Shoe Love

I am obsessed with shoes and love heels, the taller the better! So naturally shoes for the big day are going to be very important and I have been looking high and low for a pair that will be perfect for the walk down the aisle. As my search continues I have not found many options that I am interested in for myself but, I have found quite a few pairs that would be super cute for my maids. If I go with the un-matching dresses (option #2) they will all get to choose shoes as well. If they have matching dresses I am not sure yet. Below are some of the shoes that tickled my fancy for the ladies standing beside me.

(shoes from Zappos.com)

I figured some shoe love might help on this Monday morning.


P.S. Don't worry ladies...you don't have to wear them all night

The Wedding Planning Gods Have Smiled

You can stop worrying! One of my biggest wedding obstacles (second only to finding a photographer) had been finding table linens. I love the look of fun, different and colorful linens. They just add so much, and don't have to be pricey if you do it right. I have been looking and looking for modern table linens with a bold pattern and couldn't find them anywhere. Everything had sparkles or looked like grandma's curtains with a floral print. THEN I contacted my wedding planner and explained the table cloths that I had seen at one of her weddings and she knew exactly what I was talking about!! WHOOPEE!! So, she referred me to BBJ Linens who have an amazing selection. I am so excited that what I had in my mind actually exists; usually I have to get creative and make my own products. I have even been looking at fabric because I thought that might be easier, but no such luck there either. The tables are oval so they fit more people comfortably and I thought making my own might be the best bet but a lot of work. Now, I don't think I will need to do that. The wedding I fell in love with as you will remember from this post had a table cloth that was covered with a big, bold, modern pattern of black flowers with a hot pink table cloth draped on top. However the black and brown combo in the room would bother me so I wanted that pattern in brown to match. Guess what...they have that! But now I am wishing it was in purple or orange or something fun like that. I am afraid it might be too much brown. I am thinking about up lighting with very soft purple or orange lights. Here is what I designed....not sure what I think yet. I do feel a lot better now that I am finding things that I would consider but I am not sold.



(All linens from BBJlinens.com)

To explain my vision above: the colorful tablecloth and napkin would be used together and the table cloth would be on the bottom with one of the plain berry tablecloths draped on top. The big brown flowers are what I imagined in my mind seeing but I don't know if I like it as much as I thought I would. The brown would be used in the same way with the berry on top. Last, the white swirl design would be used withe one of the plain berry linens on the bottom, possibly with the colorful napkin on top. Hmmmmmmm ... like I said not sold but getting warmer. There is hope!

Love Love Love

I saw gray suits for the groom and groomsmen in a picture a few months ago and I can't get enough! It changed my whole ceremony color scheme...I love this look. It is classic, yet modern, clean, crisp and different.
(images from evoke photography)

Bridesmaid Dresses: Poll

This weekend I worked on a little something, something for my bridesmaids but many of them read this blog so I will have to keep that hush hush for now. I love secrets! The little project reminded me that I will, at some point, need to decide what I want them to wear. I want their dresses to be three things:
1. Something they each look good in
2. Something they could actually and I mean actually wear again (not a hot pink number I
just think they could wear again)
3. Something they are comfortable in, not a full length ball gown they need to lug around all
night and worry about getting dirty on the dance floor (and they will be on the dance floor
even if I need to drag them kicking and screaming!)
4. The wedding is also in Milwaukee in
July so I want them to be cool.

I feel like this is a pretty tall order. What I have going for me though is that I feel like I won't be that picky about the dress. Who knows if this will change when I am actually picturing them walking down the aisle but as of now I am pretty open. I know that I want gray dresses. I originally wanted black for a black and white ceremony but like I have said before I feel like that is a very popular trend right now and everyone is doing it. Also, I saw gray tux’s in a wedding and love, love, loved them. So, gray it is. I think this is still a color they could wear again at a lot of occasions (I hope).

So, here are the options. Drum roll please …..

Option #1: Same designer, same fabric, same color, same length, different styles.
This option would probably include a trip to David’s Bridal where each bridesmaid would pick out the style dress that they want and I (or we) would choose the color and fabric. They would most likely all be satin and knee length and each “girl” would pick the style they want. Strapless, one shoulder, halter, spaghetti strap, etc.

(davidsbridal.com)

Option #2: Gray dress, same length, similar fabrics, go crazy!!!
Alright, so maybe you can tell I am leaning towards this but I feel like the families might think that I have lost my mind! I think it is so cute to have each maid in their own unique style. This might be hard to find dresses that I think look good together because I still want it to look nice in pictures but I think it would be so fun.

(photo by SugarLove Weddings via Polka Dot Bride)

What is your vote? Option #1 or #2?
Take the Poll on the right hand side of your screen.

Meet My Man

Hahaha that title makes me laugh!

So Brett keeps popping up in this little blog of mine, which I guess is to be expected since he is the groom-to-be and all, and I realized that I never formally introduced him.

