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: