Lots and Lots of Updates!

To conclude my last post I ended up asking for my money back and she refused. We emailed back and forth a few times but it became a losing battle. We will chalk this up as a loss. I edited the pictures myself and gave them to our families for Christmas. They loved them!

Over Thanksgiving Andy's sister got engaged and are getting married in August! She asked me to be her bridesmaid! The day after Christmas we went to see her dress she picked and it was gorgeous! We also got to try on our bridesmaid dresses. Picture a short Belle dress from Beauty & the Beast in Plum and that is what we'll be wearing. Pretty awesome, huh? Her maid of honor is great. I am actually really jealous of how great she is. Right now she is going through a divorce and yet she still manages to be extremely happy for Jean and supportive. Sometimes when I talk to Amanda I feel like I can't be as excited as I want to be. I am also jealous of how helpful and supportive her mom is as well. Don't get me wrong, they are very helpful and supportive of our wedding as well, but it's different when it's your own daughter. My mom never even asks about the wedding unless I bring it up, and even still we talk about it for five minutes and then the subject gets changed. I know a lot of this has to do with our wedding being over a year away still, but we have so much planned already and I just want the support that every bride wants from her mother and maid of honor.

On a positive note though, Amanda did text me saying that she found invites for my bridal shower! That really meant a lot to me because it showed that she is excited about the wedding. I know I just need to calm down because people will get more excited as the wedding gets closer. It may just not seem realistic now because it is still over a year away.

Over Christmas Andy, Mary (his mom, my FMIL!), and I made my bridesmaid name hangers! This was one DIY project I was really excited about. This is what they look like:

Instead of bridesmaid though they have their names (Amanda, Jessica, Lexi, Jean). Mary also tied a blue ribbon around the hanger and one within each girl's name to cover up some bloopers. I think Andy enjoyed this project the most because he got to figure out how to bend each girls name and he loves strategic things like that.

A few days ago mlb.com was having an awesome sale, so I ordered the bridesmaid's earrings. Now I will have all their jewelry ordered! I just need to find a cute tote bag and cute flip flops for them to wear. I also have been looking on Pinterest (my new obsession) and found a cute bridesmaid survival kit poem:

This Survival Kit was made just to say,I'm thrilled you're beside me on my wedding day!There's chocolate to give you that sugar high,And a packet of tissues in case you should cry.Lip gloss to help you care for your smile,If a nail should break, I've included a file.There is Shout if you should spill on your dress,And mouthwash to keep your breath minty fresh.There's Tylenol and Tums if it's ill that you feel,And Band-aids to help you tackle high heels.I've put everything in this handy pack,So you'll know that this bride has got your back!This kit was created so that you can see,How much you mean to the bride-to-be.

A few weeks ago Andy and I booked our DJ! We are going with Sound by Design. They do 90% of the weddings at Lakefront and are very reasonably priced! Since our reception is on a Sunday in the off season we got an even more incredible deal! Now all we need to find is a photographer and a baker. 

I know this is getting to be SUPER long, but there is still a few more things...

I was looking online at wedding dresses at a bridal shop back home. They have the dress listed that I have been eyeing up for a while and come to find out they are having a sale!! I was so excited so I called them first thing on Monday morning. Come to find out the company doesn't send out samples which means I would not be able to try it on before I buy it. That made my heart completly sink. I don't even buy a shirt before I try it on, much less a dress that could possibly be my wedding dress! I took this as a sign that I should just wait to try on dresses because I still have pleanty of time. We go to Jamaica in 2 months so after we come back I will start dress shopping!

Lastly (I promise), I made our wedding invitations! They look like boarding passes. Each person will get 4 tickets. One will be a Save the Date, next will be the acutal wedding invite followed by how to book and the resort, and lastly will be the RSVP. I can't finish them until we have the wedding booked, but I am pretty excited about them! We will get them professionally printed and hopefully have them sent out by April!!

424 Days :)

Engagement Picture DISASTER!

We finally got our engagement pictures back for the SECOND time. Just to refresh your memory, we got our pictures taken at the end of July by a UW-Madison student that a co-worker recommended to me. I looked through some of her pictures and they were great (apparently she gave up when it came to us).

The first time we got our pictures back she did a great job but edited all the WRONG ones! Then she got snotty and told me that I told her the wrong pictures and explained to me how to select the pictures we wanted. Well obviously our screens were clearly different and didn't have the same information. She figured out the pictures that we wanted and said that she was going to edit them for us.

We got the pictures back and NONE of them were edited. We were able to choose 10 and only 8 were considered "edited". I emailed her after seeing them on Friday night and told her I knew she didn't edit them because first of all her logo wasn't on them and secondly they looked the exact same as the website where we chose our pictures to be edited. Because I was in such an uproar I didn't see that she in fact did add her logo to the pictures (Andy caught that one) so I feel kind of stupid for that. I told her that I would just edit them myself. I still have yet to get a reply.

My dilemma is do I ask for a refund or at least half my money back? I mean we took our pictures in July and it is now December. It should not take that long to edit... or in her case "edit" 10 pictures. The only problem is I don't want to cause tension between me and my coworker. I have worked with her for 3 years now and we are fairly close. She feels so bad about everything because she recommended the girl to us even though none of this is her fault. I don't want to cause tension between her and the girl either because they are some how related and do see each other. What to do ... What to do...

470 Days :)

Online Dress Hunting

So I have been online wedding dress hunting and I finally found the style of my dress. It called a "high-low" dress meaning it short in the front and long in the back. I think this is PERFECT for a destination wedding because it's a short dress for the beach but you still get the feeling of being a bride and having a train. I am so excited, I found 2 dresses I like in that style! The only problem is they are not at the same store. My other concern is, I was reading a post on theknot.com and most women said that they didn't like the dress they saw online and went a total opposite direction. That makes me quite nervous. I plan to go dress shopping sometime this summer so my fingers are crossed.

