This is katieo's Pink Wedding!

So amazingly since the wedding I have been overjoyed that IT'S OVER WITH! I haven't blogged, I haven't thought about blogging, I haven't read wedding blogs, my wedding magazine purchasing has come to a halt (thought sometimes I feel a mite tempted, to be honest)....it's just so nice to be married!

But on that note, it was a wonderful wedding. I was determined that it wouldn't go by like a blur, but guess what? It did! A fun, pink and brown blur but a blur nonetheless! In the end, it all went off without a hitch! Not a single hitch. Well, I did get a call from my florist 2 days prior telling me that my white asters came in moldy so she suggested using CARNATIONS! GACK! No offense if you like them but Carnations were not an option. In the end, I put friendly pressure on the situation and let her know I was disappointed in the fact that they weren't offering me any sort of discount for not providing me with what I ordered but ended up getting my white asters! They Fed Exed them! But then they did a horrible job arranging them. My mother in law saved the day with my bouquet though and was able to make it look a little better. At least they were pretty flowers! yay!

And the honeymoon was even better! On our wedding night we ended up being upgraded to the BEST room in the house and they didn't even know we'd just gotten married! But once I told them (after finding out we got the coolest room ever!) they sent up a flower and amazing champagne! We stayed at the Hotel DeLuxe here in Portland, OR. Great hotel!
www.hoteldeluxe.com

For our honeymoon we flew to Vancouver, BC, and stayed at the Pacific Palisades for 7 days! Great location to be if you dont' have a car! We took the bus and sky train everywhere...as well as the SeaBus. Very very fun! I got to catch up on my sleep by taking a nap ever day before hitting the city at night! It was wonderful! And they have an awesome pool/health club there.
www.pacificpalisadeshotel.com

Anyway! The wedding was a blast! So far I have heard it described as enchanting, whimsical, unique, fun, attention to detail, outstanding, beautiful, funky, etc! Bullseye! Can you believe my photography was FREE? I have awesome friends! (of course I gave them something for it! but it was essentially free!)...the photos look grainy on here because just saved them from my facebook and then reposted them so they're a little weird looking.

Good luck to you all with your wedding planning! It was fun to get all my planning madness out of my head and onto the web!

Take a look! All the details are done, all the treats are made, everything is assembled and in the bag! Just awaiting delivery!

Where did I get my stuff?
- Pink Canvas Bags: www.JiffyShirts.com
- Portland maps/guides/brochures : Pioneer Square Visitor Center
- Glassine bags: www.paperzone.com
- Water bottles, pretzels, gummi bears, gold fish, animal crackers: COSTCO!
- Rice Krispy treats - I made these and then got some melties at Michael's in the wedding colors to dip them in....then topped them off with sprinkles!
- Water bottle labels - I designed them on the computer, printed/cut them and attached them with a couple zots.
- bag labels: www.karensmallbone.com ....the same lables I used on the favor boxes.

Whew! They're done! Now I just need to deliver them :) Can't do that until I get my keys out of the trunk!

So I have made a couple honest-to-goodness discoveries in this whole wedding planning process....1.) I am super anal, 2.) I am super detail oriented. ha! Maybe I knew I was a little anal but really, I think I use to flatter myself that I was laid back as well as under the misconception that I have no knack for details. Apparently everyone around me knew these things about me...just not me :)

So my last meeting at the Church/Reception area I brought 5 boxes of things I wanted to set up before hand to see EXACTLY how it would look on the day of the wedding. I have had such a vision in my head and I've been pretty anxious that the vision won't match reality. The two main things I set up were my S'mores station and one of the guest tables.

S'mores Table - The tall vase will be filled with graham crackers, the apothecary jar will have pink/brown large sized marshmallow and the small glass jar with chocolate and the side tables will have the s'more roasters, vases with the roasting forks and a paper decorated vase with white alliums.

For awhile I was worried the table clothes for the S'mores tables were too short and I wanted to get long ivory table cloths to put under them to hide the table frame....but once I set it all up I REALLY loved the cute, fun look it has with the short table clothes.

Guest Tables - 10 tables with ivory table clothes and alternating between brown with pink polka dot tops and pink with brown polka dots. I only have the brown with pink table top cloth pictured. Since we're just having desserts we are using small plates and forks. But I still wanted to have place settings so that the tables didn't look so bare. It still looked empty with just the place settings so I added the boxed favors! And the centerpieces will be filled with water and have a floating candle at the top.

