WE'RE MARRIED!!!!

Can you believe it?!?! Over a year of planning and it all came down to one day - hands down the best day of my life.

I will have a full recap and more pictures soon, but for now, here are the teaser pics the Solars put up on their blog from our day-
http://joshsolarphoto.blogspot.com/2009/07/married-brooke-matt.html

Thank you to anyone and everyone who helped me to plan, who participated, and who attended our wedding. It really was the wedding of our dreams.

Love,
The GERMANS

I am now the queen of DIY

The title of this post says it all. Now that I'm really down to the wire (and I mean really. Like I can reach out and touch it I'm so close...) I have had to kick it in high gear to finish up my DIY projects.

First up, I finished my card box! Woo hoo! Took me long enough...




and this is where the cards go...

(like you couldn't have figured that out)

You may be asking yourself "why in the HECK did it take her so long to make such a plain looking box?!" Well let me tell you why. Because I am a procrastinator. Plain and simple. All I did was buy a $4 cardboard box from Hobby Lobby, spray paint it brown, and add some stickers. In total, it probably cost me $15 (including the spray paint). Not bad, eh? I just for some reason put this project off over and over. I'd do a coat of spray paint, do the next coat 2 weeks later. I had Matt cut the hole in the top for me, and then started the whole spray paint process over again. And just yesterday I finally got my butt to the craft store to find some stickers. I think it turned out pretty nice...especially for under $20!!


Next up are the (blasted) programs. This is another money saving DIY adventure I took on. And again, I have procrastinated. Now that we're 4 DAYS AWAY (holy cow) I can't really procrastinate much more. Matt and I stayed up until 11:30 or so last night working on these bad boys (isn't he a trooper!?) and we'll probably be up late finishing them tonight. But we did get a whopping 25 of them completely finished last night, so I'll let the cat out of the bag and post pics early. I doubt I'll have much time for blogging after tonight, so thought I'd get one final post in to relish in all of my accomplishments. :D


look at all those beautifully tied bows...









so...what do you think?? Please tell me how amazingly gorgeous and perfect you think they are. :) These puppies have been a lot of work. Yes, I saved about $100 by doing them myself, but I've been working on them for a good 3 weeks or so now. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, though (finally).

So there you have it...my last 2 big projects...(almost) in the bag. Next up - start packing for the honeymoon!!

I'm going to guess this will be my last blog post as an un-married chica...woah. The next time I post, I should have hundreds of wedding pictures to share! It's been fun chronicalling my adventures in planning this shin-dig, and I can't wait to come back and read this in 10 years and laugh at how crazy I was (am). If you're coming to the wedding...hooray! See you there! If you aren't...thanks for reading all my babbeling :)

I'll leave you with a lovely quote...that just so happens to appear on the back of our programs...


Adios! For now...

So this is really happening...

When Matt came home yesterday with this:



I knew it was for real (as if I didn't before). But now it's like offical....woah...

Bachelorette Party!

So Friday was the Bachelorette Party... we had a FABULOUS time!! It was lots of fun. And I am pretty proud of myself for getting pictures up so soon...what with 2 other parties and 2 rooms worth of painting that also went down this weekend!!

Here I am with my pre-party girls. :) Jess, Ash and I got downtown at about 3:00pm and begun the festivities (i.e. the drinking...)


The members of the wedding party that came (from left to right: Mom, Jess, me, Ash, Shelley, Caitlin). Check out our ADORABLE shirts! If you can't read them, they say "Mother of the Bride", "Bride", "Maid of Honor", "Bridesmaid". CUTE!! Jess & Ash are just so clever, aren't they?!


And here I am opening my slightly *embarassing* gifts...in front of the ENTIRE BAR. Yes, people were watching...and clapping...


Note my cousin Caitlin's face in the background...PRICELESS.


She wasn't the only one who was embarrassed...


Me with Brandy (left) and Carmen (right), who were troopers and came out drinking with us after dinner!


Let the fun begin...


And then my camera battery died. Again. Seems to be a recurring theme for me these days... But that's probably a good thing. At least I don't have evidence of the craziness that went down as the evening went on... (Although I'm pretty sure Ash does...)

So as I mentioned, we had a fabulous time!! Jess, Ash and I started off at John's big DECK (that's an E not an I ;) for some apps and drinks. We were only 2 shots and 1 beer down by the time we got to Gordon Biersch for dinner (not bad, eh?) which is where everyone else met us. We turned dinner into quite a long event, I think we were at the restaurant for something like 3 hours?? And I officially stopped counting beers and shots at that point...
After everyone left dinner, it was Ash, Jess, Brandy, Carmen and me left to take on the night. We hung out at P&L the rest of the night, enjoyed a free concert (Eve6) and a LOT of beer. :D It was a blast!!

Thank you to my fantastic family and friends for throwing me a wonderful (and mostly appropriate) Bachelorette Party!!!

P.S. I uploaded more pictures to our FLICKR site in case you are interested :)

Countdown update:

Bachelorette party - CHECK!

Only 2 more days of work until my 2 WEEK VACATION starts (including today) YEAH!

2 days until the wedding festivities begin

5 days until our WEDDING!

7 days until we're headed to the beach for some fun in the sun...

In other news: I hope to have one more update post this week...that's assuming I finish my DIY projects in time to show them off. :) But after that...it's all she wrote!! The next time I post, I will be showing off our WEDDING PICTURES!! AHHHHHHH where did the time go???

