An Exciting Year to Come

As if 2009 wasn't a whirlwind, I can already tell that 2010 is going to blow right by. I will celebrate the first of many 29th birthdays, be a maid of honor in my best friend's wedding, move into a new house, get married, and then BOOM...most of the year will be past us! I'm so excited for this new year and freaked out all at the same time. I know it will come and go faster than I can blink, but all worth it. I just can't wait until the day after the wedding when Clay and I (and all my family that has helped with this wedding) can let out a big sigh of relief!

I wish all of you health and happiness in 2010.

My printer is a liar

So, since Clay is out of town until the middle of next month, I have lots of DIY time on my hands. I decided to tackle the invitations so that they are at least assembled, addressed, stamped and ready to go when the time comes (about a month). I'm so glad I started early because they are quite labor intensive. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but the time factor is longer than I thought it would be. I've gotten all the outside envelopes hand addressed and stamped (that was one whole night). Last night I was going to finish printing out all the parts that go inside and my computer kept saying that my ink was almost out. I hate buying new ink since its soooo expensive, but $50 later I had a new cartridge just in case. My printer is a liar! I printed out all parts to all 75 invitations and it still has ink!! Geez Louise. Here is a picture of the assembled invite:

Pictures of the New House

They put up a couple of pictures on the builder's website of our house. Looks like we'll be moving in about a month!

Adding to the Madness

As if things weren't busy enough, we are buying a house. While I was off work last week, Clay and poked around the neighborhoods just to see what was out there and stumbled on a brand new house just down the street. I had no idea things would move so fast, but we put in an offer yesterday to the builder and they accepted it! They aren't complete with the construction so we won't close until the end of next month. Clay needs to sell his current house so that gives us a little more time. I have full confidence in the new realtor he found and think it will sell quickly. Keep your fingers crossed for us! I'm such a nerd, but we did negotiate for them to redo the cabinets and add a second oven in the kitchen. I'm sooo excited! And, as previously promised, I get to use one of the guest rooms as my own craft room as long as it has some sort of bed in it. I'm wondering if I can find a murphy bed that would work so that when guests aren't using it, its looks like a bonafide, Martha Stewart craft room. We're going by the house this weekend so I'll make sure to take some pics and post them as well.

Here are some craft room pictures that I found that I LOVE. Ugh, I think I'm drooling already.

Engagement Pics

Here are some of pictures from the engagement session we did last week in the freezing cold. From all of our "kissy" shots, I managed to pass my cold on to Clay! It was great being able to work with our photographer and get to know him. He did a great job and I can't wait for him to do the bridal portraits next.

on a side note, I did figure out that bright colors are a must and so is a little spray tan!! I look like a ghost compared to Clay!

My First Wedding Shower

I had my first wedding shower yesterday hosted by Paige and her mother, Judy. It was a Christmas themed shower so I was literally showered with so many Christmas decorations! I now have everything from Christmas aprons to guest bath towels and soaps. I got several Christmas cookbooks as well as figurines and ornaments. Everyone made their own ornament and attached it to a wreath for me to take and hang up. They also had everyone bring two dozen of their favorite Christmas cookie along with the recipe. All the recipes will be bound together so I'll have Christmas cookie recipe book from all my friends and family.

Paige's mom's house was decorated to a tee and Paige fashioned a snowbride from carnations and accessories. It was sooo cute! What a great idea. I'll probably steal that idea for my own decorating next year. There was such a great turnout and I had such a fun time. I know Paige checks in on this blog, so THANK YOU again!!

Baby its cold outside...

We got our first real cold snap this week. Of course, it is the week I took off work. I got all the Christmas decorations up. The tree looks great this year but now one of the stings of lights in the middle has a short so I'm going to have to undo all the ornaments to get to it and fix it.

