My Girls

All I ever talk about is our wedding and the plans (duh, since this is a wedding blog!), and me and MS, so I thought I should tell you a little about who is behind the scenes: My Girls. They have been the best and so helpful during our planning. Without them, our wedding would not be what it is becoming. I'll introduce you first to my MOH.

Me & my MOH

MOH A: We met in high school when we both became wrestling managers. It was an instant friendship. Every minute was spent together, even when we weren't doing wrestling stuff. She currently lives in Wisconsin (sad face) where she is going to college. Even though she is helping from afar, she has been the best! She is always emailing me and comes up with some awesome ideas. I love her and miss her. Can't wait until she gets here this summer!!!

Me & BM D

BM D: My oldest sister and one of my best friends. She is also working as our wedding coordinator. Her ideas are amazing and she is helping us make our dream wedding possible on a small budget, and from Las Vegas! She puts up with my 5234908234523479875 emails a day, constantly changing my mind, and having no clue about simple things. Her obsession of weddings has really come in handy!

Me & BM C

BM C: The middle sister of the 3 of us girls, and an amazing best friend. She too is in Las Vegas, but has been so helpful. Her thoughts and ideas are amazing and has helped make some big decisions. She also puts up with my emails and changing mind, and does so with a smile. She has agreed to do our hair and makeup, since she is incredibly talented at it!

BM H: Sorry, I don't have a picture (yet) with her! She is MS's little sister and just like another sister and best friend to me. Because she is the only one that lives in the same town, she gets to help me with all my projects and appointments! She is always more than willing to help and give her opinion. I am so lucky to be getting such an awesome person for a new sister.

My girls are amazing! I really think that I have the best wedding party out there. They are the best friends anyone could ask for and have been wonderful through this proccess. Hopefully they will still be able to put up with me when I'm freaking out about last minute things closer to the date! Thank you girls, I love you!!!! <3

Who is in your wedding party? Have they been as awesome and helpful as my girls have been?

All Dressed Up

I talked earlier about rehearsal dresses here. I honestly didn't think that I would wear a dress for this. I figured jeans or shorts and cute top. We are having a BBQ on the lawn at the in-laws house, so I didn't want to wear anything too dressy. But, after some browsing, I have decided that yes, I will wear a casual dress, and pair it with my cowboy boots. I hit up one of my favorite stores online, Victorias Secret, and narrowed it down to these 3 favorites.

Dress 1: Simple and cute. Love the color and pattern. Plus, it looks super comfy and relaxed!

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Dress 2: I have been drooling over this dress for at least a year now, but never knew what I would wear it for, and now I would have a reason!!! It is so gorgeous and I love EVERYTHING about it.

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Dress 3: Love how fun it is. The color is bright and cheery. I like that I would be able to wear a regular bra too, especially since the next day I will be all sucked up into my wedding dress!

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So which dress did I choose?

I'll be honest. I wanted dress #2 the most. But, I had to use my rational side and look at the pros and cons of all the dresses.

Dress #1 seems too much like a beach cover up. Maybe a little too casual for any type of event (unless it is to go to the lake).

While dress #2 is absolutely stunning, and I have wanted it for so long, but I would probably only wear if for the one night. I just can't justify spending that much money on a dress I won't wear again.

So, I decided to purchase dress #3. It is fun and cute and dressed up a little, but not too much. I could also wear it to work or just around town. Another plus of this dress, it is the cheapest of all 3! In fact, it was cheap enough that I caved in and bought myself ANOTHER pair of cowboy boots! So picture this dress paired with these:

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Do you think I made the right choice? Which dress would you have gone with?

Nice Buns

I want my BMs to have nice buns for my wedding. So I turned to the internet looking for some inspiration pics, and these are what I came up with:

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I love the low, slightly off centered, simple bun. I also love adding a little something to the bun to dress it up. I am going to look around for something simple and pretty, maybe a flower, or just a lovely comb.

The problem I foresee with the bun is that not all my girls' hair is long enough! BM H's hair will be perfect. My MOH has TONS of GORGEOUS naturally curly hair, that is pretty long, and crazy thick! Both BM D and BM C have short hair that won't fit in a bun. I am thinking for them the a cute, little, low pony will look fine.

