Bridesmaid's Bouquets

So, I believe we have decided on these for the gals to carry! :) I will of course have to cut the stems down then wrap with a thick ribbon. I think they look cute and will go great with their dresses!!

I'm still debating on my bouquet though. I really like this one, but I'm not too sure yet. I love the Lily's that are in there, but I'm still looking for something that catches my eye a little more than this one here. Not too sure.

As far as the guys bout's, I'm having a difficult time finding something that will go good with their white shirts. I can't find a plain fushia colored flower that will look good in a bout. I kinda wanted to order all of the flowers together at one time, but I believe I'm running into a problem in doing this. So....... I may have to forgoe that thought process. :)

I bought my first Apothecary Jar from Michael's today. My thought process for this is as follows: I am going to use Apothecary jars for my Candy Buffet. If I buy one a month until March, I'll have 6 of them. I don't think I'll need more than 6 since I will also be having small "lily" bowls as well. And, at Michael's, I can use their 40 or 50% off coupons. Like today... I bought the Apothecary Jar with a 50% off coupon and only paid $8.12 out the door! Sweet! This is what it looks like!

I'd say I am off to a good start for this upcoming weekend with regard to everything Wedding Related!!!

24 More Mondays

Thanks to a fellow Destination Wedding Knottie, she has gotten me on this Counting Monday's kick. So, officially, as of today, I have 24 more Monday's before we leave on our Cruise. In fact, exactly 25 Mondays from today, we will be on the Carnival Elation setting sail for our 5 day, 4 night cruise! :) So, it also means 24 more Wednesdays before we get married! Woo Hoo!

My goal for this week is to get the following done:

* Bouquets selected for bridal party and order;
* Decide if we're going to DIY the Bouts; if not, order them w/ the Bouquets;
* Finish up the Ceremony Wording (forgot to add the ring exchange in there);
* Find ceremony music for the flute and send to Gina (flutist);
* Work on both California and Minnesota Reception Menus;
* Hand deliver the rest of the MIB's that need to be handed out;
* Re-organize my Bridal Binder;

And I'm sure there will be more added to this list as I remember. Happy Monday!!!

6 MONTHS!!!!!

6 Months from today I will be on Catalina Island getting married. Who would have ever thought? Seriously? I mean SERIOUSLY! I'm so excited, elated, stressed, and all of the above!!

Yesterday I received the Tea Light Lanterns that I purchased from a former Knottie. :) Here's what they look like. The ones I got were the white ones. I'm so excited! :) I'm trying to decide if I am going to use them for just one or both of the receptions. I'm thinking I will do both. I'll just have to pack and ship them ahead of time to Minnesota after our California reception so I don't have to take them with me on Airplane! :) I have 20 of them, and I'm not sure if I'm going to use them all, but we'll see!

Ah... but let's not forget... I also have these Small Square Votives as well...... So I'm wondering if maybe I have too much?!? I suppose not. I'm sure it will all come together in the end. In fact I know it will.

Can you even believe it?!?!? 6 freaking months. That is it. That is all the time I have left to plan. What?!? I've been told that the time is going to FLY by. WHAT?????

T- Minus 184

What a wacko of a week!! I am very glad to say that one of my ladies bought her BM dress, and the other two have ordered it on line and will be getting it shortly! Yay! I still have to get Elyssa's dress though ~ I'm not sure if I'll get the same exact one yet or not. We shall see!

I have a ton of little things I want to get done this week. First and foremost, I want to get our den cleaned up and de-cluttered! I've thrown so much wedding related things in here and it's totally unorganized. So, my goal for the next couple of days is to go through all these boxes of WR stuff and organize it! AHR stuff, Welcome Bags and contents, Ceremony stuff, DIY projects stuff, etc. I work so much better when everything is organized so I'm thinking this is why I've been so discombobulated in my planning!

Here's a list of DIY projects I want to do: (keep in mind said list will only get bigger)

* Tags for the Welcome Bags
* Door Hangers for the Cabins
* Labels for snacks/goodies in the Welcome Bags
* Monogramed Aisle Runner (????)
* Bouts
* Welcome Letter
* Palm Fans (?????)
* Crossword Puzzle for Welcome Bags
* Sand Ceremony Frames

And here's a list from memory that I still have to do: (keep in mind there are a ton of other things I can't seem to remember at this moment)

* Complete Ceremony wording (which I thought I had done, but forgot some important parts)
* Find Ceremony music for our Flutist
* Make appointment to have wedding dress hemmed
* Get menu for both AHR's finalized
* Order my bouquet
* Order BM's bouquets
* Decide on whether or not we're going to have a Candy Buffet for sure and if so:
- Purchase the bowls for the candies
- Decide on what to use for guests to take these home in (ie: take out boxes or bags)
- Decide on what type of candies to have
* If not going with the Candy Buffet, decide on what to have for a Favor
* Decide on whether or not to have B-Pics done
* Get marriage licence (no earlier than January 25th to be on the safe side)

And millions and millions of other things!!! The next 6 months will absolutely fly by!!!

