March...

I feel like this month has flown by insanely fast. My birthday came and went (wait, it was my birthday?) the bridal fair is finally done, our house is clean (yes, finally, after living here for as long as we have we have a clean house) and things are finally calming down..well, ok, not really calming down but at least we arent stressing about the fair.

This month has kind of flown by in a big blur...I can't really remember anything except the fair.

Last weekend we went to visit my mom and sisters. That was nice, since it's been a really long time since getting to see them. Even though my mom was just getting over being sick, it was still nice to see them even if it was only for a day.

The weather is so nice out this week, it's so great to be able to have the windows open and have fresh air in the house. So nice. I wish it would stay like this all year long and not become so insanely hot like it's going to!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Adam and I decided that now that we are married, it's time that we divvy up the holidays, since we were used to splitting up on the major days and each going to our separate families for the main part of the holiday and meeting up for bits and pieces.

After much arguing and debate, haha, we finally decided to give my family Thanksgiving, since I've missed getting to do the Black Friday with my mom and Kelsey since they moved. So Thanksgiving day after I got off work we headed down to Springfield and got there just in time to eat...and eat some more....yum.

After food we scaled the sale ads, planning our route for Black Friday shopping. We were hoping to get all of our gifts done in one day with the good sales, and hopefully have the deals be at the place we had wedding gift cards to since the wedding took most of our money for the year.

We planned our route for the morning and my mom, Kelsey and I headed out bright and early...well not so much bright, seeing as the sun wasnt up, ha, but we headed out early and left Adam to sleep and watch Skye. We hit up Kohls, Target and Kmart before the morning was done and braved the insane crowds, but came out with every item we went in for so it was worth it.

Saturday we headed to Branson to Silver Dollar City to see the Christmas lights- apparently they are ranked in the top 10 in the nation, so we had to see them. They were pretty neat, and it wasnt freezing cold, so we were able to enjoy it.











Back home Sunday with a ton of leftovers!

sleepy sleepy

Wedding planner today, that went well. We talked about all of the new changes and all, and again it made me realize just how glad I am that we hired her. She seems so confident about everything, and I just hope that everything runs as smoothly as she says on the day itself!

I think we got alot of things tied up this weekend. Granted there are still a couple issues, with the main one being the transportation to the ceremony place, but we will work it out. The major things are decided and we've put a face to a name with the vendors. Now we just have to meet with the photographers in Omaha, which is in September, I have to make a quick up and back in one day trip to Springfield for my final dress fitting, and then tie up the transportation. And then, of course, figure out how to pay for everything. Ha. Yeah, that's a biggie.

I'm tired, but will update on the changes soon...

changes are a' comin...

I feel like I have been up forever.

Hair and makeup today at 8:30 in the morning...guh. Makeup trial was fine, but I wasnt a big fan of the hair. I could do what she did to it, and it had fallen out by the time I had my pictures an hour later. That needs to not happen on the wedding. So I'm a bit stressing about that...my mom claims it will be ok on the day and that she will make sure the girls does it better...but, well, I dont know. I mean, it wasnt ugly, it just wasnt...wedding. It was more like, homecoming, and I had my hair done nicer for homecoming. So I dont know.

Makup! It was early and I just rolled out of bed and came...I looked hideous.

Start of the hair...

More hair! I cant put a pic of the final one up because I dont want Adam to see, even though I want to change it...haha.

But we booked out the upstairs of the salon for the bridal party to get ready in. They let us bring in champagne and food and all, and it's all rented out to us, so we can get our hair and whatnot done up there without the stresses. I had wanted someone to come to the hotel, but this was cheaper, and there are couches and stuff up there, so I think it will turn out ok. Plus, it looks cool.

Next we had to make a mad dash for a place to change into my dress for the pictures...thank goodness for my grandpa's hotel. We stopped in, and mom used her connections to get us a room to change in, haha. That was, well, interesting...me wandering around in a tiara and my dress in the comfort inn. We made it to the pictures, which went good I hope. I never think I look good in pictures, and my hair kept messing up since the girl failed at doing it, but hopefully a few of the shots turned out. It was fun to get the urban, grungy pictures that I wont be able to get on the wedding day. Trunging around in my dress was interesting, and I was glad we hadnt spent the money to have it cleaned yet, since he took me into tall grass and whatnot...ha.

Then we had a problem with the alteration place. We showed up already in my dress (I mean, I had it on for the pictures and I would have had to put it back on anyways, so why not?) but after a bit, they informed us they cant work on the dress because of the beading. Ok, fine...he gave us the name of a place a couple blocks up that he said should be open, so we rushed over there, only to find they were closed. So it's after 1 in the afternoon on Saturday, and we are trying to call an alterations place that is 1) open, and 2) works on bridal gowns. Luckily we found a place that was open until 2, and seemed to be able to do gowns, and were only a mile or so from where we were. So we walk in, me in my gown, and after they got over the shock of me in full hair/makeup/jewelry, we got the dress pinned and ready to be altered.

