comments.

oh mylanta! i actually have comments on my blog! and quite a few. i was getting so discouraged that i had some many posts and no comments. ha! pathetic, i know. thanks for brightening my day!

sweet home alabama.

i haven't watched the movie sweet home alabama since before travis and i got engaged. while i was at the office today waiting for some things to print, i got on youtube and came across this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8_c7da9wuA. i had goosebumps watching the beach scene {not surprising since this is the scene travis proposed to}. just thought i would share and maybe bring a smile to your face, too.

to purchase or not to purchase?

this is the veil i am thinking about buying. i really like it because you can style and pin it however you want it. it's shown in the store's cataloge several different times, and it looks different each time. when i was in the store for a fitting, i tried the veil on with the gown and amelia and i both really liked it. i've decided that i am going to get it afterall. the veil that i already had was quite a bargain, and even if i pay for two veils, i won't have spent that much money {i think $75 total for both}. i'm even considering wearing the other smaller one later in the night at the reception ... but i haven't decided.

wedding gown.

above, in all of it's glory, is my wedding gown! the dress shown is white; my dress is ivory. i felt the ivory would work well for a fall wedding, especially one in the countryside. while i love her big billowing veil, mine, as i've mentioned before, will be a birdcage veil. i've already purchased it {but i don't have pictures of it}. i have it in a hat box at home. i'm thinking of purchasing a different one, however. at the time i purchased my gown, the store didn't carry the birdcage veil. the veil that i purchased, though lovely, is more of a blusher veil and slightly shorter and offers no coverage for the side of my head. when i went for one of my dress fittings, the store now had several birdcage veils available. i'll let you know what i decide.

i'm really happy with my dress selection. since i was going for a vintage-inspired vibe, it has thrilled me to no end to hear every single person who has seen me in the dress say that it is "very grace kelly" or "has an audrey hepburn air."

i will have to post pictures of my jewelry later. i opted for diamonds {though i considered pearls} because they just remind me of old hollywood. though it is a small detail, the jewelry is what really made the dress for me. when i saw the vintage {i really need a new word here!} jewelry with the dress, i fell in love.

i really like the buttons that run along the back of the dress. they work nicely with the "dots" on the birdcage veil where the netting comes together.

wedding blog.

i have {finally!} created a wedding blog that is just for me. i don't want travis to have access to it because i want my wedding gown and other attire to be a complete surprise to him. i'm having a lot of fun with it though, and much like a wedding planner, it feels good to have all of my ideas in one place, organized nicely. the only thing i don't like about it? it's online, so i don't have access to it unless i have internet. i've considered printing it out, but with all the ideas i have, it's enough to fill up a book of it's own! there would be no room in my planner! {even if i do get the russell + hazel binder}. maybe i will keep the former planner and the new planner. one could be for contracts, documents, etc. and the other could be my own book of pictures and ideas. hmm ... maybe i need two coordinated russell + hazel planners ...

now i'm just getting carried away! sounds like life has practice tonight, so i should head that way. i'll post more tomorrow.

bridesmaids' gowns.

 

 

i'm really happy with the choice the girls and i made for their gowns. we had two pages of dresses picked out ahead of time. this was on the list, but hadn't made the top choice. we saw someone else in the store trying it on and decided to give it a go. once the dress was on, it quickly became our top choice. while all of the dresses looked great on the girls, this one looked fabulous on everyone. it was flattering on all body types and just made everyone comfortable.

this is also not a color we were considering. i had planned to go with latte {which matches a lot of the bronze fabric that we're using} and champagne, and each girl's dress was going to alternate colors. when we saw this color, though, we were all drawn to it. it's very flattering. i also like that it's a neutral {i especially like this now that i'm considering a slight color change}. we decided we could alternate their bouquets, ribbon, etc. if i decide i still want to alternate.

rug rat: childhood memories.

sunday night while travis and i were lying on our stomachs on my bed talking about the upcoming week, he did the cutest little thing. he raised up off of his stomach onto his knees and put his head on the ground. {much like this woman}.
he began scooting his head across the bedspread flattening his hair against his head. he would do it a few times and then run his hand along his flat, slick hair. he realized what he was doing and started laughing. he said, "i used to do that all the time when i was a little kid. i would push myself all across the living room floor." i asked him if anyone had ever taught him to do a head stand because what he was doing reminded me of headstands. we were taught to sit on our knees, stretch our arms straight out in front of us until we were doing "the superman" {as our teacher called it}, put our hands on the floor, tilt our head to the ground, stick our elbows out the the side, balance our knees on our elbows, and then slowly push up to the sky. while travis had never heard of "the superman" position, he had learned how to do a headstand in a similar fashion. "do you know who taught me how to do it?" chuckling ensued, "my dad [steve]. he used to do all kinds of goofy stuff like that with us when we were kids." i couldn't help but giggle myself picturing steve and travis in the middle of the living room doing headstands! what a great memory.

let's take this chance and make this love feel relevant.

last month my cousin kendra got married. her wedding was so much fun, and she looked beautiful. watching her and dean promise themselves to one another was so touching. it made me so much more ready for our wedding. i had the opportunity to tell most of my family that we had postponed ours until next fall. it was so hard to say while we were wrapping up such an incredible day with kendra.

i am about to sound like the most selfish person in the world {good thing very few eyes other than mine will see it.} i was also a little hurt by what so many people had to say. most said, "oh good. it was really going to be a burden for us. this will give us a year to save." the time travis and i were engaged to the date of our original wedding was almost one year. people would have already had a year to save. granted, i understand that the economy took a nose-dive, but i don't expect people to go spend tons of money on our wedding. we just want everyone there to celebrate with us. i hear, "oh good," "oh what a relief," and "thank goodness" so many times i thought i was going to scream. here i had just made this enormous decision to postpone a very, very special day ... and everyone else was thanking me for making their life easier. it was rough just because i felt like my heart was breaking a little and everyone else was just relieved.

