My Wedding on a Budget: 9 Days to Go!

SINGLE DIGITS!!!
And I can finally check the 10 day forecast and what's it say....
Aaahhh...so far so good! Let's just hope, hope, hope it stays that way!

It's hard for me to believe we're really so close! There are so many little things to tie up that I feel like I could work non-stop weddingness these last 9 days! I finished my thanks yous tonight and put together my bridesmaids gifts so I can bring them on Saturday. We had dinner with Jerusha and Clay and she was practicing on lemon cupcakes. (baking, icing, seeing how long they'll stay fresh...) I still have quite a few things I want to get done prior to leaving for the bachelorette party on Saturday...!

...Seriously, though... I feel like that weather forecast is too good to be true... It's kind of scaring me!

My Wedding on a Budget: 10 Days to Go!

Wedding Dreams It was Driving Wednesday (therefore no major wedding work) so I thought I'd share with you the 3 wedding dreams I've had so far...

1. The Bridesmaids Dresses - I had this one back in May I believe so I'm fuzzy on the details, but I think it sprung from me telling the bridesmaids they could pick their own dresses and that I'd finally committed to a date. It was suddenly Wedding Day and the catering was crazy and fixing weird food (I knew what it was at the time but now I"m not sure but I do believe that none of it was stuff Jon could eat.) The part I do remember was that the bridesmaids were running around in these salmon pink dresses with poofy sleeves--straight up 80s! I mean, I do love the 80s, but not for my wedding party. I remember in the dream wishing I'd given myself more time to plan because it was suddenly going to be over before I'd had any fun with it! Good news is that hasn't been the case!
   
2. The Weather Nightmare - Actually, this wasn't a nightmare at all. It did rain on the wedding day for my dream, but I think this was God's way of calming me down. It rained and the day went on, nothing was ruined. Everyone had a great time. Everything was lovely. Rain won't ruin the day.
3. Hair Scare - I had this one just last night. I was having my hair done but was extremely distracted and caught up talking with Holly or Rachel or someone the entire time. When the lady finished (and I remembered this was for my wedding) I realized I hadn't given her any direction with what I wanted her to do so she'd completely done whatever she felt like...which resulted in it being pulled back into two french braids with these blue beads (marble sized!) stuck into the braids on my head. Whoa. I didn't have the heart to tell the lady who'd spent 45 minutes working on it that I didn't like it when I hadn't given her any direction. But that's what I had Holly there for!

Hopefully none of the dreams come true... we'll see if I have any more in these last TEN DAYS!

My Wedding on a Budget: 11 Days to Go!

The Odds and Ends
Trying to take advantage of my last "must be here" night in Louisville. (I will drive home tomorrow and possibly be back on Sunday but it's better to get as much done as possible, right?)

So what got done?
- Dropped off cake topper (flowers) and cupcake papers to Kara
- Picked up the Greystone Cellars Chardonnay and Cabernet cases
- Check things off the shopping list:

• Guest Book
• Sharpies to write on Koozies
• Boots to wear with my bachelorette dress plus jewelry
• Thank you cards
• SD card for my video camera (16 GB)
• Blush and lip stuff I still needed for make up
• Swim trunks for Jon
• GLOW STICKS...just in case we want to bust them out at the reception
• A few other fun items...

I could have gotten all of this shopping done a lot faster/earlier but it sucks you in!!! And let's face it, I don't shop too often, so when I do, it's okay to get a little caught up in it, right?

My Wedding on a Budget: 12 Days to Go!

Final Haircut and Bachelorette Dress
I finally went to see J-Pat for the first time since December! Crazy...I know. I was due for a haircut in the spring but then Jon proposed and I decided I would let it grow out some and, well, here we are now! He trimmed me up so the ends will look nice and curl nice for the wedding. He's so nice and so fun and so great with layers.
Holly met me there and then we hit up Forever 21 at Mall St. Matthews. It's good to have a fashion consultant in your wedding party! Forever 21 has taken over one of the larger corners of the mall and it still blows my mind at how much stuff they have. I could have gotten lost in there so easily but with Jo we just sped through on a mission and we found just what we were looking for: a little sexy white dress. (It's actually more off-white.) Now it's just a matter of me finding the right shoes and the right jewelry. I'll probably go with some cute boots if I can find them and gold jewelry.

