Ties...Registry...Counseling

The biggest problem with having 7 guys who need different colored ties is that there are few brands that have all the colors I need.
-Red
-Orange
-Light Blue
-Green
-Red
-White
-Yellow
But we finally found one that has every color except for yellow. We bought all the colors except for red, because they didn't have that color at the Kohl's in Tulsa. On Sunday we went to the Kohl's in Edmond (where, I would like to point out, they had at least 5 red ties on Friday) but they were out of red also. The closest red tie is in Norman. We still have to find a yellow tie.
So after the lady at Kohl's told me I had to go on a tie-hunt, she told me their wedding registry was actually broken "until further notice."
At this point I was pretty bummed, and stressed, and about to cry over a stupid tie. What the heck?
But Garrett cheered me up (he's good at that) and convinced me to go to Target to register there. It was actually fun! We registered for all the typical things you're supposed to register for, but got some games and movies as well.
After registering at Target we had our first pre-marital counseling session, and it was awesome. He told us the results of the survey that we took, and turns out we scored really high in almost every area, and even had perfect scores in a couple areas. That was a huge relief for me. I just had this fear of us taking a survey and the counselor saying, "um ... you shouldn't get married." I have unrealistic fears sometimes.
Then we went back to Garrett's house and registered online at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, which wasn't nearly as fun as registering in the store. However, we did find a bedroom set we liked and some bathroom stuff.

Also this weekend:
Bought 52 flowers at Hobby Lobby (thank you Joy for letting us use your discount!)
Decided on fabric to decorate the tables
Picked glasses to use for toasting
Visited both sets of grandparents (brownie points?!)
Found someone who MIGHT sell us their bed
Found someone who doesn't charge an arm and a leg for a cake!

It is so awesome having a future mother in law that knows a zillion people at church who have dealt with wedding things before. She has found so many people who are willing to let us borrow things for the wedding for free! It's awesome!

Honeymoon

We officially have everything booked for the honeymoon.
The night of the wedding we are staying at the OKC Hyatt right by the airport so we don't have to wake up too early. :) In Chicago we are staying at the Park Hyatt which is a little nicer version of the one in OKC. (Apparently Hyatts have different levels or something.)

Hello King sized bed. I think I'm the most excited about the king sized bed. I've slept in a twin my whole life. I cannot wait. :)

Engagement Pictures

Yesterday Garrett, Stacey Turner, and I braved torrential rainstorms to take engagement pictures.

Ok, so we may have been almost done when the rain started, but that is beside the point.

Here are a couple of my favorites. :)

Flowers!!!!!!!

Today I got an estimate on flowers. I really had no idea what to do about flowers. But I went to this awesome flower shop and they were so helpful!
Here's what we'll have.
The bridesmaid dresses are blue, but here are the colors of the flowers.






Each bridesmaid will be carrying 3 of one color, and then the groomsman's tie that they walk down with will match the flowers. I'm totally stoked. :)
My bouquet is going to have orange roses, hot pink daisies, and some really pretty blue flowers that I can't remember the name of.

Lost mind

If you see my mind, please return it.
Remember yesterday, when I said that I was so proud of us for not losing our minds yet? Yeah. Today. My mind is officially gone.
We have done so much in the last 2 days.
Joint checking.
Hobby Lobby 65 times.
Flower appointments.
Mall for shoes.
Looked at 145,000 pictures of engagement pics online to get ideas.
Remembered that we hadn't even thought about programs.
Couldn't find the song that I want to walk down the aisle to. ANYWHERE.
----side note. Anyone have Falling in Love in A Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg?
Fell asleep reading Bargain Bride. It reminded me of that scene in Father of the Bride where Annie falls asleep reading a magazine article about how to save money at your wedding. Except in the movie, her dad feels sorry for her and decides to go ahead and pay for the wedding of her dreams ... that's not going to happen.
Dealt with wedding drama. There will always be drama ... :P
But. We did make the down payment on the invitations. They are amazing and beautiful and I almost cried when I saw them because I am just so excited that someone else is dealing with them and all I have to do is give them money.

100 days.

