All the Wedding Details, T-minus 44 Days!

Now that you're all updated on my life and I posted about my awesome shower this past weekend, I'm going to give you all the wedding details. When I was first starting to plan our wedding last summer/fall, and even when I wasn't planning a wedding, I loved reading all about other people's wedding stuff and I still do! Maybe I'm nosy, but I just love all the little details that go into making that day special and unique for each person. So basically I'm going to list out every little detail I have for our wedding in no particular order, for your sake and for my future self to look back on. It may be the longest post known to man. Sorry if you hate this kind of stuff!

Ceremony: Outside at a nearby farm venue that is also a cidery/brewery, 4pm. This will basically be what it looks like, except that the leaves will be fall-colored! So pretty! P.S. I didn't take this picture, the venue emailed it to me.

Ceremony music: The wedding party will be walking down the aisle to Going to the Chapel by The Dixie Cups, so fun right?! I will be coming down the aisle to the string version of Pachelbel's Canon in D. We will be walking out after we get married to I'm a Believer by the Monkees, you know I had to do it!

Cocktail hour: On the patio right outside of the barn. It's awesome with a huge fireplace and will be so pretty. Too bad I'll be getting pictures taken during it, it will be fun!

Reception: In the gorgeous barn at the farm. If you want to see more pictures of the barn and where we will be getting ready that day, check out this post from last year. We love that everything on our wedding day is all at the same location. Makes it easy for our guests, most of whom are from out of town. We will be using rectangular farm tables without tablecloths, and it will most certainly be set up much different from this picture, but you get the idea. We aren't using the balconies, we won't need them. The barn can hold up to like 250 people, but we are only having around 110-115 people.

Reception music: When the wedding party and we make our entrance, We Are the Champions by Queen will be playing. We aren't super cheesy/romantic people, and our music choices certainly fit that theme. Well okay, except for our first song, it's Forever and Ever, Amen by Randy Travis. Brian and his mom are keeping their first dance song a secret, and my dad and I are having the worst time coming up with a song for our Father/Daughter dance, any suggestions (please!)? We won't be doing a bouquet or garter toss (yuck, I just can't) but we will be having an Apron Dance, a Polish tradition. Our last song of the night will be Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond, an homage to all the formals Brian and I used to go to in college; they always played that song at the end of the night. For the rest of the music, we pretty much just told our DJ we want classic rock and dancy pop music, no rap or hip hop.

The Food and Drinks: We chose for our guests to have a choice of Apple Cider Braised Boneless Short Ribs, French Cut Chicken Breast with Truffle Marsala Sauce, or Vegetarian Roasted Vegetable Strudel. Our venue is also a cidery and brewery, so the drinks will be their ciders, beers, private label wines, and homemade sodas. Delicious!

Friday Groom's Golf Outing, Rehearsal Dinner, Limo and Shuttle for all of our guests, and Sunday Brunch: All are at a nearby hotel/golf resort. Again, we thought it would be nice to have all of this at one location, plus we got great deals for doing so. I love that we are having a whole wedding weekend to hang out with everybody, less pressure on us during the reception and it will be nice to see everybody multiple times throughout the weekend. For the golf outing, I ordered personalized purple and orange golf tees for them to use, it's all in the little details :-) For the rehearsal dinner, I'm wearing an adorable, long-sleeved lace dress from a shop I follow on Instagram called Lady Cherokee Boutique, brown tights from Lands End, a gold headband I found at Target, and gold Mrs. earrings from Kate Spade. I'm not 100% sure what I'm wearing for the Sunday brunch, but I was thinking just a cream sweater and these plum jeans I got at American Eagle, plus my boots.

The Bridesmaids: My 3 sisters and my friend Amanda. This is the dress they're wearing, and I told them they can wear whatever goldish/champagne colored shoes they want.

The Groomsmen: Brian's brother, two of his good friends, and my two brothers (my youngest brother is only 11, so hes technically a junior groomsman, and his clothes will be similar but a little different, mainly because Men's Wearhouse doesn't carry his size). The guys will be wearing off-white shirts (so they don't make my ivory dress look dirty like it would if they wore bright white shirts), black suspenders, shoes, and belts, light gray pants which I can't seem to find online, and a plum tie to match the bridesmaid dresses.

