Hello bloggers! Well I’m a Mrs. now!

What a long  and incredible journey to get us to that big day. We survived and have never been happier!

It doesn’t matter how long you are engaged for..how long you think you have to plan..it really all comes down to the last 2 months. So much money, energy and time went into all the final details. As our January date got closer I don’t think we really put any thought into how close Christmas was to it. I definitely recommend to any winter brides out there to budget for Christmas gifts as part of your overall budget! We did get the chance though to spend a low-key NYE with one of our favorite couples. Since we were having a fabulous party the following weekend (Wedding weekend) we figured going low-key as our last single NYE would be ok!

The last week or two before the wedding were pretty stressful. I was trying to buy and make any last-minute items I needed like silk rose petals for the flower girls, paper for programs, putting together said program, marriage license, figuring out how to make sure the bridal party got to the ceremony site from the hotel, appease family members and so on! It’s amazing how being a bride can affect those around you. Friends I thought would be the most supportive ended up being the ones I was the most disappointed in. Even Big Red had that problem. It also shined a light on those friends and family who I learned would always have my back. That made all the difference. There are some folks that were by my side that I dont’ think I could have gotten through the experience and day without them.

Rehearsal dinner and ceremony: I planned for everyone to be at Big Red’s parent’s house by 5pm on Friday night. What my sad wedding brain didn’t plan on was: TRAFFIC!!! None of us even made it there until after 6pm. We had the rehearsal at the Academy Chapel at 8:30 that night. I have to say I was really disappointed in our rehearsal. We spent more time practising walking down the aisle back and forth than we did with anything else. Our officiant did not go through any part of the ceremony. My poem reader had no idea when it was her turn nor did we know when we were doing the Unity candle lighting. He told us he’d give us a nod when it was our turn. Uh?! Really? Wow. So…who doesn’t want a surprise like that in front of 100 ppl on your wedding day! Geesh!

Wedding day: I didn’t sleep very well the night before. It was my first night away from Big Red in quite some time. It was strange not waking up next to him either! He did send me a very sweet text in the morning. Make-up and Hair showed up at 8am. We had 6 ladies to get ready by noon. We had a blast getting all dolled up! I highly recommend splurging on at least one of these. I also recommend having them come to you if you can. My photographer was able to take pictures of us ladies getting ready as well as wonderful group shots in the hotel. Unfortunately due to the logistics of vehicles we weren’t able to get in group shots around Pioneer Courthouse like I wanted. Luckily the fellas were able to walk there. Sadly when all was said and done the hotel shots were the only group shots we had of all 10 bridesmaids/groomsmen together.

Ceremony: We took some beautiful shots outside the chapel with family and our big wedding party. I was able to get some wonderful shots with my flowers. My florist did an amazing job on my bouquet. I asked for red roses and feathers! Voila! She did it! Thank you Shannon from Sun Blossoms Floral. I guess it helps when your florist is also a friend! I’d recommend her to anyone!

So about 10 minutes before I was set to walk down the aisle our officiant told us that we did not have a WA marriage license and that our ‘wedding’ in Vancouver would not be valid. We would need to get married over in Jantzen Beach right after the ceremony to make it legal! Are you kidding me?!? Both the marriage license rep and the officiant knew we were getting married in WA but no one mentioned that to us. With all the hoopla going on the past 2 months we didn’t even think about it! So…yes right after the ceremony we had the choice between McDonald’s or the Hooters’ parking lot to legally wed. We chose Hooters! So…there we were with our two witnesses reciting our vows so we would be legal. The downfall though was that our officiant was in such a rush to get home that we only had time to take bride/groom photos in the chapel. I really wanted to get a few with our whole group. He just kept rushing and rushing us. Luckily though he made time for us to ring the bell inside the chapel area!   

