E-Pics Photobook

When we were getting ready for our engagement pictures, I started thinking about what I wanted to do with the pictures when we got them. Our current house is not the biggest house and therefore we do not have a ton of wall space to work with as well as limited table space on which we could set our engagement pictures. I am also not a big fan of pictures in bedrooms because I once read that you are not supposed to put pictures in bed rooms because it counteracts the “calming” effect of the room… I am not sure how calming a room with laundry thrown everywhere can be, but for some reason, that tidbit has stuck with me.

Then the thought of a photobook came to mind. I have a couple of friends who frequently put together photobooks for events that happen throughout the year. One uses a service called Blurb and another uses Snapfish. I looked into both of these services and was going back and forth between the two when I came across this post on Wedding Bee today.

After reading that, I looked at Adorama. I clicked around their website a little and discovered that uploading and placing the pictures was a breeze. I also liked the layouts they had available as well as the fact that you can very easily create your own. Adorama is a bit pricier than say Snapfish, but I am hoping this translates into better quality.

So, as soon as our engagement picture proofs come in, you can tell what my next project will be! BTW – yes, I have been running to the mailbox every day to see if they’ve arrived. It’s worse than when you were a little kid expecting birthday cards!!! 

It's HERE!!!!

My dress that is! It came in on Wednesday and was delivered to my parent's house. I of course rushed right home from work, straight over to their house to try it on. I was so nervous it wouldn't fit! When the measured me at the bridal shop, I measured a 4 in the bust, a 4 in the waist and an 8 in the hips (yes, I am shaped like a boy!) The dress lady tried talking me into a 4, but I wear a 6 in pants, so I knew there was no way. I ended up getting a 6 and then started second guessing myself, thinking that I should have ordered an 8 since that was the biggest I measured... Luckily it fit!!!

The length is also good, I won't be able to wear very high heels since I am already 5'9", which is somewhat of a bummer because I actually already bought some purple high heels that I will now have to sell since the 30 days is up. (DANG!) So, if you find any 2" purple heels, throw them my way please!

The only other thing that needs to be done is a bustle and change the neckline from straight to a definite sweetheart.

Oh, and can I just say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my dress even more now that I have MINE!

Now the search for shoes, veil, and jewelry begins... Suggestions welcome!

I Found Our Cake Topper

OK, quick back story. We are having a mother-mandated cake. We are actually having a dessert bar in lieu of cake because I am not a huge cake person, but I love me some pie, cheesecake, rice krispie treats, brownies, cookies... Oh yes, ESPECIALLY cookies!!!

My mom was OK with the dessert bar thing, but she insisted there be a cake. By insisted, I mean had a mini-freak-out. (Love you mom!) So as a compromise, we are having the dessert bar with a small, simple cake like this:

Without the roses on top and maybe purple ribbon.

Once it was decided we were having a cake, had to find the topper.

More back story. Bryan, my wonderful fiance, is a gamer. I am not talking a PlayStation 3 gamer (although, we do have one of those), I am talking World of Warcraft via the computer gamer. Oh yes, I see those looks of pity on your face - I get it all the time.

(In his defense, he is pretty good about it, but it's his thing! The way I look at it, he could be at the bar or out with his buddies shooting at things (we live in Iowa, it's what boys do), but instead, he is at home, in the recliner next to me, playing his game. Could be worse.)

Plus, it gives me an excuse to buy this:

Oh yes, its going on top of our cake. You can customize the hair color, the type of pop (or beer) cans laying around AND the game on the screen. It is perfect. I found this from Etsy seller AwesomeToppers for $70... More than I had wanted to spend, but Bryan was genuinely excited about it, which is rare when it comes to wedding decor related topics, so it's a go. 

What are you guys doing for your cake and/or toppers? 

