Oh yeah, the ceremony

Ummm, something about our wedding has been on the back burner. What could it be? We've picked out food, the photographer, the music, the venue, and we're working on the honeymoon.

OH YEAH, the ceremony.

Now, we're really bright people, I promise. However, when we think of our wedding, we don't really want it to focus on the ceremony, but more on having everyone together and having a good time. In fact, future husband didn't even want a ceremony, as I'd stated before. So, we're going to do something short, sweet, and totally "us".

Instead of reading a passage from the Bible, we'll be reading part of this ADORABLE children's book:

www.borders.com

As I mentioned before, my super cool brother will be officiating our ceremony. We'll be writing our own vows. I will not be walking to the wedding march. We will not be lighting a unity candle or having a sand ceremony. Our wedding ceremony is to serve one purpose: to tell others of our love and officially become married. 

Up to this point, I had been blank on aisle decor ideas. Then I remembered this beaut:

www.loveandlavender.com

Balloons!!!!!

So easy, so simple, so pretty. Perfect. We'll only have 5 rows of people max, so it will a short sweet aisle to be sure. 

Now, our chairs are also like those in the above picture. I'll be honest, they're not my favorite. However, what makes dull chairs better? Let me show you!

www.weddingdecorations.21weddings.com

Ribbons!

More expensive, but adds an easy "pop" of color. I think I'll only do the back row of chairs like this, so people don't accidentally get caught in the flowing strands.

The shocking thing? Both of these ideas came to me in a Benadryl induced coma last night. Sigh. Crazy how your mind can work when it's not worried about other things. 

What am I forgetting? I'm sure there's something.

Having my cake and eating it too!

As I told you earlier, my wonderful friend Kelly is no longer able to make my cake. I was sad (because Kelly makes the BEST cakes), but understood. In fact, I think it may have been a good thing, because the second I told future hubs about the change in plans, he pulls out his wallet.

Me: "What are you doing?"
FH: "Well, Brian and I were at Judi's (a local bakery/cafe) yesterday, and I saw them preparing to deliver a wedding cake. The guy behind the counter saw me kind of gawking, and gave me his card. He's awesome, and so was that cake".
Cool!

Now, Judi's is delicious, but I've only ever gotten cookies there to go with my lunch (also routinely delicious). I'd never thought of them for the wedding cake before, but I'm all about that idea! So, on my day off Monday, I decided to go and visit Doug, the Marketing Director for Judi's. He told me some easy stats, and told me to send him a pic of the cake design we wanted for a more specific quote. Here's what I sent:

www.theknot.com

Too cute, right? Only we wanted some things changed...like: 

Only two tiers, no spacers, butter cream instead of fondant icing, and green and blue dots instead of orange and yellow. Oh, and I wanted them to put it on the cake stand I'm making, and put my homemade cake topper on top for me (I'm not demanding, just opinionated). 

My e-mail response came back the next day. They said not only could they do EVERYTHING I'd specified, but that they would charge only $130 for cake for about 55 people! WHOO!!! We'll be going for a cake testing within the next few weeks, but I am SO EXCITED. Talk about making lemonade, right?

Have any wedding downfalls become some of your biggest triumphs?

Gifting My Girls

I love my girls. In case I haven't told you (which I know I have). I'm so excited to have my sister as my Maid of Honor, and I'm so glad to have my old classmates (also known as my Lovely Llamas) to be my helpers on the day of. I want to show them my love through both my actions and some lovely things.

I'm very fortunate. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I hands down make the most money of all of my friends, and have the most stable lifestyle. My sister is a poor college kid. Together, none of my ladies have the luxury of buying themselves nice things terribly often. So, I want to give them something that they all want, but would never get themselves as a thank you gift.

Vera Bradley

Oh, how I love Vera. Her adorable prints make my heart skip a beat, and her love for pockets goes hand in hand with my love for keeping myself organized. Sigh. If you don't know anything about Vera, go to www.verabradley.com and take a look for yourself. Only problem? She's a little pricey. When I got finances under control after starting my job, my first gift to myself was a Vera Bradley bag, and I love it. here she is:

www.verabradley.com

I'll be getting different styles and prints for each girl according to her needs and her personality. Plus, they'll also be getting a necklace I'll be making (semi-DIY) that will look something like this:

www.michaels.com

Cool, huh?