Reception: Now it was time to party! I lucked out and received help from  two friends who offered to coordinate and decorate. They did an amazing job. Truly out did themselves. I did not think the Yacht Club could look any better. I was truly in awe. There were a few stressful moments due to the caterer not having dinner ready in time causing our alcohol budget to sky-rocket early in the evening instead of a nice even pace all night. Luckily it did even itself out. I think about half way through the reception I was finally able to relax. Ladies–I definitely recommend taking another more comfortable pair of shoes to the reception if you are able. (I think when I finally changed shoes I was a much happier Bride.) We had disposable cameras set up all throughout the reception area. I can’t wait to see how they turned out. We also had a candy bar set up as well as a lot of cake. Too much cake. Our DJ had people move to the dance floor for special dances right after we did the cake cutting/toasts so no one really had time to get a piece of cake. What a waste of all that cake! We also had videographers for five hours. I realized about three-quarters into the reception that they will have a lot of footage of Big Red’s nieces and nephews dancing. Oh well! All our parents plus ourselves were the last ones to leave! I thought we’d have left a lot earlier to head to our hotel but we wanted to spend the last few quiet moments together and that also gave us time to quietly thank our parents for all their hard work. It was a wonderful evening!

Honeymoon: Big Red and I went to Orlando for a week and a cruise on the Oasis of the Seas for the second week. I don’t recommend travel in January. I think I’m going to stick to my spring travelling! It’s a lot warmer.

Things to think about:

** Things are not going to go the way you want them to every time. Relax and just go with it!

** When you wake up on your wedding day you have two choices, are you going to make this a happy day or a stressed-out angry day? I chose happy! Be sure to choose Bridesmaids who will help you succeed in staying happy!

** When everyone is fussing with your hair and dress, please remember they are trying to help you! It did get a little overwhelming with ppl trying to fix my hair and keep my sash from dragging. I know they were trying to help but it’s still frustrating having all the fussing!

** Using the restroom on your own–not a good idea! Be sure to figure out ahead of time what friends/family you feel comfortable enough having help you int he restroom.

** Be sure to tell your photographer and future husband what you need in the way of pictures. Sadly Big Red misunderstood my request to be in some of his family photos. So no Big Red family shots with me in them!

** Allow plenty of time to put your dress on! It takes longer than you think! Also try to test out sitting with your dress, crinoline, corset and shoes. Not as easy as it sounds!

** Don’t worry so much about what the kids may be doing in the audience or in the wedding party at the ceremony. I’m not a big fan of screaming or loud children at a wedding ceremony and randomly enough I never heard them. I was so focused on the ceremony that I tuned them out. Also our ring bearer did not want to walk down the aisle on his own. No worries to me! He walked down with his mom and was a happy boy!

** Last but not least as everyone told me ahead of time-the day goes by so fast. Remember to breathe, relax and enjoy yourself! Take little moments together if you can. Our favorite moment was actually back at our hotel suite still in our wedding finery opening cards together.

Thank you for being a part of my journey to the altar. It was an amazing journey and I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

~Auburn

Hello bloggers and readers!

Time has been flying by. Before I know it Christmas will be here! After that…the New Year…then the wedding! WOW!

I’ve been asked a few times lately if I’m nervous. Not really nervous to get married or be married…more anxious about the day itself. I’m worried about things not coming together the way I envisioned them to be. Afraid that something won’t be done like the tables not set right or the cake not coming out the way I dreamed….! Someone told me that no matter what happens..really only I know what it’s all supposed to look like. Not to worry so much about the small stuff…! Plus we are there to get married to one another…not to focus on the big party of it all.

I’ve taken care of quite a few things on the never-ending wedding list. We even finally found time to pick out tuxes! Phew! Now we just have to wrangle on the fellas to get measured for them.

So what have we completed and what’s left to be done?

• Final fitting of my wedding dress. All done-hanging all freshly pressed in the MOG’s house
• Flower girl dresses-done! Having both girls try on dresses was so adorable. We have one princess and one tomboy…and wouldn’t you know it the tomboy fell in love with the most poufy-ist of dresses! More tulle than I’ve ever seen on one little girl! They look absolutely precious in their dresses. They just came in last night!
• Flower girl baskets, ring bearer pillow and card holder-done! I decided to go with a fairy tale theme for these.
• Hairstylist and Videographer–done! YAY! We finally found someone for both that we love and trust. We’ve been trying to use local companies and husband/wife teams! I’m having my hair trial in a few weeks. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for my hair!
• Bridal Shower-done! What an amazing time. I’m lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends and family! They made me feel very special and loved. It’s so fun to have all your friends being a part of your special day!
• Bridal lingerie-done! No more comment
• Red shoes–I am now the proud owner of two pairs of red high heels. I bought one pair that ended up being a little too high. The second pair ended up being what I was looking for all along. Red, not too high and a peep toe! YAY!

