A Little Bling

My inspiration for this came from Haley and Tater. They had this beautiful chandelier that they hung from a tree and then had the kids they were taking pictures of posed underneath it. I just loved the idea and stocked it away in my mind that when I got married, I was going to incorporate the idea in somehow. I spend A LOT of time in California which I'm sure surprises no one. haha But when I'm there, mom and I are always checking out new shopping places, restaurants, home decor, etc. So we had heard about this Shinoda Design Center and were a little overwhelmed when we went in. The place is enormous and has all kinds of vases, pots, christmas decor, ribbon, candles, wreaths, and the list goes on and on. So I found a chandelier similar to the one below that could be plugged in and I plan to use it hanging from my parent's pergola.

I was wanting this sort of effect..........

Airfare Update

I talked to Southwest today and they will be publishing their fares for Labor Day weekend on February 8th. That would be a good time to check their website. They have "wanna get away" fares that are usually very reasonable if you catch them quick enough. Just thought I'd let everyone know!

Beverage Dispensers

My mom found these drink dispenser signs and Whit and I both decided that they were the perfect addition to our glass beverage dispensers that we had bought and are sharing for our receptions. Just a cute touch to be able to display what is in each container.

You can find the the signs at Sur la Table

These are the beverage dispensers that we have.

Cafe Lights

I've had an obsession with these lights as long as I've had an obsession with the chivari chairs. :-) I think they add ambience that you just don't get from white Christmas lights or other hanging lights. My cousin Megan told me that Target carried these lights and I was thrilled to go and buy them. Her and I toss around event ideas all the time. We meet once a quarter for a marathon dinner and catch up on life. She loves to plan as well and actually does wedding coordinating on the side, so she's a wealth of knowledge for stuff if you ever need it. :-) Like that plug? haha


Were using the cafe lights for Whit's wedding as well, so I started buying them last spring. Bloomington Target didn't feel the need to stock more than 2 at a time, so I bought them all over the place. Bloomington, Peoria, and 4 different Targets in California. Then I also found out the other culprit. Heidi had been buying them from Target as well so she's the reason our store never had any! haha But I stole all hers after she was done with them so it all evened out! JK


Now I'm not exactly sure how were going to hang them exactly but I am hell bent on having them for the reception! haha

Engagement Party

Hols put together an engagement party for us last night at Destihl. It was really fun to have some of our bridal party and family together. We did drinks before dinner or at least tried. Our drinks didn't arrive till we sat down for dinner so it wasn't quite the happy hour we were planning on. haha Here are some pictures from the evening.

Whit and Isaac, I had to remind every day multiple times a day so she didn't forget about dinner. She has wedding brain! haha

Jonathan, Naomi and Brian, Jonathan and Naomi are Brian's cousins.

Sisters

My shirt is supposed to look like that! haha

John and Sona, she makes a mean tonic and rum with a lime. The boys haven't stopped talking about it since they left her house. We were teasing her that she needs to open up Sona's Bar & Grill. haha

Ash, Holly, myself and Kate

Besties

Jake, Tim and Luke

Adam and Amy

My hair always seems to cover people up! haha

House Hunting

So we have some big decisions to make over the next couple months. We haven't decided if were going to buy the house I currently live in from my parents, or if were going to buy something new altogether. To help us along the decision making process, Bev was kind enough to humor us and take us to see some new places in town. So we spent the afternoon with her looking at condos(or as Brian always corrects me and says they are townhomes), new construction homes, and some existing homes the same size as where we are now. I know I left more confused than when we started! haha Brian was loving every minute of it. He loves new construction homes so that's right up his alley. What he loved even more is that Bev and I were just chatting away so he was left to be able to roam around the house uninterrupted! haha

So we'll see where we land. We still have a few more months before we have to make a decision. :-)

This is the last condo....er townhome that we took a look at. Definite possibility.

Important Information for Guests

I added a new section over on the right hand side that says important information for guests. I put together information about the airports, hotels, shopping and things to do around Orange County. Airfare most recently was running $309-350. That is actually very low for California right now, so anything under $450 is a good deal. Booking sooner than later is always the better option. With it being a holiday weekend, the airfare will jump quickly.

Definitely check out the links if you want more information!

Betsy White Stationary

So probably a wasteful use of wedding funds, but I couldn't resist getting some of these stickers for my dessert table. I've decided I'm probably not doing a full cake and not a complete candy table, but just doing a dessert table with cake, cupcakes, desserts and candy. Or at least that's the plan for now. :-) I found some plastic cello bags online for $1.79. Great deal till you have to pay $7.50 for shipping. Something about that seems a little backwards. I guess that's how they get ya! haha

When Whit was looking for stickers, she found them on Zazzle so I looked there for mine. They had a lot of cute ones but the sizes were annoying. It was either 1.5 inch or 3 inches. The 1.5 were way too small and the 3 inch were like coasters, so I decided to go a different route. I found this website called Betsy White Stationary and really liked their styles. I felt they'd fit the garden theme well. :-) I loved all of the logos, but I narrowed it down between these four. You'll just have to wait to see which one I picked. :-)

Photo Booth?

