Bridesmaid Bouquets

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll already know that last week I actually made up my bridesmaid bouquets!  If not, I'm sure you're wondering, why did you make up your bridesmaid bouquets?  Aren't you getting married next year like your last post said?

Well, yes, but I'm using fake flowers.  My main reason for this decision was that I've been to a number of weddings where the wedding party is scrambling right before the ceremony because real flowers start losing petals, or a bride and her maids have to stay up late into the night trying to arrange their own bouquets, etc.  I really just didn't want to bother with all of that.  I also figured we might as well get them done sooner rather than later, to alleviate some of that stress.

First step was obviously to choose the flowers I was going to be using.  Above is a picture of most of the flowers I ended up using, except there are some feather flowers on the left that we didn't use for the bridesmaid bouquets, and some grey feathers on the right that we did use.  I got all of these from Crafts Direct, which is basically a really, really big Michael's craft store.  I'm not really very good at naming flowers, so I figured I'd just show them to you, rather than try and name them off!

Then, we just bundled them up together, they looked amazing, and that was it!  Just kidding.  We actually did kind of follow a guideline.  While we were at Craft's Direct, a very nice girl that was working there explained that for the most part, the way you build a bridesmaid bouquet is by choosing a main flower (the grey feather and eucalyptus) and build around that.  So, the next flower we added were the green (Celebration Roses?) flowers, followed by the reddish purple roses, then the little pink balls of flower, and finally the purple firework flowers.  See?  Aren't I amazing with flower names?

Personally, I absolutely love the way they turned out, and I couldn't be more excited about them!  I hope everyone else will like them, too!

We Chose a Date

Yes, we finally made a decision on where and when!  Some of you may know where this old building is, but please don't say anything!  Suffice it to say that it's an old hotel, and when you step inside, it feels like you've been transported to the 1920's.  It's gorgeous, and I'm so excited that we not only get to get married there, but we also get to have our reception there!

Much as I would love to tell you all about this place, and plaster pictures of it all over this blog, for right now, that's all I'm going to give you.  Besides, this is really just going to be a short little post, telling you which date we chose.

Choosing a date was actually a lot more difficult than I had anticipated.  Summer was out right away, because I live in a very touristy town, so there really isn't much time for people to take off work, and such.  Winter is also hard in northern Minnesota, as there's this odd phenomenon every year called snow, and it is very unpredictable.  I don't know how many times Joe and I ended up staying at one of the motels directly in town due to a snowstorm.

So, we were down to Fall and Spring.  I had originally thought June 7th would be a good day, since it is the day after my parents' anniversary, but then when we finally found the venue, something in me just decided that we were going to go with the first available weekend in the fall, which was....drumroll please...

October 4, 2014!!!

I am so excited to start actually diving into the wedding planning, because now everything feels a little more real.  I have my wedding dress, we have a place to get married, we have a date!  I'm hoping to start posting more on this blog, now that we're really getting things going - maybe once a week (Fridays?), but don't quote me on this.  You know how life is - unpredictable.  Well, I hope you're having a wonderful day, and I'll talk to you very soon!

The Guest List

The most daunting tasks to me so far have been:

1. Finding a venue
2. Setting a date
3. Sitting down and writing the guest list

Best.  Site.  Ever.

While we're still working on the first two items listed, Joe and I did decide to start working on the guest list this past Wednesday.  My goodness, there were a lot of breaks taken - mostly Facebook breaks, actually.  We'd add someone to the list, and then start wondering what that particular person was doing...yes, we've already lightly stalked some of our guests.

But, as we struggle through trying to remember everyone we want to invite, while at the same time worrying that we're forgetting people, I wanted to mention a little site that has already been such a lifesaver in the creation of this list, and that would theKnot.com's Guest List.

Since theKnot.com is a website, you and your fiancé can both work on adding guests at the same time, from two separate computers, or what we did was both downloaded their iPad app, so that we could sit on the couch together, and work on it from our iPads (it's also available for iPhone, but I haven't seen anything for Android).

Besides the fact that doing it this way helps us sync all our guests so much easier, theKnot.com's also got a few other features that will be incredibly helpful to us.  First, it allows you to create seating charts with all of your guests, and if we decide on a formal wedding, that will be a handy little thing, otherwise, it's just kind of a cool feature.  But, what we're most excited about is that you can also export your guest list to an excel spreadsheet, which we will use to print the envelopes for our invitations!  How handy is that?

Oh, and I bet I didn't even mention the best part: all of this is free!  You can just head on over there, create an account, and start planning!  I really do love this site, and their guest list is just one of my favorite features of it!

How Overwhelming!

I am really quite the girly girl, so I imagine it will come as a bit of a surprise to some of you when I say that I really hadn't put very much thought into my wedding at all before I got engaged.  Sure, I've dreamt about it a little, but never really narrowed anything down - at all.  As in, I haven't decided on time of year, colors, venues, anything.

So much to think about!

So, needless to say, when my mom took me out shopping for the first time this past weekend, I was in a tizzy, and completely and utterly overwhelmed.  And we were just looking at dresses.  Not even trying anything on.  Looking.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am enjoying every moment of my engagement, and I absolutely love planning and organizing in general.  So, I know I'm going to love planning this wedding.  It'll just take a little brainstorming from Joe and I (and probably also our friends and family) to really get this show on the road!  

