60 days and counting down!

So crazy that we are already at the final stretch!  Seems like if I blink my eyes it is two years ago and we were just getting engaged.  My how time has flied by!

We're getting down to the nitty gritty stuff now.  Invites are being printed and will be out in the mail at some point next week.  I'm picking up my dress on Monday, it looks amazing!  Linda did a fantastic job, can't wait for everyone to see it.  It is exactly how I have envisioned it from the beginning.

We finalized the menu for the wedding, and it sounds AMAZING!  We ended up going with Feast Catering Co, Sylvia is so fantastic, I feel so beyond blessed that I was able to book her so last minute.  That and the menu that she put together for us is so delicious, my wonderful dad even flew to Alaska to bring home salmon for the dinner, so look forward to some very, very fresh fish, and yummy local food.

Now we just need to figure out how we are going to decorate the space!

I have a few ideas, just need to figure out how we are going to get it all together, have enough time to set up and then tear down.  It is a huge space, so we shall see!

My mom and I picked out 25 of these while we were in Hawaii

Other than that, we are down to two bakers, and should have our decision by Monday for our desserts, we're going to have a dessert bar with a few choices, so everyone should be able to find something to strike their fancy.  Marshall went on his bachelor party a couple of weeks ago in Vegas, he had a fantastic time hanging with all his friends from back home and one from Spokane.  

I'm off to Seattle this weekend for my bachelorette party, though I am assuming that it will be far more low key than Marshall's trip to Vegas ;)  We are going to a concert Friday night, breakfast (more importantly pitchers of mimosas) then roaming around downtown Seattle, mani/pedis... then to watch a burlesque show Saturday evening, and possibly a drink or two and some dancing.  Up early, because I have a makeup job in Spokane around 3.  Sara has tried for months to make sure I wouldn't book any clients, but well I love my job to much, doing makeup is far too much fun!

So yes, lots of stuff going on, and Marshall and I are slowly getting closer to being married, which is the whole point of all of this silliness.  People ask a lot, how excited I am for our big day, my usual response is I can't wait till September 25th, because I am counting down the days till we are just plain old married!

Venue, invites, photographer... check!

This month has been quite a busy month for wedding stuff!

First, we finally booked the venue!  It is the production building of The Spokesman-Review... This is the only photo that I have been able to find online of the outside of the building.  I need to go back and take some outside photos.  

Sara brought her camera so we were able to take some photos of the inside, we just didn't take any photos of the outside... oops :)

So the venue is HUGE... there are two rooms, but then the second room will be broken up into two spaces.  The first room is where I think we will do cocktail hour and maybe live music (still haven't decided on if we are going to have a band) 

So from the first room you can actually see the paper presses, and we should be able to watch the Sunday paper be pressed during the wedding. 

This is the second room, that is almost as long as a city block!  There is bathrooms in the center to break up the space, we will do the ceremony on the far side, and reception in the space pictured below.  We need to decide if we are going to primer the walls or if we are going to hang fabric (I'm guessing paint, as fabric is crazy expensive... for the amount that we would need)

This is the back side of the space, where I think we will do the ceremony.  Nothing is set in stone at this point, so it could all change in the next year...  But that is how I am thinking it will be at the moment.   

Invitations are all picked out, just need to order them, then print them, and figure out how we are going to do RSVPs, I was able to figure out how to do an online rsvp, and know that there are quite a few people out there than will be able just rsvp online instead of needing to send something back.  But trying to figure out the best way to communicate this without the "etiquette police" being super upset.  Think sustainable :) less paper waste, less gas used...  

