Nichole and Jason's Wedding Journal

[hughesfarmgirl]

Ok so I am finally starting a wedding journal on here. I have been keeping everything on a powerpoint and in a binder. I figure this is a place to share my ideas and to get feedback and opinons on it all.

The Date: Well we're waiting to get a call back from the two venues to tour and talk about date options...but we are looking at the middle of June 2009.

The Place: There are two different options The Ruritan in Montgomery or the Conservation Club in Washington. There are pros and cons of both places but our main concern at this point is trying to figure out how to have the ceremony without having to move chairs and tables between it and the reception since we are looking at having our ceremony at the same place. We would get married in a church, but we don't attend one regularly...I was raised Catholic but have attened small country churches after growing up (none big enough for the large number of people that will attend)...and the church that Jason was raised in was demolished in a tornado a few years ago and they haven't rebuilt yet.

The Time: We're thinking late afternoon (around 4 pm)

The Theme: Lucky In Love (with joined horseshoes)

The Colors: Red and White with Black accents

I'll post a bunch of pictures on things we have decided on or things we are thinking about.

Thanks in advance for any advice, suggestions, opinions, etc that you give!
:D

[sweetvenus]

Congrats! I've got a similar color scheme. Mine is black and white with red accents. I can't wait to hear more about your plans!

[hughesfarmgirl]

Here are pictures of my dress:

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/THEONEnoveil.jpg?t=1213713635

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/THEONEfront.jpg?t=1213713785

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/THEONEback.jpg?t=1213713819

[hughesfarmgirl]

My Veil:

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/THEVeil.jpg?t=1213713947

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/Nov102007LisaNathanEngagementPictur.jpg?t=12137138 69

[hughesfarmgirl]

Here are the shoes that I'll be wearing under my dress...Yeah they're cowboy boots...hey you can dress up a farm/country girl up but you can't change her boots! :cloppy:

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/WeddingBoots.jpg?t=1213714149

[hughesfarmgirl]

Well, we finally have an appointment with each of the venues that we want to consider for the wedding. Friday night we have appointments to go to the Conservation Club and the Ruritan. I'm excited. Once we decide on place, we'll have a date...The Conservation Club is available June 20th and the Ruritan is available June 13th.
I'm also looking for sites to buy the pocketfolders to make my own invitations...I've looked at cardsandpokets.com and paperpresentation.com. Are there any other sites that I haven't found yet?

[Danielle9608]

Beautiful dress - and I love the boots too :)

[Ninedays9]

I really like the dress and the veil! The veil is so unique and looks very good with the dress.

[hughesfarmgirl]

The veil is a David's Bridal veil and can be ordered in about any color. (It's not on the website right now but they do have it still.)
Thanks for all the compliaments! I feel in love with the dress and a month later found the veil at David's (I'm getting my dress from Illusions Bridal in Vincennes).
Ok...so new things...I'm getting excited about our meetings with the venues tonight. I am a little concerned about picking the date. We wanted mid June to stay close to our dating anniversary. If we go with the site I think we'll like the most (and is cheaper) the date available in June is the 13th. Jason's brother and his partner usually go to Indy for that weekend each year (they are always hush hush about the whole deal but since I'm not stupid and from there I know that they are going to the Gay Pride Parade...It honestly bothers me that they go march in the PRIDE parade but don't have enough pride in their life choice to be honest with the family...who accept their decision completely...but I won't get on my soapbox). So I'm a little frustrated...next summer is already getting full at the venues and I don't know what I should do about the date issue. Any suggestions? Do I set the date based on what we want and risk them (brother is in the wedding party and his partner we wanted to be the bartender) not being in town...Do we hope that they will think that that is an every year thing while our wedding is a once in a lifetime thing...Or do we set a different date that we aren't completely happy with?
Okay...happy things...I ordered my garter...no it doesn't match the red theme but it makes us happy (Jason works for John Deere and we are a John Deere Farm)
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/Garter.jpg?t=1213979519
I still want to put the horseshoes on it that I made to symbolize the joining of our two lives and interests! Here are the horseshoes:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/000_0170.jpg?t=1213979586 (javascript:void(0);)

And what I'm REALLY excited about today...I found a website (http://www.premiervolleyball.org/Pictures/Wedding/The%20DIY%20Pocketfold%20Invitations.htm) that someone put up with DIY instructions on how to make pocket fold invitations from scratch...so I got the materials and gave er a whril...and here is how they turned out...and ps...I'll save at least $200 by making them all myself:

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/000_0171.jpg?t=1213979878
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/000_0172.jpg?t=1213979909
It's a little blurry on this but you get the picture!

