• Getting Married: 39 Weeks – The Dress

    Preface: The dresses you are about to witness are not, I repeat, are not THE dress that was purchased for the wedding. No spoilers here!

    Yes, that is what I did today: shopped for my wedding dress. Let me preface that I have not really ever spent my time daydreaming what I would wear for my wedding one day. I admit that about a month before Matt proposed, I thought that I should probably get an idea of what kind of gown I should like. I may have perused some magazines or photos before, but nothing in earnest. I’m also not one for shopping and especially not for clothes shopping.

    So, after we got engaged I really began to look through the various options out there. Wedding dresses are so expensive! The one we finally settled on (we, being my mother and I) was a bit more than I had anticipated spending, but it looks amazing and Mom insisted. 🙂

    I called about a month and a half ago to set up my appointment with David’s Bridal and then began favoriting some of the dresses I really liked. There was one in particular that I absolutely loved from the picture, but I added a few others that I thought might be nice. I don’t have a problem with pure white dresses, I just think they sometimes look bluish in certain lights, so I was hoping for an ivory or an off-white. David’s Bridal seems to only have white or ivory…with some pink *cringe* dresses too.

    I called on Tuesday to confirm my appointment. Much to my shock, I wasn’t anywhere on the calendar. :/ The woman apologized profusely and got all my information again, guaranteeing that I would have a consultant to work with and accommodations for the 10 people who were hoping to come with me.

    You read that right, I had an entourage. My mom and two sisters were there, as were my two nieces who are my junior bridesmaids. My matron of honor and other bridesmaid also came to watch and throw in their oars (much, much appreciated!). We would have had a couple others with us, but there were unforeseen events which prevented their participation. They were missed. 🙂

    I knew she’d be good because of how cute her skirt was.

    When we arrived, I checked in with the woman at a desk in the front of the store. There was a lot of activity going on, but when I filled out the contact information sheet, I found that they already had my favorites printed out so they could grab them quickly! I was so impressed!

    My consultant was cute and fun Kelcie who really helped keep things going and was great on advice and finding other gowns to try which I may not have known about.

    Did I mention that I love her skirt? Amy, Lanna and I drooled over it for a little bit.

    I didn’t try on a ton of dresses, but I knew I wanted to save the “absolutely love” dress for last. I was thinking that I might fall in love with one of the others before trying that one on…it came real close to happening, but nope…I really did save the best for last.

    So pretty…love beadwork and lace 🙂
    The train was gorgeous on this one and would have cost as much as the dress to alter, probably.

    They even got me to try on some headgear – this is one part of the dress fashion that I’m clueless on…however, I think we could probably rule out this option:

    I’m not a huge fan of veils (for myself) and they really don’t work well with the chosen dress, but I liked how this picture turned out:

    Look! I’m wearing a tiara! Eeek…

    I was so nervous that the dress I loved wouldn’t look as good on me as it did in the picture. That fear was soon dispelled. I had to tell Mom to turn away a couple times because she was getting all teary-eyed.

    Mom wants me to tell you that it was actually her sinuses that were bothering her…you can believe whatever you like. 🙂

    I threw Kelcie for a loop when I asked her to find a couple of the most hideous dresses for me to try on and get a picture with. Rest assured that neither of these are the dress.

    This actually didn’t look too bad once it was on, but apparently Kelcie hates it. I think Amy and Lanna wanted it by the time I took it off. It had soooooo much going on!
    “Hmmm…what if we take a monstrously huge ribbon and wrap it all around squiggle-like? Perfect!” Oh, and I have a green light coming from my belly…

    I am so excited to have both of these ladies in my wedding. They are so special to me…yes they might be super-prego balloons by the time it gets here, but I still love them!

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    Me and my gals!

    Can’t wait for you to see the dress in all its glory!

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    I’m getting married to my, you guessed it, best friend on June 1st, 2013! Matt and I are super-excited and since we have quite a bit of time to plan this thing, I decided it’d be fun to blog about it. Well, maybe not always fun, but at least informative and it might give me a welcome distraction. You can find all the posts by clicking the “Getting Married” tab on the right of this page, or by clicking here. Thanks for stopping by!

    My Pinterest Wedding Board

    Our Wedding Website on WeddingWire.com

  • Getting Married: 40 Weeks – Flowers!

    This week, I had my official meeting with the florist about the flowers for our wedding. I love flowers so much! When I was in Japan, there were so many new kinds of flowers that I didn’t know that I was taking photos all over the place of them, earning myself the nickname of “hana-otaku” or “flower nerd.” I also love the meanings behind flowers. For this reason, I do not like the idea of having lilies as wedding flowers (completely personal preference. I think they’re lovely flowers, I just don’t want them in my wedding flowers), since they have been traditionally funeral flowers. I’m allergic to mums, don’t like orchids (in wedding flowers), and don’t want daisies or roses. Where in the world does that leave me!?

    Our colors are red and yellow, which you can see together on my Pinterest board. I would have thought this color combo would be easy to find examples of, but it’s not really. I like the idea of having a uniquely colored wedding, but it makes the prep work a little tough. I’m glad to have another 40 weeks to get this all together.

