I've got to show you all the necklaces I made for my bridesmaids!!
And I made earrings too:
For all the details, you can find them over at Elizabeth Anne Designs tomorrow, but they were super easy to make.
And for about $30 per 'maid, not too bad of a deal either.
Last night I caught up with my photographer on the phone and discussed my "vision" for our wedding, the pictures, and the shot lists we definitely wanted. It was really nice to catch up with her and chat - I feel like because we kind of "click", she'll do a great job on our wedding because she knows us.
Throughout the months, I've been keeping my eye out for cool poses and cool pictures that we could use for inspiration. Most of these I have the credit for, but there are a couple I do not.... if you know who they're by - let me know and I'll be sure to give proper credit.
The first one is a group of bridesmaids, and I thought their little "pose" was kind of cute! It's different and more interesting than just standing there. Also, this bride looks UNCANNILY like my youngest sister Jacque. Really, it's scary...
This next one I think I've shared before. Again, it's a group of bridesmaids and a bride, and I just thought it was a cool photograph with lots of attitude!! Plus, it shows the 'maids in different dresses, which will be like my wedding.
*Both above photos from Stacy Reeves Photography
Chris is a little superstitious and doesn't want to see me before the wedding, so I thought this picture might be fun to take!! I've seen lots of variations on it -it's just a cute and fun photo.
This next one is not really a "pretty" picture, but it's from my college alma mater, so.... I thought it was cool. Too bad we can't make the bride's cake look like this!!
What a cool shot of a band!! Seriously. Very cool.
Okay, I know this guy is married. And I love Chris very much. But, hello!! Mr. Handsome!
I also think this is a pretty cool pose for the guys. They look like they're just hanging out and relaxing.
*Above photos from BluDoor Studios
This next picture is so romantic to me!! And we have a staircase at our venue!!
And of course, there is the shoes shot.
This picture is really cool and appeals to me because of the architecture in it. Love it.
*Above pictures from One Love Photography
These next couple photos I don't have the credits for... sorry!! But I am in love with the first one!! How cool is this picture?? Hopefully, we'll get a pic like this too, although I don't think this was "posed". I think it was just one of those magical moments.... awwww......
For our day-after shoot, I'm hoping to get a couple that look like this. I love the "big sky" shots! I just hope it doesn't rain. Or is frigidly cold. Snow would be kind of cool... but also freakish for November in Texas!
I promise I will play some catch-up tonight, but right now I've really got to get some work done!!
So, I'll leave you with these crazy thoughts that run through my head:
1)Why is it that when I'm busy at work, I can think of 10 other things I need to/should do and possibly could do - if only I didn't have work on my desk?? But yet, when I'm bored silly, I got nada.
2) Why does my nose look really big in some pictures and not so much in others?? I don't understand it?? Is it a big nose, or a small one?? Silly, yes I know. It's just that I wonder about it. And whether or not my wedding pics will feature the big nose or small one....
3) Why is it that people lately have been commenting on how much weight I've been losing - and how great and skinny I look - when a) I haven't worked out in about 2.5-3 weeks now b) they didn't really notice when I WAS actually losing some weight and c) I am not THAT much smaller than I was before!!!
Hope everyone is having a great Monday!
No, that's not a reference to Jack Bauer...
That's the number of days until November 15th, our wedding day!!
Can I just say that there are choruses of "OH.MY.GOSH." ringing through my heart??
It is quickly going to be upon us!! All the planning and thinking and ordering and making will all come to fruition finally. It's a strange feeling, to tell you the truth. As my time to get things done becomes shorter, there are some things I wish I would have maybe done differently now. Small things. Incidentals. Not that what I did the first time was bad, it's just that I now would have chosen something different. But c'est la vie.
There is a great post over at Elizabeth Anne Designs this morning about Save-the-Dates that feature a few really really creative and inexpensive ideas!! How cool is this idea!?!? I'm not sure exactly how you'd mail it, but it's something different that I haven't seen before.
Obviously, the image is originally from Ceci New York.
I think that being engaged for about a year has been plenty of time. Really, though, the longer you are engaged, the more you see! More invitation ideas! More dress ideas! More reception ideas!! And with that comes good and bad... Being engaged for a while is great because you're exposed to so many cool ideas from people all over the world - creative ideas you would never have dreamed of, which can make planning fun! Like I said, if I were doing my Save-the-Dates now or in the near future, I'd probably do something a little different than what we did. But the bad is that once you send them out, the next best thing will inevitably come along. There will always be something new and creative and wonderful, and there will always be things that you might have done differently, given the chance again.
