Getting Closer...

Just over 4 months out! It's getting so close I can barely contain my excitement. Here's a few things we've gotten checked off the list recently.

1.) Honeymoon booked! Jamaica, here we come!
2.) All the bridesmaid dresses are ordered and in! (One pending arrival)
3.) Got my hairstylist booked to come down to Indy to do everyone's hair. (Still working on location to get ready for the wedding, hair, make-up, I am open to suggestions..)
4.) booked Laurel St. to do our cake! (Now to figure out what we want for that)
5.) Tux's are semi-ordered. (light gray-the groomsmen are going to look sharp!)


I'm still working out exactly what the reception decor is going to look like. I collected wine bottles for awhile and really wanted to do a DIY project with them, but for me, DIY turned into disaster it yourself.. I have a few other ideas, and I'm trying to still bring some DIY components in, but my main goal is to have an understated space. It's amazing how much I have to think about being simple. It makes things quite complicated, ha!

I think my problem is I look at blogs and websites of very crafty people with very crafty weddings, and I forget that there takes a talent to get all that craft to look beautiful. It's hard to be original with such an amazingly traditional situation that a wedding presents. However, I'm still going to attempt it. It's also hard to be crafty for about 300 guests. It'd be a lot easier if we were invited 50. That, though, wouldn't even fit half of our family.

Lots of ideas are swimming around my head. I guess that's the life of a bride to be..

'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