What’s left to do?

• Start calling all the folks who haven’t RSVP’ed yet. That alone makes me frustrated. How hard is it to send in a little reply post card? Even if you are family I still need to know if you are going or not. Plus I paid for all those postcard stamps..please send it in! Since I’ve been wedding planning I now know how important it is to RSVP to someone’s event right away!
• Push Big Red into get measured for his own tux! That might be kind of important. Hopefully he’s going tonight! He’s wearing a black tux with a white vest and tie. I can’t wait to see him in a tux!
• Unity candles. I have the engraved/monogrammed holders..just not the candles themselves.
• Vows. We have yet to put together our wedding vows/program. We have already postponed meeting with our officiant once already. It really looks like a daunting task to put it all together.
• Groomsmen and Parent gifts. We haven’t found anything yet to give to the men or our parents! Arrgh. Any suggestions??
• Food. We have yet to meet with our caterer and the reception site to go over the food choices. We also aren’t exactly sure about how much food and alcohol will set us back. Our meeting is next week. I’m a little fearful of going over budget on this one!
• Transportation. We haven’t figured out if we are going to try to rent a limo or use a shuttle to get our Wedding party to and from the hotel to the chapel. This one kind of keeps me awake at night. Any ideas?

I think I’ve mentioned before that I was a frequent reader of WeddingBee.com?! Lately I just haven’t been into it. I feel like I have all the ideas and info I can use at this point. I even cleaned out my spare bedroom of all unneccessary wedding information/brochures/business cards etc that don’t relate to my own pending nuptials. I feel like any extra information at this point stresses me out.

I have to say I’m over the moon about how close the wedding is. I  have been counting down the days since last month. It’s less than 6 weeks away. Less than 6 weekends to go. 37 days. It’s a wee bit crazy to think that in a little over a month I will have a new last name, a new ring on my finger, a husband, I’ll be a Mrs. and I’ll have that feeling of being a Newlywed. Plus we can finally start trying for a family. I’m excited for that piece too.

What else can I say…the next few weeks are going to be intense, crazy and awesome! Wish me all the luck in being a survivor of that thing we call wedding planning!

I’ll leave you with a couple of love/wedding quotes:

“I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance,
A church filled with family and friends.
I asked him what kind of a wedding he wished for,
He said one that would make me his wife.” ~Author Unknown

“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.” ~Germaine Greer

Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful holiday!

Always~Auburn

Hello blog readers!

Well I’m finally at the 100 day mark. Seems so close..yet still so far away. So many things to do..and hopefully just enough time to get them all done.

I’m equally excited and nervous about the wedding being so close.

Since I last wrote I haven’t done as much wedding planning as I would have liked. We have crossed a few things off the never-ending list..but as always…tons more to do.

All the bridesmaid dresses have been ordered–3 have even been picked up! I decided on a long red dress from David’s Bridal. All the girls look amazing in it. There is some gorgeous beading at the bust that matches the beading on the bottom of my sash. I’m asking that all the girls wear black heels. We hope to find a dainty necklace for the MOH to wear to help her stand out from the other girls. The dresses all come with matching wraps…which I’m hoping will keep them a little warm.

We ordered our wedding cake a few weeks ago. We are using Lamb’s Thriftway. We decided to go with 3 tiers with 3 different flavors. Plus throwing in a 1/4 sheet cake to make sure we have enough cake for everyone. Lamb’s has the most amazing flavor choices. I am beyond excited to see the final cake design. I was planning on incorporating red  and black ribbon on each tier..but think I’m going to go with a large red ribbon on the bottom tier only.

We’ve also made a few appointments here and there to meet with some of our vendors.

