The Wedding Party

I feel like every single week I am going to repeat the words "I can't believe how close we are" and I mean it. I am shocked every time I look at the date and realize that in just a couple of months I get to marry my best friends in front of our closest friends and family. 

If you didn't already know, we're having a pretty small wedding compared to others.When you move away from your hometown where we live currently for seven years, lets just say you don't stay in touch with too many people. Neither Joe or I have big families, but honestly that's okay with me. I don't personally want 200 people that don't know us or make an attempt to be more than acquaintances attending our wedding. We have friends and family from out of state that may not be able to make it, and that's the sad part for me. 

Since our wedding will be around 50-60 guests we are keeping our wedding party very small. We both agreed on two people each. My bridesmaids will be my two sisters who just so happen to be two of my best friends as well. 

Another thing that we are doing in our wedding that may be different is that I plan on having my mom walk me down the isle. I know it's typical for the father to do this, but I feel like it should be whoever you feel in your heart to do this part. The person who raised me my entire life and who has been my best friend since day one is my mom.  

P.S The next wedding post will be all about our invitations! Since they are finally sent out, I cannot wait to share. 

Did you do anything different on your wedding day,if so how did it turn out?

Eighty Days.

Wedding Wednesday is probably one of my favorite days here in blog land lately. With only 80 more days leading up to our big day things are finally starting to come together.

~ Both of my rings have been resized. I picked the first jewelry repair store from Google, and they were about $100 cheaper than the quotes I had called around for!

~ We got our invitations in the mail! I worked with a company through Etsy. I knew I wanted certain things and wording on the invites and she made sure that everything was perfect. The price was right, and everything shipped within a week of the starting process. I cannot wait to share them, but that will have to wait until everyone receives them first.

(A mini sneak peak)

~ Tuxes are ordered for the guys in the wedding.

~ We have an appointment set with a vendor to rent everything else needed for the ceremony and reception.

~ My first fitting will be in a couple of weeks, as well as picking out the bridesmaids dresses. Cutting it close on these but I know it'll get done.

~ Music is really important to both Joe and I so one of the next thing on our to-do list is to make a song list and figure out what our main songs will be. This is such a hard task!

~ I still need to figure out the shoe and jewelry situation for myself and my girls.

~ The hair and makeup problem, is in fact still a problem. My hair stylist will be out of town the weekend of our wedding and I cannot manage to find not one person in this town that is available on the day of. My stylist said she gave out my number to a few girls she works with, so fingers crossed it works out!

~ My sisters and mom are throwing my bridal shower toward the end of August. The only thing I need to do is find a cute outfit which is such a relief!

~ Any ideas on gifts for bridesmaids? I can't seem to find anything that stands out.

Linking up for wedding Wednesday!

Wedding Wednesday - Who's gonna marry us?

It's officially been over a week since my last post, and I'm glad to be back for wedding Wednesday. Unfortunately this post has no pretty pictures or any great ideas, but it's a true story and I wanted to share. 

Who's going to marry us? Well that's a good question considering we only have five months until our wedding. I've been a little picky about our officiant and here's why..

Have you ever went into a business with the money in your account ready to put down a deposit, and then get totally let down? Well that's what happened to us last night..

A few weeks ago when I attended a bridal show with my mom I received a business card from a very nice lady who is a wedding officiant. Her booth was set up very nicely and she seemed like a good fit. Since we aren't members of a church at the moment I thought I would set up an appointment to talk about our vision for our ceremony and go over the details. I email the women and we set the appointment. Joe and I are always a little early so we showed up about 30 minutes early thinking we could just look around before our appointment. When we arrived the door was locked, the lights were off, and all that you could identify that we were even in the correct place was a little paper sign with the name of the business on it.. So we waited. 

I don't mind waiting, but when I wait for a doctors appointment usually I'm indoors and in a chair waiting. Not here. We were waiting outside in 99 degree weather - and I wish I were exaggerating. Our appointment time came and went so I decide to email the women to make sure she was coming. No response. 

Finally a lady shows up that is not the same person I met at the bridal show, and this lady seems rushed. It takes her trying about ten different keys before she can figure out how to open the door. Mind you, we still didn't receive an apology for being late. She lets us in the doorway and I see that the business is very filthy. I'm talking dust bunnies - buy a swiffer or something! She doesn't even ask us to sit down and talk, we just stand in the doorway. Finally she asks why we were here....at this point I am ready to leave. I mean really?? She literally just stood there and asked absolutely no questions regarding our wedding before I asked if she had a brochure of prices and details - guess what? They didn't have any. I politely told this women that we are not interested and we are leaving, and she didn't seem to care one bit. 

