Honeymoon in Panorama

I know many people (Moms) are waiting patiently for some wedding photos to be posted.  We're still waiting on those, so I thought to tide you over, I'd post a video I compiled of things I filmed on our honeymoon.  All the video was shot on my smart phone, so the quality is about as good as you can expect from a smart phone.  The music is "Arizona" by Sunmay.  Happy viewing!

Whirlwinds & Reminders

First and foremost, for those of you attending the wedding, I would like to send out a reminder that the ceremony starts at 4:00pm, which means that it would be good to arrive sometime around 3:30pm

On another note, the past couple of weeks have been such a whirlwind, getting everything ready for the big day.  The to do lists are getting shorter (thankfully), and the excitement is growing!  We have ever increasing piles of wedding items in our house - cases of beer, crepe paper streamers, dried wheat - you know, the normal sort of thing. While we have a few major projects left, I'm feeling confident that we should get it all done.
Things left to finish -

• Sew flags onto rope (for bunting)
• Make groomsmen & ring bearer bowties. 
• Make ring bearer suspenders.
• Make bridesmaid's jewelry. 
• Soak labels off of wine bottles. 
• Print and apply new wine labels. 
• Sort & clean vases. 
• Meet with flower supplier in Snohomish. 
• Take dress in to get pick-ups. 
• Pick Nick's suit up from tailor. 
• Make signs for various tables.  
• And a few other things...

While it may sound like a lot to do (it is), reinforcements will start to arrive on Monday night!

Thanks for all of your love and support and we look forward to seeing everyone!

Wedding Colors in Action

As the final day gets closer (26 days), I thought I've give you all a peek into how we've used our wedding colors.  If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll remember that back in January I shared our Official Wedding Colors, based on French Paper's Pop-Tone collection.  The colors themselves have shifted slightly, due to what's been available, but I think you'll find we stayed pretty close to those original selections.

Original Pop-Tone Color: Bubblegum

From left to right: Pop-tone paper (Bubblegum); Print from Selena's bridesmaid dress; Fabric for Suzanne's corsage and/or hair accessory; Crepe paper streamers for decoration, Ikea Fantastisk pink napkins; Ikea Kunnig floral napkins. 

Original Pop-Tone Color: Spearmint

From left to right: Pop-tone paper (Spearmint); Print from Amera's bridesmaid dress; Fabric for  Alex's bow-tie; Crepe paper streamers for decoration 

Original Pop-Tone Color: Berrylicious (this color was not in our original web post, but was selected once we got the paper samples).

From left to right: Pop-tone paper (Berrylicious); Print from Maria's bridesmaid dress; Fabric for Robbie's bow-tie, Crepe paper streamers for decoration; Ikea Fantastisk napkins.

Original Pop-Tone Color: Gumdrop Green:

From left to right: Pop-tone paper (Gumdrop Green); Print from Ginger's bridesmaid dress; Fabric for Brent's bow-tie; Crepe paper streamers for decoration; Ikea Fantastisk napkins;  Ikea Kunnig floral napkins.

Original Pop-Tone Color: Grape Jelly

 From left to right: Pop-tone paper (Grape Jelly); Print from Rosie's bridesmaid dress; Fabric for Patten's bow-tie; Crepe paper streamers for decoration

Original Pop-Tone Color: Lemon Drop

From left to right: Pop-tone paper (Lemon Drop); Print from Anna's bridesmaid dress; Fabric for Jason's bow-tie; Crepe paper streamers for decoration; Ikea Fantastisk napkin

Original Pop-Tone Color: Blu Raspberry

From left to right: Pop-tone paper (Blu Raspberry); Fabric from flower-girl dresses; Fabric for ring-bearer's suspenders & bow-ties (I know this is navy, not blu raspberry);  Crepe paper streamers for decoration

Final Bridesmaid Selections Are In!

Okay, so I have final dress selections from all of my bridesmaids now.  For your viewing pleasure, here are the beautiful dresses they will be wearing. 

From left to right, top to bottom: Selena, Amera, Maria, Ginger, Rosalie, and Anna.

Click on each girl's name to find their dress online!

T-Minus 111 days.

One hundred and eleven days from now, Nick and I will be saying "I do."  The last few months have seen a flurry of progress towards making the big day happen, and with less than four months to go it seems like we've got a smooth ride ahead.  At this point, mostly we're just waiting for RSVPs to come in, so we can get final numbers (hint, hint, folks).

Here is what we've done so far:

1. Found a venue.  

Woodland Meadow Farms is exactly what we were looking for.  The ceremony and reception will both take place there, as it offers a little bit of everything. There are two separate locations on the property for us to get ready - the Wheelie Bar for Nick and the Garden Cottage for me, which means that we can come early to set up and not be stressed out about arriving on time for the ceremony.  There is a beautiful wooden arbor that the ceremony will take place under, and the rest of the grounds will provide space for our reception.  Amee and John, the owners of the venue provide all the tables and chairs, along with one 20x60 canopy and two smaller canopies.  That alone meant that we're only dealing with one vendor instead of two.  One of the best parts of the property is the fire pit - I imagine we'll be roasting some s'mores later in the evening.

