150 Day Progress Post!
Reminder: Groom is Randy (30 yrs old) and I’m Heather (25 now, will be 26) aka simplybitterswt aka author of epic post is epic regarding courthouse weddings/post-celebrations. You may be happy to know that a week or so after posting this, I found out I was eligible for health insurance under my dad’s insurance until my Birthday in May so then I’ll just be uninsured May 26th-September 3rd. :)
We are now JUST under five months out from our September 3rd wedding in Manistee, Michigan (my birth town). Our main color is black, accented with pink & green. We live in Chicago, 6 hours away from our wedding location - fun stuff. :) We are DIYing a lot of decor. First, here’s a picture of my fiancé and I. This is not our engagement pic but a professional pic we had taken awhile back.
And here he is popping the question at my grandparents' house in front of my family on May 8th, 2011 (under the guise of a Mother's Day BBQ) + my ring, which I LOVE (even though he feels it's too small. psshhh - WHATEVA!). :) It had to be re-sized. I love the "wtf! - dazzzed!" look on my face. lol
Our theme is kind of a whimsy nature-ish theme. We picked our colors first. We told our graphic designer (grad school friend Ashley Mays) what we liked about each of them and she came up with this beautiful STD. We printed them through VistaPrint.com as regular post cards and they came out AMAZING! Many compliments. :) Although I'm sure you have nothing better to do than to stalk us, haha, please don't. :P
Front:
BACK:
After she sent us her initial mock-up, we fell in love with the dragonfly and dandelion/Queen Anne’s Lace type flower and decided to run with it. I had decided whimsy but hadn’t e-mailed her yet but when I saw this, it was like she was able to create what I couldn’t quite put into words anyway. We changed the wording but this is just the initial mock-up.
And our thank yous. :D (folded card)
Back in September my mom came to visit. We went to David’s “just to look,” as so many of us do. And I left the owner of this dress. It’s being stored at my parents’ house to lower the temptation my fiancé may feel but every time I’m there, I always unzip the bag just to look at it. *sigh* Gorgeous… :) I won't be doing a veil, though. If I can't wear my mom's (if the ivory doesn't match, which I doubt it would), I'll do flowers.
Matching flower-girl dress for my (will be 8) year-old niece:
A few weeks ago, we went shopping for the bridesmaids’ dresses at David’s. I had five girls but one backed out due to finances (it’s quite expensive to fly from the UK! :)). Three were able to go and the MOG. Our look is based on this picture. They will be wearing black dresses with the pink accents. I saw this and was like... :-o PERFECT!
And what they came out with was a similar look. We ditched the peek-a-boo skirt because it just did NOT look right. They also all bought a different sash.
I’m leaving the shoes up to them and will figure out the jewelry later. The only one missing is another great friend from high school but she lives back home and we went to DB's in Kalamazoo, MI.
Maid of Honor/BFF since 8th grade Tonya. (she always wears mis-matched socks. She obviously doesn't have a sash on & is looking irritated in this pic. lol)
BM Delia (friend from undergrad) - she's super proud because she fits into a size 14! :D (she lost a lot of weight from an 18/20 now to a 14 - in BM dress sizes!)
FSIL Keri :D
And the FMIL/MOG! :) I found out she was looking at brown dresses (eek!) and I was like EMERGENCY! We MUST go shopping this weekend. lol Although it wouldn't matter - I'd still be married to Randy at the end of the day. :) I also know her budget was very small and I wanted to make sure she had a dress that was MOG worthy, person of honor worthy. She ended up buying this dress and I think she looks absolutely stunning in it. :)
I really wanted to get married in the town I grew up in (Traverse City, Michigan) but it’s kind of a touristy town so we chose Manistee instead. It’s where I was born and where a lot of my mother’s family lives. We’re having the ceremony on the river channel that connects Lake Michigan to Manistee Lake. CAN'T LOSE with $100 price tag. :) We’ll be just at the opening to the pavilion (pictured with handsome fiance! :)). The path we'll walk up (pavilion will be on our right, guests on the left). The view across the river (the back of the buildings in downtown Manistee - I love the boats, faded look/different heights, etc.) and looking out from the pavilion at where the guests will be.
