Amos & Abbey ~May 29, 2009~

[MelvinBug]

I registered for this message board awhile ago, visited it religiously for a few weeks then lost my internet connection for ages. I went through withdrawls I think... I couldn't get my wedding fix. :P

Anywho, I am finally back on the good old world wide web and ready to dive back in to collecting and sharing ideas!

Wedding plans are still chugging along, I've accomplished alot - even though everyone still says I'm "behind schedule," their schedule maybe, but I'm feeling comfortable with everything I've got done and everything left to do. I do feel a bit unorganized at times though, I'm the kind of person who likes to see all their ideas laid out in one spot, I like to be able to examine and look back on things, which is what brings me to a wedding journal. I think this is a perfect way for me to keep track of my plans and ideas... and share them at the same time!


***

The wedding thus far...

Wedding Colors

Ivory and Red. My most favorite color in the whole world (besides plaid... but despite my most valiant efforts, it is still not a recognized color) is red. I was estatic when Amos agreed to let me use red as one of our colors. He was hesitant at first because for some reason he had it in his mind that only hookers used red... I'm not even sure I know what that means. But he caved and I got my red and its going to be beautiful. I originally was going to use red and brown, because we were going to have a fall wedding, but then he got deployed to Korea and we had to scratch all our wedding plans. We moved our wedding to spring time, and I considered keeping the brown, but thought it might be to opulant a color combo for the more subdued, gentle feelings of spring. I decided on Ivory, because it just feels so delicate, a perfect match for my more vibrent red.

Wedding Dress

I bought my dress last year over Thanksgiving when fiance and I were in Arizona with his family. For fun my MoH and I decided to check out a bridal shop we saw, I had no intention of buying anything, especially since it was one of those super posh shops... the kind of shop that is so full of itself it spells its name with an "e" and an extra "p".... shoppe. If they could afford to put those extra letters into their name... I didnt think I could afford the dresses. Well, we looked around while a snooty woman followed us around pointing out the pros of this designer or that (honestly, I could have cared less) and after awhile she finally talked me into trying some dresses on. "Why not," I thought, "It could be fun." So, I picked out the most ridiculously frilly, lacey, dress with biggest tulle skirt I have ever seen... seriously, I think I could have outfited a thousand ballerinas with that skirt. I tried it on and had a good laugh with my MoH, then I tried on a simpler Vera Wang dress, it was beautiful, but it was too uptight for me, not my style. I was wiggling out of the too tight Vera Wang and the sales woman said "you may think you know what you want, but you don't." "Excuse me?" Sure... it may be true, but how dare she say that! "I know what you want." I shot my MoH a "Uh-huh, sure she does" look and waited for her to come back into the dressing room with "what I wanted." After a minute or two of waiting she came back with this beautiful St. Pucchi dress in Ivory. She helped me into it, and like magic, it fit like a dream. It was also the most stunning dress I've ever seen, I was in love... I was also a little creeped out by the sales woman... it was almost supernatural. My heart dropped when I check out the price tag... 3000 bucks! Eep! Sure, in my fantasy world I could afford that...but out here in the real world I balked at the $725 my sister spent on her dress. Unknown to me MoH had snapped a picture on her cell phone and texted it to her mom who then proceeded to call my fiance who then ran to an ATM to pull out money to put down a deposit on the dress. I couldnt believe it, his mom had BOUGHT the dress for me! And here I thought she didnt like me.

So, that is the story of my dress, I just wish I had a picture to go along with it. Perhaps another time.


Bridesmaids

I have four Bridesmaids, two of them are my sisters, the other two are long time friends, and my Maid of Honor who is another long time friend and also happens to by my fiances sister. I love my MoH, even if it does creep her out that I'm marrying her brother. :D

I went to the bridal shop last week to just look around at dress ideas for my girls and the sales woman asked me when my wedding was, so I happily told
her "May 29." I think time stopped for a moment while all the bridal shop ladies starred at me in horror... "You are only looking now" was the answer I got... Here I thought I was on the ball and getting things done, but I come to learn that if I wanted dresses of my choice by the wedding, I had to order now. Thank god for my girls though, I nearly panicked but the girls came through for me, the next day my MoH took half the day off from work to spend the afternoon at the bridal shop with me and we picked out the dresses. The one we picked out was actually the 2nd one she tried on, it was a stunning dress, it has a beautiful lace up back that matches the back of my wedding dress. The other bridesmaids did an amazing job of getting all their measurments in that day or the next, so crisis #1 averted.

