My precious...

Want to see one of my favorite things ever? One of those small details that I loved and was so happy to have spent hours making just right?

Well, here it is! My handmade hair dodad!


Isn't she beautiful? This little lady is the result of HOURS of my time and much swearing, but damn...after all that, I'm in love!

I spent a long time looking on esty for a fascinator - and found many of them that were absolutely gorgeous! But I just couldn't bring myself to pay $80 bucks for some hair thing. No way. Plus, I knew what I wanted and I had my materials. I had fabric from cutting the train off my dress and some extra pretty green pearls from my necklace. So I went to it.

First, I searched for a good tutorial on how to make a fabric flower. Wow - so many out there! Its ridiculous! But of course, Martha came to the rescue with an easy and fabulous fabric flower how to. The how to is for a ring pillow but works just as easily for a hair fascinator.

It took me a while to get the flower to look right...somehow, depending on how you pinch the petals, it can come out completely different! One way makes really cupped petals, which make a super cute flower, but I didn't want this thing popping off my head. I wanted it to sit nice and smooth on my hair. So I worked and worked to get the petals to sit flat. Still not sure how I did it...but I did it!

Add the pearls in the center, some feathers, felt the back, super glue some bobby pins to the back and VOILA! What a beaut!

Why am I at work!?!?!

Oh yeah, cuz making money is cool especially when paying for a wedding that is THREE days away!! EEEEEE!!!

But I most definitely do not want to be stuck at my desk today! Don't brides get an automatic free week off before the wedding or something? Isn't that written into the rules somewhere? I think it should be. Luckily, I think my boss totally recognizes the fact that the three days I've worked this week are going to be a total wash. No productivity here! Just some putzing, daydreaming, and making lists for myself. And apparently blogging, too!


My emotions are still like a game of hungry, hungry hippo: spaztastic. But they are kinda moving more into the direction of excitement and I'm really, really trying to push the nerves and the stress away. GO AWAY, STRESS! I don't want to be your friend! I know we have this long history and all, but its just not working for me anymore. I don't want your bad influence!

We have some time to relax in the next few days in between running errands and finalizing details. We are also trying to make time to visit with some of the out of town travelers. As my friend from Seattle said, "I'm coming to town just to see you at your wedding, but I realize that I probably won't see you much at your wedding!" so we need some extra date time! And some State Fair time! Can't miss the Great Minnesota Get Together, now can I!? Wedding details, schmetails! I want a PRONTO PUP! And mini donuts. And hot dish on a stick. And some deep fried oreos. And beer. And whatever else my little tummy can fit!

And I've been writing my vows. Which has been way harder than I expected. So much to say and so little time! And dammit, its not helpful that I cry every time I try writing these dang things. But I think I finally got something good...hopefully... Well, I think it'll be good if I can make it through without being a blubbering mess. I have no idea which way that is going to go. I may be too nervous to cry. Or I may just break down and not be able to say anything at all. It feels like a 50/50 chance to me.

Oh! And can I just say thank you to the weather gods for looking fondly down on us and having a great forecast for this weekend? SO appreciated! We had an inside backup plan, but who wants to be stuck in a silly little room when there is a grand old oak tree to get married under! Sweat may run down my back with the heat and humidity that's forecasted, but I don't care! No rain! YAY!!!

So blog land...

Without further ado (or rambling), I'm heading out to finish my last day of work as a single lady, then off to getting sh*t done, and then getting married! We're flying out Sunday to Cali for the honeymoon and won't be back until the 5th! WOO! So wish me luck, please send some good vibes my way, and I'll see you on the other side!

Love,
J

I do have one last thing that I'm going to leave you with...but you have to wait a little bit for it! ;)

Photo from Desirée Delgado who has so many fun pics! I loved browsing her flickr stream!

Why is it so difficult getting gifts?

Speaking of registries... The registries have been one of our biggest trouble makers in this planning process. And I think that is weird. Shouldn't receiving gifts be easy? We put together a list of what we want...and those who want to give us gifts give us those things. But no. Not quite. Because it just wouldn't be wedding planning without a dash of drama and a healthy dose of indecision!

