NEXT MONTH!

I can't believe that I am officially getting married next month.... I realize its only May 1st, but still! Next month is June, and I am getting married on the 20th! Mom and I had our final meeting with David at Richfield Floral and Events.... I LOVE David! Everything is going to be so beautiful because of him and his team... he is a creative genius!

I'm TRYING to put the table numbers together, but my printer is being such a pain. First it was like nothing was working right with the paper size, then it seemed the printer wouldnt talk to my computer, and NOW, its out of colored ink. Hopefully I can get something figured out tomorrow.

I am also working on wedding day timelines and responsibilities for people so we all can be prepared and organized that day. AND, my second shower is coming up on Tuesday!!! I cannot wait, I am so excited! I have finally talked Dustin into coming to the shower towards the very end.... he has been practicing his excited face. I think he is scared to be the only male in a group of over 60 women... its going to be crazy!

AND my suitcase for the honeymoon is getting more and more full... I found some swimsuits, flip flops, tank tops, and shorts to pack! I am very excited if you cannot tell... ;) Well, time for bed.

Good Night!

Aisle Runner is Here!

OK, I realize this is my second post today... BUT my aisle runner arrived!!! I have been pretty good about not posting pictures up that will ruin the fun and give away all the details for the wedding, but this is one thing I just really want to post a picture of it!! BUT I just can't do it til after the wedding :) ha.

I hired someone off of Etsy.com to create this for me... its hand painted and she custom sewed satin edging along the length of the runner. I can't wait to walk down this thing in 61 days! I just have to iron it a bit first... :-) Big thank you to Heather from CertainlyChic for being fabulous!

First Shower Next Week!

We are getting closer and closer to the wedding! I can't believe I have my first shower next week already. My wonderful aunts and cousins are throwing me a family shower for my dad's side. It will be so good to see everyone before the wedding and catch up with people. Mom and I need to go shower outfit shopping again....

I found a pink dress from J.Crew and a gray one from the same place... I'm thinking the pink dress might be for the church shower in May, and the gray dress might just be for the rehearsal. The pink one poofs out a teeny bit, so I was worried that Dustin might think its weird, but I tried it on for him and he liked it a lot! Good to go! Now I just need to find shoes and jewelry to match for both! Let me know if you have any ideas. Here is a picture of one of the dresses... although the one that I got is a lighter pink than this... the color didn't show up online, it must be sold out. Send me jewelry and shoe ideas!!! I can't find a picture of the gray dress. Maybe it will show up later.

I also got the wedding picture of Dustin's parents and grandparents to go on our heritage table...just something fun for people to look at and help keep people entertained during the punch time. I think it will be really cute!

I need to stop eating my Easter candy (yes, i still get an Easter basket every year from my parents... it will stop once Dustin & I have kids... after a few years anyways). I have a dentist appointment tomorrow at 7:00AM... ewww.

Good Night!

So Busy!

I just got a call from Epitome Papers, my invitations are in!! Now, I just have to send them the guest list with how all the names have to be spelled and stuff... too bad i havent even started that yet :-( Maybe i'll be working on that tonight. I can't wait to see them! Liz from the store said they are BEAUTIFUL!

Tonight I have my first gown fitting...I am so excited to try on my dress again, with my SHOES this time!! After my fitting, i'm having coffee with the beautiful Stacie Nielsen! I am really looking forward to catching up with her. THEN, I have to get my bible study talk all set for Thursday, we are studying Esther this time, and I am leading the chapter 3 discussion.

Busy Busy Busy, back to work I go.

113 Days

Well, still no word on the house yet, it is still not listed. I don't know if this is a test or what, but I am just trying to be patient. We are going out to look at more houses on Sunday in case this one doesn't work out (because they won't list the dumb thing!).

Tomorrow morning i'm going with my aunt and cousin Larissa to the mall to get fitted for Larissa's dress! That will be good to get ordered. Now I just have to make sure something gets ordered for little Gavin, our ring bearor. He is too small for a tux! ha.

AND, I have my first dress fitting on Monday night! I am so excited!! AND my veil came in... I just have to find a time to go pick it up! Its all coming together... and I can't wait til my aisle runner is done!!

