wouldn't it be nice

Gracias Fail

2009-11-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

It's been four months since our wedding and we still haven't had a chance to do our thank you cards yet. We've gotten thank you's from two other weddings we went to after ours...one like three days later!!! I looked for cards online last night and of course all the ones I like are a flipping fortune. And people will keep this for even less time than the invite! I have to buckle down and get something soon so that we can send them out before people start silently thinking we are rude. I know you technically have a year, but I'd like to come in under 6 months.

Sigh.

Thank you, Thank you...

2009-10-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

We need to start sending out our Thank You notes...and soon!

How much more fun would it be if we won our own custom thank you notes? A TON, that's how much!!!

I came across this give away from Pretty Lovely and ABCD Designs today.

The winner will receive a completely bespoke personal stationery design by
ABC Dragoo. You'll get 100 thick, creamy and luxurious folded and
channel scored custom designed cards. The package will also be finished
off with perfectly coordinating envelopes, of course! Want to know the
very best part? The winner gets to choose between holiday cards,
personal stationery cards, or thank you notes!

My fingers and toes are crossed...who wouldn't want to receive something like one of these lovely designs in the mail from us???

You can find more details at Pretty Lovely and see more awesome designs here.

The anatomy of a dress...

2009-09-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

Picking my dress was not an easy task by any means. I had a specific idea of what I wanted all along and while I did try on some other styles, I never really swayed away from what I wanted: a strapless, sweetheart, lace, form fitting, non-poofy, amazing dress.

When all was said and done, it came down to two contenders. The "Romona" as I lovingly called it was the first dress I ever tried on at Macy's and I later came back to at a Veiled in Elegance in Geneva. It fit perfectly and it was all lace and well, as you remember, it made my behind look really nice. (Since I've already tied the knot, I thought I'd share some pictures of me from the dress shopping days gone by...)

Looking back on this dress, I don't think I ever really liked the front as much as I did the back:

Obviously, I did not buy this dress. But, it was the one in the back of my mind the whole time I was trying to decide whether or not to get the dress that I did end up getting. In the end, I decided that this dress just didn't have that something special that I was looking for.

So, MY dress. I found my dress at the last shop I went to and it was the last dress I tried on. It was my 27th birthday, and aside from closing on our house (which I also did on one of my birthdays) this was the biggest birthday gift I've ever gotten. Thanks, Mom!

Our last appointment was with Vanessa at Vanessa's Modern Bride in Arlington Heights. The shop is really cute. Very girly, it smells really nice, and Vanessa is awesome. I tried on a few dresses here but I ended up choosing a Melissa Sweet dress called the Hallie. I had never seen this dress online or in magazines and the sample that I tried on in the shop was not in the best of conditions, but I really liked it. It seemed to have everything I wanted, besides the sweetheart neckline...but that could be fixed. I spent about an hour in this dress and hemmed and hawed over it with my Mom and my Aunt. They both LOVED it but they didn't want to influence my decision so they downplayed their enthusiasm. I'm thankful for that because I know I chose the dress because I liked it, not because other people did. I'm not a crier and I never had one of those "OMG THIS IS THEEEEEE DRESS" moments. I just knew that I liked it the best out of everything I had tried on. (I can't find the photos from the actual day that I bought the dress. But if I do, I'll put them in here eventually. )

So, I bought this dress on Aug. 12, 2008. I then waited nine months until it came in and when it did I was seriously nervous that I wouldn't like it anymore. It's a long time to wait to see something that you can't return!

I have to admit that when I tried it on again for the first time, I wasn't totally thrilled. In fact, I started thinking that I made the wrong decision. I thought the drop waist was totally wrong on me and that it made me look dumpy.

Here is my definition of dumpy:

Yeah, not exactly dumpy...but still, I just didn't feel 100 percent great in it. It looks a little bit better from further away, ha!

A few things that I didn't realize were going to help out...a lot. A) some spanxx. Because no matter how skinny I am, I will always have a stomach bulge. B) A "long line" strapless bra to put everything in the right places. C) A dress that actually fits like a glove. I would eventually get all these things, but after my first fitting, I felt very nervous. Not about the shop, or Vanessa, or the seamstress. I knew I was in great hands. I just wasn't sure if I had really picked THE dress.

When I came back for my second fitting, everything just came into place. I didn't remember to take any pictures because I was so excited at how good the dress was coming along. But, just imagine it looked better than above, but not as great as below.

The last appointment was right before my wedding and when I tried on the dress the last time, I knew I made the right choice. Not only on the dress, but where I bought it. Vanessa and her seamstress knew exactly what I was looking for and they made sure that the dress looked perfect on my body. Which, it did. These are from my last fitting:

I like the last one because you can see the back of the dress fully spread out. For some reason I don't have any pictures of the back like this on the day of. I think I was just moving too much!

Speaking of the day of, here is a sneak peek at what the final product looked like! It fit like a glove and it was super comfortable. I only wish I had another occasion to wear it to!

(photo by Kris Kasperek)

So that's how my dress went from being the right dress to the perfect dress. If I could give any advice to those who are shopping for dresses it would be to

Try on every single dress you want to until you find the right dress. Don't feel like it's not the right dress because you don't turn on the waterworks and hyperventilate over finding THE DRESS! It didn't happen to me and it might not happen to you.
If you are going to make major alterations to the dress, talk to the salesperson and seamstress to see if they can even accomplish what you are looking for. If you don't feel confident, maybe this isn't the dress or shop for you.
Don't feel pressured to make a purchase by your salesperson or the people you have with you. Remember--most likely, you can't return this purchase.
Make sure you bring people with you who are supportive of you and honest, but not mean or judgmental. It's a tough decision but it comes down to the fact that it is YOUR day and you should wear exactly what you want to wear, not what your Maid of Honor, Sister, Mother, or Mother in Law wants you to wear. Even if they are paying for it--it's not worth a dime if you don't feel like a million bucks!
Most importantly, have so much fun with the process! Enjoy every minute of wearing your dress, even in the fittings!

That's all for now! We have all of our professional photos now, so I'll be starting to recap the day and all the details! Take a sneak peek at the pro-pics here: http://iklikphoto.blogspot.com/2009/07/k-s-wedding.html

Big Ben...Parliment...

2009-09-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to stay calm, I am...but I am very excited.

Our honeymoon has finally arrived! In just about 8 hours we will be en route to Europe! Stopping first in London, then hitting up Paris, and finishing up in Barcelona. I'm a little nervous and anxious, but mostly excited...very, very excited.

I'm trying really hard not to pack everything I own. I think I have a good mix of things. And hell, if I don't have it, I'll just do what I do best...BUY IT! I don't think I'll mind doing a little shopping in London and Paris.

What am I most looking forward to, you ask? In one simple visual, this:

Macarons, mother effer! More specifically, lovely Laduree I simply can't wait.

Alright, before I can eat Macarons, I have to actually finish packing. Farewell for now. Or should I say Au Revoir!

Shaking the glitter off...

2009-08-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

Editor's Note: This post should not be taken as complaining, bitching, etc. I really just need to get some things out of my head and on to the internet.

When you spend 18+ months of your life paying attention to every detail of your wedding day, do not let the last two days prior to the wedding wear you down.

Otherwise you may end up telling your reception coordinator that fanning the dinner napkins in the water glasses is completely fine--something you would never do! Which in turn will make you miserable every time you look at your photos and all you see is napkins. Not the flowers you paid for, not the table numbers your parents worked so hard on, and not the fabric centerpieces that your aunt hand sewed. Only a sea of tables, chairs, and napkins. Sigh.

Its been a little over a month since the wedding and try as I might, I can't help but focus on the things I wish had been different. Don't get me wrong, this was absolutely the best day of my life and also the best wedding I've ever been to--although I am a bit biased. But, there are a few things that I KEEP dwelling on, and I wonder how long it will take me to get over them. I realize these things don't matter in the grand scheme of things, because everything else was perfect. The weather could not have been better, the DJ gave us the best dance party ever, our guests had the time of their lives, and we were both just so elated the whole day. So I wonder, why can't I stop thinking about them? I think perhaps if I get them out into the universe, I might feel better about it?

This is a little backwards, usually people talk about the great stuff first. But I think I need to get past these pesky "regrets," I guess you could call them, first.

So, we covered the napkins. That sucked and I feel like it totally changed the feeling of the room from more whimsical and fun to more "old school banquet hall." Of any mistakes they could have made, they didn't make the mistake of not putting the napkins in the glasses.

I guess I can start from the beginning for the rest.

1) From the very beginning, I was pretty set of not seeing Sean before the ceremony. We didn't have too many really traditional things throughout the day, but this was one that I wanted to keep. I feel like it was a big mistake. I thought that it would be cool to wait to see each other and I also felt like I was going to be "rushed" to get ready if we took photos beforehand. I was wrong. Although I did enjoy the time spent with my bridesmaids, etc. in the suite while we were all getting our makeup done, etc., I feel like the time that I could have spent taking photos with Sean and even taking photos outside with my bridesmaids would have been well worth while. The time after the ceremony FLEW by and I feel like these moments would have been nice to have. The only pictures I have of my bridesmaids and single photos of me are in the hotel suite and while my photographer did an amazing job...I think I should have thrown tradition to the side and seen Sean before the big walk down the aisle. I didn't really think about this ahead of time, but there was such a long walk from the hotel to the ceremony aisle, that it wasn't like I had this huge, grand entrance or anything. So, if you're thinking about seeing eachother before, I would say to definitely do so.

