'Tis the Season

Christmas is right around the corner. I have almost ALL of my shopping done. woohoo! Wedding planning is in full swing as well!

I took the plunge and went DIY on invitations. I went to Archiver's (super amazing scrapbook store) and ordered a template for invites. I'm doing all of it on my own. Hopefully my MOH (Maid of Honor), Tara, will be helping me with some of it! They will come in a couple of weeks, and my goal is to get them done as early as possible!

I've been a little out of control on etsy lately as well. I haven't bought anything (wedding wise), but I have a ton of favorites saved to my account. I have so many decor ideas that my head is just spinning. I've found some really cute pictures of painted wine bottles used as vases and candle holders.

Here are a few places I've been drawing inspiration from
painted wine bottles
wine bottles painted and as candle holders

Still haven't put up the vendor list..I'll do it sooooon!

The "Run"away Bride

I've recently reintroducing myself to running, and I am surprisingly not hating it. I've set a few goals for myself, including a 1/2 marathon in April. The farthest distance I've ran so far in 4 miles, but hopefully by April I will be able to breeze through 13.1, ha. I've found it to be extremely inspiring and an excellent way to eat anything I want and still squeeze perfectly into my wedding dress!

Please pray for me and wish me luck!

In wedding news, almost all of the save the dates have been mailed out. I'm still trying to get a few Newkirk side addresses, but most friends and close family have Philip and I's face on their refrigerators!

We are planning on registering for gifts in the upcoming weeks, wahoo! We'll be registering at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Target, Sayer's (in Independence) and getting custom dinnerware made from Elk Falls Pottery!

Thanksgiving this year will mark one year to the date that Philip got down on one knee and proposed. It was the best birthday present a girl could ask for! I'm just not sure if he can out do himself this year, I'll keep you posted!

I'll be posting a vendor "set list" soon for who we have doing what for the wedding so far, and our tentative vendors we haven't booked yet.

My goal for the wedding is LOCAL! LOCAL! LOCAL! Anything my family and I can't do ourselves, we want to be down in Southeast Kansas. That is the main reason we are registering at 4 places, instead of the standard 2-3. We know we have a lot of out of town guests and didn't want to limit their choices. However, we also wanted to give Indy and Howard locals a chance to put money back into their local economies, thus saving the world as we know it. :)

SAVE THE DATES!

I just got the save the dates in the mail! They are absolutely AMAZING! I want to drop all of my homework and address them NOW! However, I will try to wait until the weekend.

Be looking for them in the mail in the next two weeks! :)

HOORAY!

Next on the to do list:
1. bridesmaid dresses
2. reception decor
3. mom's dress
4. ceremony music

:)

I just realized

I never gave you the link to the engagement proofs!

Click here!

The password is: heather (all lowercase) :)

They are only up for another week!

It's been awhile...

So I haven't wedding blogged in a few months..

However, I'm back at it! Wedding planning is going grrrrreat! I just picked up my wedding dress this weekend in Pittsburg, and I bought the veil and jewelry, too!
I was just going to wear a strand of pearls, but I'm really glad that I went a little more contemporary. My wedding look is pretty much complete! Just got to buy my shoes and work on my hair/makeup! Oh..did I mention that my dress zipped up perfectly and needs no alterations with the exception of the hem?! : )

Also, I placed the order for save the dates, and they should be coming in the mail to me very shortly. I'm extremely excited for them. I got them here, and I recommend their services to everyone!

We are right around 8 months to go, and I think that I am trucking along quite nicely with the plans. Of course, with Dad's death, there are a lot of things that I'm changing. The first is that I want my wedding to be a little more special, unique than I had wanted before. I won't be throwing all traditions out the window, but I need a twist on what I had originally envisioned. I think that if I don't make the wedding less traditional, then I will keep reminding myself of what's missing from the wedding that I always had pictured growing up.

I'm pleased to tell everyone that my godparents are going to be walking me down the aisle. (both my dad's siblings). The idea just came to me after a long night of prayer and reflection, and I couldn't be happier with my decision. Another twist will be the ceremony music, I'm not exactly sure how we're going to make it happen, but don't expect to hear trumpet voluntary or the canon when I walk down the aisle. Philip and I are working up a very amazing piece! Also be ready for some possible Beach Boys and/or Beatles music during the ceremony...(I know, pretty cool, huh?)

