Walk that line

There is a balancing act that anyone who is planning a wedding must walk: how much information to tell a person so they feel informed but not so much they feel like it's all you talk about and your wedding.

For me, I started out not telling anyone much of anything (aside from my fiance, we're the weird people where he'll help with most of every aspect). I didn't want to bog them down in boring stuff like what color we chose for the linens (black with spider web) or how long it took us to find a photographer.

Turned out that wasn't enough, as my best friend started to pelt me with questions like "what color dress should I get?" and "where is this thing gonna be held?" So total secrecy didn't really work either. I fear that I then went overboard.

Soon we were IMing back and forth random cute things we'd found (like some cool fall candle things maybe someone else can use) and I'm sure I was burying my friends in crap I'd made for the wedding (maybe the 3rd e-mail on my tail was a bit much). After no one started talking to me I realized that maybe I'd gone too far the other way.

I'd like to hope I now have both feet on the wire and have my huge balancing stick but it seemed during the shower everyone kept asking us if we had anymore plans to make (honest answer: I sure as hell hope not, it's only 3 months away). And my other bridesmaid (his sister) is feeling left out as she lives 8 hours away.

Though, honestly, I don't expect my wedding party to do much of anything. I am gonna do some stuff with my MOH. Some is tradition (we now know how to make almond bark mints work after a slight disaster for her wedding) and some is just an excuse to hang out. I suppose I view the wedding as something I got myself into and they really shouldn't have to help out with all the boring stuff.

They both are willing to help plan a shower, stand up and have their picture taken a ton of times, and generally put up with me. That's hard enough work to earn them all a gold star in my book.

Free gifts for all

Okay, if you are in anyway affiliated with me or the wedding party that we are trying to arrange, step back now.

Further.



Further.


Don't make me pull out medusa. She hasn't had much to do lately.


I mean it Stinky and freshman.


Okay, they'll at least feel a little bad now if they're peeking.

First off for my sexy taller flower girl (there is still just something funny about a flower girl that can legally drink).This was my second find from etsy.com.(my first was my necklace) They aren't really earrings meant for the day of wedding (though freshman can pull off anything no matter how weird it is) but she absolutely adores pink and black and these just screamed her as soon as I saw them.

Hopefully she can rock these whenever she gets an opportunity.
So she can be a super cute flower girl I also got her a tiara. I won't be wearing one but I thought it'd be really cool if both of the flower girls had their own tiaras so they can be beautiful. (If you can't tell by now Freshman is my accessories friend, who is also going to be doing my hair for the wedding).

My Matron of Honor and best friend Stinky is a whole nother kettle of fish. She barely wears any jewelry, doesn't do well with random crap (so no flasks or that other stuff everyone always gets a bridesmaid) so I thought outside the box a bit for her.She has a 3 and a half year old son (who is also one of our ring bearers) and all of her pictures of him are online. I remember when I was younger loving to flip through scrapbooks and picture books to find pictures of me when I was a baby.

So I collected a bunch of stickers, some cardstock and a lot of rubber cement to make her a scrapbook of her son.It's just amazing to flip through and watch the little-man grow up. I remember when he was just a few weeks old hearing him sneeze for the first time and realize it was just like his mom's.
For my other bridesmaid (fiance's sister) we've been hunting around for a spanish wine. She's really gotten into wine tasting recently and spent some time in Spain (for school). I don't really want to buy it yet for fear that we could have a big mess on our hands. Let's just say the wedding table is not all that stable.

Like the kids, for the girls I got them each something a bit different from the norm. None of my friends are the same so I never could have pulled off the "tote with cool things in it." But I hope that they'll all enjoy it. If not we can always get them real quick some Thomas bubbles too.

Ah, I've been hit!

Okay more like tagged. It was Jen in the conservatory with the pen. Here's the game. Make up your own 6 word memoir title. Here are the rules:
1. Write the title to your own memoir using 6 words.
2. Post it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who tagged you.
4. Tag 5 more blogs.

So let's see here:

It's a nerdy life for me- The tale of how to survive being a female nerd in a nerd eat nerd world. Also how to really floor guys that you know so much about something.

I've tagged

Guilty
Kara
Porcelain
Sarah
Jenna

So watch for their memoirs. Mine shall hit bookstores October 18th, 3008

The official flower girl/ring bearer set

This is gonna be my first in a threeish day series on gifts for other people. First off I thought I'd start with the fun ones, the kids. (If any of the kids in my wedding are looking right now you better turn away. Or at least not be able to read yet).

