Wedding Post 5: The party

Shortly after dinner the rest of the party arrived, and it couldn't have been too soon! I was so excited for them to arrive that I jumped up and scooted out there before anyone else. I wanted to prevent everyone from entering the mansion because I wanted to get the whole party out on the front balcony for a huge group shot. Lucky I did, too because look at this awesome picture we got!

I would highly recommend trying to organize a big shot like this. It turned out to by one of our very favorites!

As people re-entered the mansion they were instructed to take a picture of themselves using a Polaroid camera and tape it into a photo album. Then, they wrote something to us next to their picture. Kind of like a fancy yearbook. Now that we've put all the pages together it is SO awesome. Much better than just a bunch of signatures on plain white lined paper.

After each person entered they were directed straight for what? More food, of course. We had stuffed mushrooms, bruchetta with goat cheese, a cheese platter (yum), éclairs and more.
After eating our fill, again, we headed back out to the back patio for toasts. The ear doctor and I have been to many, many weddings and the toasts are always the part that we feels makes or breaks the “specialness” of the wedding. We asked our parents in advance to prepare something to say. Sure, its not really spontaneous. Then again, I don’t think that anyone has ever accuse me of being spontaneous. What can I say? I’m a planner.

The toasts were awesome. Apparently there was a bet going in my family whether or not my dad would cry. What a sucker bet.

Of course he was going to cry. This is the man whose eyes are “very sensitive to light” or whose “allergies” often bother his eyes. The toasts were perfect and I even learned something about the ear doctor I didn’t know. When he was really little and did something really good he’d extend his arms out in front of him, clinch his little hands into two furious fists and shake his arms really fast. In honor of our big day, the ear doctor’s dad asked all of our guests to do a happy-arm-shake for us. It was awesome.

After the toasts we headed back in for our first dance together. I think most of you know this, but the ear doctor and I love to dance. Love it SO much. Actually I think if you kept track of how many times we spontaneously break into dance it would average out to about twice a day. So, obviously, the music and dancing at our wedding was important.

We chose our first dance song to be “I’ve got a crush on you” which was perfect.




After the first dances we did a daddy/daughter and a mother/son dance. It was awesome because the ear doctor’s mom danced beautifully, and my dad did his best to wow the crowd with his moves. Then, we invited everyone else up to the floor by doing a snowball dance. It was awesome. There were tons of people crowded onto the dance floor, just what I really wanted.

After some dancing we cut the cake. The cake we got was AMAZING! The best tasting cake ever. Plus, she made us a grooms cake in the shape of an ear with a little ear doctor coming out and a fondant odoscope. The groom’s cake was raspberry citrus, and the main cake was half chocolate cinnamon and Italian cream with apricot filling (my fav).

It was pretty delicious



After the cake I surprised the ear doctor with a planned, secret lip sync routine to Michael Buble’s recording of “Everything.” The whole thing went off really awesome, especially my rad back-up dancers. It was hilarious and the ear doctor loved it.

After that we just danced the night away and walked around the room talking to everyone and enjoying ourselves. I found out later that all my space dork friends from work went out on the front patio to try to watch the shuttle as it passed over. So nerdy and so awesome.

As the night drew to a close the ear doctor and I swooped away in his awesome silver truck. I thought the contrast between me in my dress, him in a tux and a truck would be awesome. Thankfully, the only décor on the car was white writing on the windows (anything else would have made us loose our security deposit with the venue…dang those historic buildings).

We drove off together to our new house.

He carried me over the threshold of our apartment.

I love him.

Wedding Post 5: Ring Ceremony and Dinner

We were supposed to be up at the Boettcher Mansion at 5 to take pictures with our photographer for an hour and to help set everything up for the ring ceremony at 6:30. Well, we didn't leave the hotel until around 4:45, so we showed up almost a half hour late. That kind of set everyone off at a rushed pace. We wandered around the property for 45 minutes taking more beautiful pictures.

Before I show more photos I have to give credit to our AMAZING photographer. Debi and Amanda Tipton of Kokoro Photography did an amazing job!

(the one below is my very favorite photo...SO pretty!)

