A slight bump in the road

Good news: Les, our best man, is back from Iraq and in one piece with no pieces missing.

Bad news: Les is going to jump school in April and might not be at the wedding. This news made me cry at a bar.

So if any one knows where we can order large, cardboard, picture cutouts, please let me know. Because I made the executive decision that Les isn't getting replaced.

Help, please

If anyone reads this and knows of someone who does a good job with wedding gown alterations, please let me know! I'd greatly appreciate it. You can either leave me a comment or e-mail me at knip2be@gmail.com

Thanks:)

Grr

OK. So I got the labels up, but if you notice, there is less info in the sidebar.

I'm not so happy with it right now because it's not a basic html editor on here now, and it confuses me. So, it's going to be sparse unless I get a hankering to learn about widget tags.

Here we go again

Something good came of me being home sick for two days -- things got done!

I'm now up to 88 invites done (still minus inserts), so I don't have too many more to do; about half that number. Woo hoo.

And, I even started making appointments for flowers. Of course, I forgot that there's this thing called Christmas coming up, which means they are all slammed. So, I don't get to talk to any of them until January. Which means I'm not talking about it to January because my track record with such things.

I managed to start labels on this blog. I realized that I talk mostly about paper. I guess it shows what I really like about this wedding (I won't discuss how excited I got when I realized Paper Source has gift certificates). However, I'm not brilliant enough to figure out how to establish label links on the page. Oh well.

Only two months later ...

So, I know I said I was going to get the rest of the Save the Dates out after Fall Break.

Well, I meant like the next week, not two months later.

But, the rest of them (minus a few because of lack of addresses) are now on their way.

And, the countdown to some major wedding planning has also started: I've got 11 days left of school. And then I will work on the wedding. I swear.

Updates

If you look over that way (------>), you'll notice there are a few changes.

One day, I'll actually get back to planning this thing. You know it's getting bad when your school's dean starts laughing at you when you can't figure out how long it is until your wedding.

Back on track

After my mini freak out this week, I managed to get things accomplished on my day off.

I started printing out the invites, so now we just have to get a hotel block (Jeremy has a deadline of the end of the month on that one), make a map and write up the RSVP card, and I'll be able to print out the inserts too.

Of course, now I don't even like the invites, but Jeremy says I'm nuts, which I am, so they'll stay. Partly because I'm not redesigning now.

I even have some more save the dates printed out ready to mail.

I'm on a roll. I'm saying it's because I only had to work four days this week.

Eh. It'll get done

I'm in an "eh" slump for the wedding. I have little to no desire to work on any of the stuff I need to do. I'm blaming this on the fact that I've been having nightmares about the whole thing. Such things included in these are:
1. No photog
2. An ugly Scooby-Doo cake that was not from J's
3. An odd, stuffy, extremely formal, extremely uncomfy, dirty - no less - wedding dress
4. A missing groom after the ceremony, which was questionable if it even happened
5. The ceremony and reception was at a two-bedroom house with guests I didn't know and were all in T-shirts and jeans. And a lot of them look like students that I don't have.

But I did finalize the invite wording. And I started addressing those envelopes. Those tasks seemed undaunting, and they don't even cost money right now. I still need to send out the second round of Save The Dates. Ugh.

I think I might have to go back on Paxil. Double ugh.

And they're out

Well, at least partially.

The stamps finally came in for the Save the Dates (I'd abbreviate that, but putting STDs up on my planning site just seems like asking for trouble), and the ones that I actually have addressed have stamps on them. And, they're going into the mailbox to go out into the world tomorrow.

I think I have a little more than half addressed, and the rest are just going to have to wait until after I get back from the land of corn. And speaking of the land of corn, I need to go pack.

We're dead sexy

So we had our engagement shoot tonight. Jeremy was a poo because he's just a little uncomfortable with getting his picture taken. And I continue my history with blinking/almost blinking, making myself look drunkish in the pictures (ie, the picture of Matt, Lois and me at her wedding).

Anyhoo, you can view a teaser of these lovely, lovely pics here. And of course, after seeing these pictures, I got a little down because Rae won't be shooting the wedding:( But then I realized this could be a good thing because I have a feeling I'd want to buy each picture she shot. She's good. So go book her!!!

They'll eventually get out complete with whimsy

So even though the save the dates have been done for more than a week now, they're still sitting on the coffee table (and not all of them are in their sparkly envelopes yet either, nor are all of those pretty envelopes are address either). I've been putting off buying stamps so it makes it a bit problematic to actually mail them out.

