Color Scheming

Having a fall wedding made it pretty easy for me to decide on the colors I was going to use. Regardless, I still experimented with a million different combinations.

Even before I got engaged, I fell in love with a photo I found on a wedding blog.

First of all, I love dahlias and I think regardless of my color scheme, I would have included them in my arrangements. I also love that the colors aren't a bright red, true orange, or royal purple. They look more vintage to me in muted colors.

Also in my wedding blog surfing, I also came across an awesome website that lets you test any color combination you can dream up. So using the above picture as my guide, I came up with the following color palette.

But, when I really looked at the colors together and envisioned what we would do with them outside of flowers, I wasn't so in love with them anymore. They looked a little to spring/summer to me.

So I tried something different. I really like the color jade, but not a true jade. A jade with a little more blue in it. So I started with that and came up with the following:

I still wasn't in love with it...so I twisted around a few colors, removed the jade, added a burnt orange and VOILA!!!! Our color scheme was born!

Very fall, very me. PERFECTION.

The (difficult) Choice!

I'm one of the most indecisive people you will ever meet. I can't even make simple decisions such as where we're going to dinner. I would much rather someone else make the decision for me.

When it came down to which dress I was going to buy, my indecisiveness kicked in ten-fold. This wasn't a Max & Erma's versus On the Border type of decision. This is the dress I would be wearing on my wedding day. The dress that would be captured in photos that will last a lifetime. One of the most important decisions in planning a wedding. And I was torn.

On one hand, my bargain shopper side was telling me that I'd found a dress I REALLY liked and it was WAY under what I was planning to spend. I could purchase off the rack and not have to worry about when it would come in. How could I pass that up?

But my theme-conscious perfectionist side was telling me that the other dress fit in perfectly with the rustic vintage look I was going for AND it was still under my budget. Plus, I could also purchase this dress off the rack and the only alterations I would need is to put in a bustle.

I think something my incredibly wise mother said helped me make the decision when it came down to it. She asked me if both dresses were priced exactly the same, what would I choose?? With the factor of cost removed from my decision, I was able to concentrate on what I really liked about each dress.

In the end, I purchased the more expensive dress knowing that this is the one time in my life where I will get to purchase a wedding dress and it SHOULD be perfect, regardless if I have to spend a little extra dough.

After I had officially made the decision and actually purchased the dress, I knew I'd made the right choice. The perfect choice. So what what the heck was I dragging my feet for???

Did anyone else have a difficult time making a decision on THE dress?

The Dress Hunt: Part II

Saturday morning my mom and I were up bright and early to have breakfast with Gary's mom before heading to the bridal shops. It was the first time they had met and I was a little nervous about it but everything went very smoothly.

Two of my bridesmaids, Amanda and Kristie, also joined us for the excursion. Our first stop was I Do Too in Plymouth. Since they don't take actual appointments, I was worried that it would be super busy. I think there was maybe two other brides in the shop so it wasn't too bad. My bridal assistant basically let me wander around the store and grab a few I liked. Then it was into the little room with my mom to begin process. We were getting pretty good at it because of all of our practice the night before :)

The funny thing about wedding dress shopping is all modesty goes out the window. It's hard enough trying to slither into some of those dresses without attempting to cover your "girl parts". At least it was only my mom and I didn't have some strange woman I'd just met seeing me practically in the nude.

Here is a picture of my mom, me and my future mother-in-law outside the bridal shop

SO. MANY. DRESSES.

Kristie and Amanda being patient as a struggled in and out of about 20 dresses. Yes she really is that tall...plus she's wearing heals! Silly girl.

So how did we do? There were definitely a few I liked at the shop. Some of the ones I really liked were ruled out due to being to modern for the rustic vintage-y feel I was going for. In the end, I did put a dress on hold that I absolutely loved (it was the first dress I tried on - crazy huh?) but I hadn't totally made up my mind on which would be THE dress...

Up Next: The Choice!

