Cake!

YUM.

We had our final meeting with Annie O. last night to decide our final flavor choices (which meant we got to sample MORE CAKE!! :D )

If you don't remember, here is the inspiration picture for our cake...

Except ours will be 4 tiers, they will be off-set, and the flowers will be gerbera daisies.

And for our flavors we chose....


Drumroll please.....










The bottom layer will be white cake with a fresh strawberry filling. This. is. the. best. If you had any of Matt's Birthday cake, this is what it was. This will also be the flavor for the very top tier that we will save (or eat once we get to our hotel... ;).









The second layer is for all you chocolate lovers out there (ahem, Dad...) It will be chocolate cake with Oreo filling. Delicious. Let me tell you.










And the third layer will be Annie's delicious Marble cake, with a vanilla buttercream filling.

As you may have guessed, each layer will have chocolate buttercream on the outside, since that is what will make the cake brown :)

So, if you are one of the lucky ones on the guest list...get ready. You are in for a tasty treat. If you're not...sorry. :P Enjoy the pictures and just imagine the goodness that everyone else at my wedding will be eating. :)

Leaving in style...

Well I FINALLY got our transportation arranged for our grand exit from the reception. I originally wanted to just do a basic limo, as that was the cheapest option, but Matt talked me into something much cooler. I figured I'd let him win this one...the car is more of a guy thing anyway. :)

So this is our ride...

a vintage 1948 Cadillac Limosuine.

HOW SWEET IS THAT?!?! I can't wait to ride in it. :) I also think it will be very fitting, since there will have been an antique car show in the town square that afternoon. So if you're coming to the wedding, bring your camera! The photographers will be gone by the time we leave, so we'll need all of you to take lots of cool pictures with us as we exit!! :)

Back to "square" one

Remember when I mentioned that I had square vases and votive holders on the way?? Well. The votive holders came in last week. I was super excited - until I opened the package. Note to self: READ THE DESCRIPTION OF THE ITEMS YOU ORDER OFF THE INTERNET. They were tiny. Teeny tiny. And the website said perfectly clear that they were 2" squares. Ok my candles are 2 inches...that doesn't leave room for ANYTHING else. DUH. So luckily the website has a generous return policy :) Those are being returned...and after playing with my centerpieces some more (see DIY post) I decided to nix the square votive holders and do round instead. I know, I know, how indecisive can I be...

So today, I ordered THESE:

This time, I measured my votive candles first, and actually read the size listed on the website :) So hopefully these will work. Since we're making our own candles, we have a bit of leeway on the height, just not the width - and I made CERTAIN that the width would work. (I say that now...) So the OCD girl is doing it - ROUND votive holders with SQUARE vases :O can you believe it?! But I think it's going to look really good!


I also ordered 12 of these:
which I will use for the candles going down the aisle. (see DIY post for picture of that) It's hard to tell from the picture but it's just a cylindrical vase, very simple. And much cheaper online than in most stores!! Both items came from save-on-crafts.



So, hopefully both of these items will work out and I won't be returning anything else...but no guarantees there.



Also - I received the square vases yesterday. I haven't even opened the package yet (it was a busy and stressful evening last night...). I will have to take a picture of it before I do, though...it is the funniest looking package you've ever seen! It's a giant bubble! Please keep your fingers crossed for me that what's inside the bubble will work for my centerpieces... I'd hate to try to wrap that package up to send back... ;)

DIY Extravaganza!

Yesterday, I made the mistake of going to Michael's on my way home from work. I went there for a hot-glue gun. I came home with a whole ton of stuff - and no hot-glue gun. Oops. Guess you could say I got a little...er...distracted... A lot of the stuff I bought will be part of my gift to my bridesmaids (so I won't be posting pics, sorry!) but I also got some supplies to finish the flower girl baskets (well, one of them...) and play around with centerpiece ideas. Of course the first thing I did when I got home was take over the kitchen table and had myself a DIY extravaganza!
First of all, the flower girl baskets:

Before

After!