Its probably because we are running into the common problem of not wanting much STUFF. We've been living in sin for quite a few years now, have a home set up, and don't need (or want) much. (and have very little room to put said stuff in!) But a lot of people don't like giving money - even if its in the awesome form of honeymoon gifts on Traveler's Joy!

We've had family telling us that we don't have enough on our tangible item registries and that we need more. That we should set up another registry all together to give lots of choices. We even had a family member set up a registry for us because they reaaally wanted us to have this extra registry. And people telling us that the stuff on our registry isn't nice enough and that we should take this opportunity to get china or or crystal or other fancy stuff (stuff that would definitely fall into the "don't want or need or have space for" categories). People telling us that the white dishes we picked out are boring (because he wanted super dark dishes and I wanted super bright dishes....so we just went with classic-never-fail-will-always-match-and-never-go-out-of-style white).

Talk about unsolicited advice! Such strong opinions on what we should ask for for gifts!? wtf

Are/did any of you have similar registry problems?

Image from Kol Tregaskes because while some of you are dreaming about babies...I'm dreaming about puppies!

Back to the Beginning!

Wanna hear how I met my future hubby? Well, as with many good/bad/ugly stories, it all starts with a frat house*...

So once upon I time I was going to college. Well, kinda. I had just moved into the dorms and was going to be starting college on Tuesday. But it was Friday, so we best go out! And our dorm just so happened to be on Frat Row so we thought we'd go see what all that hubbub was about. My roomie and I are walking along the row and realizing that we are not going to get in anywhere since we aren't showing off in short skirts and hot tops with lots of cleavage. :(

But as we are walking along we come along to a frat where my roomie thinks she knows someone. As we approach we see the dunk tank they have set up in the front yard and get asked if we wanna pay three bucks to throw three balls. "Naw," I say. "I'm broke. No cash on me!" "Oh," says frat boy 1. "Well, you could just go in the dunk tank instead!" "Yes," says I. "That sounds like a great idea!" So frat boy 1 points me in the direction of super cute frat boy** (aka future hubby) to borrow some shorts so I don't have to get mine all wet. In the dunk tank I go, get dunked a few times, then the next dude hops in. I give back shorts to super cute frat boy but don't really see him much that night.

Fast forward a week later and we go back to frat house to see dude that roomie knows. I don't see super cute frat boy...sad! So we are chit chatting and then I look and BAM! Super cute frat boy is back from work! ooh, super cute frat boy is indeed super cute. Somehow we end up talking and I find out that super cute frat boy is also super nice and super down to earth and super outdoorsey! We talk, talk, talk and my roomie ends up drinking way too much and passing out in other frat boys room (no skeez involved here luckily!) I tell future hubby that I should go but that I will see him in the morning when I come to pick up passed out roomie. He says that I should just stay since it is already early morning. I ignore good judgment and say ok. So future hubby and I stay up talking until way early in the morning until future hubby then has to get up and go to work!

I go back to my dorm...spinning from a great night but not sure what to think about this. I JUST got to college! WTF!? Oh, and he is shorter than me (which isn't hard to do when I'm around six feet tall!) and I thought I'd never date anyone shorter than me. But when I told roomie that she said, "That's ok! Hes not taller than me! I'll take him!" and then I got all bristly and laid dibs on future hubby cute frat boy. Done deal.

That's our story and now super cute frat boy will become my super cute hubby in 39 days! eeeek!!!

*We love to laugh about this since neither of us fit in with frat culture at all. So two people who are so well matched to each other met in a place that suited neither of them!
**Future hubby doesn't really like it when I call him a frat boy (...sorry, baby! Does it make it better if its proceeded by 'super cute'?) He pretty much stayed there for the cheap rent. Other than that, the frats deserve most every stereotype given to them.

Reminder: go over here to win something sa-weeet!