The Dress Hunt: Part I

Now that we have our date set, I decided that I should waste no time on finding a dress. I was already freaking out about the lead time it takes to have a dress ordered plus the time it takes for alterations. So I rounded up the important women in my life (minus my big sis who couldn't make it) and planned a day of oohing and aahing over wedding dresses.

My mom, who had to travel for the event, came the night before the big shopping trip. One of the places I had wanted to go was going to be closed on Saturday because of Memorial Day weekend. We decided we would take a quick peak just the two of us to see if they had anything good. This way she could get the crazy "I'm bawling my eyes out because I'm seeing my daughter in a wedding dress for the first time" out of her system without a lot of spectators too.

Note: I am neglecting to post any pictures because I have a rather nosy husband-to-be and I know I couldn't pay him to stay away from reading this...

We headed on over to Diane's Dream Bridal where we were greeted by Diane herself. She was extremely helpful explaining how the dresses were arranged in the store and that I should try on a few of each style to see what type of fit I would like and would look best on me. My mom and I - being the bargain shoppers we are - also selected a few dresses that were close to my size off the sale rack.

After trying on a few, I discovered I absolutely hate mermaid/trumpet skirts although I loved them in all the magazines. I just don't have the hips for that...ladies, you understand that. I also didn't really like ball gowns...it was way too poofy-princess for me. In the end, I had two dresses that were in my "to be considered" pile. They were completely different style of dresses but when it came down to it, one of them definitely looked better on me and I felt better in it. And, to make it even sweeter, the dressI liked was on the sale rack for....$300!!!! Honestly, all prices aside, I liked the sale dress better anyway and since I was buying off the rack, I wouldn't have to lay awake at night wondering if my dress would come in on time!

I didn't purchase the dress that day because I figured I needed to look around a bit and see what else was out there. I had them put the dress on hold for me in case I did indeed want to come back for it....

Up next: The Dress Hunt: Part II and The Choice!

My First DIY Wedding Project!

Gary and I had already decided who we wanted to stand up for us on our big day when we were down in Mexico. So during our 72 hour quarantine from work* I got down to business on how I wanted to ask my girls to be a part of the wedding. In my pre-engagement browsing of wedding blogs (yep, I'm guilty) I stumbled upon a super cute idea for will you be my bridesmaid cards on Style Me Pretty.

So off to Archiver's I went to buy some cute paper for my project. I hadn't completely decided on colors yet so I bought patterns and colors that I liked and that coordinated well. I made four different cards, one for each of my bridesmaids plus one for my "personal assistant". Each card had four "pages" on the inside, the first three containing a photo and the last containing a personal message from your truly.

Here is the one I made for my Matron of Honor, my lovely sister

Here's what you'll need:

Posterboard

Cardstock in coordinating colors

Glue (make sure you get wrinkle free!)
Paper cutter or scissors
Bone folder

Ruler

Three photos of you and each bridesmaid

Stencils, punches, or die cut machine for letters

Ribbon

And here are the steps:

1. Mark your poster board with a ruler into 5" x 5" squares. I made mine 5"x20" so when folded, I had four inside squares. There is posterboard out there that comes with lines on it to help you cut a straight line since it will be too long to put into a paper cutter.


2. Cut poster board into strips and accordion fold at each 5" increment. Use the bone folder to make the creases look pretty


3. Cut cardstock into 5"x5" squares to and glue them on to cover both front and back of the pages. The card will not fold correctly if you use one solid strip. I used a solid color on the back and saved the patterns for the inside pages.


4. Glue a picture onto each page in whatever order you choose. You can add backgrounds or other shapes to jazz it up a bit. I used my Cricut to cut out some additional shapes/frames.


5. For the letter portion, you can hand write it or I typed something up on my computer, printed it and cut it down to a size that would fit. Glue it onto the final page.


6. Measure a ribbon so that it will fit around the card and tie in a bow when the card is folded and glue it onto the FRONT PAGE ONLY. Leave the rest free so that you can fully open the card.