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: 14 Days to Go!

Work Party
Mom and Pa are gone to Ohio for the weekend. They'd planned a weekend with a bunch of their high school friends long before Jon even proposed. That's part of the reason why we didn't go with an October 1 wedding. (Mom wanted to be home the weekend before the wedding.) So they left us a nice long task list. Luckily, Jon had talked to Seth and Nic during the week so they came down to help out as well. What's even better is we pretty much accomplished everything on it...

- Stone the front path
- Paint the garage trim
- Redo the wood on the Grammo Bridge
- Pick up branches under the big poplar tree (where parking will be)
- Clean up the Yates Flower Garden (all grown up with weeds!)
- Clean up the rotten tomatoes that were sitting out for canning
- Push Mow the back hill
- Weedeat, weedeat, weedeat!

My Wedding on a Budget: 15 Days to Go!

Meeting with Father
A trip to Liberty after work today so that Jon and I could meet with Father Pat one more time. It's a lot to go through so I'm glad that's one area where we have somebody else (Father Pat!) completely in charge who really knows the routine. We need to finalize what music is being played when and get that all to Isetta. There are some things that Father Pat is really hardline about that are kind of bothersome. For example, he wants us to kneel up front the entire time. He said it's easier that way and not room for us elsewhere and it's too hard with the bride's dress. Well, I have never been to a wedding where the couple kneeled the entire time. (Through the ENTIRE mass too!) But I think there will be something extra holy and neat about it. Jon and I usually hold hands through mass especially when we are kneeling. I think this will make it easier for us to pray together through the mass and keep our focus on what it should be. In the end there isn't anything that I'm worked up about. He's letting us get a ton of people in that church which is probably more than a fire code would allow.

There are actually a lot of things I like and appreciate about the traditional Catholic wedding ceremony that I did not know until he told us. For example, the congregation stands at the beginning of the procession, and remains standing for the entire entrance through the bride and not just for the bride. This "show" isn't just about me.

After our little meeting Jon and I took a little stroll through the Apple Festival. He took me on a "romantic ride" on the ferris wheel. I was disappointed when my camera died and I couldn't capture the moment.

My Wedding on a Budget: 16 Days to Go!

Basket Fun
Jon and I made a trip to Danville after work to go to the grocery and get a few other things and decided to drop in at the Peddler's Mall while there. (Wouldn't you know we'd run into Pa!) It's full of plenty of crap but lots of really cool stuff if you're patient going through it all. We decided to not get overly excited and buy things when we still have a wedding ahead of us. The only thing I did buy was a cute little half bushel basket because it is the perfect green color! What will I use it for? Not quite sure yet, but I will find something!
I'm finding out usable bushel baskets make for great decorating resources. Two of them that Mike and Jenny brought last week I've already filled with the 50 flip flops I bought earlier in the summer. Green and white in one; purple and black in the other. I simply tied one of the (many) Bed, Bath & Beyond ribbons around each of them and just that is enough to add a little festivity and character to the wedding decor.
We have a few other half bushels along with a longer, rectangular basket that I'm thinking I'll tie some ribbon around and find job for. Can koozies, flowers, snacks...something... Mom and Pa leave for the weekend tomorrow morning.
Jon and I touched based with them tonight though to get a weekend task list from them. Hopefully we can get a lot accomplished... we only have 2 weekends left!!!!

My Wedding on a Budget: 17 Days to Go!

Ready to Jam
We're set! The sound equipment is all safely to the Valley! I stopped at Doo Wop before heading home tonight and the guy helping me hooked me up with all I needed and even bettered it. He got me speakers and an amp that would use less power than those I was originally quoted. I also specifically watched how he hooked everything up and he definitely do anything special with outlets and what he plugged in where so I think our electric hook up should be fine. The total came to $118 and the quote last week was $178. Clay also picked up the electrical equipment we need and hopefully we can return some of that when all is said and done. After watching the hook up process the Doo Wop guys did I don't think we need to be too worried about the power. We're ready for a purple party!!

My Wedding on a Budget: 18 Days to Go!