Bridesmaid Gifts: Luckily none of them read this blog so I can post all about it here. The girls will be getting personalized waffle knit dark purple robes (mine is white with purple writing because I'm the bride duh) from this awesome Etsy shop and silver Kate Spade Bridesmaid bangles. I am so excited!

Groomsmen gifts: We got Brian's brother and two friends these awesome bottle openers from this Etsy shop, and we got my brothers the below bags from this Etsy shop.

Parent Gifts: We got both of our moms personalized robes and jewelry from Kate Spade (my mom gets a necklace, Brian's mom gets earrings). I got my dad this picture frame, which I think he will love, but it is obviously personalized to us. We got Brian's dad the below beer holder, personalized with his actual last name obviously, from this Etsy shop. I have to say that all of the Etsy shops owners we have worked with for our wedding have been AWESOME!!

My Dress: Like I'm actually going to post a picture of it on here!! You will just have to wait until the wedding day (add me on IG) to see it just like everyone else. Hint, it's ivory, I'm getting straps/sleeves added, it has lace, and it has a poufy skirt and train. I finally went to pick out my dress at like the end of July (talk about waiting until the last minute) and I had an alteration appointment Wednesday.

My Shoes and Accessories: I have big time right ankle issues so I had to splurge on some nice flats (yea that's why..). Also, it was extremely hard to find pretty gold flats, so I got these Tieks and they are gorgeous! I can't wait to wear them all the time after the wedding is over! I will also be wearing a elbow-length veil tucked under my hair, as well as this headband and this necklace and earring set. I still need something borrowed and something old, any ideas? Oh and I bought this clutch to use. The owner of this Etsy shop was SUPER awesome and so nice, and I love the clutch and will probably also use it at the rehearsal dinner.

Hair: My long-time hair stylist and another girl from the same salon will be coming to the bridal suite at the venue to do our hair that day. I have my trial and fresh highlights scheduled for the week leading up to the wedding. I've been growing my hair out much longer than my comfort level so I can get the below hairstyle  I found on Pinterest (my veil will be tucked underneath), but the week after the wedding I am going in for a chop of like 5-6 inches and I CANNOT wait!

Makeup: I found an awesome girl to come to the venue that day and do all of our makeup too. I don't want anything too heavy, but I do want false eyelashes!

Brian's Clothes: Brian is wearing the same thing as the groomsmen, but instead of suspenders he will be wearing a matching gray vest. Since our wedding is outside and our reception is in an albeit really nice barn, we wanted the dress to be more casual than tuxedos.

Wedding Rings: We got our rings last year, and mine matches my engagement ring. Brians is titanium or tungsten so supposedly it's nice and tough.

Photography: The lovely Dayna (a fellow blogger) and her husband are traveling long distances to be our photographers and we couldn't be more grateful. She is awesome and I cannot wait!!!

Favors: We got these awesome personalized mason jar mugs as our wedding favors. They will be at each person's spot with a plum colored cloth napkin and an orange striped straw tucked inside.

Flowers: I saw the below bouquet on Etsy and had our florist basically duplicate it for the bridesmaids and me (mine will be bigger), except that there will also be plum flowers in the bouquet. The groomsmen, dads, and Brian's grandfather will be wearing boutonnieres with two similar but smaller orange flowers, and Brian will have one orange and one purple flower. The moms and grandmoms will have orange corsages. That's it for the flowers, except for some fall mums we may place around. We really want the fall foliage to be the main focus, During the reception, the bouquets will be placed in pretty distressed mason jars from this Etsy shop, and will be placed around the barn.

Decorations: We aren't doing a lot of decorating because, like the fall foliage during the ceremony, we want the beauty of the barn to shine through. There will be pretty lanterns supplied by the venue (that's why I don't have a picture of it right now) in the middle of each table, table numbers, fake leaves around that, and then the favors will also be on the table. Also at each spot will be each person's place card which they will pick up on their way in. The basic idea of the place cards is the picture below that I found on Pinterest, so a mini pumpkin with a tag attached, but each person's pumpkin color will reflect what they chose to eat: orange for ribs, white for chicken, green for vegetarian, and there will be one gold pumpkin for my little brother's kids' meal. We do have a few burlap banners we may use, but I'm not 100% sure yet. Our card box is pictured below, and we will have a table set up with pictures of our parents and grandparents on their wedding days. And hmm I think that's basically it!