I'm really excited about saving money by doing things on my own (even if it might take forever) and in my opinion it will mean more in the end.

After our meetings tonight and our list of decisions to make over the weekend (ask the attendants, decide a venue, set the date, etc) I'll post with updates.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

[hughesfarmgirl]

Ok...so my head is swimming with thoughts and ideas...and I can't sleep. We visited the two venues that we had in mind and very easily came to a decision. We went with the Ruritan (http://montgomeryruritanclub.com/Building.htm) in Montgomery. The only open June dates are the 13th (I discussed the dilemma with that date before) and the 27th. I spoke with Jason's mom and she said that they can handle skipping one year to be there for our wedding since it is a once in a lifetime thing. I don't want to cause trouble in the family but I'm afraid that there will be a lot of drama unfolding if we have it on the day we want it. We are REALLY leaning towards the 13th. I'm going to talk to my family this weekend and see where they all stand on the 13th and then we'll make a final decision and sign the contract on Monday.
A question I have for everyone....
We don't belong to a church around here (the church Jason grew up in was destroyed in a tornado a few years ago and I'm not from around here) so we are planning on having the wedding and reception at the same location. Is it rude to state on the reception card in the invitation that the reception will start about 2 hours after the ceremony ends to give us time to set up for the reception...but we encourage our guests to check into their hotels or visit the nearby (less than 5 minutes) Amish Village (shops, etc) during that time? We don't want to spend a lot of money on another venue for the ceremony and it is not big enough to set up and have the ceremony in there. I had thought about setting the reception up so that people could sit at the tables facing the front where we would get married but I don't really like that idea.
Well that's all for now...more later...Goodnight!

[hughesfarmgirl]

Ok...couple new things:
Thanks to Weblady for helping me refine my save-the-dates!!!

Save-the-Dates (will be printedo on magnet paper)
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/savethedate.gif?t=1214498756

Stickers for the Pocketfold invitations or for the envelopes...I'm not sure which one we'll use them for.
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/stickerforinvitation.gif?t=1214498396

[hughesfarmgirl]

I got my garter in the mail on Saturday...it's awesome...I'm very excited and Jason loves it. We finally decided who we want to be our attendants, so now we just have to ask each of them. I asked one of my college friends, Miranda and she is really excited! I am trying to get her to join this forum (she's already married) so that she can help plan through here...she lives in North Dakota.
We put our deposit down on the venue and are considering having the wedding ceremony outside the Ruritan building!:D

[hughesfarmgirl]

Here are the two options that I am considering for my bridesmaids:

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/bridesmaidsdress1.jpg?t=1214848111
I tried one like this on...it is very flattering to the figure!



http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/bridesmaidsdress2.jpg?t=1214848129
I like that there is white on here to incorporate both of our colors.

[Nekochanpurr]

I like the BM dress with the strap! :D

[sweetvenus]

Ooh, I love that first dress!

[picindiana]

Ok ... I'm going flip. This is the 4th time I have tried to post. The first time it got lost, then they said I had too many pictures, and now I'm not a trusted member, so I'm not allowed to post any pictures. Gotta say, not loving Onewed ...

ANYWAY ... I have a few pictures I wanted to show you. They are just different dresses I saw online while looking with Megan and now that you've asked me to be a BM, I think you might like them too.

No pressure ... it is your wedding and I'll wear whatever you ask me. I do really like the first dress you posted. Very elegant.

Aaaanyway, it's bed time for us. I'll post more and get more familiar with OneWed tomorrow.

Love ya!!!! :kiss:

[hughesfarmgirl]

Hey hun...
It takes a few times posting to be trusted (that just keeps the spam out)...I think that the magic number is 15. Until then you can post websites or sometimes attachments. Photobucket is the best way to paste pictures (save there and then copy and paste here) once you are trusted. After those 15 you can create tickers like the ones at the bottom of my posts.
Thanks for joining and I'm sure that your creativeness will help a lot of to be brides!
:cloppy:

[hughesfarmgirl]

Miranda...check in the general chat then go to Introducing a New Member and post so people can get to know you better!

*EDIT - The thread is here - http://forums.onewed.com/showthread.php?t=18010

[hughesfarmgirl]

Miranda,
I will definately need your expertise for the reception decor and arrangements. I'm working on house stuff today...think I'll work on painting the spare bedroom...but I'll post more pictures of things soon!
How was your 4th? Ours was BUSY...I had to throw a bridal shower for Lisa (I'm her maid of honor...she is supposed to be mine but she may not be in the country that week so we'll see) and it was just alright. Well take care and have a great day!
:cloppy:

[Goin2thechapel]

OKay...HI!!! Just getting around to your journal, I'm super slow!

