envelopes!

Yay!

Our envelopes arrived today! I'm so excited! Although they arent the same as our Save the Dates, and I'm not a huge fan of the texture, they are still totally workable, and saved about half the cost as getting them to be the same as the others in this size.

Annabelle was curious too!

Yay! Now I just have to print on them all...

I ordered them through Envelopemall.com and though I wasnt as big of a fan of them as I was with Paperworks.com, they had what I needed and were the cheapest. Unfortunately, Paperworks didnt have the right color in the size I needed.

maps!

I decided that I wanted something a little more unique than a printed out google map for our insert cards, so I turned to the wonderful Etsy hoping to find something that struck me. Turns out, it's insane how many different varieties there are of "map cards" out there...from hand drawn to map looking to google maps that were more embellished- there was SO many options!

After narrowing it down, I really liked the look of Calligraphics stuff, so I sent her an email explaining my overly difficult directions to the ceremony. She was so fast it was insane...I expected it to take a few days to get a proof, but I got a black and white basic drawing that night, with a finalized color proof the very next day! I was so impressed, and it turned out AWESOME. It was exactly what I was looking for, not to mention she is ridiculously cheap. Totally worth it to not have to try and create on myself. So I started printed those tonight, hopefully all of this will be finished tomorrow so we can get these babies mailed off!

more progress...i think

ARGH!

I have went through 4 bottles of rubber cement so far (Walgreens looked at me funny when I bought out their stock, and sighed angrily when they only had a couple bottles!), made 2 trips to Office Depot for ink, have cut, printed, and glued until my hands hurt, and am STILL not done!

Though I have made progress...









I am kind of on a rampage now to finished. Sadly, once I finish I still have to tie the bows to the front. And make the maps. And address the envelopes. AHHH!!!

embarassing pictures of my sister... :)

I finally got around to getting these pictures up of when I was down in Springfield last and Kelsey got to try on her dress. Hahahaha. She was SO thrilled (not...) when I started taking her picture...

HA! Her fault for not just smiling!

I think once we get the crinolines underneath they will look really cute because they will be fuller. I love the color though! Hopefully the crinnys will come in before I leave to go back down there in a couple weeks...

invite...progress?

So the invites are becoming much more of a pain than I anticipated. Mostly because they take so LONG to do...each one of them involves alot of cutting and gluing... dont get me wrong, they look really cool and I'm totally happy with them, but having to make 100 of these?!

I can definitely see why people opt to pay for them...sooo many more to do! And I'm already running low on rubber cement...

I broke down and bought a nice cutter. I'm so glad too, we would be spending DAYS at Kinkos with how much cutting these suckers involve...

So many more to go!

flower goodness

More goodies from my super talented mommy!










They just keep getting even more amazing!

they've been started!

The design has FINALLY been completed and the paper sorted out...now the cutting begins!

A sneak peak...





More to come!

more pictures!

More pictures from the amazing bridal shower! I had such a great time and it meant so much that everyone could come out.

Yay friends!

Kelsey working on the rehearsal bouquet.

I'm reallllly excited for this!

This is one of Adam's favorites!


It's done! I have no idea what face I am making here...


Future family!!


Future grandma!!


All of the bridesmaids (minus Amelia...darn you Amelia!)


My mommy!!


The family!

so much fun

Ok so you may have already seen this, but this is pretty darn amazing. It actually made me tear up a bit because it just looked so...fun!

I think my bridal party might kill me...well, ok, the girls would probably think it would be fun, but the guys would kill me. And Adam.

But oh, would it be fun. I'll bet I could get my mom to shimmy on down the aisle with me. ;D

more crinny fun!

So I was pretty productive today and actually placed the order for the bridesmaid's crinnys! I am so excited. I've been working with 2BirdStone from Etsy and she's literally been amazing. She's giving us a discount for doing so many and is custom making the color to match the shade of brown! I had them shipped directly to her today, so I am super excited to see the pictures she will send me soon. They will probably get to her early next week, so I should have pictures soon! I'm really anxious and I hope they look as good as I'm hoping!!

Speaking of crinnys, I guess this has just become a "thing" for the wedding, since my mom and I decided that she needs to wear a Husker red one at the wedding- since it will be game day, AND they will be playing Texas. Yes, we are having our wedding on Husker game day. My mom got some SUPER cute rhinestone Husker flip flops from Victoria's Secret while we were in town and I think it will be adorable for her to have her slip and the flip flops at the reception. So once she decides for sure on a dress, we are ordering hers. Ha- looks like this girl is getting alot of business from us! We are also going to make Skyler one too, probably brown like the rest of the girls! I'm so excited.

