And Then We Eat!

**Leaving for our honeymoon tomorrow!! Will try to post occasionally from the road, but should be back with more recaps/photos in a couple weeks! Don't forget to enter my giveaway while I'm gone!

After the rehearsal was over and done with, it was time to eat!

Jacob's folks hosted the rehearsal dinner. It was a fantastic BBQ feast with Lasagna! lol... not really sure how lasagna fit into a BBQ theme, but I sure wasn't complaining! I love lasagna... but Jacob doesn't so I never end up making it at home.

The dinner was held at the park where the rehearsal/wedding was. Tables covered in blue table clothes were set up, and sunflower themed decorations were all over. It was fantastic. =)

After food was eaten I passed out the gifts to our parents and the bridal party. Bridesmaids were given silver sand dollar ear rings, groomsmen were given homemade sand dollar cuff links, flower girls got bracelets, ring bears were given puzzles. Moms got lockets with footprints on them (barefoot in the sand after all!) and dads also got some cuff links.... and EVERYONE got salt water taffy (as we ended up with quite a bit left over after finishing the favors!).

I didn't put names on the favors, but, rather, color coded the ribbon used to tie the gift bags... which meant that I had to remember what color and sized box went to who. I thought I was doing pretty good until one of our cute little flower girls came up to me and asked, 'Brittney... what is this?" while holding up a pair of cuff links! LOL Oops! I'd accidentally given the flower girls the dad's gifts and the dad's the flower girl gifts! I think it would have been even funnier had my dad opened a box with a cute little bracelet in it. ;)

And now for some photos!

Jacob and I stealing a little time together

Originally we planned to build a bonfire on the beach after dinner and roast some marshmallows, but it started to get a little cold (as illustrated by the photo of my grandmother below) and so the guys decided against it.

Toward the end of the evening this powered hang glider made it way over to our beach...


He appeared to be having some trouble with his motor and/or running out of gas. He kept going back and forth, getting lower and lower to the beach. Later I asked Jacob what happened to the guy, apparently my fantastic guy ending up coming the rescue and giving the guy a ride back to his car after he finally landed. =)

Finally everyone headed back to their respective houses/hotels. I was still feeling really anxious/nervous and wasn't ready to say goodbye to Jacob yet (as we had chosen to spend the night apart and not see each other until coming down the aisle), so I convinced him to bring his guys over to the girls house and spend a little time with me.

About an hour later I had gotten my hand holding/cuddle craving fulfilled, the guys took off, and it was time for bed. I was feeling MUCH better by that point and actually had no trouble falling asleep!

Time to Practice!

After the Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Party, and a few hours of sleep, it was time to pack up and head to the coast for our rehearsal, dinner, and the main event. I had a made a list over the last week of things to remember to pack (the last thing I wanted to do was drive three hours only to realize that we forgot the multiple boxes of Christmas lights we bought and stored for the last 8 months), so the actual job of "packing" was pretty low stress, however, what I was NOT expecting were the intense emotions around actually LEAVING our apartment.

It may have been a combination of my lack of sleep the previous evening, the behemoth beverage I ingested, and nerves/stress, but I almost started to bawl in those last seconds before stepping out of the apartment. Everything was packed in all of our cars, my purse and my coat were in my arms, and I just stood there, looking around at the apartment, feelings rushing over me. We weren't moving. We were coming right back to the same apartment, same furniture, same everything... but, for some reason, it was a really emotional moment for me.

And those feelings continued on the ride... though they changed slightly into some pretty intense nausea and, really, dread (I'm telling you all this now because I want you to be able to compare my "day before" emotions to my "day of" emotions when I explain them later on... it's a pretty interesting comparison). I knew that *I* was going to be "in charge" of the evenings events (the rehearsal). I knew that I would be answering all kinds of questions and have to make spur of the moment decisions. I pleaded with Jacob on the way down to please help me--to take the reigns and make some decisions, to absorb some of the questions... but, still, I felt intense levels of stress.

We made it to Waldport (after stopping along the way to pick up some rental chairs), and the weather was looking pretty good! Jacob dropped me off at the house I'd be sharing with my girls that night (who were already there waiting for me), and then took off next door to the house he'd share with his guys. The girls were scheduled to do a "make up trial" that afternoon with Jacob's aunt, a Mary Kay Consultant. It was kind of fun to just be able to sit back and watch them (and give my stomach a chance to settle). Then, it was off to our park for the rehearsal and dinner.

