Thinking Music

Rich and I are both really into music, so it's going to be difficult to narrow our choices down. Here are a few I've been thinking about...

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Maps by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
I’m Yours by Jason Mraz
Brown Eyed Girl by Jimmy Buffet
Hey Ya by OutKast
The Blower’s Daughter by Damien Rice
How Soon Is Now by The Smiths
Love Story by Taylor Swift
Love Song by 311
Crushcrushcrush by Paramore
The Fray
Short Skirt/Long Jacket by Cake
Crazy In Love by Beyonce
Take On Me by A-Ha
Come On Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners or Save Ferris
Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler
Don’t Stop Believing by Journey

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Have I Told You Lately (That I Love You) by Rod Stewart
My Girl by the Temptations
I Believe In A Thing Called Love by The Darkness
Starry Eyed Surprise by Paul Oakenfold
Billy Jean by Michael Jackson
The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson
You Shook Me All Night Long by ACDC
Wonderful Tonight by Erik Clapton
Dancing Queen by ABBA
Can’t Help Falling In Love by UB40
Unchained Melody by Righteous Brothers
Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
Uptown Girl by Billy Joel
Love Lockdown by Kanye West

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Lanterns

Mariavvisa on Weddingbee turned me on to these amazing lanterns!

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I love that they have an understated Art Nouveau feel! The lanterns would be perfect hanging from the low branches of the trees during the reception or even on shepherd's hooks around the grounds.

My MOB has several simple black shepherd's hooks I could borrow & my FI loves working with metal, so maybe these will inspire him!

Green Part II

Jack Byrnes: I'm just curious, did you pick the color of the car?
Greg Focker: Uh no, the guy at the window did, why?
Jack Byrnes: Well they say geniuses pick green.
Greg Focker: Oh.
Jack Byrnes: But you didn't pick it.
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My green ramblings would not be complete without some sweet inspiration boards from Snippet & Ink:

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I love the garden feel of this board! And I love the natural aspects from the potted trees as an aisle, to the mojitos, to the getaway in an old fashioned rumble seat!

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This board feels a bit more antique - with the vintage wallpaper, Classic Car, and the couple's walk under very old trees (so southern!).

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These photos seem so relaxed an unpretentious! I love the pale green sweet peas and the potted lavender along the aisle - I bet they smell fantastic! Whatever they're serving with the red raspberries (second row) looks tasty & we'll be doing something similar at our wedding. How sweet is the bride & groom's kiss across a bicycle?!

Green Part I

One of the reasons I love Kathryn's designs over at Snippet & Ink is that she seems to be enamored with the green color palate as much as I am. I've only recently been so interested in green. I think the passion I have developed for gardening over the past eight years has been a huge influence on this. Go figure. When I started planning the wedding, I was of course drawn to the bold colors that have always been my favorites. Vibrant blues, reds, purples, even black. But none of these shades are particularly appropriate for our early summer garden wedding.

(First five images & the last image are from Flicker. Sixth, seventh, & eighth are from The Knot.)

Enter Green! There are so many beautiful shades of green and I toyed with the idea of several different green bridesmaid dresses.
I don't have the source for this beautiful photo, but doesn't it just look so fresh and simple?

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Ok, I'm a little partial to anything from Banana Republic, so why not look for bridesmaid dresses there?! This dress was a bit too vibrant for the wedding...so I just bought it for myself instead!

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Here is a green inspiration board I created. I am partial to the lighter green dresses & love the green bouquets, especially with the burst of purple in the lower left corner!

Shoes!!

I thought it would be so challenging to find the perfect wedding shoes. To begin with, I am super picky when it comes to buying shoes and always have been. Shoe salesmen tended to use objects of torture like this monstrosity on me when I was a kid.

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It's been years since I allowed anyone to try to measure my feet. I really think I'm old enough now to determine if a pair of shoes fits me or not. Apparently the shoe salesmen in Boise disagree! Yes, that's right, a shoe salesman measured my feet last month. After which time, he tried to bring me a pair two sizes too small. I was not impressed. He reminded me of a stereotypical car dealer.

I was on a mission to find the perfect pair, so tried to ignore the salesman's "quirks". Several styles caught my eye...

The Gianni Bini "Blair", a 3.5" T-strap heel for about $69.

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Then there was the strappier Antonio Melani "Dazzle".

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Oh, but then I found the Gianni Bini "Glamour"! Gorgeous, strappy 4 1/2 inch heels. The champagne-colored leather straps have understated crystals and fit me perfectly. With any luck, I won't need to have my wedding gown alterred since I'll be wearing these beauties!

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Just check out that gorgeous heel! My MOH is about three inches taller than me & my BM (little sister) is already that much taller & is still growing! I need all the help I can get next to those two. ;-)

Getaway Car

How fun would it be to leave the wedding in one of these?





My favorite is the '68 Camero!



Vrrrrrmmmmmm!

Luau

Well, I've been planning the wedding for four months now. The more I think about it, the more it is just Event Planning. I like to get things done - make the plan and execute it. So it was bothering me that the ultimate plan could not be executed on for so very long. My birthday was coming up, so I decided to focus my creative efforts (read: taskmaster) into throwing myself a birthday party! A luau was the logical choice since my fiance and I had never had any sort of themed party in the three plus years we've lived together.