We had planned to go with the DC comic superhero stamps -- even though I was a little bitter about the Plastic Man ones (seriously, who wants Plastic Man; who even remembers who Plastic Man is?). But then, tonight, when I went online to buy them (I do not have good luck at the post office, and I still need to go there to file my claim since they shipped out my guaranteed next day package two days AFTER it was guaranteed to get there), I found these. I'm a little bummed that there aren't more Curious George ones; Jeremy is bummed that there aren't more Wild Thing ones. But yeah, we're using those.

I also say Yurtle the Turtle should have been included.

Let them eat cake

We officially have the cake. We woke up early this morning and headed down to J's, where Jeremy promptly ate all the white icing off the sample pieces and I gorged myself on the cream cheese frosting. Mmm, frosting. Of course, i was a little caked out because of yesterday, and cake at 9 a.m. is smidge to early for me.

But, it didn't take long to get it all figured out. It will be like the picture I posted earlier with some tweaks. The bow on top won't stick up as much because there's going to be some cascading roses and calla lillies on it. The bow will also be champagne colored for contrast and it will have real icing, not fondant.

And Jeremy and I are discovering vendors like us because we know what we want and we don't take much time. The cake lady said she'll get people who have no clue what they want and it will take two hours to figure things out.

I'm just glad we weren't like the girl who was before us this morning. She had a HUGE binder with each page in a plastic protector and was going to have 400 guests. My binder has like three sheets in it and none of them are protected. Nor do I have anywhere near 400 guests. Personally, I like simple.

They're done

I finished the save the dates tonight, and they look pretty good in my opinion. I tried to upload a picture of it, but it didn't show most of the stuff that's on them. So, now you'll just have to wait until you get yours in the mail:) With any luck, I'll get most of them out this week so be looking for a pretty enevelope!

Yum, yum and more yum

I had grand plans to go get the cake contract done and over with Saturday. And, of course, there were no meeting times for Saturday -- it was a slightly selfish plan because it meant more cake for me on my birthday:) Anyway, I did get an appointment for Sunday ....... at 9 a.m. But, with any luck we will have a baker that will make us the one cake flavor Jeremy likes (so the groom's cake will actually be mine because I have a feeling I am going to need chocolate that day). And I will also get plenty of cake this weekend:)

Also, the rehearsal dinner will no longer be at McGuires:( They are not cool and don't like Friday/Saturday reservations. But, it will probably be at Hemingways, which has some nummy, nummy food too.

And now I've made myself hungry so I need to go find something that isn't chocolate frosting.

Phew

So, it became official last night -- I have a photographer again.

I gave my deposit to Salter Photography, and we're going with the son. The galleries on their Web site do not do their full portfolio justice.

But honestly, I'm just happy to have a photographer again.

Hopefully third time's a charm

OK. So I said I had a new photog.

I lied.

Well, not really. She had talked to other people weeks ago about April 14 (seriously people, don't get married on MY day. MY day. And that's as Bridezilla as I will get) but never got a contract back with a deposit. So ... of course, she leaves for a day and gets a contract with payment back today, putting me without a photog again.

But, there is a bright side to this. Rae's doing an engagement sitting for me still. And now, I get a bridal protrait setting from Patsy with a 16x20 of yours truly all decked out in fluffy white dress. And, that's not all folks. After the boy and I get back from the honeymoon, Rae AND Patsy are giving us a shoot (in our wedding garb, which means I need to be EXTRA careful not to spill anything on myself) at the beach:)

So, seriously, if you are in the Pensacola area and need a photog, go with one of these LOVELY ladies. They have gone so far above what they needed to do, it almost makes me cry when I think about it. They've treated me so much more than a client -- and I never even signed a contract or met Patsy.

And, it does look like I have one lined up. I'm meeting with them on Monday (with checkbook in tow), but I'm not writing anything specific because I'm not jinxing it. So check back Monday night or Tuesday to find out.

And, I'm keeping Rae's and Patsy's links up on the right because they are shooting us for one aspect or another of the wedding.

I just never thought I'd have three photographers for anything.

I feel like a star (a slightly stressed star, but a star nonetheless).

P.S.

I forgot to mention that there's been a slight change to the bridesmaids' dresses.

