Today is the Day!

Well I should be in bed, but just a last minute post before I crash.  Today is the big day and I couldn't be more excited.  This week has been really special to spend it with Tami and my parents.  Tami was a great sport and let me drag her literally ALL over orange county delivering goody bags for all my out of town guests.  45 bags to be exact so you can imagine how many stops! Yes, I know already that I'm crazy!  But honestly I haven't felt stressed at all.  Every day has been a list of tasks and each day we accomplish the list and start the next day with another one.  I told myself a LONG time ago that I was going to soak in every last moment of this experience.  I wanted so bad to be able to have a weekend away with all my closest friends and family and that's exactly what I've gotten.  The vision I had in my head has come together and I can't wait till later today to marry Brian.  So anyway, I'm signing off for now.  I will post pictures I promise.  I'm getting MARRIED! :-)

Rave?

So I saw these glow bracelets and necklaces at Michaels and they were on sale, so I couldn't resist.  I thought what better way to get everyone on the dance floor then with glow in the dark items? haha

Tami got in last night and I'm very excited to put her to work. haha Actually I'm just excited to have someone with me to run all my errands.  We got so much done last week that I fear I'll be making stuff up for us to do this week just to justify her week early trip out here! haha However, I don't think she'll mind if were able to get in a little sun or shopping. :-)

Chandelier is up!

It was love at first sight with this Chandelier!  I saw it a wholesale home goods place here in California and just knew I had to have it for the gazebo.  We put it up last night and it gives off a ton of light and looks so pretty with the way the light hits all the little "crystal" beads.  The picture doesn't do it justice but you get the idea.  Getting excited!  Can you tell? :-)

Pillows have arrived!

Thanks to my wonderful and talented cousin Heidi, we have pillows that match the colors of the wedding on my mom's side porch furniture.  This is the doorway everyone will be entering so I wanted it to match the theme.  She did a great job!  I love the buttons on them!

Bags Set

What would a backyard reception be without a personalized bags set? haha  They just arrived yesterday.  I finally bought my parents a new ink cartridge so I can print stuff off on their computer.  I've been going a little insane without the use of my labels lately. haha  So I went to staples and found full sheet clear labels, printed our wedding logo onto it and put it onto the board.  I figure the label probably won't stay on real great but after the wedding I doubt I'm going to want a wedding logo bags set anyway, so we can peel them off and still use them plain.  To top it off, they had green and pink bean bags.  I was so excited! haha

Chicken Wire Memo Boards

I stole this idea from my friend Chris.  She has one in her kitchen and I just love it!  It's a chicken wire memo board.  You take a paint canvas and cover it with whatever fabric you want and then put chicken wire over top of that.  Make sure you have help because the staple gun is a little tricky and it helps to have two hands to pull it all tight.  I've got two display easels that these will sit on next to the photo booth and they will be covered in pictures of us with our friends.

We've Gone Green

A green bedroom that is!  So call me crazy but I wanted to have something in the new that was new to us when Brian and I came back from California.  So with the help of my partner in crime Tami, we knocked out this room in about two days once I finally got the final color approved by Brian. :-)  I love the way it turned out. It's very green but the white bedding and the black furniture tones it down a little.  I'm still not done decorating, but I at least wanted the paint done before I got back.

Welcome Home

So when I went up to my room Sunday, I found these on my dresser.  Mom had gotten them for me.  She said she thought they looked bridal white. :-)  I thought it was a sweet welcome home gift.

The Mr. & the Mrs.

I saw these on Etsy and couldn't resist.  I'm going to hang them on our chairs but were also going to use them for pictures somehow as well.  I've seen them at other weddings so I have to confess I stole the idea, but nonetheless I love them! :-)

Food Signs

The topiary placecard holders arrived and so when I got home I added the food signs to them today.  We've been staging the sweets table and appetizer table to get it ready for how we want it set up.  Everything is starting to fall into place....so far. :-)

Table Numbers

I'm back in California two weeks before the wedding running around like a chicken with my head cut off to finish last minute detail items.  The table numbers have been done for a while. I just forgot to take a picture of them.  They will have pictures of us growing up at each table.

Bridal Shower

My aunts put together a really nice shower for me.  There was of course some amazing food!  I'm still thinking about those casseroles. :-)  It was a nice day to be able to have both families together.  My mom had never met any of Brian's family and Brian's mom got to hear the official story of how we met.  Everyone got along great and it was just nice to have everyone together.

Not sure what Whit was telling me but I look disapproving.  haha

Aunt Kaye had put together a list of family recipes.  Such a sweet gift! I absolutely loved it!  I can't wait to try out all the recipes!

Suzanne got us some embroidered hand towels.  Also a shower favorite!

Whit was in charge of writing down who the gifts were from while......

Kate was in charge of the trash! haha

This was the gift Brian was most excited about.  He is dreaming about all the bacon and sausage he can cook on that griddle! haha

Bachelorette Party

To say I felt special would be an understatement. When you plan a lot of birthdays, weddings, parties, and baby showers, you don't get surprised very often. So when they asked if I wanted to know what was going on, I said no. I was glad I didn't ask. It was fun to go through the whole day being clueless not knowing what was going to happen next.  The morning started out with Heidi dropping off this bag and note. 

