A Break in Wedding Planning to . . .

RELAX, VACATION, and spend some quality time with my FI. Yes, I will be taking a 2 1/2 week wedding planning & dreaming, blog reading, phone call making, appointment keeping hiatus. Why? Well, FI is a hiking & camping whore. He loves it. Growing up, his family took a lot of camping trips and even took TWO road trips across the country.
Well, we are taking a road trip just FI and I on a National Park Tour. Our National Park Tour began (unexpectedly for me) with our engagement at Acadia National park, but we will continue it to Rocky Mountain


Grand Teton



Yellowstone National Park


Glacier (!!!)


Theodore Roosevelt


Mount Rushmore


Home.


It is going to take 2 1/2 weeks and we will be sleeping in tents the entire time! (Minus 5 nights of hotels and lodges). We will go hiking, horseback riding, out to dinner, rafting, canoeing/kayaking, boating, sightseeing and just enjoy each other's company by the fire at night. I can't wait but I am not a camper like him. This is a true test of our love and patience I think but at the same time, is going to be an AMAZING experience. These are the pictures from his last trip to Colorado when he was in high school. I cannot wait to see what beautiful pictures he takes on this trip!
Do you have any plans for trips pre-wedding? How do you relax and stop stressing/planning for the big day?

This is going to be photo heavy. . .

My E-PICS ARE HERE!
Okay here are my favorites. I apologize but I cannot narrow it down. I narrowed it down to two and then back up to ten. I just love them all.
































If you had to pick ONE which would you pick? And which one would you pick as a second choice?
I still have 30 more that I love too!

Did you get your engagement pictures taken? Did a family member or friend help you out with a wedding project and EXCEED all expectations?

My first DIY attempt

So I am not crafty . . . I really wish I was crafty but I'm just not. My mother stopped putting up my art creations in 3rd grade. I had peaked.

Well now that I am planning the wedding and seeing all the cute crafty things out there. I cannot help but want to create some of my own!!! My first attempt was origami. Really how can you mess up some folding? The first three were MAJOR failures.

I will post some pictures when I do it in our wedding colors with the leaves. My vision is to fold these bad boys and then put small leaves on the bottom of them with peoples names and table numbers. This is what they should look like:Source with Great Tutorial

They will be the ESCORT CARDS! Aren't they gorgeous? I stole this idea from Mrs. Guinea Pig on weddingbee.

We think we will add clothespins and clip them to our wishing tree. Once everyone has their escort cards, they can come back to the tree and redecorate it with our wedding wishes and make it look like this:

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So I made a few prototypes and boy am I going to have some busy bridesmaids making these. You need five petals for each flower and I need 180 flowers. Yep, we are talking almost 1000 petals. Mean mean bride-to-be. I took my prototypes and they are making a really cute centerpiece right now. My bridesmaids are coming over tomorrow for Bridesmaid dress shopping wait until they seem them. hahaha.

What was your first DIY project?

Our Baby

I never shared with you our baby!

One day, we decided we wanted a kitten. It was strange because neither of us are too fond of cats, but due to the size of our apartment we cann
ot get a dog. We were longing for that nonjudgmental love a dog gives its owners. We thought about it and looked at adorable pictures of kittens on Adopt Cat Sites. Check these out:














FI said no. No.No.No. We love to go away and it is too much work and money for us. I whined a bit and we went to the pet store to check out their adopt-a-pet clinic. We wandered toward the hamsters & bunnies section.

In an effort not to get a cat, we got a hamster. The equation doesn't make much sense, but we got a dwarf hamster and he is so adorable. Is he cuddly and loving? No. Do I watch him and laugh constantly? yes.
We named him Lucky because on the first day I lost him in the car (long story) and he is SUPER fast & quick and we were lucky to have every found and caught him.

So here is our Lucky little one:


Do you have any pets? Are you and FI on the same page about what is an appropriate pet? Isn't Lucky the cutest?

LOST

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Before I get into the sad tale of the above shoes, I want to make a confession. Deep Breath. I do not care for shoes. I don't know what it is but I dislike shoe shopping. No, really really dislike, detest, abhor shoe shopping. I would rather go to the dentist than go to the shoe store. I wear flats or flip flops every.single.day. I have a pair of sneakers, two pairs of flats and a pair of flip flops in my closet.

That said. I came across this picture on WeddingBee (my all-time favorite wedding site). I gasped. I had no idea that I had dream shoes, and yet, there they were! However, when following the source, giddy with excitement on finding my wedding shoes, I realized they were for a vintage shop on etsy. Size of the shoes? 6 1/2 My size? 8 1/2. DAMN!