Things started to slip back on the schedule, but it was good because quite a few of our guests got a little lost finding the mansion. Exchanging wedding rings is not part of the wedding ceremony in the temple. Therefore, we decided to have a special ring exchange ceremony at the Boettcher mansion with just our friends and family so that everyone could be included in our special day.

As I looked through the weathered stone archway onto a patio filled with our best friends I again got a little choked up. We asked a dear friend, our church bishop, to officiate in the ring ceremony and I could see him standing there, eyes full of proud tears for us. The ear doctor and I decided again to hold hands and walk down the aisle together, as a unit, a husband and wife. There was no music playing, just the wind in the pines and the chirping of birds, exactly the kind of Colorado scene I was hoping for.

As the bishop offered us more advice I smiled and again was filled with awe for the ear doctor. What an amazing man! I extended my hand and the ear doctor slipped the beautiful wedding band onto my finger. I did the same for him.

Right after the ring ceremony we asked our family to join us for dinner in the main room. Despite the whole debacle with the flowers, I thought it came together nicely. Actually, when I entered the room it took my breath away a bit. Making sure to have everything go together was SO important for me. I was so happy when the whole thing came together.

The food was really great! I've still been getting comments on the food, so that is a pretty great sign. I snarfed my food down as quickly as humanly possible because I wanted to stand up and start talking to all of my friends. I wanted to make sure that everyone really knew how much it meant that they were there for me.

Wedding Post 4: The exit and lunch

Many of you may not know this, but there is a little tradition we LDS folks have. Because there are typically many people who we love desperately, and are not members of our faith, we miss out on having important people at our weddings. Also, often the bride and groom take a lot longer than any of the other guests to leave the building. As a result, when the bride and groom leave the building there is always a lot of hoopla surrounding their first steps into the rest of the world as man and wife. Every wedding I've been to in a temple has this little tradition. Everyone waits excitedly for the bride and groom to come out.

Well, for us this was a bit of a snag. We wanted to wait to come out together until everyone from our family was there. When we were ready to leave the building, neither grandma was present. We ended up waiting for a few minutes before everyone was gathered so that we could leave amidst cheers.

It was totally worth the wait.

As we walked into the bright, beautiful sunlight I looked at the ear doctor and smiled from ear to ear. I gave his hand a little squeeze of excitement and we looked onto 25 of the happiest, most loving faces in our lives. It was a moment I'll never forget.

My man gave me a little celebratory smooch as we were overwhelmed with joyous applause!

After many happy greetings...

We all calmed down and took some official family pictures. After a strict 30 minutes of photos (I absolutely did not want to make people stand around in the heat all afternoon), everyone drove over to a little park and enjoyed a picnic lunch. In my family, keeping people fed with delicious food is pretty much the number 1 priority. Add to that fact that my little sister is still nursing her baby and you'll understand why it was so important to get that group of people fed, and quick.

We stuck around for another 30 minutes to take some pictures of us as newly weds alone. There are SO many amazing pictures from this short time, but I'm only going to show my favorites.

(Notice how fresh and great the ear doctor's flower is in this photo)

After we left to join everyone for lunch I was really really glad that I'd rented a park shelter. It was close to 100 degrees that day and everyone would have burnt to a crisp! As it was people were pretty melted. I really didn't want this lunch to be too hard to set up, since my awesome roommate Boggs was coming down to put it all together for me.

After lunch everyone went back to the hotels and crashed. The ear doctor and I were so exhausted by this point. We needed naps more than everyone else if the party was going to keep going later in the evening. Too bad we slept a little longer than we ought...

Wedding Post 3: The ceremony

As I sat waiting for the ear doctor to come in the beautiful foyer of the temple I started to get a little nervous. As sure as I was of the ear doctor's love for me, I don't think there is a single person alive who doesn't have a momentary thought of being left at the alter when their soon to be spouse is later than they are to the ceremony venue.

As the minutes ticked on my formerly ultra-composed self started to worry a bit.

Tick

Tick

Tick

And then, he arrived.