I rode with my girls. We got to the park and there were a TON of cars! This particular state park is not usually populated much at all! We pulled up to a group of people... only to discover that they were not OUR people. There was another wedding going on! lol The theme seemed to be on the, umm, alternative side, but it was Friday the 13th, so I guess it makes sense. =)

Anyhow, we gathered our group, and wandered down to the beach for a rehearsal (read: quick run through) before dinner. My goal was for everyone to know who to walk with and where to stand, and to check volume for my brother/officiant and brother/guitarist (we were unable to project anything via our permit specifications)... once that was a determined I didn't much care about the rest.

And now, here are the photos. =)

Jacob pondering... he ended up breaking that stand (the first of our "what went wrong" moments).

My dad directing.... he was an air traffic controller, so he does that well. =) Plus, it was really helpful for me.

Not really sure what we're looking at here... but I thought it was a funny shot... =)

We decided to walk down the aisle with both of our parents. I didn't think about how complicated it was going to be to 1) match steps/strides with TWO people and 2) Link arms on both sides while holding a bouquet.

"C" is for cookie? lol... again, no idea what I'm doing, but I found humor in it. =)

I hope to get at least one more post (about the rehearsal dinner) done before we leave for our honeymoon (on TUESDAY!!! Only one more day of work!). Then I'm sure I'll blog a little here and there from the road!

Anybody Want Free Stuff??

I have another FANTASTIC Uprinting giveaway for you all! Enter to win 100 folded brochures! Maybe using this brochure printing opportunity to create programs for the wedding? Or maybe "meet the bride and groom" fun sheets at the reception? Or maybe menus for the place settings? OR for those of you WITHOUT wedding on the brain, maybe you need something for your home business? Or perhaps get your Christmas mailing sorted out early? Whatever you choose, Uprinting's online printing is awesome. They saved me a TON and gave me some really high quality stuff for our wedding. I've been nothing but happy with their work and their customer service.

Here are the prize details:

100 8.5x11 Brochures w/ Folding
100lb Paper Gloss
Folding options: None, Half-fold, Trifold/Letterfold, Z-fold, Accordion, Roll Fold
4 Color Both Sides Printing
Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above

Three different ways to enter! 1) Leave a comment telling us what you'd do with the printing if you won (mandatory entry), 2) be a follower or become one (leave a separate comment), and 3) blog about it (again, leave a separate comment and add your blog post URL).

Since we are head on our honeymoon on Tuesday (woo hoo!!) and I wanted to give you more than 5 days for a chance to enter, this giveaway will end at 11:59 PM on Sept. 15th, and the winner will be announced the following day!**

Just so you all know, I have the opportunity ti get a set of these for hosting the giveaway... not sure if I'll use them yet... I'm curious to see what your creative ideas are... maybe I'll steal one of them! =)


** Winner chosen via random.org.

My Night of Debauchery!

After the bridal shower my girls and I set out for my bachelorette party. Again, as none of them actually live in my town they had some difficulties finding a venue for the night. Via one of their sister's recommendations, we started out at Aztec Willies.

Before walking in, they donned me in the traditional bachelorette party garb... a poofy veil, sparkly "Bachelorette" sash, and a big, blue, blinky ring. lol Holly went up to the bar to order herself and I a drink, but, seeing that he had a bachelorette party, the bartender had different plans for my beverage. He told Holly that he'd bring me "something special."

THIS is what I ended up with!


A fishbowl sized FLAMING beverage (very citrus-y.... maybe "Sex on the Beach" like)!

(P.S. This photo was PRIOR to ingestion... I'm just already that tired. lol)

I struggled, but, slower I managed to finish it off!


I was feeling pretty good at this point! lol... especially after having a Sangria, too! =)

The girls showered me with more gifts (though, this time HIGHLY more inappropriate, hehe). Then we decided to head downtown for a little dancing.

We landed at The Dixie Tavern, a Coyote-Ugly style bar where the girls actually get up on the bar and dance (and encourage customers to do the same).

(Girl on bar)

Two things really surprised me while we were out, 1) how many congratulatory comments I got from strangers (I know this shouldn't be a surprise since I was wearing a big blinking ring and a sash, but it still was), and 2) that my garb was actually a CHICK magnet. All kinds of random girls came up to "dance" with me... maybe trying to rub off some of the marriage "luck"?



We also ran into a bachelor party while we were there.... the groom popped by to say hi and congrats:

(That's my bridesmaid Holly in the background.. lol... must have been a good song on!)

All in all, it was a fabulous, tiring, late night. A great time was hand by all (as illustrated by Holly below! lol)... though I was definitely feeling it the next morning! lol

My sash didn't quite make it out alive. lol

Let the Recaps Commence!

**Photo Heavy! And LONG**

Ok, so I think it's about time that I should start some sort of recap. The professional photos are not due back for another couple of weeks, so I'll start with the pre-wedding festivities and hopefully finish those up before we take off for our honeymoon on the the 31st! (sooo looking forward to that!)

