Save the Date

Save the Date video! September 17, 2011, Kansas City, Mo

kiss me kate...

...or should i say, i could kiss YOU kate! kate spade that is. 

i think miss spade (with a little help from a new (to me) pop-up internet shopping site "the foundary") crystalized my inspiration for our wedding decor.

perhaps due to blog overload, but i've had a hard time settling on my vision for the day. i have so many ideas, but pulling them all together in a cohesive way has been a struggle. all while fitting in a reasonable budget. 

i knew right away i didn't want a "cookie cutter" wedding that mimics all the other hotel ballroom weddings epitomized in the dry chicken that is served and are indistinguishable from each other. i also knew that "elegant/glam" wasn't really my style, nor budget friendly (at least they way i'd like to do it), so with only those "stipulations" limiting me, there was a lot of options and inspiration aplenty for decor. 

with two urban settings (the ceremony will be held in a loft in the Crossroads that is really a blank canvas, and the reception at the very modern Boulevard Brewery Event Space, which is just so beautiful architecturally, it doesn't need much enhancement). given these locations, it was natural to go with a slightly modern asthetic overall. but i didn't want harsh, cold, or too trendy, and found myself drawn to a style which i describe is "if anthropologie and crate and barrel had a baby..." 

around easter i put together a powerpoint with a lot of my inspirations, and i really liked how it came together. i would call it sweet, charming, and probably a little bit more rustic then the urban setting of our wedding, but i think we could make it work. i think this would be the easiest to execute with some d-i-y, and di-ets-y.  so i felt pretty good about it and was coming up with plans for getting it put together (including my moss monogram...)

but today, once i saw these little guys, everything clicked. 

i was immediately drawn to them, their goldness especially, i am a sucker for anything glittery and sparkly. i liked that they were organic (their egg shape), yet still modern, clean, and, of course, gold. and i loved them. and i began to envision using them as a backdrop for our ceremony.

it wasn't till later in the day i put 2 and 2 together. so maybe i was staring at some of her pieces online instead of staring at a spreadsheet, but suddenly it hit me. a certain stylish lady with ties to kc (yup, even though the brand is kate spade new york, she actually grew up in kansas city)uses a lot of gold in her looks. and bright pops of colors. and has impeccable taste. 

and suddenly, ideas were whirring. ideas involving paper mache, sequins, confetti, hot pink, gold, kraft paper, glitter, so many ideas i nearly had a traffic accident while i was driving home as i tried to write them on the back of a reciept. i had a vision (executing it, as always, is another matter), but i was inspired and excited. and ready to get that glue gun out again.... 

now i just have to figure out where i can get some gold leaf

DIY

Most people’s daily essentials include a cup of coffee, checking facebook, maybe a workout, perhaps your favorite TV show, a 2 pm diet coke, walking the dog, or a midnight snack... One of my daily essentials, since this whole getting married thing started, is checking wedding blogs. I pretty much daily swoon over and get inspired by the blogosphere (and bookmark ideas to copycat)…(and then get depressed that I don’t have a $7 million budget for this shin dig)…

(confession, since I’ve been a young girl, I’d randomly pick up copies of Martha Stewart Weddings at the grocery store, so it is not suprising that when I have an actual wedding to plan, I am going to be pouring over this stuff…)

So, since I don’t have a $7mil budget, and since I adore my hot glue gun, and since I’ve seen a gazillion of these and love them… here’s my attempt at the popular moss letter monograms (and yes, I am managing to type this even though my fingers are kind of sticking to the keys with the aftermath)

The ingredients

1 Trusty Glue Gun

2. Cardboard Letters

3. Bag O' Moss (thank u Dollar Store)

The How-To

I set myself up and started gluing chunks of moss to the letter. It was easier than I thought, the main challenge was not gluing the moss to my fingers. Otherwise, it was just putting some glue on the J, then kinda sticking clumps of moss to it, till it was covered. It took awhile, but overall, it wasn't too bad and probably artificially inflated my DIY confidence...

The plan is to hang these with peach colored ribbon in the entry area (right off the elevator)...

One initial down, one to go!

speaking of royal weddings...

...we're totally royal right?

Posh and Beck's don't have ANYTHING on us

(Derby Party, May 2011)

The OTHER Royal Wedding

Now that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (aka: Will and Kate, aka:  Baron Carrickfergus and Baroness Carrickfergus) have tied the knot, it’s time to move on to the other “future King” who will be getting married in 2011 (pause so I can adjust my tiara): why, that would be me J

Actually, this post is going to be about the REAL royalty getting hitched—because I am still swooning.