We also got to take our engagement pictures last night...the coldest day of the week! We met our photographer downtown and took lots of pictures up and down 6th Street. We stumbled across some graffiti that had "until death do us part" on the bottom. It was so bright and colorful that it seemed perfect for some very "urban" pictures. We also hit some spots on South Congress. One of them was in the middle of the crosswalk during traffic in order to get the capitol in the background. I always wondered when people took those pictures when I saw them and now I know. We had lots of honks from people sitting in traffic! They should be ready in about a week and I'm so excited ot see them!

Deal of the Day

Don't get me wrong, I love a great deal. However, I would rather poke my eyes out than go shopping during Black Friday and the weekend following. I planned on having a weekend full of cleaning, laundry, etc and avoiding any and all retail stores at all costs. But, then came the circular for Michaels in the mail. They had 50% off frames all weekend plus and additional 20% off before noon today. My mom and I had talked about the guest book situation not too long ago and decided that even though they have been done to death, that the framed picture with the large mat for people to sign would be best. That way I can display it with one of our engagement pictures during the reception and then later put a wedding picture in it. I'd like to be able to see all the well wishes that are left for us rather than having to thumb through a book that just collects dust on a shelf. So, after all my discounts...it was only $12!! If you don't know what I'm talking about, it looks a little like this:

Guys are weird

I guess Clay is finally getting into the spirit of wedding planning. He was cruising through the movie channels a couple of nights ago and actually stopped on Bride Wars because it had just started. He watched the whole thing and made comments about the dresses, etc.!! I also had a BRIDE magazine laying out the other day and he looked through the whole thing and told me dress styles he likes, opinions on bridesmaid dresses, etc. If you don't know Clay, it was a funny sight. He's a 6'5" huge dude so its pretty humorous to hear him talk about ruffles on dresses...

Oh, if you havene't checked Style Me Pretty today, then you are missing out on some sick dresses. They are unbelievable! This latest round of dresses are so amazing with the organza work and beading. I can't imagine how heavy they must be.

Fun o Fun with the Registry Gun

Clay has been gone a lot lately, so when he's actually home, we have to knock out some of our wedding to do list items. One of those on the list, was for him to go with me to Bed, Bath, & Beyond so he could pick out some stuff and see what I had started. I usually am anti BB&B, but that was the only place we could find bedding that we really liked. Once we saw it in real life, it was even better. Clay was in charge of the registry gun. Um, that should say enough. He was a little trigger happy. Needless to say, I had to edit out a few items online when I got home. We got a great start and picked out a lot of things that will come in handy when we have lots of people over. We decided against china and just chose plain white everyday dinnerware. I know its boring, but we both have huge families, so its more about quantity. You can also dress up white dishes with chargers, pretty napkins, and tablecloths anyway, so those seemed to be the most sensible choice. After about an hour, Clay said he either had to go to Sports Authority or go home and watch football to regain some of his manhood after being in BB&B for so long. Such a guy!

Happy weekend

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm really going to try and make it to The Junior League of Austin's A Christmas Affair. Its a wonderful three day event at the Palmer Events Center. It is basically a huge market with all sorts of one of a kind handmade crafts that make for awesome Christmas gifts. Maybe I can find some bridesmaid jewelry. More info can be found at http://www.jlaustin.org/?nd=aca2009

My friend and coordinator, Paige, has a booth at the show for her other endeavor, Show Pony Designs. They have some freaking cute stuff! I don't how she juggles it all. She has pictures of some of the things they will have at the show on their Facebook page here

