Dresses, Flowers, and Venues, Oh My!

Can I just say that wedding planning is exhausting. I am wiped from this weekend. Zach and I did a lot of wedding stuff, and then after he left I did even more wedding stuff with my sister and mom. The good thing is that most of what we want is set and available for the day we have chosen (December 11, 2010).

In fact, that is our official date since a deposit has been put down on the reception venue (The Brink Lounge---gorgeous and hip!). I even bought my dress (which is also gorgeous and was on-sale, so BONUS!). It was the second one I tried on and it fit me like a glove. Like it was made for me. And since the store was discontinuing that designer it was the last one I could get and I actually had to buy the sample. But I was fine with that. I just hope their store doesn't burn down over the next year since we're storing it there! Cross your fingers!!

My mom is surprised at my ability of choosing everything I want so quickly (dress shopping only laster 1.5 hours, but I chose my dress in about 15 minutes). My sister says that is just the way I would do it since I've only dated one guy. I believe her phrasing was something like this: "Well look at who she's dating. She pretty much chose one guy and went with him, so do you really think it's going to take her that long to choose the rest of this stuff? Now me, on the other hand, I'll probably choose a bagillion things before I settle on what I want, just how I dated guys." Well said, Linds, well said.

I'm so excited for next year and I can't wait for it! Not only for the wedding but because Zachary and I will be married!!

Since everything big is pretty much settled, it's now on to the littler details, like colors and centerpieces, invitations, etc.. The above is a picture of what I would like my flowers to look like at my wedding, most likely just my bouquet and then a few centerpieces. Funnily enough, I put that together, and I think it looks quite lovely. The roses are slightly too bloomed, but I got them at a cheap grocery story. The baby's breath came with it (and originially I didn't intend to use it, but I think it completes the look) and the evergreen sprigs are from the tree's at my parent's house. All-in-all I thought it was perfect for what we wanted, and hey, I made it in like five minutes. Of course I'd probably have my bouquet professionally made (but I would gladly bring the florist the evergreen branches from our house) but I could do the centerpieces for the head table. For the small table there might be just very tiny versions of this bouquet (which I could also make) or I'm still deciding on other things I could do on those tables. I don't want to have a lot of leftover material from my centerpieces, so anything that is disposable would be great.

The next big thing I have to tackle is the reception food. I should get on that, but I'm still waiting for other things to fall into place. I think Zach and I need to come up with a timeline of how the day will go from the ceremony to the dance.

And now that I have my dress I must find shoes, possibly three pair: One for the ceremony, a pair of cute winter boots for outside and a third pair that will be comfortable for dancing and walking at the reception. I also need to figure out some kind of coat/shawl/cape for outside as well.

I'm really tempted to procure a horse and carriage for a ride down State Street (since the ceremony venue will hopefully be there) and then we can take it up to the capital for pictures!! That would be lovely, and although it sounds extravagant I'm pretty sure a 1/2 hour ride would not be too much!!

Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself with the tiny details when so many big ones are yet to plan!!

Can you tell I'm excited? I've only used about a million exclamation points!!! (1,000,003 now)

Time stands still

I'm pretty sure that December 23rd is the longest day of the year. I feel like every second of today has taken 10x as long as a normal day. I guess I'm just excited to get home for Christmas. I really love the holidays but really I just want a break. Soooo tired.

Wedding planning is tough and tiring, and I haven't been engaged for two weeks, but everything says you should start early. I mean, I have less than a year to plan if I intend on having the wedding on December 11th.

I wasn't truly excited about a winter wedding to begin with. Originially I wanted one in the fall (and I guess that it technically still will be during the fall season) but I never really gave the winter wedding a thought until Zach and I started discussing dates.

Now I'm super excited about having a winter wedding! I really hope there is snow, but it'll probably be one of those things where the snow will be super late, or it will storm. That's one thing I have to figure out how to handle: snow storm! I honestly don't know what we'll do if that's the case. I highly doubt a lot of places would refund any of the money, especially on short notice and what not, so it's an issue that I will have to discuss with Zach and our families. I'll just hope for a large snow fall a week prior to the wedding!

I don't want to make my wedding theme Christmasy at all, I would prefer more of a winter wonderland feel to it. Or just something classy and elegant, but of course on a budget.

I put together a wedding binder today (yes I am at work, but like I said earlier, it's pretty much the slowest day of the year, and since every second lasts 10x longer that means I've actually be at work for 60 hours already, so I'm into imaginary overtime). Well, I made the binder and it's pretty big. Beforehand I would just print things out and put them in a folder, but today I organized them all. By far I would say that the "wedding dress" section has the most print outs. What's funny about it is that although I like certain styles, I've printed all different styles of dresses. I don't want anything too poofy, but I say that and I'll probably fall in love with a ball gown. I want simple, but guaranteed I'll get a fancy looking dress on and will be in love!