I was puttering around online last night and found out that they now offer them in the same champagne as my sash. So, there's been a color switch to the champagne because I'm pretty sure none of them have gotten theirs yet. And even if they have, we'll just have one in a special color:)

Oh, and I also forgot to mention in my previous two posts that Rae really was a great sport and such a sweetie during my mini-crisis. I highly recommend her to anyone in the Pensacola area!

Wee hoo

So, it appears I was only without a photog for a day. :)

The photog who trained Rae had also been one of my top choices but was booked and had recommened Rae while I was in the midst of talking to her. But, she actually got a cancellation for my day, so she's now mine:)

I have an appointment to make things official with her Monday, and I'm very excited. Her Web site is: www.PatsyBrown.com.

Granted, I'm still a bit bummed because I don't get Rae, but at least I get her for my engagement photos and I am getting a photog that has the same style.

So things are going well again. And I'm not stressed:)

Sadness in the midst of joy

I lost my photographer today.

She called me to let me know that she is supposed to have a baby the day before my wedding. So, I'm very excited for her (she's been on fertility drugs for the past three years, so this is very good news for her), but I'm bummed because I was really excited to have her take photos of the big day.

But, she is going out of her way to help me find someone else. There might even be a chance (if I can't find anyone else) that her husband (who takes photos with her now anyway) will be taking the photos.

And -- she's still taking our engagement photos in October, and she's also offered to take any bridals I want (which I wasn't planning on, but now if it means I get her to take photos of me, I might do them) and anything else I want photographed.

So, stay tuned. With any luck, I'll have this figured out by the end of the week.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

The laptop is back up, which means I once again have complete access to all my wedding planning stuff -- which could mean I might get things accomplished. Or not ...

But, I do have most of the stuff for the centerpieces. The boxes are now sitting in what has become the "wedding closet," which Jeremy isn't allowed into since my dress is in there. And, I now have ALL my paper products. Well, except for the paper for the programs, but that just means a trip to a store to get a ream of some off-white paper (yes, Lois, I'm totally stealing your program idea for them:))

Having the laptop back means I also have the Save The Date file back, so that design just might get finished soon. Of course, I also have to convince the boy to do the wedding info site. Or, I might just go with an easy one and then have him revamp it later because he decides its not up to his standards.

Anyway, here is the link to a bio of a recent bride with my dress that even has the champagne sash. Of course, she opted to use the free white sash for the ceremony and the colored one for the reception. I'm not doing that. That's too much work.

And, if you want to see more photos of the church on the inside, go to photosbyrae.blogspot.com and then click on "view proofs." Go to Sarah & Steven 8-5 wedding, and in the midst of those photos is the church.

At least something's getting done

So today I kept up with my habit of doing things that I have plenty of time to do and ignored what I need to get done ASAP.

I saw a dress a few weeks ago that I thought would be great for the rehearsal dinner, but I didn't get it because I told myself I should wait. Well, I saw it online again and decided I had to have it. So Jeremy and I headed to the mall today, and I now have my rehearsal dinner dress. I love it. And there's a high chance I might wear it before then too. If it's decent enough weather, it might be what I wear for our engagement pictures. Of course when I told Jeremy I now need a new pair of shoes for the dress, he looked at me like I'm nuts. He just doesn't understand that one pair of black shoes just doesn't always cut it.

And, Jeremy has actually contacted a few people to DJ the rehearsal. We decided on one, and then I found out that he failed to ask them if they were actually available for April 14. So, now we're just waiting to hear back about that. If they are, we've got a DJ. If they're not, I've learned my lesson and will give a list of questions Jeremy needs to make sure he asks when making requests.

I now have all the paper cut for the pocketfolds for the invites. It's great having a monster paper cutter at work:)

Progress and more progress

I am happy to say that teaching has lit a fire under me, and I have gotten several things accomplished in only one day off so far this weekend.

Last night, I sat down and found the silk flowers needed for the centerpieces as well as the bud vases (for less than a buck, no less) so they're ordered and on their way. And, I've even been pointed toward some placemats at Target, so I might have all the stuff for them by the end of the month.

Today I cut all the ribbon for the band on the invites. If I counted right, I should have done 150 pieces. So now my hands are a little shiny from the hairspray I used to prevent the ends from fraying, which I don't think they would have because it's a meshy ribbon -- but I wanted to be safe.