The Funk

I have a confession to make: I am in a pre-wedding funk I didn't even think was possible. I'm a very type-A personality. I like to have all of my little ducks in a row. I love planning things. I loved planning my friends weddings. However, it feels like the second I hit the 6-months-to-wedding mark (and even a little before), I hit a road block.

interactivebrain.org

I've got all of the big things done, and I feel like it's too early to start on the smaller things...so I'm stuck. Future hubs is kind of enjoying the break, but it's got me more than a little concerned. If I can't motivate myself soon, I may find myself at the one month mark with a whole slew of DIY projects and TONS of stress.

I need to carry on.

My plan (which I REALLY hope works) is going to be to post about all of the fun things I WILL be doing, in order to keep myself motivated.

Has anyone else had the funk in wedding planning?

Friendors are, most importantly, your friends

Hands down the coolest wedding cake I've ever seen. www.geekologie.com

I would like to take this opportunity to talk about my amazing friend Kelly. She is married to one of my fiance's best friends, and is a super lady. She is the one throwing my bridal shower, she is a nurse, a new mom, and a fabulous baker. So fabulous, in fact, that I asked her to make our wedding cake. And because she's an awesome friend, she said yes. 

Until yesterday. 

Unfortunately, since she has a full time job other than baking, she has to squeeze all of her baking into her free time (which she doesn't have much of). She is hosting some friends the week of our wedding, and will not have time to bake our cake anymore. She was, of course, super apologetic, and even offered to help pay for the cake from another baker, but it won't be one of Kelly's cakes.

Now, had my caterer, photographer, or other pro vendor dropped me 6 months out from my big day, it would have been an ordeal to say the least. But Kelly is my bud, my pal, my friend, and that is more important than her being a friendor. 

Plus, now we get to do cake testings with several different bakers! Yummy!

Dealing with the non-traditional: part II

Whenever I say that we're not having a very traditional wedding, I get looks like this:

www.fox.com

(I chose this pic b/c no other look says "what a dummy" quite as well...and I love House)

We are choosing not to have a religious ceremony (cue looks from future in laws as well as coworkers).

We are having a very short, small wedding, with a small-ish guest list (cue look from FMIL).

We are registering for a honeymoon instead of random house things (cue looks from almost everyone).

I'm so sick of the looks! 

Here's how I've decided to approach the whole thing from now on: It's a backyard BBQ, just at another house. We wanted to do a BBQ in our back yard initially, then decided it probably wasn't practical, so we decided to book an outside venue. No one ever complains when their friends/family have a back yard party, so I've decided maybe we should just approach it as described. 

What we want:

Laid-back atmosphere

Only our closest friends and family

Not religious

Some gifts, but not obligated

Good food

Yard games

Everyone to have a great time, INCLUDING US!

What we're currently being pushed toward:

Formal: "You're invitation wording is WHAT?!?" (I'll put my invite DIY in a post within the next few weeks).

Pressure to invite every relative/babysitter/friend of parent imaginable (Ummm....our wedding?).

A religious ceremony (I actually had a coworker tell me that my wedding wouldn't be recognized by God, nor should it be recognized by anyone else if we didn't have a minister officiate). 

Honeymoon registry what? You may as well just ask for cash (sigh).

Good food-no one can take that away from us!

Yard games, though the guests we've talked about this with seem skeptical, they think it could be a good time.

No one will have a good time, because it seems we're offending people left and right. I don't want to spend my wedding day worried about other people, which is why I'm working my tail off NOW so everything can be as guest-friendly as possible. 

Now, I'm a very assertive person (which is important in my job). I don't let people push me around, and the fact that I have been letting the above look get to me to the point where I've considered actually CHANGING some things that are so important to me and my fiance on our wedding day is NOT acceptable. So here is my stance from this point forward:

Yes, we are getting married. Yes, it will be laid back. Yes, we will have a good time. If you want to mess with any of those things, accept it as it is or don't come to the wedding. 

Seriously, if people can't be supportive of you on your big day, do you really want them there?