Musical Meeting with a hint of Cider
Got together with DJ man Ben after work today. We met up at Heine Brothers on Frankfort after I got off work and I'd printed off the list I made (and Jon added a little to). We met for about an hour and a half but I'd say less than 45 minutes of it was essential planning for the wedding. I went through the things I really wanted/needed played, the general feel for before, during and after dinner and he provided some pretty nifty input as well. I've got to put a lot of my music on CD for him so he can add it to his collections so hopefully I can do that this weekend and get with him one more time before the big day (oh-so-close!)

I know I've said it before, but I'm so grateful to have a close friend heading up my music for the day. Beyond that, I'm so glad to have close friends and family being a part of so many aspects of the wedding. And in case I haven't given them all a special thank you in this blog:

• Caitlan "KK", my cousin, doing some of my church decorations and flowers for the bridesmaids.
• Jerusha, my cousin, helping with more than her fair share. She'll do pictures (with help from her sister, another cousin, Alyx), a batch of cupcakes and put together flowers.
• My Aunt Lea who made my veil
• Kara, my college friend, who is making my cake and a batch of cupcakes
• Michelle, my sister-in-law, who is make TWO batches of cupcakes (sorry I cannot link to a Michelle page! She actually did a test run of cupcakes for me before I started tracking my wedding progress in the blog. She made FIVE batches of cupcakes from scratch in ONE DAY! The house was loaded with cupcakes! Quite the taste-testing!)

Most of my time with Ben was simply catching up. As most of you probably know, the older we get, the less time we get to simply relax and enjoy a good cup of coffee with close friends. But it's worth stopping to do every so often. And in this case...for me at least, it was an exception to my normal coffee because HUBER'S CIDER is back at Heine Bros! YUM!

My Wedding on a Budget: 19 Days to Go!

Today's checklist:

- Ben said we can get together tomorrow about music stuff. Hopefully we'll make some good progress.

- Went to see KK after work and she's gotten quite a bit done on the flower work. They are looking great and she should have it wrapped up by the bachelorette weekend.

- Called "Ecotage" Salon...and it's no longer Ecotage! Good news is J-Pat still works there. I haven't been to see him since DECEMBER. I know...kinda crazy to go that long without trimming up the loose ends. I had to get some length on it though! Jon proposed right around the time I would have schedule a fresh cut and after that I decided to let it grow. But I have an appointment for next Monday so I let Dani and Holly know so maybe they'll do a little shopping with me afterwards.

- Clay called Doo Wop today and it sounds like we're all safe for our sound equipment. We may just need to run more circuits over to the field than expected.

And last but not least... Tell me HOW cute is this ring bearer going to be?!

My Wedding on a Budget: 20 Days to Go!

Mass Music
Jon came home today me today! He still loves me after a wild weekend with the boys!

I stole one of the books from church today so I could find some suitable songs for the ceremony. We mainly need stuff for two parts: the presentation/preparation of the gifts and communion. The other parts will be instrumental (organ) only.

A few I book marked and need to run by Jon are:
- I Am the Bread of Life
- Taste and See
- We Are Called
- Whatsoever You Do
- You Are Mine
- One Bread, One Body

I really, really like "We Are Called," but I'm not sure that will fit anywhere. It seems to be more of a closing, "go forth" song. "You Are Mine" is one of my favorites. I can't decide when to play it but that one is my #1 vote. "One Bread, One Body" and "I Am the Bread of Life" are also two I have always liked. I'll also run them by Anne-Tyler to see if she could lead any of them. I'm not sure if I'll have her sing or lead. I feel like if we want people to join in we need to have lyrics printed out for people so we'll see.

Wrote some more thank yous. Clay went over our electric needs for running power from the garage to the field. He's been beyond helpful. He's going to call Doo Wop tomorrow to figure out if we have to get any special. Last thing I want is power to blow and we lose music and lights!!

So glad my man made it home safely :)

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: 22 Days to Go!

THREE WEEKS?!
Dang, that really hit me today! I realized I have this weekend, next weekend (which is Apple Festival and Mom & Pa will be in Ohio with the "RF" friends from high school), then it's my bachelorette and BAM wedding time!!

