Going to Texas

I am going to Texas December 26/27-30 to finalize all my plans, sign all my contracts, take all my vases to Kara's house and find a salon. It is actually starting to sink in that we're getting married now!  I had to share the text message I got from Kara today too" I am such a ditz. I forgot I got my dress and just called Davids Bridal and made them look and see if it had shipped. In the middle of the conversation I realized it was hanging in my closet." haha. I laughed so hard when she sent me that this morning.

90 days until we get married

The Christmas ornament Lillie got me!

Well a little bit has happened since the last update. :-)  I would like to congratulate our groomsman and bridesmaid Brett McMillan and Lillie Neal!!!!!! They have been engaged for 2 weeks! I would also like to congratulate one of the girls we went to Ireland with, Colby Baker, on her engagement as well! We had a Christmas party at my apartment this past weekend and Brett and Lillie got to come up. Brett and David went and got fitted for tuxes and I think they have decided on the one they want. While they were doing that, Lillie and I went finished up all my RSVP cards. Lillie also got me an "engagement" ornament. I passed this semester with all A's so hopefully I can get in to the nursing program. We gotta start getting my apartment all boxed up because it will be a little stressful trying to finish wedding planning,  the semester, getting married, and trying to pack and move on top of it all. I am going to try to get down to Texas while I am off work for a few days and sign all the paper work for the florist, linen rentals, preacher, etc. Things are slowly but surely getting done! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Lillie's engagement ring!

Wedding Shower

Over Thanksgiving break, me, Lyndi, Lori, Kara and mom started discussing the wedding shower. We are going to have it on Saturday February 19 at Aunt Naomi's house. That's about as far as we got. I am still working with my florist to get everything finalized. I called my cake baker today  and touched base with them; The cake I chose is a 6X9X12 round white cake with lemon/raspberry filling.I just wanted to make sure everything was still going as planned since they are coming from Fort Smith. My dad used to work with the Co-owner so he agreed to drive it to Granbury since her husband, Larry, has family in Kerrville which is about a 4 hour drive from Granbury.

Katie and Jake's Wedding

I would like to congratulate a good friend and co-worker of mine, Katie Hardman (now Mittag!!). They got married tonight! I had the pleasure of making food for her reception. It was a beautiful wedding, and I only cried like three times! Despite all the mishaps she encountered during her engagement, her wedding was beautiful and so was she. I also learned a lot of great tips and stuff to do at my wedding. For one, bring floral bouquet bags (the clear plastic ones) to put flower in and send home with guests. Donna (my boss) and the whole team of decorating/setup/etc crew had some great decorating ideas I loved! And most of all, despite the people that don't share your enthusiasm or aren't as supportive as you hope them to be, share your enthusiasm and lean on your support from your best friends and those who love you most. Katie has been blessed with some wonderful friends. Her bridesmaids and maid of honor care a lot about her and helped her out so much, as did our boss, Donna. Congratulations Katie and Jake.

Wedding Punch

I know we went through this a long time ago but somewhere in the midst of the move I have lost the wedding punch recipe we were going to use. So if you have any recipes can you email them to me again please!! (Oh and I know this isn't wedding related but does anyone know where I can get a casserole carrier without having to order one online?)

Wedding Night Hotel Booked!

We have officially booked our first Wedding Night hotel to the Courtyard Marriott downtown Fort Worth! Kara has agreed to drive us to DFW that morning for our flight to Jamaica (thank you Kara, we love you!). I am probably going to book that $39 flight from Tulsa to Dallas for Thursday March 17 at 9:35pm so that I can be there Friday morning getting things done (trial run on makeup with the artist, hair stylist, etc, etc). We're still trying to figure out all the travel arrangements and stuff though.

137 days until the wedding!

I sign up for classes on November 8th for next semester. I should be able to work my schedule so that I have no classes on Friday. Ryan (our Usher), Jourdan (groomsman), Lacy (Bridesmaid), Brett (groomsman), and Kara (bridesmaid) will not have to worry about working around class schedules. I'm not sure about anyone elses schedules as of right now but hopefully it will be good for everyone else so that taking off on Friday or something may not be an issue. I may try to fly down there on that day so I can get some stuff done, I'm not sure yet. I am not sure how we are going to work the vehicles out and who drives our vehicles back or what. If anyone is interested in carpooling you might want to try to start figuring that out so we know who has reliable vehicles, etc. You can actually book flights now from Tulsa to Dallas Love for around $34 (non-refundable) but you would probably want to rent a car once you were down there. Does anyone else know about their schedule? I'm not sure when rehearsal or the rehearsal will be so I don't want to schedule or plan that until I know who can be here at what time. I know it's still early but as those of you who register for classes know you schedule, if you don't mind let me know what your Friday's look like so we can start planning the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

Update October 27

The flowers the florist designed this morning.