Image from FotoRita

Shower Recap

Afternoon, ladies and gents!
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! It was a jam packed one over here in Minnesoooota! We got our best dudes their wedding duds, saw Inception (awesome!!!), went to my shower, celebrated a birthday, had some crazy storms that flooded the streets of Minneapolis, went river tubing, and then woke up very tired on this Monday morning! Phew! I need a break from my weekends.

I've been getting a lot of questions about my shower and just people asking how it went. All I can manage is to say "good!", but I feel like they want more. So after a few seconds of them staring at me I usually break and say, "Um...well, it was very showerlike! We played some games, ate some food and then everyone watched me open presents." That still doesn't seem to be an adequate answer but that is all I got!

Maybe I just feel a little awkward about being the center of attention...especially when all that means is that everyone is watching me open presents. Presents that I've already picked out, are not really going to be a surprise, and are kitchen/house stuff (which means cool but not "OMG NO WAY!" kinda cool). Presents that I feel awkward for asking for and then more awkward for opening at a party just for me. It feels super selfish and all memememememe!

I think that's the interesting part of these showers. I've done all I can to reduce the burden of gift giving for people - I've suggested gift alternatives and theme alternatives that would demand very little financially from people. I've suggested to my in-laws that the other shower doesn't even take place. But it seems that people really want to throw showers. And traditional ones with all the gifts at that! I mean, don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining. Gifts are sweet! and we are going to be high tech in our house because of all of them! But why is it that all these other people want to have these things regardless of how I've tried to tone it down?

Anyway, I did have a bunch of fun at the shower and I love my aunts to death for putting on such a nice little party for me. I was honestly just a bunch of smiles that day but halfway through opening presents I thought my face my break because I was smiling so much. At that point I had to transition from smiling full on to a really quick smile only when necessary. Otherwise my face was just too tired and ended up with a creepy half assed looking smile on. and thats no good. no good at all.


Oh, and reminder! Go comment to enter the giveaway! I swear I won't send you something stupid!

SO busy! but heres a ramble about photos!

I am so blown right now! Like, I can hardly do anything at work because my brain is so full of other stuff! Just went to a wedding over the weekend, got our engagement photos done, going to check out flowers today, my second dress fitting tomorrow, my first shower this Saturday (yay!), friends birthday also on Saturday/Sunday, and amongst this trying to be productive and checking things off our list. (damn that list! damn it to hell!)

I am not made for being so busy and am generally more on the lazy side of life. So I'm totally bamboozled by my schedule at the moment!

So for today's post, I simply have a ramble about our e-session and photographer:

To begin: engagement photos were so fun! and I'm so glad we did them! It was great to get to know our photographer (awesome) and also to kinda get used to being photographed. It helped that, for our first shoot location, we choose the busiest place ever to get over our photo nerves...the sunday farmer's market on Lyndale in Minneapolis!

Both of us love food and are committed to eating as sustainably as we can - so the farmer's market was a good fit for us. Also, I just thought there would be some fun, unique shots to be had there! So we walked around, browsed food, and actually did some shopping!

I'm super excited to see our photos! I try not to think about it otherwise I get all giddy...but she said they probably won't be ready for two weeks or so since she is out of town this week.

Oh, and this 'she' is Chelsey Marie of Chelsey Marie Photography! And now that I think about it, I can't believe I haven't talked about her! Maybe cuz I was holding my breath and not wanting to jinx it....which I still kinda am. We haven't seen the photos yet...but I just am feeling so happy with her already that I can't wait!

Once upon a time I was shopping for photographers. And holy crap are there a lot of them. A lot of really great photographers with amazing portfolios that just made me drool all over myself. But holy crap are they expensive. There was one, a couple with their own photo biz, who I just adored. Kage Imagery - check em out! Awesome photos and they seem like super awesome people! I really wished I could afford them...but alas, I'm a cheap ass. I had been in communications with them previously, and so when I finally gave in to the fact that I was a cheap ass I told them very nicely that I love their stuff, wished we could work together...but I'm a cheap ass. Then I asked if they had any recommendations of photographers to fit my cheap ass budget. They sent me two names - one of which was Chelsey Marie Photography.

