If You're Reading This...

... you have somehow stumbled across my wedding planning blog archives.  Feel free to check out my adventures in wedding planning, or come read my newest posts (less about weddings, more about life) at my blog Sand Dollars & Sunflowers!

There are a couple of straggler wedding recaps at the above link, including Wedding Crashers and Hide the Glue Gun!

Sorry...

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted... with setting up the new house and everything that goes along with it (LOTS of trips to Home Depot), I haven't much been in the blogging mood. I hope to do just a couple of more "wedding recaps" to finish things up (hopefully this weekend), and then start right in on the new house and all the fun I've had with it so far. =)

But, to tide you all over until then, here's our last pro photo of the wedding reception... and I have to say, it's one of my favorites. =)

My Year in Review (Part 1)

I have a couple of "year in review" posts that I'd like to do... but we'll start with this one and see how it goes. =)

Via Being Jillian,

What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
SOO many things... I'm not even going to mention them all now... keep reading... lol

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I've learned not to make resolutions as I always end up failing at them, and I really don't see the point in setting myself up or a failure. I've had many goals for myself over the year, some I've succeeded with, and others I'm still working on. =)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
This year (and next year) seems to be the "Year of Babies"... lol... so many former classmates, relatives, etc. have been poppin' 'em out! =) And there are a few more expected in the coming months!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope.

5. What countries did you visit?
Canada (didn't live there this year... just visited), New Zealand, and Australia.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you didn’t have in 2010?
A million dollars? =) In all honesty, I'm really, truly content right now.

7. What dates from 2010 will be etched upon your memory, and why?
Spring (not a date, I know): Finished my Master's Degree requirements! August 14: Got MARRIED. September 4: New Zealand earthquake (we were there, scared the shit out of me). December 23: Got the keys to our NEW HOUSE! December 31: First night in our new HOME! =)

8. What was your biggest achievement of this year?
Many in the wedding blog world may say "my wedding", and while it may have been a lot of WORK, I don't see it as an "achievement"... i.e. it's not something I'm going to be able to brag about and/or put on a resume down the line. My biggest "achievement" this year, I feel, was finishing my Master's Degree in Criminology.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I don't have failures... only things to learn from and move forward from. =) I honestly can't think of any of those either...

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Umm... nothing major.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
lol... the house... it's hard for me to say that we "bought" it though, since we'll still be "buying" it 30 years from now. lol

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My family and friends! No (more) embarrassing (than usual) antics at the wedding! =)

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Not really something I want to talk about here for the world to see... but let's just say that while some family and friends were really there for me these year, others were not.

14. Where did most your money go?
The wedding, the honeymoon and the house.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The honeymoon! I LOVE to travel! I got excited for the wedding too, but I was too busy stressing out about it that I didn't really get to enjoy the process until the day of.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
"Hold My Hand", Hootie and the Blowfish. Jacob used it for our "Us" slide show at the wedding reception and I think I will always think of that as our "wedding song". (See it one more time at the end of this post!)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
a. Happier
b. Thinner
c. Poorer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Spending time with my friends. I was sooo busy this summer with wedding stuff that I feel like I, literally, lost time.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying. But that's what I do... *sigh*

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Christmas Eve with Jacob's family (X2), Christmas Day with mine.

21. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Just deeper =)

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Hmm... Hard to say... I'm kinda addicted to Vampire Diaries these days... and Jacob and I have just gotten into Mike and Molly.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nope... same people. lol

24. What was the best book you read?
I don't think I can answer that... I've read a lot of books... and I've loved a lot of books. The Help was up there, as was the Millennium Trilogy.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Street musicians in downtown Portland. =)

26. What did you want and get?
Masters, Married, House. =)

27. What did you want and not get?
A stress/worry-free experience with the three above mentioned things. lol

28. What was your favorite film of 2010?
Hmm... no idea really. I saw a lot of movies, but none of them are really sticking out to me.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
My 27th birthday was spent.... umm.... I don't remember. lol We had just gotten back from our honeymoon a couple days before and were exhausted. I know I worked. I think I may have had dinner with my family that weekend.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Sorry to say this, but I think more money.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2010?
I took a few risks. lol But my main objective is still comfort.

32. What kept you sane?
Chocolate =)

33. What political issue stirred you the most?
This is one of those things that you don't discuss at dinner parties, so I'm going to go ahead and pass on it here as well. =)

34. Who did you miss?
Female companionship... (not a "who" exactly, I know), but I'm working on that for this year!

35. Who was the best new person you met?
Katherine... first new "friend" in Portland. =)

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
Life can change in an instant, so don't stress over the processes that take a long time!

Where Did We Leave Off?

After the food was consumed, the desert enjoyed, the speeches given, "the dance" (and dances) done, and the tosses complete it was time to party!

The only thing I KNEW when I first started to plan the wedding was that I wanted DANCING! I LOVE to dance. I love going out with my ladies and letting my hair down on the dance floor.