Has anyone else had trouble with outside opinions when planning their wedding?

officially officiating and dealing with the non-traditional: part 1

When we started discussing getting married, future hubs and I agreed on almost everything, from season to colors to venue. Then we started getting into the nitty gritty, and things didn't run quite so smoothly. You see, part of the appeal of the B&B weekend for me is that we can have our "rehearsal dinner", our ceremony, and our reception all in the same place.

But that word ceremony troubled future hubs.
FH: "What do you mean, ceremony"
Me: "Uh...actually getting married?"
FH: "I thought we could go to the courthouse for that"
Me: "Wait, what?"
FH: "I don't want to make our friends sit through a long thing, that's just painful"
Cue me slamming my head into a wall (not literally, but still).

OK, time to get to the bottom of this. After about five minutes I re-approached him.
Me: "OK,  so you don't want any ceremony, or just no long ceremony?"
FH: "I'd prefer no ceremony"
Me: "Umm.....why? We can make it short."
FH: "We're not religious people. Why would we need a religious ceremony?"

This:

www.bestweddingdecorations.com

Vs. This:

www.orchardhillbedandbreakfast.com

(actually our venue!)

OOOOHHHH. Well that explained everything. He'd only been to religious ceremonies (mostly Catholic). That type of ceremony is very much "not us". Not that we have anything against religious people and their ceremonies, that's just not what we choose to believe or practice. Neither one of us have been to church in at least a few years, and we don't have any pastor/minister/reverend that we're familiar with even on friendly terms.  Poor future hubs had no idea it is not unheard of to have a friend, or a justice of the peace come and do a civil ceremony for non-religious people. Future hubs simply had not been educated.

Fast forward a few days, and we returned to the same topic. We discussed having our friend's father (who is a judge) perform the ceremony, but decided that would be almost as impersonal as having a pastor we've never met. That left us with this option: Online ordination for a friend/family member of our choosing.

We thought about our friend Brian, who knew FH long before I came into the picture, and was one of the only people supportive of the "online meet up". He and his wife Kelly are our closest friends, and he would have plenty to tell in terms of stories for the ceremony. One problem: he has a paralyzing fear of public speaking.

Our next choice (which we probably should have thought of sooner), was my brother. Although he's younger than me, he's very protective. Though he's always liked my man, he is always cautious when it comes to me and boys. He was literally the only one opposed to me moving in with FH, but warmed up to the idea when I explained all the precautions I was taking to ensure I wouldn't get left out on my butt. Future hubs winning his vote (it only took two and a half years), was probably a larger milestone for me than anything else in our relationship up to that point. Oh, and brother o' mine? He was a public media major in college, which means he can speak, and speak well. We asked him, and he said "sure, just tell me what to do". Awesome!

We'll discuss the ceremony in greater length later, but people have been asking how we made the decision to have my brother officiate. There ya go.

Is anyone else having a loved one officiate instead of a pastor?

Pounds for Pounds

Yes, the title of this post would definitely make more sense if I lived in a country where pounds was the unit of currency, but I don't, so just pretend.

I used to be very fit. I played almost all of the sports growing up, and even through my first couple of years in college I maintained a healthy weight. Then nursing school started. You know how health care providers are often times the most unhealthy people? True thing. When you only get thirty minutes for lunch, and the food in the  cafeteria is primarily fried, it is too easy to find yourself packing on the pounds. In the last 3 years I've put on about 20 pounds. Not horrible, but I've gone up two dress sizes, which is no bueno. Also, the bulk of my added weight is straight in my middle (can we say increased risk for heart disease and diabetes, anyone?). Basically, I need to get my butt into gear and start taking care of myself. 

Unfortunately, I haven't had any luck finding any good motivators for myself. I tried buying all of the expensive healthy food, but I didn't like it. I joined a gym, but it's too far from home, and I'm not motivated to go in after I have worked a twelve hour shift. Hmm...what is a good motivator for  a shopper? Money. Oh yeah. 

I'm doing a pounds for pounds approach. Each day I work out, I get $5 to spend on clothes for my honeymoon. Last week I worked out three days (aka: $15). Want to see what I got?

www.oldnavy.com

That's right! Mickey and Minnie Mouse on vacation! AWESOME!! It will look too cute with some white shorts. I'm pretty darn excited.

