One Month and Counting!

Alright folks, we are thirty days away! Yes, you read that right, exactly one month from today! Can you believe it? It seems like just yesterday that M and I were trying to decide on a date.

June slipped right through my fingers and so much has happened since my last post due to the busy-ness of my psycho Spanish test, teaching, finals, both graduations, summer classes, job hunting, not to mention going out of my mind because I'm a control freak perfectionist trying to plan a wedding!

Big things happened in June.  I guess we should start with my frenemy: flowers.  We decided on centerpieces AND bouquets AND boutonnieres AND corsages BAM.  They are going to be mostly white flowers with some purple to add color and excitement.  We (I...) ended up loving the look of ruffly flowers like hydrangeas and carnations which will both be making an appearance on the day.  Here's my inspiration, hopefully the real things is just as gorgeous!

Bride Bouquet^

Bridesmaid Bouquet^

Oh so pretty^

Boutonniere Option 1^

Boutonniere Option 2^

Mom's and Grandma's corsages^

Another big part of June was the clothing! The girls dresses are all picked up and hanging in their closets beautifully, Michael has a dashing new suit, dad has a new suit, grandparents outfits are accounted for, now we are just waiting on the boys to get shirts and shoes and mom to decide on one of the many dresses she has tried on, all lovely but we haven't found 'the one' yet.

Another note on clothing, I had my first and second dress fittings with Chiarra and we are going on an adventure on Monday to get more supplies!  Luckily she didn't have to change the hem because it is the perfect length, which is possibly the first time in my whole life something has been the right length (how someone over 5'4" wears my dress baffles me... but no complaints here!) But she did take four inches out of the waist, I know all of those bootcamp sessions would pay off!  Another special touch we are adding is taking the buttons from my grandma Ann's wedding dress which my mom also wore and adding them to mine.  Although I have my own brand spanking new dress (eeeee!), over the 4th of July at the cabin, we decided to take a trip down memory lane, heres how it turned out:

Surprisingly mom and grandma's dress fit like a glove and it in pretty good condition for an over 50 year old dress that has been crammed in a trunk in a shed for the last 25.

Good preservation of your gown mom. :)

The next item of business is hair, a few weeks ago on the day of my friend Claire and my long lost cousin John's wedding, Nehala and I went for a small jaunt to Newport to get my hair trial done.  Although it was a short little trip, its always a blast spending time with the lovely ladies in my life :)  My hair turned out great, not exactly how I wanted, but close enough that with a few minor changes it will be faboo! but as with my wedding attire, its a secret so no pictures today!

On to food which is quickly becoming frenemy number two, only at least I can devour it which I cannot do to the flowers.  I guess now is a good time to tell everyone, well everyone who reads my silly blog at least, that we are not having an actual dinner at the wedding.

...pause for shock value... 

BUT we are having some delicious food and there will be plenty for everyone to eat!  We decided that rather than have a sit down dinner of dry chicken or fish that gets cold on its way to you or standing in a line holding your plate (not that plated dinner and buffet's are bad options because I've been to some weddings with dang good food recently, *shout out to the Cary family and Claire* its just not us.) that we were going to do a cocktail style reception.  This means (assuming everything goes according to plan) that there will be plenty of seating, but there will also be standing tables and food horderves/appetizers/snacks/treats/whatever-you-want-to-call-them-small-foods throughout the room and more substantial soups for those who actually want to sit and eat a full meal.  

Personally I've never loved the feeling of getting dressed up in some dress with spanx that cut off circulation to my brain but make my dress smooth so its worth it heels and then stuffing myself with dinner and needing to sit the rest of the night, so I didn't want our guests to feel that way either.  While we haven't finalized the menu yet, actually we've barely started, I can tell you that there will be a variety of things to taste! If you have any ideas or special requests for something that you think would be delicious for a crowd of 150, facebook me or text me and let me know! 

Here's some examples of things that you might see there...

So now that I've told you my June life story, any questions? 

I'm a big kid now.

This is in no way wedding related but I just wanted to share with everyone that I officially have a teaching job for Fall!

