Update*

Sorry for my lengthy absence. I got a job! I now work at the famous Zingerman's! It is such an amazing place to work and I am just going crazy about it...they pay you to learn all about the business and even for personal learning, they created this wonderful community of incredibly kind, supportive people and make you want to go into work and work hard!

OK, enough gushing about my new, amazing job....back to wedding planning.

Wedding planning has been on the back burner lately, obviously because of my job, but also because I am just so far ahead of schedule. I don't know what to do! Anyone hit a bump like this? I don't want to pick my BMs yet because I want to pick people who I'm sure I will be friends with in over a year. The engagement party is in october. My photographer friend is out of town right now and we are planning for a fall e-pic shoot. I've made a couple of DIY projects but even though I've enjoyed making them and I think they look good, I don't have proper storage to keep them looking good for over a year.

I guess there is one thing that I haven't mentioned about my planning that will take a while and I can probably start. While I was originally planing on buying a bunch of yard sale plates and putting them at the tables for a crafty, mismatched look, I found out my cousin who is having a wedding this August is doing the EXACT same thing. So my father thought of this kind of amazing idea: my mother is a potter and we should make all the plates and drinking cups. We could also customize them give them as favors. I'd have to have someone washing all the dishes before people take them home but it is a pretty cool idea! What do you think?

I'm a graphic designer, so I could get started designing things, especially now that I have my theme and colors. Probably should, but I'm not sure I won't change my mind and it isn't like it should take that long.

Ug. I just want to get married now.

Planning for Pregnancy

I’ve been motherly my whole life. I always knew I wanted to be a mother; I just didn’t actually ever want a baby until I met my FI. Seriously. Like 6 months into the relationship we were talking about it. I’ve been in other relationships where I was scared to death that I would get pregnant. Now I’m to the point where I hope for it every time! Before we got engaged, I was obsessed with a baby. However, now that we are engaged, I still want one, but have another outlet for my obsession: the wedding. I spend all day thinking about it and planning it; for the first couple of weeks, I couldn’t sleep because I was brainstorming. FI is now ready for a baby, which means a lot to me. He suggested we go for it next cycle. Here is my list of pros and cons to help me with this decision.

Pros of having a baby now:

• I get to have a baby, now!
• FI has a really great job and is making good money with amazing benefits
• I’ve been very healthy and am very happy and not stressed
• Been taking prenatal vitamins for 2 months
• I want to have lots of kids and it would be nice start early
• I’m currently working in an environment where pregnancy and children are seen as a gift, not a burden.
• Would be an excuse to skip this semester of college
• FI is ready
• Have space in our home for a baby

Cons of having a baby now:

• Don’t want to have to lose the weight again before wedding
• Social pressures to wait until after marriage
• Want to be able to enjoy myself at my wedding without worrying about the baby
• I don’t want to be too busy with baby to get everything for the wedding done
• Don’t want to do all my exciting things at once (I want to revel in the marriage thing, and as soon as that happens, start again with the pregnancy, I want to stretch the really exciting things in my life out)
• I just got offered a new job (nothing serious, just at a coffee shop)

Whenever FI and I talk about it, his excitement about starting a family with me is so endearing. He wasn’t always this way. I finally was able to talk him into it. I’ve been the one hounding him and always mentioning it. I would get upset when he would say, “not yet, I’m not ready” so I feel it is only fair to him that now he is finally ready, I should be too.

I come from a very liberal family; it is fairly common to have children out of wedlock, so I wouldn’t be ostracized. Babies are always welcome with open arms.

Do any of you have children/planning to have children? How important is it for you to wait until you are married?

I'll leave you with this adorable picture: men and babies...no cuter combo.

FI with my cousin's FOURTH baby! Isn't he CUTE! oh, and the baby is ok too...

DIY Poppies

Happy Tuesday!

Today I'll share some paper poppies I made! I followed a tutorial here so I won't write it out in this blog post since it is done so well over there. But I will show you the final product! I did use tissue paper instead of crepe paper, but everything else was the same. How perfect for my poppy wedding?!

(personal photo)

I could see these used in my bouquet!

11^3

Poppies

So, you may have noticed I completely changed around the look of the blog.

It may have something to do with the fact that it all came together yesterday when I was on Wedding Bee in my month twins forum. A Canadian woman was asking how we celebrate Veteran's Day in the U.S. because she would never have imagined being married on 11/11 because of how somber a day it is in Canada. This got me thinking. Well, we don't really celebrate Veteran's Day in the U.S., but how is it celebrated in Canada and other places?

