I'm Back . . . Really

Hi everyone, so sorry I disappeared for a few days . . . I hadn't missed a day since I started this blog till last week, so I am a bit disappointed in myself, but I promise I will make it up to you!

I don't have the professional pics back, but I do have a few from family and friends that I will start sharing soon. In the mean time I will finish up with some of the other things I wanted to share before the wedding and just ran out of time.

Anyway . . . here is a quick few of my rehearsal dinner invites!

I went a bit with the bluegrass theme cuz I thought it was really cute, plus it really fits M and me. We served BBQ chicken with my family's secret BBQ sauce, potato salad, a garden salad with nuts and berries, BBQ beans, fruit salad . . . probably a bunch more as well, but honestly I don't remember . . . oh and the best part . . . strawberry shortcake, with seriously the best shortcakes in the whole world. I wish I had pictures of everything, but somehow not many pics were taken. I have a few and M has a couple as well, but that is about it. I think there is one pic of me from the whole evening and I am taking it (me and my cousin) and maybe one of M as well. Guess the party really wasn't about us! Oh well. I thought my invites were cute. I will talk more about Pink Lily Press (the fabulous designer of these and my wedding invites) when I talk about my wedding invites . . . I promise I will do a blog about them soon too.

What went wrong

So, I figured I would start with this so I could get it off my chest and move on with the fun stuff. Here is my list of what went wrong:

1. The lanterns didn't get put in the port-o-potties . . . so my guests had to "go" in the dark all night. Because of this, my bathroom baskets were unused completely.

2. The beautifully written table number chalk boards didn't make it onto the tables (why someone couldn't have asked what the pile of chalkboards was for, I have no idea). This is what my mom was most upset over. Not only did she spend months going to Michael's to buy each chalkboard one by one with a 40% off coupon, but a good friend of the family made them look so pretty!!

3. The cake was supposed to have three layers of filling in each layer of cake - it only had one - and the filling is my favorite part.

4. My cake toppers were left off the top of the cake - instead just a pile of flowers - which my mom absolutely hates!! (But I thought it still looked pretty)

5. No one tossed the flower petals that were hanging in the cones on the back of chairs as we walked back down the isle (well, someone did, cuz I saw something fly by me when I was walking)

6. The caterer decided not to bring shrimp even though we had it at the tasting and had agreed to it as our final menu.

7. Somehow no formal pictures were taken with one of the flower girls. Because the other one is M's niece we have some with her in the family pictures . . . but somehow we don't have one with us and the flower girls and ring bearer (which I wanted). Oh well I guess . . . I know I am holding her in the big group picture!!

8. Not a big deal, but the parasols weren't really needed because it wasn't nearly as sunny as we had originally expected. I was wanting to see the cute pictures with people holding the umbrellas . . . oh also, it was actually expected to rain so we rented a few tents for the ceremony . . . so I had a kind of outdoor ceremony, under tents . . . this one really didn't bother me that much.

9. The dance floor . . . first, when they were delivering it, they didn't bring enough plywood for the whole floor, so we had to make the floor smaller (0f course they refunded some of the cost), then on the big day, the whole thing was falling apart, we ended up not even using it and used the lawn behind the head table as our dance floor . . . I think it actually worked out better, so again not a big deal (plus they refunded us for the entire floor!)

10. And the biggest one, that makes me want to cry . . . the ceremony did not get filmed! Somehow it had caused a bunch of drama a couple days before - although I am still not sure how - so on the day of I just didn't even bring it up, although now I wish I had. We had everyone laughing and crying. It really was the perfect ceremony and I wish more than anything it had been filmed. I don't think I will be able to forget this issue for . . . forever. It seriously makes me so sad. I wish we could have had the speeches filmed as well, they were particularly funny, oh well I guess!

Anyway . . . I should get the professional pictures back in about a month more, I will get some of the ones on my camera up soon!!

I'm Back

I am back from my honeymoon, but I figured I might be really busy, so I scheduled this one too. Hopefully I will be back to my regular blogging soon!

