Wedding Wednesday: Rehearsal & Rehearsal Dinner

Now that I'm back to blogging, I'm so excited to share our wedding with you all! I really, really, really want to share wedding pictures with you, but like I shared in my I'm Back post, we don't have a single picture from our wedding photographer. Listen, I understand that retouching every image by hand takes a lot of time, but not sending us a single "sneak peek" image two months after the wedding is unacceptable. Especially after you told me at the wedding that I would be receiving a couple via email in a few weeks. To say I'm unhappy with our wedding photographer is an understatement, and I made that perfectly clear in an e-mail I sent yesterday (oops!) But come on! We didn't pay you an arm and a leg for poor customer service! Clearly I'm salty and could go on and on about that, but I'll restrain for now. I'm sure a whole post about this chick will be coming sooner or later.

But moving on from my rant, our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. It ended up being a gorgeous day even though the weather forecast said it wouldn't be, which was perfect since our rehearsal dinner was planned to be in Justin's parent's backyard. The whole event started around 5 o'clock in downtown Ann Arbor, not such a great move on our part considering there was a home Michigan football game that day, but we survived. The rehearsal went fine, a few bumps due to differing opinions and miscommunication, but we were all adults and got through what can be a stressful process pretty smoothly, in my opinion!

The rehearsal dinner was held at Justin's parent's house and it was absolutely gorgeous! His family prepared an amazing meal and fantastic desserts. We all sat out in the backyard and enjoyed each other's company the night before the big day. Justin's brother's girlfriend, Jess, shot some amazing pictures throughout the night. I couldn't be more thankful that she was there to capture the moment. (And if any of you bloggers live in the Detroit/Ann Arbor area and need pictures, seriously, hit her up. I wish her and Tyler had started dating before we booked our wedding photographer! Click here to get to her website.)

Happy Wednesday, lovelies!

DIY Wedding Invitations

Good Morning, lovelies! It's been a while! I had the entire week last week off from work and, quite frankly, I just didn't really care to post much. But now that I'm back on the work grind, you get me back.

Since I didn't had the week off of work and Michigan decided to be overcast with a side of monsoon, I had a lot of time to get some wedding planning done and out of the way. The biggest accomplishment? Finishing invites and sending them out. A while ago I shared that I was making the invites myself. Listen, I saved a whole lot of money doing it myself, but would I do it again? Hell no. Unless you have all the time in the world and the patience of a saint, I would recommend just paying to get them done.

I had originally started to search for invites on Etsy, my place to go for creative wedding ideas, and I found this listing.

They were almost perfect -- super simple, rustic-chic -- the only problem was the price. The invite shown in the picture above costs $2 alone! (And now I know why she charges that much...sheesh!) I knew I could make these invites myself. I downloaded the Lavanderia font and created the invite and the RSVP postcard. I then bought some brown cardstock, a small paper-cutter, lots and lots of glue, and paper doilies from the cake decorating section at Michael's.

Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom. A million and twelve hours later and several trips to different Michael's (I bought all the doilies at the Michael's near my house) our invites we're created.

I am really happy with the way they turned out. I just wish they hadn't taken me so long! If you are wanting to make your own invites -- a great way to save a ton of money -- I suggest making them waaayyy ahead of time. That way you won't be rushing to get them done and sent out in time.

Any DIY brides out there?

Did you make your own invites?

Wedding Wednesday: Details

Our wedding is finally three months away! Now that all of the big stuff is out of the way, it's time to focus on the details -- and I must say that stresses me out more than booking all of the vendors. There is still so much to do! Burlap and lace table runners, wedding favors, flower arrangements, framed table numbers, seating arrangements....oh my! As much as I despise wedding planning, I'm kind of looking forward to working on the small details. There's something about the little touches that brings an event together. These next three months are going to be a whirlwind of wedding madness, but getting to marry my best friend will be worth it!

I just bought that guest book off of Groop Dealz this morning! I think it will make the perfect coffee table book once it's filled with messages from our friends and family. You can find that burlap banner and many others here.

Honeymoon? Check!

Yesterday, Justin and I booked our Honeymoon! Our budget is super tight right now and I was afraid we weren't going to be able to afford a tropical Honeymoon like I had wanted, but thanks to Groupon, we found an amazing deal! We'll be spending 7 nights in Playa del Carmen, Mexico!


The Reef Coco Beach Resort -- where we'll be staying!

 I couldn't be more excited. Playa del Carmen is my favorite place to vacation in Mexico. I've spent a couple of vacations in Playa del Carmen with my family and with my girl friends on my Senior Spring Break. It's the perfect vacation spot! This will be Justin's first time traveling to Mexico and I can't wait for him to experience it.

Since booking our Honeymoon, I haven't been able to stop thinking about all of the must-have vacation items I will need to pack!

My Must-Have List:

 

*A large assortment of bikini's, since it will be my main form of clothing. I prefer to bring a couple bottoms that will go with many tops. The less you have to pack the better. Ain't nobody got time for luggage fees!

*Oversized sunnies. It's important to protect those eyes when you're out lounging on the beach all day -- and look stylish while doing it.

*Neutral sandals and wedges. Again, the less you have to pack the better. Packing a couple pair of shoes that match every outfit is key.

*Sunscreen and lip protector. The Mexican sun is intense! Even though I tan very easily, I always wear 30 SPF. It's also important to use SPF on those lips. Crusty-crusts are not attractive.

*A carry-all beach bag -- for the obvious.

 

What are you vacation must-haves?

They Lie About Wedding Planning

You know how every says, "Wedding planning is so much fun! You get to make all of your fairytale dreams come true... blah blah blah." Well, guess what....

They all lied.