2) When you are getting your dress fitted for the bussell, make sure you are wearing the shoes that you will be wearing when the dress gets busselled on the day of. I did not do this, and unfortunately, my feet were KILLING me by cocktail hour so I wanted to wear my flipflops. In hindsight, I should have sucked it up and wore my heels for a little big longer, but I didn't and I spent A LOT of time trying to get my dress bussell pinned up so that it wasn't dragging on the ground. So, lesson here is remember to wear your flats at your fitting if you think your going to change right away and also don't spend too much time caring about things like your dress dragging on the ground when you have a room full of people who you want to talk to. You'll never wear the dress again, but more importantly, you'll never have that hour back in your life.

3) Sometimes, you need to be a bridezilla. Seriously. There are things that I wish I had been WAY more hard nosed about. Mainly when I asked someone--a vendor--for something and then didn't take the time to enforce it. I blame the fact that I'm polite and laid back and also the fact that by the time you have to make all these final decisions you are SO utterly sick of talking to people that all you want to say is "that's fine" or "I really don't care." BUT DON'T DO IT! Do exactly what you want and make sure you get what you are plopping down your hard earned money for!

4) The cake cutting. What a disaster. We wanted to cut the cake right after we walked in to the reception room during our grand entrance. In my mind, I pictured us walking in and up to the front of the room to cut the cake. What really happened was...the cake was all the way in the back of the room about 50 paces after we walked in. In fact, I was so surprised that it was back there that I walked right past it! Our parents and VIP tables were up in the front of the room and they had no idea what was even going on. It felt very rushed and the woman who was the banquet manager kept standing next to us to "show" us how to cut the cake. Very, very bizarre. Also, there were no forks or napkins. The "helpful" woman kept trying to get me to wipe my frosting filled hands on one of the extra fabric squares that my aunt made for our table decorations. "That's not a napkin" were the words that repeatedly came out of my mouth. That and "there are no forks?!?" So, in hindsight, we should have just did our grand entrance and then cut the cake later. That way if I saw it in the back, I could have asked them to move it forward.

5) Last thing about the cake, I promise. We had a very small cake for cutting--6 inches--and yellow, pink and orange cupcakes for our guests. I asked the reception place to please place some cupcakes around the cake so that it didn't look so meager when we were cutting it. For some god awful reason, they chose the yellow and orange frosted chocolate cupcakes as opposed to the pretty yellow and pink frosted vanilla cupcakes! Not what I was looking forward to at all. Lesson in this one, again...make sure you say EXACTLY what you want. I didn't think I had to be that specific because my coordinator assured me that he was very detail oriented. But, your preference may not be the same, remember that.

6) Right after the "dance triology" as I like to call it, the DJ invited everyone to the dance floor to dance. Sean and I went our separate ways to each greet guests, etc. and I noticed that the DJ was playing a lot of slow songs all in a row. Well instead of asking him to spread them out, I figured he would play some more throughout the night. He did not. I know why he didn't, because we really wanted to have the "dance party" feel to the reception, but it turned out that my Mom and Dad never got to dance because when all the slow songs were playing, they were greeting guests after dinner, etc. Sean and I also never got another slowdance on the dance floor. We danced together a lot! But I wish I had said something to the DJ about the slow songs early in the night. If you see or feel something that you don't like, say something about it. Because even though people like to tell you that "you won't remember any of it" or "it won't matter after the day" but, most likely if you are reading wedding blogs, it will matter to you.

So, these are my main "I wish it had been different" regrets. Like I said, all things that are not really comparable in the grand scheme of things. But I had to get it off my chest and this is the best space to do so. And after listing them all, they still matter, but not as much...because I realize that even though these things all happened, the day actually was perfect.

Perfect because my life changed forever on that day and every single person I could have ever wished to be in one room together was.

Perfect because my Mom was there with me all day long and got to see all her hard work come together.

Perfect because my Dad walked me down the aisle.

Perfect because my bridesmaids were beautiful and our groomsmen looked extremely cool.

And lastly, perfect because I married the best dude I've ever known and all the perfect napkin folds, or frosting colors, or cake cuttings in the world couldn't ever top saying our vows and dancing under twinkle lights and paper lanterns to the only slow song that mattered.

Ours.

The dishes are done....

2009-07-16T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I was a pretty terrible blogger, and I can't really apologize because planning a wedding is VERY time consuming! BUT the time I didn't spend blogging...I spent working on details, details, details.

I may be a bit biased, but I think it paid off because it was the best wedding I've ever been to!

I'll probably do the recap thing, because I think it will fill up some of my time.

For now, please take a peek into our wedding day, provided by our photographer Kris. To say that Kris is amazing is an understatement. She is the nicest person you will ever spend 12+ hours with, probably could moonlight as a ninja, and may or may not have cloned herself for this wedding because it seems she was able to get amazing shots of EVERYTHING! In short, we heart her, and we can't rave about her enough.

Okay, enough gushing. Please, go to her blog for photo-palooza!

http://iklikphoto.blogspot.com/2009/07/k-s-wedding.html

xo,

Mrs. B

Rain Rain...and shoes

2009-07-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

We're getting married in 8 days. The forecast has rain in it. I should stop looking at that...

Also, it took me about a year to find a pair of yellow shoes. This would have really come in handy. Even though mine were cheaper, eventually, after returning them to get the discount...

No time for pictures, but here is the link.

Nina, design your own shoes.

T-minus 30 days.

2009-06-11T15:51:00.001-07:00

What? How did this happen. Really? 30 days?

I still have a crap load of things to do, including making a slide show, going to see my florist again for a second time to see a new mock up...but first I have to purchase 20 white vases from the pottery place in Dundee...making sure everyone who needs to get a room, gets a stinking room before the rate runs out--TOMORROW PEOPLE! And a few other minor things like write our ceremony, choose all our music, choose where to go on our "mini-moon," finalize our real honeymoon to Europe, make the programs and get my Mom's dress altered to be a whole size smaller since she is apparently the incredible shrinking woman, etc., etc., etc!

I'm super excited and super tired just thinking about it.

Also super exciting, our engagement photos were featured on The Wedding Cabaret blog. Pretty neat!

That's all I got for now.

see ya.

k.

invites...the finale.

2009-06-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

...well, here they are in all their glory. We've already gotten a lot of responses back. So far, everyone is a "yes!" A couple people have commented that they really like the invites. I guess they ended up being worth the trouble after all!

We used Strawberry envelopes from Paper Source for both the mailing envelope and the RSVP envelope and the King and Queen postage stamps:

We spent about 6 hours stuffing, stamping and labeling these suckers...(also going to the office supply store a half hour before they closed because the original labels I printed turned out to be hideously over sized. Sean told me they would be too big when I bought them, but did I listen? No. There was no "I told you so." Just a slight sigh and a ride to Staples. When we were finally done and I dropped them off at the post office the next day, I felt a nice sense of freedom. Probably similar to what a prisoner feels like when they get paroled. I dunno, maybe that feels better, but this felt pretty damn good!

TTFN.

Meet...

2009-05-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

Greta and Marshal, they will be gracing the top of our mountain of cupcakes. Adorbz.
I've had a thing for Ann Wood birds for a while now, and Sean's Mom was able to snag these two for us as a gift for the wedding. His Mom and I work in the same office and when we realized she got the birds (it's no small feat, they are posted and sell QUICKLY) we were so giddy!

There is a chance that they might not be ready in time for the wedding, since they are made to order, but I have my fingers crossed that they will!

Hallelujah

2009-05-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

Our invites are printed. I'll be picking them up from the printer on my lunch. I have to say, I'm still disappointed deep down that we weren't able to have the designer print and prepare them all, because I'm sure she would have done a great job. The ones from the printer look just fine, and yes...I know that NO ONE will know the difference, but I just had to note my disappointment. At least I was able to get them printed and they will only be like 2 weeks late. Oh well!

We had our tasting yesterday, it was delicious. I was relieved that the food was as good as I had heard. I also came away with three mini-notebook pages of things I need to follow up on. Darn.

My shower is tomorrow. I hope it doesn't rain! I can't wait to see everything my Mom has done and eat some fried chicken. I love fried chicken.

back to work. Blarg.

sigh...

2009-05-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

I'm seriously so in love with our engagement photos. Our photographer posted some more on her blog. I snagged a few of my very favs. But check them all out here. She isn't done editing them all yet, but I can't get over what a great job she did. I can't stop looking at them. How vain! I know!

(all photos credited to iKLiKphoto)

Okay, I must go to bed now.

Let me take your picture...

2009-05-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

We took our engagement pics yesterday with our awesome photographer, Kris. We went to a lot of different locations and I think we got some great photos. I was really nervous at first, but it was so much fun! I can't wait to see the final result. In the mean time, she posted a great little teaser on her blog. a. maz. ing.

Go, Go, Go! Check them out.

Now, I need to research how to get a marriage license. Thanks be to Outlook reminders.

Cards, please and thank you...

