Parents in the Spotlight

When Jacob and I were going back and forth over what song to use for our first dance, Micheal Franti's "Say Hey (I Love You)" came up. However, we determined that the song was WAY too fast for our beginner legs/moves to handle! lol But, Jacob still liked the song, and decided that he wanted his parents to dance to it after we finished our song (they swing as well, and he figured that they could handle the pace!). The did a great job (and the DJ kept them going for well past the length of the actual song! lol).

*Photo courtesy of Justin at Sky Blue Iris Event Photography

*Guest Photo

*Photo courtesy of Justin at Sky Blue Iris Event Photography
I don't want to embarrass my new father-in-law, but this photo is just too funny NOT to share! =)

After Jacob's folks finished their dance, and we'd had time to catch our breath, Jacob and I had a surprise to share with our parents and guests. After a brief "thank you" speech, we presented them with one last slide show...

*Photo courtesy of Justin at Sky Blue Iris Event Photography

(Click on the image to go to the slide show)

After the laughs and tears that came with the slide show, we went right into the father/daughter and mother son dances. I had a much harder time picking a father/daughter song than I did our first dance. I had certain criteria that was making it almost impossible to find a song that I liked. When it came to the mother/son dance song, Jacob let his overall life motto reign -- "That'll work". lol

Father/Daughter Dance:

*Photo courtesy of Justin at Sky Blue Iris Event Photography

*Photo courtesy of Justin at Sky Blue Iris Event Photography

*Photo courtesy of Justin at Sky Blue Iris Event Photography

Mother/Son Dance:

*Guest Photo

*Photo courtesy of Justin at Sky Blue Iris Event Photography

*Photo courtesy of Justin at Sky Blue Iris Event Photography

THE Question

Friends have warned me that once the wedding is over the BABY questions will start. I'm prepared for them, but I wasn't prepared for the first one to come from an eight year old! lol... Here's a text that Jacob received from his mother this evening:

Aiden says once you are husband and wife he can't wait to see your kids. Bet you did not expect "presure to produce" from your nephew!

Kids say the darnedest things, eh? =)

Just a few more hours to enter my giveaway!

We're 30 days away. I'm not exactly feeling "on the brink", but I'm definitely getting there. I'm feeling most stressed over the RSVPs/guest list right now. Less than half of our invited guests responded on their own (i.e. without hassling calls and e-mails from parents or myself and Jacob). What I seem to be discovering is that those who did not RSVP independently are not planning on coming. I guess their thought was, "Well, I don't think I'll go, so I guess I don't have to RSVP". This is NOT what I'm thinking. I'm thinking "I have no idea if we're going to have 60 people or 100 people! Please RSVP.... even if it's a no!" RSVPing 'no' at least let's the bride/host know that you have received the invitation, but will not be able to attend. THEN the bride/host knows how much food and wine to purchase, how many tables/chairs will be needed at the reception hall, and if there is room to invite some more friends.

(I've also been getting a number of "maybes". I hate maybes. People got save the dates back in November... they have KNOWN about this. I find it really infuriating that, 30 days out (and with no unforeseen circumstances), they haven't been able to make a decision. Or, if they have made a decision, aren't making it apparent.)

Jacob and I both come from pretty large families. Our initial invite list was 125 people. Our venue will comfortably hold 100 max (and I think that's still pushing it!), so we didn't have time to invite some friends that we would have liked to. But, we figured that once the "no"s starting rolling in we'd send some more invitations. Now I feel like a schmuck sending out invites 30 days before the wedding. I just hope those who get the last minute invites are understanding... and don't already have something else planned. =(

So, yes, that's my "brink" moment for you today. 30 days out... still much to do (DIY stuff that I've been putting off). This next month is going to be CRA-ZY!

TWO MONTHS!

Holy Smokes! lol Today marks the two month countdown! It's getting close now! Woo hoo! =)

Got one more thing checked off the to-do list this weekend.... flower girl dresses! Jacob and I are having two flower girls and two "ring bearers" (they won't actually be carrying any rings, may not be "bearing" anything actually, but they will still be there looking pretty darn cute!). The flower girls are Jacob's niece and his cousin's daughter. The ring bearers will be my nephew and his nephew.

I wanted to find a simple white sundress for the girls to wear that I could wrap a blue sash around to match our colors. So yesterday I met the two girls, and their grandmothers, to do a little mall shopping. Thankfully I got there about an hour before and did some preliminary shopping to pick a few things out... and it TOTALLY paid off!

I found two different dresses at JCPenney's. The girls got there at 11, tried on two dresses, we bought the first one and a couple pairs of shoes and were off to lunch! VERY easy! The dresses were a little big and will need a little alteration (specifically shortening the straps) but for only $20 (!!) I'm very happy with them!

