Our Engagement Photos

We got our beautiful engagement pictures back! Our photographer is Bryce Covey, who is very talented! He shoots film, which allows him to capture the emotion of the moment. The lighting in his pictures is amazing. I never get tired of looking at his work. He is also a hard worker and will do anything to get a great shot. His insight and energy makes him fun to work with, too. If you need a photographer, we highly recommend him. Here are just a few of our pictures.

 

 

Stamp-ede!

Daniel and I got the cutest little stamp! It was made by Jen of Paper Sushi. They make the cutest personalized stamps. You can purchase address stamps, save the date stamps, and icon stamps here. Here a few of my favorites.












Jen is the sweetest person I have ever purchased anything from. She was such a pleasure, I found myself trying to figure out what else I could buy from her. Thankfully, I realized I need this cute little return address stamp. So much cuter than my handwriting!


Our wedding colors are taupe and champagne, so the tricky part will be finding taupe ink. I found the closest thing and tried it out, but it's not really taupe. More like burnt sienna- gross. I quickly returned it and am on the hunt for the perfect shade of taupe. This may take a while...

All pictures by paper sushi

Bunting Flags!

I previously posted that we were having our engagement pictures taken and I wanted something cute with our date on it. I wanted to make a bunting flag, but D said they remind him of the circus and we didn't want people to think we were having a circus themed wedding. He has a point.

Etsy

 

So I moved on to the idea of making a rustic window sign with a sweet saying on it and our date.

Then I realized finding an old window would be more work than I had time for. Like I mentioned earlier, I didn't have much time to put something together, so I couldn't spend a lot of time searching for the items required to make my sign.

After showing D some bunting signs that were not bright, cheesy, and multi-colored, he agreed we should do the flags.

I already had the burlap I wanted to make them out of. I planned to just write the numbers on them with a sharpie. Then I decided it would show up better if I added a white background. I made the sign in one day and tied it on to a rope, to make it look a bit more nautical since we were taking our pictures at the lake. We were happy with the finished product. I will post a how-to tutorial and a picture soon.

Say Cheese!

We are taking our engagement pictures this weekend! We are so excited. We have been preparing all week by figuring out what to wear, shopping, and making sure our outfits coordinate. (We are kind of silly, we know). I kind of forgot about making any props or signs. Now it's probably too late. I'm sure the pictures will be great because a) we really like our photographer, and b) my fiance is quite a hunk. :)

Our photographer shoots film, so he is able to capture emotion in a timeless way. One aspect that distinguishes his work is that he uses film. This enables him to capture an amazing color range and classic look in his photos, like you can see here: http://www.oncewed.com/54303/wedding-blog/real-weddings/the-bride-at-dawn/.

He was also just chosen by the Wedding Chicks as a hand-picked vendor, which you can see here: weddingchicks.com/hand-picked-vendors/bryce-covey-photography/.

He is super talented and we are so excited that we get the opportunity to be a part of his work. He also has communicated with us throughout my 1,000 questions I tend to ask, despite his busy schedule. I hope our pictures turn out to be as beautiful as those you can see by clicking on the links.

Wedding Plans in Progress!

Ladies and Gentlemen: We now have a venue! Wooo hooo!!! That's right. After looking at countless venues, we finally decided to go with the one that would have been my number one choice all along. I am not the type of girl who has thought about my wedding day before. Not at all. Not until after I got engaged. But, I did think that it would be magical to get married at this place the first time I went there. Believe me, this is an unusual thought for me. Daniel just so happens to love the place too. Once I moved here, he couldn't wait to take me to see it. It's basically a huge garden. I am so excited, I can barely contain myself. The venue is a place that I want to be at at all times. Seriously, I never want to leave there. As much as I am excited about the venue, I am just as excited about the flowers. I think I might be in love with my florist's talent. She is absolutely amazing and crazy talented. Don't believe me? Here are a few pictures of her work.

Venues Galore!

Dan and I have looked at every wedding venue in the whole surrounding 100 or so miles and now we are tired! It has been fun, but a little exhausting. We have been on the search for just the right place- and right price- to have our wedding. Every place we have looked at is beautiful, but has one thing or another that is a deal breaker- for example, guests having to use porta potties is not ok. They should be required to tell you that kind of stuff before you drive all the way out there to see the place! Here's the best pictures of the places we have seen.

Venues

Remember the French/Mediterranean venue I posted about earlier? My hubs-to-be and I drove there for an open house they hosted on Thursday. Yes, that's right, Thursday. We drove in traffic for two hours after work while starving. All to be disappointed in the cold food, pushy salespeople who appeared to be miserable, and terrible cake. And I do mean terrible. I can make cake better than this from a Betty Crocker box. (Literally, the cardboard box would even be better). The decorations were cheesy and looked like half were from Oriental Trading and the other half from a funeral.

Today, we went to see another venue. Remember 'The Secret Garden?' It's in the middle of town. Neither I or the HTB (hubs-to-be) are city people, so we weren't too keen on having our wedding in the city. However, we were pleasantly surprised with this place. The garden was beautiful. Other than it being surrounded by high rises and a somewhat busy road right next to it, it was pretty darn close to what we were looking to find.

So the search continues...

The Secret Garden

Yesterday I discovered this European Garden that hosts weddings. I don't know how this place has escaped my millions of previous wedding venue searches. It must be a well kept secret. It's gorgeous and they actually responded to my email by the next morning! You would be surprised how many places never respond to their email. This place has wedding setup you can see without disturbing the actual wedding. We are scheduled to go see one in March! I'm really excited since it reminds me of The Secret Garden, which was one of my favorite movies as a kid. Here are a few photos of the venue:






All three images are from the Ruffled blog.

Here Comes The Bride...

Yay!! The wedding venue I've had my eye on for a month finally called me back! I am so excited to go see it! It's kind of a French/Mediterranean place. I can picture the wedding here:

Beautiful, right? Now for everything else...
I have been looking at hundreds of bouquets and dresses, imagining it all together. Have I mentioned how fun this is!!! I had no idea how much fun this is! After going to a bridal show with my mom and aunt, I left SO excited about the dress! I love looking at wedding dresses!! Before I wanted something nontraditional (think: rustic), but now I am leaning towards something more formal. I love monochromatic, soft, muted colors so I am thinking champagne and really, really light pink. Think less colors, more texture. Everything will have a very romantic feel to it. Here's a sneak peek of my planning album :

Style Me Pretty

Style Me Pretty

Ruffled

Lover.ly and Jose Villa 

Pinterest

Style Me Pretty

Clearly the desserts and cake are important! There needs to be cupcakes! And, of course, chocolate covered strawberries for my mom. :)

Everly True

Ruffled

Everly True

Everly True

Wedding Chicks

Pinterest

Gorgeous Gowns:

Nordstrom

Vera Wang

Vera Wang

Pinterest

dustjacketattic.blogspot.com

bridalmusings.com

aphroditesweddingblog.com

lillypulitzer.tumblr.com

Notice a theme in the gowns? :)