Putting the binder together helped me organize my thoughts better as well. I pretty much know where my reception is going to be and possibly the ceremony and even the officiant, so it was nice to just put all the information from each place in one convenient location. It's also nice because then I got to put together a collage of pictures of me and Zach throughout the years and use it as the cover. I guess I'm just happy that I feel like I accomplished something towards my wedding whereas before I was anxious because I couldn't set anything in stone.

So apparently I'm not as interesting as I thought I was, but oh well, sometimes you've got it, sometimes you don't (why am I reminded of a mounds bar right now!).

Well, I guess that's all for today. I probably won't write much until I get back on the 30th, and hopefully by then I will have lots to say!

Weddings are just overpriced parties

Okay, so first of all, that is what I want my wedding dress to look like. It is gorgeous and simple and very me, I think...but onto the topic of today's issue: The Scam they call a Wedding.


Weddings are effing expensive, and by effing I mean RIDICULOUSLY OUTRAGEOUSLY PERPOSTEROUSLY EXORBITANTLY expensive. For example, on a lot of wedding venue sites they have links for "weddings" and then also a link for "special events". In a lot of them "special events" are not as expensive as weddings. It's like you just mention the "w" word and the price goes up two-fold on every item. Bah-humbug to you wedding fairy!


There are also a lot of rules and fees that some venues require you to follow. The one I'm having the hardest time with is the "proof of licensed baker" one that a lot of high end and even mid-end reception venues require. Hello----I can bake, know how to bake, and love to bake, and above all want to bake my own wedding cake (with the help of my beloved mother!!). Now I don't want to do this to just save money, but because I want to have a delicious tasting cake as well.

Okay, so maybe part of it is to save money, but hey, why would I want to pay upwards of 400-500 dollars on a cake when I truly believe my mother and I could make just as nice of one (that would taste even better). Right now I really want to make this carrot and pineapple cake with cream cheese and macadamia nut frosting! My mouth is watering just thinking about it! It's more summery, but with the frosting I feel like it would look like a giant snow mountain. I don't want any fancy decorations on my cake, maybe just some nicely arranged flowers. I probably won't even have a cake topper. I want it to be simple. It's not about how it looks anyways, it's about the taste (at least for me!).

So yeah, to you "proof of licensed baker" venues out there I call shenanigans. You are just trying to canoodle and bamboozle all us doe-eyed brides out there into spending more money, either with the venue itself, or with some "licensed" baker you're in cahoots with. So I call your bluff. If no place will allow me to make and bring in my own cake, then I guess I won't have one (or I won't use your venue).

Also, do not try to pull the wool over my eyes with the $1 dollar cake cutting fee even if I have cupcakes. CUPCAKES!! They will charge me a cake cutting fee for CUPCAKES!! Now I don't know if you know what cupcakes are (har har har), but they are these nice, individual servings of cake. Conveniently cooked in a nice little lining, frosted and set out for your guests to grab at their leisure, no waiting for a cake to be cut. They are like your own cakes, but in a cup. And last time I checked, a serving size of a cupcake is 1. Not two, not three, but ONE. Meaning that no cutting is required in order for your guests to enjoy their own mini cake. No plate is required either as it comes in it's own packaging. Just fold over edges into a nice ball when done and throw in nearest garbage receptacle. Voila! It practically takes care of itself.

As you can see, I'm still trying to get over the shock of that one...

Anywho, I do have some ideas for my wedding that are pretty set in stone, and here are the details so far:

Ideally I would like my wedding to be held on Saturday, December 11, 2010 (exactly one year from when Zachary proposed). We're still discussing where the ceremony will be held and who will be officiating it (my lack of presence in the Catholic church--or any church, for that matter--has led us to investigate his, which is the United Methodist church). Our reception will most likely be held at this place called The Brink Lounge in Madison (going to check it out over Jesusmas break to see if it is the truly wonderful place that it looks like in pictures--take that Orpheum and your $1 cup-cake cutting fee (author's note: I do not intend to have cupcakes at my wedding, none-the-less, I still think it's outrageous and will be perturbed about it in spite of my desire to have a cake that will need cutting; it's the principle of the matter). I think I have a photographer figured out (she seems super cool). I pretty much know who my bridesmaids are (no flower girls or ring-bearers--I wanted my dog Chico to do that, but we will not be getting married outside in the middle of winter). I'm pretty sure my colors are going to be a sage-y green, silver and white...it's changed probably 3 or 4 times since I got engaged about 1.5 weeks ago!

