This is the last Wedding Wednesday!!! Isn't that so sad?! Not really, because then we'll be married and honeymooning. Woot! We met with the dj on Thursday. I'm glad that he was so open to all the songs we want to play, because a lot of them are ones that people have never heard of. I was afraid he'd be annoyed by that, but he was cool with it! I made a cd of "cocktail hour songs," "dinner songs," and "dance songs." Hopefully they stick to those! We picked up Philip's wedding ring on Friday. We had to order a different size for him--glad they were able to get it in time and that it fits! Over the weekend I got a lot of stuff done. I was running all over the countryside picking things up. Saturday especially I felt like I got a lot more organized. All of the stuff for the chapel is now downstairs, as well as gifts for people. All of the stuff for the reception is still upstairs. Picked up my dad's suit on Monday! I took my dre...
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No pictures this week, so kind of a boring post... sorry! Dad got his suit. He even got his tailoring done. He looks super cute! I met with the guy from Casey's on Friday about flowers. We've firmed up the details and I'm so excited! They will be very pretty. I picked up my wedding gown on Saturday! It's beautiful and fits me like a glove. I can't stop looking at the pictures of me in it that my aunt took. It is very me . I can't wait to wear it alllllllll day. I didn't want to take it off! Joy (Philip's mom) and my aunt Peggy picked up their dresses on Saturday too. It was fun to have a little trying-on party at the alterations place. I still need to get my dress steamed. There are a few tiny spots on it (it was a sample, so lots of other girls tried it on before me), so I need to get those cleaned too. I'm really scared to take it to the dry cleaner's, but I gotta have faith! I need to do this soon since I don't know how long it'l...
We got our marriage license on Friday! Centerpiece saga: So I Do Events it is. Simple Elegance neglected to get back to me (though responded quite quickly when I emailed them again asking for an update on what we had talked about a week earlier!) and they don't have enough centerpieces for all of the tables. I had a good experience with I Do Events a couple of months ago and they've been responsive, so I'm going to reward their good behavior with our business haha! We met yesterday and I feel confident that it'll be beautiful. The only bad part is that they are located in Washington, so I'll have to pick up the glass on Thursday and someone will have to return it on Monday, but we'll survive! RSVPs were due on Saturday and we received 97 out of 136 by the deadline. A few have trickled in since then. C'mon, friends and fam! It ain't that hard to drop something that's pre-stamped into the mail. Guess we'll be doing a little research on those w...
Centerpiece saga: Simple Elegance finally called me back on Wednesday (after I posted last week's Wedding Wednesday). I emailed back and forth with a girl there about what I'm looking for, but haven't heard from her since last Thursday. I randomly got an email from I Do Events, so if they're more responsive, I'm going to go with them instead! My aunt and I took my dad to Men's Wearhouse on Saturday because he's in dire need of a new suit. My pops is a big guy, so I was concerned that we wouldn't find something to suit him (ha!), but we found two that will possibly work. They are ordering one into the store in his size so that we can compare the two different options and choose one. Finally heard back from the musician ( Heart Strings ) for the ceremony after giving her a call at home. We met on Monday and I have to say that I am unimpressed by this person's professionalism. I feel as though I am generally not too demanding of customer service, but ...
The ceremony service is nailed down. We met with Jim and Michele (co-officiants) on Monday and went over a lot of logistics. Michele and I also made a quick trip to Evelyn Chapel since she had never been there. I just love that place. I can really visualize now what everything's going to be like. It is both exciting and scary, because it's getting so close! With the service fully figured out, I can start making programs now. I feel as though this part might be a larger undertaking than the invitations, because there will be double the amount! The actual construction should be easier, though. Menu card printing/construction will also start soon. We met with the travel agent to go over our honeymoon itinerary. I'm so excited to be on vacay with my new husband in just 5 weeks. (Husband! So weird!) I am disappointed that I've been unable to reach our musicians for the ceremony. I've emailed twice in the past 3 weeks... still nothing. Maybe they're on vacation? I ne...