How are you planning on having your BM wear their hair? And what kind of buns were you thinking?!

Say Cheese

We are hiring a photographer for our wedding (of course), but one person can only get so many shots. She can only be in one place, taking a picture of one thing at a time. So what about all those funny moments that happen at different places and at the same time? Who catches those moments and takes those pictures? Our guests!!! Yep, we are putting disposable cameras on all the tables for our guests to use.

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That way, our guests can catch all those great moments that go missed by others. They can take as many pictures (well, I guess only 36 per camera), of whatever they want, whenever they want. Later we can look back at all the pictures and see all the stuff that was going on while we were eating, dancing, cutting cake, etc.

Are you putting disposable cameras out for your guests? Have you ever been to a wedding that has done this?

The Never Ending... List

Last night, MS and I sat down and decided to finalize our guest list, for the last time. When we first started talking about who we were going to invite, I (being my OCD self) made a spreadsheet and put some formulas in to count up the total number of people. Well, my computer has decided it hates me (again) and I can't type in my spreadsheet anymore, so we had to pull out the trustworthy pen and paper.

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In our original "budget" and plan we wanted to top our guest list at about 110, hoping that some wouldn't come and we could keep the attendance to 100 at the most. Well, for those of you that have ever made a guest list, you know that your plans don't always happen! After talking to our parents, and combining all of our lists, we are hoping to cap the guests at 150! Quite a bit more than what we originally had hoped for. But what I don't understand is where all the people are coming from!

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Of course we have our family and relatives, and close friends that were the first on our guest list. But then we start thinking, Oh him, we have to invite him because he has known me since I was born and is good friends with my parents and soon after that its Well, she is my mom's friend's sister's daughter. I used to play in the sandbox with her. Our guest list just keeps growing and growing! We don't know when to stop and who not to invite. Does the little kid down the road you that you once ate worms with really have to come? Even though you grew up with them but haven't seen them in years, are you supposed to invite them?

We decided (like we did once already) that our guest list HAS to stop at 150, no matter what. If we think of someone else later, sorry, but you must not have been that important that we didn't think of you sooner. But at the rate we are going, our guest list will soon be well into the 200's, double our original desired amount!

Did you find that you were inviting people you didn't really know because you thought you had to? Were you able to keep you guests down to your first desired amount?

Take Your Pick

I originally picked the dress that my BM's were going to wear. It was this one:

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J Crew, silk chiffon, Sophie dress, in graphite. My MOH actually already bought it and sent me a pic of her in it. Doesn't she look beautiful?!

But, after thinking about it though, and talking with one of my BMs who didn't like the dress, I decided to let my girls pick their own dress. I gave my MOH the option of sending hers back and I would pay, but she is going to keep it. :)

I'm not letting them have complete freedom in choosing a dress though. I gave them 4 options. All J Crew, all in the silk chiffon collection and in the graphite color. So here are the options:

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BM H loves the first option, so I think that might be the one she goes with. I am not sure about my other 2 BMs yet though. I love all the dresses, so I am happy with whatever they choose! I was thinking purple shoes (since that is one of our colors), but I have decided to let them wear any pair of black shoes they want. They all probably already have a pair, and you can ALWAYS wear black shoes again!

Which dress do you like the best? Are you giving your BMs a choice or are you picking the dress for them?

I Love to Hate

Valentine's day. Yep. I love hating it. It sounds weird but I really do. I am one of those people that think that Valentine's day is an overrated holiday thought up by some girl to get her man to tell her that how much he loves her. Rough huh?! But think about it.

Why should there be ONE day a year that guys are supposed to buy chocolates and flowers and confess their love to a girl? There is so much pressure put on around Valentine's day. How can that be special? I would rather my man tell me how much he loves me and buy me flowers randomly throughout the year when it is a real surprise, not when he is "forced" to do it.

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And what about the people don't have someone? They just feel depressed! Everyone is getting flowers sent to them at work and talking about their plans for the big day, and those lonely people just have to sit and listen. 

