Visit two to the Venue

After months of searching on-line and stalking many blogs I had developed a plan for my centerpieces and ceremony decorations. So, my mom, sister and I headed to the venue to do a trial run. We packed up candles, ceremony decoration supplies and bought a bunch of flowers from the store. The trial went so much better than I could have imagined and I fell in love with my decoration ideas.

The Centerpieces
Our florist will be designing a "Bouquet" that will be placed in a vase on the table, slightly off set. My mom described it best by calling the look 'naturally simplistic'. When talking with my florist, my ideas was a look something like walking out to the garden, picking a bunch of flowers and placing them on the table. Understanding that water would be a concern she proposed that we set a bouquet of flowers in a larger vase so that they lean to the side. I plan to set all this on a mirror surround by candles. I posted earlier about my DIY candle holders, but since then I have decided that having three different candle designs was too busy so I will have 5 votive candles with ribbons and embellishments on them.

We decided that we need something else on the table to sprinkle around so I am going to look on the wonderfull World Wide Web for some of those plastic diamonds to place around.

Ceremony Decorations:
This is how the ceremony site will be set up. The overhead door behind the alter will be open to give a feel of being outside.
The florist will be creating a customer flower arrangement for the arch which contains the same flowers that are in the centerpieces. The 8 pillars to the sides of the arch will each have a fern on them. The ferns are huge and specially grown for the Community Center (A free ceremony decoration, county me in.)

I contemplated for several weeks what to do with the pillars linning the isle. I knew two things: 1) that I wanted something simple and 2) the white was too much. I found on our trial run that the vases are glued to the top of the pillars. Here is what we decided on to dress up the pillars:


I am really excited with how the trial went. In additon to finalizing ceremony and table decorations we were able to meet with the Event Director to get answers to some lingering questions that we had. All in all it was a great experience and we walked away feeling very positive.

Bridesmaids

To begin the updates I will start with the Bridesmiads. I really wanted each bridesmaid make the look there own. When selecting their dresses I gave them some pretty loose criteria. They all had to pick the same designer, select a tea length dress of their choice (preferrably a chiffon fabric), in the color I selected from that designer.

They all ended up going for David's Bridal Dresses, in clover green-I really think that the clover green will make the bright colors in the bouquets pop.


1) Mistelle's (MOH). 2) Mandy's Dress. 3) Brandy's Dress.
Source

I love them all. Each dress fits each girls own personality and am excited that everyone has said that they will wear their dress again. They will be wearing silver shoes and jewelry from lia sophia.

Update...

So, I said that I was going to create this blog as a way to keep organized, and a way to keep important people up to date, and what has gone and happened???? I completely abandoned it. I feel horrible and really wish that I would have kept up on it. So much has been going on:

• My dress is in - fittings will begin mid-May. I posted about my dress previously.
• Girls dresses are all ordered and two of them are in.
• I held an invitation making party yesterday and got all the invites stuffed.
• I have ordered most of my accessories including veil, hair comb, and shoes.
• Gathering pieces for favors.
• Decided on centerpieces and went for a trial at the hall.

I just can't believe how much I have done already in just a few short months. Even harder to believe how much other stuff I still have to do. Since it is coming down to the nitty gritty, I am going to make sure that I keep this blog updated.

It's my pleasure to introduce to you, SARA!

So, I will be the first to admit that I totally put off buying a wedding dress. My procrastination was due to several reasons: 1) I didn't get the feeling that the dress I had picked out was "The O,e", 2) I didn't want to have to order a size 20 wedding dress, 3) I had an unrealistic idea that it would only take a couple of months to get the dress in, and I could always rush order if I needed to. Last week, while stopping by a local shop to try on a couple of dresses, I found out that it might be impossible to get the dress I was planning buying in time for the wedding. Why did I only leave myself 4 1/2 months?