You have to tilt your head for this one...sorry about that :)

I originally bought some coral silk gerberas to put on the sides (where the bows are) but I decided that was a little too much. I'm thinkin simple is better. I used up all my ribbon on this one, so I need to go back and find some more so I can finish the second one. And since I didn't do the silk flowers on it, I didn't even end up needing the hot-glue gun! :D

My next project was some centerpiece action. I found a (plastic) Ivory tablecloth to simulate what I will have at our venue (the real thing will be much prettier - and less wrinkly :) I also recently decided that I am nixing the coral runner idea, so I wanted to see how that would look. So for the flower centerpieces (which will be on half the tables), this is what I'm thinking...

For the other half of the tables, I'm just going to do a simple candle centerpiece, using the same vases as the others. This is my first mock-up:

I'm still not sure what color petals I'll use - possibly the same color as the ones I got for the flower girls (which is a pinkish coral) or just an ivory. The ones pictured came out of a box I got at Michael's, which was called coral - but it was really just 1/3 pink, 1/3 orange, and then these ivory ones with orangeish tips. The ivory/orange ones are what I used in the picture. I'm also not sure about the pillar candle - the one pictured is ivory, but I'm thinking of having Matt's mom make them in the same coral as the votives will be. Oh, and I also am pretty sure I've changed my mind and want to go with round votive holders instead of square. :) I actually received the square ones I ordered this week, but they are WAY smaller than I thought. Like tea light size. So those will be getting returned. And I've pretty much just decided that this is just a sign that I should have ordered round ones. :)

The last thing I played with was the aisle decoration. I am going to line either side of the runner with petals, and then do a pillar candle in a cylinder vase every few feet, sort of like this:

(tilt your head again. sorry, the computer doesn't like me today...) I stole this idea from another bride, but I really like it. I think it's really elegant, but I love the simplicity. So now I just need to find some cheap pillar candles and cylinder vases!!

Well, that's all of my DIY adventures for this week. What do you think?? I think I'm getting there. I'm not 100% happy with everything, yet, but I know that is mostly because everything is sort of half-done. When I have the real flowers, on the real tablecloth, with the real candles, etc., I think it will look great. At least I'm hoping!!

In other news - the invitations are almost done!! Woo hoo!! I should be finished with the design next week and ready to order those bad boys!! Once they're all sent out and everything I'll post pics.

Well, happy Friday! Here's to hoping I get some more wedding stuff checked off the list this weekend! :)

Making (some) progress...

Well well. It's been a while since I've given an update hasn't it... (other than my bridezilla freak out moment from last week :) I can't say I have a whole lot to update on, but I'll give ya what I got...

Matt's Ring

We looked at Helzberg over the weekend, and Matt picked out one that he liked. It is made of Tungsten, which we're told is scratch resistant and very durable (a MUST for him). I couldn't find a picture of his exact choice, but this is pretty close:

It's very simple, but i like it!

Centerpieces

I still haven't received all of my vases and votive holders, but thought I'd post the pics from the website since I never did that.

There are 12 of these bad boys on the way (which will hopefully match the 4 that I currently have...) coming from this website

And 72 (yes SEVENTY TWO) of these. coming from this website.

Inspiration

I will soon be receiving an awesome Inspiration Board from The Blissful Bride, and this is the preview of my color palate that she sent:

Not that you didn't know what my colors were (I know, I'm slightly obsessed...) but I thought it was a good teaser :) I can't wait to see what she creates!

Flower Girls

Baskets- still in the works. I am almost done spray painting them, they just need one final coat. It started raining when I was doing them, so I couldn't finish. After that I'll just need to dig out my hot-glue gun and put the finishing touches on them. I'll be sure to post pics when I (finally) get them done!

Dresses- I got a call from Jen last week...the dresses are in! I'm anxiously awaiting pictures of the girls trying them on. Once I have them you bet I'll post!

Passports

On the way!! I took Friday afternoon off so that Matt and I could get our pictures done and turn in our applications at the post office (which only does passports until 3pm...crazy isn't it?!). Now we just have to wait for either a call saying we did something wrong :) or the real thing in our mailbox! The guy at the post office said they're currently only taking 2-3 weeks, so shouldn't be long!

