five.twentytwo.ten

What a day... rain or shine.


Photo courtesy of Paul A. Selvaggio

11 D A Y S ! !

It has been so crazy this past month that I haven't made time to blog or write in my journal. (or do anything else for that matter)

This Saturday is Jen&Mark's wedding. It's the first wedding of 2010 for us. I'm looking so forward to attending, it's going to be beautiful! Of course, that means that we are next Saturday!!! AHHHH!!!!! I can't believe it's already here. My goal as of late has been to stay off the wedding blogs, which I recommend to all my friends getting married! Once you have everything done it'll only make you wonder if you still like your decor, your flowers, your dresses, etc. Not good!

There's a chance that the next blog I post will be as a married woman! Wow, still hasn't fulling sunk in.

ChinaGirl

I'm very sad that one of my (now former) bridesmaids can't be at my wedding. She found out a few months ago that she has to go to China for an exclusive law-school program that you have to qualify for and has to leave only days before our wedding.

T- Thanks for trying to make it happen, wish you could be there. Bring back presents ;)

Bridal Showers

So far there has been 3 bridal showers, including my own this year. The 4th is this coming weekend for my fiance's little sister. Here are some photos from Kacey's shower this past weekend! It was themed "Something Blue..."

{ bridesmaids }

Licensed to Wed

Our marriage license came in the mail today!

With This Ring I Thee Wed

The engagement ring Christian picked out for me in '09 was GORGEOUS. The only drawback has been finding a match for it. The designer, Jeff Cooper, has a matching band for it but the price was near double what your standard diamond band would run you. So we had been going from jeweler to jeweler, for the last few months, looking for a match that was a little easier on the wallet.

We ended up at JBR, after a referral from my sister&brother-in-law to-be, nothing in the store matched my ring but we did find a band for Christian that met his needs. We picked out a black tungsten ring for him. It looks great on him even though he's not a jewelry person. The sales associate at JBR pulled out a catalog of rings we could order to see if anything in there came close and after about an hour we found one that looked near perfect. We ordered it knowing that if when it came in it didn't match we would be refunded our deposit.

A few days went by and Christian called me late one night after his hockey game and said, "Lauren, I've been thinking... I want you to have the matching band to your engagement ring..." We decided to try and negotiate the price. Within the next few days he received a postcard in the mail from the jeweler saying that the Pres of Jeff Cooper would be there on April 10 for a trunk show. Good timing!

Yesterday, we stopped by JBR first to see the ring we had previously ordered - sadly it was not even close to being a match. So we drove out to Orrs to see what was in store for us. We walked in and Mr Cooper introduced himself, showed us the matching ring, then offered us a FABULOUS deal if we ordered today at the show. We were in-and-out within 10 minutes, ha. It was the price we wanted... THANK YOU LORD! Everything worked out and we are just in time with just over a month until the wedding!

Developments 4.6.10

On -of all days- Easter Sunday my mom and step-dad informed me that the day before they had rode their motorcycles up the mountain and visited The Barn where we are getting married next month. They then instructed me to sit down for what they were about to tell me. When they got to Fallingwater they saw that there were construction vehicles everywhere, the grounds were roped off, and the building was roofless! My parents spoke with a security guard who informed them that the snow from Februarys 'snow-mageddon' had damaged the roof and that it would be done in a few weeks. My mom asked specifically about our date, May 22. The guard then looked at his chart and said, "which May 22 wedding?"

Knowing that we are getting married "in a few weeks" I had a mild panic attack before I realized that I could do nothing about it on Easter Sunday. A few glasses of pinot blanc later I had almost forgotten about it. And I even slept like a baby last night, FINALLY!

Thankfully, this morning Christian contacted them to get the 411, and they said that everything is in order for our wedding and that there is in fact no other wedding scheduled on our day.

Unfortunately, we should probably still keep a close eye on this situation.

My Bridal Shower

Saturday was my bridal shower. Everything went really well! It was in the Water's Edge event space at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. The theme was "Love in Paradise" and was chartreuse + purple. The flowers were beautiful too (from Curly Willow). Everything was wonderful, my bridesmaids (and bridesman) did such a good job.

toilet paper bride game

A Toast

About a week ago my mother stumbled upon some unused gift certificates that I had won years ago. (Do any stores even call them 'gift certificates' anymore? I think everyone uses 'gift cards')
So, GOOD TIMING, I was able to use them to buy our champagne flutes!

I love the swirling silver orb at the base!

Kitchen = Foreign Country

Last night I received my first recipe card, it came from Michelle! My bridesmaids sent out custom-designed recipe cards with my invites to match the invitation itself (and they just happen to match my soon-to-be kitchen). It's perfect since when I'm in the kitchen I feel like I'm in a foreign country, where no one speaks my language!
I have goals to be able to cook for my hubby and my girls are taking me that first step with these recipe cards. Since there are only like 3-4 things I can actually make without his help, he will be happy.
My bridal shower is this Saturday! I'm a little nervous but excited too!

