The Masters

The final to-do list that will just keep growing till it's done and over, but here is what I still need to do with 3 weeks left.

Book transportation

Finish seating chart

Make escort cards

Finalize schedule

Book Rehearsal Dinner Catering

Send Rehearsal Dinner e-vite

Make baskets for ceremony programs

Finish design of programs

Get programs printed

Get/Wrap attendant gifts

Finalize flowers

Make a list of all must-take shots for photographer

Make out-of-town bags

Confirm times with salon

Purchase ceremony music

Finalize vows

Make must-play list

Get HairCut

Get Manicure/Pedicure

Where did 70 days go?

Oh hello there blog.

I've been quiet lately. The RSVP's are coming in a few everyday, we are at about 100 guests. There have been other accomplishments too, but lets just skip those little updates and get to the juicy stuff.

Its less than one month away, today is the RSVP deadline.

26 days and we will be celebrating our behinds off! 26 days and I'll be married. Wow, saying that is kind of exciting. I feel like we were just at 100 days... where did 70 days go?

KJ and I sat reading through some vow samples this evening and it kind of hit home. It was really exciting, kind of nerve wracking, at partly unbelievable. So, feeling kind of nostalgic here is the story of "us".

KJ and I knew each other, very very vaguely 3 years prior to us actually meeting. We were in our college marching band together but he was a few years older. We each had our circles and they didn't cross over too much. However, even in a 300 person band, a name and a face sticks with you.

So, three years later KJ and I actually met on the weekend of Bridesmaids J's 21st birthday. In true college fashion J had planned a whole weekend celebration for her big 21. We had planned to crash at Bridesmaid J's friend's, Groomsman E, house for the weekend as he lived in a huge old house that could sleep a small country. When we arrived at Groomsman E's we walked in to an empty and half decrepit house with two boys sitting on the couch playing some version of PlayStation Baseball. Boy 1 was KJ. Boy 2 was another of the roommate. KJ and Groomsman E had been roommates and friends for a few years, so hanging out with Groomsman E on Bridesmaid J's birthday, was an inevitable meeting.

Now, here is where the story gets boring - KJ was sick all weekend so besides saying hello from across the room, and having him try to sit in on a lame game of Hearts when he was running a 100+ fever... well nothing else happened. And nothing else was going to happen if you asked me then - boys were not on my priority list at the time we met. I had recently broken up with someone and was enjoying the single life. KJ on the other hand had different priorities...

There were house parties and other reason, like watching Lost from the beginning, why Bridesmaid J and I returned to spend time at Groomsmen E's house that summer. We had probably visited 3 or 4 times (I was living in the city and Bridesmaid J in the 'burbs so we tried to plan weekend trips every few weeks) before KJ and I really got to spend time together. And the first time we did was a night I will never forget!

Now, I can't spill all the reasons why this night was one of infamy, but to summarize, finding one individual passed out in a car that was not theirs at 6 in the morning, with a half eaten banana in their hand and one of the tail lights on the car pulled out... well, how COULD you forget that?

Oh yeah.. it was also the first time KJ and I hand hung out alone. So sometime around 4 in the morning after a few classic movies (ie Spinal Tap and Ghostbusters), a good amount of beer ::pointing finger around the room, I don't drink beer so it wasn't me::, and taco bell (ok, this one was me, I'm a sucker for a taco) people started to trickle on to bed, and I got a craving for some good ol' fashion french toast. (OMG, french toast is the best breakfast in the world). I may have suggested some breakfast to a certain boy with a car, who may have thought 'ah ha! Now is my chance' and offered to take me to IHOP (mmm, classy).

You would be surprised by how many people are at a campus town IHOP at 5am on a Saturday. The place was packed and the waitresses looked exhausted! So we dined and dissected our lives over french toast and eggs. It was weird... something clicked and I kind of felt angry with myself. ANGRY! Why angry? Because, as I had said, recently broken up, did NOT want to get into this game again.

That breakfast is ingrained into my head, there was something so hilariously ironic about sitting at an IHOP in the wee hours of the morning, the first rays of sunshine blinding me through the windows, yet being able to just talk and appreciate the fantastic company I was in - completely sober.

Now, before you go thinking I'm one of those hopeless romantic types and KJ drove me off into the sunrise in a charcoal escape, you can put on the parking break.

