to keep or not to keep?

I'm to the point in the wedding planning process where I'm trying to decide what ideas get kept and have money and time put toward them to follow through and what things don't.

Here are some of the items in consideration. What do you think?

1. Printing on the napkins

Check out these great napkins from other brides, here and here.

This bride's cake table runner. I do love it so and think it would be such an heirloom piece! But, I have not started on it. I am not sure what color it should be considering all of the other color in the linens, etc.

ahhh . . . just realizing I NEED to order the candles . . .

I am going to use these and these (the orange ones of course)

If I get some of the shorter ones of these for some of the tables, is that getting too divergent?

Okay, sorry, candle tangent. The candles are not up for negotiation except for perhaps the copper colored holders.

If I'm serving coffee I probably need some kind of stirrers don't I? Do I? hmmm . . . I don't really drink coffee except at places that fix it all for you. I kind of don't want those skinny brown plastic straws. Do you think I can get those little wooden sticks they have at Starbuck's somewhere? in bulk? for cheap?

Okay, back to things I'm debating . . .

bittersweet runners to go along the tabletops

I can't even find a picture on the internet to show you. I think these are definitely about to get sifted out.

I am sad, sad, sad to say it but chair decorations seem to have gone by the wayside. I love chair decorations! Always have. Thought for sure I'd have some at my wedding but I haven't figured out a good/easy/quick way to decorate 375 metal folding chairs.

Here are a few I like: top right photo here

bottom second to the left here

bottom second to right here

I would have loved to have all mismatched chairs like these bottom second to right but who can do that for hundreds of people? But . . . I do get to have really close to that look with the long rectangular tables, the long beautiful table runners thanks to my mom and aunts and the candles, centerpieces, etc.

hmmmm . . . . I would love to know your thoughts. 

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone!  Kelly

brown paper packages tied up with string . . .

. . . these are a few of my favorite things!  

I think I could get quite used to getting multiple packages a day!  Of course this doesn't happen everyday but I'll bet this is the most concentrated time I'll ever have of getting fun packages in the mail.  (My mom did do really well sending care packages when I was in college, but not multiple ones in a week!  :)

The other day I had two boxes!  Our nice head of maintanence helped me carry them out to my car.  

I could tell the first one was . . . 

our invitations!!!!!  

I don't want to give anything away but I'll give you the tiniest little peak at a part of the thank you cards!  I am soooo excited about these!  My cousin Jonathan designed the thank you notes and reply cards and he and my friend Meredith both did parts of the invitation!  I am soo excited about them!  

I wasn't really sure what was in the other box.  It seemed awfully big.  

Napkins!   

I had ordered four colors hoping that at least one of the colors would work.  They were sold in packs of 300-500 for only $12 something each!  I must remember that God really does care for the small details of my life.  Look at these napkins with our tablecloth swatches!  

best $2.01 of the wedding budget!

Today I spent a grand total of $2.01 on a wedding purchase.  I'm not even sure I knew that was possible!  First I went to Hancock Fabrics to get swatches of most every shade of tulle they had.  The manager who helped me and cut all my fabrics was so nice and asked questions about my wedding, etc.  She was also nice enough to think of writing little labels for me of each color and tucking them inside the folds so I would know which was which when I came back to buy more after trying them out with my dress to see what matched the best.  

Isn't God good?  The one that matched the best was a discontinued color that thankfully they still had AND it was on sale 50% off!  My Sweetie (my grandma) is going to make a really wonderful hair decoration/mini veil sort of piece for me to wear at the reception since my real veil really isn't practical to wear during the whole reception.  

I am so excited!  Hooray! 

girl times

I am really looking forward to some good girl times like this during our wedding weekend with everyone in town!  

