Sunday, September 25, 2011

Wedding Websites

I am currently exploring all the different wedding planning websites.  There are sooooooo many of them it's almost overwhelming.  I am a huge fan of www.theknot.com and I have started using that as one of my planning tools.  Like I mentioned in a previous post, I also LOVE google documents wedding planning spread sheet.  That is how I am going to get a lot of stuff done like the guest list, vendor information, and the budget details.  However, I did find a site called www.mywedding.com and it's pretty helpful too.  So I decided to make wedding pages on both sites so people can choose which one they like the most.  Plus, I just enjoy making wedding websites because I am weird.  Pretty much all the details of the wedding will be accessible to the guests that look at any of the websites.  Down there are links to my wedding pages that are currently under construction.  As we get more things planned out the pages will have more information for everyone attending.  Both sites are very similar.  If you have any other sites that you have found helpful please share!! I am all about finding as many helpful tools as I can.



I hope you all enjoy!! I can't wait to add pictures and things to both sites.  Plus there will always be updates on the blog as usual.  My dad even gave me an idea to do video posts on sites like ustream so I can talk to everyone, show what I am working on, and I can even use it to show off some of the social media/broadcasting skills.  I am looking into that idea a little bit more until I make a decision.  

Switching topics...last night I went to an Indians game with Danny and pretty much every hour or so we kept saying, "We're getting married here." That really made me realize that we made the right decision for our venue since we are both excited about it and it made things seem like they were coming together.  Oh and now that we have a date set I can look for a wedding count down thing for the blog! It's under a year now till the wedding!! Wow that's crazy! Time is going to fly by real fast I can already tell.  

Here is a picture from last night's game. I love it! I'm thrilled to be getting married here!



Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Booked

This past week has been exciting and crazy!  I am so happy to announce that we have booked our venue and set a date! The wedding will be September 22, 2012 at Progressive Field!!!

I didn't think I would get any wedding planning done until next week, but during our trip to Fort Lauderdale we found out the Indians' schedule had been released so we were kind of expecting to get our call soon.  We found out on Monday this week what dates would be open in September.  It was between September 8th and 22nd.  Our decision had to made by Wednesday.  Danny has been in charge of all the booking details and he has done a great job.  He has been excited about the possibility of getting married at the ballpark so he booked it asap.

Now I can finally move on to looking at invitations and all kinds of other things now that we have a date set.  What a relief.  I feel like we are pretty on track when it comes to getting things done.  It's crazy how things are getting done so early too.  I love it!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Dresses Galore

Today was a big day for getting things crossed off the to-do list.  I made a last minute plan to go get my dress fitted today while I was at dinner with my mom and sister last night.  We made the 45 minute trip over to Galleria Gowns in Willoughby Hills this morning and I got to put my beloved dress back on!

I brought my shoes and some other little accessories with me and got all jacked up in my dress for the first time!! It was very exciting.  I actually have decent pictures now too where my head isn't cut off! So if you want to see them send me an e-mail or Facebook message.  Originally I tried on a simple veil with a little ribbon trim around the edges but that was not in the store.  I tried on a double veil that was simple and medium length.  I loved the fullness of the veil and I actually liked it more than the first one I tried on.  It was a good thing I found that one too since I got it for a good price too! I didn't even plan on purchasing the veil today I was going to wait but whatever works.  I don't know if I actually want to use the front piece of the veil and have my face covered as I walk down the isle.  I feel like most people don't really do that anymore.  I kind of just like how it looks in the back because it is so full and it adds a little more detail.  I basically have my whole wedding look finished.  The dress has been fully purchased, along with the veil, shoes, and hair pin.  I have my jewelry that I am borrowing from my mom too.  I got a whole lot out of the way today and I am so relieved.

We even looked at a few more bridesmaid dresses too. Kasey was kind enough to model for me again.  Kasey found a few of these dresses weeks ago and e-mailed them to me and we loved them we just didn't know where to find them around here.  We lucked out and found them at Galleria so that was convenient and awesome all at once!  When Kasey put one dress on it made me think what about making the girls wear an ivory or champagne color instead of black.  I further confused myself so that kind of stinks since I am having a difficult time really deciding on the colors for people to wear. Black and white with a little bit of red thrown in here and there is what I am leaning towards or just black and white (or ivory or champagne).  I just want it simple and classic, that's what I'm going for.  Now back to the dresses.  We found two that we LOVED. The are EXTREMELY similar.  I think they will look good on pretty much everyone since the are a good cut and they have the straps too.  They have pockets too just like my dress.  One even has some flowers around the waist that mimics my dress some.

The issue though is getting the three girls in NC and LA (Jena, Sarah, and Brianne) in the dress and seeing if it looks good on them too.  I have a split bridal party.  Three girls are here in Cleveland (Kasey, Emily, and Cassie) and the other three are down south. We have the option of getting the girls' measurements e-mailed to the store here and then getting the dresses shipped to them and doing it that way.  I don't know if that is the best thing to do because I really want everyone to like the dress and feel comfortable in it.  Plus I want them in the dress before they order it so they can see it on them and kind of analyze it and all that good stuff.  What a process.  My head spins thinking about it so let's just move on to some pictures of dresses!

