Oh My

So...  Sad day.  Dress #2 (the lace one) has now been worn by 2 people I know.  First person is someone I know from undergrad, so it wouldn't have been a big deal if I had gone with the same dress as her.  Second person happens to be Lee's sister-in-law's cousin and former track/cross country teammate.  Knowing how much Lee likes to Facebook, I think he has probably seen the dress on her already.  :(  Who knows...maybe it's a sign that I shouldn't reconsider!  Or a sign that I should continue looking...  ;)

In other recent wedding news, Lee and I have registered for gifts!  We decided to go with Bed Bath & Beyond and Honeyfund.com.  What is Honeyfund.com, you ask?  It is probably the coolest wedding registry ever!  We can register for parts of our honeymoon to be gifted to us.  If someone wants to give us a couples massage, they can!  Lee and I decided we will most likely take a cruise for our honeymoon.  I'm assuming most gift-givers will opt to use the BB&B registry, but this is a great option for people who want to give a "fun" gift. 

Everyone told us registering for gifts would be hard.  Luckily, Lee and I didn't fight over anything, but it was hard in a different way.  Maybe I'm picky, but it was hard finding dishes I liked!  Most of the pretty dishes were WAY to expensive ($150-200/place setting).  When I finally found a set of dishes I liked and Lee also agreed on, we found out they were discontinuing the line.  Back at square one!  In the end, we decided to pick out a white set of porcelain dishes with a pretty decent price and great reviews.  I'm not completely sure if this is what we will stick with, but for now it works.  Plus, white dishes match everything and are timeless.  We were able to pick out a lot of fun white serving dishes that would match!

 

We decided to also go with a timeless silverware pattern as well.  I've heard you should pick flatware based on how the knife feels in your hand, and this one had a hefty knife.  There was silverware that matched our dishes, but I didn't want to be too matchy-matchy, especially if we changed our dishes.

 

For our bedroom, we went with a green and beige comforter.  The colors seem slightly off in this picture (the beige at the bottom of the bed is richer in real life), but you get the idea:

 

For our bathroom, we went with a silver and blue shower curtain.  We also picked out white, gray, and blue towels to match.  The towels are another thing that are not solidified yet.  I have wanted nice towels for SO long, but based on the reviews from the BB&B website, I don't know which ones to pick.  The fluffy ones seem to leave lint all over, and the thin ones sound like they fall apart after 10 washes.

I hope people who shop at BB&B are smart and use their 20% off coupon that comes in the mail every month.  :)  

E-Pic Outfit #2

Engagement photos are next week, and I am excited!  I have struggled figuring out what I am going to wear for my second, more casual outfit.  I took a couple of pictures today, and I wanted to see what you think. 

I went shopping a week ago with Sofie, and I found these great shoes at H&M.  I thought it would be fun to base my outfit around a fun pair of shoes.  :)

Also while shopping, I found a simple white v-neck t-shirt at H&M and a pink/coral scarf at American Eagle.  Ta da, engagement outfit #1, trialled with a pair of skinny jeans rolled to show the shoes off:

Kind of fun.  Now, here's a second option.  I purchased this pink shirt at Walmart for $4 a few weeks back.  With this outfit, I trialled my flare jeans.  They still show the shoe off, but much more subtly:

I know which outfit combo I like better, but tell me what you think!  Flare jeans vs skinny jeans?  Pink shirt vs white shirt?  Keep in mind Lee will be wearing a pair of jeans with a steel-blue colored polo.  Faithful blog readers...help me out!

Church Decorating

I am essentially getting married on a large stage.  Stages are cool, but I think it would be nice to dress it up a bit for a wedding.  Even though I am not very familiar with the stage dimensions and the items they have available to decorate, I thought I would try to come up with a rough sketch of my "dream" decorating for the stage. 

I know a few of the things the church has on hand.  For example, they have long white strips of cloth they drape from the ceiling to the floor.  I would definitely want these cloths up, even if we have other decorations in front of them.  In the picture, these white cloths would be behind all of the decorations I drew.

I know the church has a number of while pillars, but I am not sure how many.  I would assume they have at least 4, but I drew 6 large pillars in my picture.  I also drew some small pillars.  I know the church also has some small pillars, but again, no idea how many.  Small pillars could easily be substituted by small round stools covered in white cloth/tulle.

I know the church has the big black and white dividers that you see in the center of my picture.  Becca used these in her wedding.  I also stole the candelabra inspiration from her.  :)

This is kind of where the design gets tricky.  I think it could look really cool to have tulle or white cloth draped over the pillars.  I don't know if it would work out as perfectly as I made it look in my sketch, and it make take some playing around with.  Plus, there are multiple ways to drape the tulle around the pillars. 

I like the idea of putting white flowers on top of at least some of the pillars, and maybe this would just be appropriate for the short pillars.  In my picture, I drew flowers on top of all of the pillars.  I know the church has an abundance of fake flowers.

Finally, I think it would be cool to line the stage with candles (if it isn't too much of a fire hazard!).  For Becca's wedding, we used candles at the base of the stairs, which you can see in the picture below.  Also, I definitely want to incorporate an aisle runner going down the sanctuary and up the stairs. 

As far as the piano goes, I think I want it pushed off to one side as far as possible.  In this picture, again from Becca's wedding, you can see the piano on the stage, off to one side.  I like the lighted trees the church has, and I think they would be great for filling in "gaps" on the stage, such as behind the piano. 

When it comes to the placement of a unity candle, or sand, or whatever we end up doing, I think I want to use just a small table, placed somewhere on the stage.  This time, I am stealing inspiration from Lisa's wedding.  :) 

So there you have it!  Now I have stayed up way too late thinking about wedding things.  Not a surprise!  :)

E-Pic Dress!

After a long day of shopping with Lee, I think I have found a dress for my engagement photos.  Best parts about the dress are it fits and my mom approves.  :)

I got it at the Ann Taylor Loft outlet in Woodburn.  I was initially hoping for a brighter color than purple, but I think this will look nice with Lee's black shirt.  Plus, the dark colors will contrast with our blonde hair.  I'm still deciding on what shoes I want to wear.  I got these shoes at Payless earlier this summer.  I might go with a simpler black heel. 

In other wedding planning news, Lee and I have chosen our first dance song!  We went with "Blue Eyes" by the Cary Brothers.  This song was featured in the movie Garden State, but I first heard it in my ballroom dancing class at the U of O.  It will be a great song to waltz to. 

Last, but definitely not least, I put together a booklet of my wedding inspiration pictures today.  I will take this back to North Dakota with me to show my parents some of my inspiration ideas.  Then, I will be able to decide what kinds of crafts and projects we want to tackle over the next 11 months!