Wedding photo update!

ALL of our wedding photos are up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PleaseCLICK HERE to view them ... I will be sending out a massive e-mail in the next few days.

Cheers.

Do it yourself????

I'm into easy .... which is why I didn't make my own wedding invitations. Some people do, and nice for them. Not me. And until now, I've always thought homemade invites looked totally cheap. ACK.

But now .... I think they could look AWESOME!

ANYHOW....I was at Target last night and they have LETTERPRESS invites you can print out at home. I was interested.

Some of them are more pricey:

You can see it online HERE. And HERE is another of their pricier invites.


But others are TOTALLY reasonable:

You can check them out HERE.


OMG these are unbelievable!

You can see them HERE.


Budget friendly (and SUPER CUTE), but I think you'd have to pay extra postage to mail these:

You can see them HERE.


I don't think there would be extra postage for these:

You can check it out HERE.

Classic. Timeless:

They're online HERE. (If your initials are SS, I can see these as invites). ;-)

With some special fonts (NOT the standard ones on your computer, go check out DaFont or 1001), these could be awesome, custom invites!

Confession ...

Mike lauded me for not photographing on our wedding day (except for a few self portraits).

Weeeeeeeeeeell, I *did* take a few detail photos ... just for kicks. BUT I will say Mike and Heather had waaaaaaaay better light for their detial pix, so I'll let you know when they're all up!









ps-the dress was brand spankin' new ... it wasn't a vintage dress, but doesn't it LOOK vintage????

Wedding week stress

Somehow, I thought being an industry professional would give me immunity from the chaos that often precedes a wedding. Boy was I wrong! (Although I prefer to call it being optimistic). :-) (see that look on Steve Martin's face ... it's the same overwhelmed look that's on MY face right now!)

This summer has yielded brides who have this glazed over, deer in the headlights look. And I've been taking notes. What have they left to the last second? What are they hurrying around doing the DAY OF THEIR WEDDING that could/should have been done before?

I have been receiving a TON of e-mails, calls and messages about what people can do to help. Y'all are SO SWEET and Erik and I are SO grateful for this outpouring of love and support! Keep being awesome (and AVOID saying things like "oh, chill out or we'll start calling you Grandma Alice").

For those of you who will be here, I'm happy to have hands available on Saturday. We're pretty good leading up to then. :-)


Let's start with the positives. Here's what I think we've done smartly:
+ Picked an awesome spouse-to-be! :-) Erik and I have spent a LOT of time focusing on the days, weeks, months and years to follow the wedding. So, yes, we're excited for the wedding, but more excited about the new beginning the wedding marks (if that makes sense).

+ Have awesome families who love us and are *excited* about the big day!

+ Made our dress/tux selections WAY ahead of time, so we're not worrying about "will they come in on time?"

+ Have all of our fun little details (kickin' socks, shoes, hair accessories) all purchased and in their box, ready to go!

+ Made all of our reading selections for the wedding in December, so we don't have to make many decisions about the ceremony ... they're already made!

+ Picked out our first dance song MONTHS ago ... and the DJ has our selection so we don't have to rush to give him a CD of our song on Saturday (yes, I've seen brides do this as they pull into the reception).

+ Gone with a reception site that does ALL of the decorating for us! While I love, love, love my sister, she and her friends spent several hours the day before decorating the church hall. I seriously have NO mental energy for that this week and am SO glad I don't have decorations and centerpieces flowing out from my bedroom! I seriously *heart* Kathy at the Petroleum Club for doing not only the decorations, but handling all of the correspondence with the cake people and DJ.

+ Take off the week before to be around Wichita and handle details. Some of our brides work up until the Thursday before ... and I TOTALLY tip my hat to them! I'm not sure I could do that!

