The Paper Trail

Almost all of the paper goods are purchased (now to get them printed!), but I had to share about our great finds.  Check it out!

http://www.michaels.com/BRIDES%C2%AE-Purple/Ivory-Pocket-Program-Paper%2C-40-Count/wd0488,default,pd.html?start=52&cgid=products-wedding-bridesexclusive

The programs aren't pictured, but the link above will show them.  What a stroke of luck that they came in our colors!  Like I said in an earlier post, we got them all at Michael's, so they were a steal!  The programs are the most recent purchase and are like a small book with the pattern on both sides of the cover.  We'll have ample room to credit our family, friends, and talented performing loved ones. :)

We've also picked up some cut marbles in light blue to accent the tables.  Anyone have any tips on where to look for dark purple cloth napkins (another decoration)? 

I'm also looking for tips on how to print the addresses.  I'm thinking something quick and easy like Kinko's for the actual invitations, but should we hand write the addresses?  Print them on stickers?  Print them directly on the envelope?  I'm at a loss...

In neighborhood news, John and I went on a walk to Lake Hiawatha this weekend.  On the way home, we stopped at A Baker's Wife (also known as the BAKERY).  Best doughnut I've ever had.  I think we'll have to make it a weekly outing so I can work my way through all of their baked goods :)

Engagement shoot in just over a week!  Must whiten teeth and work out...  Ideas on outfits?

Curtains

Spring break is officially over, but I had a lovely week playing house.  John and I went off to Penney's and found some great curtains for the living room and dining room.  We also got new curtain rods, so the old sheers are no more.  The new curtains are a light blue with chocolate brown at the bottom. Here they are in the dining room:

And the living room:

 

I think they look great and they're a great way to add some color to an otherwise pretty beige/brown room.  But it's back to the grind for now- law school and wedding planning!

Spring Break Home Updates

Today, with the generous help of mom and dad, John and I got the bedroom painted a nice neutral color.  We were also able to move the sewing table formerly in the office down to the back room of the basement.  Who knows what will eventually be done with the table, but we have a nice bookshelf set up in the office now.  Goodness knows that John and I have enough books between the two of us, so the extra space will be great.

All that is left in the bedroom is to find some wall hangings and a new light fixture.  Any recommendations for something that can replace what we have?

On top of the painting and the furniture rearrangements, we also had some of our new furniture delivered!  The coffee table, end tables, and accent chair are new- bought yesterday at HOM with the help of our solid saleslady, Mary Jo.

Click on the picture to get a better view

The tables actually match the t.v. stand and the legs of the new furniture really well.  In addition to these pieces, we also bought a chair (which will go where the giant green chair is now) that matches the sofa, but that won't get in stock until April.

I'm so excited that everything is coming together.  In wedding news, we're sending save the dates this week via email.  A friend from law school sent me her save the date from last year and they were through a great website called paperless post (http://www.paperlesspost.com/).  Lots of great options and definitely more wallet friendly than the traditional post.

The House

So, the parents and I have done some painting, John and I have moved all of our furniture in, and we've also unloaded a ton of stuff on Bridging, Inc.  And now the house is spic and span so I took some pictures before the law school pile of papers and laptops spread back out over everything.

Here is the living room looking into the dining room before:

And the living room after:

...and the dining room:

 Then, there was the kitchen.  The... purple (?) color that used to cover the entire room before....

and the lovely neutral now :)

The bedroom sans furniture:
And the bedroom with furniture:

We still need to paint over the bedroom walls.  Believe it or not, it's all paneling.  Some of the panels have been painted blue while some of the walls are still the original pattern.  I think this is going to be a spring break project to make the room one color, probably another neutral but darker than the rest of the house.

We also have an office, but it's still the disaster room of the house.  You can't clean up the law school out of your life entirely!

Bridesmaid Dresses

All of the lovely ladies in the wedding party have picked their bridesmaid dresses!  All that's left is to put in the order and get any alterations.

The dresses are Alfred Angelo and are all going to be the color eggplant.

I'm very excited!  I think all three look great together :)  Thoughts or comments on shoes?  Black?  Silver?  Dyed to match (bleh!)?

Next up: finalizing the guest list and sending save the dates!

New Couch!

We got our new couch delivered today!

I'm not sure the photo does it justice, but thanks to Mary Jo at HOM Furniture, we picked out a couch yesterday.  It's a really subtle, brown herringbone and looks fantastic in person.  It even came with the feather pillows- white with a very small brown spotted pattern.  We love love love it and it is officially our first grown-up purchase together.

The only down side to the couch is that it makes everything else in the room look really tiny and really old.  I guess we're going to have to work on slowly adding pieces to get the whole room looking good.  Next on the list is some new curtains and curtain rods!  Sometime I'll do an update of the rooms with all our furniture moved in :)

Progress!

Wedding plans are moving along nicely.  Save the date cards are going to be done via email.  The DJ is booked (now to pick the major songs...), the florist is done, we may (fingers crossed!) have an officiant, and about half of the invitations have been purchased.

The florist is a lovely woman who makes really beautiful bouquets:
http://floralsbyclaire.com/

The bridesmaids are going to have white football mums bunched together in a tight, dome-like bouquet.  Moms and Grandmas will have wrist corsages with white button mums.  My bouquet will be white roses, white button mums, and pale blue hydrangeas.  No flowers for the groom or groomsmen (that would be John's contribution).

The invitations are really great because they match the deep purple from the bridesmaid dresses.  The whole invitation set comes with the invite card, envelopes, response card, response envelopes, and a pretty little ribbon to tie around the invitation.  Each pack comes with 40 sets, so we still need to pick up a few more, but they're really high quality for a really low price.  If you can believe it, they're from Michaels!  On sale when we bought them, but we were only able to get about half as many as we need.  So, worst case scenario, we grab their weekly coupons to get a few more in the next week.


Things are coming together!  Suggestions on songs for the procession, recession, and reception are welcome.