... but enough of my pity party ...

being at kendra's wedding really did make me so excited about mine and travis's upcoming nuptials, and i can't wait until next fall. for now, i will enjoy this extended engagement, and realize that it really is a blessing. it will give us time to be engaged, because, come on, that's not something most people get to have for long. you only get to have fiance for such a short period of time, and then a husband forever. we will also have time to get everything in order exactly the way we want it. it will give us more time to house-hunt. more people will have the opportunity to prepare for the wedding. and we have a lot of weddings along the way that can also help us prepare for ours. kendra's is something we looked forward to, and now that it has passed, we have david mcdonald & his fiancee's and andrea kurys and ryan hurst's. {we even get to go to maui for theirs!}

a few inspiration boards.

when i first set about to plan our wedding, i had images from the great gatsby enter my head. i wanted something romantic and vintage. something very audrey hepburn, but also very much like a fairy tale, that went along with the nature of our story {but not the over-the-top-cheesy disney fairytale}. something classic and timeless. i was so surprised to find inspiration boards of several other brides that matched just that. below are a few of my favorites.

i particularly like the birdcage veil, the chandelier, the vintage car, and the wedding cake in this picture. i knew before seeing any wedding pictures that i wanted a birdcage wedding veil. i never realized they were making such a comeback. and even though they are trendy now, i still want to stick with it. i would love to decorate with chandeliers and have them hanging from the trees outside at the lodge. i am having a terrible time finding some that aren't hundreds or even thousands of dollars. even plastic ones that look like crystal would work ... but i haven't uncovered any just yet.

for this next inspiration board, i think i just like the overall theme and vibe. while this cake is very different from the one above, i still like it very much. i thought that i would have square stacked cakes, but i'm finding more and more round stacked cakes that i like.

how fun are these frame photos? i would love for our photographer to snap a few like this.

i like the color scheme and antiquing of this inspiration board. i also really like the cake topper. i don't know that i am big on the cake {it's beautiful, but i don't think it's for us.} i also like the bride's bouquet. i'm having a difficult time choosing my flowers. i love lilies and thought that i would want to use those. then i thought i had decided upon "black" calla lilies {which are really a deep purple} but i'm really drawn to hydrangeas {and the beautiful array of colors they come in for fall}.

this inspiration board just seems so romantic.
i think this venue is magnificent. the board just screams "old hollywood glamour" to me. it's completely different from the lodge, but i still just love it. again we have chandeliers, and while these colors are not colors i'm using for our wedding, i am always a fan of red. i do plan to use sparklers {in lieu of flower petals, birdseed, rice, bubbles, etc}. i think it will a fun touch since our wedding will be in the evening and the reception after dark.

this inspiration board actually captures the eggplant color that i want to use at the wedding. i wish we had been able to find this color in the guys' tuxes. instead their vests and ties will be a mix of the champagne and bronze. i also love the hair pin & the cake. i plan to incorporate lavendar stems, but i don't think i will have entire bouquets comprised of lavender alone.

this inspriation board may be a little hard to see {but i think if you click on it, it will open it up to it's full size}. my favorite thing about this particular board? the incredible{!} flower path with the large vases running alongside. we will have a long walk from the lodge to the arbor, and i would love, love, love to recreate an aisle runner similar to this one. the streamers hanging from the trees are also a nice touch. and how fun is that bathtub? i don't know what we would do with one ... and i don't think that the budget will include a line for bathtub, but still, how creative.

at this point, we're not using pink, but this inspiration board is enough to make me reconsider. i was originally drawn to it for the antiquing. the muted pink {like the bridesmaids dress in the lower right hand corner} may find its way into our wedding scheme. and how could you not love the chandeliers? gorgeous. also, if i am able to get a vintage car as our "getaway car" would you please remind me that i want a pretty wreath on the front?

the following board uses a lot of the same pale pink as the board we just looked at. i just like it's romantic feel as well. since our wedding is going to be at the lodge, i considered the look of the plank table ... i think it may be a little too rustic for the look we're going for, though. great for the rehearsal dinner, maybe?

since the wedding is going to be outdoors, we're considering lawn games like croquet. i saw this picture of the bride and flower girl and thought it was just darling. fun, right? i also like the shoes worn by the girl in the bottom lefthand corner.

this last picture is one of my all-time favorite inspiration boards ... and i am seriously. seriously. seriously. considering working with this color palette. while i was so set and ready to move forward with the colors that i have, now that i have another full year to play and plan, i may find myself mixing it up a bit. this still uses the purple that i love ... but it's more pomegrante {i think that may even be what they call the color} than eggplant. and we see that delicate, antiqued pink color again. i just love it all. {oops, the color is fig, not pomegranate}. either way, i think these colors are perfect for an outdoor fall wedding.

how times have changed ... and then some never do.

i was looking over our blog today and decided to read through our 100 things about us post. i was cracking up! i remember writing this post at travis's aunt sue's house. it was interesting to see the things that have changed. for starters, we no longer live in tulsa. we have been camping {just a few weekends ago}. we now have our maltese puppy named connor. and we're engaged. it was a lot of fun to read through the list and see how we've changed, and be reminded of experiences we've already had together. maybe i will create a new 100 things about us. and maybe i won't. this original list is pretty sweet.