A few more pics...

Here are a few more pictures from the hair trial. You can't really get the full effect, since it's not up close, but you can see the (gorgeous!) veil.



I took my glasses off for this one, since I'll be wearing my contacts the day of.


We are going to try out some extensions too in the next week, since as I'm sure you can tell I don't have a whole ton of hair. But I really loved how she styled it, it was exactly what I wanted (even though I didn't really know what I wanted)! Day by day this thing is getting more and more real! It's crazy. 8 days to go!!!!

In other news: Bachelorette party is tonight!! Woo hoo! If I am still alive tomorrow I'll try to post some pictures (who am I kidding...I'll be lucky to get them up by Sunday...)

Hair Trial! Just a teaser...

I had my hair trial tonight. The good pictures (which include the veil) are on Mom's camera, so I don't have them yet. But here's 2 pics I took on my computer...





Stay tuned...more to come!

Final Dress Fitting!!

I went to see Barbara, The Lady Who Makes Dresses last night for my final fitting. Woah. If that doesn't make it all seem real, I don't know what does. There are still a few minor fixes to be done (hemming the lining & adding to the bustle) but for the most part it fits PERFECTLY! Mom is going to pick it up for me on Saturday, and drop it back off at Bridal Extraordinairre to be steamed before the big day (which is oh so quickly approaching...).

Anyway, on to what you really came for...pictures! I am pretty much convinced that Matt will never look at this blog, so I'll go ahead and post the pictures. In the 8 or so months I've been blogging, I think he's seen it once, and that's only because I showed him. :) So I'm not too worried...

Here is the front-


And the back- with the bustle up.


As you can see, Barb made me a BEAUTIFUL veil that matches my "ivory-ish" dress MUCH better than the white veil I bought off eBay. :)

Barb is fantastic, and has done a great job with my dress. I would recommend her to anyone needing an alterations person!

In other news: Hair trial is tonight!! I'm pumped. I will be sure to take pictures and post tomorrow. :)

BB&B Registry...

So yesterday I had some "free time" at work, and decided to add a few things to our registry. I got so many gifts for my shower, I felt like I needed to bulk up the registry so that everyone has PLENTY of options for a wedding gift (I know, I 'm just so nice...always thinking of others...hehe)
So...to see the updated registry, click HERE (hopefully that link will work).
Or you can go on to BB&B's website and search by our names (first and last - and by the way it's under Steven not Matt...just to confuse you...), or search by the registry #, which is: 8734942.

Just for fun, here are a couple of the lovely items I found and added...


first up are these sweet TV trays...not the prettiest, but the only ones that slide under the couch - which is a must. :) We eat dinner on the couch probably 90% of the time (the other 10% we eat on the deck), we just don't have a good kitchen table and chairs to sit at. And yes, these are of the "As Seen On TV" variety :D
next up I added a few of the dishes in this awesome pattern...
(I got one of the mugs at my bridal shower, and just decided I needed more!) They go with the dishes that we had picked out...and that I received at the bridal shower!

The next 2 things are more home decor items, but I love them both, and don't entirely expect to actually get them, but want them on the registry so that I can get a discount when I go to purchase them after the wedding :) (I know, I'm a thinker!)

I put 2 of these night stands on there...

We are currently remodeling our bedroom and office, and have no night stands to speak of (right now we have nothing but a bed in our room, which is just lovely...), and these are perfect! Exactly what I've been looking for. I've searched craigslist as well as several furniture stores, and they all are way too expensive. But I thought this guy was pretty reasonable, and stylish too! Oh and not to mention functional... :)

Last is this ADORABLE lamp. I'm not sure where it will go, I'm thinking in the office on the desk. (I also added 2 other matching lamps for the bedroom, but they aren't nearly as fun as this one). There were some other things I added as well, but I'll let you check out the registry for yourself to find them. :)

P.S. I tried VERY hard not to cheat and look at what had been purchased...but that's pretty hard. But I promise I erased everything I saw from my mind (Men In Black style...) :D

Countdown Update:

5 days of work until my 2 week vacation begins

(not including today...it's half over!)

3 days until my Bachelorette party

8 days until the wedding events start

10 days until we're MARRIED!

12 days until we leave for Mexico

In other news: Final dress fitting is tonight!! Eek!! I plan to take pictures, so look for an update tomorrow!

Holy Cow... It's JULY!!

I just flipped my calendar at work, and it hit me.

It's July.

We're getting married...THIS MONTH!!!

Holy CRAP!!!!!!

I really can't believe how fast time is flying. I hope it will slow down just a bit for the wedding week, the big day, and the honeymoon. I want to be able to enjoy every single moment!! It seems like ever since the 2 month mark, time has escaped me. It's amazing how far away July 18th has sounded for so long, but once 2 months hit, it felt right around the corner. And now that it's actually JULY, it's crazy how soon it is.

Let the countdown begin...

Only 9 more days of work until my 2 week vacation begins (including today). WOO HOO

Only 9 more days until my Bachelorette party.

Only 14 more days until the whirlwind of "wedding events" start. (beginning with a family gathering of everyone in from out of town)

Only 17 more days until WE'RE MARRIED.

Only 19 more days until we leave for Mexico. :)


Have I said Holy Cow yet?!