A Surprise!!!

Oh, am I excited to share this with you!!! Seriously excited. Like lame girl that's so excited about her BLOG that she just can't sit still...yes, I am a nerd. And I enjoy it!

So here's the deal. Long before I got engaged, long before I started looking for vendors and found my own fabulous photographer, Maid Britney recommned Pink Posh Photography to me. The bad news? They were only based out of Dallas at the time...and their work was out of my budget...but it's SO AWESOME! I freely admit to becoming a blog stalker of theirs, and when I saw this picture the other night, I just couldn't get their imagery out of my head.

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So I took the bull by the horns and contacted Pink Posh Photography and admitted to my problem. Yes, I told them that I was a stalker. And then I told them about my blog and that I would LOVE to feature them on it...and then I hit send and anxiously awaited an answer. (Don't worry, I was that THAT worried when I contacted my OWN photographer to do the same thing...and she's MY photographer!)

Lucky for me, they responded right away and were completely fine with me using some of their images on my blog, as long as I credited the work. I was SO exited!!! That means that I'll have TWO photographers' work that I LOVE LOVE LOVE on hand to share with you guys. YEA!

And now I'm thrilled to find out that the Pink Posh team travels regularly between Austin, Dallas and Houston shooting weddings and other events...check out their website here...or just enjoy the eye candy that I'll be sure to share.

Isn't that shot divine?!?! I would LOVE to stage a shot like that at our wedding...

Making Love Last...and Last...Part I

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I saw this article in my latest copy of Glamour magazine and thought that it would be a great one to share with my readers. It offers little and big things that you can do either for each other, or as a couple, to help make your love last and last. I don’t know about you, but I was thrilled to find a few things on their list that B and I already do!

So that I’m not plagiarizing anyone, here’s the link to the online version of the article...which will also give you a sneak peak since I’m not going to do the whole article in one post!

The article focuses on things that you can do once a week, once a month, once a year and once a lifetime to help make your relationship better. Whether you’re just getting serious with that special someone, or if you’ve been dating a while, or if you’re like us and taking your relationship to that next level by marriage, or if you’ve already been married 2, 5 or 20 years this article will offer you some good advice.

Here’s how Glamour introduces the article:
“Finding the guy is up to you, but we can help with all the rest. These pointers will encourage your love to grow, bloom, survive frost (yes, even the big-stress, no-money frost of ’09) and bloom again – maybe forever.”

I’ll post a few tips from each category each week. Here are the ones for this week:

Once a Week...
Fight (a little) – Getting your grrrs out keeps small annoyances from snowballing.
Have sex (obviously!) but have generous sex – You need at least one sexual connection a week that’s all about pleasing the other person

Once a Month...
Be do-gooders – Volunteering together (or even just helping a friend move) bond you because you’re ID-ing “common values” says Elizabeth Lombardo, a psychologist in Wexford, Pennsylvania
Do something scary – Been together a while? A pounding heart mimics the rush of brand new love, says Patti Wood, an expert on non-verbal communication in Atlanta. Fly in a balloon, or order the sweetbreads for two!

Once a Year...
Build a Doghouse – Or restore a Firebird. Or, OK, sew matching Star Trek costumes. Any team project “is fantastic bonding,” says Wendi Forrest, owner of Time for Nine, a golf dating service.
Now, get the dog. Or at least a plant. Anything that’ll grow with your love.

Once a lifetime...
Get lost together in a foreign country.
Damn the cost and go do the dream.

Insert sourced from here.

Once again, I’ll keep posting the rest of this article’s advice in upcoming weeks. Maybe it will help prepare my mind for that next big step that I’m taking...and help keep all of appreciating the one that we’re with!

Man Bling...

So on to B’s bling.

I might have mentioned before that he’s a manly man, but I might not have mentioned that safety codes will not allow him to wear his ring everyday. Yep, you read that right, he cannot wear his ring while at work. He doesn’t work in the yard on the machines much anymore since he made the move to supervisor and then management, but it does happen occasionally that he gets into a machine to help out his guys.

Therefore, he won’t be sporting his ring on a daily basis. It’ll mainly be for weekends and when we go out somewhere. Does this make me sad? A little bit, but I understand. It’s a safety reason, and I definitely would prefer that he not wear his ring rather than possibly lose a finger because he wore it while around some of the machinery that we have at our facilities.

Anyway...so he’s pretty particular about his taste in jewelry. I’ll have to admit to being shocked by what he did and sometimes didn’t like. He found a favorite at Benold’s when we stopped in to look, but he about had a heart attack when he saw the price on the ring...apparently men’s wedding rings are more expensive than he remembers from before. After calming him down, and getting the maker and design number and right size, I assured him that we could look around online and see if there were some other options that he would love equally as much in the same style without breaking the bank. Let me be clear...I am more than willing to pay what Benold’s wants for his ring. My ring is gorgeous and I love it, and if that is the ring that B loves best, then I don’t really care what it costs – within reason, of couse!

So here are some lovelies that we found when perusing the internet last night...

Early on in the planning process, I think before we were actually engaged even, B mentioned wanting bling on his ring. Now he says that he was joking, but I’m not so sure...this one made it into his favorites folder as well.

Do you notice a pattern? Yep, they’re all manly looking, without a lot of “girliness” to them, they all sport the brushed metal look, and most of them have vertical lines etched. This seems to be a pattern that he likes. We’re still searching for the exact ring that we saw at Benold’s, but ring #1 is the closest that we’ve found so far.

Stay tuned to see which one we’ll end of purchasing...or maybe just narrowing down the choices a little – I didn’t realize we picked so many last night!
Was it easy for your guy to pick out his ring? B keeps telling me that he’s not going to fall in love with his ring like I did mine when I found it...why not? Why can’t guys do that? Or is it just MY guy that doesn’t do that?

*MOST of the rings came from this seller or this seller on ebay...except for ring#1, source here

I Have Dress Envy

I didn’t think that this would happen to me, I really didn’t. You see, I HAD that moment in the bridal salon and you’re trying on dresses and you slip a certain dress on and you just FEEL it that THIS is the dress that you’re meant to have. I did, I really did. And as I read wedding blogs and look at pictures of weddings and such, I really have not coveted another bride’s dress.

Until now...may I present the dress that made me turn pea green with envy?

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Isn’t it gorgeous? Not that my dress isn’t gorgeous. My dress is. And my dress is TOTALLY perfect for me...it literally screams my name. But this dress...well, it’s also perfect. At least, I think it is as I gaze lovingly at my computer screen.

I’m trying to tell myself that it wouldn’t flatter me at all. That it would make me look fat. That the whimsical flowy-ness wouldn’t work at ALL for me and my own style...but still, it turns my head a little bit.

Just a teeny little bit.

Since I am an encore bride, and I’ve had more than one wedding dress, I’ve already had dresses in different styles. Each was appropriate for who I was at that time...just as this one is. With this not being my first wedding, I didn’t think that I would experience lust for another wedding dress, but apparently I was wrong.

Did you have dress envy? Or did you never so much as glance at another wedding dress? I envy YOU if that’s the case!

