Busy Busy Busy!

Wow! We have been so unbelievably busy over the last few months! But the good news is that we have gotten a lot of wedding stuff done.

We found a great caterer who can do all the appetizers, food, linens, china, and booze. We also decided on a really great photographer! Her name is Angela Tappen, and this is her website: www.atappenphoto.com. She takes awesome pictures, and when we met her in person she made us feel super comfortable and seemed to know exactly what we were looking for as far as pictures go. We decided to go with her over a few others, even though she wasn't the cheapest.

I also have all of the bouquets (mine and the bridesmaids) assembled. I decided to make my own out of silk flowers. I did them with ivory roses and little white flowers, and I love them! Now we're trying to figure out what to do about centerpieces. Chris's Mom actually came up with a really good idea that I think I'm going to go with. I will take some pics and put them up when I get a chance. That would be easier than trying to explain it on here.

In other news, Chris and I are moving into an apartment in downtown Vero on May 1st! It's a great 2/1 in a really cool old building that has been refurbished. We are so excited! Especially since our friend Dave is moving into the same building! It's within walking distance of a lot of our favorite local places, and we can't wait to move in! We've been thrift store and garage sale shopping for things, and we've gotten some great deals on stuff for the apartment.

Anyway, so we're insanely busy, but it will all be worth it in the end! Pics to come soon!

busy busy busy

Wow! It's been a busy month and a half! I have really been slacking on this whole blog thing...and I was doing so well!

Anyway, things have finally settled down after the holidays, and our wedding to-do list is expanding rapidly! We finally got both of our venues booked, so that's a step in the right direction. Now we really have to start working on finding a caterer and a photographer.

On a completely different note, we had some serious ring drama go down. Back in April of last year, one of the diamonds on my engagement ring fell out. Luckily, we have really good insurance on the ring, so it was replaced for free. Then, just after New Year's, it happened AGAIN! So I took it in and had it sent off to get the stone replaced. 4 weeks later, I went and picked it up. I was so excited to have it back that I didn't really think about inspecting it. When Chris looked at it closely, he noticed something was amiss. The diamond that they had replaced it with was WAY smaller than the original, and it was crooked in the setting! We were not pleased, to say the least. So we took it back to Gordon's. They basically told us that we had two choices: send the ring off again, wait, and chance it happening again because the setting is so unsecure. Or, we could pick out a different ring.

At first, I was not a fan of picking out a different ring. It made me sad to think that the ring Chris proposed with would be gone. But once I thought about it for awhile, I decided that it wasn't worth having to worry about the stones falling out all the time. So we looked around at the rings they had, and I finally found the one! It's actually exactly the kind I was originally looking for...very vintage-y and unique. I loved the ring I had, but it just wasn't worth the headache. I felt really bad because Chris is having to pay quite a bit of money to make up the difference (since we got the first ring on sale), but it's for forever!





Chris even got down on one knee when we got home to re-propose! It was really really cute!

mission accomplished!!!

Today, one of my maids of honor, Paige, and one of my bridesmaids, Jackie, went down to David's Bridal in West Palm to hunt for bridesmaid dresses! My previous post showed a few that I had found online that I liked, but it's hard to tell what is pretty and what isn't unless you see it in person. Well, it turns out that most of the ones that I had liked online weren't so good in person. However, the one that I REALLY liked fit them both great! And they both loved it! It's style #F13092. Yay!



Paige (on the left) is wearing the Truffle/Gold color that they will be getting. It's a really pretty dress and I think that it will be really flattering on everyone. Here's another full-lenth picture:



I'm actually thinking of removing the burgundy from the wedding colors all together. I think that with this dress, it will look much better if the colors are just brown, gold, and ivory. I think throwing a strong color like burgundy in will just take away from everything. And the guys in a brown tux with gold underneath will look really good I think. And just for kicks, here's an close up of the beading. The flash made the dress look lighter than it is, but you get the idea! :-)



We are still going to go and look again when David's new styles come out in January, but I am fairly sure that this is the dress that we are going to go with!

well, that was easy!