Ahhhhhh

He looked so handsome! Together we went to the recorder and sat hand in hand making sure that all the legalities were taken care of so that they wouldn't get in our way. I didn't know this, but the temple handles all of the mailing and filing for you, so you don't have to do a thing with the state. Very cool.

Well, we parted ways and went to change into our wedding clothes. Because my big wedding dress is off-white (much, much better for this red head), and the temple only allows pure white dresses with full length sleeves, I decided to get a second, all white very plain sheath dress to wear to the actual ceremony. Plus, what girl doesn't like to have two pretty dresses, right?

I sat in a very beautiful room, all dressed up, waiting with my mom. I could not believe the calm I felt. I was so sure, so collected, so confident. I was a little surprised by just how grounded I felt. After being afraid of marriage for so long it was a little shocking to be so certain. But with the ear doctor everything has been different. It has been easy and real. That's how I knew it was right.

The room we got married in was fabulous. It was a perfectly circular room with a small gorgeous alter centered in the middle. The ear doctor and I knelt on either side of the alter completely encircled by 20 of our closest friends and family. Our hands that had held each other so many other times in so many other settings clasped over the alter. This hand hold was different, tender and sincere. As the officiant offered us blessings and advice I looked into the ear doctor's fiercely blue eyes and realized that I was making the best choice possible. Not only was this man the love of my life, but my best friend and a worthly partner to spend my life with.

After the ceremony was completed we stood and greeted each person who was in the room to witness our marriage. Throughout the entire ceremony I didn't feel like crying. I felt warm, calm and at peace. When each of our loved ones left the room and we were able to thank them for being a part of our day I started tearing up with joy.

As I went back to the changing room to put by big off-white dress on I took a few moments to myself to think about my feelings. Honestly, I have never felt so loved and cared for. From my friends, my family, my husband and my Savior.

I changed very quickly into my dress and waited for my new husband to join me in his tux. I must have a talent for changing fast because it always takes me less time to change than it does for him.

Again I was waiting

tick

tick

tick

and then I saw him again, but this time as my new husband. My heart dropped to my stomach and I was floored. How was I so lucky to get this man!

However, there was a slight snag...

Wedding Post 2: The morning of

I'd always heard that everyone has the hardest time sleeping the night before they get married. I, however, did not find that the case. After a long day of pulling everything together and a belly full of delicious bbq, I drifted off into a glorious slumberland. I spent the night sharing a room with one of my oldest and best friends, Kath, in a hotel very close to the Denver LDS temple.

We woke up at the crack of dawn to start the preparations. Kath just happens to be one of the best stylists I know, so she willingly did my hair and makeup. There aren't many pictures of this phase because Kathy and I were alone with her almost 2 year old daughter Olivia, and while Olivia is a very talent and smart girl, professional photographer she is not.

Just as we finished up my hair I was instructed to open the closet. Out came the most beautiful set of luggage. My sweetheart got me a gift for our trip! Inside the case was a really really pair of pearl drop earrings. They looked perfect with my dress and "look" so I put them on immediately. Included with the gift was a very touching card. It took every fiber of my being to not melt into a sappy blob of jell-o right there on the floor. My ear doctor is the sweetest, most thoughtful man alive.

The day was perfect. Really, really beautiful. One of those perfect breathtaking Colorado days.

We got all ready and my mom, dad and I rushed off to the temple. The ceremony was at 11, but we were instructed to be there at 9:30 to give us plenty of time. As we drove up into the temple parking lot my mom, dad, and I took a few moments just to be together. I realized how much I love them and how lucky I am to have such amazing examples in my life.

After a few minutes we were rushed into the temple to await the ear doctor's arrival.

Wedding Post 1: The day before

After quickly deciding that I could make the lavender hydrangeas work with my all blue theme, I moved on and the rest of the wedding went off without a single hitch.

The day before we had an awesome bbq for family at my apartment building. It didn't really make sense to call it the "rehearsal dinner" because there was nothing for us to rehearse. Instead we decided to call it our "wedding eve" party.

Despite the fact that the caterer called 10 minutes prior to the party and asked if we were going to get plates, or if he was supposed to (UGH), everything was awesome.