First up is an appointment to meet with our florist Shannon from Sun Blossoms Floral Design in a couple of weeks. I desperately need help with creating some sort of vision for centerpieces. I recently went to a wedding for a sorority sister of mine where Shannon did the flowers!! OH so amazing!! I’m thrilled that she’s going to be working on my wedding too!!! She’s has some wonderful pictures on her website as well as a Facebook page for her company.

In mid-November we are also meeting with our photographer Kirsten Hammericksen. She can be found at www.photographybykirsten.net. We get the chance to show her some sites in downtown Portland near the hotel we are staying at for our Bridal party Suite and wedding night.  If it’s raining or gosh forbid snowing on our wedding day the hotel has an amazing lobby to take some pictures in. We are also showing her the outside of our ceremony and reception venues. I can’t wait to see her again. She’s has a fun and engaging personality. She lives in Medford and luckily doesn’t mind coming up to Portland to shoot our wedding.

I also ordered and received my invitations. I decided to use Magnetstreet.com again. We loved our Save-the-Dates from them so much that we were excited to use them for the invites too. My Mom luckily volunteered to hand write all of our addresses on our envelopes. If you saw my handwriting..you’d think I was a doctor. Thanks MOM! We hope to have them ready to send out in November. I’m debating about getting them hand canceled through Bridal Veil. Would be fun..but maybe too much extra work.

We also bought our champagne flutes and cake server. I found the most exquisite design from a little Wedding cottage in Beaverton. LOVE THEM! I also had them engraved with our names and wedding date.

I did find some beautiful earrings and a bracelet to wear with my dress from Macy’s. I’m still not sure if I”m leaning towards the traditional veil to wear with my dress or a fascinator with a big white flower instead?!! Decisions decisions.

I’m slowly working on finding transportation for all of our wedding party to the ceremony site. I am still bummed that the DoubleDecker PDX bus can’t go into Vancouver yet! So bummed! We also need to find a DJ, double-check on our videographer, pick ceremony music and coordinate who’s playing what, pick out tuxes, get all the men measured for said tuxes, find flower girl dresses, decide on centerpieces/other flower arrangements, finish up wedding party gifts, pick out ceremony readings/vows, find a hairstylist, decide on a makeup artist, size my wedding band, buy candy for the candy buffet (or nix that idea all-together)….and the biggie…get Big Red and I to lose weight!

Things of note from September and October:

• If you aren’t a sweets person–don’t make your cake tasting appointment before lunch. We  made the mistake of having a 9am cake tasting appointment…that’s almost too early to eat cake! Almost!
• Be sure to keep up on any bridal show events. There’s one coming up downtown this weekend at the Convention Center.
• Start making appointments to see your vendors and confirm your ideas/decisions
• Try to attend someone else’s wedding to get some ideas for your own. Ha ha! Yes I did this!
• Start putting together dates and a list for a bridal shower. It’s amazing how time flies. We are looking at a mid-November date for mine because of the ever fast holiday season and party time approaching way too fast.

Wish me luck on my to-do list for October!

See you soon!

~Auburn

Hello there blog readers!

As the title says..there are 150 days to go til the Big Day. Big Red and I are super excited. .

I’ve been motivated as of late for some reason or other to get some things booked. Since we’ve been engaged for so long (15 months) I feel like I can finally make plans!!! Real plans! Time is starting to fly by too! I love it. Big Red has said a few times this month that he can’t wait to be married to me. He can’t wait to call me his wife! I feel the same way! Since last month  and again this month I’ve been saying…so in (5 months) from today we will be at this WDW park..or at this port on our cruise…or we will be enjoying our guests at our reception! Totally corny..but keeps me smiling and motivated to keep moving forward!

Since July we have a few more things figured out.

Red shoes–Check! I bought two pairs from Zappos.com. One pair left me looking like I was going to a really bad 80′s prom while the other looked amazing! So those are ”THE” shoes I will be wearing down the aisle. They are called “Darla” from Type Z…very gorgeous! I’ve been practicing wearing them around the house. Hopefully to break them in a bit. I’m thinking I might be one of those two shoes wearin’ kind of a bride. I think I might find a pair of sparkly red ballet slippers to put on during the reception.

