Catering

So I finally remembered to call the caterer, thanks to the wonderful reminder feature in Outlook. They have been booked! They even do cake cutting for free. The best times to meet with them are the two worst days for Matt to have time available at all, but he said he can go on December 5th to hash out the details with them. I am so excited! That was the last big thing that needed to be done and now it's checked off!

DJs, Caterers and Dresses..OH MY!

    So it's been ages since I last updated this blog and I'm really sorry to my few followers. Not only for not updating mine, but for not reading yours on a consistent basis. I'll try and catch up soon I promise.

    Anyway, since my last entry I have gotten several wedding related tasks accomplished. Matt and I started our registries on Bed Bath & Beyond and Amazon, met with our cake baker, finalized our DJ and decided on a caterer. I went with some of my bridesmaids on Saturday to David's Bridal and we picked out the dresses. They look fantastic on four of the six who were present and the other two were sent real pictures via the phone and loved them too! I am so excited that we were able to get this taken care of. So far only one has ordered it, ironically one that wasn't there, but they still have a few months before they need to order them. I'm not too worried about them.

    I also found my headpiece at this lovely place called Charming Charlies for only $10 and some beautiful jewelry from a little shop in Gatlinburg while on vacation for $30! Since I have almost my entire ensemble for the day, I just had to put it on earlier this week but just in case Matt is watching, those pictures will not surface. I can share the pictures of the headpiece and necklace though.

   This necklace came with matching earrings which Grandma said she'd wear since my ears will never be pierced. I just love it though. It will be my something blue, match the girl's dreses (close enough) and match my wedding band! It's also perfect with the dress for other undisclosed reasons.

    The headband is beautiful even though the picture really doesn't make it look that great. It was taken with my iPod in poor lighting and it's super sparkly! To think that the bridal salon wanted more than $300 for the veil and headpiece combo makes me sick to my stomach. I do however, feel accomplised in the fact that I was able to find a veil and headpiece for a combined grand total of $28 including shipping the veil to my house. Did I mention the fact that they are practically identical pieces of merchandise?

     It seems that the more I write, the more things I remember that I've accomplised wedding planning wise and suddenly I don't feel so behind anymore.
   
     We're using a lady from Church for the cakes and I've heard that she's great but I never knew just how great she was until we met together and got to see some of her pictures. Her cakes look absolutely amazing. She hasn't old us a price yet, but she's told us several time that she won't be hurt if we have to go with someone else and the price will not be bad at all. I have a feeling she's going to give us a discount. *crosses fingers*
    

     Another friend of my parents mainly is going to be the DJ and we finally got around to calling him. He has a library of over 5,000 songs and will get any song we want that he doesn't have. He's completely on board for announcing us like a batting lineup and doesn't need the list of must-plays and do-not plays until a month before hand!

     I designed our guestbook on Shutterfly and I'm really excited to have it completed. I love the idea of the photo-guestbook as it will be something Matt and I will look at more than just a regular guestbook. I also got a wonderful idea from Etsy for a pen to go with it: A sunflower pen! Another DIY project for me, but this one is super easy and I already have all of the necessary supplies. All I need to do is take a fake sunflower and use green floral tape to attach it to a pen. Volia!

    While we were out on Saturday, we stopped by a sewing store to check some stuff out. We found garter material by the yard and mom is going to attempt to make my Cincinnati Reds garter set instead of paying $30 for it. I think it's going to turn out well!

    I think that covers everything but it's been so long, I probably forget something. If you got through all of that, go buy yourself a cookie!

Wedding Band - Problem Solved

So despite my orignal band being gone the day after I found it, I found another one for a better price from Zales and ordered it that day. I am so excited!

Wedding Bands

So Saturday (on our 2 year dating anniversary), I convinced Matt to look at wedding bands at the jewelry store in a local Kroger. We had stopped there because we needed to go to the bank, and there was one of those in this Kroger as well. I was literally bouncing I was so excited we finally took a little bit of time to look at and try on wedding bands.

Matt is the "easy one". He just wants a 5mm-6mm yellow gold band. That should be easy to find online cheap enough for us. :)

Me however - I am the difficult one. Both of our birthdays are in September and so is our engagement anniversary. So we want sapphires in my wedding band. I tried on one there that I fell in love with, but it alone was more than we budgeted for both of our wedding bands. Luckily, I found one online for half the price and almost the same exact thing. See below:


Online - Half the price





Store - More than our budget



Only problem is, that the next day, it was sold out. In all sizes. On all of the website I found it on. They don't know if/when they'll come back. UGH!

Father/Daughter Dance Song

My mom found this song and I am so happy because it's beautiful, perfect, and orignal. I've actually never heard it before in any setting. It is Natalie Grant (a Christian artist) and the song is called I'll Always Be Your Baby. I am in love with it for my dad and I to dance to.