We found the caterer for wedding eve by complete happenstance. We were driving through a strip mall by our new apartment and saw a big smoker with a huge poster advertising "FREE BBQ". Now, I am not one to pass up anything free and bbq makes the ear doctor's heart swell with genuine love, so we pulled over. Turns out the free portion of the day was over, but we were referred to a store called Wally's Quality Meats. Inside the ear doctor found his personal Mecca. A real, honest to goodness butcher/meat shop. They had every cut of top quality meat you could ever want...along with about 50 different kinds of sausage. Wally, the owner of the shop, told us that Big Al was the bbq man and he gave us a number to call.

Lucky for us, Big Al makes the most amazing bbq you can find in the great state of Colorado. We met with him and got a sample of his food. During the sample he entertained us with a mini bbq lecture. The ear doctor was enthralled. He informed us that bbq is different all over the US. Each state in the south has developed its own feel and take on what "real" bbq is. He told us that his style was a blend of Texas and N. Carolina bbq. All I know is that I've never had better brisket.

At the party I wore a new yellow sundress and felt very cute and summery. Unfortunately for us, they air conditioner in the building broke that afternoon and it was sweltering in the room. As soon as the sun went down it cooled down enough to be comfortable. After the wedding I contacted the people who charged us $50 to rent the building. You better believe I got every red cent back from them.

The party was so much fun and SUCH a good idea to get both families together to hang out before the big day. We had everyone go around the room and introduce themselves. It was really important to me that everyone there felt included and really felt like we appreciated them coming.

The ear doctor's parents got us bride and groom mickey mouse ears to wear that were pretty awesome...see:

Beginning to loose it

Is it alright if I freak out that my hydrangeas were delivered today and they are a butt ugly WRONG COLOR!?!?!?


The hydrangeas I designed the entire color scheme and feel around!


The hydrangeas I paid extra for to get the "perfect" color!


Gahhhhh

(head explodes and bits of brains slowly drip from the ceiling)

Lunchtime Bliss

Today for lunch I took a blanket to the park and enjoyed my ice cold fresh-squeezed lemonade in the shade of a big oak tree. Then, I sat and watched some geese swim around in the crystal clear pond.

Pretty much perfect.

Indecisive

I can't decide whether I prefer the matte or glossy version of our engagement photo.

Anybody have a good reason to choose one over the other?

Why has this been the toughest choice to make in this whole wedding planning process for me?

Wedding weather

About a week and a half ago I woke up in the middle of the night worrying that the weather on my wedding day would be awful.

Not that you can really trust at 10 day forecast for the ever changing Colorado weather, but this made me really, really happy this morning:

That 0% is that chance of rain.

HOORAY!

Distracted

Between the drama unfolding at work and the building anticipation of getting married next week I think I'm starting to loose it.

This morning instead of exfoliating my face in the shower I tried to use it on my hair. Getting those fine gritty pieces of scrub out of my scalp was a bit of a challenge.

Who has the most adorable niece in the world?

I do! Plus, my sister is pretty much a knock out.

If I weren't

helping the ear doctor move into our aparment this weekend I would spend my time making these for the wedding:



Their cuteness is almost TOO much to bear. I would make the frosting a light blue and then have my awesome roommate pipe our initials on the top. However, right now I'm a little overwhelmed and the last thing I need to be doing is piping frosting on 100 cookie wedding cakes.

But it makes me really sad that I'm not making them...

Finding my style

For the past 6 months I've really been trying to hone in on my own, personal style. I've had a hard time really articulating what it is, or describing it to other people. Luckily, I found a picture this morning. I'm thinking about printing it out and keeping it in my wallet so that when I'm doing a horrible job of explaining what I like I can just take this picture out and say, "This! This is what I'm looking for."

The Shower

Saturday night my amazing, beautiful, talented friend Sarah threw me a bridal shower. I was completely overwhelmed by how much effort she put into it! She is pretty much amazing. The food was amazing!

Starting from left to right, there was caprese salad, orzo with pine nuts, carrotts and hummus, a huge block of brie and crackers, spinach salad with oranges, Mexican wedding cookies, cannoli and cherry tart. To drink, my favorite, Perrier with a slice of lime! So good!