2009-05-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

My Mom has been working on our card box for the reception for sometime now. She finally finished it and I think she did a great job! I told her she should try to make some more and sell them, but I think she's just happy to have this one completed! I forget how artistic and utterly craftastic my Mom is.

Well, enough talk. Judge for yourself.

She bought this bare card box online. Then painted it with a few coats of white pearl paint.

We picked out the ribbon and tried different combinations of colors and in the end, we liked this one the best.
She made all these flowers out of paper and floral wire and buttons (I love the buttons!). She wired them together and was able to create a nice 3-d effect.

The final touch was the yellow bow. I think it finishes it off quite nicely. :) It's a little bigger then I had imagined in the beginning, but we'll have it on a low table so people can easily access the top. I think I'll probably have to put some sort of signage by it that alerts people to the fact that it is not a real cake, but indeed the card box, because it actually looks quite life-like in person.

She's moved on to creating the decorations for our shower next weekend and I can't wait to see what she comes up with! I know it will most likely be adorbz as I've already had a sneak peak of her homemade poms Ala Martha and Co.

Oh, hello...it's me again.

2009-05-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back from tantrum world. The last few days were a bit stressful, but everything worked out with the invites (or...it should. I don't actually have them yet). I ended up getting the digital file from the designer and I'm working with a local printer. I should have them by the end of the week. In the end, I'm going to be saving a few hundred bucks so I feel okay about the process. Was it still annoying? Yes. But, it's not the end of the world. I should be seeing a proof on Tues or Weds and I hope it will be a no brainer from there.

Some positive things have happened in the last two days, to sort of makeup for last weeks shit storm.

+ I received these little beauties from Etsy Seller, RachelleD. They are awesome and they go with the bridesmaid's dress perfectly.
I have one in mind for each bridesmaid and of course I already told them that if they want to swap, have at it! She's going to make me a matching pair of simple drop earrings the coordinate with each necklace. Can't wait to see those and CANNOT recommend her enough. She was really sweet and even put together two custom necklaces for me. Not to mention, she sent me a cute pair of earrings as a "something blue" gift.

+ I found these shoes at Macys yesterday, and after searching everywhere for them online...I nearly crapped when I saw them in front of me and on sale. I proceeded to purchase six pairs for my bridesmaids...yes, i do only have 4, but I wasn't sure of some people's sizes so I just went buck wild and bought sizes 7 1/2 to 10. Thank you, Visa for allowing me to purchase numerous things and return them without spending any "real" money. I tried these on with the dress as well and I think they go quite nicely!

Yes, I am the whitest person on earth and No, you can't see my face...it was too late in the day to be having my picture taken looking a mess.

Sidenote: Thank God I've been holding one of the bridesmaid's dresses hostage so that I can try on all my purchases with it to make sure it all goes together!

So, the bridesmaid's getup is all taken care of. Check. I have a few more things to gather up for thier gifts, but I have a bit of time for that still.

+I went to try on my dress today, post alterations, and it was exactly what I had asked for. I am very relieved. Not that I didn't think the seamstress was more than capable...but it was a little hard to wait the 6 weeks to see the result. She pinned my hem and my bustle today and it's coming together very nicely. I tried on my shoes, veil and jewelry and I like the whole shebang.

+We went to get Sean fitted for his suit today at Bachrach. He's getting a modern fit, custom three piece suit and we got to pick out every aspect of it. I think it was a great deal too, for just how custom it is. He had to pay extra for the vest, but for the two piece custom suit, it was $495 (without the vest) and it could range up to $795 if you get a really high grade fabric. But, we liked the $495 fabric just the same. The salesman was really helpful and not pushy at all. I look forward to seeing the suit all put together--hopefully sometime in early June. We decided he's going to wear the black and white checkerboard slipons and his groomsmen and ushers will wear the black and charcoal slipons. Needless to say, he's pretty stoked about the footwear situation.

+ I think I figured out my flower situation. Now I just need to figure out how to articulate it correctly.

+ My Mom got her dress in and she still likes it! We're going to get that altered in two weeks.

Tasting next week and still about 50 things on my list of "to-dos." One of them needs to be remembering to go get a marriage license within the next few weeks, or people may be showing up for nothing!

That's all for now.

Murphy's Law

2009-05-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

Well...I've hit the point where all the things that I thought were going to fall into place are not. My floral meeting the other day was a disappointment and I need to rethink my flower choices. and now today our invite designer dropped the bomb on me that she has a 4 week processing time from payment to shipment. Did she not tell me that? No...she did not. Because in that case I would have needed to get the "processing" going 4 weeks ago as opposed to this week. And maybe that would have dawned on her when she was designing them seeing as we have a June 25th RSVP deadline and our wedding is July 11th! I'm already a few weeks behind where I wanted to be.

At this point I'm ready to just go to Micheal's and print some shitty invite and send it out.

I wouldn't be so upset if I didn't totally love the invites that we are supposed to send out. I asked the designer if we can just buy the files from her and go get them printed somewhere else. I hope she agrees to that and in that case we will need a large refund.

UGH. I'm pretty much done with this junk at this point.

Huzzah...

2009-05-15T09:54:00.001-07:00

Well, would you look at what we have here...

The lovely and talented girls in my department are throwing my shower at work and look at the fantastic invite they created! It pays to work in the same department as the marketing and design peeps. I'm really excited for my work shower. It should be fun. I'm sure my face will be bright red the whole time though as I'll be sitting in front of 100 people opening gifts. Yes, 100 people. Showers in our office are a well attended event. Even the 10 or so men who work here usually come too...I think it has something to do with the free cake.

While I am on the subject of showers, I also wanted to share the invitation that I found for my shower and my Mom ultimately approved. I absolutely loved it and have gotten tons of great feedback. I know that you normally don't pick out your own invites, but I'm not much for surprises. Plus, I'm obsessed with paper goods. They are a Hello Lucky! creation. And...they are letterpress. I had to find a way to add letterpress into the wedding somehow! I ended up having a discount code too, which is always a plus! Check em' out!

Pretty much the best. My Mom and I, and my best friend hung out one Friday night, and with the help of some Martini and Rossi we put most of them together with the registry cards and a little recipe card for guests to bring to the shower (we kind of lost interest after a while and my Mom finished them up the next day) and then they were on their way. Our shower is May 30th and I already know my Mom is going to create an amazing celebration for us.

If you are in the market for a unique shower invitation or even greeting card, then get thee to the Hello Lucky! Web site quickly. I won't even get started on their wedding invitations, because that could garner it's own post altogether!

These are absolutely adorable too:

Another invite, could be engagement party or shower

A cute wedding card

And finally, I think this is the most awesome anniversary card.

I like the idea of giving a card that can be kept and even displayed after the fact. I'd definitely frame that wedding or anniversary card and put it up somewhere around the house. I could go on forever, but you get the point. They make and sell cool stuff. Go there and buy me a card. Thanks.

In other wedding news, we got our rings today. I'll talk about that later though. And lastly...I saw that my wedding shoes are now on sale for almost half of what they were originally. I couldn't do a price match, so I immediately purchased them (online) and will be returning the other pair (at the store) to get my monies back. Every little bit helps!!!

Shoes, please?

2009-05-12T18:32:00.001-07:00

I have mine...but I am still looking for the right shoes for my bridesmaids.

I sort of have a vision (please be gentle, I'm not so hot with the photoshoping stuff)...

Shoes/Dress/Necklace/Flowers

I found the shoes in the photo and I immediately loved them! Then I remembered the necklaces and when I put it all together, it just meshed. So, I ordered the shoes and matched them up to the dress and they look nice together!

Everytime I see a yellow dress with a gold shoe, I really like it. Just look at this random assortment of images that I have collected from the interwebz:

(From one of the prettiest yellow weddings ever)

(Jim Hjelm)

(Perez even thinks it's lovely)

Here's the problem. You can see in my lovely photoshop collage that the shoes have a VERY short heel. Not a major problem, but I think it would be nicer if they had a bit more of a heel (my shoes have a 3 1/2 inch heel). I did find the style in a higher heel, but they only come in dyable white and brown satin. BLARG!

I've looked high and low, and I feel like I can't find anything else that is available in all the sizes I need and that I like as much :(

I've seen a few other options:

Here

these

Maybe these?

Sigh

I bet these are awfully uncomfortable

So, I think I may have to just ask the girls to find a shoe that is similar to these...

But first, I thought I'd at least try to throw this out into the great wide open...any suggestions?

61 days...

2009-05-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

We're getting married in 61 days!

I got a lot accomplished over the weekend.

We decided on where to send the groomsmen and ushers for their suits. We went with Express. (which I just noticed is having a 30% off sale on the suit! Even better.) They sell a modern black suit for a moderate price and they constantly have coupons floating around so the men will be able to purchase at some sort of discount. We haven't decided on the ties yet--black or yellow? I found a nice yellow tie at Express, but I'm going to try to find something a bit cheaper online. We also have to order all the vans. The ties and vans will be their gifts. I simply cannot wait to see our ring bearer sporting his checkerboard kicks. Priceless.

My Mom and I both found our jewelry. We wandered into Iridesse after seeing they were having a "going out of business" sale. I guess they are just one more young company who is unable to make it through the economic situation today. Sad, because they have a lot of great pieces. Sean bought me a strand of pearls from the same store for our second Christmas together. It was sort of fitting that I would find my necklace and earrings for the wedding there too! Long story short, we both got an unbelievable deal and found exactly what we were looking for (and my Mom was sweet enough to pick up the tab for mine too)! Thanks, MOM!

