Our Destination Key West Wedding Part I

The Ceremony

The day has fiiiinnnnnaalllllllllllyyyyy come!! My wedding pictures are here and I'm in love:) I now know what people mean when they say it was the best day of their life because it truly is. There is something so special about having your closest friends and family be right there next to you while you confess and confirm your love to the man of your dreams. And then after that, you get to celebrate with great food, drinks, and toasts, all in the name of love. Priceless!

This is the story of my wedding fairytail...

So I'll try to make this story as short and sweet as possible. But it really won't be that short. Tony and I met at Winchells, a local sports bar I bartended at in our hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, and we fell in love on the sand volleyball courts of Marikkas Beer Pub. So romantic. When we met I was in cosmetology school and he was in barber college. So we've built our home on hair. Our kid is Edward Scissorhands.

Yes, that is my husband's hand going up another mans shorts.

And he loves having his mouth wide open in pictures. I don't get

it either.

The Planning

So after 3 1/2 years of dating, he proposed. I enjoyed being engaged, and being able to call him my fiance, so I took my time planning the wedding. After about a year of being engaged, we finally made the decision to have a destination wedding in Key West, Florida. And here's why....

Tony and I are both born and raised in Lexington and we know A LOT of people! Between my huge family, our close friends we've made over the last 30 years, the volleyball community, our hair clients, and all of our restaurant friends, we were looking at several hundred people and way more money than my cheap butt was willing to spend. After a lot of thought and me finally laying the smack down, we decided on Key West. I figured we could get the number on the guest list down quite a bit by getting hitched 1,200 miles away. It worked! We ended up with 71 people in all. That is 71 very very special people, all of whom we love very much.

The best part about having the wedding in Key West was #1. It was 14 degrees in Lexington when we left for KW, so everyone was beyond happy to be there. #2 The island is so small that we were all within walking distance of each other, and everytime you walked down Duval you ran into a few, to a group, to 30 of us. EVERYTIME!

Here we are at Turtle Kraals

Here we are at Dante's, our fav spot in KW. It has great food and drinks, ocean front view, a pool with a DJ, poolbeer pong, TVs, and, of course, girls in thongs. Yes, that's my hubby touching his nipple for no apparent reason...

Here we all randomly met up the night before the wedding

Back to my list-

#3. It is very tropical, and instead of having my wedding in Jamaica, Mexico, or somewhere out of the country, and making people get passports and paying twice as much for airfair, I felt like this was way more reasonable and affordable for everyone. #4. I deal with a lot of brides because I specailize in bridal updos. I hear more often than not that the bride and groom spend their whole reception saying hello to all their guests. Wasting their precious reception time making small talk with great aunt Hazel that you haven't seen since 3rd grade, or Mom's old best friend from high school (what the heck was her name again?!). After respectfully saying hello to everyone, your four hour reception is over and you don't remember much because you spent the whole time saying hi to people, and you probably didn't even get to eat your dinner. By having our wedding in KW I was able to spend all kinds of time in the few days leading up to our wedding with all of my guests. There was no need to say hi to anyone during the reception, I'd just seen them all! I was able to take my time and really enjoy my dinner, go around to everyone's table and talk to everyone on my own time, and I was able to really soak in every fantastic second of our reception. And FINALLY #5, It's freaking Key West! What's not to love?! They are the second biggest wedding destination spot in the US, next to Vegas, and the locals say that KW loves weddings, so the weather is always beautiful on Saturdays. It's true too! After an 80% chance of rain on our big day, the sky opened up and God gave us a huge hug! 76 and sunny with a nice breeze at go time:)

What a beautiful day for a wedding!

We vacationed in KW about a month before we made the final decision to plan our wedding there. We were supposed to do a lot of research on ceremony and reception sites while we were on vaca. We didn't. Tony and I had a great vacation, but did little to no research. 5000 phone calls and reviews later, we picked to have the ceremony at the Zachary Taylor State Park and the reception at Two Friends Patio Restaurant, both of these decisions were made sight unseen! Daring, huh?! I owe a big thank you to the internet, google images, trip advisor, and the nice people that have time in their lives to write restaurant and state park reviews, for making this all possible. I must say that I did damn good at picking the perfect place for everything, because everything worked like a well oiled machine! Or maybe we just got really lucky...

In February we sent out our save the dates, we were going for the Harlequin Romance book cover...

Because of all the filtering, Tony's beard looks very dark, and strangly shaped. Oh well, at least there's fire.