I don't have any photos from the bachelor party (not sure if that's a good or bad thing... lol) but I have plenty of photos from my bridal shower, bachelorette party, and the rehearsal/dinner, so we'll start there.

Because two of my three bridesmaids currently live in a different time zone, my bridal shower was scheduled for 2 days before the wedding so that they could all be there. My girls started getting into town Wednesday. Holly got to Portland in time for us to go out, eat some sushi and have a glass of wine before getting back to welcome Josie later that evening. Jessica joined them the following afternoon. Unfortunately, since I have only been at my job for about 8 months (and am taking a two week honeymoon) I did not have enough vacation time saved up to take Thursday off to spend time with my girls. So, I went to work Thursday while they went about finishing up the final details for the bridal shower that afternoon. I really wish I would have been able to spend some more time with them... I don't see them nearly enough. =(

The shower was held at Washington Park (a FANTASTIC choice!). None of the girls are from Portland, so they were definitely the blind leading the blind with decisions such as venues, but they did a great job. Once everyone got to the picnic site (there was some confusion over exactly WHERE in the gigantic park our specific site was), the party got started!

Holly and Jessica, my two vegetarian bridesmaids somehow got stuck grilling the meat! lol They did a fantastic job, though! =)

Mmmmm.....

I'm a big board game fan (love me a good game night!). I was pretty excited when people bought us the games we registered for (we also got Apples to Apples and Othello). I think in this photo Holly had just said, "Hey! I know how to turn that into a drinking game!" =)

My mom made me a "Money Tree"

I loved this little kitchen set that my aunt gave me. Wore it for the rest of the afternoon (minus the pot holder!).

The whole gang!

My girls and I!

With my rehearsal bouquet. I love how color coordinated the party was! =) I loved my colors!

Mom and I

I had a great time. I was a little worried about the party games that my girls may come up with, but they kept it simple, and one of the games actually worked out to my mental-health benefit! =)

The game (which many of you may recognize), lasted the whole evening. Everyone was given a ring to wear, and told that they could not say the words "wedding" or "bride"... if someone caught them using these words, they had to hand over their ring. The person with the most rings at the end of the party won.

The unintentional result of this game was that NO ONE talked about the wedding or asked me questions about it! I LOVED this! After 13 months of planning I was getting really sick of talking about it. Instead I got to talk about work, home, life... you know... those things that a person has/does when they AREN'T planning a wedding? It was fantastic! =)

The only other game of the evening was a "how well do you know the bride and groom" type of thing. Josie, my matron of honor, had Jacob answer a dozen questions about me. At the shower all of the guests, including myself, had to guess what Jacob said and/or what the ACTUAL correct answer was. It was pretty funny. Some of the questions I knew Jacob wouldn't get (and I was right), other questions I knew WHAT he would answer (even though it wasn't my actual answer) and I got those right, too! Good thing though was that he got the important questions right, like what our first date was, how many kids I wanted to have, etc., etc. It was a good game and Josie had all the questions and answers printed out on nice cards so that I can save them with the rest of my wedding keepsakes.

Josie, Holly and Jessica.... THANK YOU for a fantastic shower! You guys did great!

Oh, and Josie, thank you for being the official shower photographer!! =)

Well, We Tried, But We Didn't Make It...

... Under our budget that is. =)

When Jacob and I determined our budget for the wedding, it was very random and uneducated. We didn't know how much anything wedding-y cost. We thought about how much we'd be willing to go into debt for one day, and how much money we already had to contribute.

We landed on $5,000.

Then we started shopping for vendors.

WOWZA! Talk about sticker shock! Everything was SOOO expensive and I had NO idea how we were going to pay for a wedding of approximately 100 guests for only 5k. I did a LOT of comparison shopping, entered (and won) a LOT of online giveaways, made some sacrifices, and did some DIY stuff (which is not really my cup of tea). But, in the end, we were still over budget, but not much...


6%!!!**

And ONLY because the vendors that we did get were AWESOME and we decided we wanted to thank them with larger tips than we originally planned for. Had this not been the case, we would have been less than $100 over our budget.

** This is not counting the cost of printing and sending out thank you cards... which I still need to figure out.

I am VERY ok with this number. Especially considering that we did NOT end up going in to debt for this wedding! Thanks to fantastic friends and family, bargain shopping, savings plans, solid employment, and Uprinting's online giveaways, we were able to pay for everything in cash, out of pocket. THAT is the way that I want to start our new life together! =)

I'll go through the breakdown more in-depth later (once I finally figure out how to go about starting my re-caps), but for now, here's the percentage breakdown:

Apparel (including rings):
26%

Decorations:
2%

Bridal Party/Parent Gifts:
2%

Flowers:
0%
Flowers were home grown and arranged by a family friend

Music:
9%

Photography:
9%

Reception (including favors & DOC):
33%

Stationary/Printing:
3%

Transportation:
0%
We drove our own cars... *gasp!* ;)

"Other" Expenses (including hair/makeup, license fees, etc.):
15%

Sneak Peek!

