Joy: Our Wedding – The Gown!
Written by Sara on August 30, 2010 – 9:00 am -
After a morning full of hair appointments, picking up our bouquets and applying make-up, it was finally time to put on my wedding gown!
As you all know, I haven’t yet revealed the gown that I chose to wear – so, without further delay, here it is! I chose an ivory Alfred Angelo tiered lace gown with an ivory satin bodice and sash :)
The gown has since been discontinued (actually, this gown was discontinued a mere two weeks after we ordered it!) – I love knowing that I am one of the last women to wear this beautiful, vintage-inspired gown.
My Mom helped me get into my gown…
Then it was time for jewelry…
I wore beautiful pearl earrings that Jordan gave me as a gift; a Norwegian brooch that has been in my family for generations; a Norwegian necklace that my grandmother gave to me when I was young; a fun yellow-gold ring that I purchased from Galla15 on Etsy; and a lovely pearl bracelet that my friend and bridesmaid Serena gave me.
And then, it was time for my veil! I purchased my veil at a local bridal shop; it’s by Signature Bridal.
Next up were my (hand-crafted and homemade!) garters and my shoes, featuring shoe clips from BPoetic on Etsy!
And with a few tears from my bridesmaids and my Mom…
…I put the finishing touches on my bouquet (isn’t it beautiful!!)…
…took a few bridal portraits…
…and headed over to the chapel to meet Jordan for our “First Look!”
Coming up next: my favorite part of our day – our “First Look!”
What do you think of my gown? Was it worth the wait?
[All photos by the outstanding Creative Kindling]
Tags: Alfred Angelo, birdcage veil, BPoetic, bridal portraits, Etsy, First Look, Galla 15, Norwegian jewelry, Signature Bridal, vintage jewelry, vintage wedding dress, vintage-inspired wedding gown
Posted in Adornments & Embellishments, Beauty & Polish, DIY, Fashion, Flowers, Inspiration & Insight, Our Wedding, Personal, Photography, Venues, Vintage Beauties, Wedding Recap, Weddings | 1 Comment »
Joy: Our Wedding – Getting Ready!
Written by Sara on August 24, 2010 – 11:37 am -
After a busy morning of hair appointments and picking up our bouquets, my maid of honor Kristen and I finally arrived at Augustana College to start getting ready! My bridesmaids met us in what we affectionately called our “Getting Ready Room,” which actually was the make-up room that the theatre cast uses before each show. Full of mirrors and lights, the room was perfect for a bunch of girls getting beautiful!
So, as Kristen wrote furiously, finishing her maid of honor speech…
My new sister-in-law Larissa was my make-up artist extraordinaire!
My hair needed a few more bobby pins…
And just like that, my make-up was done! Larissa used mostly Bare Minerals products, as well as some Loreal and Maybelline eyeshadow and mascara to finish off the look. Larissa and I had two make-up trials before the big day to get the look exactly right – I’ve never felt so beautiful!
My Mom arrived at Augustana with my gown, and it was almost time to get dressed!
While we girls were getting beautified, the boys were getting ready across campus!
Stay tuned…the dress reveal is coming up next!
[All photos by the splendid talent behind Creative Kindling]
Tags: Bare Minerals, DIY wedding day make-up, Loreal, make-up, Maybelline, wedding day make-up, Wedding Recap
Posted in Beauty & Polish, Budget Weddings, DIY, Inspiration & Insight, Our Wedding, Photography, Venues, Wedding Recap, Weddings | 1 Comment »
Joy: Our Wedding – The Flowers
Written by Sara on August 20, 2010 – 9:06 am -After leaving the hair salon, my maid of honor Kristen and I headed to The Flower Shop in Sioux Falls to pick up our bouquets.
Remember those inspiration boards that I created for my bouquet and my girls’ bouquets on Style Me Pretty’s Style Circle? I brought these to Twyla, our florist at The Flower Shop, to use as inspiration for our florals.
Well, I can’t wait to show you how our lovely flowers turned out!
In the top picture, notice the sunflower bouquet on the left; that was my throw-away bouquet! It was wrapped in burlap and was simple but beautiful. The other bouquets in that photo are my girls’ bouquets; they turned out perfectly! Very organic – they look like they were just picked right from a field before the wedding! The bouquet with the succulent is Kristen’s, to make hers a little special, as the maid of honor.