After some great eats we played a game where I had to match the ear doctor's answers to a bunch of questions. If I got it wrong I had to put a marshmallow in my mouth.

Needless to say, I wasn't very good at it. After games we opened gifts. I am so blessed to have such awesome friends in my life! I've been to all of their wedding showers and it was surreal to think that I was now the person in the limelight. So weird!

One of the questions from the marshmallow game was "What is the ear doctor's favorite physical feature of Katie's?" The answer: little mouth.

Just like Christmas

If there is one thing you can count on with me, it's that I'm sticking to a budget. Over the years I've honed this skill down to an art form. If I've set a limit for myself I'm sticking to it.

Except when it comes to buying Christmas gifts.

As the festive season starts I am very rigorous about setting limits for myself. I am very very good up until the week before the big day. At that point all restraint is pretty much thrown out the window and I buy things for people just because it looks like something they'd love. Usually I've exercised enough restraint leading up to the critical I'm-spending-like-a-mad-woman phase that I don't get into any trouble. Plus, Christmas comes so fast that the frenzy is pretty time restricted.

This wedding planning is becoming like the Christmas frenzy.

For the last 3 months I have been meticulous about our budget. Cutting things I may have wanted to reduce cost. I was bound and determined to only spend the allotted amount.

However, I'm in the home stretch and starting to feel signs that the self-imposed budget-keeping bonds are being loosed. Did we really need little picture clips for our centerpieces...probably not. Did I spend $30 on them yesterday...you bet I did. And now that we have the clips we'll need to get some really nice photos printed up to incorporate into our centerpieces...that will probably cost something. And did we really need to cleverly label our tables using the swirl pattern from the invitations to tie the paper all together? Labels that will cost additional from our printer....probably not. Am I going to do it?...yes.

The scary thing is that we've got 3 weeks left. That's a lot of time to do damage....

Admission

I have to admit something. I am a full fledged blog stalker of one of the coolest blogs. I love it so much because the life this woman is leading looks beautiful, ideal, and perfect. And it isn't in that, "look at how awesome I am, my family is totally perfect" way that could be annoying. The Nielsons simply seem amazing.

I'd love to be friends with them.

The series of posts Stephanie has written over the past couple of days about the Proclamation on the Family have really moved me.

Go over and check out the Nie Nie Dialogues if you want to see how awesome it can be to have a great little family.

Engagement Photos

Our Photographer updated her blog and put our engagement pictures there!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SOOO excited about these photos. I really love them. I am so happy we went with Amanda and her mom Debi! There are so many awesome ones just on her one post about us. Go over to Kokoro photography and check them out.

The Table Settings

Last night I put together a mock up of how are tables are going to look. That way I can give the caterer and setter-uppers a picture of what I want the table to look like. Because we are doing a family buffet dinner, I decided not to set the tables with any plates. I kind of think it is strange to go to the table, pick up the empty plate and head over to the buffet. All of the plates will be sitting at the end of the buffet waiting to be filled with the delicious food.

Anyway, the settings. The ear doctor and I wanted to used solid brown table clothes. I think the dark tables will really bring a warmth and luxury feel to the room. At each place setting there will be a white napkin with a blue ribbon wrapped around it. On top of the napkins there is a little favor box. We haven't decided yet what to put in the boxes, but I thought they were too cute to pass up.


In the center of the table there will be 9 shallow canning jars filled with water. In each jar there will be one big blue hydrangea head (I had to use spider mums for the mock up because I couldn't find hydrangeas at the florist this time of year). There will be a couple of pictures of the ear doctor and myself popping up from in between the hydrangea mounds held up on those picture clips.

I was thinking of labeling each table with a different phase in our relationship like "the first date" or "the proposal." Then, at that table we'd write out our stories so that the guests have something kind of fun to read while they're eating dinner.

Any thoughts or suggestions for what we should change or add?

The apartment

Today during lunch the ear doctor and I are signing our first joint contract. We're getting our first apartment to live in together. HOW exciting!

