My Wedding on a Budget: 3 Days to Go!

Signs, Flowers and Setup--oh my!
Jerusha started on the flowers today and I haven't seen any of them myself, but from her pictures and what Rachel told me they are wonderful! She's doing great!! Who'd know she isn't a trained/learned florist! I love the wildflower look being created. So perfect! I LOVE my purple bouquet! It makes me happy just to look at the picture. She did so, so many in mason jars and more for the church, reception and anywhere we could possibly use flowers.
Went down to Greystone early this morning before work so I could meet with Mom, Rachel and Aunt Anne and here there to-do list for the day and weigh-in. (I'm still working...) Mom had the 30-whatever mums still (from Uncle Jerome & Aunt Janet) that still needed to be planted or placed. She also needed certain flower gardens cleaned up. They got all of that done and they started placing the walkway/path lights around the grounds.
The program is ready to go and being printed. I saw a sample tonight. I made one of the directional signs and started on the "Welcome to Knob End" sign that I was going to wood burn onto one of the log pieces that Jon cut, but then Pa kind of "volunteered" himself to take over for me--and I did not object!
Rachel and Aunt Anne also picked up some more stuff to use from Karen. Somehow Mom and I missed that the table toppers were not extra and had gone with just the white linens. We knew the colored linens were extra so I guess we assumed the toppers were as well, but, no! And guess what? She has some PERFECT purple ones that are just sheer enough to not be to overwhelmingly purple! She also has the perfect green colored cloth napkins to cover the chip bowls for snacking. It's all coming together and so soon will it all be over!

My Wedding on a Budget: 5 Days to Go!

Only time for a bullet list:
- Spoke to Izetta and music is set (cleared by Father as well)
- Jenny has possession of Jon's Baptismal record and all else necessary (sigh of relief)
- Reviewed the itinerary with Mom
- Flowers arrived...a day early! Which was a mini-crisis because there were so many (much more than we anticipated) and they overloaded Karen's kitchen which she was busy with other things today. So Mom and Aunt Anne went it immediately to begin cutting them and getting them in water buckets. Jerusha came in to take a look as well.
- We just realized that the bouquets can't be tied until the morning of because they need to be in water, which means Jerusha (the photographer) cannot do it herself, as she'll be quite busy with that other very important job she volunteered for. I called in my Go-Pher girls: Sara & Michelle! They'll tie the bouquets!
- Mom was worried because she didn't get the yard mowed due to having to go in for flowers unexpectedly. Jon jumped on it and got it all done.

My Wedding on a Budget: 13 Days to Go!

Mum Mania!

Astrea is Vanna Whiting the MANY, MANY mums that Uncle Jerome and Aunt Janet delivered to the house today! Most of them aren't blossoming just yet but should be any time, meaning they'll be lovely in 2 weeks. All colors...it will be beautiful! And that's not the end of their delivery! They have about 10 more they couldn't fit in this trip!

My Wedding on a Budget: 21 Days to Go!

Up bright and early! Mom and I ran into Karen's kitchen early this morning. She was off to cater another wedding but had let us know that she had purple flowers for this particular one and would have them in her fridge if we wanted to come take a peek. Why not? Most of those used are not the wild flower look I was going for, but the hydrangea were lovely. (Would be nice if those were still blooming at Paula Esterle's house so I could get Michelle to steal some for me like she did for the shower she held for me.









Speaking of flowers, though, Aunt Janet did find a GREAT deal on mums. Mom had asked her about a month ago to help her find lots of big mums she could buy (fairly cheap) to plant and put around the reception. Well, she sent some HUGE ones home with Uncle Jeff that she can get for just $4.50! They don't come in any deep, true purple colors but I've told Mom I'm not concerned with those flowers being "our colors". Mums are pretty in general and I love fall colors so I'll be happy just to see beautiful flowers around.

Mom made a trip to Lexington for a few tasks and met up with Rachel. They went to Sam's club and got some of the necessities there. I stayed home and made another batch of salsa. Not sure, but we may use this salsa to set out as a pre-dinner snack. We'll see how much we end up with.