As you can see in the bottom picture, the girls’ bouquets were wrapped in ribbon, and I had Twyla attach a brooch to each of their bouquets (I spent the months before the wedding searching flea markets and antique stores for brooches!)
And now, a peek at my bouquet (more of the full bouquet after I reveal my wedding gown!):
I had Twyla wrap the stem of the bouquet in burlap, to echo the organic, nature-inspired feel of our wedding (as well as the burlap on the reception tables!). I then wrapped a piece of lace around the stem – my great-Grandma Sophie made the lace! As you can see from the bottom picture, I also had Paloma’s Nest on Etsy make me a bouquet charm (my something blue! notice the blue string?). I just LOVED the bouquet charm; it says “i carry your heart with me,” after the e.e. cummings poem we had read during our wedding ceremony. I also attached to the stem of my bouquet a little brooch that Kristen gave me – it was perfect!
In my bouquet, Twyla used sunflowers, succulents, dusty miller, billy balls, lisianthus, spray roses and much, much more. It was literally the bouquet of my dreams – I couldn’t have been more pleased!
A big plus – I had Twyla ensure to utilize as many locally grown blooms for our flowers as possible!
Stay tuned for what’s up next: me and my girls (and Jordan and his guys!) getting ready, plus a full list of make-up products that my sister-in-law used to achieve my bridal look!
[Inspiration boards made by me on Style Me Pretty's Style Circle; all photos by the amazingly talented Creative Kindling]
Tags: bridal bouquet, bridesmaids bouquets, e.e. cummings, Etsy, Paloma's Nest, Sioux Falls, Style Circle, Style Me Pretty, succulent bouquets, The Flower Shop, vintage bouquets, wildflower bouquets
Posted in Adornments & Embellishments, Eco-Chic, Flowers, Inspiration & Insight, Our Wedding, Photography, Vintage Beauties, Wedding Recap, Weddings | 3 Comments »
Joy: Our Wedding – Get Beautified
Written by Sara on August 18, 2010 – 9:26 am -
And let the wedding recaps begin…
Waking up on the morning of our wedding day was extremely surreal. My lovely bestest friend in the whole world, my cousin and maid of honor Kristen, spent the night at my house the night before, and honestly, that was one of the best decisions I made – having her there right away in the morning definitely helped to calm my nerves!
Kristen and I headed to Salon Ne-Zhoni in Sioux Falls, where my bridesmaids and I proceeded to take over the salon for the morning. My sister-in-law Larissa arrived, too, and all 3 of us were whisked off to the beauty chairs for our updos.
As you can recall, I had a hair trial a few weeks prior, so my hairstylist and I were on the same page from the get-go. For my bridesmaids, we decided to have all of the girls wear their hair up and off to the right side…it looked super cute to have their hair all going the same direction!
My hairstylist Lisa began curling my hair…
Kristen took pictures…
I started to feel bride-y…
My hairstylist braided the back of my hair across my head (my favorite part!)…
And inserted my hair fascinator (courtesy of Y&E Bridal on Etsy…one of the first purchases I made, and one of the best)…
And I was done!
Larissa and Kristen were seriously gorgeous…
And then it was time for my other 2 bridesmaids, my friends Jessica and Serena, to have their hair done!
First, Serena got in touch with her inner Curly Sue…
And Jessica tried a new look…
But eventually, they were ready for the day!
You’ll notice the hair pieces in all of the girls’ hair…my Mom and I made those! We purchased very inexpensive fabric flowers from New York & Company, dyed them grey (they were ivory), sewed and pinned on some ivory lace, added a hair comb on the back and a bauble in the middle of the flower, and voila! I was so pleased with how they turned out.
We all grabbed a quick lunch at the salon, thanks to my lovely Aunt Becky…
And while Kristen and I picked up the flowers (which were HEAVENLY – I can’t wait to share them with you!), all of the other girls headed off to the church to get ready!
[All photos by the amazingly talented Creative Kindling]
Tags: bridesmaids hair, hair appointment, low wedding updo, wedding hair, Wedding Recap, wedding updo
Posted in Beauty & Polish, Fashion, Inspiration & Insight, Our Wedding, Photography, Vintage Beauties, Wedding Recap, Weddings | 3 Comments »
101 in 1001 Assessment: July 2010
Written by Sara on August 9, 2010 – 5:55 pm -
I know, I know, you thought that I’d be blogging about the wedding…but I promise, I’ll start with the recaps as soon as we have our professional pictures (which should be in the next week or so!!). So, stay tuned!
