Theme

The wedding theme came together beautifully. I was very pleased. I think it was ovious without being tacky and cheap. I think I was able to maintain the sort of elegance that a wedding deserves. I tried to pay attention to the details and I think that is what truly payed of in the end.

The teapots on the tables worked beautifully



A girl at work even painted on for me as a wedding present


( AMAZING!)

My friend Mark also came through with hookas just like the catepillar. He even lit them up for us later in the night.

The favors evolved some after the initial idea but I think we ended up with something even better. They were all personalized with the guest names. I used the same general idea that I mentioned in a previous post with the dominoes and magnets I just changed the look. instead of the classic Alice in Wonderland Pictures I made them look like playing cards.

They were all Hearts cause it was a wedding after all. (and the queen of hearts! it all works)

They were laid out on a card table that I borrowed from my grandmother. It was a bout 3 weeks before the wedding when I was trying to figure out the logistics of the favors when I realized I had a card table cover of my Grandmothers (my fathers mother) that was PERFECT!


The cake.....Oh my goodness the cake!! We had a cupcake tower. When we met with the baker we told her about the theme and I told her I wanted some of the cupcakes the say "Eat Me" (just not make anyone grow or shrink) and the rest to have flowers on them (we wanted it to be pretty and not just a tower of bossy cupcakes) Well she delieverd just as we asked on the cupcakes. Then we told her we wanted a little 6 inch cake on top so we could have something to freeze for the first anniversary. We told her that we didn't really care how she decorated it. We had seen her work, we trusted her to do something pretty. Well she took the theme and ran with it and we were BLOWN AWAY with what we got!!!!




I also made wine markers and read "Drink Me" to identify drinks as people got up and dance but also to help bring home the theme. And I also tied tags around the programs that said "Read me".



All in all I'm super pleased with how it turned out. It was the exactly as I had imagined it, maybe even better.


But more important than anything I have commited myself to the love of my life. My wonderful Husband!

Married!

Yay the wedding is over and We are Newlyweds. The wedding was everything I could have hoped for and more. The year of planning and prepping and crafting paid off in leaps and bounds. Not to mention I married my best friend. Life could not be sweeter.

I thought I'd be sad that it's all over, but I'm not. It was wonderful but it's nice to have my brain back to focus on the day to day stuff. It's like I woke up from a fog. All of my creative energy is not being directed to one task so I can spread it through out my life. (of course this means more projects around the house much to Chris's dismay)

Here is a slideshow of some pictures from the wedding put together by our fabulous photographer.

Invitations

I have to brag for a second.

Our invitations and RSVP cards were specially designed just for us. We even have our own logo

One of my co-workers husbands is a graphic designer and for the last year I have been giving him free massages in exchange for this design work and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out!

He is quite accomplished and very talented. www.thedara.com

He has done design work for several bands including Paramore and Panic At The Disco. (A shirt he Designed for Paramore is currently being sold in HotTopics everywhere)

Go to his site and check out somemore of his stuff.

2 MONTHS!

It is so close! I can't believe that we are in the home stretch. Keeping up with a blog and planning a wedding at the same time are not easy things.

The invitations have gone out. We've already gotten a decent amount of RSVP's back. We are getting a little nervous about space issues. We invited a few more people than we mean to acctually have there. I know a LOT of people you invite don't come but so far everyone is coming to ours and a few people are bringing people we didn't invite, dates mostly. Now I'm for a good party the more the merrier I say but at the same time this is costing lots of money. My mother has always strictly adhered to the "if your name isn't on the invitation you aren't invited" rule of edict. As I learned through my friend Mark's wedding and am learning again now...most people either don't know that rule or choose to ignore it. I'm afraid this may lead to a few uncomfortable phone calls in the coming weeks. But for now I will just believe it will all work out in the end!

The honeymoon is booked. We found a great deal on a cruise to the Bahamas. 4 days 5 nights with stops in Coco Cay Bahamas and Nassau. We are leaving from Port Canaveral and we are flying down a day early and staying an extra day on the other end mainly so we don't have to stress about making flights or missing the ship, but it also means we get to play in Orlando. We are thinking we will do Sea World one day.

We have had two showers already and they were both very different and perfect in their own right. We have the last shower the Sunday with Chris's family and friends.

The Bachlorette party is in the works. I don't know if I know everything thats planned or not but I do know it will be a BLAST!

Other than that my mind never stops making lists and stressing over possible disasters and oversights... I don't see that stopping till April 26th

check out our wedding website www.chrisandcarrie.org

Slight frustration and good advice

So I had a stressed out panic yesterday. My spa had booth at the Bridal Show yesterday and as I stood there and looked around at all of the brides and wedding stuff I just kept thinking about things I need to do and how we were exactly 3 months away.

So as soon as I got home, even though I was exhausted and had a killer headache, I decided I had to get some stuff done. I started to work on the wedding favors/place cards. If you look at an earlier blog post I put up pictures of an early version of the magnets. Well the plan has changed slightly. Now they all look like playing cards and will have inviduals names on them and double as place cards. I had not figured out the best way to execute this and decided that last night was going to be the night I figured it out. I took pictures of different versions I had worked on and sent them to my mom. She helped a little but more than that gave me good advice she said "It doesn't sound like you're having fun anymore" I said that I wasn't I was stressed and had been looking at them too long so I couldn't make a decision. She told me to stop and pick it up in the morning. I maintained that I had to get it done and so she told me to enlist the help of my Matron of Honor. I sent her the pics and she gave me her opinion and helped talk me through the other desicions that needed to be made.

As soon as I get a few made I will post some pics.

Now on to finding shoes for my bridesmaids. That is the next task that is causing me stress but already Dryden and Megan and Carmen have stepped up to help look for something.

I'm waiting to hear from my designer for a proof on the invitations. If I don't hear anything this week then that will be the stress I freak out over next.

Next up Showers....

Crunch time!

It's been a while since I've posted anything. The holidays happened and well life happened. Now we are in wedding planning a prep full tilt. Things seem to be trucking right along but I am very good at deluting myself. We've crossed off a lot of things this week...

We purchased my wedding band. It's a simple white gold band that tucks right up next to my engagement ring. We bought it at Wright's Jewelers. They are the ones who did an amazing job fixing my engagement ring so we have stayed loyal.

We ordered the gifts for our bridesmaids and groomsmen. We got a great price on those and once they get here we just have a few minor finishing touches to add.

We have met with the Gordon Lee Mansion to finalize the menu and various details. The ceremony will take place on the front steps of the house and the reception will follow in the formal garden. The menu consists of heavy hourderves and is as follows:

Sliced Roast Beef with assorted breads and cheeses
Mushroom caps stuffed with a crab stuffing and a swiss cheese and wine stuffing
Fresh fruit array
Finger sandwiches: chicken salad sandwiches and Cucumber Sandwiches
BBQ chicken Drummettes
Mini Quiches
Vegetables and dip

Drinks will include a mock champagne punch, sweet and unsweet tea, water, beer, and wine. We will have real champagne for toasts.

More to come over the next few days...

Engagement Pictures

Chris and I go to have our engagement pictures taken on Wednesday. I've gotta say I'm really nervous about it. I don't pose for pictures well I get uncomfortable and silly and laugh a lot. Not to mention I have NO idea what to wear. a dress? dark blue jeans and cute top? a cute top and a skirt? What should Chris wear? jeans and a polo? kahakis and a button up? AHHH!! I have to stop over thinking these things.