Chelsey was exactly what I was hoping for! Someone with some great photos in her portfolio but just starting her own biz. We were actually the first wedding she ever booked under her own biz! This all means that we get an AMAZING deal that includes the works! Gah! (I guess I have gotten some wedding magic, because I feel super lucky to have found her and nabbed her while she is cheap! I guarantee that her prices will start to climb sooner than later.)

So I can't wait to see our photos! And if you haven't noticed yet...I've been keeping this blog mostly anonymous and haven't really shown full photos of us. Dunno why...just have. But I may just get super excited with our photos and not be able to hide our real identities any longer! We'll see.... :)

Necklace!

Oh! I'm so excited! I had some serious thoughts to share today but they were completely wiped out by a nice little package that came in the mail for me! A necklace! WEE!!

Some of you may remember a post a while back about necklaces and other accessories. I wanted to add some color (green specifically) to my outfit and searched and searched through tons of necklaces. Lots of pretty stuff out there! But I was looking for something very specific.

In the end, I have actually purchased two candidates for my wedding necklace. And I'm going to keep both because I love them both. But I just got the second one today and I'm so happy with it and so excited that it turned out just like I hoped! Check it out!


Gorgeous, right!?!? and the absolute perfect green!

So here is how it went: I bought this string of bright green pearls
to have something classic (string of pearls) that was still fun and me (green). I get the pearls and they are beautiful, the perfect color, and just like described on the etsy listing, but it turns out sometimes I suck at reading the details of said listings and they are really small. Smaller than I expected. In other words, they don't provide the POW or impact I was hoping and instead looked kinda like a child's string of beads. So I was bummed out.

I continue my search for perrty necklaces and come across this beautiful and unique necklace on this amazing etsy shop by Galit Barak. She is awesome and agreed to incorporate my beautiful green little pearls into one of her beautiful crochet silver necklaces. I sent my little pearls all the way over to Israel, she worked her magic, and the necklace turned out better than I could have expected - its, dare I say, perfect!

Major thanks to Galit for wonderful work and for being such a doll to work with! Definitely check out her super unique jewelery - its like nothing I've ever seen before!

Invites? Check!

They are IN! Printed, done and beautiful!

Many thanks to my wonderful, designer cousin who was our friendor for these (or "cousinor"? "cousindor"? Naw, those sound weird.) She both designed and printed our invites for us (hello sweet deals working in a print shop!) and I couldn't be happier! They look nice and happy and cheery and like a little party is going to happen under those two trees!

Check em out!
This is what they would look like when you pull them out of the envelope. All three (invite, RSVP postcard and directions) are standard postcard size - 6x4 - and are bundled with simple paper wraps (the blue strip).

Then we got the full invite with our info blobbed out:
The RSVP card and the mailing label side of the RSVP card:


I'm so excited to grab some stamps today, finish bundling little packages, get someone with nice handwriting to address them (my mom says if I address them they won't get there...sad...) or figure out how to print on the envelopes maybe, and send them out! Then I'm gonna grab that red pen and go check crazy on our to-do list! bam! bam! BAM!

WOO! I love productivity!

Hopefully this productivity high can carry me further down our to-do list that is hanging and taunting us on the wall. Our list is such a wienie head.

Peace, kiddos!
Jen

DJ vs DIY

One of our bigger decisions has been to forgo a DJ and do our own wedding playlist on either an iPod or a laptop. There have been lots of nay sayers who tell me Why Using an iPod to DJ Your Own Wedding is a Horrible Idea (um, biased much?) but then there is Meg at A Practical Wedding who describes their self DJ experience and gives some great advice (I feel redundant for how often APW and the word "great" appear together).

I've been doing research and have some serious doubts about whether doing our own music is a good idea or not. Yet at the same time I don't really feel like adding another budget item to our list. So here is a pro/con list I've come up with of the biggest factors. Please feel free to weight in.

Pro Doing Our Own Music

• Free! Yeah, we are going to buy some songs and that does cost money, but most of it we have already. Plus, buying more awesome music doesn't sound that bad!
• No worries about a crazy DJ. Yeah, some are great, but some are nutso! And how do you know unless you have a good referral?
  