Philip tried on his suit at Men's Wearhouse on Wednesday. The tailor wasn't in, so we need to go back for him to actually get fitted, but it was cute to see him in his full get-up! I took a picture of him, but I'm trying not to share too much so that some things are still a surprise at the wedding! The RSVPs are a-rollin' in! Coming home to see who has responded is kind of the highlight of my day! We had our food tasting at Eastland Suites on Friday. We got to try 2 salads, 4 dressings, 4 hor d'oeuvres, 4 entrees, 4 starches, and 4 vegetables. The food was delicious--even more so than we were expecting! It was fun to talk to the planner about all the logistics, too. It makes me so excited! On Monday we met with Jim, one of our officiants, to talk about the ceremony. Michele (the other officiant and my maid of honor) had sent me some ideas already and I had thrown it together before we met with Jim. He was open to what I had typed up; he even let me borrow his lit...
Wedding Wednesday So now that everyone (for the most part) probably has their invitation, I thought I would post pics of them! I don't know if anyone cares, but I'm kinda proud of them since I designed and made them from scratch myself (well, everything but the envelopes and pocketfolds). The assembly line. Wrap-around labels. We liked the black envelopes the best, so I broke the etiquette rules and printed on labels. I'm sure black envelopes for a wedding is also against the rules... The return address is on the flap-side of the envelopes and on the flip-side of the wrap-around labels. Pocketfold invitations have been done, but I still like them. There's the logo! Envelope ready to be sealed! Let's take these babies to the post office! I checked with the post office again to make sure I had enough postage. I read a really bad story on Weddingbee about some girl's invitations getting returned to her due to insufficient posta...
Wedding Wednesday Grandma Bean (Philip's grandma) hosted a bridal shower for me at her house on Sunday! I didn't take good pictures of us with who was there because my camera went dead at the end. :( It was a lot of fun, though! We played some games, we opened some gifts, we ate some food... good times all around! Here are a few pics. The direction sheet got done. It wasn't perfect, but it got done. I need to let go of perfect. Oh and I assembled the invitations on Saturday and will send them on Friday! I changed my mind a little about when to send them. Traditionally it's supposed to be 6-8 weeks when people receive the invitation, so if I send them on Friday, it'll be right at 8 weeks until the wedding. I don't want to be too jump-the-gun, even though I'm really excited (to both send them and have them out of my possession because I've been working on them for so long). Surprisingly, it only took me a couple of hours to put together 65 invitati...
I should really do better about posting things sometimes that aren't wedding related, but alas... Wedding Wednesday See previous post about my bridal shower that aunt Peggy hosted! I forgot to take a picture of Grandma Bean's shower invite from a few weeks ago. It's this weekend! Candle holders for reception centerpieces arrived from ebay. They're alright. I recruited my dad to spraypaint them silver (instead of black) and I definitely like them better now. I'm not totally thrilled with them, but they're good enough, I guess. Still plugging away at that direction sheet for the invitations. I'm pretty sure I've got it figured out, but I'm honestly just annoyed by it at this point! Invitation assembly line to commence shortly. I feel like I'm behind on this, since I want them to go out on Monday. I'm having trouble falling asleep because I'm thinking of all the details that still need to be nailed down. I also had my first wedding d...
Wedding Wednesday Let's Party Rentals has lost my business. I was in there two Fridays ago, if you so vaguely remember, to look at centerpiece ideas. She let me bring home a few things to play with (which I thought was great customer service). I went back the next day to return them and she said she didn't know how many of the tall centerpieces she had, but that she would check and call me. Two weeks passed and I never heard from her, so last Friday, I contacted her to see what was up and she says, "Yeah--sorry I didn't call you back. We only have 5." I need 15, but still, lady, call me back to let me know! So I don't trust that kind of unprofessionalism and will now be seeking out other ideas for centerpieces. I ordered candle holders from ebay at a little over $10 each, so hopefully they work out. Afterwards, I'll attempt to resell them on Recycled Bride . (Sidenote: I need to open up a wedding rental business in Bloomington-Normal. Let's Party h...