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be griping about addressing save the dates soon!
-Heather

It's getting closer...

First, we've booked our reception venue! It will be at the Civic Center (below Memorial Hall) in downtown Independence. I'm very excited that we are getting this venue because it is such a big, clean space that will give us so much to work with! I absolutely can't wait to start planning all the decor details.
Second, we're getting our engagement pictures taken this weekend. I am so thrilled that I can't stopping thinking of new ideas for our photo shoot! Kim (our photographer) has given me so many cool ideas as well! I promise to post a link to our proofs as soon as they are up online!
Third, I can't believe our wedding is one year from this weekend. I know that we are having a longish engagement, but I still can't believe that in one year I'll be walking down the aisle, all grown up!
We've been browsing some different registry sites, but we still can't decide where we'd like to register. We know we'll register at Sayer's in Independence, but we don't know which national chains to register at. If anyone has any suggestions just let me know!

okay...you'll hear from me after engagement pictures!
wahoo!
-Heather

wow. 13 months from today...

I will become Mrs. Newkirk! I know it's still a long ways away, but we're making progress. In wedding update news, we've been eyeballing some catering businesses around my home town, and I'm still trying to cut the guest list, ugh!
We're also getting our engagement pictures taken next month, which I am super excited for! I'm currently trying to find some props so if anyone has any vintage hardback books or old blackboards I can borrow please let me know!

I have also been slowly working on growing out my hair for my big day! I'm getting it thinned and trimmed about every 9 weeks to keep to growing healthy! My hair stylist, Laura, (who is amazing!) is helping me pick a wedding day look with my hair. Each time that I go in before the wedding, we end the appointment with a different possible wedding hairstyle, take a picture of it, and save it until the wedding day! Then I'll pick my favorite at the end and go with that one! :)

I had been putting wedding plans on the back burner since Spring Break, but wedding season has put a spring back in my step for wanting to get things done. I went to my friend Lauren's beautiful wedding last weekend, and it really made me want to plan away!

I think what I'm most nervous about is decor. I have no idea what I'm going to do for centerpieces, reception decorations, or even ceremony decor. I don't want my wedding/reception to look like everyone else's but I also have a very limited budget. ...oh the woes of a poor bride. ha! So, if anyone has any cool purple/yellow/grey summery fun decor ideas let me know!

I'll try not to wait three months before my next post!
-H

The Dress!

He can't change his mind now because today I bought my dress! :)
It is the most beautiful thing I've ever laid my eyes on!
I'll only give a few details on here because I don't want Philip to know what it looks like until our wedding!
It has a sweetheart neckline
...and (my favorite part) POCKETS!!

I ordered it from Sarah Loree's in Pittsburg, KS. If you ever need a wedding/formal dress; I strongly recommend this store. They had excellent customer service and an amazing selection of dresses! (not to mention a former questie working in the store!)

It is weird that I won't see my actual dress for 5 to 6 months. I'm also not interested in hearing any of the horror stories of wedding dress ordering. (I've heard at least 3 already since I placed the order today)I have complete confidence in the store and the designer that my dress will be magical!

Anyway, if you want to know any details about the dress, send me a facebook message and I'll send you to the designer website!

WOOHOO!
-Heater

We have some official plans!

We have almost officially booked our photographer! We're submitting our contract when we are home next weekend. (My mom is going to help me write the first wedding check, hehe!) Her name is Kim, and Philip and I worked with her at quest! She is just about the sweetest person you could ever meet, and her pictures are just plain beautiful!
Here's her website if you want to have a look at some of her work! She'll be shooting not only our wedding but also our engagement pictures this summer! :) YAY!