In the mean time, here’s a recap of the goals that I wanted to complete for July:
- Get married! (CHECK!)
- Take a trip overseas. (CHECK!)
- Write a poem. (Nope…)
- Cut bangs into my hair…again. (CHECK! See top photo; you like?)
- Go kayaking. (When we were in Jamaica, we chose to go kayaking on our last day in the country. However, the weather had other plans for us; it rained all day long! So, this goal went unaccomplished…)
- Take one shot of tequila. (Nope…I was too scared to get sick on our honeymoon!)
Goals for August:
- Investigate life insurance.
- Post regularly on my blog (see: wedding recaps!).
- Watch “Animal House.”
Hopefully I’ll be back very soon with my first wedding recap!
Posted in Inspiration & Insight, Personal | 1 Comment »
What We’ve Been Up To…
Written by Sara on June 16, 2010 – 2:52 pm -Hello readers! Again, I apologize for not posting much these past few weeks; it’s been a whirlwind to say the least. With only one month to go until the wedding (!!), Jordan and I have been hard at work finishing up last-minute details with our families and friends.
Here’s what we’ve been doing:
- Last week, I spent the evening building our photo booth with the great help of my future father-in-law. The photo booth turned out wonderfully; I can’t wait to see how it looks in our wedding photos! I hope to provide a full tutorial for you all at some point, so stay tuned…
- Made a list of must-have photos for our photographers, and met with our lovely photogs to discuss our wedding day. I’m SO excited that we’ve chosen such wonderful and supportive photographers; they will be so great to have with us on our wedding day, and I know that Kara will help to keep me relaxed.
- Started tanning! While I’m definitely not a fan of how bad tanning beds are for my skin, I do need to build up a base tan of sorts before heading off to Jamaica. So, I’ve stared tanning a few times per week!
- Started the napkins process! With the great help of my bridesmaid Serena and her mother, we’re making headway with the DIY napkins project! We’re about halfway through the project, and I plan to bring the last batch of fabric over to Serena’s home this week for cutting.
- Mailed our rehearsal dinner invitations. They turned out wonderfully, and we’re so excited for our Italian-themed rehearsal dinner!
- Ordered 3 one-half sheet cakes for our wedding reception. We ordered 1/2 sheet of red velvet (my favorite!), one half sheet of strawberry (Jordan’s favorite) and one half sheet of vanilla cake from a local bakery. I’m glad to have that completed!
- Set up a final meeting with our on-site reception coordinator and our florist to cover last-minute details. Both of these appointments are next week, and I’m excited to finalize all of the details!
- Set up a meeting to visit the chapel where our ceremony will take place. I’m visiting my alma mater, Augustana College, this week to set up decorations around the chapel to see what they look like. I’m excited to see how/if the pew bows will attach to the pews…frankly, that’s all I’m concerned about. I know that everything else will look great!
- Finalized gifts for the groomsmen and ushers; everything should be done next week, so I can wrap the gifts!
- Secured a classic car to transport Jordan and I from the ceremony to the reception!
- Got the guys measured for tuxes! Only a few of our guys have yet to do this, and they’re under strict instructions to do so ASAP.
- Finalized our wedding ceremony script. Yes!
- Trying to wrangle wedding pictures of our relatives; I only need a few more pictures, and we’ll be set!
I think that’s it!
Here’s what we have left:
- Our reception playlist. We’ve started working on it, but Jordan’s school quarter ends this Friday, so Jordan will have a lot more time to devote to finalizing our playlist starting next week. This is his pet project, and I’m excited to help with this process as much as I can.
- Getting a few more props for the photo booth, as well as finding/purchasing baskets for the day’s needs, a few picture frames, and a few props for our wedding photos on the wedding day.
- Figuring out what camera to use for the photo booth.
- Print the wedding programs. We’re waiting for the final OK from our officiant, and as soon as we have that, we’re good to go!
- Cutting table squares and a table runner for the reception; we are purchasing the fabric today, so it won’t be too long before this project is off our list.
- Sew a lining into our flower girl dresses. Again, the fabric for this has been purchased, so hopefully we can finalize this project soon.
- Purchase a gift for my personal attendant and our parents, as well as gifts for our hosts & hostesses and our ceremony reader.
- Gift-opening preparation and invitations.