Shoes

:( Nothing to report. Matt is the trooper of all fiances and went shoe shopping with me on Friday, but we left empty handed. I'm running out of places to look. Who knew that a hot pink glamorous shoe with a 2" or less heal would be so hard to find?! I'm not giving up just yet though...

Hair

I made our appointments for the wedding day! EEK! And I have a trial on July 8th. another EEK!

Whew. Seems like a lot, but the to-do list is still way too long for my liking. I haven't quite finished up March's items, but hopefully this week I will. Then I'll have a whole 4 days to get April's stuff done! YIKES. Time is flying. As of Saturday, we are 3 MONTHS AWAY. That seems like nothing! It has always seemed so far away until now... it's right around the corner! I'm super excited and totally freaked out all at the same time. I think that's how I'm supposed to feel though...right?!?!

Stay tuned, hopefully lots of updates this week!

Napkins

The other day (Tuesday I think it was...) I got home from work to find a FedEx tag on our door, saying that we had a package. I was annoyed at first, because it is always a pain to hunt those packages down once the delivery guy discovers you aren't home. BUT, much to my surprise I found a note on the tag saying that he left the package (of all places) behind our recycling bin! I honestly wasn't sure what was in the package, but I knew it could be one of many wedding items I've ordered off the internet recently. :) And I was right! It was my personalized cocktail napkins:
And here are pictures of each of them individually:

Yes, that's a John Lennon quote. :) It was originally going to be on the invites, but I decided to make them more formal so I stuck the quote on our napkins instead!

And of course I had to do some with our names...

I really debated on whether or not to even order personalized napkins. To me, most of the ones out there are rather...cheesy. Not to mention they cost an arm and a leg!! Every time I would find them cheap, they wouldn't have a single design that I liked. And every time I found a design that I liked, they were super expensive! I was about to give up, when I discovered this website. The American Wedding had all sorts of designs to choose from (including the PERFECT daisy :) and great prices! So my hope was restored and we are now having our own special napkins at the wedding. Some will go on the bar, and some at the cake table.

I also received another part of the bridesmaid's gifts in the mail that same day...but of course I won't be posting pictures of those. Just know that they are super cool, and hand-made. :)

Oh, and by the way...tomorrow *should* be a BIG day in wedding planning world...hopefully I have some really exciting news to report!! :D

Centerpieces...round 2

Well, this weekend on our usual Saturday outing, the family and I hit up Hobby Lobby. Oh what a great idea that was! The whole reason for my suggesting that we go to Hobby Lobby in the first place started with my Valentine's Day gift from Matt. A few weeks ago, as we were discussing how we weren't going to get each other gifts this year, I just happened to mention to him...if you ARE going to get me flowers, I would reccommend finding Coral Gerbera Dasies, because I've been wanting to get some to play with anyway...I thought this would be a much better use of our dwindeling money, not only do I get a nice bunch of flowers for V-day, but I get a sample of my wedding flowers to play with. Believe it or not, he actually LISTENED, and when I woke up and came into the living room on Saturday morning, there they were! My coral gerberas! They DO exist! (I was beginning to think that I just made up this color of flower...). Anyway, I digress. So I had the flowers, now I needed a few other supplies to test my centerpiece ideas out - floral foam, and some more candle holders. So when everyone agreed to go to Hobby Lobby with me, I was super excited! And as always, I walked away with WAY more than I anticipated (I think there's a rule about that at Hobby Lobby...) Not only did I find the floral foam, some almost-coral silk gerberas, 3 more votive holders & 3 more candles, I found the most AMAZING piece of fabric EVER. No really. I almost cried. My cousins Caitlin and Shelley were on the hunt for something coral in the fabric department, when I heard Caitlin say Brooke! What about this?? as she points to this heavenly piece of satin. Like I said, I almost cried. Kind of like the flowers, I was starting to think my coral color in my head didn't really exist. But it does! I have proof! And it comes in the form of a yard of Satin. :) I bought a yard to play with, but I can tell you right now I WILL be going back and probably cleaning the store out of this stuff before July. It's $2.99 a yard (not bad, right?) and did I mention how FREAKING AWESOME it is!?