I am really excited to see what it all looks like put together! The columns pictured in the reception hall will have pink and natural colored paper lanterns hanging along and across the room!

Take a look! Tell me what you all think!!!!

3 days to go! And today I locked my keys in the trunk! I'm grounded until my fiance can get here and let me into my car.

Coming up next.....THE COMPLETED OOT BAGS!

I AM GETTING MARRIED VERY VERY SOON! Wow. Lists! I have had a lot of them....and I still have a lot of them. But thank God they are getting smaller! and less complex :)

It's time to relax, do what I can but focus on enjoying the company around me. Plus, pamper myself! Or rather, be pampered by others...namely my bridemaids who are paying for all my spa services! WOOHOO! I'll be all waxed and massaged by the end of this week!

Wow. I am just so amazed that it's almost here! Is anyone else close to their day and totally freaking excited? What are you doing to keep things cool and fun and as uncrazed as possible?

I've been working like mad to get all my little DIY projects done before the wedding! And trust me, I have never really been a girl who took time to DIY so it's been a learning process and I've probably done everything the really really long/hard way. At least it's getting done!


- Attaching decorative paper/ribbon to cylinder vases and adding two artificial alliums to each vase
- Attaching ribbon/tags to all my containers (water/punch, s'more station glass storage containers, vases, decorative tins, etc etc)
- Adding fabric and ribbon to styrofoam board to hang polaroid pictures of guests as they arrive for the wedding.
- Adding fabric to 8 styrofoam boards and transforming them into picture boards for the reception....I have 5 more to go...Chris' and the boards with "our" pictures.
- Arranging blossoms/branches for ceremony decor
- Printing, cutting, glueing and assembling all wedding programs
- Adding ribbon, labels, tissue paper, punch out cards and tulip bulbs to all favor boxes and sealing/tying ribbons.
- Sorting through all my wedding stuff, packing it in boxes and labelling so people know what to do with all that stuff.
- pack up all OOT bags, delivery to guests (2 days before)
- assembling center pieces (not pictured)
- designed/produced my own invitations with a custom logo design stamp....they got rave reviews!
- set up our own awesome polaroid photo/pink and brown themed website for the wedding with all the information guests could need!

and lots lots more :) I am so ready for the wedding! Even if I'm not quite ready!

As much fun as planning a wedding has been, I am ready for the wedding to happen...and ready to move on to the HONEYMOON!!! I went to a "girlie" party yesterday and spent a small fortune one goodies to equip myself for our honeymoon :) *giggle* Anyway! TMI on that front.

Our first night as a married couple will be spent here in Portland at a very nice hotel! Check out the pictures of the lobby, restaurant and film screening room!

The next day we'll hop on a plane to Canada and moon overy each other for 7 days! I have heard nothing but good things regaring our hotel in Canada. I work with a few people who have stayed there and they love it! They have modern art and free wine tasting

I absolutely love our favors! We have about 100 guests coming to our wedding. I have 120 bottles of Jones Soda...60 in Cream Soda and 60 in Root Beer. We ordered them from myjones.com. What's awesome is that you upload your own picture and make your own label. And you also get to include a nice message to your guests in the space above the Nutrition Contents.

While at first I wanted to have a candy buffet for our guests, I realized that it's been pretty overdone. I went ahead and ordered the take out boxes with wire handles and custom labels....then tried to think of what to put in the boxes. My mom came up with the brilliant idea to fill the boxes with a tulip bulb! How perfect! Our wedding is right at the beginning of Fall! People could plant the bulbs around the time of our wedding and they will bloom in the Spring. And just as with any other favors...not every guest will take one home. So we can just plant the tulip leftovers! Yay!

Personalized Jones Sodas: www.myjones.com
Take out boxes: www.papermart.com
Ribbon: Wal-Mart ($1.48/10 yards)
Labels: www.karensmallbone.com
Tulips: www.woodenshoe.com

To your left you will see one of my two lovely flower girls modeling her flower girl dress. I did a lot of magazine clipping to get an idea of what i wanted and then forwarded all of that to my mom. She then set out to find material and VOILA! She happened upon $1/yard pink taffeta and some other cute pink with brown polka dots. She called me often to update me on the dress-making progress. At first I had been envisioning a pink dress with a brown sash that had pink polka dots, but I actually really like the pink with brown. She'll also be add a tulle slip underneath to give it some POOF!

My friend, Erin, is crocheting the cupcake purses (will be in the wedding colors, no blue) the flower girls will use and the cupcake pillow for the ringbearer. I can't resist cute!