I don't feel very well at all right now though. I feel like I could just curl up and fall asleep this very second. I hope i'm not fighting anything... I just don't want to get sick. We are almost down to the double digits!!

117 days

I bought Dustin's wedding band this weekend, picked up the bridesmaid dresses from Rush's, started registering at Bed Bath & Beyond, picked out the bridesmaid's shoes, and worked more on the wedding video with Dustin. It was an accomplishing weekend.

Amber tried on her dress and it is so cute! Its just a teensy bit long... ha. Amber, Alanna, and Sondra have their dresses. Now I just have to make sure that I give Brie her dress tonight, and make sure Kelsey and Rach get theirs soon as well. Jennifer's dress is getting shipped to her since she is in Tennessee.

I need to do the DIY projects I talked about a while back, I havent STARTED any of those at all:

• Programs
• Table Numbers
• Card Box
• Aisle runner monogram
• Unity candle stuff
• Organize the guest list so its ready to be sent to the printing store (Mr. & Mrs. So and So... etc)
• Initials display
• Memory table

I guess we'll see what I get to. If I don't do some of these things, my life will still be complete and I won't freak out. This is just what I WANT to do. I need to do it soon though before all the house stuff comes together because then I think my priority will be more on the house stuff and getting stuff moved and organized.

5 Followers!

I may be a little nerdy, but I always get so excited when I have a new follower of my blog :) Ashley Collins, thank you for making me push my cyber geek glasses further up the ridge of my nose (I hope you all visualized that correctly). Ashley, get a good tan for me, I need to start tanning NOW for my wedding since tanning booths don't seem to have much of an affect on me (other than that I occasionally burn).

Well well well, I have once again crossed a few days closer to the biggest day of my life by putting a few check marks on the ol' college rule spiral notebook paper that attaches itself to my purse everywhere I go... it literally does not leave me alone. What exactly did I accomplish?

• walked around in my blue satin beauties (my shoes) and confirmed that I WILL in fact need foot inserts. I am wondering when the nightmares will start of me tripping down the isle (sp? that does not look right) and me ripping my dress only to expose my something blue underthings


• Organized my guest list... only to realize that I still need to organize more


• I got my invitation proof by email today, yay!


• Ordered the silver coin customized chocolate pieces yesterday


• Sent Amber my MOH a list of all the girls in the wedding party


• Addressed another save the date card


• Found a beautiful dress for my non-flower girl ring bearor attendant, Larissa


• Mailed in a check to renew my license plate tabs

Unfortunately I have a lot to add to my list, but its getting down to the details now! Only 130 more days! Dustin & I are looking at two more houses tonight after work, i'll let you know what we think of them tomorrow. These ones are located in Lakeville and Savage and I believe are both bank owned.

TOMORROW

I am taking the day off to pick up my wedding dress!! I can't wait to try on MY dress! I am also going to look at veils while i'm there. Here are some things I hope to accomplish at some point tomorrow...its ambitious:

1. Pick up my dress from Rush's Bridal
2. Find a veil and order it
3. Look for and purchase shoes to wear with my wedding dress
4. Work out
5. Talk with Chris Rausch about the video
6. Visit my local Archivers store and experiment with making table numbers for the reception
7. Pick out and start scanning 50 of my baby pics for our wedding video that Dustin is making
8. Call the alterations lady and make my first appointment for my dress fitting
9. See my new baby cousin Grady!
10. Call Susan Anderson from church to make sure she emails me the table details so I can send them to our linnen rental company!

I also updated our Wedding Web Page and keep checking to see if anyone new has signed the guest book since I sent out the save the dates, but no one has yet :-( Oh well. At least the site looks good in my opinion!!

DIY Projects, 4 Months & 30 Days To Go!

Well I am back and am beginning to feel more wedding pressure! As of today, I have 4 months and 30 days to complete all of my wedding tasks... and then I will officially be Mrs. May! That day is officially 150 days away. Next Saturday it will be 140 days away... for some reason that seems like a lot smaller number than 150.

