Invitations went out!

I wish I had better pictures, these were taken on my webcam.  We did the invitations ourselves and were really pleased ...]]> Today is officially 2 weeks from the wedding! I can’t believe we made it! I have been crazy busy with finals, wedding showers, wedding stuff and packing.  Here are a few things I wanted to share…

Invitations went out!

I wish I had better pictures, these were taken on my webcam.  We did the invitations ourselves and were really pleased with how they turned out.  Garrett designed them in illustrator and we had them printed at a local print shop.  The owner is a family friend and gave us a really great deal.  We purchased the envelopes online here. I believe it’s a small, family company, but we loved working with them and our navy blue metallic coin style envelopes were our favorite part of the invitation.

Hair and Make-up run through:

I decided a while back that my sister was going to do my hair and make up.  She is a couple years younger than me and I love how she does her hair so I just thought that would work just fine for the wedding.  The closer it got to the wedding, the more worried I was about how the wedding day would go down.  What if she didn’t know how to do my hair like I wanted? What if we ran out of time? What if we yelled at each other all morning? (We are sisters, sometimes we yell).  It was just a little worrisome to me.  I guess my mother could read my mind because she texted me a couple weeks ago and suggested that I hire a stylist.  So I did, and that was/is a great decision! Her name is Terin Sessions, and my mom met her at church! My mom was at a church function and saw the most adorable 3 little girls bouncing around in the hall.  Their hair was gorgeous and my mom set out to find there mother.  Sure enough, she specializes in wedding hair and make up! Don’t you just love church?!

She did my sisters hair and she will be doing mine…here are some pictures from the wedding run through:

Terin–you are amazing! I LOVE it! I have natural curls that the Captain goes ga-ga over so I wanted to accentuate those in some kind of romantic updo.  She hit my thoughts spot on! It’s simple, soft, elegant and definately brings out my curls! And my make-up–I didn’t know I could look like that! I’m not really a make-up girl, so I was completely terrified of covering my face with loads of make-up for the wedding, but this was wonderful.  We went for a more natural look, and I am completely in love with how it turned out!  After looking at the pictures, we are going a little darker on the eyes, and a different color on the lips for TBD. Love it!

And guess what all you Pheonix lovers….Terin is moving back to Arizona (Mesa/Pheonix area) so she will be available as soon as this spring! Let me know if you want more information!

Bridal Showers

I wish I had more pictures to post from both of the wonderful bridal showers that were thrown for me! These pictures are from my local shower…friends and family I have been around the past 4 years while at school.  I had a hometown shower last weekend that included lots of good family and friends that I grew up with.  The best part about showers is seeing everyone that you haven’t seen in forever, what a special treat!

This cake was make by a sweet friend, isn’t it incredible?

One of my favorite parts of the shower was Bride Bingo.  This helps the awkward hour of opening gifts.  Each guest receives a blank bingo sheet.  They they can fill in all the squares with what they think the bride-to-be will open.  As the bride opens the gifts, guests can check off items on their bingo sheet until they get 5 in a row and yell….Bingo…of course! It is actually a lot of fun and everyone at my showers got way into it (Cherie, love you!).  One of my aunts kept yelling, “Spatula…where is the spatula?”  Hilarious, to say the least.  

Now that I am officially finished with finals, I can focus on the last minute details.  First on the list, packing up and moving our stuff out to Lubbock! We are getting our marriage license tomorrow and eventually finalizing our music playlist for the reception.  I am moving back home this weekend to spend the last week of single-ness with my family. Oh…and it’s Christmas! Maybe I should start buying those christmas presents :)

I can’t believe it’s almost here!

Any last minute suggestions?

© Elizabeth Anne Designs: The Wedding Blog, 2010 · Permalink · 5 comments · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: beauty, bridal shower, the planning process

Follow Ami on Twitter · Join us at EAD Living too! · EAD on Facebook

My Maids and ...]]> This weekend I took my trusty Maids with me for my makeup trial run. I picked a makeup artist who came highly recommended, booked her for my wedding day, and paid her $85 for the trial run. “I’m soooo glad you picked me to do your wedding makeup, because I’m like… TOTALLY AMAZING” she told me. Wow. Rad.

