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.