November 25, 2008

taking stock

things we have accomplished:
* secured wedding site & celebrant
* secured reception venue, which includes all tables/chairs/silverware/etc and food
* secured bridal party
* secured cake lady
* secured wedding gown - which, might i add, will arrive via mail in my hot little hands NEXT WEEK! eeeeeekkkkkk!!!!!
* secured bridesmaids gifts (because on occasion, i surprise even myself with planning ahead)

things we have yet to do:
* secure band
* secure bridal party attire (you might be naked, but you'll have a great gift!)
* secure flowers
* choose menu
* finalize guest list
* register
* begin planning honeymoon
* everything else....

yikes. maybe it's time to do those things. at least SOMETHING. i've been at a standstill for several weeks. i'm hoping that the impending (as in mere hours from now) arrival of matron of honor slash cousin with husband, puppy, and parents (including craftiest of crafty aunt joanie, score) for the thanksgiving holidays will breathe new life into this shindig.

since i need to add a pretty picture to this post, how's this:
new style of coren moore bridesmaid dress! i realize this picture is not-so-awesome. click here to see it's full splendor. i think since it's named after my mom and grandma, it's a shoe-in. a trip to nashville is in the works for sometime in the next few weeks....

November 13, 2008

i'm an inconsistent blogger

apologies.

wedding-related things that have happened quasi-recently:

* my super-fab godmother visited the bridesmaid dress store in nashville that carries the designers i like and acted as my crash test dummy for in-person fabric and fit. she voted for the christy style from lula kate. i was excited, because that was my fav. then i looked at the "real weddings" section of their website and found this
yikes. methinks i need to make a trek to nashville and reevaluate. anybody up for a roadtrip? anyone? perhaps in person the collars are less...intense. if not, i may cry. and pick another style.

* my parents, aforementioned godparents, captain fantastic and i went to hear a potential wedding band. the drummer ended up being the husband of my former coworker and father of one of mom's students. small world. they also ended up being super white and singing songs like "build me up buttercup" and michael jackson covers circa 1986. don't get me wrong, i like that stuff as much as the next guy. we are just torn because we always pictured having some stax classics motown band at the wedding. but dad really likes them, so we may have a winner.

* an engagement photoshoot slot opened up for next saturday, yay! but captain fantastic has a guided fly-fishing tour of the little red river already booked and paid for, boo. back to square one.

* we have had two premarital counseling sessions that have been inspiring and exciting, and now we're even more pumped to get married. good news!

* i got an online coupon for this place, which will make the silhouettes i crave for realz with scissors and paper and a profile photo. goodbye frustrating photoshop! hello legit artwork to hang in our house after the wedding!
(and don't worry, i've nixed the cookie idea. you people were pretty adamant about that.)

* i've gotten tired of planning. don't want to plan, just want to do. i just want it to be june 20. i want all of yall to be here, i want the cake to be made and the flowers to be arranged, i want to be drinking champagne and wearing pretty dresses and staking my claim on c-dawg with a big ole platinum band. i'm temporarily over it. it being wedding planning. i'm hoping that i'll get my second wind soon....

November 7, 2008

more invite-tations

mkay so i keep returning to my favorite aspect of the wedding planning process thus far: invitations. i INSIST on designing them myself. insist. i have decided, and i shan't be swayed. i think this is one area where i really, truly can d.i.myself and it will turn out great. so i'm determined. maybe i can't print.i.y, but i can as least design.i.y.

this invitation exhibits the type of thing i'd really like to get to do with my life.
i also think it's a great invitation that's part current trend and part traditional. it's not too crazy, but just different enough. it could be done a little toned-down and in b/w to make it more traditional, yes? i like the map too. not that we'll need a map, but you know...

i also super love these:
again, in b/w it would lean more to the traditional side and less to the super-trendy. if you ask me. which, you know, you kinda did, reading my blog and all. i just can't get enough of calligraphic flourishes around lettering. yum.

i saw this on a blog the other day too. (i'm so bad at remembering where...i just grab pictures and put them in my "weddin thangs" folder for inspiration...i hope the internet fairy doesn't get me for not properly attributing my photos...) anyway, it incorporates the silhouettes i've come to adore, and i think it's super neat. this is definitely untraditional, but i think it's neat inspiration.
i love this reply card! to go with my theme, i think marley & sterling would be quite handsome in silhouette on the reply cards. you laugh (not you marie, you understand), but you also know that our dogs are like our children (we have definitely become those people) and i can think of few things more "us" than...uh, them. if we were getting married in someone's backyard, they would be accompanying our adorable flower girls down the aisle. alas, we're not. sigh.
while we're talking reply cards here, i have a few ideas. 1) postcard replies - save paper and moola by not necessitating envelopes 2) reply cards with cute options like "wouldn't miss it for the world" or "be there in spirit" are cute. too cute? maybe.

finally, i'm totally digging these invites:
for some reason i just really like the line across the page, kinda like the white-on-black calligraphy envelope in my previous post. i'm working on my handwriting as we speak. before you nay-say that i can't include monograms, silhouettes and fancily-written names in one wedding invitation, please revisit the above inspirations and notice all the different elements. i think i can make it work. do you?

November 4, 2008

engagement peektures

of all the millions of things that need be arranged for a wedding, the top priority on my list was photography. if i'm going to spend all the time and money to plan a big blowout, have all my friends and family come in town, labor over flowers and dresses and cake etc and so forth, you bet imma capture those memories in beautiful photographs to keep and treasure forever and always. i am an artsy type. i appreciate a good photograph. i cannot take a good photograph to save my life, but boy i do love pretty wedding pictures. so immediately after we got engaged, i began my quest. many hours of trolling the internet and setting up meetings and picking my jaw up off the floor after reading price lists later, captain fantastic and i met our wedding photography match: j.malahy photography. exactly the kind of pictures i'd been dreaming of, exactly the package i wanted, exactly the nice, comfortable kind of photographer i envisioned. jackpot.

bonus: engagement pictures. i'd never thought about engagement pictures before. just like i'd never thought about a lot of wedding-related things before...because i was never getting married before...but anyway, i thought about engagement pictures after i saw a bunch of them all over the internet. before anyone (ie mom) faints at the prospect of opening the morning paper to find a picture of me and my betrothed leaning against a tree in a warm embrace, never fear: we plan to go the traditional southern route with our announcement (me, alone, plain backdrop, b/w). however, i think it'll be pretty neato to have a fancy photo shoot in regular clothes, probably frolicking in the outdoors somewhere with the dogs. oh yes, the dogs will be making an appearance. they're absolutely verboten to participate in any part of the wedding or reception, but we have to involve them somehow! so finally, the point of this post: to end up with engagement pictures, we have to physically go somewhere on some day and have some pictures taken. the question: when? where? what on earth to wear?

do we have them sometime soon in the lovely fall weather with cute sweaters and colorful leaves and comfy socks? the wedding is in june, so it could be cool to have pictures in a different season, which just happens to be our favorite season (ie fall). then there's captain fantastic's Seasonal Beard to consider: some people don't like beards or think they're too scruffy and casual for professional photography, but i happen to love his fall/winter beard. and he does have it for half the year, so it's just as much "him" as his summertime babyface, which he'll be sporting at the wedding. plus these are engagement pictures and our engagement happened quasi-recently, so shouldn't the pictures be made close to the event for which they are named?

here's where the only myers-briggs personality trait this INFJ doesn't possess rears it's ugly head: gotta make a decision...having trouble...please help...

ps sorry no pretty pictures in this post. go look at josh-the-photographer's blog for your pretty picture fix :)