Cons of Doing Our Own Music

• Without someone to really watch the music, we lose the ability to adjust the music for what the guests are diggin and dancing to.
  
• The sound system at our venue. Its only one volume for the entire room. And when I'm dancing I want music pounding! So either music is pretty quiet or people can't talk on the seating side of the room. :(

So on one side I'm cheap and don't want to spend more money on a DJ. This wedding budget is a monster and keeps growing and growing. All these unexpected costs are coming up and are always more than I expect. I do have an old friend who is willing to do it for a reduced rate if he is still available. Reduced from 1000 to 600, so yeah, a good deal but still a lot of cash! On the other side, the music/dancing are the entertainment for the night and I'd like to do it right.

How do we manage the playlist without having to work our wedding? There isn't an obvious musical person to ask. My brother would be great for the role but he is hesitant and doesn't want to 'work all night' - which I don't want either! And what do you think about the sound levels? Does it really matter?

What are you doing for your wedding? Advice for DJing your own? Opinions on which works better?

Image from Hans Woltering

Our Wedding: Ceremony

We are finally putting together our ceremony and are enjoying the freedom of a non-religious, do whatever we want format. There are so many possibilities and its really fun to sort through our options and ideas to put together a ceremony that is going to be meaningful to us.

So far...this is what we have for our ceremony:
- Important people are seated, the four people standing up for us walk in, and then the Mister and I walk in together (or something)
- Our officiant (who is the father of one of my mister's best friends) says some sort of welcome
- Some cool people read something awesome that makes people think
- Some cool people read something awesome that makes people smile and cry
- Our officiant says a few more words
- We say some kind of vows
- We give each other rings
- We make ou...I mean, we kiss
- Exit to cocktail hour!

Is it sad that I feel really happy and like we've made great progress now that we have this extremely vague and totally nondescript outline?

Also, does anyone have some good readings? We went to Borders to browse through their love poems and all we found were extremely cheesy, epic poems that no one would be able to understand just listening to them. One reading that we are thinking about is from The Little Prince, a story I've loved for a long time, about taming and being tamed. Its adorable and has a cute little message. It also might be fun to have three people read it. One as the Little Prince, one as the fox and one as narrator.

So, any good, meaningful, not so cheesy and not so grand poems or readings about love/marriage/commitment out there?

Projects: Tree Cookie Escort Card Holders

Its that time in the planning where I actually have to do stuff. Yeah, I've been planning a lot, but so far that has seemed to mean lots of conversations, googling, reading lots of blogs, stashing away of ideas, e-mailing, meeting with people, standing in one place as they make my dress fit, swiping my money card, oohing and ahhing and that's about it. Now its time to bust out all my crafty ideas, pick and choose, and DO them! Yay!

And I'm going to pay it forward. Since most of my ideas have been in some way based off blog land amazingness, I'm going to post my own DIY posts to share what those inspirations have led to.

First up - some really adorable (if I do say so) and really easy (honestly!) and really cheap (best part!) Tree Cookie Escort Card Holders!* This particular project was inspired by an awesome escort card box from The Brides Cafe. I loved the look of the mossy box but am generally creeped out by styrofoam, so I took the idea and tweaked it just enough to work for us.

Behold our tree cookie escort card holders!


Our cookies are fresh cut and not sanded at all, so they are still rough - and that's the way we like them! Natural and cute! And totally vibing with our quasi tree theme for the wedding.

To make your own** adorable tree cookie escort card holders, here is a quick and easy tutorial:

Materials needed:

• Tree cookies! and lots of them! We found a baby tree in the woods, chopped it down and then used the mister's dad's circular saw to quickly buzz off a bunch of cookies. The size can really vary. Some of ours are 2 inches in diameter while some are 1 inch. I'd recommend at least 3/4 inch thick.
• Wire - Choose any color (we used copper) around 18 gauge. You can find this in craft or hardware stores. We got two packages to equal 50 feet for roughly five bucks.
  