I think Zach has his groomsmen chosen...I'm still deciding on who my attendant is going to be...Lucky for us that we both have siblings of our same gender (I have a sister, he has a brother) so maid-of-honor and best man are pretty much a given. Although, I'm sure Zach hasn't even asked his brother to be in his wedding; I will probably gently shove this process along at Christmas Eve with his family.

Before we were even engaged Zach would talk about how he wanted to have a say in the wedding decisions...and I of course said "okay" even though I secretly wanted to do a lot of it myself (I'm a control freak). Now we are both eating our words. After he chose what will most likely be our reception venue, he has decided that there are too many details and things to keep track of, so he's kind of sneakily bowed out of it. I, on the other hand, wish that he cared as much about the details as I do, because it's overwhelming to do this on your own.

Mostly it's been frustrating because it's hard to plan a wedding when you live 250 miles from where it will be held. I just want to know that my date and my venues are set, then I will let the details fall into place.

Sheesh, I'm exhausted just typing all of this.

First post, first post!!

So this is the first post of my new blog. I have an old blog (As the glaciers melt...) but I apparently didn't have a lot to talk about.

Well, that's changed because now I'm engaged!! That's right, I'm one step closer to being an old married lady, but I'm excited for it!

So what is there to say about me and my love (Zachary).

First of all, today, December 17, 2009 is the eve of our 6 1/2 year anniversary (meaning tomorrow we will have been dating for 6.5 years). That is 1/4 of each of our lives....holy smokes! (Slap on the forehead) That's a long time...but well spent.

Also, approximately 4.5-5 years of that has been spent long-distance. Geezous Louiseous (I like to make up words, so be prepared).

But, let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start)...when you read you begin with...wait...wrong beginning...Here we go:

Zach and I met when we were in high school. He was in my AP American History class my junior year, as well as my Physics course (during which I sat right in front of him and would constantly turn around to flirt with him--he was oblivious--and for the longest time after we started dating he couldn't recall my being in his Physics class, sitting right in front of him!!). I think he was like one of five boys in that class, and he sat across the room. I thought he was cute because he was very sarcastic, funny, and quick-witted...plus he was adorably shy! Well, eventually my best friend and I both got a crush on him and actually fought over who would ask him to prom...I lost only because she cheated (haha, we're still friends, so luckily he didn't break our friendship up).

Long, long, long story short (or long still) was that after prom I started asking Zach to come over and watch movies at my house (he had never seen Lord of the Rings...for shame, for shame), and eventually we started dating. If I recall correctly we actually started going out online because we were both too embarassed to ask the other out face-to-face. So we were ahead of our time when we started dating online (har har).

We dated throughout our senior year of high school. He was there for me when I got into a car accident a week before our senior year started, and he's been there ever since. I believe that that experience solidified our bond and helped take us where we are today.

Another thing that strengthened our relationship (though it was very difficult at times) was the fact that we went to different universities. I went out of state to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, while Zach stayed in-state to attend the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He majored in Communications and Advertising, while I majored in Classical Civilizations and Art History. He was the Sports Director for his college radio stations (having many of his own shows), and I was a Program Coordinator for a youth volunteer program through my University YMCA. I studied abroad in Greece several times, the longest time being for two months one summer, while Zach was never really the traveling type. He does not like Greece, much to my dismay, but I don't like sports, so we're kind of even on that.

So how do we make this work? The short answer, who knows. The long answer, I think we just compliment each other's personality traits and quirks. I'm impatient, and he has the most patience I've ever seen in anyone. I'm extremely moody (especially when I don't have food), and Zach is very cool and collected (on the outside, on the inside he can be a nervous nelly sometimes!). I have the mouth of a dirty, rotten sailor, and Zach doesn't even swear when he's really upset. We may seems opposite, but I think that's what makes us work.

Anyways, I love him, and he loves me, and that's really all that matters at this point. I'm excited and perplexed about planning a wedding, but I'm really just looking forward to the day after, when I am his wife and he is my husband, that's what all this hullabaloo is for anyways, right?

So, I hope to keep you (my many millions of readers) up-to-date on the wedding happenings through this, but we'll see.

(Photo disclaimer: You may be thinking that I did not choose a very good photo for which to start my blog, but I think it's perfect. I get bored with the usual stand and smile, and that night I was sick of my sister taking those pictures, so I got a little goofy!! I think it's cute!!)