Love your dress...I think it's the red in it that just makes you soo radiant!

Your bridesmaid dresses are sooooo pretty. Are you going to pair the red with the white sash? I too had red and white in my wedding and loved it! When I was getting married I was looking at a dress similiar to yours...Very pretty!

By the way...Welcome and Happy Planning!!!

[picindiana]

Hey Lady - I'll start coming up with some ideas ... but I'll need some info first.

1. Which would you rather have ... Flowers or Candles?

2. Traditional or Contemporary?

3. What is your color scheme (besides red?)

4. Tall or Short?

5. What feel are you going for ... relaxed / at home or romantic / formal?

I'll put together some ideas and you let me know which you like the best and we can go from there.

Love ya.

[ger]

Hi and welcome to both of you. I'm just getting around to seeing your journal. I love your dress...AND your veil. Perfect!!

I made my own pocketfold invites. They turned out pretty nice if I do say so myself!! I got a LOT of compliments on them. BUT....do start VERY early making them. They take up a lot of time. They aren't hard...just time consuming.

Can't wait to see more of your planning!!

[hughesfarmgirl]

Hey Lady - I'll start coming up with some ideas ... but I'll need some info first.

1. Which would you rather have ... Flowers or Candles?

2. Traditional or Contemporary?

3. What is your color scheme (besides red?)

4. Tall or Short?

5. What feel are you going for ... relaxed / at home or romantic / formal?

I'll put together some ideas and you let me know which you like the best and we can go from there.

Love ya.

Miranda...
Hey girl...here's the answers to your questions...
1. candles because they are cheaper...
2. Hmm...I'll say...Country
3. red, white, black accents
4. medium...I want people to see each other across the table
5. country elegant (some hick stuff mixed with some elgance)
***Our favors are going to be horseshoes with tags on them telling people to put them over their doors for luck. With all the horse people I know I can get the horseshoes free!!!
***Our theme is "Lucky in Love" with two horseshoes linked together.
***Since we are going with horseshoes and DIY stuff...I thought it would be neat to make the centerpieces with horseshoes welded together (Jason can weld) and paint them black...somehow I want them to hold candles.
***We were at the venue and saw some set up for another wedding and it was awesome, had lots of clear Christmas lights and fabric hanging from the ceiling.
***The food is buffet style and there will be an area for a bar.
***There is a BEAUTIFUL fireplace with ceiling to floor rock surrounding it.
***The color of the building is a tanish with a white chair rail. It is huge (holds up to 500 people...which is good cause if everyone coems it will be close to that many). The tables are rectangular (provided by the venue) and they provide folding chairs.

So hope that helps...have a wonderful day...thanks...
Love ya,
:cloppy:

[hughesfarmgirl]

Okay here is what we are using instead of a ring pillow...we will tie the rings to a separate ribbon on the top.
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/ringhorsehoe.jpg?t=1215522528 (javascript:void(0);)

Here is something I really like for my bouquet...the picture is a little blurry but you can get the picture.
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/bridalboquet1-1.jpg?t=1215522864 (javascript:void(0);)

Here are the flowers that the florists are ordering for me to look at...I think that I want them used for the bridesmaids bouquets. Originally I wanted red and white roses alternated but with a smaller bouquet, the florist realized that me being fairly anal, would look at the pictures and pick apart the fact that there were colors touching and stuff like that. So here ya go:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/flowerforbridesmaids.jpg?t=1215522925

[hughesfarmgirl]

Ok...so in my posts, I forgot to add:
Last week, I went to the Dollar Tree...and left very excited. I bought them out of RED plasticware! I bought enough knives, spoons, and forks for 340 people (if none break...yeah right) and only spent $21.40. Gotta LOVE the Dollar Store!
:D

[hughesfarmgirl]

SO I was thinking about putting a few of these on each table(Jason would make them)

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/horseshoevotiveholder.jpg?t=1215650494 (javascript:void(0);)

I would put these votive cups in the horseshoes:

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/votivecups.jpg?t=1215650590

I'll post some centerpiece ideas later.
:cloppy:

[Goin2thechapel]

YES!!! Those centerpiece ideas are great! I haven't seen anything like that around this forum...Very nice!!!

[ger]

Those are so cute...and fit perfectly with your theme!