I'm also happy to say I managed to get about half of the pocketfolds done. And that even includes putting the pink backing sheet on them too. I also sat down last night and did the math to figure out how many sheets of paper I needed for the invite wording and the inserts. So that paper - along with envelopes - is on its way. Of course, I realized today I forgot to order cardstock for the save the dates. However, I think I might just go to Michael's and get a pack of their cardstock in off white/ivory or something to that effect. I'm planning on cutting the pieces of paper for the fronts of the invites for the names so I can get a head start on writing those. I'm also going to start addressing the envelopes when I get them just so I don't have to do it all at once. I would just send them through the printer, but it gets fussy if the paper isn't 8 x 11, so that might just be a pipe dream. And I know I'm not letting Jeremy address them; no one would be able to read them.

Too bad my sixth graders don't have decent handwriting ....

And we have centerpieces!

The latest bane of my wedding planning has been centerpieces. I thought I knew what I wanted, then I realized I didn't and the one I thought I really liked I realized would make it difficult for guests to see across the table.

So, now that I seemingly have more time to work on wedding planning (I do believe my hiatus is over), I spent time this morning (I actually woke up before 10 a.m. by myself; that's a first in YEARS) looking for centerpiece ideas. And then I found this one:
Of course, I won't be using a green mat; it'll either be pink or beige. And, I'll use three gerbera stems (I'm thinking I'll just use silk ones) in light pink, hot pink and white. And, I'll probably also group three candles around the bud vase.

And, I'm also happy to say that I have almost all of the save-the-date envelopes addressed. Of course, I still have to actually design them, order the card stock for them and have a certain fiance make the info Web site so I can have the address to put on them. But, the addressing was going to take the longest, and it hasn't been that bad. So, at least I got the worst part out of the way.

Paper, paper and more paper

So after a tiring first day of teaching (who knew standing up all day could hurt so much), I came home to a box of paper! And then promptly decided I got way too excited about it again.

This time the paper was just envelopes for the yet to be designed/made save the dates. But, they are pretty envelopes. I splurged and got champagne metallic policy ones (long and skinny for the future save the date bookmarks), and I'm glad I did. The color is very close to the sash on my dress. Here's a photo, but it doesn't show the color very well at all:
There were also some sample sheets of paper included, one is the same paper as the envelope and the other two are ivory variations. I think we might splurge and go for the metallic again just because it's closer to the color scheme.

And, because I've been feeling guilty that I have not done anything wedding related because I was running around trying to get a classroom set up and trying to finish up my old job, I started to address some of the envelopes tonight.

Of course, this could be a ploy to just not have to do seating charts. Ugh.

Hair and such

People I do not know very well seem to think that asking how I'm going to wear my hair for the wedding is a good question to ask me. Personally, I can think of much more exciting questions about the wedding to ask, but to each his own.

Anyway, I don't want it completely up because I don't like the way my jawline looks when I have it up (which is funny b/c I'm all for wearing it up when I'm lazy). But, I didn't want it completely down either. So, half up, half down seems like the best choice for me. But I still don't know the specifics. I like the one below because it has most of the elements I like such as the curls in the back and the sweep stuff in the front, plus a good spot for the tiara. However, I think the poof is a bit too poofy.
This one I liked for awhile, but then I decided I didn't like the front. Nor did I think it would work well with my tiara. I just thought it was too flat.
And then I found this picture of it where it looks too mulletish from the back. So it got nixed.
But, I think this one is the one i like the most:

It's curly, it works with the tiara and it's got the sweepy things but doesn't look like a mullet from the back. Then again, I could change my mind. It doesn't help that my hairdresser doesn't do wedding hair because she said she's just not good at it. So, now I have to find someone (although she did give me names) to go to for trials. I hate having people I don't know work on my hair. One guy I freaked out because I tensed up as soon as he touched me.

Anyway, I've been trying to post at least one idea up a week. However, don't expect any for the next few weeks because I start my new job as a teacher next week. And it's going to be hellish because I have to be at school early in the morning and go to the old job at night. So basically I'll be working and sleeping with no time to get anything wedding related accomplished, which I honestly haven't done since sometime in June (well, minus some invites). Next up on the list are save the dates (since those have to be sent out in a few months I figure I should think about working on them and I do have a basic idea; I've just got to design them), DJ and starting on ceremony stuff (I do know Matt will be playing "In My Life" on his guitar and we'll be walking out to the "Star Wars" theme).