+ Enlisted the help of awesome, awesome friends! I am SO THANKFUL my childhood friend Courtney will be my bridal attendant/wedding coordinator on Saturday! I used to think the job of "bride's personal attendant" was just some lame title you gave someone who wasn't a bridesmaid, but you wanted to do something. Um...WRONG! Courtney is doing everything from picking up our flowers to taking stuff from the church to the reception to checking into the B&B for us! Basically, I'm telling everyone to go through Courtney on Saturday if they need something/have a question. It's super-awesome because Courtney knows a lot of my family, totally wants to help and since she's doing this, it takes these items off my plate, as well as my mom's so we can really enjoy the day!

Areas where we should have been more on the ball:
- Ceremony music selection! Since E and I don't live in Wichita, it was sort of hard to coordinate schedules with the organist. All is well, we have an uber talented organist and vocalist ... but I didn't want "a bunch of music everyone else uses in weddings." SO that meant a rarely song used for the presentation of flowers to Mary. No biggie, except it had to be ordered from Austria. Again, no biggie, except I ordered it and it was shipped 3+ weeks ago and it is STILL not in my hands. :-( Thankfully my organist rocks, so we can really wait until last minute to decide on what we'll use.

- I, Karen, totally dropped the ball when it came to engagement pics! Due to my schedule, we had to push them back into July, which was far from ideal. This pushed our engagement guest album WAY back ... and when it had to be re-done ... FROM ITALY ... siiiiiiiiiigh. I totally dropped the ball on this one, but I learned a BIG lesson about how much time it takes one of these to be produced. Anyhow, it's *supposed* to arrive today, and thankfully I only have lunch with a girlfriend, so I'll be here most of the day to sit and stare at the front door. (EDIT: It was *supposed to be delivered to Wichita, but it looks like it's going to Salina. Now I'm going to have stomach acid all day being worried about if Erik is awake to sign for the package, or if he'll already be at work when it's delivered!) On the up side of things, I now have an awesome am on a first name basis with my rep (as in I don't even have to say my last name and she knows who it is .... not sure if that's a good thing or not!) ;-) BUT thankfully Erik has awesome neighbors ... and one of them has signed for the package before. So I'm hoping and praying if Erik isn't home, that they are home to sign for it!!!!

- Ceremony programs. This one is really a wash. It could go easily on the plus or minus list. I've been working on our program for about a month now, getting names and all information inputted. I was trying to wait on the Flowers to Mary music, before we printed it, but just gave up. I am having it printed and you will notice no music is listed for that part of the Mass. That's because we'll be deciding on Friday! Anyhow, it is a plus because it's out of my hands and at Kinkos now. And I absolutely REFUSE to do the folding and stapling. Yeah, I'm paying them a little extra to do it, but it is saving me time! I've seen brides doing this the night of, so I'm glad this isn't the case, but it would have been more ideal to get this done earlier.

- Sleep. UUUUUGH! I am SO trying to sleep this week ... but it's difficult to fall asleep and I'm waking up early. I have brides who haven't slept much the week of the wedding and I think being fully rested is VITAL. I'm TRYING to sleep! I really am! I think I'm going to have to make friends with Tylenol PM tonight .... because I have GOT to get some restful sleep!

- RSVPs. We set our date weeks ago, but we are STILL getting calls! OMG people! We're a few days out ... and now like 10-15 extra people want to come. I hope we don't run out of food/cake!


My married friends have been sharing LOTS of advice! Thanks, guys! Yes, I'm having a relaxing girls day on Thursday! Mom, Robin and I are having massages, then nails done. I'm SO looking forward to it all!

Also, we're having ice cream night Thursday at the Cold Stone Creamery on N. Rock Road. They're giving away free ice cream to benefit some non-profit organization. We'll be there about 5 p.m. ... so come between 5 and 6 and you'll probably catch us. Seriously, come one, come all!


After that, we're having a girls movie night to go see Mama Mia! So if you're a girl and wanna come with us, hollar at me!

And what the heck do wedding movie posters have to do with this post? Not too much, but I don't like long, long posts w/o pictures ... and I'm NOT sharing photos of me right now. ;-) So these will have to do!

Practicing

Be prepared for the cutest photograph EVER!

This is Gianna and Max.