Brett Mathew (which I never call him, even if he is in big trouble) is originally from Oshkosh, Wisconsin born, raised and schooled by the Hometown University. He probably would like me to point out that his name is with two t’s since spelling it with one t is so not cool and that his last name starts with an F so he is basically the same person as Brett Farve. He sometimes introduces himself to new people this way. He is a huge Packer fan and an even bigger Farve fan if you couldn’t tell already. He joins the other 1% of Wisconsin that actually wants Farve to play for the Vikings! I know, I know, how could I still be marrying him?! He also follows the brewers and loves bobble head game day giveaways almost as much as I do. I don’t know what it is about those little guys, I just can’t get enough of them.



Brett is fanatical about the yard which is perfect for me since I hate weeding and I don’t know how to even turn on (err start) the mower. He also loves to hunt, in fact we have a deer head hanging on our basement wall. I cried when he told me he got a deer big enough to mount. It took his dad over 50 years to get a mountable deer so I wasn’t expecting it so soon, by now you can tell that I am not a hunter, I don’t know the jargon and I have a feeling mountable is not the right term. But I got over it and it doesn’t look too bad. Although, I think he might be more stylish with a pink boa, a party hat and some fake eyelashes.



I can’t talk about Brett without talking about Payton. Payton, is our chocolate lab that I gave him as a gift on our second anniversary. She would be his best man (even though she is a girl) if the church would allow it. That dog loves him more then anything in the world!


Finally, Brett has amazing friends. There are the guys that he grew up with that all have hearts of gold. The goofballs from college that are always up for a good time, and play a mean game of poker. And the new friends from work that give him a hard time but would do anything for him. I guess that explains him in a nutshell … a long nutshell.

Help!!

Alright, so I have been having a mini mental breakdown. I can't figure out how to pull my vision together for the reception. I know exactly what I want to do for the ceremony but I can't find what I want for the party. I wanted to have black pin tuck tablecloths and jewel tone flower centerpieces. And then ... I fell in love with a reception space (picture below) that has brown suede walls. I know that I could still pull this off but the black and brown combo would drive me nuts!!


(picture from intercontinental.com)

So I don't know exactly what I want but here is what I do know:

• I need colors that go with brown but I don't think I want brown as a main color. Although, this Polk-a-dot brown theme caught my eye today. I just feel like the brown and sage/brown and blue/brown and fuchsia thing is not my style.
  

(Photos by Julie Dreelin of Beach Productions)

• I would like to stick with the jewel tone look probably including a bright pink, deep orange, natural green, raspberry color and possibly a Merlot or blue color.

Herein lies part of the problem. I can't find a picture of what I want. Some pallets are too bright, some too dark and so on. And, I can't pick just a few colors. I am working on an inspiration board to add here.

• I want a table cloth or runner with a contemporary print (love the look of a big, bold print).

(picture from theknot.com)

• I would like half of the tables to have a full short centerpiece of different flowers with all of the colors incorporated. The picture below has some of the colors I am interested in and I like the glass vase but I don't want all the twigs and extra "stuff." I would also want something that is fuller with more colors and packed more tightly.

(theknot.com)

• I want the other half of the centerpieces to be branches with moss at the base and either flowers, candles, crystals or all of the above hanging from the branches.

(theknot.com)

• I love the look of clean, contemporary tables.

The problem is that I don't know how to pull all of this together and I really can't find fabric or tablecloths that I like to help me make a cohesive vision ...

Hopefully the wedding Gods will smile down on me and help me figure this one out.

Oh Happy Day!

I just found out that my favorite boxed wine company now makes my favorite type of wine, Riesling! That is cause for celebration. Their Merlot is wonderful. Yum!


(blackboxwine.com)
We have to move to the third tier to have Riesling at the wedding so Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay will probably have to suffice. But I can drink this every other day!! OK, now I sound like a wino which I am not but it has been a long week so wine is on the mind.

Strips & Dots

Since we are having a photo booth at our wedding (I know this is overdone but I have never seen it at weddings I have been to) I wanted a photo strip save the date. I also know that this is overdone but as Brett pointed out most of our friends don’t stalk wedding blogs and many of them have never seen something like this. Anyway, I have wanted a save the date like this for months now. I love the dog holding up the date. But then yesterday I ran across this Polk-a-dot save the date and I was in love.

(Picture from livingweddings.com) (picture from oncewed)

So, I think I will combine the two. I am thinking about purchasing clear envelopes and filling them with white, black, and red dots of different sizes and putting our photo strip save the date in that. The best of both worlds I think. I know that inquiring minds will want to know: are your colors black, white and red? No! Because we don’t have colors, but that is for a different day and a different post. Now I just need to bribe Brett into taking sappy pics with me and get our dogs to sit long enough to snap a photo of them with the date sign.

Feather or Flower

I don’t like my job at the moment so I opened my Google reader for some guaranteed happiness on a long day. I found this and it made me smile. I have always wanted peonies at my wedding and cried a little on the inside when I found out that they would be out of season for my July wedding. I was happy to see that the sweet peas are a cute little substitute with the same texture I am looking for.