Here are the lyrics:

You were my first love, always there for me
You taught me how to walk and how to dream
God gave me your eyes
But it was you who taught me how to see
Now I can stand on my own
But I know that you'll never let go

I'll always be your baby
No matter how the years fly by
The way you love me made me
Who I am in this world
I'm a woman now, not a little girl
Wherever this life takes me
I'll always be your baby

You are my hero and that will never change
You still can dry my tears with just a smile
The one I've leaned on
From my first steps to walking down the aisle
Now there's another man in my life
But I know by the look in your eyes

I'll always be your baby
No matter how the years fly by
The way you love me made me
Who I am in this world
I'm a woman now, Not a little girl
Wherever this life takes me
I'll always be your baby

Your faith, your love
And all that you believe
Have come to be the strongest part of me
And I will always be your baby

Booked Wedding Night Hotel Room

Matt was most likely on a high from booking the honeymoon stuff on Saturday that he just couldn't wait to do the wedding night hotel room. I don't blame him at all because I'm pretty excited about it too. I've been eating up all of the information on the website for The Cincinnatian and I'm especially excited about this possibility:

"To arrange for silk rose petals to be placed in a guest room please contact our concierge, natural rose petals are not permitted."

Wouldn't that just be super romantic? I think so, we'll see if Matt picks up on that.

Since we used Hotwire for this booking too, we don't know what kind of room we'll have, but they're all nice so we're happy! Apparently when you do hotel rooms alone, they don't let you know what kind of room. Odd, but in this case it doesn't really matter.

I also thought I'd include some pictures of the resort for our Honeymoon from the previous post in this one. Eye candy, if you will.

Booked Our Honeymoon!

So today was the first day that June 10-17 was avaiable for booking on hotwire so Matt and I booked our flight to Orlando, FL, hotel, and rental car for our honeymoon!

We'll be flying direct on Delta from Cincinnati to Orlando at what Matt calls "Jess time" AKA not early morning. Our flight there leaves around 11am and the flight back leaves around 4pm. I'm pretty excited about that.

Our hotel is the Lake Eve Resort in Orlando only a few miles away from DisneyWorld with a free shuttle there and back. The suite is two bedrooms (because the one bedroom is $5 more a night - how silly) and has a full kitchen and a living room.

The rental car is an economy sized car, like a Chevy Aveo but we could easily wind up with a car just like mine (Hyundai Accent).

The only thing big left to take care of now will be getting the tickets for DisneyWorld, but we can get those way later. We are so excited!

Ordered my Shoes!

I posted about this a while back because I really thought that God was calling me to help others through my wedding via Toms shoes. I did change my mind from the canvas to the glitters and I am so excited to be getting them in 3-4 days! My only concern was that the glitter would run off - I know I'm going to be teased for this anyway because my father/brother are custodians and therefore hate glitter. I have read, however, that the glitter on Toms shoes don't run off so I really hope they're right.

Wedding Party

So we've known who our bridesmaids and groomsmen are for a while now but I never thought of posting them until reading another blog. :)

We plan on having a flower girl and ring bearer, but we haven't asked them yet.

I already had this made up for the last siggy on the knot boards, so I'll just use it here too! From top left to right, then bottom left to right:
Amanda - One of my best friends from bible study in college. She's getting married in July and I'm in her wedding too!
Amy - Friends since high school.
Raven - Maid of Honor - Best friend from high school.
Maria - Maid of Honor - Cousin!
Beth - Matt's sister (soon to be a mom! :))
Ashley - Another friend from college!

Groomsmen!

Nick - Best Man - Matt's
best friend since high school.














Randy - My cousin





Claus - Matt's Brother-in-law







Pat -  Best man - Matt's brother



Kyle - Matt's friend

Lyle - My brother

The Perfect Palette: Here Comes the Sun: A Palette of Navy Blue & Yello...

The Perfect Palette: Here Comes the Sun: A Palette of Navy Blue & Yello...: "{Navy Blue & Yellow} Sunflowers always have a way of just making me smile. They are just so bright and happy! And of course it doesn't hu..."

Thank you michellep1 from TK for recommending this blog...I love this specific one because it has sunflowers! And blue!

You should all go check it out. It has pretty much any color combo you could think of and you can request one if you can't find it!

Reception Venue

First of all, sorry it's been a week since my last post. I've been migrating my Guest List from The Knot to an excel spreadsheet so I can do more useful and fun things with it. Mom and I messed with it some and it's pretty stressful honestly. I'm just glad we have time to finalize it. I'll be taking it to Matt's parents soon to see if there's anyone else they want on top of what he told me already.

Yesterday I called the reception venue we love and they are sending the paperwork to my house! I am so excited and relieved that a) The date is still open and b) We don't have to meet with them just yet (we've already gone and looked in person). I plan on going over the contract with a fine tooth comb and making a list of any and all questions we have. If we're still unable to visit them in person, I'll call and ask them about everything and have them send a revised contract. I hope we'll be able to clear a time off of our busy schedules that the venue also has free, but that may not be realistic. So horray for weddings checks!

From the knot as to what should be included on the contract:

Total cost and a line-item breakdown of what's included.

Amount of deposit and when it was paid.

Balance outstanding and when it's due (a payment schedule).

Exact date and time of your wedding.

Exact location of your wedding (e.g., "In Main Gallery," "In Presidential Ballroom").