Things are slowly but surely coming together. As I mentioned in the last blog Lillie and I went to Garden Ridge last weekend and bought all my wedding vases. My florist sent me a text message with a picture this morning that was an example of what she was thinking for the aisles. I will post the picture, she had to leave the stems on the Bells of Ireland because she needed them for another arrangement she was making. Of course, the vase will be much larger and I think I would prefer clear beads as to pink ones. I love how personable my florist is to just send me text messages and play around with ideas in her flower shop and let me know how things are going. I measured my vases today and sent her the numbers as well so we can get that moving along. Last Friday night, Kim, Kelsey (two girls I went to Ireland with) and Asa came over and we watched movies and did some wedding stuff. I have a bunch of matchbooks that I had bought to stamp with a rubber stamp that says "I Do" on them but the matchbooks were so slick that the ink wouldn't dry; it just rubbed off. So I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and they had their scrapbooking stickers 1/2 price and I bought those and put them on the matchbooks. I have decided where we are going for the bridal lunch, we will go to Mimi's Cafe. We can't get too far away from Granbury since we will need to be back at the hotel around 3 or so. I figure we will get our nails done someplace in that area as well. Remember bridesmaids, I am paying for your manicure at the salon. I think the plan is to go to Mimi's for lunch then go get our nails done (or vice versa) then go back to the hotel and a lady that Kara knows that has her own sandwhich shop will bring us sandwiches at the hotel while we are getting ready there before the wedding.

Matchbooks

Quick Update

David and I drove to Tulsa yeterday and we went to Garden Ridge to pick up all my vases for the wedding. We have also officially got an usher now, Ryan Greig who is one of David's friends that used to work at the radio station with him. I think I have found the rental place chairs, chair covers and sashes as well.

Yay for Insurance!

Hilton Garden Inn, Granbury

With the new insurance law, David and I will be able to remain on our parent's insurance until we either get our own insurance or until we are 26! So we still have good insurance once we are married! I spoke with a few people from cosmetic departments at malls around Granbury yesterday hoping to hire out one of the consultants to come to the wedding venue and do makeup. The way that works is it is on their own time and the cosmetic department doesn't get the money, the individual consultant does. So some places are not even willing to talk to their employees while others were. One lady from Macy's Clinique counter called me last night and she charges just one flat rate and will do the makeup for as many people that want their makeup done as long as their is enough time. She was gonna get some prices together and call me back in the next couple of days. So things are slowly coming together...slowly. :-)

Update October 19

This is the flower for my mom and Kathryn.

I have been contacting linen rentals the past two days. There definitely a business you have to keep contacting to find the best deal. I have been given estimates that vary within $300 for the exact same thing. I have found a couple places that have good prices but I am going to keep looking. Allyson has also ordered her dress! I can't remember if I mentioned this or not but I hit some of the summer clearance racks at the mall the other day and got outfits for Jamaica as cheap as $3! I was happy with those deals. I think it is all slowly getting done. I still need to decide on a linen rental place for sure, make more rsvp cards, get all my addresses together, find a salon for the bridesmaids to go to, go to Garden Ridge (there's one in Tulsa) to buy my vases for the florist, and that's all I can think of for right now.

Why the wedding is in Texas

Foyer- Hilton Garden Inn- Granbury

I have several people who keep asking why the wedding is in Texas- I figured I would clarify on paper (or computer rather)

•  I always wanted a destination wedding but I know that realistically we would not be able to have our friends and family come to Florida or Mexico (especially with the drug cartel in Mexico right now) and I figured the Fort Worth area is about as far as I could go and have the people that we want to be there be able to come.
• Strangely enough, it is actually cheaper in the Fort Worth area. Any wedding venues up here cost a fortune because the venues are limited and very few of the venues have reception space as well. The churches here cost a ton of money too if you are not a member of their church.  The venue we got in Granbury was the cheapest place around period and it just happened to be beautiful the only downside really is the space limitations for the ceremony if we have it in the foyer.
• Although a massive wedding sounds very romantic, I would rather have a small intimate wedding with the people that mean the most to me. By having it in Granbury I know that the people who really truly want to be there will come and those who don't will come to the reception at home. And that's okay because I don't want people that don't really want to come just to come becauese it is in Fort Smith and they feel obligated. I want my wedding to be the best wedding for everyone there, not just me and David.
• It also saves me and David money because we are flying to Jamaica for our honeymoon from DFW with a departure flight at 6am. By having it in the Fort Worth area it saves us a lot of money from either having to fly from the Fort Smith airport to DFW or driving to Dallas directly after the reception getting a hotel then flying out of DFW at 6am.
• Also now that I have chosen Granbury I am very glad because I know that if I had the wedding around here, Lacy, my childhood best friend, like my sister.... would not be able to come because her grandmother cannot be left alone (their grandmother lives with them) for any period of time. 