Our photographer just posted a sneak peek of our wedding shots on his website!! Yay!! I can't wait to see the rest!




















P.S. I'll start writing more soon.... as soon as I figure out how and where to start....

Mrs. Corey

We did it! And the facebook tags are rolling in! =) Here's a sneak peek until I can write more! Just know that it was FANTASTIC!

I LOVE this photo... makes me laugh every time I look at it!

Goodbye "Miss", Hello "Mrs."

Well ladies (and gents... if any are reading this), this may be my LAST post as a "Miss". My girls are getting into town tomorrow and then the fantastic long-weekend celebrations commence, so I don't know that I'll have the time/desire to sit at my computer and update my blog.

The wedding is Saturday, the weather is calling for 74 and sunny (which is HOT for the Oregon coast!). Once I type up and print out my vows (which I'm going to do as soon as I'm done with this), I do not have a single thing left on my "To Do" list! It feels SOO good! And really, really weird!

I'd like to give a shout out to my fellow blogger brides who are also getting married on Saturday: Lisa at CraftMyBride, Sarah Elizabeth and Ms. Wedding Crasher. (I apologize if I forgot anyone else!) Congratulations ladies, and ENJOY this weekend! We have made it to the finish line! lol

Lists

My life has become one big list.... or, rather, several lists.

I am a list maker. Even pre-wedding I would make "to do" lists and take some joy in crossing things off as they were accomplished. But these last couple of weeks, I've been in list over drive.

Here is a list of my lists:

• General To Do List
• Items for the DOC to know
• Shots for Photographer
• Do Not Forget to Pack
• Brittney's To Do's
• Jacob's To Do's
• Day-of Time-line
  
• Important Contacts

And it seems like I just keep thinking of more lists that would be helpful to have. *sigh*

Thankfully, I only have THREE more days to get things done. Then the long-weekend wedding celebrations begins! =) My girls to get here Wednesday, my shower/bachelorette party happens on Thursday, the rehearsal festivities are on Friday and, FINALLY, the big day on Saturday. This is going to be one amazing week!

I am DONE!

Well... sort of. =) I have just completed my LAST do-it-yourself project! Woo hoo!! Aside from wrapping gifts I have NOTHING left to do that is going to take any "crafty" brain power or dexterous fingers. lol. I am REALLY excited about this. =)

My last project was our table assignment poster. Figuring out where people would sit was actually a lot easier than I anticipated, thank goodness. I figure some people won't be 100% happy with who they are sitting with or where, but if I get 75% I think I'll call it a win. lol

Here it is! Foam/poster board from the Dollar Tree, 4X6 note cards, ribbon from Michaels, and sunflowers that I harvested from these shoes. lol. I liked how our other poster turned out so much that I decided to follow the theme. =)

(names have been covered... sorry everyone, you'll have to wait to see who you're sitting with! lol)

300-9-62-0

Nope.... not some kind of weird locker combination, but rather the most important numbers in my life right now! lol

300: The number of wedding planning posts I've written over the last year

9: The number of days left until the wedding (ahhhh.... we're in the SINGLE digits ladies!!! I'll write more this weekend when I have "time").

62 and 0: The temperature and rain percentage forecast on the 10 day weather outlook today! Woo hoo!!!! (You can BET that was one of the first things I checked this morning as today is the first day it was available!)*.



Added bonus, it looks like our rehearsal and dinner is going to enjoy some nice weather, too! =)

* P.S. If you don't know, 62 is a WARM temperature for the Oregon coast.... the average temp for that day is only about 65.

August is Here

I am getting married this month. Not "in a month" but THIS month! We are less than two weeks away! The time has gone by SOO fast and I know the next 13 days are going to fly by, too*.

Today Jacob and I met with both our photographer and our florist to go over last minute details. It's nice to know that the "planning" is finally coming to a close. We also paid off our bill at the reception hall this week... that took a huge load off my mind (and our bank account! lol) as well.

Now I just need to get through the last few days (without driving Jacob too crazy with my periods of stress-outs) so I can actually live, and enjoy, the day that I've been planning for the last 13 months. Wow.



*Though, the festivities actually start in 10 days when two of my bridesmaids get into town, then my bridal shower/bachelorette party the next day, followed by the rehearsal and out-of-town guest get-together the night before the wedding. So, really, I have 10 days to get everything done and then start partying. =)