• Wire cutter
• Round nose plier - other small pliers can be used, but the round is extremely helpful in twisting the wire (both the cutter and the plier I had gotten from a craft store for pretty cheap)
  
• A drill with a tiny drill bit to match the gauge of the wire - Err on the side of small when it comes to the bit. You can use glue to secure the wire, but its better if its snug. OR instead of a drill - just use really soft wood. Our cookies were half basswood and I could easily push the wire into the wood for a secure fit.
• Sticky icky glue. Even Elmers will do.
  

Step One: Cut wire to length. I cut ours to approximately 4 inches long. I like the look of varied lengths, though, so I was nowhere near exact.
Step Two: Use the round nose pliers to twist wire into curly head. I found it easiest to curl it into a conical sort of shape (see picture below) (Its easier to maneuver and twist the curve while its spread out instead of flat) and then smoosh it flat with your fingers. The 18 gauge wire is still really malleable and easy to shape with your fingers. When shaped in a nice twirl, test that a piece of paper will be securely held - tweak as needed.

Step Three: Drill hole in wood cookie. Put a little bit of glue at the end of the wire and put in cookie hole. Leave to dry. Or, if you were able to find a soft wood such as basswood, simply push the wire into the cookie.
Step Four: Sit back and admire.


Easy, right? I put together the first five in less than five minutes, so give me an episode or two of Bones and I'll be set! I love projects that look way craftier than they really are! And cheap! In total, this cost us a whopping five bucks - that's just for the wire since we already had the other tools that we used. Score team us!

One DIY project done. Next is making some fun and colorful garlands!

Peace,
Jen

Note from the editor: this is now a totally DIT (do it together) project. The mister cut the cookies and just finished twisting all the wire into cute lil' curls. And then he made this awesome heart version just for me! :) awww


* OK, I felt kinda douchy writing that. "escort card holders" ew. That sounds like some sort of totally unnecessary thing the knot would push for a eight bucks each, doesn't it? Well, we do need escort cards to indicate our guests' meal choice. And we were originally going to just do plain tent cards, but this is so easy and so cheap that we're doing it. High return for our investments! score!

** or if your wedding is after 8-28-10, let me know and I'll ship them

Our Wedding: Sassy flats

Its time.

For shoes.

I've been doing shoe dances, praying to the shoe goddesses, making offerings to the shoe winds, and anything else I can think of to make this process go smoothly. I am hoping the heavens take pity on me and send me something beautiful!

I'm a pretty picky shoe shopper and am not looking forward to shoe shopping for the wedding. But at the same time, I'm excited for wedding shoes. This is another avenue where I can tone down the big bridal of my dress and add some fun and spunk. I've been coming up with some candidates online - though I've never successfully ordered shoes offline and I'm guessing I'm going to end up ordering a bunch and then returning a bunch... but whatever. If that's the sacrifice the shoe goddesses demand.

My criteria is as follows:
1) Flat - Me and heels are not friends. I'm roughly six feet tall and I'd prefer not to feel like a scary giant or to be breaking an ankle at my wedding! Kudos to tall gals that can rock the heels - but its not me at all.
2) Comfy - I'm Practical with a capital P when it comes to shoes.
3) Preferably colorful - I would just die if I could find a wonderful granny smith green shoe! mmmmm, green...
4) Not be flip flops that will go *flip flop* down the aisle.
5) Look at least a little bit formal. But really I don't care that much...just not flip flops.
6) Oh and I don't want to take a loan out for my shoes.

I'm going to go do some shopping one of these days, but so far, I've got a few contenders online.
A) Comfy looking green "Light on Your Feet" Seychelles.
B) Some pinkie Gee WaWa sandals (awesome name, by the way) that would be my big spender shoes at $139. They look like a mix between sandals and flats...interesting...
C) Simple, "something blue" (or pink), well priced DV by Dolce sandals
D) Pinkie leather sandals that look like they'd be hella easy on the feet...and have lost some style because of it
E) Simple, green, sandals by Laundry Common that look totally 'me'. Aka functional, bare bones, with a little bit of styling that doesn't make a huge statement but is enough. The color of green is highly approved of.
G) I could open it up to fun metallics and get these beauties or I could just go with every color there is and be done with it! :)

Phew! Thats way too many shoes for a non-shoe gal like me.

