I'm a Wedding Newbie

#99 hello!

2009-09-21T13:48:00.000-04:00

Hello my fellow readers! if you've stuck around...thanks! and I hope this blog has been beneficial to you.
I've been married for 4 months now and it has been an amazing adventure. I return to you now to notify you of two things.

#1 Yes. I will post photos from our actual wedding, and give a report on all of our amazing vendors and people we worked with.

#2 I've started a new blog! About marriage, life, love, things I like, cooking, etc. Please follow me on the next stage of my life at This is the Now Story.

#97 Thoughts

2009-05-11T10:22:00.003-04:00

We are 6 days out. I'm getting more and more excited. Kaitlin has been wonderful helping Jonathan and I get the house ready for me to move in. Jonathan has two more days of work and then he is done..until June! Woot. Costa Rica here we come.

On the wedding side, I found a make up person and I have somewhat of a dance mix. I'm still working on the programs (I'm waiting on music titles) and the favors are just and just need to be printed and made.

Oh! And we had a dance lesson. It was fabulous. We've been practicing I just hope we don't get too shy the day of.

I'm feeling really great about things. Not too stressed. There are things to be done but I still have a week and fabulous help. Please pray for sunshine. :)

Woo hoo!

#96 Ceremony Music

2009-05-06T08:37:00.000-04:00

Jonathan and I finally got to meet with one of our awesome musicians - Tim Hinck. He and friend Aaron Roche are compiling something great, and another friend, Danny Cooper, is going to play along as well. I'm really excited! Piano, guitar, and cello...will be beautiful. :)

#95 Hair

2009-05-05T08:32:00.004-04:00

It was a fun trial. It took hours, but Rika was with me to help keep me company. :)

Who knew I had this much hair?!

#94 Updated to do list

2009-05-05T08:28:00.002-04:00

~~Hair~~

Makeup

~~Ceremony songs~~

Reception dance mix

Dance lessons?

~~Pick first dance song~~ It's so cute!!

Vows

Print wedding programs

Create/make favors (you will love them)

~~Write thank you notes~~

~~Finally decide what to do about dessert~~

~~Cake toppers~~ We totally got those cute ones

~~Get some sunshine~~

~~Veil and headpiece~~

Guestbook

Things are coming along!

#93 I like.

2009-04-20T19:18:00.003-04:00

Maybe there will still be dandelion puffs in May, because I like these photos very very much.

[photo courtesy of Max Wagner]

#92 Tornado and updates

2009-04-10T16:42:00.004-04:00

As I sit here in the bathroom of Jonathan's house, I can hear the tornado siren blaring outside. The lights keep tinkering, so I'm not sure if we will lose power too. I'm not really scared, I just wish I could see what is going on outside. And if the tornado that has been spotted comes this way...at least I'm away from the windows. I can hear the wind, rain, and thunder. And this may be gross, but I'm sharing this bathroom with a fly. I guess it's not bothering me so I'm not going to bother it.

Life has been pretty good. Wedding things are going really well, I've marked so many things off my to-do list! The newspaper will publish it's last issue tomorrow, which is already pretty amazing. I can't believe its been an entire year! And...I only have 2 weeks until finals, which means 3 weeks until graduation...which means 5 WEEKS until the WEDDING! Yahooooo!

Here are a couple things that are ready to go:

Flowers - check

Suits arrived - check

Bridesmaid's gifts - check

Invitations delivered - check

RSVPs arriving - yay!

Ceremony timeline - check

Reception blue grass band (during dinner) - check check!!

Cellist for ceremony - check

Keyboardist for ceremony - check

Guitarist for ceremony - almost check

That's all I can think of at the moment. But I'm super excited! The bluegrass band is gonna be really fun. It's mostly a girl band (they have one guy I think) and they have beautiful voices. Jonathan, Kaitlin, and I went and listened to them last Sunday and decided we have to have a blue grass band play at our wedding. It's something that represents TN well, and something we enjoy as well. There is a Mountain Opry we go to some Friday nights. They have different blue grass bands play old tunes and gospel songs, its really fun. So Jonathan and I thought it would be a fun idea to have a blue grass band play during dinner at the reception. Its bound to be fantastic. Jonathan works at the hospital with one of the ladies who is in the band, so we've got some connections. :)

Anyway, there is a mini update for now. I'll follow up more these next couple days.

This is what I have left on my list:

Hair

Makeup

Ceremony songs

Reception dance mix

Dance lessons?

Pick first dance song

Vows

Print wedding programs

Create/make favors (you will love them)

Write thank you notes (:D our showers were all amazing...so much fun!! thank you!!)

Stay safe from this tornado (the siren is going off again)

Finally decide what to do about dessert

Cake toppers (check these...oh I <3>

Welcome baskets

Get some sunshine, but not too much.

Veil and headpiece

Guestbook

Not too shabby. They are all totally manageable. :)

I'm off for now! Only 37 more days!

#91 April Fool's Day

2009-04-02T09:44:00.002-04:00

This day makes people do funny things. I had 2 friends who pretended to get married, another couple who pretended to be single when they weren't, and then one couple who actually did get married! But no one believed them!

Ha. Many wishes to each couple. Jonathan and I are 45 days out!

#90 So cool

2009-03-27T11:00:00.002-04:00

I have tons to catch you up on, but in the meantime Jonathan just sent me this link. How fun is this? I think Russians know how to have a fun wedding. :)

#89 Invite assembly

2009-03-16T18:45:00.003-04:00

Tonight, we will assemble the invites. Some fun ladies are coming over and we are going to drool over Chad on One Tree Hill as we stamp and stuff envelopes. Haha :D Sounds like a blast if you ask me!

My hope is I will send them off the the post office tomorrow to be hand canceled.

Woo hoo! 2 months to go! I'm almost married!!! :D :D :D

[photo taken on Valentine's Day]

#88 and the winner is...

2009-03-13T19:39:00.003-04:00

Congrats!

Thank you to everyone you entered this awesome giveaway from Online Poster Printing.

Also, a huge thank you to Online Poster Printing for this opportunity!

I know you will enjoy your poster print, Rika, and I hope you're forever inspired.

More wedding updates coming next week (invites, shower, etc.)

Happy weekend to all! Stay dry if you are in Tenn.

#87 Giveaway update

2009-03-11T22:15:00.002-04:00

Don't forget to enter the Online Poster Printing giveaway! I will pick one winner (contest ends 3/12 at 12 midnight EST) and announce the lucky person Friday.

Good luck!

See this post for more info.

#86 Flower Update

2009-03-06T15:00:00.000-05:00

Thursday I went down to the wholesale flower mart in Chattanooga with Lisa. It was really fun. I got a better idea about flowers and bought some pretty ribbons. After looking at alstroemerias, cali lilies, tulips, wax flowers, star gazer lilies, football mums and so much more...I headed over to Fresh Market for more bouquet inspiration. Then, I found this bouquet.

Simple and yet so pretty and all the perfect colors. Here are all the different flowers separately. I think the white daisies would look really pretty all by themselves in a vase.

I think I'll end up using these for some centerpieces. We'll see though. :) Here are the pretty satin ribbons I bought. I got 50 yards of the pink and yellow and 25 of the little yellow (for corsages and such) for only $35. What a steal.

#85 Invites and such

2009-03-05T22:07:00.009-05:00

Hehe...sneak preview???

I couldn't help myself, I ordered the invites yesterday and I'm very excited.

Even better, I went to the post office today to make sure they were within the 42-cent-stamp weight. (They are!)

Today I also purchased the most awesome stamps in the world. Well, that may be an exaggeration, but they are perfect. This is something I've been thinking about, because once you have a really awesome invitation (:D) you can't mess it up with a silly American flag stamp.

Perhaps I have shown you too much, but I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. I can't wait to get them, then stamp and stuff them, and then SEND THEM! It's just really nice to have this huge step almost completed.

Jonathan also ordered some wallets of our engagement photos from mpix.com to put in our invites. Thanks babe!

The only implement I have left is the map...which I am still planning on printing...when that gets done.

