Bits & Baubles for the Nearly-Wed 💘
A charming collection of things to consider for your BIG day
Some personal news…I got MARRIED! My husband Aaron & I had a perfect day beautifully captured by our very talented friend Poupay. I’d highly recommend a courthouse wedding—especially if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to spend one of the most important days of your life at the Department of Motor Vehicles. It’s so fun and I wouldn’t change a thing.
We started the day with coffee, matcha, and a long walk with our dog-child Bo. I recently purchased a film camera off eBay that I’m trying to learn how to use, and I thought our wedding would be the perfect time to experiment.
The ceremony was very small (literally Aaron, Poupay, my little brother Kenn, and I). We got ready in our apartment with the help of my mom.
I’ve lived in New York my whole life, so I wasn’t expecting much in the way of public affection, but when I say NOBODY even looked up during our subway photoshoot… I now deeply understand why Tube Girl feels comfortable doing whatever she wants.
After arriving at the courthouse, taking a number, doing our paperwork, and waiting for our turn to be called for the big moment—we made it into the ceremony room. After yelling at Poupay that she wasn’t allowed to use flash, the officiant asked if anyone objected before going into his extremely brief set of prepared vows.
I do think if the officiant had been super kind and sentimental, it would have shifted the tone of the wedding-DMV experience too much. My brother was holding both our phones crying and recording. It was perfect.
We obviously had to end the occasion with a lot of steak.
Since we had such a small gathering, when we got back home Aaron surprised me with an hour of video messages that his wonderful sister Ashleigh pulled together. We did our private vows, ordered mochi donuts from Win Son, laughed, sobbed and went to bed before midnight.
Following that experience—I have a few takeaways to impart, obviously on the trinket side of things. If anyone is wondering how to navigate family drama surrounding your nuptials, save money for a big wedding, or handle high-stakes decision overload, I unfortunately cannot help. I do have a great therapist, though, if anyone needs a recommendation!
Today I’m covering: flowers that wont die, vases that don’t suck, and places for your wedding rings that aren’t boring.
Pssst. I’ve updated my little disclaimer (^) because I decided to start using ShopMy! Not so much for the affiliate links (though I can earn commission from some, but not all, purchases made through ShopMy), but because it creates a really easy way to continue to build simple, shoppable pages themed after my newsletter. You can check out the page for this newsletter HERE where I’ve compiled all the items included in this newsletter, plus more. Enjoy!
Flowers you can have forever
I’ve never been a big flower girl, and I knew when we were getting married I wanted a bouquet that would last forever. Aaron had a bunch of beautiful white roses laid out for our engagement. I tried to dry them and horribly failed, so I was wary that I’d be able to successfully preserve flowers from our wedding day.
Because of that, I landed on getting something beaded. Mine were from a small business in Montreal called Le Metier who I would highly recommend. But if that’s not your cup of tea, you can find different types of bouquets that will last forever all over Etsy.
Beaded Flowers - $22.35 each
Stained Glass Flowers - $61.60 for a set of 6
Wire flowers - $10 each
Now I get to keep my beaded bouquet in my favorite vase, which brings me to my next point…
A Fun Vase
I’ve been begging my mom for this vase she got at Iris Apfe’s estate sale. It came with a matching hand bowl which IMO is much more her. So, when we got back from our honeymoon and saw she’d left our flowers in her vase as a gift, I was ecstatic.
Here are a few picks that could work for your special day:
Mexican Hand Blown Glass Vase - $37.99
PORTA Camila Vase - $182
Trinket dish fit for a ring
We went to Mexico for our honeymoon and stopped into about a million stores. We picked up this fish dish and small heart-shaped box for $17. I thought it would be nice to have something from our honeymoon to hold our wedding bands and my engagement ring.
There are about a million trinket dishes online, and you can definitely find some beautiful ones at Goodwill or your local thrift store or charity shop. Here are some funky ones I found:
I hope you all enjoyed this listicle! Let me know in the comments if there’s anything else you’d like me to source and I’ll add it to the ShopMy! Until next time 💘
Congrats, you look gorgeous and beautiful photos.
Congrats Gina!! Looks like you had the most beautiful special day :’)