Finally we headed back and picked up Adam and everyone and headed for our unplanned trip to Branson. Let's just say...things are going to be changing a bit in regards to the wedding. I'm in a bit of a shocked state right now, but once we get back home I'll inform people of the changes...but dont be concered- they are all good!!

Your only hint!!!

Catering meeting was next (yes, we had meetings until 10:30 tonight). That went well, we are hoping that we are going to be able to do a bit more food-wise than we were initially, and the guy seemed really nice and seemed to know what he was doing. We worked out the table and chair situation, the setup, and really everything regarding the Tonic. So far, this has been my best vendor to work with...they have been super accomodating and everything, so hopefully this will follow through up to the wedding day. The manager is new, but he's obviously done this before, and he really put us at ease. And while we waited for the DJ, he brought us some drinks, on the house. I guess people like you when you rent out the place for a night.

DJ Vinyl Richie was next (or Shawn, as is his actual name). He was really easy-going and you could tell he had done this many, many times over. This was a meeting we really didnt HAVE to do, but it was nice to put the face to the name, and I think he will do a good job at making people involved and getting people out on the dance floor.

So today was definitely a productive day. Even more productive than originally anticipated. Tomorrow we just have our meeting with the wedding planner, and then we need to figure out a place to hold the rehearsal dinner. Aside from that, we have really done most everything that we needed to. Sigh- I feel like we've been going 100 miles an hour, but when this is our last time to come down here before the wedding, I suppose it's bound to feel that way...

so much stress

To sum up today, well, it was stressful. It started out kind of frustrating, but it ended on a, well, interesting note.

This morning my mom and I got downtown to the hair salon for our 10:15 appointment only to be told that the girl who was supossed to be doing my hair was having car troubles...in the end, they had to reschedule everything for bright and early tomorrow morning...which meant I had to rechedule the bridal pictures and the alterations for then as well. Unfortuantely the alterations place isnt open on Saturdays...so we had to make a mad scramble of calls to find another place that was.

Luckily everyone was able to move their things, and we went ahead and went straight to the rental place, which was much better than the last. At least here they had a big assortment of things, and the colonnade is going to look pretty sweet at the wedding. They had everything that we needed except for the brown linens or chair covers, but we got the name of a lady who does have brown and met with her later on in the day. She's a bit pricer than we had hoped, but everything does match...we are going to keep looking and decide on her later.

The table we are getting for the sand ceremony

The top of the colonnade!

Ignore the random crap, but the table itself is what we are using for the dessert bar!

Another shot of the table

Anywho, the rentals are booked. Ceremony chairs, colonade, tables, reception chairs, dessert bar stuff, serving trays, etc. And even a couple of surprises that I'll divulge next week! I knew the rental place was going to be a heafty cost, but luckily it came in right at what we had figured, so it wasnt too bad.

Then Kelsey and I went out to meet with the videographer (who is also doing the bridal pics tomorrow!). He changed it up on me and informed me that his brother would be the one in charge of the video now, instead of the guy who I had initially booked...I was a bit frustrated, because I didnt know this guy's experience and all...but after meeting with him I think it will be ok. He's got a broadcasting degree and owns the same camera as me, so obviously he *should* know what he is doing. We are going to set up our camera too, so they will have a bunch of different angles, and he seems really nice, so I feel better about that. And the guy who is doing the bridal pics, Jared, seems really easy-going and seems to have good ideas for the shoot tomorrow, so hopefully that goes well!

And then shortly before Adam got into town my mom threw me a curve ball, all because of an article in the paper...I cant disclose all of the details yet, but let's just say we are going to make an unexpected trip to Branson tomorrow afternoon, and this could potentially shake up some things... We shall see...

day 1 of wedding insane weekend.

This weekend has begun stressful as all getup.

After getting pushed around and things messed up all morning, we were finally able to set up a meeting with one of the rental companies for tonight. So I drove down and we had our first meeting and I was really disappointed with their selection. They had the cheapest prices on the tent for the ceremony and they did have the brown tablecloths, but unfortunately they were two tablecloths short, and they didnt have any of the serving trays that we need and the price, well, I just wanted to look around a bit. Plus, the fact that they guy used his brother's shop after hours, used his inventory, and yet said the business was "his" was a bit disturbing to me...and I had really hoped to go with the same place for everything, and they didnt have the colonnade either. So that was disapointing.

Tomorrow is the dress fitting and bridal pictures and hair/makeup trials. And hopefully another meeting with the other rental company in town. Hopefully those turn out a bit better...I feel like nothing has been accomplished, and we need to do so so much this weekend....sighhhh....

tonic

I felt like I needed to take more pictures, so I started taking them of the drive to the Tonic, since Adam was being unreasonable about having his picture taken.