A week ago, I set my alarm for 4:59 a.m., and dutifully rolled over, grabbed the remote and flicked on the tv to see Kate riding in the car to Westminster Abbey with her father and the beautiful veil and lace sleeves and a relaxed smile as she waved to the crowds. And let me just say. It.was.magical. I don’t know if it was turning on the tv to watch at just the right moment, if it was her overall princess-like perfection, or the many sweet and swoon-worthy moments of the classic “fairytale” wedding to come, but I was smitten. And spent the rest of the day/week obsessing over photos and articles online.

I loved the tolling bells, the “oh wow” as they stepped onto the balcony, the two kisses, the sweet looks exchanged between Will and Kate throughout, the hats, the blonde pageboy, her confidence, the carriage ride, the way it seemed so true to them (despite being a huge ceremonial deal as well), and oh, yeah, I also loved HER DRESS, which was absolute perfection.  And makes me wish MY dress had sleeves.

Things I thought about (as a bride-to-be myself): as I’ve been planning, I’ve been conscious of the fine balance between—what *I* want and *my* tastes vs. trying to please everyone—and the difficulties of that—and how magnified they must have been for Will and Kate.  I mean, I could probably suck it up on some things (she DOES get to be a princess afterall), but it’s also a day you’ve dreamed of forever, and you kind of do have these visions that you want to make happen and have some ownership over, so I really empathized with her in this aspect. But thought she did a great job balancing it all.  More importantly though, I just loved how calm, relaxed and happy she seemed throughout all of it. Knowing my nature, I am sure I will be stressed on the big day, but really don’t want to be, I just want to be happy and soak up the moment.  Granted she probably knew things were under control and had a team of professionals to make sure there weren’t any bags under her eyes after last minute preparations/running around….but I will use her as a model of being a confident and content bride.  My mantra: Keep Calm and Carry On. Which while appropriately British, seems a bit stuffy. So maybe the popular spin off—Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake would be better. Although I do still have to fit into the dress. How about Keep Calm and Be like Kate. Afterall, I will be marrying my own Prince Charming. And if I just remember that part, I should have no problem smiling and letting everything else melt away.

Other side notes: I dressed appropriately for the Royal wedding by sleeping in a size XL freebie Royals tee-shirt, and celebrated by attending a Royals game that evening (complete with fireworks—just like they had!!). I even went to lunch with our admin, who happens to be from Australia, who has an awesome accent. 

The One with the Spray Tan

Having grown up during FRIENDS hay-day, and having watched each episode in syndication at least 5 times, it is not surprising that I drove up to Solarium Tanning with much trepidation. I had seen what can go wrong with a spray tan (thank you Ross Gellar). And I was determined NOT to come out looking like an 8.

For those of you who did not own a Friends Quote-a-Day Calendar, or those who simply have a life and don’t watch as much television/reruns as I do, the main plot of the hilarious espiode is Ross goes to get a spray tan, and in his typical bumbling fashion, manages to not turn around in the little booth, so is sprayed multiple times on one side and none on the back, making him several shades darker than he intended.

So, with a Val-Pak coupon in hand, and a desire not to be pale OR oompa-loompa orange on my wedding day, I decided to give this whole spray tan deal a test drive.

I took the initiative to read up on “spray tan prep” in google prior to my appointment, and followed the suggestions to get all exfoliated, de make-up-ified, and not wear any deodorant to my appointment. I arrived at the salon, filled out a form for the very-tan front desk lady, indicated which level of tan I would like (thinking Ross, I went for “light”), and was led back into the depths of the tanning salon. 

Fortunately, things have progressed since the late 90’s, and not only did I have a very-tan high school aged girl show me the “positions,” but I was also guided throughout the process by a computerized voice, telling me when to do each position and where to face (although without the demo beforehands, I wouldn’t have known what was “position one” and “position two” etc.)  Although I may have the benefit of years of learning choreography going for me that Ross didn’t, it still seemed pretty easy to do, and fortunately, my experience was not for sitcom fodder.