Anyways, I thought i'd fill you in on what my mind has been absorbed with lately:

1. I want to make a "present" card box. I've seen many d-i-y tutorials where you buy three boxes, paint or decorate how you want them, stack them, cut them so they line up, and make an insert at the top where people can drop their cards. I have some ideas for it, so I just need time to get the supplies and start being crafty

2. Make table numbers... right now my vision is to have wooden numbers that i will paint that can "stand up" on the table... I need to do more investigating

3. Buy an aisle runner and hand paint a custom monogram on it... i'm just thinking something simple with our names and the date. I made one for my cousin's wedding a couple years ago, so i'm ready to try it again

4. Order LOTS of candles from candles4less.com. They have AMAZING deals on candles there... my plan is to have a ton of them in the background for the ceremony. I think it will create a romantic glow

5. Find our initials in wooden letters to put on the doors to the sanctuary somehow... sort of like the picture I posted at the beginning of this blog

6. Find shoes to wear before my first fitting (my dress still is not in yet... but its scheduled to arrive in March). I am sorta in love with this j.crew shoe... I really don't want to wear white shoes and I am in love with this blue color! They are more $$ than I would like to spend though, but we'll see!

7. Last but not least I NEED to order wedding invitations! I should have listed that first probably... This weekend Dustin & I are going to address all of our save the date post cards and get them mailed out! We finally have all the addresses (I think...) Actually, now that I think about it I KNOW I have several to confirm :-( You may be getting a call from me on Friday night!

I Want a Different Veil...

OK, so i've been thinking a lot about my veil..... the one I ordered is very pretty, however I am realizing that the end of it will hit at the prettiest part of my dress and will create two focal points in pretty much the same area... thats not good.

SO, I emailed my parents (I am still in Mexico) and explained my thoughts, and they are super ok with how I feel.... so that means I have to go back to the bridal shop and try on more veils. I am thinking that I either want a french veil (very short) or else a chapel/cathedral length veil which would extend past the train of my dress. That is my latest thought. If anyone wants to come with me, youre welcome to try on veils with me :)

ALSO, Dustin said he has most of the addresses typed up, so that means I will get the task of writing addresses on the save the date post cards soon! I will feel so much better once they are out in the mail I think.

I am looking forward to getting home tonight at 7:30pm. Hopefully my engagement ring will be waiting for me... it got resized while I was out of the country. I miss all that bling on my finger! I wish I had it sometimes down here.... I could have flashed it at all the guys here who hung around a bit longer than the rest. ha. OH I can't wait to see Dustin again!

Save The Dates

Right now I am NOT at the U30 (under age 30) Christmas party. Boo. Dustin is there right now along with a lot of our friends. Why am I not there? Because I had a work meeting from 7 to 8pm tonight. At least I got to take the call from home. I am still bummed that I had to miss out though.

I am taking advantage of my time though. Right now i'm trying to upload my save the date design to Vista Print... which doesn't seem to be working too well at the moment. It keeps saying that it uploaded successfully, yet the preview will not show up! Ugh. Anyways, I created the design in Photoshop, using one of the photos our photographer was kind enough to supply me with. I made a monogram type thing and put some other information on it.

Let me know what you think... I may have goofed up the size... One of them has a blue frame and the other is a dark grey. I think I like the dark grey a bit more because it matches better. Well, now that I am looking at it from far away, I actually might like the blue one better... it stands out a bit more . Hummm... choices, choices.

Invitations & House Hunting!

After I got home from work last night (it took me an hour and a half with all the snow we got!) mom and I talked a lot about wedding stuff. We finally went over the guest list again and were able to narrow it down a bit more. I asked Dustin to look over it once more again with his family. We are pretty much finished with it now! Yes!

I also ordered a few sample invitations... the ones pictured on the left are from finestationary.com and hopefully they arrive soon! I've been looking for more classic invites to match the feel for the rest of the wedding. Something with blue, gray or silver, or just white/ivory. Figuring out the invitations has been difficult for me for some reason... I still need to look at more options and order more samples.

I considered designing my own, because that would just be awesome, but I also realize that I would be way too self critical and would stress and obsess about them for no good reason. Therefore, were going to just order them from somewhere. I like the pocketfold invitation style, and am not a HUGE fan of bows (one of these has a bow, but I still like it), so we will see what happens!

We also talked about the quote we got from the caterer and rental company.... and I was surprised at her reaction! It seems that we may get to have it all anyways! (probably minus the chargers...) Maybe even the really cool "lounge area" idea... we'll just see! I think a lot of it depends on the mood my dad is in :) I am so blessed!