Standstill

I know, I know, it's been awhile! So sorry. I feel as though I am at a bit of a standstill right now with the wedding plans. We have a little under 11 months to go and according to all the checklists out there, I am about three to four months ahead of the game. :)

So, to make it feel like I am doing SOMETHING, Bryan and I had dinner with my parents tonight and discussed what is next with the wedding plans. I feel a more motivated to stay ahead of the curve ball again and should have some interesting posts coming up in the next week or so. :)

In other news, it's been a couple of weeks since I posted a Workout Wednesday. I will make sure to post one this week, incase any of you actually read them. :)

E-Pics Sneak Peak

Our engagement pictures were a week ago today and our photographer posted a few shots for us right away - you know, just to drive me completely mad for the next three weeks until we get the CD with all of them on there!!! :)

I could not be happier with how the pictures turned out - it is EXACTLY what I was looking for! Bryan, being the good fiance that he is, was looking for the exact same thing that I was looking for in the engagement pictures... Actually, he was just happy I told him NOT to tuck in his shirt.

Without further delay - here they are!!

E-Session Outfits

Photography is on my mind lately! Our engagement pics are set to take place on Sunday, keeping my fingers triple-crossed that it does not rain. I've had our outfits bought and stowed away for a little over a month now and I am SO excited about them! We are not dressy people - in fact, we can wear jeans every day of the week to work - so I think our outfits are pretty normal/natural for us, but still look nice.

I personally have two outfits and one pair of FABULOUS shoes. I like clothes. :) Bryan's technically has one outfit - a button down shirt with a nice t-shirt under it - so, for some of the pictures he will wear his button down and for some he won't, so he's not technically changing. (I had a hard enough time convincing him that we really did need a 2 hour photography session, getting him to completely change outfits was a battle I did not chose to pick.)

First, anchor of both my outfits - the shoes! Love, love, love them!!! Living in a small town (I mean, less than 5,000 people) I feel I can pull these off no problem.

My fabulous shoes will be paired with this dress

with this AWESOME jacket

My next outfit will consist of the boots and this shirt

and this little number

Bryan will be wearing jeans (didn't feel the need to photograph those) with this shirt

over this shirt

So excited for the combinations and to show you guys the sneak peaks!!!

Nina.Cecilia - Creative Spark

I love pictures. I love candid pictures, professional pictures, pictures of babies and pictures of old people. I ESPECIALLY love wedding related pictures. Before we got engaged I spent MONTHS pouring over the websites over local photographers, trying to find just one that met my style.

A little over a year ago, I saw that a couple of girls, twin sisters in fact, that I had hung out with for a short stint early on in my college career had started a photography business. (Via Facebook of course.) I became of fan of their Facebook page - Nina.Cecilia - Creative Spark and Fell. In. Love. They're photographs are amazing and just my style. Their pictures are not overly posed, very natural and capture the true emotion of the subjects. Their editing skills are also amazing - they're incredibly creative and talented!

I knew I had to have them as our photographers.

Around the time that I knew we would be getting engaged, I emailed Nina and asked for a menu of services. It must have been a good omen because we were engaged about a week and a half later! I immediately booked them the next day.

Since they had been around for less than a year when I booked them, it was a bit of a leap of faith as they had only done a couple of weddings at that point. However, this summer they have had quite a few and with each wedding they post on their Facebook page and blog, I get more and more excited! Our pictures are going to be amazing and I really can not wait.

Here is a sampling of a few engagement pictures and wedding pictures they have done so far - AMAZING!

Wedding Workout Wednesday

Whoo-hoo! The fiancé is on a business trip, I am SO going out!

HA!

Yeah right.

I am actually sitting here eating Mac & Cheese and watching my dog sleep. My how times have changed… J

So, it’s Wednesday, which means I need to recap the workouts I have done this week… Or lack there of! I have had a severe motivational problem this week. Here is what my schedule looked like:

• Thursday: Items from my Pampered Chef party arrived, my exercise consisted of ripping open boxes and kicking myself for not getting that set of measuring cups.
• Friday: Day off from work, ran/walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes (about 25 minutes of running, 5 of walking.) Lifted free weights.
• Saturday: Iowa Hawkeye Football home opener!!! Does walking around tailgating while drinking a beer count? Maybe. In my book it does.
• Sunday: Too tired from Saturday to do much, sat on the couch a lot.
•  Monday: Had intentions of working out… Then decided I needed to clean the house and get groceries instead.
• Tuesday: Attempted to run on the treadmill, lasted 10 minutes. Did another 10 on the elliptical and then lifted free weights.
• Today: Have an appointment with the florist right after work, won’t get a workout in.