The dress we picked out is an Alfred Angelo (http://www.alfredangelo.com/Collections/ProductDisplay.aspx?productID=542b8bd1-31e0-4b6b-936f-0777d2250432&categoryID=772f03c9-de43-4942-bfa0-da77e21ebd65&pg=1) in cherry.

http://s7d4.scene7.com/ir/render/AlfredAngeloRender/7006-600?wid=340&obj=main&color=188,0,53&sharpen=1

The flowergirls dress is this cute little Cherry and Ivory number.

http://s7d4.scene7.com/ir/render/AlfredAngeloRender/6595-600?wid=340&obj=main&color=188,0,53&sharpen=1

Groomsmen

Less of a story to tell here, other then I pretty much had to twist my sweeties arm to get him to pick people. It was a bit harder for him to decide though, being in the army, his buddies are scattered around, so coming up with friends who could actually make it to the wedding was a bit of a chore, I am proud of him for doing it though. Like me, he has 4 groomsmen, his cousin, my brother, and two of our dear friends and also a best man, another one of his cousins who I lovingly call Susan (I don't remember why).

My mom and I went in the day before yesterday and picked out the tuxes, I was a bit hesitant to decide on anything because I wasnt sure what Amos would want, but being in Korea it was a little hard to ask his oppinion, so we did the best we could. Later on I caught him online and showed him what we picked out and to my surprise and he had been looking online and had picked out a tux very similar to what we picked, only in black, so mom and I did a good job.

Fiance and the little ring bearer are going to be wearing this tux:

http://www.savviformalwear.com/images/gallery/gallery/full/RLProvCut_Full.jpg

While the groomsmen are wearing this with red vests, the ushers with ivory vests, and the fathers with gray vests.

http://www.savviformalwear.com/images/gallery/gallery/full/RLStroller_Full.jpg




To be continued...:cloppy:

[Mrs.Goff]

You have some great stories.

Can't wait to see pictures of your dress. ;)

My colors are close to yours. Mine are shades of red, white and black.

Looking forward to reading more.

Good luck and Congratulations.

[BarceloMayaPalaceBride]

Sounds like you're coming along GREAT! I love your colors! The BM dresses are gorgeous and the flower girl dress is waay to cute! Keep up the good work!!! :)

[MelvinBug]

Aww, thank you guys! I didn't think anyone would read through those wall of texts. :D

Fairly uneventful day as far as wedding planning is concerned, but its Saturday, can you really expect any thing more? I met up with one of the groomsmen in town though and convinced him to pop 'round to the tux shop with me to get his measurments down.

***

Reception Location

I have fallen in love with a place called Chase on the Lake, its a beautiful old resort about a half hour from me. Up until now I had been figuring on having the reception out at my moms farm, setting up a tent and all that jazz. But as I started looking around and doing the number crunching, I don't think I'm saving myself any money at all by doing that and its putting an extra work load on myself and family. But Chase on the Lake is just amazing, they will do everything for me... all I need to do is show up, be happy, and party, and that is exactly how I want to end my day!

I emailed their wedding coordinator the other day, and he got back to me promptly, which really makes me happy (I love wedding vendors who care enough to contact me right away). I asked him for a ball park estimate and any other information he could provide me with, to which he sent me their rental form and a menu guide. I'm not entirely sure on some of the costs, the explaination was a bit fuzzy to me... Ive been writing down my questions and Im going to email him again and ask if I can meet him to see the location in person and get some clarification on some things. For example, it says there is a $1000 room rental cost and it says $1000 non-refundable safety deposit is due at booking, so does that mean the room will actually be costing me $2000 or am I paying the $1000 rental cost right away? I'm guessing it means its $2000 for the room.

By having my wedding on a Friday it drops the food minimum drops down to $5000 instead of $6000, which is nice.