The last thing I picked up was a dress from Nordstom for one of my showers that I had my eye on last week. It's a good thing I went back to get it, becuase there were only 2 left! I'd post a photo of it, but I can't find it on the Web site either, so maybe it sold out. I spent a bit more on it then I would have expected, but it can be worn casual or dressed up and I have two other weddings to go to this summer that I can wear it to also, so I used the "cost per wear" equation and made myself feel much better about laying down the debit card.

Last night, after I got home from my parent's house, I got all my vendor contracts organized and figured out how much money we still have to pay them! Believe it or not, it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I purged a lot of wedding magazines and tear outs and I feel a bit more organized and less anxious today. I'm glad I did that.

We're still hemming and hawing over our honeymoon and hopefully I can focus on that this week.

Next week is my final flower appointment and my second dress fitting. I'm very anxious to see what it looks like after the first round of alterations! Sean is getting fitted for his suit and shirts on Saturday too. He's getting a three piece suit from Bachrach and getting shirts custom made. He's really slim and has long arms, so shirts almost NEVER fit him correctly...so he's going the distance for the big day and getting everything fitted just right. We were going to get his suit from J.Crew, but then we stopped in Bachrach and he really liked the fact that he could go in and get fitted, etc. instead of having to order it online and roll the dice with the alterations.

We picked out the items for our tasting on the 28th, which I'm really looking forward to! It's so crazy that after being engaged for SO long, all of these events are finally upon us. It feels good!

Well, I think this is the longest post I've written in a while, so I'll end while I'm ahead. It probably has something to do with the fact that I'm at work and it's one of those "I'd rather be thinking about all things party" kind of days.

Over and out.

k.

Responde Vouz...

2009-05-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

I'll pass by the "sorry I haven't posted" BS, and get straight to the point...

We found our invitations! Huzzah. We're getting them from Etsy! I really wanted to get something affordable, but not cheap looking. Something cool, but that didn't cost a friggin' fortune! And I think we found the perfect combination! It's a bit different from our save the date design, but I think that's okay, right? RIGHT!

Before I get into the details of our designer and the invites we chose, I think I'll use this space to pay homage to some of my favorite invite designs and stationary designers that I've seen along the way. Le Sigh. If only I could have multiple invitations!!!

First off, these little delights from Bird and Banner. I love the polka dots and the scalloped edge.

These were one of my favs. From Chewing the Cud Weddings. Whimsical, classic, just really nice. And...really out of our price range, but that's what happens when you fall in love with letterpress.

Oh, but how can I play favorites when there is the "Carnival" design by Milkmaid Press?
I mean, just look at this? It's also letter press, and dreamy, is it not?

Sidenote: Milkmaid Press also has a more affordable line of invitations that they just introduced, called Pearl. While we didn't find a design that suited us perfectly, they do have some very nice sets!

Behold, the Cabaret, my favorite Pearl design:

Kristen also has a great blog, All Things Lovely, full of inspiration for weddings and everyday life.

Save the Dates

2009-05-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

When it came to the save the dates, I wanted to do something different. I wasn't really into the magnets with our photo on them, even though they do come in very handy! I've seen the photo booth strips, but that just didn't hit the spot. In the end we decided to enlist our friend, Biker Jon, to create the design for us! Jon has a bmx clothing company that he designs for, Enemy, and most of his designs are usually way more manly...so we appreciate him trying his hand at wedding stationary! I also appreciate him putting up all my changes until we got it just right.

I sent Jon a lot of ideas and pictures of Save the Dates that I saw online and liked, just to give him a basic idea of where to start.

We went through quite a few designs (sorry for the black mark but I didn't want to broadcast our Web site).

Originally, we were going to use brown as one of our colors, but eventually (read 3 designs later), I decided against that. This design was too "golf" themed for me. But, I liked the layout of the text etc.

Moving on...I asked for polka dots, instead of the argyle.

After this design, I decided to nix the brown and I busted out the pantone colors. My lovely design department at work let me borrow their pantone fan (love that thing, btw) and I gave Jon a few options for colors.

I think he went above an beyond to satisfy my indecisiveness, sending me EIGHT color combos to happily peruse! (click on the picture to enlarge)

Here's the one we went with!

We printed them through Jakprints.com, which was the most affordable option we found. We were going to try to send them as a post card, but we ended up just putting them in envelopes afterall. I think they turned out really nice! Everyone liked them and this has bought us some more time to send out our invites. Plus, we've already heard from a few people who aren't able to make it to the wedding, so we've gotten a pretty good estimate of who is and who is not coming.

Just for fun, here are some alternate designs he did for us. I didn't think the diamond fit what I was looking for, but still pretty cool.

Thanks again to Jon!

Next up, the search for the invitations!

Less Than 4 Months...WTF?

2009-03-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

I'm sort of disappointed in myself that I haven't really been able to keep up with this blog as I would have wanted to. But at this point, I think I will have some time to start posting some more. In fact, I think I'm going write some now to be posted later.

I leave you with the ol' to do list--still have a lot to do in the next few months. However, I have now successfully booked ALL my vendors, besides maybe a day of coordinator. But, I'm still not sure if I even want/need to have one. I'm really excited about the final vendor we booked, our videographer. Ironically enough, I didn't even want to have one originally. BUT the dude is awesome and there are some cool things in the works pre-wedding.

ttfn.

TO DO:

Invitations

CEREMONY

Plan ceremony and readings

Programs (Fans)

Decorations (Shepherd’s hooks and cones or mason jars for flowers)

Decide on music for ceremony

Rose petals to be thrown after ceremony?

RECEPTION

Choose menu

Find fabric for runner and make runners.

Find out if we can get lanterns hung. If so, order lanterns

Choose dessert

Cake topper

Choose songs to dance to/walk in to

Make little cards with flickr account information (moo.com)

Menu cards

Escort Cards

GENERAL

Day of coordinator?

Hotel Rooms

Welcome Bags (paper gift bags, chips, water, advil, gum/mints)

Bridal Party/Parent gifts

Marriage License

Groomsman attire and attire for Dad and Ted

Bridesmaid attire and attire for Mom and Sheree

Teeth whitening

Day after Brunch/Lunch?

REHEARSAL AND DINNER

Choose rehearsal dinner location

Choose guest list

Book rehearsal dinner location

HONEYMOON

Choose locations

Book reservations

Book transportation

KATHRYN ATTIRE

Get gown altered

Undergarments

Shoes

Jewelry

Hair accessories

Makeup

Hair

Wedding ring

Cardigan sweater

SEAN ATTIRE

Suit

Shirt

Tie

Shoes/socks

Wedding Ring

Yowza.

2009-02-14T15:30:00.001-08:00

Where to begin? In the last month, I've gotten so much accomplished!

We booked our DJ, Photographer, Ceremony Musicians, and I've spoken with a florist and will be meeting with a second one on Monday. And...drum roll please...my bridesmaids now have something to wear! Amazing, I know.

We'll start with the dresses first. Anyone who has read this blog knows that I've been obsessed with finding a knee length, yellow dress, that is a realistic price. I've also sort of dogged on David's Bridal in the past, just because they seemed to have such "bridesmaidey" dresses. But as of late, they really picked up the pace and kind of sprinted into the year 2009 to catch up with companies such as J.Crew (my love) who are making modern bridesmaid dresses.

So, long story short, after months of looking online, ordering various dresses from here and there, I ended up finding the dresses at David's of all places.

I went with my Mom a few weeks ago and tried on just about every short yellow dress they had. I narrowed it down to a few, but really had my heart set on this one:

Well, we went today and tried on two of the four dresses I had picked and guess what? They liked this one the best!!! YAY!

It's hard to see the actual color, but it's called Canary. It's cotton, but has a bit of a sheen to it, and it has POCKETS!!! I seriously want to buy one for myself, that's how much I like it. The color is a little lighter than I had been looking for, but it is lovely and it looks so great on everyone! Here it is in green, it's easier to see the shape.

One more photo, just for good measure.

I have the best bridesmaids, seriously. We were in and out of there within 45 minutes! Everyone loved the same dress, and it was almost too good to be true! We all went out to lunch afterward and I gave them each a little valentine for spending their v-day looking for dresses!

Now, next step is finding jewelry and shoes. I'm going to look for some really fun shoes necklaces!

So, mission "bridesmaid dresses" is finally accomplished, and ended up being SO easy and really fun!

Coming soon...save the dates and talk on our vendors!

Slackerville...

2009-01-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

Lately, I seem to be spending more time reading about other people's planning instead of doing my own!

BUT...I did make a big "To Do" list and I'll start hacking away on it on Thursday when we go meet with a DJ. I know what you're thinking, "you were going to have an Ipod???" Well, we are just evaluating our options at this point. Hopefully the blizzard we are currently having will end by then and we'll actually be able to make it to the city to meet this dude.

I also went ahead and created a "wedding Website" for our guests. It's not completed yet, but at least we will have a Web address to put on our save the dates that hopefully we will get done soon.

Overall, I have to say that this is a bit more overwhelming and costly than I thought it was all going to be. Which is probably normal, but still annoying.