In the mean time by super-cool brother-in-law Jeff made me a sweet widget for our wedding website. This way our guests can RSVP online (save some trees?) and leave us a fun note if they wish. I also updated the Travel & Stay section of the website so people have suggestions for hotels and have directions to the wedding venue. There are tons of hotels, but I picked the top rated ones - with various price ranges. :D Oh, and I changed the font of the body copy because the serif was driving me crazy. I needed some Verdana (a really practical and clean good-for-internet font) in there. See below, or click to see for yourself.

#84 Poster Print Giveaway!

2009-03-04T23:33:00.001-05:00

One of the best things about reading blogs (and writing one) is the giveaways. Remember that bridal emergency kit I won a few months ago? Well guess what, I get to host my very first giveaway!

Online Poster Printing has offered to give away 1 Poster Print (16x20) to 1 lucky I'm A Wedding Newbie reader! Think of all the possibilities—wedding photos, engagement photos, family photos—the ideas are endless! Poster prints can make any photo look fabulous!

To enter:

Leave me a comment below telling me what you would do with your poster print if you win. You could tell me which photo you would have printed, where you would hang it, who you would give it to as a gift, or whatever you'd like to share. Make sure you include a valid e-mail address in the comment so I know who to contact. This contest will run until next Thursday, March 12 and the winner will be announced next Friday, March 13. Contestants outside of the US/CAN must pay shipping if they are chosen as a winner.

Good luck!

[photo/logo courtesy of Online Poster Printing]

#83 Invites

2009-03-04T02:50:00.000-05:00

It's been a long process, but I think I am finally pleased with them! I went and talked with a printer a while back and just last week I went again to get proofs. I corrected some things (I've learned that yellow is difficult to print the way you want it to...but I've made it work) and now I'm just waiting on the final element - the map. I went ahead and asked one of my co-workers to help me out in the matter because I've been so swamped.

All the other pieces are ready (invite, rsvp postcard, rsvp online element, etc). I was planning on handwriting all of the envelopes but after a few trial runs I realized that this pretty paper that I'm using doesn't work well with a traditional pen. The paper has these pretty cracks of texture and it doesn't quite work well.

Since coming back from the beach, I have come down with an odd cold (I haven't been since since before we got engaged) so I've been in bed in day typing out addresses to go in this envelope template I made. Jonathan happens to be sick too, so we watched movies today with piles of tissues amongst us. One of my bridesmaids, Kate, also watched the movies with us - thank goodness for spring break!

#82 Spring break

2009-03-03T23:37:00.000-05:00

Ooooh how wonderful it feels to be on spring break. Is this really my last?

Well, I'll think positively for now. :)

I got just back last night from Grayton Beach, Florida. Five awesome friends and I crammed into a mini van at 3 a.m. last Friday morning for an adventure in Florida. We had two awesome days of sunshine and 70 degree weather, then downpour in the low 40s for the rest of it. A half-marathon happened to be happening the same weekend we were there so there were quite a few people in town, but almost no one on the beach. It was fabulous.

Now I'm back to reality and wedding things. My goal is to get these invites finished and sent off within two weeks. I'm also going to be working on centerpieces and try to get those in order. I'm going with a family friend to look at flowers down at the wholesale mart to try to get a better idea on the prices and such. This is the only part of the wedding that makes me nervous...but I think it's mostly because I haven't done much with it yet.

"Bear, Hunter, Ninja"

A man-sized tunnel in the sand!

Flying kites.

Brittney snatched this one, I think it's sweet.

We discovered seashells that move!

Beautiful sky, white sand, blue blue ocean.

#81 Yay Caterer

2009-02-22T09:12:00.000-05:00

FINALLY! We have a caterer. Jonathan deserves all of the credit. I totally handed him this job and he was fabulous and amazing. He did it without one hesitation and I'm so so thankful. :D

He name is Merrilee Jacobs. She, her sister, and her mother all own this vegan frozen food business called the "3 Hot Tamales."

She has catered many weddings, including Miss Little Debbie herself, and Little Debbie's brother. Anyway I'm really thrilled. She is so on top of things. She even called Nancy, the lady who runs the Fillauer Lake House and met with her to see the venue and set up. The fact that she did that just makes me even more confident that she will do a great job.

Yummy food here we come!

#80 Birthday!

2009-02-19T07:38:00.001-05:00

Yay!

[image courtesy of flickr]

#79 Caterer update

2009-02-18T11:12:00.000-05:00

Ugh. Catering. I think it's never-ending.

I may just be feeling lazy, but we talking to someone who we think would do a really fabulous job. She is more expensive that our original lady, but then again the original lady was giving us a steal of a deal.

Jonathan and I feel like just going with this new lady and not looking around anymore. She knows what she is doing and is really nice to work with.

Time is of essence and school is taking over my life. Jonathan can work on catering, but there are also lots of other wedding things to be doing. Should we just go with our gut feeling or look around more, or is that being lazy? Does anyone know what the going rate of a dinner wedding, buffet style meal?

#78 Lemon ideas

2009-02-18T11:06:00.000-05:00

I keep going back and forth with center piece ideas. I think I'm just going to have a variety of yellow things (vases, lemons, etc.). Right now I'm loving these tin buckets with lemons and yellow roses sicking out of them. See in this photo...

I also really love this - how neat is that! A plate filled with lemons stacked up. I even thought about referring to this post and making some cake stands and putting a lemon tower on them. Anyway, here is a visual for that.

#77 This week

2009-02-16T23:22:00.001-05:00

I just need to type it all out and maybe it will help me sleep better.

1. Literature review

2. Contemporary Art exam

3. Read book and write book report

4. Figure out which letters to the editor to publish (I have like ten, and they won't stop coming. Ugh.)

5. Edit the Accent, then publish it

6. Finish & order invitations

7. Order photos to put in invitations

8. Buy a pretty pen to address invitations (I guess I can do this later.)

9. Find a caterer or two and compare prices

10. Turn 21 (yay!)

11. Go to work Friday

12. Sleep Friday night (finally) and greet at church Saturday morning.

And...Sunday will be a new week of to do's, but then it's spring break!

Here is a photo to keep me going: I LOVE it.

Thanks for listening!

[image source unknown]

#76 Days counting

2009-02-16T00:12:00.000-05:00

Only 90 more days until we are hitched! Woooooweeeeee! I'm excited.

Here's a fun photo to reminisce about:

It brings back fun memories. This was taken 2 years ago on a snowy day in February in Tennessee. :) I love you Jonathan!

#75 Caterer canceled

2009-02-09T15:01:00.000-05:00

I've been trying for weeks to get a hold of my caterer. Remember, the yummy food one that was going to work with my budget? Well...apperently she had been avoiding my calls and avoiding calling me back because she was afraid I was going to be upset — she has to cancel because she can't dedicate enough time to it right now.

Goodness.

Why couldn't she of told me this MONTHS ago?! Now I feel like I need to scramble. Finding a caterer 3 months before a May wedding in TN! (It's the best months for weddings in TN. I guess my only advantage is that we are having a Sunday wedding). Thankfully Jonathan is wonderful and is going to take care of the catering/food for me because school this semester is insane. I had NO idea it would be this much work/take up so much time. All I really want to do it look at pretty wedding pictures. :)

Hopefully the food will look like this...

If it doesn't it's ok, but isn't it pretty?

[image source unknown]

#74 Love it

2009-02-08T14:54:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't been blogging and I know that really don't have time to...but I saw these photos and I fell in love. It's almost everything I've been envisioning. Can I make it happen?? :)

[images via snippet&ink]

#73 More things done...

2009-02-01T09:48:00.000-05:00

I'm a little sad that I can't blog as much as I'd like to. There are so many fun things happening with the wedding that I want to share but I can't seem to find many spare moments.

Anyway, long story short, last Friday was very successful.