I bought my wedding dress!!! Yay!!! I just happened to be surfing the internet last Sunday evening, and I came across this website called Preownedweddingdresses.com. It's just what it sounds like...brides sell their used wedding dresses for reduced prices. So I did a search, and lo and behold...the dress I love pops up! In my size! Never worn! For 300 dollars cheaper than it would be new! Needless to say, I contacted the woman immediatly!

She got right back to me, we negotiated payment and shipping, and my dress was in my hand by Saturday! It is even more amazing than I remembered it being. I love it! I'm not going to post any pics of myself actually in the dress, because Chris might see it. But here is one off the David's Bridal website.



It's allover lace with a little bit of beading, in ivory/champagne. And the back is a deep V. It's amazing! I'm completely in love with it and I'm so glad that I don't have to go to David's Bridal and deal with all the obnoxious salespeople!

bridesmaid dresses

I've been doing a ton of research on bridesmaid dresses, and I've found a few that I really like from David's Bridal. I know that a lot of people don't recommend David's, but I have ordered 2 dresses from them, and I've never had any problems. So here are 3 of the dresses that I have found:







I really like the one with straps, but I still haven't seen any of them in person, so I won't be able to make a final decision until I see them and until my bridesmaids let me know their opinions. I want everyone to like the dress that I choose!

Fall Colors

So after visiting the old courthouse and being so inspired by the beautiful colors and decor in there, Chris and I have come to the decision that we are going to change our wedding colors. My colors were going to be chocolate brown, olive green, and ivory. But I didn't think that the green would fit in with the venue. So I decided to make the colors chocolate brown, deep red (kind of burgundy), ivory, and gold. Those colors seem a little more fall-like to me also. I will now just have to rethink my centerpieces and flowers. The ladies will still wear brown dresses...and I think that deep red and ivory flowers will look really good against that. And the men will be in brown tuxes with deep red vests/ties. I think it will look really good. Here are the colors together:



So I went to Michael's the other day so I could mess around with the colors. I found some really great silk flowers that I may use for the bouquets. I think I could make the bouquets for way less than real flowers would cost. Plus, you get to keep it!



I think they're pretty. I really like the hydrangeas. But, I could opt for something more along these lines...





The jury is still out...

Only a year to go!

Hey everyone! Well, yesterday we started the one-year countdown to our big day: November 12, 2010! Yay!

Since we have been engaged for over a year, it has allowed Chris and I to come up with lots of ideas already. However, as we found out, sometimes things can change even when you've had your mind made up about them for awhile!

On Wednesday, we both had the day off for Veteran's Day, so we figured it would be a great opportunity to start some hardcore planning! Some of you may be thinking that a year is a really long time and we are jumping the gun, but I do NOT want to be stressing about stuff a few months before the wedding. So we're getting a head start. We went to the Vero Beach Heritage Center, which is where we are most likely going to have the reception. It's a really pretty building here in downtown Vero and I love it because of the hardwood floors and wooden beams across the cathedral ceiling. It's also in a really cool part of town. I have been to several events at the Heritage Center and it's a really great venue! Here are a couple pics:





After we got all the information we needed from the Heritage Center, we headed directly across the street to the Courthouse Executive Center, which we just call the "old courthouse" because it was the courthouse before they built the new one. Neither of us had ever been inside, and boy were we blown away! The courtroom (which was built in the 30's) has had very few changes, and it is gorgeous! It's all hardwood floors, huge windows with amazing burgundy draperies, beautiful ornate chandeliers, and really cool vintage furniture. Chris and I were both so inspired by this room and so we have pretty much decided that this is where we are going to have our ceremony.

Now, the hard part about choosing the old courthouse for the ceremony was that our theme and colors didn't really go in there. The colors we were going to use were chocolate brown, an olive green, and ivory. Most of the courtroom is done in burgundy and brown, with splashes of blues here and there. I don't want our wedding to look like Christmas (all burgundy and green), so I have decided to replace olive green with burgundy and add in a splash of gold. Brown, burgundy, ivory, and gold look really good together and they do feel more like "fall colors." Now I just have to rethink my flowers, centerpieces, and other decor to fit in with the new colors. I don't think it will be too difficult though. We shall see!

I'll throw in some pics of the old courthouse for you even though they don't do it justice:








More to come soon!