Wedding party lodging-Check! We decided to have our bridal party stay with me overnight downtown on Friday night. The hotel we picked is gorgeous. Plus if it’s raining/snowing on the day of the Wedding we can still get some amazing pictures in the lobby.

Guest book-Check! My Mom and I found a cool guest book that encompasses basically our whole relationship all the way through to our first home together…and anniversaries! I love it. We’ve already been filling it up with our first date memories, engagement story and our STD magnet. I love that it’s something I can journal in and keep all the wedding details in one place.

Cake server/champagne flutes-Check! We found some beautiful servers and flutes from The Wedding Cottage in downtown Beaverton. They are a neat design from Cathy’s Concepts.

Rings-Check! We are leaving the design as a surprise to our families. That’s not to say I haven’t tried mine on a few times already or anything like that!

Honeymoon-Check and double-check! We have our packages reserved for WDW plus dining reservations made. We are working on making selections for tours during our port stops on our cruise. We also have our flights to and from Portland, Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale all booked too! Whew!

Next up–Bridesmaid dress shopping. My MOH and I narrowed down the selections to three finalists. The rest of the bridesmaids are checking them out this weekend with me and the MOG. One of my bridesmaids hasn’t tried on any dresses yet! I can’t wait to see the girls all together. It will be nice to have them all together so I can actually get a better idea of how it will look with all that RED next to each other.

I did get some bad news about one of my favorite ideas for the wedding. I’ve been really wanting to use the new red Double Decker bus that I heard about last fall. How cool would they be as our transportation for the Wedding party to the ceremony site??? I contacted them yesterday and sadly found out that they are not licensed in WA yet. So….as of today…they are a no-go!!!  Arrgh!!! Bummer indeed! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that in the next 4.5 months they can get licensed in WA!

Also on the to-do list for this month: Cake tastings, transportation, DJ, centerpieces, veil comb and catering food choices.

As you can tell I’m super excited to actually do some wedding planning. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to book vendors and buy things for the reception. I also feel lucky that I have an amazing Mom and Future Mom-in-Law to help me out by letting me bounce ideas off them..and to go to shops with. Big Red’s Mom is doing the Bridesmaid dress shopping with me. She’s a blast to go shopping with and I love hearing her ideas.

That’s it for today! Have a wonderful August!

~Auburn

Hello!

We finally made it to the 6 month mark!!! My thoughts could not be more all over the place. Just saying 6 months out loud is crazy. For the past day and a half I’ve been relating everything to the fact that in 6 months I’ll be married…married! The idea alone is enough to boggle my mind! I know I’ve been engaged for 14 months now and should be used to hearing that I’ll be married soon enough..but seeing the days tick down just leaves me in awe..MARRIED!  Don’t get me wrong…I’m beyond excited…I have a smile on my face about it as I type…yet I’m really getting nervous about all the wedding details I have left to attend with.

I’ve started to figure out centerpiece ideas, favors, bridesmaid dresses and the rest of our honeymoon details. I even bought a veil the other day. Yet I’m nowhere close to figuring out a DJ or flowers. We also don’t know what we are doing about food choices yet. Bring in a caterer or do-it-ourselves? I’m really beginning to rethink this whole DIY day-of-the-wedding coordinator thing too….I can foresee that more stress will be entering my life very soon. I don’t think I fully realized the logistics of having a ceremony in one place and a reception in another. Or the fact that due to it being winter ….we really have to figure out daylight picture timing….! Anyone else deal with that?

I mentioned in my last blog that my wedding dress came in. I now have said dress hanging up on a door sill in one of our spare bedrooms. I will admit that I’ve put it on and pranced around in it already. I havent’ tried it on with my veil on yet. It’s been way too hot the past few days to want to put anything with that much material or tulle on …even if it does illicit giant smiles and giggles from me. I think it will be going to rest at my future MIL’s house so that I don’t give Big Red the temptation to look at it..or more so I’ll stop putting it on! I do have an appointment in a few months to get the lacing put in the back and shortened about an inch or so. Even with my highest heels it’s still drags on the ground too much.