It's hard to see, but those are total bling-ness on the straps!

Hey, some wedding parties have the converse tennis shoes, we have the dyed crinnolines!! ;D

dress shopping!

Yesterday I accomplished quite a bit of the big wedding day stuff with the family while they were in town. Since they are only here through Wednesday, I wanted to make the most of our time together and they had really wanted to see the big mall that we have here. So yesterday I took them out, and while we were there we noticed that the Dillards has a big section of formal dresses for Skyler's size, and while looking around, actually came across a super cute gold and brown dress. It's cheaper than any of the bridal salons, and it fit, so we decided to get that while we could and return it if something better comes along later.

Well, while we were there, Kelsey and I decided that we needed to have my mom try on some dresses, since she was in the market and all for a dress...she wasnt exactly THRILLED with us, but she did it (dont even try and say you didnt have fun mother!) and ended up finding a pretty rose colored one. She isnt quite set on it yet I dont think, but since it was on clearance, she got it anyway and like Skye's it can be taken back if something better comes along. The fun part of the day was getting her to try on the dresses...hehe.

Hehehe, she probably thinks I wouldnt put this up here. But I think it's cute! They tried to get me in one too, but I think it looks better on them! Hahaha. My hott hott family! :D

It's been so nice having them here. I miss getting to see them all the time since they moved, and I wish they could stay longer. :(

cake topper!

I am very excited to report that my amazing CAKE TOPPER came in the mail a couple days ago! WOO!!! It turned out even better than I thought it would, and I am so so so excited for it!




Granted, I dont think Adam shares my profound excitement, but I think deep down he thinks it's a cute idea ;)

worlds of fun

While my mom and sisters were in town we all went out to World's of Fun. Although I HATE roller coasters, Kelsey and Adam rode everything while I was in charge of the camera. We also got a caricature done with Adam and I and another of the 4 of us girls...I will have to take pictures of those and get them up, they turned out so good! My mom got the guy's number and is going to call him to see what he would charge to come to the wedding! How fun would that be?!

Kelsey and Adam on the Mamba...they are in the last car!

No amount of money in the world would make me go on this.

Only Kelsey...

We were attempting a group photo...

Mom looks sooo happy...

i have amazing peoples

I have amazing friends.

And family.

This past weekend my matron of honor and one of my amazing bridesmaids hosted my bridal shower back in Omaha and it was so much fun! It was absolutely incredible, and I can't believe that they went to so much work and trouble just for me. So many people showed up- I honestly couldn't believe the turnout. So many great people and friends, many of which I hadnt seen in a long time, came out and even with the last minute switch in locations, it was still a huge success.

Speaking of the last minute switch, I really need to thank Tina and her family. The restaurant that the shower was supposed to be held at randomly closed up "permanently" without informing Tina or anybody else. So the morning of the shower, Tina and her family decide to host the shower at her parent's house. While I wasn't upset in the slightest, I was only expecting a few people and a small gathering in her living room. What I arrived to, was a large group of people, tents, chairs, tables (complete with table cloths!) and the largest assortment of food I have seen. It was above and beyond anything I could have ever imagined and I really want to thank them again for everything they did last minute. Also, I want to thank Sara for all of the DELICIOUS food she made, the game she was in charge of and all of the decorating I'm sure she helped with. And Tina's sister Erin for making the AMAZING cupcakes (which every single person loved)!

I have amazing people in my life, and I'm still in shock at everything that they did to make the day special. :D

Adam and I received some wonderful gifts (some of which are already being put to good use!) and we both want to thank everyone for everything. Just you all being there was enough of a gift for me! And Adam was shocked by everything later that night.

I have many many pictures from the day and I will post more later, but these are just a few that my friend Cassy and her sister snapped. When I get more uploaded I will put up some more, since it was just that great of a day!

Yes, they did ALL THIS, with about, oh, 3 hours notice.

Such AMAZING food

My sister trying to make the bouquet out of the ribbons from our gifts. Apparently I will carry this at the rehearsal. It actually turned out really good.

Opening my present from my mommy. She made me cry!

The whole group! So many people came!!!

Thank you again to everyone who came and everyone who worked to make it all happen. Everyting was so perfect and I cant thank everyone enough!!! :)

card box excitement!