I know that it seems extreme to have to bribe myself to exercise, but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.

This is How We Rock (and Roll)

Tonight future hubs and I conquered a major task on his to-do list: Our Playlist.
In an effort to save money, we've decided to forgo having a DJ. Our venue (once again, proving their awesomeness) has a sound system included with the rental of the property. Also, since FH is a computer guy, we decided it would be something we could definitely handle ourselves. Together tonight, we made a list of 94 songs we'd like to play during our fiesta. Keep in mind our ceremony starts at 5pm, and we can have people/dancing until midnight, so we need about seven hours of tunes. Want to hear/see some of my personal favs?

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros- Home
Copyright Rough Trade Records UK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHEOF_rcND8

Regina Spektor-Us
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fczPlmz-Vug

Also on the list are:
Mozella-Can't Stop
Ben Folds-Luckiest
The Spencer Davis Group-Gimme some lovin'

Now, we've divided the songs into several categories in order to make day-of more do-able.
The Categories:
Pre-ceremony
Ceremony
Cocktail Hour
Dinner
Dancing

Each Category will have its own playlist, as will each designated dance (such as first dance and father-daughter).

Did anyone else choose to do their own music? How did it go?

Bye-Bye White!

Our venue (as we've previously discussed) is fabulous. So fabulous, in fact, that they include a tent rental/tables/chairs/linens/tent lights ALL included in the venue cost. Awesome, right? Right. The only drawback?  It's all white. Yeah. All white. Now, how am I going to brighten up the tent without spending a bundle? Let me show you!

First: Table Runners.
We're having long tables to serve our guests during dinner. My mom and I were in Hobby Lobby shopping for things on my Mega DIY Checklist, and came across these fabrics. Too cute! Plus, they were 30% off, which means I could squeeze them into our budget.

personal photo (ignore the toilet paper, the kittens brought it in for me to see)

Second: Placemats

Also going on the plain white table will be place mats. They'll be all blue, and will be easy, because they're really just scrapbook paper!

Third: Centerpieces

Although my first centerpiece plan fell apart, I still have some other options. For example, look at these babies! My grandmother has TONS of mason jars, and we could paint them ourselves for virtually nil:

www.bridalbuzz.blogspot.com

Fourth: Candy Bar! 

Since we're having a candy bar for favors anyway, we figured we may as well have it set up in the shelter of the tent, where the elements won't melt our M&Ms. Plus, it's a great way to throw in extra color:

www.projectwedding.com

Fifth: Ceiling Decor! 

With all of the pretty colors from the eye level down, I think it's necessary to add a little pop to the top of the tent as well. Right now I'm trying to decide between these two ideas:

Mobiles-take more effort but would look great with the long tables

www.projectwedding.com

Or banners/bunting-definitely the less expensive option, as it's pretty much glue, tissue paper, and twine:

www.projectwedding.com

Yay bright colors! Any other ideas to turn our tent from drab to fab on a budget?

Let's Hear it for the Boy!

First off: I love Footloose. It's so good!
OK, now for the real post, which is about dressing my future husband for our big day.

When FH and I started brainstorming about ideas for the wedding, one word came up frequently: CASUAL. Now, casual is kind of a funny word, because it doesn't mean sloppy. It means comfortable. I had a friend's husband ask "so I can't wear my sweats?". This guy wears sweats whenever humanly possible. He loves them (he did wear a tux for his wedding, for the record). I told him no. No sweats, but you can wear Khakis! I'm absolutely OK with Khakis. In fact, I initially told FH that he and the boys could wear Khakis and polos (or a button down). Something like this:

www.groomgroove.com

Look at how comfy these guys are!

Then THIS happened:

www.splasposa.com

That's right. My dress. That I fell in love with and spent far too much money on. It officially increased the dressy factor of the wedding. When I was trying it on both mothers said "You know the boys can't wear polos when you wear that". Drats. OK. Back to the drawing board for the boys!

Still wanting to be casual, we considered a linen or Khaki suit. Something like this:

www.ahfashion.com

Future hubs took one look at this and said: "A Khaki suit? and when would I EVER wear that again?". Well, we live in the middle of the country. No where even CLOSE to an ocean or beach. The answer? Never. Poo.

