Michael's Score!

So, my number one rule during all this wedding planning has been simple: Only buy something if you have room in the budget and it's part of the plan. BUT Friday, I had a 50% off coupon for Michael's Craft Store burning a hole in my wallet, and I needed some ribbon for a project. 

Half an hour later, I walked out of the store spending 10 times what I expected --  of course I expected to spend $3.00. All in all, I'm pretty proud of my haul. Check it out:

See those gold frames? I picked up a dozen at $1 each. They're going to showcase descriptions of our fabulous hors d'oeuvres and yummy cake flavors (definitely the subject of another post). Picture them typed in vintage typewriter font. 

The black ribbon is what I originally went in the store for. I'm using it on a project for my bridesmaids, so mum's the word on that. I found some other little gifts for them as well, which will have to wait for a description AFTER the wedding. 

Last, I found a Crayola color-in-the-lines poster. You can't tell, but it's a poster with jungle leaves and butterflies. I thought I'd designate one of our tables a "kids table" with this poster, some crayons and a few other games. We don't have many children on the guest list, but it will be fun to include them, and it's an easy project.

So, these are my latest wedding buys. They're really starting to pile up. You should see our second bedroom and the two bookshelves in our basement and the dining table downstairs. Eeek!

My hair icons

Warning for any guys who happen to stumble onto this blog: this is a girly post! That said, to achieve my Old Hollywood look, we definitely have to spend some time talking about hair, right?

First, let's talk about the stylist. I scouted around for local salons that offered both a space for my girls and I to get ready together and and didn't charge an arm and a leg. No dice. Then, I lit on Plan B: a family friend (Trish) who's been behind the scenes at multiple family weddings, she's done my hair before, her prices are very reasonable, etc. I though, why not ask if she's willing to trapse up to Iowa for my wedding? The worst she can do is say "no." But, I think you know where this is going. She actually said "yes" and will be helping my group get ready in our cozy hotel suite on our big day!

Second, let's look at what we have to work with. Most of my life, I have had long, thick, naturally wavy hair. And at special events, I often convinced someone to tame it into an updo, like Trish did when my sister got married.  But, three or four years ago, I finally drummed up the courage to go short. With the wedding on the horizon, though I've spent the better part of the year slowly growing it out so, I can emulate my glamourous Old Hollywood icons. In chronological order:

And, the goal? Channel one of these movie sirens in a down-do (Maureen O'Hara and Lauren Becall). My hair's just about Lauren's length now.

And of course, I've scouted out some options for my bridesmaids. Check out Elizabeth Taylor, Katherine Hepburn and Grace Kelly:

I admit, I had an ulterier motive for looking up these short pictures. If I don't think my hair is long enough by May or if I just can't live with the growing out stage, I figure I can always chop it and go back to short hair. 

What do you think? Should I strive for medium or short hair on my wedding day? If you come across a glamourous hair picture I need to see, let me know!

Help us build our playlist!

If our wedding style is "vintage," then our dance theme is "retro." What's your favorite tune from the 50's, 60's, 70's 80's or 90's? Our super cool DJ service has an online music request system. That means you can add your favorite tune to our dance playlist. Just visit A Fine Affair DJ at http://www.gigbuilder.com/cal/ia/afineaffairdj.nsf/guestlogin.html.

Simply input our wedding date (May 29, 2010) and the following case-sensetive password: SaraErikGuest

Note: As bride and groom, we reserve the right to veto anything we don't like. I'd avoid any current rap or country songs, if I were you. I'll leave you with some photos for inspiration:

 

January blizzards, May flowers?

Yesterday, I worked from home because we had yet another snow storm here in Iowa (and 52 cars in the ditch on my route to work convinced me that was a very smart move). On this cold inhospitable day, my florist or "flower lady," as I like to call her, e-mailed me to shore up the details of our wedding flowers!