The stage I'm in right now is the letting-it-all-go. I know that what I've done will be lovely and beautiful, and that really, at the end of the evening, we will be married and enjoying a great party with our friends and family! And that's what's important to me, that's what matters.
But it's still a little hard to not see something and think, "Oooooh, that's cool...", wherein you immediately start thinking if it could relate or work with your wedding!! It's like "Stop already!!" lady!
I think it will finally all sink in that day, when I'm putting on my dress.
And I won't be thinking of colors or invitations or flowers... I'll be thinking of Chris.
Hey y'all, Elizabeth Anne Designs is looking for DIY projects to post next month - and the winner gets a $100 Amazon.com gift card! All the entries will be posted, so even if you don't think your project is all that - send it anyways! You never know, and besides, somebody else may think it's really cool and want to "steal" it!
I'm planning on sending over my DIY programs and escort cards, after I work on them this week/weekend. I don't know that they'll be anything super special, but they are DIY, so...
In reality, I'm constantly in awe of so many brides out there and how super creative and talented they are! There are so many of those projects that I wouldn't have even thought of to do or to come up with! I'm really more of a home/decorating DIY gal. Want to recover your headboard? I can show you how. Easy bedskirt? Yep. But come up with the idea to print your wedding programs like old-fashioned telegrams - and to ACTUALLY EXECUTE IT TO PERFECTION??? Nope, not so much.
So submit your DIY projects over at EAD this month, and get over there next month to see the motherload of all DIY-goodness!! This is going to be such a great feature for all you brides still in the planning processes!
I was tagged by Jenny over at Soon to be Mrs. Gentry, so here goes....
The rules are as follows...Pass it on to six other bloggers, and tell them to open the nearest book to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence on that page as well as the following few sentences. The CLOSEST BOOK, NOT YOUR FAVORITE, OR MOST INTELLECTUAL!!
The rules are to list 6 things you value and 6 things you don't and then pass this award on to 6 people!Last weekend, a couple of my co-workers were sweet enough to throw me a "personal" shower... which was a lot of fun (and had a delicious champagne punch)!
This is my Mom and sister Jacque... my Mom would kill me for putting up this picture of her!
The hostesses of the shower was so sweet to throw this for me, and for one to open her home to us. I borrowed a page from Amanda at Vintage Glam and gave them some warming shower gel and body cream from Bath and Body Works (that warming shower gel is awesome!!) with a note that wished that "their next shower was as good as the one they threw for me!". I just thought that was such a cute turn on words.This week has been really busy for me! Last night was my first makeup trial. I went up to my local Sephora store sans makeup to get some ideas. I did like some of the products they used, and I learned some new things, but I think I still need to work on how to make up my eyes. As I said before, I bought some false eyelashes to play around with. I'd love to wear them - if I can get them on correctly and they don't bother me too much!! But I think last night there was TOO much eyeliner... but the overall experience was fun nonetheless!
Here's a picture of me - with makeup - before (right after work... and please excuse the limp hair, it was raining here!)
Don't you just love the pictures you take of yourself???
And here is the "finished" me! I am liking the lipstick, even though it's a little bold. The color is good though. But I think the eyes are a little heavy...
I think this weekend while Chris is out camping for his bachelor party, I will try the false eyelashes. Has anyone else worn them?? Any tips?
I'll definitely post the pics from my shower tomorrow night. It was so much fun, I always thought a "lingerie" shower would somehow be a little weird, but it wasn't. Well, I didn't get any "naughty" stuff... so maybe that's why. My mom was there, so no "naughtiness" was allowed!
I can't believe I've gone all week without a peep!!
I had my shower last weekend and have lots of pictures to share, and I have worked on some Thank You notes that I also took pictures of. My problem is that I've been busy at work this week, and busy at night too. So trying to get the pictures off my camera has been hard, and I didn't want to post without them....
I also had my makeup trial last night. It went pretty well, but I don't really like how she did my eyes. I wanted dramatic and smokey, but they ended up being too dark, I think. It's okay, though, I can play around with it. I also have some false eyelashes to play around with... which could end up being pretty funny. ;-) I like playing around with makeup, so I'm not too worried about my wedding day. I just thought I could try some new products, maybe see some new colors. I do want to look like myself, but the special-glowy-most-beautiful version of myself.