Short and sweet tonight... Mike & Jenny drove down today so they could bring a truck load of stuff for Jon and I. A lot of it was from Grandma Feagley's house that was sold. (Nothing wedding related, but LOTS of great canning and gardening tools!) They also brought down the soda and paper products for the rehearsal dinner. One less thing to worry about the week of.
But they ALSO brought something very important for the wedding: the rings! I wish Jon had been here to see them in completion with me the first time, but of course I couldn't help myself and I had to take a peek. Glad we have those safe and sound!
Mom is off on Fridays now so she was running around getting things done and since last Sunday Pa got our drive grated, today they had 3 massive truckloads of white rock brought out for Blue Bank Lane. I drove down for dinner tonight and it looks so nice. They actually extended the gravel back towards the new bridge into Knob End. It's official! We have a road back to our future home. It makes it that much more real!

After eating mom's homemade pizza at the house she and I got on the computer and started looking at some wedding night wear for me. There were, of course, options on Victoria's Secret, but we found a few other sites with some fun (and cheaper) options.Really she could surprise me with whatever and I'd be happy--it's all new to me!

At home I started working on more music. This time for the party part of the reception. How to choose...how to choose! There will be some musts that aren't on most people's play lists (Electric Six and One For the Road). I have to remind myself that not everyone gets excited about 80s jams like I do and I was finding a decent collection of 90s hits I was adding to my potential list. I guess it's pretty clear what era I grew up in. I also want to mix in a little bit of what I have come to call "Jo Jams" in honor of the one and only Holly Jo. She's made many party mix cds over the years and that's where I tend to get my collection of Top 40 and club hits from. I want to hear some bagpipes from the likes of Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys...plus a bit of some club techno and country can't hurt. Honestly, anything that will make people excited and get them moving. I also found a very helpful list from this site that is a great guide to the Top 200 wedding songs and then suggestions for different events in the evening.

As said in my previous post...music is a time suck...I was up quite late....

My Wedding on a Budget: 23 Days to Go!

Party in the BLUEGRASS
Picking out music might be my favorite and least favorite thing...
Reasons to love it:
1.) I love music....simple as that.
2.) It expresses so much not just lyrically but in its sound. Being a lover of movie scores, piano music and all things instrumental, I'd go as far as to say that the sounds means 10x more to me than words.

Reasons to hate it:
1.) There's so much of it and I only have so much time to play it during my day! It basically breaks down to three chunks: Church/ceremony, early reception and party/dancing reception.
2.) Going through it and picking and choosing can be a HUGE time suck!

Tonight I tried to work strictly on the opening reception music. The good news is Jon and I have pretty much accomplished half of the battle and narrowed it down to what style of music we want it to be. The bad news it's not traditional wedding music. Most people stick with the Norah Jones and Frank Sinatra mix that any DJ who's worked a wedding probably already has a standard play list for. Not us. For some reason "Come Fly Away" doesn't seem as suiting in our setting. So we want to go with folk/bluegrass mix. You know...lots of fiddle and banjo music. Maybe it's just me but fall colors, cool weather and a field just scream some good fiddle tunes. On top of that I'd say it's probably Jon's favorite kind of music. I remember in my early months of going to his apartment to fix and eat dinner he'd put the TV on the bluegrass station and just let the music play. It was comforting even then.

Jon has several bluegrass cds so I've been going through them picking out the instrumental songs so I can provide Ben with as much as possible. From those CDs I've gotten a decent collection: Sam Bush, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Bill Monroe, Bela Fleck. Ben may have some but I'm guessing (as said previously) it's not his #1 request. I've put together almost 2 hours of music but that's from all that I could find and I'm not sure I want all of it used (some is slower or very similar...Need a little variety.) I'd like to find more.

I'm 99% sure the song Jon and I will be using for our first dance is off of a Sam Bush album he purchased in the past year: "Circles Around Me." I love the sound and the words about life, love, friends, family...all that really matters in life. Jon and I have never really had a song (unless you count Meatloaf, "Anything for Love", but we'll save that performance for later in the evening...) so I wanted him to pick out what we'd dance to. He mentioned this one and I want to run with it mainly because so much about it screams Jon Harris. It's slow enough to be sweet and heartfelt, but got enough pick up in it for him to spin me a time or two on the dance floor (and spinning is important!)I hear it...and I think of him. That's how it should be.

He's off to Dale Hollow for a bachelor party weekend. Won't be back til Sunday so it will be me and the animals holding down the fort!

My Wedding on A Budget: 24 Days to Go!