[brendalin]

Here are pictures of my dress:

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/THEONEnoveil.jpg?t=1213713635

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/THEONEfront.jpg?t=1213713785

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/nicholejroach/THEONEback.jpg?t=1213713819

I love this dress! You look beautiful! You can tell that it is "the one" by how happy you are in it!

[brendalin]

okay, I just read throught the rest of your journal and I wanted to say welcome! Love all your ideas, soooo cute!!!

[hughesfarmgirl]

Thanks girls. I love my dress too. I even teared up when I put it on...I was so excited. I usually hate dresses and almost anything girly (I've always been a tomboy and a farm girl)...but that made me feel amazing! We still haven't decided on a bridesmaid dress...I still have 2 or 3 more girls to ask and want to hear their input too. Some horse friends of mine are supposed to be supplying all of the horseshoes...the sooner I get some the better...so we can start playing around with different things. Did I mention that I love Jason...he's one of those guys who can do about anything (weld, work on equipment/vehicles, build stuff, etc) he's just so amazing...guess that is one of the MANY reasons I am marrying him huh...lol. :D
I have to call the caterer today and set up an appointment to talk about food and the cake!
I went to the florist with my friend who I am a maid of honor in her wedding...I had her order some of the red and white striped flowers so that I could see them before I made a decision on what I wanted the bridesmaids bouquets to look like. After we see those we'll place our floral order.
AND a friend of ours informed us that he is buying DJ equipment...and said we'd work out a really good deal on using them as a DJ and using their equipment for the ceremony.
Things sure do come together fast. I am just worried that I'm going to hit stress overload this school year. I am teaching high ability math full time, am the high ability coordinator, have to run 2 committees, have to be a member of 2 other committees, have to go to monthly conferences for the state high ability stuff, coach 2 M.A.T.H. Bowl teams, go back to school to get my high ability license (6 credits a semester), and finish planning and doing all of my DIY things for the wedding! AHHH just thinking about it freaks me out. I'm sure it will all work out...thank goodness for fall, Christmas, and spring breaks I guess.
Have a great day everyone:cloppy:

[hughesfarmgirl]

I think that I found my photographer!!!
A friend of mine who is a reining horse trainer was telling me that his girlfriend is doing photography now...she's been taking classes and has been doing portraits and is a photographer for the NRHA (National Reining Horse Association). Here is her website: http://kandireedphotography.com/home
I'm excited...she's supposed to be getting ahold of me in a few days to talk about it!

[alli816]

Wow you have gotten so much done...I love the horse shoes with the candles.......I havent been on your journal in awhile but I just wanted to say your wedding dress is beautiful...you look like a princess in it....I love the red color and cant wait to see your bridemaids dresses....:D

[hughesfarmgirl]

Well after a few weeks of not getting anything accomplished for the wedding we have had a big couple of days. (I've been teaching summer school remediation for two weeks.)
Yesterday we registered at Kohl's. Yeah I know that it is early, but people who want to buy gifts and already know about the wedding can get REALLY good deals after Thanksgiving and Christmas, etc.
Today we picked out the tuxes for Jason and the groomsmen. While we were picking out tuxes, I had Jason stay downstairs and I got fitted for my dress and ordered it. I am really excited, but the reality of it all set in when I wrote that check...this is really happening and I'm sure it will be here before we know it.
School starts the week after next and our goal is to get the flowers ordered and meet with the caterer we like to give our deposit and discuss sides and cake choices. Jason still needs to make a decision about groomsmen and get them all asked so that I can ask more girls if necessary. Once school starts things will be nuts until about November...going to college to get my high ability license, in a county-wide math consortium, on the math textbook committee, teaching, coaching, going to state conferences, running the high ability programs K-12 and the high ability committee meetings, playing softball, helping my best friend get ready for her wedding in October (I am her maid of honor) and another set of our friends are getting married in October, not to mention Jason's parents have their 40th wedding anniversary in October and we are going to try to throw them a party, and fall harvest on the farm along with getting my horse back from the trainer and needing to ride him at least every other day. Once the holidays come and go I will be able to take a deeper breath just in time to start stressing over getting everything done for the wedding.

[katrina7875]

I just read through your journal. It sounds like you have a lot planned already.

I love your dress. I was leaning towards a very similar dress. My colors are red & white and my dress has red accents as well. You look gorgeous in that dress, BTW.

I also love your lucky in love theme. Good luck with the planning, especially since you have a lot on your plate. I look forward to seeing what else you come up with.

