One year ago...he popped the big question!

I can't believe that we have been engaged for a year now. It was one year ago that my fiance got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. And I said, "YES!" It's amazing that we've been through all this planning, preparations, and the big day will be here very very soon. I can't believe that 12 months past so fast. I thought that with 16 months to plan it would be plenty of time. I'm glad that I had all that time, but now time is ticking down!

Some big DIY project are coming up on the blog. I just completed some bulletin boards for our guestbook. Something great is cooking up for that!

Project: Save the Date Part II

As I keep finding more and more ideas for what to do with my Save the Dates, I'm almost overwhelmed. I have a general idea of what I want and I want to stay focused on the vision that I have. It's hard to feel unique when you see your idea translated and created by another bride. I'm so thankful, though, for all the of the wonderful resources online that brides have been sharing since the blog boom.

I love the idea of magnets, so your guests will have a constant reminder on their fridge of the upcoming nuptials. I also like the idea of including stickers for guests to mark in their other calendars. This may seem like overkill at times, but I think that if you send a Save the Date to someone and then an invitation, they have absolutely no excuse not to know when your wedding is. I would hope that this would cut out the "Oh I didn't knows" or "You should have told me sooner" or "I wish I knew ahead of time". That's the whole point of a Save the Date, right, to SAVE THE DATE.

Here's some inspiration from Melissa Jill, a Scottsdale-based photographer, who has a new line of Save the Date Cards:



Here is what I have come up with. I'm planning on maybe using these as the magnets and including another insert with information for our out of town guests. It's so hard to decide on just one idea, that I want to include everything! These are preliminary designs, with some others on the way.




Awesome engagement photos by our rad-tastic photographer, Travis Hoehne!

101 things I love about...

my personal heater, my Stitch, my silly

21. the way you stay with me on the phone, even in complete silence
22. you taught me about your love of basketball
23. you teach me to play video games (at least the wii ones)
24. you accept my obsession with my DSLR
25. you have a new love of point-and-shoot photography
26. you'd take me to Cheesecake Factory just because I love cheesecake
27. you'll walk around aimlessly around the mall with me
28. you think my quirks are charming
29. the way you kiss me on the forehead, every time I stick my forehead in your face
30. you worry about me
31. you stay on the phone with me to make sure I get home safely
32. you make me feel loved
33. you make me feel beautiful
34. you believe in me
35. you encourage me to be better and do better
36. you let me complain
37. your patience
38. your kindness
39. you travel a distance to see me
40. you chose me

Project: Save the Dates Part I

With the wedding still a whole year and eight days away (three months flew by quick!), I definitely think we need to send out save the date cards, at least to our friends and relatives who will have to plan flights and hotel stays in order to attend. And with the way gas and jet fuel prices keep climbing, it's the courteous and right thing to do.

So I've been thinking a lot about what my Save the Dates should look like. I feel like STD's set the tone for the wedding and will carry the motif and theme along (if you choose that). Since I'm all about designing my own stationery, even though I'm no graphic designer, I want there to be a cohesive feeling between the Save the Dates and the Invitations. I could go the "easy" route and get matching sets from vendors like Wedding Paper Divas or Minted.com, but to me, even though they have gorgeous stuff, feels impersonal when I think of other brides that might have my same design. It just doesn't sit well with me.

I've seen some great design ideas from other bloggers out there:

Kate's Wedding (aka Miss Pomegranate)


Miss Cupcake


an Excited Bride (aka Miss Coconut)


Stinkerpants (aka Miss Cream Puff)



So cute! The Bees are really so creative! Just turned out that a lot of my favorite Knotties/blogger-brides our there turned out to be Bees on WeddingBee! I want to be budget friendly, while cute, creative, and cohesive. I have a couple ideas that I will share next time...

101 things I love about....

my fiance, my best friend, my biggest fan.

My list of 1-20 in no particular order...