I am going to marry my best friend in 100 days. I'm so excited.
We have only known our wedding date for 8 days and already we have:

-4/5 bridesmaids have ordered dresses
-I have a wedding dress hanging in the closet
-I have wedding shoes
-We have booked the church
-The picture for our invites has been taken, and they are just a couple days away from being ordered.
-We have bought sand for unity sand, jars to pour the sand out of, and a jar to pour it into. We have tealights for floating candles as well.

I am so proud of us. We haven't lost our minds yet.

Dress!!!!

On Saturday I went to Alfred Angelo to look for a wedding dress. I had already been to David's Bridal and fell in love with one but it was out of my price range. I was prepared to try on white bridesmaid dresses at Alfred Angelo, but they found a mermaid style for me on the clearance rack! It fit perfectly and I bought it right off the rack. It doesn't need any alterations or anything!!!

Here are some of the ones from David's Bridal that I didn't get:

I liked the flowers on this one, but the back wasn't very photogenic. Also it was $$$.


I liked the way this one fit! It was really pretty in the store, but in pictures it kind of looks like I'm wrapped in toilet paper.


This one was pretty - but POOFY!


The one I got is pretty much perfect. I'm really happy with it! You don't get to see a picture though. :)

Dresses? Check. Shirts? Check.

Yesterday we made the final decision on bridesmaid dresses. I was originally going to go with ones from David's Bridal, but they were so. expensive. So I started hunting department stores so that my bridesmaids wouldn't go broke. I found this dress:


Two of my bridesmaids have already ordered theirs! Yay. Way to be on top of things. Also, did I mention these were just shy of 40 bucks? Not too shabby.

Then I started looking a dress shirts for the groomsmen. I really wanted something that was going to match the dresses as closely as possible. While we will most likely wait til the dresses come in to make the final decision on the shirt, this is the one that I'm leaning towards.


I am really happy with how much we have gotten done this week! Tomorrow I am going to try on wedding dresses, and then going with the future in-laws to The Melting Pot! So. Excited.

Stuff is getting done!

Things are starting to come together really quickly. Yesterday we booked Edmond Church of Christ for August 20th, 2010. This is a day earlier than originally planned, but we get the church for the rehearsal dinner, the wedding, and the reception. We still have to pay them, but we are on the calendar.
Also, we booked our honeymoon! We'll be staying at the Park Hyatt on Michigan Ave. in Chicago. My dad and I stayed there a few years ago, and it is AWESOME. Because it's right on Michigan Ave, it's walking distance from almost everything. I'm so excited to spend our honeymoon in my favorite city.
Also - David's Bridal is having a HUGE sale this weekend. I'm really really hoping that the dress I want is one of the ones that is on sale! That would be so fantastic!

August 21st, 2010

Yes.
We are getting married in 15 weeks.
In 109 days.

Thanks to those of you who have been supportive and understanding and just generally awesome. I really appreciate it, especially because there have already been people who have been the exact opposite of supportive.

Right now we are looking for a location. We have a really tight budget, and I'm already kind of getting stressed about this, because most of the wedding chapels in Edmond cost almost our entire budget because they include everything. I don't want something that includes everything, because then I feel like I don't even get a say in my own wedding.
So, if anyone even reads this thing, and has any suggestions, that would be really helpful.
Actually, if you just have any suggestions in general on how to spend less that 5,000 dollars on a wedding, those would be great as well.

I am very excited to get married, even though I know some people's feelings are hurt because they are close to us and won't be able to come. That just to say that my family is the most important, and that we can't plan around everyone. We would love to see as many people there as can come!
We are so excited!!!!

Wedding Nightmare

Commence having wedding nightmares.

Last night I dreamed that we had an outside wedding. In August. In Oklahoma. Everyone was sweating and miserable, the groomsmen were passing out because they were in long sleeves and black dress pants. The ring bearer was crying because he was so hot. Everyone's make-up was melting off.
The cake melted into a huge puddle of frosting.
There were weird Oklahoman bugs EVERYWHERE including in the flower bouquet.
It. Was. Awful. This WILL NOT happen.

In other news - Garrett's dad has agreed to do our wedding!