Wedding Warbling

Alright ladies (and gents, just in case any of you guys care to peruse this all-things-wedding post) here's where I give you the scoop on the wedding deets. This could be the first of many posts on the subject, or the only. Spike and I really want to keep things under wraps for obvious reasons, but I can share a few things...

• Venue... Check! We're heading over to Grand Rapids, {hopefully} marrying in Spike's sister's church, and then hitting downtown to boogie down for the reception. The reception venue is catering the event so that's one less thing we have to worry about! Score!
  
  
• Date... Check! The big day will be Saturday, October 13, 2012, which just so happens to be the three year anniversary of our first date! We picked this day because it conveniently fell the weekend after Art Prize (so there may still be art up around the city to enjoy without the crowds) and the weekend before the Michigan vs Michigan State game (for all our diehard football fans cough *Spike and the groomsmen* cough) and also the Grand Rapids Marathon (so half the city won't be shut down come Sunday when our guests try to leave). Not to mention the first few weeks of October are drop dead gorgeous with perfect temps and beautiful foliage epitomizing a fall wedding, plus the whole of October holds many special firsts from our relationship.
  
  
• Save the Date's... Check! We used an old copy of "Pride and Prejudice" scavenged from a book sale for the inside of the envelopes and I put my own spin on the library cards when I laid them out, adding a timeline of some of those key October dates from our relationship. We finished them off by date stamping in red ink the big day.
  
  

  Obviously only our friends will get the "Spike + Red" cards.
  
  
• Colors... Check! We had long talked about using yellow and gray, as they are both featured on our flag, so that is what we are going to do. It was actually the first thing we decided on.
  
  
• Wedding Party... Check! I won't discuss Spike's groomsmen because he is not quite done asking yet but here are the bridesmaid deets: I always knew this would be a very hard decision to make because I have so many wonderful ladies in my life, but in the end I chose my Beaker Luv as maid of honor, my dearest Rixy, my beloved B.o.B., and my cousin Michelle. With that figured out I wanted to do something special to ask them and decided on giving each a scroll and "quest", playing off our engagement. The "quest" being a lighthearted poem I wrote about being my bridesmaid (email me if you want to read it), written on a scroll that was then wrapped around a piece of chalk that they would use to "accept" by picture texting me with the words "I DO".

I used paint samples in our wedding colors from Home Depot for addressing the packages and also enclosed another sample they could keep in their purse to use for inspiration as they look for dresses.

It was so fun getting all the "I DO's"

• Dress... Check! So let me preface this by saying I had no idea I'd find a dress as fast as I did. My step-mom set up an appointment to try on dresses while I was visiting my family in Colorado over Thanksgiving and I went in thinking it would be mostly just for fun. I wasn't sure what I really wanted so I just let everyone pick dresses for me to try on and lo and behold the very first one I tried on, picked by the sales girl, was it. When I came out and saw the looks on my family's faces and then looked in the mirror myself I knew it was the one. My heart skipped a beat and the fam exclaimed "It's a 10!!!" rating all others less and saying they didn't compare. I tried so hard not to order but I couldn't, it was "The One". I cannot wait to wear it for Spike next October!
  
  
  
  Via
  NOT "the one" but one of the rejects.
  
  My lil sis insisted I try it on, it's called "Rapunzel" from the Disney line, I could not keep a straight face wearing it! The sales girl said I was the only person to ever have tried it on since it came in. Def not my cup of tea.
  
  
• Photographer... Check! Thank you weddingbee.com for serving up a ton of great recommendations in the local board sections. Spike and I love the work they've done and look forward to shooting our engagement photo's with them in the Spring and discussing the fun shots we want to do for the wedding day.
  
  
• Odds and Ends... Getting there! The creative juices have been flowing for all the other fun stuff, it's been so much fun bouncing ideas off each other and then working together to see those ideas transform in to reality! DIY Wedding FTW!!!
  

And that's all I have for you today. We're so excited and can't wait for October to get here so we can say "I do!"

So, any words of advice or stories to share from your own weddings? We'd love to hear them!