So, since I haven't shared these with you yet, let me open with my inspiration photos for our wedding color scheme:

This first picture with the black cocktail dresses and the dark purple tulips. Don't those tulips look so lux?!

And then the combo of purple and white flowers in the second photo has me sold on my second flower color.

Tulips will be the main flower in our wedding, but I love peonies too much to ignore them on my big day. (My sister featured pink and fushia peonies in her wedding and it was gorgeous!) I'm putting my own spin on them and using white peonies to keep in my color scheme. In fact, I'll likely call on my aunts and grandmas gardens to provide some of these beauties.

My bouquet: I want something like this picture only with all purple tulips. I’ve got something in mind for a ribbon on this bouquet. If it doesn’t pan out, a shimmery gold ribbon would be fine.

Bridesmaid bouquets: I’m picturing these with white tulips and purple filler. They can be much less structured than mine (no banana leaves), and the gold ribbon will work with them also.

Altar arrangements: These can be similar to the bridesmaid dresses. I’ll leave the design up to my florist to somehow incorporate all of the wedding flowers from the purple tulips and filler to the white peonies and tulips.

Cake flowers: We’re actually having several round cakes as more of a desert buffet, and a mini two-tier cake for us to cut. The mini-cake will be 8” on the bottom and 6” on the top. I’m picturing purple and white tulips on top and maybe a few blooms on the sides like this picture.

DIY Centerpieces: I’m planning to types of centerpieces to be placed on alternating round tables. Since we last spoke I’ve been busy collecting vintage vases and pedestal candy dishes (see pics).

Centerpiece #1: I’m picturing two purple tulips and one white one in all of my tall arrangements very simply placed in my vases.

Centerpiece #2: My low arrangements are going to be white peony heads floating in the candy dishes. We’ll need about 10 of these as well.

I have 20 vases or candy dishes now and will likely pick up a few more before the wedding, so I don’t think I’ll need to rent any vases.I think this should be simple enough for my wedding party/family to do as long as my flower lady delivers the flowers. Does this seem practical?

I'm very excited about all of this, and can't wait to see it all come together. But I'm trying hard to make it super simple so we can just plunk these down on the tables the morning of the wedding and be golden!

What are the guys wearing?

So, this should be the first of several installments on clothes, cause who doesn't love dressing up -- or even better, dressing OTHER people up. Of course, the easiest decision was what the guys will be wearing.

Remember we're going for that old hollywood "rat pack" look. So here's the suit Erik and I unanimously agreed was closest to that vision:

Love it!

Black, classy, two-button, tie with no vest. We have yet to pick out the colors for the ties. I'm thinking champagne (light gold) colored for my groom and dark purple for the rest of the guys: namely the four groomsmen, my dad and his dad. What about the ushers, you ask? I'm asking them to simply come dressed in a white dress shirt and black pants. We'll supply them with coordianting ties.

But here's the big question: Pocket squares like those above or do-it-yourself ribbon boutonnieres like these? Why only these two options? I refuse to pay for fresh flower boutonnieres when there are plenty of other options out there. It's also a great way to save some money. Rest assured I will have fresh flowers, just not in the form of bouts or corsages, but that's for another post. Choosing pocket squares would give me one less DIY project, but begs another questions. Do we simply buy handkerchiefs for the guys to use as pocket squares or let them rent them with the suits for $7 (or so) apiece?

Where are the suits coming from? We thought about going through Men's Warehouse so all the men could order it at their own store. But after hearing awful things about the customer service at the Cedar Rapids store, I decided to go with the same shop where I got my wedding dress (to be discussed in another post). So, our grooms men and dads will have to go to a local shop to get measured and then phone those measurements into the shop here: Heart to Heart Bridal. As a bonus, suits seem to be cheaper here as well! I'm going in to finalize the details on Saturday. I figure/hope we can send someone to pick them up and have everyone try them on the day before.

Location, Location, Location . . .