 So that's why the wedding is in Texas :-) I hope you all had a great weekend. My mom finished tying the ribbons on the invitations and RSVP cards, I need to make more RSVP cards though. And I went to War Eagle with mom and Aunt Naomi. Then spent 12 hours doing homework on Sunday. I am still looking for 50 wedding chair rental (white garden chair), 59 satin banquet chair covers (white), and 59 satin sashes (black) in the Granbury or Fort Worth area. If anyone has any free time to help me find some places and get some quotes that would be great. I hope you all have a great week!

Update

Just a real quick update here. Lacy got her bridesmaid dress ordered this weekend, yay! I wanna say thank you to my mom for doing all the ribbon-tying on the invitations! Also I want to say that I am proud of my bridesmaid Lillie for running the race for the cure this weekend after she just got over a staph infection. Good job!

I love my florist!

As most of you know by now, flowers have been my biggest struggle in the wedding planning (largely because I don't know a whole lot about them and was is cost effective). After one of the five main florists in Granbury I was communicating with via email called me and told me she could meet my budget with my requests, I friended her on facebook. Facebook has a live chat that you can instant message with your friends and she wanted to ask me a few questions. She saw that I plan to wear my cowboy boots for the wedding and she is going to try to incorporate some leather into the vases, rather than ribbon. She also looked through my pictures and the wedding blog and had asked me if the white pomanders (big round ball of flowers) that I had been wanting was a sentiment of our engagement in the snow. Although, it wasn't I thought that was a neat idea. She is going to try to incorporate a few of those in our flower plan as well. The wooden boxes that you can see in the post below is being made by her father-in-law. I thought that was really neat of her to have someone make those. She was asking how sentimental I was and I told her very sentimental. In  fact I told her that when my grandparents took out there old 70's greenish yellow nasty looking carpet a few years ago, I had them save me a square because that was the carpet I always remembered as part of their house. It was really strange when she replied, "...my Granny had 70's greenish carpet and I did the same thing...weird..." haha. I am really excited to have her as my florist and see what she can do for us. It is such a relief to have a florist I like that is willing to do the flowers I like within my budget. Here is there facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Granbury-TX/Earth-Art-Florist-Fan-Page/329174169002

This will be what David is wearing.

YAY FLOWERS!

I have spent the past couple of weeks trying to decide on flowers and reworking everything I want. Yesterday afternoon I emailed the three main florists I had been working with my new "flower plan" hoping I could get within my budget. This morning Rebecca from Earth Art Florist called me with some good news! She can do everything I want within my budget! So not only do I have my flower options decided up on but now I have my florist chosen as well! I am so excited and relieved to have the flower situation out of the way!! Here is what I decided:

These will go at the altar, waist high with pink added.

These will go down the aisle as pictured then moved to the reception tables

This is the color scheme I have chosen for chair cover/sashes and table cloths/napkins etc.

Update- decision on shoes and David's Bridal is having a free-shipping sale!

Lillie's dress came in yesterday and she called and asked what we had said about shoes, then I realized we had never really decided. We talked about it and decided just wear black shoes of anykind, I don't care if they all match or not- just whatever you like best and are comfortable wearing. Also, for the bridesmaids who have not ordered their dress yet, David's Bridal is having a sale on Columbus Day that all orders made online receive free shipping. They also have a special right now that you get free shipping on all orders above $100 from now until October 11th. I have also started getting all my doctors appointments in before I no longer have insurance, at least any that's worth anything. :-). I think Lacy is going to start making the veil pretty soon. I have most everything done for the wedding except making a decision on flowers, chosing the florist (although I have both of those things narrowed down), deciding how I want to set up the ceremony, tying the bows on the invitations and booking a rental place for chair covers and sashes. Other than that, I think most things are pretty much done. I have a busy next week and a half. My anatomy class is quite a doozie so I spend most all my spare time studying and wedding planning. I have test next Friday over all the bones of the body and we just had a test last week so it only gives me two weeks to study for this one! I hope you all have a wonderful week and weekend and enjoy the weather! <3

Hilton Garden Inn- Granbury Texas

Thinking about the Ceremony .

Boardwalk- foyer is inside the doors to the right.

Okay, I think I have decided that if we just need to hope for good weather because I want to have the ceremony here. The foyer that you can see in all the facebook pics, has a door that leads outside which you can see to the right in this picture. We would prop the doors open and have everyone enter the "Ceremony" from the foyer doors that go outside. If we have it outside our decorations are not limited by space or how we align the bridal party. I also went ahead and told the photographers today that we are going with Jenny A. Here is her portfolio if you didn't get to look at it before and would like to: http://www.modernimagestudios.info/portfolios/jennya/index.html

Foyer- the door the left leads to the boardwalk

Update

Well we have officially booked the family/friends reception for Fort Smith. It will be on April 2nd (two weeks after the wedding). I know my two cousins Lyndi and Lori are helping with that, if you would like to help you can as well.

Lillie ordered her bridesmaid dress this weekend in Tulsa! I will let you know how long it takes for her to get it so you can kind of judge that. But just remember you might need to have time for alteration arrangements if you don't like the way your dress fits. Asa has her dress as well but she needs alterations done on hers. I know Davids Bridal has some specials going on right now but I'm not sure what they are. Don't forget you also get $20 off your dress if you tell them you are in my bridal party.

