Got our Wedding Bands!!!

In February we went to Zales and purchased our wedding bands! So exciting!

Right after getting our wedding bands..so unbelievably happy!

Table Runners

Started another DIY a few days ago. So far I have 3/29 done. I decided to use a contrasting green for the thread to add some "decoration". I really love how they are turning out. I hope I can sell them after the wedding as well and maybe even keep one for myself. We shall see.

RSVP Postcards

I went ahead after the trip and talking to FMIL, FSIL, and Nicole about these and I figured out what I think is a great way of doing them.

I really wanted to inlcude the design of the invite Steph did, so...

This we'll be the front =)

And, this is the back.

I still have to do accomadation cards and map cards. I think I'll inlcude the rings on them too. Yay, for more progress. =)

LESS than 1/2 a Year!!!

Wow. Our wedding day is going to be here before we even know it. I'm keeping a good pace though (in my own opinion), so hopefully all DIY projects I want to do will get done.

From the 22-26 I visited PA. Josh could only come up for a little over a day since he had to work Sunday, but I got SO much done.

Bridesmaid Dresses/Girls Day

That Saturday 4/6 of my bridesmaids, my mom, Josh's mom, my moms best friend, and I went dress shopping.

First, we had lunch together at the Pizza Hut in New Stanton. It was a good place to meet up and this way we only had to take 2 vehicles. It was nice to see everyone getting along pretty easily and a good friendship/relationship built throughout the rest of the day.

We then headed to the 1st shop and it was just a nightmare. I had called The Esquisite Bride in Murrysville ahead of time to see if they had a specific dress that we wanted to see and they were the only place in the area that said they did. When we go there though we found it to be crowded and then when we let the person at the front desk know we had an appointment they rushed us upstairs and pushed us aside. We looked around a bit, but there was little to no room with all the people there. We waited and we waited and when no one came to help us after about 10-15 minutes we approached a sales associate on our own, explained to them the situation, and they went to look up THE dress. When the sales associate comes back she tells us that they don't even have the dress in their system! Wow. Just wow. I've said it before early in the planning, but I REALLY hate being lied to. So as we left there in an instant my mother let them and the rest of their customers have a few words and we stormed out. Can you blame us though?!

So we left there and headed to our 2nd appointment, Davids Bridal. Now I've heard SO many good and bad reviews of DB; however, one of the good ones have been the one in our area. We explained to them the horror story we had experienced and even though they were really busy they made me and the rest of the girls feel special. I had called ahead of time and told them about my dress and how I purchased it for $50 at a goodwill that was donated by them and they were more than happy to accomadate us. All I wanted was to put it on all together with my veil, shoes, and necklace and see it with the girls' dresses once they picked it out. They we're so nice and couldn't believe the deal I got on the dress. As we waited for a dressing room to open up (we were an hour early) we looked at some dresses and their catalog. We found a dress that everyone loved and then realized that it would not come in either of the wedding colors or color that in anyway came close to the colors. Boo. So we kept looking.

The first dress that Aleece, future sister in law/Maid of Honor, put on is the one she's actually going to get. It looks fantastic on her! Here it is, only it'll be in "Holly" (close to our Emerald Green).

Although everyone seemed to like this dress they kept looking and tried on another dress. While they were changing my mom was helping me into my wedding dress. Just when I was about done the past theknot.com bride met up with us here and Rochelle, FMIL, purchased life like faux floral calla lillies and petals from her. She was so nice and it was really a great deal. When I came out the girls were just so in love with this dress, how could I tell them no, I loved it too! So we decided MOH would be in a different color and style (same fabric though) and the bms would be in pink. They both have pockets too, which they all love.

Alexis is holding a few of the faux callas we purchased

Just when we were about to leave we convinced my mom to try on dresses. The first one we all really liked, but we convinced her to try the next and Oo my! It's BEAUTIFUL on her! Absolutely stunning! =) She was upset since she wasn't able to buy it then and there so Aleece and I with the convincing of moms best friend, Suzy, went and put the dress on lay away without her knowing. Between Aleece, Suzy, and I we'll have it paid off in no time! So worth it to see my mom's reaction and know she'll feel good too on the big day. =)



After a very satisfying trip to David's Bridal we headed over next door to Men's Warehouse, where we had yet again another pleasant experience. I'm guessing it had been awhile since they had that many women in the store, haha, but it really was a good time. I'm pretty sure we got it all figured out for the men.