In August we sent out our invites. I decided that I wanted to design them myself, so I went to painting. After I finished, I had my mom scan them at work and add in the text for me.

The invites came rolled up and tied with a coral bow inside a bottle. **These were not cheap to send, so I handed out as many as possible!

Here's my mother-in-laws little display of the invite she has displayed at her house. It sits next to the picture I gave her of Tony and I with a note that says, "Will you please be my mother in law?". I gave her that for christmas after Tony had proposed to me the night before. Her reaction was adorable!

I also sent along a timeline to everyone, so that they knew when and where to meet. I also included a bunch of random wedding stuff that people may need to know. So I'm not a huge fan of wedding registries because I don't feel comfortable telling people what to get me and where to get it from. I don't need another kitchen appliance, I like vintage things, and we need a privacy fence. How do you register for that? So when I stated that "we didn't register anywhere, however we just bought a house, so anything green would get us well on our way to making our home perfect", I didn't realize that people would take us literally until Tony's grandma called and asked what type of green colored household items we needed...

Since we were having our reception at a restaurant, I thought it would be easier to go ahead and ask everyone on the RSVP what they wanted for dinner. I think this really helped out the staff, as they were able to easily go around and ask everyone which meal they ordered so they knew where each meal went, and they were sure to have plenty of food on hand and prepped since they knew well in advance.

Before the Ceremony

So here we go! The day was Saturday, November 22, 2014. We started getting ready at 10am. First look was at 2. My mom has a very wealthy and generous friend in Key West who allowed us to get ready at her gorgeous, architecturally perfect, breathtaking, home. This made for some really unique pictures. Thank you Cindi!

These two beauties definitely made top 5 of my fav pics:

The Dress

If youre wondering about my dress, I found it for 65% off at Bridal & Formal in Cincinnatti. It's a Kelly Faetanini. Quick side note: WIthin the first few months of knowing Tony I began thinking about my possible wedding one day. I had never had that feeling before so I knew he was the one. So about five years ago my best friend Amanda and I were talking wedding talk and watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and I happened to run across this dress on the internet. It was Gwen Stefani's wedding dress. I told Amanda that was the dress I was going to have, only mollie-fied.

I wasn't lying!

When I went shopping in Cinci I looked in at least half a dozen wedding shops, none of which had an ombre dress. That's when I knew it was going to be up me to make it ombre, much to my mother and grandmother's dismay. So after trying to talk them into letting me alter my brand new dress and showing them just how I was going to do it, they obliged.This is how I did it:

I was able to add color by buying two different shades of fabric, one lighter than the other. I cut a pattern out of tissue paper by laying it under each scallop and tracing the shape and cutting out a pattern. Next I laid the pattern on top of the fabric and cut each scallop out using a fabric cutter. I then sewed in one row of the Coral color under the outside row of pleated scallops, and the lighter peach color under the second row of pleated scallops. Does that make sense?

I definitely needed the lighter row to help the ombre transition better.

Tony put together my engagement ring all by himself. I'm not a huge fan of diamonds because: #1, They are the most expensive stone and #2, like I always say, no one ever says their favorite color is clear. Especially not mine! I love color! Lots of color! The more the merrier. SO my engagement is made with a large tourmaline, amethyst, and diamonds, and my wedding band is a row of spinel.

Below is the headpiece I made from crepe paper and starfish brooches that I covered in rhinestones.

I found this necklace on Pinterest, it's made by Henri Bendel. I couldn't find anywhere to buy it, I'm guessing it's just discontinued. But it certainly inspired me!

And here is the necklace I made by putting together some of the starfish brooches I found on eBay, and others that I bedazzled the crap out of. I know that some may think it's a little extreme, but I had all this blank space on my decolletage and I had to fill it with something! And I love anything that sparkles:)

So after this little photo shoot, it was time for the first look! We met on the plank at the state park, right next to where the ceremony was being held. It turned out lovely.

That was the moment when both our fears and anxiety went out the window. It was like a breath of fresh air, and at the moment I saw him, a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I got this sudden overwhelming feeling when I saw him, like "It's finally here, today's the day, this is our moment, let's do this!". Just being there with one another was so relaxing and reassuring. It was just him, me, and our two photographers. So personal. So perfect. At that moment we felt like together, we could take on the world! If you and your future hubby are the least bit anxious, I highly recommend that you do a first look. Also, it gave us all kinds of time to take all the pictures we wanted without worrying about all our guests waiting on us at the reception. It was complete piece of mind. Tony actually likes to tell other men that they should do a first look. It's his token piece of wedding advice. Oh, and take two xanax...