Here's a shot of our happy (and not so happy! lol) flower girls in their pretty dresses!

They're Gone!

Our wedding invitations have been let free into the world! =) But not after FIVE HOURS of folding, gluing, taping, and addressing. Thankfully, I was able to get some crafty people in my family involved to help out! And we also managed to finished the programs and about half of the favors! Woo hoo!

Bridesmaids Jessica and Holly, my grandmother, my brother's girlfriend Brittany (two of my three brothers are dating a "Brittney".... it gets confusing) my mother and me.

Third brother's girlfriend, Jennifer (or, as we should probably call her in our family, "Not a Brittney". lol) and my mom working on the favors.

Woo hoo!! Almost done!

Now, off to mail them. Unfortunately, the weather looks like this today (if you can't tell, icky, gross, and raining**), and I walk/take public transit to work... and the post office.

Thus, this is how the invites traveled to the post office! lol I was not going to let them get all spotted! So, 56 invites out there, 120+ guests invited... let's get these RSVPs rollin' (so I can stop stressing out about having too many people show up! lol).

My first DIY wedding project was not so bad. Granted, had I not had help I would have been in tears and tearing my hair out by the end... but, thankfully it didn't come to that. =) Everything turned out a lot better than I was anticipating and the project went by a lot smoother. I will do an invite reveal in a couple days when guests have had a chance to receive them, but you're all going to have to wait to see the programs and favors until the wedding recaps... I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone coming who may read this!

**I'm hoping that all the rain we're having now means that August 14th will be absolutely beautiful! =)

We're Going To Have Beautiful Babies!

I stumbled across a pretty humorous site today: MakeMeBabies! The site allows you to upload pictures of two people and they morph the faces together to show you what your children may look like. lol... I laughed... a lot. I'm really hoping when we actually do have children that they will turn out just a bit cuter than these! lol







P.S. I found the middle one a little creepy... but I have to admit that the other two kind of made my biological clock tick a bit louder ;)

Free Stuff Alert!!!!

I have another giveaway for you!!!!

250 custom business cards from Uprinting!

Do ya' want 'em?? =) I'm REALLY excited about this one! As a sponsored blog I get the prize, too (woo hoo!) which is awesome for my budget-ness as I was planning to order some anyhow. I'm going to create these cards to go in our announcements with our DOC info (my cousin, the event planner, is going to do this for us!) so that people can call/contact her on the day of if they get lost/have questions/whatever and don't hassle me! lol But these could also be good for things like seating cards, photo sharing cards, or even... *gasp* BUSINESS cards if you are in need of those too! =)

What would you use yours for?

Leave me the answer (and your contact info) in a comment to enter once, be a follower (and let me know in a SEPARATE comment) for a second entry, and blog about it with a link back to me and one back to Uprinting (and leave me ANOTHER comment about that with a link to the post) for a THIRD entry!

Unfortunately this contest is only open to US residents.... and the winner has to pay for shipping. But, it's still an awesome deal!

Contest is open until until the end of the day on Friday, Jan. 15... I'll have the "winner post" out that weekend! =) Yay!!

Countdown

Nine months to go!! =)

Not that I wasn't completely aware that today was our 9 month mark, but I got my little reminder from The Knot in my e-mail this morning. They had a list of things to complete this month:

1. Create Guest list
   
2. Find Save the Dates
3. Get Tradition Ideas

I'm kind of sad 'cause I've already done these things! lol I wanted some new task (I love tasks) to complete!

Jacob and I had our guest list pretty much done within a week of the proposal. I wanted to have an idea of how many people we were working with so that I knew how big our reception venue needed to be. Then, last month, we got the final list determined after getting the parents' input.

Originally Jacob and I weren't going to send out Save the Dates. Since we are only inviting family and close friends, we figured that everyone would find out the date via word of mouth, so it wasn't that big of a deal. But then I entered and WON a giveaway on the Thirty-Something Bride for free custom Save the Dates (I REFUSE to call them STDs!) from Rachel Jasper Designs. They are in the printing stage as we speak. =)

And finally, Jacob and I don't feel the need to rely on a lot of tradition in our wedding. Neither one of us is religious or deeply connected to a particular cultural background (I asked Jacob what he "was" one time, and he had no idea! lol). So, needless to say, there won't be a whole lot of tradition at our wedding. We are getting married on a beach (not in a church), with my online-ordained brother as the minister. I'm planning on being barefoot (the rest of my wedding party may be as well), and I"m not even sure yet if I"m going to wear a veil (though, after seeing some really cool "veil blowing in the wind" wedding pictures online, I'm starting to think maybe I will). Seeing as we aren't religious, I've even found a really great secular "script" for my brother to follow for the ceremony. The only real "tradition" that I think will be incorporated is that women from my mom's family wear a certain gold bracelet on their wedding day (I haven't seen the bracelet yet, and didn't even know this tradition existed until my mom's cousin got married this summer, but I've been told of it).

