Out of Town Gift Bags

Something I added on near the ended of my wedding planning was the Out of Town Gift Bags -- but once I realized we had 30 rooms of guests booked at the Hilton I knew it would be worth the effort to give my guests a fun check-in present with items for the weekend.

We found ADORABLE plastic buckets at Michaels that totally fit the beach theme AND were on sale. We filled the buckets with water, chips, candy, granola bars, advil, tums, sunscreen, and chapstick. I think the water, tums, and advil definitely came in handy for some people after the wedding. :)

We also wrote a letter to welcome all of the guests and gave them key information about wedding events and things to do in San Diego.

They turned out awesome. Here they all are at the Hilton, all set to go!

Maui'ed - Honeymoon Recap

For our Honeymoon we went to Maui for one week. We stayed at the beautiful Grand Wailea Resort.


Here are some pictures from the week:

The highlights of the trip:

• Hanging out the Grand Wailea (amazing pools, slides, Jacuzzis, etc.) and we got an upgraded Ocean-View room
• Biking down Haleakala and tasting Maui wine which tastes like Boone's Farm- Sunset Booze Cruise
• Awesome Dinners at Mama's, Ruth Chris, and at the Main restaurant at the Grand Wailea (Humuhumu)
• Snorkeling (fed fish and saw some amazing fish including turtles, morey eels and what I thought was a sea snake but turns out it was almost certainly another eel)
• Grand Wailea Spa with Roman and Japanese baths and a hot lava stone massage

Wedding Reading: The Unbroken Circle of Love

From the moment we started planning our Wedding Ceremony we knew we wanted our families heavily involved in it. We ended up with my Dad doing a song, my Mom doing a Reading, Jonathan's Dad doing a Scripture Reading, and both of our Moms participating in the Sand Ceremony.

I'll do posts on the other parts of the ceremony later, but I wanted to start with my Mom's Reading entitled The Unbroken Circle of Love: We… We & She … She & He… He… We



The reading was actually a mix of several abriged readings including:
On Children by Kahlil Gibran
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
The Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Linbergh
Jerry McGuire
Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

And it turned out great! We loved it and our guests did too.

You can check out the full text of the reading here:
http://docs.google.com/View?docID=dhmdd69g_45cmbdg8ct&revision=_latest

Incorporating Photos into our Wedding

I LOVE photos. I always have. I've made bulletin boards, scrapbooks, and collages out of my photos for years. I knew I wanted to incorporate photos into the wedding without being over-the-top or cheesy.

I ended up making 3 poster boards of Photos to put on easels at the entrance to the reception. One featured Jonathan and me as babies, one featured pictures of Jonathan and I as a couple, and one featured our Parents' Wedding Photos. I love the way they turned out and I think the guests did too.

I'm not 100% sure what's going on here... but I think the bridesmaids liked the photos as well:

My DIY Pride & Joy: The Programs

My favorite DIY project and the one I'm most proud of are my Programs.

I got a bid for programs from Daydreams, the stationary store who did my invites, for programs and it came out to about $700. I thought to myself, "I can do that for less". And I did. When it was all said and done, with paper, printing, and ribbon, it was about $100.

I designed the programs in Word using a mix of Honey Script and Century Gothic fonts. I had them printed up and cut at Kinkos. I used a blue cardstock for the cover and a ivory resume paper for the contents. We bound them together with two colors of orange ribbon.

Here are some shots of the inside of the program:

The contents were:

- Cover

- Page 1: Welcome

- Page 2 & 3: Wedding Party

- Page 4 & 5: Ceremony Program

- Page 6: Picture

- Page 7: Wedding Weekend Agenda

I admit it, I'm completely in love with my programs and way to proud of myself.

Message me if you want my template. :-)

DIY Projects - Escort Cards and Favors

Two of the biggest DIY projects that I undertook in the weeks leading up to the wedding were my the Escort Cards and Favors.

The Sunday before the Wedding I held a "Wine & Wedding Crafts" Party and with help from my Mom, Laurel, Pat, Sarah, Michelle, and Nikki we got a ton of wedding DIY stuff done. It was a great time and the products turned out great.

Escort Cards



The Escort Cards were 3 inch White Pencil Starfish With business card sied tags indicating the person's name and table. The turquoise or tangerine ribbon indicated their meal selection (crepes or salmon). I made the cards in Word using Honey Script font and had them printed on ivory cardstock at Kinkos. I really like the way they turned out!