Last but not least *drum roll please*  my photographers have been booked!!!!!  I am using Heather and Jon from One Love Photo, they are by far the most amazing and artistic photographers I have ever seen!  I'll be honest, I was kinda star struck when I met Heather at the beginning of the month.  I kept having to say, "I swear I am totally not a stalker" because I have been following their blog for over a year now, and feel like I kinda know her, even though it was the first time that I had ever talked to her.  Sara and I drove to Seattle for the weekend just to meet with her face to face!  It was a super fun, very busy weekend, we picked out a brides maid dress for Sara, we visited with Kendra for like 30 minutes before she left to Vegas for the weekend, crashed at her place for the weekend (ya she is that amazing!)... had dinner then watched Marshall's cousins band play the last of 40 shows in one day, met up with Amanda for breakfast, drove to Tacoma to meet with Heather, 3 hours later, all my obsession with One Love Photo was even stronger.  I can't even begin to explain how honored I am that I get to have them shooting our wedding! 

... here are a few photos to see just how amazing they really are.  But really, go check out their blog, right now (right, well after you finish reading)! GO GO GO!!!!

So anyway, that is what is going on with wedding planning as of right now...  every month it seems like we get a little farther along in planning.  Next up catering, should be ordering christmas/save the date cards in the next couple of weeks.  We got all of our engagement photos back yesterday, I have been looking through the hundreds of amazing photos by Julie and Arah from Madeline James Photography.  Can't wait to get those ordered and sent off to everyone!  

Lace Found!

While visiting Italy this week I had one goal in mind, find a fabric store and buy some lace for my dress.  After a few stops in some smaller fabric stores I had just about given up.  From my searching online I had the understanding that the best fabric stores were in Rome.  But sure enough I ended up finding the most amazing fabric store up in Florence.

So as we were about to run to the train to head back to our condo, but my sister said she saw a bigger fabric shop, and she had looked in it already.  The shop has been open since 1929, the shop was opened up by Romoli Egisto, and it is now run by his two sons, it is called Casa Dei Tessuti in Firenze (Florence) Italy.  They sell fabric to some to the worlds top designers such as Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Yeves Saint Laurent, and Giani Versace to name a few!

I just feel so blessed to have gotten the chance to meet them, they were so kind, took a ton of photos with me and my family and made sure that I sent them a photo of my wedding dress when it is all done.  They were the kindest people we met on our whole trip to Europe!  They were amazing!

                                      

I'm going to meet with the lady who is making my dress on Wednesday, and I can't wait to show here my lace.  It is hand made velvet lace, no acid wash lace for this girl, haha!  Getting the lace made me feel like this whole wedding this is really happening.  It was my first purchase for the wedding, its all so very exciting! 

Wedding planning standstill...

For the last month I haven't done much planning.  Until we book the venue there isn't much else I can do, because I can't really do anything else until I know for sure that we are going to do the wedding in Sandpoint.  My family wasn't all that excited about Sandpoint, because it is an hour and a half from Spokane.  So I have kinda put planning on the back burner for a bit.  It isn't fun planning a wedding when everyone isn't on board with you, so I decided to take a break.

I went to visit my brother in New York, and am going to Europe to visit my sister next week.  Then I am going to have to get back on track, because time just keeps ticking by faster and faster!

Venue Found!!!

Really great news... Sara and I went out to check out Camp Mivoden today. The sad news is that we can't serve any alcohol there. After checking it out, I was sad to admit that though it is a great place, and Marshall and I don't drink all that much so I didn't see a huge deal about not being able to serve booze, it still felt a little weird to not be able to even do a champagne toast!

So Sara and I figured that we were already all the way out in Hayden, why not check out this new venue in Sandpoint. The thing is, if I was willing to look all the way out in Hayden whats another 15 minutes of driving? Thank god we decided to go check out this place because... Its Amazing!!!! There aren't any catering rules (full catering kitchen), we can bring in our own alcohol, there is two rooms... so we can have the ceremony in the theater, and have the reception in the old gym! They even have this smaller hallway room that we can use to have a cocktail hour. It is perfect!

So this first picture it of the theater where the ceremony will be, the photo does it no justice, there the amazing gold trim, and the stage is lovely, the people who have remodeled the whole building even have done all the woodwork on their own I can't begin to explain how beautiful this place is!

This next photo is of the old gym which is now the reception hall. Yep, amazing!!! And lots of space to dance around, eat food and be merry!

