Countdown to 8/14

9: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

2011-11-03T15:47:00.000-04:00

I realized that I haven't talked much about what I want to do with my hair. I planned on having it done half up-half down. I had decided to go with a spa rather than where I've grown up getting my hair done (and have had it done for every major dance I've ever been to). This was decided after I had talked to a friend (who owns her own salon), and she had been booked for a wedding on the same day as mine, so she wouldn't have been able to do it.

I decided to go to Solutions Studio and Spa to get my hair and make-up done. I felt better going to a spa, since they can generally work with oily skin types a little better. The only thing that I didn't like was that I had to pay full price for the trial and event day! That was $210! I went in and had my trial, and we did half up-half down, using my extensions:

This is the only one I could find-we went to Alfred Angelo after the trial to get pictures.

Not bad. I wasn't in love, but it looked really nice, so I thought of some things that could be done to make it look a little better on the actual event day (Like using more extensions, making my face NOT look oily).

Well, it was about 2 weeks or so after the trial that I got a call from Solutions. It was the person who had done my hair (I found out later she was the one of the manager's daughters) saying she had the chance to go on vacation the SAME weekend as my wedding, and wouldn't be able to do my hair. I had 2 choices: go with someone else (meaning, I could go in and have another trial with that person, which would be another $105) or cancel my (and all of the girls) appointment. I decided to cancel. I ended up losing $105, but it was way better than not loving my hair.

At that point, I didn't know where I was going for the wedding. My friend still couldn't do it, and I was worried that asking the women who has done my hair forever would be to late. Luckily, a few days later, I got a phone call from my friend saying that she was canceled for the wedding she had on my wedding day, and that I was probably already booked, but she was just letting me know. How perfect! I told her the story and that I'd want to go in soon for a trial with her and have her do my hair. It didn't work out to go in for my hair trial until 9 days before the wedding (trying to work out after the surgery and treatment and all the other doctor and wedding appointments I had in that 2 month period), but I trusted her and knew she would be able to do a great job. And she did!

I told her that I was going for a half up-half down look, but if she thought something else better, then she could try it. She wanted to try something to see if I'd like and I just let her. I wasn't sure at first, but the more I looked at the pictures, the more I really loved it! She even mentioned me getting a flower clip to put in the back/bottom part.

Did you have a major cancelation after you've put a lot of time and effort into the decision?

*All photos are personal photos

2: Wishing Well, or Gazebo

2011-03-16T17:32:00.000-04:00

For our cards, Josh decided to surprise me and make a Wishing ~~Well~~ Gazebo. It's a replica of the Hilton Gazebo, where we got engaged! And let me tell you, it looks great! The journey of our gazebo:

I couldn't find the actual picture I took of the gazebo, so you'll have to look at our STD's again. Not too bad of a job!

For some reason I can't upload the picture our photographer has of us in front of it. So it appears that you'll have to wait for a little while for that. It's very frustrating for me too.

How did you collect cards from friends and family?

*All photos are personal photos or files.

4: I'm an Aunt!

2011-03-16T16:55:00.000-04:00

Four days before the wedding, Josh's brother and his wife had their first baby! Both are in the WP, and both did great on the wedding day too! :)

Malachi & Aunt Paula

Malachi & Uncle Josh

Malachi was born just 4 days before the wedding day! And all the problems I had with everything...on the wedding day I didn't even realize anything except how happy I was and what an awesome day to celebrate Josh & I it was.

Did you have a new addition to the family before the wedding? How did it go?

*All pictures are personal photos.

4: Get Yer Programs!

2011-03-16T15:41:00.000-04:00

I had some help a few days before the wedding assembly the programs. I didn't get any pictures of the help, but I did get some before and after shots. It was nice to have my FSIL and brother's girlfriend both helping me! (And roping the girls at the Bachelorette party to help finsih assembling what wasn't finished!)

Before assembly:

After assembly:

Did you like the way one of your big projects turned out?

First photo is personal photo, rest of pictures were taken by The Village Photographer

25: A Special Treat

2011-03-16T15:10:00.000-04:00

We decided that since two of our Bridesmaids were Gluten Free, and one of our guests is Vegan, to go to a local bakery to have some gluten free/vegan cupcakes on hand so they were able to eat dessert with the rest of us!

The bakery is Eco Bella Bakery, located in downtown Rochester! They were very friendly, and for being gluten free/vegan, their food was very good! We got 12 cupcakes, some white and some chocolate, and got a little cupcake topper made to look like Daisy to go on top! You'll get to see the whole thing when I do my recaps!
I really hope the 3 enjoyed eating dessert!

Did you get a special treat for anyone who couldn't eat the normal dessert?

70: Daisy on Our Cupcakes!

2011-03-16T15:07:00.000-04:00

Since we weren't really able to have Daisy be at our wedding, I decided I would try to find a way for her to be there in spirit. I wanted a cupcake topper for our cupcakes, and thought a Daisy would be perfect!

I put out an alchemy request on Etsy, and chose cbarjcrafts to make the Daisy for us. It only cost $30 for a custom clay model of Daisy, and she even got to come along on our honeymoon!

(Source)

Were you able to incorporate your pet?

90: Table Name Pictures

2011-03-16T14:53:00.001-04:00

You saw the frames for the table names, and know that we took Daisy for pictures for them, I am now going to present to you the two winning pictures:

Somehow my picture file got messed up! :(

I needed 2 pictures because, as you could see in the pictures of the frames, there were holes punched into it from the person I bought it from. She used it to hang them and display them that way. I decided I owuld just tie a pretty little bow through each hole, and needed 2 different pictures to go with each layout.

Did you have to do some brainstorming to get a project to be "perfect"?

*All pictures personal photos

9: Farewell!

2011-03-05T14:43:00.001-05:00

Another thing that I was lucky enough to keep from my inspiration list was the streamer farewell. I bought 2 different kinds of streamers, throws from Special F/X, and wands from Halo Heaven. I figured having wands for people who didn't want to throw, or for the few kids we had there, it would be best.

The ribbon throws from Special F/X were pretty easy (just open them and throw like a ball), but there were TONS of streamers in them. I shold have thought that through, and as you'll see in a little bit,we wree overloaded with streamers!

The wands from Halo Heaven turned out very cute!

Again, you'll see more of these when I do my recaps!

Did you do a unique farewell?

*All personal photos

9: A Major Committment

2011-03-05T14:18:00.001-05:00

You saw that one of my inspiration pieces was about dyed crinoline (or a slip). I decided that it was something I really wanted to do, since I had to wear one tomake sure my dress fit better. It wasn't that hard, and all I did was Google how to dye crinoline. There are plenty of tutorials out there.

Just opened from the mail!

Hanging up (oops, forgot to rotate!)

On the floor, ready to get dyed!

Into the washer-I let it agitate for about a half hour. I got nervous about the color at this point.

Water coming from the washer

Drying. Perfect!

Did you decide to dye your crinoline? How did it turn out? What color did you do?

*All photos personal photos

120: Frames for Table Names

2011-03-05T12:13:00.001-05:00

You saw a hint of what the frames of my table names will look like, so I thought I'd share a bit more about them. I got them from weddingbee member, emmyd. She waas selling 25 4x6 photo mats, and I jumped at the chance to buy them, even though the were red, black and silver. It was going to save me money in the long run, even if I did have to spray paint them. While I don't have a before picture, here is my during.

They're all silver, and look great! Th only bad thing was that I decided to do them outside on a slightly windy day!

Did you have a fairly easy DIY?

*All photos personal photos

6: Recycling Makes a Great Flower Girl Basket!

2011-03-05T11:52:00.001-05:00

After deciding what I want my Flower Girl to carry, I ended up getting her basket from a wedding she was in a few years ago. Luckily, I have some dark purple accents, so rather than trying to take off the existing ribbon, I just added the other colors over it!

I wanted to step up the elegance level, so I decided to add a fabric lining to the basket, hopfully making it a little easier to pull the pedals out of.

EDIT: The first two paragraphs I wrote last March, and I actually did the work on the basket about 6 days before the wedding. Honestly, I think I did add the fabric lining, but I completely forgot, since it's been about 6 months since I've done it! Please forgive me! I'll show you the before and after of what I did do though!

So, I did get the basket from the other wedding:

Before (Personal Photo)

The color of the other wedding was dark purple, and luckily for me, I had that as an accent color, so less work for me!

After (Taken by a guest)

Isn't she soooo adorable?!

I added pink and yellow ribbon to the basket, making sure it fit the color scheme completely! It looked great, and honestly, it didn't matter if there was the lining in it or not. She did a great job!

Did something you borrow turn out to be an easy project?

136: Photosharing Cards

2011-03-05T11:40:00.001-05:00

So, you saw my design on our photosharing cards, and we got them back in the mail in March! They are great!

The package of 250 photosharing cards!

The front

The back

I only wish I knew ahead of time that I had enough to give them to showre guests, hand them out at the reception,and to put in thank you cards. I was worried I didn't have enough, so I made some using blank business cards. Turns out, that was a waste of money and they turned out pretty bad.

Were you pleased with a project that you got back?

*All photos personal photos

93: Remaining Projects & Recaps?

2010-11-15T19:29:00.001-05:00

Pretty soon! I now have the motivation to start finishing up the remaining projects and starting the recaps!! I know, it's only been 93 days. But, I did get the wedding album back in the mail, so I feel that I have one less things to worry about doing, and with the house "finished" (at least for now), I can spend time doing recaps for all of you patient readers.

So, either tomorrow or Wednesday, I'll finish up the remaining projects, which I still need to sit and figure out which projects that I haven't written about and which ones I have pictures of either on my phone or camera!

But, I do promise that you'll be seeing more of me soon!!

82: Our Wedding Album

2010-11-03T15:25:00.002-04:00

I finally finished our wedding album! I know I haven't done any recaps on here yet, and I'm hoping that now that I'm done organizing & settling, I can make time to post recaps on here everyday! All I have to do during the day is work, but right now it's only half days, and might be every other day soon too. We'll see, but I do have the time to finally post recaps. About time, since I've had the pictures since 2 weeks after the wedding!

Anyway, enjoy our wedding album I made with Shutterfly!

Click here to view this photo book larger

31: One Month & One Day!

2010-09-15T16:12:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was our month anniversary! I can't believe it's been a month already! I'm sorry I haven't posted at all, and I promise I'll post pictures soon. I just got pictures from one of the guests, and I can't wait to incorporate their photos! I can't wait to share them all!!! :) Don't worry. I'll do it soon!

In the meantime, I'm still trying to put everything away & find places for everything. It is sooo hard!!

I'm Married!

2010-08-26T08:32:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's been a week and a half since I've posted. We went right away on our honeymoon, and when we got back, we have been trying to get the apartment settled to live in, changing names and shopping, and VBS has been this week, so every morning has been busy! I will leave you with one picture. Tons of pictures have been uploaded on Facebook, so it's hard to choose just one, but here's one for now until pro pics come back (this week or next week!) and can go picture crazy!

The wedding was absolutely beautiful, and was a perfect day!

Photo by cousin/BM AG

0: A Note to My Husband-to-Be

2010-08-14T08:00:00.014-04:00

Dear Josh,

It's been 546 long days, but we've finally made it. Through more than we counted on, but we made it. It's so hard to believe that this day is finally here. I'm so excited to finally be your wife. Pretty soon we'll be making our way to the church, where I can finally make a promise to you that I'll never make to anyone else.

I can't wait to start our ceremony, and I can't wait to finish it and start to party. We will have an awesome day, and it will be us.

It will be so nice to relax in the islands with you as husband and wife, a well needed vacation and honeymoon after the last few months.