Yeah, NOT happening. So we had some chemistry - I took a chemistry class in high school and that didn't turn out to well, what makes you think this experiment would!

We went our own ways after that weekend and hopefully would see each other again (so what if Bridesmaid J had to listen to me blab for 3 hours on our way home the next morning). I was off to Florida with some SAI sisters for our national convention and KJ was off with his band to play Warped Tour.

Like any good business person should know, its all about the follow up. I was a little surprised when I got a phone call in Orlando from some 217 number I had no idea who it was. It couldn't be from KJ because he never asked me for my number (which he lost points for). He did however ask Bridesmaid J for it (ok, plus a 1/2 point for the follow up). But plus about 10 points for other follow-up methods:

I was in Florida when the "package" arrived... My mom was anxious to see what the heck was in this box from the person whose name she had never heard of. I did my best to keep her nose out of my business and when I got home, I opened the package to find an adorable little pug puppy stuffed animal (I may have shared my obsession with these snot-nosed little cutties over breakfast). Being a gift from a drummer, I thought it completely fitting to name the little guy Styx.

So Styx and I returned to campus (for good) in July/August and spent time with KJ, et al. It wasn't too much longer before we decided to try actually dating. Keyword "TRY". KJ was moving out of Groomsman E's house to go finish school elsewhere, which means not only was I dating someone, I was dating someone long distance.

It wasn't until about KJ's birthday in October that we found our relationship sea legs and figured out seeing each other on the weekends could in fact work. And sense then, we haven't looked back. What started out as chemistry, turned into a hypothesis, an experiment, and ultimately, a lasting formula.

...and it's only the beginning of what is yet to come.

The end.

Great Goodbyes

As some of you know, two of my dear friends got new jobs and are leaving where we all worked together for bigger and better jobs. Topped off my our old director leaving about a month ago, that brings our 4 person department down to 1 - Me. So, I've been besides myself crazy. But alas, that's for a different post.

These two friends decided to take me out to brunch this morning for an "office wedding celebration" minus the office. While we celebrated their departure yesterday in the office with a pizza party and milkshakes, this kind of acted as a last goodbye, as I wont see them for a few weeks.

We met at a local restaurant known for its AMAZING breakfast food.

As we dined on the patio we talked about new endeavors and wedding plans - they presented me

with a card and my first set ever of SILLY BANDZ - the princess set :D

After a yummy meal, we walked over to a local ice cream and sweets place (Grahams).

Now, I was told that we were going there because one of the girls cousins worked there (which they do) but when I walked in I was greeted by two presents (easily identified for any Bride-to-Be as Bed Bath & Beyond's silver & purple wrapping) and a beautiful PINK gift bag, marking this trip to Grahams as a little impromptu shower!

We ordered a round of chocolate fondue, talked, and played a little trivia game called COFFEE SMARTS (super cute gift for your favorite barista, btw!) In between I had the chance to unwrap a new coffee machine, a bag of Starbuck's Breakfast Blend, 3 bottles of Sugar Free Syrup (which is awesome because S.F. Syrups make my diabetic-friendly coffee addiction possible), and two adorable coffee cups. Funny enough, the coffee cups were from one of the sets of plates KJ and I discussed early on: the Misto collection from Bed, Bath and Beyond! The girls didn't even know these mugs were our favorite coffee cups ever when we were looking for dishes - such a small, and happy, world!

The gifts were great because much coffee will be needed to keep me productive at work in the next few weeks. I am lucky to have worked with such fantastic people (who will both be at the wedding) and even luckier to be able to celebrate with them both!

Thanks for the GREAT morning, ladies!

Marketing Department (plus 'Little H', 2nd from left) at our last event of the season!

Wedding Shower Part Deux!

Last weekend, courtesy of my mom, MOH S, BM K and BM J - KJ and I got to celebrate our marriage again at our second wedding shower which was at Houlihan's in Geneva. I learned my lesson after forgetting to take pictures at the first shower and kind of went photo crazy at this shower. It was so much fun and I loved seeing family and friends who I hadn't seen in some time - here is a quick recap:

MOH S, BM J, Me, and BM K... we really missed BM B who had to work. I have a good looking bridal party!