When I first got out of the booth, and checked out myself in the mirror, I noticed an all-over I just got back from the tropics look (sweet! $30 is way < price of airfare and hotel and fruity drinks with umbrellas) and was pretty impressed with the results. However, on closer inspection, I saw that my face looked very speckled with tanning juice and I was quite nervous about this (did I not exfoliate enough? Did the tan teen lead me astray in my positions? ). But after staring in the mirror for a Sammi-Sweetheart length session, then deciding to get dressed so I could go cuss out the very-tan lady up front, and looking at it again in the mirror in the hallway, it had gone back to normal with no spots/dots/blotches.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the process and effects. Definitely not orange, I would definitely not go any darker than the “light” level as it is fairly “dark”, not too smelly, pretty quick process (it probably took me 25 minutes total with filling out the form, practicing my “positions” and re-reading the posters approximately 47 times, I’m sure a veteran could have been done in under 10, but then again, I didn’t want to be an “8”). 

My legs are a bit spotty (but only if you are really inspecting them up close) and remind me of the cougar who used to rub herself in baby oil and use aluminum foil to attract more sun in 1977 BSPF. This is probably due to me not exfoliating the winter skin off as much as I should have, and like I said, only if you are staring intently at my legs would you notice.  Which I am. And reminding myself to use SPF so my own legs don’t look like this in another 20 years.

I tan pretty easily, so I am not too worried about needing to tan before the wedding, but like I said, I am trying to take good care of my skin and will be SPF-ing it up all summer long, and just wanted to make sure, if I felt a little pasty come September 17, I will be a seasoned spray tan veteran.  And not orange in my wedding pix.  So the results of this little experiment I would say are me: 1, ross: 0.

Side note: curious to know if Ross’ tanning woes happened before or after his glow-in-the-black-light teeth whitening incident.

Ross: You sprayed my front twice!

Assistant: You've never turned?

Ross: No, I barely even got to three Mississippi.

Assistant: Mississippi? I said count to five'!

Ross: Mississippilesly? (pause) Well, how bad is it?

Assistant: Ain't that bad yet, but it keeps getting darker for the next four hours.

Ross: So, how dark is it gonna get?

Assistant: You got sprayed with two two' s and...

Ross: I'm a four?

Assistant: Yeah, but you're back's a zero. You're gonna wanna even that out.

Ross: (sarcastically) Really!

Assistant: You might wanna get back in there.

Ross: (annoyed) Ok!

(The assistant leaves and Ross goes back in the spray-on tan booth and turns his back to the spray nozzles, facing the back wall)

Ross: Wait, wait a minute, there's no light on the back wall! How do I know when it's gonna start? Hello? (he slowly turns and the spraying begins, on his face) Ah, oh, ah! (he turns, but then he turns again and is sprayed in the front again) Ah! (he spits and angrily goes out of the spray-on tan booth and the assistant enters the room) The same thing happened again!

Assistant: You got two more twos?

Ross: (hysterically) I'm an eight!

Keep Calm and Carry On, or something like that

First off, shout out to my IT department for losing my post. Granted, shouldn’t have been writing a blog at work and this is surely the productivity god’s way of teaching me a lesson (clearly, since I am re-writing this at work, point was so totally taken!)

Second off, besides kansas, there is nothing I hate more than re-writing stuff. No matter how hard you try, you can never re-create or re-capture those perfect words you had previously written.  No matter how many times that I tell myself to “Ctrl-S” each time I breathe, I still have lost papers, emails, etc and multiple professors, colleagues, friends, frenemies, etc have been on the receiving end of my “sloppy second” attempts. So apologies in advance that this isn’t going to be as awesome as it first was ;)

With under 5 months to go till the big day, I began to write a little check in on what wedding related things have been chosen and which things remain (heavy emphasis on “which things remain”). To recap

Donecakes:  The Dress (kinda), The Suit, The Ceremony Site, The Reception Site, The Wedding Party, The Minister, The Photographer, The DJ, the Cake (don’t worry, yall won’t be eating 5 month old cake, we just have a plan), the Groomscake, the Shoes, the Rings, the Guest List (mostly), the favors, the beverages (when you have your reception in a brewery, this kinda goes without saying, but in the interest of making myself feel more accomplished, it’s on my “crossed off” list).