I'll be seeing you soon...at the end of the aisle.

I love you!

Love,
your wife-to-be, Paula

3: Crunch Time

2010-08-11T16:50:00.000-04:00

This is going to be yet another boring post. Just letting you all know that I have 3 DAYS LEFT! I can't believe it, and it's starting to feel very weird and unreal. I've been keeping myself very busy the last couple weeks, and have lots of last minute things to tell you about (like, uhh we just realized we didn't get any of those cute personalized cake napkins, and now need to go to Party City and get plain ones :/) Lots of little projects, and I've saved both big projects to yesterday, today, and probably tomorrow.

Don't worry, I'm still alive, and still going crazy! :)

9: The Marriage License

2010-08-05T16:11:00.000-04:00

Sorry, I haven't written in 3 weeks. Between treatment for the Thyroid Cancer and getting ready for the wedding, I have had no time to write about it!

We got our marriage license on our one month marker, and FMIL went along to get pictures for us!

The licese is safely tucked away in my room, waiting to bring it on the wedding day. We can now legally get married!!

Did you get your license on any old day before the wedding, or did you do it on a "special" day?

25: Vote For My Ring?

2010-07-20T13:21:00.000-04:00

Please?

Rochester Wedding Magazine is holding a contest on Facebook:

Rochester Wedding Magazine is excited to announce a contest for brides to submit a non professional picture of their engagement rings. We will post the pictures on our Facebook Fan Page www.facebook.com/RochesterWedding and the picture with the most votes ("likes" count as votes underneath each photo) wins. Voting starts Monday, July 19th at 9am and will continue to August 9th at noon. Make sure to get all your friends, co workers and families voting!

Prizes

1st place ~ Your wedding will be featured in an issue of Rochester Wedding Magazine and an Engagement Session from the amazing Images Unveiled Studios.

2nd Prize ~ Dinner for 2 at Bocaccini's Italian Bistro

3rd Prize ~ $25 Gift Certificate to Joette's on Monroe.

Please, please, please go here to "like" my picture and help me out! All you have to do is like it! :)

Thanks!

30: Handmade Notes

2010-07-15T08:00:00.015-04:00

I decided that I wanted to make some handmade thank you notes for my shower thank yous. Unfortunately, I only got to use them for the first shower because I only bought one package, and they were sold out when I went back a week later. They turned out really nice:

The supplies, most were already bought for other projects

The cards, which I got for about $4-5 from Walmart

The backs of the cards

I made 7 different varieties of cards

That thank you stamp is actually in our font, and I found it on ebay. We mounted it ourselves, but I didn't get any pictures of that process.

I put a little gazebo on the back of the envelope.

While the other thank you cards were just bought from Walmart, they were nice too. They were my colors and had daisies on them!

Did you go out of the way to make sure your guests get nice thank you notes?

31: A Quick Change

2010-07-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

I bought these welcome signs from Party City earlier in the spring, and thought they would be a cute addition to the outer doors of the church. The only problem, which can easily be fixed, is:

The ribbon is a hot yellow-greeny color, definitely NOT one of mine.

So, I made a quick fix:

Got some ribbon out

Put it on the welcome sign

That's it! Easiest project I've done yet!

Have you had an easy project?

32: Cake Option Madness

2010-07-13T07:47:00.001-04:00

Josh and I went into Big M, where we'll be getting our wedding cake from, and ordered the cake. I didn't take any pictures, mostly because I didn't think we'd be able to really sample anything, and we'd just be telling the baker what we want. Not true. We ended up sampling the filling flavors.

I think we picked the most difficult cake to bake. I have drawings, but basically we're giving our guests almost any option they could think of. There are 8 different choices, which you'll see in the drawings below:

We ordered a full sheet cake, which is half white, half chocolate, and the opposite direction it's half raspberry and half custard. We also ordered a half sheet cake, which is only half white, half chocolate. The last cake we ordered was the actual wedding cake. It's a three tiered cake and is marble. The bottom layer has raspberry filling, the middle layer has custard filling, and the top is just cake, so we can freeze it.

All of the frosting is white buttercream, and there will be light yellow border on the tiered cake, and perhaps flowers on top with our topper.

I can't wait to eat cake!

Were you making difficult requests when ordering your cake?

33: Double the Showers, Double the Fun!

2010-07-12T07:31:00.004-04:00

I was blessed to get two bridal showers, one for my side of the family, and one for Josh's side and church. The one for Josh's family & church was held first, on June 9th. The one for my side was held on June 19th.

Some pictures of that shower:

Watermelon carving of our "official" engagement picture

The entire bag was filled with towels from my mom. There were towels for each season, which she got from Kohls. My favorite gift out of both showers.

My cake!

We took a cake break in the middle of presents because I had so many :)

Another favorite present. A got a tin full of Christmas items for decorating and wrapping, along with these stockings!

Two of the three official hostesses, BMs & FSILs.

4 out of the 6 BMs + the FG were there. Not bad.

The other one was on June 19th. Some pictures of that shower:

BMs hard at work

Wedding night attire from my mom, which I picked out :)

3 of the 6 BMs. The blood related ones.

The cake!

Grandma, Mom, Me & Oma

FMIL, me & Future Grandma in Law

I had an awesome time at both showers & feel so lucky to have so many people that love me! The first shower was completely overwhelming, which really surprised me. There were between 30-40 people there, it was the first one I've really paid attention at, so I had no idea what to expect. The second one was much more relaxing, and had about 20 people there, and about half the amount of presents. I got a lot of presents that will be very useful as I start my new life!

Were any of your showers overwhelming? Aren't they just so fun!?

34: Invitations are gone!

2010-07-11T16:43:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago, MOH AB, a friend of ours and I put together our invitations so we could mail them out! All we had to do was put them in the envelopes along with the extra pages, and then address them, but I wasn't ready to address them that night. All we did was put everything into envelopes! Easy peasy!

Inner envelopes

Outer envelopes

Top of the invite

Bottom of the invite

MOH's "I need more" sign

Folding in progress

Stuffing the inner envelopes

Trying to tame the pile

I had lots of fun trying to stuff the envelopes. The next day I got a final address list and printed out each label and stuck it on to all of the envelopes. My mom and I went to the post office on July 6th to mail out all of the invites.

Excuse the post-surgery puffy face.

I sent my parent's invite to the house so I could see how they returned.

The "finished", mailed invites

The animal rescue stamp with hand canceling

I'm so excited that I got the invites mailed out, and have gotten a couple RSVPs back! I'll have to show you what they look like soon.

How excited were you to finally send them out!?

47: I'm a Survivor!

2010-06-28T14:31:00.000-04:00

I got the pathology reports from the surgeon yesterday! It's so much easier to just go here and read the whole story.

I promise I will write stuff about the wedding soon! Now that the surgery's done and we have the results and now know what we need to do, I should be able to post up different things. Wednesday I'll be packaging up invites with my MOH and a friend to mail them out! I promise I'll update soon!

51: Recovering!

2010-06-24T09:38:00.000-04:00

I've had my surgery done & I've been home since Tuesday afternoon recovering! Recovery has been a bit harder than I thought it would be, but I'm doing better every day. I just wanted to give you an update, you can go here to read about the surgery & such.

I'll be posting soon (after I get this drainage tube out-I'll feel up to doing more, sitting on the computer more) about my two bridal showers and a couple other things I've done!

60: Surgery Update

2010-06-15T17:26:00.001-04:00

Hey!

Just wanted to give you all an update from two weeks ago. I'll be having surgery this Monday! I'm excited and scared all at the same time. Since hearing the news, I've been going into overdrive, cleaning up my future house, getting wedding stuff together, and getting stuff together for my brother's graduation, so I haven't been on to write any posts or read anyone's blog. Hopefully with the time off, I can update you all on everything I've done! I've made thank yous, had 1 shower (and having another one on Saturday), and will have ordered the cake, and hopefully decided on a menu. I've also had my first dress alterations done (with no pics...sorry!), and need to get invitation stuff together so it can be mailed out soon!

Unfortunately, I won't be able to be on here too much with doing everything else, but you can check here for updates! Hopefully I'll be able to update you guys some during my week or two recovery time!

67: Thyroid Update

2010-06-08T01:19:00.000-04:00

An update from the news I gave you last week: I go in for a surgeon's consultation on June 15th. Hopefully I can get in to do the surgery before the end of June!

Sorry I haven't been updating this week. Understandably, I've been rushing around trying to get information and make appointments. On top of that, wedding planning has been kind of kicked into high gear, since we don't know when this surgery is, and what my activity level will be after.

I created a blog for updates on the whole thyroid thing. Follow that for updates and information!

71: Unexpected Task

2010-06-04T13:51:00.001-04:00

Last week I spent part of the day making a giant to-do list, so I can easily see everything I need to do and cross it off.

Most of the list itself

Just so you can see the actual size.

Both are personal photos

I'm sure I forgot a couple things, but I did use what I had been looking at the last few months. If anything I forgot about comes up, I'll just add it on there. I know I have all major tasks on there.

Unfortunately, Tuesday night, I got a major unexpected task that needs to be done before the wedding. It's not a fun task, and is very serious. I need surgery to remove possible thyroid cancer. It's still so weird saying cancer.

Basically, there's a nodule in the left lobe of my thyroid that has changed in size from last year. They did a biopsy of it, and the cells show consistency with the Papillary Cancer, so they want to take out at least half of the thyroid (whether half or all is taken out is up to me). They said the right lobe has no nodules. I have a consultation appointment with the surgeon on June 15th, so I'll find out more surgery-wise then. All I know that I might be there overnight (mom & Josh are fighting over who gets to stay), and it will be about a week recovery (hopefully I only miss one week of softball!). It shouldn't be too bad. FSIL/BM K had her gallbladder taken out 3 weeks before her wedding! Hopefully with at most 6-7 weeks ahead it won't be too bad. We just need to get it done ASAP since I'll be off the insurance the day I'm married.

I decided that Kutless's song is my theme song (it's been a favorite for a while). Take a listen by clicking on the link on the left side.

I'll be sure to keep you all updated, and let you know what happens after the consultation on the 15th.

Have you had any unexpected things you needed to take care of right away?

77: Riding in Style

2010-05-29T09:00:00.001-04:00

When we leave the ceremony, we will be transported by:

(Source)

A horse and carriage!!!

I'm so excited! At first, Josh found quotes for $600 and up, so he was pretty close to not looking, even asking me to come up with some other things I'd be interested in. Josh got a referral from a friend of ours, so he called Hartland Carriages Ltd (they don't have a website), and found that it would be $375 per hour! Score! The guy told Josh that he'd be at the Rochester Lilac Festival, and to go check out the carriages.

Last Saturday, we went over to check them out! They let us ride for free! Daisy came along so we could get some pictures of her for our table names (which I promise I'll talk about soon!), and she even got to ride too!

She was pulling to look out to see what was going on

So Josh pulled her on his lap to see easier

Look how nice it is! (We picked this carriage-it's way better!)

They put lilacs on, but we can get them flowers & they'll put them on for us!

I didn't get any pictures of the whole thing or the horses (which are blackish/brownish). Oh well, it'll be a surprise for you guys!

Did your preferred method of transportation win out? (You'll understand when you see my dress!)

78: Presents from Spain

2010-05-28T08:45:00.001-04:00

FFIL & FMIL came back from Morocco and Spain the other day, and they brought back an awesome present that can be used at the wedding!

Champagne glasses with our names!

The stem is so pretty!

Here's the woman etching it for them

(Yes, I took a picture of a picture. Don't judge. Didn't have the file itself & I can't scan it easily!)

The only thing I was hoping for was having the wedding date on the glasses. I really like the glasses the way they are, but it would be a nice thing to put on somehow. Advice?

Did you get any unexpected presents you could use in the wedding?

79: Problem Solved!

2010-05-27T08:45:00.000-04:00

Remember the minor setback I had earlier in the week? Well, I got new bags from JoAnn, and successfully made them all!

Did you come back from a setback?

84: A Minor Set Back

2010-05-22T11:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, Josh and I finally got around to heat pressing more shirts and the bags I had to get done.

I had two shirts for me,

a shirt for the nephew we're getting for our wedding present,

my mom's Mother of the Bride hoodie (which I'll post on later) and then bags for my BMs. I started with the bag for my flower girl:

It's so adorable!

The next thing I heard was...oh no! I was expecting that the rhinestones stuck to the heat press. Even worse:

The ENTIRE bag did!

Josh trying to clean it all off (he has pants on, don't worry!)

He referred to it as "molten bag" and "liquid bag"

I then happened to look at the bag, and found the tag...

Do not iron....oops!

The worst part was that the girl's bags were the same material (canvas), and we apparently can't heat press canvas fabric (I was going to heat press initials on them all)! So, I now have to go back and buy new bags made with cotton for all 7 girls and my flower girl rhinestones, on top of trying to figure out what to do with these other bags. I only have six, so I can't use them as OOT bags, unless I buy more, and I can't return them because I got them from Cheap Totes. Luckily everything was about a dollar each!

Did you have a set back while doing DIY?

85: Double Duty Gift

2010-05-21T08:00:00.006-04:00

I won a giveaway a couple of months ago, and got two hangers from The Pretty Pearl, over at Etsy. I decided to get initials for me and my MOH:

It looks great!

I decided it would be great to use for the bridesmaid dresses, and before that, I could give it to her with her hoodie, and I could use mine for my dress.

I then thought that everyone should have them, because they are just so awesome! I looked all over for hangers, and eventually found them at IKEA.

I then added vinyl initials on each hanger, then put map pins into each hanger for the hook (it probably would have been better to find the faux pearl accents, but I wasn't having much luck finding them). Here's how they turned out:

The hanger with the initial and the map pin

The tag I added to each hanger

Tag tied to the hanger.

Sorry for the cell phone pictures.

I think they turned out really good!

Budget break-down:

Hangers: $1 each ($7.99 for 8) (mine & MOH's were free since they were part of the giveaway)

Vinyl for initial: free (Thanks, FFIL!)

Tags: free (on paper laying around)

Ribbon: not counting it since I'm using it for multiple projects

Total cost: $1 per hanger..you really can't beat that!

*All photos are personal photos

Did you end up saving a lot on any project?

86: Keeping My Girls Warm, Part 1

2010-05-20T08:00:00.003-04:00

Almost everyone gives their bridesmaids tank tops to wear at showers or while getting ready that say "Bridesmaid" or "Maid of Honor" on them. I originally was going to follow along and buy tank tops cheap (I bought iron-ons from Jubilee Rhinestones) and do them myself, until I recently decided to buy them hoodies instead. I was looking all over for them until FMIL found some at Kohl's on the clearance rack! They aren't exactly what I wanted, but at $4.20 each (marked down from $30 + 30% off), there's no way I could pass them up.

I got 7 hoodies (I just had to get one for myself-mine's even pink!) and went on my merry way. I washed the hoodies for the girls, and then went to work at putting the iron-ons on (after doing my testing)!

Want to see the iron-ons? They are really cool. I bought enough for me, all 6 of the girls, the flower girl, and both mothers. (We'll only be seeing what I did for the girls. I'll be showing you the mom's another time.)

The iron-ons.

Ok. Now on to what I did.

First, I washed the hoodies

We heat pressed all of the iron-ons

The front

Daisy making sure we're doing our work

Doing the BM hoodies

The finished back

The budget break-down:

Hoodies: $4.20 each

Iron-ons: $2 each

Iron-on paper: $10, but only used 2 pages, so we'll estimate $1.50 for the papers, and $0.20 each

Total per hoodie: $6.40 per hoodie....not bad!

*All photos personal photos

Did you make shirts or anything with your girl's title?

87: Map Maker

2010-05-19T15:33:00.001-04:00

Following Mrs. Ballet Flat's tutorial, I made multiple maps for various events and reasons.

I made a map with directions to one of my bridal showers:

I made a map to go on the OOT brochures, it has directions to the hotels to the ceremony:

I made a map with directions from the ceremony to the map, which will go with the invites:

It took a lot of time to get them perfect, but it's very easy. I followed Mrs. Ballet Flat's directions exactly, so go over and check them out if you want to try them! I think they look so much nicer than just printing out something from Google Maps.

*All photos saved, personal files

Did you dress up your maps?

90: A Major Accomplishment

2010-05-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

Four years ago, Josh and I celebrated the first of many major accomplishments together:

Just before graduating

Just after graduating

We graduated high school in June 2006, and yesterday, I graduated college with my bachelor's degree! Here we are, 4 years later:

Just after graduating (don't mind that I'm not looking)

In the next 3 months, we'll be getting married, another major accomplishment, with many more to come! I'm so excited that Josh has been by me through all of these accomplishments, and I can't wait to have Josh beside me during the rest of our major accomplishments.

*All photos personal photos

Has your SO been with you during major accomplishments?

93: Cutest Wall Decor Ever!

2010-05-13T15:12:00.000-04:00

I was browsing Pottery Barn Teen today, and found the cutest wall decoration ever!

(Source)

Ummm...how cute are those!? How cute would they be at our reception with our Valentine-ish theme?! VERY! And for $19 you get 20 hearts, no shipping. Not too bad since most other things are pretty darn expensive!

I don't think we can stick anything on the walls like this, though. I'm pretty sure we couldn't do anything with the walls other than tape, so I'm not sure if this will be fine with them or not. It really stinks.

Any tips on what I can do to put these on the walls?

95: Quiet on the Blog, Busy in Real Life

2010-05-11T16:05:00.000-04:00

I just thought I'd share that this week is going to be crazy busy, and I probably won't write anything until Monday or Tuesday. I'm finishing up studying for 2 exams I have tomorrow and a presentation on Friday, before I graduate on Saturday (only 4 days away)!!!

Even if I did get a chance to write this week, I haven't really done anything in the last couple days because I've been finishing up studying for other tests and finishing papers.

I promise I do have things to talk about! I'll be finishing up some heat pressing projects, my invitations (which I have!), seating charts and I need to do everything from March, April & May! I'll have lots to share!

I can't believe we're almost at the three month marker!

98: Recording our First Dance Song

2010-05-09T19:57:00.001-04:00

Remember when I told you about Josh asking a friend to write a first dance song for us? Josh was going to be playing drums for the song, and over the weekend we got to go to SUNY Fredonia (where our friend is a student) and record the song! We had so much fun, and I can't wait until the final piece is put together!

We went down and they practiced for about an hour, then they recorded for about 3 hours. The process is so amazing. They can take pieces from different recordings and piece them together to make one recording! It's crazy! We need to wait for them to add a bass line, clean it up, and send it to us!

Here's what we got to do:

Josh practicing

Our friend practicing

In the recording studio

Playing in the recording studio

The sound board

Our friend & the operator talking to Josh

Some videos of the practicing:

I can't wait until the process is finished, and we can practice dancing to our song.

*All photos and videos were taken by me.

Would you record your first dance song?

99: Fitness Friday #19

2010-05-07T10:21:00.000-04:00

It's time for a monthly check-in!

Weight: 152.4 (2.8 loss)

Hips: 37" (no change)
Natural Waist: 28" (2.5" loss)
Upper Arms: 11.5" (no change)
Thighs: 22" (1" gain)
Calves: 15" (0.5" loss)
BMI: 27.9 (Courtesy of National Institute of Health) (0.8 loss)

How many days I exercised this month: 4
How many days I didn’t exercise this month: the rest of the month
How I’m fitting in my dress: N/A but my first fitting will be June 14th! We'll see how it goes!
How I’m feeling: Really good!
Notes: I need to find some ways to just tone my muscles instead of working on losing weight. I don't want it to be a pain to alter my dress. I want my arms to look good!

100: Lessons Learned

2010-05-06T12:16:00.003-04:00

We are finally at 100 days left! It's hard to believe that 447 days ago we started this journey! Only 100 to go until we're finally married! I feel like I have so much to do still! Now that school is almost done (I graduate in 9 days!), I'll be able to really work on all of the projects I have left!

But, now for the point of the post, the lessons I've learned in the last 447 days:

The most important one:
Those who really care will stick with you the entire time. Remember all of the troubles I had in the beginning? All of the people I felt didn't care? Well, I've come to realize that those who really, honestly care about us will be there to support us the whole time, even if a baby is born that day, or another mom is thinking her daughter's wedding was way better. Those who have asked us weekly or occasionally how wedding plans are going, or offer help will be for us no matter what on our wedding day, and will stick with us until the end of the day.

Other important lessons:

Everything will work out. Even though we had trouble deciding on a date, in the end, it worked out, and we don't have to worry about softball.
We need to do what is us, and love what we're doing. A lot of what we're doing hasn't been done in our family or circle of friends. While we haven't had any opposition, we can expect that not everyone really likes what we're doing. We don't care. We're doing what we like, and what fits us. That's all that really matters.
You can't expect your bridal party to care all the time. First, half of them are guys, so you know they don't care about much. Even though all of the girls I asked to be bridesmaids are important to me, I don't see them much. Even though I see half of them weekly, it isn't for that long and we haven't grown up together. While they are excited for us, it's not something they really care about all the time. On second thought, wait as long as possible to pick your bridal party.
You will get annoyed. Well, I get annoyed fairly easily, but there will be people that do things that make you go "Seriously!?". Just sit down, and make up your own "Really!?!" segment in your head, then move on with more important things. (Side note: You should go look at more clips other than that one. It's great!)
The day is about you. Be excited, be prepared, and enjoy the process!
The greatest quote to go by: "Don't let the details become bigger than the purpose."

Have you learned any important lessons on your journey to the altar?

102: Everything's Working Out

2010-05-04T11:00:00.000-04:00

Remember a while ago when I was talking about our troubles picking out our wedding date? You can go back and refresh your memory. I'll wait a minute. Just focus on the last couple of paragraphs.

Remember that part? Josh's only concern was softball playoffs? Well, we have the schedule, and guess what?!

Personal Photo

The season goes until July 13th! A month before the wedding! I guess there's usually trouble fielding teams once we get into August, so the commissioner decided to shorten the season by a couple weeks!

I knew it would all work out!

Did things really come together and work out for you?

103: Get a Grip!

2010-05-03T08:30:00.027-04:00

I recently saw a post by Miss Dolphin on Weddingbee about these shoe grips to put on the bottom of the shoe. They are so adorable, I thought I'd share!

(Source for both)

Now, our venues are mostly carpet, but the dance floor is not carpeted. I don't want to slip or fall out on the dance floor (if I am wearing shoes on the dance floor)! I'll be wearing these all day:

They're comfortable, easy to walk in, cute, and possibly my something old (I wore them at my Jr. Prom and Sr. Ball). It would be a cute addition to my shoe. I'd have to get shoe shots if I get them, but the shoes aren't as fancy as other shoe shots out there.

Want them? Buy them here for $7!

Are these accessories worth for the shoes I'm wearing?

105: Cake Testing Almost 20 Years in the Making

2010-05-01T16:11:00.000-04:00

We have been going to our baker for close to 20 years. I have no idea when we started going there, but it was shortly after we moved to town in 1990. We have gotten every birthday cake from this baker, and I was hoping to get pictures from when we first started getting cakes, but I couldn't do it without searching through and scanning pictures.