Poppies. They put poppies into their lapels (like a boutonniere!) to remember the people lost in World War I. We don't do that in the U.S. that much (FI seems to think I am crazy for never noticing this bit of our culture, which I explain isn't part of my culture because I have never heard of it before)

Poppy in lapel for Remembrance Day (as they call it in Canada)

Well, it was kind of an epiphany. My colors are red, black and white. I was thinking Damask with accents of red, but was also worried that this would be too formal (I want to make everything for the wedding). Then when I heard about this poppy business, I thought...poppies are red and black. holy crap! I did some research and they are not too common in weddings (as in the floral arrangements) but there are some people who use it in their theme (as in their stationary and paper stuffs)

Cute huh? Also it is more casual and will work well with my heavily DIYed wedding. FI loves it.

But wait! There is more.

November 11th is not only Veteran's Day, and Remembrance Day, but is also called Armistice Day. As a high school student, I started an independent magazine with a group of friends called Armistice, it was an anti-war, political magazine. This gives this day special significance to me because it was when the warring parties agreed to stop fighting and be at peace. This is a nice message for a wedding! Also, they have it on record that the treaty was signed at 11am on 11/11 so they said "on this eleventh hour, of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" they agreed to a ceasefire. How cool would it be to incorporate that into the wedding ceremony (as we have been thinking about doing it at 11:11am, but I'm not sold on the idea).

so Poppies it is! Do any of you celebrate Veteran's Day? What do you think of incorporating this theme?

I'll leave you with this adorable picture I found.

That's right. Poppy neckties. Very classy and super cute!!!

11^3

**(all images from Google. If it is yours or you know where it comes from and you are upset about me not getting the source, let me know)

Venue, Check! ***Picture Heavy***

Hey all! So I have some exciting news!!!

I put the money down for the venue yesterday!!! I went to Cobblestone Farms (it is so close to my house, I rode my bike!) to pay for the space. They require you to pay the whole thing up front so I had to ask for an extension, which they gladly gave to me since I was booking so far in advance. But I scrounged up the money earlier than expected and headed over there (rather than worrying whether it would get there in the mail). I went in and the lady at the counter was so very helpful and kind. She was also patient as I took WAY too many pictures :) Also, since the last time I came in for a tour, the lady at the counter was busy dealing with a broken refrigerator and I didn't get a very good tour, the lady today gave me an extra hour for my troubles! Now I have 11 hours to set up, have the best day of my life, and take down! It is hard to imagine that what took 1.5 years to plan will be over in 11 hours...lol

Anyway, on to the pictures!

This is what you see when you come up to the barn from the parking lot (the first things my guests will see!)

This is the entrance to my ceremony/reception area!

This is the little hallway you see when you open the door from the outside. The lady that works there (Janet) said they have a table that fits in the space perfectly and people usually put their guest books there. I was thinking it would be a good place for a card box too, but there might need to be someone there to watch it (lots of money in cards, I hear!)

Stairs up to the ceremony location! (I know, I took too many pictures...)

After you come up the stairs, this is what you see! The lighting is getting replaced this September, so I have to remember to go back in and see what they did to it (kind of looks and sounds like a gym right now...lol)

Isn't it beautiful?

This is the loft. Pretty cool way to make some extra space!

View from the loft. I'm thinking of having the ceremony in front of those green doors.

Here is a peek from the space into the kitchen. Actually has quite a few amenities!

Kitchen: fridge, 3 part sink and a couple of nice counter spaces.

Kitchen: oven, microwave, coffee maker and an ice machine!

This is the Bridal Room, where the bride and her maids get ready and hang out before the wedding! I asked if there was a room for the men and she said they could use the chicken coop (lol) Isn't it beautiful? There is a little fridge and LOTS of tissue boxes!

Here is the doorway leading to the bathrooms. We can decorate in those flower boxes. We can also decorate the bathrooms.

Now to go outside again...this is the garden next to the entrance to the building. This is where R proposed to me!

This is the bench he had me sit on when he did it!

Me and my beautiful ring, sitting right where it happened! I love that it is so close, I can go visit it anytime.

This is what the barn looks like from the front. Behind these doors is where I'm thinking of having the ceremony. Usually wedding parties will walk up this ramp or maybe even have their guests come in this way, but since I will not be having an outdoor portion to the wedding, I will just keep these babies closed.

This is the side of the barn, there is a cute stairway!

This is the museum. I've never been in, but likely will go before the wedding. We aren't allowed to go inside but we are able to walk around it (but not on the porch...)

Cobblestone Farms is also a petting farm, which is super cute. This is the chicken coop.

Here is a horse and a goat!

Piggies!

All sorts of little buildings on this piece of land. Here is a cute tool shed. Could be a nice backdrop for some photographs!

Softball diamonds directly next door. Maybe we could have an impromptu midnight november illegal softball game? Probs not.

whew. It's like you've been there now!

Anyway, if you can't tell, I am super excited about my space!

until next time,

11^3

ok...so I may have been a little dramatic with that last post...