Kaitlin and Kate got their dresses fitted by Mormor :)
I gave them lots of things to do because I realized I don't have much spare time - thanks girls.
Jonathan and I found and purchased my wedding band! Boy is it pretty...do I have to wait till May? :P
A couple weeks ago I found out that the flower license I was going to use wasn't going to work out after all. I prayed about it and everything fell right into place Friday. I have a new one to use and we figured out what to do about the flowers/arch at the ceremony - oh I'm excited!!
I also figured out what the centerpieces will look like, finally.
Decided on a 4 p.m. ceremony.
Ordered invitation envelopes. I'll order the invitations in the next two weeks.
Jonathan ordered a suit to see what it looks like in person. If we like it - we'll order 3 more and then we'll be done with the guys outfits!
Tentatively planned the weekend agenda.
Planned what welcome baskets will have in them.

It was a happy Friday.

I promised myself I wouldn't do any more wedding things until this coming Friday. I have the busiest school week yet coming this week.

Until then,

Monika

ps — lots of pictures to come...eventually!

#72 Progress

2009-01-21T22:38:00.000-05:00

More things off my to-do list.

Flower girl

Ties

Invitation printer

Pictures to come later. I'm consumed in communication research. Ta ta for now!

#71 Cheap tickets to/from Seattle

2009-01-20T12:56:00.000-05:00

I just got an e-mail from Southwest - they have dropped their prices 50% for flights to/from Seattle. You must book between Jan 20-22. Type promo code SEATTLE when booking or book through this page. Prices as low as $75 one way!

Hope this helps :) If you have questions or if I can help at all, please email me at jonathanandmonika@gmail.com

PS - There is a shuttle service to/from Nashville to Chattanooga and Atlanta to Chattanooga. It's $60 round trip, $35 each way. Visit them here or call (800) 896-9928.

#70 Bike poster

2009-01-19T20:00:00.000-05:00

Jonathan and I (well mostly him) have been working on his (soon to be ours :D) room. The first step was painting, then came the furniture, and now the fun accessories! Like this really awesome print I found online at M + E. We got number 6 out of 10. :) Now all we need is a frame...

Once the room is ready I'll show a before and after. It's pretty exciting!

#69 Something I love

2009-01-18T18:00:00.000-05:00

This photo. It's freezing in Tennessee and I wish it was snowing.

[photo credit unknown]

#68 Shower in CA

2009-01-15T21:33:00.000-05:00

School has proved to be way busier than I could have ever imagined. I'll try to keep up because wedding plans can't stop.

On December 28, 2008 one of my bridesmaids, Leslie, and her mom, Merrilee, threw me a shower with my best girlfriends from high school and some of the wonderful women in my family. It was really fun. We drank tea and are yummy brunch food. Everyone wore a fancy hat too. :)

Thank you to all who came! It was so so much to see you.

#67 Skiing with Jonny

2009-01-01T00:21:00.000-05:00

Hehe, read this.

#66 Encouraging thoughts

2008-12-27T20:00:00.000-05:00

I saw this on 2000 dollar wedding and it helped me relax. I've been quite nervous thinking about being in front of so many people and being the center of attention. I know I don't seem like a very shy person, but when it comes to big audiences, my stomach hurts just thinking about it. Anyway, this helped, and I thought it was quite sweet. It was written by the bride as a wish to future brides. This is how I want to feel. :)

Look at how relaxed I was. Fully present in the moment. Basking in it. Soaking it in. I was not saturated in stress.

My shoes and dress were comfortable enough for dancing. My beauty radiated out of me; it was not applied to me.

I got to spend quality time with my friends and family. I was myself, not a show. In fact, I was my fullest expression of self.

I do not remember whether the invitations were letterpress or whether the flowers at the ceremony were the same ones at the reception.

The wedding favors or the fanciness of the food did not make memories. The sincerity did. The connection did. The time together did.

It did not matter whether every last detail conformed to the signature colors. Instead of saying, “What a beautiful bouquet,” the guests said, “What a beautiful love.”"

#65 Inspiration boards

2008-12-26T23:38:00.000-05:00

The more and more I think about the wedding, the happier I get about our color scheme. I decided to stay with the girls' pink shoes. After all, they are only shoes and it doesn't mean that the entire wedding needs to become pink. It can be a beautiful splash color in flowers or ribbon. Here is a pretty yellow, white, with some pink (and a bike!) in inspiration board from Snippet & Ink.

Here are some more yellow boards. How fun are they? I'm planning on making my own wedding board with the bridesmaids dresses and shoes, flower ideas, and more. In the meantime, I like these:

[images via Snippet & Ink]

#64 Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T11:00:00.000-05:00

I'm up the the snowy mountains of Southern California this Christmas. I wish everyone a merry merry Christmas. Jonathan is flying out from Tennessee tomorrow so it will be fun to spend time with him this holiday. Enjoy the holidays and remember the reason for the season!

Love,

Monika

[image courtesy of little brown pen]

#63 Honeymoon

2008-12-24T20:00:00.000-05:00

Oh man, good thing our passports are current...COSTA RICA here we come!

Off the coast of Punta Uva beach is a beautiful tree house in the jungle. The "beach house," as it's called, is less than 300 feet away from the shore. The entire house is built from reclaimed wood in the forest, all very eco friendly.

Jonathan had been thinking about cruises, but after reading many reviews, the food options looked to be marginal. I can only imagine what it would be like being vegetarian. :P

Anyway, a close and awesome friend of ours, Shannon, mentioned that the tree houses in Costa Rica were really cool and reasonably priced. We looked it up and were instantly hooked. We watched nearly every video on the website (including two spots from HGTV: Most Extreme Houses) and loved it. Looked into tickets and found incredibly reasonable direct flights from Atlanta, GA. Fabulous! Well, we both decided to sleep on it, read some reviews the next day, and booked the following day.

I'm really excited. I think it will be a grand adventure sleeping in the forest amongst the monkeys and iguanas. We have scheduled canopy tours (zip lines), forest tours, iguana adventures, white water rafting, and more! I think it will be really fun and special. Neither of us have been to Costa Rica so that's another plus.

Here are some photos of the place: For more info visit costaricatreehouse.com

Beach

Patio | If you look at that little hole with an X in it - that's the beach. Apparently you can also see the water from the upstairs bedroom.

Bathroom | Glass ceiling in the shower, so you can look up into the trees. :)

Upstairs bedroom

Fully stocked kitchen, with beautiful wood I might add.

Cozy downstairs bedroom

[images courtesy of costaricatreehouse.com]

#62 Invites

2008-12-23T20:00:00.000-05:00

The invitation progress is great. I have felt quite uninspired to work on them so I've been procrastinating. I got started today and I ran with it—the design just worked. I really only have finishing touches to make otherwise most of it is done. Next thing on the list is to find a printer when I get back to Chattanooga. I would post a teaser but I'm too excited to spoil the surprise. :) However...I like these.

#61 Ties at Target

2008-12-23T00:53:00.001-05:00

I love this photo. I think the pine cones are a perfect look for a winter wedding. I found this picture on Once Wed and that tie in particular drew me in. I left a comment wondering where in the world they found that tie - and come to find out...Target! Who would have thought? I guess I'll just have to wait until Spring to find that yellow and white tie. Right now everything yellow has to have blue in it too. Ha. We'll we're just a few months away from Spring. :)

[image courtesy of Once Wed]

#60 Dishes

2008-12-21T21:58:00.000-05:00

Right before finals last week, Jonathan's mom, Bodil, came to visit for a couple days. Jonathan and her worked on banners with Jonathas's plotter/sticker maker and we had dinner a couple times together. One night after dinner at Mormor & Morfar's, Bodil handed us a card. We eagerly opened it and it said "Merry Christmas, go look up stairs."

We looked at each other, then sprinted up the stairs. Jonathan's parent's got us our dishes! I couldn't stop smiling - Jonathan too. :)

It's really fun to think about planning our home together...and to see it unfold. Also, I love Crate & Barrel.

#59 To do

2008-12-17T23:32:00.000-05:00

School is officially done for the semester and off I go to California tomorrow. I hope to find time to catch up on wedding plans.