Candy Buffet

This is my Candy Buffet Inspriation Board!

I want to do a Candy Buffet at both of my AHR's. I think it's a wonderful idea and would be great as favors for our guests! I know for our California reception, we will have lots of kids attending so this will be fun for them.

Our Minnesota reception is adults only, however I think if I have "retro" candies, it may be fun.

I'm not sure what to use for the guest to take home their candies in, but I'm guessing it'll either be "take-out" boxes, or a decorated cellophane bag with a twist tie. Any suggestions?!?

For others who are thinking about doing this at their reception and/or party, here's a couple of articles I found that are very helpful for me with regard as to "how much candy" to buy.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Wedding-Candy-Buffet

http://www.favorideas.com/wedding-blog/candy-buffet-ideas/

Both of these articles contain tons of information that will be useful!!

These are the jars / bowls that I'm aiming for in my Candy Buffet:

I would prefer the majority of the bowls to not have the "stem" or "base" on them. I found the kind that I like back in Minnesota, however, I didn't get them. They were only $1.99 and I should have grabbed them while I was there, but I wasn't thinking!!

I'm hoping I'll be able to find them for that same cheap price again!!

"Bridesmaid" Dresses

Well, this is the dress that we've chosen for the girls to wear. I really, really like it. I know they say that Black isn't an appropriate color to wear in weddings, but oh well. We all like this dress, and it's about what I want anyway right?!?!

The dresses below are dresses that I want to get for the Cruise ~ Monday night is the Bachelor/Bachelorette party, Tuesday night is the Formal/Captian's Dinner!!

I can't wait until this Cruise, I can't even begin to tell you all!!!

I'm actually getting things done and checked off my list slowly but surely.

I am confident that the Ceremony part is nearly all taken care of with the exception of finishing up the ceremony wording along with my vows... which by the way is so not fair!

Brian is the one who wants to write our own vow's, not me!!

And I also have to pick out the ceremony music for his niece! She will be playing the flute

as the bridal party is "walking down the aisle". Woo Hoo!

I also need to get my dress altered, but I am trying to wait until at least February.... hopefully I'll lose a little more weight by then ~ although I won't be getting any taller, so we'll definitely have to hem it for sure!

More to share!!

So, I tried to create my Photo Share Cards and Wedding Day Timeline. Clearly I failed. Not that they didn't look good because they did. They just didn't look good enough for me. I requested the help from a fellow DW Knottie and I am so very thankful to her for doing these for me. :) Here is what they look like ~ Please keep in mind that for some reason, the color is off. Where it's "greenish" it's actually a Caribbean Blue color and the "pinkish/purple" is actually a Fushia color.

And here's a picture of the Wedding Day Timeline. Again, the color's are off here as well.

I am extremely pleased at how these turned out!

These will both be put in the Welcome Bags for our guests that are cruising with us. And additional PhotoShare Cards will be placed at various tables throughout both of the At Home Receptions.

I seem to have finally grasp control on this wedding stuff. I'd been feeling a bit overwhelmed the past couple of weeks, actually months, but I think I've got it dialed in. Slowly but surely everything is falling into place. With the Holidays coming up really quick, I know we'll lose some days, if not weeks of planning ~ or at least that's what I'm anticipating. We shall see.

I'm debating whether I want to tackle the job of DIY'ing a Monogrammed Aisle Runner. Do I really need one of those?!? I'm not so sure that we do. But it's something I think would be fun to make. :)

Maybe a Banner instead of an Aisle Runner? Ahhh, who knows. For now I think I'm "under control" when it comes to wedding related stuff. I'm going to concentrate on the Reception stuff now..... that seems to be where the work needs to be done. Coming up with Menu's (that sounds official) when in all actuality we're having casual buffet style foods / set up at both AHR's!

I love it when a plan comes together!!!!!!!!!