7. Cut/punch out the first letter of each girls name and glue it onto the front page.
   

And there you have it! I also did coordinating envelopes to match, printed out address labels on cardstock that matched the paper on the inside of the card and used my hand dandy Xyron machine to instantly transform them to stickers!

*Both of our companies mandated that we stay home for 72 hours after returning from Mexico to make sure we didn't come down with the Swine...I mean H1N1 flu. Thanks for the extra vacation days!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have a Date

And that date is....NOVEMBER 7, 2009!!!! I'm hoping for a beautiful fall day, sun shining with that awesome fall crisp to the air. I know, I know...there are both a Michigan and Michigan State football game that day, but I promise it'll be worth it - we're having an open bar! :)

Search for the Perfect Venue

I swear the second we got engaged, I jumped right into wedding planning. If we are going to try and pull this off by fall, I've got a TON of work to do!! The biggest thing I am worried about is availability of things with only a 6 month lead time. The little stuff I'm not worried about, I know I can get it done plus I have lots of family members and friends who are willing to help me!

BUT how can you have a wedding without a reception venue? Or a photographer? Or a florist?

So, first thing I am going to attempt to check of my mile long TO DO list is our reception venue. Between the two of us, Gary and I have scoured the Internet looking for places to have our reception. In my head, I have this beautiful image of an old barn or log cabin...solid wood walls and columns...strings of twinkle lights...fall reds oranges and yellows...rustic vintage feel...but I haven't had much luck in finding exactly what I'm looking for.

I love, love, LOVE everything about this wedding!

A few problems I'm running into:

• Most barns are not acceptable places to hold wedding receptions, especially in the late fall



Not exactly reception-worthy





• Those that are acceptable have been booked WAY in advance (for other Michigan brides out there, you must check out Blue Dress Barn or Millcreek Barn near St. Joe...Gorgeous!)

I'm DROOLING here!!

• There is nothing really close to my hometown for Gary's home town that resembles what we are looking for. I don't want to have both families travel, especially to an area that I'm not even familiar with

I haven't given up total hope yet, but we are definitely looking at back-up plans as well. And so, the search for the perfect venue continues...

East Side versus West Side

One of the biggest decisions we have to make is who's hometown we'd like to get married in. I know that traditionally, the wedding takes place in the bride's hometown but I'm not opposed to mixing it up a bit. Breaking the rules can be good, right?

Basically Gary and I grew up on opposite sides of the state. He's from the East side of Michigan while I was born and raised on the West side. For those of you from Michigan or who have visited both sides of the state, you know that they are completely different. On the East side, the houses are built a few feet from each other. On the West side, people actually have YARDS! On the West side, people are friendly and polite. On the East side, you find people have a little bit more attitude and people don't always say thank you when you hold the door open (no offense East-siders!). And while the West side has grown tremendously in the last few years, the East side has a ton more restaurants, bars, and things to do in general.

I've found that none of these differences really pertain to our wedding planning. When it really came down to it, it was all about ease of planning for me. Given that we are trying to plan an entire wedding in less than 6 months, I thought for my sanity, we should probably get married on the East side of the state. That way, we don't have to travel to meet with vendors and we can run errands during the week after work and I don't have to transport any monsterrous DIY project I decide to tackle.

So there you have it. Decision made. East side baby.

Oh Cabo, How I Miss You Already

Since my last post was exclusively in regards to the BIG NEWS we had to share, this one will recap our vacation. Most of the days we spent lounging by the pool sipping on unlimited fruity cocktails (my drink of choice: Miami Vice - half pina colada, half strawberry daiquiri...DE-LISH!). At night we would have dinner and then usually sit on our balcony and begin the wedding planning or hang out with some of the people we met down there.

The weather was FABULOUS - only one day of overcast skies but we spent the entire day in the shade anyway due to too much sun the day before. Gave me plenty of time to acquire a little sun-kissed glow and get totally addicted to the Twilight series!!!

One complaint I do have is the food. We got soooo sick of the food. It was mostly the same thing every day and nothing really had a lot of flavor to it. It's sad, but I think the best meal I had was at Hooter's when we went into downtown Cabo!!!