These photos of college friends taken July '07 during Bree Bash weekend!

peace

This photo was taken at my old apartment.  I really like it.  It is just very peaceful to me. I am VERY thankful to God for giving me so much peace during this last week and a half of "back to work" and trying to tie up loose ends of wedding planning as well.  If you are reading this and would like to say a prayer for continued peace and productivity and good relationship connection time in the midst of this busy time of the wedding quickly approaching, I welcome you to!  Thank you!  Kelly

my wedding dress

my. wedding. dress. just. came. in.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so important

Today I'd like to link over to Sandy's blog. She wrote this post a few days ago and I think it's definitely worth sharing. As I read through the comments I was shocked and surprised about how many people turn people down when they ask for help with things. It made me thankful all over again for the wonderful, wonderful people I am surrounded with in my life and made me want to encourage myself and you to be the kind of person who can help someone out from time to time.

I'm thankful today for my friend Sarah who is so thoughtfully having Jenni, Adrian and I over for dinner on the first day of school! Hooray for not having to cook! And it's her first day too!

I'm also so thankful for my mom and dad and my grandma who helped with various aspects of working on the invitations for our wedding this weekend and for my cousin Jonathan and friend Meredith who designed and are carrying them out. I'm very blessed.

Let's all be a blessing when and where we can.

pms?

When I walked up to the check out counter at Blockbuster with this the other day surely the girl thought I was PMSing, just went through a break-up or something, right?  

Truth is, I just started school.  

No really, I guess the only real truth to that is that I did feel a craving for a bit of ice cream after I finished the first half of my first work week back but not really wanting to go all the way to Wal-mart which always has the best prices on Ben and Jerry's, I had what I thought was a brilliant brainstorm.  I had at least three blockbuster gift cards that had been gifts from students and languishing in my purse for MONTHS if not years.  We just don't rent movies.  I knew some blockbusters had an ice cream cart so in I went.  No ice cream cart at this one but I was already there and just wanted to get rid of the cards so . . .

a hair magazine to see if there was any wedding inspiration updos, Red Vines (for Adrian) and pop rocks  (for me) for our next roadtrip (these are some of our faves) plus some chocolate (notice the missing Rocher candy!), etc. for the next few weeks.  :)  

Oh and a ring pop, doesn't every engaged girl need one?  :)  

Happy first week back at school to everyone that applies to!  I pray God's blessing on this new school year.  Kelly

p.s. the hair magazine yielded minimal results.  Anyone got a great photo of a feminine, lovely wedding updo?  Thanks.  Kelly

scents

My bride blog friend Amy has written a post about wedding day scents here.

This is something that I want to incorporate into our wedding day as well but despite having one fragrance shopping trip under my belt I do not know what I will get!  Any suggestions?  

Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend!  Kelly

so many things!

Whew!  What a week so far!  

We spend last weekend in Houston with my family and had SUCH a fun shower on Sunday!  It was so absolutely fantastic.  Pics to come!!!

Monday I started back to school. Lots of meetings, working in my classroom, etc.

Tonight I thought I'd post about bridesmaids.  One of my fellow "blog brides" posted this today.  

I thought I'd "reply" by posting some pics of the route I chose to take.  

You may remember this post from back in April where I was debating whether or not to even have bridesmaids.  You see I am now 32 and I have had a lot of time to make some really great girlfriends.  Who wants to pick people and leave others out?  Not me.  I also did not really care that much about having matchingly dressed people standing up front with us.  

So, I went a little bit different route.  I made some cards for my girlfriends who I'm close to and wrote about why they are special to me, what I appreciate about them, some of the memories we share, etc. and mailed them to them asking them to be my "bride's friend".  I mean really, that's what I want, is wonderful friends (which I already have!) to celebrate this special time in my life with me, so that's what I asked for.  It has been so much fun to get their responses and it brought me so much joy to sit down and write each of them and reflect on what they mean to me and what we share.  

The photo above is of a few of the cards.  

Happy back to school for all of you that that applies to!  Kelly

more shower and another make-up question plus a blogging question

= longest title ever!

I wanted to show you some more of the shower.  My friend Jenni organized the whole thing!  Look at this great table!  It was so neat and so me!  See those little containers of orange and blue jelly bellies on the fiestaware plates behind the cake?  They gave them to me!  Remember this?