Our baker is inside a local grocery store, Big M. We love the cakes, the make wedding cakes, and even better, since the reception venue is right across the street, there will be no delivery charge! Here are some cakes we've gotten in the last five years:

One for my 16th birthday

One for my grandpa & uncle

One for my 20th birthday

One for my 21st birthday

One for my grandma

Our plan is to get a sheet cake or two, and get a 2 or 3 tiered cake to have on display.

Now, to just figure out what we want and the design! We both like marble, so we might go for that. I know I want a square cake, we just need to figure out a design we like. I need to do that research soon!

Was your baker an easy decision?

107: Newlywed Map

2010-04-29T08:00:00.014-04:00

Josh and I love to go places and travel. The problem is, we don't have any money to do it as much as we'd like, or go to any cool places outside of our area. A cool thing I saw that I would just LOVE to do, is the Newlywed Map. I plan on doing this sometime soon (as soon as I see what Josh thinks and go buy the supplies, then doing it after I have the time when school's done in 2 weeks!)

The original idea is shown here, and the directions are here, just in case you want to do it before I get around to doing it first. What is the Newlywed Map? A big map that I can mount onto a foam board, and stick map pins (which I bought for another project I'll be doing in a couple weeks) into each place Josh and I would go as a couple. It's a great way to show off where we have the chance to travel to. I think it would even make a great gift for Josh's sister. Her and her husband travel a lot, and it would be pretty cool to do for them!

(Source for both)

Do you have a way to show off where you've traveled to?

109: Welcoming the OOTers

2010-04-27T14:01:00.002-04:00

I decided a while ago that I would be doing OOT (out of town) bags for our guests that come from out of town and stay in hotels. While I'm still trying to figure out what I want to put in the bags, exactly, I decided I wanted to make a little brochure welcoming our guests.

Since I had such good luck with our STD's, I decided to go back to VistaPrint for the brochures. I found the perfect design, and put the information in.

The Outside, picture from the order history page

The Inside, photo from the order history page

I put directions to the venues, a welcome note, a rough itinerary (since we don't have any definites or need them), favorite restaurants, local shopping centers, emergency phone numbers, other important phone numbers, and a reminder for our photo sharing site.

I got the package in the mail the other day, and haven't had time to take pictures yet. Unfortunately, those pictures will have to do for now until I take pictures and get more things together.

Did you include any welcome note for your OOT guests?

113: Creating Newlywed/Family Traditions

2010-04-23T08:14:00.013-04:00

One thing we've been struggling with while dating/engaged has been holidays. Where do we spend them, and are we together or apart? After the wedding we'll be having some huge changes.

While we haven't figured out who's family we will be spending what holiday with, talking about it is so important. Family is very important to both of us, and trying to spend time with both sides, while not spending too much time at one, has been very difficult. We've spend many times at holidays alone because we've wanted to do what we've always done.

This has to be figured out before the holidays, even roughly, because it will cause lots of fights. I have no idea what we'll decide, but I will be pretty relieved to figure it all out.

Our Wedding Day had some tips here about starting your own traditions. There's some cool ideas. You should check them out.

How did you start your traditions? Was it hard?

115: A Well Deserved Vacation: The Fun Stuff!

2010-04-21T14:30:00.000-04:00

You saw my options for where to stay, now here's the options of the fun things we can do while we're in the 1,000 Islands!

I found a short list of some things we'll end up doing while we're on our trip, and I thought I'd share the ideas.

First, I'll start with some of the "must-dos", then go to the other fun things.

is a huge must. It's the biggest attraction, so we'll be going there.
Boldt Castle

(Source)

The Tibbetts Point Lighthouse is another big thing to see over in Cape Vincent.

(Source)

Uncle Sam Boat Tours is something we'll be doing. I have no idea which cruise we'd go on, but I can't wait to do the tour! I only went once when I was younger! The price depends on the cruise, and all of them sound like so much fun! I'm sure Josh wouldn't like going on more than one, though.

(Source)

I'm hoping I can get Josh over to the TI Winery. I'd love to get something to bring back for our first anniversary or something, or even wine glasses!

Other fun things:

I would LOVE to do the Champagne Balloon Adventures! I've never gone in a hot air balloon before, and it would be SO fun to do! The problem is, they don't say the cost on their website, so I'd have to call up when we get closer to deciding what we are definitely going to plan on doing, and what we'll plan to do if there's time.

Did you have ideas of what you want to do on your honeymoon? Did you plan it out before you went?

117: Ordering the Perfect Invitations

2010-04-19T12:19:00.000-04:00

If you are a guest (or think you might be a guest, since you haven't gotten these yet), PLEASE don't read this! You only have to wait another two months to find out.

I wanted to have invitations and other stationery with gazebos on them, since we got engaged at a gazebo. FSIL/BM couldn't find anything that would work to make them, and my mom happened to find invitations that had a gazebo on them at the same time, so we decided to just go with them. Luckily, Alfred Angelo sells the same ones, and since I bought my dress there, I get a 40% discount on invites! Score!

(Source)

This is almost what the invitations will be looking like. The ink will be fuchsia, and we won't be doing the response cards (we'll be doing those on our own-another DIY project to post about once I start it).

I'm excited about the wording too!

Mr. and Mrs. Paula's Parents

invite you to share in the joy

of the marriage uniting their daughter

Paula K.

to

Joshua R.

Son of Mr. and Mrs. Josh's Parent's

On Saturday, the fourteenth of August

two thousand ten

at one o'clock in the afternoon

St. Paul Lutheran Church

Street

City, New York

It sounds great! We ordered them last Thursday, and the proof should be in soon!

I'll do a total cost once I do postage & make the RSVP cards.

Did you find the perfect invitations or do you make them?

118: Cutting the Cake Sneak Preview

2010-04-18T14:19:00.005-04:00

Remember the other day when I showed you my options for the serving sets? Well, I got them in the mail the other day and thought you'd all like to see:

I got the Oriental Trading ones. They came packaged nicely, and the look great! I can't wait to use them!

*All personal photos

Were you pleased when you got your serving sets?

120: The Best Surprise EVER!

2010-04-16T13:49:00.003-04:00

On Wednesday, I stopped over at Josh's house for dinner and after I was watching some TV, only to turn around to find this in front of me:

This wasn't taken after he put it on the dinner table. I did the photo shoot later!

Yes, Josh went and paid off the ring and brought it home! I was so excited to see this and know that my ring is COMPLETELY taken care of! It's so tempting to wear it all the time!

Now to take care of his ring...

Did you get a really good surprise while planning?

121: Drinking the Bubbly

2010-04-15T04:02:00.005-04:00

You saw the cake serving sets I've been looking at, now let's look at some champagne flutes! I've only seen two that I really LOVE:

(Source)

My favorite is the one from Personalization Mall (the second set), and I've been waiting for the flutes to go on sale, so their closer to $20. Shipping is going to be about $8, so the less I can spend, the better.

Here's the preview of our information:

(Source, then enter in your own info)

How did you decide on your champagne flutes?

124: Cutting the Cake

2010-04-12T15:28:00.004-04:00

I've been trying to pick out a cake knife and serving set the last few days. Josh's sister said she'd buy us the serving set for us and give it to me at my shower, something special from her for our big day. It has to be under $30, so finding the perfect one has been hard. I've been looking around trying to find the perfect one, and I think I found it between all of the many options out there.

(Source)

I really like this, because of the daisies, but it can't be personalized, and I want that.

(Source)

I really like the hearts, and there's a lot of cute ones out there, but since it has to be under $30, it cut a lot of options out. Actually, only two of these are under $30 (including shipping), and the other two are over. Which do you think I chose? You'll find out when I get it in the mail! (Well, I have to inspect it to make sure it's right! ;) I'll give it to FSIL when I see her. Don't worry!)

How did you pick out your serving set?

126: Our Venues: Reception

2010-04-10T11:35:00.002-04:00

When we went to meet with the chair cover people at the reception location, I decided to take a few pictures of the place while we were there. I need to get an idea of where things are placed, and how much room there is, so I can plan on everything. Like the ceremony venue, I'll show you what it looks like and what I plan on doing:

Left side of the front door

Front door

Right side of the front door

Where the gifts/escort cards will be

Where the cake table will be

Buffet tables set up for another party-ours will be like this

How the tables will be set up

How the tables are set up

One side of the bar

The other side of the bar-I'll have to add little decorations

The girl's bathroom-I can use bathroom baskets!

The girl's stalls-they aren't that bad!

The boy's bathroom

Where the DJ will go

The other side of the head table part, which will probably be left like that

Where the head table will be

The room set up for a wedding-the head table is similar to what we will have

From a friend's Facebook page of their wedding

We brought along our Flower Girl and Ring Bearer's brother along since we were watching, and after we were done scoping out the reception and chair covers he was playing some drums:

*All personal photos except the one with the room set up-that one was taken from a friend's Facebook page.

Did looking at your reception venue the second time around go better than you thought it was going to?

127: One In A Million Chance

2010-04-09T09:17:00.003-04:00

We have been on a crazy search for my wedding band. You may remember what it looks like, and because of it's unique shape, we pretty much decided that I would need a custom wedding band to go along with it. We searched 5 different area jewelers looking, and on one had anything that would come close to going with it, so we decided a custom was best, even though it would cost more.

Last semester, I took a class and we had to do a marketing plan for ourselves or an organization and present it in class. One girl did a plan for her family's jewelry shop, so we went there a couple weekends ago just to get a general estimate for a custom ring (which we had gotten at a few other places, all were between $500-800, depending on what I wanted!) She said it could probably be done around $400, so we decided to go back the next week to get an actual estimate and get a custom ring.

We went back, and spoke with someone else, and we were telling her about another ring I tried, but didn't work out, and she came back with a set and wanted me to try the band. It. Fit. Perfectly! I was so amazed! Josh was shocked that we had found something that could actually go with the engagement ring so well, and not need to be custom fitted. I just knew it was the ring I was supposed to get!

They just had to make sure it could be ordered on it's own, not the whole set, and the best news...they can! The ring is only $355 after shipping and taxes, a lower price than a custom ring, with a lot more diamonds!

I'm a bad blogger, and didn't get a picture, but I guess it's better so you all can be surprised on the day of! :) I'll hopefully remember to get some pictures next week when it's in.

Were you excited to find your ring? Did it come unexpectedly, like mine?

128: Our Venues: Ceremony

2010-04-08T11:34:00.002-04:00

I recently went over to our ceremony venue to take some pictures and get some information from the church secretary. The church we're going to get married in is the church I grew up going to, and they recently built a new sanctuary, and it is beautiful!

(Source)

I went in and took some pictures, so I could get a better idea on decorating. Here's what it looks like and what I'll be doing:

Here's the altar. We'll have a couple floral arrangements on either side of the wide altar.

This is where all of the music is done for church. We won't use this section.

This is where the bell choir plays. We'll have our guitarist and violinist playing here.

A close up of the altar. We'll have our Unity Flowers here and rest our Cord of Three Strands there. I'm not sure what we'll be doing about all of the candles. We'll decorate those tall ones against the wall.

The doors entering into the sanctuary. We'll decorate those a little, either those or the inside part.

There's a little nursery! If any kids get antsy, the parents can take them here. The parents can still see (I took the picture through the huge glass window), and the kids can play!

*All personal photos except for the first one.

Were you excited about figuring how to decorate/use your ceremony space?

129: Dishes, Check!

2010-04-07T11:50:00.000-04:00

We picked out our dishes, after the trouble we went through deciding which to get.