What is your vote? Any others you want to throw into the runnings? And do you have your wedding shoes yet?

Photo from David@UNT

Our Wedding: Rings!!!

I'm so excited! We went to the jewelers on Friday and got our wedding bands!!! WEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Mine is going to be a plain band* that matches my engagement ring, and the mister got this sweet band that has a hammered texture down the middle and with smooth borders. Like this:
Buying our rings felt like a really great step towards finally be MARRIED! I can't wait! And seeing that ring on his finger when he tried it on just made me beam. Not that I need to lay claim to my man or anything, but that ring just makes me think "DIBS!" Really official dibs! Hes mine and I couldn't be luckier!

Yay for wedding highs!

*Apparently they don't really do plain bands anymore. We went in once and they only had three plain wedding bands for women. Three! wtf!? And none of these three matched the non-rounded/non-domed shape of my engagement ring, so the lady recommended we come back this past weekend because a bunch of vendors were going to be there so the selection would be better. We went back and this time they had five. double wtf!?

Our Wedding: Accessories!

After finally dealing will all the dress stress and insanity inside my bridal brain, I've got my dress...now its time for accessories! YAY!

Now I gotta say that this whole 'fashion' thing is not really my realm. About 90% of the time in the summer you can find me in some comfy as hell capris and a tank top, and a simple necklace is as fancy as I get within the accessories world. I pretty much wear one pair of shoes as long as I can until they are worn through with holes and then my mom (still) yells at me that I should go get a new pair. And that new pair will probably look a lot like the last... just saying that me and fashion are not best buds who stay up late chatting on the phone and sharing all our secrets. Me and fashion are more like next door neighbors who wave at each other each morning, talk about the weather, and then carry on with our day.

That said, I am pretty excited to accessorize with my dress! This is where I wanna take that piece of big bridalness and tone it down. Less formal! More fun! WEEE!

Necklace: Right now, I've got two great contenders for this - thank you, Etsy!

Exhibit A: This is the top runner by far. Its simple and you can't get much more classic than a string of pearls. But its got that color and that POW and you can't get much more 'me' than a nice bright green! I think I'm going to introduce this one to the dress and see if they get along.

Exhibit B: Runner up is this simple beaut. Something I'd wear over and over with a nice touch of color. Not quite the same POW but still pretty. Who knows, maybe my dress is an attention hog and won't want to share? Then this little guy could be the subtle touch I'd need.


Hair Piece: No way, no how is a veil going to go on my head, so I turned to the wonderful Meg at A Practical Wedding and her What to Wear on Your Head While You Wed posts. There are so many great options, but I hear the big side-o-head flowers or feathery fascinators calling my name.

Exhibit A: Is a light, cute, simple option. I like the size, that there are two, and their little pearly centers.
Exhibit B: Is a fun flower of a good size that would look great plopped on the side of my head! I think I'd add some frenchie bird cage netting to this to be oh so chic - maybe the netting could be on during the ceremony and off for the reception. This (the big ol' flower in my hair) was the original plan and the one I'm still learning towards. I'm chopping of my dress' train and could use the fabric to make a nice flower with some pizaz.
Exhibit C: Va va voom! What a sexy little feathery piece with some bling going on! I love the shape of these fascinators (the seller has a bunch of purty ones) and these could also be great with some birdcage nettting. The price is a bit high but I'm thinking maybe I can make something like this relatively easily, too. Oh the options!

Phew! That's all I got for today. Shoes are my next big adventure since I'm kinda a picky shoe shopper. I am looking for flat flat, cute, colorful sandals that are nice enough to wear to my wedding but still comfy as can be. Luckily for me flats seem to be 'in' this season. *crosses fingers*

Cheers,
Jen

Our Wedding: The Venue

Thought I'd post some more about the nitty gritty of our wedding..including one of the most important (and stressful) parts - our venue!

