NO ONE CARES!

Okay, I'm sorry, this is a dumb rant, but why is Chelsea Clinton's wedding getting so much press?  NO ONE CARES!  Honestly, why in the world is this wedding attracting so much publicity?  Why do sites like this even exist?  http://www.chelseaclintonweddingwatch.com/  (and why is "will it rain" the number one feature?)

What?! 

Seriously...am I the only one that thinks this is dumb?

In other, much more important news ;) - Carla & I did a walk through of the church today and I was almost moved to tears just talking about actually getting married.  To B.  In that gorgeous, gorgeous church.  Great day. 

The Ingredients: Colors

This past weekend we met with the fabulous Carla Eustache, who presented us with a style board that will guide all of the creative elements of our wedding.  To say we were blown away is an understatement - Carla totally "got us" and presented us with a look & feel that we love, along with several ideas that I can't wait to see brought to life for the big day.   There were only two ideas - out of several - that we had to veto:

1.  Exiting the reception on segways.  Despite the fact that this would have been hilarious (I giggle every time I think about B & I cruising away in our wedding gear on segways)...this was met with a resounding hell no - sorry Carla :)

2. Having the Chick-Fil-A cow show up at the museum, get ON STAGE with the band and then distribute nuggets at the end of the night.  I mean honestly - this is SO fun...I kind of loved it...but I could tell B was not having any of that.  And I can admit it might not go over well with some of our friends & family.  Great idea...maybe for my 30th birthday (B - take note!).

So, back to the point...the amazing style board, which included our color palette.  We wanted bright, happy colors and Carla totally delivered.  Check out the base colors that we'll be using:

SOOOO excited, can't wait to share more :)

The Most Fun Seating Assignments Ever

We're not doing a sit down reception, so we wont have to worry about table numbers or a seating chart (phew!).  But when I came across these pics I just had to post them.  Seriously, this seat assignments idea was SO cute, it almost makes me wish we were doing a sit down (okay, not really...but this is still fun).   Its a little hard to see, but those pink strips have the person's name & their table assignment.  And of course I love that these double as props for later on.  How fun?

  All images via Kristin Vining.  

Be sure to check out the full shoot - I'm not a big fan of bling, feathers, etc but there are some great details - especially the flower girl's hair piece.   Super super cute :)

Engagement Party Invites before Save the Dates

My parents have been friends with several couples for years and it's tradition that all of our families get together and celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve as a group.  All of the kids are around the same age and we've gotten closer as we've gotten older and can all relate to each other.  I think all of us look forward to Christmas Eve because its one of the few times we're all together.  And we're all booze hounds, which always makes for an entertaining & fun night!

Three of the "Christmas Eve Kids" are getting married in the next year, and our parents decided to throw us a one big engagement party.  I love this idea - the more the merrier!   But because one of the couples is getting married in October, the party's going to be really soon and I'm positive the invitations for this party are going to go out before our save the dates.  All of the people invited know B & I are engaged (at least I hope?) so I don't think its a big deal.  But I still wonder if its "weird".

I checked with Ms. Emily Post herself and found: "Engagement parties are most often held soon after the couple becomes engaged.  It's a chance for the families to announce the happy news and for relatives and friends to meet and congratulate the couple."  So I think we're straight.  And thank god - there's no way we could get our act together and get save the dates out in the next two weeks! 

Woohoo!  Looking forward to getting our party on with the Christmas Eve crew!

Meltdown

So I'd booked my venues and my photographer, was thinking about dresses and had started on my guest list.   The wedding was still a year away; I was feeling totally ahead of the game.  But the more I looked at blogs, websites and magazines, the more overwhelmed I was feeling.  I was loving everything I was seeing.  Modern, vintage, pink, blue, plum, lime green, ahhhhhhh! I had no idea how I was every going to organize all of my "favorite things" into a cohesive vision that I could actually pull together for my big day!  And of course my mom was sending me a million links, B trusted me to handle it on my own and I kept finding more and more awesome ideas.  Plus because so many of our friends are already married, I was feeling a lot of pressure to think of "different" ideas that could be all mine.