So I have been trying to decide if this is worth the expense but it seems like it would be a lot of fun. Instead of having a guest book, you can do a photo booth. People can take all kinds of crazy pictures and they get a copy of them as well as we get all of them on a CD after so it would be like our guest book. With a really small wedding, it's not like I really need to know who was in attendance. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to remember who all made it but I thought it might be kind of fun to have there just for something to do. I don't know. Decisions, decisions. :-)

Charming Charlie

I love this store! Some of my good friends, the Dietrichs, told me about this store. Such a fun store! It's all accessories and they have about every color you could imagine. They just recently opened one in Peoria so I asked Tami to go with me. She's my partner for all kinds of random activities. We had a great time even though we missed our exit and went about a 30 hour out of our way, broke a ring, lost my fabric swatches of the bridesmaid dresses and made them keep the store open a half hour after closing to look for the swatches! haha

I wanted to look for bridesmaid jewelry. I had in my head that I was going to do gold jewelry. When I asked Whit she said silver and I thought she was nuts. I hate to admit that she was right because when we held up the gold jewelry to the bright green fabric, it looked dreadful! :-)

Then we went to town! We scoured the store for every single bangle and funky ring we could find. I wanted the jewelry to be chunky and different rather than dainty jewely. Here's just a sample of what we found. :-)

Flowers

I've been looking at flowers and pricing out florists lately. It's typical that peonies, my favorite flowers, are for 1. not in season in September, and 2. are some of the more expensive flowers available. Why couldn't I just LOVE baby's breath? haha What I do know is that I want mainly pink flowers with some green flowers thrown in. One of the drawbacks of getting married in California is the prices for EVERYTHING are higher than here, so you really have to hunt and search to find things for reasonable cost. The first florist I talked to wanted to charge me like $100 or more per bridesmaid. With 11 bridesmaids, I wasn't about to spend $1100 just on bouquets, especially after 30 minutes they will get get set down and not needed the rest of the night. The second florist wanted $50-75 a bouquet. We were moving in the right direction but still not to my liking. The third florist came highly recommended by the rental place and they quoted me $30. No were talking! Now I haven't seen any of their examples yet, so unless the bouquets look like a kindergartner arranged them, they are the florist I'm going with! haha

Here are some examples of florals I like and want to mimic

This one is my favorite!

Knees To The Earth

This song has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I really wanted to make our wedding personal and different than just the typical ceremony so I wanted to incorporate things and people in that were special to me/us. So I've asked Whit, Kait, Marissa, Rebekah, Heidi and Tami to sing this at the wedding for us with Isaac playing guitar for them. Get to practicing girls! :-)

Insanity

The wedding workout has begun! I want to be 20 pounds lighter and a lot darker shade of skin tone by September! :-) Ok, so maybe not 20 pounds but I would take 10 and just be toned up. I mean let's be real, nobody likes a fat bride! haha If you've spent any length of time with me, you know that I am a total sucker for tv infomercials especially about workout. I've bought my fair share of stuff off the tv over the years. I recognize now why they have them on at 3am when you're definitely not coherent enough to make a sane decision about a food dehydrator that you can make fruit rollups in. By 7am you realize that that's just a bad decision! haha

However, I did feel that purchasing the Insanity DVD's were a good use of money......that is when I actually do them. They have got to be the toughest workout videos that I have ever done and believe me I have done ALOT! If you didn't catch that part, re-read the paragraph above! :-) Well now with the wedding getting here before you know it, I figured it was time to actually get motivated and get back in shape, so I pulled them back out, said a little prayer yesterday morning and hoped for the best. I was gritting my teeth through the entire workout!

Shaun T(the instructor) and I have a love hate relationship. I love how I feel after I get done with the workout because you've literally exhausted every muscle in your body, but the hate comes in when Shaun T yells at you to do more exercises and he spends half of his time going around the room telling people to go faster or get more reps in. Hmmm, I don't see you doing every exercise. You're too busy sucking on your water bottle to get them all in! haha The best part is when Brian asks me if I've done my workout video because he can't help himself with talking ghetto when he says Shaun T, however it comes out more like ghetto mixed with a little bit of backwoods Kentucky hick! haha "U gonna work out wid Shaaaaaauuuuuunnnnnn T"? haha

I do however at least feel a little sense of relief that all the other people on the video are all sucking wind by the end too, so I know that if these people are in mint condition physically and they are sprawled on the floor after the workout is over, I might not be as bad as I thought! haha

It gets its name honestly! I get up everyday asking myself why I would put myself through that again? Oh that's right, you don't want to be a fat bride! haha Tonya is the girl on the right and she is my hero. I've never seen anyone do as many C-sit leg lifts as she does!

I also love how he takes off his shirt every chance he gets to show off his abs and that he says he can't quite bring his knees in to his chest for stretching because his quads are too big! Slightly full of himself! haha

I totally know how she feels! Shaaaaaaaaauuuuuuun T has the same effect on me! haha

Lula Kate

I saw this brand in a bridal magazine and immediately fell in love with the dresses. I loved how they had such vibrant colors to choose from. I love the color grass green and it was one of the few websites that actually had that bright green color. The best part is that each dress has the option to choose a straight skirt, a-line skirt, full skirt or party skirt, so it gives a lot of versatility. I know the girls will never wear the dress again but I at least wanted them all to be comfortable that day in choosing a style that they felt like best fit their style and fit.

This is the actual color of the dresses and they will be wearing fuschia sashes

Chivari Chairs

The rentals have been reserved and it's official. I'm having the Chivari chairs. I love these chairs so much. Not really sure why, but I wanted them to be a staple at my reception. Every picture you see of celebrity weddings or dressy receptions, they always have these chairs. So call me vain, but I wanted these chairs. :-) I'm sure no one will notice or care what kind of chairs they are sitting on, but I will know. haha