Its a $150 cake cutting fee as well as an additional $150 if they need to set up table favors, chair covers, etc.

Tax is 6.5 % and service charge is 18%.

And then whatever the cost of the alcohol is and if we go over the $5000 food minimum.

So, I think the total is sitting at somewhere around $9000 something (assuming that the room charge is $2000). Yikes, expensive, but I adore this place, so I'm going to see if I can make it work.

I remember many many many years ago attending a wedding reception at this place, but they have since then remodeled, everyone I have spoken too has said that its really beautiful now.

Chase on the Lake (http://www.chaseonthelake.com/weddings.html)




To be continued...:cloppy:

[MelvinBug]

I just found out yesterday that my little puppy had passed away, :(. My roommate found him outside and we really arent sure what happend to him, he wasn't even a year old yet. I was really miserable all day, it was too cold to bury him (ground was frozen solid) so my roommate called his brother and had him build up a big fire and we cremated the little guy and they spread his little ashes out over there field.

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v249/202/125/611824533/n611824533_944955_994.jpg

^^My cat Choco and JD (Just Dog):innocent:^^

On to some happier news, I attended a bridal expo the other night, for the $5 I paid to get, I was a little dissappointed in what all was there. It really wasnt much, and a lot of it was vendors I've already booked. But I got mountains of free cake and some really yummy meatballs from the various caterers. I also found the DJ that I think I'm going to book, he had a strict no chicken dance policy... AMEN TO THAT! Haha. I also won a raffle for a ring bearers pillow almost as soon as I walked into the door, its a really nice pillow too, matches my colors and everything, I got lucky! One less thing I have to think about. I also got an awesome coupon from the place I want to do my hair, if I bring in 5 bridesmaids I get a facial and my hair done free. I think there was a coupon along the same deal for the groom too, if his groomsmen come in for a haircut anytime within a month of the wedding, the groom gets a free haircut and like 10% off any other products or services.

I emailed Chase on the Lake and set up an appointment to see everything in person and to get my questions answered. My mom and I are going to head over there on Tuesday and then maybe have lunch at their nifty spa.


***

Photographer

I got my contract in the mail today from my photographer, I just need to fill out the info (such as the package I want, when I want them to show up, the places they need to go, and any other special notes) and then send off my $300 retainer check.

I'm really excited to have been able to book these guys. My sister used them for her wedding, they were pretty new then and just starting out and she was a little scared because she hadnt heard anything about them, but she was on a budget and had to take what she could get. But we were all incredibly pleased, the pictures were amazing! They do beautiful work. Since my sisters wedding, I've heard nothing but praise for these guys. They were also super nice and flexable, they arent going to charge me any travel fees, even though my wedding and my reception location are in two differnt cities (only 20 minutes apart though). They are also based out of the Twin Cities, which is about 4 or 5 hours away from me, but they arent charging me any travel fees for that either, wee!

We are doing their "Platinum" package, because I am a freak about pictures. I I have albums and albums full of pictures, they are my favorite souvenir of any event. So I am devoting a larger portion of our budget for the photographer.

For the $2,300 (only $2000 after I pay that retainer check) we are getting:

- Entire day of onsite photography
- Two professional photographers
- Full-color leather proofbook
- $150 credit toward prints or albums
- Personal engagement session
- Disc of digital negatives with a copyright release
- 11x16 canvas gallery wrap


Radiant Photography (http://www.radiant-photography.com/weddings/)


First Dance Song

I have been doing a lot of thinking on this topic. FH and I really never got "our song" while we were dating, we some how managed to dodge that cliche... which I regret, as it would make this easier... haha. So, I have been sending him songs and asking his oppinion, and man, is he ever picky! He has shot down everything I've sent.

Lets Call the Whole Thing Off - Fred Astair, I thought this was quirky and really matched our personalities, but FH thought it wasnt romantic enough.

Love You 'Til the End - The Pogues, I love the Pogues and have always loved this song, but FH reminded me it was on that Gerard Butler movie "PS I Love You" and once he mentioned that I got teary eyed and had to nix this song. I love that movie, but it makes me cry everytime!

