Crunch Time!

Only two weeks left and I thought I was holding it together REALLY well (maybe you should ask Derek, he's a non-biased judge), but now I'm starting to stress at this point. BUT I have just decided (at this very moment) that after Friday (tomorrow) I'm done stressing. I am going to put in the final numbers down, and move on. If people drop out last minute, I'll go ask a homeless drunk or two to join us. ;) So that will make for about the same entertainment as having Jen B. there, right? ;) Just Kidding!! Lol.

I picked up my ring today, and it fit perfectly- no resizing necessary! Sent off the music list to Stan the Man (our DJ), and even broke down the day-of time line with Dave at the Hemingway House. Just a few things to fix (via, the internet- yay for email), and for the most part we're settled. Derek and I have had our second to last dance class today... that needs some work, but will be great. :) Our instructor, Josh, seems more excited than us, but I think that's because he could do it in his sleep.

My final dress fitting is next Friday and I leave on Sunday right after that... so once I get it nothing can be altered- at all. I am in my head about that a little; it's a very scary thought since they are actually taking it IN right now... yeah, a little worried. BUT it will all be great... Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. lol. Or maybe it should be, "think light thoughts". ;)

What else can I share? I think that's it! Only a few things left to do on our "To Do List"... approximately 12 to 13 things left. We should be able to send you our Family Agenda with Delegations on it this week, just so everyone has a heads up. No need to print them out- we are taking care of all that. :)

Really, when I think about the week of the wedding, the wedding and the celebration, I'm really excited. REALLY. I cannot wait to have everyone in one place. :) :)

Cheers to poking a little fun, lol, this seriously cracked me up. :)

Hemingway and Haring

Otto Haring is our photographer, along with his wife Priscilla. They have shot at the Heminway House before and here is just a preview of their work there.

Hemingway Wedding

Engagment Photos

I know most of you have seen them, but I thought I'd put a few up because there really are no photos for Derek and I one here... And for some reason I had trouble loading them, so here are just a few. :)

The Day Approaches

Well, I didn't do the best job keeping up with this, but I still feel pretty good about it. There have been a few changes that I want to share because I am SO, very excited about them! Also, I just wanted to post some photos for things we have decided and are in the process of completing. All in all,  in just 19 days till I leave for Miami, 25 days till the Wedding, and I'm feeling really great about everything. Nothing is too stressful, yet. ;)

I cancelled the boutonnieres from the florist. Not to worry, I ordered these off of an amazing vendor on Etsy. This is what the boys will be wearing. Not only did it save us money, Derek's will serve as a beautiful little addition to a Wedding Shadow box I plan on making.

Paper Flowers

Check the vendor out at:   Etsy Vendor Merletto

The centerpieces are coming along and look great! Doris sent some awesome books for us to use, and we painted the pages gold. They look great! They are simple, and perfect. Mom just finished spray painting them from black to white this weekend. We are adding another starfish to it so it's a balanced composition.

Simple.

We have ordered some FLOATING LANTERNS!!! We are so excited about this and will light them (probably) after the first dance. It needs to be dark enough that they make for beautiful pictures, so the timing of all that will be interesting.

At the most we'll have 15, but it should still look amazing. :)

The Photo Wall is coming along- thank you Mom and Rich! There are a few little things to figure out with it, but it's looking WONDERFUL! It's going to be so much fun! Mom has even picked up a few fun props to wear.

In progress. The top frame may be cut off bc it's so tall...

Our Ceremony is complete, thank you Deb for the outline, and we are really excited about it. It is very personalized to us. We've already given the final draft to Sid and Dave... no turning back. ;)


Dave Gonzalez at the Hemingway House is now our wedding coordinator and will take care of all those little day of details that were stressing me out. Like hanging these awesome bottles (that will have a LED "candle" in them) in a little tree-nook area in the garden. Hard to explain, but will look great. :)

Not sure why the photos are not rotating... sorry.

I have decided I will toss my bouquet, this is for picture sake, but I'm really excited about it. I will toss it off the second floor of Heminway's House down to the ladies below. And yes, I will be tossing my actual bouquet. I know that many brides are buying smaller ones from the florist and tossing them, but I don't plan on saving it, I'm not sure what I would do with it. So really, let's toss that sucker!!

We are still working on the song list, which we need to have into Stan the Man (DJ) in about a week, so if you have any suggestions that you want to be on the "Must Play" list, send them our way and we'll consider them. Don't worry Sean, Purple Rain is already on there for you. ;)

Our honeymoon is officially booked! We leave Key West on Sunday morning, fairly early. We will be going on a 7 day cruise to the Grand Cayman, Mohogany Bay (Isla Roatan), Belize, and Cozumel, Mexico! Super excited about this. :) It will be much needed, I'm sure.

