Our Wedding

Y'all, I can hardly believe it but our wedding day is just around the corner!

I have been hard at work on all sorts of projects: final vendor logistics, purchasing and putting together items, working on many crafty DIY projects, and relishing the time I have to plan and enjoy this stage of life. It truly has been a full time job for the last month or so, but I'm grateful to be able to invest my time, intention, and effort into something so momentous.

There has been lots in the works, so much that I (obviously) haven't been able to keep up with all of it on the blog! I also wanted to be careful of over-sharing... since most of the people who read this are probably my wedding guests I don't want to show off ALL of the things I've been working on and have no elements of surprise when the big day finally comes.

So I guess this is probably my last wedding planning post. It's been such a fun ride and I'm glad that I took the time along the way to thoroughly document and share my experience. I'm planning to make this blog into a little memento book to keep with all of our wedding planning memorabilia... but ultimately I'm ready to enjoy all the fruits of my labor, experience the whirlwind that will be our wedding, and then sink into married life. I'm ready to turn the page and move on to focusing on my marriage, my friendships, and my career more fully. I am looking forward to cultivating my married life with just as much thoughtfulness and intention as I have put into planning our wedding.

Thank you for reading and supporting me during this very special time. I am so humbled by the love I have felt from my community and I truly will never forget it.

All my love to you,
(Soon-to-be) Mrs. Hoback

My Under-the-Sea Bachelorette Party!

My friends are the absolute BEST. Before I even asked them to, they all started secretly planning the bachelorette party of my dreams!

I was told a time and day, but not a location or ANY information about what would be involved. When the day finally came, I was excited, but a little nervous. Ben and my maid of honor were in cahoots and Ben was instructed to drop me off at a specific location when the time came.

We ended up driving to my friend's house. I walked up the stairs, opened the door, and was met with the craziest screams, the grandest jubilation, the loudest rendition of "Part of Your World," and a thoroughly crafted underwater scene. I couldn't stop screaming... like really, over and over again... as they adorned me with a tiara, sash, fairy wings, and massive wine glass with a bendy-straw that read "bride."

The entire scene was so well thought through: there was a fish net hanging from the ceiling, bubbles drawn outside, fish toys and balloons strewn about, a photo booth set up, chalk-drawn fish and festive lettering, a libation station (a staple of mine), mermaids in mason jars of water, and so, so much more!

We all got to catch up a little bit and do some sipping and snacking, before our first official activity began. We were all lead out onto the deck and I was given the seat of honor to behold a custom-choreographed fish dance that three of my friends put together. They started the whole thing with a card from my pet fish, Buddy, to set the scene. They put on one of my favorite songs to groove to and entered in rubber fish masks before breaking it down into a dance that was hilarious, skillful, creative, and included all of my favorite moves!!! It was truly surreal and incredible, something I will never, ever, ever forget.

Then came the emotional kicker: a jar full of memories that each person had written. I both laughed and got a bit teary as I read through them all and tried to guess who had written each one. It was a very special, sentimental time and made me remember all of the fun and hilarious times we've shared together.

Then came the grand finale: a fish piñata! They strung it up outside and I had a blast whacking away at it with laughter and glee.

It was such a beautifully thought-through night and I felt so loved and known from all of the hard work my friends put into it. It was the perfect mix of Disney-princess, fun, wild, and sentimental. I will never ever forget this special, sensational night!

Our Invitation Suite!

Y'all... I have been drafting this project for years, practicing for just as long, and working to craft the details for several months now and I've finally done it... I sent out our invitations!!!

First came the design process, for which I've been prepping for years! Hours of consistent practice, countless drafts and ideas, and then the somewhat tedious task of actually crafting the final draft and knowing when to say "ENOUGH!" to my own perfectionism!

I have been tossing around sketches and drafts of our wedding crest / monogram for a while... playing with how to make it properly symmetrical, how to incorporate floral as well as architectural elements, researching and incorporating filigree (which I found out is a black hole of mathematical precision and symmetry that I only dipped my toes into!). I finally settled on something much simpler than what my original designs entailed: classic and official, something that I felt like could withstand the test of time and wedding design-trends.