    The primary flowers are sunflowers! I absolutely looove sunflowers. I even have a Pinterest board completely devoted to sunflowers. (I also have one for elephants, if you’re interested.) The great thing about sunflowers is that they’ve increasingly been dyed a lovely red color, so this works will for my plan.

    sunflowers – pure and lofty thoughts

    I just needed a good red flower to complement the yellow suns. The first one that came to mind was the lovely red poppy.

    poppies – pleasure

    There were some that grew as wild flowers in Japan and I loved how light the flower is, but how deep the color is. Unfortunately when I spoke with the florist the first time, she said that poppies are hard to get in June. So, we had to come up with an alternate. Enter the ranunculus.

    ranunculus – I am dazzled by your charms

    Making its debut here in a gorgeous red and yellow (hmm…can anyone say, perfect?!) I was just looking up the meaning for ranunculus, and you’ll see above that it means, “I am dazzled by your charms.” There was also a funny little story that accompanied this:

    Legend has it that the mythological Coyote was tossing his eyes up in the air and catching them when Eagle snatched them. Unable to see, Coyote created eyes from the ranunculus/buttercup.

    …

    Interesting, huh? And notice that the buttercup is part of the ranunculus family? I love buttercups and have always wanted them in my wedding bouquet.

    buttercups – riches

    *sigh*

    We also thought about including anemone, which looks quite a bit like poppies. Oh, and don’t worry, I am having fake flowers for the reception, so I’m sure I can get poppies in there somehow.

    anemone – unfading love

    Last but not least, woman cannot live on red and yellow flowers alone. I love the idea of having white accents in there too. There was one flower that the florist mentioned, but I can’t remember its name. I’ll try and look it up for you. But also, jonquil works really well, especially with a yellow center. Also known as a daffodil or narcissus and called “suisen” in Japanese, this flower has a special place in my heart. The woman who I began to call my Japanese Mother loved these flowers so much, especially since they are an early indicator of Spring coming, much like the crocuses here in the states. That reminds me, I’ll need to plant those in the garden beds. 🙂 The yellow ones.

    jonquil – return my affection

    There you are, the flowers…or the gist of them. This week, we also went and scoped out wedding bands. Rather, a wedding band for Matt. I’ll post more about this later. No purchases were made as yet.

    We perused the kitchen section of Target a bit too, and tagged some pics of what we really liked. More to come on that in the future too. Thanks for stopping by!

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    I’m getting married to my, you guessed it, best friend on June 1st, 2013! Matt and I are super-excited and since we have quite a bit of time to plan this thing, I decided it’d be fun to blog about it. Well, maybe not always fun, but at least informative and it might give me a welcome distraction. You can find all the posts by clicking the “Getting Married” tab on the right of this page, or by clicking here. Thanks for stopping by!

    My Pinterest Wedding Board

    Our Wedding Website on WeddingWire.com

  • Getting Married: 41 Weeks – Interests, Hobbies, and Dates

    I’m running a bit behind this week, but here’s the next blog entry! 🙂 Enjoy!

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    Work always seems to get in the way of having fun and doing what we want. I’m sure that resonates with you, but work is a necessary thing in life, so we grin and bear it. Matt and I both have kind of goofy work schedules, especially with him being on swing shift, so when we find we both have free time, we do our best to get together and do something fun.

    When I was younger, I thought that the best kind of relationship was one where man and woman shared exactly the same interests and goals in life. The goals part is probably still true to a point, but I have learned that it is vitally important that each person has unique interests and hobbies. Matt loves to do things with his hands – working on cars, taking pictures, taking care of his home and serving others through the gifts God has given him. I love to learn things through reading or boring documentary movies/tv shows (yes, I spent most of the weekend watching a BBC doc on the history of the monarchy in the UK), making things with my hands and being creative, traveling, and being informed of world affairs. Matt loves goofy movies, yes, even A Goofy Movie, and I love musicals and sci-fi fantasy movies. We can usually agree on some things like funny tv show sitcoms, antiquing and wanting to understand how something works. We also just enjoy being together, exploring the natural world that God designed, and having a good meal. We admire ingenuity of others and the joy of Christian fellowship. There are so many more things, but I’m going to get on with the rest of this blog.

    We had a day and a half off together. We had planned to run down to visit his grandparents in Kentucky, but his grandpa hasn’t been doing so well (prayers! please). So, Matt had worked out a surprise outing for us that fit both of our interests very well – The Air Force Museum.

    Dayton, Ohio claims the birth of aviation with the Wright Brothers, starting in the bicycle industry, who invented the first manned, double-propeller airplane. This event sparked an interest in aviation in Dayton that has lasted through the years.

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    My roots! This picture is perfect: a heart, Italian colors, and an airplane. Yep!
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    If you can’t read that, it says “Martin U.S.A.” – my fiance’s last name!
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    I love my Butler County. 🙂
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    At least it isn’t Bad Horse. *shivers*
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    Um…I think they forgot the “H?”
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    We started getting really hungry and it was amazing how the planes started to look hungry too! om nom nom nom
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    They’ve got pockets…with pens and such in it!

    On another note, what do you think of this wedding hairstyle?
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    😀

    —————————–

    I’m getting married to my, you guessed it, best friend on June 1st, 2013! Matt and I are super-excited and since we have quite a bit of time to plan this thing, I decided it’d be fun to blog about it. Well, maybe not always fun, but at least informative and it might give me a welcome distraction. You can find all the posts by clicking the “Getting Married” tab on the right of this page, or by clicking here. Thanks for stopping by!

    My Pinterest Wedding Board

    Our Wedding Website on WeddingWire.com

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