Well, on Friday my Mom and BM Mandy headed out to purchase my dress. Friday was the day, wether I liked it or not. I had picked out a dress that I really liked and was ready to order, but after finding out that I might not be able to get it, decided to try on a few gowns.


The first stop on our trip was Bridal Lane in Dorr. The store front seemed kind of small, but they had an awesome collection and the sales women were very helpful. We browsed the racks and picked out about 10 dresses to try on. Three dresses into I slipped into Sara: chiffon, beading, rouching, what more could a girl ask for?

It was perfect, but could I get it in time? I walked around in the dress for a few minutes while the sales clerk called the company to see what they had in stock. "Good news," she said. They had the dress in stock, but in a size 16. Well, that wasn't going to work, I have been trying on size 20 dresses. But, they could rush it to me by May 1st, allowing plenty of time for alterations. I was sold.

I started to order the dress and took my measuresments. I was in awe, my waist measured into an 18, but my bust and hips measures at at a 14 & 16. What should I do? A 16 was in stock, but should I risk getting a dress too small? I asked the clerk if I could try on a size 18 by the designer. They didn't have one, but they did have a size 16, in a mermaid cut of all things. If that fit, I knew mine would. And it did!


So, in the end, the procrastination paid off. I found a dress that I absolutely love and is everything I wanted. And I will have it next week. It was just meant to be.

Weekend DIY Project

My MOH and I got together this weekend to brainstorm some a DIY votive candle project. I got a great deal on 144 votive candle holders and candles on e-bay but thought that I might want to embelish them in some way.

We pulled out the craft box and came up with three different designs:

• The first one is an M (it is kind of hard to see because it was done in yellow paint). It is the same M as will be in our monogram.


• The middle one is just ribbon and gemstones.


• The last one is a flourish design wrapped around the entire votive holder. It is the same flourish that is on the Save the Date cards and will be on the invitations.

My plan is to put five votive holders around my floral center pieces. All the designs would be done in a variety of colors: pink, purple, yellow, orange, green, and blue. Although I am considering doing all the painted ones in silver. Anyone have thoughts on that?

As I am finishing up the painting I will post pictures on how I did it for anyone that is interseted. It was a lot easier than it may look.

UPDATE: The Men's Attire

So, we went to Men's Wearhouse the other day to get an idea of what the men should wear for the wedding. This ended up being a wonderful trip. Alert the media, Troy has made a decision on what the guys will wear. And the verdict is: Troy will be buying a nice black suit and the guys will be wearing black dress slacks, white button up shirt and tie to coordinate with the bridesmaid dresses.

Also, Troy has two kids that are going to be part of the ceremony. We were fine if they wanted to wear a suit like their dad or slacks like the other guys and decided to let them make the decision. They decided suits. What cute first family portaits those will make!

The men's attire

During the entire planning process me and Troy have not seen eye to eye on the men's wardrobe. I promised Troy that he did not have to wear a tuxedo (aka Monkey Suit) if he didn't want to, after all it is his day too and I want him to be comfortable. But it has come apparent that not having to wear a tux translates into two completely different things. I thought that meant a nice suit. I am not sure what Troy thought, but suit was not it. Ultimately we decided that I have to make the final decision and if I wanted to him to wear a tux he would.

I don't like that idea. The only way he is really going to be truely comfortable is if he has to make the decision. I have chose to supply him with some inspiration. While I do love the look of all the guys in a tux/suit:


I also found these pictures on the Knot website and I'm really digging this idea. I love the idea of the groom wearing something that distinguishes him from the rest of the guys. And after the formalities of the evening are done, I have no problems with him taking his jacket off too.


But, how would this look with the whole bridal party?

ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!

And I think in the long run that this could be a lot cheaper for the guys. Check out this ensemble from JCPenny:

and the best part: All three pieces are only $72.00 together.

We are supposed to go looking around to some tux places this weekend, so we will see what that brings. But I am definitely printing out these pictures for him to take a look at.