Our guest book is in the process of being framed. Yup, it's not a book, we are doing a print of Key West, and people can sign the matting around the print! That way we can hang it and we see it daily as apposed to having it in on a book shelf that we just won't see all that often.The print is of a water color from a local Key West artist and has the Heminway House on it, along with the Lighthouse (where we are all staying- sort of), Blue Heaven (our favorite breakfast place), the Southern Most House, and the Truman House (I think). Anyway, it has it all on there!

We went with a lighter purple around the picture...

I think that's mostly it for now! This may be the last blog for a while as things approach. But after it's all said and done, the plan is to post pictures on here too. :)

We're excited and are counting down the days. In the upcoming week Derek and I are going to send out a tentative schedule for the wedding week, along with some delegations. :) I can't wait to have everyone together again in one place! Thanks to everyone who has been helping out, really, it takes a load off of Derek and I! Thank you!!

Interesting...

History of Bridesmaids:

The bridesmaids would wore dresses much like the bride’s gown to confuse the evil spirits or jealous suitors attempted to harm the newlyweds. For several days before the marriage, maid/matron-of-honor attended to the bride-to-be. She ensured that the bridal wreath was made and helped the bride get dressed.

I would have never guessed. I just figured it's more fun with friends!

I would write more, but you really don't want to get me started on my 7 page list of things left to do in the next 56 days!!

3 months and 5 days to go!

Click, Click without Bling, Bling

Derek and I have wanted a photo booth from the very beginning. Turns out they are around $600. Hmmmm, yeah, I'd rather be able to afford the wedding cake. So here is what we're looking into doing. Hopefully around only a $100 cost for some priceless wedding photos!

It can't be THAT hard to make. 

We'll just need a few fames, wall paper and some silly friends and family members.

Of course, we'll add in some adorable props too. :)

Now, I'll need to delegate the photography portion of this to someone (perhaps one of our two photographers), but I'll figure you that out soon enough. Promise it won't be anyone of you, unless you want to do it. ;) But I wasn't thinking of anyone in our party. I'd like us all to enjoy our time together. 

Okay, so who is up to help me build this thing?! Anyone?! Anyone?!

Check out this webpages to understand it the process.

 Do It Yourself Photo-Wall

By the way, Dave (the wedding planner at the Hemingway Home) said he can keep anything, like this, in his garage at the venue the week before the wedding. We just have to let him know.

Sealed With A Kiss

 They all started out as a blank card-stock card from Michael's Craft Store, and though they're all different in small details, each one is special in a big way. Sounds cheesy, but I fell in love with each one that we sent out. The whole process was a bit therapeutic too, here's a look at it.

Cutting the pages to size for the inside of the envelope. 

In they go.

Print, stamp, cut...

Print, stamp, cut... 

Cut ribbon, find gold pen, get organized...

After finding a font, downloading, and testing it, it's time to print.

Carina drew the cover!! Time to print, then color each shutter... 

Add gold edges, library pockets and wax seals...

Address, stamp, stuff, seal and send on their way!

An Oprah Give Away!

YOU GET A JAR!! YOU GET A JAR!! EVERYBODY GETS A JAAAAR!! YOU GET A JAR!! YOU GET A JAR!!

Today we bought our favors and, of course, keeping in theme- they're jars!! I'm not going to give anything away, but I will tell you that I'm so excited. So, so excited. Like most everything in our wedding, they will be personalized with a little touch, and it will be done by hand. Though, I have two friends that have offered to help with the personalizing if I provide the wine. Check! I'm hoping everyone will enjoy their favor and find them "refreshing". ::wink, wink::

That's a lot of jars! 

The Stamp Mishap

After about 72 hours of straight invitation printing, cutting, stamping, pasting, addressing, drawing, scanning, fixing, photo shopping, inking, stuffing and sealing, Landon and I ventured out into the 92 degree heat to walk a mile to the post office where I'd finally get to say good-bye to our labor of love invitations. Yay!

Walking to the Post to mail the invitations!