This is the neat surprise picture display they did of us!  I didn't even know.  My friend Jenny got Adrian to help her get some pictures.  :) 

My friend Tiffany made this delicious cake!  

Here is the book I bought at Michaels and embellished for our shower sign-ins and writing down the gifts.  Yea for the xyron to help me turn a plain chipboard R into a lovely blue one.  :)  

So here's my blogging question:  I would love to include pics of the other people at this shower besides just me because aren't people the fun of it?  But, I hesitate to put people's names and pics out on the internet for the world to see if I don't know for sure that they're cool with that.  Some people aren't and I totally understand that.  So, for those of you who blog, do you post other people's pics, ask them everytime?  What do you do?  Also, if you're reading my blog and don't care if I post your pic, leave me a comment or shoot me an e-mail and then I'll know.  :)  Thanks.  

I know these two shower guests are cool with it so I decided to post their pic even though Marla's talking and not looking at the camera but look at little Grant waving!  Couldn't resist that sweetness!  

Make-up question:  What is the trick to getting eyeliner on well?

Thanks.  Kelly  

finally done!, shower, question

Whew!  I'm finally done trying to get all of the addresses entered.  Just waiting to hear back from a few people and that part of sending out invitations at least will be done.  It was tedious but it will be so completely worth it when we are surrounded by family and friends on our wedding day!  

I have not yet shared about the shower!  Things have just been busy!  We have another shower coming up this weekend in Houston!  Oh, I am soo excited!  I want to be sure and share about this first one before the second one comes along!

These are presents from Adrian and my mom all ready to go.  Adrian did something incredibly sweet!  He knew I had been searching for antique cake servers to have engraved with our initials without any luck.  He got on ebay and bought one that matches the pattern of the antique silver we were just recently given!  How neat is that?!!!  What an heirloom to treasure!  

My mom got us this neat platter below for our shower!  I love it!  Sorry the picture is a little fuzzy.  Platters are just so much fun!  

One of the hostess gifts was this square cake pedestal in the same pattern as the platter that also goes with our everyday dishes.  I am so excited to host parties, get togethers, etc. and get to use these neat things.  I'm sure you will be seeing pictures of them on the blog once the wedding is over and Adrian and I get back to cooking!  

Opening another present.  It really was wild to be the one who the shower was being given for this time around.  Whoa!

Trying to adequately express my sincere thanks go people who not only have thrown this fabulous shower but have been family to me during the past ten years!  

Here's my question:  I'm looking for some lightly patterned paper that can have addresses printed on it and still be legible over the pattern in either a robin's egg blue or an orange for our wrap around address labels for our wedding invitations.  If you happen to be out shopping at a scrapbooking store or some other place with paper and you run across something like this that might work, will you let me know?  School starts on Monday, I've got to get these things out and I no longer have time to be scouting all over for "just the perfect thing" so I thought I'd enlist the help of my blog friends!  You guys are so great always leaving such great comments and giving good advice!  For those of you who are silently reading out there, feel free to chime in anytime. :)  Thanks! Kelly

another present!!!

I've tried to post about this several times now but for some reason the pictures refuse to upload except for this one.  I guess I'll just have to post with a single picture.  

This is our second present to come in the mail.  It still astounds me that presents can just show up on your door step!  It is from my dear childhood friends Kori and Mindy and their families.  It is a fondue pot!  We grew up eating fondue together at birthday parties, etc.  I love that they picked out something so personal to our relationship and I can't wait to make and eat some yummy fondue in this thing!  So, so very fun!  Thank you, Kori and Mindy!!!  

Do you have a favorite recipe for fondue or a favorite item to dip?  

I'd love to hear about it.  

I must keep my nose to the grindstone today.  We've got to get invitations out for this wedding and I've GOT to finish compiling all of the addresses.  Anyone have any tips, advice, organization, ways to make this part of wedding planning easier?  Kelly

Faithful God and make-up advice

This photo taken at one of my old apts. is a good one for me to think on right now.  