The goals are to:
1. Create invitations
2. Come up with food ideas/options
3. Maybe find new shoes...I keep having this reoccurring dream that I hate the girls' shoes. Maybe they are too pink? I don't feel like pink is really a favorite of mine, at least not the color they are. Don't get me wrong I really like them, but I'm starting to think of perhaps more of a red. Shortly after we got engaged I was enjoying dinner at a friends out and saw a bouquet of red and yellow gerber daisies (my favorite flowers). I was immediately inspired but somehow the color red fell out of the picture and morphed into raspberry...then pink? Maybe this Christmas I'll do some awesome outlet shopping and find pretty red flats for my girls. We'll see.
4. Create the vision for the flowers at the ceremony and reception.

This seems ambitious, but then again we are only 5 months out. :D

#58 I like.

2008-12-17T23:13:00.000-05:00

Wouldn't this be fabulous?! A white canopy strung up by helium balloons. I think it's quite dreamy and happy. I can see it now–all of our lovely guests sitting under a white canopy surrounded by trees and woods. Oh man that would be joyous. Pretty pretty.

[image courtesy of a cup of jo]

#57 Untitled.

2008-12-14T14:22:00.000-05:00

Today I wish it looked like this outside. Today I'm in the mood for sunshine and blinding snow to play in.

[image courtesy of little brown pen]

#56 RSVP...early?

2008-12-05T00:03:00.000-05:00

Yay it's Friday! (In Tennessee at least).

I know we haven't sent out invitations yet, but Jonathan and I thought this was a good idea:

We have some friends getting married in Seattle next June (yay Eric & Courtney!) and we were looking around their website today and saw a very good idea, so we think we'll test it out too.

In an effort to figure out who all might be coming for the wedding...do you, my lovely readers, mind sending an email to jonathanandmonika@gmail.com once you know for sure whether or not you can make it to the wedding? Knowing how many out-of-towners are coming has been hard to guess, with schedules and the economy, which in a sense makes planning a little more difficult...but none the less it would be fun to know who may be coming. :)

So, if you are hoping to travel to beautiful Eastern Tennessee next May, do you mind dropping us a line? We'd LOVE to hear from you. :D

Happy weekend!

jonathanandmonika@gmail.com

[image credit unknown]

#55 Ha

2008-12-02T23:40:00.000-05:00

Who am I kidding? I loving blogging and prefer it waaaay over that homework stuff. ;)

This is for Jonathan:

Love you Édes!

[image credit le love]

#54 Today

2008-12-02T23:29:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving was extremely nice. I relaxed, hung out with Jonathan, Kaitlin and my housemates. I slept in, everyday. Then Sunday came and I realized I only have 2 weeks of school left until finals. I also realized that while I was being extremely organized after break, I deleted a design project that I spent hours and hours on. It was quite saddening, but I've mostly recreated it by now.

Jonathan and I embraced Black Friday by my sleeping in and Jonathan buying a chainsaw. Later we went to Hobby Lobby and EVERYTHING Christmas was 50% off. We decided it would be fun to make a wreath. We bought all sorts of berries and apples and such, all for under $10. Amazing! When I get around to it I'll post the picture, but for now it's on Jonathan's camera miles away from me. Well, only 2 miles but it's freezing outside.

Anyway, as far as wedding plans...

Save the dates are shipped off! We only sent them to out of towners, in an effort to aid in making reservations and such. If you got one, how did you like it? I must say, the mailbox has never been so full. :)

Now, next on my agenda is getting some music in order for the ceremony and reception. Our MC, Zach, is in town this week and he stopped by my office while I was working tonight. Eager to help, he said he'd put some ideas together for me as far as what kind of feel I want at the wedding. Traditional...fun...funky...pretty....etc. Anyway I'm looking forward to his help.

I'm also working on invitations. It's a lot harder than I thought! I'm even more critical than usual.

Well, over the next two weeks I think I'm going to take a break from blogging. At least until this paper...presentation...test 1...project 1...project 2....project 3...and test 2...plus work 1 and work 2.

#53 Engagement photos IV

2008-11-27T20:00:00.000-05:00

Last set! These are just so fun, I love them too. Well, I love them all. Ha. Happy Thanksgiving!

[photos courtesy of ray & erica tisdale of 35atl]

#52 Engagement photos III

2008-11-26T15:46:00.000-05:00

Oh man I love these photos. Lets call these "whimsical" photos. I like that. I love each one, I can't pick. :D Check back tomorrow for the last set!

#1
#2
#3
#4

[photos courtesy of ray & erica tisdale of 35atl]

#51 Engagement photos II

2008-11-25T21:25:00.000-05:00

Here's the next set. I love the artsy angles and fun colors of these shots. I love #1, #4, and #5.

Don't forget to comment/vote!

#2
#3
#4
#5
[photos courtesy of ray & erica tisdale of 35atl]

#50 Engagement Photos I

2008-11-24T20:23:00.001-05:00

We were so excited we could barely wait. We opened our box to this beautiful engagement album (pardon the glare from flash).

We had so much fun with Ray & Erica and the wedding can only go better! I think we got all of our camera-shyness out of us.

Here are some of our awesome photos! Lets call these our "traditional" ones. Keep checking back the next couple days for more pictures and different syles.

Also, please leave a comment listing your favorite one - to help us decide which ones send out with invites! My favorites from this set are #3 and #5.

[photos courtesy of ray & erica tisdale of 35atl]

#49 Save the dates are here!

2008-11-24T18:57:00.000-05:00

Woo hoo! Did I mention that I only ended up paying $10 including shipping? I got a real steal. The yellow is a little more green than I hoped for, but they were essentially free so I can't complain. I love the rounded edges.

I'm currently working on our invitations. :)

#48 Wii Fit

2008-11-24T13:32:00.000-05:00

I've been talking with Jonathan about Wii Fit. It sounds really cool and from what my friends at work have said - it's pretty sweet. Anyway, I was doing some random blog reading and I found this!

La Petite Chic currently has this awesome Wii Fit giveaway. Just leave a comment on her blog and tell her how you’d use the Wii Fit for a chance to win. It’s that simple! And if you mention the giveaway on your blog and link back, you earn a 2nd entry. Quick, deadline to enter is December 5!

So...we'll see what happens!

#47 Dress update

2008-11-24T09:56:00.000-05:00

Kaitlin, Mormor came with me to try on the dress last month. :D

All I can say it that is was....

FABULOUS.
BEAUTIFUL.
FIT LIKE A GLOVE. (minus the length and such...)
BEAUTIFUL.
LOVELY.
I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL MAY 17!

As I was zipping it up (with the help of the lovely girls at Ever After Bridal) Kaitlin popped her head inside the dressing room and smiled. I looked up at her, smiled back, and then I saw her start to tear up. It was very sweet and made me feel even happier that I picked the dress. The only downside is that if she's already tearing up I have no idea how this wedding will go. I'm bad enough already worried I'll end up being a sap ball at the ceremony...hence the fact I may not write my own vows...even though i might...but more on that some other time. :)

Then again, I thought for sure I'd cry when Jonathan asked me to marry him. To my surprise, I just screamed with joy the rest of the way down the river and I couldn't stop hugging him (or turning around to look at him as we canoed) or looking at that ring! :D I think my only concern was dropping that bling in the water. Oh man did my cheeks hurt. A good hurt though. I don't think I've ever experienced soreness from smiling so much.

Mormor has offered to make the veil. I tried a couple different ones on with the dress and I think we know what will go best. Pretty simple, but nice. At first I was hesitant about wearing a veil because every one that I've tried on has looked funny. Now I know why - they always put it like on the top of my head. No bueno. I moved it down just behind my head, so it was lower on my head and it was quite nice. Now I just need to find a nice sparkly barrette.

#46 Exercise

2008-11-19T14:47:00.000-05:00

I've been waiting for months for the Wellness Center to open at school. When I was in high school I used to go to the gym with my best friend Leslie on a weekly bases. Go YMCA! We had a great routine down and we loved it. After we graduated high school we stopped going and traveled to our respective colleges (her Washington, me Tennessee). We reunited that next summer when I lived with her and her family. Introduce Turbo Jam.

It is amazing. Chalene Johnson became our hero and we were addicted. We even considered becoming instructors (I think we both still have that dream...)

Chalene still is my hero but I don't have enough room anywhere to jump around - nor do I find the time. I guess I'm lazy? Plus I was still taking my hand/elbow easy (more on that in a minute).