Nicole designed my shower invitations

A P O L O G I E S !

I want to apologize to any of our wedding guests who received invitations in which the return envelope was not filled out and did not have a stamp! My boss asked me this morning who to make out the return envelope to and I was horrified to find out a blank envelope slipped by us. He laughed about it as I insisted he take one of my stamps. I really REALLY hope this was a one-time oops!

Invitations are in the Mail! ✔

Christian and I spent every free moment of our weekend addressing and stuffing envelopes. He did a really good job and didn't complain about it once. He even went out on a stamp-run on saturday evening, I love him. We put them in the mail Monday morning and they already started arriving today!

Double Booked

One of my bridesmaids is getting married 2 weeks after my wedding, June 5. I'm very excited for her wedding, it's going to be so nice! Her bridal shower is set for April 17. Yesterday, she told me that her (semi-distant) cousin, who is getting married May 1, just sent out invitations that her bridal shower is also April 17! From what I've gathered our (my friend's bridal party) invitations went out first. And they checked with the family to confirm that nothing was going on.
1st... why is this other chicks shower 2 weeks before her wedding?
2nd... who does that?
I just feel for her. Now, the family members have to decide between which to go to. That's no fun.

Invitations FINALLY!

Our wedding invitations came today! I was so excited when I got the call from the printer saying he was on his way. He is one of my regular venders and gave us a discount :)
I spent hours deciding on colors, seriously hours. Gray is not as easy as you'd think (especially for someone as anal as me)... there are warm grays, cool grays, some look more blue, some green... so I am very pleased with the Pantone color I chose.

We were glad to be able to design our own invitations!

Nails

In total boredom on my lunch-break, I stumbled upon OPI's website to look at nail-polish colors. They have a "Try It On" section where you can see all their colors on a realistic hand. You can even adjust the nail length and skin tone. It was a productive way to spend 15 minutes of my break.
It made me think that it might be cute to have my bridesmaids do white tips with a tiny grey/silver stripe across or perhaps just my MOH.
My nails are going to just have white tips. I would rather not have "fake" nails because I generally have very long thick natural nails. On the other hand I am pretty good at breaking my nails so we will see.

Rehearsal News

....... This is an Announcement to our Bridal Party .......

If you do not know already, Sunday, May 16 is the rehearsal and dinner for the wedding. The rehearsal will start promptly at 230pm at The Barn in Mill Run. Due to the distance, the availability of the barn, and the officiant's time-frame we are having it the Sunday before the wedding.

Immediately following the ceremony rehearsal will be the dinner. We are still ironing out those details.

Dress code for this day's events is 'casual dress', which by our standards means your favorite denim (required) with a nice shirt. Your spouses/fiancés are also welcome. :)

My gown is now Mine

As of last night my dress is officially mine. They even gave me a cute little certificate of authenticity from Maggie Sottero. Finally Katy has my dress and we will be planning a dress fitting at her place to finalize my alterations.

It's still very surreal that I'm getting married in 2 months, 1 week, and 5 days (according to my Daisypath wedding tracker). We are getting into the final stages of the planning process. I think everything is booked, with the exception of our cake. Yesterday, we discovered that the lady who was going to do our cake (who has done some really nice cakes, including my mothers) decided she wanted to make me a birthday size/shaped cake instead (ummm no!), and refuses to make me a taller cake due to the distance it has to travel. I contacted our caterer and wedding venue about the dilemma, within 24 hours they both got back to me with options so we'll be good to go soon!

http://stitchesbykaty.blogspot.com/

B A L L O O N F U N

This is just for fun but I have been noticing a new trend with weddings... BALLOONS! When I thought of balloons I thought of a child's birthday party. Now, I love the way they are used in photography. It creates just a little bit more interest. I would totally recommend getting just white balloons or a coordinating color for your wedding, even just for photos. I can't imagine a photographer not approving.

MOH's Dress

My bridesmaid's dresses came in a few weeks ago and my sister finally went to try on her dress. We are finding that they are all running a little small which is contrary to what we all had originally thought the issue would be. It seems that, aside from them ordering Nikki's dress in the complete wrong size, everyone is (after some effort) at least able to get the dresses on. They also appear to need pressed/steamed/or whatever it is they do to them to make them look ready-to-wear.

Carly tried hers on and sent me a photo. It looks good. She said hers is snug but not in a bad way.

Nice socks Carl :)

Year of Weddings Kickoff

This weekend marks the official start to the "2010: Year of Weddings" for us. Sunday is the bridal shower for my friend Jen. She is getting married, in May, exactly 1 week before us. After that, only 7 more showers and 9 weddings to go (including ours).