The Stripper - David Rose, I mostly through that in to see if FH was even paying attention to the songs I sent him. He agreed to this one only if we set up poles on the dance floor. :P

I was talking to my mommy about our lack of "our song" and she reminded me of something I had totally forgotten. She pulled out a picture of Amos and I dancing together at my sisters 19th b-day party, we were the only ones on the dance floor and we looked totally absorbed into eachother with stupid grins on our faces and magically she even remembered what song was playing. Be There For You - Willie Nelson. I grabbed the CD the song is on and listened to it, and its perfect for us, and we are both big Willie fans. I sent the song off to my sweetie pie and he had no reasons to shoot it down either, so I think we have our first dance song!

Be There For You

It's the way that you kiss me
It's the way that you don't
It's the way that you'll miss me
When you swear that you won't

There's a feeling you give me
When we talk on the phone
God, I hope you outlive me
So I'm never alone

Chorus:
And whatever you do, I will be there for you
Through the thunder the wind and the rain
And whatever you do, I will promise to you
I will be there,
I will be there for you

I may lack social graces
But I won't swallow my pride
See there are millions of places, I could be
But I'm here by your side

(Chorus)

Though there's nothing to guide us
We will weather the storm
Till the heavens divide us
I'll keep you from harm

(Chorus)

And whatever you do, I'll be there for you
Through the thunder, the wind, and the rain
I will always be true, this I promise to you
I will be there
I'll be there for you


To be continued... :cloppy:

[MelvinBug]

The Dress

Finally took some pictures of my dress... excuse the mess of a closet. I haven't been in the mood to do laundry, so my closet looks like its thrown up on itself.

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/8733/001xn6.jpg

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/1969/002pw9.jpg

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/7202/003mk6.jpg


To be continued... :cloppy:

[Mrs.Goff]

O, that's gorgeous! I love the pickup in the front.

[MelvinBug]

Thank you! I'm pleased with my dress. :D

Well, today my mom and I went to check out the reception site I was interested in, and all I have to say is "wow." The place was really quite fabulous, beautiful woodwork everywhere! I was very pleased to hear that my date was open... and that it was one of the few weekends they even had left! Popular place!

We were shown around the hotel, the resturants, and the reception space. For the reception we are given their big conference room, which is a beautiful space in itself, but then we are also given the big outside patio that over looks a pond and a little waterfall, and a lobby area with sofas and the like.

We had lunch at the hotel, we thought we would treat ourselves to a nice meal...even if the menu was expensive. But when it came time to pay we found out that the hotel was picking up our tab! Talk about classy!

On the way home my mom and I talked about the place and decided it was really the perfect location. Not only was it beautiful, but a lot of my older relatives who are unable to travel live right in town there, so they will be able to make it.

Tomorrow is my appointment with my florist!


To be continued... :cloppy:

[MelvinBug]

Flowers

I had my appointment with my florist today and she helped me with my flower questions and priced out a ballpark range for what I wanted. I was quite surprised, I think its sitting at $474 before taxes and what not, I was expecting it to be a lot more.

I decided I wanted to keep all the flowers white and classy.

For my bouquet I had to make only a slight change to what I had wanted. Originally I wanted Gardenias with accents of Peonies, but after talking with my florist she convinced me to keep the Gardenias to a minimum because they bruise so easily. So, what I ended up doing is doing a volley ballish size bouquet of white Peonies, a few Gardenias mixed deeper in the bouquet to keep them from being touched to much, and then some scattered stephanotis for accents. The bouquet is then going to be hand tied in a white ribbon with little pearl accents.

For the bridesmaids I had wanted to do bouquets of Lilly of the Vallies, but the florist said they can some time run pretty expensive in the spring, as much as $10 a stem. She said unless I didnt mind paying that much for them a wise choice would be to pick out a 2nd choice for the girls. So, for my 2nd choice I decided on a bouquet of white heather and gladiolus.

The flower girl is going to wear a wreath of white heather.

They are going to do three sets of two pew decorations of potted gladiolus, which will pull double duty as some reception decorations.

