Six Months from Today!

The wedding is 6 months and 6 hours away!! Completely crazy, isn't it?

I ended up ordering 50 Save the Date cards to start, and they ended up at $15. Not half bad! I'm hoping to address some today to send to important people and I'll try to figure out who else on the guest list should get one. I'm excited! I really like them. Sam's Club cut off the side a teeny bit, but it doesn't matter much. I love not being a perfectionist. :D

I'm a bit unsure about sending them out because we went to talk to the church on Wednesday and everything they say is about all these things we have to do and how our date is considered "tentative" until we complete all the tasks... I'm sure it's all fine, but they make me nervous! We're going to an Engaged Encounter type thing next Sunday - should be fun! Or interesting at the very least. We did find out that there's no charge to be married in the church, so that was a good piece of information. Almost makes up for the couple hundred we had to spend on the couples therapist. Almost.

Flower production is going well! We have 63 constructed out of 100 or so. I'm thrilled with how they're coming out and I'm SO glad I decided to make them! They're taking a long time though... I feel like we're making them too slowly and will never finish in time! Ahh! Everyone's been such a help with them though - my mom & sister/co-MOH are continuously cutting out petals helping me paint. Fiance even helped the other day, and enjoyed it!

I still haven't started my veil... maybe today after work. On the other hand, it would be nice to get some more flowers finished....

Fiance & I decided for Lent we would work out every day. It went well for the first week but now we've failed the last three days in a row. Oops! Maybe in addition we should start the "Haylie's Wedding Diet" that everyone else seems to be on!

We also got a pet parakeet! His name is Helo, and he's adorable. He's home alone right now while I'm at work, poor guy! Since we got him though, we'll have to change the cookware we registered for... Anthony was really excited about the ones we chose, but sadly the non-stick coating on them would kill little Helo. :( So we'll probably go for these instead.

Alos, have I posted on here yet that wonderful fiance is actually not leaving for army training & deployment after all? It turns out he needs to take a few more classes before graduating and commissioning. It's good and bad news. Good because he'll actually be around for all the wedding planning, and won't be leaving a few weeks after the wedding. (I am really excited about that.) Bad because now he may not be able to afford the photographer I want because he'll have to pay for these last few classes. Ugh, I'll be SO glad when it's all over! There's also a chance ROTC could decide to drop him and then things get way worse... we'll just have to wait and see I guess. I'm sad about the photographer, but naturally paying for school is way more important. We'll get someone to take pictures at the wedding somehow! Anyone have a friend who's a good photog? :P

It's actually probably good that we won't spend as much as I was hoping on the photographer, I suppose. According to my theknot budget, we're currently spending $7,701. That's food, drinks, my dress, my veil, the flowers, the dj, and the save the dates. I guess that's the bulk of the spending anyway, so it's not so bad! But if we had spent the $2,225 on the photographer that'd be the rest of the budget!

I think we've picked out Anthony's ring! It's at Jared, where both my rings came from. It's some silver metal (I want to say stainless steel, but I'm not all that sure... something they can't resize, I think.) and it has a black line going through it. We both like it a lot, so as soon as I have some extra money in the bank we'll head over there & get it! He's really excited. I'd post a picture, but I can't find it online.

I bought a stamp set to use for the invitations. Now that's a craft I need to start! I think I'll probably have a invitation-constructing-party though, so that'll help. I can't really do that with the flowers; they're too difficult and require too many tools that we only have a few of (exactos, light box, etc) Should be fun! I'm planning on doing a pocketfold invite, so I could probably start designing the inserts!

I'm trying to post more on theknot's message boards, because I typically love message boards & getting to know people online going through the same stuff, but the way the site is set up is awful! It feels cramped, somehow, and has an evil tv thing that runs at the top of the page... yuck. Oh well!

Time for lunch! Six months and 4.5 hours now! <3

Save the Dates!

I've been working on creating our save-the-dates... I stayed up til 1 last night, but I think I have them how I like them!

What do you think?

The plan (if I can get it working... grrr Sam's Club Photo Center!) is to order these as photo cards for .38 cents apiece. We'll see! <3

I Photoblog

I should definitely be doing homework right now, but I just remembered I have these pictures to post!






I have the best Co-MOHs and Bridesmaids in the world! Not pictured in these photos are my Kansas Co-MOH and BM. :( I miss you Britt & Jess! <3

Hello Blog!

I've been lazy lately: no blog posts! I've been meaning to make them, but then I don't. I'm only posting right now because it's more fun than the homework I should be doing! :P

Today Trisha, our groomswoman (groomsmaid?), got her card in the mail and accepted the job! Hurray! One down on Anthony's side, three more to go! :D We're working on what she'll wear, but it'll almost 100% be a black dress to match the groomsmen. (Assuming, of course, that I can continue to convince Anthony that the men should wear black!)