And in the interest of time, the “big items” still on the-5-page-single-spaced-to-do-list: bridesmaid dresses, suits, caterer, flowers, hotel for guests, the veil, the save the date, the invites, the website, the décor, deciding on music (for ceremony and like “first dance” songs etc), marriage license, ordering a crap-ton of stuff off etsy, honeymoon…

So I feel like we do have most of the MOST major stuff covered, and that while a lot of kinda-a-big-deal stuff is still out there/hanging over my head, I think we can get it all done. It’s all those other teeny, but still important things on the 5-page-single-spaced-to-do-list that freak me out a little, but I am sure with some organization, discipline, lots of elbow grease, plenty of talented friends and family members, it will all get done.

I am trying my hardest, despite my natural tendencies toward that lovely two headed monster of perfectionism/anxiety, to not let all this “little stuff” affect my enjoyment of the wedding planning, or more importantly, the wedding day. Gotta keep reminding myself to not freak out and to be zen. Whatever that means J

Blush and Bashful

Truvy: What are your colors, Shelby? 
Shelby: My colors are "blush" and "bashful." 
M’Lynn: Her colors are "pink" and pink." 
Shelby: My colors are "blush" and "bashful" Mama!                                                                                       --Steel Magnolias

Much like Miss Truvy asks the soon-to-be-bride in the chick-flick-of-all-chick-flicks, one of the most frequent questions I get after people find out I’m getting married is “so what are your colors?”

Since getting engaged and starting to conceptualize my overall feel for the wedding day (which is how I define “my colors” moreso then just what shade the bridesmaids will be rocking), I have gone through many, many iterations of color schemes (not to mention “overall feels”), but I think I have finally settled on “my colors.”  

And for all you all who have been dying to know…

I’ve chosen, drum roll please, grey and “coral.”

But here’s where it gets all Steel Magnolias…I’m very particular about the coral shade. When I envision coral, it’s a warm, peachy, orangey coral…but apparently most folks define coral as more of a reddish-pink shade, somewhere between “watermelon” and “honeysuckle” (which happens to be this year’s “it” color (http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=20821&ca=4)…so I think I’m gonna have to invent a new name for my color scheme akin to “blush and bashful,” suggestions are always welcome, alliteration not necessary, but it does need to roll of the tongue nicely.  I feel very “bridezilla-y” when I want MY shade of coral…but I really do want MY shade…

What solidified my “colors” was a wedding featured on my daily-crack-addiction: “stylemepretty.com”. This wedding made me swoon. The colors AND the whimsical feel captured the sentiments I want our wedding day to have—fun, charming, laid back, and sweet.

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/01/03/maine-wedding-by-corbin-gurkin-maine-seasons-events/

Other Coral inspiration from my fave website: 

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/03/23/santa-monica-beach-wedding-fiore-beauty-ian-grant-photography/

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/03/28/napa-valley-wedding-at-beaulieu-garden/

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/02/18/ontario-wedding-by-amanda-wilcher-hey-gorgeous-events/#comment-226828

say yes to the dress? cont.

So they all lived happily ever after right? Right? Well, maybe. I’ll let u all know in approximately 6 months J

So with the wedding less than 6 months away, it is still yet to be determined if I

a) have a freakishy large rib cage, or

b) just ate a few too many cheeseburgers and slices of pizza and ball park hot dogs and kc’s famous bbq and cupcakes and...and need to spend some QT on the ellipitical, or

c) am never going to have a career with  cirque de soleil as a contortionist who can dislocate her shoulders and give a big yank to the zipper on a fragile dress…

Obviously, I am hoping it’s a combo of b) and c)…that with some healthy eating, plenty of workouts, a sexy pair of spanx, and the help of another person working from behind instead of my ill-equipped-for-this-task arms which happen to face the wrong direction, I’ll be able to zip up the dress. Cuz it’s SO PRETTY. And SO LACY. And SUCH a great color. And makes me feel all fancy and twirly. And I don’t have a couple grand laying around to buy another one (details details). And did I mention it’s also SO PRETTY? (I hope I am not building up this dress so much that people expect something Princess-Di-like when I walk down the aisle. Please take all my hyperbole with a grain of salt. Maybe I am projecting more beauty onto the most expensive dress I will ever own. Or maybe it’s bridal myopia. I just think it’s totes amazeballs and hope you all do to, that is, if you ever get the chance to see it, which would you know, require that I can zip the darn thing up).

So anyway, in order to fit into this beaut, we’ve been eating healthy. For about 9 months (if I do indeed fit into the dress, I may have to wear a “sponsored by cooking light” sign).  And we’ve been working out. For about 3 months on the regular. And I’ve lost 10 lbs and toned up since our efforts began with the purchase of a scale and the startling revelation that if I was a college wrestler, there would be 4 weight classes I’d need to put on the rubber suit to cut weight for. So really I needed to do this whole eating better/working out thing regardless of the wedding dress situation. But nothing like a little added incentive.