Another dilemma I have been having lately is whether or not to make our card box. I've done so many weddings where the couple has this amazing and elaborate card box on their gift table at their reception, so their guests can put cards inside and they can just take this large box with them after. The boxes are made to look like a wedding cake- literally, 3 tiers, decorated in fancy fabric made to look like a cake.

While these are really pretty, I wasnt sure if I wanted to spend the minimum of $75 that I was seeing for these suckers (upwards of $150 if you wanted them in your wedding colors!) and the process of making them, while not overly difficult, just didnt seem like a fun project to me. I mean, I'd never use this thing again, I mean it's not like you can easily display this giant cardboard cake in your living room.

So I began searching for alternate means. Some people that I've seen go the cheap route and just get a basic wicker basket. I thought of this, but I wanted something a bit more than just a basket for the gift table that screamed "CARDS!". I'm also working insanely on our wedding invitations, so I dont want to spend oodles of time making something.

Then I found this on BravoBride:










It's perfect! I absolutely love it, and while it will be functional enough for the card table, it is also super cute and vertsatile enough to be able to use again for decorations. It had been up on the site for a while and I was worried it wouldnt be availble (since she was selling it insanely cheap), but luckily the girl got back to me ASAP and it is! I'm getting a shipping quote from her and will hopefully have it purchased by the end of the week! I am so excited. Another thing to check off the list of insanely mundane details that need to be gotten for the wedding!

bridesmaid shoes!!

So this weekend was super stressful and busy- Adam and I had a wedding on Saturday that lasted pretty much all day, and we celebrated his dad's birthday on Sunday. But we made the most of our time in Omaha, and I actually accidentally accomplished getting the bridesmaid shoes.

I had to be in town early on Friday for a meeting with our couple for Saturday, so after Sara got off work we hit up the mall and they were having a mall-wide sidewalk sale! Yay! We walked around to our normal places and just out of curiosity I started looking at the sale shoes (well, ok, I ALWAYS look at the sale shoes...this was more of a looking not just for me ;) ) to see if any popped out for shoes for the bridesmaids. I've been playing around with different shoes online, trying to find the right fit for this particular style of dresses, but the ones I found that would look right were either super expensive, or not the right color. I also wasnt 100% set on whether or not I was going to have them wear the same shoes or not...it really just depended on what I found.

We ended up in Charlotte Russe and headed for the sale racks. While Sara was trying to find a second item on the buy one get one sale racks, I walked by the shoes, no real purpose. While I was looking, I saw these really...odd...shoes. They stopped me right away and I thought "Wow, those are tall. But strangely cute" and I joked to Sara that those should be the wedding shoes. I picked them up though, and actually pictured them paired with the girls' dresses...and found myself strangely liking the idea. While Sara went off again, I decided that I needed to try them on, just to see what they looked like. Honestly, they reminded me of something that Amelia and I would have went towards when looking for shoes for our "workout" class (in fact, didnt we buy our shoes from there?! I think we did!). Anywho, I tried them on and found myself actually liking them...they were ridiculous, dont get me wrong, but they were also cute, and I knew they would go well with the dresses. Plus, they were on sale, making each one about $23 if bought together.

We finished up at the mall and I didnt see anything else, and I went home and the more I thought about these, the more I liked them, so I sent out trusty picture messages to the girls who hadnt seen them (minus Amelia, since she's in the middle of nowhere) and Kelsey liked them, and Tina said she did too (though she will wear anything. I love my Tina) so I decided what the heck, and had Tina and Sara meet me on Sunday to get them. This way I was done with the hunt, and aside from the crinnys, the girls' outfits are done!

This is the picture from the website, but it's not very clear.

A better picture of the feathers on the front! Yes, they have FEATHERS!

Sara being a perfect foot model.

Tina and Sara wearing their shoes! Haha they look so happy.

Aww, more feet modeling pictures!

Haha, so I dont think Tina was quite on board with the shoes, but she said they were "ok" and said as we were walking out that they were something I would pick, which is good enough for me! I think Sara is warming up to them...secretly I think she loves them but just wont say it. ;)

Amelia has yet to even see a picture, but I have her shoes! And Kelsey I'm just worried about her falling down the insane flight of stairs that we have to walk at the ceremony. I will be purchasing backup flip flops in case of bad weather and for the reception. Hahaha. But they will look cute in pictures and were only $23 so I dont feel too bad for picking them, even if Kelsey and I are the only ones amused by them.