We decided on the Harmony pattern by Corelle, and my grandma gave me money to buy the first box! We'll hang on to this box, and we'll get the other one to wrap up for the showers!

Personal Photo

I can't wait to use them! Even better, at the Corelle outlet store, they were being sold for $80, and at Target they were being sold for $70!

Were you very happy about the final outcome of your place settings?

134: Fitness Friday #18

2010-04-02T23:30:00.000-04:00

It's time for another monthly check in of my weight loss! I'm sorry I haven't written in the last week. I've been home, with not too much to do. I have been trying to knock things off of my list, and do some school work. I am working on a few posts, so I'm hoping I can do that in the next few weeks..next week I have 3 days off!

Weight: 155.2 (1.6 loss)
Hips: 37" (1.5" loss)
Natural Waist: 30.5" (0.5" gain)
Upper Arms: 11.5" (0.5" loss)
Thighs: 21" (0.5" loss)
Calves: 15.5" (0.5" loss)
BMI: 28.7 (Courtesy of National Institute of Health) (0.8 loss)

How many days I exercised this month: 8 or so
How many days I didn’t exercise this month: the rest of the month
How I’m fitting in my dress: N/A but I'm fitting into size 11s for other dresses for showers, and I bought a pair of jeans from Maurices in 7/8!
How I’m feeling: Really good!
Notes: I need to find some ways to just tone my muscles instead of working on losing weight. I don't want it to be a pain to alter my dress.

142: The Tables Get Covers...

2010-03-25T12:27:00.002-04:00

...so why can't the chairs?

Yes, we're getting chair covers for the reception, since the ones that are there are so ugly! Here's what they look like:

Taken from a friend's Facebook account

We went over to the reception venue to meet with the chair cover company, Rochester Chair Covers, and looked at some of the sashes they have to offer. We decided to do some really cool things, and make the head table different by having chair sashes in the color of their outfits (groomsmen/bridesmaids get hot pink, honor attendants get yellow, Josh & I get white), and the rest of the guests have purple sashes.

They even did the two kinds of folding on the sashes so we can decide:

The bow

The train

The chairs are a little small, but hopefully it won't be noticed too much. It will look way nicer with the covers on than if the chairs didn't have them at all.

I kind of like the train better, unless it's just because the bow doesn't seem to have been done really nicely (they did it quick for us to see). Josh likes the bow, but I'm not really sure what I should go for. What are your suggestions?

Did you do something to make the venue look nicer?

143: Quick Addition

2010-03-24T16:54:00.001-04:00

I recently purchased enough bridal party rhinestone iron-ons for each of my girls, moms and me from Jubilee Rhinestones. With the package came one to test with, so I figured I should do that before I make the girls their hoodies.

I didn't take any pictures of the process, since I did it unexpectedly, but I do have a picture of the end product.

The "tester" word that was sent to me was "Beloved", and while it's cute, I didn't know if I wanted the whole word. I decided to just keep "Love" and add it on either my hoodie or a Bride hat I have. I put it on my Bride hat and here's how it turned out:

It turned out great. I had Josh do it for me on their heat press, and he did a great job! It makes that hat look so cute now!

Did you make any small changes to anything you got?

144: Sorry!

2010-03-23T17:39:00.000-04:00

I know I've written this tons of times in the last month, but I really am!! I was planning on writing a lot last week, and did get a couple posts started, but with trying to do papers before school started again Monday (a 6 page paper and a 3 page paper). The rest of the week is free, so I can post on these projects I've started & other things I've been doing...

We went ring shopping
I decided on a florist
I got more pictures of the ceremony venue
We're meeting tomorrow with the chair cover rental place & the reception coordinator

I do have stuff to post on. I'm just making the time to do it around school! :)

149: The Perfect Flatware

2010-03-18T16:15:00.001-04:00

We saw yesterday about my dish dilema (actually, we will be going with Harmony, since Kmart didn't have Sand & Sky in the store), and finding the perfect flatware set was just as difficult for me.

I wanted something modern (surprise!), but something that looked good. I wanted it to be Oneida, since that has a good reputation.

I originally went into Bed, Bath & Beyond (BB&B) and registered for their Aquarius set, but after thinking about it, it was really expensive, and I felt bad asking someone to pay $50 or $80 for 1 place setting.

(Source)

I looked around at other settings in BB&B, and liked this by Robert Welch:

(Source)

It's very modern, but I wasn't sure if I wanted not Oneida, and it still wasn't the cheapest either.

I pretty much let it go for a while, just waiting to see what happened, when last week, I got a catalog from Oneida in the mail, their having a huge sale! Even better, I found TWO options that I liked.

Stasis

(Source)

Flight

(Source)

I saw the Flight one in stores, and wasn't as crazy about it, so we'll be going with Stasis! A 65 piece set, a 12 person set, will cost $100, and if we add 4 per person settings, it will be an extra $35. Better yet, we have a 20% off the highest item! Not bad, since FMIL said she'll get them for us!

Did your flatware set just fall into your lap?

150: Dishes will be the Death of Me

2010-03-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

I have had the hardest time picking out dishes. EVER!

My grandma said she was going to be buying my dishes, I just had to pick them out. The only catch was that it had to be Corelle dishes.

I ~~want~~ need square dishes, and have had the hardest time finding Corelle dishes that were square that I liked. There were tons of cute designs, but I wanted the more neutral tones, not bright colors (and by neutral, more brownish). There were other brands I liked, but they were porcelain or stoneware, so I was discouraged from looking at them.

A few weeks ago, Corelle sent out an e-mail saying that they have new designs. I went over to look, not expecting anything, when...wait, what's that!? A brown and blue square plate?! Perfect! Even better, last week they started a sale where you can get $20 off of a $100 purchase!

Sand & Sky

(Source)

Yesterday, on our way home from Canada, we decided to stop at the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls, because they have a Corelle store there. (I was a bad blogger and didn't take any pictures.) We didn't see the new style (posted above), so I was really disappointed, but they did have a similar design that I also liked. KMart's website shows that they have this design, but I'm not sure if they have it in the store or not. It's $5 cheaper than online.

Modern Lines

(Source)

Unfortunately, Josh wasn't the craziest about this design, so he wasn't so sure about the Sand and Sky, since it's so similar. He thinks it's too plain.

We did come across one that we both really liked. It's Corelle Pro, and it's not on any Corelle website. I've only seen it on Target's website, and we're going to see if they sell it in the store (it's cheaper in Target than the Corelle store by $10). Corelle Pro just means that the dishes are 30% thicker.

Harmony

(Source)

We both LOVE the Harmony design, and since it's $10 cheaper in Target (and the same price as Sand and Sky on the Corelle website), and no shipping charges, we're hoping my grandma will go for this.

The only problem is that all 3 of these designs don't come with any coordinating dishes (platters, large bowls, etc). I'm fine with it (it really stinks, though), and am willing to get plain white dishes for platters, bowls, and other dishes, especially since I have a ton of corning ware that I got after my great-grandma died. It all doesn't match each other or the dishes, but I have about a complete set. There is a set (platter and salt & pepper shakers) that kind of matches modern lines:

(Source)

Josh doesn't want white, and will buy anything (but it needs to have the same colors and be plain, not just any random design in the color) that's not white. He wants all of the extra bowls because he wants all the food at the table when his family is over, but I'm used to having everyone serve themselves buffet style in the kitchen off of the stove. It's even better because there's about half as many dishes to do!

Help me out! What's your opinion?

Do I see if I can find the Sand and Sky just to look at it? Do I go with Modern Lines to get the platter and shakers? Or do I just go with white and Josh will have to deal?

151: I'm back!

2010-03-16T13:46:00.002-04:00

I'm back from our mini trip to Canada to visit our nephew and Josh's brother! I got some coat hangers at Ikea there, so I'll be posting some pictures on that soon, as soon as I figure out what I want to do. :) I have this week off, so I should be able to get some stuff done! At least I'm hoping to! My teachers thought it would be a great idea to give homework over the break, so we'll see what I get done. I have a job interview tomorrow, and a shower on Friday evening, so the rest of my time will be split between homework and wedding planning fun!

Some pictures of my weekend (sorry, most of them are blurry!):

Josh & Ethan

Playing in Ikea

Aww, he has his arm around Josh!

Getting a carpet ride!

Ethan and Aunt Paula

We stopped at Niagara Falls on our way home, since I was complaining all week that I wanted to stop in Toronto or the Falls for a little.

Niagara Falls Skyline

American Falls

Canadian/Horseshoe Falls

We then stopped at the Outlet Mall there, mostly to look at dishes (which I'll be talking about soon), then we went around and looked at Under Armour, Nike, Reebok, and Adidas looking for some clothes, cleats and gloves. We both left with $20 cleats! I also picked up a cute little shirt for BM/FSIL's baby!

153: Our Videographer

2010-03-14T08:00:00.029-04:00

Josh and I decided that we were going to have one of Josh's cousins taping our wedding. We only want our wedding ceremony taped, not everything else, so there's no way either of us can justify spending over $1,000 for a videographer when we don't need much taped.

We decided on having J, Josh's cousin, tape our wedding since he helped tape FSIL/BM K's wedding (and GM/FBIL G's!), and he also taped Josh's grandma's wedding last year (actually, tomorrow is their 1 year anniversary! Happy Anniversary!!).

He's very good at making videos, and I thought I'd share some of his videos with you all! I'll just post my favorites, and you can go to his youtube page and check out more for yourself. There's a ton of other funny videos! Yes, that's him in all the videos!

The Jump of a Lifetime:

The Cloning Box:

Shockwave Engergy:

Rock the House:

Could you imagine him making us float or do some fun things in our video?! We've thought about asking him to do a "normal video," just taping it like normal, and then making a fun video if he can. I'm not sure if we have to do special things, and in that case, I probably wouldn't.

I'm expecting we'll just have him tape our ceremony, and have him give it to us on a disk, and it won't be anything fancy (no floating, no jumping), just us starting the rest of our lives together!

How did you pick your videographer? Are you having them tape more than the ceremony?

155: Weekend Getaway!

2010-03-12T12:42:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to let you all know that I'll be going away this weekend! I have a post scheduled for Sunday, but it might be a day or two after that until I can put up another one. I couldn't get another one together because I was "studying" ;)

(Source)

We're going to Canada to visit Josh's brother (Groomsman TM) & his family (their son is one of our ring bearers). I'm pretty excited to go away for a couple days, and then I have the rest of the week to relax, do wedding planning,..and, oh, all the homework that was dumped on me over break. Not cool. I'll be sure to get up early most of the week and alternate my school and wedding tasks to get everything done! I need to make sure I can do a lot off my checklist this week!

We're supposed to be stopping at IKEA sometime too, and I had an idea for a little DIY project, and have to get something from there (there's not one by me), so I'll be sharing that with you if we go and I can get the supplies!

I'll be sharing some pictures when we get back! :)

156: The Bridesmaid Dress Saga Ends!

2010-03-11T11:25:00.000-05:00

Yup! All 6 of my girls picked out a bridesmaid dress and ordered them! I can finally cross it off the list! Remember the dresses I picked for them? I ended up adding a maternity option for BM AM, since she's due 2 weeks before the wedding, and that style will fit her best (I would have made it an option for everyone, and may have chose that one, but I think it makes everyone look pregnant).

Ready to see how everyone chose? I only have pictures of the first round. When I went last night, I know they probably would have killed me for taking pictures, and BM AM was mad her husband was taking some on his phone (yes, he tagged along).