Favors



Instead of favors we did donations to Alzheimer's Association and gave people a Sand dollar to signify that donation at their place setting.


The text read:
"A dollar for them, a dollar for you
For each of our wedding guests we've donated a dollar to Alzheimer's Association. We chose Alzheimer's Association in memory of Kirsten's Grandpa Jack and in support of Jonathan's Fraternity Philanthropy.
Thank you for being a part of our lives and for sharing our special day with us."

We also had these printed up at Kinkos and they looked beautiful on the cyan card stock. I bought the Sand Dollars from qualityshells.com and we tied the tags to them with raffia ribbon.

We're now Mr. & Mrs!

It's been a while since I blogged -- but don't worry I'm back with DIY Details, Pre-Wedding Drama Storiues, Wedding Pictures, Honeymoon Pictures, Vendor Reviews, and more!

I'll explain the drama that occured the week before the wedding that prevented me from blogging in a future post. It's a good story, trust me.

I will say that the wedding was fantastic. I really was one of the best days of my life and our ceremony was amazing -- one of the most spiritual and emotional experiences I've ever had.


Here's a teaser pic of Jonathan and I and some members our our Wedding Party:




Stay tuned!

My Bachelorette Party in Santa Barbara

I can only write so much here without violating the non-disclosure agreement (kidding)... but last weekend I had an amazing time celebrating the end of my single-girl life in Santa Barbara with my favorite ladies in the world!

We went on a wine tasting limo tour of Santa Ynez on Saturday AM/early afternoon. Saturday afternoon we played games at the Fess Parker Doubletree. Saturday night we hit State Street for a bar crawl. And Sunday AM we capped it off with Brunch at Sharkeez. It was an awesome time.

Here are some pics of the weekend:

Some inside jokes for the ladies who were there: Dolphin, "full bar", 30-point turn, clown on a bike, road side pit stop, overheating, what IS Fiesta, spills, limo cabs, and"is the bride pretty in to it?"

LOVE YOU ALL!

License to Wed

Today we got our marriage license! It was actually surprisingly easy. I filled out an online application and then we had to pick up the License at a Registrar-Recorder County Clerk office.

The closest Recorder to us was the Florence/Firestone Recorder's Office in Compton (7807 Compton Avenue). It neighborhood was pretty ghetto, but the office was nice and the staff was friendly. We were the only white people in the place, but we live in Long Beach so we're used to that. And Compton doesn't intimidate us since we spent the best four years of our lives in South Central LA (Go Trojans!).

The highlight was that the license cost $70 and they didn't take credit cards so while standing in line Jonathan and I managed to come up for $70 in mainly $1s, $5s, and a couple of $10s (don't ask why we had so many small bills). The Recorder must have thought we were run-a-ways emptying our piggy banks to pay for the license... but I'm sure she's seen stranger things working in Compton.

So the State of California officially says we can wed! Now the license just needs to be signed by the Pastor and we're officially hitched! It's really happening...

Here's the happy couple with the Marriage License in Compton:

New Obsession: Manically tracking the weather until the Wedding

It's officially August and we're getting married in 15 days! Which means our wedding date is very close to being part of the "10 day forecast." Here is the month forecast:


Given the trending this year is should be in the mid-70s. After my Mom and I went venue-hunting on August 14th last year is was about 90 degrees and she was really worried. But my worry is that it will be cloudy, or worse, rainy! I just want it to be Sunny!

PS- It's going to be a full moon! Cool!

Mini-Bachelorette Party

I mentioned before that I work with the coolest people in the world, but I have to keep bragging about their awesomeness. On Tuesday night the ladies I work with threw me a mini-Bachelorette Party at Santana Row in San Jose. We went to a wine bar and had AMAZING Cakebread Chardonnay. Then we had a delicious dinner at Maggianos. They even got me a crown and a sash (which definitnely drew some attention... especially on a Tuesday night). Here are some pics of me and my beautiful, thoughtful, Accenture ladies:

My Wedding Band

I decided on the Micropave Ring. I like how it's dainty and can even be worn on its own for traveling or events where a big engagement ring is not appropriate.

Here's a close up of my beautiful new ring. I can't wait to wear it!