The view of the outside of the old Sandpoint high school that is now the lovely Sandpoint Events Center, so happy to have found a venue that fits all of the things that I wanted. Its like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Fantastic!

So random thought, Marshall loves cheese... Thinking of instead of doing a grooms cake that we would do a cheese table with lots of different types of cheese, some apples and pears. People that don't like dessert can eat cheese and fruit.

Still searching for a venue...

Since my last blog I have ruled out the Lincoln Center, because they also now require you to use the Glover mansion Catering Company... LAME! ... and they wanted $4,700 to rent the whole building!!! I don't get why so many venues use Glover, they have the worst customer service, and awful food! Anyway... in the long search for a venue the amazing Sara came across Camp Mivoden in Hayden Lake. It has dorms, both indoor and outdoor places for the ceremony depending on the weather, I actually really love the indoor auditorium. They are reasonably priced, and then all the out of town people would have a place to stay, it is $58-78 a night there and that includes 3 meals and full use of the camp. They even have an indoor pool and hot tub.

I think it would be really fun to get there a day early and do the rehearsal dinner there, just a really huge bbq with anyone who shows up a day early instead of doing a formal dinner that night. That way we will be able to hang out with all of our out of town guests who get in early a little bit more than just at the wedding. Then maybe have brunch Sunday morning for the people who stay Saturday night.

This is a image of a wedding in the auditorium.

I haven't been able to find any invites that really jump out at me at this point, but here are a couple that I have bookmarked. I like the idea of having a formal invite, because if we end up at the camp the rest of the weekend won't be very formal, but I would really like to have everyone dressed up at the wedding at least. Having a formal invite really seems to set the stage, and give the people an idea of how to dress for the wedding.

I have been pretty sure since we first got engaged that I just wanted the bridesmaids to just pick out a purple dress, any color, any cut not matching just purple. But the girls haven't really seen anything that they love, and so I have been on the hunt for something that I like. Today when Sara and I went to the bridal fair and during the runway show a girl was wearing a dress like these dresses made by twobirds in NYC. They have lots of different colors, so the girls could all have different color dresses.

I never really thought I would ever want to do the whole awkward guarder removal deal... and I still don't think I will be down, but I would really, really love to rock one of these lovely guarders! So pretty!
I am still in the planning a wedding isn't fun at all stage. I think I would be just as happy getting eloped. But, I really want to have my family with me, and when Marshall and I both add up our families its a lot, and I would hate to leave any of them out! That and we have way too many friends :)

Early planning

I seem to hear this a lot, 2 years!? That is forever away from now! But really, with all the people who are going to be coming, and with mom running to be president of the ADA (elections aren't until October 2010) it isn't that crazy far away, and I get to work with people that I really like, because I am booking out so far in advance!

I started out being 100% sure that I wanted to get married at the Masonic Center downtown, and if it weren't for their strict catering and bar policies we would for sure be getting married there. It is crazy beautiful there, so we wouldn't need to decorate much at all. However, they gave me a list of 4 caterers that I could choose from, and only one of them is able to serve alcohol, the Glover Mansion, and I HATE the Glover Mansion Catering company so much that I am no longer even considering it at all. They didn't return phone calls or e-mails. When I did finally call I talked to a girl on the phone for 15 minutes and told her exactly what kind of food we wanted, then a month later still no word from them. Called back a second time, had to re-explain what I wanted, they finally sent me a proposal with spelling and grammar errors (awesome) it ended up being over the top expensive... This would have been the room we would have had the reception in.

Falls Room Masonic Center

... So here we are looking at a new place!

Instead we are thinking that we will have the ceremony and reception at The Lincoln Center, where it has free parking and an open catering and bar policy. I haven't heard from the yet about prices, but it includes tables, chairs, and linens per their webpage. They do have two ballrooms, so it looks like we will still be able to have the ceremony and reception at the same place. Which was one of the things that is really important to me, so people won't have to drive around a bunch, since we will have so many people from out of town.