... Best Man K and Groom KJ enjoying the fun, maybe... I can't quite tell from their expression.

There was some socializing...

and LOTS of food...

and games for all to enjoy...

...even Father of the Groom K played along!

It was a great afternoon that KJ and I really really enjoyed!

And at the end of the day I got to take home the amazing sunflower centerpieces that MOH S provided. They made the perfect backdrop for some pretty e-ring shots.

Houlihans was a great place for the shower. They had a beautiful private party room which was the perfect size for the shower - and the service was awesome. The gave us a small menu with about 6 options so everyone could choose their own meal, which was nice. There was lots of laughs all through the afternoon - such a great way to celebrate!

Shoesday Chronicales - Part 5

As I was writing Part 3 about my online shopping I went back to visit some pages and grab pictures off the websites to post. It just so happened as I was looking for a picture of Kate Spade's Lovely shoes (pictured below) on zappos, I came across a new pair of shoes I had not seen before!

Kate Spade, Lovely

Badgley Mischka, Xango

At 3 inches, a peep toe, and pink - I was crazy excited but still reluctant to commit. I took a few days to mull it over, and wound up ordering them!

Wondering if this could possibly be the pair of shoes I would wear on my wedding day I waited and waited the 5 long days it took for the shoes to ship to my work address. When they finally arrived I tore open the box and carefully worked my way through the pristine wrapping holding my new shoes.

Upon opening, I thought they were just "ok". When I tried the shoe on my foot - I new these would not be my wedding day shoes.

First of all, the shoes were to big. I wear an 8, but had tried on some Badgley Mischka shoes before that seemed small, so I ordered and 8.5. The shoe probably had 1/2 an inch extra space in the back. I could always exchange them but the size was not the only issue.

A 3 inch heel was what I was looking for, but this shoe was terribly uncomfortable. Maybe the way it was built, but it felt a lot higher than 3 inches and I knew I wouldn't be able to cope with these all day.

So I packed up the Xango's and put the return label back on the box.

Labor of Love #2

The invitations are in the mail - hallelujah!

In an amazing effort by KJ and myself - our invitations made it to the post office early Tuesday morning and we've had a good response that people have seen our pretty pink envelopes filling up their mailboxes already.

Warning to any soon-to-be brides out there, DIY Invitations are SUPER stressful.

They are also worth it - take a look at our completely one-of-a-kind custom

invitations:

It all started with a bag:

and inside that bag was a lot of paper courtesy of Paper Source:

I had never been to Paper Source, but its one of my new favorite places. Its so colorful inside!!

Very important in DIY Invitations: A Mom with pretty handwriting and a heart of gold, willing to hand address envelopes for hours and a time.

Exhibit A - Mom's pretty hand writing:

And I've talked a lot about BM (Best Man - NOT Bridesmaid Kris) Kris' design talents - here they are in real life:

He worked from the inspiration invitations that I ordered (but never actually came in the mail) from minted.com

BM Kris also designed a Directions Card and our RSVP Cards:

KJ took over postage and stuffing while I manned the hot glue gun to assemble the ribbons and wax seals.

Before stuffing, each invitation was topped off with a Moo Card - the idea came from the super crafty ladies of weddingbee:

And a must have for any DIY Invitation project: a fiance willing to personally lick 111 pink envelopes:

I think I've said it over 20 times in the last four days, but I LOVE our invitations. I feel bad for loving them so much, because "paper" was one of the things I was willing to let take a back seat in wedding planning. I feel they get thrown out so quickly, or lost, or like a lot of my invitations - coffee-stained. But when you put hours and hours of work into these invitations, well they kind of find this very special little place in your heart.

I sent them out Tuesday and got the first RSVP back in the mail today! I'm SO excited, so keep 'em comin' folks!

I get by with a little help from my friends...

I've been light on the blogging as of late.

And thats because the past weeks I've been working on the BIGGEST DIY project... ever.

This project started as something small and simple, a way to save money, and has turned into a monster undertaking.

Le sigh... I'm about 20 minutes away from going to pick up the invitations from the printer, and I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I can honestly say that our best man, Kris, and been aaaamazing in this whole processes. Kris is a Graphic Designer who also did our Save-The-Dates. Without his time and hard work we wouldn't have our very special and one-of-a-kind invitations.