The venue was a huge headache for us. Ok, for me. I spent hours and hours searching for an amazing blog worthy venue. This was my first wedding planning task, so I hadn't really found my wedding planning sanity yet. I was at the whims of the Knot and grand expectations. So I searched and searched and found some awesome venues.

One was the Round Barn Farm in Red Wing, Minnesota. Oh my goodness - BEAUTIFUL! This would have been an instant wedding blog hit - it has a beautiful bed and breakfast house, with a nice yard and gardens, and then of course the round barn. The barn is awesome in and of itself but with a few sparkly lights and some warming light from candles it would be so cute and give off the perfect relaxed but beautiful vibe. Really just a gorgeous place. But too expensive and far away for us. If there is another MN bride out there who could use it, do it! And then write me and let me live vicariously through you!

OK...back from that little tangent. We didn't use the Round Barn Farm, but can you tell that I daydreamed about it and thought long and hard about to we could afford it? *sigh* Maybe for my second wedding to some rich ass dude.

After many site visits and online searching, we chose the Dakota Lodge in St. Paul. It has very clean, usable space. The price was right - no extra charge for a wedding ceremony - actually, no extra charges for much of anything. Cute outside space where we can get married under a mondo oak tree. Its in West St. Paul - a central location for all our friends and family. And they would let us use any caterer with the correct license! Great!

Plus that have that awesome virtual tour with such catchy music! ;)

So Dakota Lodge it is!
On Saturday August 28th. (Its coming so soon! Ahh!!)

Our Wedding: Food!

As we stepped into wedding planning, we put together a list of things that were important to us. One of the biggies was using local, organic and seasonal food if and where possible. We knew this was going to cost us more, but when we are spending thousands on one day, we wanted to spend on our money on vendors and food that we felt good about.

Enter our caterer: Josephs Catering in Minneapolis.

Josephs was the first caterer we met with - and the only. Screw that business that you have to talk to at least x amount of vendors before choosing one. We liked them, felt good with them and went with them. Maybe I'm just lazy, but I didn't feel it was worth the trouble and time to do a million vendor interviews when we found one who seems to be a match!

We were so happy to find a caterer who truly seems to be committed to running a sustainable business. They only use dinnerware and try to reduce waste as much as possible and maximize recycling. They use local, organic and seasonal foods as much as possible and the chef often shops at the local farmers markets. And one of our favorite part is their food recycling program. All the leftovers that are suitable for people are given to a home for adults with disabilities. The leftovers that are no longer suitable for people are given to a local pork farmer - which is also where they get their pork.

As a business they are also great to work with. They are willing to work with us to get our choice of local wine and beer, to create a menu that fits our wedding, and to get the most out of our money without nickel and diming us. We may be paying a bit more than we had hoped, but in the end I think we are getting a lot for the price and that it will be well worth it.

We both feel good about this decision and are checking it off our list and not looking back.

Our Wedding: The Partiers

I thought I'd throw out some info on our wedding since so far its just been me bitchin' about wedding stuff. There will still be lots of venting, but I want to write more about the good as well as just the basics.

So one of the first basics we covered was...wedding party!

Choosing our wedding party was pretty easy since we were going for simple and just two people each. The Mister has two brothers and wanted them to stand with him (and totally avoids any hurt feelings. There is no arguing with family.) and I have two friends who I want to support me on that day. But then, just because things were going so smoothly and trouble free, we had wanted to come up with titles other than "bridesmaids" and "groomsmen". For one, I would have had a "maid of honor" and a "matron of honor" since she is married...and can I just say, eew? Who wants to be the "matron" even if it is "of honor"! It sounds like a boring grandma is standing up for me.

We threw around lots of ideas.... There is the "Bridal Brigade" as told on A Practical Wedding. They were our 'special people' for a while. I thought about giving them each individual titles or calling them my "Sisters from other Misters". But in the end, we end up just calling them by name (revolutionary!) and saying pooey to titles. Our program will say "Standing up for Jen and the mister are Bob, Billy, Betty, and Bo." Done and done.

Any other titles or options people have used?