Gimme more than a week, and I'll change my mind

So I've always been pretty deadset on daisies for the bridesmaids. Then I found this photo the other night:
It's callas with some flower in the middle (either stephanotis, lilacs or something like that). I'm not so crazy about the super long stems, but that could be easily remedied. It's not what I'd want for my bouquet because it's just not exactly what I want. But I like it because it's different. I still might stay with the regular daisies. Or I might just come up with something different.

Say cheese

I've never really understood the point of the regular guestbook because I knew it would be something that I'd end up throwing on a closet shelf and never look at it again after the wedding. So I was really happy when I found out about the Polaroid guestbook (thanks, Missy!).

This means that all of our lovely guests will get to have their picture taken, too, and there will be more space to leave a message instead of just the names. But, this way we'll have another album of the day, which I'll be more likely to look at in the future.

But, instead of buying a bunch of the pricier ones that are made by Poloroid, I'm going to get a scrapbook from Michaels and make my own. Luckily, this will be one of the easier DIY projects because I'll just have to put photo corners on the pages. It will kinda look like this, if things go according to plan:

The invite making is going more smoothly than I thought. The biggest pain is scoring the paper, but once the pocketfolds are actually made, it's a very easy process. And, by some miracle, I've even managed not to get cat hairs stuck on the glue dots.

Here they are

Here's my first attempt at the invites, and it was actually close enought that had I used the correct measurments (I seriously cannot do simple math), I could have used it for the actual invite.

Anyway, this is what the front will kinda look like. However, the little card will not be pink and tan. It should be tan and black and will be less squarish.

Here's the inside. The enclosures will also all be tan, and the pink backing will go all the way around the worded portion of it -- another example of my stellar math skills. The little pocketfold also has some pretty sweet scoring on it, which actually makes cutting the triangle a little easier.
Here's a close up of the wording, although it really isn't what we're using. It's got the places and times right (well, and the names -- who would have ever thought I'd willingly use Elizabeth?), but other than that, it was me blindly typing away at the computer -- and just trying to get three lines per "section" (the OCD has taken over on these things.).

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I've got 53 of the pocketfolds done, only about 100 more to go. Wee hoo.

Martha ain't got nothing on me

I got the large sheets of paper Thursday morning to start working on the pocketfolds. And after a short, minor freakout about the paper's thickness -- I thought I got the 80# paper, but I got 70#. So, I wasn't convinced that it would be heavy enough, but it works fine -- and after a trip to Michaels, I started making some lovely invites.

I originally decided we'd do a 6x6 (Jeremy said he liked the square ones better, and 6x6s seemed to be a logical size). Then, after some measurement issues (it was another example that I cannot do simple math), I decided 6.5 x 6.5 would work better. I'd post a picture of my mock-up, but of course, I forgot to borrow the digital camera from work (and one day, I swear we'll have one of our own).

The process is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be, and it's gone a lot quicker with a yardstick. And one "flub up" turned out to add a cool element to the actual pocketv--vscoring ends up looking pretty cool if you don't fold it, and it made Jeremy happy b/c it kinda looks like pinstriping.

It's still a little odd, however, that I of all people have pink in some of the wedding stuff. Like I read on another wedding blog, this planning stuff just does wierd stuff to you.

Flowers, pebls and paper

There has never been any question that the main flower for my wedding would be daisies. Although I did toy with the idea of tulips, but I also know that April tends to be a little bit too early for them to be in season (I guess living near Pella "We're not in the Netherlands, but you'd never guess it" actually did teach me something). But, I am perfectly happy with a daisy/rose combo. So here are some ideas for the bridesmaids' bouquets and mine.

This is basically what I'd like for the bridesmaids. However, I do not like The little bow thing they have going on, so I'm going to find something different for that. But, I would like the brighter pink gerberas for them. However, I realized that a pale pink dress on Lois would completely wash her out, so she has a few color choices for her dress. So, she might get the lighter pink gerberas instead.

I have no clue what the bouts will be yet. Jeremy did make a request to have "the flower that looks like a shot glass," which I somehow determined to be a calla lily. So, he'll have some type of calla. Of course he admitted he didn't really care, but I figure it's one of those things I can let him have.

In my original wedding plans that have been going on in my head for years, I had just wanted a bouquet of daisies. But then I saw this picture on a Knot bio and decided roses had to be added in.
I'm not sure if I like the ribbon wrap on this one either, and I would like mine to be a little bigger, but it gives the basic idea of what I want. I do think I would prefer more of the lighter pink roses instead of darker ones.