Rant over. 

Moral of the story is, make sure you check out everyone you use for your wedding - and be picky!! Don't settle for people who aren't passionate about what they are doing or don't seem to care about your special day. Some people I have emailed don't even want to meet in person before the wedding, no way I'm falling for that. 

I will definitely be meeting personally from now on before signing any contracts or putting down any type of deposit. Customer service is everything! We're meeting with a photographer this Friday, so cross your fingers!

Any brides out there have problems with vendors or people involved in your wedding?

Bridal Shows

Hey everyone! I'm back with a Wedding Wednesday post. Do you guys notice the new blog design?? I am so happy with it, and was ready for a blog change! These past few weeks have been so crazy, and finals are quickly approaching...not fun. Anyway I went to a bridal show this past Sunday with my mom, and I wanted to share with all of you!

This is my first bridal show I have ever attended, but I have been around weddings a lot in my life. When we lived in Vegas my mom worked for a really nice company that coordinated weddings. I would sometimes work the front desk on weekends and get to see all of the people nicely dressed, with their fancy food and hope one day I get to have a wedding that beautiful. Now that I am in the midst of planning our wedding I can honestly say I am overwhelmed. Joe and I both work, a lot - and I have a full class schedule as well. I was so excited to get out there with my mom and start buckling down on this planning thing. 

If you've read my wedding checklist, you'd see we still have so much to do. We are about five months away and still don't have a photographer or even an officiant - which I'm pretty positive those are important. We even have our cake already booked, why the cake took priority over the person marrying us...i'm not sure. 

The bridal show was at our local town museum and it was the most perfect weather to be outdoors. We went around to each booth, but it is very hard to talk to people about their services when 100-200 other people want to do the same thing. We drank some champagne (or whatever) was in the Dixie cup and had a good time. I found several vendors that I plan on using, and even spoke with an officiant that Joe and I are going to set up a meeting with soon! I'd say the day was pretty successful and very informative. 

I fell in love with this table set up

Tips:

• Bring water if it is outdoors (They charged for water)
• Make printed labels with your name (& fiance) address, wedding date, and phone number (if you want) these came in handy, you will be filling out a lot of information for giveaways and booths that it is so much easier with the labels. 
• Wear comfortable shoes
• Take a friend, sister, or your mom for help and advice

Joe and I  attended a showcase last night as well, which I will talk about soon too!

From my married ladies - did you hire a DJ and if so was it worth the money? Any other tips?

I said yes to the dress!

Friday night my mom, sisters, and I set an appointment at David's Bridal to try on wedding gowns, and to look for bridesmaids dresses. I thought this would just be us trying on dresses to get an idea of what I want. Who knew that after trying on only three dresses I would have found the one I loved!

Trying on dresses is hard work people! First off you're being looked at by every single person in a 50 foot vicinity, you have to manage to get this bra on that literally snaps up your entire back, you're trying on dresses that's roughly 2-4 sizes bigger than you normally wear, and you and a wedding gown associate are shoved in a dressing room trying to get this dress on you.

I had picked out two that I thought I would really love, and the associate picked an additional one that she thought I would like. After trying on the first one, it was just okay. Nothing special, and it didn't feel like it was "the one".

                      (This just was not the one, I wasn't a fan of the bow)

I decided to try on the one the lady helping us picked out..and it was beautiful. I could tell on my family's face that they loved it before I could even turn around to see it. I knew it was the one. It fit me so perfectly, minus the chest area sadly but that's with any dress for me. And it was on sale, only until Monday! I tried on one more dress after just to make sure, but nothing felt as special as the second one. So I put back on the "one" and we did the David's Bridal ceremony where I make a wish and say yes to the dress! I know that this is the dress I can see myself marrying Joe in and loving the way it looks! I am so, so excited!


No pictures of the actual dress yet, I don't want Joe snooping to see it before the wedding!




How many dresses did you try on after finding the one?

I linked up for Wedding Wednesday!

Five on Friday

Today I am linking up to share with you five things on Friday. Since Friday's are technically my Sundays I cant say I'm too excited for the weekend, but I hope everyone else has a great one! So lets just get started!