Next up for us….more wedding planning….more money being spent…and continuious fights with the battle of the bulge….

Things I’ve learned the past few weeks:

• Shop around for the best deals on favors. We’ve found some great sites like www.efavormart.com for great savings.
• Really think ahead about whether or not a Wedding Coordinator is worth the money…I’m beginning to think I should have hired one.
• If you are going on a honeymoon/trip in the winter..be sure to think ahead about where the layover stop may be…not sure we want a stop in Chicago in mid-January…might not make it home in a timely manner. Great thinking AMY!

Until next time! Happy July!

~Auburn

Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve written on here. A few things have happened since last month.

We now our booked for sure for the ceremony and reception site. Contracts and deposits have been made. We’ve also met with the most amazing photographer. Her name is Kirsten. She works out of Medford. Big Red and I can’t wait to work with her. She’s coming up to meet with us again this fall to look at our sites and pick out a pre-wedding photography spot. Since we are getting ready that morning at Big Red’s parent’s house in Clackamas we hope to find a spot near there for the family/wedding party to take all our daylight photos.

I had the opportunity to attend a Brides & Basketball event last night. What is it you ask?  It’s a Bridal Show set at the Rose Garden before and during the Trailblazer’s basketball game. By attending their event you get two free tickets to the game. (300 level tickets mind you..but ‘free’ tickets nonetheless).  The event’s tagline was something along the lines “How do you get your fiance to a Bridal Show?” Answer–Have the Bridal Show at a basketball game! In our house the  tagline would have been…”How do you get your Bride to a basketball game?” On a side note- I am so over and done with basketball. Luckily there are only a few more season games and then of course the playoffs. Oh joy. Actually going with Big Red to the Blazer game was a lot of fun. The Bridal Show on the other hand?! The vendors were spread-out all throughout the Rose Garden. By the time the game was getting closer to starting there were entirely too many people around to even see where half the vendors or their booths were nor could we even barely get over to one. Luckily we arrived early enough to the Rose Garden to make our way around to all of them that we wanted to chat with. Also the vendors were supposed to be there through half-time. We were happy to have finished up since the tickets were on the 300-level getting down to the main concourse would have taken entirely too long to actually get down and back up again before the game started back up.  A big plus though for the event just being there with Big Red and being apart of the energized crowd really helped liven the both of us. We’ve been kind of feeling like we’ve been sapped of our energy lately. Maybe it’s all the fast food we’ve been eating! Or the fact that we’ve been couch potatoes lately. Nah..can’t be that! Ha!

We did come across an interesting vendor-Double Decker PDX. These two young U of O graduates are starting up a Double Decker bus service around Oregon. They have some great specials coming up when they launch in June. Wouldn’t that be a hoot to show up to our wedding in a giant red Double Decker bus! I love it! I found their website and was reading all about their journey to find the ‘right’ bus! If you get a chance check out their website/blog at www.doubledeckerpdx.com. Can’t wait to see them out and about town! They even do wine tours and trips to the Duck games! Love it!

Next up for us-Big Red and I are looking forward to a trip to Disneyland in May for my birthday. We leave in a month from today! We are heading there with my usual Disneyland crew-Mom, sister and cousin. Should be an interesting trip adding Big Red to the mix! After our trip I plan on wedding dress shopping again. So not ready weight-wise to do so but by then we will be 8 months til the wedding. Should probably get on that!

Here are some tidbits for today:

*Be sure to remember to start saving early for deposits. It still blows my mind how they add up! Everything and everyone needs a deposit!

*Definitely try out interesting Bridal Show ideas. Who knew that going to a basketball game would help liven up our lives and that your fiance would actually enjoy meeting with vendors? However that doesn’t mean he’ll want to go to a more traditional Bridal Show with you!

*It’s amazing how people you haven’t seen or talked to in years want to come to your wedding? Really? Oh sure I’ll invite you ex-coworker from almost 10 years ago..oh and be sure to bring your kids! Yeah no.

Back to work I go! Enjoy the rest of April!

~Auburn