MU-ZAK!
I like music. In fact, I really love music. I listen to it non-stop. I know nothing about making music and nothing about music equipment. Thank goodness for people who do.
My friend Ben ("Big Ben" from my Man Clan at Bellarmine) will be heading up our reception music with his mad-music-DJ skills. If he's talented and cool enough to DJ his own wedding, you can bet I'd trust my wedding in his hands. Not only can I trust him to know the equipment and guide me in what I need, but I trust his music tastes, I trust him to play anything I want and I trust him to be a good emcee. Let's just say Ben's a pretty stellar dude and most definitely trustworthy.
So he'd recommended renting the equipment I need from Doo Wop Shop when I first talked with him back in May or June. He'd told me then that they don't do reservations but did week or month-long rentals, so I really couldn't take any more action until now. Ben sent me specific instructions on what I'd need: a subwoofer, 2 speakers and stands. Once to the Bardstown Road location a guy named Mark helped me and by all means he did HELP me. Very helpful. He added the cables I would need, plus the mic and a DJ mixer. He also helped me pick out fun lights. He gave me the quotes on renting all I'd need for both a week and a month. I could have taken what I needed today but he told me he really didn't think I'd have to worry about getting it later. The other convenience I have is that there are 2 Louisville locations, plus Frankfort and Lexington locations. All 4 would be easy enough for me to rent from and all 4 have the equipment I'm looking at using.
I have to say, I'm really impressed with how cheap it is to rent this equipment. Even for the month long rental of everything, it's under $200. (For the week it's less than $100.) I left without anything today with the thought maybe I could save money and do the week rental, but I'm pretty sure I'll move forward with it next week. It'll give us a chance to determine how we'll do the hook up, one less thing to worry about the week of and I won't have to worry trying to get it returned just before or during the honeymoon.

My Wedding on a Budget: 25 Days to Go!

Cake Tasting...Yum!
Today Kara finally got to do a cake run. There are many factors to evaluate...

The Design/Decoration: Of course they day before she did it would be when I decide to change the design. Okay, not the design but the look, so all I had for decoration was the ribbon from a few weeks ago with KK--No twine or burlap. However, the thicker dark purple ribbon I got that I thought I didn't want to use, may end up being what I use if not the twine. Talking it through with Kara, we decide we could always use a regular stand, lifted up on blocks or something of the sort and just overlay it with the burlap and maybe even incorporate some moss. Is it bad that I sill really don't know what it's going to look like--with 25 days to go!

Icing: It ended up not mattering too much that we couldn't do much decorating because her buttercream icing with no real butter test didn't turn out so well, which meant the exterior look wasn't really top-notch. (Good news is, it wasn't the taste of the icing that had issues. I thought it was delish!) Neither of us thought about the fact tub butter/Earth Balance is very soft in general and that it probably would melt and become soft very easily. While it tasted great, she had a tough time spreading the icing so it was pretty thing and sloppy. It will definitely need a better look for the real deal. I would think that stick margarine would work better. It was only NOW, though, that Jon decided to mention that his mom has her own Jon-friendly recipe. Hopefully that will be the secret sauce we need. She uses water, powdered sugar and vanilla, which I would think creates a fairly thick/stiff icing.

Flavor: Chocolate cake was great. Not too heavy, which I had feared only slightly. It's been that way sometimes in the past, as I have found happens more so with baked goods from scratch. She did good though...as I expected from her baking experiencing! She's also going to throw together tomorrow a bourbon fused version of the cake. I doubt we'll go with it, but it's definitely worth trying and we know how Jon feels about bourbon!

And something extra: Kara also stuck a little purple surprise in the center! She put a layer of purple icing between the two layers on top. (I assume she did the same for the bottom.) Not only was it purple, though, she took it a step further and threw blueberries in it. I guess she knew we wouldn't turn down the extra thought by securing my vote with the purple and Jon's with the blueberries.

Icing will have to be bettered and the look still has to be nailed down, but it'll come together. It's one of those things I'm not too worried about.

My Wedding on a Budget: 26 Days to Go!

New Checklists
Now we're getting to many things that have to be done but couldn't be done until now. (Okay, so maybe some of them could be done already...but that's beside the point.)

