WEEKEND!

Phew. Sorry. I get a little excited when it comes to weekends lately. After all, I’m still in class, studying for finals, getting ready to start my internship, planning a wedding, moving, trying to keep my fiance sane as he studies for the board exams…phew! So weekends are always a welcome time for me to catch up on sleep and wedding details.

Unfortunately, it’s been drizzly and rainy here in Southern Cal. All the more reason for me to stay in bed with a nice cup of hot chocolate and peruse some blogs…alas! There is no time, mon petit choux! I realized today that I’ll be flying back to Colorado in exactly 2 weeks! That means it’s panic time here in wedding planning land. Here are a few of the things I’ve done this week:

{Photo from author’s personal collection of semi-blurry photos}

Our bride and groom chair covers are (finally!) complete. They certainly took some work and were a definite labor of love. They consist of a linen background, the flowers I showed you all how to DIY last week, feathers, some leaves cut from scrap fabric, and ribbon to tie them to the chairs with. I think I’ll be reworking the lettering on the “bride” cover to make them look a bit more uniform, but overall I”m fairly happy with them! They fit right into my homespun, kraft-y wedding. And while all these little details may be a lot of work…I just know I won’t be satisfied with myself if I don’t give my wedding it’s own personal thumbprint. Speaking of which, I’m thinking/hoping/wishing/praying that peonies will still be blooming mid-June: please look.

{From author’s collection}

DROOOOOOOL! How is it that peonies can just class it up merely by plopping down in a cup and saying “here I am! Admire me!” They’re sitting here by my bed right now, putting off the most amazing scent ever. Pleasepleaseplease keep blooming, lil’ peonies! 3 more weeks! (More eye candy below!)

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DJ and I have lived together for just over two years, since before we were engaged. When we were ready to move in together he was ready to buy. I was not.  I was sort of adamantly against us owning property together before we were married, although I had no problem with living together unmarried. We’d recently seen friends of ours go through a breakup where there was joint property ownership, and I wouldn’t wish that trial on anyone. There are no laws to protect you if you aren’t married. If your mortgage partner doesn’t pay their share, guess what? You’re liable, and there’s no separation agreement to divide bills (in my state…)

So our condo is in DJ’s name only. Not because I thought we might break up, but because if we did that would be one less horrible thing to handle. We also shopped within “his” price range. If for any reason I weren’t paying the mortgage, he could swing it. If we’d broken up, I could have moved out without him selling or finding a roommate in a hurry. If living together had been awful, we’d have been heartbroken but not homeless. It’s also comforting in this job market that we could get by on one salary if necessary.

We’ve never treated it like “his” place, though. We’ve made improvements together to our home. But - I don’t have a renter’s agreement, which in a really ugly situation could be useful. DJ doesn’t have any legal right to charge me rent, nor do I have any legal right to live in our home. I also have no legal claim to any appreciation or reimbursement for any improvements we’ve made. Those were risks I was willing to take, but writing up a basic agreement for those things probably isn’t a bad idea.

Did you buy property or share a lease before marriage? I know I’m a big worrier – did you have a plan for the worst case?

While we’re hard at work this weekend on our invitations (that may or may not involve a gocco, a xyron, zips, an embosser, and 8 lbs. of paper!), we’ll be dreaming of this view that we’ll enjoy in just three months!

And we’ll enjoy our honeymoon even more knowing how much time and effort we put into locating it! Let me fill you in.

From the beginning, Nick and I knew we wanted a tropical destination. As much as we both appreciate art, history, and culture, all we want for our honeymoon is sun, sand, and maybe a little pampering.

We received two very generous offers from Nick’s parents and relatives to use their timeshares. However most of what we found (with the exception of this one: Ocho Cascadas, which is not available in September) were huge high-rise resorts among other huge high-rise resorts. This is fine for some couples, but we really envisioned a secluded, rustic villa. No crowds, no kids, and no tourist attractions.

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Hello hello EAD world!

When Ami asked me a couple weeks ago if I wanted to become an EAD weekly columnist after I sent along our engagement photos, I couldn’t believe my luck. I’ve pretty much been reading this blog since I got engaged, so I’m THRILLED to be sharing my wedding planning journey with you all over the next few months. Many thanks to Ami for bringing me on board!

Today marks 112 days until our September wedding here in Boston (eeps!). Like most brides to be I’m feeling excited, frantic, emotional, nervous, overwhelmed, but mostly – happy and full of love.

With only three full months left until our wedding, I’m happy to say we have most of the major things checked off the list, but there’s still tons of little details to coordinate and decisions to make! Before I take you through our tireless search for the perfect venue, my newfound talent for negotiation, the ordeal that was outfitting my bridesmaids, our decision to finally hire a wedding planner and everything in between, from making our save the dates to choosing all our vendors and booking our honeymoon, I’ll tell you a bit about me.

Well, us.

Andreas and I met at a football game during our senior year of high school in Maryland (if you can bear the cliché). We were in the same psychology class together that year and I noticed him from across the room on the first day of class. I had heard nice things about him and wanted to meet him but didn’t have the chance until I noticed him standing nearby during the first football game of the year. That’s when I asked a mutual friend to introduce us and from that night on we’ve basically been inseparable.

Though we have crazy different interests and come from very different backgrounds (he was born on the other side of the world of Ethiopian and Russian descent and I’m an east coast American girl through and through), something about being together just made sense and always felt so natural to us.

After being together for almost seven years, it was hardly a surprise to our family and friends last Christmas when Andreas got down on one knee proposed in a parking lot. (“Can you not tell anyone how I did it?” Sorry, darlin’.) But as I wrote on my own blog after we got engaged, When you’ve been dating since high school, when you’ve grown up together in college, when you’ve seen each other through deaths and depression and semesters abroad and graduations and first jobs, it ceases to be a matter of “if” and becomes a matter of “when.”