My Maids and I arrived perfectly punctually… and waited 15 minutes for the makeup artist to arrive. I showed her a magazine picture of a dark-haired movie star on the red carpet, with bright red lips and minimal makeup. She told me she didn’t want me to look at my face before she was finished. When the time came, I took a look in the mirror as I turned to show my Maids. They were clearly just as confused as I was. Was the circus in town and I had missed it? Was this a bad Halloween trick? Did she confuse me with another client, a drag queen perhaps? Big red lips, bright rosy cheeks, pink shadow all the way up to my brows, and a thick Amy Winehouse eye-pencil job… not my idea of minimal bridal makeup.

{Image via Celebrity Smack}

I explained that I wanted to ‘tone it down’ a bit. Less eye makeup, since my lip color is very dramatic… and perhaps a lighter overall powder application. “Can we just try again?” I asked her. “I’m uncomfortable wearing this much makeup”. So she began to wipe off the scary circus look… and then started to absolutely and totally FREAK OUT. “Uuuuuugggh!!!! This is a complete disaster! I don’t have time for this! My next client is going to kill me! AHH ohmigodddd! I don’t have my makeup remover and there’s black crap all over your eyes!” She stuck some false lashes on one eye and hurried us out the door… promising to give me another trial run for free in a few days.

Remaining calm, we hopped in the car. “Um… how about we go to the drug store on the corner and scrub my face in the restroom?” My Maids agreed. I lifted my sunglasses to show the cosmetic counter employee what we were up against. She quickly grabbed some hypoallergenic makeup remover, and ushered us into the restroom. After some wiping, I looked more like a human and we were able to go on our merry way.

The next day I awoke to tender, painful, rashy eyelids. Not a good look.

{Image courtesy of Author’s Personal Collection}

So, I went straight to Bare Escentuals, and a fabulous employee did my makeup just perfectly. I know that their line of cosmetics is okay for my sensitive skin, since I’ve been using it for years. She showed me all the colors that she used, and recommended some products and techniques to get the look I want. So I came home excited, with a bag full of makeup perfectly matched to my skin.

Now I will be confidently DIY -ing my makeup on wedding day! And for the same amount of money as hiring a “totally amazing” makeup artist, I now have a collection of makeup that I get to use every day! Score!

Have you had trouble finding a good makeup artist?

© Elizabeth Anne Designs: The Wedding Blog, 2010 · Permalink · 3 comments · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: beauty

Follow Ami on Twitter · Join us at EAD Living too! · EAD on Facebook

{Photos courtesy of Lisa Rigby Photography

When we arrived at the Cliff House Hotel I knew we were in good hands. I cannot thank the Cliff House staff enough (especially our Event Coordinator, Siobhan Ryan and General Manager, Adriaan Bartels) for the wonderful support and level of service that we received during our stay.

After a stressful night of ...]]>

{Photos courtesy of Lisa Rigby Photography

When we arrived at the Cliff House Hotel I knew we were in good hands. I cannot thank the Cliff House staff enough (especially our Event Coordinator, Siobhan Ryan and General Manager, Adriaan Bartels) for the wonderful support and level of service that we received during our stay.

After a stressful night of my dad totaling our car, I finally settled into my room around 1:00am. I vowed that I was not going to allow anymore stress into my life until after the wedding. As a Wedding Specialist, I see too many times where brides get so worked up before their wedding. They aren’t able to enjoy their day or be present. What’s the point, right?

My morning started so peacefully. I woke up and ordered breakfast in bed. It was delicious! I was even able to sneak in an episode of friends before getting ready. It was the perfect wedding day morning. I was finally a bride in my own special way.

© Elizabeth Anne Designs: The Wedding Blog, 2010 · Permalink · 1 comment · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: beauty

Follow Ami on Twitter · Join us at EAD Living too! · EAD on Facebook

The week ...]]> I am wedding burnt out. My parents came into town and we did a weekend wedding appointment torture session again. This time instead of 12 appointments in three days we did 7 (walk in the park right?). We had our final meetings with all vendors and although it was torture we made it through and everything should be lovely.

The week ahead is a busy one and one full of decisions. We are meeting with our Minister this evening to finalize the ceremony and then I need to prepare for this weekend. I have my hair trial on Saturday and a crafting party at my house.

As far as the hair goes, I have a constant debate in my head over up or down. Here are a couple styles I am leaning towards.

{Photo from The Knot}

{Photo from People.com}

{Photo from Jenny Martel Photography}

Yes I realize this is Robbie William’s wife but I really like her hair.

{Photo from Perez Hilton}

This weekend, I am hosting a little wine tasting for my girlfriends. In exchange for me using their taste buds, I am putting these girls to work and creating my own craft sweat shop. We have programs to tie, bags to label, tissue poms to make and it just keeps going. Luckily for me, they are all enthusiastic about helping as long as I provide them booze.

