Wedding Planning Repost 07/26

I have said before that I had started blog stalking during my wedding planning.  My main salking victim was Darci at With this Ring.  Most of my links and images are from her website, so if they belong to you, let me know and Ill give you due credit.  I was collecting these inspirational photos long before I knew Id be blogging myself one day!

The shoes I mention in this post didnt end up making it to the wedding day, although a part of me wishes they did.  I decided to stay conservative and get some fancy off white peep toes with a small heel for fear of falling, but I ended up wearing a different pair of (gasp) Payless shoes that I had puchased for the rehearsal dinner dress.  The funny thing is, I had made my photographer list with all of the specific photos I wanted on my wedding day and never changed it from when I had these hot shoes, so I ended up with 232342 photos of Payless shoes.  :)  Not his fault.

07/26 - Green, Black, Ivory and Damask

 I think every one of these images (escept the chapel) is from Darci at With this Ring Above is my "inspiration Collage."  I seriously need a hobby.  Theres something that I really love about the pattern and colors, so we'll see how it all falls into place. I have my save the date postcard proofs.  Just a couple of modifications and they'll be in the mail!  I wont post a picture so people will be suprised, but they certainly dont fall into the above collage as far as color or design.  I got a really great bargain and they were able to custom-make the postcards, so Im pretty excited!  Ill have them do my invites as well, if I can ever make up my mind to what I want. Of course, my wedding dress is on sale for even less than I bought it for.  Hopefully my pops can make a couple of phone calls and get me the extra money,  but I have a feeling the "All Sales Final" on the receipt is going to prohibit the return of money. I bought some AMAZING shoes that I am in love with.  On sale, at that!  Theyre ruby/scarlet red with peep toes.  Red's not in the wedding at all, but Im considering adding little bits of it because of these amazing shoes!  I bought them in the scarlet and black just in case I chicken out last minute.  Ill wear one pair for the rehearsal dinner and the other for the wedding.  Im SO excited about them! No updates no music..  Im a really big procrastinator about music.  But, Kelli and I are going to get together in a couple of weeks and figure out centerpieces and bouquets.  Real vs. silk...  the debate's on. And, in my rediculous amount of spare time I figured out how to make some DIY (do-it-yourself) maps of Indianapolis/Carmel.  Theyre on the website for the reception and wedding location maps.  Find me a hobby...  please!  haha.  As far as the honeymoon goes, Im thinking a 7 day Carnival Cruise to the souther carribean is PERFECT!  Wes and I havent done the southern carribean thing, and its a bit cheaper than an all-inclusive resort (which I think Id get bored at.)  Im talking to my grandmother Barb (a travel agent) about the best way of booking the thing.  Lets hope it works out!  9 months-ish until the beaches!

Wedding Planning Repost 07/12

I was very inspired for my save-the-dates by old postcards.  There was one in particular that I wanted, but couldnt find, so I tried my best to have it reproduced.  The final product will show up in a future blog post, but here is the original inspiration:

The only downfall to sending out a postcard is that so do a lot of advertisors, so a couple of people didnt even realize that I had sent out save-the-dates!

Im also very glad that I loosened the grip on the DJ music.  I held firm up until the reception and actually ended up having line dancing that I had previously REFUSED to allow.  In fact, some of my favorite pictures are of the line dancing - EVEN THE CHICKEN DANCE!

07/12 - The Chicken Dance

Well some good news since my grief from the last blog I wrote up... The engagement photos are OVER as of 07/04/08!  (Thank goodness).  We just had them done with a random photographer down south.  That was likely the most awkward moment between W and I.  We are totally not publicly affectionate people, and the photographer wasnt the best at making us comfortable, so Im sure we're going to have some pretty hilarious photos coming soon. But, we did book a really awesome photographer here in Indy from Green Sky Media.  I saw them at the bridal show Wes's mom and I went to and really liked their photos, looked them up on the internet and saw my cousin's photo there!  Turns out, its the place she did her internship at and shes good friends with the guy I hired.  Success!  He's in budget and takes good photos and will even do the rehearsal dinner! Speaking of the rehearsal dinner, W's mother and I (with some help from my father) found the BEST restaurant!  Im so excited for the food!!  They serve the food family style and its the most amazing italian food Ive ever had in my life (no offense to Grammie - my italian grandmother).  I got my engagement ring and the wedding bands in - finally!  The engagement ring is gorgeous! (It was when I got it, but it looks more like his great-grandmother's now.)  Ill post the picture down below of the engagement ring.  The wedding band doesnt have the scrolling though, and Im wondering if I should go add it myself so that they 100% match.  Its still beautiful without it, so I may wait until our 1st anniversary and treat myself.  I cant decide. The hotel rooms ended up getting blocked after all.  They claim they sent the wrong contract to us and were very apologetic so they took off another 2 bucks from the price.  Maybe itll cover tax!? Book soon though because we only have so many and I need to figure out if we need to get another block elsewhere... theres a lot of people coming from out of town...  like 80-85% of people invited and I dont have enough right now for all of them. Still no updates on music.  Theyre actually starting to skeeve me out.  I met a couple at the bridal show and they were in tuxedos talking like they were Rick Dee or something.  I dont want someone on the microphone except to introduce the wedding party and I have MANY songs I am putting on the "do not play list" including the Macarena, We are Family, and YMCA.  No requests, either. (Im a bit controlling over the music, I guess.)  I do, however, have to play the Chicken Dance for my father.  Its apparently a Morrow family tradition and it was his only criteria to receive money for this thing.  Done. Im thinking of doing a piano/violin combo for the ceremony.  I cant figure out what I want.  Its a problem of mine.  I am quick to make decisions, I go back and over analyze them and end up changing my mind after all. If I have the DJ do the ceremony (which I think its a bit odd to play my music off of a CD, but I doubt anyone would notice), theyll charge me a tear down/set up fee to set up over at the reception site.  I could just use that money to hire a pianist or something. The linens/chaircovers are decided and the photographer is booked since the last posting.  I think Ive found a really good place to print the save-the-dates and invites up in Plymouth, IN (where Im living now).  Ive got to get those save-the-dates in the mail within the next month or so. No sign of the dress.  I miss my dress and want it to look at/wear it.  Its still in a wearhouse somewhere and I havent even had my first fitting.  Its been two months and apparently I have at least another two to go before it comes in.  I think once I get it itll help me start with the tone up regime for the wedding.  Maybe. ;) Slowly, but surely...  Im getting there.