I got a free 30-day pass to the Rush (a workout center here in TN) this summer and I went very regularly. I was hooked on those aerobics classes: yoga, step, kick boxing... I'd been wanting to check out this "Turbo Kick" class and I didn't get around to it until my last free week. Anyway, it's Turbo Jam, but the live version. I almost joined the Rush just to go to that.

Well I decided not to get the membership because I knew the Wellness Center at school would be opening soon and I figured I'd save some $$$.

Well...two-and-a-half months later (jeepers) the Wellness Center is open and I'm determined to get back on a regular routine. My friend Laurel and I have been walking in the mornings but it has gotten much too cold for that. Plus, I really enjoy running on an elliptical and working my arms, legs, and stomach until they burn (haha). So it's open and I'm excited. They have personal trainers on staff at all hours so you can always get a little direction or focus if needed, at no extra cost. How awesome is that! Arms and back? Prepared to be toned.

About that injury...
Earlier this year I experienced tennis-elbow due to my side business (visit blissbuttons.com here), and was out all together from doing anything with my hand/elbow. Even using a mouse was painful. I was worried for my future career. Lifting weights or doing push ups like I used to do was way out of the question. After 10 months of resting, I've slowly started using it again. I can't believe it's lasted this long, but I still have to be careful. No resting my elbow on a table anymore that's for sure.

In August I found this site, hundredpushups.com and Jonathan got hooked. I tried it too, but I elbow wasn't ready yet. At least in the gym I can work my way back up.

Maybe if I'm really dedicated I'll post my progress/routine. For now, my goal is to go three times a week. This is week 3 and so far so good! Plus I'm playing volleyball which is really fun. Our team rocks.

[photo courtesy of sxc.hu]

#45 Registry part II

2008-11-15T00:44:00.000-05:00

We spent the day in Atlanta today. It was really nice. The weather was on the rainy side so it was nice to be indoors. We first went to Ikea and got a bed frame and some night stands. I'm really excited about that. We also picked out some items for our future living room...but we are saving that for the next trip.

Afterwards we went over to Crate & Barrel and registered for some more stuff. I was initially hoping to register for linens and plates, but we didn't get much past the kitchen. We were there for a long time...everything is so beautiful! It was nice because it turns out we have a smiliar style and taste. :) We found some plates that we love and this really sweet wood salad bowl. It's gorgeous!

Amongst other fun kitchen items we deceided to head back to C&B after the holidays, as many of their linens and such are seasonal.

In the meantime...see what else we like. Visit our registry here.

Happy weekend!

[photos courtesy of crate & barrel]

#44 Save the Dates

2008-11-13T22:53:00.000-05:00

Earlier in this blog I showed the save the date that I designed, but wasn't sure we'd have the funds to send it out. See that post here.

Well...I happen to open my email this week and overnightprints.com is having a promo! 100 free postcards, no purchase necessary!
I've had a couple things printed at overnightprints.com and I've always been really happy with the result. And now with this super sweet deal - we can send out save the dates!

I'm going to tweak the design a bit - I've replaced the old bike with a tandem that I created in a design class and I still need to work on the type, but here is a peak. I'm planning on changes the type faces, but my biggest concern was the bike. That thing took forever! Anyway, I just have to finish everything before Sunday night, as the promo expires then.

Anyway, if anyone else wants free postcards - Christmas letters? Party invitations?
Visit overnightprints.com and when you check out type in the code.
Here is the code: 100PCNOV
Just be sure to order before this Sunday, 11/16/08.

#43 Pretty Yellow Shoes

2008-11-12T22:15:00.000-05:00

Here are the shoes! Aren't they fabulous? They are a wonderful yellow and I love the style. They are a smidgen bit too big - but I ran around in them (literally) and they didn't fall off. I'm more like a 8.25, not quite an 8.5. Too bad they don't make that size. Anyway I love them and I'm keeping them.

The girls are I are still looking for shoes for them. Haven't had too much luck...we aren't quite sure what color. I think I should just bring back the raspberry idea and have the girls where pretty satiny redish-pink shoes.

Lemon and raspberry, why not? Looks delish! Just think of all the yummies we could have at the reception...

I was REALLY hoping to do an all yellow & white theme, but the more I look into things (clothing, flowers...) I feel like I need another color. It wouldn't be a main color however, but a splash here and there.

Actually, I just looked online again and found my shoes in pink and white! I'll talk to my ladies. :)

Jonathan and I are heading to California after Christmas for a few days to see some family & friends. Maybe some of the girls are I can go shopping and find some fab shoes for a great price if these don't work.

Anyway, I feel really good about these shoes. They are just my style (I can't believe I have to wait 6 months to wear them...maybe just around the house? :P) and I stayed well within budget - only $30 shipped! I love sales.

#42 Really now...

2008-11-12T12:55:00.001-05:00

When I posted my last post, I forgot that I had the newspaper last night and a final this morning. (A final already! I know! But hey...that means I'm done with the class. No more class on Friday now...more time to work on wedding?)

That's what those balloons are for. Pure joy. My paper is done, the newspaper is finished, and I did well on my sales final. :D

The wedding updates will start rolling into today/this evening, have no fear!

Including shoes...cakes...save the dates...dress...and more!

Thank you to all my faithful viewers. It makes me happy to know you take a couple moments out of your busy day to see how those plans are coming. :)

[photo courtesy of flickr via oh joy!]

#41 Done!

2008-11-10T12:14:00.002-05:00

I'm so thankful. After more than half a day spent sitting and staring at my computer, my research paper is done. Back to wedding blogging! Stay tuned the next couple days as I have some fun photos to share as well as various updates.

I'm jumping for joy!

[image courtesy of flickr]

#40 My Other Life

2008-11-06T09:29:00.000-05:00

This is what I've been doing the past week. Being editor and election week took everything out of me. Plus my thumb drive crashed and I lost an art project that I've been attempting to rebuild. Not to mention that history paper I'm working on...

I'm thankful wedding items aren't super pressing at the moment. But none the less I think I will have lots of updates on shoes and such coming later this week.

In the meantime, visit and read my centerpiece story at accent.southern.edu.

#39 Shoes

2008-10-29T13:28:00.001-04:00

Jonathan bought some black dress shoes Sunday for a sweet deal. Today, I bought these. I hope they work out because I think they are cute... via jildorshoes.com

#38 Dress has arrived!

2008-10-29T12:14:00.001-04:00

My dress came one month early! I'm going with Kaitlin (MOH) to look at it and try it on tomorrow night. Yay I can't wait! I wish I could post pictures...I'd have to password block them though and I am not that blog savvy, haha. I guess you guys will just have to wait until May. ;)

#37 Ties and such

2008-10-27T12:02:00.000-04:00

It's been a bit of a hassel finding the right ties to go with the dresses. Plain yellow is well, too plain, but anything with a pattern to it seems to incorporate blue which doesn't really go. I found this photo...

and I liked this tie that Jonathan found, and for a good price too! Think it goes ok? We may just have to buy a couple and try it. If not, we could just send them back.

The other challenge has been color of suit. This seems to be my favorite. Lately we have been talking about Jonathan in a suit and the guys in pants that match, white shirts, and vest that match the suit. The vest is the wrong color but something like this would be nice. Plus it's too expensive but of course I love it...it's J. Crew after all :)

#36 After the shoot

2008-10-26T23:34:00.001-04:00

We went cardboard sledding with our photographers. There is a mighty nice hill in the park in Chattanooga that is perfect for this. We needed bigger boxes though. Check this syncro! This is me and Erica. Aren't we graceful?

Here's Jonathan behind me. Yahoo! Very very fun.

#35 Engagement Photos Preview

2008-10-20T10:15:00.000-04:00

All I have to say is Ray & Erica are amazing. We had such a great time. We met for coffee/tea right before the shoot and then went and ate dinner at Aretha Frankenstein's. Yum...

Here is a preview. Also, check out the entry at their blog here. More to come in 2 weeks!