Featured Wedding - Janie and Ian

Today we have another featured wedding by the fabulous photographer, Christina Carroll of Christina Carroll Photography. Their wedding looks SO cute...and Christina had this to say about the wedding on her blog:

"Janie & Ian had the greatest wedding! Janie is super creative and did so many neat things for her wedding. Every detail was unique and beautiful. Most the women who attended the wedding wore handmade feathered hats called fascinators (which might be coolest thing I’ve ever seen). There were guests from all over the globe including Ian’s family who flew in from Ireland. They had an incredible blues band and an assortment of different flavored cakeballs (my new favorite thing), cupcakes, and cakes all made by Cake by Bridges. They saw each other before the wedding so we got some great pictures of the two of them!"

And yes, THIS was the wedding that first introduced me to "cake balls" that I wrote about here. I have yet to do my trial to make them, but I can't wait to do it...

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Be sure and check out Christina's blog here to see the rest of the fabulous pictures from this wedding!

All “Tied” Up In Knots

Yeah, I know that it’s a lame play on words...but I just couldn’t resist! I wrote here about finding the suits for B and the Boys. Now, it was time to search for accessories. Since we had left my parents’ house early in order to run wedding errands, I was bound and determined to make the most of the day. Once we settled on the suit issue, we decided to check a few more places to make sure that Men’s Warehouse was offering the best deal.

Of course, their commercials don’t lie, and we couldn’t find a single place in town that could beat their prices. Granted we didn’t go all over, B isn’t THAT patient...but we did check the major players – Dillard’s, Macy’s and Second Looks. Since we struck out on finding a better deal for the suits, I decided that we might as well start looking for the ties that would “tie” them all together. I mean, we were already at the mall...and the ties were just calling my name.

But apparently they were just teasing me into looking at them. We couldn’t find ONE single tie that worked with either our color scheme or B’s taste. There was one or two at Dillard’s (they had the largest selection to choose from by far) that were close...but not cool enough for B to ask his guys to wear them. My plan is to purchase all the ties for the guys as part of their gifts, that way I can sleep secure in the knowledge that they all match. But there wasn’t one stinking one in the three places that we looked. And NOTHING was the actual color of eggplant...yes, Mom, I did think back to the tablecloths. Believe me, I thought about them.

Luckily for me, the internet still loves me. A few quick searches later and I find these beauties. And most were under $20, so score one for the budget!

(source, source, source, source)

What do you think? We were initially just thinking to find something in eggplant. But what about this option?

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To girly for my manly Marine? Possibly. I haven’t shown them to him yet. I’ll let you know how that goes, or if you’re close enough to Austin you might hear the reaction for youself!

Now, if we can agree on one of these ties and get them ordered, the Boys will nearly be taken care of. We need to find cream shirts and decide about the pocket square / boutonniere question and THEN we’ll be all set...but we’re SO much closer than we were two weeks ago!

What’s your favorite place to find ties? Send me a link in the comments below – maybe you’ll know somewhere else for me to look!

My Bling...

Yep, it’s time for us to start looking for our wedding bands. I know, it’s still a little far out to be doing that, but in actuality we’re under the 3 month mark, and I just have a horror of picking out what we want, but waiting to order them and then not being able to get them in time...so after we made the decisions on the suits the other day, we stopped off at our local jewelry store where B had gotten my engagement ring.

Now, I know that at a “big box” jewelry store, we might find a better deal, but I guarantee you that you can’t beat the customer service that Patty and the entire staff at Benold’s in North Austin have shown to B and myself. Patty was great when B was picking out my engagement ring, even if I did make it easy on him by falling in love with one particular setting. But she went above and beyond working with him on the diamond and pricing and just really handled everything smoothly. Then when we had to take the ring back to get re-sized, she handled the entire process smoothly. If you’re an Austin bride, you just can’t beat the service at Benold’s.

And here’s a little shopping savvy tip...go to the Benold’s website here and click on the coupon box found in the upper right hand corner. Signing up to receive emails will garner you a 20% off coupon! 20% off from a jewelry store! Score!

So in case you can’t remember (or if I never posted it!) here is what my engagement ring looks like, along with the wedding bands.

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Isn’t it pretty? I LOVE it.

The only difference is that I just want one band for now. Maybe for an anniversary somewhere down the road, another band can be added. Wink, wink – hint, hint...

Are you totally in love with your engagement ring? Or have you gone back and forth over the ring that you’ll plan on wearing the rest of your life?

Registering for School...

With all the excitement about wedding stuff going on and consuming what feels like my whole life at the moment, it’s nice to take a minute and do something totally unrelated to the wedding.

Yesterday I registered J at her new school. Yes, she’s a big-time SECOND grader now...it’s official, I saw the report card where it shows her being promoted. Hang on, let me wipe the tear from my eye...

Yes, I’m being dramatic, but this is my BABY we’re talking about, people! She’s not supposed to be in the second grade yet...seriously. She’s going to be SO mad that I went to do this without her, but it was just easier. And it’s not like they told me who her teacher will be or which classroom is going to be hers, she’s just officially registered to go to that school. The lady at the desk that helped me out with everything told me that there was a meet-the-teacher night scheduled for August 20th, and the first day of school is the 24th.

So, I guess it’s time to buy school supplies and wait for the big day. Maybe I’ll even take some pictures this year...

J is REALLY excited about her new school, even if all of her parents are not. We’re still on a wait list to be transferred possibly to another school that would have been closer for my ex to take her to school and continue our shared custody arrangement. But as the days draw nearer, I wonder what will really happen in August when school starts. Or in September when he re-marries. I hope for her sake that nothing changes. That we’re all able to keep the arrangement that we’ve had since we separated several years back. But my gut says that’s just wishful thinking...so I’ll wait patiently and cross my fingers that it all goes well. Or that she’ll make the adjustments that need to be made ok.

It’s just hard when you’re planning a wedding to remember that there ARE other things going on in the world...not that we watch the listen or keep up with foreign events so much, but there are things that are happening in our lives that do NOT revolve around our wedding.

What other things are going on in your life that you keep up with too, in addition to planning your wedding? Do you find it hard to balance, or does it all just work out for you?

The Great Tux Debate…Part 2

As I mentioned in an earlier post, B has been trying to make up his mind regarding the issue of tuxedo vs. suit. Well, I’m proud to say that we have finalized that decision! B, and his Boys, will be sporting black dress suits for the occasion. And hopefully, I can find some matching ties in our colors to tie them all together, since we’re not requiring them to all wear the same black suit.

Now, before you all freak out about the leeway that we’ve giving to our guys, let me explain. They will all be wearing plain black suits, no stripes, tone-on-tone or otherwise, are allowed. We figure that the venting and the number of buttons doesn’t matter as much, as long as they are similar, especially since my Maids aren’t wearing matching dresses or anything. And to be honest, I think that having them all wear different suits matches the Maids perfectly!

So we went suit shopping this past weekend. B had expressed an interest in buying his suit versus renting a suit for the big day, and since I DID get a new dress out of the deal, it’s only fair to get him a new suit. Plus, he doesn’t have one that he likes anymore, so this is a good reason to get one. We hit all the major stores for suits, but found the best deals at Men’s Warehouse. And wouldn’t you know it? They are running a BOGO sale right now, so he’ll actually get TWO suits out of the deal! SCORE!