Wedding Planning Repost 06/14

The one part of this post that stands out to me is that mention of the engagement photos.  I remember PLEADING with W to take engagement photos.  I promised they would be sucking face magnets for everyones refrigerators...  I just wanted nice pre-wedding photos.  I finally talked him into taking the pics in Little Rock (where he was living at this time.  I was in Indiana.)  We took the most awkward photos of our lives together in the not-so-great area of town, but I have the photographer artistic license to do whatever.  After stalking emails and phone calls several months later, the guy filed bankruptcy and NEVER gave us our photos!  Even the unedited ones for money!  So all the fuss and we never had photos.  And everything turned out all right in the end without them.  Goes to show you that all of the things you think youre supposed to have arent necessarily necessary.  Good thing I didnt book him for the actual wedding!

06/14 - Something Old, Something New and Something to Cause me Grief

Im on a roll when it comes to planning.  In the beginning, the complete honest truth is that I DREADED wedding planning.  Escaping and heading to Vegas was still too much planning...  I was thinking the courthouse/city hall was all I needed.  To me (and W) the marriage is the excting part, not the wedding.  But, together we knew how important it would be for our parents and grandparents to be able there to witness the beginning of our lives together.  And, now that Ive gotten into the planning thing, its not bad at all.  I would never admit is fun, though. So, now I have the ceremony and reception sites, the dress, the rings and the pastor.  Im going to try and use my parent's champagne flutes and my mother's veil.  Thats my something borrowed?  Im not sure of the rules on the slogan.  Something new can be just about anything, but Im having trouble with the something blue.  My diamond is something old, I guess.  Im so nontraditional I dont even really care, but if youre going to do this, I guess you have to do it right. Next weekend W's mother may come into Indiana to go to a bridal show with me at my reception site.  Hopefully we'll have my engagement ring back by then and we can scope out some rehearsal dinner sites.  My family and I went to a potential site today in Indianapolis and, needless to say, its ruled out thanks to the way it digested in my (and my mother's) system.  Its too bad, because their desserts were AMAZING! Im really procrastinating on the music/DJ... ugh.  I just cant make up my mind what I want. And now, the complications... 1. Engagement photos:  I finally begged/whined enough to have W agree to take engagement photos.  He named several conditions, one of which is that he wanted them done where he is living (halfway across the country).  So, on the 4th of July at 6:30pm we will be sitting somewhere having the moments of our love "captured."  I had wanted to ask my cousin (a photographer) to do them here in Indiana since she is home from California, but since W layed terms and conditions, I was stuck.  Now I am using this guy who seems pretty down to earth, go with the flow and has a personality W and I should be comfortable aroud.  We're not the type of couple who enjoys sucking face in front of a meadow, (and the photographer is pretty nontraditional), so I think itll be all right. 2. Engagement/Wedding Rings:  My engagement ring STILL is not back from the jeweler.  I miss it and I dont know when itll be done...  ITS BEEN A MONTH AND A HALF! 3. Hotel Block:  I was going to block 30 rooms at the Doubletree since it's where W and I will be staying, but then my dad and I read the contract.  You would not BELIEVE how much money they want down and they also want a percentage of the rooms that dont book.  How stupid since the block expires in March/April and they still have time to sell the rooms anyways.  I pitched a hissy, especially since they were only saving our guests about 10-20 bucks.  So not worth it.  So now, I guess people are just going to have to book their own rooms and I dont have to pressure people to use one place over another (although of course we want everyone to stay with us in the Doubletree!) Those are the only updates...  Im slowly getting there...  10 months and some-odd days to go until Im sitting on a beach somewhere.