Other than that, I've decided on the ivory paper with gold script writing on it for the programs and escort cards. I do like the more bold paper, as well as a solid metallic copper (which is very terracotta colored).... but I don't need to stress over this, and I think the one with the script writing is my favorite. Plus, it'll be easy to go and get if I need more. It's pretty, vintage-y, and will look great with an orange ribbon! I've also decided on the ribbon for the bouquets and cake. It's a double-faced satin that is champagne colored on one side and gold on the other. Not sure if it'll be too "floppy" for the cake.... but the cake lady said whatever type of ribbon will work. I may buy a back-up for her to use if that one doesn't work.
Things are starting to fall into place. We've been getting back lots of RSVPs, which is great! Maybe the key is to only allow them three and a half weeks to think about it?? The invitations-snafu may have worked out for the best....
But you know what?? In one month, I'll be a Mrs.! And none of this will matter anymore. :-)
Last night we met with our friend, who will be acting as officiant, to go over our ceremony. With all there is in the planning, it's easy to forget that this is why we'll really be there. We decided to go with a pretty traditional service, but did add the Hand Blessing Ceremony after we exchange rings. Also, I really thought that Linda and Tai's service was so beautiful - so I borrowed a few of their lines for ours.
Here is what we came up with:
Opening Words
Family and friends, I welcome you to this day of celebration. Chris and Rachel have invited us here today to share in the growth of their love and their declaration of lifelong commitment to each other in marriage. Your blessings, support, and encouragement are important to this union, not only now, but in the days and years to come.
Blessing of the Marriage
Who gives this woman to be married to this man?
- Her mother and I do (my father)
Body
Marriage is a commitment to life, to the best that two people can find and bring out in each other. It offers opportunities for sharing and growth that no other human relationship can equal; a joining that is promised for a lifetime. Within the circle of its love, marriage encompasses all of life's most important relationships. A wife and a husband are each other's best friend, confidant, teacher, listener, and critic. There may come times when one partner is heartbroken or ailing, and the love of the other may be the strength necessary for existence. Marriage deepens and enriches every facet of life. Happiness is fuller; memories are fresher; commitment is stronger; even anger is felt more strongly, and passes away more quickly. Marriage understands and forgives the mistakes life is unable to avoid. It encourages and nurtures new life, new experiences, and new ways of expressing love throughout a lifetime. When two people pledge to love and care for each other in marriage, they create a spirit unique to themselves, which binds them closer than any spoken or written words. Marriage is a promise, a potential, made in the hearts of two people who love, which takes a lifetime to fulfull.
Prayer
Please take a moment for reflection and quiet prayer to open your hearts and minds to the love and togetherness we are here to share through this ceremony. You may also want to take a moment to remember those loved ones who are not with us today.
(wedding prayer by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Lord, behold our friends and family here assembled. We thank you for this place in which we dwell, for the love that unites us, for the peace accorded us this day, for the hope with which we expect the morrow, for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth. Amen.
Declaration of Intent
We are gathered here today to celebrate Chris and Rachel and to recognize their intentions to become husband and wife. They do so with love and faith in their hearts and with the truest of intentions.
Chris, do you take Rachel to be your wife? Do you promise to love her, respect her and care for her, under all circumstances, and to be a faithful husband to her for as long as you both shall live?
-I do (Chris)
Rachel, do you take Chris to be your husband? Do you promise to love him, respect him and care for him, under all circumstances, and to be a faithful wife to him for as long as you both shall live?
- I do (Rachel)
Blessing of the family
(this is where our mothers will each say a short piece to us - to be determined)
Exchange of vows
Chris and Rachel, please join hands and repeat these words after me:
I, Chris, take you Rachel, to be my wife -
-to have and to hold, from this day forward
-for better, for worse
-for richer, for poorer
-in sickness and in health
-in joy and in sorrow
-to love and to cherish
-and to be faithful to you alone
-for as long as we both shall live.
---(Repeat)---
I, Rachel, take you Chris, to be my husband...
Exchange of the Rings
May I please have the rings?
Rings sit quietly on our fingers, reminding us of the power of love and the pledge of the wearer to his or her partner to be faithful and true, and to nurture their love so it will last a lifetime. Rachel and Chris, may these rings be for you always your most treasured adornment and may the love they symbolize be your most treasured possession.