At the beginning of April I went to an education Job Fair in Portland thinking that I would just go for the experience and get an idea of what was out there.  I ended up with an interview with the Salem/Keizer school district but didn't think much of it because there were so many people at the job fair.  While I was waiting for my interview, the man I talked to at the booth walked up and actually got me in an interview to talk to his supervisor for the school rather than someone else from the school district (they were conducting mass interviews, not necessarily for individual schools).  I left the interview feeling good about my answers but still skeptical because of the low chances of getting a job at the fair.

A few days later I received a call from McNary High School saying that they were impressed with me at the job fair and asking me to come for an second interview at the school.  I immediately agreed and went up the next day.  The interview consisted of the Principal, Vice Principal, and the other spanish teacher at the school.  Again, I left the interview feeling good about my questions and answers but still not confident in my chances of actually getting a job.

Well a few days later I got another call saying that I was one of the top two candidates and that they wanted me to send a video of one of my classes for them to watch.  This is when I started to get excited about the possibility of having a real job.  I sent my video and waited for a response.

Well, on the Monday before my bridal shower, I got a call from Human Resources for the Salem/Keizer school district offering me the job! I decided to sleep on it for a few nights and talk it over with Michael but on the Friday of my bridal shower (May 10) I actually accepted the job!  I am so excited and nervous, but I will be teaching Spanish full time at McNary High School next school year!  Yay!

Ladies Weekend

Last weekend many of the lovely ladies in my life all gathered in Corvallis for my bridal shower! It was so much fun and I was so happy to see everyone!  Kelly flew in all the way from Oklahoma for the occasion which was very special and between her and my mom, they created a wonderful party for all of us.  They hung puff ball flowers from the ceiling, made cute little wedding dress favors, set up a drink station with all sorts of tasty treats AND mom even created a purple cocktail to match the wedding colors that she likes to call the "purple lolo."  We played a few games such as "how well do you know the bride?" and breaking into groups to create the best toilet paper wedding dress. Overall it was a great evening with a wonderful group of women who I can't thank enough for their love and help during this crazy planning period.  

Also in this crazy weekend of activities, the bridesmaids and I all piled into the car and drove to Keizer to order their dresses!  They all look so fantastic in their lovely plum dresses and I'm so excited to see them at the wedding and have them stand next to me.  They also tried on their wedding shoes which I bought for them without them trying them on and guess what? They all fit perfectly!  

Here's some pictures from the weekend! 

100 DAYS!

Today is May 2, 2013 and there is officially 100 days until the wedding! 

That means: 

• We are SUPER excited!
• annnddd We need to get our butts in gear and get some stuff done!

Want to know what is still on my list? Here goes...

• dress alterations
• ACCESSORIES!
• suit for the man
• order the ladies dresses (t-minus two weeks!)
• reception decor
• ceremony decor
• ceremony (what the heck are we going to say?!)
• send invitations (might be good to make sure people actually show up...)
• finish registry
• reception food and drinks
• RENT ALL TE TINGS!
• songs (ceremony, first dance, other dances etc.)
• get a marriage license
• figure out wedding day looks
• figure out how in the world we are going to fit everyone in the room...
• get Michael a ring
• parties!
• and last but not least... my continual nemesis... flowers.

I'm sure thats not all we've got, but its the abridged version. Who knew there were so many things to take into consideration!? Well, actually I did, and chose to pretend it wasn't so... Overall I am extremely happyexcitedelatedstressedpumped but I know that the next three months are going to be crazy (freak out mode has officially engaged). Bridezilla might need to be restrained. Wish us luck!

Music... and other business

Its been a while since the last time I posted so I wanted to update everyone on whats going on!  We officially have a DJ for the par-tay part of the evening although we haven't actually decided on any music or what songs we want for anything... but you know, baby steps.

Flowers are still my nemesis and I have no idea what to do with them.  Why are they so difficult? Maybe because there are too many options? Also because they are so expensive and yet die the next week... Well whatever the reason, we still haven't decided although possibly something resembling ikebana (just google it and then imagine less doingy and more pretty).