It's so cool to think that we will get to live together soon, under the same roof. No need to go home late at night, or to be inconvenineced when looking for a rubber band to keep my hair up at his house. It will be SO great!

The apartment we've found isn't my dream home...but it will do until we've saved up a bit. In the search for the housing over the past month I've found some really interesting trends in housing.

It seems right now, in Colorado, there is a push to develop new neighborhoods of retro-looking, small houses packed very close together. I think this new concept is ideal for starter homes. They are small, and compact but still have style. I'd much rather live in a small house that I can fill with the few pieces of furniture I have than buy a big house and feel pressured to buy tons of junk just to make it feel full. These housese are kind of like living in a condo or a townhouse but still has the individuality of a stand-alone home. Plus, these developements are much better from an urban planning frame of reference. The down side is that they do'nt really have big yards, but for a couple where both people are working I think it doesn't really make much sense to have a big yard.

Engagement photos

I thought that not taking engagement photos would be a great way to save money. I thought that since I'd received both invitations with and without an enclosed photo it would be alright to forgo that experience. I thought that since we were trying to pull a wedding together in basically 2 months, we wouldn't have the time.

I was wrong.

The more I read and talk to photographers I see that the engagement photo shoot is crucial. It gives you a chance to get to know your photographer before the big day. That way they don't feel like a stranger intruding on one of the biggest moments of your life.

Also, I realized that I would be sending announcements/invitations to extended family and acquaintances of my parents who maybe haven't seen me since I was 4. I've changed a little since then, so it seems like a good idea to send a photo to those people.

Unforch, we ran out of time to include them with all our invitations/announcements. (insert sad music here)

Our engagement photo shoot is on Friday. The weather looks great, partly cloudy only 10% chance of rain and 71 degrees.

Now the big question is: what on earth should I wear?!?!

Great, great show!

Two years ago I "met" a great fellow blogger, K. She suggested that I go check out this local Washington singer, Brandi Carlile. When she came through Boulder the tickets were cheap, so I grabbed my friend Genius and we went to the show. The entire Fox theater was vacant. There were two sad little rows of chairs. Genius and I plopped down and waited with the 4 other people there for the show to start.

She played and was really good.

Last night she was back in town and we decided to go to the show again. It was SOLD OUT! and PACKED with people. As we edged our way past the clump of tall people (why do they always stand together at shows?) we barely could catch a view of her on stage.

She was even more fabulous last night. She played a bunch of covers, which I usually get a little annoyed by. However, she shed new light on this subject. She said, if no one plays covers how are the songs of our generation going to become "standards." It really made me start to appreciate a good cover. I love all the old jazz standards and I never considered that without a good cover our songs will never be remembered like the songs of our past are. Pretty interesting.

Anyway, it was crazy to see an artist grow into such popularity. Two years ago neither Genius or myself knew a single song she sang. Last night the entire room with singing along with the exact same songs. Pretty cool.

The invitations response

Thanks so much for the great suggestions on our invites!

After looking at the comments we made the following changes:

1. Lightened the swirls. They are a lot less intense brown.
2. Re-worked the wording so the thoughts weren't split on different lines.
3. Moved the text around to create more white space on the page.
4. Darkened the blue so that it was easier to read
5. Used my full name, instead of just Katie
6. Added the date again with the rest of the particulars in the lower left hand corner.

I printed up one on the real invitation paper and they are SOOOOO cute!

We decided to print a swirl on the bottom left hand side of the envelope, and print the little flower in the design on the envelope flap.

I've never been more impressed with a wedding invitation. WOW!

Is it wrong...

So the colors for our wedding are blue and brown. Light blue and chocolate brown. I'm in love with this color combination. We're using blue hydrangeas in the centerpieces. It will look great.

However, I found this bouquet. It drives me wild with desire.

Would it totally destroy the continuity of the day to use these beautiful peonies for my flowers and keep with the hydrangeas in the centerpieces?

The invitations

Be critical! What do you think? What should we change?



FYI-That solid dark line on the left side isn't really there.

Cutest couple

I lurve this picture from my cousin's wedding last weekend!