Anyway, on to the point of this post. I saw a picture somewhere (I have NO idea where, and I didn't save it...sorry) of a table runner on a round table. Yes, sounds kind of strange, but it looks fabulous. So I decided I wanted to do this (and what do you know, I have a great piece of fabric to try it with!!!) So here it is...my mock up of our reception tables...

what do you think?

*Disclaimers--ignore the blurriness of the picture, it was the best I could do with my cell phone. Also ignore the baby gate in the backround (I swear that was out of the picture!). While you're at it, ignore the crappiness of our kitchen table. Basically, ignore everything but the GORGEOUS fabric and my make-shift centerpiece. Use your imagination here folks...

As you can see, there are only 4 gerberas in this version. Matt (the awesome guy that he is), went to 3 different places hunting these bad boys down, and 4 was all he could come up with. He did so well though...I honestly didn't know he knew what coral was! :) But as I mentioned earlier, I got some silks (in almost-coral...that's what I'm calling it, it's really just hot pink...) at Hobby Lobby, so I added those in to get the "full effect". Here's what that looked like...

again, cell phone picture, so not the best. Although, I am pretty proud of the angle I got on this one...looks all "artsy" and what-not... :)

This one gives you a pretty good idea of the overall look I'm going for. So...what do you think??? Matt wasn't quite as thrilled with the result as I was...but he's a guy so what does he know, right?! I think with all real gerberas (instead of the flimsy fake ones) this will look AWESOME. I am still in love with the coffee bean idea. Oh, and by the way, those puppies aren't nearly as cheap as you (ok I) may have thought. $8.99/lb! Yikes! (To fill that vase would take at least 2lbs...more like 3) BUT...my awesome Maid of Honor just happens to be dating an awesome guy who's family owns coffee shops (I know! It's fate!). So he has the hook up on a restaurant supply store where I can get these things for like $3/lb! SWEET! I also came up with this little trick which will not only save on the amount of beans I need, but will also help keep the flowers alive and beautiful. Check it out:

I just stuck a piece of floral foam in the middle, and poured the beans around it. Genious! I know! It's tricky getting the beans to fill in the entire area, but with a little practice I'm sure I'll become a pro.

So there you have it. Centerpeices round 2. I am MUCH happier with the results this time. I just need to find about 10 more of the vases, a BAZILLION votive holders, and a crap-ton of candles. Oh and the fabric for the runners. But luckily I have an awesome family (and soon to be in-law family) that is helping. I told you about Jess and the coffee bean hook up, Matt's mom Jamie is going to attempt to make the candles for me, and my aunt Terri is going to help make the runners. So I just have to scrounge up all the materials, and get going on this! Oh, and I have to decide about the main table linens. The venue offers black, white, or ivory. Of those I would go with ivory. I really like how that coral looks against the brown, though, so I may just have to look into renting brown linens. Oh and I guess I need to work on getting the flowers too, huh. So much to do......

P.S. As of tomorrow, we're officially 5 months away! AHH!

What a Weekend!

Well, this has been one successfull wedding weekend, let me tell you.

Just so I can gloat in all of my accomplishments over the past couple of days, let me share them with you... :)

1. Ordered the bridesmaid dresses. FINALLY!! I found them online at e bridal superstore for a pretty good deal (about $20 less than in the store) and went ahead and placed the order yesterday. So it's official...the bridesmaids will be wearing this dress:

(except the two bands will be chocolate to match the rest of the dress)

And my lovely maid of honor will be wearing this one:

I'm so happy these are finally on their way!! Now I just have to decide what the guys will wear...

2. Decided on Flower Girl Dresses. another FINALLY!! Jen and I have been going back and forth via e-mail for the past week trying to decide which dresses to go with. And we finally decided! The girls will be in Mori Lee style 533:

in coral, with an ivory sash (and it has an adorable bow in the back...at first I was weary of the whole bow thing...but it's grown on me :)

And just for fun...here are some pictures of the Cu-tee-pies just like I promised! :) This is them in a dress similar to the one we're going with...but not quite the same. Aren't they adorable!!!