My mom ordered her Mother of the Bride dress on Saturday. I love it! It's a floor-length navy chiffon with a sparkly broach on the hip. Pretty pretty. I'd post a picture, but today is my reallly longgg day and I'm feeling too lazy!

We met with one of our top photography choices on Sunday, Amy Boeve. We both really liked her. She seemed really interested in us as people and what we imagined for our wedding.

Also on Sunday we finished registering for gifts!! We're now officially registered at Target, Crate & Barrel, and Bed, Bath, & Beyond. :D BedBath was by far the best experience. They get someone to literally walk you around the store and give you advice on what you should register for and what choices you have. It was great! We chose our dinnerware there: Lenox Vibe It's really hard to see online, but it's very pretty. We picked out our flatware at C&B: Couture. You wouldn't think that flatware is an area where you'd have a "this is it!" moment like you would with a wedding dress, but it was! Both of us knew right away when we found the right one. It was like magic. :) We also registered for bedding, which is a bit silly, since we don't have a bed to put it on yet!

Today we started the honeymoon research! Darling fiance would like to go to Niagara Falls, but the hotels we found look rather pricey. We started looking at Carnival cruises, which look WAY more affordable AND include all meals, which I think we would really enjoy.

So yeah, that's where we're at! I think that's more or less a complete update. Oh, not including fiance's love of the saber he believes he must have for the wedding. But that's another story. :P

Snow Day!

Good morning lovely blog-readers! I'm incredibly happy today because it's a SNOW DAY! Hurray! The fantastic fiance and I have been celebrating by watching a lot of Battlestar Galactica (nerdy, I know!) and cuddling in front of the fire. :) We also went out and played in the snow for the first time in forever!

We're also, naturally, working on wedding stuff! We've chosen the cards to ask the groomsmen, so a few of those will be on their way soon! We got them from Greeting Card Universe.

I think we may have also chosen our favors! I've been going back and forth on the whole favor thing... it's something I really wanted to do, but couldn't really justify spending $150+ on. We've been kinda toying with the idea of custom teal & ivory M&Ms, but they cost around $150 for just 5 lbs, which is obviously ridiculous. So our current favorite idea is to buy two bulk sets of York Peppermint Patties - a favorite of both of us! It adds up to around $35, plus more for however we decide to package them & pretty them up! I'm excited. Yum mints!!

We're in the process of deciding on a cake topper & photographer... turns out that these are areas in which Fiance and I have rather different opinions. We'll figure it out though! My favorite idea at the moment is to use my Willow Tree figurine as a topper - he got it for me, so I think it's perfect!

Off to go get some ice cream... perfect treat for a snowy day, right? :P <3

Edited to Add: Snow Day Pictures!!

Picture Post Part 2!

First let me start this post off with a correction. The link I posted for my wedding dress does not, in fact, actually take you to my dress! What you have to do is click over to dress number eleven, which, as I said before, is NOT as pretty online as it is in person. Here is the link (Anthony don't click!) if you'd like to try again.

And here are some pictures of me in the dress! (Again with the no clicking!) Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3 (with a few of my bouquet flowers - more pictures of them to come!)

Since this is the picture post, here are the shirts and labels I made to ask my MOHs and BMs to be in the wedding! I made myself one too.I'll update more later with pictures of when they opened the shirts! I love my girls!

And now it's time to play "Is This a Real Rose or Did Haylie Make It?"And the answer is... I made it, of course! Does it look real? I've had some people say they look real, which makes me so happy! Here's a whole bouquet of them.... (note my beautiful beloved craft room, the "green room," in the background! :P)
I think that's enough for a bridesmaid bouquet - 10 roses. Mine will likely be around 20. I'd like to include some greenery, but I hear that fake greenery is really what gives a fake bouquet away, and I'm certainly not insane enough to try to make bouquets with real leaves the day before the wedding! I will also likely accent with crystals. We'll see how it all works out!

Time to go home and clean! Busy week ahead! <3

The Picture Post Part 1!

Just got back from a VERY successful bridesmaid dress shopping outing with 3 of 4 bridesmaids & 1 of 2 MOHs (Miss you Britt & Jess!!) at Konja's and I think we chose a dress! I've been loving the Alfred Angelo website because he actually carries the color I want = miracle of miracles! Even better, Alfred Angelo dresses come in junior bridesmaid sizes, which I definitely need for my rather junior sized bridal party! So we went to go try on nearly every Alfred Angelo dress imaginable & we LOVE this one. It's not my top pick based only on website photos (that was this one, which was NOT GOOD in person! Try it in "Tealness.") but on the girls it's gorgeous. Take a look for yourself! (Keep in mind that these dresses are not at all the correct sizes for my BMs and are clipped like crazy in the back so they stay up!)