In other items, I now have another "something blue" -- my cell phone. So it won't exactly be with me all day, but I have seen plenty of other crazy, crazy ideas for something blue (including stuff at the reception). And I just really love this phone. Jeremy's phone died this weekend, so we got to reup our contracts, and I picked the blue PEBL. I figure after placing second in the FSNE headline contest, I deserved something. And it's cute. And Jeremy's been playing with it more than his new BlackBerry, and that gives me some sick satisfaction.

Also, I ordered some paper to try out our pocketfold idea for the invitations. They appear to be labor intensive, so I figured I should a. try them to make sure I want to make 100+ of them and b. get a head start because I know how I can procrastinate. So I should know early next week how much work I'm going to be putting into our invites. And since the pocketfolds were more of Jeremy's idea, there could be a lot of grumbling at him next week.

I ougtta be in pictures

So by some minor feat, the photographer search was not a headache. I did my research last week and managed to find a REALLY, REALLY good one in fewer than 24 hours that wasn't even booked for my date. So I booked her today.

I can't post any of her pictures up here, but check out her Web site: www.raeleytham.com. She also has a blog with some of her favorite photos: www.photosbyrae.blogspot.com.

She'll also be doing some engagement photos later on -- she and I decided it'd be a good idea to wait until it wasn't oppressively hot outside.

Now I've only got one big thing left: the DJ. But that I'm not as worried about because as long as they can play music, I'll be happy. And if worse comes to worse, we've got 2,000-plus albums at home, so we can just recruit someone to play 'em.

Shoes, how I love shoes

I think I've actually put more thought into my shoes than almost anything else. And, no, I am not wearing the white Birkenstocks I swore for years I would wear. I said that before I learned to wear heels, and I like being taller any way I can. Of course, they had to meet a lot of qualifications: be cute, meet my heighth standards (I have no heels under 2 inches, and I did not plan on lowering that for my wedding -- especially with Jeremy being almost a foot taller than me), be comfy, be cute, be white, not blend in with my other shoes and did I mention be cute?

So, first I found the top shoe, except in white. However, there was just something about it that I did not like. I think it was the fact that they were closed toe. But, I was also leery of getting something that was strappy because they have a tendency to cut into my feet alot, which didn't fit the comfy stipulation. But these also worried me because I tend to take my shoes off when my toes get cramped.

But, today, I was wandering through Dillard's when I found the bottom shoe. I was still leery about the peek toe because I've had bad experiences from those in the past. But, I tried them on and fell in love. They are so comfy and just perfect. And they were a lot cheaper than the first pair, which also made me happy. So, I might not have to get pair of shoes for the reception. Although, I could always use an excuse to get a new pair of shoes:)

Big accomplishment

So, after I excitedly spent the day traipsing around town looking for the latest bridal magazine issues, I curled up with a few of them and made a great discovery.

I found the elusive bridesmaid dress.

I was really thinking about just picking a color, length and material and letting the girls just pick their own because I wanted them to wear something that would flatter each of their body shapes. But, I think this one will solve the problem.

It's not the champagne color I was looking for -- instead it's a pale pink. If anyone had ever told me I'd be picking a pale pink dress for my bridesmaids, I would have laughed. But I did. And, I think it will look beautiful on all of them.

At least it's not seafoam green with poofy sleeves:)

Now for the most important part

I am most excited about the cake. Of course, I'm a little sad that Jeremy only likes white or yellow cake with white frosting (although he has kinda agreed to try buttercream frosting ... mmm, buttercream). But still, it's cake, and I will be happy.
I've kinda let Jeremy take the reins on this part. Of course, part of it was by accident, but he got excited about it so I said OK.
We do know that we'll go with J's for the cake because it's the only place's cake Jeremy will eat (and this is why I won't make him cake or cupcakes anymore.). And, Jeremy even somehow managed to pick the look he liked while I was perusing some bio on The Knot. He liked it because it looks like a present. I really hadn't given much thought to what the cake looked like because I'm more concerned with what it tastes like.
Then, there was the question of a cake topper. I had liked the idea of having a "K" as one, but then, I got an even better idea while dusting last week.
As another nod to Jeremy's love of "Star Wars," we're going with Han Solo and Princess Leia figurines. The nice part about this one is that we just have to get the Han one, which I just found on eBay, because we already have Leia.
We may be geeks, but at least we're both geeks so we understand each other:)