That is all I have for now. I have a migraine that has lasted 3 days.

I wish I could quit you...

2008-12-29T22:32:00.000-08:00

**Update**

Well, a late update that is. I got the dresses and tried them on. The material was really nice, light and flowing. But...the color was very marigold, almost school bus yellow. You might be able to see in the photos below. So, we trudge on. I guess it wasn't meant to be between me and ol' J.Crew. I'll stick to purchasing their lovely assortment of cardigans and corduroys.

I can't get away from JCrew. Even though I was disappointed with the first dress I ordered, I am bound and determined to make one of their bridesmaids dresses work. This time though, I ordered a swatch firs--the swatch came today and I really liked the color. So I went ahead and ordered two different styles in the marigold chiffon. I found a free shipping code, so what the hell. We'll see what they look like in 5-7 business days!

(Silk Chiffon Twist Tank Dress)

(Silk Chiffon Juliette Dress)

Blast from the past...

2008-12-29T20:07:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, my Grama gave us all some old family photos. I got a few of my Mom and Dad from their wedding along with one of them from my Uncle and Aunt's wedding. Check the fashion. Especially my dad's platform kicks in the first photo and his enorme bow tie in the last. I have to say though that I think besides the fact that my Mom's wedding dress had long sleeves, it's a pretty classic dress. Unfortunately, it did not stay so nice over the years or I would have tried to use it for myself. I might try to see if there is anyway to salvage some part of it for my "old" or "borrowed" though.

For the record, I have never seen my Dad in real life without a mustache.

Let me take your picture...

2008-11-17T18:15:00.000-08:00

We've knocked another big item off the list. We decided on a photo booth company!

Even before we were engaged, we knew that when we got married we wanted two things for the wedding: cupcakes and a photo booth. We love photo booths, but who doesn't? When we first thought about having the booth, we had decided that we wanted a vintage booth, one that would print photos like these:

Then we went to our friend's wedding and they had a digital booth set up, with the guest book and everything. It was so fun and such a nice idea for the guest book. The photos actually printed out in a 4 strip similar to above, but I can't find that picture, so this one will due:

(oh short hair...I miss you)

Although we liked the idea of the digital photos, we were still looking for an actual retro looking booth, as opposed to the man made digital booths. So we started doing some research.

We looked at three different companies:

Memory Snaps Chicago provides a vintage retro booth, just like in the dark corner of your favorite bar. I was referred to this company by meetings and events person who works with my Mom and who had a bride who used them for her wedding. Very cool--we actually almost went with this company, but it only prints out one strip at a time and we want people to be able to print one for themselves (as their "favor") and one for the guest book and we want to cut down on the time it takes to do this so that everyone can get a chance to enjoy the booth during the evening. If you are looking for a regular vintage booth, I would recommend contacting Sam, as he was very easy to work with and answered all of our questions.

Photo Works Interactive offers both digital and vintage booths but we had a very hard time getting someone to respond to our inquiries, so we looked around for another retro digital booth company.

In the end we decided to go with 312photobooths.com. They offered a vintage booth with digital photos for the best price out of all three. We get the double strips, the guest book, two attendants and a copy of all the photos online and on a DVD. Sean worked with Anthony, who was very accomidating and helpful.

I think this is probably one of the things I'm most excited for. I hope everyone enjoys it!

Hmmmm....

2008-11-12T19:43:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the designers at David's Bridal have been peeking at the Jcrew site lately? I see a lot of "inspiration" in David's new modern line. David's dress on the left, Jcrew's on the right.

What to wear, part 1.

2008-11-02T17:26:00.000-08:00

When I tell people how many dresses I tried on before I decided on mine, I think they are kind of surprised. (I went to seven stores and I think I probably tried on about 35 or 40 dresses.) Well, I'm not surprised at all that it took me that many to know that the dress I chose was the right one. I'm totally indecisive about everything, so why would making this purchase be any different? I won't lie, even after we plunked down the deposit for my dress, I got the "Oh my God, did I chose the right one?" willies. Of course I am confident now, but at the time, it's a lot of money and it's a pretty final decision. No returning this baby for a full refund if you change your mind.

So, as you can see, it was very important for me to try on just about every dress in the styles I was going for--as a few others--that I could get my hands on before making the big choice.

I was going back and forth about posting photos of me in the dresses that I did not choose, and I decided not to. I will however show you what they look like on a model, which is of course ten times better than they look on any mere mortal in a wedding shop, sunburned and standing under fluorescent lights while reassuring themselves that their arms will not look like this on the wedding day and that by God, they will stop eating cheeseburgers twice a week in order to get rid of that kangaroo pouch.

Well, I still eat a lot of cheeseburgers, but I'm working on it!

Anyway, I digress. Please enjoy an assortment of rejected wedding gowns on very nice looking airbrushed ladies.

The first place we went looking was Macy's on State Street. I'm so glad that my Mom and I went to Macy's, even though we kind of knew we wouldn't be buying from there. ( I live in the suburbs and it's inconvenient to go to the heart of the city for fittings, etc.) I tried on quite a few dresses, but I only wrote down the two that I liked the most. I had a good experience at Macy's. The consultant I worked with was Marina, and she was really knowledgeable and I think it was a good place to start.

(Romona Keveza L805 without the bolero)
"The Romona," as I refer to it, was the runner up. I tried it on first at Macy's and later at another salon in Geneva called Veiled in Elegance. I know, it's pretty much exactly what I was looking for, and it made my behind look pretty nice, seriously...look, I'll even show you a real photo:

(photo of my behind at the shop in Geneva)

But, in the end, the Ivory coloring just wasn't as flattering as I wished it would have been and the white was "too white." (I'm assuming if you are reading this, that you care about the difference between Ivory and White...if not, this is probably your queue to move on to something less "bridey.")

(Lazaro LZ3659)
When I just looked this one up, I was surprised that I had written it down on the "short list." Maybe it wasn't as poofey when I tried it on? I don't remember what it looked like on me and Macy's doesn't allow you to take photos of the dresses.

Looking at the detail though, it has the lace work that I liked and the back is really pretty. So, I'm assuming that is what drew me to it.

After Macy's, we went to a few sample shops in the city, Weddings 826 and White Chicago. I didn't really find anything at Weddings 826, but Suzi, who was my consultant, was really great and the shop is really cute.

White Chicago was a completely unique experience. The place is really cool and they have a lot of great sample and once wed gowns. Ursula, one of the co-owners, was my consultant and she was so cool. I would HIGHLY recommend checking this place out, they have some great designer gowns at a fraction of the retail price.

(Judd Waddell)
I tried on quite a few gowns here (I honestly may have tried on the Romona again too) but the one I liked the best was by Judd Waddell. The picture isn't very clear above, but I have a photo of myself wearing this one and looking back, it just wasn't a flattering shape on me. Not the dress for me.

So, that was day one of the search for the dress. I have t0 say the one thing I wasn't prepared to do was strip down to my underwear in front of someone I had just met. Needless to say, we got real close, real quick. I don't know why I didn't even think about how I was going to get in and out of the dresses! Good thing I wore decent undergarments!

I'll save a few more for another post. I won't be posting my final decision, but you'll see it soon enough!

What to do...what to do...

2008-11-02T17:06:00.000-08:00

I was at work the other day, avoiding doing any actual work, and I thought it might be a good idea to come up with a "to do" list for the next 8 months--it's also called a "to pay" list if you ask me.

I know, many wedding Web sites have their own check list, but I decided to put good old pen to paper and this is what I have come up with. I'm sure I'm missing something and when I cross reference with said Web site, I'll find that I'm actually waaaaaaaay off. But never the less here we go, in no real order of importance or time crunch:

Save the Dates (soon!)
Photographer (soon!)
Invitations
Flowers and Reception decor
Sean's attire
My accessories (shoes, jewelry, etc.)
Hair and Makeup peeps
Car Rental (Sean's thinking vintage Cadillac, me likes)
Hotel Rooms
Welcome Bags for hotel guests
Bridal Party gifts
Bridesmaid dresses and accessories
Marriage License
Programs
Rehearsal Dinner arrangements
Ceremony and Reception music
Reserve the photobooth, which will serve as our guestbook and favors
Honeymoon arrangements

So, what am I missing? Do tell...

At least we have the big things out of the way, Reception and Ceremony locale, Officiant, my dress.

I'm standing up in my cousin's wedding on Nov. 15th and I think after that, I'll be kicking it into high gear and really focusing on the wedding, seeing as we have like 8 mos. left. Gah!

365...

2008-10-25T10:54:00.000-07:00

One year ago today.

I received some baked goods.

and this gem...

I know I've said it in like every post lately, but I can't believe how fast the last year went by.

I leave you with this:

(Sean, Me, Nathan and Stephanie's lower half)

The reason I love Jeremy Lawson's work and why I wish he was our photographer. Alas he is not available on our date. But, enjoy his blog. He shot our friend Andrea's wedding on 10.5.08 (where the photo above was taken).

No pictures...

2008-10-20T10:27:00.001-07:00

Finding a photographer is a lot more work than I thought it would be. There are so many talented people in the Chicagoland area. But I must say, I am so sick of looking at other people's wedding photos. I will be very happy when we finally nail down a photographer and hopefully it doesn't cost me my first born child.