• Check out Doo-Wop shop and rent the equipment we need
• Call one of the hotels and reserve 2 rooms for the girls the night before the wedding.
• Start hitting up people whom we haven't gotten RSVPs back from
• Get the marriage license
• Hold a final meeting with Father Pat
• Decide for sure on the music and every job/role for the mass so we can print the programs
• Give Ben our must-play music selections
• Check in with the Limo/Hummer company and make sure everything is still set.
• Talk with people I'm hoping can do random day-of jobs to make sure they'll be free prior to wedding time.
• Shop for the final items we still need, which is a random, random, random list.
• Start on a honeymoon packing list
• Buy thank you gifts for people who've helped
• Turn in a head count to Karen for food purpose

I don't have my notebook handy but I know there is plenty more. We're scratching stuff off but new things keep finding their way onto the list! With where we are on RSVPs right now the church is just getting stuffed pretty cozy! We still have about 80 people to hear back from though!!!! Could get interesting...

My Wedding on a Budget: 27 Days to Go!

Grown up Stuff
Jon and I are Godparents! Well, before today, I was a Godmother and Jon was a Godfather but now we are Godparents together! Little Samuel Jonathan had his Baptism in Lexington today and Valerie and Brett had asked us to be his Godparents, which we definitely accepted. It was great to spend time with the two of them and the little guy, plus both of their families. So much grown up stuff happening these days!

However, it did mean for not much time at home. I didn't get to much wedding stuff. A quick trip down to Greystone and Mom had the chance to show off some of the rooms and space she's getting cleaned so that she has storage room. I made a trip up to Jerusha's new place (first and foremost to see it!) but also because she sampled some icing styles. She has more icing tips than I'd ever know what to do with, but she did a sample of each for me...which, we all know that's the last thing I need: more to decide among! I wrote down a few I liked so this week I can see what similar tips Michelle and Kara have and decide from there so that they can all be slightly similar.

I'm also leaning towards a new idea with the cake decoration. Going back to this idea of the brownish icings, I think I'll look for twine to use around the cake and then throw on some flowers for color. Some ideas I saw also incorporated burlap, which gave me the idea to use burlap around the bouquets with just a single purple ribbon. I am liking that idea more and more and I feel like it will be easier than wrapping a bunch of ribbon. We'll be buying burlap for the hay bales anyway.

My Wedding on a Budget: 28 Days to Go!

Shower #4: Mothers & Daughters!
An old school family reunion with all my County girls and second moms from growing up! Kelli and her mom, Amy, threw me a shower today that was a mother-daughter shower. Rachel nor Michelle got to come but Mom & I were there along with the two of the, of course, plus Beth & Lora, Amy & Joyce and Melissa couldn't come with Meagan, but that worked out okay since Meagan is the first of us to have her own daughter, so she had Bella with her! Jan Rader also came which was wonderful since she can't come to the wedding itself. I haven't seen her in ages so it was quite great. Emily, being in Florida, couldn't be there with her.

I don't get to see any of my highschool friends nearly as often as I'd like, so it was great to catch up. It's the first time I've met Meagan's little Bella. I hadn't seen Amy in about a year. She's looking to make a big move when she's done with dental school this Spring to continue into pediatric studies. I think it's awesome that she's looking for a change in scenery. News of Bethie's bun in the oven is out among all of the girls now. There's enough excitement from the rest of us to fill her lack thereof. It's great to still have such a close, special bond with that group even after the years apart and our lives being all over the place. Plus I have these Moms that have watched me grow up and looked after me that I feel like are now more my peers than my overseers. They are the people who helped me become who I am so that I can be at such a happy place in my life now.

As stated recently, I know my wedding day will go by in a flash, so it's nice to have these showers so you have time to celebrate the exciting times with these important people in your life.

My Wedding on a Budget: 29 Days to Go!

More than just the Bride?

As much as I am excited to be the bride at my own wedding, I wouldn't mind to be the photographer and videographer as well! Gui posted the video of his and Carla's wedding on Facebook and it brought me to tears. (Partially because it was so well put together and partially because I so wish I could have been there for it!) Meanwhile, Sara sent us the link to her wedding photos as well. There are SO many and they are all so wonderful. I would love to have one of those jobs. To capture somebody's special day or special moment for them and then piece it together as a time capsule to be kept for a lifetime.

Melhores Momentos Carla e Guilherme from Nando Menezes on Vimeo.