As for right now, I think we have actually made a couple decisions!  We already know who we'd like our photographer to be, we have a rough idea of who we want in the wedding party, and we may even have an officiant picked out!  We just have to set a date to see if they're available.  As for the date, (which we've been asked countless times!) we've narrowed it down to next Spring.  I guess you'll just have to keep reading to see what date we decide upon!

Telling the Parents

After Joe proposed, I was so excited to tell my parents!  I started to call them, but since we live in the same town, and our houses are really only a few minutes away from each other, we instead decided to pop in and tell them ourselves.  So, we hopped in the car, and headed over there.  However, we were so excited, we actually got there before my dad got home.  Rather than just tell my mom right then and there, we acted as if we were just stopping by to say hi and hang out for a little while.

It was so hard to keep the news in, but I think we did pretty well, and apparently I did a good job of not playing with my ring too much, because my mom was still surprised once my dad got home, and I finally got to show her the ring!

First picture as an engaged couple!

They were so excited for us, and both had tears in their eyes - sorry for spilling the beans, Dad!  I'm so glad we went over there, and were able to experience their reaction to our engagement with them, especially since that's when I found out another amazing detail about our engagement.

Joe proposed on Wednesday, July 17, 2013, but he'd had the ring for sure by the Fourth of July.  On July 5th, he was helping my dad with some computer work, and he actually asked my dad's permission to marry me!  To be quite honest, I really didn't think that he'd do something like that, but I'm so glad he did!  I've really got a keeper, here. ;)

My dad of course said yes, and Joe showed him the ring then, but my mom didn't get to see it until we showed her together.  They figured I'd want to be the first to show her, and they were right!

The picture above was taken just before we left my parents' house to go over and tell my grandparents, who also live in the same town, and even though it's a little blurry, I absolutely love it.  We both look so happy, and if you've seen my 50 Random Facts About Me video, I mentioned that when I get really, really excited, I may not always show it, but I get clumsy, and do things like fall off chairs.  Well, that chair right behind me?  I fell off it right before this picture was taken.

Yep.  Definitely in love here. :)

Our Proposal Story

Isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Toward the end of a particularly long day of work, I grabbed my cell phone, and sent a text to Joe:

What would you like for dinner?

His response was that we go out for dinner, which I of course agreed to because that meant I didn't have to cook.  This was exciting in and of itself, but then he sent me another text:

If you dress up we will go somewhere fancy.

I got even more excited about this one.  I think I might have even let out a little squeal while at work - I'm not sure.  I've been squealing a lot lately.  I love getting dressed up, though, so he definitely didn't need to tell me twice to do it.

Last picture before I got engaged!

So, the second I got done with work, I hurried out to go home and get ready for our date!  I primped almost right up until he got home, but in a house with only one window air conditioner in our bedroom, I did spend a few minutes in there, trying to convince my makeup not to melt off my face.

We left for Bemidji pretty much as soon as he got home, taking the fancy car: his black 330Ci BMW.  I love that car.  It just feels so cool to ride in.  We had dinner at Mi Rancho, which is a huge Mexican restaurant there, and while it's maybe not what you would call fancy, it was still definitely a treat.

After dinner - which I couldn't finish because I found it too greasy for some reason - Joe suggested that we go for a walk around Lake Bemidji.  Sadly, it started raining, so we ended up going home, and while I was thinking we'd just chill in our house and watch a movie, the night was really just starting.

My flowers!

Right before the driveway to our house, Joe spotted a little patch of wildflowers, and suggested I hop out and pick some.  I laughed at him, but he was rather insistent about the flowers.  He actually jumped out himself and got some for me!  They're currently up in the guest bedroom that is essentially my closet!

We got home, and Joe suggested that we go walk down to the lake by our house, but I had to slip into the house first, so I could put the flowers in water, and put on some flats - I certainly wasn't going to be walking in sand in the heels I wore to dinner!  He just kind of stayed in the car for a little while, which I thought was odd, but didn't think too much of it.

I'll never look at these chairs the same again

By the time we got down to the beach, it was already dusk.  The sun had gone down, but you could still see very well.  We walked out on the dock, and watched the remaining boats on the lake coming in, then Joe suggested that we go sit in a couple lounge chairs nearby.  I started to lounge back on mine, but then he said he only wanted to sit on the edge of the chair.  So, I did the same.

We talked for a little bit, and then he asked me what I wanted to do next.  I probably said something about wanting to go back home and watch a movie - can you tell I'm a homebody?  And then he said something I'll never forget:

"You know what I want to do?  I want to marry you."

He proposed on a beach!

That was when he got down on one knee, and proposed!  The ring box was white, and it lit up, making the ring sparkle so prettily, and I'm not really sure what happened next!  I think I said yes, but if I didn't, I certainly made my answer clear enough where the ring is now on my finger, and I'm not taking it off anytime soon!  Well, maybe just for a little while when I get it resized - it's a little big, but still oh so perfect. :)