B picked out a snazzy black Calvin Klein suit for his wedding suit, and a nice, patterned suit for the other one. With the big sale, this brings the price per suit down to under $300, which isn’t bad if you ask me! So, in looking at the suit that he picked out, and talking to the salesman, we found out some disturbing news.

It came about because I asked about the double venting that B’s jacket sports. I wondered about how it would look if he wore double vents and the others had single vents...the salesman assured me that it would not be too noticeable once you had the black pants on (B was trying the jacket on with khacki shorts, so I guess the salesman had a point!) and he also pointed out that the number of buttons wouldn’t matter so much either, since in most cases you just button the top button.

But this led me to ask about the one groomsman that we know doesn’t have a black suit and what the options are to rent. You know me, I was thinking if I could see the rental jacket side-by-side with B’s jacket to compare. And this is where the bad news come in...

They don’t rent suits. Just tuxedos.

Yes, Mr. Salesman, I get that, but some tuxedos look more like regular suits these days, so I can just select one of those to use for the rentals.

Not really, Mr. Salesman informs me. And by this point, he’s catching on that I’m “slightly” argumentative and says “let me show you.”

Yep, he was right. All of their jackets have a satiny lapel. ALL of them; which just ruins my vision of the guys that don’t already own a black suit being able to just rent one...hmmm. Then, more bad news...we notice the price on the rentals. Now, I knew that tuxes weren’t cheap to rent, but $160 for the cool ones? $199 for the ones that I really liked?!?! Jeez. That’s a LOT of money...I guess that the tux rental business finally caught on that if bridesmaids will pay $200 for their dress, why shouldn’t groomsmen? Anyway.

So then Mr. Salesman reminds us about the sale going on right now, and he offers the suggestion to have the guys buy their suits instead. Going in together on the sale, they could potentially each pay half price...which we all like to hear. We decided to take some time and talk to the Boys and decide with their input which route we should go from here. We ask Mr. Salesman to hold the two suits that B liked for 48 hours while we make up our minds. No problem.

Imagine our surprise when we call all the Boys and the two that don’t already own a plain black suit are more than happy to go in together on the great sale and get a new suit out of the deal. Because, I mean, let’s face it. You can pay $180 (after taxes and such) for a rental, or pay $20 more and OWN the suit when it’s all said and done...not so tough a choice, in my mind. But I know that it’s hard to ask outrageous things of our bridal party, and B and I have worked really hard to avoid asking for too much. I’m glad that the Boys were so willing to join in. Both of them are to go to their local Men’s Warehouse and get measured and find a plain black suit and get us the details. Then we’ll go in and buy them all, and they can send us the money and we can send them the suits for alterations. That way we get the discount pricing that they wouldn’t get if purchased individually. There’s still one last groomsman to hear from, but B is pretty sure that he owns several suits, surely one of them will be black.

So, I feel MUCH better having this decision made. And I like the direction that it’s going...now, I just need to find some cool ties that will coordinate with our color scheme and those Boys will be set!

Did selecting your groom’s attire go this easily?

Is it just me, or is it just easier for guys to all agree than girls? Even though my Maids were GREAT about it, I know that sometimes it doesn’t work out so.

The Great Tuxedo Debate...

When we first started planning the wedding, I knew right away that I wanted to get married outdoors. Don’t know why, just because. Even knowing that the ceremony would be held outdoors if at all possible, I just assumed that a level of formality would still be upheld. I was worried about mentioning this to B, though. He’s a manly man, a Marine, and just didn’t know what his views on “dressing up” would be. Imagine my surprise when both B and his son, T, actually got all excited about the opportunity to “clean up” and show off.

So something like this is what I first had in mind...

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But as the days (and months) have gone by in the whole wedding planning process, I have to say that I’m leaning more and more towards our guys just wearing a suit. Since we’ve put off this discussion for a while, I didn’t want to talk about it when I didn’t know what my Maids were wearing and how dressy they would be, I figured it was high time. Or past time to talk about it.

I have to admit it...I think that I’ve fallen in love with the suit. It’s still formal, but casual enough to allow some level of comfort for our guys. And they can be rented...or if all of The Guys own a black suit, then I couldn’t care less if they’re a little different. Kinda goes back to the look of my Maids, you know?

When I mentioned this whole idea to B, he was down with it, as long as I liked it and would be ok with everything. (I wouldn’t be mentioning it if I wasn’t, but that’s neither here nor there!) And just out of coincidence, we had dinner with one of The Guys and his wife that evening. Luck didn’t hold out, and the first Guy that we checked with does not own a black suit. That’s ok though, because they can still be rented.

While we’re working on going by Men’s Warehouse together to see what we can find that we like, I started thinking about the rest of their “look.” If we go with something less formal than a tux, then they have a few more options. We can “tie” them all together (pun totally intended!) with a fun and quirky tie (and some snazzy socks for those sock pictures that I would LOVE to have!).

And then the subject of the boutonniere came up. Having a more informal look all together now, what if The Guys didn’t sport a boutonniere? Is that against the rules? Something like a nice pocket square perhaps? Like this...

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And who doesn't LOVE Gary Cooper? Can someone say epitome of elegance and grace?

I think that it still looks formal enough, and B was THRILLED at the thought of not having to wear a boutonniere. I had NO idea that he was that opposed to wearing a small flower on his lapel, but ok...point taken and now I understand.

If he’s still not convinced that this is a good look (the suit with a snazzy pocket square) then this picture should do it...

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I mean, come on. What guy doesn’t want to be James Bond?

What do you think? Is the pocket square enough of a substitute for the boutonniere? Or do I still need to do the boutonniere to show that this person is a GM? I mean, if it’s attached to their jacket...and the jacket comes off anyway...you see my point?

But then THIS guy has to go and throw a monkey wrench into my plans...he's sporting both a boutonniere AND a pocket square...

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What's a bride to do?

I feel a little better…

Well, the sense of impending doom and gloom is gone...for now. Don’t worry, I’m not silly enough to think that it’s gone forever! I just had a really productive weekend...and I even travelled out of town for a “family” member’s wedding!

So here’s the skinny and what I’m proud to share:

- I FINISHED the 120 arcs that make up the wedding rings on our guest quilt!!! Yeah, go ahead, do a little happy dance with me – you KNOW that I did one Friday night when I realized that I was done!
- The signing pieces are all traced and cut (THANK YOU to Mom and B for taking charge of that project while I was in my “injured” state this weekend!). I also put the “signing border” on all of them last night and attached them all to freezer paper. Nearly done with what I can do before the signing pieces are signed...which is a BIG relief! I even went ahead and put the sewing machine up – you can see our dining room table again!
- The wedding invitations got a final proof from Mom this weekend (she’s the BEST at catching things!)
- I did an almost perfect trial mock-up of the invitation suite Friday night – Printer Beast 4...Fair Maiden 2! After the corrections are made, I’ll start running those bad boys off this week...
- We left Mom’s house early yesterday to make some decisions regarding the men’s attire, and got LOTS done and decided...more to come on that later!
- I got a rough draft of our ceremony that I “think” that I like...now to pass it off to B to see what he likes/doesn’t like.
- I weighed in this morning and didn’t lose any progress on my fitness goals. I was worried about this as I missed two normal workout days last week and ate horribly over the weekend!

