Reversal

A snippet of conversation:

Me: ::sigh:: I can't wait for our honeymoon, can we skip everything else?
Mr F: No! I'm excited for the wedding!

That one had me giggling because I so often feel like I'm the one who is trying to create excitement about the wedding. Apparently he has it, he just needs me to want to give up everything and elope before he'll show it? Silly boy.

Holy Frijoles

It's cheap to book a vacation in Mexico right now!

~Anna

Engage-aversary

Mr F and I got back last night from a week of family vacation with my family in California. Needless to say I was not ultra excited to be back in the clouds or back at work. Le sigh.

But yesterday marked an important day for us... it was our 1 year Engage-aversary! I can't believe we have been engaged for a whole year, it seems like so much has happened, but that it can't have been a year yet. Isn't time a weird thing? It's also funny because we have already been engaged a lot longer than a lot of people we know and still have a while to wait.

Our next big day we have coming up is the 1 year countdown to the wedding day (2 weeks!).

on the cheap

Hi it's me, Anna. Once again, I am on the quest to save lots of money.

I met with a recently married couple who had their wedding at the Boathouse, just like we will. If you can chat with another couple who used your venue, do it. It's so worth it. You get the full *honest* report of what is actually realistic for that location. I feel so much better now.

A few things:

We are having a dessert, hors d'oeuvre, and wine reception so there is minimal cooking involved. I haven't picked out a caterer yet, but a bakery will most likely suffice (even for the finger food). However, for those that are wanting a full meal but can't afford the catering company, I really recommend this site.

I am also trying to DIY as many of our decorations as possible. However, I am not super crafty (nor do I have much time), so I am also trying to get things that will be easy to assemble. Enter in Efavormart, the best kept secret on the web. Really. So cheap and so easy.

I am starting to think about bridesmaids dresses (Mandie--we seem to be intersecting here). We are 8.5 months away from the wedding (OH MY GOD!!! OHMYGODOHMYGOD). In September, at the 6 month mark, I am going to formally invite my gals to be in the bridal party... (they all pretty much know that they are going to be involved). Because these wonderful women are just as busy as I am, I want to make their time participating in this project enjoyable. So, I am starting to shop around now. Here are two dresses from Nordstrom's that I really like:

Last but not least, we are boiling down to two decisions:

-We are most likely going to have a dear friend officiate our wedding.

-We are honeymooning either immediately in Mexico (Guadalajara) or a few months after the wedding in Portugal. Honeymoons are so exciting that they make me want to elope!

~Anna

progress?

A little less than 9 months from the wedding. Here's what I have completed:

-Dress
-Venue

Here is what is left:

-Wedding party
-Music
-Food
-Officiant
-Decorations
-Invitations
-Save the dates

and on... and on... and on...

Take away messages:

I finish graduate school in 6 weeks. Maybe I should just stop trying to do this while I am a student.

Exciting updates:
-Fiance and I are both working! Both employed! And they are actually jobs we really enjoy. So we will actually be able to afford a *budget* wedding. And not live in a box. Yes!

-Tomorrow we're signing the lease for this gorgeous condo we're renting for the next year.

So, in summation, I feel fortunate right now. Sometimes I worry that this wedding will never get planned because I seem to be a work-aholic in every OTHER area of my life, but I keep telling myself that nine months is plenty of time. Right? Minus 6 weeks. So, more like seven months. Uh, maybe I need to hurry up and delegate...

~Anna

I have a problem

I was at a friends wedding yesterday (which was inspiration galore) but there was another guest there who was wearing the most adorable dress. So with a glass or two of wine in me I approached her and asked where she had gotten it. Turns out that this is a Calvin Klein dress she had purchased at TJ Maxx but she knew they had them on Overstock.com. Today I checked it out and I am officially in love with Calvin Klein sundresses.

How gorgeous would my ladies look in different CK dresses in one color?
This was the dress the girl was wearing (she had it in a beautiful butter yellow) and I love the pistachio color

And there are more beauties!

If I decide to make yellow a more prominent color I love this dress, it would flatter so many shapes. And it has pockets!

While I love the kelly green, it's too green for our palette, but I have been looking for a good brown dress...

Apricot is one of our secondary colors, and I love the brown too. Could I maybe have all my girls in different colors? And box pleats are adorable and flattering!

Love the style and casualness of this dress. Have I mentioned I have been obsessed with yellow recently?
These were all found on Overstock.com and they are all under $90 and they have all the elements I want in a bridesmaids dress: adorableness, flattering features, affordability, and rewearability!

Here are some more dresses I found searching the web:

David's bridal (who I'm trying to avoid because their bridesmaids dresses LOOK like bridesmaid dresses)

J Crew, who doesn't love J Crew? But they are so much more expensive than I want to ask the girls to spend...

More J Crew, I love this dress actually. I kind of want to get it for me.

Anyway, my plan is to (eventually) pick my bridesmaids and weigh all the options out with them and get their opinions because, well, I have smart, sassy friends.

And now for something completely different

One of the cds I play during naptime at work is a mix of Jack Johnson. I love it. You can really only play "Tender Lullabies" so many times without going crazy... I love to sing along to Jack and his simple yet beautiful songs.

A couple always catch my ear and make me wonder how I can incorporate them into the wedding. He sings of such sweet, tender love that it makes me so happy and excited.

[Verse 1:]
There's no combination of words
I could put on the back of a postcard,
No song that I could sing
But I can try for your heart,
Our dreams, and they are made out of real things,
Like a shoebox of photographs,
With sepiatone loving,
Love is the answer
At least for most of the questions in my heart,
Like why are we here? And where do we go?
And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy,
And sometimes life can be deceiving,
I'll tell you one thing,
its always better when we're together

[Chorus:]
Mmm, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, we'll look at the stars when we're together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together
Source and rest of lyrics

Can you imagine this as the first dance song? I don't want the typical slow, sway song... I love that it has a little beat that is a little bit different.

I also love Do You Remember:

Well, I was crazy about you then and now
The craziest thing of all, over ten years have gone by
And you're still mine, we're locked in time
Let's rewind