Next, I got to lettering. I first covered the less daunting task of all of the detail text... knowing that all of my imperfections would be shrunk immensely and just getting used to the feeling of writing something with finality. Rather than knowing that I would have another few months and hundreds of hours of practice, I had to write it out, look back and assess, and rewrite anything that looked out of place or unsuitable for the final draft: learning how to finish.

I then tackled the larger components: our names and the titles of each card for the suite. I chose a spaciously-flourished script based on the script that I had used for the smaller text. I wanted something that felt formal but not too pretentious, aesthetically pleasing but not hyper-feminine, classic but also my own.



After I'd settled on a draft that I was pleased with, I moved on to the crest / monogram! I took the final concept that I had landed on and completely redid the entire thing: measuring the proportions with great precision and aiming to find a method of achieving effortless symmetry. I sketched in pencil, traced in pen, and then retraced once more with a few alterations, before scanning my design in and manipulating it digitally. I vectored the image, and then converted it back to a high-quality image file to put it to use!

With my final files completed, I gathered supplies for the design of my dreams!!

I finished up the final components of our suite: spacing everything out just so, creating a sketch of our venue as embellishment for one of the cards, and creating a clever multiple-choice option for our RSVP cards! After all of that, I sent my design off to the printer!

Upon receiving my prints with great joy, I got to slicing and scoring all of the cards...

And began the process of embossing our invitations. It was truly a handcrafted, small batch job... I might even be tempted to label it "artisan." I decided to emboss the major design components of the invitation itself in silver.

The crests were fairly easy to emboss...

...but the names proved much more challenging. There were so many components of the process that could so easily go wrong, I ended up crafting several that just wouldn't do to send out to guests.

In the end I got the job done and was so proud of the result!

ALL THE WHILE, as I was working on the invitations themselves, I was hard at work on addressing each envelope with great care. I decided to challenge myself with a flourishing script that was slightly askew on the envelope itself!

I have always LOVED the look of white ink on a light blue envelope, and since our wedding accent color is both slate blue and sky blue I decided to try to find something to match this theme. I found a beautiful metallic blue envelope that looks slate blue in shadow and sky blue in the light... perfect! The smooth finish made it really easy to create smooth, sweeping flourishes, which I could just STARE at for hours!!

Setting a schedule for myself to tackle at least two envelopes a day (they each took at least fifteen minutes to complete... did I say at least?), in my eagerness I ended up completing the task more than a week ahead of what I had planned! I think I was so daunted by the finality of the task initially, but once I fell into a rhythm working on the envelopes was really something I came to enjoy and look forward to.

From there, I used our trusty return address stamp (which I designed just before I sent out our save the dates) to mark each of the envelope flaps.

Then came stuffing the envelopes, sealing them, and adding the final, exciting embellishment: a custom-made wax seal! I used a version of our wedding crest / monogram to get this brass seal engraved and then purchased silver wax to add a bit of luxuriousness to the look of the envelopes as the icing on the cake!

I was so enthralled by how beautiful the seals were! The warm, melted wax oozing onto the envelope... the squish of the seal sinking into the wax... the pause in anticipation as I waited for the wax to cool... and then the gentle peel away, lifting the seal from the page and admiring the imprint with joy!

Ok now you can really tell that I'm a total stationary nerd!

I found some floral postage stamps and rushed to the post office. I hand cancelled each envelope so they wouldn't be damaged being run through a machine and walked away with a sense of accomplishment and glee.

I couldn't be happier with what I've come up with and can't wait to incorporate these special design details into our wedding day!! I've received with joy so many compliments on my hard work, and it really feels good to have tackled the whole task by myself. I've so enjoyed handcrafting every single one, and hope that each detail and consideration leaves each receiver feeling integral to our wedding day and to our life together. I hope these invitations serve as tangible souvenirs to happy memories made at our wedding this summer for years and years to come!

Bridal Shower #2: A Floral Soiree in Wisconsin!!

Y'all, I am so lucky! Not only did I get to have TWO bridal showers, but they were both AMAZING!

My future mother-in-law came in for the weekend of my Wisconsin shower. She is getting to know my family and extended family a lot during this special pre-wedding season! We all got to spend the weekend catching up, talking about wedding plans, looking through old photos, going out to eat, and just enjoying each other's company!

When the day of the shower came, we got ready and drove to my Godmother's beautiful home! She hosted the event and put all of it together...

...with the help of my mom. The setting was so beautiful, and I had a really wonderful time!

There was so much delectable food served on the most BEAUTIFUL Chintz china! I hope to host and have a spread this GORGEOUS one day!

There were chicken salad croissants, ham salad toasts, cheese & crackers (a Wisconsin staple), petit fours, chocolate strawberries, macaroons, lemon shortbread cookies, chocolate candies, and plenty of mimosas!

We played a few fun games: a wedding word-search and a trivia quiz featuring some challenging questions about my wedding, engagement, and relationship with Ben!

Then came the presents! There were so many and all of them were so lovely and thoughtful! There were plenty of beautiful cards as well!

And after it all, there were surprise cupcakes!

I'm so grateful for everyone who made it to the shower, and for those who were checking in and supporting me from afar!

(My mom took this photo)

It was truly so kind of my Godmother and mom to host such a beautiful event for me, and for everyone to be present for such a special time in my life! Thank you to all involved and looking forward to the months ahead!

Five Whole Years!

I couldn't be more honored to share that Ben and I got to celebrate five years together earlier this month! Rather than from our first date, we technically celebrate our dating "anniversary" on the day that we first said "I love you!"

I ended up buying a card this year, which I believe is a first because I usually love to DIY everything! I was sure to still letter the envelope myself!

I got Ben a nice watch that he was looking at as a wedding accessories. He got me MANY small items, most of which will be displayed and used on our wedding day!

One particularly special gift that Ben got me was a prompted journal to help document our love story! We paged through it together on the couch and got a sense of the scale of our commitment to each other... it was so special!

We got to spend some nice, quality time together at a restaurant that we had never been to before called House of Cards. It's located in downtown Nashville, hidden beneath the Johnny Cash museum, and is set up like a hidden old-time magician's club. Our entrance into the restaurant really set the tone for the night: a descending stairwell lined with stones, leading into a red curtain-lined hallway. Dark mood-lighting, a mysterious air about the place: the atmosphere and ambiance were absolutely top notch!

There was a formal dress code, so everyone was dressed up and fancy. There were two running magic tables throughout the night: sleight of hand card tricks and things like that. They had a photographer roaming around that took your photo and printed it out for you before the end of the night.

The food was yummy, but the scene and entertainment were extraordinary. We were surprised to find out at the end of the night that we ALSO got to go to a more formal magic show in a small theater in the restaurant. The magician was funny and very impressive.

After the show, we sat at the bar and ate dessert, before wandering around and discovering an outdoor terrace. We really felt transported to a different world, and it made our anniversary so special!

I'm so grateful to have this special guy in my life! Truly, he is the best, and I can't wait to marry him this summer! Here's to five years and many, many more!

Bridal Shower #1: Bridal Tea in Tennessee!

Y'all, my first bridal shower was a BLAST! Bridal Tea, like British high tea, was the theme, and it was such a dream!

I was able to stay at Ben's parent's house for the weekend, and my mom flew in from Wisconsin (despite a treacherous mid-April Midwestern winter storm!) for the special weekend. We all got to spend lots of time together talking about wedding plans, catching up, and enjoying each other's company. On the morning of the shower, we enjoyed breakfast together and got ready for the event!

I wore a white dress with a delicately intricate lace overlay outlined in black. This is actually the same dress I used for our engagement photos... there's still a little bit of practical Midwesterner in me!

We headed over to the shower and were absolutely captivated by the scene! Everything was laid out so beautifully and so thoughtfully prepared.

We spent some time out on the back porch until everybody showed up...

It meant so much to have my friends from Nashville road trip down for the day!

We ate a delicious spread of food: scones, cheesestraws, tea sandwiches, cucumber nibbles, ham biscuit sandwiches, fresh fruit, chocolate covered strawberries, macarons, lemon-raspberry cupcakes, peach & pear bellinis, and tea of course!

I got to sit in the seat of honor...

...and opened SO many presents!

It was so wonderful to be surrounded by so many wonderful women who support me.

I got several messages and gifts from faraway friends, and it meant so much to be in their thoughts on this very special day.

It was such a treat to be able to spend time with everyone and celebrate this very special time in my life. I couldn't be more grateful!

Wedding Planning Updated: Only a Few Months Left

I have so many things to update on the blog because things are moving so quickly now that we are in the final few months before the wedding. I’ll fill you in on a few:

First, Ben and I met with our wedding day coordinator and chatted through some details of our day. We almost have our master timeline finished up and got to talk through ideas and suggestions. She is very well organized and plus she has worked with our caterer many times before, so she will absolutely be in-the-know about everything going on with our big day!

We’ve scheduled a few other meet-ups with some of our vendors: a venue walk-through with our coordinator and DJ, a floral supplier walk-through with our florist, and a coffee date and chat with our photographer!

I’ve finally booked my hair and makeup artist and have a trial scheduled with her! I've been very vigilant about my skincare lately and even treated myself to a facial for the first time! It was a lovely spa day and I'm excited for the treat of getting my hair and makeup done professionally on the big day!!

I’ve also been hard at work on our invitations and all of the various design and paper elements that go along with putting the suite together: multiple different stamps and inks, proofs of what our final prints will look like, and addressing each envelope individually with great care! I sent them out only a few days ago and couldn't be more excited. It was a mammoth of a task, but I was so excited to be working on them and have felt so much joy in sharing my hard work!

I’ve done another walk-through of our rental supplier’s showroom, and it was fun to definitively pick our colors and special items! I’ve also been on the lookout every time I have a chance to walk through the mall for a couple remaining special items for our big day.

One of these special items is our toasting flutes! We found some gorgeous crystal flutes on a website that also did engraving. We had these special flutes monogrammed with our married initial and are so excited to use them for our big day!

I’ve taken care of ordering votive candles and small items like that, but I’m trying to put most of my focus into bigger-picture components and vendor communication, as well as more time-pressed tasks.

I’ll keep you all posted every step of the way, and thanks to those of you who read my posts and write me!

Check Off the Cake!

We have officially booked our cake baker! The wedding cake is such an iconic, whimsical, and sweet (no pun intended) part of the day, and I’m so excited to have a good idea of what our delectable tower of sweetness will look and taste like!

After our tasting back in December, we were so enthusiastic about our baker that we knew right away that we wanted to work with her. After working out a few logistical components, we were able to officially bring her on board for our special day!

After sifting through all sorts of Pinterest inspiration, we came up with an idea that we love. We have a lovely, three-tiered design planned, possibly incorporating our accent color in a very trend-forward ombré, but we have yet to make the final decision on a few ideas that we have been tossing around. We are definitely planning on saving the top tier to share on our first anniversary together!

Check out my wedding cake inspiration Pinterest board!

It's so exciting to see these special, iconic components of our day fit into place one-by-one! Thanks for coming along with me on this ride: I couldn't be happier to be planning our big day!

Happy Easter 2018!

This Easter was a very fun, special, and relaxed occasion indeed!

Even though the weather here in Nashville has still been chilly, Ben and I have been trying hard to make it feel like spring inside of our little home! We've already had a few different flower centerpieces this season: tulips...

Ben took this picture!

...and chrysanthemums!

In preparation for the holiday weekend, I pulled out an old holiday recipe card and baked some Spritz cookies!

We visited Ben's family and got to spend a relaxing weekend together. It was full of leisure activities: playing the guitar, going to the library and even hitting a few golf balls off a mountain for fun...

We stayed up late watching a movie and eating dinner in front of the TV. On Easter itself, we woke up slowly to the sound of the sunrise church service happening outside (Ben's family graciously hosts the service on Easter morning)!

We had festive coffee, got ready for the day...

...and went to brunch downtown. We got to walk by the river and hang out with Ben's sister during the afternoon.

In the evening, we grabbed a quick bite to eat (as well as a sweet treat) and headed home!

It was so nice to get to be fully present and spend time with people I love: a lovely recharge for the busy weeks and months ahead.

Bridal Showers!

There is so much to catch you up on, but I want to start by telling you about two exciting, upcoming events: my bridal showers!

The reason I’m having two showers is because I have a lot of family up in the Midwest that wouldn’t be able to make it all the way down to Tennessee, and lots of Tennessee family that wouldn’t be able to make it up to the Midwest! I’m so excited to have my mother and godmother hosting my Wisconsin bridal shower, and my future mother-in-law and her friends hosting my Tennessee bridal shower!

I knew I wanted both showers to be a little bit on the schnazzy side; it's certainly not everyday a party gets hosted in your honor, so why not?! I know that the Wisconsin shower has a floral theme inspired by my godmother's gorgeous chintz china collection! I've just received my invitation to the Tennessee shower and found out that it is a "Bridal Tea," which sounds very fancy indeed!

Ben took this photo, by the way!

I always thought I’d want to be super hands-on in planning my bridal shower, but I’m actually really enjoying the thought and feeling of having things taken care of as a bit of a surprise!

I’ve been busying myself with figuring out the logistics of helping friends and family figure out accommodations and travel ideas. Because Ben and I have been engaged for almost 18 months already, it’s been a pretty solitary process so far (I've been doing my best so far to not to drive absolutely everyone crazy with my incessant wedding planning!). It’s really really fun to get to reach out to many of the ladies invited to the shower and get them involved in the process a bit!

I couldn’t be more excited! I feel honored to be loved and supported by so many people!

Bridal Shoe Update!

What a girly blogpost title! I don’t mind stereotyping myself every once in a while.

So you know how I wrote that long, detailed blogpost about how I was getting my shoes custom made? That plan fell through about two days after I wrote that post! It was by no fault of the custom shoe company I was working with; it just didn’t work out because the specific shoe that I was looking at was discontinued from the supplier and was no longer available in the size I needed.

I ordered two samples in the mail, to see if I could fit into two of the sizes they did have in stock, but unfortunately they didn’t seem to fit well enough.

The sample shoes I was hoping to customize... note my overflowing, ugly-dancer toes, and how the crystal trim would have criss-crossed so beautifully in the front! *sigh*

Here’s what I was planning: a 1.25” wedge with light blue satin, crystal trim, and silver glitter all over the wedge! It would have been so glamorous and gorgeous, but unfortunately it was not meant to be. And besides, when you’re having something custom-made you want to make sure you can get EXACTLY what you’re looking for, and that just didn’t end up being the case.

No matter though. I searched incessantly for another similar shoe and found that I actually was feeling more drawn to a simple silver color. The shiny fabric really does make the shoe quite glamorous, and it’s very comfortable to wear! I was definitely glad to be able to re-check this item off my to do list!

Slowly but surely things are coming together! I’ll be sure to keep you updated.

Crafting Our Vow Folios!

I’m so excited to share my most recent DIY wedding project. Our invitations and custom monogram have been in the works ALL this time, but a shorter-term project was crafting our vow folios!

I liked the idea of having several loose cards to help brainstorm and facilitate multiple vow drafts, so I looked up some crafting tutorials online. I found this collaboration tutorial between Shasta Bell Calligraphy and Esther Clark Co., and fell in love with the look and texture of these beautiful invitation folios!

Check out their gorgeous tutorial here! 

I got to work gathering supplies. I headed over to the craft store and found some white duck canvas, Elmer’s craft glue, and photo-matting board from the framing section of Jo-Ann’s. It felt a bit sturdier than the chipboard they had on hand.

Upon arriving home, I unpacked the plant-dyed silk ribbon that I got from The Poetry of Silk for my bridal bouquet. I thought this would be a nice touch for such a special wedding day prop!

Look at that beautiful ribbon! Click to view "The Poetry of Silk" website!

I got to measuring, cutting to size, and gluing and got the whole project finished in under two hours!

I’m so happy with how they turned out. They are very sturdy feeling and I love that the canvas has a nice texture to it. I feel very proud of my meticulous handiwork!

As I said earlier, the inspiration and instructions that I used for these folios is from a collaboration between Shasta Bell Calligraphy and Esther Clark Co.. Let me know if you make your own! Happy crafting!