2. Found a caterer. 

Nick and I wanted a very specific menu for our wedding. Two musts were fried chicken and macaroni and cheese.  We had quite a hard time finding a caterer who would make these items for us, within our budget, and travel to the Snohomish area.  Then my mother came up with a priceless nugget of information.  My (and her) old boss Cindy had gone into business with her son, a wonderful chef, to create Scooter's Custom Catering.  Cindy and Scooter presented us with a menu that was exactly what we wanted and for a very reasonable price. They'll also be providing us with our table linens and dishes - again, two vendors in one!  I'm so happy that we found them, and that it's somebody we know.  I feel like we'll be extra taken care of on our wedding day.  \




3. Picked out wedding party fashions. 
After spending countless hours on wedding blogs (that would be me, not Nick), we finally decided on what our wedding party will be wearing.

The Ladies: 

The ladies in my bridal party will all be wearing floral print 50s style dresses in our wedding colors. Each dress will be slightly different, as the ladies all have free choice in what exact dress they will purchase.  They will also wear full petticoats underneath.  Suzanne, Nick's sister, who is in his groom's party will be wearing a solid grey dress in the same style, also with a petticoat underneath.  Most the the dresses are coming from Queen of Holloway and ModCloth.





The Men: 

The men will all be wearing a white button up short sleeve shirt and grey slacks. I found great slacks and shirts at JCPenney, which makes them easy to purchase for everyone, and nice on the budget.  Also, I will be making bow ties for all of them, but have not yet decided if they will wear suspenders or belts. If we go with suspenders, I will most likely make those as well.

 

4. Found our own outfits. 
Nick and I are both in possession of what we will be wearing on the big day.  Nick found a great suit from Asos and I ordered a custom dress from Queen of Holloway.  My dress is not perfect, for the price that wasn't my expectation and I will be making some small alterations before the wedding.  No, you may not see pictures of either Nick's suit or my dress. I will however share pictures of the adorable shoes I purchased from ModCloth.

Three Weeks in a Confined Space

Originally, we had planned to go to Spain for our honeymoon.  This was sometime before the reality of how much a wedding really costs set in.  For some time, I had been playing around with the idea of going on a road trip to some of the National Parks, but hadn’t mentioned it to Nick.  We had both talked about a desire to see the National Parks, but never as part of our honeymoon.  Then, Nick brought it up to me.  We figured that if we’d both thought of the idea separately, then it must be a good one.  Honestly, we won’t be spending much (if any) less money than if we’d gone to Spain, but it feels like an entirely more appropriate Honeymoon.  Spain is a place we’d like to go with Nick’s family, and as his sister Julianna pointed out to us, we were not allowed to take family on our honeymoon.  Also, we’ll get to be gone for much longer than we would if we’d had gone to Spain, hence the title of this blog post. 

Our plan is to rent a Westfalia or Eurovan from either Westfalia Rentals out of Victoria, BC or from Road Trip Oregon out of Portland.  So far, Road Trip Oregon looks like the more promising rental company, since we haven’t been able to get a hold of anyone at Westfalia Rentals.  While Oregon Road Trips is slightly more expensive, they also provide more amenities within their vans.  Another fact drawing us towards the Oregon company is that we’re due to be back in Portland towards the end of our trip for a dear friend’s wedding, so it may turn out to be the best bet after all.  During peak season, Road Trip Oregon charges $1155 per week for a three week rental, and their vans get about 20 miles to the gallon.  While this is not cheap, it is a pretty good deal compared to other types of RV rentals.  Let’s just say that Nick and I are hoping people will notice that we only have a honeymoon registry...

Eurovan from Oregon Road Trips

We will stay at campgrounds along the way, and maybe inside some of the parks, but we will also be staying in hotels.  I know that we will both want a big comfy bed and a nice shower once in a while.  We’re also going to balance camp food with food out.  We both want a comfortable and relaxing honeymoon.  And we like traveling together, so we’re pretty confident in the length and manner of our trip. 

As far as our route goes, we’re not limiting ourselves to National Parks exclusively.  We’d like to stop at/in Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Las Vegas (which is its own sort of park), The Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, possibly Lake Powel, Yellowstone, and possibly Glacier National Park.  We’re not sure which direction we’ll head first, but do know that we will keep to the general loop these locations create.  We had talked about stopping at places like Joshua Tree and the Salton Sea, but they’re just too far out of the way.  

Merced River, Yosemite; Mather Point, Grand Canyon; Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone - via Sunset Magazine

We’d really love to hear feedback from people who have been to these places, and places nearby.  Where are good places to stay, both campgrounds and hotels?  What places should we stop at in between?  Are there parks we should stay at longer than others?  Is there anything we should skip?  Share your experience with us!  If you had to pick half of the locations we’re planning to go to, which ones would you pick and why? OR if you don't have suggestion, tell us a story about your trip to one of these places!