Well, even losing the equivalent of a gallon of milk (and then some), plus wearing supersexyspanx still doesn’t seem to allow me to zip up my dress. So I’ll keep on keeping on with the eating and the working out. And I’ll try to be better on weekends (as the aforementioned cheeseburgers and pizza and cupcakes and nachos and Chik-fil-A and cocktails (oh I didn’t mention those before, yep, been eating those too)…tend to sneak in when we’re out and about on weekends, but seriously you can’t order a salad at a bbq joint, so what’s a girl supposed to do? And I’ll up the intensity of my workouts (thus far I’ve just been trying to get back my cardio as sitting on the couch for over a year doesn’t do much for the ole ticker…but now I’m getting my groove back…so I can push it a bit more). I’ll also start doing pilates again this summer…So hopefully between the combo of that and having a personal dresser to zip me, I’ll be able to slip right into my dress. And breathe too.

But what if it is option a)? that my (apparently) XL ribs are simply not designed to fit into this dress? Obviously, no amount of dieting or spanx will be able to change that (unless I went all Victorian style and removed a couple of ‘em). I hope it doesn’t come to this, but if it should, I DO have a backup plan (too be continued…)

for realz, it's been awhile

Exactly 6 months till my wedding day, I had one of those you show up naked for a big presentation, or you’re late for a final you didn’t study for nightmares. Except the bride-to-be’s dream equivalent—I dreamt that I showed up to my wedding and my dress didn’t fit. And that dream may not be so far from reality because, well, right now the dress does not fit. 

So here’s the story of my dress. Once engaged (okay, maybe even before) Bride scours internet looking at dresses. Finds herself very attracted to dresses of the lace variety.  Bride investigates pricing of said dress style. Bride learns she could either have food for her guests, or wear lacy dress (and that is a simple lacy dress, for the price of some of the ones I really swooned over, I could rent another reception hall). Bride temporarily resigns self to something plainer. Bride orders something plainer. Bride doesn’t feel all “bridey”. Bride looks wistfully at fancy dresses.  Clotheshorse that she is, Bride still cannot justify spending that much money on a dress that will be worn for only a few hours, no matter how amazingly gorgeous and perfect it is. Bride, somewhat of a fashionista and bargainista, is open to many options for finding dress, including non-traditional dresses (white is a very popular color right now), or non-traditional methods for finding dress (eg: secondhand, I mean as long as it doesn’t have bad karma, okay maybe even if it’s the right dress I’ll deal with a little left-at-the-altar-ness). Bride, whilst surfing the interwebs, happens upon Craigslist posting for a wedding dress that is lacy AND her size AND costs a lot less than the original price. In fact 90% discount off original price. Said dress is not even from the 1980s which 90% of the dresses posted on craigslist are (the other 9.99% are size 26 from David’s Bridal). Bride takes a minute to thank her lucky stars. A handsomesmartfunnyloving fiancé AND possibly the deal of the century on the dress of her dreams?  Even better, owner is happily married and just doesn’t want dress to hang in closet when she can use some extra cash for an upcoming vacation. And all sentimentalism aside, I totally get it. Especially cuz it works out pretty great for me.

So bride corresponds with ex-bride via email and sets up a time to go try on dress. I don’t know if you all have heard about summers in Kansas City, but it does get hot and humid here occasionally (aka: from mid May thru October) Which makes me wonder why there are buildings without AC in this town. But there are. And one of them is our church. And after sitting through a sweltering service, waving a paper fan (which contrary to all my elementary school teacher’s belief, actually DOES cool you off better than just sitting still) it’s time to go try on the dress. So, even with a 10 minute ride in air conditioned bliss, I am still a bit sweaty from church. I know it may be gross to discuss my perspiration situation this much, but it is relevant to the story. I promise.  When I see the dress in person, I am even more smitten.  When I touch it, I realize, oh maybe this is why you have to pay a wee bit more for these fancy dresses. You can tell each layer was delicately produced by an army of sweet little Russian grandmothers with glasses on a neck chain and polyester house dresses that get their hair done each week. It was breathtaking (even in someone’s study with shag carpet).  So I lifted it off the hanger (note: while they may look fluffy and floaty--all those layers of lace and tulle add up) and stepped into the dress. Actually I think I pulled it over my head (novice wedding dress try on mistake) and shimmied into it…well…I started too…then the combination of an approximately 1 year hiatus from the gym, sweaty limbs and torso and my respect for the hard work of all the Russian grannies, made me realize, I wasn’t going to fit into this dress without ripping something—either their delicate craftsmanship—or my ribcage. Bummer.

Well, at least I still have the handsomesmartfunnyloving fiancé thing going for me, I thought as I explained to the seller that while the dress was amazing and I loved it, I was just too big for it. And left, obsessing over the mermaid style. And drove back home obsessing over the beautiful ivory lace. And sat on the couch obsessing over the amazing price. And sat on the couch longer obsessing over how much I love lace. And sat on the couch and surfed the internet looking for dresses in that same price range. And, being the polite and well bred lady I am, wrote the seller thanking her for taking time to meet me, her dress was gorgeous, but as a result of consuming approximately 48 bags of chips and 7 gallons of salsa in my life/the past year, it, sadly, wasn’t going to happen. And I sighed. And obsessed a little bit more.  And do you know what happened then? In the midst of all this obsessing, she wrote me back and said “oh I had to lose a lot of weight to fit in it too. I used “Random Workout Video”. It was hard to do but totally worth it. If your weights the only issue, I’d be willing to sell it to you for $150 less”

At that price, how could I refuse? And a trip the ATM, short drive north of the river later, and the beautiful dress was hanging in my closet… (to be continued…)

it's been awhile...

"it's been awhile"
originally posted 8.19.10

sooooo, may huh? yeah...well, a suprising lot has happened since then...numero uno, i got a job. and well, wedding related, a lot has too. we have visited venues, met wtih photographer, dj, went to a "bridal craptacular," become slightly addicted to "oncewed.com" and "stylemepretty.com" (okay, well maybe just *I* have), and, gulp, maybe even gotten a dress. okay, well, i HAVE gotten a dress, whether i wear it or not remains to be seen. a $3000 dress for $300, yes please! i figured i couldn't go wrong. it's funny, how "easily" things have fallen into place. after lots of internet research and browsing, i set up a couple interviews with photographer (mellissa lin ellis) and dj (all ears mobile dj), both recommeded by the weddinghive, a local kc site. i guess that kinda "pre-screens" and is "self selecting" but they both seemed very talented and very much had the same "vibe" we are going for for the big day...silly to be "one and done?" or...wonderful? i honestly feel 100% confident and don't think i'm being naive. they fit into our budget and seem awesome, so real excited about that. saw lots of cool venues locally. and again, beginners luck, cuz we're going with the first place we saw...boulevard brewery! they have a very contemporary, elegant space with an amazing terrace and view of the downtown skyline, not to mention all the boulevard beer you want to drink, the cutest grooms cake ever, and personalize pint glasses for all our guests! we also checked out some other beautiful venues for our due diligence, Berg Event Space, Studio Dan Meiners event space, leVel, and all of them were wonderful--the people and the spaces. in KC, if you want an "urban" or "loft" experience, there is no shortage of event spaces and the vendors we met with were all very down to earth, not salesy, and great to work with (and kurt, at leVel, had the cutest dog on the planet. i am not joking). it made me want to throw lots of fabulous parties, just so i could use these spaces, and there are actually TONS of other options out there too that I looked at on the internet. god bless the interwebs! the only thing we're still looking for, in terms of major pieces of the puzzle, is a ceremony site. i have my eyes on the arts incubator, in the cross roads, but price wise, it may be prohibitive. if we were doing both ceremony and reception there, no biggie, but just for a ceremony, it's kinda out of our price range. that is definitely something i have struggled with a lot during this process. vision and reality. bleh. annnnnyway....so we are still looking for a ceremony site. our church is way down south, so we'd prefer something a little closer. Boulevard is located in a largely Hispanic area of town, which of course means, a lot of the churches there are Catholic. We're open to a non-church area, so just need to do some more digging to find the perfect spot. Grand Avenue Temple is in contention, but unfortunately has no AC which could be a problem in KC in September (we attended a service there this summer when it was 100 degrees and barely lived to tell the tale...obvioulsy it won't be 100...well, you never can tell...so like i said, we're still trying to figure that out). oh and i forgot to say, we have a date 9/17/11!!!!!! i will try to write a few more posts going into detail on a couple of the "details"...including, our CAKE, and the suprising hidden talent of my fiance!