My A/C is out!  

The magic "unpacking fairies" didn't come while we were in Pittsburgh.

Things seem a little hard right now. 

I know God is faithful though and this morning I prayed again asking Him to be in control of the wedding and everything else.  He is.  He will.

Good things for today:  

My friend Rachel, let me spend the night at her place so I didn't have to sleep in un-airconditioning!

I worked out.

I bought a new wallet to replace mine with holes in it for only $11!

 I think I've found someone to do our cakes!  Hooray!

I e-mailed a couple of videographers.

Yesterday Adrian helped me come up with a good idea for the school year.  I needed motivation/organization and I think I have a theme and a system now.

I've taken care of some other wedding related e-mail stuff and talked to a good friend and my sister-in-law who is also a good friend!

There is a delicious breeze coming through the window right now!  

Okay, here's a question:  

Make-up.  I really want to do it myself for the wedding.  I don't usually wear more than moisturizer, concealer, eye shadow, mascara, powder, blush and lipstick/gloss. 

I'd love suggestions for something that will stay on all day and make my complexion look flawless, your favorite eye liner and why, etc.  Thanks!  Kelly

back from our trip

Hi there,

we're back from our trip and tired as can be

why does traveling take so much out of you?

We had a great trip though and wonderful times visiting with Adrian's family and friends back home!  

I realized a few minutes ago that I left my camera and it will have to be mailed back to me so in the absense of the pics of the new apt. I wanted to post upon our return, the above is what I'm looking forward to things looking like around here after a little more "settling in".  

Hope everyone has had a great week!  Kelly

photo taken in the kitchen of my old apt. circa summer 2006 

thank you!

I tried to post more photos a couple different times earlier tonight but alas, blogger was not cooperating.  I have an *early* flight to catch in the morning so I'll leave you with this one.  

My sweet friends Angela and Laura came over to help on Saturday.  In. the. heat!!!  Thank you sooo much!  In the approx. three hours they were hear, not only did we get all of the fridge/freezer/meltables (chocolate, candles, etc.) moved over from the old apt. to the new, we also unpacked ALL these boxes!  These women were on a mission!  An organizing mission.  Seriously, when they left my pantry, fridge and "craft closet" looked like I'd lived here forever!  Again, more pics to come.  Hopefully I'll be able to post while on my trip but if not, never fear, I will return!  :)  Kelly

keep the home fires burning

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who prayed for a smooth moving time!

We have been very blessed the last few days and things are definitely falling into place around here.  Many more pictures to come but just wanted to post one tonight.  Sleep tight!  Kelly

all done!

the moving part is done!  hallelujah!!!

the settling in part is well underway!

we've got FIOS up and running!  

more later, I'm exhausted and hungry

kelly

pics of me and my man

Today is moving day so I am writing this on Thursday night and scheduling it to post on Friday, moving day.  Much progress has been made and God has rained down blessings.  I got to see our new apartment today for the first time and it is going to be just great!  It is in good shape (which isn't always true with apts. in my experience) and there are several great things about it.  

The floor plan is slightly different than the one we saw when looking and besides the blessing of TWO bedrooms and TWO baths, the garage is BIG, the laundry room is BIG and the water heater is in a different place from the model as well as the door leading to the garage so that space is actually useable.  Also, the pantry is shelves inside the laundry room as opposed to the little closet with no light we saw in the model.  

Are these weird things to be excited about?  :)  

My sweet friend Sarah offered to fix us some lunch tomorrow for while we're moving.  What a wonderful blessing is that?!  We're gonna get started super early in the morning and try to avoid some of the worst heat.  Say a prayer for us if you're reading this, please!  :)  

I'll leave you with a few pics of me and my wonderful man!  

my birthday last year

going to visit him in Missouri before he moved here

at Bree Bash '07 before going to our friends', Brad and Britney's wedding!

We are going to have FIOS at the new apt. so hopefully it'll get installed quickly and I'll be back up and blogging soon!  Kelly