This is mrscrousetobe's Black Wedding!

I can't believe I am going to become Mrs. Crouse in 19 days!!

It seems like it was forever ago when Eric actually proposed to me.....and now we're less than 3 weeks away....WOW!!!! The time has really flown. I thought the planning would be done by now....but these last minute things I need to finish....UGH!!!!

No stressing over it......what gets done - gets done....what doesn't - oh well.....There are more important things to worry about than the little details.......

So how is everyone else's planning going?? Are you stressing or just letting things happen??

Best of Luck to you all...

WOOHOO!! Can't wait for our Hawaiian Honeymoon!!

After much thought and deliberation between Australia, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and California, we finally decided on Hawaii. We booked the vacation long ago and made our final payment last week.

We even upgraded the flights to first class from lots of recommendations from family and friends.....

I can't wait to go and see all the sites, enjoy our sunset catarmaran cruise, and luau.....

PARADISE.......

So I finalized the flowers with the florist this past Sunday.....

My bouquet will be a cascade of yellow roses, yellow mini roses, and yellow calla lilies. There will be rhinestone bling added to the center of each rose. Since a bouquet holder has to be used for cascade bouquets, I decided to make a hand-tied looking holder that the florist can slide the holder into. My holder will be wrapped in my Mom's wedding gown and I will be adding rhinestone bling to it as well.

My Matron of Honor and Bridesmaids will be carrying 7-9 yellow roses with bear grass. The will be hand-tied in black ribbon and have 3-row stretch rhinestone bracelets around the bottom of them - which will match their 10-row stretch rhinestone bracelets that they'll be wearing.

The Flower Girls will be carrying miniature versions of the bridesmaids.

I added some picture samples of additional bouquets with bear grass for samples of how I'm picturing the bear grass. I'm letting it up to the florist to do what she thinks is best. I also am letting her determine whether the stems should be completely covered or they should stick out the bottom of the wraps.....

My Mom's corsage will be a pin-on of yellow roses and yellow calla lillies. It will be longer and skinnier versus shorter and fuller.

My Grandmother and FH's Aunt and Niece will have a few yellow roses for their corsages. No rhinestones.

All other corsages will be smaller than Grandmother, Aunt, and Niece's and again no rhinestones. I added some picture samples for these as well.

FH's boutonniere will be two yellow calla lilies and 1 yellow rose with bear grass looped around in behind. Rhinestone bling will be added to the center of the rose. The boutonniere will be wrapped in black ribbon and the 3-row stretch rhinestone bracelets that are being used for the girls bouquets will be cut and wrapped around the top of the stems of all boutonnieres. FH's will have more rows than Groomsmen.

Best Man's will be 2 yellow roses with bear grass, wrapped in black ribbon, and trimmed with the rhinestone bling.

Groomsmen will be 1 yellow rose with bear grass and wrapped in black ribbon and trimmed with the rhinestone bling.

The Ring Bearers will have mini versions of the Groomsmen.

My Dad's will be 1 yellow calla lily and 1 yellow rose with the bear grass. It will also be covered in black ribbon and rhinestone bling added to the stem.

FH's nephew will have 1 yellow rose and 1 yellow mini rose, bear grass, wrapped in black and no rhinestones.

All other boutonnieres will be a single yellow rose with bear grass, wrapped in black and no rhinestone bling.

I decided to leave the rhinestone bling for only the wedding party and my parents.

The florist is making two altar arrangements that will be mainly white filler flowers including gladiolas since those are the flowers my Mom carried for her wedding. Yellow roses will also be added to the arrangements.

I will be making the 3 memory flowers for his Mom, Dad, and Sister. They will be white calla lilies with rhinestone bling added. They are the real touch flowers so that they'll be able to be placed in the pew without dieing half way through the wedding. I am also doing the pew bows and arrangement for the memory candles and unity candle which will also contain white/ivory calla lilies and rhinestone bling.

WOOHOO!!! It's only 3 months away....I can't believe how fast it came....

I'm getting a little nervous wondering if I have everything covered...but I think I'm pretty safe knowing I have most of it covered. The biggest is going to be the marriage license since the FH works the craziest schedule and the courthouse isn't open on the weekends....we'll figure something out.....

So is anyone else worried if they have everything covered??

Does anyone have a list of things so I can compare to make sure I'm not missing anything??

So my Mom's dress is ankle length and black. It's a tank style dress with a jacket and has sparkles all over it. For lack of a better description it looks like dots of black glitter all over it. Hard to explain...sorry!!