Wedding Wednesday Last Wednesday was the 4th of July, and then we went on a little vacay down to Six Flags and some caverns in Missouri this past weekend, and then I've had "homework" for work the past two nights, so I honestly haven't had the time to do much wedding stuff since last week. But here is the little news that I do have! Sash news: Done and done! The one from Amazon came and I liked it better than the one from ebay, so that's a wrap! (My dad liked the one from ebay better, but, sorry Pops!) I have only a bracelet to get and I know exactly which one it'll be--it's part of my late birthday present from Philip. I asked my friend, Sheila, to help do some logistical things at the ceremony. She'll be handing out programs and a few other minor things. I'm so grateful to have her help because I know she'll be good; she's an event coordinator for her job at UNLV! We ordered the suits for the guys from Men's Wearhouse. The guys...
Sash news: I got the two sashes from ebay on Friday. I liked both, but one definitely stood out to my dad and I. I'm returning the one we know is a "no." I did order another one from Amazon, just to see. So I am down to the final two. I'm just so indecisive and have to know what all of my options are! The custom sash girl was surprisingly gracious when I told her that I'm going a different direction. Definitely use her if you ever need a custom bridal sash ! I ordered purple shoes from Von Maur and they are the perfect color! They aren't as dressy as I would like, but Philip reminded me that the boy shoes aren't dressy, either, so I guess it makes sense that mine are also pretty casual. And no one will really be seeing my shoes, anyway! I left work a little early on Friday to visit the rental place. My goal was to nail down centerpieces. I spent like an hour in the showroom, looking and thinking, thinking and looking. I'm sure the woman working th...
Wedding Wednesday: Part 2 I wish that I would've applied to blog on Weddingbee . I knew of the website, but didn't even think about it. There is a girl who blogs on there whose wedding was a few weeks ago at Mackinaw Valley Vineyard right outside of Bloomington and Jamie Grant did her photography (which is who I wanted). I can spend hours reading those girls' blog posts. People have such good ideas. Anyway, as I was reading Weddingbee today, I saw that one girl got her headpiece from Amazon and I thought to myself, "Why didn't I think about looking on Amazon for a sash?" So like an idiot, I had to search on there and two bad things happened: One--I found one of the sashes that I bought from ebay for $20 cheaper. I'm pretty sure it's the same supplier. Lame! T wo--I found about three others that I like a lot. I mean, I guess the good thing is that there are more options for me if I don't like the two that come tomorrow.
Wedding Wednesday I did some craftin' this weekend (while listening to the "Cocktail Hour" mix that I've created). I still feel as though it's a little early to be working on all the small projects that I have, but I'm bored right now and I'm sure I'll be thanking myself later for doing these things now before I have so many things to think about and work on. I was at a standstill with the invitations because I was waiting for the paper to go on sale at Hob Lob, so this is what I did instead. Expect to see this goodies in some capacity on 09.22.12! These are pomander balls and the colors are more pretty in person. I'm going for the ombre look. Not done yet, clearly! The flower girl dresses are going to work! Yahoo!!! I bought two sashes from ebay. I'm hoping they arrive quickly (got an email saying tomorrow!), because the girl from Etsy is waiting to hear back from me about creating a custom sash. She'll just have to wai...
Wedding Wednesday We were in the Pantagraph this weekend. The actual picture in the newspaper turned out bad, I think, but the internet link is nice. Here it is: Sara & Phil in z Pantagraph . It's so cute when people mention to me that they saw it. :) Went to Champaign this weekend and could only find one bridal store that had a lot of sashes that actually weren't that bad in price. The salesladies didn't know if the one I liked the best could be sold separately from a dress, so whatever. (Then why have it hanging up as if you can?) If they would've looked into it more for me, I might have bought it, but they didn't seem that interested in helping me, so whatever. Wishing I could find one and just order it because it makes me nervous getting one custom-made. Which brings me to... Custom-made sash info: I'm seeing if a girl on Etsy can design one for me that looks similar to another one that I loved. She said she can, but now my concern is that her whit...