My past few weeks have gone like this, so I finally did something about my motivational level (which is usually about ZERO) – I joined a gym with classes!

The Upside (s)

•  I like being told what to do and when to do it when working out, I do not like motivating myself. This gym will help that problem.
• It is close to work, so there is less time from the time I leave work until when I get home to talk myself out of working out.

The Downside

•  Its 20 – 25 minutes from my house (I said it’s close to work) – this means workouts REALLY have to happen during the week.

I’ve tried becoming a morning person before and have failed miserably at it each time, but now I just might have to… Stay tuned to see how my first week at the new gym goes!

The Main Dish

Ah, wedding food. We've all been to the weddings where the food has been less than stellar and perhaps even swung by a McDonalds after leaving the reception because you were still hungry. Bryan and I wanted the food at our reception to be a reflection of who we are. We are not chicken marsala people, nor are we veal people. We really like steak and salmon, however, that does not fit within our budget. We are pizza people, and roasting hot dogs and hamburgers over an open fire people and down-home, comfort food people.

Picture from www.mccormick.com - not where the recipe is from.

The part that sold us on our reception location is the fact that we can bring our own food and alcohol - MAJOR money saver there. Bryan's uncle has an amazing recipe for pulled pork. Being born and raised in the heart of pork country, pulled pork is a favorite meal of both of ours and it is a good reflection of who we are - simple but delicious. So, his uncle has agreed to make enough pulled pork for 320 people and it will only cost $1 to $2 per person! This of course does not include buns, but still a fabulous price.

Our goal for food is to keep it around $5/person - not including dessert of course. With the price of the pork and using an up and coming caterer for the side dishes (more on that later) I think this may be an achievable goal. If we maxed out the capacity of the reception location at 320 people, this would be around $1600 on food - not too shabby!

Now that we have the main dish decided on, I will be working with a caterer for our side dishes - more on that in the coming weeks!

Wedding Workout Wednesday

The other day I was on the dreaded treadmill and it occurred to me that workouts are probably a hot-topic for other brides. As you know, I have already purchased my dress, over a year in advance, which means I need to stay the same size for at least 360 more days.  My friends and family reading this already think I am crazy for worrying about this, I have maintained the same weight for the past 3 years and a few would probably tell you that I should gain some weight. (Woe is me, I know.) I am a pretty superstitious person though and I have this deep fear that I will gain 20 pounds now that there is a reason for me to really keep the weight off.


Let me back up, I am currently 5'9" and weight about 128 pounds. I know, most girls would kill for this, but I have not always been like this. When I graduated college, I tipped the scales at 164 pounds - on a good day. It was a combination of little exercise, a bartender's schedule, a diet of whatever I could find, when I could find it and a lot beer that got me to that weight. Once I graduated college, I worked HARD for a year and a half to get all that weight off, plus some. I'm talking 5+ days in the gym for 90 minutes at a time and Weight Watchers to get my cravings under control.


Me at my heaviest

Me now:

Was it easy losing almost 40 pounds? Absolutely not. Am I one of those girls who *claim* to "love" going to the gym and all that jazz? Yeah right. I'll be honest, working out is not my favorite things. There are even days that I HATE the gym. I've tried every workout imaginable, still haven't found that that I just can't wait to do everyday. Most days I get home from work and I literally have to force myself to put my running shoes on. 

My favorite part of working out? Being done. 

This brings my to my new blogging category: Wedding Workout Wednesdays! Each week I will share with you what I have (or haven't done) in the form of physical activity. Maybe even share some good-for-you recipes that I may stumble upon... You'll probably hear more about how I have to have a cookie after lunch AND dinner. (This is why I have to keep myself in the gym.)

Since this post is long enough already, I'll create a new one for this week's Wedding Workouts.

Invitations: Couture Invitations

I am currently scouring the internet trying to find the perfect invitations for our wedding. I know we are a ways a way from even thinking about ordering invitations, but it's never too early to start looking. This afternoon while I was watching One Tree Hill re-runs and surfing the internet, I came across Couture Invitations. I love some of the ideas the designer has - especially some of the belly-band ideas like this

and this

Plus - the designer is an Iowa girl - double score. :) For all the brides out there looking for invitations, be sure to check out their website.