Aren't they lovely? They look even better in person, and will look better still when they have the right size!

And now, for anyone who is NOT my wonderful fiance, here's a sneak peek of (Anthony - DO NOT CLICK HERE -->) my wedding dress. (Which also, I might add, looks WAY BETTER in person. I've had people (Nicole!) who saw it in person say I should stop showing people the catalog pictures of it, but I'm going to do it anyway!)

Also, here's what Anthony will wear (more or less.) :D

I clearly have an addiction to parentheses.

I was planning on posting pictures of me in my dress and my beautiful flowers, but those will have to wait because I'm off to see Dear John with my mom, Co-MOH, and bridesmaid! <3

I love being a DIY Bride!

Planning is going so well so far! We have our ceremony (St Hugo) & reception (Petruzellos) sites booked; I love them both. Wedding crafts are all coming together - 18 coffee-filter flowers are completely finished, only 82(ish) more to go! I love the look of them so far. Only two more and I'll have enough for my bouquet! And then just 7 more bouquets, plus yellow roses for my sorority sisters and I'll be done! They're based off the roses at MommyMakesRoses.com. I'll have plenty of time once Anthony leaves for training, so I'm not worried about getting them done. My mom & sister have been a HUGE help with the roses. Rose cost is up to $41 so far - a steal!

Speaking of wedding crafts, I bought the supplies for my veil(s) yesterday! Total supplies: $36. A heck of lot less than the veil I loved at the dress shop! I'm planning on a cathedral length veil and a blusher (because dear fiance insists that a blusher is mandatory!) I'm more or less following this tutorial: http://www.craftstylish.com/item/46914/diy-bridal-veil (without the flowers!) I may work on it right after finishing this blog post... or I may chicken out and continue work on the flowers instead!

In other news, I think I found my new "favorite" photographer (latest in a series of favorite photographers!) I'm completely in love with her photography - it reminds me a lot of an earlier favorite (Amy Carroll) but cheaper and *includes a cd of all pix with copyright release!* (That's a MUST for me!) So here's my new favorite, Amy Boeve: blog website Now just to convince Anthony that she's the one! (I should note that two days ago I was convincing everyone that Marci Curtis was the one... turns out I'm rather picky/indecisive when it comes to wedding photography!) Photography is one of the most important elements to me though. (One of Anthony's main reasons for choosing the way he'd propose was having professional pictures of the event!)

So that's where the planning is currently... off to go make a veil or bouquet! <3

Old Posts

Hello wedding-stalkers! :P I've been starting different wedding blog posts here and there, so I decided to just get a blogger account and combine it all! So here are the posts I had on theknot and on our wedding website...

1/16/10

As many of you know, I love to craft. So for my wedding, naturally I feel the need to make everything possible. So far I have ideas for centerpieces and invitations, and I'm already making my flowers! "Flowers?" you say, "You're making flowers!?" Yep! Out of coffee filters. Pictures to come soon! (And if you're friends with me on facebook, you can see them right now in my mobile uploads folder!)

First Blog Post

Friday, December 18, 2009 7:49 PM

Here we go - my first theknot blog post! My first real blog post anywhere for that matter! Do people really read these things? Here we go, regardless!

So the number one wedding issue we've been dealing with since we got engaged on 11-28-09 is the army. It sounds like Anthony will be gone for army stuff for a year and a half or so ahead, so our current plan is to get "married" (i.e. sign the papers, not much else) before he leaves and have an actual ceremony and reception a few months after he gets back - currently thinking May 26, 2012 (our dating anniversary!). We also toyed with the idea of getting married this August, but I don't think we'll do that! We'll see though. The other option would probably not getting married at all until he returns.

I've been searching for a photographer, since we'll probably get engagement pictures before he leaves. We're definitely on a budget, so I find photogs to be scary-expensive. Pictures are REALLY important to us (Anthony proposed in front of Santa so we'd have professional photos of the proposal!) but still - wow! I think I finally found a photog I like for under $2000 - I consider that to be a victory! I'm picky though... I have to love the photos on the site, at least 8 hours on the day, get a copyright-free CD, preferably engagement photos included in purchase.... I think that's it. So I think I finally did it! We'll see! I sent the one I found a ton of questions, and I got an auto-response e-mail which says I'll get a response within 24 hours. Good so far!

Thanks all for now! Time to get back to work!

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Time for class! More updates later. <3