For my 4 non-pregnant bridesmaids, they chose between the two styles that I posted about last time. Here are the two options in the color I wanted:

(Source)

BMs AG, P & K

Both personal photos

BMs K & S (ignore the yellow ribbon)

For my pregnant bridesmaid, BM AM, I had her choose between those two and a maternity dress. I don't have her in any dresses, so here's a picture of it from the Alfred Angelo site. She looked really good in the maternity dress, and I'm glad she ended up going with it.

(Source)

And for Maid of Honor AB, I pretty much let her choose any satin dress she wanted, since she was helping me out so much emotionally (she's like my shrink!). She tried on a few dresses, and the ones the girls got to choose from. She didn't like the way many of those fit, and didn't go with the dress she wanted last time. I love the dress she picked out! She'll be wearing sunshine with a fuchsia belt:

(Source)

I know it isn't exactly what I originally had in mind, having them all very similar, but really, the dresses aren't that different, and they like what they're wearing (hopefully!). I was pleasantly surprised!

Did the final outcome of your bridesmaid's dress selection surprise you?

158: A Well Deserved Vacation: Camping

2010-03-09T15:44:00.000-05:00

Last time, I looked at different hotels we can stay in during our honeymoon. We haven't completely decided what we wanted to do, because no matter where we go, staying on a Friday night is going to cost more. We originally decided to try for tent camping one night, and looking for that I stumbled upon places to cabin camp. This led me to look at costs of staying in different cabins all week, after we stay at the Riveredge for 2 nights.

There are tons of options and locations we can go to for camping, which is great, but I can't really seem to find what I want. I'd prefer to find cabins instead of park sites, especially because it's our honeymoon...and, well, you know! It would be awkward in a tent next to other tents, but, would a cabin be any better? Cottages are nice, but they can be so expensive, and only have weekly rates. I did find a few cottages for a reasonable price. It would be nice to wake up each day, make breakfast, then go on our way. It would be very relaxing, just the 2 of us, and we don't have to worry about room service!

We can stay in Gananoque, Canada at the Landon Bay Campgrounds. It would be tent camping only, and it would be $26 per day. Not bad.

The rest are in America.

(Source)

One option is Adirondack/1000 Islands Camping. They've got nice looking cabins, good price ($50/night), the only downside is that it's in Watertown, not by the water. A half hour drive to the Islands isn't bad, it would just be nice to stay there.

(Source)

Another option is the Pionteck Cottages.

(Source for both)

Our 2-Bedroom Housekeeping Cottages are fully equipped and located directly on the St. Lawrence River. We have gas ranges and heat, electric, full size refrigerators, toasters, microwaves and coffee makers. Dishes and cooking utensils are also included.
Each 2-bedroom cottage has one bedroom with a double bed and one room with twin beds. Blankets and pillows are supplied but you need to bring your own linens and towels.

Those are $80-90 per night, but I'm not sure what determines the exact price. It's located right on the river, I just couldn't find them in Google maps.

Another option is Crestwood Cottages.

(Source for both)

Each cottage has 2 bedrooms with double beds. They will sleep 4 adults comfortably.
Other amenities include a fully equipped kitchenette w/gas stove,
sink, microwave, toaster, coffee maker, & refrigerator.
Inside each cottage is a private toilet and just a few feet away its own private shower room.
Outside each cottage is a picnic table and charcoal grill.
There is also a community fire pit and swing set for the little ones.
Best of all, each cottage has a screened porch with a full view of the beautiful St. Lawrence River.

Those are $90 per night, and I found their location on Google Maps, and they seem really nice!

We can also stay at a KOA and do tent or cabin camping. For tent camping it would be $47 per night, and for a cabin it would be $99 per night. We can also stay at one of many NYS Parks.

I really like the options of Pionteck's Cottages or Crestwood Cottages. It would be a nice way to spend our first week together married. We could bring our own food for breakfast and other meals, and not have to pay to go out and eat every single night. I know my mom would think I'm nuts, but really, it would be really nice to just get used to everyday life, but on vacation!

Have you stayed at an unconventional place for a honeymoon?

160: Pens in Disguise

2010-03-07T11:51:00.002-05:00

Even though I haven't decided what we'll be doing for the guest book yet, I decided to make some decorations that could double as writing utensils for showers and the reception, when people have to sign the guest book.

I bought a centerpiece from Weddingbee user, mstill. It came with one 4" tall rectangle vase, and two 2" square vases, the had some ribbon around the edge, Gerber daisies, and some glass stones in them. The brown and blue ribbon doesn't match my colors, but I was able to take them off and put the color I wanted on.

Photo from mstill

Unfortunately, when they were being shipped, one of the smaller vases broke, and trying to match the small vases was impossible. I decided to just buy 2 small vases, and they matched the taller one much better. Later, I decided I had enough flowers to make a second large vase, so I went out to buy another one of those. (Yes, this turned out to be way more expensive than it needed to be.)

*All remaining photos are personal photos*

Here's how it all worked out:

The materials (minus the hot glue to put the ribbon on)

I put the yellow ribbon around the vase, at the top & bottom:

I did the same for the smaller vases:

With the ribbon on

I put the flowers into bunches and hot glued them into place:

The materials for the pens

I wrapped the floral tape around the flower and the pens

The completed bunch:

I later decided to add purple stones to them, and put some in each vase

The budget breakdown:

Original centerpieces: $20 ($10 for centerpieces and some for shipping. I think $10 was what it was)

Extra small vases (2): $5

Large vase: $4

Ribbon: $2

Purple stones: $1.50

Pens: $3

Floral tape: $2

Grand total: $37.50 for 4 decorations/pens

I so could have made those all cheaper if I just bought everything on my own (the only thing I didn't have to buy over was one large vase and the flowers, so who knows). I am a little frustrated at the amount I put into it, but in the end, they're really nice decorations.

Did you have a set back in creating anything? Did it end up costing you more in the end?

162: Fitness Friday #17

2010-03-05T17:00:00.000-05:00

It's time for another monthly check in of my weight loss!

Weight: 156.8 (4.6 loss)
Hips: 38.5" (0.5" loss)
Natural Waist: 30" (no change)
Upper Arms: 12" (1" gain)
Thighs: 21.5" (1" loss)
Calves: 16" (no change)
BMI: 28.7 (Courtesy of National Institute of Health) (0.8 loss)

How many days I exercised this month: 8 or so
How many days I didn’t exercise this month: the rest of the month
How I’m fitting in my dress: N/A but I'm going to have to stop losing weight and work on toning or my dresss will be too big!
How I’m feeling: Really good!
Notes: I need to find some ways to just tone my muscles instead of working on losing weight. I don't want it to be a pain to alter my dress.

Any suggestions on how to tone muscles (mostly arms, legs and abs)?

163: A Well Deserved Vacation: Hotels

2010-03-04T16:08:00.000-05:00

After our wedding, we'll be in desperate need of a loooong break!

So, on August 15, we'll be leaving on our honeymoon in the 1000 Islands! No, it's not a tropical place like we would have loved to do, but where we live (and in the 1000 Islands) it'll be in the 70's and 80's, and we didn't want to go somewhere warm when it was warm at home.

My family has gone to the 1000 Islands forever, but haven't gone in the last 5-10 years since my grandparents sold their place. Josh has never gone, and it's so relaxing it's the perfect place!

Since we're 2 poor kids, we're looking at cheaper hotels, unfortunately we're going peak season, so everything is more expensive. I'm hoping to split the honeymoon into 2 different hotels, so we can save some money. I actually just booked the hotel I've been dying to stay at for years!

The hotel I just booked is the Riveredge Resort for August 15-17. I booked the $195/night rooms (I splurged-we were going to do the $185, but I wanted to make sure we get this view, especially on our honeymoon)

(Source) The hotel

(Source) The view (Boldt Castle)

Now, the trouble is I'm having a hard time deciding the other hotel we'll stay at. We can stay in Alex Bay, where the Riveredge is, go to Cape Vincent, Watertown (which is a half hour away), or across the river at Gananoque, Canada. The problem is, the only hotel I've really found that's affordable is in Alex Bay, down the road. It's a good thing, it just looks like a cross between a hotel and motel...not really what I wanted for the honeymoon.

The Otter Creek Inn:

(Source)

This hotel has actually gotten pretty good reviews: 86% recommend the hotel. The hotel is $85/night, and $115/night for Friday, and I have AAA, so I'll get that discount.

The West Winds Motel/Cottages:

(Source)

I'm not sure how big the beds are, but it's only $65/night. I'm not really sure what comes in each room, and I'm not sure sure how much I want to stay in a motel. The reviews are pretty good, though.

The Buccaneer Motel/Bed & Breakfast:

(Source)

We can also stay in a B&B. That would be cool. I've never stayed in one before, and there's also a motel option. I just can't see how much it is to stay there, so I'll have to e-mail or call to find out prices. I can't find reviews, either.

Thousand Islands Inn:

(Source)

It's not much to look at, and the reviews aren't great. The rates are pretty confusing. A room would be $85-95 for one night, or $240-270 for three nights.

We can make the honeymoon a 2-country festival! We can go across the river to Canada and stay in Gananoque at these 2 hotels:

Gananoque Inn & Spa:

(Source)

The reviews are pretty good, it's just expensive. We'll be paying at least $209/night. It's so pretty though!

Howard Johnson Inn:

(Source)

The reviews are pretty bad, and I can't easily find any price information. I'm guessing I'll skip this hotel!

Edgewood Resort:

(Source)

One in Alex Bay that I really wanted to do was this hotel. We stayed here about 5 years ago for my brother's 13th birthday. The problem is, I can only get rooms for $139/night. I've been there once, and know that the hotel is really nice.

What should I do? Should I bite the bullet and go with one of the first two? Do I want to try a motel or go with the Otter Creek Inn? Should I go for the bed and breakfast?

Where did/will you stay on your honeymoon?

165: Bridal Blues

2010-03-02T08:14:00.001-05:00

I know I've been writing a lot of emotional posts, and I had wrote that I'll hopefully be done with them soon. Hopefully I will, and it helps that I've realized part of what my problem is.

(Source)

Yes, I've obviously been sad. There's been lots and LOTS of crying the last few months, and I've been wondering if it was just me and if it was very serious. My biggest feelings are sadness about a lack of attention toward our wedding, not wanting being excited for our wedding day (even dreading it), and not being very into planning. The last thing I want is to have depression, admitting it to family and friends, and having to be diagnosed by my doctor.

Off I went to my friend, Google, to see if there was such thing as pre-wedding depression, like there is post wedding depression. It turns out there is such a thing! Obviously, it doesn't mean I'm exempt from getting depression, but right now, I know I'm not alone in what I'm feeling.

I've found a few good websites explaining the Bridal Blues (The last 2 sites are my favorites!)*. I really feel that they're explaining more "wedding jitters" and "cold feet", neither of which I'm experiencing. I feel more depression, anxiety, and stress regarding the wedding.

*THREE TO SIX MONTHS before the wedding can be a strange and emotionally challenging time for many brides. The planning is basically done, but it's not time yet to address invitations or make seating arrangements. In this empty space, difficult feelings of anger, sadness, and fear often come up. And unfortunately, since there's nothing that urgently needs doing, you can't really distract yourself. You have to just feel the feelings

*A bride has to include stress management, self-nurturing, and time to chill out as an integral part of her wedding planning process.

*Really, just read this whole site

Most of those feelings come with what I already told you about, some also come with making sure I please everyone, and taking suggestions well. No, I don't always take suggestions well, especially from my mom. It's hard because I don't always want those suggestions, but it's hard to say no without hurting feelings or sounding like I have a huge attitude.