On a side note, I would just like to say that I LOVE Dustin so very much. Wow, he just amazes me. I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with him! On Sunday we looked at two houses...we just drove by and saw open house signs and went in. It really hit me for the first time that we will actually be home owners in less than 6 months!!! I got so super excited. We are going to look at more this coming Sunday too. Interest rates just jumped down to 4.5%, so that is AMAZING, a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially for first time home buyers!

Wedding Budget

WELL, I got the quote for the food and decor portion of the wedding..... I took a deep breath before I opened the email attachment. I should have taken two breaths. I can tell you right now that we are going to have to make some changes..... wow! Pretty sure we won't be having the glass beaded charger plates, or the cake plates. We can use the church's for that I think. The food and decor quote they gave us was over 90% of our total budget :-(

I havent even picked out invitations yet, or little odds and ends like name place holders and other decorative stuff that i'm sure will begin to accumulate quickly. All this doesn't include the band (which isn't super expensive, but still...) or my hair or makeup, or nail expenses. Or the cake. It all adds up so quick. I'm going to have to have a big meeting with the parents to discuss our options soon.

The hard part is that all of these costs would go down dramatically if we didnt have so many great friends between both of our families! How do you put a price tag on precious people????? Thats my struggle right now. The quote is for our max final guest count of 400 ppl. I wonder if mom and dad are going to make us cut more. Ugh. THIS is the hard part of wedding planning.

Wearing White by Candle Light

I booked Roseville Bakery! I'm really excited to have a huge cake. The round base will be 18 inches, 5 tiers total. Woo-hoo! I don't have to give her any details about it until the week of the wedding if I don't want to (but I do...) so thats just one less thing for me to have to think about right now! Aaron Johnson called to confirm that his band CAN and WILL play for our "punch and hor'durve" hour (sp?) and into the reception, so that is awesome! Another thing I don't have to worry about for now.

I have an appointment with Diane from Crystal Lake Catering on Monday, Dec 1st to look at china and measure the chairs at church for the chair covers... that will be fun I think! AND I got a call from Rush's Bridal today saying that my veil is in and I can pick it up! WOW! Its starting to feel more real now! I can't wait for my dress to get in too!

One vision I have for the ceremony is to have candles EVERYWHERE on the stage and on the choir loft area. I've been doing some research online for deals on votives and votive holders and I think I found some good stuff! Candles for Less can get me 72 candles and holders for $36.99, thats about $0.51 each! They are clear glass holders and white votives. I want the stage to glow! I think i'm going to order a few cases of those soon. Two cases for sure, probably 3, or even possibly 4 cases... I have no idea what it will look like all spaced out on the stage and riser area. I'll have to test it out after I order a case.

Almost all of my bridesmaids have ordered their dresses... I'm checking on the last one :) The order is due by December first, so hopefully that all gets taken care of. Dustin, the dads, and Brent and Tyler are going to Savvi Formalwear on Saturday to get measured for their tux and so they can feel more involved and check everything out. I hope that is a good guy bonding time for them. I'm so happy Dustin finally found one he loves! Its a brand new Calvin Klien that is a light grey, almost silver tux. Its going to look AWESOME! Dustin looked so hot when he tried it on last week!

STILL trying to find time to work on the guest list.... ugh. OH, I finally got all my engagement photos from Sewell Photography! Check them out HERE. You can look at the slideshow and then click the little "shopping cart" when you are done to see some additional photos that werent in the slideshow. I have to pick our 35 or so photos for my photo book Jennie is making for us.

So much to do, 207 days to do it all! I'm loving it!

Small Progress

First, i'm really excited to go to the holiday tea tonight at my church! I got to see a sneek peek of it last night and it looks great! I have my outfit picked out and ready to change into when I get home!

Yesterday I called my caterer and made a tenative appointment on Monday, December first to meet at the church and see what size chair cover works well on our chairs for the atrium. Then we are going to go to another vendor showroom to look at china and dinner type utensils. I am really excited for that. I'll take a 1/2 day off of work. I also tried calling the bakery yesterday to order my cake, but Amy wasn't in, so I need to try to call back again. Just havent gotten around to doing that yet. Side note: I am FREEZING right now... my fingers look purplish :( sad. I just really want to cross "order the cake" off of my huge list.