 

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Maybe one of the reasons I love hating Valentine's day is because I have been that lonely person. I have also been that person, who has someone, but that someone seemed to forget what the reason for the day was. I have a good man now though, but I'm past the hype of Valentine's day. So, instead of buying flowers and chocolate and confessing our never ending love (we will do that at our wedding), we will be throwing an Elmo birthday party for my now 2-year-old son! Yes, we will tell each other that we love each other, and we will kiss, and I will give him a card, but (other than the card) that is the same thing we do everyday. So nothing that special for a "special" day.

Do you love hating Valentine's day? Do you actually love it? What are your Valentine's plans?

Centerpieces

These are going to be another DIY project that I attempt to tackle (of course with the help of my BMs and moms!). Originally, we were just going to get some vases, any shape and size, put about 3 white carnations in them, and tie a ribbon in our wedding colors around the vase. Then we thought about doing picuture frames on each table with some sort of flower thing behind them. But, my newest idea (OK, not really my idea, but one BM D showed me), and the one we are going to go with is this:

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How beautiful are these? I love the floating candles! Since the flowers we are using are white carnations and purple Calla Lilies, we are going to submerge the Calla Lilies. One per vase, with a floating candle on top. I think we will use the white stones in the base too. Lucky for us, our local Dollar Tree sells the stones and floating candles, so this project should be realatively cheap! Now we just need to find the vases...

What are doing for your centerpieces? Are you making them youself?

Our Budget... Or Something Like That

My poor BM D/sister/wedding coordinater wants to hit me over the head with the Book of Rules on Wedding Budget (if one really does exist). Our wedding budget isn't the "normal" budget, I guess you could say. We are saving up our money, and planning for expenses, but we aren't including everything we have to buy in our budget. Get it?

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Our budget is including the following things:

• Ceremony & Reception site
• Food (including Popcorn Machine)
• Drinks (including Margarita Machine)
• Tables & Chairs
• Linens

What our budget is not including:

• Tux rental
• Flowers
• Cake
• Photography
• Anything extra for the BMs & GM

So, as you can see, our "budget" does not include many of the normal things that are included in a budget. We have a certain amount set aside for our budgeted items, plus the help of family for those things, and everything else that is needed for the wedding, we are just paying as we go.

What are you including in your budget? Are you having wedding things that aren't included in your budget like us?

Bring On The Food!

MS and I went for our menu tasting today. One word: WOW. We thought we had an idea of what we were going to serve. Since we are hosting a "fork buffet", we wanted to try and get a little mix of everything. Originally we chose:

• Bow tie pasta salad with basil pesto, fresh Roma tomatoes, cured olives and pancetta crumbles
• Seared salmon cakes with lemon-caper aioli
• Grilled seasonal vegetable platter with balsamic dressing
• Seasonal fruit tray
• Choosing 2 of 3: Marinated beef skewers, Cured Italian meats wrapped in puff pastry with olive tapenade, or beef carpaccio with white truffle oil an sea salt on crostini

We tried the 3 meats listed last today. Words can't even describe how amazing they all were. I had taken my camera hoping to get some good shots, but was so overwhelmed by the food in front of me that I didn't take a single picture! (sorry, you are just going to have to try to imagine what it all looked like!) I was really skeptical at first of the marinated beef skewers. They looked almost like they were cooked REALLY well, and that they might have more of a jerky texture. I couldn't have been more wrong! The chef marinated them in some amazing teriyaki stuff, and they were so tender and moist, they just fell apart in your mouth. They were MS's favorite. My favorite was the cured Italian meats in the pastry (anything with the word pastry is normally a winner for me). They were these little roll things with different meats and an amazing cream cheese spread. I think everyone got one, and I got 10 of those little buggers. Awesome. The beef carpaccio was also really good, but it wasn't our favorite. And the "crostini" is a hard cracker thing, kinda hurt my mouth actually.