We met with Molly Grace from Vrai last week and we are meeting with Kris Kasperek (iklikphoto) tonight.

But I just found more photographers via the wedding photojournalist association. Le sigh.

I trudge on.

I need to start working on the Save the Dates. I can't believe it's almost November.

Comments...eek!

2008-09-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, quick note...I think I need to buy a "blogging for idiots" book or something, because I have had people comment on here (okay, it was like 4 times, but still!) and I didn't even know it! I apologize if I didn't acknowledge any comments from past posts, but thanks for speaking up! I need to figure out how to get a "nudge" when I receive a comment in the future!

I'm glad someone is reading this! Keep the comments coming!

Gah. It's October already!

2008-09-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

Well, not just yet...but almost!!!

Nothing against October, I actually love it. It brings crisp weather, pumpkins, Halloween parties, decorations and Halloween candies (...and last year it brought me cavities from eating too much of that candy), my Mom's birthday and most importantly it marks the anniversary of our engagement. I know I keep saying that I can't believe it has been a year already, but seriously...I can...not...believe it!

In the last few weeks though, I have made some ground. We found the location for our ceremony. After looking for a place for about the last 11 months, I discovered that the hotel where we are having our room block has a nice outdoor location and is willing to do just a ceremony and the "inclement weather" back up ballroom is actually not terrible either. It will be nice for our guests, because they will be able to come to the hotel, attend the ceremony and then if they are staying at the hotel, they can just check in right afterward (or perhaps even before?) The location fee is less than what we were going to pay for the Schram and it's pretty much exactly what I wanted all along.

Well, this is pretty much my perfect location, but I don't live anywhere near anything this amazing:

(I don't know the exact source of that photo, but I'm pretty sure I pulled it from marthastewart.com)

But like I said...it's almost perfect.

Here are a couple photos I took when we went to look at the location.

I can use these chairs, or they have white garden chairs which I may use instead.

As you can see there are a few big trees in the area that provide shade which is very nice, especially in July. (eek!)

The coordinator at the hotel said she can set the site for at least 200 people, which is nice to at least have the option. Not sure how many we should expect yet.

I'd like to use some flower pom poms (my nice technical word for them). Either from real flowers or fake, depending on how much the real things would run.

(source)

(source)

I also would like to hang something from the trees if possible, but I don't want to run the risk of looking gaudy. Maybe a couple of paper lanterns or something. I haven't really looked into that yet.

Only other thing I have been considering is having a chuppah. Sean is Jewish and though we technically aren't having a Jewish wedding, it would be nice to honor that part of him with some traditional aspects. He will be breaking the glass at the end of the ceremony (spoiler alert: it's actually a light bulb! I guess it has better pop?)

Well, I guess that's all I have for now.

I'm still looking for the right photographer, I thought I had found him...and then another him...yet both were already booked. More on that next time. I bet you'll be living on the edge of your seats until then!

Where does the time go?

2008-09-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a month...lot's has happened, and then again, not a lot has happened.

It's mostly been research. Researching photographers, photo booth companies, still looking for the perfect ceremony spot (which is becoming one elusive beast!). But we did make some progress yesterday. We met with the officiant we will be using, Toni Maddi. She was so great. I felt totally on the the same page as her and I'm really looking forward to her performing our ceremony. We also went and visited our reception venue last night as they were setting up for a reception. The main purpose was to see where they set up the photo booth, but it turned into a great opportunity to take Sean's Mom and her boyfriend Ted on a tour of the venue and then they treated us to a delicious Tapas dinner! The place looked great all set up and the location of the photo booth is prime. We'll definitely be using that as our favors and guest book.

All in all I felt pretty accomplished yesterday!

My Mom is going to look into us possible having the ceremony at Indian Lakes, where she works. Toni has performed ceremonies there before and suggested it. I never even considered it before, but at this point...I'm going to try to exhaust all resources.

The search for the photographer continues. There are so many great photogs in Chicago, I didn't know it was going to be this hard of a choice! I just hope that by the time we choose to meet with someone they are still available!

I can't believe it's already mid-September. Next month we will have been engaged for a year. This makes me nervous and also makes me wonder what the heck I've been doing for the last 11 months!!!

In order to make myself feel better, I'm going to watch the Coco Channel movie on Lifetime and eat some Toblerone.

ta ta.

Well...it would have been nice.

2008-08-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

I got the dresses from Jcrew in the mail and as soon as I ripped open the box, my heart broke a little bit. The color is not at all what I was expecting--a cheery yellow as portrayed in the photos on the Web site. Instead it's more of a mustardy/muddy yellow which in some lights almost looks limey. I showed two of my girls last night and my Mom the other day and they all agreed it wasn't what we were expecting. I also tried one on just to see what the shape was and it just wasn't as cute as I thought it would be. Plus, now that I have found my dress (more on that later), I think I will need something with a bit richer fabric texture.Wah Wah....back to the ol' drawing board. I'm sure I will find something that is exactly what I want, it's a good thing I started early in the game!

I guess I've learned my lessons--always request a fabric swatch and if it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

I'll take some photos and post them later.

It's allllll happening!

2008-08-08T11:48:00.000-07:00

I just ordered the dresses for my girls! We decided to go with the JCrew dresses I posted about here. After hearing from JCrew and getting the good news that I would in fact be able to return or exchange the dresses, I decided to e-mail my girls and I'm so happy that they all really liked the dress!

I hope that they are just as adorable in person and that everyone likes them on. I know it's difficult to forecast sizes, etc. this far out, so I'm really greatful that everyone was so totally flexible about it.

Things are starting to get rolling--very exciting!

Okay, back to work.

She Comes in Colors Everywhere...

2008-07-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I never heard back from JCrew about the final sale policy on the dresses below. So...I guess it's not meant to be. I'm sure they will come back around. They seem to have a lot of the same stuff every other season.

So, I've been going back and forth about colors for well...about 9 months now. At first I really wanted to do jewel tones:

(source)

I found the board above and really liked the colors. I also found some jewel tone inspiration in other places too. Oddly enough, my Christmas tree ornaments were one.

Then I started reading wedding magazines and wedding blogs and wedding web sites and was changing my mind on a weekly basis.

First I loved Aqua and Emerald a la Martha, but alas I need more color than that:

(source)

And then I really liked the cranberry and orange combo, but later decided that was a bit too much like fall:

(source)

Then I was thinking brighter shades, maybe pink and orange?

(source)

or maybe a more subdued version:

(source)

I really like the pink/orange but I feel like it could be a little overwhelming. So then I thought about yellow and pink with small amounts of orange. I have been seeing a lot of things that I like in this area.

Some marigold and fuschia

(source)

So, I'm pretty sure I'll end up with some variation of these colors. I love these flowers:

Here are a few more yellow (and little pink) favs.

(source?)

(I'm pretty sure this is a Martha)

(Source)

I guess it's never a bad thing to have so many great ideas to choose from and so many resources to tap into! Some day I will have enough time to update my links section to include the gazillion blogs and sites I visit on a daily basis. Hey, I only have 11 months left to drool over all things wedding, I'll do it all day if I want!

GAH!

2008-07-23T16:16:00.001-07:00

JCrew is having a sale and one of the dresses I really like is included:

It was originally $260.00, now $179. Normally, this would be great, right?

Problems would be:

A) it's only onsale until Friday.
B) my wedding is still 11 months and some odd days away.
C) you can't try them on.
D) and most importantly, it says you can't exchange or return!

Waaaaaah. Waaaaah. I e-mailed them to see if problem D can be worked around at all. I really think these dresses are so cute and even though $179 is not cheap-o, it's almost as much as I've paid for dresses from David's Bridal.

Le sigh. I don't know what to do.

The count down is on...

2008-07-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

I hate those internet count down clocks. But, I thought it was worth mentioning that I'll be getting hitched in like 364 days and some odd hours, minutes, and of course...seconds.

woo.

Dum, Dum, Dah, Dum....

2008-06-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't found a ceremony site or an officiant yet. Thanks for asking though.

and why YES! I WILL BE SHOPPING FOR A WEDDING DRESS ON FRIDAY!

That's right. I'm totally putting boring things like finding a place to actually get married on the back burner for now and moving on to some of the fun things in the planning process. I'm ditching work on Friday and my Mom and I are going to do some damage in the city.

Sidenote: My Mom is my new assistant. I hate making phone calls. She doesn't mind. Nice.

So, she scheduled appointments for us at the Macy's Bridal Salon, Weddings 826, and White Chicago.

I'm sure I'll see things that are waaaaaaaay out of my price range, but I'm going to try them on regardless. Because I'll never be able to do it again.

I've already seen some dresses online that I know are not within reach, but I love them anyway.

Amy Kuschel:

(Astaire Nosegay)

(Ilsa)

(Astaire Kaleidescope)

We're going to Macy's first--I can almost guarantee that I won't end up getting something from there (because of prices) but they have a great selection of designers and I guess they are having a 10 percent off sale this week...so we'll see. So I can get all the sticker shock out of my system right then and there. Then we will eat lunch and head over to Weddings 826 and then end the day at White Chicago. I'm excited to go to the last two places because they sell samples and White Chicago also sells consignment dresses.

