And it's done

The wedding has come and gone, and it really was the happiest day of my life. I had so much fun! To prove that I had fun, the bottom of my dress is nice and black. It was so great having all my girls back together and out on the dance floor.

The day went by with few bumps (minus the fact that the keys went to the reception and we did not, so we got to spend time together alone at the church). And, the weather was nice enough to hold off until after the ceremony. Besides -- it's good luck to have rain on your wedding day -- and it didn't bother any of the festivities (and even washed off the car polish from the rental so it saved us some work).


Most of our vendors were superb. I can't say enough good things about our florist, Shannon Pallin of Fiore. She did such a great job!! All the flowers were great! New World Landing was also great. Jennifer and her crew spoiled us and did an amazing job!! And, staying in with the typical theme, Salter Photography did a great job (the photos from this post are from them). They even managed to find me putting on my beloved Chucks. If you'd like to see more of their highlights, you can go here. The gallery will be up for about two months and is just a sampling of the prints I will get.

However, not all our vendors were great. While my hair looked great, my nails started to pop off the day I got them. They were all gone after a week -- and that wasn't even from me trying to take them off. Lesson: I am not going back to Experience, even if they do have Bumble and Bumble.

Also, I was not happy with our DJ, Boogie Inc. The DJ appeared to be wasted by the end of the night and even cut off the song that my bridesmaids and I requested while we were singing it. And, when all five of us looked over at her and complained, she laughed. Lets just say that the comment card they sent us is getting returned with not such a good review.

But, other than that I can't complain. We had extra entertainment provided by my little cousin, Parker. And, we had the people that meant the most to us there to help us celebrate. In addistion to the professional photos, there are more at www.flickr.com/photos/bethknipper

Glam!

I got my bridals done last night. I'm posting two photos here that really don't show the dress just in case a certain boy decides to actually look at this blog.



As usual I was late (I really didn't realize how long my makeup was going to take), but it was a fabulous shoot with Patsy Brown and the Leythams (well, Rae didn't shoot, but she did a good job of looking like a cute pregnant lady who made me laugh a lot). I'm really fortunate to have so many good photogs:)

Now I just have to figure out which one I like the best! It's not going to be an easy job!

More things to cross off that stupid list

What's this a picture of?

My DIY bustle.

I first attempted to do a one-point over bustle and then I got impatient with it and said screw it. So, now it is a bastardized version of an underbustle. Point is, it serves its purpose and isn't too hard to put up. Sorry the photo is not so great; this is what happens when Jeremy has the digital camera at work and I'm at home.

It reminded me how much I detest sewing. But, thankfully my grandmother attempted several times to teach me how to quilt, so I can do the basics every once in awhile.

I did find a favor box kit at Michael's, and it's going to be easy to put together. So Jeremy's going to be recruited to help put these together. The hardest part will be me trying to not kill the printer for the labels, which will just have a big "k" on them.

I also found a hairstyle I like. It won't be what I'm doing for my bridals on Friday, but I do want something similar for the actual day. This picture doesn't show it, but the tiara goes before the "bump" and part of it is under the part that's pulled back. The veil goes behind the "bump." I liked it because it was a little different but is still curly and is partially pulled back.

Bad news, good news, things got done!

*Monday morning edit: I realized I forgot to put the good news on here. I get easily distracted and things leave my brain in no time at all. This week I'm blaming it on spring break since I have no responsibility except to remember to wake up to go to the beach on time with friends. Anyway, the good news is that we have Les back in the wedding!!!! He found out he can get weekend passes from jump school, so he'll be here! He claimed he couldn't be in the wedding b/c there's still a chance he might not make it and that he doesn't know exactly what time he'll get here. However, I told him he's bringing his dress uniform because his skinny little butt will be up front with us. So now we'll have two best men because Jeremy and I couldn't bring ourselves to demote Adam. Although, he did say it would be OK. He's really happy now because he doesn't have to give any speeches. I'm just happy because the numbers are even again!*

This week didn't start off so well. Jeremy's dad died, and while I thought I was pretty secure with dealing with the death of someone close again. But no, I had flash blacks all week of when my mom died. It was painful, and I hated doing anything with the wedding.