In the meantime . . . I thought I would share another set of gifts!! These I made from my Mom and Dad and my future in-laws plus M. I took pictures of the whole process so you could see how it was done.
First I printed out a letter I liked the look of on the computer, and then put it under the fabric so that I could trace it.
I traced it with a water soluble pen and put it is a tiny little hoop!!
Then I stitched. I used a chain stitch.
Finished G. This one is for M!!

I did the same process for Terry, M's Dad.

My Dad of course got Dad!!!
I did the same things with the Mother's hankies . . .
But I used pencil this time because the water soluble pen left too wide a mark that wouldn't work to stitch over.
The final boy hankies!
And the Mom's hankies.

I think this is such a sweet sentiment. It actually almost made M cry when I showed him what his Mom's said!!
And my Mommas!!!

Sweet huh?? I think I am going to wait to give them these on the day of the wedding. So I am wondering if I need to have something for them to open at the rehearsal?? I guess it is too late to get advice from you guys!! I guess I will see what I come up with!!

Ring Bearer Gift

Shopping for kids is harder than you would think! We bought our little four year old ring bearer a Thomas the Tank Engine Coloring Book, Book, and I made some of those famous alphabet crayons. We were going to make the crayons for every kid, but when I realized how long they took to make, I nixed that idea fast. Plus, not sure if you know this, but you have to use the non-washable crayons to make the alphabet crayons, and I am not sure I want to have to pay the stain removal fees from my caterer for getting crayon out!! So, just our special little guy gets the alphabet crayons!!

Cute little gift!!

Shower Host Gift

For my maid of honor I bought her a little gift for planning and hosting it . . . they are from Home Goods. If you haven't been to a Home Goods store, you are missing out!

Cute little matching bed side carafes!!

Hostess Gifts

My 13 year old cousin and my 14 year old first cousin once removed (my cousins daughter) are going to be my hostesses at the ceremony. Handing out programs, telling people where to sit, getting everyone to sign the guest book. So, I bought them a little something . . .
More pearls of course. These are from Etsy designer J Lynn Creations.
Plus they showed up in these cute little boxes!!! I think they are a cute little gift.

And More Gifts

We have lots of people helping with the wedding. Cooking for the rehearsal dinner, marrying us, reading during our ceremony, setting up the reception. Here are some of the things we have bought for these wonderful people! They were all bought at the local Portland Saturday Market (one of my favorite places in the world).
Hand carved wine stopper and cork screw.
Hand carved wooden salad servers.

We also bought a beautiful glass vase, but they packed it up so well that I didn't want to undo it just to get a picture. I will have to take one at the rehearsal dinner so you can see it. Super pretty!

More gifts

For Deanna, my brothers girlfriend, who is doing my hair and makeup, as well as my bridesmaids hair . . . I have gotten her tons of presents!! Ha!

First I bought her these really cool earrings from Orange Slice . . .
They are wooden, and super cool! I love them and actually have a pair that I wear all the time!

Next I made her a really cool Amy Buttler bag! It is actually the same one that I carry on a daily basis, although with different fabric. I love hers though!!

Pretty pockets on the inside!!

Then my final gift to her . . . is actually getting to stay at our B&B. M and I have decided not to stay there (I thought it was kind of funny to have to wait for every single one of our guests to leave in order to go to bed - or enjoy our wedding night), so . . . we actually got a suite at the little inn near by. It has a whirlpool tub and a king bed . . . I think it will be nice!! So, offering the room to Deanna and my bro seemed like a nice plan! Plus, it is such a cute place, sad to let it go to waste.

Anyway . . . I hope she likes all these things, she sure is giving up a lot for me!

Dress Appt #6

Yay, another dress post. Obviously the dress is actually finished by now, but since I am off enjoying the wild or wilderness or whatever, you will have to be satisfied with the next step on my dress journey. Again this part of the dress was ready to go only 2 days after the last appt. I am seriously amazed by Sara every day!
Yay . . . lace!
And soft organza!
You can tell how happy I am that it actually looks like MY dress.
Pretty Train.
Looking at lace.

Lookin' good!
Yay!! Pretty pretty dress.