Well, then we discussed more traditional suit options. Future hubs doesn't like suits. Words that have actually come out of his mouth: "it does nothing for my figure". That's right girls, even if they pretend they don't care what they look like, they do. Now, I can kind of understand his hesitation, because his current suits are pretty boxy. He's tall and thin, and it's impossible to buy off-the-rack for a tall man without it being large as well. 

Jimmy Hamelin Photography

Now, I have nothing against a boxy suit. I come from a family of broad bodies. My father and brother look great in a suit like the one above. My fiance, however, does not. He is slim (as in 6'3" and 190 pounds).

His suit needed to be something more like this:

www.christonium.com

Plus, slim fit suits make me think of Mad Men, and I love Mad Men. 

So, walking through Macys the other day (on the way to Bath and Body Works), we decided to take a stop at suits, and what should we find? This guy (well, not actually the GUY, but the suit):

www.macys.com

Slim Fit, looks great on the guy, and regularly $450, but they were having a sale, and we got it for $220. Yay!   

Unfortunately, future hubs tried it on with a black undershirt, so it doesn't do it justice, but you'd better believe there will be pics later of him in it. 

Did anyone else struggle with menswear?

Say Yes To the Dress

Future Husband,
I love you so much, words can hardly express. But if you look at this page, there will be consequences. Stop. Shoo. Go play a video game. Love you!




Gone yet?




Good!




Here's the deal. I was NOT looking forward to dress shopping. As in, NOT AT ALL.
Why? Everyone loves dress shopping!?!
No, I do not.
I am not a small girl. I'm not a large girl, but I'm not a small girl. I'm a size 12-14 street size, with a B cup chest. There is virtually no difference between my waist and my hips. I'm kind of a box. Football players would kill for my build. Sometimes I love it, but usually not so much.

I love nice fabrics. I love the way they feel on my skin, the weight of them, and the way that they look.
Put my size and my love for nice fabrics together, and I thought it would equal one horrible dress shopping day. I have nothing against Davids Bridal, or the girls who get their dresses there, but I didn't like the feel of the ones I saw wondering through the store one day. I would save DB as a last resort.

We (my mom, future MIL, and myself) started the day off with mimosas, as I needed one, and headed to the most well stocked bridal store in the city: The Gown Gallery. Gwen was my consultant. When we started the interview, I remained skeptical. What was I looking for?
Well:
I'm picky, but I don't really know.
Nice fabrics
Something casual
No super long train
No sequins (I hate bling)
Not sleeveless (because I hate pulling up my dress when my less than adequate breasts don't do the jobs themselves)
Less than 1,000. Which is still WAY more than I was wanting to pay, but my mother insisted that I get a dress that I loved, and she expected it to be more than 1k. As a gift, she would get it for me (Thanks mom and dad!).

Gwen and I didn't hit it off straight away, because the first dress she brought out was this:

www.diamondsonfifth.com

OK. NOT REALLY. But it may as well have been in my mind. It was super blingy, strapless, and had a huge train. 

I told her I wasn't even comfortable trying it on, because it was so not my style. She said OK, and as we were walking by an empty dressing room next door, we saw this on a hanger:

www.jimhjelm.com

Yes, it is strapless, but it was gorgeous, and a Jim Hjelm (known for using great fabrics). Unfortunately, it laid strangely on my top, but it could have easily been pulled in, so we kept it as a back up.

Now on the right track, Gwen starting bringing me gown after gown that I loved. She brought me in one that I loved before she even took it out of the bag: another Jim Hjelm:

www.jimhjelm.com

She fit very well, but the tightness at the hips made me look a little pudgy. She was definitely the most beautiful girl at the ball though, and would end up being my second choice. In fact, I had to try her on another three times to choose.

Ready to see the winner? Me too!

www.splasposa.com

Yes, she's strapless, but guess what? Her boning holds herself up! It has beading, but no bling, has buttons on the back (so pretty).

Oh, and she gives me a clearly defined waist, hips, and bust. WHOA!

The only altering that will need to be done is a hem and bustle.

Sigh. Oh how I love her.

Did anyone else end up with a dress different than they thought?

A Semi-DIY Monogram:fingerprints

When future hubs and I were deciding what "little personal thing" we could do to make the wedding more our own, we thought of a few things.
1) His first initial is B, mine is L, and our future last initial is T. What about BLT theme? Well, it's fun...and definitely different, but I don't like BLTs, and I definitely don't want our wedding based around a sandwich we don't like.
2) "The Nurse and the Nerd". It's our take on Beauty and the Beast (btw, one of my FAVORITE Disney movies EVER!). Not really nice to call future hubs and nerd though, even though he embraces the title.
3) Fingerprints. Our wedding bands are going to be fingerprint. Don't remember them? Here they are again!

www.etsy.com/shop/fabuluster

We (obviously) decided to go with the fingerprint idea. Want to see our monogram? I'll give you the how-to as you continue reading:

done by me!

Pretty cool huh? Want to know how to make it?

I KNOW YOU DO!

Step one: get your materials:
1 sheet of printer paper
1 black ink pad
scanner
GIMP software (www.gimp.org for free download)

Step two: make your hearts!
Have your partner make LOTS of finger prints on the paper at about a 45 degree angle
Add your prints opposite theirs (making a heart)
It will probably take several tries before you get a heart you're happy with (as you can see)

photo by me, with the help of McFly, the kitten

Step three: edit
Open GIMP (it's like a free form of photoshop). You can get the free download here: www.gimp.org
I recommend a stamp size of 2x2, it will comfortably fit you prints, as well as your font. If you'd like more font, a 2x2 stamp leave plenty of room for that.
Click "File, New" and make your parameters 2x2". Drag and drop your chosen heart (after scanning).
Rotate your heart by using the rotate function by clicking on one of the corners.

Step four: add text
We chose a text that GIMP did NOT include, so we had to copy and paste our text from a word document.
HOWEVER, if you want to do it the easy way, just click the text box button on your toolbox, make the box the size you want, and insert your text.

Step five: send your stamp to be made (if you want a stamp...otherwise you're done!)
We found several online places where you can make a custom stamp. We chose to go with Modern Art Stamps, an etsy retailer who does all stamps by hand. www.etsy.com/shop/modernartstamps. We chose the 2x2" custom stamp. It came exactly 1 month and 2 days after being ordered, and it is WONDERFUL! I could not be more excited!
Here's the final product:

both pics by me!

 If you think the fingerprint heart isn't for you, and would like a more traditional stamp, modern art stamps has TONS of personalized stamps for sale.

Wedding dreams (well, nightmare)

You know how I'm telling everyone not to stress too much about your wedding? It will all be OK? Maybe not perfect, but at least OK?

Apparantly I need to give myself that pep talk, because last night I woke from:
MY FIRST WEDDING NIGHTMARE!

NOOOOO!!!!! So much for stress free!

Here's what happened, or at least what I can remember:
It was May 23rd, the wedding is May 28th, and I was at work when it hit me:
"Oh nuts, my wedding is in 5 days". I had no more done than I have done today. Nothing. As in, hadn't even made invitations. The rest of the dream consisted of me panicking, trying to throw together what I could in just a few days. It involved me tripping over my gown because I'd forgotten to get it hemmed, and my friend not making my cake because she'd assumed the wedding had been cancelled because she hadn't gotten an invite.

Now, my fiance is convinced this is just my crazy planner coming out, trying to tell me that I should spend some more time on wedding projects.

Well crazy wedding planner part of my brain: YOU WIN. I have tomorrow off from work, and you'd better believe that I will be making some serious headway in my DIY projects, because I WILL remember to send out invites.

With this now planned, hopefully I will spend tonight sleeping like this:

www.lpgmindworks.com

Goodnight all!

The Registry Delimma

Like many couples I (and probably you) know, my fiance and I are living together prior to getting married.

www.gallery-of-cartoon.blogspot.com

We love our living situation (and each other) and have successfully molded our two separate houses into one. In fact, we currently have two of everything. That's right. I didn't get rid of any of my things when I moved in with my future hubs. You see, he hadn't yet proposed, and if things went south I didn't want to be stuck paying thousands of dollars replacing the thing I had from my old place. So our kitchen is currently cram packed, with everything. As in: two toasters, two dish sets, two flatware sets, two sets of pots and pans. He lived in a one bedroom apartment before we moved to the house together, and I had a two bedroom apartment. Our home is three bedroom. So, we don't need anything in terms of beds or bathrooms.