One project this weekend will be bow tying on programs. We purchased our programs at Michaels. Michaels is my new Nordstroms, I am there twice a week at least. I am obsessed with the 40% coupons and we purchased these lovelies saving over $10 per box. Can you tell we are at the end of the wedding planning as I am looking to save every little bit I can.

{Photo from Michaels}

Did you enjoy picking a hairstyle?

© Elizabeth Anne Designs: The Wedding Blog, 2010 · Permalink · 6 comments · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: beauty

Follow Ami on Twitter · Join us at EAD Living too! · EAD on Facebook

After lunch we headed over to Priscilla of ...]]> We actually ordered the bridesmaid dresses in June (to get in on a great summer special) and we are now just waiting for them to come in…should be any day! Back in June my wonderful moh planned a bridesmaid and mom luncheon at Modern Steak so everyone could get to know each other.

After lunch we headed over to Priscilla of Boston to take a look at bridesmaid dresses. My girls are all very different and I wanted to find something that would fit and flatter all of them. Originally I wanted to find different styles of dresses that all had the same color or shades of colors. That didn’t work so well. At Priscilla they started by trying on short and tea length dresses, but it was the long dresses that everyone (including me) gravitated towards.

The black dress on the right is the style everyone ended up liking, mostly because of the flowers. It looked so wonderful on everyone, the style was perfect! The tan dress on the right is the color that it came in. I liked it, but wasn’t 100% sure it was what we were looking for.

A week or two later, my mom, moh and I went to Twirl in Scottsdale for their Jim Hjelm trunk show. They were also have a 20% off summer event, so I knew it would be a good time to find a dress. I wore a Jim Hjelm dress for my brother’s wedding, so I knew they had beautiful dresses. Since we had a pretty clear vision of what everyone preferred, it made our shopping at Twirl somewhat easy (which can be very overwhelming if you don’t know what you are looking for…they have so many dresses!). We ended up finding a couple long dresses in the trunk show.

Twirl had the same dress we had seen at Priscilla, so we were able to compare it to a Jim Hjelm dress that we fell in love with. We came to the conclusion that the Jim Hjelm dress had a better fit and would flatter everyone slightly better.

{All images courtesy of author’s personal collection}

We decided on the strapless dresses for the bridesmaids and Brooke, my moh, would wear the one strap dress (gray in the picture). All the dresses will be in the brown stone color. It is such a beautiful color! I originally wanted them to wear a champagne color, but my fellow pale friends thought it would wash them out…I can understand that, it would wash me out too! Everyone hopes that their bridesmaids will one day wear their dress again, but the reality is they don’t. I really do hope they can someday, but in my past experiences, that dress holds special meaning and memories of the wedding.

For shoes, I just told them to get gold sandals. One of the biggest perks of wearing a long dress is being able to wear flats (they are very excited about this!). Most of them have picked up $10 shoes from Target, perfect!

{Image courtesy of Jim Hjelm}

For the junior bridesmaid, they had the perfect complimentary dress! The color above is the stone color and the exact dress we ordered for her.

I am beyond excited about these dresses and can’t wait to see them on all of my beautiful gal pals. These dresses compliment my dress and the overall look we are going for very well. It is all coming together, we are getting so excited!

How did you choose your bridesmaid dresses?

© Elizabeth Anne Designs: The Wedding Blog, 2010 · Permalink · 1 comment · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: beauty, what to wear

Follow Ami on Twitter · Join us at EAD Living too! · EAD on Facebook

my beautiful purple garter…(which was handknit by my amazing personal attendant)…

my pretty purple peep-toe shoes…

and last but not least…my amethyst drop earrings from Navy & Lavender.

One quick spritz of Ralph Lauren Romance…

and I was officially a BRIDE!

So what was Lance up to while all ...]]> Now that I had my dress on and firmly taped in place…all I needed was my sash…

my beautiful purple garter…(which was handknit by my amazing personal attendant)…

my pretty purple peep-toe shoes…

and last but not least…my amethyst drop earrings from Navy & Lavender.

One quick spritz of Ralph Lauren Romance…

and I was officially a BRIDE!

So what was Lance up to while all this bridal-beautification was going on?

He was trying to tie his tie…which turns out he has no idea how to do!

Luckily one of the other guys…who actually has to dress up for work helped him out!