We had an amazing time...I'll let the pictures do most of the talking!

The view from our room

Gary and I on our balcony

Lounging poolside

Of course we had to visit Cabo Wabo!

Gary and I at the marina downtown Cabo

Somebody's Getting Married!

I love the Muppets, don't you?


Oh wait, the real reason for this post is because the person getting married is ME!!!!!

Gary popped the question our first night in Cabo! It was perfect, everything I could have asked for and more...and the RING! WOWZA it's amazing!!! It's exactly what I would have picked out myself. (On a side note: I may or may not have left some pictures of rings lying around the condo...)

This is how it all went down...After dinner on our first evening in Mexico, we decided to sit on the beach and watch the surf roll in...just him and I, no one else in site. After a while, he pulled me up from where I was seated and started his speech that went something like "I've loved you since the day I first met you and I never want to stop loving you". I believe my reaction at this point was something like "what are you doing?" He then dropped to one knee ...and asked me to marry him!!!

After lots of hugging and a few tears, the little town of Cabo San Lucas decided to give us a little engagment gift. Fireworks! What perfect timing! Gary claims that this was all part of his plan, I guess I'll let him think I believe that.

So, now the fun begins with the planning! Stay tuned for a date, but just a warning - I REALLY want a fall wedding and REALLY don't want to wait until 2010!

Look out Cabo!

Well, we're going. And we're stocked up on antibacterial soap, antibacterial hand sanitizer, antibacterial wipes and antibacterial spray. No swine flu is going to stop me. Take that World Health Organization. See ya'll in a week!

Shower Invites!

As Maid of Honor in my good friend Kristie's wedding this summer, I've been planning her a friends/co-workers shower and I have finally finished up the invitations! I bought the supplies from Paper Source a long time ago and they have just been sitting there in the box begging me to take them out and play!

These were actually super easy to make, the items I bought from Paper Source we pre-cut to the size they needed to be so all I had to do was a lot of gluing!! Here is all the materials I ordered to make these:

Petal envelopes in Jadeite
Petal enclosures in Blossom
1" round stickers in blossom
Square pointed flap envelopes in Jadeite
12"x12" paper in Luxe Blossom Dots
Envelope liner templates

I simply printed the wording off of my home computer, trimmed to the correct size and glued everything together! A reminder when you're working with thinner papers (i.e. NOT cardstock) be sure to use a glue stick that says wrinkle-free.

As for the envelope liners, you can get a pack of all different sizes for about $10. You simply trace the template,cut them out and glue inside the envelope! It is easiset if you insert the liner with out glue first, fold the top flap over where it would naturally fold and outline the flap only with glue.

I think they turned out pretty cute myself :)

A peak at the inside

All closed up and sealed with a sticker!

The envelope with address label and completed card...of course I forgot to take a picture of the envelope liner but when you opened it up, pink and white polka dot paper lined the inside!

Stupid, Stupid Swine Flu

So Gary and I are supposed to leave for Cabo this coming weekend and all of the sudden there is an outbreak of SWINE FLU! I'm sooooo mad...I really don't want to postpone our vacation, I've been looking forward to it since the day we booked! Our hotel is offering to change our reservation to another locations but our airline will only re-book us without penalty to and from the original destination. We're going to wait it out to see if things settle down or not and then make the decision. Fingers crossed please!!!

Terrible Two's?

Never - how could someone that cute ever be called terrible?

Chase and Logan playing pin ball

We ventured home this weekend to help celebrate my nephew Logan's second birthday. I really can't believe he's two already. He changes so much every time we see him. The party was beach themed but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate very well and it was a little too windy to be outside. We spent the day getting ready for the party including making these super cute sand cakes! My sister had the great idea of actually serving them in little sand toys! The recipe is super easy and you can find it by Googling sand cake. They turned out delicious! If you make them, I suggest using a food processor to crush up the cookies...so much easier!

Apparently a tub full of wrapping paper is much better than any of the presents!

Happy Birthday little guy - we love you!!!