#34 Mid-Term

2008-10-19T00:13:00.000-04:00

Apologies on not blogging. I decided to take a break from plans and such as it was a very busy week and a half. I went to Denver, CO last weekend, came back and was swamped by mid-terms during the week, and then Jonathan and I flew to Florida for a couple days on break to visit his parents and the Florida sun. We fly back tomorrow morning and then in the afternoon we are having our engagement photos done.

I found some pretty sweet boots at the outlets. That is definitely something I miss about Calif

ornia. As much as I love Tennessee, the shopping is mediocre at best. We are still trying to figure out what to wear tomorrow but I'm sure it will all fall into place.

Friday we went to Sea World with his parents. It was really quite moving to see killer whales swimming and obey commands (or suggestions as they say) by humans.

Wedding plans shall resume soon. In the meantime, here are some photos from the trip.

This was before Kracken...I was REALLY excited.

If you look, we are the 4th row from the bottom with Jonathan's dad. Yay!

Ha. We got these free tickets to this game. The object was to pass this metal thing through the spinning wire. Yeah...I didn't do so well. This photo makes me laugh.

The future in-laws! :)

#33 Caterer booked

2008-10-05T19:13:00.000-04:00

Yahooooo!

I just got off the phone with Tamara, the original lady that I talked with months ago. She runs The Bee's Knee's Catering company. It took a while to get back in touch, but I've only heard positive things about her - and I hear the food is fantastic! Plus, she is willing to work with our budget which really makes me happy.

Now just to finalize that menu...and find shoes for the girls....and figure out what kind of invitations I'd like...ask someone to coordinate the wedding...pick out the reception music....and ceremony music...

#32 Ceremony music

2008-10-05T18:51:00.000-04:00

Did I mention we also have a ceremony musician? Aaron Roche has agreed and we couldn't be more thrilled! Soooo thankful and excited. The boy and Aaron roomed together for a bit in college, and he is also a favorite musician of mine. He toured all over Europe this summer and even made a stop in my favorite country. Check him out .

Here he is pictured with his wife Whitni. The sister of our MC man. Such a talented bunch. :D

#31 Honeymoon planning

2008-10-05T16:17:00.000-04:00

I decided that I didn't want to know where we are going...and instead have it be a surprise. (After all, surprises are always more fun aren't they?) I have a hunch where we might be going, but really I have no idea. I'm not sure he knows exactly where yet either :P But honestly...I'm just excited to spend a week away with my soon-to-be husband! Eeek!

Thanks for everyone who voted in the polls. Here are the results!

1. Caribbean (6 votes)

1. Iceland (6 votes)

2. Australia (5 votes)

3. Thailand (4 votes)

4. Hungary (2 votes)

5. Hawaii (1 vote)

The "other" section received 4 votes. Places included Greece and this neat place at the Grand Canyon that is sometimes overlooked.

#30 Flowers

2008-10-05T15:56:00.000-04:00

I've been searching and praying that something will come through with the flowers. After talking with some florists and my cousin who is a florist, I quickly realized this is an area where I can save lots of money as long as I have the manpower to help out.

Anyway, I was riding bikes with some friends yesterday and my dear friend Shannon said that she and her husband were trying to think of something really nice to give us for our wedding since Jonathan can find just about anything for a better price (love that :D). So she and Steve came up with the idea to grow us a garden of flowers for our wedding! She works at an organic farm downtown and has access to lots of brilliant growing minds plus herself. She said she had been doing a lot of research and got really excited about it. Her only worry is that since we are getting married in mid May...the flower season may or may not have kicked off yet. In this case...she asked around.

The company who she works for has a wholesale license and offered to let her use it to buy flowers. So in that case...we can buy them wholesale if we need to! YAY! I looked up the wholesale florist in Chattanooga and they are open from 7-3:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday. Looks like I'll be making a trip down there sometime soon to see how everything works.

Either way - I'm really excited. We could potentially have a field full of beautiful flowers for our wedding...or a wholesale license to purchase flowers at the best rate.

I know there is hesitancy in doing your own flowers, but I can't see why we should pay so much when we have great resources amongst our friends and family. Like I said before, a few have already offered to take control on this part of the venture. Now I have good news for them too!

The boy's grandmother also offered to do some research for me at Sam's Club and see how that works with order flowers. She was in there the other day and said a lady was buying tons of flowers for a wedding. I've also read online that Sam's is a good place to go.

I'm not sure about bouquets yet. I go back and forth about having a professional do those. We'll see.

This link was helpful. It talks about what to look for when buying wholesale flowers.

As was this entry from a blog I follow.

#29 The weekend

2008-09-29T00:12:00.000-04:00

The boy has been practicing his bike riding skills for our wedding ride-off. Pretty nice eh? I think he is excited.

In an effort to clean out the garage before our wedding (I believe that was part of the deal? haha) the boy picked up this pretty sweet tool box half off from Sears. Check out this organization?! I didn't know it was in him! See more here.

The boy got called off work today so we did some yard sale shopping. We found 5 beautiful glass vases today! It's been great. I think we might almost have enough for all of our centerpieces. So cheap too. Love it. I also love this image. Such nice design for a welcome table. I think I may steal it. Sorry, I got it so long ago I can't remember where I found it. Beautiful though!

Also, I sent off for a quote from a new caterer today. I haven't been able to get in touch with the lady I was hoping to use, so I had to start looking for someone else. This looks yummy...

and...I also touched base with the lady who is probably going to do my hair and make up. We'll do a run through here pretty soon I think. :) Yay! Things are moving along...

#28 Engagement shoot scheduled

2008-09-25T21:28:00.002-04:00

October 19, 2008 baby. Ooooh I can't wait.

#27 Dad

2008-09-24T11:03:00.001-04:00

Today marks a year since my dad's passing. I know that if he were still around today, he would have so much advice and suggestion for my wedding. So today, in honor of my dad I'm going to start a tradition.

Each year, on this day, I will do two things:

#1 I will give my car some good love.

He gave me the bug and he always loved cars. I have fond memories of washing cars with him and watching him enjoy those pieces of art.

#2 I will bake something new.

During his years of treatment he developed a real love for cooking. I think he always enjoyed cooking, but there was something about that time that made him really want to give. He was never able to enjoy the food through taste (due to his feeding tube), but he enjoyed it through smell and giving. I wasn't sure how to think of this day, but now I'm excited to bake and cook things I've never made before, in honor of my best friend.

#26 Further info

2008-09-23T12:38:00.000-04:00

Thank you for your input Jeff. Excellent questions. I forget readers haven't been in my brain regarding this wedding. :P

1. Our wedding will be at about 5ish p.m. Sometime in the later evening though, I doubt much earlier. The girl getting married before me is getting married at 7 p.m. (so the chance of setting up Sat is none).
2. As far as I know I don't think we will need access to the place prior to the day of. Of all our vendors I can think of...I don't see it being a problem. The only thing I would miss is I was planning on bringing all the dresses and other clothes during the rehearsal on Friday and leaving them there in the house until Sunday. But not that I think about it maybe I should keep all those in case of a disaster...(fire?)
3. I think the decorating will be minimal. We are having a buffet and that will be taken care of by the caterer. Flowers we are doing ourselves but nothing too fancy. I've got 2 fabulous ladies heading that up. Then other miscellaneous things like candles and maybe some lights/lanterns (haven't put anything in stone yet).
4. As far as coordinating, I haven't asked anyone yet, but I do have some in mind. This is DEFINITELY something that I am planning on having. From all the brides I've talked to all have said to make someone else in charge...that way you can enjoy the day and just trust that it will be beautiful.

Hope that helps...
I'm looking forward to your responses!

#25 Help!

2008-09-23T09:32:00.000-04:00

My vendor called yesterday regarding out wedding site. We have the place reserved for our day, with an agreement that we can have the rehearsal Friday or Saturday. She called me yesterday and told me that there is another girl who wants to renew her vows on May 16, the day before our wedding. She said it's up to me, since I get first dibs. The lady who runs the lake house has done this before and she said it usually runs smoothly. There are a few pros and cons to this situation and I need help.

PRO: If I let her share the weekend, we can share the price of chair rentals, which would save about 100. It may even save us more money if she is using the paper lanterns in the barn (this would save $50 if we split).