Landon and I finally made it there, sweaty, but excited to have these beautiful, little masterpieces hand stamped. After all, why would I walk a whole mile to the Post if they weren't going to end up hand stamped? I could have just dropped them at the corner Post box, or give them to the local mail delivery woman! I stood in line waiting to be helped, trying to cool off. The new supervisor came over to me, and asked me if I had any special requests (odd), I told her that I wanted to have these 47 invites hand stamped because I didn't want them going through the machine. She informed me that even if they were hand stamped they would still go through the machine, so I might as well just put them in the machine anyway. ::Sigh:: Mission One, failed.

Mission Two was to buy 4 international stamps for two invitees living outside the country, two for the invites, and two for the Responding Envelopes. First the rude woman at the counter informed me that they were simply out of international stamps. Mission Two, failed. Then she looked at my small Responding Envelope and half smirked. "Are those your RSVP envelopes?! I hope 'day not in aalll dose invitations, cause you gonna need an extra 20 cent on dose!" What?! Shit. Wait, what?!

The envelopes that may never see their way back to Atlanta...

That same supervisor who told me there was no point in hand stamping came over after the woman called to her, "Maybe you can explain to her what's goin' on!" Well, here is what was going on. The envelopes, like the woman said, were to small, and apparently they cost an extra 20 cents to mail. I stared in disbelief. "Can you open them?" The supervisor asked me. NO, I CANNOT OPEN THEM! I JUST SPENT 72 HOURS ON THESE THINGS! THEY ARE SEAL, AND WAX SEALED, HAND ADDRESSED, ON HEMINGWAY-PAGE-LINED ENVELOPES! ... No, I did not say that to her, though I thought it. I said, "Well, no, that's just not going to happen." To which she replied with attitude (I think trying to shift the blame, though, I wasn't blaming anyone), "Well your Printer should have told you!" ::Deep Breath:: "I AM the printer!" I said, "But, I'll make sure I go ahead, and tell myself that next time!" She laughed. I didn't. Shit.

So, where does this leave me? With three options:

Option One: Mail and additional 20 cent stamp to every invitee with a note appoligizing for the mishap, which will also require another 44 cent stamp to get to them.

Option Two: Email out to everyone that RSVPs are now online, because I didn't know that the envelopes require and extra stamp.

-or-

Option Three: Call all 75 guests on the "Due Date" of July 1st and tell a funny, little story about today, apologize and then ask, "Accept? Decline?" and "Chicken, Fish or Vegan?"

I'm thinking that option three will be happening, I'll let you know about the delegation of that task soon! ::Hysterical Laughing:: Oh, goodness. Please still fill your respond cards out and mail them back to us, so we can see if MAYBE they will still get back here. Where does my hope come from? I went back to see if the fact that they have a Forever stamp on them would help. The one sweet woman there told me that she's seen many come back, if they get to their Post Office they'll deliver them. We shall see! Cross your fingers and toes, maybe it will all work out.

At least I had a good 2 mile walk today, and the invites are on their way!! Watch your mail for them, and once you all have them in hand, I will post about how we made them. I hope you love them as much as Derek and I do. Truly. 

From 60 to 15.

Last night we had the pleasure of skyping with The Honorable Sid Espinosa. The plan was to run through the ceremony and talk about the outlined ceremony. We all thought it would only take an hour. At the beginning of the conversation, Sid asked Derek and I how far we felt we were into the whole process of the wedding. We together answered, quite confidently with, "About 60%." Sid, almost devilishly, threw his head back and laughed while replying, "I'm gonna say you're at about 30%."

Well, like pulling on that teeny tiny little snag on your favorite sweeter, once you start pulling, it starts unraveling, and unraveling, and unraveling. Now there are things on our new, upgraded, list that Martha Steward never mentioned or hinted even hinted at! And there's a reason for that, it's not pretty, and there isn't really a way to make a time lines,  photograph lists, guest bags, agendas, delegating, and seating  "pretty with a side of sparkle".

 After a four hour conversations with a lot of laughing and brain storming we decided that we were all wrong. We weren't at 60%, we weren't even at 30%, we're at about 15% done with our wedding planning and execution. There are so many little details that we might to give everyone a little role to play the day before or of the wedding.

I know in this blog I'm ragging on Sid a bit, but the truth is we are lucky to have him. He has been to so many weddings that if he wasn't so busy with changing the world I would totally hire him as our wedding planner. It was really great to have a look at all this now, because had we not even thought about this stuff till even a month from now, it's a possibility I would be pulling my hair out. Literally.

So... As  Calvine Coolidge said, "We cannot do everything at once, but we can to something at once." Let the delegating begin!

To-Do's and Compensation

Here we go, another venture to Key West! In early June Derek and I will be dropping little man in Miami and heading to Key West to finalize mostly everything... hopefully. Here's a list of what we hope to set up that weekend.