(Pictures by Open Air Photography for Janie Medley Flora Design)


It was also a reminder that I can't leave my unhappy job because I can't afford the wedding without the little paycheck I get every other week.

Then I thought, is there a place in my budget for some cutting back so I can quit my job and work at Starbucks? OK, so my job wasn't really that bad, but after about the 5th mishap of the day I was seriously considering it. The only thing that I thought of and was willing to part with were some of the ceremony flowers. We are getting married in a beautiful church and they are not really necessary. The boutonnieres were my other idea. I was at a wedding this weekend and the groomsmen had beautiful roses as boutonnieres but after about 10 hugs they were brown and wilted and didn’t look so hot. Brett’s bud had fallen off all together and he had replaced it with a dandelion. What do you think of feather boutonnieres(see below)? The quote I got from the florist was at least $20 a piece for fresh flower boutonnieres. I could make feather ones for about 5 bucks. Total savings = $180 not huge but still a nice chunk of change.

(Pic #1 Ardesign on Etsy) ( pic # 2 bonbon oiseau via cannelle et vanille)


P.S. This peony bouquet made of feathers also by Ardesign on Etsy looks a lot like the real thing, but I don’t think I could stomach a feather bouquet, as beautiful as it is.

The "Pre-Planned" Wedding

As I was saying in my first post: most brides don’t book a wedding date before the actual proposal.

This is why I am different than most brides. You are probably wondering why I had a wedding date when I wasn’t even engaged. Well, the future hubby moves at his own pace…which it turns out was a little too slow for me. We started looking at rings last May and neither of us was in a rush to be engaged. This May (yes a whole year after picking out the ring) we went back to visit my sparkly princess cut and to my surprise Brett decided to take the plunge right then and there. We were making progress; we had a ring but no proposal.

Even though it might not seem like it Brett and I are pretty traditional in our thinking. He wanted to do things right, ask my dad, surprise me, get down on one knee, the whole nine yards. I wanted a proposal story that didn’t include me crying in the jewelry store. So I waited patiently, not telling anyone that we had the ring and that I was just waiting to get it. It was killing me!

After about a month of waiting I couldn’t just sit around anymore. I figured he would pop the question at some point so what was the harm in a little pre-planning, right? I started looking at venues, photographers, dresses and cakes. After a little light reading of bridal magazines I realized that if I wanted to get married in 2010 we better get this show on the road. But I would never dream of pushing for a proposal or telling him he had to propose now. Instead I would just plan the wedding and wait for the proposal. I know…a lot less controlling, right?

In the pre-planning I found a gorgeous church (pictured above) and an urban venue that I HAD to have and both were booking very quickly with no ring in sight! This is when I took matters into my own hands and asked my future fiancé if I could start planning before he actually asked. Most guys would look at me like I had four heads but he just laughed and said that as long as he didn’t have to go along to see 40 different venues that was fine. I was then off booking my locations, perusing through catalogs of favors, searching the knot, and reading blogs. I was in full blown bridal obsession mode.

Then July 24th (our wedding date) rolled around and I was snapped out of my peony, A-line, colored shoe haze and realized that the wedding was just a year away and no one even knew I was planning it!

The next day I got the ring. This story will follow later! Now I am no longer counting down the days in silence and can’t wait to share all of the fun that goes into wedding planning! Hence the title of this little blog.

Anniversary Tacos

Yesterday was our 8 year anniversary and while we don’t do much to celebrate anymore (we worked out and ate tacos) it was still a little sad knowing that this is the last year we will celebrate our anniversary on August 3rd. It took me seven years to learn that it was August and not September and now it is changing on me. He finally got so sick of reminding me which month it was that he refused to tell me and then I finally decided I better remember it. Anyway, I thought that our anniversary was a good time to share a little more about us as a couple.

Brett and I met when I was just 17 and going into my senior year. He was just about to begin college at UW Oshkosh and being a college boy made him pretty cool in my eyes. We dated throughout college and moved in together as we both got “grown up” jobs. After a year of being in the real world we bought a cute little cape cod together and I have been stealing his weekends to fix it up ever since.

We are a great compliment to each other; he is laid back when I am nervous wreck. He is funny when I need to remember to laugh. I am organized and he can’t even find his shoes. We motivate each other and are each other's rock when the other is wavering.

Brett and I love many of the same things: laughing with friends, the Brewers, traveling, beer and our dogs. That pretty much sums us up.

The picture is of Brett being a Lumber Jack for one of my weekend projects. You can't see my house but you get the idea.

Finally After 8 Years!

Well I am finally engaged! Today is our eight year anniversary and I finally have a shinny little rock on my hand!!!

I have planned many weddings and have been planning mine (including a guest list and Excel spreadsheet with desired vendors) for years now. I know that many brides before me have done this, some call it pre-planning. However, most don’t go as far as booking the venue, church, and photographer before they even get the ring! I did and I will tell you all about it.

Now that I am officially engaged and don’t seem quite as crazy I am creating this blog to put the thousands and thousands of ideas I have swimming in my head somewhere and so that the future husband does not have to listen to wedding talk until his head explodes.