T minus 198

Yes, my son likes to throw in a cheezy grin every now and then! :) I am blessed to have these two older ones as my kiddo's. My youngest one, who is not pictured here, will be 13 in a couple of weeks, and let me tell you, she's taller than me also. What is wrong with this ~ as your children get older, they surpass you in growth? Hmmmm

Well, today marks the 198 days left mark. I'm so excited, however I am slowyly but surely getting to feel stressed out too. I have a list of "little" things that need to get done, but since they're "little" I tell myself I can do it later... Ha! I suppose it's those 'little' things that will haunt me in the end, so I better get my butt in gear and do what I need to do!! At this point, I think the most important thing for me to do is to find the ceremony song(s) and get that list to Brian's niece who is going to be playing her flute for the ceremony!!! She needs time to practice, so you would think it'd be so easy to pick a song or two and viola ~ done ~ but it simply doesn't work that way! Geeze!!!

So, I'm going to let my fingers do the walking on this information superhighway that we call the Internet, and I'm going to find a couple of songs that I like.

Happy Monday everyone!!!

What a fun day!!

We got to go to the last home game of the San Francisco Giant's 2009 season! Woo Hoo! We had a wonderful time and it was very hot!! Unexpected for San Francisco but truly welcoming!!! And as a wonderful surprise, I finally got my ring!!!! Little did I know that mister sneaky little devil was holding out on me. He's had this ring for over three months!!! All the while, we were still "looking" for rings!

My DIY Veil

So, I decided to make my own Chapel length veil. I suppose the length doesn't really matter because I cut it to wear I wanted to to fall. And, although you can't see the details, I put little sparkly things on the bottom and sides of the veil. I just randomly put them on there and it gives it a little elegance to it. Also, I didn't put a "trim" along the edges because I wanted this look. So, I'm going to make another one with a "trim" on it to see which one I like the best. Either way, I'm glad I DIY'd this because once again, it'll mean more to me on the day I get married, knowing that I made this myself!! :)

It's DONE!!!

My Message in a Bottles are COMPLETED!! Done, finished, finneto, nothing else to do to them, zip, zero, zilch!!! Yay!! I finished these puppies up with a lable that has our monogram on it and they are all ready to be mailed out! Actually, some of them are being hand delivered only because it just makes more sense rather than mailing them to our friends and family members who we see on a daily basis. That, plus it will cost $2.60 per MIB to mail so it'll save us on some postage as well. :)

I am sooooo relieved that this DIY project is done. It was rather time consuming, but I think it's well worth all the blood, sweat and tears. Okay... so there was no blood involved, but there certainly were lots of sweat!!! I would so do these again!!! :) And, for any beach themed and/or destination wedding brides out there, I would recommend doing these.

T-Minus 206 Days

I am seriously getting a little more stressed out day by day. It's coming down to 206 days until Catalina Island, and I am no where near being close to getting things crossed of my list. 206 days will go by faster than I can even imagine!!! I'm seriously starting to panic. Here's what I have "pending" still, with regard to making a final decision...

* Bridal Party outfits ~ ladies dresses / men's shirts

* Bridal Party flowers ~ ladies bouquets / men's bouts

* Ceremony wording ~ thought I had it figured out, but realized I forgot the ring exchange portion along with the "Do you,........ I do" part. (Kinda important)

* Ceremony music ~ Brian's niece is playing the flute while we walk down the aisle, and I have no clue what song to choose.

All of the above is what is swirling around in my head at this moment, and I need to come to some sort of a decision..... and SOON. Yikes...


Not to mention the gazillion other wedding related things that need to be done. I thought this was supposed to be a breeze with it being a DW and all. :)

I did, however manage to pick up some playing cards for my Welcome Bags. They were clearanced at Michaels for $ .40!!! Score!! I got 20 packs!! I love it!!!

Yay!!! They're just about done!!!

Woo Hoo!!! My MIB invites are just about done!! I'm sooooo glad that this project is finally coming to a closure!!! It was a very time consuming project but well worth it! I could have asked for help from friends, but felt that this was something that I wanted to do myself. So it would mean so much more to both Brian and I! I'm glad I did too!

I have about 25 of them all put together and have 35 more to go!! I'm not looking forward to folding 60 boxes though... here's some that I've put together.. it's rather time consuming and a pain in the arse!!!

So, with 208 days left ~ the Knot kindly reminds me every day how many days are left ~ I think I'm on pace with my goal of getting these done and ready to be mailed by the 1st of October!

Finally working on the MIB's!!!

So, the other night, while watching Dirty Dancing, I actually filled all my MIB's with sand, seashells and the cocktail umbrellas!! Yay!! So, needless to say, my coffee table is covered in MIB's!

Today, I have printed out 25 of the 60 invites I need which still have to have the edges burned, rolled and tied with raffia and then inserted into these bottles. My goal is to have them done by middle of next week, if not sooner! :) I have the mailing boxes, but those all have to be put together as well and I'm not really looking forward to having stacks of these boxes in my living room until the bottle are ready to go! Then, I intend to have these out in the mail by the first week of October. The ones we can hand deliver, we will, or so that's what I'm assuming, but we may just put them all in the mail. That's something I still have to decide on.

Got an "almost" check done and out of the way!! I know "almosts" don't count, but I'm working on it!!!

Wedding related crisis!!!!

My PC has crashed!!! I have to now resort to the lap top...... I have been pretty good about backing up my wedding related stuff to my external hard drive, however there are some things that are stuck on my hard drive on the PC that can't get too!!!! One of them being my Boarding Pass AHR invite template!!!! ARRRRGGGHHHH. I am going to have to re-create it, which means I a going to have to download the fonts, and then spend another 4 hours creating them....YIKES.

Please wish me lots of luck people!!!!!

Picture of my Boarding Pass AHR Invites

Here's a mock up of my Boarding Pass AHR Invites. There will be three boarding passes in each. The first one says that "We're Married", the second is the actual invitation to the AHR and the third one is the RSVP. :) Yay! The only change I'm going to make to them are maybe, maybe, inserting my new wonderful monogram that a fellow DW Knottie has made for me. (there was a little typo in it, so she's fixing it for me). Tell me what you guys think!!!!! Here's a picture of the Monogram........

AHR Boarding Pass Invites!!!

So, here it is.... a picture of my AHR Boarding Pass Invites... Yes, it's a little blurry.. but that's because I scanned them. I still have to cut them out and put them together. Actually, I already did one mock up complete packet. I did the ticket jacket as well. I haven't figured out what, if anything, I'm going to print on the outside of the jackets, or how to seal them shut. Not quite sure yet. :)

Anyway, once I do one completely, I'll take a picture of it all and post it here for you all to take a look at! Yay for me!

New AHR Invites

So, I've been debating the last couple of weeks whether or not to switch up my AHR invites. Well, today, I created my Boarding Pass Invites. Woot woot! I don't have a "picture" of them yet, but I do have them in a Word Document! So, if ya want to see them before I post the photo's here, just shoot me an email and I'll be more than happy to send them to you! :)

I'm actually pretty excited about them! I know they're just a rough draft of the actual ones, so it's kind of rough around the edges, but I like them. Not too fancy or elegant, but yet not over the top casual. Yay!

T minus 235 Days

Oh yes! We're at 235 until the big day! Woot woot! I am very motivated this morning as I have joined a new on line site that will help me reach my weight loss goal! Not only does it track my weight loss, but it helps me with my nutrition ~ calorie intake, as well as fitness! I love it!

I'm going to make it a priority to work out at least 4 days a week, but my goal is 5 days. I'm taking baby steps right now, but can't wait until I break out in a full on sprint! Yay!

I purchased the additional vellum paper that I needed to print my MIB invite inserts. Once I get those all printed up, I can actually put together the actual MIB's. Brian is insisting that I have a get together with a couple of gals over here to help with it making the MIB Invites. He says it would be a fun time for us girls! I think he just wants to get out of having to do them! :)

My latest DIY project is the Photo Frame Card Box. I have the step by step instructions on how to make one, I just need to get all the material now. I went to Michaels yesterday, but didn't get any of the frames. Today I'll look at getting the hardware from Home Depot... (the L brackets, etc.)

I am really thinking about changing up on my AHR invites. At first I wanted to keep them really simple, but now I want to do something creative to keep up with the uniqueness of the MIB invites. I am leaning towards the Boarding Pass option, but not sure yet. I know they are very time consuming so am I ready for that? You would think since I'm home all day during the day I'd have time to tackle that huh? Well, we shall see!

Ohhh! Good news! Brian's niece plays the flute.. she plays it rather well. She's participated in some local orchestra's, etc. and we asked her if she'd be willing to play for our ceremony. She agreed! Wow! Now I have to find some music for her and she'll practice, practice, practice! Yay! I'm excited.

Woo hoo!

Ceremony wording CHECK!!!!

I have finally completed my ceremony wording for our officiant. I looked through tons of different ones and kinda picked and chose different wording from each and created one that I think will be perfect for us. We are incorporating the Wine and Chocolate ceremony as well as a Sand Ceremony into the wedding so it's gonna be awesome!

We also confirmed with Brian's niece, and she will be playing her flute during the ceremony!!! Yay! I'm not sure yet exactly in what aspect we will use her, I'm just grateful and honored that she will be playing in the ceremony! I was thinking maybe she could provide the music as we're walking down the aisle......not quite sure yet. That's next on my list of to do's! :)

My next DIY goal is to make a photo frame card box. I got the step by step instructions from a fellow bride to be on Project Wedding, so wish me luck! :) It requires a drill, so this could be fun! I'll have to post pictures when I'm done!