We've also enlisted the help of my wonderful and amazing aunt! She will be helping with my flowers and with the food! My Aunt Jean works wedding wonders and we are so blessed that she wants to help! Even though she will be helping, Philip and I refuse to let her feel like she's working! She will be nothing less than one of our favorite guests at the wedding! :)

I'm also going dress shopping next month. Sadly, I won't be able to put any details of the dress on here in case that handsome and sneaky fiance of mine tries to get a peak! However, when I do purchase my dress, I will let everyone know so you can ask me in person what it looks like! (facebook messages work as well!)

Anyway, I guess I'm really starting to feel like I'm getting married. No more pretend planning, it's time for business! yippeee!

That's it for now,
Heather

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm getting ready to enjoy a delicious Papa Murphy's heart shaped pizza with my amazing fiance! :)

We're starting to look into Honeymoon locations. We're really liking the Caribbean because of all of it's options and it's pretty reasonably priced compared to Hawaii. Mexico is also an option, but sadly Bora Bora is out, haha. Way too expensive!

Other than that, we're kind of at a stand still on planning. I'm not sure what else I can be doing right now, since the wedding is still 16ish months away. We are deciding on a wedding photographer soon, my goal is by spring break. I hope we can get our engagement pictures taken over the summer.

It's nice having a longish engagement, but at the same time it is hard to be patient. Every time I go to a wedding, I just keep thinking.."is it my turn, yet?"
But, I know I don't have to wait that much longer!
Happy Valentine's Day all,
Heather

The Color Wheel!

With so many color combinations, I'm sure I'm not the only bride who likes a zillion different color schemes. Not only that, but I have a fiance who doesn't even have a favorite color. His only request is "no pink." If any of you know me at all you already know that pink wasn't in the running.

However, with all of that against me, I do believe that I have decided the colors of the wedding! (HOORAY!) Since it's a summer wedding, I really wanted a bold and bright color, (no pastels). I have picked a plum purple! :) For accents, flowers, etc. I've decided on a golden yellow!

I think that these colors will work well together, and I find the combination fairly unique. (I'm sure now that I've decided, I'll see a million purple and yellow weddings before mine, ha!)

I'm extremely ecstatic about these colors and a little surprised at myself since neither purple or yellow are my favorite colors. Purple, though, has been warming to me recently. (my new ipod is purple and so is my new winter coat)

In other wedding news, our knot website is well on its way to being complete. Here is a preview for blog followers.

Hoping the next 17 months go by fast,
Heather :)

Guest List Woes

Note: I modified my blog to accommodate wedding planning, etc. Hopefully anyone that reads this will find it interesting. (I also didn't want to type out all my wedding ideas/issues on facebook/twitter.) :)

So, today I started to attempt a guest list. I had no idea the effort it would take to compile this thing. I have NO idea who to invite and who not to invite to my wedding. I read on www.theknot.com that you should make guidelines to go on, so I think what I'm going to do is say if I haven't talked to someone in the last two-ish years then no invite (expect family). It's not that I want to leave anyone out, it's that each guest costs money, and I only want people there that have really been apart of Philip and I's relationship.

I think that this will be one of the hardest tasks, however, since we still have almost 18 months until the big day, hopefully we'll be able to take this slow. My number one wedding rule is no stress! ha! (we'll see how that goes.)

If anyone that reads this has any guest list advice or ideas, I'm open to anything. Please fill me in. Also, chances are if you are cool enough to read my blog you will probably be getting a wedding invite. So go ahead and send me your address while I'm doing this guest list thing!

Much, much more to come,
The bride to be. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wow, I've been so busy that I haven't blogged in ages!

First and foremost, I'm ENGAGED!

HOORAY!

Philip and I have set the date for June 25, 2011. We both wanted a Summer Wedding after we graduate so it works out perfectly!

More than likely, this blog is going to be converted into a Wedding Update blog! woohoo! I've already swamped myself with planning things! It's almost overwhelming to think about everything that goes into one wedding, but very exciting at the same time!

Okay, more on the wedding at a later date, my birthday and Christmas were both amazing! I must have been a really good girl because I got so many beautiful things, including a new ipod and camera! However, my favorite gift came from my mother. It's my first ornament for when Philip and I have our own Christmas tree.

Anyway, I hope everyone's Holidays were as merry as mine!

I'll write more soon,
Heather