Two down, and just mine to go

A certain matron-
of-honor got married this past weekend, and it was a beautiful ceremony. I couldn't imagine that her special day could be any less perfect (believe it or not, her mother and sister made her dress -- it was the perfect Lois dress, too -- I teared up just a little when I first saw her in it).
Being Lois, she decided that now that her wedding is over, it's time to go into "real" planning for mine.
And, if you notice in the picture, my hair's a lot shorter -- like four inches. I had planned to get it cut up to my shoulders right before Jeremy popped the question, but figured since I needed to keep it long for the wedding (I'm thinking half up/half down with lots o' curls), I shouldn't cut it. However, after last week's trip to my stylist, we decided it was feasible to chop it. And now I kinda like it shorter. So who knows what I'll actually end up doing.
This was the second wedding of a close friend that I went to. It's a little odd to think that we're all getting married within 15 months of each other -- especially since we were the three that insisted in high school and for a good portion of college that we weren't going to get married (Lois and I had great plans to become the crazy cat ladies on the corner). But, I think the three of us did a pretty good job of finding suitable mates.
As long as I look as happy as she did, I'll be happy with whatever happens that day.
And who knows? We might even try to deviate from our standard picture pose. But don't count on it. We go with what works.

More bling

I never thought I'd be buying a tiara, but I did. I'm claiming it's more of a headband than a tiara though.

The description said the "flowers" are supposed to be daisies (I think it's actually called the Princess of Daisy tiara), but now that I have it, they don't really look like anything. But it was the look I was going for, so I'm happy with it. Plus it was far cheaper than anything I'd found anywhere else. They claimed the crystals are Swarovoski, but I don't know if I'm buying it.

Anyway, here's what it looks like:

Jeremy is now "important"

In totally unrelated wedding news, Jeremy is officially an important person at the paper. He won the publisher's ring today (even though I still claim he should have won it last year.).

So, afterward, I told him that he now has his wedding band. I got an eye roll.

Of course, I don't blame him; it is an ugly ring.

Reception hall

Technically, we now have a reception hall. We visited it today, got a written, itemized list of costs and now I just have to go back in Monday and give them a deposit check. It honestly felt like a huge load fell off my shoulders when she said "Yes, you have half the ballroom (the American/British side) reserved." Now maybe the nightmares of smashing 150 people into my house and making mashed potatoes while wearing my dress will end.

And, this does mean that the date is now April 14, 2007. And now it really shouldn't change. I promise.

Possible date change

Booking a reception hall is harder than it seems. But to make it a little easier on myself, there's a chance this shindig could be moved up a week to April 14. I won't know for sure until next week, and I'm not going to talk about it much so I don't jinx it. I have to wait until Tuesday to find out if the church can move it, then I don't go and talk to the reception hall until Thursday. And if the space is open, they're getting their deposit check that day.

If it is moved up, I am taking a break from the planning for a week starting next Thursday.

I will, however, say that don't plan on having a reception (or any type of soirée) at the Pensacola Beach Hilton Garden Inn unless you (and your guests because you HAVE to have at least 70 rooms filled the night of your event and the rooms ain't so cheap anymore) have a bottomless pocketbook. I'd say they'd nickel and dime you, but you'd have to have 10,000 dimes to even start to cover their extra costs.

Our toasting flutes

Here's our toasting flute.
They're from the Waterford Nocturne Eclipse collections, which is now discontinued.
Granny bought these for me several years ago because she was convinced that she wouldn't be alive for my wedding, so they've been hanging out in a coupboard since I got them from her (which was soon after my mom died, I think).
They're very simple for Waterford, but I like simple. I doubt if I put a ribbon or anything around them. I'll just let the "Waterfordness" speak for itself.

Our monogram

So, I decided to start this so I don't have to clog up anyone's e-mail boxes with wedding ideas. Ya'll can just check here when you feel like and sound off on the comments.

After spending waaaaaaaay too much time looking at The Knot's wedding bios, I realized that a lot of people were having people make their monogram. My brilliant thought was "Hey, I'm a designer, I can do this." So I started on one.

I chose courier for the font because for some reason it's Jeremy's favorite font, and it is in one of my tatoos. Plus, it's got the typewriter feel, which kinda fits in with the newspaper stuff. But, here's what I came up with. It's nothing fancy, but I like it -- and Jeremy didn't complain too much about it so it's what we went with.

It'll probably go on the front of the programs and the unity candle (DIY is a big theme for this shindig so we can have the big reception). And now I think I can justify at least part of my college major.