to which i reply, oh just you wait honey

i'll take your ooops and raise you....

ooops.
originally posted 5.11.10
kinda let the blog slip for awhile there...wedding planning has started...in the general sense...endless searching of internet for inspiration (of which there is TONS), a purchase of a dress to try on (i am anxiously waiting for it to get delivered today), some rough guest list ideas, but still no date or place. in the meantime, i'll post a pix i like of us

beyond lucky

originally posted 3.23.10

Jeremy: i love u so much. everyday i tell myself how lucky i am to have you in my life

(from an IM conversation)

to that i reply. i am beyond lucky. beyond.

blessed

originally posted 3.12.10 (man i was on a pretty good little streak there...)

i guess this shouldn't really have surprised me, but for some reason it did. 

i am overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and happiness i received upon announcing our engagement. 

i always have known i am blessed by a life full of wonderful friends and family. somehow, along all the places i've landed, i have been surrounded by incredible people and formed lifelong friendships with some of the most amazing people on the planet (imho). and their replies to my emails (or the squeals and hugs of the ones i was lucky enough to tell in person) brought tears to my eyes again and again. their words of happiness, support and cheer bowled me over. and this worries me.

already the sappiest of saps in normal life, and the most emotional of the kleenex-wielding saps at weddings, i know i am going to be in trouble on the big day.

my friend nellie (who is normally cool as a cucumber) told me after her wedding, how suprised she was at how overwhelming it was to walk in the church and be surrounded by literally all your friends and family, all in one place, all there to support you and celebrate with you. i can only imagine that the response to sharing our news is going to be magnified ten fold on our wedding day when i walk down the aisle. 

hello waterproof mascara, it's anna. we need to talk.

thanks for the title miss b

"he put a ring on it"
originally posted 3.9.10

every time one of my friends has gotten engaged, the second thing out of my mouth, after "oh my goodness, i am so happy for you all" is usually "how did he do it?"...so here's how HE did it...

it was a typical Tuesday and he'd told me he was leaving work, so I was getting dinner ready so we could eat when he got home. I had everything set, but he wasn't home yet. I waited a bit longer and then gave him a call. He didn't answer, but then called me back and told me he'd had to stop to talk to his mom and get gas, but was on his way. We had our dinner and then settled in to our normal evening routine, watching a couple episodes of FRIENDS reruns, cuddling on the couch. the first episode is always older (from my college years) and the second episode is newer (i believe from the final season). i tell you the next detail with 20/20 hindsight: the second episode was about when pheobe and mike were dating and pheobe found out that mike wasn't interested in getting married, and she was struggling with this as non-conventional as she was, she wanted to get married, have the picket fence and 2.5 kids. She was talking to Ross, 3 time divorcee, to try to get some "reassuring" words about why marriage is overrated. However, Ross can only wax on about how wonderful marriage and committment is. Shortly after that, Jeremy went upstairs. I asked him where he was going, and he just said, he'd be right back. None the wiser, I just blissfully watched the rerun. What a great show. Little did I know that my life was about to change. forever. 

It was very simple. He just told me how much he loved me and took the box out of his pocket, which was wrapped in silver paper with a bow, and I opened the most gorgeous sparkly ring. I think I hyperventilated a little. I just kept saying his (pet) name over and over in a shaky voice. I teared up. luckiest gal in the land, sitting on the couch in sweats, ring on her finger, best guy beside her. what could be better. needless to say, we didn't see the end of that episode of FRIENDS. but I'm sure we can catch the rerun again sometime :)

Apparently, he had gone at lunch to pick out the ring with his step-dad and they called him as it was ready by the end of the workday, so he stopped on the way home to pick it up (hence the late arrival, although he claims he really DID stop to get gas). He had planned to do something a little fancier for the proposal, but just could not wait to ask me, so he just did that evening, which I think is probably THE.MOST.ROMANTIC.THING.I.HAVE.EVER.HEARD. He lasted an hour :)

so that's our "story" and i'm stickin to it (and him!!!)

everything old is new again...

originally published on 3/8/2010

just a little less than one month ago (2.9.10), jeremy asked me to marry him. i decided to keep a blog to chronicle the journey of engagement, planning a wedding and eventually, marriage...

goin' to the chapel

our wedding blog...check here for the longer stuff...follow us on twitter at xxx