Details, details, details.

It's back to school! Not that I've really been out of school for long. I just had a week off between summer and fall semester. I'm kind of excited to get back to a regular semester. Though, I am happy that I chose to take summer classes because I got so many classes out of the way in such a short period of time! 

So I've been making some progress on the wedding planning. Let me cover the major and the minor.

The Major:

*Dress - BOUGHT! :) I purchased my dress a few weeks back. I did not expect to buy it so quickly, but I really didn't have a choice. When I went into Alfred Angelo on a Friday and told the girl that the wedding was in January, she looked at me like I was crazy! Pretty much, the dresses that were being ordered at that time would arrive in mid to late November. Considering that alterations could take a couple of weeks to a month to be done, I was really cutting it close. So I went back the following Monday and bought it! So the details... It's beautiful! For a very long time I've had a picture in my head of my perfect dress. Some of the aspects of my vision are just irreplaceable. I guess that the girl helping me realized this because the very first dress that I tried on was amazing. I absolutely fell in love with it. I tried on several dresses after that and liked quite a few. There was only one other that I really loved, but I just didn't think that it beat the first one. For the entire weekend I could not stop thinking of the dress. On Monday when I went back with my sister, she helped me make the final decision. Luckily, she loved it too and the decision was made. I bought the very first dress I tried on :)

*The Church - check! A few weeks back Jody and I went to Quitman and spent three days searching for places for the ceremony and reception. Pretty much from the start I've wanted to have the ceremony in a church. For one, it costs nearly nothing. Secondly, I've always dreamed of getting married in a church. There were a few churches to consider, but we decided on First Baptist in Quitman. Jody grew up going to the church and very pretty inside and out. I'm very happy and excited that we are having the ceremony there.

*Reception Venue - check! During our weekend in Quitman, we spent countless hours searching for somewhere to have the reception. As you know, wedding venues are not the cheapest places to rent and to be completely honest, digging us into a big sinking debt hole just to get married doesn't seem like the brightest idea. With some great input from Jody's mom, Rhonda, and several of his family friends, we looked in every direction possible. When we started planning, one of my first ideas was to find someone with a barn and see if we could use it for the reception. A rustic, country wedding sounded very appealing to me. You would think that in East Texas everyone has a big ole' barn, right... wrong! It was becoming increasingly difficult to find somewhere that was either decently priced, large enough, or within a reasonable distance. Luckily, one of Jody's groomsmen mentioned that he had a friend that had a nice barn/shop that he might let us use. He gave him a call and he was willing to allow us to use it! The next day we went and looked at it and loved it. It was HUGE and very nice looking. When the weekend was over, we considered all of the places that we had seen and decided that the barn would be the best place. I'm very happy with our decision :)

*Catering - check! Since we are having the reception at a private location our options for food are pretty open. We weighed the idea of cooking ourselves or finding a catering company to do it for us. We figured that BBQ would probably be most fitting and easiest whichever way we decided on. I wasn't really fond of the idea of some of our guests completely dedicating all of their time cooking and serving. They would miss so much of the day. One day, Jody's mom emailed him with information that his Aunt Brenda had sent her. She knows a gentleman that has catered several events that she has attended and she highly recommended. She got some prices from him and they were amazing for 2 meats, sides, veggies, and dessert. That's a very good deal! So obviously, we decided on going with him for our catering and I'm sure that it will turn out wonderfully. 

*Photography - I'm working on it. Cheryl was generous enough to fly down here in early August to take our engagement pics that turned out amazingly! Now we just need a photographer for the wedding day. Cheryl and I (mostly Cheryl) have been rigorously emailing photographers. I spoke with one today and she seems great! Since she's in Dallas, Jody and I are going to have a phone consultation with her on Saturday and hopefully it works out because I really like her.

*DJ - I'm working on it. I've contacted several DJ's and am still in the process of deciding which will be best. We also considered a band, which would be really cool, but after some deliberation decided that a DJ would be for the best.

*Honeymoon - This is also a work in progress. I will update you when we know more. Whatever we choose to do, I know that it will be wonderful because we'll be together! ♥

Well I think that covers most all of the major details so now for...

The Minor:

For many of the wedding details, I have decided to DIY bride. Why? Number 1 - for the most part it is cheaper than hiring someone else to do it. Number 2 - I am kind of controlling. In work, school, etc. I have always been the multi-tasker that wants to do every project myself. I want to be able to put my personal touches on everything and look back at it and be proud of my work :) I have always liked crafts and being artistic and I think that I'll really enjoy the DIY projects.

*Save the Dates - check! As you probably have noticed by now, the Save the Dates are completed and have been sent! This was the first of my many DIY wedding projects. I designed them myself in Photoshop, printed out the magnets at home (on our new printer Jody bought for me :) ), attached them to a cardstock card that included Hotel Accommodations, added postage, and sent them out! The date is officially saved now! There's no turning back now! :)

*Invitations - This is another DIY project. Do you know how much invitations can cost? It's ridiculous! I have began working on them. I'm planning for the colors of the wedding to be dark purple, black, and ivory. I'm using black cardstock to make a pocketfold invite. I'm layering using a dark purple cardstock with ivory paper. Originally I started with using purple ribbon, but after researching a bit, I found raffia. It is from a type of palm tree in Madagascar and it's often used to make stuff like hula skirts, fake hay, and scare crows. I found some dark purple raffia for super cheap on the internet and it just came in! It adds that rustic look to the invite, which I really like. I've started so early because I have so much going on and figured it couldn't hurt to start getting them taken care of. I hope they turn out well!

*Decorations - Almost all of the decorations will be DIY projects as well. From centerpieces to wall/ceiling decor I plan to do most of it (with the help of some very wonderful people of course). As Ive said we are going more rustic, which hopefully will result in less cost. 

*Registry - I have registered us at Target and Bed Bath and Beyond. However, nothing is actually in our registries yet. lol Hopefully soon we will find the time to actually go in and pick out everything.

Okay. Does that cover most everything? Probably not, but it's a start.

Here is my wedding inspiration board :)

Here we go.

I've been wanting to start a blog for quite a while, but never quite got around to it. I decided that now is the time. Plus, with all of the current excitement in my life, I figured it might be helpful to have a place to gather and organize all of my thoughts and ideas. 

As you probably know, I am getting married to my best friend and love of my life, Jody, on January 8, 2011. I can't even begin explain how excited I am to be marrying such an amazing person. However, just thinking about planning a wedding can be kind of stressful. So far, I have done a pretty good job with planning, but this should help out quite a bit considering the fact that on here I can post pics/ideas as I come across them so that I don't lose them in the mess. It will also be helpful because it will give ya'll the chance to see everything and give me your input. 

So... here goes nothing. Enjoy :)