Detailed list of everything the place will provide (tables, chairs, linens, amplifiers, whatever).

The name of the site representative who will be on hand on your wedding day, and the name of an acceptable substitute.

Proof of liability insurance and liquor license.

Cancellation/refund policy.

Anything else you agree to orally that you want to set in stone.

In other wedding related news, Matt told me on Sunday that he wanted to take the guys in October to get fitted for tuxes. I'm glad he's excited and wants to help but that is way too early! He was fine once I explained that but still said he feels bad that he's not doing much. I have such a sweet guy. :)

Aisle Runners

So Mom and I realized that we haven't even thought about aisle runners yet this morning. Aisle runner research has begun! I still need to measure the aisle because I have no idea how long or wide it is. It seems pretty standard to me though.



$14, White Polypropelene with
Linen texture, 75ft x 36in, Website:
I'm assuming that "Poly Linen" and
"Polypropelene with Linen texture"
are the same thing?



 $9.99, White Poly Linen,
50ft x 36in, Website: I'd like to
feel poly linen before buying
this but the price sure is right.







 



$60-$180, White, varing
lengths.widths and fabrics,
 Website: It would be really neat
to have onelike this but not
necessary. Side note -
this picture looks freakishly
similar to my church...

$21.99, White French lace, 50ft
x 36in, Website: I quite like this
one (but I maybe a bit biased since
I love French things.

Music

My latest obsession has been finding ideas for the music for the ceremony and reception (my list is a page on the right hand side of the blog). Wedding wire was super helpful but now I'm even more obsessed with finding more songs for the prelude and postlude from movies. Not just any kind of movie songs, but ones with no words with a feel like Casper's Lullaby and the Feather Theme from Forrest Gump. I think I'll start with some movie songs and then have the organ/piano sneak in and play some songs before the ceremony as well.

I am in love with this idea and I am having issues finding more songs like these even though I know that when I watch movies, music is one of the biggest things I recognize (I'm a band geek).

I'm trying to use Amazon.com to listen to samples of movie soundtracks but I'm not having much luck as of yet. It is fun though, so that counts for something.

Listened to Inception (yeah no...) and I'm going to try Fantasia next.

Youtube has proven to be far more useful.

Recent Etsy Finds

So, if you haven't discovered Etsy.com yet, please go now and explore. It's seriously amazing! Some of my recent finds that I hope to use in some way for the big day:



I really want to use these as part of the
favors or as a small part of the bridal
party gifts. They just fit so wonderfully
into the theme! What would you think?



Yeah, we're huge Red's fans. This is
so perfect it's not even funny.








I've thought about using this as a
pendant hanging off of my bouquet.



I really want to find some kind of use for this. It looks so
awesome! Any suggestions?




Oh man...I am in love with this listing.
A) I love pictures B) It's made from
recycled wood C) We can use them for
reception and home decor D) Amazing

Matt says we can get them too!! He must
like them. :)



Shops used in this post: Earmark, Avysm, CharmsMaker, lillalotta, mleefipps

Wedding Shoes

I really feel like I am being pushed by God to help underprivileged children via Tom's shoes by using their white canvas shoes as my wedding shoes. Every time I think about my shoes, I can't help but think about them and how someone else would be benefiting from my purchase as well.  On top of that, it would be really fun to add a few personalizations to them.



 What does anyone think of this idea? Has anyone done this (or known someone who has)?

DIY Bridal Bouquet & Boutonnieres

Mom and I worked on these about a month ago. We need to wrap the bouquet holder with ribbon or something else still but I still think they are worth sharing. I want to be able to keep my bouquet forever, so we went the silk flower route.

This is the picture I found on http://www.theknot.com/ to use as our inspiration, but I actually just used google images search with "sunflower bouquets" to find it. After finding this on the knot, I searched within for more sunflower ideas and I was very pleased.

This is the bouquet we came up with using flowers purchased from Michael's and Hobby Lobby when they were half price. We also purchased a bouquet holder from Hobby Lobby. It still needs ribbon and finishing on the base and I know we'll play with it more before next year. Over all though, I am very pleased with how it turned out.

Attached to the bigger sunflowers purchased above were these smaller ones (how convenient!), so we decided to use them as the focus of some boutonnieres for the groom, groomsmen, fathers, speaker, ring bearer, and ushers. It looks big, but it's a really close up shot. We still need to pin one to a suit jacket to see how we like them, but I am again pleased for the time being.






Putting bouquets together is really very simple and something that can be taken apart and redone easily. These sunflower "stems" were pretty thick so we used a pretty heavy duty pair of pliers to cut them. You could also use wire cutters or heavy duty scissors, especially for the thinner stemmed flowers. The boutonnieres are held together with green florists tape.

Introduction

Since I have seen other brides share their planning processes via a blog, I have decided to do the same for our wedding. I will share pictures of DIY projects and information as to how I completed them, planning wins, planning frustrations, and anything else in between.

I will also compile a list of useful websites I have used or find useful in wedding planning.

When it comes down to it, all that is really important by the end of the wedding day is that I have married my best friend. If you have any suggestions or a blog like this of your own, please share.