Next was our photoshoot together. We went to a few different places in the State Park.

The state park also has a fortress, which actually is the backup plan in case of rain. It is such a cool structure, full of cannons, facing out onto the gulf coast. It was used in the US Civil War to serve as the headquarters for the US Navy's East Gulf Coast blockade squardren. But it now serves as a great photo opp:)

Next we went back to the ceremony area, also known as "The Point" because it has the best view of the famous KW sunset. Here we took our family photos. I guess this is a good time to mention that I have a small Etsy business where I make paper flowers. I currently have it suspended because I made at least three to four hundred for the wedding. so quite frankly, I'm over it for a while:) So my bouquet, the arch, the boutonierres, coursages, hairpieces, and all the centerpieces at the reception were hand made by me. Took me FOREVER. Here's a pic of my maternal fam, you can see the paper flower arch in the background.

Here's just the arch by itself. Tony keeps asking me when we are gonna get our check from Radio Shack for sponsoring the wedding. He thinks he's funny.

I worked on that arch for 2 years. Why? Because I didn't stop til I got it exactly how I wantedit. It had many different lives. Below you'll see three of it's lives...

I didn't have any bridesmaids other than my sister, who was also my Maid of Honor. At first she was going to be in all white, until I found this skirt on Pinterest and fell in love with it immediatly. I sent a picture of it to my sis and she did too.

Pretty, huh? But it was quite the gamble... When my sis looked up the measurements for her size, the bust was extremely large, like 45 inches, and she is small. Hoping that it was a misprint we ordered it anyways. That was a scary purchase. It was $250 from China on Etsy. It was nonrefundable. When it came in the fabric and the print were gorgeous, the shape was that of a muumuu. Not flattering one bit. So we called upon our alterations lady and she turned the dress into a long skirt! Jessie found the top and belt on Etsy and I found the necklace at Francesca's. In the end, I think it worked out great!

My poor sister's hair fell immediatly in the humidity. I feel bad that I ran out of time to put her curls in, so hers didn't last too long. But here's proof that it looked fantastic at one point!

Since I was already making my closest friends spend a lot of money on getting there just to witness our nuptuals, I didn't want to also make them deal with a bunch of bridesmaids crap too. I just wanted them to enjoy themselves and their vacation in paradise. But what I did ask was for five of my closest friends, plus my mother and mother-in-law, to wear all white to the wedding. I did this because I wanted them to stand out a little from everyone, so that I could point out to people that the girls in white dresses are very very special to me. But most importantly, I wanted us to take pretty pictures together, all dressed in white, like families do on the beach. I think white clothes against the sand, water, and sky just looks so nice. Pictured below is a couple pics of me with my girls. Only one thing went wrong on our weddng day, and it was that two of my girlfriends, Loop (that's her last name) and Ashley, aren't able to be in this group picture with me because they were helping set up the reception while we were taking pics. Such a bummer, but so happy to have good friends that are willing to lend a helping hand. So below is a picture of my best friend Carroll, my sister Jessie, Myself, my cousin Erika, and my best friend/ordained minister Amanda. Below that pic is my college roommate Loop. And after that is my girl Ashley and her husband Larry. I hooked them up and was the best woman in their wedding. Love all these people very much!

And then there's this pic that I had seen on Pinterest and wanted to duplicate myself....

And I didn't realize until we got our pictures back that Tony and his little bro snuck off and took a special pic too....

Yeah...that's what I married into...

And here are my cute little bridesmaids, Kayra and Bradli, and their dresses were handmade by Tony's wonderful cousin Whitney. She used lots of tuille and added in scrap fabric leftover from the colored scallops I added to the bottom of my dress.

The little blonde girl, Bradli, just made the day even better. She would run up to me and say, "Mollie you're so beautiful" about every five minutes. SHe certainly entertained the crowd! Her and my other adorable flower girl Kayra thought I was a legitimate real life princess. That still makes my heart smile when I think about it:)

So my guests were asked to meet towards the end of Duval St at the Conch Tour Train Station at 4:45. The train left the station at 5:00 heading towards the State Park. My friends said that it was a blast. I'm pretty certain that half of them were intoxicated from laying out at the beach and drinking in the sun all day. I've heard it was quite entertaining to say the least.

As the guests arrived I had my cousins, Erika and Matt, pass out boutonierres, corsages, and hairpieces made from crepe paper, beads, and shells.