If anyone has some spare time on their hands and wants to do something I would love to see your ideas for flowers. I have found a couple of florists who can accomodate my budget but now I have to decide specifaclly want I want. There will be 7 round tables for the reception and 1 1/2 square table set up (made of long rectangle tables) for the head table. I would like to have different size arrangements to kind of give the room some dimension. There will be white garden chairs for the ceremony. The sign in table. The altar. The aisle. The punch/wedding mints table. The brides bouquet and the bridesmaid bouquets. I don't really care for roses but I love lillies, orchids, hydrangeas and realy about anything else. If you have some time I would love to see what you can come up with for a flower proposal. If you do one you can just save it in a Word document and email it to me.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Florist

I might have found a florist! I got an email from one this morning that will do exactly what I am wanting for a very reasonable price that fits within your budget.  To view their previous weddings go to: http://www.facebook.com/TownandCountryFloralGallery?ref=mf  . Here are some of the things they have done too:

Photographer

I booked my photographing company a while back. I contacted them today and they have sent me a list of a few photographers including their portfolio's. If you want, take a look at these links and tell me which one you think is the best!!   You should be able to vote on your left if you are visiting the actual blog website.

Jenny: http://www.modernimagestudios.info/portfolios/jennya/index.html

Michelle: http://www.modernimagestudios.info/portfolios/michellep/index.html

Linda: http://www.modernimagestudios.info/portfolios/lindas/index.html

Starting back up on the planning

Well now that I am settled in to my new place and have started classes I am going to try to start back on the wedding planning.  Hopefully this second pick up of it all will be more successful than the last drag of my planning . :-)  I have been contacting some florists again. I also made contact with a rental place for chair covers, sashes, table overlays, etc. Hopefully I will get some estimates back soon. I also need to tie the ribbons on my wedding invitations, make my flower decisions final, make contact with the photographer, finalize details with the venue, purchase the bra/corset thing that goes under my dress, and probably some other stuff I am forgetting! Asa has her bridesmaid dress now. For the rest of the bridesmaids, don't forget to enter Davids Bridal monthly bridesmaid dress giveaway!! Maybe we can win https://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/WinAGownRegistrationView?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&krypto=YHGoZjmMQhFd%2FuRaeAvzhomgArs7owowqhzfHRdCj2Q7xs9NcEcEekx9bwXzS6UrL%2F%2Bx7KCJhwZc%0Az21n2s7kNaBKI6tTZXvQ2EwtjwIG76I%3D&ddkey=http:WinAGownRegistrationView    Also, David Bridal currently has a free shipping with no minimum purchase special right now. Just enter the code: SHIPFREE when you purchase them online (this special ends September 14) . They also have clearance shoes starting at $25 too! Hope you all are doing well!

Wedding Website

I have gained so much knowledge through my wedding planning process, both good and bad experiences. I want to use these experiences to help other bride's plan their own wedding. I have started making a website about it. I haven't gotten very far but if you would like to see what I have you can visit this link: http://easyplanning.weebly.com/

Registry

I went to Kohl's today to look at what they had. I think we are going to scrap our registry at Bed Bath and Beyond ( I have deleted most items there but theres a few left) but our main registry will be at Kohls and for our honeymoon. I have 100 cards to give out that will give you 15% off your purchase of $50 or more off our registry at Kohls. It's been crazy here lately packing, wedding planning, classes starting back, work and my fridge went out yesterday. They replaced it with a smaller one and uglier! haha. Glad I'm moving. I'm slowly getting things packed. Ready for the move to be over with and for fall to get here! So ready for some cooler weather! Have a good week everyone!

Bridesmaids

Dont forget to enter regularly for the Davids Bridal monthly dress giveway. If one of the bridal party members wins, you get 5 bridal party gowns of your choice!  https://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/WinAGownRegistrationView?catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=10052

We have a couple wedding registries

This week we registered at Bed Bath and Beyond and we also registered our honeymoon and honeymoon activities. Here are the links to our registries

• http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/regGiftRegistry.asp?wrn=%2D146477448&
• http://registry.sandals.com/Honeymoon-Registry-85796-.html

We have found the place we will call "home"

After a long day of apartment shopping yesterday, we finally found the place we will call home! It is wonderful! 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom. The most BEAUTIFUL view of Fayetteville! It's so pretty. We even will have our own private balcony! Full size appliances and 2 full size bathrooms. It is more like a community living rather than a complex.  The amenities include: BBQ grills, picnic area, business center (computer, internet, fax, etc), Activity room (pool, table tennis, card table, etc), tanning, fitness center (which is really nice!), sauna, hot tub, massage therapist (you only have to tip him), playground, jr. olympic size swimming pool, courtesy moving truck, 1.5 mile hiking trail, tennis court, basketball court and 4 catch and release fishing ponds! We are really excited!!

