This is cvhoover's Green Wedding!

Forgot to give the links for my blogs in an earlier post....

http://www.reverieblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.thebitchydeli.blogspot.com/

Sorry this is late, it's been a crazy last few weeks in my life. Our bridal shower was wonderful and we had a great time. Many friends and family members attended the party, and we received some wonderful gifts. Everyone was so generous and I hope they all had a good time. Pete and I sure did!

Here are some out takes from the party.

I just started up my new blogs, "reverie" and "The Bitchy Deli". I like blogging (okay, it's addictive) but I'm not going to blog about things that aren't somehow wedding related on here, so the other blogs are a great forum for me. Check them out if you have a chance.

And thanks to everyone who has stopped by this blog and left comments or checked out my posts. I enjoy this community immensely!

Yikes--is it really only 30 days to go? More posts to come....

I finally finished my registries this week (see China entry below). And since I live with my fiance, we already have a lot of the usual stuff people register for. So, I figured I'd pick things I'd like to upgrade, or odd/specialty tools/appliances/etc. that we can use but don't have yet, or fun stuff for decorating (to replace the old beat-up plates and other serving pieces that we currently have).

I chose four places, which is a lot, but I think that's a good thing. Every time I'm invited to a shower there isn't enough stuff to choose from. I always end up getting the couple some random small utensils and something boring like a paper shredder, just to make up the amount of money I want to spend on them. I'd much rather have a wide variety of places and gifts to choose from, and get them something cool/pretty/stylish/etc. that they'll love and that I'll love giving them.

I'm registered at Anthropologie (under "Wish List"); Bed, Bath, And Beyond; Crate and Barrel; and Target. The Anthro registry is pretty much all fun, pretty stuff, although we can certainly use what I chose. But I did find lots of cool stuff at the other three stores, including my china, serving pieces, and some nice appliances. I've posted some photos of various things I've registered for.

This is the china I registered for (available at Bed, Bath and Beyond and other stores). I have seen it in bridal magazines over the last year and I'm always drawn to it. I even clipped the ads out and put it in my wedding binder.

So when I was finishing my wedding registries this week, it was a no brainer what china I wanted to register for. Not that I need china, but I did get a vintage-looking china cabinet last summer (from Crate and Barrel outlet). And the colors on the "Chirp" china are the colors I want to do in my kitchen. So pretty!

I want to wear something unique for my reception shoes. I do have some Sam and Libby flats that I just purchased (see post under Wedding Shoes) but I wanted to see what else is out there. I stumbled upon a "Build Your Own Converse" shoe at the Converse web site. I used my wedding colors (green, pink, chocolate, cream) and made my own shoes. I haven't ordered them yet, only because I just went crazy at DSW today, but I think I will. I'm a bit of a shoe fashionista and I love the whole rainbow of styles and colors, so for me this is right up my alley. Plus it's a cool keepsake.

Bonus: You can add a personalized message to the heel stripe or side of your shoe! Granted, it's only a small message, but I'm going to put "8 2 2008" for our wedding date (for some reason the shoe editor won't take punctuation in the message).

Check it out!

I'm going to wear Bulgari Rose Essentielle. I absolutely love this perfume. Not like the old-lady-style rose perfume, but a fresh, lovely scent that smells wonderful all day. It has just the right amount of elegance to it, yet is natural and very pretty.

Does anyone know where I can find vintage-style Save the Date magnets, or even post cards? I have daisies and birds as themes in my wedding, and most magnets I've seen are fairly modern, or don't feature vintage-looking birds or daisies. I like very simple, graphic birds (like the black ink ones I've shown) or more realistic ones. I even like the ones that look like wallpaper.

Here are some more prints/colors/etc. that I like.

Has anyone heard of this tradition at weddings? At my sister's wedding reception, my mom forced me to help her adorn my sister in a handmade apron featuring little plastic babies all over it. Apparently this is some sort of Polish wedding tradition (my mom is 100% Polish). Last I heard, the apron is ready and waiting to be ceremoniously brought out at my own reception....

As mentioned before, I'm planning on having two pairs of wedding shoes: heels for the ceremony and flats for the reception.

I think I've found the flats I want. I already own this exact same shoe but in red and in pink. So I know they fit and are comfy. The bows will match the bows on my dress, and the color is in a similar shade. I also thought it'd be cool to do my flats in a color like green or pink.

As far as the heels go, I'm still looking. They need to be a certain height so that my dress isn't dragging on the ground. Here are some shoes I found online so far that I like.