Anyone seen my long lost love, vintage bluebell heels? Anyone lust after an item you never thought you would want/care about?

The Dreaded Money Issue

So I was chatting with my mother the other day about how her and my father decided to do everything joint. She was shocked - there is another way to do it?
Needless to say, not helpful. Currently, we have a joint account to pay bills out of and we work on a fair amount that I pay and a fair amount that he pays for rent. We are lucky enough to not be dealing with any school loans on my end but he has a bunch. In the present, he takes only minimal financial support/help from me.

But after the wedding, are we going to continue things the way they are? Will he allow me to help more (I hope!)? What about when we get a house and have kids? Will this one joint account continue to work?
What are all your plans out there? What do you currently do?

E-Pics Teasers

Sooooo We took our engagement photos this weekend. My FI's sister is super talented with a camera (and in many other ways hahaha), and she took some amazing photos. I was a little nervous that I would be uncomfortable kissing FI in front of my FSIL so frequently. She did everything she could to make us feel super comfortable and confident. It was awesome. So I just want to leave you with ONE of my favorites before I get all the pictures edited back. I will post many more I am sure.

We used this site for some tips: http://www.weddingbeepro.com/2009/03/27/engagement-photos/
We also grabbed some picture frames, two small fake bouquets at Jo-Anne Fabrics, books and bananagram tiles. I can't wait to show you all how we used these great props!
The initials in the heart are ours and the date is above it in very very small print. Should I keep it in black and white, color or a faded, vintagey color?
How did your epics go? What props did you bring with you?

I won!

I never win anything. Nothing. Seriously - I cannot remember the last time I won something. I don't usually enter contests so that could be the reason. So I stumbled upon this woman's blog and her etsy shop and entered her contest. I read recently to enter all bridal contests because who knows right? I won! I named her bag "perfectly pleated" and she is sending me one in the mail. Super pumped.
Here is a link to her site and the bag. =)


http://www.etsy.com/listing/50778993/perfectly-pleated-silk-clutch-in-ivory

Bride Porn

You heard me. Bride porn. Want to see what I have been looking at lately ;-)

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Source (both pictures)

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I pine I yearn. I cannot decide where I want to go. Caribbean cruise, Hawaiian Cruise, Mediterranean Cruise . . . All-Inclusive Resorts at any of the above.
Love. Love. Love.
Where do you yearn to go? Which picture gets you going?

Cakespiration

I have been putting off cake decisions for a number of reasons. First of all originally we were looking at places that included a cake in their venue fee but the place we finally agreed upon does not. The second reason is because I love all sweets. Delicious brownies, delectable candies, smooth and creamy ice cream, moist cake with sweet flavorful frosting etc etc etc. How will I feel when that part is over? So instead, I have been amusing my interest in cakes with some google images.
Some of the fun cakes I found:
This one goes with the tree theme but I think it is too over the top. It is a lovely design though just a little too artsy for me.
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I like this one better if it were in my colors (blue and yellow). I think it is cute . . . or was I looking at bad cakes too long. What do you think?
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This is from the cake place we are going to test out soon. I was browsing their site and this just looked delicious and beautiful!
source Again - I would like it better in my colors. I would definitely do a cream colored frosting with blue and yellow flowers on it. I think they look so great!

What piece of the wedding planning process are you putting off because you don't want it to be over yet? Was choosing a cake flavor and design easy for you?

E-Pics & Bridesmaid Dress Shopping . . .

are coming up. Sorry for that tease. I am at a loss for what I want for engagement photos. My FSIL takes gorgeous portraits so we are having her do them, but I am nervous about being cutesy in front of her. Oh well, we will see how it goes. But we are considering where to go and with what props to use. Here are some e-photos I love:



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E-photo in a library? YES PLEASE!
Use of chalkboards and other things to write on - too cute! I also love the use of balloons even though it seems to be a typical prop. I can't wait to have my own photos to share with you!

As far as bridesmaid dress shopping, that is a topic for another day. But again, I am unsure and stressed. I am a people pleaser. I will want everyone to happy and with five people plus my opinionated mother, I am in trouble. Yikes!

Trying to wrangle a cohesive element!

My FI the carpenter (Personal Photo)

While I hate the idea of a "themed wedding," I am going to go with a "motif" for the wedding. Yeah, same difference. Well, we are having a summer wedding, but we decided to go with a rustic tone and tree motif. Our colors are blue and yellow and here are some of my inspiration photos. Don't worry if they don't look cohesive, we will work through it!

Also we found these GREAT save the dates, but they don't come up in an image size so check out the websites: Save the Dates and Oak Tree Invites.


What are some of your inspiring ideas, strands, motifs or (dare I say it) themes?









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