Wedding Hair

Well I think I have decided how I am going to do my hair. Asa and I played around with it a little this past weekend. Something similar to this.

Chair covers

I have more questions on the chair covers. Do you like the ones with the sash or the ones without the sash. Keep in mind that the decorations and stuff will be different so try to just focus on the chair and not the rest of the room.  Be sure to vote to your right.

I could use some help!

Hey yall, I could use some help if you have some extra time. I am getting a little overwhelmed. I need help finding some places that sell cheap table linens/runners and chair covers. Feel free to email anything you find. I also want your opinion on color scheme. Keep in mind we will  have pink centerpieces. Which do you like best.  ( You can also vote on your right ). Keep in the mind, the room will be small. We have the options of black and white table cloths for free. So we can mix and match anything. Like for example, picture number 2 with the white chair, pink sash, we can have a black table cloth to tie in the black white and pink colors. If you find other pictures with different color schemes you like better feel free to email me this.

 1

                                 2 (black table cloth instead of white)

3

4

5

Home

Well I am back home and I haven't really gotten much accomplished. I have gotten two estimates from the florists we visited while we are down there. I am continuing to call florists in the area and ask if I can email them a detailed document with images and request an estimate. I haven't done anything else with the invitations. I need to tie the ribbons on them but I suck at tying ribbons. Im gonna have to get someone crafty to do those. I started working on the RSVP cards again too. We have decided to have the family/friends wedding party/reception after the wedding. We read up on our etiquette and its more polite to have these things after weddings when family/friends cannot attend. I will post a picture of the boquet I have chosen. The orange flowers will be replaced with white. The bridesmaids will carry the same bouquet but there will be three solid white and three solid pink ones. I suppose we will be registering for gifts sometime soon if we want to stay on track with the "wedding planning guide". haha. I brought home a bunch of brochers and things to do in the DFW area. Be sure to keep up with our other website http://www.mywedding.com/kaladavid/ for accommodations, restaurants, attractions, and things to do in Granbury and the DFW area. I am working really hard on that website! I hope yall can use it to enjoy your time there and shop, see things, go to museums or just relax!!

Bridesmaid Dress Chosen!

We have decided on a bridesmaid dress. Most of you tried it on at some point. The lady said that it is best to order the dresses 6 months in advance. It takes about six weeks for them to come in once you have ordered them. If you want, you can go ahead and buy them now and if you lose or gain weight you can get it altered to fit you. The lady said she had no way of knowing how long they would have this particular dress. The only clue she could give me was that if it goes on sale, you need to get it because that means it is fixing to be gone and they wont order anymore of them. I put the dress on my "file" at Davids Bridal. So if you go to go buy it, just tell them you need to buy/order the dress. Give them my name (I am listed in AR, although you can purchase it at any Davids Bridal in the US) and they will know the dress and that it should be black. You should also get either a 20% or $20 off discount because I bought my dress there. Make sure they give you your discount. I personally do not care what shoes you wear, or your hair. I do not know how I will do my hair yet. As far as jewelry goes, I will be wearing a pearl necklace. It is completely up to you how you want to do all that. The dress is $135 before tax and before your discount. I hope that fits everyones budget. Let me know when you guys buy the dress or if we want to all pack up together (at least us AR girls, Lillie, Allyson, Asa) and we can all go together or whatever yall want to do. Hope you have a great rest of the weekend! The style number is 83475 just in case you need it for anything. Here is the link too http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Short-Taffeta-Dress-with-Ruching-and-Bubble-Skirt-83475_Bridal-Party-Bridesmaids-Shop-By-Length-Short-Bridesmaid-Dresses

4 of the 5 Bridesmaids in the dress we have chosen!

Still in Texas

Well I am still in Texas. Slowly but surely accomplishing some stuff! Kara, Lacy and I went bridesmaid dress shopping yesterday and we have decided on a dress. They tried on several dresses and it was tough to decide but we did it!haha. Were going to go to some florists Monday. Can't remember if I told y'all but we went to The Jalapeno Tree in Granbury. It was SOO good. Some of the best mexican food I have ever had. Last night I spent the night with Lacy. We started on the invitations. Lacy has made some place card holder stands for the reception tables out of polymer clay. She did an awesome job on them. Then she started experimenting and made a calla lillie stand. I think we are going to use the calla lillies. She made both pink and white. They are so neat looking! I am very impressed. A friend of David and mine, Jennifer, got engaged at a family gathering last night! funny cause her fiances last name is Lopez so she will be Jennifer Lopez when she get's married! I think we may do some planning together when I get back from Texas. I am not really sure what the plan is from here. Flowers, planning where the decorations will go, figuring out hair style, etc. (Kara didn't want her face in the picture so I blurred it) lol