I know I'm not the only one who has come to hate wedding planning. Maybe if you're one of those lucky real life princesses who has all the money in the world for the most extravagant wedding planned by an uber organized wedding planner and you don't have a daily 9-5, you might enjoy wedding planning. But for the 95% of us who live in the real world....it kinda sucks!

Now, don't get me wrong, I am so so soooo excited to get married to my best friend, but this whole wedding planning stuff is stressful. So stressful, in fact, that Justin and I have been procrastinating like none other. I mean, hello, we're getting married in less than 4 months and we still haven't locked down a DJ!

I'm sure it's obvious that on my social work salary and Justin's baseball coach salary, we're as poor as poor can be. And while we're planning on a budget and getting pretty great deals, this shiz is still expensive. If I didn't hate planning so much, I would definitely become a wedding planner.

While we still have a lot of planning and little details to attend to, my top priority at this moment is booking a honeymoon in Mexico... a must. Who cares if the wedding looks a hot mess, at least we'll be soaking up the sun in my favorite country, afterwards. Well, and of course, we need a place to live after the wedding. I guess that's pretty important.

The one thing I've learned during this whole wedding planning ordeal: We plan weddings to impress those we invite. Since when do we need to have an extravagant party worth thousands of dollars in order to celebrate love? I don't need to spend $8,000 on food to make my wedding day the happiest day of my life. The amount of pressure 'society' puts on a bride to plan the perfect wedding just proves how much importance we put on materialism. While it is important to me for my guests to have fun and enjoy their night celebrating mine and Justin's marriage, I'm not going to spend a ridiculous amount of money. Those who will be attending our wedding will be there for the right reasons, and those who aren't... well see ya.

So all of you brides-to-be and wifeys, your advice is needed. With less than four months to go, what do Justin and I need to know in order to make the rest of this planning smooth sailing?

Happy Wednesday, lovlies!

Scan That Bad Boy

I'm on Spring Break this week so Justin and I decided to crack down on wedding planning. On the top of our list? Starting our Wedding Registry! So today we headed on over to my first love, Target, to get going.

The moment we were handed the hand scanner, it went downhill. I'm surprised we didn't scan every single thing in the store. Our motto? "Someone's going to want to get us this!" I'm pretty sure today's festivities has been, hands down, my favorite part of wedding planning. Here are some things we added to the list:

Obviously, a KitchenAid Mixer! Justin said it was too expensive for our register to which I gasped and replied, "A KitchenAid Mixer is on the top of EVERY wedding registry!"Am I right ladies, or am I right?

The most adorable Beverage Dispenser with a chalkboard label. This thing is screaming for some Sweet Tea. I need this. Like yesterday...

Oh, just a cookwear set -- because you kinda really do need it. Not so exciting...

Our list told us to register for a digital camera, so we did. I really wanted a DSLR, but Justin told me no one's going to buy us a $500 camera -- sigh. So we settled for this cutie. Perfect for taking with us on our honeymoon.

We registered for all white, porcelain dishware -- clean and classic. We went a little crazy in that aisle, scanning every white porcelain dish we could find.

Some of the things Justin took upon himself to scan....

But only one racquet.

What was your favorite item on your wedding registry?

Wedding Inspiration

It's officially less than 6 months until J and I say "I Do". It wasn't until I got this text message from my amazing Maid of Honor that everything felt so real.

I've been feeling all mushy gushy and emotional over marrying my best friend and soul mate. I was browsing the wedding board on Pinterest last night and got all teary eyed. I really cannot wait until September 1st -- the day that will be the best day of my life.

I wanted to share with you lovelies a few of my latest wedding inspirations. I have this grand idea in my head as to what I want our wedding to look like and be like. I just pray that it will come together just like my vision!

**Don't forget to enter my OPI Euro Centrale Giveaway for a chance to win two nail polishes**

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Save the Dates

Yesterday at 6 o'clock in the morning, I received the glorious news that work was closed for a snow day! Let me tell you, snow days are so much better when you're an adult. Since I had all day to do as I pleased, I decided it was time to get down to business on some wedding plans. I spent a majority of my time researching a photographer (holy expensive), a photobooth, and linens (not fun...). After wanting to pull my hair out over the prices of everything, I decided it was time to do something fun.

It's almost time to send out Save the Dates! I've already decided that I want our Save the Dates to be in postcard form -- cute, simple, and cheap to send! So of course, I took to Etsy. P.S. Etsy makes decision making so much harder. There are way too many ah-maze-ing options out there!

Here are some of the options that I'm loving:

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So, ladies, give me your opinion! Which Save the Date do you like the most? I'm leaning towards the last one. I think the style and font will go well with the theme we have going for the wedding. But let's be honest, they're all great choices!

All of you married women or brides-to-be, where did you get your Save the Dates?

Wedding Details: Colors

I finally decided on a color palette for our wedding. I had an idea of the color scheme I wanted but was too afraid to commit. If you really knew me, you would know that I'm the most indecisive person. It terrifies me that there might be a possibility that I hate whatever decision I make. Or even worse, that other people hate the decision I make. But I finally came to realization that this day is all about J and I. It doesn't matter if people hate our color scheme or decorations or what have you. So I made my decision, and I'm sticking to it!

I've fallen complete in love with these light and natural colors. Grey, peach, pink, champagne. I can visualize these colors blending so perfectly with our barn reception.

I've thought about adding touches of burlap, twine wrapped mason jars, white hydrangeas, peach peonies. Lots and lots of candles and twinkle lights wrapped around the beams of the barn.

If only you all could step into my mind and see the vision I have. I can't wait to bring this vision to life.

**Don't forget to enter my current giveaway for a change to win a free pair of glasses or sunglasses of your choice from 39 Dollar Glasses!**