We're 99.99% sure Josh will be wearing this. =)

Luke, Josh's best man, will be wearing this. We decided to nix the coat and tie since 1. It's July 2. They'll be off later anyway


This is what the rest of groomsmen will be wearing


And, I believe this is what we're going to have his dad, my dad, and my pap wear.


They'll all be wearing "shoies" as well. Haha. Only the girls from the day we'll understand that. After MW, we went to CiCi's for dinner. It was a really good time and everyone enjoyed theirselves. I can say for the first time that day, I trully felt like a bride instead of just a planner. =) A great day, with great people.

Hair Trial

That night Aleece and I arranged for Nicole, their cousin, to come over and do a hair trial with the both of us. She did Aleece's hair first and I took pictures and sent them to the rest of girls. Every single one of them loved it and this is how their hair will be on the big day. =)




After she did Aleece's hair, she started on mine. It's very similiar, but the front has a "poof" and my hair is higher up. And, let's not forget mine has a veil in it for part of the night. =) I plan to take it out after all the "activities" at the recepiton...i.e. first dance, bridal dance, ect.

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping Part 2

The next day the rest of my bridesmaids and I met up at Davids Bridal to have them try the dress everyone else loved the previous day. Great news, they loved it too!

After another great experience at DB we were pretty hungry so we ended up going to Max & Ermas, which was pretty delicious. It was great getting to see the both of them since it's been MONTHS since I've seen either of them.

After all this I ended up going out with the same girls from the night before and a few other people to get some yummy wings at Dino's. It was a post-bday celebration for Alexis, who turned 16. We were there fore about 3 hours..as before a wonderful time. Aleece even wrote each of them a letter that I wasn't able to read..boo that, but it's great that they are all becoming so close. =)

Caterer

The next day was pretty much strictly wedding business. I headed to our Caterer's location and took her my deposit. We talked for a bit and I'm so excited to have them on the big day. They're so passionate about their work. =)

Holiday Inn Express

From there I head to the local hotel that is only 1.7 miles from the reception location and 13 miles from the ceremony site. After talking to them I blocked of 25 rooms (15 Double Beds, 6 Kings, 2 Double Bed Smoking, and 2 King Smoking). I might call and block a few more. After that I decided to book our room. We're getting a King Jacuzzi Room, there was a room that was a "suite;" however, it was $30 more and only because it's 2 rooms and had a fridge and microwave. No thank you! Ahh, I'm so excited! =)

I believe we're going to see about arranging a shuttle from the reception to the hotel from 11pm - 1am. That way we don't have anyone even thinking about drinking and driving. I'll have to get on that and quote some limo services soon.

More Fake Flowers

I found more flowers on craigslist from someone in PA, so I went to pick those up. 57 fake calla lillies. =)

This was the most productive visit yet. It was so great to get so much done. I can't wait for the next visit, but I can't believe we'll only spend 15-20 more days in PA before the wedding is here. Oo boy!

Oo well. I can't wait and so exciting to see everyone else finally getting trully excited as well. =)

Envelopes =)

Wasn't able to work on much today, but I did come up with a way to print on the invitation envelopes.

LOVE<3

"Take out on Our Special Day"

So far today I worked on addressing a few more Save the Dates and creating the outside for the escort cards/favor boxes.

One side will have our guests name and the other will have the Table Number they are to sit at. Attached to the wire handle will be a tag that reads "Chinese Tuesdays are a tradition we've made, Pack your container with cookies and cake, And "take out" on our special day." (I have yet to create the design for these yet though)

Here they are..

Yes it does say Mickey Mouse, haha


This is the way we're thinking we might display them on the tables.."stadium seating" style, but we're not sold on that idea yet


More done each day. =)

207 Days til the BIG Day!

I have so much to update on here.. In no particular order...

New Apartment
Well since the last update we've moved into our apartment in Hamilton and simply love it. We've made it our own and the landlord and her kids are great. The area is really nice too. Josh is only about 30 minutes from work here and I have a job in Landsdown (about 15 minutes away) at Emilo's Brick Oven Pizza. I really enjoy working there. This past month even with Christmas we were able to save over $1000. It feels so good to finally be putting in the savings account. =)

One of the first days in our new apartment

DIY Items Purchased
So with this money I've made a few purchases. I ordered some more of the items I'll need for the 26 total DIY projects I'll be doing. All of the chinese take out boxes, ribbon, and fabric I need to make the escort/table cards/favor boxes, invites and other paper products, as well as the table runners. It's been great benig able to make a few purchases and not worry about where the money is coming.



