I liked this plan was because several of our friends live all over the country, so being able to sit them together was important to us.
Bar
This might be the best part - our pups! Again, Etchings by Emma did a fantastic job with the sign - look at those cuties!
We did an open bar - I thought people are more likely to loosen up when they're not worrying about paying for each drink. Not only that, they did fly from all over the country, get hotels and AirBnBs, some even rented cars, just to celebrate our special day - it's the least we could do!
We also had great bartenders that would cut people off if they got a little too hydrated - luckily, we didn't have any issue with that, but the last thing I wanted to deal with was an additional cleaning fee because someone threw up - no thanks!
Extra things we did and didn't do:
Wedding Favors - We did not have specific wedding favors for a few reasons... The biggest one is people traveling, and a wedding favor is just another thing to pack. Another reason being many people forget them, and the cost of wedding favors adds up. If I had decided to do a favor, it would have been something edible so people could enjoy it that night.
As I mentioned earlier, we had a seating chart with each person having a cactus with their name on it and table number on the back (also made by Emma). Several of our friends put magnets on the back, which turned into wedding favors!
In some of the pictures, you can see the hand sanitizers we personalized. I loved this idea and they were something everyone could use, especially during Covid! We ordered them in bulk from Bath and Body Works then my mom created a cute logo and printed them off on stickers (linked here) to attach to the sanitizer.
We had a special song for Stephen and his mom to dance to - yeah, we all have heard of the father/daughter dance, but it was fun to change it up and have a mother/son dance.
Wedding List, who Made the Cut:
We had our wedding while Covid was still a hot topic, so our rule of thumb was to invite people who we've spoken to within the past year. This kept our count lower, and the wedding was far more intimate.
Laura
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