Its Been A Long Time

I can't believe I haven't written anything in almost a month! I guess its because we're at a place where we have things under control. I finally signed a contract with a caterer and am super excited about the menu. I found out that Central Market will do a three layer cake with filling and buttercream design for about $120. What a deal! I don't really plan on eating more than the "exchanged bite" at the ceremony anyway. I'm not much of a cake fan. However, Clay's groom's "cake" is going to be our challenge. I really wanted him to see that I've made a point to have something catered to him. So, we are doing a golf table (he would play everday if he could) for him. My mom and I are going to make cake balls (if you haven't seen them, they are the rage in Austin right now) that look like golf balls and then decorate the table in a golf theme. I wasn't going to show him my sketch of the table, but I wanted him to see it. He LOVED it! I just hope it works out. However, Clay is not a cake fan either, but his favorite dessert is blackberry cobbler. So, we are trying to figure out a way to make cobbler in a cake ball style. I got my Grandma Heckmann's cobbler recipe from my mom and put it in a smaller dish to bake so I would have more of cakey part than fruit. Then, I cooled the cobbler for about two hours, formed it into balls, and froze them for about four more hours. Then, I dipped them in almond bark and they are now cooling in the fridge in the garage. They aren't perfectly round, but that is going to be a challenge with cobbler since the cakey part gets crusty around the edges. Taste test will be tomorrow once they are good and set. So, here is what they look like in the fridge:

And yes, you are seeing that right. I put them in a jar of mixed nuts to set. I needed something for them to settle in so they didn't touch and that's all I could come up with. So, if this works, it will be great. Otherwise, I have much more trial and error ahead of me.

The months keep flying by. We are almost at the five month mark already. We start premarital counseling with the pastor next month and will see him once a month thereafter until the wedding. We have our "engagement" session with the photographer coming up. I hope we can find someone to come with us so we can have a couple of pictures with our little peanuts (aka Ruby and Bruiser). Speaking of them, they were right next to me in the kitchen during the cake ball trials (and followed me to the garage) just waiting for me to drop one:

Other than that, we are set for now. Clay will be traveling a lot from now until the wedding which will give me lots of time to knock out my DIY projects. Before I know it, Christmas/New Years will have come and gone and the big day will be right around the corner!

Find of the Day

If you are looking for jars for your candy buffets, be sure to check out TJ Maxx and Marshalls. I just scored two big ones for $9 each and two medium, wide mouth ones for $5 each. They also have cupcake towers and platters on sale for pretty cheap too.

Just Pluggin' Along

When people ask me how the planning is going, my response...its going. I was beginning to get a little overwhelmed (which was quite apparent by the recent breakout of my face) so I just had to take step back and go back to how I always do things. I sit down and make a to do list (a habit I got from my mother) and cross things off one by one. My to do list on http://www.theknot.com/ is a bit ridiculous and causes my head to spin. I'll be at t-minus six months pretty soon and the months keep going by faster and faster. But, it will all get done in time.

I should be able to nail down my caterer this week. I'm waiting on one more proposal and I should get that one today. I have three caterers that I've narrowed down. It will just come down to what we get for the money. Biggest bang for the buck, thats what I'm looking for.

I'm pretty sure I found my photographer too. I had it down to three different ones and actually the one I liked best came the best package. For $1700, I will have two photographers for 8 hrs (wow) the day of, a bridal session, engagement session, all edited photos and copyright release on cd, I think six large prints, and three (yes, you heard that right) albums. What a deal. You can go to his website here.

And the most exciting news lately...

Once I saw that the engagement session is included, my brain started racing with cool places around Austin that would really fit our personalities. Clay and I LOVE old hot rods. There is a hot rod shop here called Mercury Charlies. He's been around forever. A couple of years ago, we went to concert at his shop. That is where I saw Nadine for the first time. She is the most beautiful chopped Mercury I've ever seen. So, I asked Clay what he thought about us taking our pictures in their shop with all the hot rods. He thought it was a great idea but figured the shop owners wouldn't go for it. So, I emailed Mercury Charlie himself to propose this weird request. He emailed me right back (I wish all potential vendors would do this) and said he thought it was an awesome idea and just to call him when we're ready and we'll set it up. Man, that was easy. So, here is Nadine. She'll be the backdrop of our pictures along with lots of old neons and vintage garage signs. I can't wait!

Bridal magazine to close

The New York Times reported today that Conde Naste is closing the doors on Modern Bride and Elegant Brides magazines. So, I wouldn't subscribe to either of them anytime soon! I guess I can handle one less magazine to thumb through or waste money on in the grocery store checkout line!