Hotel

Well we went to Granbury today to view the hotel and taste the entree (which was pretty good!). We crossed a couple things off our list and added about 1900 things!! We got a ton of things measured and kinda figured out the ceremony. We thought we had a lot more room than we do. We had planned on making each row of the aisle have 4 seats but there isn't going to be enough room for that. We drug all the chairs out of the reception room in to the foyer to kind of create the ceremony. We had no idea what we were doing and wondered why we tried to wedding plan un-chaperoned without someone who knows what they are doing...like Asa, or Crystal. lol. We went and ate a Mexican restaurant to check out places for the rehearsal dinner. We also looked at some salons but didn't find very much.Tomorrow we are going to Garden Ridge, looking at Bridesmaid dresses and stuff then go back to Granbury to eat at another Mexican restaurant and see what the hotel looks like at dusk/dark when they wedding will be. I was hoping to come home Monday but I don't think we will get all the stuff done in time.

Flowers

I drove to Tulsa yesterday after I got off work and parked my truck at Papa Davids. He had a dentist appointment so Lillie, one of my bridesmaids, picked up. She is from Tulsa and was there visiting family. We went to David's Bridal and she tried on the same dress you saw Asa try on previously. Her first comment through the dressing room door was, "...Oh Kala, I'm so glad you are not making us wear this yellow cause I just don't think I can." haha. Of course the dress will be black. She liked the dress. The wedding flowers are stressing me out!!! My biggest problem is that I like sooo many things and I feel like none of it will all tie together if I pick one of everything I like. As of right now, the bridesmaids, will have alternating colors of bouquets between pink and white. My bridal bouquet will be a pink and white combination. We are going to do two pink wreaths on the doors to the foyer. But there are still so many decision of where to put other flowers...sign in table, cake table, wedding favor table, reception tables, head table of the reception, there are some marble counters in the reception room, aisle flowers and altar flowers!! If you have a facebook I would love to have your opinion on some things. Most of you know my "fashion style" and I would also love some ideas for some hair styles for the wedding.  Tomorrow Kara is taking the boys to "school" (Daycare kind of thing) and we are going to the hotel to sample the entree I have chosen for the reception (well I guess to make sure I want to choose this as the reception dinner!). I will let y'all know how it tastses.

To view my wedding scene I have created click on this link http://www2.davidsbridal.com/dyw/details_public.jsp?w=BHMLIICAAH&v=IJDBBMFAAC

This is what I mean by alternating the bouquets and stuff. This is also the dress I think my bridesmaids might wear.

Trial run for the sparklers

Ray came over last night and we decided to do a trial run of some mega-neon-sparklers (which will be the "exit" thing instead of birdseed or rice). It was somewhat amusing. I lit my sparkler first and it did it's thing. It was pretty neat! Then David lit his sparkler off of mine, while mine was still burning then Ray lit his sparkler off of David's. David and Ray's sparkler smoked until the bottom then it started "sparkling" then the sparkler climbed back up to the top. Mine didn't do this at all!. haha. So I think we should make sure everyone has at least 2 sparklers in case one is a dud and we are going to have to make sure everyone has a lighter at hand because sparklers don't last long. It was really pretty though!!

Invitations are officially my least favorite part of weddings right now

Okay, so the beautiful invitations I ordered online for super cheap ($96) were not so marvelous after all. I get them from UPS and its a very small box. I am thinking to myself "Wow, how did they fit 100 invitations in this little box with all that ribbon and everything?!" I found out after I opened them and realized the ribbon was fake!!! It was just a photograph of ribbon!! I was so mad! It's kinda funny now that I know the "Zazzle Promise" lets me send them back and get my money back! So I looked at invitations on the internet again, back to square one. Finding them for around $200 and nothing I found was just so amazing that I would spend the extra money just to have them made because they were so cute. I went to Inscriptions downtown Fayetteville and couldn't find anything I like for less than $300. So I went back to the original plan and decided I would just make them myself. I went away from that plan just to try to save myself some time and hassle by having to make them but oh well. So I went to Office Max to get the actual invitation/wording part printed on white canvas paper. That was going to be way cheaper than using my up ink which is $40 a cartridge. When I spoke with a lady on the phone about them she said it would take about 24 hours. I get there in person and am getting it all straightened out and the lady says next Tuesday ( 5 or 6 days later than what it was currently). I had planned on putting them together over the weekend, but I guess not. So Tuesday comes around, which is perfect because Asa was coming over that night. I thought we could spend out evening watching TV and putting invitations together. But after 6pm I called Office Max wondering why they hadn't called me and it was because my invitations were not done! So finally yesterday (Wednesday) I get an email telling me they are ready to be picked up. After waiting in line for 1/2 an hour at the print desk, the guy pulls them out and they are the wrong color and wrong size!!! I was there for over an hour straightening it out (at least trying). I finally felt confident after I left Office Max thinking, okay, surely things will be right from now!! Well I have a missed call from them this morning, and the lady that originally took my order that messed up the ink and size wanted to know "why I changed my mind about the size we had discussed." I just told her that the ink was wrong anyway so they were still gonna have to be re-printed and left it at that. I have never had to deal with such a hassle about something!! It should be Monday before I get the prints of these done. So if anyone wants to come up next week and assemble invitations please feel free :-)  I have also realized I have more planning to do than I realized. Me, mom and Kara went to Hobby Lobby Monday to shop for stuff like vases, and candles, etc. But then I realized I have no idea what I want because I don't know what is going where. So I am trying to figure out where to put decorations and stuff. I am also still working on the flower thing and trying to reduce the cost of the $7100 flower estimate! I really am not that picky it just seems that any flower I pick out happens to be expensive. I am not sure what flowers are expensive and what flowers aren't so that doesn't help. Also, if anyone has any chair linen covers that people use for weddings, could you let me know please. That is another thing I still need to either buy or rent. The cost for renting or buying is about the same so I am thinking we will probably buy them so we can sell them and get some money back for them. But I am not for sure. Also, if you have any flower advice please let me know!!