Oddly enough, my inspiration came from WallyWorld. They had some cheap Hawaiian decorations on the shelf, so I developed a project for myself. I researched luau decorations, cocktails, food, music, games, flowers, .... I browsed countless websites and several stores to find the perfect accoutrements. I set up a very creative and festive evite for all of my friends (if I do say so myself) and set out for (lots of) shopping.

Yum! The best part! I made Sangria and Midori Mai Tais for everyone. We also had stuff for margs, pina coladas, and more!

Here is our sweet little mascot - and Ringbearer! I think this was the high point of his evening. He spent most of the party alternately hiding in the bathroom and the office.

Part of the setup before the party - and the thunderstorm started.

Here's the birthday girl, the big Kahuna, and Don Johnson!

The party inevitably moved indoors as soon as the cloudburst occurred. Not quite as festive indoors...but it was still wonderful to have so many people to celebrate with me!

My old friend Cory and his new roomie being very festive.
My lovely Maid of Honor and our talented Photographer/Best Man are above in the blue. Love them!

Yum, yum! My "birthday candles" were citronella from our deck!

Not much of a luau at this point, huh?!?

Bridesmaid Dresses

Now that the bridesmaid dresses are all taken care of (my sister's dress is in my childhood room in Boise and my Maid of Honor's dress is safe in the trunk of my car), I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders! After spending hours pouring over bridal magazines & websites looking for the right bridesmaid dresses, the satin Max and Cleo dresses just spoke to me. I love them! Luckily, my MOH and Bridesmaid both look adorable in the dresses (described online as 'Sweet but sexy') and actually like them!

I don't know how I managed to not get any pictures of my maids in the dresses, but here is a picture of me trying one on. (The maids look much cuter in this dress!)

Attendants

Last week, I mentioned how beautiful my Maid of Honor, Corrine, and my Bridesmaid, Bailey, will look in the pale champagne Max and Cleo dresses. I haven't picked out a dress for our little flowergirl, Ella, yet, but I have been keeping my eye out.

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I wouldn't be surprised to find a sweet scene like the one above during our (long) reception. I've noticed that most flowergirls are dressed in white or even in gowns that directly match the bride's gown. I'm not a fan of the mini me-ness of that look! Plus, I really want to be the only person in white at my wedding!!

I'm also not a big fan of the huge, poofy dresses most flowergirls have to wear. Perhaps that's because I was more of a tomboy as a kid and refused to wear pink or a dress the first time I was a flowergirl. (I ended up in cute navy blue velvet knickers instead!) My gown and the bridesmaid dresses are all relatively form-fitting, so a poofy little flowergirl would be very out of place.

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I love this flowergirl dress from US Angels! It is the perfect color, has a satin sash at the neck which would tie in with my satin gown and the bridesmaids' satin dresses, and is poof-free! Plus it does have a bit of a 1920's flapper feel to it, which I am a big fan of.

My final attendant has been in my life for the past eight years, which is about two years longer than the groom...

(my photo of Ash)

Here he is as Super Dog last Halloween. It's not the greatest picture, but illustrates how cute he is in capes! My fiance and I have always planned to have Ash in our wedding ceremony. We've played around with different ways to involve him. He could stand with the guys at the alter while I walk down the aisle - but he'd probably break free of whomever was holding his leash and run to greet me! I could walk him down the aisle with my dad - but I'm sure Ash would drag us down to the alter! Now I'm thinking his role could be something more like this:

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Ok, I don't honestly think he'd put up with a giant pillow on his back like this poor Boston Terrier, but I think Ash would make a resplendant Ringdog. Instead of having our little six-year-old flowergirl Ella walk down the aisle with 80 lbs Ash, perhaps my dog-lover Maid of Honor Corrine would consider having Ash be her escort to the alter!

More ideas!

After a productive trip to Boise over Memorial Day, I have a much better idea of what I'm working with at our ceremony and reception site. We'll be spending most of our time out in the gardens during the wedding. But I still couldn't believe how green everything was! The grounds are overflowing with all different kinds of plants - iris, roses, peonies, poppies, ferns, honeysuckle, snowball bushes, ...

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I came across some great inspiration boards on Snippet & Ink after visiting the Bishops' House (five times) over the weekend in Boise. I love the white hydrangeas with the beautiful muted greens in the first board. After my MOB and I went to a cake tasting at Incredible Edibles near the northend (yum!), I started thinking a large hydrangea blossom on top of our cake would be a better way to go than the calla lilies I'd previously wanted. Instead of the green frosting and pink hydrangeas like the cake in the second row, our cake will be white and simply topped with a single hydrangea in a mix of purple-blue shades.

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The second board incorporates more foliage, so is closer to how our reception will actually look. I love the long banquet table under Chinese lanterns in the first pic. Our ceremony will take place under an arbor similar to the one in the third row, but ours is a bit more substantial. I love the cake in the bottom row with the tiny fern decorations. The tree section as a cake stand is a bit rustic for my taste, though!

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While in Boise, I (finally) picked out the bridesmaid dresses! I'll post pics in a later post, but will just say they are gorgeous! They are light champagne satin, strapless, & above-the-knee-length Max and Cleo (the formal division of BCBG MaxAzaria) dresses. My MOH and BM will look beautiful with the green background of our venue!