~The Photographer~

Many of you ask... who does one who is as photo happy as myself choose as a wedding photographer? Well, I'll tell you it was NOT an easy choice for me. There are so many amazing and talented photographers out there, but after careful consideration and scouring of countless photography blogs and websites, I found one! Her name is Suwanee Lennon and she lives in Spokane. I cannot be more thrilled with my choice and I am already impatiently waiting to see our photos.

I cannot honestly pick favorites from Suwanee's work but I narrowed it to 5 for this post. This first one in the snow is Suwanee herself, I thought it would be fun to include one of her. Not only is she beautiful behind the lens but she is gorgeous in front of it too...really who honestly looks that pretty making snow angels... it must be staged, LOL?

Not only am I excited to announce her as our photographer, but I highly suggest checking out her blog and her website. You will be able to see a compilation of her extrordinary talent at the links below.

Suwanee Photography

Suwanee Photography Blog

~The Inspiration~

Just a few pictures of inspiration that have been helping to guide my thoughts and planning. Hopefully you will notice the inspirations for our color choices, the camping theme and some of the decorating ideas that I would like to incorporate into our special day.

~The Colors~

Benny and I chose olive green as a definite color for the wedding. The other colors just seemed natural choices to go with our camping theme.


Taupe









Sky Blue









Olive










Cream









Chocolate Brown

~The Ring~

Its no secret that I love Tiffany & Co. And some of you may be surprised that I chose I different route when it came to my engagement ring. My dad, Mike is a machinist by trade and as a kid he made my sister and I numberous little jewelry trinkets out of metal scraps from work. When I got to thinking about Benny's ring I thought, why not have my dad make it?

I asked my dad if that was something he would want to do and of course he was excited to do it. That got me to thinking why then could I not have him make my rings as well. So that is where it all began. I started searching for styles and brainstorming ideas for my own rings. It just so happened a special family member on Benny's side of the family gave him a diamond to use for my ring if we so chose to.

The best part about this all is that the ring essentially designed itself. I am a simple, clean lined, no frills (lucky for Benny)kinda gal when it comes to jewelry. Although I am simple I never quite cared for just a plain skinny band with a simple round solitare diamond. I always envisioned a princess cut/square diamond with a bit more substance to the band. It just so happened the shape of the diamond he was given was square and that my dad could machine any style of band that my heart desired.

I knew I didn't want prongs, since I am notorious for catching them on things and losing stones and I don't care for gold. Well, that worked out perfectly. Dad scuplted me a band out of titanium he used an extrememly fine sand to sandblast a matte finish onto the outside then polished just a fine band around each side to create the texture contrast.

After consulting with the jeweler about setting the stone I knew that flush mounting the diamond wasn't going to be an option, however he ordered a bezel to set the stone into and welded a tiny thin bead around the top to hold the stone in place. My dad then drilled and filed a square hole into the band so the bottom of the bezel would sit flush with the inside of the ring. The jeweler then welded the bezel into place on the band and a uniquely artistic and definitley unbride ring was born!

The best part is the unexpected reactions people have when they see it. I can tell people are thrown when they see it and I love that. I know it may not even be what many would consider ideal or beautiful for an engagment ring and that is what I love 2nd best about it. Because what I love most about it is that I designed it, my dad made it and the diamond came from Benny's family. It just doesn't get more special than that.

~The Unbride~

Cermony Tree





















Benny at the campfire, the center point of our reception site


With this post I now have the same number of posts on this blog and on my photo blog. It used to be that this blog had numerably more than the photo blog. So I guess that goes to show my neglect of this one. I'm going to try and work on that.

What I have decided to do is since right now all the extra time in my life is focused on planning our wedding I've decided its going to be a wedding blog for the next seven months. So hang on, its been wedding central around here and I've decided I'll be posting info about the wedding and my visions Benny and I have for it.

Those of you who know me know that I am not your typical bride. I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around a lot of quote unquote 'wedding' things. I guess the phrase for me is that I'm an 'unbride'.

Sure there are some typical wedding tradions that I want to honor, like wearing a white dress (well ok mine is cream colored,but don't think there won't be some sort of color going on though), having my dad walk me down the aisle (just a given for me), a first dance (cause its moment to slow down and take in what's going on) and cutting the cake (mostly because I just LOVE cake). But when it comes to it most typical wedding traditions, they are just that, someone else's idea of tradition. I want Benny and I to have our own.

Little girls tend to think of their weddings as they grow up, what will mine be like, I can't wait to be princess for a day, everyone will be focusing on me... well, I've never been a big fan of all the attention on me. Can't stand it quite simply. I want our wedding day to be just that, OUR wedding day, not mine, because it is supposed to be about us. It seems weddings focus on the bride and I don't want that. I'm not getting married to myself, I am marrying the man I love and plan to spend the rest of my life with. This isn't all about me.

Just after Benny proposed I thought, hmmm, I should get a couple of bridal magazines. As I stared at them in the store, I couldn't do it. I thumbed through a couple and couldn't bring myself to purchasing one. They are all about the dress and the rings and the traditional bride and all of a sudden my interest in one was gone. To me capuring the moments of the day is the most important part of it. Not the dress, not the ring, not the decorations. So the search began for the perfect wedding photographer. And my wedding magazines became the countless wedding photography blogs and wedding bloggers who detail unbride style weddings. I found my wedding niche. Although I spend entirely too much time online staring at amazing ideas, its definitley helped me guide the planning of our special day.

From the moment Benny and I knew we would be together forever it has been all about us as a unit. That's why when first tossing around ideas for a wedding location I knew we wanted it to be somewhere that was important to us. Plus we wanted to do something that defines us and is special to us. This is why we both agreed that our Deer Camp location in the Blue Mountains would be the perfect place. That's when the entire theme began to unfold. A camping wedding!

Our wedding is going to be so perfectly unbride and so us! Its not about any amount of money we can spend or who wants us to do things this way or that, its about making our wedding all about us and those we want to share our day with. I look forward to sharing details about our choices along the way. So stay tuned for some fun new and refreshing wedding details.





















Sunrise in the Blue Mountains