I've learned a lot through this project - and I'd love to spend a few minutes sharing my new knowledge about DIY invitations.

#1. It's never as easy as it looks.

I found some inspiration invitations on minted.com. The invitations actually looked pretty simple in design, but cute, something that fit what I was looking for. When we had went to Kris and asked him to design something based off the inspiration invitations I had no idea how difficult it would be to make these no-hassle invitations. Probably close to 48 hours of design time later, and a hand drawn font by our designer - our invitations were getting close to what we wanted.

#2. Printers suck.

The wonderful store Paper Source offered a multitude of paper sizes in every color of the rainbow, including a 5X7 invitation and a 4x6 size, perfect for an RSVP card. What the store doesn't tell you is that no printer (Super Print, Kinkos, etc) can print on paper smaller than 8 1/2 x 11. Well, I take that back, Super Print was able to print on the smaller size, but they would charge $50 in set up for each run because they had to put it through the printing press. We had a total of 7 different images to be printed - which means in set up fees alone, before copies, the printing would be upwards of $300.

My new favorite store, Paper Source, is awesome, but it's also 30 some miles away from my apartment so getting there is a little bit of a hike. All in all, I had to put about 200 miles on my car going back and forth between the store (3 trips), and one emergency trip that I called my mom on. Again, thanks to the wonderful Kris, he suggested making a final trip to Paper Source to return the pre-cut paper, getting the same paper in 8 1/2 x 11, and having the printer cut it. (For about $350 LESS than what I was quoted).

#3 You can never estimate enough cushion time.

One of my jobs and work it to put together the budget and projections for all of the marketing projects. With all these projections, I over estimate their expense just a little in case anything happens and we need to do a second run or make changes late in the game. It winds up working out really well, because most of the time the projects are right under projections and we are under budget in our expenses.

Sadly, I'm don't have the same skills when it comes to projecting time. I thought that design and printing would take about 3 weeks. In looking back through my e-mail, my first invitation-related e-mail to Kris was May 5th. This project has now been 7 weeks in the making... no wonder I haven't been blogging lately!

and finally, #4. Just because another bride has it, doesn't mean you have to.

Wax Seals, embossed print, Moo Cards, Ribbon Belly Bands. I did SO much research that I was over stimulated on invitation ideas. I wanted them all. I'm happy to report I have pretty much everything I wanted (well, not embossed invitations, those were clearly out of my budget) - it just took a whole crap load of time and effort.

I'm going to have the invitations in the mail Wednesday. Well... I say that tonight, but if I learned anything through this, they will probably be in the mail Saturday. Lots of assembling lie ahead. Pictures coming soon!!

Shoesday Chronicals - Part 4

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

When I last posted, online shopping wasn't getting too far, so I hit the stores. From DSW, to Macy's & Nordstom, even adventures to Sears and Lord & Taylor, I visited every department store in a 45 mile radius of Chicago.

The department stores definitely had some possibilities, but it got to be a game of Goldilocks & The Three Bears... this shoe was too hot, this shoe was too cold... and none were just right.

Poesy from Nordstrom

3 1/2 inches - check

Peep-toe - check

But the shoe was a little more purple than pink :(

Nina Shoes - Galvey

On sale at Macys? Yes please!

It just so happened that KJ was on this shopping adventure with me, and he voted this pair out immediately. Plus, at 4 inches, the heel was a little out of my comfort zone.

Nina Shoes - Crita.

I adore this shoe to pieces. I thought about asking the BM to all get this shoe in Navy. The pink they offered though was too soft and I feel it wouldn't pop enough. Part of the fun of wearing colored shoes is making a statement and these just didn't seem to cut it.

It didn't seem like I could find the right color pink, so the next most logical choice would be to get a pair that I could dye to my favorite color. I have to say that I am 99.9% against dyeable shoes. I've gotten a few pairs for prom before and it always seems like the material on the shoe starts to fray after dying. Trying to keep an open mind I investigated into dyeable shoes. I remembered from my Prom days that David's Bridal could match almost any color, so off I went.

I had looked online and saw Martina:

However when I went to the store, the shoe was completely sold out.

And that took care of the dyeable situation. I wasn't going to get a shoe that I couldn't try on before buying and after browsing their selection of dyeable shoes it only seemed to reaffirm my distaste for the frayed edges of dyeables.