They will be in our wedding a week from TODAY, and they've been practicing up!

Their parents have done an awesome, awesome, awesome job of prepping these kids! I think they should give lessons ... because Mike and I have sure seen some doozies of flower girls and ring bearers! ;-)

Erik and I are getting *excited* for the wedding! We're excited to see everyone and celebrate with our closest friends and family, but more than that, we're excited to begin our married life!

Having Max and G be a part of it ... along with their Auntie Sarah ... it's so special. My siblings and I practically grew up with Sarah. We spend holidays together and they have become our extended family!

I know I shouldn't ...

but I can't resist!

Ok, all of you brides out there ... FESS UP! I KNOW you've done this ... right????

What the heck am I talking about? Registry peeking. Yeah, yeah, we have registries and we add items. What's this peeking business? Well, the online registry is SO COOL because it keeps guests up to date on what still needs to be purchased.

On the inverse, it also tells me what people have bought for our gifts!!! It's not *exactly* like peeking under the paper to see what a gift is before it's unwrapped, but sorta like it .... ;-)

Anyhow, I'm JAZZED to have a blender and George Foreman grill coming! Seriously! We have basil plants that have grown like gangbusters (even after I moved/re-planted them!). I have made pesto a few times this summer, but have yet to be able to find my food processor attachments ... so I've been cutting the basil leaves up by hand. UGH! My fingers end up black and green after the event, and I am not able to make that much pesto by myself. SO I'm elated to see a blender will enter our lives in two weeks ... because it will mean my pesto cutting days are over! And once my super secret pesto recipe is made, I can grill chicken on the Foreman and we can have chicken pesto pasta!!!!!!

OH.MY.GOSH

It's official. I need to get a life.

This morning, as I was doing my usual blog-stalking, I saw some hot shoes on Jessica Claire's site. Despite the fact that I already HAVE wedding shoes, I can't resist looking some more (for those of you who know me and know how much I loath shoe shopping, I'm sure you're highly amused).

So, in searching Manolo Blahnik's shoe collection, I found THIS:



Oh la la!!!!!!!!!!! I am in love with Manolo's shoe titled something blue.

Fortunately for me, a few things prevent this from even being an option.

a) the shoe has a 4 1/2 inch heel. My current heel is high enough .... there's no way I could master something higer.
b) the shoes are sized in European sizes, and I have no idea what an 11 narrow translates into ... which is good. ;-)~
c) i seriously doubt any store in the state of Kansas carries these shoes, so I consider myself safe from even trying them on to tempt myself.
d) since I'm not a shoe horse, almost 4-figures is a bit more than I think I should invest (yes, these shoes would be an investment) in wedding shoes.

BUT .... fear not! The wedding (in about a month!!!!!!!) will have splashes of blue ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!!!! blue flowers, blue rosary in the my flowers, blue shoes, (hopefully) grandma's blue ring, blue hair jewelry .... and the list goes on and on! :-)

EDIT: This is the shoe from this summer's Sex and the City Movie ... and I remember admiring it on the big screen ... while I'm not going to be wearing it, when I was trying my dress on at the store, a lady DID comment "oh, blue shoes like in Sex and the City."

Invites are OUT!!!!!!!

It's interesting how as the wedding planning goes, how there are portions of Erik and portions of Karen.





The invites alone are a nice combo of the both of us, but when you receive yours in the mail .... let's just say you'll know Erik was a part of it! :-)

Gimme a paper bag!

UUUUUUUUUGH!

No envelopes to mail invitations in. AAAAAAAAAAACK!

So, it'd been about 2 weeks since I placed my envelope order ... and they said it'd take about that long, especially since we're having E's address printed on them (to save time). Yeah, it's NOT turned out to be a timesaver at all.

The artwork I sent is nowhere to be seen .... and the general rep on the phone was only defensive, NOT helpful. Thank God for excellent managers! This lady was rockin' and we will hopefully have them in before we have to leave town.

Is it too early in the day for a drink? ;-)

Invites are IN!!!!!!!