Chris, please take this ring and place it on Rachel's left hand and repeat after me:
-Rachel, I give you this ring as a symbol of my unconditional love
-with all that I am
-and all that I have
-I pledge my life to you
May this ring always remind you that from this day forward, you will be surrounded by my love.
Rachel, please take this ring and place it on Chris's left hand and repeat after me:
---(Repeat)---
The Hand Blessing
Now, as Shakespeare said, please "join your hands, and with your hands, your hearts".
-These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding your hands on your wedding day, as you promise to love and care for each other today, tomorrow and forever.
-These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it, that will hold and comfort you when fear or grief confront you. These are the hands that will wipe away tears from your eyes, both tears of sorrow and, much more commonly, tears of joy.
-These are the hands that will work alongside yours as together you build your future. May these hands always reach out with love, tenderness, and respect. And may these hands continue to build a loving relationship that lasts a lifetime.
"Blessing for a Marriage" (by James Dillet Freeman)
Let us pray:
May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring... and may life also grant you patience, tolerance, and understanding.
May you always need one another... not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness.
May you want one another, yet not out of lack.
May you entice one another, yet not compel one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another... and may you never fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise... often say, "I love you!"... and take no notice of small faults.
If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back.
May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another's presence, a presence that is no more physical than spiritual ... that is warm and near when you are side by side... and warm and near when you are in separate rooms... or even distant cities.
May you have happiness... and may you find it making one another happy.
May you have love... and may you find it loving one another!
Declaration
In God's presence and before your family and friends, you have made your promises to each other to be committed and faithful in your life together. In as much as you have pledged you love to one another, I now declare you to be husband and wife.
You may kiss the bride!
Introduction of the couple
It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you Mr. and Mrs. Chris and Rachel_______
So there it is!!! I'm very excited - I think it will be a beautiful and meaningful service. And different than others we've been to. I'm so glad that we have this important part figured out now.... (and crossed of the 2-page list!)
Because I'm stressing out over ribbon. Yep, ribbon. Well, and paper too, for the programs and escort card, but I'll leave that for volume 2.
*picture from Blu Door Studios
As you can see, it has a pretty ribbon tied around it. But these are not my colors, so I've been vexed with what color of ribbon to tie around it. My bouquet, and the flowers that will be on top will be some sort of terracotta orange roses (the big and open kind). I'm not sure exactly which kind of roses - that's for volume 3 of why-I'm-going-nuts-stressing-over-the-small-wedding-stuff. My colors are the terracotta orange, ivory, gold, and a touch of navy. In no particular order. I've been thinking I would go with a terracotta colored ribbon, but then I thought, "Is that too much orange on the cake?" Hmm, maybe gold "Will it be too shiny for the cake and look tacky?" Navy blue, "Too much contrast, I think..." Ivory/Champagne colored, "Will that blend in too much?"
Then, there is the TYPE of ribbon. Evidently, if I were to find a pretty double-faced satin, that would be too floppy of a ribbon to stand up. And where to even find ribbon? I found a place online, I think, that has tons. BUT, what if I order and don't like the color?? Then what?
See? Nuts. Totally nuts.
And don't even get me started on the bouquet ribbons. I wanted big floppy wide bows. And I like the beaded ribbon too. My mom brought up the idea of wrapping my bouquet with antique hand embroidered/laced napkins or handkerchiefs. That would be pretty... but can I still have my big floppy ribbon-bow?
Ugh. It's all the small details that are the hardest! It's so hard to envision some of these things without actually seeing them done. And I know that, in the end, nobody's really going to care or remember it much unless its' 1) God-awful 2) somebody consciously paying attention because they're getting married and trying to find ideas OR 3) in somebody's photograph. I know that, really, I'll be the only one who cares.
Stay tuned for volume 2 when I go nuts trying to sort out what I want for my programs. Do I want something light and pretty, like the script-print paper I found?? Or do I want something bolder, like this:
*pictures from hereThat's right - the invitations are sent!!
The end of last week and this weekend was a flurry of not only trying to get them ready to be sent out, but also to take care of other things that happen, you know, in normal everyday life! Add to that we are having the couples' shower at our house Nov. 1, and we would like to kind of spruce it up a little here and there.
Here is what we accomplished this weekend:
Chris' company moved office buildings - went up and helped unpack and set up new office
Car battery died - bought new one and replaced old one.
Adjusted the color of the groomsmen ties and vests - the original choice was too off-shade to go with the bridesmaid dresses.