Finally, between the whirl of school, student teaching, working and everything else, we got engagement pictures taken! Now, I never win anything. Ever. So I was really excited when I got a call from a woman in Portland saying that I had won a free engagement picture session (her wedding photography packages START at $2000... yeah right...)  Well, we got all glammed up and headed up to Portland for a photo shoot in the Pearl district.  We haven't gotten any pictures back yet but you can bet that when I do I will post them immediately!

Thats all for now folks, new updates soon!

Boys: Part Two

As many of you know, searching for suits for the boys has not been easy. In fact its been sort of a nightmare.  Well that nightmare has officially been put to rest! Everyone has suits!  

After searching high and low for a gray, wool, price conscious suit Ryan spotted one on sale at Kohls.  He went on a scouting mission to the store to try it on and see if it fit well or even looked nice (which it did).  So spur of the moment we piled everyone, minus Owen who lives in nowhere-a-go-go land, in the car and went to buy them.  The boys looked awesome in their three piece (yes I FINALLY convinced Michael that they were wearing vests. boom roasted.) medium gray suits!

Exhibit A: Ryan's "model" face... also cute socks...

Exhibit B: Mom rockin' something similar to what Michael will be in. Aren't they dashing?

That's awesome, you might say, it was so easy, you might also say. WRONG! Did we find everyone a suit? yes. Does everyone look fabulous? yes. Did we have to scour every store in Oregon? yes. WHAT?! Apparently they physically don't make a jacket in the right size for Owen.  How is that possible? He wears a 42 long which seems like a pretty dang standard size but no, doesn't exist. SO we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do we get him the bigger jacket and have it taken in or do we get the smaller jacket and hope the sleeves can be lengthened enough? 

Well after buying him all the wrong sizes in all three pieces, returning, exchanging, and trying to keep the discounted sale price we talked to a seamstress who brought us to the conclusion that we needed the big jacket.  All in all its been exhausting trying to find something that shouldn't be so difficult BUT it was worth it, they are all going to look awesome AND they can keep them instead of returning them the day after the wedding. 

Please join us next time for "Flowers, my (beautiful) nemesis."

Decisions to Make

One of the biggest things about planing a wedding is the amount of decisions you have to make.  What flavor cake, what style dress, do you want white or ivory, do you hire a band, do you hire a dj, do you want a videographer, what colors are you going to use, are you having a theme, what shoes are you going to wear, and so on.

Well these are a few of the problem decisions we have been trying to figure out the last few weeks.  We met with a DJ from Portland who seems like a really cool guy who runs his own business and absolutely knows what he is doing. The question is, is it worth it to hire a DJ rather than doing music ourselves and playing an iPod? Well I really don't know the answer to that question.  On one hand hiring a DJ will make everything flow much nicer, keep the party going, and be in charge of any announcements.  On the other hand, is it really that big of a deal, and what about the cost?

The other decision that we are wallowing in is what colors to use.  We started out with dark purple and green, but almost every wedding I've been to recently has used green and purple as their colors. Also, green is a really hard color to use because everything is either lime, apple, or forest which are not my cup of tea. So we changed the colors to dark purple and gray.  I love it, but its kind of wintery and dark. So here we are stuck trying to think of a color that can match dark purple but not look like barbie or cotton candy.

Finally... flowers. My nemesis. I love flowers, I think they are very wonderful (except roses... I don't love those...), but I don't know anything about them except that they are way the heck more expensive than they ever should be.  We have gone back and forth between tall centerpieces, low, alternating, fluffly flowers, streamlined lilies and back again. Who ever thought flowers could be so pretty and yet so evil? 

Ah the petty problems of planning a wedding. Feel free to leave me any thoughts or suggestions!

Boys are more difficult than girls?

This Sunday all of the groomsmen, Michael and I piled in the car and made our way to Salem to find some suits for the boys!  When we started the journey I didn't expect it to be difficult at all, my only specifications were:

It has to be medium gray

You all (the boys) have to agree on the price

If you want accessories (other than a tie because I get full control of that!) you need to decide as a group

Shouldn't be too hard to find right? Especially since all the boys are essentially the same shape just with height differences. Wrong. It was exceedingly difficult to find something that everyone liked, that fit everyone properly, that was wool (that was the boys aka. my brother Ryan's specification) and that was in stock.  We started out at Burlington Coat factory and found a lot of options there that were okay, but only one that we found that was wool so we decided to continue on.

