projects galore!

So we're down to THIRTY-THREE DAYS (Yikes!) and I haven't blogged in a month. Guess I've been busy. First off, as promised, here are some photos of the invitations:

 I call this one "Invitation Station Collage." 

The invitation got a photoshoot with the Bermuda bus, too!

 The RSVP card and envelope.

We've gotten a little over half of the responses back with only one decline. The deadline is fast approaching so hopefully we'll be getting a lot of mail this week :)

A few Tuesday's ago Chris and I had a super productive day. We got our marriage license from the Gardiner Town Hall. It was such an easy process. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was a breeze. We also picked up these guys:

Our wedding bands from Zimmer Brothers. Ah, I'm in love.

I lovelovelove them! We cheated and wore them for the rest of the day while we ran multiple wedding errands. I can't wait to wear them for the rest of our lives! Eek. Other wedding errands included: Guest book/wish jar supplies, card basket, table numbers, and salt and pepper shakers (which were $1 per set, sweet!).

I've been working on lots of projects lately. Most of the supplies mentioned above are included in the projects (with the exception of the salt and pepper shakers). Before the aforementioned trip, Chris and I also went to the Christmas Tree Shops a few weeks back to look at buckets for plants to decorate the ceremony and reception areas. We ended up leaving with three planters, almost a dozen blankets and $18 worth of pink paper plates and napkins. You're probably wondering, why blankets? Well, I got the idea from this wedding blog. I told Chris this idea and he was on board with it. So we bought blankets and I made tags:

We bought less than a dozen so hopefully not everyone wants to snuggle. We thought it was a good idea since it's kind of an early wedding and it might be a little chilly.

Hopefully I don't go another month without blogging. It's hard to catch up on everything we've been up to. Plus, if I go another month it'll be a few days before our wedding! Aaaah! (That's a good aaaah!). This weekend is my bridal shower and bachelorette party. I'm super excited to see what my girls have been planning! :)

updates! updates! updates!

We've changed the ceremony and reception site once again! Chris and I have been slightly worried about the secluded field for several reasons: the ground, getting guests there, electricity source, distance away from parking, etc... So he came up with a new idea. We will have the ceremony and reception in the backyard, but the tent will block the house so it is not in the photos, etc. It solves a lot of problems and I think it will work just fine! 

(source)

 
Shoes. As you know, my shoe search has been quite a task. I finally ordered two pairs of shoes a couple of weeks ago: Jessica Simpson Hill Wedges and Rocketdog Memories DB. I got the Jessica Simpson ones in the mail and I'm still waiting on the second pair. I like them but I'm not head over heels in love with them, which I feel you should be with your wedding shoes. I'm also seriously considering wearing my cowboy boots. Yee-haw!

Cake. We had an appointment at the Pastry Garden scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, but then it snowed and they closed so we rescheduled it for Thursday afternoon. I love cake tasting and if I wasn't on a diet I would make it my profession! We ordered three samples to taste: vanilla cake with fresh berries and buttercream frosting, chocolate cake with raspberry mousse and chocolate buttercream frosting and marble cake with chocolate ganache and buttercream frosting. They were delicious. Then we ordered a sample cake of a combination of the layers on our wedding cake. I picked that up on Saturday and we had it for dessert with Chris's parents Saturday night. That cake was vanilla and chocolate cake with strawberry mousse and chocolate ganache. It was delicious, but we all agreed that the ganache was a bit too overpowering. So we keep gravitating more and more towards a strawberry shortcake. It is going to look like my inspiration cake:

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It will be frosted on the outside with buttercream frosting. The bottom layer will be chocolate cake with strawberry mousse and the top two tiers will be vanilla cake with strawberry mousse. And it will have piles of strawberries on top of each pillared layer, as in the picture. The cake will be decorated with dots:

This is our sample cake. We want it to be smooth on the side of the cake though, they have ridges on our sample cake. It's so cute though, isn't it? Also, we will get a 6" cake of our wedding cake on our first year anniversary. I love that!

 Christopher and I practicing for our big day! 