I picked up the wedding invitations at the post office this morning ... and they are STUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!! My friend (and killer designer), Heather, did a kickin' job on them! In all of her free time when she's not doing photography, she runs Posh Spot Designs.

I'm so jazzed to send them out in the next week and a half. But because I am mean, I am not going to show them to you here, dear blog readers. Yup, I'm a meanie. I want them to be an awesome surprise when they come in the mail!

Wedding ticker

Erik wanted me to add one to our blog ... so here you go.



It ain't pretty, but it suffices. Maybe after yoga I'll find a better looking one.

Oh, and it's at the top of the right column until the wedding, so in case any of you are wondering... ;-)

ps-I added some of our e-pix to our wedding web site.

Karen + Erik's engagement slideshow — crossover

SOOOOO....our engagement slideshow is up on the Heartland Blog. Please CLICK HERE to view the blog post.


I have SO MANY favorites, It's seriously hard to choose one (or two or ten!).


As always, please leave some blog love (comments) on the Heartland Blog to let Mike know what a killer job he did!


Ok, so I actually took these two photos of Erik being a goon! :-)



Oh, and for your curious cats out there, we went to the Cozy Inn and Steifel Theatre for our photos.


Also, jump on over to the online proofing gallery by CLICKING HERE to check out the entire session!

EEEEEEEEEEEK! — Crossover

Cruise on over to the Heartland Blog by CLICKING HERE to see a few photos from the awesome e-session Mike did of Erik and I!!!!!!

ps-leave a comment on the HEARTLAND BLOG, please! We LOVE comments, but don't always get many! I'll give you a cookie! :-)

R3 — wedding invitations

R3 — Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.


So, how does R3 connect to wedding invitations????? And why am I writing about this now?

Well...this week, Erik and I ordered our wedding invitations. Yay! Big excitement!

One thing we decided, however, was to keep these pretty environmentally friendly. How did we do this?

1. We used double-sided invitations in place of the "traditional" invitations.

Lemme explain. We received an invitation about a month ago ... and it came with an entire sheet of paper that was not printed on, and it came in two envalopes, with a reply card, an envelope for the reply card, a reception card, the card where the couple is registered and the card giving hotel directions/accomodations. WOW!

When you get ours in the mail, you'll notice there is only ONE ENVELOPE.

I am SO excited for the invites to arrive and to mail them out! :-)

2. We nixed registry cards.

Our invitations are double-sided and include our wedding Web site. The registries are there, and besides, it's totally tacky to put those in the invites!

3. Our RSVPs are post-cards.

Some people (like my smart sister) opted to have people e-mail or call, but not all of our guests are internet savvy ... so yes, we are not hugging a tree on this one.

4. Our envelopes are 30% recycled!

Our awesome designer found envelopes made out of 30% recycled materials! :-)

...

How can others be more friendly to the environment, especially in regards to wedding invitations?

1. NO save the date cards ... instead, send them via e-mail.

Sure, Erik and I sent them out, but we sent our "save the date" with Christmas cards ... and since we send Christmas cards anyway, we didn't figure it would be any extra paper or stamps.

I get a kick out of my friends who e-mail me to tell me they're getting married on their date, could they have my address to send a save the date? HELLO! You've just TOLD me to save the date!

2. Use post-card sized RSVP cards, and do NOT use an envelope for them.

You simply have to put a stamp on them and they're ready to go!

3. Opt for double-sided printing, if possible

...

So...this is nice, but what are my rewards?

There are several rewards.

1. You're preserving the planet for future generations.

2. Printing on two sides of paper DOES save money by eliminating the need for additional pieces of paper.

3. You save money!!!! This is by not needing to purchase multiple envelopes and additional paper. It's also more economical to mail a post card than pay for a RSVP card in an envelope.

Hair accessories

Alrighty, time for more obsessing about wedding accessories.

My veil will be a birdcage veil .... sort of vintage and fun!


Some people wear feathers with these, but I don't fancy myself a feather sort of girl.