- Bring my engagement ring and wedding band into the jeweler to be soldered and plated.
- Premarital counseling session with my uncle, our officiant, to discuss our personality inventory.
- Discuss our DIY tiered wedding cake with my mother, and maybe practice making a cake.
- Final wedding gown fitting; I’m so excited for this part!
- Final hair and make-up trial, as well as week-of beauty treatments; again, SO excited!
- Wrap gifts and box up ceremony/reception decor.
- Marriage license.
- Meet with our travel agent to finalize details for our honeymoon, and pack for our honeymoon.
- GET MARRIED!
Surprisingly, my stress level is rather low; while I know that there’s still more things to do, I feel remarkably calm heading into the final month before the wedding.
How are you handling wedding stress?
Tags: wedding timeline, wedding to-do list
Posted in Adornments & Embellishments, Beauty & Polish, Budget Weddings, Cakes & Cuisine, DIY, Decor, Fashion, Flowers, Honeymoon, Inspiration & Insight, Music & Entertainment, Our Wedding, Personal, Photography, Stationery, Venues, Weddings | No Comments »
Showcase Friday: Our DIY Wedding Invitations!
Written by Sara on June 4, 2010 – 9:00 am -
Dear readers, I don’t even know where to begin with this post, except to say that Jordan and I are SO excited to share our DIY wedding invitations with you today! This post is rather lengthy, but for you budget-brides out there, I wanted to give you an extensive look into what it takes to DIY your own wedding invitation suite.
A note on our inspiration
It was quite a challenge to try and explain to Jordan (or anyone, really) what “vintage” means to me, and how exactly I envision us capturing that feel in our wedding invitations. So, I frequented many a web site, from Etsy to super awesome stationery sites to simple Google searches of random objects (mason jars, for instance).
Jordan and I began the design process with the idea that we would utilize Adobe Photo Shop brushes. Since little touches of birds, nature and aviary motifs will appear throughout our wedding, we felt it was important to include a bird in our wedding invitations. We found a Photo Shop brush of a tree, and we started working with that.
However, with each draft of the invitation, we began to hate the look and the feel of it more and more. It didn’t look elegant, it didn’t look lovely, and it didn’t look vintage. So, much to my chagrin (seriously, I was stressed!), we scrapped that idea and started over, a mere month-and-a-half before we wanted to start the printing process.
However, in re-conceptualizing our DIY wedding invitations, I remembered an art class that I took in middle school, where we carved images into a wood block, and then used that wood block to stamp with ink. (I’m sure this was a Mother’s or Father’s Day project from way back when.)
So, I started to try and tell Jordan about what I envisioned based on this look. Then I saw a few invitations around the web utilizing different fonts and a woodblock/boxed layout, and after brainstorming with Jordan, we downloaded a variety of fonts (which is over-simplifying the process – I was very picky about what fonts I wanted to use, and Jordan just would not let me go with Feel Script, no matter how badly I wanted to shell out the money for it – and he was right in the end…) and we got to work bringing together all of our inspiration into one invitation suite.
A note on the design process
Jordan and I used Adobe Fireworks to design our invitations. Jordan is very familiar with this program, and I found it to be a rather intuitive program myself after playing with it for 20 minutes or so.
Since Jordan and I are living 45 miles apart right now, we designed our entire invitation suite on the weekends we were able to be together. For us, the process worked like this:
1. Sara tells Jordan in advance, “We need to work on this part of our invitation suite this weekend.”
2. Sara sends Jordan links of what she’s found that she likes (”I like this overall look, but with this wording and this graphic and this font.”)
3. Jordan comes home, sits on the couch and designs away, making sure Sara doesn’t look over his shoulder until the project is near completion (it drove him nuts!).
4. Sara edits, says what she’d like changed, and Jordan makes the changes.
5. When Sara and Jordan are both satisfied with the design, they PDF the file and send it to their right-hand person to print a proof.
6. After final proof approval, the document goes to the printer, and a few days later, the final product arrives at Sara’s house.
Multiply this by 5 pieces (there are 5 items in our invitation suite), and you have approximately 24 weekends (6 months!) of design work that we spent working to complete this invitation suite. It was definitely a labor of love; there’s no other way to describe it.
A note on invitation wording
It was important to Jordan and I that we acknowledge the contributions that our parents have made to our lives and to making our wedding happen, so we included them in our invitation wording. In determining the other parts of the wording for our invitation, we spent quite a bit of time (probably two weeks) changing words and tweaking the look of the invitation.