I also got an email from my photographer today saying that its taken her a bit longer to edit all of our photos (do I really look that bad? ha). I know she is staying very busy with work, so I can understand. She said we should have all of them by Thanksgiving. That would be great so then I could show Brent while he is here from California. I just really am excited to see the rest of the pictures!

Another task that is just hanging over my head is the dumb guest list. I STILL havent gotten it down to the size that I want it to be. I feel safe sending out about 500 or so invitations, because not everyone will come. They say between 1/4 and 1/3 of ppl you invite RSVP as no, and then another 10% of people who say they will come ditch out on the event in the end. I just need to get that done. Then I can send out the save the dates. Which I still havent picked out or figured out. Maybe thats another project for this weekend.

Cakes Cakes Cakes!

I love cake. I can't have it all the time, but there is something about it that I just love. I DON'T love chocolate cake. Thinking about cake makes me want to go and TRY to bake one. It reminds me of fun childhood experiments in the kitchen.

Well, today I am going to another cake place to go wedding cake hunting! I think I get to taste test some too! I alread met with Byerlys about cakes, and they were ok. Today over my lunch break i'm going to Roseville Bakery near my work.

I am picturing a huge tall cake, round or square, doesn't matter to me. I want it to be on a taller table so it can be a fun focal point and people will walk around it in awe of how cool our cake is :) Something eye level if possible. I would have 6 tiers if I could! The only issue is that I don't like columns for the cake. I don't care if they are hidden inside the cake, i just think it looks to "greek" if they are on the outside holding the thing together. I have a hunch that its not possible to do a 6 tier cake in the magnitude I am hoping for. But big guest list = big cake!

What should it taste like? HUMM... well, my favorite is carrot cake with creme cheese frosting!! But I also like white cake with buttercream frosting... or fondant. I like them both. Fondant holds up better and won't "melt off." I don't think I need to worry about that as much since the reception will be indoors. I am thinking about doing different types of cake for the different tiers... then I could have carrot cake AND white cake!

Have I consulted Dustin about this? Nope. He does not care and doesn't like these details. He would be fine with an ice cream cake from DQ. Maybe I should have mine just like the picture above? ;) hehe.

Overdue

I am a HUGE fan of theknot.com. It keeps me on track of everything I need to do that is wedding related. I'm trying to stay on top of everything and I feel like I am doing a pretty good job, but I hate seeing that I have some "overdue" items to attend to. I feel like I cant check the things off until they are 100% final. Let me share with you my overdue list:

1. Finalize the guest list (working on this... its harder than you think!)


2. Book the reception band, sign the contract, send a deposit (Tried getting ahold of Aaron Johnson again for our reception and punch hour music... jazz trio)


3. Begin looking for a baker to make your wedding cake (looked at Byerlys, not super impressed... it turns out I am sorta picky about cake)


4. Make sure your made of honor and best man are aware of what you expect of them- making a list is a good idea (I made a list for Amber, Dustin hasn't picked which GM is going to be his Best Man... thus no list yet)


5. Register for wedding gifts (Can't do this til March or so... but I don't know of any showers yet either, so I just am waiting til after Christmas so the styles of things don't change too much)


6. Set aside blocks of hotel rooms for out-of-town guests (Trying to figure out how many out of towners we will have... most will stay with family living in MN)


7. Book a baker, choose your wedding cake design and send a deposit


8. Purchase and send save-the-dates (I havent found any I like... I want to use one of our engagement pictures as a christmas card possibly... need to figure out the guest list so we can mail them out first!)

Other things on my timeline for Nov and Dec that are almost overdue:

1. Book ceremony musicians and send deposit (I have no idea what I want for this... AT ALL. Dustin's uncle will probably play our piano for walking down the procession and recessional, but I don't know who should sing and what songs they would sing)


2. Start planning the rehersal dinner (Pam has brought this up, we need to sit down and figure this out soon)


3. Start working on your invitation wording and design


4. Finalize your invitation wording


5. Finalize menu and service details with caterer (Need to call the caterer and find a time to meet again)


6. Order your invitations and announcements with extra envelopes
   

I'm trying to take things one step at a time, I just really want to check everything off my giant list... all in all I have 184 things to do before June 20th, 2009. I know I will get it done, I just don't want all this hanging over my head! I AM actually enjoying the process though, I don't want to give you all the wrong impression :)

The Best Man Tradition

OK, so I can't take credit for this post, I found it on another wedding related blog, but I thought it was interesting and I wanted to add it to my collection of wedding related things.