So I was originally going to do a wrist corsage of yellow roses and yellow calla lilies for her with a rhinestone bracelet. But with the long sleeves on the jacket, I don't think that option is going to look right.

So now I am debating between a bouquet, pin-on corsage, or purse corsage. The pin-on corsage will probably be longer like the original wrist corsage.

So I ordered my blended family unity candle and memorial candles from Jean M and received them last week. I love them.

The Blended Family Unity candle that Eric, his daughter, and I are lighting is a 12" square candle with the following wording on it:

Pamm Eric
United in Marriage
-----
United in Family

(his daughter's name)

United in Love

November 6, 2010

The candle will be wrapped in black ribbon with rhinestone trim. Don't mind the pictures as I forgot to take pics last night as I was working on it, so they are just pieced together to give you the look. The candles look much better in person. LOL!

The memory candles for his Mom, Dad, and Sister are 9" square candles and will be all tied together with a thicker black ribbon and the same rhinestone trim. It will also have a rhinestone brooch in the center that matches the one on the top layer of our cake. Again, since I forgot to take pics, it's a drawing I put together when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the candles.

OK - So I have redesigned my wedding cake for like the 10th time....but this is THE ONE!!! It is FINALIZED with cake flavors and fillings as well! I have my original leopard print I wanted - but switched it up to black and white...I got to keep my original mongoram and added in the damask....I still have my black ribbons and rhinestones and the bow & brooch......and the newest piece with the criss-cross pattern that reminds me of the vests the guys will be wearing with their tuxes. And of course, it will all be topped off with the yellow roses with rhinestone accents and rhinestone "C" cake topper! It's Everything in One!!!

OK - So I know that I am going with all yellow flowers....

Yellow roses and yellow calla lilies for my bouquet.....

Yellow roses for my bridesmaids and flower girls bouquets....


Attached you will see a picture of my bouquet and two different versions of the bridesmaids bouquets....I think I know what I am going to do for theirs but not 100% positive yet....of course with a November wedding, the time of year may be my final reasoning behind the bouquets as well...

The first pic is my bouquet....

The second pic is the style of an all rose bouquet for the bridesmaids, however, the 3rd pic shows the actual color of the yellow roses.

The 4th pic is the second choice of the bridesmaids bouquet with roses and freesia....

The 5th and 6th pics are both of the bridesmaids bouquets with rhinestones added - which is what my sister will have as Matron-of-Honor.

So which style for the bridesmaids do you like better? I'm leaning towards the roses and freesia version....but if freesia is not readily available and will be very expensive in November, then I may just go with the all rose bouquet again and maybe have some bear grass or something added to it to give me the effect of the wispiness with the freesia.....

NOTE: My bouquet was originally yellow calla lilies with ivory or white freesia. I replaced all the freesia with yellow roses - regular sized roses and mini roses.

My flower girls will actually be carry mini yellow roses that will mimic the bridesmaids bouquets.

I finally picked out my gown....it wasn't the original one I liked, but one that my Mom, sister-in-law, and I all agreed on......

I've also attached a picture of my shoes. I will be adding rhinestone buttons to the center of each rose on the shoes.

I also got a great deal on the gown.....the store I bought my gown has a price matching policy. Their policy is very vague but I was able to find the gown for almost $100 less plus a free veil up to $120 and a free pair of shoes up to $50 anything over the $120 or $50 I pay the difference. Well the store matched the price of the gown and the conditions. So now I have to go pick out a veil and a pair of shoes from them as well....So maybe now I'll get the yellow shoes I wanted but settled for the ones in the pic because I couldn't find yellow ones I liked and were comfortable!

OK - So I get the best of both worlds....as you know I was originally going to have leopard print accents for my wedding, but when I saw the black and white damask with the yellow accents I fell in love....So after much debate, I showed the FH and he agreed that we had to do the black and white with yellow......So I decided I would still have my leopard print.....just for the Bridal Shower......I can't wait......

We decided on a purse and shoe theme for the decorations with black and white or ivory with leopard print. I'm pretty much letting the bridesmaids run with this. I have the leopard print material I was going to use for their scarves, so they are going to use it to decorate. The centerpieces are going to be purses filled with various items - so instead of handing out baskets for door prizes....the guests will get a purse filled with something......I think my sister-in-law is going to make yellow chocolate shoes for the favors....which ties in the wedding since I wanted to wear yellow shoes.....

So with the best of both worlds...here's a pic of the cake I want....it depends on if the baker makes the purse out of rice crispy treats or out of cake....if it's out of cake then I just want the purse and a pair of shoes on a board.....if it's out of the rice crispy treats....then it will be on top of a cake......I've also attached the shower invite I designed.....