Here’s what we ended up with:
Sara’s parents and
Jordan’s parents
Invite you to celebrate the wedding of their children
Sara Jo and
Jordan Wayne
(Ceremony Details)
(When/Where)
Dinner, Dancing & Merriment to immediately follow
at the Washington Pavilion
A note on the details
First, I spent about 8 – 10 hours of time gluing little doilies (see above picture) inside both the mailing envelopes and the RSVP envelopes (a la Holly) – what a project (!!), but I’m SO happy with how well they turned out. (Everyone thought I was nuts, but I was having a great time!)
I then stamped our return address on each of these envelopes, proceeded to freak out when the ink I used wouldn’t dry, and then our envelopes were miraculously saved by a can of hairspray. Moving on…(I just can’t talk about those darn envelopes anymore!)
Next, once everything was printed, we glued the invitation matte directly to the pocketfold, and then glued the wedding invitation on top of the matte, to create a layered look (again, see above picture).
I knew that I wanted our invitation suite to have a few components to it. While the majority of our guests are from South Dakota (and are rather localized to Sioux Falls, where the wedding will be held), I still wanted to provide guests with a map to help them navigate their way to each location. Thanks to a wonderful classmate of mine, we had a lovely hand-drawn map to showcase to our guests. We placed the map on its end in the right-side pocket of the pocketfold.
For our RSVP card, we wanted to make sure that our guests knew to expect an offbeat, relaxed wedding from the moment they received their invitation. So, we utilized the following check box system, as seen on A $2000 Wedding:
- Gladly Attend
- Regretfully Decline
- Regretfully Attend
- Enthusiastically Decline
- I’m in the wedding, so I have to come
- Other ____________________________
Since Jordan and I are coordinating the music for the wedding dance ourselves, we also wanted feedback from our guests to see what would get them out on the dance floor. Our “Request a Song” card was so much fun to design, and Jordan even made the record player graphic himself!
These two cards were tied together with the RSVP envelope using baker’s twine, which is a special type of yarn that blends two colors (our’s was yellow and white) together. This little package was then placed in the pocketfold in front of the wedding map.
A note on the construction and presentation of the invite
I owe a lot to the lovely Holly at Nothing But Bonfires for introducing us to a company without which our invitations would have lacked cohesion: Cards & Pockets. We ordered nearly everything for our DIY invites from Cards & Pockets … from the pocketfolds in which each piece of our invitation suite was placed to the envelopes that carried our invitations to their destination, we found Cards & Pockets to be the best value for our money. And the quality of the materials? Couldn’t have asked for a better product or better customer service along the way. [No, this is not a sponsored/paid post; I just love the company!]
A note on printing
Jordan and I feel extremely blessed to have had the help and support of one of my father’s business colleagues throughout the DIY invitation design and printing process. From our first initial idea to our final proof, having a person to walk us through the process, telling us what worked and what didn’t, was absolutely invaluable.
While I understand that what’s right for us might not be right for everyone, I would encourage readers who are looking to DIY their own invitations to get them printed by a professional (but local!) printing company. All we supplied was the paper (we chose a partially recycled natural ivory linen cardstock), and the printers and our right-hand person handled the printing and the cutting gratis (yes, we were extremely lucky).
A note on the materials used
Materials:
From Cards & Pockets:
- Perfetto pocketfolds in “Smoke” (We ordered a sample of one, loved it, and then ordered 90 for our invitations)
- 5.75 inch square invitation mattes in “Lemonade” (Again, we ordered a color swatch, then ordered 90 mattes for our invitations)
- 90 6.5 inch square envelopes in “Lemonade” (to hold the invitation; we scrapped the inner envelope, because I think it’s wasteful and frivolous (no offense))
- 90 RSVP envelopes in “Lemonade” (while we initally thought about designing postcards, I loved these little envelopes, so we went with them)
From Etsy:
- Customized stickers from Maxim Creative Invites on Etsy (we ordered two different designs of stickers, one which we used to close the pocketfold and the other which we used to close the envelope)
- Yellow baker’s twine from Whisker Graphics on Etsy (we used this adorable twine to tie a bow around our RSVP package)
- Return address stamp from Love to Create Stamps on Etsy (we used this stamp as a return address and as the “deliver to” address on our RSVP envelopes)
From around town:
- Partially recycled natural ivory linen cardstock (we printed everything on this stock; we probably utilized 250-300 sheets for invitations for our entire guest list)
- Doilies + glue sticks + glue lines + ink pads from Michael’s craft store
- $0.61 cent wedding cake stamp, plus 2 $0.10 cent clock/nautical stamps, per invite, purchased at our local post office (I really wanted stamps with one of our engagement photos on it, but I couldn’t justify the cost)
- $0.44 cent “Love” stamp for our RSVP cards; we chose the stamp with the King and Queen on it!