[hughesfarmgirl]

:D Well yesterday was a good day. We finally got to meet with the caterer. We were really starting to sweat it...but were a little relieved. We figure that at the LEAST we'll have about 350 people at the wedding but are inviting over 500 (huge families). We knew it was going to get expensive fast. We had already planned on doing a hog roast as the main course. We'll get a discount on bbq from a friend of my dad and the price of hogs is really down right now. So we can feed the main course to everyone for $0.50 - $0.75 a person at the most. But we were most worried about the cost of the sides and the cake. Well for two sides (mac and cheese and green beans) and dinner rolls (with butter) it is $2.50 per person. Yeah I know we could probably make it a lot cheaper but with a lot more headache so paying a little more is worth it in my opinion. A four teired cake with 4 more rounds sitting on the table with it and 3 sheet cakes (enough to feed 360) is going to be $310. So we're banking on around $1500 to feed (bbq pork, sides, cake, beer/tea/lemonade) for 360 people....I think that is reasonable as it is just over $4 a person total. That also includes their people working at the wedding. The best part...we didn't even have to put a deposit down. So big stuff left...get the cost from the photographer and get engagement pics...get cost from the DJ...have a get together to introduce the bridal party to each other...book the florist...then all the little stuff...make invitations...make favors...make centerpieces...get decorations...get addresses...etc. :cloppy:

[hughesfarmgirl]

Well we've finally asked all of our attendants to be in the wedding!!! :D We are really busy with other people's weddings and things on the farm/with school right now...so we haven't done much of anything else for our wedding lately. So here is the list of our bridal party:
Lisa Dove- matron of honor
Miranda Porte - bridesmaid
Megan Lindley - bridesmaid
Jo Roach - bridesmaid
Chrissy Cates - bridesmaid
Jennifer Lake - bridesmaid
April Morgan - bridesmaid
Lydia Tomey - flower girl
Tiffany and Montana Evans - guestbook attendants
Jim Tomey - best man
Matt Lyfford - groomsman
Kevin Hughes -groomsman
Shane Hughes- groomsman
John Rodich - groomsman
Phil Hart - groomsman
Scott Clifton - groomsman
Lance Roach - ring bearer
Thomas Hughes - usher
Brandon Hughes - usher

[hughesfarmgirl]

Okay so much happens between my postings...things are always so crazy and unfortunately it doesn't ever seem to have anything to do with wedding stuff. Right now is harvest time so what little time I have to spare, I am in the fields with the guys. My rear is getting kicked by two graduate courses to get my high ability license and one of my professors needs to get a life. School is busier than ever with conferences and practices and meetings, etc. Softball has ended, but I didn't get to play the last month because I got hurt (got thrown from one of the new horses). We rescued two SKINNY horses and bought (but will be trading due to some issues that have come up with the one we bought). lisa's wedding (I was her maid of honor and she is mine) is over and kept me busy a lot this fall. We're in the middle of high school football sectionals with the nephews. And the holidays seem to be right around the corner.
So...wedding updates. My dress came in and went and got it :) But I am going to take it back to the store for them to hold on to since we have a wood stove and use it all winter (I don't want my dress smelling like wood stove next summer). Two of my bridesmaids have been changed....one was pregnant and due the day of the wedding and another one's sister is getting married and with a new house and new baby she didn't think she afford to be in both....SOO...two of Jason and I's close friends in Washington are now in the wedding...which I am excited about. Jason has picked out his tuxes. Other than that the wedding planning has been ziltch unfortuantely. I have to get through December 16th and the end of my semeseter of grad courses before I can put much effort into the wedding...but I will be spending nearlly all of Christmas break from school working on wedding things!
Well that's about it from me...I'll keep you posted.

[Kay]

Hi! Just want to say I just read your journal! You have some cute ideas ~ and your dress is BEAUTIFUL and you look SOOOO HAPPY in it!!! :)

[hughesfarmgirl]

Hey everyone! I've not been on here in forever. It seems like the second semester of school was crazy; finishing my high ability teaching license, finishing out the school year, getting our nephew graduated from high school, and getting everything ready for the wedding (just to name a few of the things).
We had a beautiful wedding and wonderful honeymoon to Gatlinburg, TN. We are glad to be back and are keeping busy on the family farm.
Here is the website if you want to look at our pictures from our photographers (a friend of mine took a bunch of pictures and can be found under Miranda on my Facebook if you want to see them): http://kandireed.exposuremanager.com/g/nichole_jason_wedding (http://kandireed.exposuremanager.com/g/nichole_jason_wedding)
Feel free to borrow any of the ideas we used!

[Heywie]

Welcome back!

It sounds like you have been very busy!

Your wedding looks beautiful! I love your dress and veil!!!

[Kay]

Congratulations!! Your wedding was beautiful! :)