The Rehearsal Dinner Location and Contract

The Brunch Location

The Tent and Flatware Rental and Contracts

Linens or Table Runner Upgrade

In Miami we hope to accomplish this list of things:

Suit Rentals or Solution

Spraypaint all the Lanterns for the Centerpieces

Meet with Photographer and possibly have engagement pictures taken

Possibly pick out fabric if the runners need to be made

Buy needed jars

I guess this blog is just a way to sort some of the things on our To-Do list, not very inspiring, so I'll leave you with a little fun video to compensate.

No Keys to Type About the Keys...

I was hoping to do a better job at keeping up on this blog, and clearly I haven't. But it's not my fault... it's my computer that is quickly dying (it's missing about 5 or 6 important keys which makes typing next to impossible). And, I actually have a job now- how do people do it!? lol. Though, I am seriously loving my job, it seems to take up so much time that the wedding planning has definitely taken a back seat. Not really the best thing when it comes to a DIY wedding.

The last blog was all about feeling great with all that's been accomplished, but there is so much left to do, and a little back tracking has happened as well. Our heavenly brunch place, Blue Heaven, is actually going to be closed that weekend of our wedding, so we're back to square one with a brunch location. Our caterer lost our custom tailored menu when her computer crashed, so we are trying to figure all that out again... prices and all.

However, with the months decreasing and the day approaching, I'd like to focus on some positives. Derek and I have put together the majority of our ceremony this morning, which we love so far and are very excited about. It's very personal to us. I now have my wedding shoes, which I am getting used to wearing slowly but surely. We purchased one of the two wedding rings, and the invitations are in the process of being made by yours truly (and I think you all are going to love them). Derek and I finally have our honeymoon figured out. We're going to take a short cruise for a few days. Next year, when we're a little more rooted and there isn't so much going on, the two of us are going to venture to Italy for a longer, real honeymoon. This will give us more time to plan as well as save some money.

Yes, these are the shoes from Sex and the City.

Thank you to Doris and Don who have been so wonderful as to ship us two very big boxes of amazing vintage styled books that match our color palette perfectly, along with more matchbooks. Yay! Things are falling into place for the most part, and I really appreciate everyone being so supportive of Derek and I right now. Also, I'd like to say thank you to everyone for being so great about booking the hotel in that two week period we gave. That helped so much, I'm so excited that we'll all be in the same place, together, for the weekend's events. Also, thank you to my Mom who has been helping out calling places about tent rentals, flatware and anything else we've been throwing at her.

Future Centerpieces!!

 As the day gets closer I get a little more stressed about checklists, not going to lie, but I'm also so very excited. And how about this for exciting and awesome, we have new addition to the family!!
Miss Avery Elisabeth Butts! Congrats again Deb and Chris! :)

The beautiful little Avery.

The Power of a Check Mark

A little Key West Style.

Well, we did it!! Mom and I spent two VERY full days in Key West and had most of the wedding questions answered!! Yay!!

Question: Who will be our florist? 

Answer: Flowers by Gilda

I don't want to tell you what the flowers will be quite yet, but I will tell you that I'm very excited about what we discussed and have worked out. Jennifer, the florist, and I were on the same page about style, simplicity and price. 

Question: Who is providing the entertainment or music?

Answer: Stan the Man

Stan-the-Man used to work at Mangoes with Derek, and meeting with him was the most productive 15 minutes all day. He's a local firefighter and paramedic during the day and a DJ of 25 years at night. Stan had great energy, good references and will be wonderful to work with. He was very personable, and his wife praised how much he works with his clients to give them exactly what they want. Just what I wanted to hear. 

Question: Who will do my and the girls hair?

Answer: Natalie

I wish I could have brought Natalie home with me. She knew what she was doing, after all she is the 14th hair dresser in her family. Watching her style hair was like watching an artist at work. She was easy to talk to and did exactly what you wanted her to do. I left the studio feeling like a confident Goddess with beautiful hair. 

Question: What will the Menu be?

Answer: Well we've got it figured out, but I'll tell you all later.

Jennifer from Small Chef at Large really worked with us as far as meeting people's nutrition needs and our finacial needs. When I get the official Menu we figured out I can email it if anyone want to see or has any concerns, but for now you'll just have to trust me. 

Question: Who's baking the cake?