I forgot to mention that while we were in Springfield Adam and I finally got to see the Tonic where the reception is. We had pretty much decided on this place through pictures and my mom's opinion since she was the only one to see it, and so we finally took a few minutes to walk in and actually see what we had gotten ourselves into.

We were REALLY happy with it, to say the least. I think they were a bit nervous with us, since we didnt order anything and just kept walking around the place pointing at various things, but oh well. It has a very unique layout, and we definitely arent a fan of the bar height tables that are included, so because the dance floor takes up quite a bit of room, we will have to work with the other space to put rented round tables. We did find out where we wanted the head table and the dessert bar, and I eye-balled everything to make sure our tables will all fit, and I think with the wedding planner's help we will be able to make it all happen. I am DEFINITELY a fan of the lounge area- that is pretty much amazing. It's filled with couches and comfy-ness and will be an awesome place for people to hang out that isnt just a still table. And the decor is really neat, the ambiance of the place is exactly what we were going for and though we are going to have to talk to photographer #2 and our videographer about the lighting (well, there basically isnt any) I think it's going to turn out really well. We have the meeting with them to talk catering and what not in August, so hopefully that will turn out well.

We are a bit concerned about parking, since our wedding party needs somewhere to park during the day while they are getting ready and taking the limo bus around after the ceremony. We were going to have them all park at the reception place early that day, but unless we can see if the lot owned by the college will let them park there, we may have an issue there. We will work it out, but since it is "downtown" there isnt really alot of room.

This is the front door of the Tonic- we need to figure out how to line up to do the sparkler exit..hmm...I think next door the theatre is on the corner, perhaps the limo can just park at the edge of the corner and we can have people line up along the side?

photographer #1 and wedding relief

Then on Sunday we had a super busy day, not only did we have to drive home that night, but we also had two separate meetings set up. First we finally got to meet with the day of coordinator, and she seemed really knowledgeable and I know I will feel so much better on the wedding day with her there to decorate and make everything run smoothly. She was really nice, and she had alot of ideas about things and is going to meet with us again in August and actually come to the reception and ceremony locations to see them and help us with ideas for setup, which I thought was really nice of her. She seems to get what we want from the ceremony setup and everything, and I'm pretty confident that everything will run smoothly with her. At first I was debating on having a coordinator, but doing weddings for a living really has made me appreciate them and since I want my poor mom to actually ENJOY the wedding and be there when we are getting ready instead of putting flower petals in the aisle and setting up chairs, this was probably one of the best decisions we made. And Adam is excited to have her too, which is always good.

After that meeting we headed out to the opposite end of Springfield to meet with our first photographer of the day. She's new to the wedding scene but has shot portraits for a while and has a really unique eye and editing style. I could tell she was a bit nervous about the whole thing, but I'm confident that she'll do a great job and she had some neat ideas about everything and hopefully since we only have her for the first part of the day she wont get too overwhelmed. Also, since she is new, I wont feel so bad when I hand her the, well, book I am pretty much putting together of the different pictures I want. Hahahahaha. Yeah, I'm going to be hated by the other photographers, but I dont think this girl will mind. :)

Next time we come up will be even busier, since the time after that will be the actual wedding. We have to meet with the coordinator again, meet with the caterer and pick our menu, meet with the videographer, have my hair trial, have my bridal pictures (if there is time), get my dress altered, go to the rental company and pick out the linens and whatnot, and do any other detail that I'm forgetting. Ahhhh!! I'm getting stressed just thinking about it. It's super hard when we only have a Saturday and Sunday to accomplish all of this, since we cant take off work, which is really what needs to happen. Hmm...depending how stressed I get closer to the time, perhaps I will take off that Friday and go down Thursday after work...that adds an extra day and a half, which may make a world of difference...

Anywho, that was an insane weekend. From here on out I can just sense that it is going to go by insanely fast and be really hectic. Hopefully it all turns out in the end, but I just wish I had more time to devote to simply planning! It's hard having to work on other people's weddings and push my own aside, when I want to go all out and spend hours on it...

wedding weekend

The drive to Springfield is like this the entire way. Pretty boring.

Weddings weddings weddings!

So this was a super filled wedding weekend. I left for Springfield Friday after getting off work since Annabelle had a grooming appointment at 3. Adam came up later that night, and all weekend long it was wedding this and wedding that- I think it's really starting to dawn on everyone that it is coming up REALLY fast, and since we are only going to be back there one more time before the wedding, we crammed alot of things into two days.

She was REALLY excited after picking her up. This was the best I could do. You cant see her bow, but it's still adorable!

I'll break up these posts, since we did ALOT over the weekend and I dont want to cram people with too long of one solid post. :) See how nice I am?