1. the way you smile
2. your laugh and how it brightens my day
3. that you know how to dress
4. that you care about my interests/hobbies
5. you make me happy just being in the same room
6. you have always believed in us
7. you trust me and I trust you completely
8. you love me for me
9. your openness
10. that you'll listen to me rant unconditionally
11. you think I'm funny, not nuts
12. you know how to make me laugh
13. when you try to scare me with your "mean look", it makes me laugh instead
14. your big, juicy lips!
15. you have a cute butt
16. when you whisper in my ear ::chills::
17. you put up with me
18. you think I'm cute
19. you think I'm cute without makeup
20. you're nicer than me

I love you!

Foto Friday: Travis Hoehne Photography

Even before I was engaged, I've been blogstalking photographers. I love photography, especially portrait and wedding photography. It's all about catching the moment, a visual expression of love, and emotion. I'm in awe of photographers who are able to capture this. It's not easy and not anyone can do it. Since I have so much love for the photographers out there (check my photog blogroll), I'm beginning a new feature: Foto Fridays.

So now that you know who we've snapped up as our photographer, I figured that I would feature some of the work that moved me to hire him!

Travis Hoehne is based out of Riverside, and has been awesome to work with. You can check out his blog here, and his website is almost complete.

Love the light!


Definitely want something like this for ours :)


And this too. I KNOW the groomsmen (and groom!) would be down!


Love the silhouette.


I like the use of the arches.


The light is shining down on them!


Colors of this shindig are so vibrant!


This series is great!


Action!


I really like this one too. So cool!

Travis, if I haven't said it enough, you're awesome!! Next July here we come!

Where to Begin: Creating a Budget

I've never been one of those girls who had their weddings planned from start to finish from age 9. I've been to a total of five weddings in my life, three of which I was under the age of 5 and the other two I was under age 16. I'm pretty green when it comes to weddings. However, this doesn't mean I've never dreamed about getting married or was ever against it. I think it's a very exciting event. My parents have been married for 29 years and still love each other.

Before we got engaged, I would watch various wedding shows on weTV -- Bridezillas, Rich Bride, Poor Bride, and Platinum Weddings. I would have it on in the background, and on an episode of Platinum Weddings, I heard the announcer say that the Mother of the Bride spend $14,000 on her dress. Not the Bride's gown, the MOB dress! I quickly realized that weddings are an expensive and lucrative business (depending on which side of the fence you sit), regardless of a $14,000 dress.

A couple of days following our engagement, I started researching pricing in the San Francisco Bay Area. We had decided to have the wedding in California, near my family, since my side is proportionately much larger than his. My eyes widened as I received pricing quotes from venues. One location nonchalantly told me that they would offer the rental to me for $10,000 instead of the usual $12,000. That's just the space! No food, no drinks, just the room!

When my fiance and I had first started talking about our wedding, we didn't want to go overboard with the spending. We thought maybe $10,000 would do it. Sure, if we were only going to invite 50 people. But with our families, just the family would total over 50 people. As we saw quotes for locations trickle in, we figured that between the two of us, we could make $16,000 happen. With help from our parents, we could definitely come in under our final budget of $22,000. I know he was shocked when he saw this number, but I explained that in the long run, it actually comes out reasonable considering the number of guests we want to invite - 200+.

Excel spreadsheets became my best friend. After finding a couple of templates on WeddingBee (Thanks Miss Canary!), I started pouring in the information to compare each location. So far, with the location we've chosen, we're on-track with our budget. We considered what was most important to us; for me it was photography, for him it was the music/DJ, and decided to spend in those areas and trim elsewhere.

My biggest piece of advice: Talk to your fiance! Hopefully you've had "the talk" about finances before the big question. This would just be an extension of that conversation. Be honest about what you can afford and what you're willing to spend. That includes being honest about what you want your wedding to be. You don't want to do something you don't feel comfortable with. Make sure you are on the same page, remember you are throwing this party to celebrate starting your lives together. It's an event you both want to enjoy and be proud of.