But, some things did get accomplished.

Jeremy had time to call and get some answers from the church, so I could cross that off the list. We decided to forgo the trolley because it was going to be insanely expensive (Not insanely expensive but more than we wanted to spend), so we're going to just rent a snazzy car for ourselves (like a mustang). I even managed to find a guitar for Matt so he doesn't have to bring his from Missouri. And, we both figured out what we're buying for the bridal party (mine is even ordered and on the way.)

This week I'm off so I'm going to work on the program, have my bridals taken, and finish thank you notes!

More stuff done, I am on a roll

After the realization that this thing is actually happening and is happening really quickly and that I still had a lot of things to do, I managed to get some things done this week.

I've been putting off figuring out who was going to do my hair. My normal girl isn't good with updos, so I couldn't use her. I have never liked going to a new person (yes, it was very traumatic when I moved here). I've only had 3 hairstylists my entire life, and I'm very thankful I've found the one I have now too, otherwise I'd seriously be figuring out a way to see Shirley in Iowa 3 or 4 times a year. Anyway, I digress. I decided to just go ahead and call Experience Spa to set up an appointment. I've got my trial run on March 31 and an appointment for the morning of the 14th with Bridgette. Woo hoo. I also remembered to make an appointment for that Wednesday to get my nails and toes done, as well as an eyebrow was. Jeremy even wanted an appointment to get a manicure, and now I've been told he wants a pedicure too. So, we're having those done together.

Tonight, I decided it was time to sit down and figure out what to do for favors. Luckily, The Knot (how I love that site) had mini Hershey's bars on sale that could be personalized. So they are on the way. Now I just have to find something to put them in, and we are good to go.

So now my list is down to 64 things. And a lot of those really aren't major things. One of them is to actually go to the trial run, and since I've got it scheduled, I feel pretty OK with it. This thing might actually get fully planned before April 14:)

!

AAAAAAAACk!!!!

37 days, 67 things left on the checklist.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

That is all.

A roller-coaster week

This has been one emotionally crazy week.

Last weekend I realized that my dress was supposed to be done at the end of January. Being that it was a month later, and I hadn't heard from the alterations lady, I was a bit nervous.

Monday, I called. All I got was: You have wrong number.

I was scared out of my mind. Being six weeks away from the wedding, there was NO way I could order a new one and have it get here on time. In my panic, I started looking online for a back-up plan. Luckily, J. Crew had one that was very similar, even though it was twice the price of mine. Jeremy was nice enough to offer to pay for it if I did have to get a new one.

Tuesday, I rushed to Gulf Breeze to check on it. It was there; it was OK; it just wasn't done. She told me it would be another week. Rational thought returned to my brain. I celebrated by buying a new pair of Birkenstocks for my rehearsal dinner dress (although I did seriously contemplate buying a pair of black Rainbows for it).

Wednesday, I met with the reception hall people and set up the menu (chicken and pasta with sugar snap peas and a salad), so that was taken care of and was extremely easy and painless.

Friday, I realized I had a voice mail after school. My dress was done! I rushed back to Gulf Breeze, got it, rushed home, tried it on, and it's perfect! IT doesn't have a bustle yet because she doesn't ever do wedding dresses but did mine because it was plain and only needed hemmed. However, I have figured out a way to do it myself either involving a safety pin on the inside with the existing ribbon or sewing in another ribbon to tie it together. This wedding is really making me into Martha Stewart. But considering I will pay less than $60 for alterations and the bustle, which usually costs people about the cost of my dress, I'm quite OK with that.