Another big check off the list

So, getting Clay to make a final decision on anything has become quite the challenge. However, I FINALLY got him to give the okay on our band. We are booking an oldies/motown/funk band called the IC Hot Band. Their price was super reasonable and I really like that they aren't a typical cheezy wedding band! You can listen to their demos here.

The bridesmaid material will be here today. I can't wait to see what it looks like. Swatches are so hard to see. I've also got about six catering proposals to sift through. There are so many different options, it can make your head spin!

I WON!!

People think I'm crazy, but I enter ALL these bridal give a ways on other blogs. I forgot I entered this one, and guess what...I won! Well, kind of. I won a runner up prize of a years worth of Bare Escentuals matte foundation from 100 Layer Cake's contest.

p.s. I'm guessing they misspelled my last name and only put 1 "n" on the end. I'm going to be pretty bummed if it was some other girl that happens to have my name!

Overwhelmed

I keep thinking I have so long to do everything, but the months keep whizzing past. I am in the process of trying to book the caterer and band (and of course, according to many, I should already have this done). I'm so worried I won't get the BEST deal if I don't compare a gazillion proposals for the caterers. I just want to make sure we are getting the biggest bang for our buck. I'm still waiting on three proposals (which they never have when they say they will) to compare to the two that I already have.

As for the band...ugh. We found the PERFECT band called The Blues Specialists. We went and saw them play at a dive bar a couple of weeks ago and loved them. I'm pretty sure we high fived each other after the first song because we knew they were the ones. However, they are booked. The lead singer gave us the name of another band but their blues music was the really depressing blues and would make everyone just be in dumps by the time their first song was over. So, my mom sent me another website to check out called http://www.bookaband.com/. They have lots of bands on there that I didn't see on http://www.gigmasters.com/ so I'll give it a whirl. Clay is going to be gone traveling for work a lot between now and after New Years so we are in a time crunch and he is bound and determined to have a band. Honestly, I would be okay with a dj as long as he stuck to oldies and motown but that might be the absolute last resort.

I did get my save the dates sent out. I got a great deal on them through the online photo center at http://www.walmart.com/. You can upload your own picture and they have tons of templates to choose from. I didn't see any point in spending a ton of money on them but I think they turned out super cute.

I found the fabric for the bridesmaids dresses at http://www.moodfabrics.com/. The good thing is that it is 54" so I won't need as many yards. It was a toss up between the greener teal and the more turquoise blue, but my mom and decided that the bluer color would be easier to match and coordinate with.

Paige also sent me the jewelry website of the sister in law to a bride who's wedding she did last summer. She makes the best necklaces. They would be perfect for bridesmaids.

http://www.sonyarenee.com/

Paige One Event Production

She's official! Here is the link to the Paige One Event Production website:

http://www.paigeoneeventproduction.com/

If you are in the Austin and surrounding area, she's your girl!

p.s. I know I've been a bad blogger. These last two weeks have been ridiculous. I promise to update with lots of tidbits in the next day or two.

All Austin Area Brides

This coming Sunday is the Bridal Extravaganza at the Palmer Events Center from 12-6p. Check it out here. I'll be working the booth with Paige to help promote PaigeOne Events. If you are looking for a coordinator in the area, she is your girl. I'll post lots of pics of her display on Sunday night. I'm also excited to see all the other vendors. I've got most of my stuff nailed down or at least close, but like Paige said, I can probably get some discounts for signing up at the show.

Cheap Finds at Forever 21

This isn't really wedding related, well kind of. For those of you that don't know the awesomeness of http://www.forever21.com/, let me indulge you. They have really cute and trendy clothes at bottom of the barrel prices. That way I don't feel bad for buying something I know won't be that great the next year. These two hair flowers are only $1.50! They also have some super cute flowered heabands for about $5.




I love this leopard shirt (would look awesome under a pink sweater) and killer bolero. I think they are both under $30 each.