CON: If we did this, we would ONLY be able set up on Sunday. No Friday or Sunday set up since she will be there before the boy and me.

Doesn't seem so bad...but is it nice to be able to set up the day before? I'm not sure how much set up there will and I'm not sure there will even be time to set up before. Has anyone been through this route and have advice? Please help!

#24 Shoes

2008-09-21T21:36:00.001-04:00

Oh my goodness if only I could FIND these shoes...they would be the ones. I spotted these babies on the Bliss Event Group blog.

#23 I won!

2008-09-21T20:12:00.000-04:00

I'm an avid reader of the blog Brooklyn Bride. I've mentioned it before, as that's where I found out about Blurb. (btw I ordered a book to try it out and I was really impressed. I still think we may use it for our albums).

Anyway I was pretty busy this weekend and didn't go online until tonight. Well guys, guess what?! I won! She was having a giveaway for this awesome "bridal emergency kit" from Hallak (they preserve gowns and such) for the 5 best cleaning tips. Here was mine:

Of the 74 other comments, I made the cut. Woo hoo! Haha, anyway I'm pretty stoaked (FYI - i just found out stoaked isn't even in the dictionary. I hate when I find out that I have been using a non-existent word. What gives?) This is what the kit includes:

I'm trying to remember if I've ever won anything before. I'm not sure but this is really exciting. I've officially entered myself into the blogging world, yes? Haha.

Better yet, I've saved money. I alloted a little bit for a bridal emergency kit because you never know. Plus Martha highly recommends one and she knows best. :P

#22 The Registry Starts

2008-09-21T19:48:00.000-04:00

We've registered! Well at least we started the process. We headed over to Bed Bath & Beyond today and went to town with the scanner. How fun! We mostly registered for kitchen things. We'll do bedding and towels somewhere else, so there is some variety. We also still need to find some nice dinnerware that we like. We did find some flatware we liked though. I just figured we had time today, and it feels good to get another thing done...started anyway. I think the boy had fun too.

Our BB&B Bridal Registry

#21 Music

2008-09-18T22:55:00.001-04:00

While near the topic of MC, do you guys mind leaving me comments with music ideas for the recepetion? It would be MUCH appreciated. I'm up for anything...leave 1 song idea, 2, 100...it's nice too because then I can remember that you helped with the mix. Yay for friends and family, and weddings!

Let's bring on the iPod music mix folks, don't be shy.

Goodnight friends and thanks for looking.

#20 MC & bikes

2008-09-18T22:55:00.000-04:00

Hello! I survived another week of school. Yes! You should visit my newspaper's website. Then you can see what actually takes up all my time these days...Jonathan and I decided that for our reception, we are going to have an iPod rockin station and skip the DJ or band. It's too much money for our budget, and we'd rather spend it on something else at the wedding. I knew that if we went this route, we were going to need to find a smashing MC to host the reception for us. I feel like I've spent months thinking about the perfect person and then the other night it dawned on me. There is no one better to host our wedding that Zach. He is funny, knows the drill, and has experience (This will be his 4th wedding MC job - I didn't even know we choose an experienced one! Haha). Anyway, I feel better knowing that our reception is in good hands. :) Doesn't he look like he fits the part? I hope he's okay with me posting this. Well guys, meet Zach, our fabulous MC.

On another note, fiance has picked up blogging. I thought about featuring him in various posts but now he has beaten me to it with a blog of his own! Check it out. His other interest is definitely bikes. He helped get me a beautiful cruiser for my birthday this year and soon after we got engaged I made this. It's similar to another save the date card floating around online somewhere. We never sent it out, at least we haven't yet. We'll see if it fits into the budget.

Anyway, since that card fiance has spun off into the land of bikes. He has been rebuilding/painting this super sweet 1960s tandem bike for us to ride away on (so stoked about this part). Check his blog for details and I'll try to post a photo or two once it gets finished...or maybe it will be a surprise? Eh we'll see. It might just be too cool to keep a surprise.

Here are a few bike photos that make me so so happy.

#19 The Blog

2008-09-15T10:31:00.000-04:00

I updated some features yesterday in the blog. I also enabled the comments after I found out that some of you were having trouble. Now it's set up so that anyone can comment, even if you aren't a registered Blogger/Google user.

I hope everyone has a great Monday!

#18 Our Photographers

2008-09-14T11:42:00.000-04:00

Check these latest photos from our wedding photographers! I'm so glad we chose Erica & Ray from 35 atl. I can't wait! Speaking of which, we should schedule our engagement shoot pretty soon... :D

#17 Drinks

2008-09-11T23:49:00.001-04:00

My fiance loves a number of things. One of those things is drinks. Especially juices and root beers. Tonight, he came home with some very fun things I had to share. Isn't this neato?

The two on the left are carbonated drinks that you have to open by pushing a marble down through the top of the bottle. Then you drink it with the marble trapped in the neck of the bottle. How creative is that? I love packaging. Thank you World Market.

The other drink is a yummy non-alcoholic ginger beer. We went on a survival trip a few years back where we made sassafras tea straight from the root. I don't know why, but the flavor reminded me of it.

I'll get back to wedding things soon. :)

#16 Blueberry Muffins

2008-09-11T23:42:00.000-04:00

I made blueberry muffins the other night. I have two friends who are leaving town this week and we had a mini breakfast date with some friends. I found this recipe online and went for it. I used frozen blueberries from Jessica's blueberry bushes. Yum :)

I made them so late I only made 9 when I was supposed to make 12. Oh well, bigger the better in this case! They were fab. I've never had muffins turn out so perfect. The consistency was great. Ha...anyway the recipe works if you want it. If the link doesn't work email me and I'll get it to you. I just don't feel like typing it all out at the moment. Yum I want more.

I'll miss you Ansley and Tiffany!

#15 Dress update

2008-09-09T00:02:00.000-04:00

I'm just going to praise J. Crew some more.

So I checked my email this weekend I saw that J. Crew was having a sale, plus an additional 20% off. I went and checked the bridesmaids dresses and they had dropped in price from $129.99 so $99.99 plus an additional 20% off. Eeeek! I was so excited and frantic trying to figure out how to get the deal. Call J. Crew and ask? Return the dresses and reorder under a different name? Help!

Anyway with the help of Kaitlin she encouraged me to call and just ask J. Crew if they would refund me the difference. Well I did and the lady was so nice! I told her the situation and she said "Let me see what I can do" and put me on hold for a bit. She came back and said usually she can only refund me the difference after 7 days (it had been 8) but that she'd do it for me this time. Yay!

So we got the dresses for $80 plus shipping and tax. Thank you J. Crew I love you. So easy to work with. So helpful. Such pretty dresses. I couldn't be happier.

Well...I am getting married so I really couldn't be any happier right now! Yay!

K off to bed and school. I'll try to do some wedding things here on the side..in the mean time I like these photos. I LOVE yellow.

Oh, and Jonathan is working on a fabulous surprise. I'll give you a hint...it's going to be yellow!

#14 Winner!

2008-09-03T18:45:00.000-04:00

Yahoo! Thank you UPS man for making my day. The dresses arrived today and they are perfect! This is Kaitlin and me (modeling in Leslie's dress). I can't wait to send it off to Leslie so she can marvel with the me and the other girls. Enjoy!

#13 Yellow

2008-09-01T13:33:00.001-04:00

This assortment of pictures just makes me so happy. I just might make it my desktop background!

#12 For Fun

2008-09-01T12:42:00.000-04:00

this video makes me happy.

#11 ORDERED!

2008-08-27T22:46:00.000-04:00

Yay I love J. Crew. They are so nice. The dresses are ordered! Lets hope they are the right color...cause I think they are stunning! And my girls are going to look so beautiful. :D

As for the guys...if we choose to go with this dress we can go to a tie shop and get the ties matched to the dresses. Oh boy I can't wait! 4-7 business days!

School starts tomorrow.

#10 So excited!

2008-08-27T12:03:00.000-04:00

So I called J. Crew and boy are they helpful and nice! I was going to order some swatches of the "sour lemon" but it turns out since the dress is part of the Weddings and Parties collection you can return them even if they are on sale - you just have to make sure you call and ask them to make a note. YAY! So I'm ordering 3 today and if the color is correct - WONDERFUL! If not, no money lost.