No invitations needed

We no longer need invitations to be made. I found a website that has the same invitations I saw on several other websites for literally hundred more. Plus I googled a promotional discount and found a coupon code to save even more money. So we have invitations now. We just need to make RSVP cards, place cards, etc. :-)

Wedding Favors

I have ordered the wedding favors so I will no longer need help crafting those. :) They are personalized water bottle labels that look like the picture above.

If you would like to help

If you would like to help with making place holder cards, menu cards, wedding favors, etc. please let me know. I have plenty of crafty stuff that needs to be done if you like to do that kind of stuff! Here is a website I created just for people who are helping with the wedding to consolidate photos into albums. Here you can see what kind of "crafty stuff" I am talking about if you are interested in helping. http://kalaanddavid.webs.com/apps/photos/

For the Bridal Party

I figure since we are having a later wedding that we could all go get lunch then go to a spa and get our nails done, maybe a massage (to keep my stress and hive level down!), and get our makeup and hair done. I am looking at some packages and I found a place that offers a manicure, pedicure, massage, updo, and makeup for $275. This is just something to think about if you want to save up your money and do it. If you just want to come along and hang with us too that's fine. If you want, you can help search for cheap spa's in the Granbury-Fort Worth area. I know it is still plenty of time before the wedding but I figured I would let you know I was thinking about this so you can figure out how much money you might want to bring with you or save up. I hope yall are all doing good. I am looking foward to us all getting together and doiny bridesmaid dresses and stuff. Hopefully we can do that sometime before fall classes start. :-)

Wedding Attire

Asa and I went to Davids Bridal last night. We found one dress ($135) that we both agreed looked the best. They only had her size in pink, but of course we can get them in black. We went to the mall and looked at the department stores and found absolutley nothing. Looked online at Alfred Angelo's dresses and they are the same thing that Davids Bridal has but more expensive. So I am not sure what to do. Becaue I bought my dress at Davids Bridal all Bridesmaids get $20 off their dresses so it would actuall be $115. I also have a coupon for $20 off dresses for my mom and my future mother-in-law! (I love saying that!). I also have a coupon to save 10% on bridesmaid shoes. Let me know if you are interested in this deal or if it seems out of your budget.  These coupons expire 9/30/10 so we will need to use them within the next 3 months so try to be thinking on it if you can. I will post the picture of Asa in the dress that we liked and let me know what you think about this. Is there a day sometime this summer that we can all get together to try on and see what you think? If we can't all get together, I can try to meet with yall at a Davids Bridal just whever each of you are available too. If you have any other suggestions/ideas for bridal party dresses please let me know too! We could also try to go to Beaus Bridal in Fort Smith and see what they have too. Look here too: http://www1.macys.com/catalog/index.ognc?CategoryID=22120&PageID=95007055030483  There are some good sales but we would need to buy them now to get the sales and get alterations done when it gets closer to time. 

Asa and I also went to Hobby Lobby last night. We bought a box and some lace and made a memory/card box. We will have this at the sign in table for people to place notes, memories, and cards in. We also decided to try making our own candy for possible wedding favors. The candy was surprisingly good. I think this is something we are going to do.

Punch Recipes!!

Well I have about 5 minutes before I have to go to work so I will make a quick post. I am needing a good punch recipe to serve at the wedding. Does anyone have one? If so please email it to me ( kharrima@gmail.com ) . I did a lot of shopping today. I got about 80% of my bridal party gifts purchased and I hope to finish the last of it today after I get off work!! I just have to keep myself from trying to give them their gifts early!! So please send me some punch recipes for us to experiment with and try out!!!