I still like these blue ones though....

After the reception we'll retire to the sweetheart cabin nearby. We've reserved it for 3 days, so we don't have to rush off to our honeymoon the next day. This way we can relax and and get ready for our flight (hopefully to Hawaii!).

This will be our pastor, Pastor Bob.

I will be arriving at the ceremony (maybe with my dad on board) in a carriage. Borderline cheesy, yes, but I don't want to hike through the grass in my gown and heels.

After the ceremony Pete and I will go on a carriage ride through the park to relax, have some photo ops, and catch our breath before we go to the reception.

We will be getting married at White Pines State Park in Mt. Morris, IL. The ceremony will be held at the Wedding Canyon (yes, cheesy name) across the street from the park. There are eight sites to choose from, so in the spring Pete and I'll go check them out and see which one we like best.

The reception is at an old CCC lodge in the park. We will have the large banquet room with an attached garden tent.

I found this pic online somewhere in the last week or so. I can't remember where or what I was searching for. Does anyone recognize these shoes? They're very cute and I'd like to find them.

Ceremony:

Prelude music: A mix of love songs
Processional: "Morning Has Broken" by Cat Stevens (yes, he annoys me too, but I do love this song)
Bride's music: "Angel Standing By" by Jewel
Unity candle: Undetermined right now; either snippet of an acoustic song (I'm looking at "Sun King" by the Beatles) or a live solo
Recessional: "Theme From 'A Summer Place'"

Reception:

Cocktail Hour: We're thinking of an opening of love songs, but then doing something different for the remainder of the cocktail hour
Our first dance: "He's Funny That Way" by Billie Holiday
Parents' dance: "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong (cliche, yes, but we both choke up when we hear this song)
Dance music: So far we're including the classics like "At Last" by Etta James, "Can't Help Falling In Love" by Elvis, etc.

My dress is cafe/champagne. The bridesmaid dresses are mossy green. The flower girl dresses are ivory with mossy green sashes. The flowers are pink/green/cream/white gerbera daisies.

So a good complimentary color (to me) is chocolate brown. I saw these tuxes at the tuxedo shop and thought they looked very elegant. I am pairing them with ivory shirts, and mossy green ties/vests for the groomsmen, ivory tie/vest for my fiance Pete. Pete seemed a bit surprised by the idea but said he'd wear whatever I wanted him to, that he only cared about the food at our reception. We are both artistic types and I think the whole look/color scheme suits our tastes (so to speak, ha ha).

I personally like chocolate tuxes and don't think the black tuxes go with all the other colors in the wedding. I've seen very mixed opinions about them online. People compare them to the pale blue tuxes of the '70s and say they will look dated in 20 years. But what wedding WON'T look dated in 20 years?

What do you think?

I'm currently registered at Bed, Bath and Beyond; Target; Crate and Barrel, and Pottery Barn. But I'd love to get stuff from Anthropologie! Here are some things I love (much, much more to come)....

I'd like to have my hair down, wavy, thick (yeah, right!) and perhaps have daisies in my hair. These are samples of stuff I found online.

We are planning on going to Hawaii (I can't wait!). Here are some pix from some hotels we are looking into.

These are some ideas I found online for decorations, favors, etc.

Our photographer will be Margaret Castellanos, a wonderfully talented person! Check out her stuff at http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/gallery.asp?memberID=108595.

Right now my friend Georgia from work is making my invitation. She's using birds and daisies/flowers as my theme. They will be simple and modern looking with an antique flavor. These are some samples of birds/flowers/invitations I like.

These are wedding cakes that I love. I'm working with our cake maker to design a cake with daisies and birds on it. I also have birds on my invitations.

I love, love, LOVE this chocolate brown cake! Obviously I'll do daisies, but still. Love it.

I'm planning on doing gerbera daisies in shades of pink, green, cream, chocolate, and white. So pretty! Here are some sample pix I found online. My future m-i-l will be doing my flowers.

This is the bridesmaids' dress, the groomsmen's tuxes, and the flower girl dresses. The men will have green vests/ties to match the bridesmaid dresses. The flower girls will have ivory dresses with a matching green sashes.

My engagement and wedding rings.

This is my wedding dress. It's an Ashley Jordan strapless A-line dress with cafe lace over champagne satin. There is a bow detail at the front and back of the waist, with ribbons trailing down the back. It has daisy and leaf appliques, pearls, crystals, and a scalloped hem. The chapel train completes the look. The matching veil also has a scalloped edge with pearls, crystals, and beaded flowers scattered throughout.