Can you believe that this is the fourth edition of Wedding Wednesday? I can't believe I've been doing this for a month already! Wedding Wednesday We were in the Farmington Shopper--front page! We were also in the Peoria Journal Star, but I haven't seen it yet. This weekend I ran around to five bridal stores (two here in Bloomington, two in Morton, and one in Peoria) to see what types of belts/sashes they had. I found one that I really liked at a store in Morton and would have bought it if it were the right color. It was even on sale! Did you know that Diamond White exists as a color? Oh, it does. And it's in between the colors of white and ivory. My dress is white and the sash that was on sale was Diamond White, so it didn't work out. Poo. There was another one that I loved, but it was $330. Yeah. I'm researching websites to see if I can find it any cheaper. The bridal store in Peoria had sashes that started at $350 and went up to $650. For a sash! T...
Philip reads my blog regularly and I asked him if he thinks Wedding Wednesday is nerdy and he said, "kinda." Ha. Wedding Wednesday! I've been DIYing the invitations quite a bit. I can't wait to see what the finished product looks like. Right now I'm like one-fourth of the way done with them and even that has taken a long time, so I hope I don't regret making them myself haha. I've run out of the paper that I need, so I'm feel like I'm running to Hobby Lobby like every other day. I made my first fitting appointment for my wedding gown. I have to admit that as I was making that call, it all felt really real to me. The appointment's not until August 4. It'll be fun to put that dress on again! Michele and my aunt have both gotten their bridesmaid dresses. Here's Michele in her's! Lovely. The color is so pretty! 108 Days Until Our Wedding!
Wedding Wednesday! I now think that the Pantagraph is a bargain. It's $40 to submit your engagement announcement and $45 to submit your wedding announcement. The Peoria Journal Star can be up to $43 for engagement (I spent $30) and up to $125 for wedding, which includes all the same things you would get for the Pantagraph announcement. Kiiinda crazy. We'll see what the Farmington Shopper costs. We (me, Joy, and the girls) went flower girl dress shopping on Saturday. We found a $40 one at JC Penney that's super cute. Our concern now is that it doesn't come in the right size, so we need to do a little more research on that. I really hope it comes in their size, because I'm honestly kind of over the whole flower girl dress thing. It was fun the first two times, but I just want it to be chosen at this point. We also went around to a whole bunch of bridal stores in Peoria looking for a sash/belt for my dress. I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm too p...
Wedding Wednesday! I got the right color of pocketfolds in the mail, so I can start DIYing the invitations. I started to, but realized I needed to change something in the wording, so I'm glad I caught that before I printed all 65 of them. I did a little crafting this past weekend. I made a few pomander balls, which will jazz up the chapel by adding some color and interest. I also strung some beads and pearls; I'm maybe going to try to make my own hairpiece, but we'll see! I made an appointment to talk to I Do Events in Washington next Tuesday. I wish I could afford for them to pimp out the entire chapel and reception venue, but obvs that's not going to happen. I'm going to see what they can do within my budget in terms of centerpieces for the tables at the reception. That's it for now. 122 Days Until Our Wedding!
I just saw something on Pinterest called Wedding Wednesday and I feel as though I should incorporate this into my blog somehow. Wedding Wednesday isn't anything in particular from what I can tell; it's probably just a catchy theme from a blog or website. But I like the idea of it, so maybe I should make wedding-only posts on Wednesdays? Or maybe the only time I post anything wedding-related should be Wednesday? Maybe the latter with all of the updates from the previous week. We'll see how this turns out. So... to kick off Wedding Wednesday ... here's an update! After the "I almost chose the wrong wedding dress" debacle, I decided to try on my dress. It was the first time I've had it on since I bought it and I really do love it. Chloe was like, "What is with all of this material?! How can I hide in it?! Can I lay on it?! It's so comfy!!!" Next weekend when we go to look for new flower girl dresses, Joy and I are also going to some bridal ...