473 Days :)

Bridesmaids

So I sent out all my bridesmaid's cards! Immediately, everyone said yes except my MOH. She wanted to go out to dinner and I figured I would get my answer then. In her text she kept putting :) so I figured it was a good sign, right? We get to dinner and we're chatting as normal. Then our meal comes and she starts picking at it. That's when I knew something was up (we NEVER pick at our food, we always dive right in). Then she looked at me and she had tears in her eyes and told me she doesn't think she would be able to make it to Jamaica and she really didn't want it to ruin our friendship. OMG! I would never let something like that ruin our friendship!! We've been best friends for almost 7 years now! I told her it was okay, I wasn't expecting everyone to be able to make it anyways. She then told me she would love to be my MOH at home and throw my wedding shower, bachlorette party, and whatever else there is to do.

Dinner continues and we are talking more about vacations and she brings up something that makes me second guess WHY she wouldn't be able to make it. She mentioned that because her boyfriend has MS they really can't take trips to warm places like Florida or JAMAICA. I WISH I would have something right  then and there because it is eating me alive now. I'm really curious if she is not going because her boyfriend wouldn't be able to go?! If so--that IS a deal breaker and potentially a friendship ender (and I would NOT consider that being over dramatic!)

So we go out to dinner another night and I decide that I'm just going to work up the nerve and ask if that's the case. We get on the subject which is a perfect segway in. Then a convo starts about who is all going. I mentioned that Lexi, Jessica, and Jean all said yes (the only other bridesmaids). She then gets really quiet. There goes my segway because how am I supposed to ask her when it looks like she is already hurt that she is not going to be able to make it. So after that I just convinced myself that it truly is because she cannot afford it and not because her boyfriend wouldn't be able to go. Let's hope I'm not lying to myself...

489 days :)

My Latest and Greatest Ideas

Now please how amazingly awesome my newest idea is...at the reception the bridal party walks in to Roll Out The Barrel and when everyone is in it will say "FOR THE GANGS ALL HERE!" Is that fantastic or what?! I thought of that at the last Brewer game I went to.I told Andy about it and I'm pretty sure he fell more in love with me right then and there!

Another idea  I had is to incorporate baseball a little more into our reception so people don't get confused to why we are walking in to Roll Out The Barrel. The bridesmaids will have Brewers necklaces and earrings but those are such minor details. My new project is to figure out how to incorporate a beach wedding and a baseball theme all into one reception. It might be a lot of work!

Speaking of bridesmaids, the cards are finished and I'm just waiting on one more address and they will be sent off!! I'm really excited yet really nervous at the same time. All the girls pretty much know but I'm still nervous! I still only have 4 bridesmaids as of now, as I mentioned earlier I am  still debating on one.

I have been online browsing wedding dresses as well. I  found one that I am in love with and found out that it isn't going to cost as much as I thought.  I am totally excited about that! Now maybe I will be able to go wedding dress shopping sooner (that's what I think is going to make everything seem absolutely real). AHH!!

532 More Days :)

Short and Sweet

My necklaces finally came in from mlb.com! And guess what! They sent me another 15% off coupon (now is that marketing or what!) so earrings here I come! Andy's mom also bought him a Brewers tie that he will wear for the reception. I'm excited to see that!

We also just got our tickets in the mail for Jamaica in March!! I cannot wait!!

Thats about all I have for an update.

550 days :)

A Couple Updates

Even though Andy and I practically have lived together since we started dating, we now just live as the two of us. No more roommates, no more stress. Our house is finally a home complete with furniture and a dining room table.It's cute and the perfect size for us. We did have a little disagreement when a couple pairs of my shoes ended up on his side of the closet...whoops.. sometimes a girl just needs that little bit of extra space that he wasn't putting to use anyways.

Now that we're all moved I can focus more on wedding stuff. Our trip to Jamaica is booked for this coming March! Now just setting aside money to pay his parents back for the trip is the tricky part, especially with school and books..and well end of the season sales. 

 Our reception is booked! I read on theknot.com that Lakefront Brewery is booked solid until Nov. 2012 and since were getting married March 2013 we had to get things moving! We have Lakefront booked for Sunday April 13th. I didn't want it to be that long after our wedding but Andy said that if anything goes wrong at least we have time to fix it. Valid point.

Yesterday I spent a good hour at Michael's picking out stuff to make "Will You Be My Bridesmaid" invitations.  It was exciting! I think I came up with a million new ideas as I wondered up and down every isle. Then I came to the Martha Stewart Collection and it was like stating with a clean slate. The only thing I couldn't find were little yellow silk flowers. They had every other color you could imagine, and of course no yellow. I asked an employee if there was anywhere I could find yellow and she acted as though I was bothering her so for now I settled for white. Hopefully Walmart or Target will have what I'm looking for.

Today MLB.com had a sale on all their proshop stuff. So I bought my bridesmaid's necklaces that I want them to  wear. It was great because it was practically buy 3 get one free! I was debating if I want to wear the same necklace or not. One part of me says I should have something more elegant, and the other part of me really really likes it. So for now I bought 4.


Speaking of only buying 4, I think decided to only have 4 bridesmaids instead of 5. I was going to have my room mate from last year be one of them, but since we moved we really haven't talked much. I figure I have enough time where I change my mind I can always ask her later on, but for now I think I'm leaving it at 4.

564 Days :)