Answer: Small Chef at Large

I cannot even begin to express the love I have for this caterer. She's giving Derek and I our wedding cake for free as her wedding present to us. Of course, it's small, and we have asked her to make cupcakes for each person, but some other caterers would not have given us that gift of the cake to cut into without a charge.

Question: Where will the Post Wedding Brunch be?

Answer: Blue Heaven

I'm very excited about the atmosphere that Blue Heaven provides, it's the heart of Key West. Everyone has been there and everyone hails the food, mimosas and live music.  Everyone we talked with has waited 60-80 minutes just to have a meal there, so they testified how good the food is. Also, this was one of Derek's favorites places while he was a KW local.

Some Key West Color.

I felt so good about everything and mostly everyone we talked to, with only one exception out of the many that we met with, was amazing. It was a crazy weekend, and there is still a good amount of work left to do, but I feel really great about the way things are seemingly just falling into place. Derek and I should have the hotel situation figured out by the end of the week, so look for a post on that and on our wedding web page. You know, I don't know why everyone freaks out about planning weddings, it's been pretty great so far... knock on wood. ;)

Dance to the Music

Derek and I still haven't officially nailed down what we want our first dance to be. Nor have my Dad and I for the Father-Daughter dance or Doris and Derek for the Mother-Son dance.  It's not something I'm stressing over, though it is a big part of the reception. So today I thought I would post some fun videos of dances at other weddings. Maybe some fun will inspire what dances we all decide to do. There's nothing like a little music to make a wedding a real celebration!

Ideas! Ideas! Ideas!

The Knot, sometimes I LOVE the website, sometimes (mostly when it's reminding me of all the things left to do) I HATE the website. Today, I love The Knot. Here are some fun, inspiring ideas we may or may not use, either way I thought they were cute and worth sharing. 

Mrs & Mr - Officially! 

A little note...

Stamps and miniature clothespins- miniature cuteness!!

Love this!

Just like home.

A different guestbook.

Chalkboard? Always a fun, cute way of communicating. 

Shoe Check

A Strange Obsession

Jars. I love jars. I don't know where this obsession came from, but it started in Australia. I found myself washing jars and returning them to our shelf, saving them from their terrifying fate at the recycle center. I'd fill them with all sorts of things from food to crayons. So, you've guessed it! Derek and I are even incorporating jars into our special day to give it a whimsical feel, hence, the jars on the Save the Dates.

We're going to try to turn this... 

Into this...

This will look amazing at night, outside at the venue.

I know we can buy jars for cheap, and they won't come with that funky tomato paste smell in them, but there are some REALLY cool jars out there. For instance, the Traders Joe's Rock Salt Jar; it's one of my favorites.

So, if you see any, snap a picture and send the picture our way, maybe we can find some really unique jars to put in with the ordinary ones.

Our very small collection of jars. The one with the popcorn in it is the
Trader Joe's salt jar. As of now, none of these particular mason jars will be used.

Something Fabulously BLUE!

For my something blue, I want fabulous blue shoes! 

Keep an eye out for something as awesomely fun (that's right, I said, "awesomely fun") as these shoes!! I know it's not really my normal style, but I don't care, I want fun blue shoes.

Now, I looked these particular shoes up, and I can get them really under budget on Amazon (wow, right!), but I hated the front of the shoe. It was very "stripper-esk" and honestly, it's a little too much heel for my own good. God knows that I don't need to be falling over in my wedding dress, and with those heels, I totally would. I was not blessed with grace, and though I took dance for 8 years it did NOT make me graceful... I tried, I really did. 

Anyway, keep an eye out for something with a slightly thicker and shorter heel, but just as fun!

::click, click:: "There's no place like Key West. There's no place like Key West."

Save This Date

Well, these Save the Dates and I have a love-hate relationship. I hate that the process was a little more time consuming than I thought it would be, but I LOVE the way they turned out !! The paper from 29th Street Market is perfect; vintage looking, a hint of all our colors, writing on it- perfect. Originally I was going to use old pages from a Hemingway book as the jar's paper, but I have decided to save them for something else (which I am totally excited about). Anyway, here is the process and the end result... hope you all enjoyed them and they look good on your fridge ! :)

Custom cutting each one...

Testing out the overall design...

Oh how I love Martha Stewart...

I hand stamped the jars and cut each one out...

Making the stamps, and playing with the designs...

All the jars have been stamped...

Adding a little bling...

Adding the magnets...

Adding the jars to the background...

The final product...

A group of them...

Mom addressing the envelopes...

Derek helping out, putting our wedding website on the backs... :)

Stuffing them in and saying goodbye... Yay!!