So, soon after you're engaged everyone asks you to pick a date, which all planner-type-people know you can't do until you have a location figured out-- preferrably with a signed contract and deposit. While the bride's hometown is traditional, MY hometown would mean planning a wedding from a distance of 400 miles, dealing with very inconvenient hotels for most of our friends and all of his family, and expecting all of our guests to find the middle-of-no-where Kansas church and slighly less middle-of-no-where reception hall.

So, we (I) quickly narrowed down our search to the Iowa City area.

First there was the Coralville North Ridge Pavillion. Pretty little fountain, nice deck overlooking a "lake." It was close to hotels and we could bring in our own food and drink, but because of it's proximity to a housing complex they'd kick us out by 11 PM to minimize noise. Also, the site said it was big enough to sit 200 people. With our 175ish guest list, that meant no room for a dance floor. Unacceptable!

Moving on I cyper-scoped out a couple options near Solon, IA, just North East of Iowa City. I found Brosh chapel and community center. Kind of a lousy picture here, but it had an indoor chapel, another outdoor deck overlooking a glorified pond for a possible outdoor ceremony and traditional reception space to boot. But factoring in the distance from Iowa City, the manditory carterers fees, and the likely hefty bar tab, I was not inspired.

Option 3 was certainly inspiring, and I am a little ashamed to say I didn't even go see this place, cause I hear it's phenomenal: the Schwabb Barns near Solon again. This is a collection of stone barns that the family rents out for events like dances and weddings. We could bring in our own vendors, so that was going to be a plus. BUT barns don't really scream "us" (as a couple, anyway). Plus, their distance from hotels was an issue (I really don't want to work about any driving and drinking) and I think bad weather would just kill the whole event at a venue like this.

So, what did I choose? I place called "Old Brick." Now, I'm sure you're looking at this picture and thinking, that's a weird name for a church, but our location isn't exactly what it appears to be. It IS the second oldest building in Iowa City, built during the Civil War era. It IS a historical landmark, which hopefully will keep everyone on their best behavior. And it WAS a chruch once. Now it's a community building that houses non-profit offices in the basement. The sanctuary area has been renovated into one big open room complete with original stain-glass windows (okay, 1 original window) the big church doors, altar and pipes from a long gone pipe organ.

Just look at these shots, or click here to see a slideshow of it dressed up for past events:

Here's the front, withe the altar.                

                     

And the back with balcony & pipes (just for show)

And a shot of the side walls and the one complete, original stained glass window from which I choose the colors purple and gold (hard to tell in this shot, I know, but trust me, they're there.)

I can't wait to have our wedding here! Besides the basic goreousness, we can bring in our own caterer and alcohol, we have the space all day Friday and Saturday to set up, and it's a block away from one of our hotels and a shuttle ride away from the other. It's historic nature does offer some challenges, but I think the trade off will definitely be worth it in the end!

Engagement photos!

Yes, we have engagement pictures! We took them November 6th and have been delayed in getting them because of winter road conditions and busy schedules. But last week our photographer simply put them online for us to view and I love them! I'm so glad/relieved that our photographer has such a great eye.

Luckily, November 6th was a warm sunny day and there were a few late leaves on the trees. These were all taken while walking around the University of Iowa campus. You'll notice we played around with some vintage hats to acheive that Old Hollywood look (mine's authentic, his is vintage-looking). You'll also get a sneek peak at our Save-the-Date cards if you make it all the way through the album.

Now I don't have images to post here on the blog, but you can see them on Brian Hall Photographers' website: http://www.brianhallphotographers.com/pickpic/gallery/splash.php?gallery_id=50

Title: Erik & Sara

Passcode: Peterson (my soon-to-be last name!)

Gallery Expiration: Monday February 1, 2010
Just click on "Engagement" to see them in thumbnail format or flip through them individually.

I have my favorites, of course, but I've already been surprised by which ones others like the most. We're in the process of selecting which ones to get prints of, and I'd love to hear what you think! So, feel free to leave a comment.