Catt & Kyle 2.4.12 [Archive] - OneWed's Wedding Chat

xxeverafterx3

02-04-2011, 01:00 PM

It's a year away from the wedding so that means it's time to start a journal!! Will start off with some background info - taken off of our wedding website - sorry if you've already read it :)

All About us:
Catt:
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A pink little bundle of joy entered the world on December 11. Catt was born at Bellevue Woman's Hospital in Schenectady. She graduated from Schenectady High School in 2008 and is currently attending Ellis School of Nursing. She'll graduate in May 2011 as a Registered Nurse. When Catt's not in school she enjoys riding around in Kyle's Mustang and hanging out with her wonderful friends and family.

Kyle:
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Kyle was born on September 11. He was born at Bellevue Woman's Hospital and graduated from Schenectady High School in 2005. He currently works at NYS Department of Transportation as a professional computer geek :). All his life he has loved cars - and currently enjoys modifying, driving and showing off his Mustang.

How we met:
Catt and Kyle first met in 2004 at the D.A.R.E Haunted House in Central Park in Schenectady. We had both decided to volunteer to scare the little children. We were both assigned to the same room and hit it off right away. We were laughing and joking when Kyle kicked Catt and left a huge bruise on her leg (she didn't mind.) Throughout our day together we became good friends. We later found out that we were both in Peer Mediation together, and quickly became very good friends.

Our First Date:
Kyle decided to take Catt out for dinner and a movie. We went out to Ruby Tuesday and saw "When a Stranger Calls." The whole time, Catt was trying to drop hints to Kyle that she wanted him to kiss her or ask her out. But he didn't. After the movie we went to Dunkin Donuts and got coffee. He went to drop her off at her house and right before she got out of the car, he kissed her. Later on that night she asked if it meant that we were a couple. Kyle said no and told her it was still too soon. But then immediately asked her out and said it was because he wanted to be the one to ask. The rest is history.

The Proposal:
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Happened August 21, 2010. We were at the Metro Ford Car show. Right after the National Anthem (around noon-ish) The DJ called Catt up to the DJ booth. She really had no idea what was going on but went up anyway. Kyle went up and gave a short (very heartfelt) speech, got down on one knee and asked "Will you marry me?" Catt couldn't stop shaking, and could only say "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God." She somehow managed to get out the words "Of course." Tiny little plastic rings were thrown at us! All of our family and friends were there to congratulate us! What's better? Kyle had asked Catt's parents for their permission before he proposed!
Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw_bhIBtEaM

britTANNY

02-04-2011, 01:03 PM

Woo Hoo only one year away :)

Super cute story im so excited for you!!!!

xxeverafterx3

02-04-2011, 01:04 PM

Some Minor Details:

The wedding will be February 4, 2012. Why did we choose this date? Our anniversary (of when we started dating) is February 3rd. So we decided that the first day of our 7th year together will be the day we get married!

The ceremony and reception will both take place at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Latham, NY. www.hielatham.com (http://www.hielatham.com). They have 2 ballrooms here, so our ceremony will be in one of them and the reception will take place in the other.

The ceremony will start at 4:30 in the afternoon and our cocktail hour will start at 5 with dinner starting at 6.

We decided to have everything take place at a hotel. It'll be the middle of February in upstate NY, so it'd be easier to have people check in to the hotel and not have to travel the day - in case of inclement weather :)

xxeverafterx3

02-04-2011, 01:17 PM

The Ring:
Everyone always asks about the bling bling - so here it is!

This is probably my favorite picture of it
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FH got black diamonds on the side - and I couldn't love it more!!
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xxeverafterx3

02-04-2011, 01:22 PM

The Theme:

Our colors are going to be Ivory and Apple Red - kind of the color that's in my signature! FH's other girlfriend (his Mustang) is that shade of red, and I knew I wanted to incorporate that color into our wedding day!

I wouldn't necessarily say we have a "theme" BUT I do know that I don't want very many heart shaped items involved. The last thing I was is for guests to think that we originally wanted a Valentine's Day wedding and couldn't book that date so we settled for a different date. Because that is sooo not true. Sorry to anyone that had a Valentine's Day wedding, but they are not for me :)

gwenshack

02-04-2011, 02:11 PM

Catt, I expect nothing less from you than the pictures you chose to show who you all are. :giggle:

Glad you started a journal. One year! :jphappy:

xxeverafterx3

02-04-2011, 03:02 PM

Oh Gwen you know me and my crazy antics all too well! haha

xxeverafterx3

02-05-2011, 09:35 AM

Music:

We have a DJ who is going to play for 6 hours at our reception. He originally was going to play music for our ceremony as well (for an additional $200). BUT, one of our wonderful groomsmen told us that he has 2 nephews that sing/play the guitar/ukelele (sp?). So they are going to play for our ceremony!! The guitarist plays classical guitar music so we are going to have him play classical music while guests are being seated. He's going to play Pachelbel's Canon in D for the bridal party entrance, and then of course "Here Comes the Bride". We may/may not have them play a song in the middle of the ceremony, and then they are playing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" for us when we are leaving the ceremony. It's the ukelele version - link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I

They are also going to play our first dance song! Even though we aren't sure what that is yet, they are going to play it for us once we decide. We already cleared it with the DJ and he's absolutely fine with them playing the first dance song!! We are so excited, not many people have a classical guitarist at their wedding!!!!

jennybaby

02-05-2011, 05:04 PM

Yay for a journal! Everything sounds great. I love your ring! How pretty with the black diamonds!

f77g4

02-05-2011, 08:30 PM

Looking forward to hearing more of your plans!

dearmissie

02-06-2011, 11:07 PM

Yay for a journal, and YAY for one year!! :p:p

savepaws

02-07-2011, 10:52 AM

I love your journal so far!! The pics you posted are so adorable!

The year will fly by fast and before you know it, you'll be into double digits, then single digits...then you'll be a married woman. Enjoy the ride! :)

xxeverafterx3

02-10-2011, 01:16 PM

Thanks ladies! We've been kind of lazy on the wedding planning front lately, but there's really not that much to do! We are having our engagement session on Saturday the 26th in the afternoon at this gorgeous garden near us. Hopefully there's still some nice snow on the ground - we're going to do it around sunset as our photographer says that's the "golden hour" for lighting!

pinkbride

02-10-2011, 05:02 PM

Yay for a journal! I love love your wedding colours!! Look forward to seeing your engagement pics it sounds like it will be great! xx

xxeverafterx3

02-10-2011, 05:13 PM

Yay for a journal! I love love your wedding colours!! Look forward to seeing your engagement pics it sounds like it will be great! xx

I'm really looking forward to the engagement session! Should be great! Snow on the ground, hopefully it's nice and sunny! Thinking we may even start a snowball fight at the end!!!

xxeverafterx3

02-12-2011, 07:47 PM

Readings:

I am thinking these will be our 2 readings - a non-religious hand ceremony, and as much as I didn't want to use this one (not because it's religious, just because it's too cliche I think) probably a bible reading.

Hand Ceremony:
These are the hands of your best friend. They are holding yours on your wedding day as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow and forever. These are the hands that will work alongside yours as together you build your future.
These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch will comfort you like no other.
These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief wracks your mind.
These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it.
May these hands always reach out with love, tenderness and respect.
May these hands continue to build a loving relationship that lasts a lifetime.
With eyes locked, and hands linked, this ritual is a beautiful symbol of the union of two hearts, two lives, and two souls.

Bible Verse from I Corinthians:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.

Thinking that in between the 2 readings we will have the guitarist and his brother play/sing "Marry Me" by Train!

f77g4

02-12-2011, 09:40 PM

We had I Corinthians as well....I really love that reading.

acidcookie

02-13-2011, 11:24 AM

Just catching up. That's a gorgeous e-ring!

xxeverafterx3

02-14-2011, 07:29 AM

Woke up this morning and realized - it's our last Valentine's Day as an unmarried couple :heart:

xxeverafterx3

02-25-2011, 08:05 AM

Our engagement session scheduled for tomorrow got canceled. I emailed the photographer and said something along the lines of "The high on Saturday is supposed to be 27 and it's going to be cloudy with no sun, can we reschedule?" She wrote back "I need to reschedule anyway, I got rushed into the hospital last night and had emergency surgery. Please don't be mad!"

Mad?! You had surgery! Take your time and relax! I'm in nursing school, I know that emergency surgery happens! I told her to take her time and make a full recovery before we even think about when we're going to reschedule!

Although now I'm just a little upset (not at her) but at the timing of the situation, we are getting a great coating of snow right now that would have made for awesome pictures tomorrow. But I'm totes not mad at her for having surgery and rescheduling, and when I told her that she responded "Thanks for being so flexible" .... I don't understand why anyone wouldn't be flexible in that situation, but I'm hoping she's ok!!!

Also, I convinced FH to go to a bridal show with me next Sunday. I know we already have most of our vendors, but they are giving away A LOT! of free prizes. The place hosting it is giving away a 15,000$ reception package (that'd be awesome to win), a 5 night honeymoon, 1,000$ in florals, 2 wedding bands (from the jeweler that FH got my E-ring from), a limo, a spa day, a hair and make-up gift certificate, a wedding cake ... I can't wait to go! I want to win me some free stuff!!!!!!!

britTANNY

02-25-2011, 12:56 PM

xxeverafterx3

02-28-2011, 02:44 PM

First Dance

Fh and I decided on our first dance song today!!!!! i should preface this by saying that we did not want a traditional first dance song at all. We aren't really that traditional. We thought about God Bless the Broken Road because that's an awesome song and really describes us, but way too traditional. Then we thought about Crash Into Me by Dave Matthews and realized that it is way too .... provacative to be our first dance. We were going to settle on Lover Lay Down by Dave Matthews - but I still wasn't 100% happy. So today we decided on .... drum roll please ...... You and Me by Dave Matthews ... it's so not traditional, kind of upbeat and totally perfect for us!

Link to video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD9CrZODlNA

Lyrics:

Wanna pack your bags, Something small
Take what you need and we disappear
Without a trace we'll be gone, gone
The moon and the stars can follow the car
and then when we get to the ocean
We gonna take a boat to the end of the world
All the way to the end of the world

Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We gonna teach them to fly

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes

You and I, we're not tied to the ground
Not falling but rising like rolling around
Eyes closed above the rooftops
Eyes closed, we're gonna spin through the stars
Our arms wide as the sky
We gonna ride the blue all the way to the end of the world
To the end of the world

Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We gonna teach them to fly

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes

We can always look back at what we did
All these memories of you and me baby
But right now it's you and me forever girl
And you know we could do better than anything that we did
You know that you and me, we could do anything

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yeah, yeah
To of us together, we could do anything, baby
You and me together yeah, yeah
To of us together yeah, yeah
To of us together, we could do anything, baby

Also I convinced FH to take some dance lessons. I think we are going to start with some basic ballroom classes - find a group class to sign up for. Then when the wedding gets closer we are going to take some private lessons to at least get an idea of how to dance to the song since it's a little bit faster than a normal first dance!

jennybaby

03-01-2011, 06:41 AM

I adore Dave Matthews!! Great song!! :heart: :hearts:

xxeverafterx3

03-03-2011, 08:33 PM

Special Dances

Because Kyle's dad passed away when he was younger, Kyle and his mom are super close. When his dad passed away she would play "I Hope You Dance" by Leann Rimes (sp?) for him, all the time. So no doubt, this is going to be his song for his mom/son dance. It fits their relationship perfectly, and quite frankly I don't think there will be a dry eye at our wedding reception while they dance to this.

As for my dad and I. I have gone back and forth so many times with what song to choose for us to dance to. Originally I wanted Butterfly Kisses, but he vetoed that (too cliche), I liked the idea of Ready, Set, Don't Go by Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus - but idk I kind of don't like it (if that makes sense). I wanted to do "I Loved Her First" by Heartland - but everyone and their freaking cousin dance to that song. So dad and I are brainstorming tonight of something completely different (since we don't want our wedding songs to be too cliche), and he mentioned doing the song "My Girl" by the Temptations. He threw it out there as "that was always one of my favorite songs, but it's not really a father/daughter song" Well I looked up the lyrics just to be sure, and there's certainly no mention of husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/sex/fiances/relationships/etc. So I've decided (and will keep it a secret from daddy) that we will dance to "My Girl" :yesnod:

jennybaby

03-04-2011, 06:17 AM

I love upbeat Father-Daughter dances like "My Girl. My FSIL and her Dad danced to "Isn't She Lovely?" at her wedding. It was awesome! Not totally upbeat, but their dance was really flow-y and twirl-y! It was cute.

Enjoy your dance!!

f77g4

03-04-2011, 04:41 PM

I love the song I Hope You Dance by Leann Womack!

xxeverafterx3

03-06-2011, 10:36 AM

I love the song I Hope You Dance by Leann Womack!

Aha Leann Womack! Idk why I thought it was Leann Rhimes! Thanks!

FH and I are going to the bridal show today! I will report back hopefully with some good news about some free items we win!!

xxeverafterx3

03-14-2011, 09:56 AM

So we didn't win anything at the bridal show - boo! BUT I found another vendor that I am definitely going to hire - A day of wedding coordinator. Since our hotel won't set up our centerpieces, place cards, gift table, etc. etc. I had pretty much decided that I wanted a day of coordinator. I had kind of forgotten about it until at the bridal show FH pointed out this booth, I met with the lady and we must have talked for a good 20 minutes about her services and pricing and decided that I absolutely love her. She provides a free consultation, unlimited phone/email contact, review of all of our contracts for completeness, walk through of the venue, rehearsal coordination and then full day of coordination, everything from calling the vendors, to setting up everything, to calming me down when I have a panic attack ;). She said her prices start at about $300 for day of and then usually don't exceed $500 which I am absolutely fine with! I felt so comfortable with her that I feel like the wedding will be so much more stress free with her around.

I also found a couple of florists that I like. So I'm going to set up an appointment with both of them with my MOH to get pricing and ideas and figure out what we want to do with flowers.

We took a road trip with MOH and her hubby this weekend and my MOH and I sat in the back seat talking about the wedding the whole time. It's nice to have someone who is just as excited as I am on my side for the wedding! She's already got so many ideas I can't wait to see some of the stuff she comes up with!

f77g4

03-14-2011, 03:54 PM

Congrats on finding a vendor!

xxeverafterx3

03-17-2011, 08:29 PM

Hmm New centerpiece idea ... I honestly didn't think FH would like this idea - but I ran it by him and told him we could modify it as need be, but he loves this picture - we would leave everything the way it is, but possibly do red lights on the tables instead of blue and/or add in a bunch of candles around the table for a romantic feeling - be open minded but here's a pic of what I'm thinking - they are ostrich feathers in an Eiffle tower vase with LED lights inside the vase

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f77g4

03-17-2011, 09:24 PM

I love that centerpiece idea!

xxeverafterx3

03-18-2011, 09:37 AM

Thanks! I'm shopping around for stuff and going to try to buy things as I see them on discount - apparently ostrich feathers are ridiculously expensive! Of course I wouldn't pick the easy centerpiece - but I just love the way those look!

Also I convinced FH (and he decided he agreed) that we need to do a first look/reveal before the ceremony - for a multitude of reasons.

I made a pros and cons list for him (I'm good at those) lol and here it is

Pros:

Time Alone (We may not get any the rest of the day)
We can enjoy cocktail hour with our guests (we can get all the formals out of the way before the ceremony)
Lighting (It's going to be February so after the ceremony if we wanna do pictures outside it'll be dark)
We might be a little less emotional during the ceremony (we might be able to enjoy it and take it in a little easier)
The first look/reveal pictures look awesome!Cons:

Tradition/SuperstitionSo yea, he agreed and actually thinks it's a great idea based off of my list! Of course I didn't pull the idea out of thin air, here was my inspiration: http://www.joeelariophotography.com/first-looks-from-2010/

This is a local photographer and I love everything he does as far as pictures and lighting and his personality! I stalk his blog on a daily basis - we would have booked him but he's $5500 for 6 hours - not in the budget lol

xxeverafterx3

03-18-2011, 10:24 AM

Sorry for the double post - we are meeting with the wedding planner tomorrow morning at 10 to figure out what we need from her and how much she'll cost!

FH made me a deal - we decided to take on the cost of the planner and the cake and ice cream buffet. If I pay for the planner he will pay for my cake and ice cream buffet - he is kind of getting the short end of the stick, but shhhhh we won't tell him that ;)!

We also got in contact with a travel agent about our honeymoon - just to kind of give us some direction and she gave us some great advice!! I'm so excited!!

britTANNY

03-18-2011, 12:11 PM

xxeverafterx3

03-19-2011, 09:25 PM

Met with the wedding planner today and talked to her for 2 hours. We told her we'd like to spend $700 for her services but we'd like "day of coordination" services and whatever else (planning wise) she can include for that price. Her standard day of services are 300$ so I'm hoping she can include at least a little bit of extra help! She already started giving us FABULOUS ideas and I am so excited! I can't even think of all the details we went over (way too tired right now) but she's referring us to a florist, a couple of hair/makeup places, an alterations lady (she said to avoid David's like the plague for alterations, which I've heard from many people) and helping us with the honeymoon, among many other htings.

We go back on April 14, to pay her the retainer and actually book her services!

f77g4

03-19-2011, 10:09 PM

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dodgercpkl

03-22-2011, 01:30 PM

YAY! Sounds like you've gotten alot accomplished! :)

xxeverafterx3

03-28-2011, 02:34 PM

So unless ostrich feathers start falling out of the sky for free, we are unfortunately going to have to ditch the ostrich feather idea. It is just going to be a lot of money for something to decorate our wedding 1 time. I don't see us ever using the feathers again and I don't feel like I could be one of those people that re-sells them for a buttload of money. Overall FH and I both feel like it's a waste. So we are back onto the submerged rose/floating candle idea.

Something like this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZK6WzANOr4

These I will DIY and of course add a ton of candle around the base for a nice romantic effect :)

britTANNY

03-28-2011, 02:39 PM

xxeverafterx3

03-28-2011, 03:18 PM

Ahh man i got so excited i thought you were looking for peacock feathers and theres a ton of them listed around my town for pretty cheap...nothing in the ostrich area though

Ugh I wish we were doing peacock feathers solely because of the price. Ostrich feathers are (for good quality ones) 2-3 dollars per feather - I need between 25-40 per table for 12-14 tables .... you do the math hahahahah. Even buying in bulk doesn't save that much .... I wish we could find them for cheap but no such luck. Back to the drawing bored

vivchan17

03-28-2011, 04:02 PM

Wow, I had no idea that ostrich feathers were so pricey! The submerged flowers look really pretty too! I liked how the tutorial gave lots of different vase ideas.

dodgercpkl

03-28-2011, 04:36 PM

Holy COW those are expensive!! I can completely understand why you would want to spend a small fortune per table for only part of the decor. :blink:

f77g4

03-28-2011, 07:26 PM

Here's some from ebay - last link is free shipping and they have multiple ones availble.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-10PCS-White-OSTRICH-FEATHERS-20-25cm-8-10Inch-Long-/220760273304?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3366567198

http://cgi.ebay.ca/10pcs-New-White-Ostrich-Feathers-8-10inch-20-25cm-Long-/270726843713?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0893cd41

http://cgi.ebay.ca/10-Pcs-Natural-White-Ostrich-Feathers-11-13-Inches-/320665264853?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aa923a2d5

xxeverafterx3

03-28-2011, 07:31 PM

Thanks Ashley! Just put bids in on the top 2 links - hopefully I can win those and start collecting the feather over time! Maybe this will be do-able!!

xxeverafterx3

03-30-2011, 03:08 PM

Thanks to help from Ashley I ordered 40 ostrich feathers for just under 40$ and I am happy with that!!

Thinking The BM's and I are going to go to David's to look at dresses the last weekend in May - that'll put us about 8 months before the wedding and was good time for everyone to get there.

Found the song that I want to walk down the aisle to - FH wanted to use this song as our first dance but the lyrics are a little .... provocative if you will. So I found an instrumental on guitar and our live musician will learn and play this for us! I love it so much it just sounds so pretty! Because really to me, Here Comes the Bride is played out!!! Link here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HddYyu25j7w

f77g4

03-30-2011, 06:09 PM

Yay - glad you were able to get some ostrich feathers!!!

xxeverafterx3

03-30-2011, 07:53 PM

Yay - glad you were able to get some ostrich feathers!!!

Thanks!! I figure if I start collecting them as I see them cheap like those auctions, I can buy them over time and eventually have enough! And maybe just have to buy a couple at the really expensive price! Thanks for the tips!!

xxeverafterx3

04-15-2011, 10:52 AM

Latest update *Warning* Super long post *Warning*

We paid the retainer for the planner yesterday and spent 3 hours talking to her. I swear to god talking to her is like talking to someone whom I've been friends with for the longest time! She kicks @ss basically! LoL! She said we should start thinking about sending out our STD's soon - like end of this month-ish (Vistaprint has 100 postcard size ones for free!) She helped us trim our guest list quite a bit - which was good and what we needed! She's referring me to (and going with me) a florist who is a little bit of a drive away but is inexpensive and does great work. We go and meet with her - then a month before the wedding she does my bouquet completely, has me come down to her shop and stand in front of a mirror to make sure I like how it looks - then she take pictures and gives me copies and keeps a copy so that way I am 10000000% sure of what my bouquet will look like the day of the wedding! So I'm going to bring FH's mom and my mom, the planner and possibly my MOH to that appointment. The planner is also going to come bridesmaid dress shopping with me and my girls the weekend of May 28/29 so she can help keep everyone under control lol.

OMG I keep adding things that the planner helped us with. We are going to book our Sandals honeymoon through her because it's the same price as the Sandals website, but she gets money back from Sandals. She said if we book through her she'll take 100$ off her services.

She bought new candlesticks that she has 4 sets of (she's trying to get more). We are going to rent these from her for 4 of our centerpieces. They are the ones on the right hand side of this picture:
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Then for the rest of the centerpieces (6-8) we are going to get vases that are the same color as the candlesticks and put some ostrich feathers in them. They won't be as big and tall as the original idea, but they will look something like this - without purple and with the vase the same kind of silver as the candlesticks.
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She's also renting us an arch which our florist can decorate, an easel and frame because we are going to do an escort card board rather than name cards - She's doing A TON for us! I can't even begin to thank her enough!!

I'm going to her house on Monday to give her copies of all the contracts and all of my inspirations and pictures so far, because she also makes a free inspiration board for me to keep at the end of the wedding!

I had a thread about my dress but I figured I'd link in here in case people haven't seen it yet - here's the links to the threads with pictures of my dress and the bottom one is the link to my shoes - in apple red of course :)

http://forums.onewed.com/showpost.php?p=543245&postcount=25
http://forums.onewed.com/showpost.php?p=543246&postcount=26
http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Satin-Peep-Toe-Platform-High-Heel-with-Bow-Maribelle_Accessories-Shoes-All-Shoes

I went to David's to exchange the larger sash finally and am just waiting on the thinner sash to come in. I am also waiting on the red one inch ribbon which will tie my corset back together and add a little splash of color in the back!

ETA: I'm still waiting on my feathers - the Planner said when they come in - if they are in good shape I can give them to her after the wedding (so she can rent them to future brides) and she will take off some rental fees of other items.

xxeverafterx3

04-15-2011, 11:19 AM

Warning I'm double posting! LoL

I also forgot to mention that I emailed our photographer to set up our e-shoot. Since we missed out on winter weather we figured why not wait and do it in the summer and we can incorporate Kyle's Mustang into some pictures!

We are also adding onto the bridal party - right now we have 4BMs and 4 GMs. FH wanted to add one more guy to his side so I am adding another one of my nursing girls. And now we are going to ask the new guy's daughter to be our FG. We felt weird at first not having either parent in the bridal party but asking her to be a FG - now we don't feel weird!

dodgercpkl

04-18-2011, 09:05 AM

I love those candlesticks! I can't wait to see the mock-up of the centerpieces with the silver vases and everything. :)

xxeverafterx3

04-18-2011, 12:45 PM

haha Just kidding about the candlesticks apparently. I was all for doing the candlesticks idea and then our wedding planner messaged me and said text me I have a surprise for you. She found tall vases (not as tall as the original picture) to put ostrich feathers in and found res ostrich feathers. Now you're gonna say "Red ostrich feathers won't that look tacky?" We went over to her house and saw them and it looks AWESOME! I will try to post up the cell phone picture I took of the mock up. It also includes some candles around the bottom and two table number holders. I think we will still try and use the candlesticks possibly on the head table or as accents around the room.

:realmad: We discussed table linens with our planner. We are going to ditch the champagne floor length linen with black overlay. We are going to do a black floor length linen with a red and white runner - which will match the centerpieces and break up the black nicely. I wrote our venue an email today to ask if we can change the linens to eliminate the overlay and change the floorlength to black - our planner is going to provide the runner - which I didn't tell the director of sales, I just told her we wanted to change the floor length and ditch the overlay. Originally the price was 12$ a table for the champagne floorlength with the black overlay. The price is evidently now $17 a table for just a black floorlength. I was so mad because I thought the prices would drop. I forwarded the email to the planner who is going to call the director of sales. Worst case we will just pay to rent the linens from our planner who will be much cheaper! GRRR Why would the price jump if I'm eliminating the overlay?! Seriously?!

Rant over

xxeverafterx3

04-18-2011, 12:55 PM

Here is the picture of the table runner that will go over the black table cloth and we will do matching red napkins:

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Here's the mock up of the centerpiece, you have to picture it a little bit more full with the feathers because she only had four (didn't want to buy too many if we didn't like them) and it will have a little bit of white poking out of the top for some accents - it has the four red tealights around the bottom and then the crystal shaped items will be our table number holders - sorry for the crappy cell phone picture

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xxeverafterx3

04-18-2011, 01:52 PM

Also - the planner brought this idea to our attention and now we are thinking of ditching the unity candle for this ceremony - it would be worded just like this down to presenting our mothers with roses and everything! Since people love the idea of mom's lighting the candles when they walk in, our mom's would walk down the aisle and put the roses in a nice vase or something we have set aside.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uw8Tstg__Y&feature=related

ETA: The only thing different would be that our mothers wouldn't give us the rose at the beginning of the actual rose ceremony, they would set it in the vase ahead of time and the minister would hand us the roses

f77g4

04-18-2011, 05:01 PM

Love the table runner and the mockup centerpiece.

Salayia

04-18-2011, 11:43 PM

The rose ceremony is a really great idea! :)

dearmissie

04-19-2011, 01:53 AM

LOVE the runner idea with the black table cloth but I'm so sorry that the prices went up. Major suckage!!

As for the rose ceremony.. Can I just be a bit truthful?? I hope I don't crush your feelings but I'm just not as nuts over it. Maybe it's the guy's voice that made me wanna fall asleep but the meaning behind it just didn't seem as romantic for me?? "It seems as though you have done nothing at all. Just a moment ago you were just holding one small rose, and now you are just holding one small rose." (or however he worded it) Yeah I get that a marriage isn't all glitz and glamour and all marriages will go through rough times and husband and wife should be there with each other through it all but something about the wording of this ceremony made me focus a lot of negativity instead of balancing it out. Perhaps it's just me and that I'm the only one who took it that way, LOL!! But I'd like to add that if you two like it, go for it. It's your big day and all that matters is that YOU guys like it. That's what's neat about each wedding, each one is different.

xxeverafterx3

04-20-2011, 01:23 PM

No feelings crushed Missie lol! It's something that I think is nice - I like the ceremony and I'm bored with unity candle ceremonies so that's why I'm opting for it.

Rehersal Dinner

I found a place I really love that I hope we can' convince FH's mom that she loves too. The link is here www.tops5corners.com (http://www.tops5corners.com)

It used to be a diner but has been converted over to more of a nice restaurant. They have a gorgeous back room so I called today. He could give us half of the back room (we would need 50 people to keep it completely private) but he wouldn't seat customers back there until the front of the restaurant filled up. The menu would be something like this:

Salad
Choice of entree:

Grillen Chicken
Sliced roast beef with gravy
Baked HaddockOven roasted potatoes
Seasonal Vegetables
Unlimited Bread
Non-alcoholic beverages - (coffee, tea, soda, water)
Dessert of our choice

The price per person? $19.95 plus tax and gratuity. We have about 34 people that FH's mom needs to cover. We are hoping that since we are paying for the cake, she will be ok paying for this for the rehearsal dinner. I love it here, there's a nice fireplace in the back room and I think it'll be the perfect location. :crossfingers: I can convince her. He also said they are very budget friendly and understand that we are already paying a lot for our wedding so they will work on us. I'm thinking about cutting it down to 2 menu options, but we'll see what FH's mom says first!

xxeverafterx3

04-25-2011, 10:19 PM

Holy florist batman - I'm going to list everything the florist is giving us and then give y'all a grand total - I'm pretty psyched

My bouquet - 9 inches red roses with crystals in the middle of each rose and black feathers lining the bottom
4 White rose bouquets (6 in each bouquet) for bridesmaids
1 white and red rose bouquet (9 roses) for MOH
Red and white rose petals for FG to throw
Baby's breath headpiece for FG to wear
Tossing bouquet that matches my bouquet exactly but just a little smaller

1 Red rose bout with a black feather for FH
4 white rose bouts for GMs
1 white rose with red satin ribbon bout for Best man
1 mini red spray rose for RB

2 pin on white orchid corsages for moms
2 matching bouts for dad and stepdad

1 white spray rose bout for grandpa
2 white spray rose pin on corsages for grandma's

2 more white spray rose bouts for ushers
2 more pin on spray corsages for people doing readings

Red and white rose petals for cake table

and the grand total is ..... wait for it .... wait for it .... 588$ - That's including the 15$ delivery fee :) :) :)

FH's mom is paying for flowers and totally thought this is a great price!!! Which I am soooo happy about - especially since we are doing red and white roses 10 days before Valentine's Day!

Also FH's mom is fine with paying for the place we chose for the rehearsal!! Double YAY!!! We cut it down to 28 people and 2 kids! Not bad at all!

Now for the part that I could just scream about :realmad: We went to the planner tonight with both our moms. We saw the linens we chose and the feather centerpiece mockup. We also saw the arch she's providing us which she is decorating with tulle and feathers! I am loving the feathers idea. We changed the color of the runner which will now be red and black but it's the same price as the red and white. She tells us for all the centerpieces and linens it's going to cost us about 2500-3000 dollars. WHAT?!?! Last week you told us it was going to be about 500$ for the centerpieces altogether and then the cost of linens - which adds about another 200$ - Where the eff did 2500-3000 ("No more than 3000$") come from?!? Do FH and I feel like she's taking us for a ride since our parents were there? Oh yeah! IDK what to do - she said she is going to Facebook us in a few days with the exact price including the break down of price. If it is still that high I'm going to have to A.) Question her and be really pissed about the price and B.) Ditch the feathers and go back to the candlestick idea (which she now has 18 sets of).

IDK why it changed the price so much but I'm really pissed! I hope she gets back to us with a better price.

dearmissie

04-26-2011, 03:59 AM

Awesome flower deal!! Can't wait to see your flowers now!! YAY!!

And wow, that's a huge price jump. I hope when she Facebooks you the break down she realizes she over quoted you guy. Best of luck!!

jennybaby

04-26-2011, 05:59 AM

Holy smokes you got a lot done while I was off getting married! Hahaha. I love it all. Those feathers looks fab and I love the sound of your flowers. I cannot wait to see everything come together. The table runner is too cute. I don't know how I feel about the rose ceremony, but if you like it... go for it! I have to say I loved our unity candle ceremony and love that I can now display the candles. I understand wanting to do something different, though.

dodgercpkl

04-26-2011, 07:37 AM

That's a great deal on the flowers! I can't wait to see how they turn out! :) As for the planner, that's a HUGE price jump. :( Hopefully she'll realize that she's made a mistake in her figures somewhere and comes back down to around what she originally talked about.

f77g4

04-26-2011, 03:48 PM

Great deal on the flowers!

Yikes about the planner.....Just from experience with my decorator - when things start going shady, trust your gut and do what you have to do.....While I generally liked my decor, the decorator was my main source of stress (other than my MIL) so I wish I had decided on someone else.

Good luck!

hleef

04-26-2011, 09:39 PM

holy cow that planner is charging you alot!!! hopefully she comes back down to the oroginal price she told you.. if not would it be an option to drop her all together? there are places that will let you rent the vases and arches and such 2-3000 yikes thats like the price of a turbo or supercharger kit :boggle:..

awesome price on the flowers thou!! looks like you got a lot done so far! cant wait to see what you have commin

xxeverafterx3

04-28-2011, 11:24 AM

Here are the inspiration pictures that I gave the florist :)

Here is the inspiration for the corsages our moms will be wearing - FH's mom doesn't like roses at all so she chose these orchids and my mom loved them too - this will make them stand out too - my dad and FH's mom's boyfriend will have matching bouts
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Here are the groomsmen bouts inspiration pics - I think I want them without the greenery though
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Here is an inspiration of FH's bout - he will also have a black feather with his - our ringbearer will be a mini-groom with a spray rose and a feather :)
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Here is what I gave him for the BM's - they will only be holding 6 white roses though - and then my MOH will be holding 9 roses - 6 white like the BMs and 3 red
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And here is the inspiration for my AWESOME bouquet - I am absolutely in love with it - the base of the roses will be about 8-9 inches and it'll be in a bouquet holder
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f77g4

04-28-2011, 07:18 PM

Good inspirations!

Just an FYI - some of our bouts were white roses and in some of the pics you can see them starting to turn brown....not sure if they weren't fresh or whether it was too warm that day or what but just thought I'd point give you a heads up.

xxeverafterx3

05-01-2011, 07:36 PM

The quote from the wedding planner is $2851 - I want to cry - I just love those centerpieces so much but I really can't afford that. I'm a little pissed because she is telling me she's giving me everything at her cost - but really shouldn't it be less than that if I don't get to keep them? She's going to be able to rent these out again - I guess to me part of owning a business is investing into it and then making the profit back later - IDK anyway, I haven't talked to my mom yet but I know we won't be able to afford that, and even if I could I don't know that I would pay for it anyway - that's bonkers - and she says things to me like "I didn't charge you for the tealights or the holders, I didn't charge you for the rental of the easel and frame (for our escort board), I didn't charge you for the LED lights that go into the vase, even though those are expensive." It's like if you didn't charge me for all those things then what the eff did you charge me for? GRRRRRRRRRR ........

dearmissie

05-01-2011, 07:57 PM

Wow, just wow. I agree because she's going to be able to rent them out again the price should be cheaper. Did you mention that to her?? This just sucks. That's a HUGE price jump.

f77g4

05-01-2011, 08:49 PM

Wow that sucks Catt.....

My decorator was a pain in the butt to deal with and in the end I felt ripped off....if I could do it again, I would have attempted to DIY the whole thing.

Is there any chance of her reducing the price if you use the feathers you purchased on ebay?

xxeverafterx3

05-01-2011, 09:09 PM

I wish Ashley but unfortunately we bought white feathers and decided on doing red feathers - we love the red because it just looks so much more elegant - PLUS the white ones I got are kind of crappy quality - no big deal as I only paid 20$ for them lol.

What I am going to do is buy enough supplies to do one centerpiece and see how much it costs me - if it's cheap enough I'm just going to do them all myself - and then just have her set them up the day of ....

I am so mad and so frustrated and so felt taken advantage of .... GRrRRrRRrRRRRrrRRR if not for the great deals she's gotten us on other vendors I would say eff it and lose the 200$ retainer that we paid her - but so is life ... I guess I just have be more of a bridezilla (in a nice professional way) and lay down the law - up until this point I have been kind of agreeing to a lot of what she says and I need to be more direct with what we want and need from her

f77g4

05-01-2011, 09:19 PM

That's how my decorator was too......

I think I would do up one yourself and if you like it and it's not too much, I'd do 1 every month til the wedding to spread out the cost.

hleef

05-02-2011, 08:03 AM

xxeverafterx3

05-03-2011, 03:43 PM

Holy Canoly - thanks for the PM and I was about to consider emailing her about her centerpieces and I just got a call from the planner .... We told her we really couldn't spend over 1300$ for her services including rental fees etc. She called me and told me that because we've been so easy to work with, she will give us our linens, the centerpieces, the canopy, the easel and frame (escort board), all her planning services still - everything for 1300$. She said she knows that I had my heart set on those centerpieces and that she doesn't want to see me downgrade and be unhappy with my centerpieces. Since we were already paying 700$ just for her services, and I can't do the centerpieces for less than 600, I am willing to pay her that much. She is going to let us keep one of them as a souvenir but the others she will keep to rent out again. I could do backflips right now I'm so excited!!!!!!

dearmissie

05-03-2011, 03:47 PM

YAY!! So glad to hear this!! :yesnod::yesnod:

xxeverafterx3

05-03-2011, 03:49 PM

Me too Missie! I almost had a heart attack - she yelled at me (in a loving way of course) when I said "Are ya sure?" lol So I'm really happy!!!!!

gwenshack

05-03-2011, 03:54 PM

Wow - that's great news! :ura1:

f77g4

05-03-2011, 06:49 PM

Wow thats great news!

Makes me wonder a little bit why it was so high to begin with though...:bbconfused:

xxeverafterx3

05-03-2011, 08:35 PM

Wow thats great news!

Makes me wonder a little bit why it was so high to begin with though...:bbconfused:

i'm going to guess because she was trying to make an insane amount of money off of us. She told us now she is only charging us for the cost of linens and the cost of feathers , plus her 700$ in services - not charging us for the vases, the vase filler, the lights, candles, candle holders, table card holders, canopy for ceremony, easel and escort board frame ... so I think that took a bunch of money off ... IDK It's still weird to me that she could take that much off BUTTTTTT I'm getting my feathers!

hleef

05-04-2011, 09:19 AM

:ura1:thats awesome!! i think everyone (sorry if i offend i dont mean to and i could be wrong) in the wedding industry tries to make money off the brides... were still searching for a honeymoon that we can afford... and if i type in vacation insted of honeymoon its automatically cheaper lol... but thats awesome that youll be able to get everything that you want for a price that you can afford... i was prepaired to do a road trip :coolblue: lol

jennybaby

05-05-2011, 08:39 AM

Yay! I am glad the price came down for you. I'm sorry she tried to over charge you before. :( However, it's wonderful that she's giving you all that within your budget! Can't wait to see it all put together!!!

pinkbride

05-05-2011, 11:02 AM

yay thats great news!! yay for feathers! :whoohoo:

Spatch4Officers

05-13-2011, 01:16 AM

I'm glad you got the feathers - weird she tried to overcharge but yayy for you in sticking your ground and insisting on your budget and making her come down to you!!! :)

xxeverafterx3

05-15-2011, 11:38 AM

I haven't been on here in forever!!! Going bridesmaid dress shopping today with my girls and my planner - I'm so excited!!! Bringing the camera - so I'll take pictures and post them on here :)

f77g4

05-15-2011, 02:16 PM

Good luck and have fun!

dearmissie

05-15-2011, 02:18 PM

Yay!! Have a great time!!

xxeverafterx3

05-15-2011, 04:43 PM

Bridesmaids dress shopping went FABULOUS!!! We picked out the second dress that they all put on - link is here. (http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Satin-Gown-with-Side-Drape-Brooch-8567_Bridal-Party-Bridesmaids-Long-Bridesmaid-Dresses)

I have decided though after seeing the dress in both apple red and in black to have the girls in black - it's a little more elegant looking and the dress looks stunning in black! I'm going to buy them red jewelry as a gift and tell them to go to david's bridal or online and get a pair of apple red shoes or shoes that david's can dye apple red. That way they can all wear whatever shoe they want, but it can still be the same exact color and look awesome! And will still be my pop of red!

My wedding planner took pictures of them in the dresses, but I don't have them yet! I didn't take any pix, but she's going to email them to me and when she does I will post them on here!!! The online picture really doesn't do it justice!

NOTKT

05-15-2011, 04:58 PM

That's the dress my girls picked out too. It was in blue though. I told them they could pick any dress in blue and they all were most comfortable in that one. :) Your girls are going to look fabulous in black! I love that the red is going to POP!

mitch

05-15-2011, 05:22 PM

Loving the idea of Black Dresses and Red Shoes etc. Very classic and stunning. Can't wait to see piccies.

dearmissie

05-15-2011, 05:28 PM

Can't wait to see the photos from your planner!!

xxeverafterx3

05-16-2011, 10:04 AM

Still waiting for the pictures from the planner - in the mean time - there's a new ticker on my sig :)

vivchan17

05-17-2011, 07:30 AM

That dress is stunning!!! So elegant and I love the idea of the red shoes! We have the same wedding colours as you, and we're doing the opposite colours (red dresses with black shoes). Can't wait to see the pics!

hleef

05-17-2011, 09:34 AM

thats the dress that my MOH picked out in wisteria! i thought it was gorgeous! cant wait to see the pic

xxeverafterx3

05-17-2011, 02:37 PM

STDs ARE ORDERED!!!! I can't wait to get them!! It says they should take 21 days, but I really want them NOWWWWW!!! Ok I'm a little impatient lol! I will post pictures as soon as I get them! They are going to look awesome!! Also, now waiting on cards from the hotel that have our room block info on them so I can send them out with the STDs! :confetti:

dearmissie

05-17-2011, 03:33 PM

oOoOo yay!! I can't wait to see what they look like!! Woot woot!!

gwenshack

05-17-2011, 03:35 PM

Yay :) And no matter how many times I read STD I :giggle: anyway.

dearmissie

05-17-2011, 03:41 PM

Yay :) And no matter how many times I read STD I :giggle: anyway.

Hehee, me too!! ;);)

xxeverafterx3

05-17-2011, 03:41 PM

Yay :) And no matter how many times I read STD I :giggle: anyway.

haha I giggle every time I type it - then I randomly say to my friends (who aren't up on the bridal acronyms) That I ordered STDs and they all look at me like I have 5 heads :)

gwenshack

05-17-2011, 03:43 PM

haha I giggle every time I type it - then I randomly say to my friends (who aren't up on the bridal acronyms) That I ordered STDs and they all look at me like I have 5 heads :)
Particularly if they're you're nursing friends! :rofl:

f77g4

05-17-2011, 05:53 PM

If you got them from VistaPrint you should get them before the 21 days.

jennybaby

05-19-2011, 07:11 AM

If you got them from VistaPrint you should get them before the 21 days.

Yup! I got anything I ordered within a week! Even with the 'slow' option.

xxeverafterx3

05-19-2011, 11:33 AM

Jenny and Ashley you guys just made me one little happy bride-to-be!!! I really hope they get here that quickly - I opted for the slow option because to me it's ridiculous to pay 25 dollars for shipping unless you need something for like TOMORROW! LoL! Thanks guys!!

Planner is having issues with her camera and getting the pictures uploaded - so that may not be up for awhile :( I wish I could show you guys how awesome my BMs look! (hehe that sounded dirty from a nursing perspective)

Are my Save the dates here yet? :giggle:

dodgercpkl

05-27-2011, 04:40 AM

lol! I'm rooting for you to get them tomorrow!! :crossfingers:

xxeverafterx3

05-27-2011, 06:11 PM

I hope I get them tomorrow Teri - BUT it says on UPS website that scheduled delivery is for June 1st - I can handle that .... I'm so excited that I want them now lol ...

In other news - I'm sending out an email to the woman who I want to be our officiant tonight. She is a chaplain at the hospital where I went to school and now where I'll be working - she's awesome! I'm hoping that I can give her the link to this website where the ceremony goes almost exactly in the order I want it to and hopefully she will be ok with that!!! She consider herself non-denominational but I don't know if she has a pre-set wedding ceremony that she likes to do - we shall see!

xxeverafterx3

05-28-2011, 02:43 PM

Meeting with the officiant on June 25th. I hope FH loves her as much as I do - she rocks!! She says she has a fairly set in stone ceremony she likes to do, but is obviously willing to tweak it to our needs - which is awesome!

I called UPS today because the STDs were in the closest UPS location to us - I was going to just go and pick them up but apparently VistaPrint has a rule that UPS has to deliver them to USPS so that will happen on Tuesday and we will definitely get them on Wednesday! I'm so excited! We also requested our room block cards from the hotel where the wedding is so we can send those off with the STDs!!

I finally have a picture (I knew I had it somewhere, it was on Ky's phone) of the centerpiece complete with our table linen choice and everything. We will have red napkins and white plates! Should look awesome!!! Sorry for the crappy quality - it's a cell phone picture!
6606

f77g4

05-28-2011, 02:57 PM

That's going to look so awesome Catt!

xxeverafterx3

05-28-2011, 04:03 PM

Thanks Ashley!! I think with red uplighting in the room (I'm going to convince Fh to pay for more than 4) and the lights dim, it'll look awesome!!

hleef

05-28-2011, 09:54 PM

Catt i LOVE your table set up!! its gonna look amazing!

vivchan17

05-29-2011, 11:07 PM

I love the red on black table runner!!! Your tables are going to look amazing!

xxeverafterx3

05-29-2011, 11:22 PM

Thanks everyone, I love the red and black - it's funny on the website I thought it would look too gothic, but once we saw them in person I fell absolutely in love <3

dearmissie

05-29-2011, 11:38 PM

It's going to look beautiful Catt!! I don't think they look gothy (I didn't even think of it til you mentioned it, but I still don't think it's too gothy).

And I just wanted to add that you should def. get more than 4 uplights. We're getting 30 and our tent for our reception isn't even that big (rather small in fact!!). With more uplights, it'll totally add to the centerpieces!! So excited for you!!

xxeverafterx3

05-31-2011, 02:35 PM

STDs will be here tomorrow but I figured out how to pull the picture off of vistaprint - here's what they will look like

Front:
6608

Back:
6609

dearmissie

05-31-2011, 02:40 PM

Aww Catt, you look so happy in your photos!! I love that!! BTW, your STDs are so informative!! That's great!! Are these postcards or something?? (Sorry I forgot). Did VistaPrint have this as an existing layout or did you create it yourself??

And hey, ONE MORE DAY TIL THEY GET HERE!! Wahoo!!

xxeverafterx3

05-31-2011, 02:44 PM

dearmissie

05-31-2011, 02:49 PM

Thanks Missie! They are post card size - vistaprint already had the layout so I just punched in the info - I like it better that way. I'm creative, but not when it comes to things like that :) I'm happy with them though, can't wait to see them in person!

Awesome!! I ordered some stuff from VistaPrint that were their "jumbo postcard" size (or whatever the over sized postcards are called.. Shoot it just may be called, "over sized".. LOL!!) and I really loved it!! The post cards came out good quality (and so did my STDs that I had printed from them). I wasn't a fan of the quality of their RSVPs cards though because the dullness of the paper didn't look good with the color ink. But, the color looks AWESOME on the postcards because it's so shiny and holds colored ink wonderfully!! You will love the way it came out!!

And I love how VistaPrint has a variety of premade layouts for you to just punch in your information in. Makes it SO much easier huh?? Plus, they have some really great layouts!!

f77g4

05-31-2011, 06:42 PM

Looks great Catt!

I got my STDs from VistaPrint on postcards and loved them.

hleef

06-01-2011, 02:44 PM

they look awesome Catt!

Salayia

06-01-2011, 02:48 PM

Those are great Catt! So glad you got them so quickly! :)

dearmissie

06-01-2011, 03:07 PM

Are they here yet?? :p:p

xxeverafterx3

06-02-2011, 09:05 AM

Sorry I didn't post up yesterday but .... THEY CAME THEY CAME! And they look exactly like the pictures <3 I love them so much!!! Now I'm just waiting on the room block info cards from the hotel - FH and I are in the process of finalizing the guest list and getting everyone's address so we can start sending them out!!!!! :) :)

dearmissie

06-02-2011, 02:28 PM

Aww, I'm so glad to hear that they came in so wonderfully!! I knew they would!! Their postcards are really great quality!!

dodgercpkl

06-02-2011, 03:50 PM

YAY!! I'm glad you got them and they turned out perfect! :)

xxeverafterx3

06-02-2011, 09:32 PM

Thanks everyone! We (FH and I) Both love them so so so much! I am working now on the guest list - finalizing it and putting everyone's name into a spreadsheet. This way I can get all their addresses, then I can put a spot for STD sent, Invite sent, RSVP yes or no, and how many attending. It's weird, we're 8 months (and 2 days) away and I feel like I should be doing a ton of stuff and yet I'm not - I hope I'm on track with everything. I mean we got the big stuff out of the way early.

Oh also all of my bridesmaids dresses came in! That's intense. They came really quick, now I feel a little bad about being a bridezilla about going to David's so soon.

FH is having one of his guy friends over this weekend to work on cars and so he can finally ask him to be a GM. Which is great because then I can tell him we'd love for his daughter to be the flower girl!

Engagement shoot keeps getting delayed (on our end) but we're hoping either next weekend on Friday night, or the weekend after on Sunday night.

Are there things that I haven't done yet that most brides would have done by now?!

Salayia

06-02-2011, 09:44 PM

Are there things that I haven't done yet that most brides would have done by now?!

Considering the fact that I was barely even ENGAGED 8 months out and STILL don't have my BM dresses in yet, I don't think you want me to answer that question! :rofl:

I think you're doing just fine. Have fun at the wedding shoot. Are you doing it anywhere special?

xxeverafterx3

06-03-2011, 03:17 PM

Nowhere special that I know of - right now we are thinking of this artist's park thingy near us. It's pretty, but we're trying to figure out if we want to include FH's Mustang in the engagement shoot or not - if we do, we may not be able to have it at that park - so we shall see - I'm pretty much leaving it up to our photographer at this point ... She has a really good eye for things like this.

As far as BM shoes goes - I think we are going to have to ditch them wearing red shoes - the only way I can find shoes that would be red would be to have them dyed and all my BMs are against dyed shoes (on account of them being worried about color bleeding) so I may resort to having them wear either silver or ivory - or quite honestly just saying wear a strappy pair of black heels ... and let them pick out whatever black heels they want ..... who would've thought bridesmaid's shoes would be so stressful ...

xxeverafterx3

06-04-2011, 08:14 PM

Found a shoe from David's Bridal I like - it's silver with a little bit of crystal sparkles (which will be nice to match the brooch on the dress) I know that not all my girls will be perfectly happy with it, but I think it'll suit most of my girls and I've decided I want them all in the same shoes, because I have a couple of pictures I want to take involving shoes. They are only 49$, so I don't think it'll be that bad.

On another note:

FRICKING FRAPPIN :realmad: GRRRRRRrrrRRRRRRRrrrr. I don't know what the bleep is going on but I'm not happy about it. I got an email from the Sales director at our venue saying the room block cards were going to be ready today. I also found out that she had to leave for an extended period of time to take care of her mom who had a heart attack, and her intern (who has been there for a long time) was taking over her position. I was told she had to go to California for this. I called today to see if they were ready and was told they would call the director (who is supposedly in California) because she was there servicing a wedding today and let me know. I called literally 4 times to the front desk, twice to the sales office, and once to her mobile numbe (call me a bridezilla lol) no answers at the sales office and no answer on her phone. The people at the front desk keep telling me that they will try to get a hold of her and call me back. Still nothing from them. It's not like I was going to send out the STDs today, but the point is, I was promised them today, and they are not ready. The guy at the front desk said they are usually at the front desk and he doesn't see them anywhere - which really makes me kinda mad. GRRRR ... That is all

xxeverafterx3

06-06-2011, 01:43 PM

Wow - picked up our room block cards today - paper, printer paper, with the hotel name (no logo or anything), phone number, our names, rate info, and cut off date for booking. No address, cut crooked, plain font, on printer paper. Seriously? Thank goodness I didn't pay for those or I would be :realmad: .... well quite frankly I'm still :realmad: but FH, being the great guy he is, is going to take me to buy card stock and we are going to make our own. No way am I sending out these cheap, ugly pieces of cr@p to my guests, period.

dearmissie

06-06-2011, 04:59 PM

xxeverafterx3

06-06-2011, 05:01 PM

Wow that bad?? Do you have a photo of it??

I'll take a pic (probably cell phone picture) and post it - it's badness lol - I will also post a pic of what FH designed ...

dearmissie

06-06-2011, 05:03 PM

I'll take a pic (probably cell phone picture) and post it - it's badness lol - I will also post a pic of what FH designed ...

Sounds like a plan. Can't wait to see them both Catt.

dodgercpkl

06-07-2011, 02:17 AM

xxeverafterx3

06-07-2011, 12:07 PM

Really REALLY awful cell phone picture alert - sorry the quality is so bad, but I think this picture still gets the point across. The one on top is their printer paper "room block card" the card on the bottom is printed on cardstock and is what FH designed! Thank goodness for my man!

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gwenshack

06-07-2011, 12:14 PM

Yeah, those are kind of...blech. Sorry Catt! I think it's great that you guys redid them! :heart:

dodgercpkl

06-07-2011, 12:45 PM

*ugh* Those were awful. Your FI did a great job on the redesign!! :)

dearmissie

06-07-2011, 01:01 PM

Wow, theirs look like cr@p. You should tell them that, maybe they'll change it for future brides. Your DF did a great job, looks fab!!

NOTKT

06-07-2011, 02:12 PM

Maybe you should let them know your FH can make them for a small fee. :)

xxeverafterx3

06-07-2011, 02:16 PM

Thanks for the feedback ladies. I love the ones that Kyle did. He is going to call Holiday Inn and let them know that we are unhappy. FH has a good way of saying things like that nicely lol. He is basically going to let the sales guy know that we were unhappy and that those "cards" can't be sent out. If I called, it'd be bridezilla time, so it's a good thing that Ky is calling lol.

He also suggested submitting his template that he used to them lol

mitch

06-07-2011, 10:33 PM

Maybe you should let them know your FH can make them for a small fee. :)

Exactly what i was thinking. ;)

The originals are pap in the highest order. My Grandson could have done better on an old 80's Typewriter i have in the Garage.

jennybaby

06-08-2011, 07:25 AM

Ugh. Those are pretty awful. How unprofessional. I really like what Kyle designed! Simple, but way more professional. Go Kyle!

xxeverafterx3

06-08-2011, 06:38 PM

Thanks everyone - Kyle was pretty impressed with himself, as am I - and I think our guests probably won't even know they didn't come from the Holiday Inn if we don't tell them :).

In other news, Kyle FINALLY asked the final guy to be a groomsman, and I then asked for his daughter to be our flower girl. YAY for a complete bridal party!!! I did feel bad in a way because I didn't ask the new GM's wife to be a bridesmaid, but we have never hung out. Don't get me wrong, she's awesome, but I've literally only talked to her on FB, texted her, and tonight I talked to her on the phone (to ask if her daughter would be our FG). Do I feel awkward about it? Yes. Will I get over it? Yea, eventually. It's all good, I'm excited we finally have a fully bridal party and can continue on with planning. Time to get songs together to give to the choreographer for our reception entrance.

Also, we registered (well started) at Bed, Bath and Beyond, it was by far the most fun thing I've ever done ... EVER :)

hleef

06-08-2011, 06:49 PM

Fh didnt want to register at all so i took it upon myself to register at bed bath and beyond too! i did the majority of it online tho and then just went into to check the sheets and towels that i had picked out... but still fun! lol

xxeverafterx3

06-10-2011, 12:07 PM

So we finally decided on 2 readings that we like - one of my aunts will be reading one and one of his aunts will read the other.

Reading 1:
The Art Of A Good Marriage - Wilferd Arlan Peterson

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.
A good marriage must be created.
In marriage the little things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say "I love you" at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is at no time taking the other for granted;
the courtship should not end
with the honeymoon, it should continue through the years.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family.
It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice,
but in the spirit of joy. It is speaking words of appreciation
and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience,
understanding and a sense of humour.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow old.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal,
dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.

Reading 2 :
An Apache Blessing Now you will feel no rain, for
each of you will be shelter for the other.
Now you will feel no cold, for
each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there will be no loneliness, for
each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two persons, but
there is only one life before you.
May beauty surround you both in the
journey ahead and through all the years.
May happiness be your companion and
your days together be good and long upon the earth.

Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and
remind yourselves often of what brought you together.
Give the highest priority to the tenderness,
gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves.
When frustration, difficulties and fear assail your relationship, as they threaten all relationships at one time or another,
remember to focus on what is right between you,
not only the part which seems wrong.
In this way, you can ride out the storms when
clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives -
remembering that even if you lose sight
of it for a moment, the sun is still there.
And if each of you takes responsibility for
the quality of your life together,
it will be marked by abundance and delight.

I emailed these to FH today and he LOVED them! We are super duper happy :)

hleef

06-10-2011, 02:48 PM

oOo we almost did the apache wedding poem! i love love love it lol but we went with the irish blessing and this one...
SPIRIT OF LOVE AND LIFE: OUT OF THIS WHOLE WORLD, TWO SOULS HAVE FOUND EACH OTHER. THEIR DESTINIES SHALL NOW BE WOVEN INTO ONE DESIGN, AND THEIR PERILS AND JOYS SHALL NOT BE KNOWN APART. BRIDE AND GROOM, MAY YOUR HOME BE A PLACE OF HAPPINESS FOR ALL WHO ENTER IT; A PLACE WHERE THE OLD AND THE YOUNG ARE RENEWED IN EACH OTHER�S COMPANY, A PLACE FOR GROWING AND A PLACE FOR SHARING, A PLACE FOR MUSIC AND A PLACE FOR LAUGHTER, A PLACE FOR PRAYER AND A PLACE FOR LOVE. MAY THOSE WHO ARE NEAREST TO YOU BE CONSTANTLY ENRICHED BY THE BEAUTY AND THE BOUNTY OF YOUR LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER, MAY YOUR WORK BE A JOY OF YOUR LIFE THAT SERVES THE WORLD, AND MAY YOUR DAYS BE GOOD, AND LONG UPON THE EARTH. AMEN

im not to sure what the title on it is lol

but two awesome choices for you!!

xxeverafterx3

06-10-2011, 03:12 PM

Thanks Heather!! I am pretty pumped that we both are so in love with them - sometimes it's hard for us to agree on things lol.

Here's the list of potential songs that I've come up with for the reception entrance. (We are doing a choreographed entrance - each couple is still going to be introduced but they are each going to be doing a choreographed dance out) The choreographer wanted a list of songs so she could mix them together for the reception entrance - I'm pretty convinced that I want one song per couple walking out so here's what I came up with -

My parents - Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake (my mom requested this be their song, so thats what it is)
Kyle's parents - Celebrate - Kool and The Gang (his mom mentioned this song so that's why tentatively this is their song)
Couple 1 - (I want the beginning of) Forever - Chris Brown because I love the opening of that song and then they will come out when the actual music starts
Couple 2 - Just Dance - Lady Gaga
Couple 3 - DJ Got Us Falling in Love - Usher
Couple 4 - Dynamite - Taio Cruz
Couple 5 - Evacuate the Dance Floor - Cascada
Us - Now That We've Found Love - Heavy D and the Boys

Spatch4Officers

06-12-2011, 12:19 AM

Catt!!! Sounds like you have been busy planning! Can't wait to see and hear of more details - sorry it's been a while since I've posted in here. Been busy - but like I said sounds like you are having a good time planning - 7 more months...phew! Before you know it ...you'll be saying 7 more days!!!

xxeverafterx3

06-26-2011, 08:56 AM

Met with our Rev. yesterday - she's awesome! Can't wait to have her marry us - she's going to make the ceremony everything we both want it to be!

Wedding planner found a cake shop that'll do a cake we really like for 350 dollars and will still do our ice cream buffet (not sure how much that charge will be). Picture of the cake attached, the roses match what's in my bouquet - we would do less layers and less flowers - maybe a single row instead of like 5 per layer :)

Engagement shoot today, working on doing laundry for the outfits we will wear - I can't wait and I'm glad we finally are getting our pix done!!

Cake picture:
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hleef

06-27-2011, 07:25 AM

the cake looks gorgeous!!! and i cant wait to see your engagment shots!! im a little dissapointed that we didnt have ours done professionally but had to save money somewhere since i went WAY overboard on the photographer for the wedding! lol

xxeverafterx3

06-27-2011, 08:13 PM

Sneak peek from our e-session - I love these pictures!! They came out great!! The Scrabble tiles were our photographer's idea - I just love these and can't wait to see more !!!

Hope the quality isn't too compromised because of the resizing!

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xxeverafterx3

06-27-2011, 08:14 PM

I love the laughing in the first pic - we were laughing hysterically because we couldn't get the tiles to line up lol

dearmissie

06-27-2011, 08:21 PM

Aww!! I really love the first picture!! So sweet and genuine!! Great idea with the scrabble letters!! Can't wait to see the rest!!

f77g4

06-27-2011, 08:41 PM

Cute pics!

dodgercpkl

06-28-2011, 05:23 AM

I saw the pics on FB and I love them!! I can't wait to see the rest! :hearts:

xxeverafterx3

06-28-2011, 03:47 PM

:hearts:Another teaser:hearts:

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hleef

06-28-2011, 09:46 PM

aww i love the pictures!! i cant wait to see more!

jennybaby

07-02-2011, 06:56 AM

I love the engagement pictures! Beautiful! :heart:

xxeverafterx3

08-01-2011, 12:04 PM

OMG Our engagement photos are done - here's the link

http://michellekayephotography.smugmug.com/Weddings/Bisnett-Engagement/17937511_S24dGr

and our password is CKB2012 - it's case sensitive so make sure you put the initials in all capitals - I love them all so much! I wasn't planning on ordering any, but now I think I definitely will! I am so in love with these it's amazing!!! :heart: Our photographer definitely kicks butt!!!

amisteratwisterandme

08-01-2011, 12:06 PM

Wow! How beautiful. How are you going to pick just a few???

gwenshack

08-01-2011, 12:09 PM

I love how they're sweet and still goofy. It's totally you guys. Love 'em. :)

f77g4

08-01-2011, 12:15 PM

Great photos!

hleef

08-01-2011, 12:40 PM

the pics are gorgeous Catt! how are you going to pick only a few! lol

xxeverafterx3

08-01-2011, 01:48 PM

Thanks everyone! I have no idea how to pick just a few of them lol. I already have to figure out which one to pick for our newspaper announcement and can't even figure that out .... but they are gorgeous and I love them all! Time to order some to hang around the apartment!

brendalin

08-01-2011, 01:59 PM

I love your smiles in 8406

8405 made me giggle, reminder me of how you danced in MS, with your butts out ;)

The ones with the tiles are super cute too. love 8475

4243 is another one of my favs

You guys have so many great pictures! Plus the places that you got them taken at were all beautiful. I ahve no idea how you are going to pick!

xxeverafterx3

08-01-2011, 02:15 PM

LoL Brenda, I just had to go through all 516 pictures to see which ones you were talking about because they are in terrible numerical order - also

8405 made me giggle, reminder me of how you danced in MS, with your butts out ;)

What? lol

NOTKT

08-01-2011, 09:46 PM

Wow, the pictures look great! :D

brendalin

08-02-2011, 07:59 AM

LoL Brenda, I just had to go through all 516 pictures to see which ones you were talking about because they are in terrible numerical order - also

What? lol

I tried to copy which ones I liked but it wouldnt let me. 8405 is on page 12. You guys are holding hands and standing apart and leaning way in to give eachother a kiss. It is super cute and reminds me of how you might do your first kiss when you were younger. :p

jamt

08-02-2011, 08:31 AM

love your pictures they look great your both very photogenic

xxeverafterx3

08-03-2011, 06:52 AM

I tried to copy which ones I liked but it wouldnt let me. 8405 is on page 12. You guys are holding hands and standing apart and leaning way in to give eachother a kiss. It is super cute and reminds me of how you might do your first kiss when you were younger. :p

Gotcha! I love those ones!

brendalin

08-03-2011, 09:07 AM

Gotcha! I love those ones!
Me too! There so cute!

dodgercpkl

08-05-2011, 12:46 PM

I can't remember if I responded on facebook since I got the link and checked it out right before I had to go to work, but I love your pictures!! There are so many fun ones!!!

xxeverafterx3

08-05-2011, 09:28 PM

Thanks Teri! I love some of the faces we were making in them - we had an absolute blast.

On a wedding planning note - we are doing 2 cake/ice cream tastings next week - yes ice cream - we are doing an ice cream buffet (in lieu of candy) as favors for guests - mostly because no one will expect ice cream in February!

We booked our honeymoon for the Sandals Grande St. Lucian. We have a swim-up lagoon suite - it's going to be suite (haha punny). The only thing is, our flight is leaving from NYC Sunday evening - which means we have to be leaving home by like 12 to have someone bring us down - not as much time as we wanted to spend with family/friends the day after but it'll do!

Last night we picked out and put a deposit down on rings and gifts for each other. Yes I know you aren't supposed to tell each other what you got, but we wanted to make sure we were getting each other exactly what the other person wanted. We decided we both wanted nice watches - that we could wear not only for the wedding but everyday. So below are pictures of everything we got.

Kyle's ring will be like this (Tungsten metal with carbon fiber inlay)
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This is his watch - it's a Tissot T-Race (And the most expensive thing out of everything we picked out if you can believe it)
6640

My ring looks kind of like this but the white gold makes X's in the middle of some of the diamonds - hard to picture but it's really pretty - matches my e-ring perfectly :)
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My watch (A Citizen eco-drive Riva watch with a pink face and diamonds around the face)
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We also have sent out our STDs and have had people Facebooking/texting us how excited they are for the wedding! I can't believe it's less than 6 months away!!!!

Salayia

08-06-2011, 12:15 AM

Wow. So pretty! Nice choices! And I think the watch AND ring idea is sweet! :smile:

f77g4

08-06-2011, 08:49 AM

Very nice!

jennybaby

08-07-2011, 06:51 PM

Love the watches! Peter has a Citizen's watch and loves it. It was his wedding gift from me. I almost got one on our honeymoon, but we had already spent too much money.They are amazing watches.

xxeverafterx3

09-02-2011, 03:06 PM

FH and I both applied for our passports today!!! They said the wait is only going to be 3-4 weeks, but I'm glad that we are doing them this early - just in case!

We have a new design idea for the cake - We are doing a 3 tier square cake with white butter cream with black scroll work. The top and bottom layers are going to have a 1 inch red ribbon around them. The middle layer is going to have a 1 inch ribbon that is covered in bling bling around it. Then for a topper we are going to get our florist to replicate my bouquet with black feathers and red roses with crystals in the center! I'm so excited! It's going to look awesome. We talked to our cake lady - for the cake it's going to be $350 and for the ice cream buffet it's going to be $2.50 a person! Not bad pricing at all! And her cakes taste great! Our bottom layer is going to be vanilla cake with strawberry filling, our middle layer is going to be chocolate cake with peanut butter icing filling and the top layer is going to be red velvet with cream cheese filling! Yummy yummy yummy!!!!

I can't believe we're rounding the 5 month mark until the wedding! It feels like just yesterday I was saying "Yes I'll marry you."

Side note - funny convo between FH and I

Me: "I can't believe how fast this is going by"

Kyle: "I know, it feels like only a year ago that I proposed to you."

Me: "Ky you proposed on August 21 last year - it has been a year"

Kyle: "oh .... ok"

LMFAO! I love him

Also, my MOH told me when my bridal shower is - I wasn't supposed to know, but since it's my weekend to work, she wanted me to take the night off so she had to tell me. November 13th, which is a Sunday I'm having a brunch wedding shower. She was going to have it later but was having a hard time booking places because of it being so close to Christmas. Other than that, I have no idea about anything about the shower because it's all going to be a surprise. All I know is that everyone is involved and planning is going really smoothly. :)

We have invitations picked out, we are going to send them out fairly early what with it being so close to the holiday season, we want to give people plenty of notice.

Not really sure what else is going on that I need to update about - I can't think of anything right now - planning is going smoothly so far (**** hope I didn't just jinx that) lol. We are a little stressed about money, but I 'spose that's normal. I think we bit off more than we can chew - BUT I just know it'll all be worth it in the end!

dearmissie

09-02-2011, 03:29 PM

AHAHHAHAHA!! I love that convo between you and him. Too funny!! I'm so glad to hear things are going SO well in the planning department!! Enjoy it!!

dodgercpkl

09-02-2011, 10:53 PM

I love that convo! Too hilarious! :)

jennybaby

09-03-2011, 06:46 AM

I hear you on being stressed about money! You know what? It all worked out for us and everything is paid off and we're financially okay. We're so happy and in love, that money ended up being the least of our worries! Don't fret. :heart:

You are getting closer! Everything sounds amazing and I can't wait to see your cake. Red velvet with cream cheese filling? Mmm! Save me a piece! ;) LOL JK. The other layers sound good, too!! How does one choose!? HAHA.

xxeverafterx3

09-07-2011, 07:03 AM

I know that it's still basically 5 months away, but it's really cool to see a 4 in the month spot of my ticker!!! Hoping that with the shower in November, then Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas and New Years that this time goes by fast - but not too fast that I can't get everything done! I'm just ready to marry my mine and celebrate with our friends and family!!

amisteratwisterandme

09-07-2011, 11:49 AM

I am sure it will be here before you know it. Between birthdays, new job and all the holidays you are going to be busy!

dodgercpkl

09-10-2011, 02:08 AM

It's getting close! Just remember how much longer away it was when you first joined and how fast THAT time went! :)

xxeverafterx3

09-11-2011, 12:02 AM

Its so funny because day to day, I'm like "I want it to be here already. Time is moving so slow." But looking back, it's like "wow time has flown by!" Starting work on menu cards. Also picked out favor ideas. We are going to put 6 hershey kisses (with a personalized sticker on bottom) in a little tulle baggie with a card attached that says something like "A kiss for you for each year we've been together." You're help on wording is more than welcome lol. Since it'll be our 6 year anniversary we figured we'd somehow incorporte that :)

Then on the menu cards under dessert, we are going to put something like "thank you for sharing in our big day, please enjoy the ice cream buffet." Again please feel free to help with wording on that too lol!

We are setting up a honeymoon registry through sandals to hopefully offset the 5600 dollar balance we owe lol!

xxeverafterx3

09-22-2011, 04:15 AM

We found a minister we love!! Ok my wedding planner found a minister we love! LoL but he's awesome!! 375$ for a fully customized ceremony and a rehearsal! We kicked to the curb the rose ceremony, we were going to do the standard unity candle, but the minister suggested a unity stone ceremony. This is a basic description off of the top of my head, I will google a better description when I'm on my home comp, not my cell phone.

When guests arrive, along with their programs they are given a stone. The minister in the ceremony tells everyone to put their best thought/wish/hope/dream/prayer for us into their stone, the stones get collected by 2 groomsmen and while that happens, FH and I each get a stone to do the same. When they're all collected they are mixed together in 1 basket and then fh and I put our stones on top, to symbolize all of our good wishes coming together. Later on we can put them in a nice vase of some sort to put in our home.

The minister was explaining this whole ceremony and Fh started to get misty eyed, so we are set on. We are sending him our deposit this week :) I'm so excited!! 4 1/2 months!!

jennybaby

09-22-2011, 07:35 AM

Never heard of the stone ceremony. I really like that! :)

f77g4

09-22-2011, 09:13 AM

I've never heard that either.

Glad you found someone you like!

xxeverafterx3

09-22-2011, 01:34 PM

Here's the ceremony I found online:

Each guest has been given a small polished stone upon arriving.

Before you met, your lives were on different paths with different destinations. But love has brought you together and joined these separate paths into one. Each one of your friends and family here today have been given a small polished stone that represents their unique individuality and their presence at your wedding today. You also each have a stone of your own that symbolizes your previous separate lives, separate sets of friends, separate families and the different life's journeys you once traveled.

I will now ask that everyone please take out the stone you have been
given and pause to make a wish or blessing for happiness and
good will for the couple for the future of their marriage.

Everyone pauses to make their wish.

Now, we will collect the stones and the couple will then
add their individual stones to the container as well.

The couple adds their stones to the container.

With the combining of these stones, you have now symbolically joined your once separate lives. As the stones have been combined with love into one container,
so now are your friends and family joined, through you, into one. And your once
solitary life's paths are also now one. All that was once separate is now shared,
and in this sharing you both will find new strength and joy as together
you forge a new life's path and destination.

hleef

09-23-2011, 08:52 AM

Catt that stone ceremony sounds wonderful! ive never heard of it before but itll be beautiful!

dodgercpkl

09-24-2011, 06:40 AM

Oh I love that! What an awesome way to involve your guests!

xxeverafterx3

10-11-2011, 08:14 PM

WE GOT THE FIRST DRAFT OF OUR CEREMONY FROM THE OFFlCIANT! I'm so excited! At a quick glance it looks awesome! We are going to review it all and then make any changes we want and then send them to him for a second draft! He wrote an amazing ceremony about our wedding being a journey of love and combining our separate lives into one! It's awesome!!!! It all seems so real now! :) :)

xxeverafterx3

10-20-2011, 03:52 PM

Invitations are ordered!!! They will be here in about 2 weeks! I can't wait to see them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

f77g4

10-20-2011, 04:40 PM

Woohoo! Congrats!

girlggc

10-21-2011, 03:48 PM

I'm excited for you.

Salayia

10-21-2011, 04:14 PM

How exciting!!! :D

xxeverafterx3

11-14-2011, 11:48 AM

I had my bridal shower yesterday and (as posted on Facebook), I had the best time EVER! My bridesmaids and mom and FMIL and future aunt in law, all put on the nicest party ever!! I felt so loved and blessed to have all of my friends and family around me! I didn't know anything ahead of time about the shower other than the date, the location, and what to wear!

They went with a kitchen theme since I love to cook, and they also decorated with the words Live, Laugh, Love - since that is my favorite saying of all time! I told my maid of honor that I didn't want anything in our wedding colors and I wanted it to be something totally different, so they did hot pink and black and zebra print! Anyone who knows me well enough knows that those colors are my FAVORITE!!!!

We did a couple of games, advice for the bride, bridal bingo and the toilet paper dresses! They were all awesome! They had a whole Italian food (my fave), Chicken parm, alfredo, ziti, lasagna, sausage and peppers, garbage bread - the list goes on.

We got absolutely spoiled with gifts. They had a wishing well set up for everyone to bring in a kitchen utensil (I have kitchen utensils coming out of my ears), and we got bombarded with gifts that are now occupying my spare room lol.

The best part was at the end, my maid of honor had my FH and all his groomsmen show up (his groomsmen are some of my best friends) while we were finishing gifts. Then we played "The Newlywed Game" Which is where one of my bridesmaids (who apparently knows more about mine and FH's sexual life than I'd like) came up with some really funny questions and made us answer like we were on the show and then we got prizes. Most of her questions revolved around sex, which was embarrassing because my father was there, but totally funny and had the whole room roaring with laughter.

Pictures in the next post, and kudos if you read this whole post!

jennybaby

11-14-2011, 11:53 AM

xxeverafterx3

11-14-2011, 11:59 AM

Here's just a few pictures that my MOH took on her cell phone - I'm waiting for everyone to post up more - I didn't get a whole lot since I was busy - will post more as I get them!

This is me and 2 of my bridesmaids - I went to nursing school with them and now I work with both of them and I consider them my other mommas - the one on the right of me is the one who came up with the newlywed game questions :)
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Cupcakes that FH's aunt bought for me from the place we are having do our cake! She got 4 different flavors and they were SOOOOOO YUMMY!!!!! The cake on top, I got to keep :)
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FH and I finishing opening gifts - me wearing my very nice ribbon hat :)
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The set up on the tables :)
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The wishing well, this is probably about half full with the amount of utensils I ended up getting :)
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More pictures to come soon

xxeverafterx3

11-14-2011, 12:00 PM

Sounds like a lot of fun! I think I might have enjoyed my shower more than my wedding LOL. Showers are so much fun. I am glad you enjoyed it. We are doing a kitchen theme for our housewarming party, but are asking for recipes instead of gifts. I cannot wait to see some pictures. I wish I had more games at my shower, but my Mom hates shower games and most of the guests were older family members.

Showers are so much fun! I wish I could do mine all over again, just to have that much fun! I forgot to add, when my mom sent out the invitations she also included a blank recipe card and everyone had to bring with them a favorite recipe. My mom bought a nice recipe book and put our shower date on it and decorated with with "bride" bling bling so now I have a whole recipe book too :)

ETA: In the last picture in the previous post, the pink book on the left hand side of the table is the recipe book my mom decorated for me :)

jennybaby

11-14-2011, 12:02 PM

How fun! Love the pictures. You are looking GREAT.

f77g4

11-14-2011, 06:34 PM

Sounds like a great shower!

xxeverafterx3

11-16-2011, 08:09 PM

I have a couple of updates (good and bad) to post once I'm on a real computer.

xxeverafterx3

11-17-2011, 09:27 AM

Holy updates Batman!

So I went David's Bridal yesterday to buy a bra and exchange my shoes because they had gotten too big (apparently I lost weight in my feet lol). I exchanged my shoes for a size smaller and regular width rather than wide.

The lady asked me what size bra I needed and I said I had no clue because of my weight loss. She asked me how much I'd lost and I told her and she said she wanted me to try on the dress because she was worried about it fitting right. I told her I didn't have my dress with me, but she went and pulled it, in my size for me to try on. As soon as I put it on, it fell right off of me. I literally could put both of my arms at my sides inside the dress.

So I told her I was going to make an appointment with my seamstress to see if it would be able to be altered and still look good and she told me she highly recommends me exchanging the dress, rather than risking it with alterations. So she put me in a size smaller. It was a hair big but fit almost perfectly. So she put me in another size smaller and it was a hair tight but almost fit perfectly. I told her I'd rather go with the larger size just in case - with the holidays coming up and stress eating coming up. So I have to go back today to exchange the dress and it'll be here by the 25th of January. Talk about cutting it close. BUT I must say, dropping a dress size felt awesome and the dress looked even better on me :)

Ok now bring on the stress:

We had an appointment with my parents, my wedding planner and the director of sales at the Holiday Inn last night to do a walkthrough of the space and my parents were going to pay off the balance ($6500). We got there, told them who we were waiting for, waited about 20 minutes, and then the front desk person said "Nicole, (my wedding planner) Todd (director of sales) is going to have to reschedule with you, he's at his attorney's office and won't be able to make it."

All 5 of us pretty much flipped ape poo. A little history into the Holiday Inn - it was mine and FH's first choice of venue - it took forever for them to call us back - we almost booked another venue - they called and booked them. The original director of sales started giving my planner a really hard time, then magically one day she was gone. Then her "protege" took over as DOS, then magically he was only a banquet manager and now they apparently have subcontracted out to this Todd character to be their director of sales. We didn't know any of this until my wedding planner called to set up a meeting with this guy about 3 weeks ago. We've also been jerked around with linens, room pricing, buffet options, bar options, etc. We put up with it all because we love the space so much.

So basically now, I'm p!ssed, frustrated and have absolutely no confidence in the Holiday Inn. My wedding planner handled everything very well. The people at the Holiday Inn wouldn't even let him get on the phone. Nicole left him a voicemail telling him to call her by 9am today or we were going to pull the contract. He still hasn't called yet.

My wedding planner whom I love oh so dearly, is now working on backup plans for venues and already promised to get our invitations redone for us, for free. We have a couple places we are looking at this week. FH is still holding out on our original location, because he loves it so much. But to be honest, I'd rather go somewhere else. My biggest worry is if this is happening now, what's going to happen 3 days before the wedding? What's going to happen the day of my wedding?

Kudos if you read this whole vent/rambling statement about how stressed I am .... It's freaking TWO AND A HALF MONTHS before the wedding .... I'm feeling my inner bridezilla come out .... :irked:

jennybaby

11-17-2011, 09:47 AM

WOW!

All I can say is THANK GOODNESS for your wedding planner. I can't believe they've messed around like that. Are they part of a bridal association? If so, contact the association. Other than that... I think you're right with going with another venue after ALL of that.

:hug:

I am so sorry.

Anyway, great news about the dress! If anything, take it to a local seamstress and she should be able to get in done in a matter of days.

xxeverafterx3

11-17-2011, 09:55 AM

Thanks Jenny! No they aren't part of the association. Thankfully my wedding planner just joined up with USAWeddings so she has a ton of connections now at local venues. I'm hoping that since we're so close, venues will give us good pricing if they don't already have something booked.

As far as my dress goes, my wedding planner referred me to a seamstress who has seen my dress and said she can take it in up to 2 sizes. So I don't think I'll be losing another 2 sizes, so I should be safe. And she knows it'll be in on January 25th and scheduled me for that night so she can get started on any alterations and on the bustle :)

jennybaby

11-17-2011, 09:59 AM

As far as my dress goes, my wedding planner referred me to a seamstress who has seen my dress and said she can take it in up to 2 sizes. So I don't think I'll be losing another 2 sizes, so I should be safe. And she knows it'll be in on January 25th and scheduled me for that night so she can get started on any alterations and on the bustle :)

PERFECT. :) Cannot wait to see it all slim and fitting. In the end I wish I would have gotten a new dress when I lost all the weight. You are smart for getting a smaller size. My seamstress was amazing but the dress did not show off the figure I worked so hard to get!

britTANNY

11-17-2011, 10:06 AM

thats amazing congrats on dropping a whole dress size or two ;)
cant wait to see you in your dress looking absolutely fabulous!!!

f77g4

11-17-2011, 02:26 PM

Yay for the weight loss - boo for the bad venue......good luck!

xxeverafterx3

11-17-2011, 02:36 PM

My wedding planner just got a call from the Holiday Inn (ironic that it's 20 minutes after FH filed a formal complaint with corporate) with the director of sales offering to give us a full refund of our $1000 deposit. He wasn't willing to work with us in any other way other than to keep everything we had the same or refund us the money. We are taking the refund and running away.

And FH and I have an appointment at a gorgeous venue at 4:30. We wanted this venue when we first started looking but assumed it was out of our price range .... Hoping they are willing to work with us :crossfingers:

f77g4

11-17-2011, 02:38 PM

Good luck!

Spatch4Officers

11-17-2011, 07:40 PM

So how did the new venue shape up? By the way I LOVE what your BM'S did for your party, how cute. I think the games sound like a lot of fun, and BTW what the heck - telling us you did the Newlywed game and not telling us some questions? Ugh lol anyways - D A M N girl you are looking AMMMMMAZING! I think the wishing well idea and the recipe cards - always an awesome thing to get from a shower... so glad you had a great time!

NOTKT

11-17-2011, 08:16 PM

So glad you could get out of the Holiday Inn contract. It sounded like things were getting worse. And AWESOME news on your weight loss and dress issue. You're going to look gorgeous!

xxeverafterx3

11-18-2011, 12:40 AM

Thanks ladies!! I have awesome venue news that I will post tomorrow as long as everything goes well at the meeting. And I will post newlywed game questions when I'm on a real computer and not at work :)

dearmissie

11-27-2011, 07:19 PM

Glad you are getting your money back. Congrats on losing some weight!! Can't wait to hear about the venue and see the questions for the game!!

dodgercpkl

11-29-2011, 09:57 AM

Oh I hope things work out with the new venue!! Congrats on the weight loss!! I can't wait to see you in your dress!

Salayia

12-04-2011, 08:05 PM

Awesome news about the refund! Good luck with the venue! :crossfingers:

xxeverafterx3

12-13-2011, 02:29 PM

Ok I've been a wedding journal slacker - we booked a new venue - it's called Taste Restaurant - it has a penthouse suite 13 floors up overlooking the Albany skyline and it's GORGEOUS!! Website here http://www.tastealbany.com/penthouse-catering/

They are doing our whole wedding for 8000 for 100 people - that's inclusive of tax and service - They are doing the ceremony in one room, cocktail hour in another and the reception in the 3rd. Plated dinner either Chicken parm or prosciutto wrapped filet mignon. Beer, wine and soda. Dessert buffet of dark chocolate and white chocolate raspberry mousse. Floor length linens, candles, AMAZINGNESS. They have a rooftop patio which makes for awesome pictures that also has heaters on it. So even though it'll be freezing out, we can huddle under the heaters in between pix. We're also doing our rehearsal dinner there, she's giving us a pizza buffet since FH voiced his concerns that he really wanted pizza at the wedding, but the wedding planner and I veto'd it lol.

Our new hotel for guests is the Crowne Plaza http://www.cpalbany.com/ - we have a parlor suite for the night (and during the day for the girls to get ready in) and guests can book for 99$ for the night, which is cheaper than the holiday inn was.

We switched DJ's, as we found out our DJ is a con artist and his business is slowly tanking. Basically he store money from his oldest son, and also took out loans in his son's name and let them default. Shady McShaderson. So our new DJ's (yes 2) are more high energy and provide more for the same price.

My dress came in nice and early so I have to go pick that up.

AND we sent out our invites yesterday, can't wait to start getting RSVPs!

dearmissie

12-13-2011, 02:55 PM

OMG that place is gorgeous!! So modern and chic!! TDF!! And the white dance floor?!? DROOL!! So excited for you!!

xxeverafterx3

12-14-2011, 04:14 PM

Thanks Missie! We love the white dance floor too! Unfortunately the room doesn't come with a dance floor and we have to rent one - BUT we found a white one for fairly inexpensive so that's what we'll be renting.

The owner is helping our planner decorate the room with candles all around the ledge of the windows, our DJ is bringing in tons of red uplighting and also lighting up the dance floor for us too.

The other awesome thing we're doing is suspending our wedding cake above the head table. It's hard to describe, but basically it's going to hang over our head table, instead of sitting on a traditional table.

Our wedding has been elevated from a nice hotel wedding to a bada$$, chic, modern, funky wedding.

Spatch4Officers

12-14-2011, 07:31 PM

I freaking LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! OHHHHH I wish you were getting married right now so I could see pics sooner!!! HAHA

xxeverafterx3

12-17-2011, 12:37 PM

Weeeee!! Getting RSVPs is so much fun!!!

Also, we are getting close and I'm starting to stress.

The guys are at their tux fitting right now and FH just texted me that it's not fun. Apparently, most of the guys (including my dad and FH's mom's SO) brought their women with them and FH expected (and basically requested) it be a guys only trip. I feel kind of bad that he's not having as much fun tux shopping as me and my girls did dress shopping :(

dearmissie

12-17-2011, 02:08 PM

Heck yes girl!! You're wedding is going to be so chic!! I can't wait to see that white dance floor (because we didn't get one. Everyone said they could do one, but when time came to it they couldn't. I didn't even mind forking over the could grand they wanted for it.. Just sucked that no one had it!!). That and your red lighting is def. what I'm looking forward to!! And that cake table!! How on earth will you cut the cake if it's above you??

xxeverafterx3

12-20-2011, 06:49 AM

I think the cake will be lowered for the cutting - not quite sure the logistics yet. Wedding planner, venue owner, and cake decorator are currently working on that lol.

We went for our tasting last night and let me just say it was absolutely amazing!! Like most wedding food is good and not bad, but this food was AMAZING!!! I don't want to post all the details of food just yet, but let me just say our guests are going to be blown away, not only by the taste but by the presentation.

Also, the owner of the company that my wedding planner works for (he owns a whole bridal association, not just the planning part) is making our wedding their featured wedding and is going to come film, photograph the entire thing for free, (still keeping our original photog, since he is filming for himself not for us) so they can use it for commercials, but he's going to give us copies of everything he takes!!! So excited!!