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! 

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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):

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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!

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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!

2010, Oh my!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I can't believe it's 2010 already. We get married this year... Yikes! Only 111 days to go! My checklist still looks empty, but we are working on it.

My girlfriends were over for a holiday party a couple weeks ago and Cheyenne made me a sixteen week calendar with deadlines for accomplishing things. She'll be happy to know that so far I've been checking items off the list. It is actually extremely helpful to visualize what needs to be done. And the deadlines help too. Thanks Chey! :)  

Bridesmaid dresses... Check! It took two trips to David's Bridal in Middletown for all six girls to pick out their dresses, but they are selected and ordered:

This is from the first trip to David's Bridal on 12/23: Cheyenne, Courtney, myself, Donna, and Becky. They each picked the style they liked best from three or four options. All the dresses will be in watermelon pink, the color of Courtney's dress.

This is from the second trip to David's Bridal, a week later: My sister, Sierra, and my friend, Chelsea. Again, their dresses will be in watermelon pink. It's going to be nice to see them all together in the same color. Ah, I'm so excited for it!

Tuxedo rentals... Check! On 12/28 while all the groomsmen were in town, we went tuxedo rental shopping. First, we went to Men's Warehouse and none of us were impressed, so we headed down the street to Sossi Formal and they were excellent!

Here, the groom gets fitted for his tuxedo while myself and the three groomsmen find something to be funny. (Photo credit: Judy Herron)

 

A sneak peak of what Mike, the best man, and Chris will look like at the wedding! Without jeans, of course... Mike is wearing a watermelon pink vest and tie to match the bridesmaids and Chris is wearing an ivory vest and tie to match me! (Photo credit: Judy Herron)

Amongst the shopping trips, Chris and I have been looking for an officiant and a photographer. I think we have found an officiant service -- Hudson Valley Ceremonies & Events. Chris is going to follow up with them this week. As for photographers, they are so expensive! I am having a hard time finding one in a decent price range.

Next up on our to-do list is to register!

COUNTDOWN = SIX MONTHS!

Can you believe that six months from today I will be Mrs. Herron! Ahh! Thrilling. Exhilarating. Scary. Crazy. All of those things at once, pretty much. I just can't believe it. We have been engaged for over fifteen months, and we're almost there!

I feel like there's just so much to do still. And there is! I was looking at my "Wedding Countdown" that has been hanging on our refrigerator for a couple months now, and boy, am I behind... Still need to:

• Pick an officiant. But I've been told you can find one in like two months, so I guess I won't stress too much about that one.
• Choose the wedding party. I'm still waiting to hear back from Eric to finally figure out my bridesmaid situation.
• Enroll in a bridal-gift registry.
  
• Shop for bridesmaid dresses. Again, the above dilemma. More to come...
  
• Pick a photographer. More like, make a final decision if we are going to hire a pro or go with someone we know... Decisions, decisions. 
• Mail save the dates. I'm actually working on this one!
  

That's all the stuff that should have been done by the six month mark. Oh boy.  At least I have good excuses for everything....

Back to bridesmaid dresses... I have been doing a little research on them. I know I'll have to plan a trip with my bridesmaids (whoever they may be) in December when everyone is home for the holidays. I've been thinking about the trip, and the dresses. Here are a few dresses I like.

Option 1: Short dresses

Both dresses are cotton sateen. Sierra tried the first dress on when we went wedding dress shopping and it looked amazing on her. My only problem with short dresses is that the wedding is in April, so it could be kind of cool to begin with. Secondly we moved the wedding to the morning rather than afternoon, so chances are it might be even cooler. Basically, I don't want my girls to freeze.

Option 2: Long dresses

These three dresses are jersey material, so basically, my girls wouldn't be freezing and they would be pretty darn comfortable, as well.

So those are the dresses I'm liking right now. Ya never know when I'm going to change my mind though. Also, we might see other dresses when shopping. Oh, and the dresses are all in watermelon pink, as that is what color we have all decided on. Woohoo.

Alright, that's about all for today.

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.