So I've given it some time and talked it all over with R and my mom and I basically explained why I liked black, white and red. I think it all works out, R likes the colors and my mom said she will like my wedding whether or not I use red in it.

Also my cousin is getting married in August of this year and her colors are purple and yellow... lol that pretty much puts that to rest.

I also showed my mom what I was thinking with many inspiration boards and I think she understands that red can be really classy if done right. Here are some of the inspiration boards I am looking at.

R likes the polkas on some stuff but not others. He LOVEs the feather boutonniere (and so do I!)

I really like the idea of the damask print and R is big on flor de lis, so I was thinking of incorporating some of that. (I'm in love with this first cake)

All images found on google

Damask??? I like the print and historical significance. Also very elegant.

What do you think?

My planning has come to a screeching halt!

So, I went wedding dress shopping yesterday and invited my mother to come with me. She isn't the wedding type lady, so I didn't think she would want to come....but she did. And when she came, she changed my whole wedding around!!! I know people are always talking about how their mothers are taking control of their whole wedding, etc...but I never thought my mom would do this! I haven't really shared any of my planning stuff with her because she thinks I am silly even to have a wedding at all (my parents were married in a courthouse with a ring from a gum ball machine) So anyway, I told my bridal consultation lady that my colors were red, black and white and my mom said "oh no no no, I hate red in weddings. It looks too much like valentine's day" I guess I should have known, she is a very opinionated woman. Anyway, she went around David's Bridal and picked out the colors she thinks I should have: Purple and Champagne.

I'm not too attached to my original colors, other than I thought it would be cute to incorporate future hubby's love of red wings hockey (their colors are red, white and black, see below)

Oh ok, I love the red wings too.

But I am not extremely attached to it, it was just the first thing I thought of. Now, however, my mom has got me all confuzzled. Should I do purple and champagne? I like the combo, but I don't know what to do!!! My mother and father have yet to discuss if they are going to help me pay for the wedding (if they aren't going to pay, they are going to help a lot with the planning) so I don't know if I have to take her advice or not. When I left her, she said that it was my wedding and that I should do whatever I want, but she hates red in weddings.

I don't want my mom to hate my wedding... so I have been putting together some inspiration boards for purple and champagne (or light gold).

What do you think?

I don't want it to look like the Vikings colors, so I have to make sure the gold is lighter.

I thought I had everything almost figured out...then this happened.

geeze...

Foodie Thoughts...

ZOMG CAKES!

I'll give you a little background. Recently Russell got a job at a little food place in our town called Zingerman's. Now Zingerman's is a fancy food place. Little did he know that his new job would come in VERY handy in this wedding planning business as they make the most beautiful and creative cakes and also do catering...bonus!

So I went one day to visit him for lunch, and I snuck over to the bakehouse and perused their beautiful cake collection. omg...gorgeous. Take a look at some of these CAKES!

This is pretty much my dream cake. Red, white and black are our colors, and I want red roses in the bouquets and decorations. Pretty much perfect.

This one is a little out there, kind of too much for me but I do like the roses, again.

This one is simply elegant and I love it. Not entirely with our color scheme but it is white with white roses...I wouldn't complain.

Calla lillies aren't my flowers, but these cakes are too cute! Had to show them off.

Hopefully someone will order one of these cakes and it will be sent back and I can put it in the freezer for a year and a half (I would do it!) until my wedding. I told R to keep an eye out for me ;) Apparently they also send you home with free cake samples...will be going in there for sure.

The original plan was for my mother and my friend to collaborate on the cake (my mom has been taking cake decorating classes for years and my friend has been a baker for about 6 years, I think they could make something that would work) Also, my mom is a chocolate maker and imports her own cocoa nibs from Ecuador which she makes into the most delicious chocolate you've ever tasted! (for more info on my mom's chocolate, see http://www.elquetzaldemindo.com/chocolate/)

I was hoping the cake could be made of chocolate (although I do have several people with severe chocolate allergies invited, we'll have to think of some alternatives for them)

I was also hoping my mom would help me make some specialty chocolates to give out as favors! I was thinking about getting a mold made and then make all the chocolates myself. Hopefully people will like them! I'm thinking something along these lines:

Something like these molds would be cute, but much more personalized. I want everyone to know that I made this for them by hand...

These brownie pops are adorable, I love the idea of the bride and groom on them. CUTE!

These chocolate covered strawberries are to die for and cute as can be! I didn't think I would be so attracted to the bride and groom look, but it is really catching my eye....adorable.

These are chocolates with the name and date on them. Kind of like that sort of personalization but much cooler. We'll have to see what I cook up!

whew! I was going to talk about reception food, but I am exhausted!

until next time...

11^3