I'd only been engaged for 6 weeks and I was already losing it.  In fact, I did lose it.  Big time.  I had a TOTAL meltdown one night at my parents.  It was ugly, but it helped me realize I was putting way to much pressure on myself and that I could totally pull this off - I just needed more time!  And a good planner. 

To the rescue....Carla Eustache of Style Perfect Events.  I love Carla and I knew right away she'd do SUCH a good job.  She's fun, easy to be around and has awesome ideas.  Plus she totally gets me and B.  She even supports some of our crazier ideas, hah.   Not only do I have someone to whom I can entrust the details of our wedding, I am now free to focus on the big picture and the important stuff...like how Tim is going to be involved.   Until next time... :)

How Cute are These?

Gone are the days when a bride has to choose a plain white invitation with some sort of scripty font.  There are soooo many types of invitations to choose from these days and its so fun to see all the different printing techniques, designs and looks. The options seem unlimited - and there are tons of cute companies offering gorgeous styles.  But wooden invitations?  I've never seen anything like these.  Aren't they super cute?

See more, including more wedding-related options at White Aisle Weddings

The Ingredients: Photographers

Since photography is SO important to me, I knew I wanted to go ahead and find my wedding photographer right away.  After flipping through a couple of magazines and checking out several local blogs, I found a photographer that I LOVED - Cunningham Photo Artists.  A meeting with Drea Cunningham (one half of this husband & wife team) and I knew I had to book these guys fast.  Not only was Drea super friendly and generally awesome, but she could sense my panic over the planning and took extra time to help me understand how far in advance I needed to contact other vendors and how this whole wedding planning business typically works.  Plus she showed me a video she shot that made me cry.  Sealed the deal :)

Here are some shots from their blog that I adore.   Super excited about shooting with these guys!!!! 

Things I love

Like many girls, the moment I got engaged I became a stalker....I bookmarked tons of wedding blogs and websites and stalked them constantly.  I check Style Me Pretty at least twice a day and love to check out random photographer's websites to get inspiration and see fun things that other brides have thought of.  Some of my faves:

(via Weddings Unveiled Magazine - I think)

(via Cheeca - Weddings)

(via Wedding Chicks)

(via The Knot)

(via The Knot)

I've got TONS of these images saved...and I'll keep sharing as I find more :)

Enjoy - only 343 days left (sigh).

What Matters Most?

Everyone told me I needed to prioritize during my planning, especially as far as the reception was concerned.  I get it..I should splurge on the really important stuff and skip on the things that aren't as critical.  You can't do it all...and it just one night (yes, one super super special night...but still).

The first couple of things were super easy - there was no question that the top three were:

1. Photography
2. The Band (I know, I know - this really should be #1 but photography is forever!)
3. Lots of personal touches

Basically I want this to be one big part I was easily able to fill in the rest of the list:

4.  OPEN BAR - with plenty of booze
5.  Chick-Fil-A (I swear I will make this happen)
6.  Awesome Non Chick-Fil-A food & lots of it
7.  A cool get away vehicle
8.  Gorgeous, bright & happy flowers
9.  To feel absolutely gorgeous (so I guess, dress, fun jewelry, colorful shoes?)
10. To spend lots of time with all the people closest to us (aka - our awesome guests)

B would probably add the cake and koozies to this list...me too :)

The Ingredients: Ceremony & Reception Sites

Once we decided that we weren't going to run away to Cheeca we started checking out places here in Charlotte.  I immediately nixed the country clubs - they're amazing, don't get me wrong, but I wanted something different.  After a bit of searching we found it.  The most. amazing. reception. site. (in charlotte) EVER.  The new Mint Museum Uptown.  We've got the fifth floor space, which has floor to ceiling windows on one side of the room that give it an amazing view of uptown.  There's also a 4000 square foot terrace.  I can't even imagine how awesome it will be at night!   Here's a link to the video tour the Charlotte Observer put together:  video