(Sorry, I had to do it)

1. {Wedding dress shopping} My mom, sisters, and I have an appointment tonight to try on dresses! I am so excited, and I feel like when I say yes to the dress it will all feel very real.

2. {Spring nail polish} I absolutely love pastel and bright colors on my fingers and toes in the spring and summer! They make me so happy. Here are some of my favorites.

- Essie Fiji ~ The perfect pale pink.

- Essie Mint Candy Apple ~ A beautiful light robins egg blue

- Essie First Timer ~ I plan on wearing this for St. Patty's day!

- Sally Hansen Lacy Lilac ~ Such a pretty soft purple! I love this color around Easter time.

- OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around ~ I am so in love with this color that I painted my nails this for two weeks straight, which never happens!

3. {Outdoor walks} with Joe and my fur baby is the best thing now that the weather is so amazing! The fact that we are halfway through march makes me so excited. I will be done with my first semester soon, and a month closer to our wedding!

4. {Floral perfume} I love Philosophy's Amazing Grace perfume for the spring time, it is so pretty and clean!

5. {Save the Dates} We still haven't done our engagement session pictures due to being procrastinators and being busy with everything else. We decided to send our save the dates without the typical engagement pictures which makes me a little bit sad, but it is what it is. We ordered these through etsy, and with some stress with the printing quality the lady at office depot really came through and made them look great. I would share them, but I don't want anyone who is getting one to see them before hand!

Linked up at north carolina charm

Wedding Planning | DIY Planning Binder

Today for my second wedding planning posts I wanted to share my DIY wedding planning binder!
I got the inspiration from several outlets online and found blog posts on how they found it useful to put together your own binder. I liked this idea because some bridal books are roughly $30.00+ and I liked the idea of making this custom to our needs. I have major OCD when it comes to organization, so this was exciting and fun for me!

What you need:
- 1 inch or bigger; binder
- 10 dividers (depends on your needs)
- Paper protector sleeves
- Post it notes
- Wedding lists and templates

- Here are the planning templates I used and printed. - These are great, they have every check list you need and other worksheets that will come in handy when dealing with budgeting, vendors, registry, rentals, etc.

(Sorry for the awful iPhone photos)

I also added clear page protectors to keep all receipts or business cards in as well. I kept everything from brochures, information packets, contact information from venues, etc all in this binder. 

I used post it notes for to-do lists each week so I knew what needed to be done or who needed to be called that week. Let me know some of your tips for staying organized and within budget when planning a wedding! Take this with you to bridal shows, and you wont regret it. It helped me so much! 

I also kept another folder inside my binder for RSVPS, gifts, and thank you cards. I had to stay organized when it came to keeping track of gifts and who was coming to the wedding.

Did this help you? What did you use/what will you use to plan your wedding?

Wedding Planning #1

Hi friends!

I decided since becoming engaged that I wanted to share my wedding planning process, ideas, or whatever crazy things are going on until our wedding date. I am obviously new to planning a wedding, so feel free to share tips and advice! I have been obsessed with reading other wedding planning blogs and posts too!

Today for my first post on this subject I wanted to share my to-do list! I am a bit obsessed with lists and checking things off of them. I have one in my DIY wedding planning binder (this will be my next post in this series)

This is just my overall major to-do-list as of now, I'm sure I'll find more things I need to do in the months to come.

We just put down our deposit and secured our date for our wedding ceremony and reception! That was our major step, and now that it is finally done I cannot wait to start planning!

• Set the date
• Book our wedding and reception venue
• Make wedding page or website
• Book photographer
• Take engagement pictures (next month in June we will)
• Order and send out Save the Dates
• Register Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Kohls
• Try on and buy wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses
• Groom and groomsmen tuxes/shoes
• Cake tasting and booking
• Choose linens and decorations with venue
• Get my rings resized
• Finalize guest list   
• Rent arch for ceremony
• Book DJ or PA System
• Book our ceremony officiant
• Buy wedding shoes and jewelry
• Book makeup artist & hair stylist (In the process)
• Hair and makeup trial
• Purchase wedding band for Joe
• Mail invitations
• Meeting with caterer to pick out menu  
• Ceremony and reception music selections
• Buy bridesmaids and groomsmen gifts
• Candy bar and decoration shopping.
• Make décor (pinterest) for wedding and reception
• Book Hotel Room 
• Marriage license
• Order and send out thank you cards (After)

I will be crossing these off as I go and be updating everyone on our progress! If you are engaged and blog, or are on pinterest let me know in the comments!