Photography. As I previously mentioned, Chris and I met with the photographer from D&G Studio and it went okay, not fantastic but okay. We also met with another photographer this past week and she was amazing. I guess I can say we met with our photographer :) She was very nice, friendly, bubbly and conversation was easy. We were there for an hour and it didn't even feel like it. Her name is Vivian from Vivian Photography. Also with the photography, we rented her bridal suite for me and the girls to get ready in the day of. It's super cool and I'm so excited. I'm glad we made the decision to hire a professional photographer and that we found her. Here's a picture of "Space" (aka the getting ready bridal suite):

(source)

Stationery. I still haven't finished the invitations and RSVPs yet. My printer keeps running out of ink and it is annoying me. I spent $35 in one week replacing the cyan and yellow ink cartridges and now the black ink decides to run out. *Sighs* I'm not sure if my February 20th goal will be met. We shall see. 

Rentals. Chris's to-do list for the past week has been to research tent and johnny on the spot rentals. I know he's made some progress, but I'd like to get those booked ASAP. 

Well, that's enough wedding updates for now! 

Finding my sole mate...

I never ordered those shoes. I just haven't found a pair of shoes I LOVE yet. I came so close today though... Only to find out they are sold out in my preferred color -- Not even first preference, my second color preference!

(source)

They're not pink, but other than that, they're practically perfect. *Sighs* They're only available in black. How difficult is it to find a pink (peep toe preferable) flat or wedge? VERY, apparently. So the search for my "sole mate" continues....

In other wedding news, Chris and I met with a photographer today. It went well. I'm going to call the other photographer I've been e-mailing tomorrow and set up a meeting with her. If all goes well, hopefully we will have a photographer booked by next week!

I've also been working on our invitations and RSVP cards this week. I have a couple options so far and need to narrow it down and finalize. I'm also using a different font from what I used on the save the dates. It's a lot prettier and I'm really excited about it. Especially since it's a $99 font that I got for free. My goal is to send the invites out by February 20th! I've already got the kit in my hands, so it's just putting it all together.

100 DAYS!

Ah, can you believe it? Only 100 days until I'm Mrs. Herron. How awesome. Part of me cannot believe that it is so close, but part of me still thinks it's forever away!

Chris has been e-mailing back and forth with the officiant and we will soon schedule a meeting with him. After that's done, I guess it's completely official - We can get married, aside from getting the marriage license!

Also, I found a photographer I love and is reasonably priced! I e-mailed the studio Tuesday morning and haven't heard back yet. I think I will follow up with a call if I don't hear back by tomorrow.  It's called D&G Studio and they're located in Beacon. Did I mention they're reasonably priced? With good photographs? Ah, finally. Now just keep your fingers crossed that they are available on April 24th!

Chris bought a new truck over the weekend and we picked that up on Tuesday in Port Jervis. On the way we stopped at the mall in Middletown and registered at Macy's! It was a lot of fun, but it's also stressful. I have a feeling we will finish our registry online rather than going back to the store. Although, I think Chris was having fun with the gun thing!

In addition to all of that, I have been on operation wedding shoes! And I am not having very much luck. I really want pink shoes. My problem is I need to either wear wedges or flats because the wedding is outside in the spring. I'm having a problem finding pink wedges I like. I found pink shoes that aren't wedges I like though:

They're not wedges, but they have a thick heel and a thick platform. The only problem is the height. But nonetheless, I love them.

I like these Cole Haan wedges... But they're not pink. But of course they don't come in the color I want. Of course.

I absolutely adore these J-Crew pumps... Too bad they're not wedges and are way out of my price range (almost $200!). 

 

DSW is being complicated and won't let me copy their shoes to my computer. Here's a couple more:

• Caparros Vincente II Silk Pump - They're pink. No wedge, but small heel. And adorable bow. I love.
• Miss Me Venice 17 Peep Toe Pump - In fuchsia. Again, no wedge. But thick heel.

Decisions, decisions. I might just have to order them all and see. Just kidding! I wish :)

Next up on the to-do list: Order envelopes for the invitations (I've been having a hard time finding the appropriate size envelope for a reasonable price); Shop for and order the wedding cake; and order our wedding bands!

Breakfast Buffet...

So last night I was on my iTouch theknot 911 application (which I'm completely obsessed with if you didn't already know) and one bride-to-be posted that she is having a morning wedding and thinking about serving breakfast rather than lunch or dinner. I immediately adored the idea and told her so with some awesome ideas. And then this strawberry shortcake came to mind that I'd seen in a Martha Stewart book before that would be simply perfect for her breakfast buffet.