Once we found a date that worked for the Mint and our church, St. Peter's Episcopal, we booked both as fast as we could.  I never knew the wedding venue market was so competitive here in Charlotte, but I guess when wedding venues are limited, brides book WAY far in advance.  Even 14 months ahead left us with limited options, insane!   I digress...back to the church.  I've gone to St. Peter's since I was about 11 and I've always dreamed about getting married here.   The church is one of the oldest in Charlotte and still has many of the original details, like the rich wood pews.  The church also has a gorgeous mosaic inside that gives the front of the church a really rich, warm feel.  I know our wedding day will be extra special because of the gorgeous setting.

We're ENGAGED!

Ahhhhhh!   I still can't believe we're actually engaged!

B and I have been together "officially" for about six years and have lived together for the last two.   I knew at some point we'd eventually get engaged but B TOTALLY caught be off guard.   We had just come home from one of B's little league games (he was coaching, not playing!).  I was tackling some of our week old laundry when B called me into the bedroom.  The first thing I saw was our dog with a ribbon around his neck.  Although it should have, the ribbon didn't make me suspicious at all!  Instead I thought B was just playing around with the dog and asked, "what are you doing to the poor dog?"  Next thing I know, B is down on one knee pulling a gorgeous ring off the dog's neck and asking me to marry him.  It was amazing and I started sobbing immediately - so much so that B had to ask if I was okay, poor guy :)


B had planned an amazing weekend in Charleston, so we threw together a few things and hopped in the car.  I knew my mom was right down the street getting her "hair did" and I figured she'd kill me if we skipped town without showing her the ring, so we popped into the salon to surprise her, foils and all.  I think she probably wanted to kill me for telling her I got engaged in the middle of the salon, but she got over it and started crying and we all celebrated all over.

After we said goodbye to Mama T, we headed down to Charleston (with Tim in tow of course!).  B had booked a room at the Vendue, a super luxe pet-friendly hotel in historic downtown Charleston.  When we arrived not only was there champagne and chocolate covered strawberries, but a custom dog bowl and special treats for Tim. 

After we celebrated on the hotel's rooftop bar, we headed to Magnolia's - by far one of the best restaurants in the city.  We had the most amazing meal, but our appetizers were SO good and so huge that we could hardly finish our entrees.  I guess that's a great problem to have.

The next day we headed out to explore the city, with to-go cup mimosas in hand.  We had SO much fun walking around!   We capped off the day watching the Blue Angels then headed home for more celebrating with my parents.

It was the perfect weekend and certainly memorable.  I think the best part was knowing I'm going to get to marry such a caring, thoughtful person.  I can't wait to be a Pope!

Where It All Began...

There are so many wedding-related blogs, it almost feels silly to start one of my own.  I thought it would be fun to document the trials and tribulations of wedding planning - or at least planning my own even.  I hope it will keep me sane and provide an outlet for the excitement, the frustration and the need to drink far more wine than necessary for a Tuesday night!

That said...I thought I would start with a very short version of "how we met"...enjoy!

B and I met in college - almost 10 years ago - while spending a summer during college working at the Outer Banks.  I like to say I caught B's eye as he was cruising through Brew Thru - my awesome job for the summer.   We actually met through friends of friends, and spent just two nights hanging out before our first official "date."  I put that in quotes because B brought his five female roommates on our so-called first "date" - so I'm not sure it really counts.  I guess he wanted to see what I was made of, and thankfully I passed the test!   Needless to say we spent the entire summer together and had a blast.  It was one of the best summers of my life.   To this day I am SO thankful we had the courage to reach out to the "older guys" who were friends of some of our existing friends - they intimidated the heck out of us but one of them will become my husband in less than a year and I could not be more excited.  Here's to an awesome 2011 and many more years together!