I realize I cannot play 3 roles on my wedding day and it's best if I just keep to the job I was meant for on this occasion: The Bride. What I do love, though, is I will have free access to all of the pictures and all of the video from that day. It will be at my disposal to play with and pretend I was videographer and photographer after the fact. I've been watching some other videos online (Gui's inspired me!) and I am thinking that I'll not only ask Uncle Jerome to borrow his flip cam, but perhaps someone else as well. This way the girls can have one; the guys can have one and then I can give a third to someone like Alyx to run around with during the day to get other random set up activity. I'm also thinking that I"ll want someone with the camera up to the point of the ceremony beginning. I may ask Joshie to help with some of that as an usher. Darnit, why did Jon have to ask Seth to be a groomsmen??

My Wedding on a Budget: 30 Days to Go!

ONE MONTH!!!
Can you believe it?! Sometimes it really hits me and I start thinking about all of the people that will be there, together, celebrating and simply having a wonderful time and it makes me both joyous and tear up at the same time. I remember the entire year prior to Nic and Michelle's wedding I was so excited. I would hear songs on my iPod and begin daydreaming about the amazing day it would be. It was also the summer after I graduated from Bellarmine, so I sort of saw it as the great finale of my Bellarmine run. (Which, most should know, was an amazing four years.) Well it hit me today, that I have been so caught up in planning that I've not stop to realize how excited I am just for the event itself. Being married to Jon is something I have wanted for a long time and having a life we live as one is something he and I have talked much about. As our day nears, and RSVPs are coming in, I have begun to realize all of these wonderful people who will REALLY be in one place with us.

I think this reality is partially hitting because I've been working out lots of the logistics lately. I'm literaly writing out the entire day from the perspective of everyone who has a role and what they will need to be doing. I want to think it all through now, so that day I'm not worrying about it and I can turn it over to Cassie, who is our day-of coordinator, and let the questions come to her. However, what this play-by-play has made me realize is how PACKED the day will be! How much will be going on at once and that every 15 or 30 minute interval will end up feeling like 5 or 10 minutes. I already know I won't get to talk with everyone as much as I want. I already know I won't get every last picture I want. I already know something will go wrong. I already know something will happen late. I already know I'll want to dance more than I get to. I already know they'll be a song we forget to play. I already know the day will be over in the blink of an eye.

When I was about 11 years old my family took a vacation to Disney World. In preparation for it Mom bought several books--one of each park--so we'd be able to look through and decide what in each park was most important to us kids so it would help her plan the trip. The anticipation was unbelievable. So you can imagine what it felt like for us kids once we got to Florida and we were stuck at Alamo car rental for what seemed like hours upon hours waiting for our rental car. Mom had disappeared to go get it and we waited outside with Pa and began to think she'd never come back. Although he was probably anxious to get going as well, as an attempt to make us children "chill", he warned us, "You know, before you know it you'll be getting on a plane to ride home because it will all be over and you're going to wish you were back here at Alamo. That's right. You'll want to be here. So you better just enjoy it." Whether we understood it then or not, the phrase "wishing you were back at Alamo" became very common in our household, particularly for occasions like Christmas Eve.

I wouldn't say I'm quite at Alamo yet with the wedding prep. I'm probably still looking through the books. I've already picked out where I want to go and now I'm just planning out the itinerary. The play-by-play. No doubt Alamo will be here soon enough, starting with my bachelorette the weekend before the wedding day, and once again, I'll be wishing I was back at Alamo.

My Wedding on a Budget: 31 Days to Go!

Special Deliveriessss!
I think I've gotten in just about everything I've ordered now. The second round of cupcake papers came in. Yesterday Holly had my shoes for me. The bridal party jewelry came in while I was away so Jon had that box waiting for me when I arrived home. The room I've been storing stuff in is beginning to have quite the pile of weddingness! Shoes, bags, candles, flip flops, makeup, jewelry, flowers...and on and on!

I talked with both Kara today more about cake to-dos. We were going to taste-test yesterday but I forgot to bring the ribbons for her to decorate with so we can square that away, so we've postponed until next week. She IS going to do one of the cupcake batches, which takes some off of Jerusha's plate, which is a good thing considering how much she's taken on for me! So Kara will do funfetti, Jerusha will do lemon and Michelle will do German chocolate and caramel apple. With the chocolate and caramel icings pretty much being stuck with the brown/tan colors they are, I am thinking I'll do funfetti in purple and lemon in green...and maybe, just maybe, I can still get Jon to help me construct a wood/log piece to place the cake itself on to tie in the browns of the icing. Karen Schafer also has some cupcake stands I'll be able to use from her.

My Wedding on a Budget: 32 Days to Go!

Shoes...check! Jewelry...check! Favors...check!
I love getting these check marks on the list! The shoes I picked out form Endless.com that Holly insisted she get for me as a birthday present came in today. Very comfortable. Very purple. Very cute!

Rachel texted me a picture of the earrings she meant to bring to me on Saturday when we did make-up. They are dangly, yet simple with just a single pearl on the end. She says there is a matching necklace and after seeing the picture of the earrings I think they are just perfect! So that takes care of my something borrowed!

Mom got the art back for the can koozies we are going to have as favors and also since we are doing canned beer. Now the plan is to have a number of sharpies at the reception so people can sign their names on the koozies and this will help them keep up with their beer! (And maybe less waste!) I know the blue doesn't go with the purple and green theme, but...
(a) It's more authentic to The Blue Bank Farm look and
(b) Jon really wanted blue and since he's only opinionated every now and again on anything to do with the wedding I figure it's fair to give him some say on the things he actually cares about.

Gotta mail all of these thank you's I've had done for over a week!!

My Wedding on a Budget: 33 Days to Go!

Readings...Check!
What a lazy, rainy day! I guess it was quite all right considering it was Labor Day and technically you are supposed to celebrate by doing little to no labor...so that's what we did! We slept in some, but not too late and it was still raining. It was cold, cold, cold outside which is just crazy because it was just Saturday that it reached over 100 degrees! Now it's in the 50s! Unbelievable! Between the cold, the rain, and two very busy days, Jon and I laid low. We cleaned up the kitchen from our gather last night. (Friends and family cooked out and had a little shindig.) We did make a trip down to Greystone because Pa was extracting what little honey we got from the bees this year and I definitely wanted Jon to see how that went. I would have made more salsa today but didn't want to take on the cold rain to pick tomatoes.

Instead I took advantage of having Jon inside with me for the day and we decided on our readings. We'd sort of already narrowed down our favorites over the other times we'd looked through the book in the past. The book I have, by the way, is one I found and took from Grandma Rousculp's house at the time of her funeral. Of course, Jon and I were not even close to being a couple at that point and I was dating no one so I'm not sure why I took it but I guess I knew (hoped) one day I'd have a reason for it. It's kind of an extra role Grandma can play in my wedding planning. None of the readings we chose are too standard. I really like the message of God being love and that having love in your life is having God in your life and you cannot have one without the other. If everyone could simply see God as love, it would be that much easier for everyone to realize there is something at work in this world outside of themselves and something powerful beyond belief. I think most people believe in love. If they believe in the power of love, they believe in God; perhaps all people just done like to put that label on it, but God's power and presence is nothing more than something so simple as love. And that is why Jon in my life brings me closer to God, because the love I can experience with him brings me so close to the love of God.

My Wedding on a Budget: 34 Days to Go!

Getting Greystone Ready
Nic & Michelle were home today as were Seth & Rebecca. As you can imagine, this was great for Mom and especially Pa who had extra hands and muscle. They are worry more about the look of the Realm of Greystone than the reception itself and Pa has quite the list of projects he wants done to have the place "ready". Jon's been doing his best to tackle things but having the boys home today was definitely a boost. I told you last week they worked on the Knob End Bridge. Well on Thursday Uncle Fron helped Jon a little more with that as they got the rest of the gravel brought over so they could even out the road/passage across. Yesterday Jon went down the road with the big tree trimmer and cut down low hanging limbs and close trees down The Lane. Pa's been working on stoning the cistern top. Today Deutsch and Nic worked on more of the stone work on the path in front of the house while Pa and Jon pressure washed the house. It FINALLY started raining today and it seems like it's going to continue into the night. We needed this soaking...everything was getting so dry that leaves are beginning to fall. We can't have the colors change and leaves disappear too soon. Fall needs to hold on until October so I can have a beautiful weekend, semi-warm, still colorful, DRY day!

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!