A note on final cost
After calculating cost for everything ordered, including postage, it seems that the cost for each invitation suite was $3.74.
Here’s the breakdown:
Pocketfolds: $0.98 per invitation
Invitation Mattes: $0.18 per invitation
Natural Ivory Linen Cardstock: $8.00 per ream, $0.09 per invitation
Mailing Envelopes: $0.17 per invitation
RSVP Envelopes: $0.12 per invitation
Stickers: $0.47 per invitation
Address stamp: $0.08 per invitation (includes RSVP envelope)
Doilies: $0.14 per invitation (includes RSVP envelope)
Glue/Glue Lines/Double-stick Tape: $0.22 per invitation (includes all construction)
Baker’s Twine: $0.04 per invitation
Postage: $0.81 per invitation
Postage: $0.44 per RSVP card
TOTAL: $3.74 per invitation
What do you think of our DIY wedding invitations?
[All photos taken by my soon-to-be father-in-law, Steve!]
Tags: $2000 Wedding, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Photo Shop, baker's twine, Cards & Pockets, DIY envelope liners, DIY layered wedding invitations, DIY Request a Song card, DIY RSVP card, DIY vintage wedding invitations, DIY wedding invitations, Etsy, Feel Script, Google, invitation wording, Love to Create Stamps on Etsy, Maxim Creative Invites on Etsy, Michael's Crafts, Nothing But Bonfires, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Washington Pavilion, Whisker Graphics on Etsy, woodblock invitations
Posted in Budget Weddings, DIY, Eco-Chic, Inspiration & Insight, Music & Entertainment, Our Wedding, Stationery, Vintage Beauties | 5 Comments »
Guest Post: More Money, More Balloons
Written by Sara on May 21, 2010 – 9:00 am -It’s been awhile since my man Jordan has dropped by to offer his take on wedding planning, so here’s a fun-loving post from Jordan on what our wedding would look like if he had an unlimited budget and the upper hand:
Throughout our engagement, I have noticed that Sara has had the final say on green lighting projects for the wedding. I trust her decision making as she really has put together a wonderful package that her and I can both be proud of. I have made a few suggestions along the way, and some have passed the test, while others were quickly dismissed. This is okay, I completely understand, and couldn’t be happier with the upcoming event.
However, that’s not the point of this guest post. This post is just for fun; it’s me pretending that if I were to plan a few big things for the wedding, regardless of practicality, cost, or anything else, here’s what I’d do. Who knows – maybe if an idea gets enough support, I can get a green light!
In order:
Number 5 — Rainbow Tuxes
This is a slightly goofy option, but I really enjoy personality, and while its far from traditional, I think people have more fun when they get a little more abstract. How much more fun and a greater memory for all would it be if everyone was wearing some different brightly colored tux? I think it would be outrageously fun!
[Sara's note: It's rather interesting that he thinks this, considering I literally BEGGED him to let my girls wear dresses the color of the rainbow, and he quickly turned me down. Hmmm...]
Number 4 — Jon Miller and Joe Morgan doing Play-By-Play and Color Announcing
Perhaps this is slightly far fetched, but I’d be excited for impersonators to go over any type of video we record for the wedding and give a play-by-play and color analysis, as if they were on Sunday Night Baseball. I generally hate announcers, but I enjoy Jon Miller, and I enjoy to make fun of Joe Morgan, so I think it would be just smashing and potentially really humorous if we find someone who can nail the Morgan role.
Number 3 — Absolutely no country music played at any time.
I really detest country music. I could say about 1400 bad things about it that I’ll likely get no response to, but I just can’t stand it. A country song will suck the fun right out of me and will just murder my attention span. There’s not a single country song in my music library, and despite being forced to sit through it in my 24 years of life, I have yet to enjoy a single one. I honestly prefer boy bands over country music, as with them at least the music is catchy and danceable. Country music offers nothing, but (age old cliche from country music haters) my dog died, my wife left me, and my friends don’t know me, wah wah wah, suck.