Looking back at it now, it doesn’t seem like all that much, but I tell you, I re-did my To Do list this morning as it was looking a little rough...and it’s back down to just one page (front only!)! YEA!

So, I was either really productive this weekend, or I removed some things that were on the To Do list that didn’t need to be there yet. Or maybe it was a combination of both. Either way, I feel a little better than I did when I wrote this post the other day.

Any other brides out there have a productive weekend? Is it really possible to knock just a few little things off of your To Do list and feel THIS much better?

Rachel and Cory's E-Session

Here is an engagement shoot from our fabulous photographer, Christina Carroll of Christina Carroll Photography. Here is what Christina had to say about this couple’s shoot:

“I had such a fun time with Rachel & Cory. We started out taking pictures in their awesome backyard. They are quite creative and had all kinds of neat things back there. Then we went to Cory’s parents ranch in Goldthwaite, Texas. It was so beautiful! There were old barns, tall grass, old cars, hay, and lots of cows! I even laid in cow poop a few times while I was taking pictures! Oops. We finished up with a great sunset and headed back to take a few more night pictures in their backyard.”

Hope you enjoy!

All of you Texas brides, you KNOW that I HAD to pick that last shot as one of my favorites!

I hope that you enjoyed the "sneak peek!" Head on over to Christina's blog and check out the rest of Rachel and Cory's pictures..click here.

Tired of Making Decisions...

Please tell me that other brides out there with about 3 months left until the big date reach this point too...it looks like this, and carries with it a lot of stress and turmoil.

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Yes, ladies, that is the face of “I do NOT want to make another decision!” I feel like I wear this face some days. Some items are so easy to cross off of my To-Do list...while others require constant and endless decisions. Is this just me making things harder on myself than they have to be?

I don’t know. I know that I’m anal retentive. With a side serving of slight OCD. I get that. And despite it all, B loves me anyway. And we’re getting married in 90 days. Nothing will change that fact. Whether we have flowers or not. Whether The Guys wear suits, tuxes, or overalls...the wedding WILL still occur.

That’s what I try to keep foremost in my mind. That no matter what else happens. No matter if the caterer backs out, the cake tasting is a bust, the ceremony isn’t exactly what we wanted, or if it rains on the big day...at the end of the day, we’ll still be married.

It seems weird to me. There are so many details that go into planning a wedding that I couldn’t care less about. And then there are things that I get stuck on that have to be perfect – that’s probably just the OCD talking! It’s just easier to focus on what I want to focus on, and leave the rest to fall as it may.

Many days, at the end of the day, I feel like I’ve made SO much progress...and I scratch so many things off of my To Do list that I have to re-write the darn thing just to keep all my marks straight. So here’s the question for you: If I have to re-write the list because of all that’s scratched off, how can it possibly double in size when I re-write it???

Can someone please answer that little bitty question for me? Please? That’s all I want to know.

Regardless, this IS fun. I want the big wedding. I’m sorry, WE want the big wedding. And I love my family and friends for stepping up and offering to help. Unfortunately, none of them are close enough to do much good other than offer me advice from afar...mental note, find closer slaves. I mean, friends. Yeah, that’s what I meant!
Are you other brides out there struggling with these issues too? Are you tired of designing and printing, not to mention folding and taping and hot-gluing? I love it all, don’t get me wrong...but there are days when Vegas SCREAMS my name...

Something new...

No, not THAT something new...I already have that all taken care of! Although I am lacking the blue, borrowed and old...but that’s a post for another day.

This is just something new that I’m thinking about. Yes, B, it’s still about the wedding. No big shocker there! But it’s concerning our ring bearer. Not the who – that was easy, it’ll be B’s son, who is eleven years old. And yes, I know that to some people out there, an eleven year old boy is too old to be the official ring bearer. Well, I’m having a wedding, not for the first time, and I have decided to not care what is popular or normal. It’s more important to us that he WANTED to be the ring bearer, asked us specifically if he could do that job to be involved in the wedding. Of COURSE we didn’t say no!

So we’ll have an eleven year-old boy for our ring bearer and a seven year-old flower girl, my daughter. This involves them in the wedding in a very important way, which we’re proud to do. Having older child attendants for the ring bearer and flower girl does present a few little logistical problems.

For J, it’s not that big of a deal since she’s on the older side of the flower girl range...she’s still a girl and carrying a basket of flowers is right up her alley.

But carrying a little pillow with rings on it for the eleven year old boy? This might be a little harder. Not that he’s mentioned having a problem carrying the pillow down the aisle, but that could just be because I haven’t brought home any really girly examples for the ring pillow yet.

In the beginning stages of planning, I just thought that I would make the pillow and not make it too ruffly or girlie. Maybe a nice damask fabric that would incorporate our black and cream theme nicely. And that’s a good solution if T doesn’t mind carrying the pillow. But then I saw this...

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I was catching up on the older posts from this bride and she had this inspiration posted on her blog. What do you think?

I think that this COULD be a good solution to the problem if T decides that carrying a pillow is not particularly up his alley. I think that it could also be a way to incorporate some family history into our wedding by using a Bible from one of our parents or grandparents. And I really like the idea of putting ribbons into a marked position to a passage of scripture that has meaning to us.

It’s a little non-traditional, but hey, let’s be honest here – our wedding is ALL about non-traditional elements! So, my vote is it’s a keeper of an idea. What’s your vote? Be sure to comment and let me know.

We have a Baker!

OMG, I am SO excited to write this post. My Mom has been SO worried about me making this decision...well, she can finally rest at peace – we hired a cake baker! And it wasn’t who I originally thought that I would go with. Yep, that’s the shocking part.

You see, I love Target. I love all things Target. Seriously. Target rocks. If you see something good in the world, chances are that it came from Target. So imagine my surprise when I found out that one of the top bakeries in the Austin area for wedding cakes was none other than the fabulous Archer Farms –located out of...you guessed it, your local Super Target store. I was in love. SO in love.

I even ordered J’s birthday cake from there as a sort of pre-wedding tasting to see how their cakes tasted and held up. I loved it. It was just a plain white cake with buttercream icing, but it was divine. Light and airy, but totally filling all at the same time. So, the decision was made, right? Wrong.

Enter The Sweet Stuff. It’s a local bakery located in our home town of Kyle, Texas. Check her website out, it’s really cool. Go ahead, I don’t mind waiting. You’re back? Good.

Now I know what you’re asking yourself. You’re scratching your head and wondering this thought: “But S, I thought that you said that you were going to NOT do a traditional cake and go with the whole cake buffet idea?” I am. That hasn’t changed. I had a long phone conversation with Michelle, the owner of The Sweet Stuff, and a totally cool lady, and we talked long and hard about my cake buffet and what it would take from her to pull it off. She had some great suggestions for me, and we ended up talking shop for about twenty minutes longer than I had intended to keep her tied up on the phone.

Luckily for me, two days after our phone conversation, J had a doctor’s check-up visit scheduled, so after we got her all checked out, she and I ran over to The Sweet Stuff and met Michelle in person. I had some an inspiration picture for her, seen below:

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She was thrilled with the pictures, but assured me that she thought the cakes needed something more. Not much more, but a little bit more. She’s planning on doing some tone-on-tone designs on the cakes, making them a little ritzier...even though those were pretty darn perfect in my opinion! Maybe something a little more like this?