Wedding Planning Repost 05/31

I must say that of all of the things Im glad that I did.  Im proud of myself for sticking to my guns about one main aspect of my wedding.  If I didnt know you or hadnt kept in touch within the past year, you werent invited to my wedding.  Not because I didnt want to GET to know you, and not because I held anything personally againt you, but because I wanted my wedding to be intimate and personal.  I basically wanted people at my wedding that Id invite over for dinner.  I have been to weddings that were large and managed to keep that feeling, but I knew it wouldnt work for me.  Especially when it was so far away for so many people to travel to.  I was forced to keep this promise to myself by booking the worlds smallest chapel.  It only held about 90 people comfortably.  (If I remember right, I had about 75-80 people at my wedding in the end.)

So, without further ado, here's wedding repost #2.  (That rhymed... hehe.)

05/31 - The Planning Progresses

Who knew that there are crazy brides out there who book these things YEARS in advance!  This planning process's stumbling blocks have all been because some crazy woman before me booked her wedding/reception site over 18 months in advance!  I had to beg to get my reception site at the Ritz Charles on May 2, 2009 since theyre already almost booked through June '09.  I was going to use their chapel, but its already booked (and overpriced for being so bland).  Im so glad it is though, because I found the CUTEST little white chapel down the road which has so much more character.  It's over 200 years old and is the oldest church in the region.  The nicest pastor owns it and is willing to let us decorate however we would like and use our officiant (my friend and coworker from Alabama who happens to be a Baptist Pastor!)  The only thing is that with the charm of the place, theres a couple of drawbacks.  It only has about 15-20 parking spaces, but theres a park across the street called the Watering Hole that has a lot of parking (and its a beautiful little park), and there is no covering at the front door for my entrance (or everyone's, for that matter).  When you open the front door, there's the aisle!  I dont want to put a covering on the front of the church because I think itll lose some of its charm.  Lets hope for beautiful weather, or a freakishly big umbrella. W's ring has come in, but my engagement ring is still at the jeweler and my wedding band isnt done being made yet.  I totally pulled diva mode on this one (which I think Ive talked about before), but I really think the set will be amazing!  Things just seem to take forever in the wedding planning process! Kelli (my maid of honor and best friend since high school) came out this weekend and helped me organize and pick things out.  Im trying to keep this thing as simple, small, but elegant as possible, but its so tempting to go big sometimes!  I was anti- guest favors, but shes so for them shes going to design and put them together herself! My dad has already offered to put together some gift baskets for me, and W is in charge of the honeymoon and ties for the guys (theyre wearing black suits instead of tuxedos... again, simple.) Delegation is key to this mess and there are some things I really just dont care about.  I mean, honestly, why do I care about the filling of the cake?  Actually, on second thought, I do because itll likely be smeared all over my face.  Im going with white cake and white cream frosting.  Boring, but easy to wash.  Decision made.  :) Things are coming along... now I just need to book the photographer, the florist and the band/DJ.  (Sounds like the good, the bad, and the ugly... hopefully no ugly, though)  So much to do.

Wedding Planning Repost 05/18

It has been a few years since I planned my wedding, and I found the old file I had saved from my wedding website that included a little wedding blog.  Id say wedding planning actually started my blogstalking, and at the time, I never had any intention of having my own blog, so I didnt save the website that I got many photos.  Please let me know if Im a photo thief... its totally accidental.

Anyhow, I thought itd be fun to post my old wedding blog entries each week and do my own personal commentary on them.  Especially since I just had an anniversary!  First up... the engagement/initiation of wedding planning.  To sum it up: Im neurotic.  I cant believe I thought I could plan a wedding the first month of engagement.  (Without eloping, of course!)

So... lets start her off!

5/18 - The Planning Begins! 05/18/08 The planning began the day after the engagement since I have an issue with unfinished business... and this wedding feels like unfinished business.  We have nearly a year until the wedding date, but I want to make sure that I dont end up something I dont like because I waited until the last minute and what I want is booked/sold out.  Slight anxiety about this? Likely.  :) Ive decided on a black/ivory/green wedding with a damask pattern.  Very hard to describe the visuals, but Ill leave it up for the guests to see when they get there.  Ive already ordered my gown (yes, its only been 3 weeks since the engagement) and the wedding bands.  I am anti-poofy gown, so again, Ill leave what I ordered a suprise for the guests.  W ended up with a Tungston-carbide ring that apparently is indestructible (and made him feel manly) and I wound up with a ring they are going to customize to his great-grandmother's engagement ring with some diamonds slapped somewhere on there.  :)  I was going to go with a cheap, simple band, but fell in love with the idea of the other.  Sneaky jewelers. I have narrowed the reception sites down to 2 locations, but Im headed toward the Ritz Charles.  It has everything I need under one roof, and I am trying to keep this thing simple and easy, but personal.  2 weekends from now I will be meeting with Kelli (the maid of honor) and my parents at the site and hopefully will get a price that doesnt make me urinate myself. I called up our (hopeful) officiant and have a tentative yes... please pray that he can do it...  We want Bubba! Now I just have to figure what we're going to do for music...  sigh.