So... yeah.... my 9 month checklist is done on day 1. Darn!

Wedding Showcase!

Went to my first bridal show today... the Oregon Wedding Showcase. It was an interesting experience... not what I was expecting at all. The vendors weren't pushy (which was fantastic!). And there were a LOT of samples and giveaways! Would be great if I won something! =)

There was also a fashion show and about four bridal boutiques were there with sample dresses to try on (at discounted rates). So, I tried on my first wedding dress today! I found some things that I liked... and some that I didn't. I don't think I found THE ONE, but it was nice to try some stuff on finally and get a feel for what looks good on me.

There was also a company there that rented out photo booths... so my mom and I tried it out! =)

ALSO... lol... I got invite lists from both sides of the family today... so we have a solid invite number! After I told both mothers that it would be great if they could weed out which friends/relatives would be happy just to receive an announcement after the fact, our invite number went down by about 30 people! VERY happy about this!

We should get our Save the Dates soon and can mail them out! Woo hoo!

Now What?

I'm feeling kind of at a stand still wedding-planning-wise right now. We still have a little over 10 months to go... and I think it's this (what seems like) long period of time that is jilting me. We already have our reception site booked, our photographer kinda booked (I'll reveal this as soon as the paperwork is signed!), we have a beach picked out for the ceremony (just need to figure out the permit stuff), we have our wedding party picked out, we have our videographer (my brother) booked, we have our minister (my other brother) booked, and we have the ceremony music (my OTHER brother) booked. We even have a lead on a florist (who I sent any e-mail to yesterday), and are down to two possible options for catering (DIY-Family or the hotel where we are having the reception).

So, my question is, now what? I'm feeling the urge to shop (been scanning etsy and the dollar tree online for the last couple of days!), but I can't shop for dresses until Dec. when all of my bridesmaids are in the same state at the same time... and, even with shopping I feel like it's too soon! I don't want a PWC sitting around my house for MONTHS. I also want to do our invitations... but again... too soon! I don't want to get them all done and then have them just sit there! And then, God forbid, what if something happens and a change needs to be made? Then I have to do them all over again!

*sigh*

NWR

I think this is my first "Not Wedding Related" post (I'm sure there will be more along the way). But I just saw this photo on Le Love and I LOVE it!

Jacob and I went to my college roommate's wedding this weekend. I'm exhausted now, but will write all about it tomorrow! It was gorgeous!

DIY Second Shooter

I got an e-mail from an old college classmate of mine today regarding my blog post about the necessity of a second shooter for the wedding. I am in LOVE with this idea and I feel the need to share it with the rest of you budget conscious brides out there!

(Thanks Nicole!)

I think a second photographer is great idea however, can add to your costs. Something we did instead is let our guests be our second photographers. You know at least a handful of people are going to have cameras (and most of them will be digital) so what we did was provided a handful of blank cd's (you often find on sale) labeled [couple last names and wedding date] with a self addressed envelope and asked everyone who took photos to copy them onto the cd and mail them to us...or meet up with us for lunch someday soon. It worked out great and its fun to see what moments our guests captured.

Familiy Affair

At the beginning of my wedding planning I was dead set against family DOING anything at the wedding, i.e. I didn't want to have someone related to me in charge of anything that one usually hired a vendor to do. I wanted this for three different reasons, 1) I wanted my family to be guests at my wedding and not sitting through the ceremony stressing about some aspect of the reception, 2) when a vendor messes up it's o.k. to get mad, when a family member does you just have to grin and bare it, and 3) vendors WORK for you. Therefore you can easily tell them what you want and what you don't want. With a family member sometimes this gets a little tricky when they have a "good idea" or something that "they" would like to do.

But, after price checking different vendors it became quite obvious to me that I may need to relax this wedding desire and think about making it a "family affair".

Jacob has a small family. Himself, parents and a brother, who will be one of his groomsmen. I, on the other hand, have myself, my parents and three brothers (no sisters to be bridesmaids). So, we decided to incorporate my brothers into the wedding in a unique way. My media-arts brother is going to do the videography, my guitar-playing-cattle-rancher brother is going to play some ceremony music, and my baby brother just got ordained online and is going to be officiating the ceremony!

Additionally, Jacob's parents pulled some strings and reserved some cheap beach house accommodations for about half of our anticipated guests.

I know the wedding is still a year out... but I"ve always been one to plan ahead. I'm kinda super organized in that manner. lol Plus, after this summer I'll be doing the full-time school/work thing until next April... so, I gotta get it out of my system now! =)