Also, I asked the lady to describe the yellow to be and she said "It's a really good yellow. Not too light, and not to bright." She told me it's not gold, mustard, or pastel. Maybe we'll get lucky???

Crossing my fingers.

#9 The Dress Round II

2008-08-27T00:33:00.000-04:00

Okay here I am again with a new dress. Unfortunately the ones I was planning on using showed up and they were florescent yellow - no joke. Oh well, hopefully some good Ebayers will go for it.

Now...this is another J. Crew dress and it is a different color. This one is called "sour lemon" unlike the "citrus lime" that the other one was. These too are on sale: originally $250 in the weddings and parties department and now only $129.99.

So I'm debating. I'm calling J. Crew tomorrow and asking a little more about this color because this isn't something I'll buy on an impulse - too much money for that!

I'm also feeling partly in a crunch if I really do want to get yellow dresses. All of the Fall lines are out and there are no yellow dresses anywhere. I could wait until next Spring but that makes me a little nervous. Plus...when I saw this was on sale I got really excited because I've thought it was adorable from the get go earlier this Spring. Not to mention...I think it matches my dress better than anything I've been considering yet!

Click here for link to dress.

Anyway...comments are always appreciated. :)

#8 The Album

2008-08-18T18:24:00.001-04:00

So I was going through endless blogs today and spent some time on Brooklyn Bride and found something amazing! See, the boy and I hired these super fun and talented photographers Ray and Erica Tisdale of 35atl. The package they offer is a sweet deal and we get all of our photo high-res images to do anything we want with! This way, we'll save money by not spending thousands on an album. Anyway, I've been keeping my eyes open for a sweet deal and then I found this! Blurb is a bookmaking company that has a great set-up. You download their free program, design your book any way you like, upload it, and they print it. Soft cover, hard cover with a sleeve, or hard cover with image wrap (yay!). So Brooklyn Bride had some ordered and loved them. From what I've researched - everyone seems to love them and their quality! Coffee table wedding album here we come!

So I know this is really far in advance but I'm excited to find something I'm so pleased with that also allows me to use my design skills. ;)

#7 The bridesmaid's dress

2008-08-14T23:44:00.000-04:00

What a steal! $28 a piece for beautiful J. Crew dresses. They were on sale and when I checked today there was an additional 30% off! Yay! Anyway, I think they are adorable and if they don't work out no biggie. But I couldn't pass up the opportunity in case they worked. :D

J Crew dress link

The dresses are yellow. The colors are more vibrant on the website.

#6 I'm off

2008-08-06T10:29:00.000-04:00

I'm visiting some family and friends in Oregon this week so I'll be away. Thought I'd leave you with some eye candy I like. Enjoy! Click on the photo to make it bigger. :D

#5 Great Web site

2008-07-31T19:03:00.000-04:00

I found this Web site today and I absolutely love it. I recognized quite a few of these images from Martha Stewart Weddings magazines that I loaned from my friend Ansley. Anyway, turns out this lady was the "creative vision" for the magazine for 9 years. Check it. Rebecca Thuss

#4 The Place is Reserved. Flowers and Food coming!

2008-07-29T21:52:00.000-04:00

Yayyy! I'm so excited that we finally decided on a location. Check my first entry - we are having it there. Did I mention that it's gorgeous?

On the agenda for Thursday:

10 am - Pay car insurance bill

11 am - Meet Ron in Cleveland and talk about flowers for the wedding

2 pm - Talk to Tara about catering

3:30 pm - Massage (gift from friend)

5:30 pm - Knockout aerobics class (yeah...if i REALLY feel ambitious after that massage)

7 pm - Going away party for Adam.

So I guess it doesn't really seem that wedding oriented, but I'm hoping to feel accomplished after Thursday. I've called numerous florists and caterers and Ron and Tara were the only truly nice people. Everyone else just wants to suck money out of my wallet. If only you could hear my experiences. They are too brutal to share. :(

As for flowers, I think I'll save money by only ordering bouqets and boutonnieres, plus any special corsages and boutonnieres. We've got family friends that have a connection with flowers so I think we'll be able get a pretty good rate on bulk flowers for center pieces. The idea is to keep it simple, yet elegant. None of that fancy flower arrangement stuff. Don't get me wrong, I think they are nice nice, but it's not quite my style. If anyone sees any cool vases pass the word on to me. :D I like this photo. A couple flowers with a fun vase. Check the flower and vase in the back of photo 2. I like the cupcakes too.

I'd like my bouquet to be all white. Now as for which flowers...I'm not sure yet. However, I know that I don't want roses and I do want something like a daisy. After all, it is my favorite flower :) Aren't these bouquets beautiful?

#3 The Dress Is Ordered!

2008-07-17T23:02:00.000-04:00

Yay! The dress will arrive in November. I went in to Ever After bridal today to order it and get fitted. I just LOVE the shop in Cleveland, TN. Kendra is so much fun to work with. I think she's almost as excited about the wedding as I am! Plus, I got to try on the dress again today...which is always fun.

In the meantime, our engagement party in next Thursday. I'm supposed to come up with 10 questions about Jonathan and I for people to try to answer at the party. Any ideas? I'm also going to make some announcement/save the date magnets for our guests. I'll design them, Jonathan will use to the button machines. I'm still recovering from my tennis elbow. ;)

Don't you just love these vases/flowers? It might be fun to have a various assortment of flowers at the reception. Or maybe just lining the welcome table at the ceremony. We'll see. I'll post a flowers entry here in a couple days.

#2 Bridesmaid Dresses

2008-07-11T17:48:00.000-04:00

I'm thinking yellow. I'm realizing quickly that many dresses are incredibly expensive and few are the ones you truly can "wear again."

I saw both of these images in a blog and I loved them. Fun yellow dresses and cute flats of the girls choice! Who says all the shoes have to match? I like the idea. Saves money too.

I'm hoping that one day I'll just be in a store and find THE dress and then I'll just buy them then and there and hope they fit. Ha. If anyone sees cute yellow dresses pleeease let me know. :D

#1 The Place

2008-07-10T23:53:00.001-04:00

This is week 6. I checked out this location today and it's absolutely AMAZING. I wanted to find that place that made we want to run around I was so excited. Yay! The moment I drove into the property I was in love. Beautiful green grass, white house, RED barn (eee!) Tomorrow I'll take the boy and make sure he likes it too.

The price is also very reasonable. It includes all the tables and chairs for the reception (in the barn) and includes set up fees. Pretty sure I couldn't stop texting my love all the way home.

About Me:

Once I got engaged, I realized that I've been to about as many weddings as I can count on one hand. This worried me a little (okay a lot) so I dove into the most popular resource available - the Internet. Needless to say, I found a plethora of fabulous wedding blogs and sites that I became addicted. This is week 6 of my engagement and I have multiple folders on my computer dedicated to my upcoming wedding filled with photos, menu ideas, vow ideas, and so much more.

So here I am tonight. This blog developed like this.

Me: Babe, I'm addicted to these wedding blogs.

Him: Why don't you start one of your own?

Me: Okay.

Here I am. And I'm sooo excited. I've checked these things off my list:

The dress (but I can't share too much in case the boy finds this blog)

The photographer (This really did take 6 weeks...hardest decision we'll make I bet)

and....possibly location. Which is so exciting!!! Here are the details:

We've reserved 2 places. One beautiful park in the middle of tons of land. It's got a blue spring, lush green grass, and awesome old farm cabins scattered around it. One problem - a caterer would never want to come there. Basically it's fend for your selves...in the land of simple. Electric's all we got friends.

Place number 2 is a cute bed a breakfast with a lake. It's alright, but still not everything I imagined. However, I've never really thought about my wedding day until about 6 weeks ago so I wasn't sure what I wanted. Until I found today's location.

Anyway, I'm feeling very accomplished. My goals were to get these numbers done before school starts in August:

1. Dress

2. Photographer

3. Place

4. Flowers

5. Caterer

After all that big stuff everything else will come together pretty easily.