Today I had my first run-in with using a new last name. We were at Barnes & Noble, and Jeremy decided that pre-ordering the last Harry Potter online wasn't going to work. So, as I started filling out the form, I realized that when it comes out in July, I will no longer be Beth Evans. Writing Beth Knipper felt really odd. It's going to take some getting used to ...

Another thing to mark off

The first dance song has not been an easy task. I didn't want one that was commonly used, couldn't be too long, and too mushy was also out. It didn't help that we don't have a song, nor do we have music in common that would be appropriate (while I love the Rza, he's not exactly the first choice for a wedding song). I also didn't want another Beatles' song since one will be played during the ceremony and a collection of their songs will most likely be the pre-ceremony music.

I have a feeling that this choice was only made more difficult by the fact that we do have more than 2,000 albums, and I was bound and determined to find the perfect one.

So, tonight I spent 90 minutes on Indiebride trying to find hints for a nontraditional song, and the winner is: Bob Dylan's If Not for You.

At two and a half minutes, it's the perfect length, the lyrics are fitting (both of us have issues sleeping if the other one isn't there, and Jeremy does have issues finding things if I'm not around), and it isn't super slow.

Serve it up

I managed to find a great deal on a Lenox cake serving/cutting set. It was half off, so it was a big savings over the really fancy Swarovski set. But it still looks decent. Plus, it gave me something else to cross off the list, which is always nice.

And, now I'm enjoying getting the rsvps in the mail. They're a lot more exciting than the credit card solicitations or the bills. The other exciting thing is that items have been fulfilled on the registry. So to whomever bought a crockpot and breadmaker, thank you. I'm now playing the game of "hmm ... who would buy this for me?"

Hallelujah

The invites are finally done.

Well, I thought they were until we started stuffing them into envelopes and I realized that there were eight I never made name tags for and five that I never got addresses for. But, still, those figures are a lot better than the hundred I had before. Besides, the ones that I do have the addresses for will be done tonight. And out in the mail tomorrow. Woo hoo.

The process became a lot easier today when I finally had it with the old printer and went and bought a new one. I think I might have actually broken the other one with the cardstock. I'm pleading the fifth.

And now I might actually be able to enjoy the wedding stuff again. I think I was just a little too over ambitious with the fancy invites. But, they look good (even though the new printer prints more grey than black.)

I'd put a picture up, but you're just going to have to wait to get them in the mail and then you can be awed.

Woo hoo

With any luck, I will have all the invites sent out by the end of this week. I'm now beginning to think the pocketfolds were an insane idea because the cards don't always want to fit. And, I miscut some of the ribbons, so the bands vary from being really tight to kinda loose. But I don't care. I'll just be glad when I don't have to deal with these things anymore.

Also, I bought the stuff to make the guestbook, the unity candle, and the memory candle (which could not be a small size to fit all the names on there -- it's almost humorous). Jeremy's still up in arms about the unity candle because he doesn't think one is necessary.

Phew

So, thanks to the past week, I'm no longer hating the wedding planning process.

A. I took a trip to Minneapolis. Yes, it was cold (3 degrees? Seriously.), but Lois and I got some good work done on the invitations. We huddled around her kitchen table and managed to knock out the bands for the invitations for almost all of them. We would have done more had we had enough of the champagne paper to back the name tags.

B. I got the flowers figured out. I talked to the flower lady, and we got it all taken care of. I get my white tulips, but Jeremy no longer gets his "shot glass" flower. Instead of a calla lily, he will have a white tulip too. The girls will have bouquets of various shades of pink gerberas, while the bouts will be the same. And the mothers and corsages will have orchids. We'll also have two altar pieces with ivory French tulips.

C. I got the direction cards written up and some of the RSVP cards printed out. This did create some frustration because the printer gets cranky and results in me getting angry. But, the end is in sight.

D. We ordered our wedding bands. Jeremy's excited yet bummed because he doesn't get to wear it.

So yes, things are coming together, which is good because it is now less than three months away