Its a little 80's cheesy (nothing a little decorating can't fix), we can change the color of the neon lights to white, it does have the balcony and I have been there before with Sara for a sustainability spokane meeting, it is pretty nice.

The Lincoln Ballroom

I ordered Marshall's ring a few weeks ago, he is very excited about it. It is made out of meteorite (yep, really!) and yellow gold. I was able to find a custom jeweler on etsy.com to make it, it should be here any day now!

A little info about the meteorite:

The Muonionalusta meteorite is a rare iron that was originally found in 1906 near Kiruna, Sweden. This beautiful meteorite is classified as a fine (IVA) Octahedrite, and has spectacular etch patterns. Muonionalusta is only rarely found on the meteorite market as the strewn field is within the Arctic Circle, making searching for it very difficult. The total known weight of Muonionalusta is unknown, and until recently, most has been locked up in Museum collections, with very little in private hands.

I have been throwing around ideas with Sara mostly... I am pretty sure I am having a custom dress made by a family friend, but have gone and tried dresses on to get a better idea of what I want. I pretty much have it all figured out now, just need to meet up with Linda and nail down all my ideas :)

I think we will be doing monochromatic purple and a little bit of green for our colors. But the bridesmaids will all wear different dresses, whatever color purple that they want. I haven't seen anything that blows me out of the water, and would rather that my girls found a dress that they love, and would wear again.

Other than that I just like to poke around looking at different blogs to get inspiration. I love looking at flowers, and really like the idea of using succulents and different flowers that aren't the "normal" wedding flowers, a little bit more organic/funky looking, and some pops of color.

Thats about all that is going on at the moment in the wedding planning world. Marshall hasn't figured out exactly who he wants to be in the wedding (he has way more guy friends than I have girl friends) It was easy for me, and he started with a list of like 13 people, I think he is down to 6 now. I picked out 5 amazing ladies all from different steps in my life. I've got Stephanie my sister, Molly and Kendra from high school, Sara from massage school and Amanda from glen dow. It is going to be so much fun!

Its Official!

After knowing each other for almost 5 years, dating for 3 years Marshall finally convinced me to get married, ha! Funny the first thing one of my best friends said was... "I can't believe you are getting married, you were always the one who said she wasn't getting married." (Oops) What it comes down to is that, I met this amazing guy who makes me feel good just being me, and spending the rest of my life with him sounds good.

Our schedules have been not meeting up at all for the last few weeks, so a couple of days ago Marshall was excited to see that we were both going to be off last night at 5 and asked me if I wanted to go out to dinner at our favorite place, The Italian Kitchen. I of course said yes! So He had work at 11 and I didn't have to go in till 1, so after he left I got all dolled up and ready for the night, because I thought we were leaving right when we got off of work. Rushed home and found no Marshall... Called Sara to complain, go figure, she was in on all of it! We sat on the phone while I painted my toes, and I got off to find Marshall. (She was totally stalling me)

Finally Marshall made it home, little did I know he had been running around setting things up! He tells me that we aren't eating till 7:30. So I pace around because I am hungry, and don't understand why we can't just head down now that he is home. Finally, we head downtown... Walk in and I wonder why all the staff is

smiling at me. They walk us into this lovely little private room, it has a bunch of candles lit, and Marshall had picked up some lovely flowers for me, and a box of yummy chocolates, and has a bottle of wine chilling at the table! We order, eat, chat, sit and let the food settle, finish off our wine... order dessert, start eating that. A very cute and nervous Marshall asks me to put my spoon down, walks over to my side of the table and gets down on one knee and says something (I was too excited and already crying) so I can't remember what it is he said. Something about being his wife, and spending the rest of our lives together, I think. I said yes, of course!

So anyway, just a few photos from when we got home from dinner. I am usually the one to bring the camera, but didn't. So we didn't get to take any pictures at the restaurant. It was very pretty there also!

We (I) will try to keep everyone up to date about what is going on with all the planning here... It is all very exciting!