Ring Bearer ✔

I don't know how much it cost to rent a tux or buy a nice suit for a 2 ½ year old so while I was watching my nephew the other day we went shopping. We found a suit that is the same coloring as my fiance's suit. The suit, for the ring bearer, has a white windowpane pattern for $19 at Burlington Coat Factory. The original price was $50 so I'm thinking $19 is a good price (since he's going to grow out of it by the end of the year).

BUT the most important part is how cute it is on him!!!

When all else fails, DIY!

A few weeks ago I was shopping around for jewelry for my bridesmaids. I knew I wanted to provide it for them but wasn't sure what I wanted. Finally, I ended up finding a beaded necklace that I liked a lot but it was like $40, without earrings! (It was really somewhere around $35-$45, I can't remember exactly.) When I looked at it closer I realized I could totally make it! There was no way I was spending that much on something that I had the proper skills to create myself.

I ended up finding the perfect beads at a local craft store for just under $6 per strand, I bought 6 strands (I did discover that I needed 1 more). When I finished the necklaces I found I even had enough for 5 sets of earrings. So in the end I will have spent under $50 for 5 necklaces and 5 pairs of earrings that are completely unique, when I could have spent around $300 for something similar in a store.

My sister(maid-of-honor)'s necklace is double stranded and the rest of my maids get a single strand. No 2 are alike! Each necklace and each pair of earrings are different and they match my dresses PERFECT! I can't wait to see them on!

I love when I find time (and space) for a little DIY project.

3 Months!

I was just reminded that today is the 22nd and that in exactly 3 months we will be getting married. Yay!

✷♥✷ May 22, 2010 ✷♥✷

like a river flows surely to the sea
darling so it goes, some things were meant to be

take my hand, take my whole life too
for I can't help falling in love with you

Shoes are Here!

My shoes came in this week. They delivered them to my neighbor/bridesmaid instead since I guess the fedex guy couldn't get up our driveway with all the snow we've gotten.

They are running bigger than the black ones I tried on in the store so I'm not sure if it's just because my feet are cold or what so we'll see how that goes. The color is great though, I was worried about that since ivory can be more yellow or just a shade off from white.

When I get around to it I'll post pictures!

Awful Bridal Store Experience

So I don't even think I could begin to explain the horrible experience I've continued to have with MB Bride. To all the brides out there, do NOT go there. If it's too late then I just pray you have a much better experience then we have had. We have had every issue from incredibly rude service, over charging on a dress, to dresses coming in, in the wrong sizes and everything in between.

Thankfully, after 2+ hours of arguing with the owner this morning I finally was able to get discounts on 2 of the dresses.

I heard a few other horror-stories about that store today too. My sister found her wedding dress from there, but she will NOT be purchasing it from there after this experience. I certainly want her experience to be better then mine!

Español

I've decided to learn some Spanish words and/or phrases in prep for our honeymoon. I took it in elementary school and some in junior high but Christian never did. When we were in Punta Cana 2 years ago we were completely out-numbered as far as language was concerned, even the resort staff barely spoke English. Even though this time we are staying in a 6-star resort (assuming that means less of a language-barrier) I thought this would be fun! So I've asked a co-worker to give me a random word every day for me to look up.

Palabras en español de la semana (spanish words of the week)
Thursday
Portamonedas - Purse / Bolsa - Bag / Catera - Wallet
Friday
Abogado - Lawyer

Bridal Shoes ✔

Just ordered my bridal shoes, I'm so excited!!! As I was checking out I noticed that it would be just under $100 for my shoes, and I sighed a bit. Then I thought... well maybe if I sign up for the email list I'll get at least like free shipping or something... within 10 seconds I got an email with a new customer coupon code and it made my shoes just under $70, YAY! So it was totally worth it, I cannot wait for them to come in!

I always love it when brides to a bright 'pop' color for their shoes. Unfortunately with our colors - charcoal grays + ivory whites - we don't have any real 'pop' colors. But I always recommend it to people who ask for advice.

Another neat thing about the shoes I chose for the women in our wedding... all the shoes are the same just in 2 colors, black for the girls and ivory for me, but the company does custom shoes for a little bit of an additional charge. They have lots of colors to choose from and you can choose from 2 or 3 different heal heights, depending on the shoe. So for example, my sister is a pink girl so she might do something like this...

Bride: Pink w/Pink Crystals 3.25" heel -- Tall Bridesmaid: Pink+Black 2.5" heel -- Short Bridesmaid: Pink+Black 4" heel

Bridesmaid's Shoes ✔

I love these shoes with my bridesmaids dresses - Nina Culvers. I think I'm addicted to Nina shoes for special occasions. I'm also planning on buying them in Ivory for my dress. These shoes run big so we all went down a size in them. There is a slight possibility that I am just addicted to coordinating and matching things. I've got 4 pairs of these in my possession and none of them are mine - torture!