My company has not been the most helpful this weekend, but they're entertaining so it's okay.

My Wedding on a Budget: 35 Days to Go!

Lexington Trip
Lots done this morning in Lex! Jerusha came withe Mom and I this morning, and I'm very grateful! Our first stop was the flower place, which we had to pretend that we were simply pick out what we wanted Karen's florist to put together for us so that Karen can order them for us at her wholesale price. So, so many flowers to choose from so it was definitely helpful having Jerusha and Mom both there to ask me questions... "Do you like these or these?" "Do you want these in the bridesmaid bouquets?" "Do you want any white in your bouquet?" The good news is, with what I was going for, I picked out all cheap flowers.! Not really a rose kind of wedding and lilies are too springy. I'm going with white daisies for the bridesmaids and hopefully purple dahlias with purple stock for my bouquet but if the dahlias have already died out for the season I'll go with purple spider mums. Then we picked out some other things for a few other arrangements. In the end I'm not too worried about it. To me, flowers are pretty so whatever the combination...it will be pretty!

Then it was to Macy's at Fayette Mall to hit up the MAC counter. Rachel met us there. We couldn't get a girl to do the makeup application before 11 a.m. So in our 45 minute wait we found this kiosk with these dress/wrap/skirts. They were pretty simple but the 2 layers of patterned material at different lengths cut in such a way and put together so that it could be wrapped and tied in multiple ways to be dresses or skirts. Very, very cool. So, of course, Rachel and Jerusha talked me into getting one. It'll be a perfect carry-on item for the honeymoon, because even if they lose my other luggage at least I'll have something that poses well as multiple dresses, right?

Make up went well minus the fact I had to spend a ton of money on it in order to get the stuff I'll need. Part of me hates it but the other part is just trying to just remind myself I can use it for years to come and it'll be worth it for keeping a nice look all day long, which I definitely want. I will still need to find blush and lip stuff similar to what they used but Rachel said buying their top of the line stuff wasn't critical for those two elements.

Last thing we did was Mom had been looking for something for herself to wear. She found a nice black chiffon skirt and satin-like purple top to go with it. She's still not 100% convinced it's what she wants, so we'll see. But while she was checking out for that we sorted through all of the clearance swim suits and found one that was a black- white-aqua that I went ahead and got since I never even got one this summer.

Oh and I also stopped in Men's Warehouse to turn in our code card for the $40 discount on all of the tuxes. I am pretty sure Jon is just going to switch them all to the cheaper tux which I am completely okay with. I don't think anyone will notice or care, minus all of the guys renting them. They'll care and be glad they are saving $50!

My Wedding on a Budget: 36 Days to Go!

Ready for a long weekend!
We have an entire weekend ahead of us to look forward to of being in the Valley with a bonus day thanks to Labor Day!

I finally called Jeannie in Junction City to cancel the hair reservation I'd made after the trial run. Luckily she was very nice and just said, "Okay thanks for letting me know," so I didn't have to feel bad.

I also called Shades just to double check on the make-up thing. Turns out the WILL do make up application! Obviously it's not their main trade so the guy I spoke to said he recommended bringing some of your own stuff--especially foundation or powder--because they mainly had some Mary Kay stuff. It's only $15 to have it done so now I can message all of my girls and let them know they have an option for make-up if it is something they want to have done rather than doing it themselves. PLUS I can have them do mine and not worry about Rachel or Holly having to do it. I'm still going to go tomorrow, as planned, to have it done somewhere like MAC so I can buy some products.

The flower place changed and now we have to be there and do our thing BEFORE 10 a.m. so we're leaving nice and early at 7 a.m!

My Wedding on a Budget: 37 Days to Go!

Veil...Check!
Aunt Lea is done with my veil! I picked it up this evening and it looks wonderful! She did an excellent job. I officially have a veil and it's even more excited to have had it made by someone so near and dear to me!