 Champagne dress by Alfred Sung from The Dessy Group
 The reason why I am considering switching my colors to champagne is because of this dress.  It's simple, classic, and very feminine.  
 Dress by Dessy Bridesmaids from The Dessy Collection/ Group
 Same cut as the champagne dress pretty much but different fabric and it has the flowers.
 Just another random dress that we kind of liked from the Dessy Group by Alfred Sung.
I don't know if I am crazy about the fabric.  It is really shimmery and it may not look good in photos.  Maybe it's different in black and not the same as this awful pink color.

I also met up with another bridesmaid today.  Cassie and I grabbed lunch and we talked all about wedding details which was so great since Danny is burnt out on all that stuff already (it's only been a little over a month). Then I randomly drug her to David's Bridal to try on two of the dresses that I liked on Kasey.  I love random trips with her to random places; we do a lot of those it seems. Cassie looked great in both of the dresses and I got to see them on her in black so I had a better idea what they would look like.  We have it narrowed down to two dresses from David's Bridal now and probably the two from Galleria.  Here are the other two dresses we liked.


Tonight I will be busy sending out a mass e-mail to my bridesmaids probably and getting all kinds of opinions hopefully.  Maybe we can get the ball rolling on that process now.  Even though that doesn't really need to get taken care of until January or so.  But hey they way things are going I may have this whole wedding planned out by January.

I am getting a head start on a lot of things mainly because I want to just spend the last month before the wedding worrying about moving to Columbus and just calling places and confirming everything.  I don't want to be running around from place to place picking up things and ordering things last minute.  The more I get done now the better I am thinking.  However, there will be no planning or blogging this upcoming week since I will be in Florida enjoying time with friends.  A lot was accomplished so I think it's time for a little planning break. UNLESS Progressive Field calls and tells us the schedule is finally out and we can book a date.  If that happens I am sure I will be typing away asap!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Busy busy weekend

First things first. I got my shoes!!! I know a lot of you probably saw me yammering on about them on Facebook so I thought I would do the same on here too! I got UK blue shoes.  It is only appropriate that I have something blue of course why not it be my shoes? I decided heels probably wouldn't be the best idea since I will be having an outdoor wedding and I really don't want to aerate the ground the whole day.  So I went with some simple flats.  



Yesterday, I went on more venue tours.  I went back to Holden Arboretum with Danny and his mother.  They both were fans of the Butterfly Garden. Which was my favorite of the two gardens I looked at before with my mom. Here is a refresher of what the Butterfly Garden looks like. These are just from the venues website.  I didn't take any pictures yesterday.  


Before we went back to Holden we went to Progressive Field. First I must say that the coordinator is amazing.  She handles everything she possibly can for you.  She communicates with your vendors the day before and the day of the wedding.  The only things I would have to actually go out and look for are the baker, the photographer, and florist.  They handle all the food, set up and tear down of the facility, and it's all in one place so guest don't have to travel from one location to another.  I don't have to get an outside caterer, I don't have to pick out linens, flat ware, stem ware, and place settings.  I don't have to get a tent, tables, and chairs.  It is very easy to have a wedding and reception at the ballpark.  I love that.  It's probably my favorite thing about the place.  It is very convenient for us and our guest because of location too.  It's downtown, closer to us and centrally located so there is a ton of things for our guests to go out and do.  BUT the only problem we are facing is the date.  We have to wait for next season's schedule to be released before we can even set a date. AND we are on a wait list.  Thankfully we are higher up on the wait list but still there is the chance that some other couple could grab the few dates we had picked out.  So that is the only real problem we are seeing.  According to the coordinator the schedule will be released this week she is thinking.  We could possibly have our decision made this week or next week.  We will see what happens.

Here is a link to a couple's website that actually did get married at Progressive Field.  


 The field
 The Terrace Club from the inside
Outside view of the Terrace Club

Honestly, I could go either way with these places.  I have this debilitating split personality that is girly and a tom boy all at once.  It's really starting to make me realize that sometimes that can be a bad thing.  It's making the venue decision very difficult for me at least.  I am even considering destination wedding locations still.  This is the biggest decision of them all I am pretty sure.  I know all the other things I want for the most part but this one is just so up in the air for me.  I want to do something we will both love and that will be memorable, fun, and meaningful.  Fingers crossed that we will find something soon. 

We all know where Danny wants to get married between the two.  It's not even a competition.  Ballpark all the way.  I think if he had it completely his way though we would be getting married in Columbus at the shoe.  Everyone would wear a red and gray tux or dress and the OSU fight song would be on a loop.  Thank goodness he doesn't have full control over this!!

Never happening. EVER.

I'm pretty sure for those of you who know me, you know what would happen if I had complete control over all the wedding plans.  Maybe I am just as bad as him.  Oh well.  This helps get the OSU wedding out of my head though.

A girl can only dream. GO BIG BLUE!

Photos courtesy of: