Andrew and Lorie's Wedding in Green Bay, Wisconsin

I knew I wanted my accent colors to be gold and navy. My bridesmaids got to choose her own dress as long as it was navy blue. I gave them all knit shawls to wear for outdoor photos. All the groomsmen were in black tuxedos and my fiancé wore a navy one.

I loved my simple but so classic gown. But my favorite item from the day that I loved was a custom navy velvet cape I had made. It was 18 yards of fabric and a six month process but it was stunning! It has a train that followed my gown and a high collar that framed my jawline. I truly felt like a queen!

30 years ago my now mother in law was the most awarded ballroom dancing teacher in the US. So leading up to our wedding I asked if she would teach us. We had a standing Friday night lesson as she taught us how to dance and we choreographed our routine. She also taught my parents as well. Which was a really nice way for everyone to bond before we all became family.

I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do for a card box, I didn’t like any of the things I was seeing. My dad is an accomplished woodworker. So I asked if he would be willing to build a smaller version of our house. It just so happened that we had our house painted the summer before and we had plenty of leftover paint. I was a sweet little detail.

Every wedding I’ve been to there are always members of the wedding party that I know nothing about. I decided to do something a little different with our wedding programs. We asked every member in our wedding party to give us a fun fact about themselves to share with our wedding guests. A lot of them were very funny and it gave our wedding guests something fun to read while they waited for the ceremony to start!

We don't have a lot of kids in that were're close to. We decided to do the most obvious thing. Ask two of our dear friends to be flowermen! They embrased it! Everyone thought it was hilarious and awesome (because it was).

Our dog Olive is a HUGE part of our life but the venue doesn’t allow dogs so we wanted to incorporate her into our special day as much as we could. I had a custom hanky cross stitched with her little face for him to keep in his pocket. Her picture was printed on every photobooth strip. And my personal favorite. Instead of doing a bouquet or garter toss we opted to have custom T-shirts printed with her face and the words 'I went to Andy and Lo's wedding and all I got was this picture of Olive' that we tossed into the crowd. They were a hit!

It’s fun to think back now about all the little things. You put so much effort into a few hours to make it fun and memorable for you and your guest. When it all goes to plan it makes all the hours of hard work worth it!