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And the best part? The price. For an 8” round cake with two layers and a filling, Michelle normally only charges $22/cake. Which I would have GLADLY paid...but she’s a dear, and because of the sheer number of cakes that I’m going to order (10-12), she knocked a little bit off of the price. SWEET! So the budgeted amount that I had in my head got knocked down by 2/3! Yep, you read that right. The total cost that she’s charging me is only 1/3 of the total that I was estimating needing for the cakes. And she’s included in that price one double tiered cake so that B and I have the top smaller cake to save for our one-year anniversary. A sweet deal, if I do say so myself.

While I was there, I went ahead and booked a tasting with Michelle for B and I on the 22nd of August. I can’t wait to see if the cakes taste as good as they smelled in her shop! If all goes well at the tasting, the deal will be sealed...and that’s one more thing crossed off of the To Do List!

I’ll be sure and take some pictures of the tasting and let you know how it goes. In the meantime, if you didn’t check out her website, scoot on over and do it now. Central Texas brides – check her out! Her prices are beyond reasonable, and hopefully, the taste is just as nice.

Tips from My Mom...

I was tickled pink to hear from my mom the other day. Yes, I normally love to hear from her, as we’ve evolved into a friendship-relationship which is more than the mother-daughter relationship...but this call was ESPECIALLY cool because she was calling me about my quilt guestbook project. My mom is cool, and she reads my blog, which touches me more than words can express, and she will usually talk to me about the ideas that I’ve posted about and to check in on how my MANY, MANY, MANY crazy DIY projects are going.

No, my projects aren’t crazy. I’m the crazy one for doing them all!

Anyway, apparently there is a lady that my mom works out with that is a phenomenal quilter. Let me back up. My mom CAN sew, but she CHOOSES not to. Unless forced. At gunpoint. Or something else drastic like being held at gunpoint. That creative gene that I got skipped over my mother from her mom and landed right on me. Which is cool for me. The really funny thing is that my mom can envision things a LOT better than I can...so often, when I’m thinking about doing a sewing project, I can take the pattern and the materials to my mom and she can envision it (which I CAN’T do) and tell me what needs to be different. So back to my story...

Apparently, this friend of hers had been out of town when I first posted about the quilt guestbook, so my Mom waited oh-so-unpatiently for her return. When she got back into town and showed up at the gym that first day, my Mom pounced on her with my project and all the questions that she had for her friend. I literally got an image in my head as she was telling me this story of my Mom lying in wait at the door until her friend came through and my Mom jumping out and surprising her...just too funny.

This friend shared some tips for me, which I will in turn share with you...because chances are that if you’re reading this blog you’re a bride, or a friend of a bride, and maybe they’re thinking about doing something along these lines. I just thought that her ideas were really good – too good to keep to myself.

1. Be sure to use a marker that is specifically for quilting projects – you can either find them online or in most craft stores. My Mom’s friend suggested that I go to an actual quilting store to find them, but there weren’t any stores like that closer than 20 miles away in North Austin. So, I did what any self-respecting bride on a mission would do – I googled it. Sure enough, you can find all sorts of online stores selling the markers and read all kinds of reviews on said markers. Once I had two brands in mind, I went to my nearby JoAnn’s on my lunch hour and sure enough, in the quilting notions, they carried one of the brands that I had found online. I bought one.

2. I had been told by several people (not just my little sister) that a Sharpie marker would work...apparently sometimes they bleed too much or don’t write as well on the fabric or fade. So you’re better off going with a special permanent marker for fabric – and they’re only about $3, so the price is right. This is the one that I got.

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3. Line the back of your signing pieces with Freezer Paper. Just regular old freezer paper from Reynolds. (It even says “use for arts and crafts” on the box!) Iron the slick side (not the paper-ish side) to the muslin with an iron that’s hot without steam. The paper will “stick” to the fabric and give the fabric a little more weight and strength for people to sign on. It’s hard to write on a moving target like fabric! The paper is easily removed when you’re ready to sew them in by simply “peeling” it off of the back of the fabric.

4. Mentioning hard to write on, my Mom’s friend also suggested setting up a “practice area” for people to use the pens and get a feel for writing on the fabric, since it is different than paper.

5. Along those same lines, she suggested either stationing someone there at the table to answer the questions that are bound to come up, or having clear and concise directions posted at the table.

6. Not using the larger open pieces as the signature spots. I had posted here about being unsure about where to have our guests sign in, and this quilter said that there is usually too much actual quilting done on those spots for this pattern for those larger pieces to work for me. Good thing that I had already changed my mind on that one, huh?

I think that’s it. The only other thing that I read on the boards was that muslin was your best bet for a fabric choice and a project like this. I also read several reviews telling readers to “heat set” the signature pieces after they’re signed and before you wash them or sew them into the quilt. This means that once the signature pieces are all signed, that you would basically iron them again in order to “set” the permanent ink in. I think that I’ll do a trial run on this process this week and make sure that using the right pens, the right fabric and heat setting will mean that those signatures WILL stay on the fabric. Even after washing. I would hate to go through all of this trouble to make a signature wedding quilt just to have the signatures lost the first time that I wash the quilt!

I’ll be sure to let you know how the trial goes when I get around to doing it.

Anyone else have any other thoughts or tips of advice for this project? I was thrilled that my Mom went to all the trouble to talk to other people more knowledgeable than either herself or me about this topic!

A Love Story...

There once was a girl that fell in love with this paper. She loved it so, dreamt about the beautiful wedding invitations that this paper would help her make. You see, she had found the perfect man for her to love for the rest of her life, and needed the perfect wedding invitations to let their family and friends know of this happiness that they shared. Luckily for her, she found a nice man selling the paper here, and it arrived without delay.

For months and months she dreamt of invitations while she slept, and made “mock” invitations while bored at work or on the weekends when she had cleaning that she should have been doing. Low and behold, after all of her hard work, she found a design that she loved and her bridegroom loved it too. (not that he had an opinion either way, but he knew that there was a dragon side to his lady love, and it was easiest to agree on THOSE days...)

The time drew nearer to the day that they would pledge their vows before family and friends, and it was time to take the design in her head and put it onto the beautiful paper that she loved so much. Luckily for her, she bewitched her computer and the design transferred from her head to the computer with ease, and she was ready to print them out.

Now, in this enchanted land, there were two printer beasts available for the bride to use – one upstairs that was his and one downstairs that was hers. Since our lovely lady is tired after working all day, she chooses not to carry her computer upstairs to the larger printer, but opts to print on her own printer first. Lovingly, she loads a piece of the paper into her printer and crosses her fingers and waits to see the final product. But wait, what’s this? A paper jam? Hmmm...

Our fair maiden travels far up the stairs with her heavy load to try out the other printer that is available for use. But the fates are now working against her, and it seems that this printer beast is out of ink. Never fear, the powers that be blessed her with a 24-hour store called Wal-Mart that sells this ink that she needs and she braves the torrential downpour that overtook the land for about 20 minutes to purchase this ink. Once back at the house, she installs the ink cartridge and once again lovingly loads the paper into the tray and hopes for the best. But alas, it was not meant to be...this printer will also not accept her paper.