3. My favor boxes came in!! Yay for craigslist!! As I mentioned the other day, I got 50 of these bad boys for $20. Not too shabby! They are a little tricky to put together...but I'm sure my MOH and I can figure it out! ;) Here's a (not so good) pic of the one I put together so far...

Seriously, aren't these the cutest little boxes ever!! I love them. And while I was at it...I took a fake Gerber I had laying around the house and made a make-shift favor box, going with the idea from earlier:Yes, I realize the flower is a million times to big...but you get the idea. These will be so cute for my shower!!

4. Mom is starting to go through old pictures for me, and scanning them onto her computer, so that they can be included in our Video Montage. It is so much fun going through old pictures!!

5. Last but not least, I ordered the first part of my bridesmaid's gift!! I won't post a pic, since I'm sure they'll see this post at some point...but just know that they are super cute, and I got them at a great deal! I love the internet. :)

So for once, I get to check a few things off the to do list. Now of course there are plenty of things to add in their place, but that's ok. Keeps me busy at work. ;) hee hee

CAKE!!!

Well after meeting with 5 (yes, 5!) cake bakers - which I was told by Matt was the absolute limit - we finally decided on one. Go figure it was the last one we met with. She is wonderful, though, and her cake is absolutely DELICIOUS!!!!

Who did we choose, you ask? The amazing Annie O. You can check out her website here.

She was honestly one of the nicest, most genuine people I've ever met. And like I said, her cake is wonderful. She is very talented, which you will see from her website. Not only does she do beautiful wedding cakes, she does custom carved cakes like this one:Yes, that is a cake. How amazing!? I don't think we'll be doing anything that crazy for our wedding cake, but I am very comforted by the fact that she has such wonderful talent. :) For our cake, I am still inspired by the design I posted about a while ago (if you missed that post, you can check it out here) After talking with Annie, I'm thinking we may change that up a bit though. We are considering off-setting the layers, kind of like in this picture:I think with my brown, simplistic cake, the off-setting would be a nice touch. Plus, I am just picturing my Gerber Daisies cascading down, and sitting so nicely on those corners... But I'm getting ahead of myself here. We don't have to choose our design, or our flavors for a few months yet. When the time comes, it will be a hard decision, though...Annie has about a gazillion flavor combinations to choose from!! Some yummy sounding combinations include: Reese's Peanut Butter Fudge Cake, Raspberry Lemonade Cake, S'mores Cake...oh and the list goes on. You can see the full list of flavor options on her website, on this page. Luckily we have plenty of time to make this decision, because it's going to be a tough one...You'll just have to wait for the wedding to find out what we actually decide on!! :)

Oh, and thanks to my co-worker, Nicole, who recommended Annie to me. This is one of very few vendors that didn't come to me by Realie recommendation! :)

MMMMmmmmmm...

Last week on Wednesday Mom, Dad & I went out to Evergreen for our tasting with the caterer (Molly's Table...Evergreen's exclusive caterer). Matt wasn't able to make it...he and his brother-in-law were installing an alarm system into our newly burglarized home. Yes, I said newly burglarized...but that's an entirely un-related story, which has nothing to do with wedding planning, so I won't bore you. :) ANYWAY...back to the FOOD. We went down and met Donna Nagle, the owner of Molly's table. She was FABULOUS!! She is so sweet, and was full of great ideas for our "heavy hoers De oeuvres" reception. Not to mention, we got to eat TONS of her AMAZING food...so it was a good night. :) She is an excellent cook, and now I'm really looking forward to the buffet at our wedding...I don't care what people say, I will be eating at my reception. Period.

Now...without further ado...here are our selections...

• Mini Cocktail Sandwiches (Ham, Turkey & Roast Beef)
• Fresh Cut Vegetables with Dill Dip
• Chicken Tenders with Buffalo Sauce & Ranch (for all the picky eaters ;)
• Artichoke Parmesan Dip with Baguette (this. was. so. good.)
• Mini Pulled Pork Sandwiches
• Spicy Spanish Meatballs
• Infused Oil with Bread Baskets - on tables

So for all of you out there who will be in attendance...this is what you have to look forward to!!!!