He's so hot!

The registry

So the ear doctor and I are officially registered. Hooray! Everyone told me that registering would be awful. A pain in the neck that was really annoying.

For us, it was awesome! We had so much fun walking around and scanning for tons of awesome stuff. I felt a little strange about the whole process. Seriously asking people for specific gifts seems so foreign. On one hand, it is nice to help people pick out something, and nice to give a large variety of things to choose from. On the other, I would never want someone to look at this list and think, jeez, they're sure expecting their friends to shell out a ton of money on gifts. I would be mortified if anyone ever thought that.

Anyway, we're officially registered at:

Crate & Barrel

Bed, Bath, and Beyond

and

REI (please, someone, get that sleeping bag for me!)

Becuase she asked so nicely...

...and I'm feeling totally uncreative this morning, I'm going to do the meme that Courtney tagged me for. Here goes!

A - Attached or Single: Attached to the man who is a perfect fit for me. Really, I never thought I'd find someone so compatible for me! June 21st, here I come!

B - Best Friend: Well, I kind of think it is like elementary school to say that I only have one best friend. I've had so many awesome friends who make me feel so loved that it astounds me. Brooke in high school, Kathy after that, Anth during college, Britt after. Eleanor when I interned in Colorado, Amy when I moved here. Sarah when I got to know her. Alayne now that we live together. My sister and baby Charlotte. My mom.

C - Cake or Pie: Both! I love me some cake and with all the wedding tasting I'm starting to develop a very refined cake palate. But there's nothing better than a slice of warm cherry pie with ice cream....or a tart lemon meringue.

D - Drink of Choice: Diet coke with a lime. I'm trying to limit myself to only one soda a day.

E - Essential Item: As lame as it sounds, my cell phone. I left it in Utah for 5 days and almost went crazy without it. Trying to plan a wedding in a month is hard enough as it is, but without a cell phone it is next to impossible!

F - Favorite Color: Always has been, always will be...GREEN.

G - Gummi Bears or Worms: Worms because they get all slippery and feel cool when being eaten.

H - Hometown: Spokane, WA. Not much to say about that.

I – Indulgence(s): Lame TV. For some reason I am drawn to ANTM like a moth to a flame. I can't get enough of that dumb show. Oh, and the bachelor, which I am totally embarrassed to admit.

J - January or July*: July! Totally my birthday month!

K - Kids: Oh yes! In my dream world I'd have two little boys and then a girl. The boys would have the ear doctor's perfect brown hair and the girl would have my red curls. All three would have his deep blue eyes!

L - Life is incomplete without: Family, friends and great food.

M - Marriage Date: JUNE 21, 2007!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

N - Number of Siblings: 2. An older foster brother who lives in London and is the most sarcastic rad big brother a girl could have! A little sister who just had the cutest baby in the world!

O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges plain, but apples when paired with caramel.

P - Phobias/Fears: Ticks....yuck.

Q - Favorite Quote: How do you pick a favorite quote? Different ones have meant more or less at different times in my life.

R - Reason to smile: I don't have to come into work over the weekend!!!!!!! And I'm going to finalize the design and paper for our wedding invitations with our designer!

S - Season: Spring. Nothing makes me happier when it starts to get sunny after the long winter.

T- Tag Three: Hmmm, I think I'm going to pass on the tags...

U - Unknown Fact About Me:

V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: I like me a rib eye....

W - Worst Habit: I pick my lips when I'm thinking. After finals week they were raw and bleeding. Yuck!

X - X-rays or Ultrasounds: I don't get this question. Who cares?

Y - Your Favorite Foods: Anything with cheese, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, pesto, lemon, sausage, or halibut. Anything using the words encrusted, pounded, braised, or slow-roasted. Anything you'd find at a fair or rodeo. Anything with Cinnamon sugar on it.

Z- Zodiac: I am a cusp kid...Right between Leo and Cancer. I probably lean more to the Leo side than cancer.

The Dress: Part II

I'm just going to brag here for a second about the awesomeness of my family. Specifically, the women in my family.

My grandma is awesome. Almost 75 years old and works out more frequently than I do. She has the energy of a teenager and can do anything.