I will also have a garland of greenery and white flowers to decorate the railings of the church and then those will be used to decorate our head table.

Beyond that the fellows are going to be having boutoneers matching whatever flowers ended up being used by the bridesmaids, same with the mothers flowers.

I had forgot my wallet though, so I wasnt able to put my deposit down, but the woman said they havent had anyone ask about the 29th of May yet and they don't usually do many weddings around that time, so I shouldnt worry about rushing in with the deposit. I'll probably stop in there when I run some erronds to the tux shop and the dress shop.

To be continued... :cloppy:

[FutureKelley]

Wow, looks like everything is coming along! I am pretty much in love with everything you have picked out so far!

[MelvinBug]

Not a whole lot happening in my wedding world lately. I've managed to catch the terrible flu bug that has been going around and that has kept me laid up. But bless my wonderful FH, even though he is deployed in Korea he still wanted to make me feel better and ease my wedding work load, so he used some of his weekend time off to call some of the people I had wanted to call this weekend but couldnt because of being sick. That must have been fun for him to work out, what with the time difference and all, haha!

Anyway, I do have a meeting with my reception site sometime this week to put the deposit down on the room and to start putting together the menu. I'm thinking that I want to do a buffett, it may not be as classy as a seated dinner, but it fits into our budget a little better and everyone should be able to fill themselves up on something they like.

The two menus I've been looking at and think I may want to taste are:


The Steakhouse

- Sirloin Steaks
- Roasted Chicken
- Grilled Shrimp
- Selection of Sauces (Bearnaise, Au Poivre, Mushroom Ragu)
- Baked Potato Bar
- Creamed Spinach
- Classic Iceberg Salad, Dressing Choice
- Tomato and Mozzarella Salad
- Fresh Baked Bread
- New York Style Cheese Cake with Berries

To that menu I think Id make a few changes, I think Id take the shrimp out and maybe ask for a more veggie friendly option. Id want to replace the creamed spinach with wild rice, and omitt the desert option since we will be serving cake, and taking the cheese cake out saves us something like $6pp.

Next menu that sounds good is:

Taste of Asia

- Thai Beef, Water Chestnuts
- Hoi Sin Glazed Pork Ribs
- Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Stir Fried Vegetables
- Egg Fried Rice
- Won Ton Soup
- Egg Rolls, Peanut Sauce
- Rare Cheesecake, Seasonal Berries

Again, Id probably take out the dessert option as a money saver.


To Be Continued... :cloppy:

[MelvinBug]

Blah, I was sick all week with the flu, then just as I was recovering from that I managed to catch a cold on top of it... its been fun...:whyme:

I've been having bridesmaids problems this week. I got a call from the Bridal Shop who are handling my dresses and they said they need to put the order through before Monday to ensure things arrive on time and so my girls don't have to pay a rush fee. I decided to stop in to the shop to see who was left to put down their down payment, if it was just one person I was just going to put the order on my credit card and have her pay me back, just so we could get the order rolling. It turns out only two of the five girls have bothered to stop in to pay (I've been reminding them for two weeks now!) and one of the girls hasnt even been in to get her measurments taken! AUURRRGGGHHH! I have been calling her all day, leaving her voice mail messages, and I've even resorted to leaving her Facebook messages hoping she will see it... but still nothing. I NEED her to be measured before Monday or else all the other girls are going to get stuck with rush fees (which is stupid in my opinion).

Would it be rude of me to ask her to step out of the wedding if she doesnt get into the bridal shop by Monday? I gave everyone ample notice on when they needed to get there measurments and payments in... so I dont think I'm being a bridezillla... *sigh*

I made another trip to Chase on the Lake at the request of the events manager, I got there and find out he had the day off... grrr. The woman I had given me the tour the first time around was there, but she didnt know what the other guy I had been talking to wanted. So it was a bit of a wasted trip, but I did write out my check to make the deposit... so the Chase on the Lake is mine May 29th!

I guess the trip wasnt totally wasted, my mom and I did have a nice lunch with my Aunt who lives in the area there.

I need to find a pair of ushers still, I think I may ask my cousins if they would like to.