SO I was considering just going sans anything, but I have become OBSESSED with hair accessories. (and I totally SHUN tiaras!)

I'm gonna give you my photos, then let you vote, as I did with my wedding shoes.


Speaking of shoes, the hair accessories are a little lighter shade, but some have darker blue. Do you think different shades are OK? Especially since the colors won't be right next to one another....

OK, on to the bling!

#1:


#2:


#3


#4


#5


#6


#7


#8


#9 — maybe I could get a few and cluster these together?


#10


#11


#12


#13

And the winner is ....

The number of people asking me about wedding shoes is UNREAL! Frequently, friends e-mail and ask if I've resolved my wedding shoe angst.

While Erik and I were in Kansas City last week to hang with his parents, I took a few hours to go shoe shopping with his mom and my sister. None of us girls are shoppers, so the two hour excursion is a record for us all!

Without further ado, here's the winner:


I can't guarantee I am totally done with shoe shopping, but I have something I can live with for the wedding. IF I happen to find something else I might like more, then I'll be able to choose!

Oh, and on a side note, when I was getting a better photo of THE SHOE, I found another possibility! UGH! Why am I so indecisive????

Wedding Web Site facelift

Our awesome invitation designer, Heather, is getting CLOSE to having our invites all designed! I'm SO EXCITED!

To celebrate, I changed the look of our wedding Web site to match the colors better. Nothing will match perfectly, because I don't think you can customize the colors .... but oh well!


The old design wasn't spectacular, but they didn't have as many options. Now they have a plethora of choices at My Wedding.

Inspiration

I was blog stalking again this morning, and came across these BEAUTIFUL photos on the blog of Rachel, Millie Holloman's associate photographer.


I am simply SALIVATING over the beautiful blue/brown combo! I also dig the swirls on the tablecloth, and how the silverware stem echoes the tablecloth.

You WILL SEE some blue hydrangeas in the wedding, though! LOVE THEM!

Why oh why ...

can't be registering at Lowe's or Home Depot be SIMPLE???????

[sorry, I'm interrupting the Missouri trip blogs from Erik, but this is getting my goat!]


So, a friend in Hays wants to throw us a bridal shower. Great! BUT there's nowhere in Hays we're registered. SO I go to Home Depot's web site, thinking I'll create a registry similar to the ones for Lowe's or Target. WRONG. Can't do it. Gotta go to the store. THEN when I got to the store, I was given a piece of paper with SEVEN LINES on it for all of my registry items. Umm.....not enough.


I encountered something similar when we registered at Lowe's. I had to walk around the store with a sheet of paper. It is seriously annoying. BUT at Lowe's, at least I can go online and adjust my registry. BUT I never got a clear answer at the store of whether my registry will be at multiple stores ... again, NOT helpful.

At Home Depot, it was VERY clear — the registry was tied to the individual store. Again, NOT helpful.


Seriously, what the heck???? Target has an awesome registry program. You show up, sign up and they give you a scanner gun to go around the store with. THEN you can go online and change the registry, and the registry is available at ANY Target store in the country. VERY helpful.

So....point of all of this? Target is the only place I found with its act together. Oh, and if you are wanting to go to HD or Lowe's for a registry, I suggest you go to our wedding registry page and print OFF the list from the link there, THEN go to Lowe's or Home Depot and do your shopping (the brands might be different, but you'll get a general idea of what we're needing to fix up Erik's house based on the registry).

Bottom line? There are plusses and minuses of each place. The Home Depot team was VERY friendly. EVERY employee I encountered asked how I was doing and if I found everything ok. Lowe's didn't have that awesome customer service, but does have online registry options....

MORE shoe choices!

Siiiiigh. I seriously don't know what to do!

There is a clear winner from the wedding shoe poll .... BUT one of my wedding photographers, the amazing Heather, sent me some MORE shoe options. UGH! (This is in a GOOD way, though!) :-)

SO .... should I choose a new one?


Keep the favorite from last week?



Choose the NEW sexy ones the awesome Kitty Maer found???? HELP!