My aunt is also pretty fabulous. She worked with high school kids for 25 years and still has the energy to teach. Now she's teaching at BYU between the days she goes skiing. I think she got over 50 ski days in this season!

Then there is my mom. What can I say about my mom other than she is amazing. Full time job, three awesome kids, can do Calculus in her head and also crochet a mean baby blanket.

The reason I am bragging about these three women is so that you can fully understand how awesome Monday was for me.

In 4 hours the 4 of us started, tailored and finished my WEDDING DRESS! I've never seen a more well-oiled machine. It was truly inspiring for me to watch their expertise so clearly demonstrated. Really quite amazing! All that is left now is the hem because I haven't bought my shoes yet. So I have my designer knock-off dress that cost about $300 and is probably made out of better fabric than the original. It is beautiful and I love it!

A possible candidate for our Photographer

Last night the ear doctor and I met with a great photographer. The cool things about her:

1. She grew up in a photography family. Her great-grandfather owned a camera store. Her grandfather taught photography at a university. And now she and her mother run a photography business. Her photos have been critiqued since she was 9 years old.


2. Her price is just right and she offered to give us an extra hour for free. Score.


3. Her albums are beautiful and she really tailors the whole album to the couple. This is good because we've seen some albums that we really didn't like.


4. She's already photographed an LDS wedding and understands the limitations with regard to the ceremony.

Here is a sampling of Amanda and her mother's work:

I copied all of these images off the Kokoro website.

Hil's wedding

Well, this last weekend I got to go to my cousin Hil's wedding. It was really so awesome and showed me just how similar my cousin and I are. The weather was cold and crappy on Saturday, so pictures outside the temple didn't last too long at all. I was very impressed with the photographer they picked. He was very clearly seeing every detail of the shot. I loved that he asked my grandma if she wanted to keep her dark glasses on, and that he told my aunt to fix her hair that the wind blew up. It's really important that a photographer sees every element of the photo, not just the focal points.

Their reception was held in an old, historic hall. A long skinny room with exposed brick walls and beautiful hardwood floors. The centerpieces were simple lime/grass green runners with a very vertical arrangement of yellow and white Gerber daisies. To each side of the vase there was a patch of wheat grass with a picture of the couple springing up. Very clean looking and modern. They hung about 100 round white paper lanterns all over the ceiling, which really make a cool statement.

My favorite part was that in the middle of the room there were stairs going down to the basement. This could have been a very awkward feature of the venue, but my cousin covered the railing with ply-wood and white table clothes, so it looked like a high, large table. Then, they displayed photos that they'd taken earlier. The frames of the photos were BEAUTIFUL! My grandpa made them all by hand and the grain in the wood was really SO pretty. I wish I had a photo of them to share.

The food and cake were REALLY good. I made myself sick and the white and brown chocolate fountains. The ear doctor and I danced a little in the corner because the music they were playing was so awesome. Even my grandma and grandpa joined us in a dance.

I took a lot of great notes from their wedding that I can't wait to apply to my own!

The Music

The music at our reception is a big, BIG, B-I-G deal for us. I am such a believer that all of the senses really need to play a part in designing a great event. For instance, you could have the most beautiful wedding in the world with all the right lighting and food and if it's downwind from a barnyard, it's not going to be that much fun for your guests...trust me, I've been there.

We want some kind of music to be playing at all times during our event. Soft, quite, classical music for our intimate ring ceremony. Classy, fun, but somewhat understated standard jazz for background dinner music, and (hopefully) the gypsy swing revue to pep things up for dancing.

The ear doctor and I are heading out to a bar tonight to listen to them play live. So, so, so excited to hear them live.

Here's a question. The ear doctor and I really want to get people up and dancing at the reception. We both swing dance, and will be dancing a ton. However, we also realize that the general public may be a little intimiated to join the dance floor when the music is a littl bit specialized and there are people there who clearly know what they are doing. Would this make you hesitant to dance? If you are the type of person who isn't the first on the floor, what helps you break loose and join in the fun (sans any kind of "liquid courage")?