After getting into a parking altercation with a grumpy family we grabbed some lunch at Red Robin and then left for Macy's.  I would have assumed that Macy's would have a wide variety of suits (like they normally do) however, that was the exact opposite of what we found.  So off to JC Penny we went assuming the same thing.. of course they will have suits, its a big store and it always does. False.  Same problem, there were only a few suits and none of which were right for the occasion.  

Finally since I had to go pick up my wedding dress in the same area, we decided to go to Mens Wearhouse to check out the situation.  We found a lot of good suits, but they were really expensive (until I found out that I get 50% off all suits!)  

Finally we decided to meet back to Burlington Coat factory after Ryan and I picked up my dress! (YAY) and try on the ones that we very first loved.  All the boys like it and it was a good price, and then we found out a problem.  They can't get any other sizes, what is there is what they've got.  So much for that.  

So after a whole frustrating day of un-opinioned boys trying on suits we left empty handed.  Who would have thought that finding gray suits for four tall thin boys would be more difficult than finding a dress that fits four very different shaped, sized, and height girls?? 

not I... but heres some funny pictures from the day!

All about cake.

If you know me at all you probably know about my love of cake.  I love making cake, I love decorating cake, and I love eating cake.

So on Saturday we did something that I was suuuppper excited about. Yes. We tasted cake.

The baker met us at my parents house in Corvallis and brought all sorts of flavors from white chocolate to pink champagne to chocolate hazelnut to lemon and more! She also brought a variety of different fillings to mix and match with cake flavors.  

And we were off, cutting the cupcakes, tasting fillings, changing filling flavors with different cakes, eating frosting and everything delicious that you could imagine.  Between my mom, dad, Michael and I we devoured about ten cupcakes... with frosting.. and fillings...

Our favorites ended up being the white chocolate (my personal fave), pink champagne, and lemon (each with a different berry filling, but not too much, just enough).  There was also a delicious whipped cream cheese filling that I loved so much that I may or may not have just eaten it with the spoon... but I got overruled so it didn't make it into the favorites list.

We also discussed the design of the cake which I'm very excited about, but just like the dress its a secret until the day!

Asking the Kiddos

Keaton and Ella are my parents best friends kids that Michael and I have known since they were born.  We have babysat them more times than I can count and have watched them grow up.  Although both Michael and I have cousins that are the perfect age to be a flower girl and ring bearer we decided that Keaton and Ella were the right choice.  They are wonderfully behaved and the sweetest kids that you'll ever meet.

We decided to make them each a little box (in our wedding colors) and write them a note asking them to be our flower girl/ring bearer.  On Sunday morning (2/3/2013) our families went out to lunch where we gave the kiddos the boxes we made them.  They are in 1st and 2nd grade so they are both in the process of learning to read which made what happen next even better.

As they were sounding out the words to their notes they both reached the words "flower girl" and "ring bearer" at about the same time.  Ella's face lit up so bright it made my heart so happy!  Keaton was a little more vocal with his acceptance of his new job by yelling "I GET TO BE THE FLOWER MAN!" 

I wasn't expecting them to react in the way that they did. I figured Ella would be excited because she got to wear a pretty dress and hold the flowers, and I kind of thought that Keaton wouldn't even really know what a ring bearer was.  Their elated responses seriously made my wedding planning a thousand times better!

The Saturday of Checking Stuff Off the List

On Saturday Michael and I had two very important meetings which led us to drink a lot of coffee!

Our first meeting was at 10:30 at Coffee Culture (which makes a mean black and white mocha!) with our pastor Randal. I don't know why I was as nervous as I was since Michael and I have known Randal the majority of our lives, but I was so jittery!! Randal is the youth pastor at the church we have attended forever (I came there in 2nd grade and Michael was there before me) which is why he seemed like the perfect person to ask to be our officiant. He said that he would be happy to be a part of our wedding, and we discussed some preliminary details. 

Officiant: check!