Replaced leaky faucet in guest bath, which is more of an ordeal than you may think. The old faucet was corroded, and the pipes had been painted. Oh, and the "standard" bath fittings didn't fit our 1979 bath. Required 3 trips to the Home Depot.
Hung new light fixture in hallway.
Added dimmer switch to new light fixture (hung last weekend) in kitchen.
Did not get around to cleaning house, but Chris did clean the bar and moved his shot-glass collection to the office.
Printed addresses on envelopes (once again, harder than it sounds) - front and return on back
Bought paper for the maps and hotel information enclosures - paper was pretty, but not 8.5" x 11.... it was 9" x 12". It kept jamming up the printer! Also, the ink didn't absorb all the way into it , so it rubbed off and ruined my jacket. Also, rubbed off on my fingers when I was....
Cut up hotel information and map enclosures. 4 maps per page. 8 hotel cards per page.
Ink rubbing off on me necessitated the gold tissue paper I was considering adding to the invitation suite. Went to Hallmark and bought gold tissue paper. Got home and realized (duh!) that it was folded into fifths, so it created creases. Decided not to fight it, that was the size I would use - and actually it turned out pretty well! I cut them to the size of the RSVP cards, and used the tissue to shield the invitation from the map and hotel enclosures. Plus, the gold tissue paper is pretty.
After cutting all necessary components, I numbered (really small) each RSVP card with its co-ordinating number of the person on the guest list. This way, if someone forgets to write their name, we'll still know who it is.
After numbering, then assembling invites, I stuffed the correct invite into the envelopes. This was not hard, but a little tedious and took about 2 hours.
Woke up early this morning, went to post office in the rain, bought the stamps. After stamping all invites and RSVP envelopes - went to post office at lunch and sent them on their way!!
Whew....
I think I've mentioned before about the couple's shower that my Mom and sisters are throwing for us, but I have to share the really cute invitations my Mom came up with!! They're almost as exciting as receiving our wedding invitations today!
The invitations arrived!! The invitations are here!! Hooray!!
They are so pretty - much prettier in person than in the pictures. I'll be sure to take some pictures of them and post when I get home tonight.
It is such a relief to have them in my hands now. They turned out so beautiful!! I had never really seen a gocco project before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But E. over at Elizabeth Anne Designs really did a great job. The ink is metallic and kind of sparkly - very pretty. And it sits on top of the paper, although it isn't raised at all.
This weekend will be all about getting them addressed and ready to go! We now have 3 weeks until the RSVP date, so they'll have to go out Monday.
Earlier today I made a list of all the things I could think of that I needed to still do for the wedding.... and, um, it was 2 pages long! Yikes!! And I'm sure that I'm still missing things off of it.
Just when you think you're in the home stretch, all these little things pop up! You need to make sure everything is paid, the linens are the right length, decide whether or not you want chair covers, buy candles, think about a runner, buy the alcohol, buy ribbon for the cake and flowers.... on and on.
But I've been consoling myself with the thought that in 7 weeks, I'll be on the beach in Cabo San Lucas!!
And a big BOO!!! to Fed Ex.
I'm sorry I've been gone for a few days... I really didn't have much to update on Friday, the weekend was busy, I was sick on Monday, and played catch-up at work yesterday. But yes, officially, the invitations are lost. Gone without a trace, which I pretty much knew on Friday. Very saddening, but strangely enough by that time I was more "let's just move on and figure out what we need to do" than "WAHHHHH". So that's good, I guess! ;-)
But I have to give a big cheer to E. over at Elizabeth Anne Designs !! By Friday, we decided that the invitations would probably never be seen again, so I ran out to Michael's over my lunch break and bought new blank invitation cards and envelopes. I then overnighted them to E. so she could get to work re-doing them. Luckily for me, not only was she willing to re-do them, she still had one of the gocco screens, and enough materials to re-do them! I re-ordered more screens and bulbs, and had them ship directly to her to replenish what she was using to re-gocco my invites. She was able to finish them up Monday, ship them to me Tuesday (via UPS!), and I should receive them tomorrow!! Hooray!! We are a few days behind when I would have ideally liked to have sent them out, but we are not too late. I am just relieved that we will not have to be sending out handwritten invitations on copy paper for our invites!! Of course, I will be even more relieved when they get here tomorrow!
You know, this just reinforces the old addage of "Don't wait until the last minute". No matter what it is in life, doesn't it always seem like when you really need or want something, and you need it really soon... something happens??