I was concerned for awhile that Jacob and I wouldn't be able to afford a DJ for the reception and were going to have to do the ipod route. Understand me, I have nothing against ipod weddings if they are done right. However, 1) I don't have the best selection of music, and 2) Ipods can't read the crowd... I really wanted a real live human who was able to pick the music that was needed in order to get the party going (and lasting!). Thankfully a few months before the wedding I spoke to a good friend of mine, DJ Sipp, who offered to do the wedding for the price that we had budgeted for music (a number that we had pretty much pulled out of our you-knows before we determined just how expensive wedding entertainment (and everything else) actually was).

I was overjoyed to have a DJ. And he definitely delivered! We even had wedding crashers later in the evening that asked if they could join our party because our music was better than the bar's downstairs in the hotel. We said yes, they signed our guest book. ;)

(Unless otherwise noted, all photos courtesy of Justin at Sky Blue Iris Event Photography)

*Guest Photo
A little collar-poppin' action from my baby-bro/officiant.

*Guest Photo

*Guest Photo


And then there was salsa.... =)

*Guest Photo

One thing that I LOVE about wedding photos are cute kid pictures... especially cute kid dancing pictures! These definitely got me smiling! =)

*Guest Photo


And then Jacob's nephew Aiden started to show off his moves! I really wonder what movies this kid has been watching! =)

After the kids had their fun and headed to bed, it was time for the "adults" to have their fun =)

*Guest Photo
I love drunken sing-along faces! =)

*Guest Photo
My brother "worm"ing his way across the dance floor =)

*Guest Photo

*Guest Photo
Everyone had a great time... even my cousin/DOC once the work was done! =)

We're In!

Well, we made it into our new house just in time for the New Year! I really wanted to wake up New Years Day in our new home, and we made it happen! We are exhausted, and still have a lot of work to do (unpacking, organizing, cleaning, etc.), but the heavy lifting is done and over with, and for that I am VERY grateful!

I hope to have more photos for you soon, and actually finish up some missing wedding recaps!

(P.S. I had to get rid of a lot of hand made wedding stuff in the move (programs, seating signs, etc). It was REALLY hard to throw out things that my girls and I worked so hard to make. We saved a couple of everything for keepsakes, but it was still hard. What did you all do with our extra hand mades??)

Can You Hear the Crickets?

Hey Guys, sorry it's been so quiet around here recently... I have two reasons for this:

1) I'm kind of tired of wedding recaps. lol The wedding was more than 4 months ago... I've got other things on my mind now. I'll try finishing things up soon, but don't count on too many "and these are the steps to make our programs" kind of posts.... blah.

and 2) the BIGGER reason for the quiet-tude... we bought a house! It was one bitch of a process (when I have more time/energy I'll go into it in more detail), but long story short, we got the keys on the 23rd and are moving in after work this week and, for good on New Years Eve. I'm looking forward to waking up in our new house on New Years Day... but not looking forward to the moving/packing process to get there. =)

Home Sweet Home
(More photos to come... probably after we've made it look like home!)

The Tosses

(Unless otherwise noted, all photos courtesy of Justin at Sky Blue Iris Event Photography)

The last set of "events" for the night was the bouquet and garter toss. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a traditional bouquet toss (i.e. call all the single ladies up front), because I have BEEN that single lady at friends weddings and KNOW how shitty it can feel... especially if you aren't even dating anyone at the time. I was thinking that I would make this little speech beforehand about the bouquet toss being open to everyone and it being a symbol of attaining a dream/wish/or desire (kinda like blowing out the candles on a birthday cake), but, I never got that far. When the DJ made the announcement that it was time for the toss, a good number of ladies jumped up and on the dance floor... so... I just went with it. lol

Holly caught it! (Though I was told that it smacked one of the flower girls in the face before Holly grabbed it... lol... I have yet to see proof of this however!)

A little while after the bouquet toss it was time to toss the garter. My BM Holly (already feeling "happy" due to several trips to the bar lol) decided to take it into her own hands to get everyone organized for the garter toss... only, we had no idea what she was doing. lol She grabbed the Best Man, dragged him onto the dance floor, all the while screaming for me to join her. We got out there together, and then she left... leaving the best man and I out there on the dance floor alone... so he started to dance. =)


Meanwhile, Holly was trying to find Jacob... only, he was in the restroom. Which, apparently, didn't stop her from going in after him! lol

Finally Holly had everyone wrangled, got the best man down on all fours, and got the toss moving! lol

I love this photo of Jacob's nephew... he REALLY wants that garter!

Jacob had to take a minute to figure out how to flick the garter backwards...

It didn't work. lol

Here is take two! =)
(Love the pout on his face! lol)

And, of course, the one who REALLY wanted it, got it... even if he is only 8. =)

(Guest Photo)
And, of course, the dance between the bouquet and garter catchers... I think Aiden is in heaven. ;)