I hope I will be able to take pictures, although I don't know how keen I would be about posting them on here...maybe the rejects.

I'm really excited. I hope I find dresses that I like, but I'm also afraid of finding the dress that I want to buy because I want to be able to shop some more. Silly, I know...but this is one of the things I'm really looking forward to doing.

I hope the next two days fly by.

I've officially seen it all...

2008-06-11T19:19:00.001-07:00

Well, almost:

Seriously, WTF does a naked dude have to do with me looking for a wedding gown? I mean I get that the end result of your wedding day will probably end up with nudity...but come on. Put some pants on. It's like a Calvin Klein commercial gone totaaaaaaaaaaaally wrong.

So bizarro.

What does it all mean????

2008-06-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it was inevitable. It had to happen eventually, I just didn't think it would be this soon...

I had my first wedding nightmare. It was a doozy too, let me tell ya!

It started with me and my Dad standing outside the doors of wherever I decided to have the ceremony (which is a major decision that is still pending at the moment!) When the coordinator opens the doors, there are these panels of fabric that we have to wade through in order to get into the room. So we wade in, it's dark, like someone has the shades pulled on the windows and instead of meeting Sean at the front of the room, he is sitting on a chair in the crowd and I sit down two people away from him. Then, the guy who is marrying us grabs both our hands and drags us over to this big grand piano in the back of the room and does the ceremony there! Afterwards we are all just standing in the hallway and I'm upset about the ceremony and my Mom goes, "Well, you can ALWAYS do it again, tomorrow!" WTF??? So then immediately after that, it is time for dinner and they are serving salads and I realize that we never even had a tasting!!! I have no clue what is being served and when I ask the banquet manager why we never got a tasting, she can't give me an answer. When I then demand a refund of my money, she tells me no. I can't find my Mom or my Dad and I end up in the reception hall leaning on a table and sobbing. And just thinking the whole time that I am so dissapointed that this is how my wedding ended up. THEN...I finally find my Mom and we both figure out that we are not really at my wedding, because it's only June 14th, 2008 and my wedding is still a whole other year away!!!! How silly of us!

Then I woke up.

Complete...ridiculousness? Yes. But I can understand a few of the things. I am worried about finding the ceremony site and further more finding someone to actually marry us. This has been a bit more difficult than I had imagined. Secondly, I've always been a bit weary about the food and the pricing at our venue. Even though I know they aren't going to screw me, it's a lot of money that we are dealing with and maybe underneath it all I feel a bit guilty about how much it is going to cost in the very end?

Either way, I hope I don't have another one of those for a while. It was pretty unsettling.

decisions...decisions...

2008-06-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

Obviously, I've been obsessing just a tad over bridesmaid dresses lately. It's very important to me that I find a middle ground between what I have envisioned for the wedding and what my bridesmaids like, feel comfortable in and of course are willing to shell out the dough for. The dresses below are included in J.Crew's summer sale going on now. I like the yellow and the style, but I'm not convinced that I love the rope detail. They are still $179.99, but that's only about 15 bucks more than I paid for my last bridesmaid dress. Still seems like a lot to ask though. Blarg. Anywho, I e-mailed the contact for information on fabric swatches and return policy. We'll see.

(Strappy Florence Dress, J.Crew)

(Strapless Florence Dress, J. Crew)

I've also been encouraged lately by some of the more updated styles I've been seeing on the mainstream bridal designer websites.

Dessy and After Six have some dresses that look like they could be contenders...only thing is I have no clue about price. Two or three little diamond logos doesn't really translate to dollars for me.

(Note: I have no idea what color I would choose from either of these two designers, so these are just examples of dress styles, not exact color choices.)

(After Six 6510)

(After Six 6518)

(After Six 6535 Front and Back Views)

(Dessy Style 2719)

(After Six 6728)

(After Six 6504)

(After Six 6506 Front and Back Views)

(After Six 6505)

I also like these from Jim Hjelm, but again I have no concept of pricing.

(Jim Hjelm Style: #JH5804T in Pineapple (Yum!))

(Style# JH5709T, Front and Back Views)

(Style: #JH5613T)

That's it for now.

Put on your party dress...

2008-06-02T21:29:00.001-07:00

My search continues for an alternative Bridesmaid dress...

Anthropologie has some more cute little options for a bridesmaid party dress.

This one is $308.00 so ummm no. But it's cute!

This one is only $138.00. A little more casual, but still cute. I like the little ruffle at the bottom.

And of course they wouldn't be complete without these shoes for $358.00, would they? Nah.

I took a look at Macys.com and saw this:

A bit more formal, but still has a little funkyness. I don't really like the color though.

Nordstrom always has some good stuff...

If this Nicole Miller dress was a bit shorter, and of course not $465.00, I think I would like something like it...I really like yellow and I love the pattern of the fabric.

(Nordstrom, $465.00)

I was likin' this one for a second, but now I think it would be blah.

(Nordstrom, $158.00)

and last but not least...something for myself, of course. The LBD:

Nordstrom, $128.00

"We're not boat people..."

2008-05-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

I was watching Sex and the City the other night and in the episode, Steve and Miranda decide to get married and as they are walking and discussing places the hold the ceremony, they just happen to drop a bag of groceries in front of this adorable city garden. And just like that, they've found the ceremony site! Easy as pie!

Well isn't that nice for them? Maybe that will work out for me too...you see, I'm having a hard time finding a place to hold the ceremony and I'm starting to worry a bit that I won't be able to find the perfect place...or even the near perfect place.

As I mentioned before, we do have the option of having the ceremony at the reception site. There are a few reasons that I am opposed to this. The first is the fact that the earliest we would be able to start is 4:30 or 5. I know myself and I know that I will feel disappointed if I have to wait to start the whole shebang until 5 p.m. Plus, I would have to take pictures with Sean ahead of time, and if there is any tradition I'd like to hold onto, it's the whole not seeing each other before the ceremony thing. Lastly, I don't trust that the ceremony set up would be broken down and the reception would be put together appropriately within the time it takes to have cocktails.

Sean and I are looking for an alternative site for the ceremony. Our families are of different religions and neither of us are practicing in either. So, we won't be doing a church. So the search for the site has been a bit difficult. In my head I picture us getting married outside, maybe under a great tree(s), or some place that was just really "us"! I've scoured the internet and it haven't really come up with anything that great. We went and looked at a couple places, a conservatory in Mt. Prospect that was just meh, and then we went and saw the Schram Memorial Museum in Glen View.

This place has a nice history, it's located in pretty close proximity to the reception hall and it's very quaint. They don't hold church services there, it's pretty much just for weddings. We went and looked at it and it was really nice, but I just don't know if it's the right place.

The inside is pretty plain, but I just don't know if it feels like us...if that makes any sense. My friend at work is getting married there and she said they are pretty much letting her do whatever she wants to as far as decorations, etc.

It was almost dark out when we were there, so I imagine it would be brighter during the day.

I'm not really diggin the stained glass windows...

I did find one great place, it's a Japanese garden and it looks beautiful. But...it's in Geneva, which I think would be way too far from the reception site, so I guess that's probably out of the question too.

But it's so pretty!!!

I'm going to look into putting a deposit down on Schram, just in case we don't find anything else. My Mom has suggested finding the officiant and then seeing if maybe they have any suggestions. Too bad I have NO CLUE where to even look for the officiant...or what kind I'm even looking for.

Venue Envy...

2008-04-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

I know, it's too late to have second thoughts on where to hold the reception...but wait, maybe I could just pay back my parents for the deposit they put down?

My crazy talk is stemming from just now discovering the Pleasant Home in Oak Park which I found via A Windy City Wedding . Thank the lord it only holds 150 people or I would be having big time remorse right now...and/or putting my parents in an asylum waaaay to early in the game.

2008-03-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally found some where to hold the big party. We've set the date for July 11, 2009. We will be having the reception (and possibly the ceremony) at the Metropolis Ballroom in downtown Arlington Heights. (If you are looking at the Web site, please ignore any photos with a colorful mural in it. That wall has been knocked down to enlarge the room.)

As soon as we saw the room, we really liked it. The space is really open and loft like. The wood floors and the high ceiling was a big plus also. And through the glass doors is a terrace that people can go out on and smoking is allowed on the terrace too so people can still feel like they are a part of the party.

Better view of the ceiling(above). The lighting is really modern. The "chandeliers" look like twinkly lights!

If we had the ceremony there, it would be in the ballroom too (set up somewhat like this). To the right of this photo you can see the bar. Though I really like that there is a 'real' bar in the room, I'd probably want to do something to cover it up for the ceremony so that it didn't look like I was getting hitched...in a bar. Or who knows, by that point...I probably won't care. We aren't sure what to do about the ceremony yet. Most of the other places that we looked at, which of course didn't work out, all had pretty nice places to have the ceremony outside. That is not the case here. Plus, I'd like to do the ceremony a bit earlier in the day so that we can have time to take pictures and still be able to partake in the cocktail hour.

Speaking of cocktail hour, one other thing that isn't perfect, but can be worked with is the location of the cocktail hour.

This is only one view of the room. I really like the exposed brick, and there is a built in bar (see below). But, it's a bit dark for my tastes. ALSO BUT...it's only one hour, right? I may have to get creative with some decor.