By this time, my first dress fitting was on the horizon. I went to the appointment sans shoes and had to use a pair of heels at the bridal salon for my fitting. They were 2 1/2 inches, and I was told at that time I could go up a little in heel height without drastically changing the alterations. So now, I was locked into a heel right around 3 inches.

I began to feel helpless...

Wedding Shower #1

Last weekend KJ's mom and sister (BM B) threw us a fantastic summer Garden Party Shower!

We had a lot of KJ's hometown friends come and celebrate with us, along with his family who wouldn't be able to drive to Chicago for our second shower at the end of June.



MOH S(left) drove in to help BM B (right) host.

Check out those AWESOME PINK tablecloths thanks to BM B. And see the pink lanterns... SO cute!

BM J (right) also drove in to make sure I did not break ANY ribbons while opening gifts...



MOG S did an outstanding job ordering cakes! The Illinois cake was white with butter cream frosting, and the flower cake was strawberry!




It fit PERFECTLY with the Pink/Garden Theme! The strawberry cake was exceptionally DELICIOUS... yum!



We were one happy couple - and very thankful for all the work that went into planning. It was really nice to see some people we haven't seen in a few months!



Even puppy Sadie got to have some shower fun:


And in the end, everyone ate, drank and was merry. The weather was supposed to be 85 and stormy all day, but thankfully, no rain made its way near us! We got to hang out late into the night with BM B and her man. I had a great time and can't wait for our second shower in a few weeks!

Engagement Pictures!

Our engagement pictures have arrived!

Check out a few teaser pics that Photographer Steve Koo posted on his blog.

A few of my favs...

The Butcher, the baker, and the... Bridezila!

This past weekend my mom had come out to our apartment to watch our dog. KJ and I were heading to Michigan for his cousin, HJ & his new wife, Michelle's, wedding reception. Before we took off for MI, my mom and I went to order the cake for one of the showers.

Now, WHY are you, the bride, ordering a cake for one of your showers?

Before you send the etiquette police after me for ordering my own cake, let me explain.

There is this awesome thing called Geneva Bride. Basically, a bunch of Geneva shops got together and said "hey, we have what every bride needs and wants, all within 4 blocks from each other". So they formed a little business group. Twice a year, Geneva Bride has a Wedding Walk where you can get a ton on vendor information all in one stop. It's pretty sweet. Plus, you can enter in a bunch of raffles (including a 7-day honeymoon in Aruba) given by a local travel company. During one of the two Geneva Bride Wedding Walks I've been too I was lucky enough to win a gift certificate to a local bakery for a smaller cake good for a party or shower.

I was pretty excited. The Cocoa Bean has desserts and pastries to die for! When one of my co-workers got married last year, we ordered her shower cake from Cocoa Bean because you really can't beat them.

Now, back to this weekend. My mom happened to be in town and we had a little bit of time, so I grabbed the gift certificate and we headed out to order the cake.

The gift certificate suggested you order at least a week in advance, and we were three weeks out, so no problems there. My mom and I had talked briefly about what we would like the cake to look like, something simple and elegant. One layer, round, and hopefully, maybe a really pretty peony or fake e-ring on top.

When we got to the bakery, we told them we wanted to order a cake and the cashier said he would grab the chef. The chef came out, and we explained we had this gift certificate, and would like to order the cake. He kind of just looked at me, and said "ok".

Awkwardly, I grabbed my phone and flipped to 2 pictures my mom and I had found earlier. When I told him what I was looking for (round cake, flower on the top) he said "no. we don't do that". It just so happened I was standing next to a cake with a flower on top of it and asked about the flower (which btw, check out their website, every cake pictured has flowers on them). He said "no, we don't do that", crossed his arms, and stood there.

Now, I'm not expecting everything to be simple. And I'm a fairly easy person and understand "compromise" and "meet in the middle"... but when you just stand there and tell me "no" - well, what am I supposed to do?

Obviously, not making any suggestion on what they can do for me was his way of telling me to bugger off. So I did. I left said, "Well obviously we'll have to think of something else" and vowed to never go back there again. Personal vendetta, slightly, but definitely not over rated.

Now, as I mentioned, I was part of ordering a cake from there before, and they were totally willing to work with the theme that we had in mind for the work-shower that was thrown. So, why were they so obtrusive this time?