I still worry a lot about the new baby in the family. I feel like it's going to take away from my day, and three-quarters of the guests will want to pay attention to the baby, not the fact that Josh and I are getting married. I honestly am excited for my FSIL & FBIL, but I really wish that our wedding day could only be about US and OUR COMMITMENT. I feel that I'm not going to have a good time, because I'll spend it all worrying about people enjoying us, not the baby. I feel that I won't truly get MY day, the day I've been dreaming of since I was little, OUR day, the one of the most important ones we'll ever have.

I feel a little better after our weekend trip to Cincinnati. We went for Josh's step-grandma's 90th birthday party. I met a lot of family, and re-met family that I only met once, 5 years ago. It was nice having people excited about the wedding and talk to me about it, but those same people are going to be at the wedding looking forward to the baby. It's a mixed feeling, and it's very weird.

I know I've ~~complained~~ vented a TON about my emotions, especially the baby. It feels really good to get these emotions off my chest without annoying Josh or my MOH, and without bringing it out to the whole family. So, thank you so so much for reading all of these posts, as sad as they might be.

I'm hoping I don't have the Bridal Blues for the next 5-6 months. It will be too much to handle. I do have some happy posts coming! I have some projects and other things I'll be writing about, so stick around! I promise I won't be writing emotional posts forever!

Have you experienced the Bridal Blues during your planning?

166: Going to a Wedding Soon?

2010-03-01T12:17:00.002-05:00

Don't know what to wear?

There were two great posts on the Our Wedding Day Blog about what men and women should wear to certain kinds of weddings, and I thought I'd share them with you all. All the info is copied and pasted from those blogs.

Women:

Daytime Informal and Semi-Formal
Women should wear suits or short dresses to a daytime informal wedding. Stick to prints, florals and pale colors. Always avoid wearing white. Avoid business attire unless the wedding is very casual or very small. Chunky, fun jewelry can add a touch of personality to your daytime wedding outfit.
Daytime Formal
Some formal weddings take place during the day. If you’re going to be in the sun, wear a formal hat. Gloves and formal accessories help tie together a summery outfit for formal daytime weddings.
Evening Semi-Formal
Women should wear cocktail attire. Go with a little black dress or colorful cocktail dress—but avoid overly glitzy sequined or club-inspired dresses. Wear dressy sandals with a heel and tie up your outfit with tasteful, classy jewelry.
Evening Formal or Black Tie
For an evening formal wedding, short cocktail dresses should be dressed up with accessories and glamorous jewelry. If you’re having trouble finding the right outfit, go with a standard and classy little black dress. For a black-tie wedding, look for a long gown and consider having your hair done by a professional.

Men:

Daytime Informal and Semi-Formal
Men should wear a dress shirt and pants to an informal daytime wedding. Shorts are never appropriate. Consider adding a sports jacket for a classy touch. Remember, men’s sandals are only appropriate for beach weddings. If a wedding will take place on the beach and then move indoors, consider bringing shoes to change into. Men should always wear a suit for a semi-formal wedding. During the day, suits do not necessarily need to be black or navy blue.
Daytime Formal
For daytime formal weddings, men should wear light-colored suits and ties. Nice hats are appropriate. Avoid sports wear and informal hats.
Evening Semi-Formal
Men should always wear a dark-colored suit to a semi-formal wedding. Unless the wedding takes place in a very trendy area, stick with traditional suits and ties. Leave cutting-edge wedding fashions to the bridal party and stick to traditional looks.
Evening Formal or Black Tie
Men should always wear dark suits or tuxedos to formal or black tie evening weddings. Be sure to have suits tailored and cleaned prior to the event. Remember to coordinate with appropriate shoes. He can rent a tuxedo if he doesn’t own one.

Do ever have trouble figuring out what to wear to weddings?

168: Sharing Photos 104: The Decision

2010-02-27T08:00:00.007-05:00

Well, Josh and I finally decided on a photo sharing site. We decided to go with Flickr. In the end we figured it was the cheapest and easiest for everyone (especially us).

The best part: I made the photo sharing cards! I just need to call up Uprinting so I can combine 2 orders (I won 2 contests, and can get 500 cards!)

Here's my design (I used Mrs. Cream Puff's card for my outline):

Front:

Back:

Hopefully it all shows up. If not, just click on it. They're both personal files.

Do you think it's good? Suggestions?

Did you make photo sharing cards for your guests? Did they use them?

170: E-Ring Porn

2010-02-25T08:00:00.002-05:00

As promised, I'm posting up pictures of my engagement ring! I have a ton, so this is just a narrowed down selection of them all.

And just for the fun, here's a picture of my (right) and Josh's cousin's ring (left).

All personal photos, except the last one which was taking by FCIL.

Do you have pictures of your engagement ring?

171: So Many Options, Only One Can Win

2010-02-24T17:21:00.002-05:00

Oh, the number of options out there for what Flower Girls can carry down the aisle. I love basically every option, but I can only choose one. The three options that would work best for my Flower Girl are the pomander, the bouquet, and the basket. There are many other cute options, but with the feel of my wedding, and only having one Flower Girl, these are probably best.

The Pomander

(Source)

The Bouquet

(Source)

Or these unique bouquets:

(Source)

The Basket

(Source)

What did your Flower Girl carry down the aisle?

173: Engagement Troubles: Why Are We Getting Married?

2010-02-22T18:05:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry for all of the emotional posts lately. I've been in a weird place the last few months, but I'm hoping I'll be out of it soon after I get a couple of things straightened away. I've thought of writing this post in a multitude of ways, mostly focusing on siblings and sibling rivalry, but as I found that more and more issues were bothering me (some I didn't even realize until I vented to Josh), it spiraled into writing about why we are getting married. I'm warning you now: this one is kind of long.

First, I'll tell you a little about some of my stressors that were piling up before I finally vented to Josh (there's a main reason, then little reasons why I feel that way, just so you're not confused).

(Source)

The main stressor was that I felt that no one cares about our wedding, and that by the time our wedding comes around, people (especially on Josh's side) will be so wrapped up in other family member's events that our wedding won't be about celebrating with us, but those who are having other imporant things happen to them (there are many exciting events within a month of our wedding).

Little Stressor #1: We've been engaged for over a year at this point. Yes, I know that it's not as exciting for everyone else as it is for me, but the last few months I've felt that no one has asked how wedding plans are coming, what we're going to do, what's left to do (really, especially since I've vented, I've noticed 2 people ask me over the weekend-I've probably been oblivious if others have asked because of the funk I was in).

Little Stressor #2: Josh's cousin, Q, is getting married just over a month before us. While I'm extremely happy for them, I feel that Josh's side of the family won't be as happy for us, because Q's wedding is so new and I feel that they will compare that wedding to mine and be judging it. Her mom might be doing flowers for us, so with worrying about her daughter's wedding, I'm constantly worried that she won't want to do them, or that she will do them, but later not want to. BM/FSIL AM is also helping out a lot with this wedding, so I fear that she won't want to do anything for ours.

Little Stressor #3: This one is a little bigger than the others. BM/FSIL AM is preggers. I'm so so so happy that it finally happened for them! The problem is, she's been causing me a TON of stress lately. The baby is due 2 weeks before the wedding day (which is a great wedding present, and I get to pick out it's outfit, but it's close, and who knows how she'll feel that day). She's supposed to be helping me with assembling programs, which she may not want to do. I fear that everyone at the wedding will want to see this baby and not celebrate with us. She's also been really stressing me out about the dress situation. She's told me that I should let everyone choose their own dresses like she did. You already saw the difficulty I've had deciding on the dresses, and how I came to the decision. She's going to need a maternity dress anyway, and I'm being very flexible in accomodating her "condition", and she hasn't wanted to respond, visit the store, or anything to help make this easier. She also told me when I was planning a wedding for a high school project that I shouldn't let anyone tell me what to do. It's my day and I should do what I want.

Little Stressor #4: I fear that my new siblings don't want to spend time with us. I've always wanted older siblings, and now that I have them, we don't spend as much time with them as they do with other siblings or siblings-in-law. I take a lot of things personally, so sometimes this really hurts when I know that one of them has spent time with a brother or sister, but hasn't once asked to hang out with us.

Last week after dinner, I had a huge breakdown and vented to Josh. He let me vent, calmed me down, and told me (after he proved me wrong about not getting asked how wedding planning is) that none of those stressors are important, and none of that is the reason we're getting married or what the focus of our wedding should be. The wedding is about US and the fact that we are going to get up there in front of everyone and make a committment publicly. I felt much better after forgetting the true reason of the wedding: US!

To further reinforce this, I happened to be reading What No One Tells The Bride (which I'll be sharing about later, hopefully I'll finish it before the end of the month!) when I found a section in Chapter 2 called "Focus on What's Truly Important". Look at pages 53-56. It should automatically take you there.

(From Google Books)

My favorite parts are from the bottom of page 54 to the middle of page 55, and even the end of the section. Really, the whole thing is great.

"And when you affirm the marriage, when you say to another person, 'You are what matters to me most in the world,' and hear someone say it to you, love puts to shame our usual preoccupation with daily planners and 'to do' lists, with promotions and deadlines, even with stencils and catering menus. The power of saying 'We are' will take your relationship to places far better than your travel agent could ever recommend.

Did you have a breakdown before you remembered what was really important? Did you have to be reinforced another time before it sunk in?

176: Engagement Troubles: The Date

2010-02-19T05:34:00.000-05:00

As you read before, I wasn't having the best engagement week. It was full of disappointment, and fighting, going back and forth through people, no one talking directly to each other (you'll see why in a minute). It. was. horrible. Not really how I imagined my first week as an engaged lady would go. The main problem (I guess I didn't have too many problems, actually) was deciding on a date.

Since Valentine's Day was our day, Josh and I pretty much assumed we would be getting married on Valentine's Day 2010. (Which means I would be a married lady now! Obviously that's not how it ended or we wouldn't be here, and the date wouldn't be set for 8/14. Ok, go on with the rest of the story to find out the ending!) The problem was, our parents (mine, mainly) weren't too crazy about that decision. I'm not sure of their reasonings, but they wanted me to be done with school.

Josh and I had it all figured out. We were going to get married on V-Day, spend the night in a local hotel, I would go to school if I had to, if not, I'd stay out for a while, and we'd go on our honeymoon during my spring break in March.

My parents didn't want to hear it. They wanted me to wait, and pretty much refused us to get married then. There was lots of disagreements between me and my mom, and me and Josh. My mom and I would talk and kind of like the idea of one thing, then Josh and I would talk and wouldn't like it. It was very stressful. We wanted our day, but my mom kept suggesting new ones so we could have 2 days to celebrate.

I didn't want to do it 3 months after Valentine's Day-the next day would be my graduation. When I mentioned 6 months after, Josh wasn't sure because softball goes right up until that weekend, and could possibly be the week after (honeymoon week). We didn't want to wait until Valentine's Day 2011, which was my parent's suggestion. I also didn't want to do it on some random date (I did realize not long ago that I first saw him on 10/10/03, which would mean we could get married on 10/10/10 and it would be both cool and somewhat symbolic, but I thought about it within the last week, so it's a tad too late).

After a long talk with my mom, I told her I'd talk to Josh about August 14, 6 months after Valentine's Day. His concern was being done with softball (he's the coach for our church leagues). He didn't want to miss playoffs, and I don't blame him. I don't either. I told him the last few years that the season was done that week, and the only way we'd have to play during the wedding and honeymoon week was if we needed to reschedule because of the rain. We would just have to do it before, and tell them that we can't do it that weekend-half the team is either in the wedding or going to be guests at the wedding.