Printer Beasts-1...Fair Maiden-0

You see, the paper that she had fallen in love with was a cover weight. And both of the printers in her fairy castle were front-load printers and she thought that perhaps the paper was just too thick to make those tight turns that it would need to make in her printer. Never fear, though, our lady is smart and quick on her feet, thinking of the printer beast that sits in her home-away-from-home, otherwise known as her Office. It loads paper from the back and therefore doesn’t need to make tight turns and such. The paper should run through this printer fine. So she packs up her bags and takes a few pages with her to her Office, once again certain that things will work out...

The very next morning, she tries her luck first thing before she even starts to work. This time when she loads the paper she crosses her fingers and says a quick prayer to the printer gods, hoping for the best. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. This printer did work better, but it still struggled with the paper size and weight. It didn’t exactly jam in the printer beast, but it didn’t print either...

Printer Beasts-2...Fair Maiden-0

Enter a fairy godmother. This fairy godmother was knowledgeable in all things computer related, having worked for many years for a computer genius, Michael Dell. She was more than happy to offer suggestions and give the lady some schooling on printer settings that could be found on the hidden window behind the print screen on the lady’s computer. Overjoyed and hopeful, she put her task aside until the end of the day, for she had a large project to work on that day. At the end of the day, she hesitantly loaded her somewhat cursed paper into the machine again and followed the steps that the fairy godmother had shown her previously. Imagine her great surprise, when it works! Yea! Oh, but what’s that at the bottom? Drag marks and scuffed paper?!?! Oh no, that will NOT work...

Printer Beasts-3...Fair Maiden-0

But the lady does NOT loose hope, even in these trying times. For now she knows the secret passageway that MIGHT unlock the door to the printer problems at her own castle. Still hopeful, she rushes home to try out her secrets...Imagine her surprise when it works! Yes, she has to play with it a little bit and try different paper settings to find the one that will print correctly, but she pushes on and endures the trials and tribulations and emerges from the test triumphant! It will print her test page beautifully!

Printer Beasts-3...Fair Maiden-1

She sleeps that night content with the knowledge that she just has to bring her magic computer home the next night to print the actual documents out. She sleeps hard and deep, as all of this has truly worn her out!

The next night, she arrives back home to her castle and immediately goes to the printer beast to best it in this competition. The lady opens up her files, loads a piece of the treasured paper and selects the appropriate settings on the hidden window and hits “Print.” She does a little dance of joy as she sees the top of the page coming out of the printer so beautifully. She is overjoyed and goes to collect her embossing powder (since the ink is still wet) to see about embossing a portion of the gorgeous invitation suite.

As she completes her last turn in her happy dance, she notices that the printer beast has finished. She picks up the paper and her face crumbles in tears. This is what she sees...

Yes, the printer beast has foiled her plans again. For some reason, the last inch of the paper does NOT want to print. Thinking that there was some error on just that page; our lady loads another sheet of her precious paper and tries again. The results aren’t as badly smudged as the first one, but still there is smudging...

Printer Beasts-4...Fair Maiden-1

Half-heartedly, she tries the printer beast in her downstairs castle to no avail. It still will not even load the paper, much less print on it.

The lady begans to rant and rave, cursing the printer gods all the while tearing her clothes in the agony of defeat. (OK, so maybe I didn’t actually do that, maybe I’m getting caught up in the fairy tale!) Still, there was an air of defeat about the castle.

What is our fair lady to do? Call a printing service? See if they can help her? But alas, on her meager budget will this be something that she can afford? Will she have to nix her beautiful invitation plans and re-design, heaven forbid?

Stay tuned to see what happens in the next battle with the printer beast...for although the score does NOT show in her favor, she is not beaten yet!

A Twist on My Favors?

Now that the cat’s out of the bag on our favors, there are some other options that I’m considering. No, I’m not changing my mind again about making the charitable donation, calm down, Mr. CC! I still want to do that idea, but there are some options that we could have in regards to the charities and the donations.

Something that I saw in a post on weddingbee last week by Miss Taffy was giving her guests “chips” (think cute poker chips) and having three pre-selected charities picked out and selected that the guests can then choose which charity to put their chip towards. So that at the end of the wedding, there are possibly three good causes getting a donation, and the guest gets to select the charity that is closest to their heart. Here is a pic of her mock-up:

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I like it. I like that it gives the guests some control over which charity gets their money, in case not everyone shares my love of the American Cancer Society…but it would mean more work for me. With that being said, you KNOW that I’m willing to DIY some cute paper-covered “chips” that reflect our black/cream motif going on with other décor…

But if I do this, I lose the in memoriam feel to the favor that I was initially attracted to. I suppose that I could select three cancer charities…one dealing with research and cure search…one that focuses on offering help to families going through the treatments…and one that focuses more on extended care like Hospice or something. That could work…all the charities wouldn’t necessarily have to be cancer-related, but I’m sure that I could find three different cancer societies out there.

Here’s what I see my options as being:
1. Stick with my original plan and just make the donation to the American Cancer Society and keep this simple.
2. Select three “cancer” charities to allow the guests their choice of where their donation goes.
3. Select three random charities, one being American Cancer Society, for the guests to choose from.

What do you think I should do? You know that I welcome any excuse to have another DIY project going on…but should I just keep this simple and leave it how it started?

Do you have problems seeing things that inspire you and alter your original plans and make them more complicated? How do you avoid it?

Featured Wedding - Brenda and Mark

This is the first in a new series for me...I mentioned the other day that my photographer, Christina Carroll of Christina Carroll Photography had agreed to start letting me feature her shoots on my blog, and this is the first of her work that I'm showing.


Of course, I'm just pulling some of the detail shots and my personal favorites...go on over to Christina's blog to see the full size of the details or the rest of the shots. She's an AMAZING photographer and I feel SO lucky to call her mine!


Here's what Christina had to say about Brenda and Mark:

"Brenda & Mark are going to be featured on the National Fox News network today between 11:00am-12:00pm! They are doing a story on couples meeting on eHarmony while one of them is at war in Iraq. They will be interviewing Brenda & Mark and displaying the photos I took from their wedding! Here is a link to the video- http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/22324463/love-and-war.htm"

She always writes the nicest things on the "sneak peak" that she posts on her blog. Be sure to check her out. I can't wait to show you more of her work!

Enjoy!

I hope that I look THAT happy on my wedding day...

LOVE this shot...and the next one is PRICELESS!



There were a few detail shots, so I put them all in one...go to the source link to see full size images.

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I hope that you all enjoyed...I'll have more to come from her!

Ask Miss Emily Post…

I’ve got a question about wedding invitation etiquette. Actually, I’ve got LOTS of etiquette questions, but we’ll focus on one thing at a time. Normally, I might turn to the tried and true Miss Emily Post, but I’m not sure that I would find this situation in her book of advice.

Here is a glimpse of some of the wording that I think that Mr. CC and I have settled on for our invitations: (not our real names)

Option A:

The honor of your presence
is requested as
Betty Jean Scott
and
Samuel John Adams
are joined in marriage.