I feel like having everyone wear a paper flower gave us all a sense of togetherness, cohesiveness. And it was nice that everyone played along and sported them so well. Quite a few people still have their's as a keepsake.

They were also handing out programs to all of our guests as they came off of the Conch Train.

You'll notice the same floral pattern througout. It's a floral pattern I made for my invites, so I used it repeatedly thoughout the wedding. Here's one of the programs. I think it was a big hit. If you read through it and are now wondering who Karen Sypher is, she's the chic who slept with Rick Pitino, Louisville basketball's Head Coach, formally UK's head coach, in a restaurant after hours. As a UK fan, I just thought i should bring it up... at our wedding...why not, right? Anything goes these days.

My mom made this little gem! Since my hubby is a barber she used barber brushes for our guests to use to brush off their sandy toes.

Here's the gorgeous view our guests had:

So as everyone was piling in and getting seated and situated, my poor stepdaddy of 28 years was having a really hard time of it all. Just like in a movie, Jimmy went over to the ocean and just looked out over the horizon, crying. My mom soon joined him. Poor guy could hardly take it. I always knew it was going to be pretty hard on him, so I completely expected this. He's been like a father to me since I was four years old, so I think he feels like he's losing his baby girl. Stepfather's are wonderful things. I love this picture so much:)

It was finally time to head down the aisle! My brother-in-law Tyrus , who is a musician by night, played the guitar as we all walked down the aisle to my favorite artist and my favorite song, "Count on Me" by Bruno Mars. I chose that song because everytime I played it or it would randomly come on while we were together, Tony and I would stop whatever we were doing and dance to it. It was the best choice for us and I think it worked beautifully. The song also has a tropical feel to it, so it just fit.

As per usual, first went the moms and boys.

Next was my Maid of Honor/Only Bridesmaid/Only Sibling...

Next were the world's cutest flower girls (I'm a little biased)...

Finally, me and my crying stepdaddy Jim...

And then Jimmy gave me away to the man of my dreams....

And Jimmy continued to cry...

Then came our vows. Quick story, when I was 16 I met my best friend Amanda at work. A week later I begged my mom to let her go on spring break with us to Destin, Florida. I told my mom that Amanda was very quiet and that she wouldn't even notice Amanda was there. My mom obliged and I'll never forget after only a few hours into the trip, my mom saying , "I thought you said she was quiet?!" Sorry Ma... I tell you that because 15 years and $14 later, I asked her to be my ordained minister and marry Tony and I. Of course she said yes, and of course she nailed it, without a microphone! Can you believe it was only $14 to get ordained?? Tony has told me so many times what a great idea it was to have her marry us. It was very special and she made us both feel so comfortable up there. I'm glad I didn't pay someone that I didn't know $250 to marry us.

I decided to write the whole ceremony. To do this I picked different quotes from all over the internet, sifted through tons of other ceremony scripts, added a cherokee prayer, and a few excerpts from Dr. Seuss's "Oh, The Places You Will Go".

I put together a little something that only a few people knew about. I'm a huge Beatles fan, so after the Dr. Seuss poem, I had Amanda say the old line, "Before I announce this couple as husband and wife, Is there anything that anyone would like to add? Speak now or forever hold your peace". At that moment my other bestie, Carroll, stood up and said...

"WELLLLLL, There's nothing you can do that can't be done"...

then my Bro-in-law began strumming his guitar and Tony's cousin Whitney stood up and sang "There's nothing you can sing that can't be sung" that's when Tony looked at me and asked me, "did you know about this?". Next both our mom's, my sis, my cousin, and two friends sang a line from the song and remained standing.

and finally I sang, "It's easy"

Then all of us standing sang, "All You Need is Love",

Amanda - "All together now"

all the guest joined in, "All you need is love,"

Amanda- "Everybody"

Everybody- "All you need is love, love...love is all you need"

And Tyrus kept strumming along as Amanda said, "By the power vested in me by the power of the World Wide Web, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Tony, you may kiss your bride!!!"

And so we kissed! Isn't Josh's face priceless? I feel like it really made this pic!

And then everyone applauded as we went off into the sunset...

and took a huge group picture, which I treasure this shot so much!

And a few more with family and friends.

Here is the beautiful sunset that God painted for us that night.

I wanted so much for a beautiful sunset. Everyday leading up to the wedding I couldn't help but think about how the sun was going to say goodnight to us on our big day. And when the day came, it was perfect.

We went back up on the plank as the sun was setting and took some beautiful pictures as everyone loaded up the train to head back to the station.

This is my favorite picture. It makes me smile:)