I am not sure what the ringbearer will wear. I hope to find a great little bow tie for him though!

It was a glowing and misty evening. Our usual spot for special occaisions is Officer's Row so I thought nothing of it when Christopher suggested taking a romantic walk on my birthday. He had stopped right in front of the tree where we had our first kiss but got spooked by all the people who were around (apparently he was unprepared for this possibility....and I had no idea why he was sppoked). He led me down the way a little further and in the rain asked me to marry him! The rain hid my tears of joy!
---------------------End Sappy Transmission--------------------------------

We hear it all the time..."I want them to feel like they can wear their dress again." All brides say it. I guess I became one of them. I really had no idea what I wanted in dresses...besides pink and brown. I wanted some sort of "look" without it being completely uniform. After see ariadress.com in a gazillion wedding magazines I checked them out online. They have such a wide range of sizes and great fabric!

My next step was to forward the link to my girls. They all chose a dress they liked and my one "stipulation" was that the actual dress be in brown with the exception of my Matron of Honor who would have a pink dress. They could choose pink accents if they wanted or just have it all in the dark brown. At first I was going to go with the chocolate eyelet for all the girls (because it's cute and it was more affordable!)...but they changed their prices and the eyelet was just as spendy as the silk shantung. So...I left it up to them.

And it turns out they all have FANTASTIC taste! Jess chose the strapless in chocolate eyelet with no pink details, Marni chose the sleeveless in the chocolate eyelet with a blush pink sash and blush pink double hem, Shannon chose the halter in the espresso silk shantung with an espresso sash and a blush pink double hem and my sister, the MOH, chose a two-piece silk shantung peony pink number with a petal pink double hem..she added 6" to the skirt for a lovely tea-length.

Since all of my BM live all over the USA, I haven't gotten to see their dresses yet. I guess they just arrived and they all fit! I'm hoping to get pictures this week! What a huge relief that there have been no dress disasters thus far!

I debated a lot over this issue: to do or not to do OOT bags? We have a lot of people coming to our wedding who are not local. I really wanted to do something for them but was convinced I could NOT afford it. Until I saw a post on www.weddingbee.com. Mrs. Lemon made her OOT bags for about $3/each! I couldn't believe it! It all of a sudden became a possibility for me to make this happen!

I hope Mrs. Lemon doesn't mind but I basically copied her whole format....well with the exception of the bag itself, colors and logo.

The Contents (yet to be assembled):
- Waterbottles (with homemade labels...pictures to come later)
- Glassine bags filled with 1.) animal crackers/gummi bears from Costco, 2.) goldfish/mini pretzels, 3.) a couple rice crispy treats (one dipped half in chocolate, the other half dipped in strawberry candy melts),
- Maps/travel info on Portland and our own personalized list of places we love to frequent. As well as a list of phone numbers they might need. And maybe a newspaper (we'll see!).
- And of course, a personalized card/tag to our guests thanking them for traveling so far in order to a part of the most important day of our lives (thus far).

I don't have a picture of the earrings I'm wearing. I've pierced my ears a lot and they kept getting infected. Because of that, I gave up. But I found some fabulous clip on pink pearl earrings. Once I can find a picture I'll post it! A very good friend of mine is also knitting me an ivory 5/8" sleeve shrug to wear with my ivory wedding dress. Did I mention I love David's Bridal? That's where I got my dress and it is truly perfect! And it didn't break the bank!

Necklace: Etsy.com
Clutch: Target.com
Dress: David's Bridal
Veil: wedding-veil.com
Shoes: ....I can't remember where I bought them!

I just wanted to throw in a few pictures of cute little bits that will be the nuts/bolts of our charming decor for the reception. Probably more to come, later.

It may not seem that there is much rhyme or reason to all the different fabrics I chose....well, besides the colors obviously. But trust me! I have a vision! I guess in 32 days we'll see if it all pulls together!

These are matsumoto asters. And they are in the exact colors I want. this is exactly what I have been wanting for my flowers! So cheap too!

I love polka dots! You'll see them everhwhere at my wedding! Even my cake! My awesome FMIL is making this cake for me...but it'll be 3 tiers instead of 4.

I am so excited to get married in this beautiful church! It's amazing that the city use to own the church and was going to tear it down. Glad that Debbie and her hubby bought it and let people have dream weddings there now! Lucky for us it has a great reception hall! Two in one :) Not that it's cheap!! Pretty expensive but definitely worth it!