I am not real big into the various gifts and keepsakes that wedding sites will advertise as the best things to get your flower girl or ring bearer (who wants a book on how to be a flower girl?). Instead I'd rather get them all toys. Who doesn't love toys? And it'll give them something to play with the day of as well.

The tall flower girl I'll show off tomorrow (as she can read and I want to give even more warnings and rent cerberus for the day to keep her away). For the short flower girl we looked high and low to get some ideas.Then we saw this play phone set. If she's anything like her mother she'll be addicted to the phone. And as sad as it is Disney by far had the best option. All the princess have a few different sayings (though all done by the same voice actor so it's kinda weird), and you can call them from the phone as well as leave a recorded message.

I just picture her the day of the wedding running around with a little phone in her hand (hopefully she won't smack her brother with it).To help her feel more like a little princess (or at least enjoy the dress up aspect) I got her a little hair comb. She doesn't have a really poufy dress but this will give her a little sparkle so she'll get to play dress up.

In the end her gift cost about $25. So for the price of a frame and a t-shirt she can wear once, I got her a toy she can play with til it gets broken or thrown into a puddle and some jewelry.

The boys were much easier (if you can't tell, I love looking at toys, they are so much fun to play with and figure out the good and the boring ones). They are about the same age range (one is gonna be 4 the other 3) and they both love trains. (For christmas I got my MOH's boy a thomas train set that had to be assembled and he watched it for hours as it went around and around, even jumping up and getting super excited when it dumped some coal).The first thing I found was a really cool engine (either Thomas or Percy) that has a switch on the back if you flip it to one side when you push the train it makes train noises and if you go faster the noises speed up, the other side plays the Thomas theme song (sure to drive mom nuts).

For an addition we also found some Thomas bubbles. Both of these kids love blowing bubbles (to the point where I was once covered in soap helping one of them) and the engine is actually shaped like a train whistle. Plus if we suddenly decide we want some bubbles, we'll have two toddlers that can help.

These two cool present cost about $18 total for each kid (actually got them on a 50% off toy sale) and as we realized later are actually our wedding colors. So even buying them at full price it's a bit less than an official ring bearer duffle bag, wallet, and frame set.

I just don't see the point of gifts that they can realistically use one day. Instead we went and got them some toys they can play with for a few years (assuming not put in the wood chipper of course) or at least it'll keep them distracted the day of. And the adults can play with them a bit too.

You, take it now!

Last night, my fiance and I were watching the candy expo on food network (from 2004, seriously food network that's 4 years old I'm sure there's been new candy made since then). They were showing off a giant sucker you can put on your thumb and he mentioned how every sucker you put on your hand is just like someone trying to imitate a ring pop.

My mind thought of our reception and how we have to make sure to get a few ring pops for our candy centerpiece pile so we can have a picture taken of us wearing those instead of our wedding rings. (that just sums us up quite nicely)

It got me to thinking of all the other pictures normal people call "must takes" (I call them the same thing but who doesn't love quotes?)

1. I loved the idea of a bride eating, especially a doughnut. It's sad when eating something sweet is seen as weird and strange by a grown adult but there ya go. Maybe for me it'll be a Runza cheeseburger though. (I can't be trusted with chocolate, I will get it on me)
2. This is just a gorgeous picture. Assuming we have a bright sunny day, it'd be nice to take a really hopeful picture
3. My fiance and I are always laying on the couch like that. He says that I make a good blanket and I say he makes a good pillow. Another simple picture that shows the whole point of said wedding.
4. This is such a lush picture getting in lots of foliage. Since we're getting married in fall I'd love a picture of us just playing in leaves. Sadly I couldn't find any pictures of a bride jumping in a pile of leaves.
5. I had the thought of wouldn't it be neat to see the couple "stopping to smell the roses" in a garden. Of course any pictures like that lead to a bride smelling her bouquet. So this one of a kid being a kid is just too cute.
6. As we're having a taller flower girl (ie she's 21) and a smaller one (5) I'd think a cute picture could be my tall one instructing or showing the little one. Or vice versa really. Though man you can't really trust those girls, always trying to drag a boy to church.
7. I love all the wild and crazy things can and will do, so just some candids of me and my fiance interacting with the kids (especially my MOH's son, he loves my guy).
8. My MOH and I always had a weird tradition in college if it was raining she'd jump in the huge puddles and try to drench me but she always got herself. So I just thought it'd be hilarious if it's raining and we want to do a trash the dress we could jump into a huge puddle. Sadly this is the closest pic I could find.

That's all I've found so far, for other blogs that have lots of must take pictures there's Silly Little Mischief , That Bride, Rock 'n' Roll Bride, In This Instance, and Porcelain have tons of other really cool pictures to steal inspiration from.