Much Accomplished

Well, it's near the end of my week-long trip to Texas and we have gotten much, much, much accomplished!! Tuesday we went back to the venue and got a good idea of how to decorate, took measurements, took more pictures and got some more questions answered. Wednesday we went to Davids Bridal and I tried on more than boo-koos of dresses. Pretty much every dress in my size that I would even consider wearing and then some! I finally found THE dress!!! I LOVE it!! I had bought a dress previously that I loved and it was the only one, my size and on clearance. It was basically a back up in case I couldn't find a dress I liked better so I bought it just in case. But I had also gone wedding dress shopping by my self (which was much more awkward than I expected it to be) and I started getting stressed out by the third dress I tried on. Well the dress I bought this Wednesday FAR exceeds the other dress, so I will sell the old one on Ebay or something. I got the petty-coat to go under it and a diamond hair peice. Poor Kara cried when I got my dress on, she had to walk away. Kara and Lacy tried on bridesmaid dresses at Davids Bridal but no success. The dresses were cheap looking and didn't fit them right so we are going to look else where some other time. I also booked a photographer today! They have GREAT work!! Here is a link to their photo galleries if you would like to see their work http://modernimagestudios.com/photo-gallery I also purchased a garter, some fake (but real looking) rose petals for the cake table, and some vases too. I met with a florist but I think the ideas I gave her FAR exceeds my budget!! So I think we are going to have to re-do some of that! But at least I have an idea of what is cheap, what isn't and what I like and what I can work with. I was going to buy an "R" cake topper but they had literally every letter but R! ha so I will get that later. I have decided to keep a big rubbermaid tub at Karas and just start buying decorations here so we don't have to transport them before the wedding. Mark knows a pastor that he has asked to marry us so we have that taken care of too!! I have a had a great trip. Ranger, Danner and Gunner have been a lot of fun. I swam with the boys a few nights and they loved that. Ranger was a good sport and went with me and Kara to wedding dress shop for hours! We want Ranger and Danner to wear tuxes and by our ushers but they are embarrassed right now with the idea and didn't want to but I think I  might could talk them in to it.  We also have to figure out how we are going to do food at the reception (excluding cake and punch), find a good punch recipe (email me one if you have a good one), invitations, cake topper, guest book, veil, flowers, figure out how I want to do my hair, altar decorations, bridal party gifts, aisle runner, etc! But I feel like we made a lot of head way!!

Our Honeymoon is booked!

We have officially booked our honeymoon in Montego Bay Jamaica! They have the largest private beach in Jamaica. We fly out of DFW on March 20 at 6:55am. We fly back on March 25. Caribbean temperatures are warm year-round. Daytime average: 82°F, 28°C. Nighttime average: 72°F, 22°C. . The Resort is for 18 and older only. No Kids! This is going to be a great resolution to your spring break honeymoon!

Our hotel inludes: Canoes/Kayaks, Sailboats, Snorkeling, Windsurfing, Hydro bikes, Scuba-diving, 4 Pools, 4 Whirlpools, Swim-up Pool Bar, Hobie Cats, Water-skiing, Kneeboarding for no extra charge!

Nightly Entertainment Themes at our hotel Include:
Piano Bar, Talent Shows, Reggae night, live bands, art auctions, live shows, Charity casino night, formal night, and Black and White night.

On Land Amenities Include:
Giant Chess board, beach volleyball, tennis, pool volley ball, fitness center, Board Games, Shuffle boards, Bocce ball, Chapel, Day/night tennis, turf tennis, Billiards

Tours offered by our resort for extra costs include:
Discover Dunns River Falls, Dolphin Encounter, Jamaica Bobsled Tranopy, ATV Safari, Land of Wood and Water Montego Bay, 4X4 offroad Safari, Bamboo River Rafting, Deep Sea Sport Fishing, Dune Buggy Safari, Flight on White Witch Canopy, Horseback Ride n Swim, Island Vibes Catamaran Cruise, Let's Go Native Negril Adventure, Living History Great House, Lovers Rock Sunset Sail Jamaica, South-coast River, Rum + Falls, Swim With the Dolphins, Bob Marley Tribute Cruise, Ultimate Kayak Adventure, and Zipline Canopy!

Tips and gratuities are strictly prohibited for all staff except personal butlers. In the event you wish to tip your butler, it will be greatly appreciated but under no circumstance will a tip be required or solicited. (This will be a nice plus!)

There are 7 Sandals Resorts in Jamaica and we are staying at the one in Montego Bay, but they offer free transportation to other Sandals Resorts in Jamiaca. This is great news to me! We were undecided about Montego Bay or Whitehouse. The main plus with Whitehouse was that it has a glass-bottom boat. This way at some point we can travel to this resort and have fun with that too. We can also dine at the other restaurants at this resort too!

For full images and details view our other website: http://www.mywedding.com/kaladavid/index.html

Help with centerpeices

I would love to have some input or emails with some links of stuff that you guys like. I am having problems with centerpieces. My colors are black and white accented with hot pink. I like tall centerpieces, with cylindrical vases. I also like the shape of the bought to make a dome kind of figure.. tough to explain but basically it be smaller on top and get bigger at the bottom. I like full bouquets too. I open to about any flower except roses. Feel free to send me some links. I am also thinking about fruit in the vase? Like the picture below. Leave me a comment on this post and tell me if you like it better with or without the fruit in the vase!