a tribute

During wedding planning, I pretty much lived on two sites: Etsy and APW. I’m still crazyface over APW (obv), but I am not AS much on Etsy just because I have no extra spending money and sometimes I resent that it makes me drool all the time. But I still get my Etsy Finds emails (as well as Etsy Weddings and Etsy Dudes, inexplicably), and I still want all my wedding vendors to succeed madly. So this is my love letter to all of them.

1. Miss Brache aka Diane.

look how pretty it swirls!

Not only is she a brilliant seamstress, she’s extremely helpful and awesome to work with. She will make almost anything! In any size! To your measurements! We got our bridesmaid dresses from her. One of the dresses didn’t fit the first time – she took it back, fixed it, shipped it back superfast and no extra charge (even refunded shipping). If I could have afforded it, I was going to order this dress for the rehearsal. Someday I will own that dress! and this one! and this one!

2. Arftul Beginnings, aka Kati.

I blocked out the personal info way back when I was concerned about party crashers (HA), now can't find an original version and definitely too lazy to take a new picture

I have enjoyed watching her shop grow and expand, she has a really amazing variety of neato weddingy type stuff (how’s that for eloquence?). She’s also extremely helpful when you convo her, AND her little son has the same name as my husband. So, bonus. If you are planning a wedding and haven’t settled on invites yet, I dare you to order this sample and not fall in love with it. I dare you.

3. Ann Leslie Designs, aka, well, Ann.

this is my talking-to-my-sister face.

Hands down fastest transaction-to-shipping ever. I put the order in for this veil, about 30 seconds later she convo’d me with my color options, I picked one, 10 minutes later it was in the mail to me. And it was absolutely perfect and exactly what I wanted.

4. Freshy Fig, aka Amanda.

image via Freshy Fig

Their jewelry is always interesting and vintage-y, and Amanda was really fast and nice with the convos and transaction. I had 3 bridesmaids with very different styles, and I’m pretty sure they have all worn their necklaces multiple times since our wedding. Or, I know two of them have.. Now I need to go grill one of my sisters..

5. The Jewelry Bar, aka I don’t know, we never convo’d!

mine is like this except silver (image via thejewelrybar)

I made two separate purchases there and they both arrived in a timely way. My first purchase was a pair of earrings for my (then future) mother-in-law for Christmas (which she loved). I went back to them later for my wedding necklace, which magically coordinated with my bmaid necklaces, even though it’s a different seller. They offer a matching bracelet, which is lovely, but I didn’t end up buying the set.

6. Threadrare, aka Jill.

that's right I did my own make-up

I LOVE THAT COMB SO MUCH. I’m not sure what else I can say about this shop. Jill was great, the piece was just exactly what I wanted. I also love this and might dream about wearing it some day. Also, ooh look, a sale! Those colors would be great for a fall wedding…! or just a date. or a picnic.

7. Titanium Knights, aka Amy.

image via titanium knights

We got zp’s wedding band from them, and they were so kind even when I went against their very smart advice and ordered engraving before I was 100% sure on the size. Well, I mean I thought I was 100% sure, but, no. Titanium cannot be resized, so they couldn’t take back the first one (we’re keeping it for when/if his hands ever get meaty in his old age), but they did do the engraving for free on the second one and were just generally very nice and helpful.

8. Rabbitstop, aka Vivian.

PRETTY sure this was when they played "Sweet Caroline" (we're from New England ok)

We ordered my maid of honor’s tie from them, with the personalized label for the back. Loved it. Ties are fun.

9. Promosinasnap, aka Misty.

wish we had a pic of the candy buttons

My mom had planned to hand paint each of the 80 candy-button-filled tins we were giving out as favors, and then sometime in February we realized how insane that was, and she designed ONE and we made stickers. I thought of printing them at home but then realized how much nicer to have someone else do it. I’m sorry to see their shop is closed right now, not sure if that’s temporary or what. Come back! People need stickers!

10. I’d love to tell you about Bellamodartist because they made the most amazing cufflinks for my husband. But their shop is just gone! Not “closed,” like Promosinasnap. Just vanished. :(

Even without the cufflinks, Etsy I <3 YOU.