Off Weekend

I actually have three whole days off this weekend. By that I mean I had today off and tomorrow and Monday but work Sunday.

Today was a frustrating day for wedding planning. Good vendors are soooo key to this process. One was sick, fine, but you asked me to call or text if something came up, can't you do the same? One just pissed me off royally continues to frustrate me but I'm choosing to grin and bear it this time; next time, beware, I won't be friendly. On top of that I've had a tender stomach and head ache all day. I restrained my bridezilla, but danngg I get why there is a show about it!

BUT my friend Heather of Heather Behrens Design saved my day when she sent me a sneak peak of the work she's doing on my invitations and I seriously COULD NOT BE HAPPIER with the way things are looking. She's a super talented graphic designer who does fair priced work and will truly work with your budget to get you what you want. Check out her work if you need invites or any type of publication as she has done it all! I can't wait to see more of my stationary from her!

And tomorrow we are heading to Saugatuk, MI to lay on the beach of Lake Michigan with friends, play some games, read some magazines, eat some grilled food, and have a few wedding dresses. My goal is to only talk wedding if someone asks me about it, and to then keep it brief. Hear that Kelly and Lia? Keep me OFF wedding brain. I need the break!

Oh and Monday it's a Todero family BBQ in Grand Rapids! Fun weekend! Let's hope my sunblock works :)

I don't need...

•  floor length table cloths
• chair covers
• super extravagant centerpieces
• anything the Wedding Industry tells me I do

saying this internally on repeat. I will convince myself.

Guess who...

said yes to the dress?

ME!!!

Floral Dreams

Like I said in my post yesterday, I plan to do my own flowers for the wedding...with the help of my ladies and mom that is. Here's some that I'm dreaming of (all pictures courtesy of WholeBlossoms.com)

Althea Spray Garden Roses

Burgundy Carnations

Orange Yellow Bicolor Dahlias

Burgundy Dahlia

Dark Yellow Spider Gerbera

As much as I love yellow I'm thinking I may just do the raspberry/cranberry/burgundy flowers with yellow ribbon and yellow table runners/overlays. Or maybe just do limited yellow flowers in the bouquets rather than on tables. Decisions, decisions. :)

DIY Wedding...

I want our wedding to be unique. I want it to be elegant with a hand-touched feel. I want to DIY at least something for our wedding.

I'm thinking of doing my own table overlays to put on top of grey tablecloths. Check out Mother Martha's  goregous examples:

photo courtesy of marthastewartweddings.com

I also found this image on Pinterest that after some searching seems to come from the Etsy shop FantasyVintageBridal. 

pinterest picture on WeddingBee forum but apparently custom order from  FantasyVintageBridal on Etsy.

another from FantasyVintageBridal

I will also be tackling my own flowers. Luckily this means bouquets and boutonnieres and limited centerpiece items since Laurel Manor supplies beautiful flower-less centerpieces. 

I'll probably also tackle a project for each of our bridal party members but I'm not going to mention it here yet as maybe two of them regularly check out my blog and I don't want to ruin the surprise :)

I think I'll limit it to that. Well the big one I guess is my sister is making my dress! But that's primarily here (thank you sister!!)

Look at me go now!

I clearly had a lot of downtown at work today with all of my posts! Really I just wanted to put a link up to our wedding website for anyone trying to find it! Here it is:

http://FeistAndTodero.ourwedding.com

Also, we have booked our ceremony location! Helloooo, Farmington Civic Theater, glad you worked out and that we can say our "I do's" with you!

Don't have to...

A Reminder

Bursting

Ever felt so overwhelmingly happy that you think your heart might explode? So overcome with excitement you can actually feel the energy moving through your body? Your heart pounding with joy as though a marching band is thumping out a cadence?

This is how I've felt for days on end.

It's pretty damn wonderful.

Location, location, location.

Turns out that where you locate yourself is not only important in home buying, but also in planning a wedding. During the four short weeks we have been engaged, Vince and I have struggled with the location for our nuptials. First was the debate between a local for us wedding or one that cuts down my Iowa family's drive time. I thought for sure I would be getting married in southwest Michigan at a rustic location. However, after an unprofessional meeting with a venue and several unreturned catering inquiry calls, we went with a local venue that is elegant and classic ans beautiful location. Not what I dreamed and envisioned. But I am in love with the service and price and everything about Laurel Manor and my vision has changed now.

Then it was about the location of our ceremony itself. I didn't love the pricetag of doing our ceremony at LM ($900 for the site only, Ouch!) and I also didn't want to be at the same place all day. I against my better judgement started perusing churches even though I've thought and told everyone I didn't want a church ceremony for months. But that's what you do when you get married, right? Wrong! Not if it doesn't feel right to you. As luck would have it.Vince's family church is unavailable and everywhere else OS astronomically priced so again I searched...

Now nothing is confirmed and I don't want to jinx it before it can happen for real but let me tell you, I am excited! Giddy even about this possibility. Let's all hope that it works out.

Fingers crossed!