Option B:

The honor of your presence
is requested as
Betty Jean
and
Samuel John
are joined in marriage.

The only difference in the two options is our names and the format used to present them. Option A shows with our first, middle and last names, and Option B does not list our last names. Mr. CC actually doesn’t have an opinion on these two choices, as he got LOTS of say in the splicing and dicing of several different invitations that we used to design the whole invitation. What do you think?

The only reason that it bothers me is because my previous last name is on the first option. Obviously, since Mr. CC is a guy, when he got divorced, he didn’t lose his last name. Since I had a child from my previous marriage, I kept my married last name after the divorce. And I think that it looks awkward being on my wedding invitation now.

I could always go with Option C, which would read:

The honor of your presence
is requested as
Betty Jean
and
Samuel John Adams
are joined in marriage.

This last option would show me with no last name and Mr. CC’s last name…which looks like my middle name is my last name. That option looks a little off to me too. Normally, I might not put this much thought into something so minor, but this is our WEDDING INVITATION, so it kinda matters. And I would like to do something nice like framing one of these for our house, so it really matters to me what my name shows like.

Give me your opinion, if you have one. Am I being silly here? Help me out, please!

No Way, No How, NOT Gonna Happen

I stumbled across this wedding this weekend while perusing through the absolute endless wedding blogs that I read upon occassion...I mean, what else is a girl gonna do at 7:30 on a Saturday morning? Everyone else is sleeping and working on MOST wedding projects that I need to work on makes noise...

Anyway, over at The Bride's Cafe, I saw this post...and I have to comment on these pictures.

The flowers created by Events by Showstoppers are to die for...and the photography skills of the team at Sedona Bride just blow me away...this is a great post on Bride's Cafe - go check it out.



Although the pictures are TRULY amazing, and I love the look that this couple has created, there is NO WAY that I could convince B to do any pictures like these. He's WAY too manly, bieng a Marine, to pose with a boa of flowers around his neck. Although I'm confident that he would do a LOT of things for me, this isn't one of them...



I don't even think that he would do this one...the flower boa is STILL too close!

Anyone else out there have a manly groom who wouldn't be caught dead in these shots? Big props to the bride who convinced her groom to do these!


*All images source of Sedona Bride

A Thought to Ponder…

I have a question…even though I’m pretty sure that I already know the answer. Can you un-invite someone to your wedding?

Ok, that question was a little TOO simple. Try it like this: Can you un-invite someone to your wedding that you already sent a Save the Date to?

Yeah, see? That one’s a little bit harder. But it’s a question that I ponder as I sit here and tally and total the guest list and the costs per person that encompasses my ever-growing guest list. There was a time when Mr. CC and I started out planning this shin-dig when it wasn’t quite this large.

Why is this on my brain, you ask? Well, you see…someone at a party over the weekend happened to ask about my wedding. It was a company party, and since Mr. CC and I both work for the same company (although at different locations now) everyone knows that I’m a bride right now. A bride planning her wedding. A bride planning her wedding that is only 3 months away…

Ooh. I have to stop myself. I’m feeling a little bit faint.

All right. All jokes aside, this is a popular question that I get from all fronts. “How’s the wedding planning going?” is a great question for someone that you don’t know all that well, since more than likely the bride will latch on to the smallest bit of curiosity from an outsider about what is hands-down THE most important day of her life and start to prattle on and on, leaving you just listening. Why does a bride do this, you might ask? Because she’s already driven all of her own friends and family MAD with talking about the wedding. Seriously. It’s a proven, scientific fact that brides lose friends.

But since this question came from someone that knows me a little better than a passing stranger, and she was recently a bride herself, I knew that she could relate. I tried to stem the gush of information that I almost overloaded her with, and tried to play it cool like I had everything under control. Did I mention that she was recently a bride? Yeah…I’m pretty sure that she knew that I was blowing smoke…

Either way, she posed another question. “Is it a small wedding?” I answered yes, before I stopped and really thought about it. Yes, I think that my wedding will be small, in that it’s not our first wedding (for either one of us) and therefore we don’t have to submit to the strict rules of etiquette allowing your parents to invite people that you haven’t seen since you were a baby, but by-goodness they went to their daughter’s wedding and spent over $100 on their present, so these people WERE getting an invitation. Our guest list is MUCH smaller than that of a first-time bride/groom for this very reason. We’re really only inviting family and friends. There shouldn’t be anyone at the wedding who hasn’t known each of us personally. Yes, our parents are all inviting some of their friends, but we’ve at least met and spoken to these people at some point in the past two years…

Yet, once I started to answer with my resounding YES this was a small wedding, I stopped. At a guest list that nears 200 at its peak, is it still a small wedding? Where does a bride draw the line in the sand between small, intimate, and over the top?

I wouldn’t say that our wedding is intimate. Intimae weddings to me seem to be something with fewer than 50 guests in attendance.

A large wedding, in my opinion, is any wedding with over 300 in attendance.

Now, those numbers are based on final head counts…and my count of 200 is our guest list. There are people on the guest list that we’re sending an invitation to, but we seriously do NOT expect some of these people to make the trip in for our wedding. At the same time, they are important in some way to one of us, and we feel the need to include them and make them feel welcome at our wedding. Even though we know that they know that we know that they won’t really plan on being there. It’s the thought that counts.

I heard that a good rule of thumb is 75% when you’re trying to estimate a head count. That means that 75% of the total number that you invite is what you need to plan on being there. That means that we should plan on having 150.

So is 150 guests in attendance still small? This is what I wrestle with. I want small. I think that 150 is on the small side for weddings. Do you agree?

But when I look back over our guest list, I see a few people that I could cut from the list…trim the fat so to speak. Is it rude to not invite them now, once I’ve already sent them a save the date? Part of me says – YES! But a small part of me says that I could probably blame the dwindling economy and get away with a few invites being “recalled” between now and the actual wedding.

Like the lady that is letting me borrow some flower girl stuff. I had her on the list because I thought that I needed to do that, as a courtesy. MOH assures me that she lends out her wedding hurricane vases ALL the time and does NOT expect a wedding invitation from each bride that borrows them. Then again, since this is someone that I work with, is it just easier to let it go and be done with it?

What do you think? Is it rude to not send out the invitation after they’ve received the save the date? Do you think that I’m a terrible person for even considering doing that? I hope not…but I need some honest feedback here, and I know that you won’t let me down!

On Sale NOW!

For anyone (like ME!) who still LOVES a cute Liz Claiborne purse...JC Penney’s has them on sale right now! They are running anywhere from 30% to 60% off, depending on style.

Here’s the one that I snatched up yesterday! Isn’t it cute?!?!

Even better, it was marked 60% off, from $42 down to $21.99 on the purse. But when I got it up front and they scanned it...the total was $19.04 INCLUDING TAX!

So get on down to Penney’s for this great sale...I didn’t think to check how long it was lasting – sorry!

Yummy…Yummy…Yummy!!!

If there is such a thing as “eye candy” can there also be such a thing as “tummy candy?”

If so, THIS would be mine...

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What in the world are these? Little delicious looking bites, laughingly called “cakeballs” according to Christina.