Anyway, I'm sort of at a loss of what else I need to be doing for wedding stuff. I know there has to be something I need to be doing, but I just can't think what it is! I know I'm no where near being ready for May.

I've been running a mental list in my head all day, trying to come up with more to-dos.

Done:

- Photographer booked
- Florist booked
- Reception venue booked
- Tuxes picked out
- Bridesmaids dresses picked out
- My dress bought
- DJ contacted - needs to be booked
- Hotel rooms blocked

To Do:

- Wedding cake
- Assemble favors
- Invitations printed
- Programs printed
- Centerpieces
- Honeymoon booked

Gah... my lists seem to short... I KNOW I'M MISSING STUFF! Haha...

To Be Continued... :cloppy:

[NOTKT]

Wow! Great info! Welcome to the site!

I'm sorry to hear about your puppy! That's so weird how he passed :( You're dress is absolutely gorgeous! I only had a 5 month engagement and I had many shops tell me I was crazy for ordering dresses so late! They looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears!

We were the opposite on "our song" we had too many, haha! We ended up picking "I love you... For Sentimental Reasons" by Nat King Cole.

You have a lot of things booked or planned, great job!

[MelvinBug]

Woohoo! Bridesmaids dresses are ordered! I was FINALLY able to get a hold of MIA bridesmaid and get her in to get her measurments...and not only that she paid in full, which is one less worry on my mind! I had gone in to check earlier today to see if people had all got in over the weekend, and my sisters hadnt put down their down payments yet, so I just put the $89 each on my credit card so I could get the dresses ordered now so we didnt have to pay for the rush.

The estimated arrival date of the dresses is May 1st. Blah...prom time... makes fittings a little irritating, but oh well, thats what appointments are for!

Mom called me earlier and she says shes taking either Thursday or Friday off to do wedding things with me. She said shes going to call the Church I was interested in to see if we can rent it out for my date.

Next I'm going to get the DJ booked and start searching for someone to do my cake.

Tomorrow I am going to go talk to a woman the bridal shop recommended for alterations. I need someone to fit my wedding dress for me, since I bought it in Arizona, the werent able to do the fittings.

I am also going to the local print shop to check out their collection of papers to see if there is something I can use to print my invitations as well as make the programs.

I can't wait until everything is booked, then I can concentrate on the fun stuff!

To Be Continued... :cloppy:

[MelvinBug]

Boy! Its been awhile since I've updated my little journal... but I have an excuse for that, I've ben BUSY BUSY BUSY!

We are only 89 days until W-Day! Ahhh! Its freaking me out, seriously! I was cool as a cucumber up until this point, thinking I was on top of things, but now that the countdown is in the double digits I dont think I have enough time!

Well, lets see, what have I done lately...

I bought my shoes, but they didnt have my size so she is having to order them, I really hope they arrive soon because I have my 2nd dress fitting in March.

I also bought a pretty tiara for my hair, I'm excited for that to arrive too. I hope that one arrives before I go in for my hair trial on the 19th of this month.

I booked all our hair and found out since I've got 5 bridesmaids doing hair I get mine done for free, wee! I like free!

Bridesmaids dresses have all been ordered, the ship date scares me a little though, they are estimating around the first or second week of May. Thats cutting it a little to close for my comfort. I really hope the dresses arrive in perfect condition with no problems, because we wont have time for problems!

My first dress fitting went swimmingly! I put the dress on and it fit perfectly, which everyone thought was amazing for a dress bought right off the rack. She doesnt have to take in or let out a thing anywhere, even the hem was perfect. But, she said shes going to check the hem again when I finally get my real shoes in just in case they are differnt from the one I wore. I think the ones I used were pretty close in height to the ones I bought though. The only think I did not like about how my dress fits is the way my back fat rolled up and over the corset back. I HATE IT! I've been working every day since that fitting on toning up those muscles and getting more cardio in. I really hope my next fitting goes better.

Im still looking around for decoration ideas. This part of the wedding has really got me downed... I dont know what I want or what to do. The theme I have been playing around with is using birds, but I also kind of want a vintage feel to everything. So, Im kind of at a loss on things. *sigh*


To Be Continued... :cloppy: