Ronald & Holly - July 30 2011

[WeFinallySayIDo]

Hi Ladies! I decided to make a wedding journal; after looking at others I got inspired! =D

My name is Holly;

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9438/me1kxs.jpg (http://img209.imageshack.us/i/me1kxs.jpg/)

My fiance's name is Ronald;

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8545/ronald1.jpg (http://img207.imageshack.us/i/ronald1.jpg/)

We are 21 and 24 years old, living together in our own home, and planning our wedding for July 30th! Super excited!!

I am completely unsure about what dress I want and need to get my butt to a bridal shop and just start trying things on. I suppose my budget is about $600 or so.

This past weekend we went to pick out our rings. I never got an engagement ring because we decided to get married and not have a proposal or anything. It fits us, sure I want what ever girl wants; a nice romantic/cute proposal but he is who he is <3.

I fell in love with this set;

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/3552/myweddingring.jpg (http://img337.imageshack.us/i/myweddingring.jpg/)

And he loves this for him;

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/5163/ronsring.jpg (http://img263.imageshack.us/i/ronsring.jpg/)

We have them both on layaway at the moment, his fit perfectly (jerk, why can't men have fat fingers?! lol) and mine needs to be sent out to be sized. So this is going to be the longest 4 to 6 weeks of my entire life!! I always thought I didn't want a lot of sparkle but omgosh, it was :hearts: at first sight!!

These are our save the dates;

http://www.partycity.com/product/save+the+date+invitations+25ct.do?sortby=ourPicks&size=all&from=Search

I love them, they are SO simple and any invite can be paired with them. I have filled out and addressed 25 of them, I've got about another 25 to 40 more to do!

I also checked out Vistaprint and ordered some return address labels, just putting his last name on them so that we can use them when we get married also.

Why don't post offices have cute stamps? They need to carry wedding ones!! Needless to say I need to buy some stamps and a lot of them!

We will be having about 120 to 130 people at our wedding, we are having it at a small church and then our reception will be at a local state park. I am SO excited!!

Well, more later when I find some more ideas!! <3

[gwenshack]

Yay for a journal! :) My hubby is a Ronald too. :soppy:

[dearmissie]

Hi, yay for a journal!! As for the stamps, the post office does have wedding stamps!! They have interlocking rings, even a wedding cake one!! And if you don't like those, you can order some custom ones on Zazzle!! :yesnod::yesnod:

Happy planning sweetie!!

[xxeverafterx3]

Yay for a journal! Can't wait to see all your plans come together!

[WeFinallySayIDo]

So I got (some) stamps today! While I was at work the electric kept going out so I decided to go up to the post office instead of sit inside a boring ole bank that we couldn't do any work in.

A lady at work had mentioned about those wedding stamps but I guess that post office was too small and they didn't have them; none of them did! So I got plain ole liberty bells. (bells, weddings, wedding bells! haha..no...) I only got 40 to begin with.

Through work I found a man who does photography; the problem is he offers to be there all day, take 300 to 500 photos and it cost over $1,000. Now, I AM starting to understand that below $1,000 for pictures is asking a lot around here but good gosh! Other photographers I've found for that much offer unlimited photos! We also found this girl who is freelance and she charges $750 but I am not impressed with her pictures, at all. She is good, she just seems to lack variety and imagination. We thought of getting engagement photos done by her for $60 to see how she is in person. Another lady at work showed me her cousin's photography website and I adore them, everything about her photos are just stunning! I e-mailed her to ask about prices and such so we will see.

I still need to call about a cake. We just want a plain old chocolate cake with white fondant and colored ribbon around the tiers. No odd flavors, no fancy shamncy ness.

[WeFinallySayIDo]

I think I figured out my center pieces!!

I want to take watering cans like these;

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5804/wateringcans.jpg (http://img405.imageshack.us/i/wateringcans.jpg/)

or these;

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/2918/wateringcans2.jpg (http://img80.imageshack.us/i/wateringcans2.jpg/)

I really really like the second ones best and they come in a pack of 12 for around $18.

I was also thinking of having some tables have terra cotta pots on them, but the more I look at the watering cans the more I sort of just want them.

And then have some tea light candles around.

The flowers will be different for each table;

Gerbera diasy
Peonies,
Gardenia,
Hydrangea,
and Tulips

I've been looking at the flowers and really like the way they all go together.

But it'd be simple and sweet. And the only use of real flowers in the entire wedding =D

[jennybaby]

Yay for another wedding journal! Congrats on getting married. :hearts::hearts:

Sorry the post office didn't offer any wedding stamps. Boo. :( As for photography, why don't you check out Craigslist? You can find a lot there! Small businesses, free-lancers, etc etc. I'm sure you can find someone whose work you like at an affordable price!

Good luck. :) Love the centerpiece idea!

[WeFinallySayIDo]

We changed the wedding date!!

To July 2, 2011, we moved it up a whole month.

Why?

Because.....


We found the most PERFECT venue, EVER. I always always always wanted to have a reception in a barn and now I found one and it includes a bunch of land and we can have the ceremony there as well and have the pictures done right there as well.

http://www.laurelrockfarm.com/

I am SO excited!! And we can pick out tables, and chairs, linens, and plates, and such too!!!

[WeFinallySayIDo]

I BOUGHT MY WEDDING DRESS!!!!!


I LOVE LOVE LOVED the experience, I wish I could do it all day long every day <3 I fell in love with the second dress I tried on and then tried on a few more but just couldn't get this one out of my mind! It fit perfectly right off the rack. We also got a veil that makes the beading on the dress pop and a crystal/pearl headband that just ties it all together. I am SO in love <3<3

http://img502.imageshack.us/i/img2011021900008.jpg/

[jennybaby]

It's gorgeous! You look fabulous! And yay for moving the wedding up a month! How exciting!!! Congrats on the venue!

:confetti:

[dodgercpkl]

Awww! I LOVE that venue! Gorgeous! Congrats on your find and on moving up the wedding date! :) You look fabulous in your dress. :)

YAY for starting a journal btw!

[britTANNY]

I would say give the photographer a shot at the engagement photos, she should be open to suggestion and maybe she has some ideas she is wanting to try out but not sure how they will go and will try with you? My aunt is a photographer so she is always using me for inspiration and to try to see how things will look...

Also you should look at other engagement photos and take her some ideas of what you like and what poses you would like to try that way she gets a good idea visually of what you are into...

Some people are just really into the old fashioned get this this and this then be done, maybe she hasnt had the opportunity to work with someone with imagination...

But with that being said your wedding day is EXTREMELY important and i would not pick her if the engagement shoot doesnt go well or if she seems uncomfortable or like shes out of her element with your ideas...

[dearmissie]

WAHOO!! You're wedding day is just ONE day after mine!! YAY!! I'm SO SO SO excited for you!!

The venue looks great!! And I'm so glad you found your perfect dress!!

[WeFinallySayIDo]

Ahhh!! My wedding day is getting closer and closer and I'm SO far from being organized!!!


Let's see, what all is new...

I have two bridesmaids; we ordered their dresses, they are chiffon, knee length, and the color is buttercup (a pale yellow).

The flower girl's dress came in a few weeks ago; it is so totally adorable. It is white satin top with taffeta skirt that holds teal colored flower petals in it around the hem. There is also a teal silk ribbon with a bow at the waist. It is just so...ahh, if I were 3 years old I'd have one in every color. Her skirt, you can actually take the petals out and put some other color in there. Same with the ribbon and bow.

My wedding shoes, I haven't ordered them yet but they are just flats with a bow on them. I actually wear the black version to work and they are so comfy, I wear them every where so I thought "well heck, I want flats and I want comfy" and I found my work shoes in white. So that is on the "need to order" list.

Our wedding cake; I think I'm going to make a two or three tiered small cake. Nothing huge. And use the ball/piller set. (round balls are put on the billers and support everything; they sort of look like giant pearls). I love making cakes, I know how to. I just need to experiment with fondant. I also want to just get matching ribbon, the thick silk kind, and put it around the cake. We are getting sheet cakes from the dutch market down by my parents house. their cake is delicious!!

I ordered my garter from etsy.com. It is SO beautiful; it is john deer tractor fabric (that says "nothing runs like a deer). With a sheer white fabric sewn around the sides and a green/white/yellow bow and silver tractor charm. It is SO us! I think it might be my favorite part!! With the whole wedding being pearls/white/flowers/crystals and then john deer garter...hehehe. its going to be a surprise!

I got my wedding invitations; they were on sale at wal mart for a 25 for $9.50, they are bright green and include the invite, envelope, direction card, RSVP card/envelope. They are fold up/pocket kind. Evidently they cost $1.02 to mail...I'll have to see what they look like. I can always return one pack.

I got a photographer; he is a customer at work. He is a real fun guy and I want a CD of pics. For $800 he will give me a CD of ALL the pics and will be there all day long. I left it up to my mother as to what else she wants to order from him, I just want the CD.

We asked his Uncle if he will be the Pastor, just waiting on a reply.

I have my toasting flutes, I still need to get ribbon for them.

I picked out the flowers I want for the center pieces; I'm going to get (real) mini gerbera daisies and stephanotis flowers.

I need to pass along the number for a DJ to my parents. We found a guy through a guy so we're crossing our fingers.

We have a caterer. We picked honey glazed chicken and beef with gravy. She just needs to know the amount of people and they are free to choose, at the wedding itself, what they want to eat.

I guess we are using a unity candle set..boo..I wanted unity sand. =( maybe we will do unity sand at home or something goofy like that.

I'm still rooting for my mom making colorful rice crispy squares..haha..they're rice crispy squares made out of fruity pebbles. They're so colorful and cute looking.

Still have a LOT to do yet.

[WeFinallySayIDo]

I just ordered my shoes <3

they were on sale now! for 16.99. I had them shipped to payless, so I didn't have to pay shipping. yay!!

[dodgercpkl]

You've gotten a lot accomplished!! I have to lol and say that when you said you are buying sheet cakes from the Dutch market by your parents house, my mind perked up! My husband is Dutch, so anything with the word Dutch in it seems to catch my eyes more then anything else. lol

I hope you post pictures when you start practicing with the fondant! I've thought about that myself. I love to bake and I love to decorate cakes, but I've never tried playing with fondant. Since planning my wedding cake, I'm now more curious about it!! :P

The photographer deal sounds great! My one question would be if the pics on the cd will be high res or low res. It's the scrapbooker in me. lol I love to have the freedom to print out what I want when I want on my own home printer and not have to worry that a pic won't come out because it's low res.

[WeFinallySayIDo]

You've gotten a lot accomplished!! I have to lol and say that when you said you are buying sheet cakes from the Dutch market by your parents house, my mind perked up! My husband is Dutch, so anything with the word Dutch in it seems to catch my eyes more then anything else. lol

I hope you post pictures when you start practicing with the fondant! I've thought about that myself. I love to bake and I love to decorate cakes, but I've never tried playing with fondant. Since planning my wedding cake, I'm now more curious about it!! :P

The photographer deal sounds great! My one question would be if the pics on the cd will be high res or low res. It's the scrapbooker in me. lol I love to have the freedom to print out what I want when I want on my own home printer and not have to worry that a pic won't come out because it's low res.

Well, this is Pennsylvania Dutch, lol. Is it still as interesting?? I'm from a very mennonite/amish heavy part of PA (but not Lancaster) and then I moved to another part of PA that is all amish and mennonite..soo everything is either a dutch market or an amish market. Some of the best stuff sometimes.

I'm not sure what he is using on the pics; i don't scrap book =( I'd like to but it doesn't interest me. My Mom is a big scrap booker. I'm just going to print the pics from a store.

[WeFinallySayIDo]

For $13 I got half of our wedding vases for the flowers for the center pieces.

I went to Good Will and got 6 vases of different designs, but they are those heavy duty/wont fall over kind. I love them! I think the most expensive one was a whopping $1.97. I need another 6 or so now. I completely cleared them out of their shelf of glass vases, haha.

I also found snow flake bowls! They match my snow flake plates I got when I worked at Target, but we never had any bowls in stock and neither online. Well! I found two sets of bowls for $5.99 each and got both sets. It totally has nothing to do with the wedding but I wanted to share.

I also bought my wedding shoes; yay!!!

[dodgercpkl]

Well, this is Pennsylvania Dutch, lol. Is it still as interesting?? I'm from a very mennonite/amish heavy part of PA (but not Lancaster) and then I moved to another part of PA that is all amish and mennonite..soo everything is either a dutch market or an amish market. Some of the best stuff sometimes.

I'm not sure what he is using on the pics; i don't scrap book =( I'd like to but it doesn't interest me. My Mom is a big scrap booker. I'm just going to print the pics from a store.

lol it's still Dutch even if it's diluted by a generation or 2 in the USA! :P We have only one Dutch store that's close-ish to us and it's still about 45 mins away. My husband loves going there every month or 2! He tells me that the pickles we have in the USA are just NOT the same as the pickles he likes, so that's the only place he can get them. lol

The biggest issue with the pictures is that if you go to print them out for whatever reason, and are doing a size bigger then a 3x5 (or maybe 4x6) and they are low res, then you'll get poor quality regardless of professional printing or not. The higher the res, the better the picture will look in larger dimensions!

I LOVE Goodwill! That became my favorite store when I was planning things for the wedding or doing my DIY projects! They have so many neat things that come in! I got all of my vases there as well as my cake topper, and sooooo much more. :hearts:

[hleef]

i must say that your venue is gorgeous!! and your only 2 hours from me ;) lol. It seems like youve got everything in order! and YAY! :confetti:for moving your wedding up a month! i look forward to reading more and seeing more pics!

[WeFinallySayIDo]

I got my cake server set!! I looked all over, at oriental trading, at wal mart, etc and I just could NOT find something sturdy and beatiful. I had found one girl on Etsy and omgosh was the set beautiful but she wouldn't return until June 30th and it'd be way to late.

Then I remembered "Things Remember" and this is the set I got; http://www.thingsremembered.com/product/Occasions/Wedding/Wedding-Day-Essentials/Leaves-and-Vines-Server-Set/pc/101/c/2114/sc/2739/159806.uts?refineByCategoryId=2739

I got "Ronald and Holly. July 2, 2011" on the cake server one. Ron was surprised, he thought I had just gotten a generic saying engraved on it; I think he sort of liked it. =) I plan to shine them up after the wedding and put them in a shadow box. But, the black velvet case they gave me, IS gorgeous...

I also got my pearl necklace and earrings. Yay! I just need to get my bridesmaids their necklaces; these are theirs (hopefully) and with turquoise pearls: http://www.annabellagio.com/product/view.php?product_id=012578&category_id=007908

[Spatch4Officers]

Your venue is AMAZINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!!!!!!

[WeFinallySayIDo]

We got a DJ FINALLY!!!!! Phew, he is expensive but he was available July 2nd and all his reviews are amazing!