It was all I could think about all night, I loved the idea so much. When Chris woke up, I told him about this bride-to-be's idea... And I think we might be stealing it :)  I texted Mom this morning and she is on board. I am so excited about this! Plus, it'll probably save us some money in the long run! Woohoo. I'm stoked! The cake that inspired me:

Other wedding news...

Invitations. I got the cards and pockets sample I ordered over the weekend. And it's nice... But I still like the Michael's idea better, thankfully.

Honeymoon. We received a recommendation for a all-inclusive resort called Palace Resorts and were looking at one in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Also, I did a Google search for "couples resorts" and was led to a few all-inclusive resorts in Jamaica. Both are considerable cheaper than Sandals. So we're still on the look-out.

Save the Dates. I think I will stop at Michael's tomorrow after work to buy the save the date cards. I have a 40% off coupon to use! I will take pictures and share them.

I'll keep you posted!

I changed my mind...

AGAIN!

I'm talking about the invitations, of course. You see, I had some spare time yesterday so I decided to go to Michael's and wander around. I haven't been in there in awhile, and boy, how I am obsessed with that store. So anyways, besides my obsession, they sell wedding stationery there... Kits similiar to the cards and pockets. But simpler. Easier to assemble. More decorative. The list goes on... I showed them to Chris last night and he likes them better too! So I'm 99% sure they're it. This is the kit:

It's perfect. It doesn't come with an envelope (you use the card as the envelope) but I'm going to buy a pink envelope to spruce it up. Also, I found some inspiration on a wedding blog that had these invites and put a cute little gem on the seal... I would do pink again. And maybe replace the brown ribbon with pink... We'll see. I might be going a little overboard.

Oh, and the greatest part is it's a set -- Michael's has matching save the dates, rehearsal dinner invitations (not that I am going to use them), programs (pondering those as an option), thank you cards, escort cards, table numbers, etc. And it isn't going to break the bank. Especially if I save up my 50% coupons I get in e-mails. It's will cost less than $65 probably. Woohoo!

I'm glad I have finally made a decision though. Especially because STDs (save the dates... Chris reminded me last night that normal people don't know that STDs can be good too!) have to go out at the end of this month. So next mission (besides purchasing the stationery): collecting addresses. Oh boy.

Decisions, Decisions...

Less than 200 days to go until the big day! Woohoo!

I think I have finally decided on what I want for our invitations (cards and pockets). It looks like the coolest thing since sliced bread. I just ordered a sample from them today. I'm excited to get it and check it out. I hope it works out for us. Especially because we need to send out our dates at the end of this month. Yikes. It's coming up so soon. I have it all planned out in Microsoft Word.

As for updates to the previous post -- I don't think we'll be going to Sandals. We've concluded it's a bit out of our price range. Well, Chris hasn't eliminated it yet, but I have. We're looking at NCL cruises again. There's one that goes to Bermuda from New York the day after the wedding (which is exciting) and there's also a Mexican Riviera one that leaves from L.A. I also want to look into Couples Resorts.

There's still so much I need to do though... Find an officiant, most importantly. And also decide on if we want to get a professional photographer or not, and if so, book one. I feel like I still have all the time in the world, but really I've only got a little more than six months! Ahh.

This was brief, but there's not much to update this time around.

Welcome!

Oh, hi! Glad you found the blog :)

This is going to be my "wedding journal" to keep our close family and friends up-to-date with the planning process, hence the additional password.

Finally got the wedding website almost complete! It has as much information as I do now, anyways. I think I'm too obsessed with it though. I'm spending more time on planning our wedding website than the actual wedding planning... Don't even get me started about the lack of homework I'm getting done... Just kidding, Mom, I'm getting it done!

I really don't have too much to write at this point... So far we've got the ceremony and reception venues (the farm!) -- although the particular area is still undecided. I'm going to scope the farm this weekend and see. And I bought my dress last month! I love it! Also, I started working on making some save the dates and invitations earlier this week. It's probably a little too early in the planning process to have them done, but they're just ideas. I'm sure my ideas will change in the next 232 days!

Stay tuned!