He agreed, and decided we could do August 14th. My parents were happy, but we weren't truly happy. We were excited to pick a date, one of the most important things to the both of us, and we didn't get what we wanted. We are happy with the date and that we'll get married, and everything just started working out when we picked August 14th.

How did you pick your date? Did you get the date you wanted?

177: Engagement Troubles: The Ring

2010-02-18T12:43:00.002-05:00

I told you I'd tell you about my ring, which you saw in my our engagement story.

Honestly, I was very disappointed when Josh put the ring on my finger. The ring wasn't at all what I pictured myself getting, and really wasn't too crazy about how it looked.

What I wanted:

(Source)

What I got:

(Source)

Yes, it's from Walmart. I really don't care-same thing you can get somewhere else for a lower price.

Not exactly similar. I was vocal about my dislike for the ring too, which hurt Josh, something I don't want to do. I always blame myself, since I knew it was coming, I should have been sending him some ideas. I guess I never really thought I would get something I wasn't crazy about. (We didn't go together mostly because if we went, I would have know for sure it was coming, which as you know, I did anyway. I'm not, and I don't think he is either, crazy about the girl going to pick out what she's getting. She can send suggestions, but personally, I think it should be up to the man to pick it out.)

The ring has grown on me a lot. It's MY ring, and even though it's not what I would have picked out for myself, it's what Josh gave me. After all, it ISN'T about WHAT the ring looks like, it's the MEANING behind the ring. It's a symbol of the committment that we're going to make. Josh went to pick out what he liked and thought would be a good fit, and honestly, it's not a bad ring. It's very beautiful, just not what I would have jumped to first.

After making piece with my ring, I took a bunch of awesome ring shots. I have some from the winter and just some random ones. I'm hoping to get some spring pictures once it gets nice, and perhaps some summer ones. You'll just have to wait on those. Actually, you'll be waiting on the ones I have too. Those come in another post.

Did you love your ring when you got it? Did you help pick it out, or was it a surprise?

178: I'm back!

2010-02-17T17:02:00.000-05:00

Almost, for real this time!

I've had a rough time starting school, but now, just over 3 weeks in, I'm finally in a routine to start blogging again! I'm in the process of writing up 2 or 3 posts, so I'll get those out soon! I'm really sad that I'm not avle to catch up on my blog reading. If I missed something good, let me know! :)

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day! I did, but we didn't do anything special. We always go to the Olive Garden, but we went to lunch with people from church so we figured we shouldn't eat 2 big meals (and we figured that Olive Garden would be super busy!) We just made dinner and rented a movie. Tomorrow we'll be going to the Olive Garden (my grandma gives us a gift card for there every year) and watching a borrowed movie! :) I'm having a friend do my hair, so I'll at least have pics of that! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of our celebration, or lack of one! :)

181: This Day in History

2010-02-14T08:00:00.093-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!

(Source)

I can't believe it's Valentine's Day already! It's hard to believe that not only is there 6 months until we're married, but 6 years ago today we started dating, and 1 year ago today we got engaged! I know that I haven't written about the proposal yet, so you'll get that for your Valentine's Day present! :)

Last year for Valentine's Day we were celebrating our 5 year anniversary, and Josh was going to plan our whole day, since it was a Saturday. Honestly, I was expecting him to propose, but I wasn't sure when. I pretty much decided on my own that we would get engaged on our 5 years of dating and married on our 6 year (which would be today, boy was I wrong-you'll hear about that soon). I just always felt that way, and it worked out that it felt right when the time came! He kept the entire day a secret to me, which didn't help my suspicions. There was some down time between each stop, but here's the important stops of the day:

Stop #1:
We drove up to the Olive Garden for lunch, our usual meal spot on Valentine's Day. We always go for dinner and exchange our gifts. We got there and got seat. It actually wasn't too long of a wait, even though Valentine's Day was a Saturday at 1pm. We got there, ordered our meals and I think we did our presents then. I gave him a crucifix necklace, and I got a sun catcher:

(Source)-Our favorite store!

It was cute, but after spending $100 on a necklace (he knew I was getting him an expensive gift), I knew that the sun catcher wasn't my "real" present.

Stop #2:
After the Olive Garden we went over to the movie theater. We saw He's Just Not That Into You (yeah, a great movie for Valentine's Day). It was a great movie, and you should go rent it! (It's also a book. I haven't read it, but I hear it's great!)

Stop #3:
We then went to dinner. We went over to Wendy's and had a light dinner. We still had one more thing to do, but we couldn't do that until about 7pm.

Stop #4:
When it finally got close to 7pm, we went over to a local skating rink (where the local HS hockey teams play), but had to wait until 7pm to be able to buy our skates and actually get to skate. It was one of the only times we'd been skating that season, so we were pretty sore pretty quick. We didn't skate extremely long, but we did get a good amount of time skating in (about an hour).

At this time, I'm pretty confused as to when he's going to do it. All the events I assumed we were going to do had been done already. I was actually getting a little sad.

Stop #5:
We drove back to Josh's house. I was standing out side of the car waiting, and was pretty confused. I didn't know if he was going to do it inside, or what was going on. He came back out with Daisy and her leash. We were going on a (really, really cold) walk! We started our walk, and I knew that it was going to happen, but where? We were walking around, and as we were wandering around, I was trying to figure out where he was going to do it. We passed by an elementary school (we had our first "real" kiss there), another elementary school (which had a great sledding hill, and was open in the back), and as we turned the corner, it hit me. It was going to happen at the gazebo! We started to turn up the sidewalk to get there, and I knew. He tied Daisy to one of the posts (who was soon occupied by the flagpole-the metal thing was hitting the pole), and he asked me for my phone. Confused, I gave it to him, and he started playing my favorite song. He asked me to dance, so we ~~danced~~ did the 8th grade sway for a little. The entire time I felt his heart beating pretty hard the entire time, so I definitely knew it was going to happen. The song ended, and he got down on one knee in front of me and asked "Baby, will you marry me?" I started crying and said "Yes!" At 10/10:30pm on Valentine's Day, we officially were engaged! We went back to his house and told his mom, who happened to be on the phone with his dad who was in Honduras. We realized we should have gotten a couple pictures, so we drove back to the gazebo to take some.

More coming on this bad boy in the next post

After we went back to get pictures, we drove back to my house where we got more "engagement pictures" taken.

Yeah, my face was red. Not sure if it was the cold, the wine, or the excitement (all of the above?). The last is me with my flowers he gave me.

The best part, absolutely no one knew this was going to happen before. He didn't tell anyone until he asked my dad permission, that morning. My dad said "That's interesting news, let me go get mom." They were both out in the garage talking, and my mom eventually told my brother, and called my uncle. They were the only ones to know before we left.

The scene of the crime:

Was your proposal a surprise, or did you know it was coming the entire time?

*All photos except the first one of the sun catcher are personal photos.

186: Personalizing the Ceremony: Reading #2

2010-02-09T15:31:00.001-05:00

You've seen the other two readings we're going to be doing, now I'll show you the third (actually, middle) reading we'll have during the ceremony.

The only bible verse I REALLY wanted read during the ceremony was the 1 Corinthians 13 passage (until I was looking around and came across the Cord of Three Strands), so I was looking high and low for other poems to be read during the ceremony. It was hard looking for poems and such, mostly because I don't really read poetry or anything like that.

I went to my good friend, WeddingBee, for some help. There are tons of ideas there for readings, but I found what I was looking for from Mrs. Duckling, who had done a post on meaningful readings. (I thought of going for Miss Scissor's idea, using I Like You as a reading, which I got for Josh for Valentine's Day. Shhh! Don't tell him!) The first reading she had listed was one I fell in love with. I read through it, and thought it fit us perfectly! I can say that pretty much everything in the poem is true.

Make sure you get out a tissue...you'll need it:

Union by Robert Fulghum

You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes, to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making commitments in an informal way. All of those conversations that were held in a car, or over a meal, or during long walks – all those conversations that began with, “When we’re married”, and continued with “I will” and “you will” and “we will” – all those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe” – and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding.

The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things that we’ve promised, and hoped, and dreamed – well, I meant it all, every word.

Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another these past few years. Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same.

For after today you shall say to the world –

This is my husband. This is my wife.

See!? It's amazing! I think it's 100% us. I'm so glad I found it!

How did you find your readings? Did you find anything that fits you personally?

187: Music Monday #15 (Great song, no where to put it!)

2010-02-08T08:00:00.011-05:00

Josh brought up this song the other day, and he's be asking me to look it up everyday. I finally got around to it, and I have heard it before, but hadn't really thought about it much. After hearing it and reading the lyrics, I really like it (and obviously Josh does too), but we have no idea where to use it!! How about you guys help us out!? Where should we use this song? (We already have the ceremony music picked out, and I'm still hoping we can use "I Cross My Heart" for the first dance song)

Love Never Fails-Brandon Heath

Love is not proud
Love does not boast
Love after all
Matters the most

Love does not run
Love does not hide
Love does not keep
Locked inside

Love is the river that flows through
Love never fails you

Love will sustain
Love will provide
Love will not cease
At the end of time

Love will protect
Love always hopes
Love still believes
When you don’t

Love is the arms that are holding you
Love never fails you

When my heart won’t make a sound
When I can’t turn back around
When the sky is falling down
Nothing is greater than this
Greater than this

Love is right here
Love is alive
Love is the way
The truth the life

Love is the river than flows through
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love is the place you will fly to
Love never fails you

Where should we put this song? What would you do with it?

188: Sorry! :(

2010-02-07T12:12:00.000-05:00

I wanted to write & say that I'm sorry the blog hasn't been too interesting lately. I'm trying to get around to finishing my list of what I want to do by when. Then I'll be posting some of the projects & such that I'll be working on. Starting school again & getting back in the routine has been a little crazy, but I'm going to keep you guys updated!!

And for a little present for you guys, you can go check out my food blog where I'll post up some different recipes! I'll be putting a few up after the Super Bowl this week, so you'll find some great game day recipes!

190: Fitness Friday #16

2010-02-05T11:13:00.000-05:00

This is the last weekly post. I'll be doing monthly posts about this now.

Weight: 161.4 (no change)
Hips: 39" (no change)
Natural Waist: 30" (1" loss)
Upper Arms: 11.5" (0.5" loss)
Thighs: 22.5" (no change)
Calves: 16" (no change)
BMI: 29.5 (Courtesy of National Institute of Health) (1.1 loss)

How many days I exercised this week: 3
How many days I didn’t exercise this week: 4
How I’m fitting in my dress: N/A
How I’m feeling: Pretty good
Notes: I'm pretty upset that I didn't lose any weight this week. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, and I have been exercising. The only thing I can think of is that since I haven't done the Shred in a month, I'm gaining muscle again, which caused the weight gain.

190: O,N,B,B: Blue

2010-02-04T11:19:00.001-05:00

The first installment of the Something's Traditions: Old, New, Borrowed, Blue!

I have some ideas of what I'll be doing for the others, so you'll just have to wait for those! I also need to get definites on the Old & Borrowed.

I didn't really expect to decide on my blue so easily. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do: undies or a garter, but when I walked by a Christmas gift from my old boss, I decided what I'll definitely use for my Something Blue!

Personal Photo

It's an anklet! I got it from my former boss, she switched over to a different department, which was really sad. I went over at the end of last semester to visit and gave her a Christmas card, and I got this. Honestly, at first I wasn't crazy about it. I wasn't sure if I'd ever wear it, then one day over break I just happened to walk by the box and decided it could be my Something Blue!

I was so excited to decide on something other than cute blue undies (I don't always fit in the cute ones, anyways) and that I can show off if someone asks!

Did any of your "Somethings" happen unexpectedly?