I am really happy we get to work with Donna, like I said she is just wonderful, and her food is TO DIE FOR. I'm getting hungry just typing this...

Cake Inspiration

So we've been going to cake tastings lately (2 last week, and scheduling a few more after the holidays), which has forced me to decide what I want our cake to look like. Matt obviously doesn't really care, as long as it tastes good he'll be happy. :) I've played around with quite a few ideas, and I honestly couldn't tell you what the cake will actually turn out like, but this is my current inspiration:

I LOVE the idea of a brown cake. I don't know how I never thought of it before, but I think it fits in perfectly with our wedding. And can't you just picture beautiful coral colored gerbera daisies cascading down the side? Oh I can. The only thing I would do differently from the cake pictured is to add some sort of topper...I'm thinking a nice sparkly "G"... We'll see about that.

We just have to find the cake baker that we love. We've met with 2, both were very nice and had very yummy cakes, but neither one stood out to us. So far, with every vendor I've just known when we met the right one. And Matt has always thought the same thing. But we're still undecided after meeting 2 cake people, so I'm thinking that means we need to keep looking. I was hoping to check this item off the list before the holidays, but I'm not thinking that is going to happen...

Ladies and Gentlemen...we have a Guestbook!!

As you may (or may not) remember, I recently designed and ordered my guest book from Picaboo. I had a 50% off coupon code, so last week I decided to go for it and place the order... all in all with shipping I paid $23.99 for this bad boy!! Now that is a deal. Almost Mama T worthy! (if you are a member of my family, you know what I'm talking about. If not...Mama T is my grandma, and nobody - I mean nobody - can find a bargain like Mama T can!)

Well yesterday evening we had a knock on the door, and it was the UPS man, WITH OUR GUESTBOOK! I can't believe it arrived this fast, I just got the email saying it shipped like 2 days ago. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the actual book, but here is a sneak peek of the cover taken from the Picaboo Website:

I'd give you the link to look through the whole thing...but that ruins all the fun for those of you who are actually coming to the wedding! Gotta keep some things a surprise...I'll tell you this much - it's not your typical guestbook. Instead of boring blank pages with lines for everyone to sign their names, it is full of pictures of Matt and I (from when we were little up until our Engagement Pictures) and there is space around the pictures for everyone to sign and write us a message. This way, after the wedding we have an awesome keepsake! But you'll just have to come to the wedding to see the real thing ;)

DIY Centerpieces...attempt #1

Last week Sarah and I went to Old Time Pottery (which, by the way, is the COOLEST STORE EVER!) The plan was to find some cool vases and such for centerpiece inspiration. I did buy 1 vase...and a whole bunch of Christmas stuff...oops.

Then last weekend, while shopping with my family on Saturday, I picked up a few more DIY supplies - coffee beans, ribbon, a cute square votive holder, and the closest thing I could find to a coral colored candle. I had some silk Gerbers at home (yes, I'm obsessed with them...they're everywhere...) so I threw some of those in as well.

Here's my final product....what do ya think???

You'll have to ignore the fact that the large vase isn't entirely full of coffee beans...I didn't quite have enough. You'll also have to ignore the multi colored gerbers, and pink candle...these will all end up being coral. :)

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out... I just need to find some more multi-sized vases. I'm thinking big and square. And I need to find a place where I can find lots of coffee beans really cheap.

The DIY adventures continue...

Centerpiece Ideas

Since I plan to DIY all of my decorations and centerpieces, I've been trying to come up with a "vision" for these centerpieces, so that I can start buying things and trying things out. I think I found that vision...

Right now, here's what I'm thinking...

~Varying heights of the centerpieces (like a tall, medium and short)

~Some with candles, some with flowers (gerbers of course!)

~COFFEE BEANS inside of clear glass vases, like in the pictures. What a cheap and perfect solution for my color scheme!!!!

~Square vases...3 heights like I mentioned above.

I'm sure this will change a million times before I make a final decision, but I'm really excited to at least have SOME sort of idea to start with!!

P.S. Thanks again to the Realies for both of these inspiration pics!!!!!!! :)