Sound great? It is!

Except for one thing...

REGISTERING.

We don't need things (or very few things), which makes registering very difficult. In fact, we went to Target today (I love Target), and attempted to register, and only came up with 12 things. So, we have another option:

Honeymoon Registry.

I mean really: why get more of this:

www.mabelshouse.blogspot.com

When we could get this instead?:

www.1001arabian.net

What my conflict now is: How do we approach this in terms of our guests? Something like "Hey, we don't need more junk, but send us on this awesome trip!"? I have a feeling there's something against that in the grand book of wedding etiquette, but the fact is we just don't need extra junk.

Any ideas?

Google Docs Rocks My Socks (off)!

Yes, I TOTALLY just tried to make a cheer about a computer program, because it has made my wedding planning much easier (and more groom-helping friendly). If you haven't heard of google docs, you should immediately go log in to gmail. If you don't have a gmail address yet, MAKE ONE! It's totally worth it, I assure you.

You see, with google docs, you can make excel spreadsheets, powerpoint presentations, and microsoft word documents and share them with others, and you can allow them to edit them. It is fantastic. For example: our guest list. We have our guest list on an excel spreadsheet. Having that be on google docs means that when future hubby remembers (or thinks of) someone he wants to add, he doesn't have to remember to edit the spreadsheet when he gets home. Instead, he can edit right there in his cubicle. Same with the budget. And the playlist for music. Also (my personal favorite part), I've made future hubs to-do list a google doc, so he can keep me up to date on his progress as we work on things together!

Does anyone have any computer programs they use that makes their wedding life easier?

Taking back my house...and my sanity!

With wedding planning I've found that a lot of things get put on the back burner. I came home from work yesterday morning and came face to face with one such thing: keeping my house tidy!

Now, my house is clean, don't get me wrong. With wedding planning though, I've apparently started making small piles of wedding related things around the house. I clearly hadn't noticed this while making the piles, but yesterday I walked into my home and thought my brain would explode!

www.giantitp.com

So, I've decided that I'm spending today (with the exception of blogging!) cleaning my house...starting from scratch.

But how will I keep my house clean after today? I've decided to implement something that I should have started long ago:

Wedding Wednesdays!

Now, Wedding Wednesdays may not always take place on ACTUAL Wednesdays, because my job doesn't have a regular schedule, and I'd estimate I work about every other Wednesday night. Here's the basic idea: I will only pull out wedding things from my sacred wedding lair (aka: the small guest room) one night a week. This should keep the piles to a minimum, and hopefully make it so that I don't come home and feel immediately overwhelmed.

To clarify, I will still be working on wedding related things on other days than Wednesdays, because if not my DIY projects will suffer. BUT, I won't pull out stacks of paper/other things to show my future hubs except for one day per week.

Has anyone else not noticed how consuming wedding planning is until it's too late (and then have to spend a whole day cleaning/organizing)?

Halloween!!!

So-I love Halloween. Unfortunately this year I have to work, so I won't be able to wear anything super cool. I had been planning to be a stick-person with EL wire. Haven't seen it yet? Here's an example:

www.tronguycostume.com

Now, how does Halloween relate to weddings, you may ask? Well, Halloween is the PERFECT time to get lots of props for your DIY Photobooth! Think about it: cool hats, strange glasses, inflatable, props, wigs...and all are 50% off tomorrow! What could be better? I got a lot of mine already, but I had a 20% off coupon, which made me decide it was likely worth it! Seriously, what other time of year are most stores filled to the brim with things that make you look ridiculous?

Let me show you everything I got (all pictures taken by myself):

 fairy princess wand and crown

 Super cool foam hats

 black foam for DIY mustaches and spectacles

 boas in our colors

 GIANT sunglasses

 a crown fit for a king

Inflatable band pieces

Oh, and did I mention I got ALL of this for around $20? Yeah, now try to tell me Halloween isn't awesome!