Our reception hall was cheap. And it looks cheap. Nothing special - just a local VFW hall/bingo hall. *groan* I'm still not 100% sure how to spruce it up - suggestions? (the DJ stage is also our rain plan. This will definitely be covered up!)
During a trip home a few weeks ago, we had a reception décor party with my mom, aunts & grandma. We found this craft idea on Michaels.com. They’ll hang on the head table every time the tulle “swoops” up. They turned out quite a bit larger than I thought they would but I love the way they look. Super cute and us. :)
We also made FORTY-ONE of these tiles, also from a Michaels.com craft suggestion. They’re made from foam, covered with scrapbooking paper and embellishments. Each one also has a picture of Randy & I from our 4 years together. I love the way they turned out and they’ll lean against the milk glass vase centerpieces.
We’ll alternate the flower/vase/tile centerpieces with candles on cloth squares (think cloth napkins set diagonally) that I’ll be sewing from various dandelion/dragonfly fabric I bought on ebay. We were thinking about setting bread out on the tables, as well, because we are donating to Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes, the non-profit we worked at/met at and it seemed like a cute idea. However, it may be too much going on. lol
We’re decorating the hall with other whimsy DIY décor found from various sites, doing a DIY photo booth and we’re having a candy buffet and have been collecting dishes and glass containers for several months now. My aunt is a florist and she’s doing all the flowers for us as her gift. We haven’t decided what type of flowers, exactly, but probably gerber daisies. We started dating a week before my Birthday and he brought me a bouquet of them. :) We have about 60 stands of lights (pink and white) for décor, as well. lol Overkill much? My mom’s friend and her mother are learning how to make wedding cakes just for our wedding. We don’t want anything TOO fancy. We’re thinking round tiered, buttercream and our invite design incorporated (piped on flowers, dragon fly ornaments or something?). The biggest issue with the cake is deciding on the flavors! Then for the groom’s cake, Randy went to University of Michigan so we’ll have an M or a helmet or something. lol
We also decided on our photographer, Deak Photography. It was crazy because I was going to use my aunt (which would have been a huge mistake after I saw her wedding work) but I was at a local coffee shop doing wedding planning and the barista asked me where the wedding was. When I told him, he said that was where he’s from! Then his wife came in about 20 minutes later and when he told her I was getting married back home, she started telling me all about her vendors. She mentioned her photographer and I said, “Deak? I went to school with a kid with that last name!” Turns out he is the photog’s little brother. Small world, eh? So we’re going with her - I’m very impressed with her work and excited about her creative shots.
The VFW required we use one of their three caterers. We chose one and our menu (buffet style) is really simple. Think home-cooked meal. lol Plus we'll have one vegetarian option. :)
Our DJ is friends of my grandparents. They do DJing and karaoke so we may switch to karaoke later in the night or alternate. Not bad for $150! We’ll look at their selections and provide CDs of any additional music we want. We’re still figuring out all the music, including our first dance. My main concern is the F/D dance and M/S dance. My stepfather adopted me when I was 9 and is my father, for sure, although I call him by his first name. I’m torn on what to dance to with him. Randy has a different relationship with his mom than all the typical songs talk about so that’s a tough decision, too.
We’re meeting with our pastor in two weeks. He married my aunt and uncle and is willing to do our wedding for $50 the way we want it. We’re writing our own vows and are kind of dorky, which we want to show in our ceremony. He’s willing to go with whatever we want to do. Very excited! Kind of sentimental that he married my aunt and uncle, too. :)
We’re just starting to focus on suits this week. Randy wants pin-stripes. With the few opinions he has expressed thus far in the planning process, he’s getting them. Lol Having gone to Men’s Warehouse recently, I was less than impressed by their $160 tux RENTAL price tag. So Randy will probably buy a nicer new suit that he needs anyway and then we’ll find suits for cheaper than that elsewhere for the guys to buy if they don’t already own a plain black suit.
I think that’s everything! I’m a full-time grad student and I’m almost done with my 15-week long internship teaching 9th grade English. It’s been a bit insane, especially since my best friend/MOH got engaged in November and is getting married in July! Yikes.
If you read all of that, THANK YOU! I’ve been wanting to type my progress post for months but haven’t been able to sit down and just DO IT! I’m excited and I have loved reading everyone’s progress and post-wedding posts for inspiration to keep planning, get ideas, etc. Thanks again, WPers!