So, after tasting those items and sitting and talking to the owners of our venue, we were able to finally finalize a menu. We went with something a little different than what we originally thought, but we are so excited for it:

• Mixed green salad
• (I can't remember the name) Pasta with prawns and some cheese/garlic sauce
• Mediterranean platter (has meat, cheese, crackers, veggies, and hummus!)
• Marinated beef skewers
• Cured Italian meats wrapped in puff pastry with olive tapenade
• Italian herbed chicken satay with lemon vinaigrette

I cannot wait until we get to eat at our wedding! Thank God my dress is a corset back so I can loosen it as I eat, because after our tasting today, I know I am going to have to!

What are you serving for food at your wedding? Did you decide on what you originally thought or something different?

Our Song

It seems to me that many people struggle with what song to do their first dance to. Us? Not so much. We knew before we were even engaged what song we would use. Without a doubt in our minds, we chose Home to You by John Michael Montgomery:

I get up and battle the day

Things don't always go my way

It might rain but that's okay

I get to come home to you

Sometimes life may get me down

And I get tired of getting kicked around

I feel lost in this maddening crowd

But I get to come home to you

You are my best friend

And you are where my heart is

And I know at the day's end

I get to come home to you

Hanging out in our old sweatshirts

You let me complain about a hard day's work

I don't know what I did to deserve

To get to come home to you

You are my best friend

And you are where my heart is

And I know at the day's end

I get to come home to you

You are my best friend

And you are where my heart is

And I know at the day's end

I get to come home to you

Yes I get to come home to you

Oh I love coming home to you

The reason we chose this song? It fits us perfect. It is how we feel about each other. No matter what life throws our way, we will  always have each other to come home too. I can honestly say that MS is my best friend, and I am his, and I love knowing that it doesn't matter what happens during the day, he will be at home waiting for me, ready to make me happy.

Also, when MS and I were first together, we went to the concert at our fair, and guess who was playing. John Michael Montgomery! (It was awesome and we had so much fun!!!)

(Pic of us at the concert *taken by me*)

So when it comes time for us to dance our first dance as husband and wife, it will be to this song. And we will know, that everyday, for the rest of our lives, we will get to come home to our best friend.

What is your first dance song? What made you choose that song?

First DIY Project = Success!

When it came to save the dates, I knew right away that I wanted magnets. I had seen a couple people do this and loved the idea. Simple and cute, and then people can put them on their fridge so that they really do "save the date" and don't forget about it! They can also use them to hang up the invite with. Perfect! I started to look around on the internet. There were a lot of places that can make STD magnets for you, but I didn't really want to spend that much money since we are on a budget. I started to think about a way that I could do it myself, and searched different office supply stores for ideas. I found out that Office Max had business card sized magents that would work perfect. Since my mom is a graphic designer for a local newspaper, I asked her if she could come up with a business card sized design to use. This is what she made:

 

I loved it! It would work perfect for our save the dates. Off to our local Office Max I went and bought my supplies.

I found these envelopes while I was wandering around and figured they would be perfect. Great size and shape, and they are self sticking, so no licking!

I wanted to use a silver pen to write the addresses out, but after a quick call to my mailman dad (he said it was too light to be able to read), I went with purple.

I couldn't wait to get started with my first project, but BM H wanted to help, so I had to settle with just addressing envelopes the first night. This is were I ran into my first problem though. I don't have addresses. If I ever need to send someone a message, I turn to email or a text. I called my mom, asked her to look in her address book, and same thing. She doesn't have any addresses either! Great. So now I am sending out emails to everyone trying to get their addresses. I've recruited my sister, BM D, to help. She actually talks about this little problem of mine here.

Since I couldn't write out the sending addresses, I worked on getting all the return addresses written in. That took forever and caused some major cramping in the hand! When I was finished, I put all my stuff in a bag to take out to BM H's house the next day, and iced my hand.

The next morning I woke up early, got a coffee and headed out. Lucky for me BM H was just getting out of bed when I showed up! We got to work right away. I applied the business card to the magnet

And she used a rolling pin to press them down really well

Then trimmed any edges that weren't perfect (because, yes, I did get a little off!)

That was all it took! We were done!

It only took us about an hour to make all 100. It was really fun and I think a great first DIY project. Since it was such a success, I'm excited to get started on my next project. Hopefully it goes as well as this one did!

What was your first DIY project? Was it a success or fail?

*all pictures taken by me!