Above is the former mural in the cocktail space. I never really saw with my own two eyes, but I think it's a good thing they knocked it down. Also, you can see the bar I mentioned before.

So yeah, it's official! We're actually going to get married. We weren't just jerkin' your chain. 7-11. Get your free slurpees on the way to the PAR-TAY!

If you have it (an hour away), they will come (hopefully).

2008-03-03T20:16:00.000-08:00

SOOOOOO...last time we spoke, I was gushing about my new found love--the MCA. I had finally opened up and thought I had found the one venue who could fulfill all my hopes, dreams and needs. In the end, I got my heart broken--to the tune of $150 to $200 per person! Can you believe it? I'm sure you can. I'm not sure why I ever thought that I could afford something so awesome, but alas, I move on.

Since then, we've looked at 3 other places, all out in the suburbs, each having something wrong with them. 1) They don't fit enough people, even though the sales person tells you they do when you call to inquire about it. 2) The reception has to end at 11 p.m. due to residential restrictions...again, no one seemed to mention this before I dragged my ass--not to mention Sean's ass--there on a Friday night. 3) They don't allow smoking...anywhere on the grounds...at a wedding...makes sense, and thank you again for maybe mentioning this restriction during our e-mail or phone conversations. Really, I appreciate it. Now, the last thing wouldn't really bother me, but unfortunately, quite a few of my friends and family (including my Dad) smoke and I don't want them spending all night in the parking lot just because they have to hide to have a cigarette. Not fun.

So, what am I left with? Well...I did find a place that seems to be sort of a sure thing. It's within our budget (a word I'm starting to despise). I've made sure that all of the above issues are not...issues, I've seen pictures, I've heard good reviews. The only thing that I see as a downfall is that it's about an hour away in Vernon Hills. Now, Sean and I have even gone as far as driving to other states and back in the same day for a wedding, but do other people care if they have to travel a bit? I'm not sure and if I like the place...at this point...I'm not sure if I am in a position to make that a priority. So, we're going to look at it on Sunday and fingers crossed it will be good. I'll be honest when I say it isn't really the perfect place, but I guess I have to take what I can get.

So, that's the update for now. I'm pretty bummed. I hope it gets more fun after this.

Merry Maids.

2008-02-23T18:16:00.001-08:00

I know this is one thing I don't have to do for a while, but I have collected quite a few ideas for bridesmaid dresses already.

I like this little number from simple silhouettes. They also have a great selection of colors. I like these four below.

Something similar from Charsa. I like the two color choices below.

I thought this dress from Jenny Yoo was interesting and not the ordinary strapless, short number. She also has a nice color palette to choose from.

Then of course, there is the love of my life, J.Crew. Every time I think I have found the best dress on there, I go back and something new is up. Even though these probably won't be available when I start looking for dresses, here are a few of my favs below.

The Kady cotton collection in orange peel and sour lemon.

Silk taffeta Lorelei dress in papaya and fresh aloe. My first best friend's name was Lorelei, oh nostalgia.

Silk tricotine Rebecca short dress in crisp beet and flame.

Below, I like the blue dress, the Silk chiffon Sophia dress but in the fresh aloe or bright berry colors. and the green dress, the Silk chiffon Juliet dress in fresh aloe (the color it's pictured in).

A Calvin Klein dress that I found on Nordstrom.com

This dress below is actually from David's Bridal, but I hate that store, so I'd probably never buy anything from there. It's cute though.

I also like this dress from Anthropologie. I've seen it in person and it's cute!!! Not a bad price either.

So, hopefully when I go to pick something out, I'll be able to find something I like and that my girls also like, that isn't 300 bucks. Fingers crossed!!!

Venue, Venue...where art though, Venue?

2008-02-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

I know that there is a venue out there for me somewhere, but it has been eluding me. I've researched the subject up and down and contacted quite a few places that I thought 'were the one' but I still haven't been able to nail it down.

Places I really liked, but cannot do, due to either budgetary, logistical or ginourmous guest list reasons:

River East Arts Center. Le sigh. This place looks awesome, but it just isn't feasible for monetary reasons.

A new leaf. My friend is having her wedding here and it sounds so nice. Our guest list runneth over...no a new leaf for me.

Prarie Production. A friend's cousin got married here and had her wedding featured in the Knot magazine. It looked very pretty. But...it only fits 2 hundo. Waaa Waaa. It's very pretty though:

Catalyst Ranch. This is hands down, the most popular suggestion that I get from people when I say what I'm looking for in the city. Unfortunately, we have too many guests...are you beginning to see a trend here? I love this place. I attended a wedding there and this was the first time I was ever exposed to a wedding that wasn't trapped inside the banquet hall box. I haven't ever stopped raving about it. :)

Isn't it darling?

Sean enjoyed himself too.

We've been to a couple places so far. One I actually really liked, Architectural Artifacts. We ventured to Ravenswood to check this place out. It's a gem...super cool. But it just wouldn't work out for logistical reasons. It's really remote and would be a logistical problem. I took some photos while I was there.

The four photos below show where the dining and dancing area would be.

The left hand side.

The right hand side.

The middle.

This is where the dancing would take place.

I normally hate chandeliers, but these are all different, vintage light fixtures. The one below was particularly charming.

The event coordinator said that they would be willing to pull 'artifacts' that we liked from around the space and use them for decor. I didn't really see anything I loved, but found some things that would be interesting to have showcased if you had an event there.

Very "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"

They have a very large collection of stained glass.

My friend and your's. Ol' J.C.

I said I liked this one and Sean said "That's what you're gonna look like in 10 years." Not sure he realizes the jokes on him if I gain 1000 lbs and start swigging rootbeer floats.

These are photos from the Web of the outdoor area. It was filled with stuff when we were there, so you couldn't really get a good idea of what it would look like.

A couple other things I thought were cool

Never nude.

They had a TON of these. Glove molds, pretty cool.

Stay classy.

Today we went to look at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It's really the first place I really liked when looking for something in the city. We haven't been able to go see it because they only do facility tours during weekday business hours. But they were setting up an event so we were able to come take a peek. I basically have a major crush on this place. The coordinator is awesome and the space is so unique. It's a city space, but it's "suburbanite" friendly, being that it is in the mag mile area and close to hotels and transportation as well. I have to get some more information on catering costs, etc. But I was really, really stoked on this place. Sean was too, and I'm glad since he was nice enough to coordinate making the appointment to go see it, ect. I knew there was a reason I was marrying him! I didn't take any photos, but there are a bunch on the Web site. Things I loved the most: ummm. Everything. Like I said, I have a crush. I hope my heart doesn't get broken!

Tomorrow, we are going to visit Cantigny , which is out here in the 'burbs. I've heard it's beautiful in the spring/summer and they are building a new venue in the garden area which sounds really nice. It's called Le Jardin. They sent me some artist mock ups:

Instead of the square tables, it would be rounds. The only thing that kind of stinks is that they said the dancing would have to be in the next room, because of course we have too many people to fit it all in one. I know that I won't be able to see the venue in person, but if anything, I'll at least get a feel for where it would be located. Funny thing is that people are booking this place up like crazy, even though it isn't even going to be finished until August 2008. So, we'll see.

One other place I want to look at is the Morton Arboretum which is our here in the suburbs as well.

After today, I'm feeling more positive. There may be an end to my search in sight!

.snow day.

2008-02-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

Let's just jump right in, shall we?

The best (and arguably only good) thing about snow is that it occasionally results in a "snow day." Today I am experiencing my first snow day since I was in school and what better way to spend my day off then actually getting around to posting something in here!

Over the last few months since Sean and I got engaged, I have been stock piling images from the interweb and tear sheets from magazines as well as bookmarking and subscribing to the RSS feeds for every wedding blog that I can get my little hands on. So I thought it was appropriate that I start my own "inspiration blog" where I can talk about planning and what I have found and who knows, maybe someone other than the 3 people who feel obligated will actually read it! If anything, it will give me an outlet to talk about things and display my finds on a voluntary basis and will hopefully save some of my friends and co-workers from getting bombarded with 'all wedding, all the time."

Currently, I'm still looking for a venue. I've looked at a bunch of places on line and I do know exactly what kind of reception I want. Trouble is...it either doesn't exist in the Chicagoland area or it costs way too much money. So that is my current dilemma. Once I get the venue secured I feel as though everything else will sort of be able to fall into place.

So that's what I don't know...what I do know is that I am going to try to find a lot of help for all the artsy things like designing the stationary and paper goods, photography, etc. Sean and I know so many talented people that if we are going to pay someone, it might as well be someone we really like.

Speaking of DIY...one of the many wedding blogs I've become addicted too, The Brooklyn Bride, was having a give away for a new book "The DIY Wedding" by Kelly Bare.

And guess what? I won! I've spent much of today reading the book and I've already gotten some really good ideas and advice. Not to mention that the book is really pretty and the illustration and design are perfect. Thank you again to The Brooklyn Bride!

I'm off to do something 'non-wedding' related now, but I'll leave you with this. It's pretty much the perfect example of the type of wedding I would like to have. From the venue, to the flowers, to the weather and the photos. it's just lovely.

The wedding is featured on The Bride's Cafe. It's photographed by Meg Smith and decorated by Ariella Chezar Floral Designs. Why don't I live in California and have gobs of extra money lying around? Le sigh.