As you’ll learn, the wedding planning process hasn’t always been the easiest for me. But I’ve learned a lot. I’m still learning.

And I can’t wait to share the journey with you.

Next week: finding the perfect place to tie the knot and the beginning of planning our “not-your-average” wedding.

Stay tuned!

There are lots of little details that us brides get hung up on.  When I first started planning our wedding, I wanted to do EVERYTHING I came across.  As the planning continued, I realized that I needed to pick things that were the most important to me, and go from there.  With that being said, we are still ending up with FOUR favors for our guests rather than just one.  We have the Popcorn Bar, which I’ve told you all about…and then we have these fun additions:

A basket of flip flops on the dance floor… so our guests can dance the night away…

{found here}

And a basket of pashminas!  Our venue is in the North Georgia Mountains in the fall-while the weather may be warm in late October, I’d rather be safe than sorry and have pashminas as an option for anyone who might be chilly…

{found here}

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My dress has been in for about a month now but I just went in for my fitting this Wednesday. You might recall my yellow shoe search that had to take place before I could have my fitting, and that the dress shop is a little over an hour away. I didn’t have time to make the trip just to see it and try it on, and I knew I’d need alterations so I waited until the shop’s alteration pro could take an appointment. The whole dress process has been difficult since I’m away from my mom, my best friends, and I really know nothing about hemming and bustles and fittings even though I’m a religious blog stalker. I brought my photographer/bff in bham with me and the following images are thanks to her.

I must ask that no one who reads this blog and knows me in real life directs Garrett to this post. He already knows not to look and I think he really does want to be surprised. I sent the images to his cousin and she bawled over them, which is really sweet. I don’t usually cry or tear up over anything sentimental (except things like baptisms or if my hormones are out of whack I’ll cry at anything) so I’m surprised when I can evoke that kind of emotion out of how I look in a dress.

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These wooden letters are so cute for holding in photos (such as this one by Jenna Cole), but they would also be great adapted for table numbers or on your escort card table!

{Tutorial found at That OneGirl}

PS - Don’t forget to enter the Bel Canto Designs giveaway before 12:00 PM CT tomorrow!

Brides often hear a lot about how important it is to send thank-you cards to guests after the wedding (and it is important!), but sometimes we forget about giving cards to our close friends and family on the day of the wedding.  These cards can be a nice way to say thank you to those who have helped and supported you the most during the wedding planning process, or just write a simple message to tell your loved ones how much you care and value them on such an important day.

Last week, while in New York for the National Stationery Show, E and I stopped by to say hello to our friends over at Tallu-lah - which has a letterpress card line that is just perfect for brides (and grooms!) who want to write out a short note to their family + friends:

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At just over two weeks out, things have suddenly got extremely busy. Still, at the weekend we found time to have a quick trial for the bouquets and buttonholes. We had confirmation that the farm grown peonies will be guaranteed for us, so I have ordered 100 white peonies to make 4 bouquets. I decided not to waste money on practising on peonies so I bought some carnations {as that is what we shall use for the buttonholes} and my almost mother-in-law and I made up a couple:

{Top left image by Michael Carr Photography; all other images from Author’s personal collection}

I have written before about the flowers so I won’t say too much more other than it was easier than I thought to make bouquets and the buttonholes. I bought some florists tape from e-bay which is green and papery and sort of sticks to itself. You simply wrap it round, overlapping the edges by half and then finish it off by making sure it is firmly stuck together. We used a bit of fluffy hedge material to go with the carnation for the buttonhole and a pearl headed pin to attach it to the lapel {or shirt, in the photo above}. For the bouquets, I trimmed the leaves off the stalks and bound them together in bunches of three, which I then grouped together to make a larger bouquet. I then wrapped ribbon round the green tape, in exactly the same way, pinning it with the pins at an angle so they remained in the stalks. On the day, I am aiming for something like the top left image for me, and something a little smaller for the bridesmaids.

Also at the weekend we finished and printed 105 orders of service. All we need to do now is pick the readings. I will share the photos of these after the event as I do not want to ruin the effect for the guests. Also to come whilst we are on our honeymoon will be posts about the bridesmaids presents, which for obvious reasons I am unable to share, and possibly a sneak peek of a wedding photo or two…

I am away on my hen party this weekend, so expect plenty of tea party photos next week. I am going with 16 of my girlfriends to a country cottage {in the grounds of a castle} and we are having a 1920/30s themed tea party with cucumber sandwiches, scones, cakes, tea and champagne. The weather forecast is for sunshine and I am very excited.

How are all of you other June brides doing?

By the time DJ and I are married, we will have been engaged for 21 months. The reasons were/are:
- Financial
- I thrive on research and anticipation
- We preferred fall to spring or summer

So we are having a long-ish engagement. It’s been fun for us, partly because we already live together and so aren’t in a hurry to get married for that reason.

About two months ago one of my coworkers asked his girlfriend to marry him. They have set a date for the end of August, a full month before the end of my long-ish engagement. ::hilarity ensued:: Just this past weekend they signed their first contract, which makes me want to hire them a wedding planner, STAT.

But they seem totally happy about their timeframe. They’re a few years older and six years into their relationship, so I can understand why they didn’t swan around on wedding blogs for 21 months. I don’t know yet if I’ll rate an invitation, but I hope so. I expect all my feelings of romance to be at a high around then.

My absolute favorite thing about wedding planning has been seeing that there are so many ways to arrive at married. But I wonder.If you weren’t waiting to save money or pacify family members or buy peonies in season, what would be the ideal length of your engagement?