I’ve seen them on two separate weddings that Christina has put up on her blog...hmmm...this gets the little hamster in my brain turning its wheel...

I might just HAVE to do a trial to see if these are as good as they look in the picture!

Did any brides either have these at your wedding or know how to make them? I’m anxious to try them out...I have an idea on how to do them, but I’m still interested to hear!

Work Out Wagon Results – Week #9

I’m not really sure how I feel about this week’s results.

Last Week’s Stats:
Weight – 148
Tummy – 31.5/37 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.25

Last Week’s Goals: (I’ve once again put my actual results in BOLD)
Increase my running length of time and speed, following the Couch Potato to 5K running plan – running at least 3 times Ran Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday – Woo Hoo for an extra run
Take only one day off of SOME form of exercise – do a P90X workout or swim on “off days” Did ONE ab ripper X workout – YEA!
Continue with no sodas during the week, and making good diet choices. I rediscovered a love of cherry vanilla limeades from Sonic this week when I REALLY wanted a coke, that was a good choice.
Work on smaller meals, more often. Did MUCH better on this!

Current Stats:
Weight – 146
Tummy – 31.25 / 37 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.25

Here are my goals for this week:
Run at least three times a week, minimum of two miles
Take only one day off of SOME form of exercise
Start doing workouts targeting specific body areas
Continue good eating habits, keeping up with food journal, and eating small snacks throughout the day

On the one hand, I’m thrilled to be TWO pounds down…on the other hand, I’m disappointed that there was not much movement on my measurements. I’ve never been one to put a lot of stock into your actual weight number. To me, it’s all about how my clothes fit, or maybe how MANY of my clothes fit…

Like most normal women, I’ve got a size range of two-three sizes that are all housed in my closet. Pre-baby clothes, post-baby clothes, post-divorce clothes…yeah, they’re all different sizes. But I can’t wear all of them. So my goals for shaping up before my wedding were more about how I fit into my clothes than about the actual amount that I weigh.

Therefore, you can understand why I’m disappointed that my measurements really don’t seem to be going anywhere.

But if I’m honest about myself and things that I’m doing or not doing, I should be able to say that it’s all my fault. For the past two months, I’ve been concentrating solely on running, which is a great cardio workout. But it shouldn’t be the ONLY workout that I do. Especially now that I’m approaching the three month mark before the wedding and I know that I want to work on arms and abs and such…

So I think that I really need to re-dedicate myself to my other workouts. I’ve been honest about how lax I’ve been with them the past month, but now it’s time to be harsh with myself. I’m not going to see results if all that I continue to do is run. I want to keep concentrating on my running, and improving my distance, but I need to start focusing on my other workouts now that my running is falling into shape nicely. I’m good with two miles of running. Yes, three would be better, but two is great.

Does anyone else have trouble changing up their workout?

I AM getting results…but I think that I would get better results if I made a few slight changes. How did you get over your unwillingness to change? Or am I just being stubborn? Mom, don’t answer that!

What is THAT???

That, my friends, is a stack of 73 finished arcs to our guest book. And you can’t see it, but there is a smaller stack of 13 others that are also finished back behind that stack.

So, if you want to do the math with me...that leaves me with only 34 arcs left to sew! Woo Hoo!!!

I’m HOPING to knock them all out before this weekend, as I’m going out of town this weekend and know that I won’t have time to work on them...but seeing as how that means that I have to sew 7 arcs each night...I don’t know if that’s gonna happen. I’m good, but I don’t know that I’m THAT good!

So cheer with me that I’m almost done with this phase of our quilt guestbook. Yes, I said THIS PHASE...there are SO many more to come!

I'm SO excited!

I am SO excited to share this with you all...and for the changes that this is going to do for my blog!

I was reading some other wedding blogs the other day and realized that they all do something that I could easily do...they feature a photographer or two. I don't know if they stalk those photographer's blogs (NOT that I know how to do that!) or if they reached an agreement with their photographers or what...but each time the photographer does a wedding they provide some shots to the blogger to post.

What a COOL idea!

I immediately thought about our own talented photographer, the FABULOUS Christina Carroll of Christina Carroll Photography. I contacted her via email and asked if she wouldn't mind me featuring her on my blog...and she was thrilled!

So, I'm trying to organize some of the weddngs and engagement shoots that she features on her blog and I should have some "eye candy" for you all soon! I'm SO excited to be growing my blog this way, featuring local Austin talent...and I know that you're all going to fall in LOVE with Christina's work, just like I did. Stay tuned - they'll be coming soon!

Kids Corner…

So I was looking over our guest list the other day – the Mister and I had been talking about how many guests we were planning on having. I said one number, he said another. Who do you think was right? Sorry, babe. But I was.

Anyway...back to my post...since I’ve already talked about how borderline anal retentive I am, you KNOW that I have an excel spreadsheet for our guest list database. And this sheet isn’t JUST a spot to put all the addresses in it...no, no, no. It’s SO much more than that. It also stores email, phone numbers, number of people included on the invite, to which events of the wedding they are invited to, if I sent them a save the date, if they rsvp’d to me (when that actually happens), etc. You get the point, right? This spreadsheet is my base of information about our guests.

Not only does it tell me who we’re inviting and how many people make up their party, but it also breaks down the total number into adults and kids. (and there’s a really cool feature that tells me how many to expect to show up based on how many that we invited – YES, I love my own spreadsheets!) Anyway, there was a number that caught my eye. It shouldn’t have been a shocker or anything, but at some point during the planning process and now when I’m actually working on the invites (a sneak peek to come soon!) a number seems to have changed.

Having two children ourselves, kids are a main part of our wedding. I can’t imagine doing this day without our children (as I posted previously on here), so we would never ask our guests to leave their dears at home. With that being said, I knew that the number of guests that were kids would be high, as most of our friends and family have children. So what’s a lot of kids? To you it might be one number, and to me another. But I think that it’s safe to say that our number of guests who are children is high no matter how you look at it.

Is 20 high?

How about 35?

Well…if you think that there are a lot of kids when you gather 35 together...try 50 on for size. Yep, that’s right. There are 50 children invited to our wedding. 5-0, that’s half of a hundred.

That’s A LOT. No matter how you look at it. I’ve known in the back of my head that I’ll need to put together some type of activity pack or games or something to assume our younger guests for some time now...but looking at that number, it just spurs me to action a bit. With 50 kids in attendance, I need to start working on this NOW. Or last week!

So imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon another wedding blog that I just fell in love with. The bride, Heather, designed and made these kids’ activity books herself, and it totally looks like something that I could do. Not the exact same thing, of course, but it gives me some inspiration. Check it out...

source

And check out her blog – I also put a link to her site under the section Blogs that I Heart...it’s called We Met In A Bar...REALLY cute!

What do you think? Do you think that something like that will entertain our younger guests enough so that their parents can eat their bar-b-que in peace? I know once the dancing starts, the kiddos will be the hit of the reception – move over BRIDE and GROOM, this party is about the kids – but I’m starting to wonder about the “free” time that they might find between the wedding, the dinner and the dancing...

(You can tell I’m a mom, because I KNOW that if there’s trouble to be found, MY kids will find it!)

Are you planning a wedding with a large number of kids? What are you doing to “occupy” them during the eating portion of the reception?