Lance and I decided we wouldn’t go overboard with our gifts to one another.  We were going to be closing on our first home the following Friday (crazy!!) so we decided our money would be best spent on whatever household items we needed.  So he got me some small princess cut diamond earrings…to match my e-ring…and I got him a pair of Vikings cuff-links.  The kid LOVES his Vikes…so of course he loved these suckers!

Apparently it took a bit of shirt-surgery to get these little guys on!

After a bit of hole cutting…the little Viking heads went on like a charm!

(notice Lance STILL doesn’t have his tie tied!?)

Now that we were both set to go…it was time for us to finally see each other!!  I think this is when the nerves/excitement officially kicked in!!

Up Next…our First Look and a few pics!

*All photos by Kabloom Studios

© Elizabeth Anne Designs: The Wedding Blog, 2010 · Permalink · 4 comments · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: beauty, what to wear

Follow Ami on Twitter · Join us at EAD Living too! · EAD on Facebook

Like I said…we were well ahead of schedule and still had a good hour or so before Khara showed up to start snappin’ pics.  So my friend, and personal attendant extraordinaire #1 got started with my make-up.

{pic via author’s personal collection}

After ...]]> After we finished getting our hair done, it was time to head back to the hotel and complete the look!

Like I said…we were well ahead of schedule and still had a good hour or so before Khara showed up to start snappin’ pics.  So my friend, and personal attendant extraordinaire #1 got started with my make-up.

{pic via author’s personal collection}

After we finished with my make-up we just sorta hung out and chatted…and sipped on coffee and mimosas!

{pic via author’s personal collection}

As I think back now I remember feeling once again…extremely relaxed during this time!  I was actually wondering when the nerves would set in!  I think the fact that we were not rushed had a lot to do with it.  I tend to freak out in situations where I feel rushed and unprepared…so when I was scheduling everything I made sure to add in a good 30min cushion between everything.  This especially comes in handy when something unexpected comes up…luckily that didn’t happen to us bet it very well could have!

Just before noon there was a knock on our hotel door…and in walked Khara and her fab husband (& 2nd shooter) Emir!  I remember feeling a rush of excitement at that moment…now that our photographer had arrived…it was time to get this show on the road!

While Khara was busy snapping a few quick detail shots…

our flowers arrived!

{pic via author’s personal collection}

After a quick glance at my beautiful bouquet…it was finally time to put on my dress!!

As the girls looked on…

my other personal attendant extraordinaire got down to business with making my lace dress look perfect!  A little body tape goes a long way!

I was just about ready to go…

all that was left were a few final touches!

Coming up next…I throw on my final accessories and we check in on the guys!

all pics by Kabloom studios unless otherwise noted

© Elizabeth Anne Designs: The Wedding Blog, 2010 · Permalink · 7 comments · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: beauty

Follow Ami on Twitter · Join us at EAD Living too! · EAD on Facebook

After a quick breakfast and shower it was off to the salon with my bridesmaids to get our hair done!

I remember ...]]> I tend not to sleep well when I am reallly excited about something the next day.  Somehow though…I slept amazingly well the night before our wedding!  Waking up bright and early, refreshed and beyond excited to get the day rolling!

After a quick breakfast and shower it was off to the salon with my bridesmaids to get our hair done!

I remember feeling really relaxed…maybe it was the mimosas :)  I .wasn’t worried one bit about my hair…I knew it would turn out great!  Tona my hair girl used to do my hair when I lived in Lincoln during college…so I knew she would do a wonderful job.  I think knowing your hair person makes the whole experience that much more relaxed and enjoyable.

We had the entire salon all to ourselves which was great.  We were able to just laugh and chat without worrying about bothering any other patrons.  We munched on bagels and fruit…and sipped on mimosas.  My older sister got done first and went to work making a fun picture on this giant chalkboard they had in the salon.

Lovebirds!  Before I knew it Tona was putting the finishing touches on my hair and putting on my headband.  Coincidentally…it began to sprinkle outside…but I wasn’t worried!  I knew (I am a meteorologist after all!) it would clear up soon and the sun would shine for the rest of the day!

After the rest of the girls finished up their hair we snapped a quick pic in front of the chalkboard.

We were all set to go!  So with that we were headed back to the hotel…ahead of schedule!

Up next…time to get pretty and put on my beautiful lace dress!

* all photos via author’s personal collection

© Elizabeth Anne Designs: The Wedding Blog, 2010 · Permalink · 1 comment · StumbleUpon It!
Posted in: beauty

Follow Ami on Twitter · Join us at EAD Living too! · EAD on Facebook