I Think I have Emotional Issues

Maybe it’s the stress or the fact that getting married is an emotional time in a girls life, but I flew to Chicago this weekend and on the plane I wrote letters to my bridesmaids and my parents to give to them at the rehearsal dinner. I got pretty choked up writing my letter to Laurel (my MOH) and I full-on cried writing my letter my Mom and Dad. I know that I’m a crier (which is getting worse with age, not better!), but this is ridiculous.

I guess emotional issues run in the family. My Mom cries at sentimental commercials and don’t even get me started about her during a sad movie). My Dad told me already that my Grandma is going to cry non-stop at the wedding and he’s worried he’s gonna cry during his song.

I’m worried that I’m going to bawling during my wedding ceremony. My one saving grace is that adrenaline makes it hard to cry and I think I’ll have a ton of adrenaline pumping during my wedding. If I do cry I hope I don’t make an “ugly cry face”. See example below (courtesy of Mrs. Lovebug from Weddingbee.com):



Any suggestions for how NOT to cry at my wedding?

Punk’d

I’ll be the first to admit that I work with/for some of the coolest people in the world. Everyone says Accenture is great because we have great people and I couldn’t agree more. Well, it turns out that they are total pranksters too. This is what happened to me on Thursday…

I had an end-of-week sync up meeting with Trinity (my Manager) but right before the meeting she says that Darren (my Sr. Manager) is going to join us for the meeting because he needs to discuss and “HR Issue” with me. So I mildly panic and start racking my brain with “what did I do?!” So Darren and Trinity join me in the conference room and Darren start telling me HR called him regarding something I did/said to another co-worker. At this point, I’m practically shaking and all I can think is “oh crap, I’m fired and I don’t even know what I did!” Then Darren suddenly says, “we’re joking” and Trinity whips out a Wedding Present from for Darren and her: A gift certificate for a fancy dinner for two (dinner, drinks, dessert) at Ruth Chris in Maui! SUCH an awesome present and they TOTALLY punk’d me, which makes it ever better. I love my job.

ONE Month!

O.M.G. Our wedding is in one month! I'm so excited and trying not to panic.

All of our vendors are set and ready. Our Pastor is ready to marry us, the band is ready to play, Carlee is ready to coordinate, and Kim is ready to photograph.

What's making me panic are all of the minor decor items that I have left to do - table numbers, menus, programs, favors, escort cards, baskets, signage, and out-of-town gift bags. All of the things that allegedly "make it all come together".

I'm so glad that I decided to take two weeks off of work before the wedding.

Note to Friends in San Diego: I'm hostessing a "favor, program, placecard making party" on Saturday August 9th or Sunday August 10th, so save the date.

These are the thing that make me lose sleep:

With THIS ring?

So I had some wedding ring drama ...

I ordered the matching wedding band that "goes with" my Engagement ring and I HATED it and returned it. It was too big and not age-appropriate (e.g. I looked like the old ladies who stack up their bling). So I starting thinking a plain band was the way to go, but others (like Jonathan and Megan) disagreed, so right now I have TWO potential wedding rings: a plain platinum ring
and a diamond micro-pave ring. Take a look:


(Left side= micro-pave, right side= plain platinum)

I'm about 90% sure I'm going with the Micro-pave ring. What do you think?

You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby

Spending the week in San Diego by myself has given me lots of spare time to:

a. Work
b. Drink my parent's expensive wine (I mean the cheap stuff)
c. Work on wedding stuff
d. Scan a ridiculous amount of childhood photos of myself so I can use them for wedding stuff
e. All of the above

If you guessed E, you are correct. And if you guessed E and mainly D, you get a bonus point. Get up and get yourself a cookie, you deserve it.

I spent all of last night combing through photo albums and I managed to scan and save 70 photos of my childhood. Thanks to my future Mom-in-law I already had 200+ scanned baby pictures of him. So now my plans for adorable baby pics of us on the guest book table and a slide show at the Rehearsal dinner can come to life!

Here is a preview of our young lives:


Age >1, age 3, age 5, and age 17.

The Knot.Com Features Our Wedding Color Pallet

I logged onto the Knot.Com today and I found that their featured article was entitled "New Color Combo: modern reception style" and it was all about our Blues and Oranges color pallet.


Although I'm not doing the purple-blue in additon to my aqua-blue, they are pretty spot-on with my pallet.


Take a look:

My Bridal Shower

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending my Bridal Shower!

It was Luau-themed shower complete with Mai Tais, Leis, Sand, Orchids, and Palm Trees. And the food was amazing!

Here are some pics of the beautiful Hawaiian decor that Katie created for the shower.