Well, honestly, I think it was because I had a gift certificate. Because there was no money in it for them. I wear a lot of hats at work, and one that I wear frequently is my smiley, Rose-colored glasses, customer service hat. If a patron has even the slightest issue we try to resolve it for them because where I work, patron loyalty is probably one of the biggest things that keep us going.

I really didn't appreciate being treated like that. Having bad experiences can suck the "joy" out of a wedding within seconds.

For all you brides out there, besides getting "viral" about your experiences (blogs, fb, vendor reviews) what else can you do to punish poor vendors? It may be trivial, but I really don't like people being a flat out jerk to me either.

Shoesday Chronicles - Part 3

Part 1

Part 2

I knew what I was looking for, but one of the first pair of pink shoes I came across in my shopping where these:

Kate Spade lovely, courtesy of Zappos

What do these shoes and my dream Manolos have in common? Well, besides the fact they are hot pink, not much. However, they were super summary and, gasp, ON SALE!

Getting back to the style I was looking for, I came across some other possibilities online, but they just weren't right.

Martinez Valero - but at a whopping 4 inch heel, I wouldn't last more then an hour

Nina shoes - cute, but maybe not fancy enough. Plus, I don't really think Nina's are comfy at all!

Stuart Weitzman - not digging the ruffle

Barbie by Town Shoes - again with the ruffle?

These town shoes had potential.. until they weren't sold anywhere in the country, and I couldn't find anyplace to ship them here either.

So online shoe shopping was turning to be useless. It was time for me to hit the stores and get serious...

Shoesday Chronicles - Part 2

Part 1

I decided pink shoes were going to be my wedding day feets destiny. So, channelling my inner Carrie Bradshaw, I set out to find some pink shoe inspiration and fell in love with these:

Manalo Blahnik Raspberry D'orsay

My perfect shoes came with an imperfect price for my budget: $715. Ouch.

But I definitely had something to start looking for: I really like the d'orsay or a peep toe pump. Having a back to the shoe I feel is ideal for an all-day pair of heels. It provides an extra security for my feet so not to twist my ankle while walking. And the peep toe or d'orsay, I'm not a strappy evening shoe type of person, so the peep is the perfect alternate for a summer wedding shoe.

And the final necessity for my wedding day shoes: a medium heel. Ideally speaking 2 1/2 - 3 inches. That way, I'd be around 5'9" - not too tall but still feeling foxy in a pretty heel.

So with those boundaries, I started my search, all while trying to keep my credit card far enough away from my computer so that I accidentally didn't purchase the Manolos in a fit of wedding passion.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog...

I'm taking a time-out from wedding blogging to write about what a whole crap-ton of people have been speculating on since about October 2009.

Any guesses?

THE LOST FINALE!

One of the earliest KJ & Cara memories is from Summer of '06, which a good portion was spent in the cozy attic of 509 Elm (KJ's house) watching the first season of Lost on DVD. I wasn't really into Lost at first, but hanging out with Jessica, Eddy, Annie, Supple, et al changed that pretty quickly. It took about 8 episodes (which were watched over the course of one single weekend), but by the 9th hour, I was hooked.

After KJ moved out of the house to go back to school, we moved the Lost party across town (to my apartment) where we watched Season 2 on DVD. KJ was an hour away in Charleston finishing his degree, so Season 2 was watched into the early hours of non game weekends. (If there was a game, there was no time to watch Lost. 5am wake ups were rough enough by themselves). By the time Season 3 started, we were both caught up and didn't miss an episode.

It wasn't until Season 4 that we actually got to watch the episodes together, live, at their air time.

What's nice about agreeing that Lost is awesome, is that it trumps all other TV. There is no deciding who gets to watch what, because Lost is the ace up the sleeve, it beats out everything. I'm sure once Lost is gone, there is going to be some compromising on if the CUBS or 90210 is more important to watch, but I'm not concerned (mostly because 90210, even though pretty awful in its own right, has more action than the entire CUBS season does.

Ok, 6pm - time to watch the recap before the 8pm final episode titled "The End" - hmm, I guess the writers creativity was running low when they named that one. But, fasten your safety belt people... I'm sure we are going to get some type of awesome turbulence in the next few hours.