16 cent Chinese Takeout Boxes..can't beat that =)

Fake Flowers & Petals
Now since we plan to use petals to line the isle and to do so without leaving anything behind I plan to string them on fishing line and attach the ends to dial rods that we'll stick down into the ground. And we're now going to use them for some of the centerpieces. So I put an ad on the Trash to Treasure board and got a few responses. I ordered 500 pink/white petals for $4.00 including shipping. And now another bride getting married March 20 offered me 2,400 petals (pink & white) for $20.00 including shipping. Can't beat that. I think I'll still need more, but we'll see. I recently asked Josh's cousin (groomsman), Jason, to measure the length of the "isle" on the island so I could get a rough estimate of how many I'll need. We strung a few and it looks like 10 petals/ft is what we'll go with. Also on the flower front I woman on craigslist back home in PA is selling me 50 Callalillies for $50. The ones she's selling are typically $3/stem..can't beat that. =)


500 petals

Thanksgiving Break Wedding
Since the last post we went to a wedding of a family friend that was held at the same reception hall we have. It was really nice and we had a great time. It made us really anxious. =) The same caterer we were planning to have was there as well and it acted as our "tasting". Everything was really good and Joshs parents even approved. We recently got a quote from them and it's about half price of everywhere else back home. Since they're new they're just trying to get their name out there. Sooo good though.

Aleece caught the bouquet and Ryan caught the garter..she's going to punch someone if she doesn't get it at ours, I'm sure..hahaha


Play some game that we were quite terrible at, haha

Save The Dates
All of the Save The Dates are now together too. They turned out really nice and I'm waiting on less than 8 addresses and then I'll be able to send them out hopefully by Friday this week. Can't wait!!


What is under the magnet, when you take it off


Cranes
Now as for the cranes. I've been doing pretty good. All of them are made and over 1/2 of the display is done. I just started yesterday on the 2nd half. 575 strung/425 to go! Woo hoo! It's going to look amazing behind the head table..I just love how unique it is. =)





1/2 way there!!

First Wedding Gift
Over Christmas we go our first "wedding gift" from my parents. A Cake Knife and Server set that's really nice. We were so excited to get it.



Cake
Speaking of cake. Our baker went out of business, but luckily I have some connections. =) A girl i went to school with that graduated 2 years before me, Kim, does wedding cakes. She does a "fake" cake with sheet cakes in the back. A real cake on the bottom for us to cut though. They look really real too. Anyways she's only going to charge us for the supplies and what it costs to make it. Yay! If her wedding wasnt' the weekend after mine I would have offered to be her wedding day of coordinator or something. Oh well though.

Wedding Day Necklace
Oh I have my necklace for the big day now too! FMIL and FSIL and I went to a jewelry party and FMIL purchased this for me. I love it and I think it's going to go beautifully with the neckline of my dress. =)
Isn't it beautiful? =)

Wedding Bands
Speaking of jewelry while Christmas shopping Josh and I went to Zales to look at wedding bands and found the ones that we want and can't wait to purchase here soon.
My Wedding Band =)
Josh's Wedding Band

Invitations
My most recent project though has been our invites. My cousin, Stephanie, goes to school for art and offered to design and draw the inside of our invites. She got it to me over Christmas and I absolutely love it. It's perfect and everything I thought it would be and more. She did such a good job! Here's a rough draft. I still have to create the RSVP postcards and the rest of inserts, but this is it right now.









Upcoming visit to PA
Everythings really starting to come together. Towards the end of this month we're going up to PA for a visit and we plan to get a few more things done. We really need to find an officiant, get the caterer their deposit, and sign the reception hall contract. Lots to do. Oh and I'll be going with my bridesmaids to look at dresses. I think I found one I'd really like to get for them, but we'll see what they all think first and go from there.



207 days. Wow. Almost to the 1/2 way point. I just can't believe it. I'm going to be Mrs. Grabiak before I know it. =) <3