Number 2 — Rethinking the gift-opening event.
I am not a huge fan of gift-openings, either. I love to give and get gifts, but to me, gift-giving is so much better at random periods of time than at designated events or days. There’s nothing wrong with holidays, anniversaries, or gift-opening events, but I just don’t really enjoy focusing my attention or being the focus of attention during this time. I suggest we just wrap the entire gift-opening party around a large kickball game (or a similar event) that everyone participates in, and in between innings, we open a gift or two. That way, there’s ample time for breaks, thank you’s, and everything else, while there’s always that game to look forward to and keep everyone occupied. What an awesome idea!
Number 1 – “99 Red Balloons” … literally and musically
This is by far my most favorite idea. I have even suggested this one several times and been turned down very politely every time. However, I push on as I really believe this is a great idea to get the party started. Here’s the plan: We have our first dance as a couple, which gets everyone all excited, emotional, and amped. Then after the song ends, the song “99 Red Balloons” comes on (either original or Goldfinger cover) which starts off slow, serving as a great transition that builds up into the chorus. When the chorus starting playing, my plan is to have 99 red balloons (that were earlier filled and set up to fall on the dance floor) come down and “rain” on everybody. This would do many things, including:
1. Create a unique dancing environment that you don’t see often.
2. Inspire those who are still sitting down to get up and join the dance party.
3. Make for some really cool photo shots.
4. Get the dancing start off right, as so many people need a reason to get out of their chair.
It’s an insanely good idea, and I know that someone would have to clean the balloons up almost right away, and/or popping them becomes an unnecessary fun game for many. But that’s one side effect that I’m willing to live with to get everything rocking.
[Sara's note: I love, love, LOVE this idea, but it's just way to dang expensive to even think about doing.]
Honorable mentions:
Giant sports ticker. Instead of having a slide show rolling through pictures for hours, we can mix in a sports and news ticker that mostly updates fantasy baseball and Seattle Mariners scores. This one didn’t make the cut as the Mariners so far aren’t worth watching…
Life-size giraffe-shaped cake. While it’s not a feasible idea, even a 1/8th scale version would be pretty sweet.
Wedding mascot. Mascots are fun, get people going, and are typically good performers. But, Sara’s terrified of mascots, so that one’s out.
I won’t have any less fun at our wedding if none of my ideas come to fruition, but it was fun to think about setting these things up and remembering them for years and years. Positive and negative comments are welcome!
Tags: "99 Red Balloons", Joe Morgan, Jon Miller, Sunday Night Baseball
Posted in Budget Weddings, Decor, Inspiration & Insight, Music & Entertainment, Our Wedding, Personal | 2 Comments »
Our Wedding: Bridal Shower Fun!
Written by Sara on May 19, 2010 – 9:00 am -
My bridal shower was this past weekend, and it was a wonderful afternoon! My lovely maid of honor Kristen threw the shower for me tea-party style, complete with these vintage lovelies (my great-grandma’s tea cups!!) and my aunt’s pink Depression-era glass:
Here’s a look at the yummy food spread, with my super-awesome Aunt Becky standing at the helm:
We had a wonderful crowd of family and friends to share in the celebration, which kicked off with a “Who Knows Sara Best?” trivia challenge! That was a lot of fun for me – and the best part: my future sister-in-law Larissa won! Here’s a picture of Larissa and I (with my lovely bouquet that she put together for me to carry at the rehearsal dinner!):
Gifts were opened…
Pictures were taken…
Kisses were given…
I had such a wonderful time, and Jordan and I were blessed with so many wonderful gifts!
One last shot from the day (mostly because I can’t leave you without one more picture of my little niece, Harper!).
The ladies of Jordan’s family (and me!):
Did you have a super lovely wedding shower? Tell me about it!
[All photos taken by my fun-loving Aunt Laurie]
Tags: bridal shower
Posted in Inspiration & Insight, Our Wedding, Personal | 2 Comments »
Etsy Love: Your Secret Admiral
Written by Sara on May 14, 2010 – 9:00 am -
I. Want. This. Notebook.
From Etsy seller Your Secret Admiral … you MUST go visit this shop. GO!
Tags: Etsy, Your Secret Admiral
Posted in Inspiration & Insight, Personal | No Comments »