"Some of our most sacred wedding traditions had very strange beginnings. I have been having fun reading up on the history of the best man, bridesmaids, white gowns, veils and more. I am going to share some of the stories with you in the next few weeks. I think you will find them funny!
So where did the tradition of the best man come from? He was supposed to protect the groom from angry parents. Once upon a time, some grooms took their brides by force to the alter. Can you imagine? The “best” in best man referred to the man’s skill with weapons. The groom would certainly want to have the most talented swordsman with him during his quest for his bride.
The best man stood guard next to the groom all the way through the vows and even outside the bedroom door on the wedding night in case the new bride tried to escape.
And you though planning a killer bachelor party was hard!"

wedding planning blog

I am so glad that Dustin isnt forcing me to marry him! haha. And i'm so glad that our parents get along and no one is upset about our wedding! This story reminds me of The Princess Bride. Which makes me want to watch that movie now....

Check, Check, Check!

I had a productive wedding weekend! On Saturday, me, mom, Amber, Alanna, and Brie went to Rush's Bridal again to order my wedding dress (check), pick out and order my veil (check), and to start looking for a bridesmaid dress for the girls. I wasnt sure if we would come close to coming to a decision, but we found one pretty much right away (check!).

Here is a link to see what the dress looks like, the default color is brown, but we are ordering them in navy. I'm so excited because Amber and Brie and also Alanna seemed to love the dress... its definately one they will be able to wear again... they said so themselves! The great thing about the dress is that it is so cheap! Its only $110, which makes me feel great because now I feel better about having them all get matching shoes as well. Now i'm on a mission to find awesome shoes to go with the dress. We are thinking it would be cute to have pink shoes to make it fun and to match the flowers.

Last night we also made progress on the guest list narrowing it down bit by bit. I think we are in the finalizing stage! I also finally got my wedding packet from Cedar Valley Church, so that will be helpful and now I will be able to stop bugging Cora with all of my questions and go to the wedding coordinator instead :)

AND, Dustin and I started to look for tuxs as well! He is very very picky when it comes to this... I was worried for a while. He refuses to wear black (which is fine with me because I prefer gray to go with the dresses and because its an afternoon wedding. Here is the only one we can find so far that Dustin got excited about:

I personally think its really cool looking and different, which is what Dustin wants. I'm not crazy about the more striped looking pants, but i'm sure we can work with that. I'm guessing we will be using the Mens Warehouse Tux department as our vendor for this because the Savii place we visited on Sunday was not up to par according to Dustin.

Updates...& Happy Halloween!

Oh my gosh, November is tomorrow already. Well, no such festivities happened last night, apparently the world is sold out of pumpkins and pumpkin carving tools. That also meant no roasted pumpkin seeds. We still had a good time. We watched the latest Office episode, hIlarious! And we had a bonfire outside in the back for just the two of us. I loved it. Thats ok because were hanging out with some fun people tonight, Derek and Alanna (and Gavin). I'm excited for that, we havent gotten to see them since Dan and Crystal's wedding in Missouri.

I am almost 100% better as far as sickness goes, but I still have random coughs unfortunately. How do you get rid of the coughs? I am so sick of it! I worked out for the first time in about 2 weeks last night and boy oh boy did it feel awesome! I felt so gross since i've basically been sitting/laying on my butt trying to feel better. I honestly love to work out at Lifetime Fitness.

Tomorrow I am getting fitted to order my dress at Rush's Bridal... see previous post below about how I found my dress. I'm taking some of my bridesmaids along too so they can check out the bridesmaid dresses and hopefully find something. Right now I really like some from Jim Helm and they are pretty good prices. I'll post some pics below of the ones I like... ignore the color that they are shown in, I am pretty set on a navy blue or some sort of atlantic/darker blue to contrast all the pink flowers.