I posted pics of all the lovely ladies in attendance, as well some mandatory present-opening pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/GreerWedding/BridalShower

Engagement Pictures

I first want to take a moment to brag about my wonderful and talented photographer, Kim Irons. She is fantastic! Besides her amazing photographic skills, the other thing that I love about her is that as part our photography package we own our digital images so I can show you this compilation of my favorite engagment photos:


Images are copywrite of Kim Irons


To see all of my favorite engagement photos please visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/GreerWedding/ProfessionalEngagementPictures

Invites Sent!

Just wanted to update everyone on my "Going Postal" post from yesterday. Today my invites went out, hand canceled and everything!

My Mom got a nice lady at the Midway US Post Office to hand cancel and send them! (Midway Address: 2535 Midway Drive, San Diego, CA 92138). Thank you, postal lady, for restoring my faith in government services!

And because I'm so happy, here is my happy happy engagement pic for you:

I'm about to Go Postal

I originally intended to send the wedding invitations out LAST weekend. That was until the Long Beach post office would not hand-cancel them.

For those of you who've never had the pleasure of sending out bulky party invites this is what hand-cancelling is. Canceling is the ink-stamp used by the Post Office to note that a postage-stamp has been used. Typically this is applied by a machine at the Post Office that may be rough on your envelope, but hand stamping prevents this damage.

Basically the wedding invitation is thick and if it goes through the machine, it the invitation is likely to get mangled.

I want them to look like this nice hand canceled sample:



Well anyways, today my Mom took the invitations to the Jamul post office who would not hand cancel them and then to downtown San Diego post office only to find that they won't hand cancel on Mondays (and they will only do 25 invites at a time). Mother effer, I'm going postal!

Each post office has a blah blah blah reason about why they can't/won't do it. And I'm not the only bride to have this problem! Not to be mean, but I think the Postal Service is just lazy. I can't see any other reason why they won't do this. I mean, how long could this possibly take? It would take about 3 seconds an invite, for 100 invites, for a whopping 5 minutes total spent. C'mon Mr. Postman, just hand-cancel my invite, please!

Another Wedding Registry

When I registered for wedding gifts I knew I had to register at Crate&Barrel and BedBath&Beyond because I love love those stores. I also added Macy's because Macys is everywhere and practical.


Well this weekend I was walking in my Long Beach neighborhood and went in Z Gallerie. Immediatly I fell in love with this Duvet and Pillow set:



I also saw all of the wonderful art and decorations that the store has and knew that I must add Z Gallerie for to my wedding registry list.

I think four wedding registries is a big much, but I feel like Z Gallerie is so different and the items that I registered for at Z Gallerie are not your run-of-the-mill registry items.

Fiesta Rehearsal Dinner Inspiration

For our Wedding Rehearsal Dinner, we're having a Mexican Fiesta at my parents house. Even though I'm not Mexican, I did grow up in house that you can see Mexico from and I love Mexican culture, art, and of course, food!

I put together this inspiration board for our Fiesta Rehearsal Dinner:



Here are the ideas I have for our Fiesta Rehearsal Dinner:

Food - Authentic Mexican Caterering from Gerardos (booked!)
Drinks - Margaritas and Buckets of Mexican Beer
Table Decor - Red table linens, cactus plants, chili peppers, candles, red flowers
General Decor - Mexican Wedding Banners, red paper lantern, Mexican blankets, sombreros

I really wish I could get down to Mexico before the wedding to buy some of fun Mexican items. Hmmm... day trip anyone?

LIGHTS, camera, action!

I'm always looking for new and creative ways to totally break my wedding budget... hence this week's obsession with wedding reception lighting.

(side bar: It's kind of funny how each wedding vendor will tell you that their wedding detail is THE thing will make THE impact on your wedding look and feel. The florist says it the flowers, the band says its the music, the chair people say it's the chairs (I hope its not), the statationary store says its the invitations, and the AV people say its the lighting.)

I have visions of spotlights, uplighting, dance floor washes, and monograms/logos projected on the wall.:

Well all of that went out the window when I came down to earth EXCEPT uplights. Uplights are about $25 a light so for just a couple hundred dollars you can totally transform the mood of the room with lighting. I'm thinking of doing turquoise uplighting. It will complement the orange glow of the chandeliers, wall lights, and chandeliers AND will make the room awash in my favorite couple. Do you think this would look or should I stick with a warmer color?