The second meeting was at Starbucks (seeing caffeinated theme here?) with a wonderful photographer that was recommended to us by a family friend.  When we walked in I wasn't sure what to expect, there were all sorts of people sitting in the room.  An older man with a computer who didn't look too friendly (I hope its not him), a young unprofessional guy eating a pastry and staring aimlessly out the window (not so sure I trust him with the most important pictures of my life...) a couple of young women sitting and chatting over coffee (well thats obviously not him) and right in the center a young blonde man wearing a well fitting sport coat (yes.)

We sat down and started chatting about the different packages he offered and looked at pictures of weddings he has done in the past.  As it turns out, it is only his 4th year doing wedding photography (which you would NEVER be able to guess by looking at the pictures) and because of that, his prices and options are perfectly within our budget!  After talking it over with Michaels mom and my mom (who met us there) we said yes and signed the contract!

Photographer: check!

I am so excited that we can mark two really important (and time sensitive) things off our (long..) list of things to do!

How many dresses can you put on until they all look the same?

How many dresses can you truly put on before they just start to look like white dresses? ... some.

With only 6-7 months until the wedding, I had to start dress shopping ASAP so on January 19th my mom and I went on our first dress shopping expedition!  It was totally spur of the moment, but we ended up getting an appointment at one shop and on the waiting list at another.  

We drove up to Portland where Michael's mom and aunt met us to look at dresses.  I loved the very first dress I tried on and to this day I'm still in love with it BUT I was kind of alone in the feeling and I wanted to try others on to see what I actually liked on me.  I ended up trying on about seven dresses at the first place we went.  

After the first store, my mom and I decided to drive to the store where we were on the waiting list just to poke around and see what was there.  To our amazement there was an open appointment right when we got there and I got to try on dresses! I tried on about seven more at this store and my mom was head over heels in love with a tea length dress.  Although I loved it, it was a little to Alice in Wonderland/Princessy for me.

By this time it was about dinner time and we called it quits for the night and decided to grab some dinner and head home.

The next weekend was the second expedition that turned into a crazy experience.  Saturday morning mom, dad, Hannah and I drove up to Salem for a wedding expo that we thought would be fun and give us some good ideas. We looked at photography, dresses, ate all the food samples that we could shove in our mouths, and all the cakes!  There was so much to take in but it was so much fun! There was even a wedding fashion show!

Well after the expo we had an appointment at a bridal shop to try on dresses.  My bridesmaids Cassie and Nehala met up with us at the shop, and dad left to go back home. We tried on a ton of dresses and couldn't figure out what exactly I wanted until finally I found one that everyone fell in love with.  It was beautiful.  White charmeuse with a blingy belt a fit and flare skirt with a ruched sweetheart top. Lovely. 

Unfortunately I am a terrible decision maker and couldn't actually "say yes to the dress" until I was absolutely positive about it.  We ended up leaving it there and heading to a different store where Michael's mom Kathleen and his sister (and bridesmaid) Alaina met us.  All the girls tried on bridesmaid dresses and we actually ended up making a decision within an hour or so of them trying them on!

I only tried on two dresses at the store since there wasn't much time left in the appointment but I am incredibly happy that I did because thats when I found my dress!  I didn't know it at the time but the second dress I put on was the one that I would have for my wedding.  

Mom and I decided to go back to the store on Sunday to try it on again and when I did, I never wanted to take it off, sooooo I said yes to the dress!  No pictures of that one though, its a secret for now!

Drama of date changing

Previously you may have read about our decision on date and venue.  August 24, 2013 at the Hallmark in Newport.

Well there was a change of plans.

I got a call from Jeff who informed me that a couple had just cancelled and that August, 10th was available and if Michael and I wanted the date it was ours.

So after a whole weekend of debating back and forth about changing the date, writing pros and cons lists, freaking out, and having small panic attacks, we finally decided to go with August 10th because:

1. It wasn't that much sooner than the 24th
2. Three of our good friends (including the maid of honor) would for sure be able to attend (rather than a gamble if they would be there)
3. It would interfere less with my (potential) future job as a teacher

It was dramatic and frustrating and strange but we have OFFICIALLY (contract and everything) moved the date to August 10, 2013!

When and Where is this shindig going down?

When we got back from Maui, Michael and I were elated... until we actually had to start planning.  We had to start making decisions, the first being when did we want to get married?