Resource: Weddingbee.com

I must share this bride secret with all of your: Weddingbee. I have never been one to be into online message boards, until I found Weddingbee. Weddingbee.com is a forum that allows future brides, present brides, past brides and all other kinds of brides to share experiences, projects, opinions and advice with everyone. I have found so many ideas, tutorials, inspiration and projects via this source - I highly recommend every bride-to-be check this place out.

Centerpieces: The Undecided

I've already covered the two centerpiece ideas I am doing here and here. But I have been going back and forth on what to do for the last. Here are my options:


Option One: Pomander on vase with crystals

The pomander would be made out of tissue paper and probably in a cream-ish color. I would put a ribbon around the bottom of the pomander and the crystals would be black or purple. 

Option Two: Hydrangeas 

I originally wanted to stay away from fresh flower centerpieces because of the cost, but if I order hydrangea wholesale from Blooms by the Box @ just under $4/stem, the price for 11 centerpieces won't be so bad. Additionally, the bridesmaids bouquets are going to be hydrangeas with peacock swords instead of greenery filler. The centerpieces would be white hydrangeas with a few peacock eyes in them. Maybe a ribbon around the center of the vase? 

Thoughts?

Ring-bearer Pillow - thingy

I like to be different. Some people may think I am being difficult at times, but I like to think I am just my own person and like to do my own things. So, I've been searching for something for our ringbearer to carry down the aisle. I've seen a few really cute ideas, plus something traditional...

Option 1.) The box

I found this box on Etsy, from seller BraggingBags. How freakin cute. The seller can even customize and engrave our names and wedding date into the bottom. It is only $30 and I feel this is a fair price, especially because I feel it could be an heirloom after the wedding. This is definitely at the top of my list at the moment. I was thinking for the actual wedding, we could put a small pillow inside with the fake rings (for pictures). 

Option 2.) Twist on a traditional pillow

Again, adorable. However, I would probably just end up selling it afterwards. I found this on Etsy from seller AllofYou as well and is slightly more expensive at $32. It matches our colors perfectly and would look amazing in the pictures - an it IS all about the pictures!!!

Option 3.) Here Comes the Bride Sign

Got this picture from here.

How cute would a 3 year old look carrying a sign like this? Cheap to make, however, way out of the box, which, I am out of the box, but I sometimes like to stay near the box. Also, he would have nothing to hold in the pictures.   

So - what do you guys think? Which option should we go with?

The Dress

I did it, I bought my dress this weekend!!! My bridesmaid L has been begging me to come to Chicago (where she lives) to try on dresses. I was having pretty good luck finding some in Iowa that I liked, and there was even one that I was 95% sure was the one I wanted. Finally, I agreed to visit her and try on dresses. I told myself after this weekend, I will buy my dress. I've tried on ever type of dress imaginable, in every shape, color and style, so after this weekend, I would be confident in my choice. 


I went in thinking I'd try on some nice dresses, but I would ultimately buy the one that I liked in Iowa... Then I tried on the first dress and it was the one. I knew the instant I put it on, I had no reservations, there was no "I like this part and this part, but I kind of wish this part was a little different." It was perfect. I did not cry - I actually have not cried once in the whole bridal experience - but I smiled a lot. 


Then I looked at the price... And it was $400 under what I had budgeted! SOLD. 
I have pictures of me in the dress, but I am going to wait to post pics of me in the dress until after the wedding, here is a picture from the website though:

Yep, I am in love. Can't wait to wear it!

The Dudes Apparel

My mission this weekend? Find 9 more of these ties:

These ties work so well with the purple color of the bridesmaids dresses and I think they will look really sharp with white shirt and black suit. We are not going with the traditional vest/tie combo that you rent at Men's Warehouse or any other tuxedo rental place. Instead, we are buying all of our groomsmen and ushers matching ties and renting suits to go with them. 

I found two of these babies at Younkers, but need to track down nine more. I have my friends scouring Younkers in their cities looking for me. I tried to order them online, but they had every color in this style EXCEPT purple! Dang it. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we will have 11 total in our possession. 

This is the look we are going for with the guy's apparel:

This is a picture from a friend of a friend's wedding, I love how the stripes look against the white shirts and the simplicity of it all. 

Hopefully on Monday I will have good news on the following topis:

• Ties
• Candles and candle holders
• A few more vases
• The dress and accessories.

I know, I said I found my dress, but I go cold feet. I will probably end up going with my orignal choice, but I want to look in Chicago just ONE more time to be sure... :)

Until Monday!

Centerpieces: Cylinder Vases

Next centerpiece up is the cylinder vase centerpiece.

This is my inspiration. My original idea was three cylinder vases, all different heights, each with decorative rocks, water and a feather inside them and topped off with a floating candle. However, feathers in water does not look as cool as it sounds. I thought it would magnify the colors, but it just made them look brown. :(  So my new plan is to do clear rocks in the bottom, water, floating candle  with feathers and willow branches around the base. 

Cylinder vases I have seen priced anywhere from $3 - $5 each, but when you need 3 of them for each table, that is $9 - $15 per table, just on vases. Over the weekend I was stalking eBay for cylinder vases and low and behold, I hit the jackpot! A newlywed was selling 26 vases from Crate and Barrel for only $50!! They are all varying heights, and I will only be one short of nine centerpieces, which I am not worried about. Shipping was $17, so that breaks down to $2.58/vase or $7.74/table. Score!

Just an FYI, this find pretty much made my weekend. J  I'm kind of sad that all my beautiful vases have to be stored away for the next year, out of reach from our animals. 

Centerpieces: Eiffel Tower Vases

I live and die for centerpieces. I love them. I don’t know where my fascination began, but now when anyone says the words “party”, “meeting” or “reception” my mind immediately jumps to what we will do for the centerpieces. So, knowing this, it is no surprise that we will have 3 centerpieces. Our reception hall provides us with large, round tables, which I was thrilled about. (Centerpieces are so much more fun on a round table rather than a rectangular table.)

All of our centerpieces will have some sort of peacock feather incorporated into them. Nothing over the top, but just a little flare. 

This is my inspiration for centerpiece A. We have 30 tables, plus the head table to work with. Since these are so dramatic, I am only going to do 10 tables on the floor with these arrangements… I might also put one on the guest book table too, we’ll see.

Eiffel tower vases are on the pricey side ($10 for one at Michael’s), so I will be checking out Hobby Lobby, keeping my eyes on classified boards and scouring whole sale website and eBay. The feathers should be fairly inexpensive, I have found them reasonably priced on a lot of different websites and the curly wood things I have seen reasonably priced on saveoncrafts.com. 

I apologize, but I can't find the website where I got this picture, so if this is your picture, let me know and I will gladly give you credit.

The Maids

When it came to the dresses for my girls, I knew I wanted all 7 (yes, I said 7) of them to feel comfortable and I wanted the dress to fit their budget. I also faced the challenge of bridesmaids literally, all over the country. (I have one in Phoenix, one in Chicago, one in Minneapolis, one in Kansas City, two in Des Moines and one where I live.) I also loved the idea of different dresses, but I wanted some consistency. So, I gave the girls the color "Lapis" from David's Bridal and am going to let them pick any knee length or tea length dress that they desire. That way, each of them will be able to pick a dress they feel comfortable in and maybe (fingers crossed) be able to wear again.

Here are some examples:

Aren't they adorable? I would be totally lying if I said I hadn't been trying to think of a reason why I need to get one of these dresses...

Uplighting the Head-table

The place where we are having our reception is amazing. It has a stage in place which will be perfect for the head-table. Better yet, there is a drop-down screen which we can use for free to show our little memory video. (More on that another time...) The only issue is the drop down screen is right over the head-table. We are not planning on playing the video until we are done eating, so that is not the issue, but it will be a little difficult to get pipe-and-drape behind us without it getting in the way of the video. Additionally, it would be hard to put anything with any sort of height behind us. So, I've been racking my brain trying to figure out something to put behind us. Then it hit me: uplighting! 


I love uplighting, it can really add a lot to a room, take this image for instance: 

(image from presentations2go.com)

or this

(photo from mdmentertainment.smugmug.com)

Since our color palette is purple with royal blue, teal and lime accents, I am thinking the table will be covered in purple table cloths and skirting and we will do two sets of blue, lime and teal lights behind us. I think it will look really elegant throughout the night and really add a lot to the room.