Is anyone else doing a Photo booth? Where have you had good luck finding props?

No Day of Coordinator (and how I'm NOT going to go crazy because of it)

So, on just about any wedding blog anywhere, you will see something along the lines of "I wish I'd have gotten a Day-of-Coordinator. It would have saved me so much stress!". In fact, my parents offered that a DOC be another part of the wedding they chip in for. I just wasn't comfortable with it. And why would I need one, when I have my Llamas?

Now, most people don't call their friends Llamas. I recognize that. However, we lived in a Scholarship Hall during college that had the Llama as its mascot. I won't get into that story here or now, but how that came to be is a truly touching story. SO, anyway, I still have four very close friends from school that have agreed to be my Llama Helpers on my big day.

When deciding who I wanted to have be my unofficial, but fully capable DOC(s) for our wedding day, I looked for three qualities:
1) Assertiveness: for when the caterer shows up late, or the guests want to start the bonfire before we've planned.
2) Responsibility: because they are following my directions, and I'm more than a little type-A. I'll be making them all a day-of timeline (which of course I'll be sharing with you).
3) Respect: I have a friend who the other day posted on facebook "just call me JLo, I'm the wedding planner" before spending a weekend helping a friend on some DIY projects for that girl's wedding. Now, if someone attempted to claim creative insight to all of my wedding ideas, I would just have to lose it. It's not because I don't find other peoples help amazing, or that I'm super possessive, but when you spend MONTHS and MONTHS (if not YEARS) planning a wedding, it's best to feel the gratification of all of your hard work.

Also, I love my llamas, and I wanted them involved in our wedding. Though we're only having one person stand on each side of us, a part of me wished I could have all of them up there as well. This will keep them involved without messing with the small wedding feeling. Plus, since there's four of them, I'll give them each smaller things to be responsible for, so they don't feel overwhelmed and can enjoy the party!

Is anyone else skipping having an official DOC?

The Bling: my ring

So, as promised, I will now explain the story behind my engagement ring.

I am a picky person when it comes to jewelry. I have one ring, two pairs of earrings, and one necklace that I wear on a regular basis. All of them (except one pair of earrings) are pearl. Now, my future hubby doesn't know much about jewelry, but he does know that pearls aren't typically used for engagement/wedding rings. He had no idea what he was looking for when it came to engagement rings, and so he asked for some help from the pro: me!

I spent a few days coming up with examples of rings that I liked. They were 3-stone, or had a halo of smaller diamonds. All were at least one carat center stone. He was NOT a fan of the halo, and feared that the three-stone wouldn't go well with an additional band. Well, alright, I thought: let's just go shopping!

We did. We went to every main jewelery store in town (Zales, Helzberg, Kay), and found nothing we liked. So, we decided to take a look at Shane, Co. The nearest store is about an hour from our house, but we thought it would be worth a try. We were not disappointed. Shane, Co had a FABULOUS selection of rings. I mean. WHOA! We left the store with a hold/deposit on this puppy:

Photo from www.shaneco.com

I was so happy! I mean, how could I not be? Look at that rock! I'm not a big stone kinda girl. I have to wear gloves for work, so my ring would be beat up, if I decided to wear it to work at all. Which left me with a sloped wedding band to wear. Hmm....I didn't know what to think about that. Then I remembered how much I LOVED these wedding bands I found on etsy.com

found at www.etsy.com/shop/fabuluster

How cool are those? I discussed the idea with my man, and he agreed....these were our rings.

But wait, what about the engagement ring we picked out? Clearly it couldn't go well against a plain-style band, and my chosen e-ring is a very overwhelming design, making it possibly overshadow the craftsmanship in the wedding bands. NOT cool. That left us one option: we were trading my e-ring. 

Now, the second time to Shane Co., we were prepared: We wanted: a simple setting, something without high prongs (to avoid popping my gloves at work), and something that wouldn't overwhelm our awesome wedding bands. We decided to build a custom ring, and this is what we ended up with: 

                                                                      personal photos

The stone is a natural green sapphire (BEAUTIFUL!) almost 1.5 carats in size, the prongs slope gently (so not to glove pop), and the setting is high enough the wedding band can lay flush with the e-ring. 

Pretty cool, huh?