I had always wanted a fall wedding at the coast because I liked the idea that it wasn't in the dead of summer but it was still nice weather.  That brought us to the choice: do we want to get married in 7-9 months? or 17-19 months?

After much deliberation and wayyyy too much input from family and friends,

We decided on 8 months.

You may say that we are crazy since Michael won't be done with school until June I won't be finished with school until August and crazy we may be! But that was our final choice.

The first thing we did was research venues on the coast.  The first place I fell in love with was at Cannon Beach.  It had a lovely ballroom with vaulted ceilings and a great view of Haystack rock.  My other love was in Lincoln City.  A big room up a bit from the beach with floor to ceiling windows and panoramic views of the ocean.  Then I found the Hallmark in Newport.  Right below our favorite restaurant, floor to ceiling windows, right on the beach.

After driving my best friend, and maid of honor, Kelly to the Portland airport Saturday (1/12) morning, Michael and I began our trek to actually visit these venues. We started out by driving straight across to Cannon Beach where I expected to immediately fall in love with the venue and everything about it.

When we arrived however, I realized that the pictures were quite deceiving! The ballroom (although gorgeous!) did not look out at haystack rock but into a nearby parking lot.  The event coordinator was uppity and acted like we were wasting her precious time, SOO we said goodbye to my supposed venue love.

Well Cannon Beach was a lot further from Newport/Lincoln city than we anticipated, so instead of visiting other venues then, we contacted the event coordinator at the Hallmark in Newport who got us a screamin' deal in a fancy room on the top floor with a balcony, where we stayed Saturday night. Point 1 for the Hallmark!

When we arrived, our fireplace was turned on and there was a bottle of champagne and a hand written note waiting on our table.  Point 2 for the Hallmark!

After dropping our stuff inside, we immediately went on a scavenger hunt to snoop inside the "Sunset Room" (the even room) before going on an actual tour in the morning. 

It. was. perfect. (At least from what we could tell in the night!)

In the morning (after we ordered room service... hum croissant french toast hellooooo yes.) we were greeted by Jeff, the super enthusiastic, friendly, and wonderful event planner.  My family showed up right on time to go look at the ceremony and reception area which, as I previously thought, was pretty dang perfect.  The ceremony cite is outside on a bluff above the ocean with a view of the Yaquina Head lighthouse and the reception is indoors about 100 yards away on the bottom floor with floor to ceiling windows, no wild carpets or paint. Just a blank canvas.  Points 3 and 4 for the Hallmark.

However, unable to make a snap decision, we decided to visit the two other venues in Lincoln City, The Inn at Spanish Head and The Chinook Winds Casino Hotel.  Both of which we found underwhelming (not in general, just in comparison to the Hallmark).

SOOO Long story short, Michael and I decided on the drive home that the Hallmark was perfect for us.  One hour from home, a fantastic view of the ocean, catered by our favorite restaurant, a reasonable price, and a great event planner to help, and availability on the 24th of August!

The beautiful ladies

If you're reading this, you probably already know that my best friend and maid of honor Kelly is currently living in Oklahoma for nursing school (bummer).  So, I decided that I should make moves and ask all of my bridesmaids while she was still in Oregon.  

It all started when Kelly and my mom drove down to Eugene on a whim and we went to look at bridesmaid dresses (and ended up trying on 4-5 wedding dresses!)  Kelly tried on about ten dresses and we hated almost all of them except a lovely plum, stretch satin, ruched, one shoulder dress.

I decided that I would make each girl a little gift to ask them to be a bridesmaid. What that gift was however... I had no idea.  I started by going to Michael's crafts to find inspiration.  I thought about framing a picture of each girl and I and writing them a letter, or "proposing" to each of them individually, one idea after another until finally I decided to paint them each a heart box, fill it with candy, and write them each a letter about our friendship.  

On Friday night (1/11) I invited all the girls to my parents house for a girls wine night/going away mini fiesta for Kelly.  Kelly already knew that I was asking the other girls but she didn't know she was getting a box too.  Once everyone was there I passed out my little gifts.  Everyone loved the boxes and notes (and the mint m&m's that were inside of course!) and gladly accepted!