Inside it stated that it was about to be a day all about me and that I shouldn't eat. :-)

Then in the bag, she had framed two of our engagement photos in frames that match the colors of my new bedroom.  Tami knows me so well!

Whit picked me up at 9am and gave me the next note which she did premature.  That's how I found out that my mom had flown in early to surprise me because the card said I was going to get nails down with my mom and sisters. Whoops! haha

Grandma also called my phone 4 times that morning so I started having an inkling that she might be part of the morning surprise as well. :-)  No one told her what time breakfast started! haha

We had a nice breakfast at Bob Evans.  I tried to be good because I figured I'd be eating ALOT that day.

Then we were off to Nail Trix for pedicures.

After pedicures, I got my next note.  You can see I'm concentrating hard.  It said we were going to the pool and that my pool bag was already packed.  What I'm probably thinking is, oh great, what suit did they pack for me? haha  Whit was smart!  She brought every suit I owned so I could pick!  Good girl! haha

Then I got magazines and snacks for the pool.

You can probably tell by shoes and color whose are whose. :-)

After a brief stop off at Whit's to make Kait's last minute puppy chow, we were off to Kirk's for a pool day with my bridesmaids and lunch there as well.  Nice work on the bean sprouts Bek!  Lunch was delish!  And Hols, thanks for sparing us from the Gracie song playlist at the pool. JK

Dinner was at Station 220 where we met up with the rest of my friends for dinner.

At each place setting had a star with our names on it as to where we were to sit.  It was a Hollywood themed party.  So fun!

Back at the house, we were greeted with the "Hollywood sign", a red carpet, a step and repeat banner and the "paparazzi". :-)  I got to take pictures with everyone before the went into the house.

The movie premiere was that they had taped Brian and asked him all kinds of questions and then I had to answer the way I thought he would.  They had told me he hadn't cooperated on this so he had to take a serious tongue lashing from me days earlier. haha

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better day.  By the end I started to feel overwhelmed by how much work and effort had gone into making everything so fun and special for me.  I felt very undeserving.  I truly walked away feeling like I have been so enormously blessed with amazing friends that I could call on for anything and people that support me and love me no matter what.  Thanks again to everyone that was there and participated in my day o fun! Truly a day I will never forget!

Countdown has begun

So it's less than three weeks away!  Can't believe how fast it's all going!  I leave Sunday so I'll be home two weeks before the wedding.  This week is going to fly by so I'm trying to do every last minute item I can possibly think of before I leave.  Fun stuff! :-) 

If you're coming, can't wait to see you all and celebrate!  If you're not able to make it, I'll be sure to post lots of pictures. :-)

Programs

I'm missing one page from the programs but you get the idea. :-)  They will be 5 pages total.  The front cover, then the ceremony program, bridal party, our vows, and directions back to my parents house with Rebekah's cute map on the back.  And if you get hot, you have a fan at the wedding! haha  I have to give a shout out to Ash for rounding the corners on these babies.  I know her thumb suffered for a couple days after. :-)

Escort Table

Ok, don't judget my kitchen!  I know it's a mess and I need to do dishes.  haha  I've been going through old photos to use for our escort table.  It's going to have pictures of us from when we were little to today.  I finally got all the pictures figured out, scanned, printed, frames painted, etc.  So now I just have to ship them.  Ugh!  Note to self.....destination weddings are more work and more expensive then regular weddings! haha

Escort Cards

Blogger makes me so mad sometimes.  It likes to turn my pictures sideways for no apparent reason.  I can't figure out how to turn them and don't have the patience to do this post for the third time this week, so you'll have to cock your head or turn your laptop. haha

These are the escort cards.  They will be hanging off the favor that people grab as they walk in.  They kind of look like you've won a medal, but I still like them. haha

It's getting very close and the last minute items are many.  I'm working on schedules, directions, programs, last minute art projects, finishing up shipments to my mom, final payments, confirming flowers, cake, etc.  Needless to say I'm a little busy these days, so if you don't hear from me, don't be offended. haha

Trial Run

My cousin Brittany is doing my hair for the wedding so she came out to do a trial run on my hair.  I tried on my dress when we were done to see it all together and I got really excited.  It made it all really real!  Here are some pics.  I will be doing something with my bangs and they didn't looked that slicked back in person! haha

This is a pic of the top of my dress, but you'll have to wait to see the full thing! :-)

Craft Night

Craft night was a huge success!  Holly, Ash, Whit, Kate and Tami all came over and helped me last night.  We threw on The Bachelorette and everyone worked while they caught up on their reality tv! haha  We got a ton of stuff and I'm so grateful for the help because it has been looming over my head for week trying to do things one by one on my own.  So thanks girls!  You're a lifesaver!

I had spray painted the frames for the table numbers but we were able to get them touched up last night.

Kait is holding something at this moment, but she was really there more for the social hour! haha JK

Holly was the corner rounding pro and knocked out all my programs.....well at least the two pages that are printed.  Her thumbs will recover before I have her come back to finish the last three pages! haha

Whit and Tami were in charge of topiaries, and painting the frames.

We got the 2nd topiary done besides one little bald spot on the back of its head. haha

3rd topiary that hasn't been started.  I'll leave that for next craft night. :-) 

What did I do, well it felt like a whole lot of nothing. haha  Everyone asked me what they could do, so I would wander around and find stuff for them, get them all set up with tools and then go to the next person.  I think I more facilitated than worked! haha