Here is some more good news: Shades, the salon, will do make up! They don't have a big line or anything too fancy so the guy, Brian (the one Holly was familiar with), told me that they recommend us bringing some of our own stuff--particularly foundation and powder. It's only $15 a person. I'm just glad to be able to give the other girls an option and to not have to worry about who is going to do mine. I'm still planning to do the Mac counter or something on Saturday. Jo and Rachel both recommend Mac as the best brand to really look good and last all day...and, well, let's face it... Of my bridal party, I'd say those two are the experts! Brian also told me that we are free to bring morning mimosas and food/party trays and our own music. We'll be the only ones at the salon!

Kara and I also chatted at length online today. She found the smaller size cake pan she needed for the top layer of the cake, so I think she is going to do a trial this Tuesday or so and then I can come by and bring my ribbon and maybe by then I'll have picked out flowers for the rest of the wedding and have an idea for her. I just have to remember to bring my stuff up to her!

My Wedding on a Budget: 38 Days to Go!

Planning for Saturday
As usual, there wasn't a lot of time for wedding progress on Driving Wednesday. However, I got to talk with both Mom and Rachel on the phone about plans for the weekend. Karen (the caterer) has a flower guy that we, as of now, are planning to get our fresh cut flowers from. He's got a weird schedule for when he's available for us to come look at flower options and basically the only time that works is he is there from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. Oh, and I guess I should mention that he is in Lexington.

So the plan is to go scout out flowers on Saturday and while I'm in Lexington I'm going to do a make up run through and probably buy some stuff I'll use the day of. I haven't found out for sure if the salon does or doesn't do make-up but we're kind of thinking no, so I'm trying to figure out a plan. I trust Holly or Rachel to do it but I want to have an idea of what I want it to look like and I want quality products that will look nice in pictures and hold up through the day. So I'm going to either the mall Mac counter or Rachel's friend works at a salon who sells a lot of stuff so maybe there. The other thing I am still considering is seeing if Kathy Goode, who did Kelli's hair and make up for her wedding, would be willing to come up to the salon to do it and free to do so. Because, believe it or not, this isn't all just about me. I know some of the girls would prefer and find it fun to have someone else (who knows what they're doing) to do their make up and I'd like to at least give them an option.

I also need to call poor Jeannie in Junction City and tell her I won't be coming to her solo salon!

My Wedding on a Budget: 53 Days to Go!

Getting Crafty, Saving Dollars!
KK and I headed to JoAnn Fabrics this evening to pick out materials for several items she's making for the wedding. Originally it was going to just be the pew decorations, but after talking with the girls on Sunday and looking at her samples, it's just silly to buy the sashes/belts for her and Michelle to wear or to buy the flower hair clips for the bridesmaids.

The worst part is that I am a terrible decision maker--that on top of the fact the store was not well organized. Some materials and some colors were grouped but not in any sensible way. So we were mainly looking for chiffon and satin, but chiffon (in purple) was nearly impossible to find and in hit and miss places! So we were having to carry material back and forth, here to there to compare side by side and figure out what we liked best.

We finally went with a wisteria looking purple ribbon for the belt itself and two different purples for flowers: a darker almost grayish purple light silky material and a iris chiffon. The belt will have two iris chiffon flowers on either side of one darker purple flower. The pews will be a pretty classic larger purple flower made of a silk satin material. A chiffon-like muted green material will tie around it and hang and we'll use that same wisteria ribbon to tie it the pews. The hair piece flowers are just a white, shiny satin that is more or less none-shiny on the flip side, giving it almost a two-tone look. We may add tulle or chiffon to the flowers. I also picked up a few spools of ribbon to possibly use for the cake.

All said an done we spent less that $60 (should have been less than $50 but they were difficult about KK's 20% off coupon she had on her phone and said they couldn't take the number from it because it had to be scanned... was pretty frustrating actually). When i was researching belts they ranged from $22 to $75. I'd have probably gone with a $25 one. The hair flowers were anywhere from $5 to $12. Who knows how much pew decor would have been. If I'd have bought these things individually, it would have been well over $100. (Probably closer to $150). This will have much more meaning coming from KK...plus there was a lot of quality time for us to spend together!