Cake: Our cake will basically look like this cake I found on Pinterest, except it will be 5 tiers and will have flowers to match the bouquets. We even have this same topper. The flavors are Chocolate Raspberry (chocolate genoise filled with homemade raspberry jam and dark chocolate ganache then brushed with raspberry syrup) and Frasier/Gourmet Strawberry (yellow cake, French mousseline buttercream, topped with fresh strawberries and marzipan). During the cake cutting I want Sugar Sugar by the Archies to play. I'm a dork I know. I found our cake cutting set at Michaels.

Save-the-Dates and Invitations: We got these Save the Date Magnets and sent them out in January, and these are our invites from this Etsy shop. I just LOVE them and the owner was wonderful to work with and we actually had her print our invites. Ain't nobody got time for that printing invitations ourselves. We also got the matching RSVP cards from earlier in this post, as well as matching thank you cards. I've sealed all of our envelopes with these stickers, personalized to with our initials and date obviously. I would have posted a pic of ours exactly but I don't have anymore.

Guestbook: We wanted to do something different than just a book that we'd store away and never look at again, so we got this awesome canvas for our guests to sign and we will hang it in our bedroom after the wedding. I loved that I could customize the colors however I wanted.

Honeymoon: We are going to the Sandals Royal Bahamian (booked via Liberty Travel; that's not the deal we are getting but just a link to the deal they are running now I guess) two-ish weeks after the wedding. Brian has the PE test for electrical engineering shortly after the wedding, so we decided to wait until after the test to leave for the honeymoon. We also got free flights (besides taxes and fees!) because of Brian's frequent flyer miles for work. Yay! I am actually glad we have a little time to wait for the honeymoon because that way everything isn't over so fast, and I can get thank you cards out and wind down a little from the craziness so we can actually enjoy it and relax!

Whew I think I got everything! Sorry for the longest post ever, I thought about breaking it up but decided to keep it all together for my sake. If there's anything I didn't think of that you want to know, please ask! #weddingexpert #jk sorry not sorry for the hashtags

Obviously more pictures of the actual wedding will be coming in late October. My biggest piece of advice is use Etsy! We found SO MUCH stuff for our wedding on there, and I love supporting and dealing with small businesses, they are usually so accommodating.

The Best Surprise Bridal Shower Ever!

So this past Sunday my mom and three sisters threw me the best bridal shower ever! It was a surprise too! Well, I knew I was going to have a shower at some point, and I had an idea of a few weekends it may have taken place, but I had no idea where it was or any of the details! It was a great day, so many people made it from all over, and I got so much awesome stuff. My mom and sisters really put a lot of time and heart into making it a perfect day, and all the little details were so pretty and perfect! Ready for photo overload? Here goes!

How cute is that chalkboard? I have it on my kitchen table now so I can count the days! 

Walking up the steps to the party!

Yea I definitely was about to cry here! Luckily I held it in and awkwardly waved haha

I love this picture of us.. except that I spent like an hour curling my hair and it already pretty much fell out within the hour

The decorations were so pretty!

Some of the cute games! The ring game got ugly! And I love the Memory game (I had to guess who wrote each one) and the date night ideas (my aunt wrote Naked Twister omg). We also played a few other games, like He Said/She Said, Who Has the Groom Under Their Seat (I got the Donald haha), and the Newlywed Game. It was so fun!

Delicious food and the adorable banner of pictures of Brian and me. How cute was he?!

My sister MADE this cupcake cake! It was so yummy and looked amazing!

The tables were set up so cute! I love the centerpieces so much, I have all of them on my mantle now!

The cute favor boxes!

How cool are the M&Ms?! I love them!

We definitely got spoiled!

My sisters, my mom, and I. Sorry for the blurry pic. They did such a great job with the shower and I am so grateful!

Almost everyone who came, minus 5 who had already left. We are so fortunate to have so many loved ones!

I love balloons! I have all of the mylar ones attached to chairs in my kitchen :-)

Like I said, best shower ever!! Stay tuned later this week for ALL the wedding details. P.S. I just made a new Twitter account so follow me on there! Also, YAY my Bloglovin' link is working again! 

I'm Back!

So I may or may not be back! *Hint, I am, probably not on a 4-5 times a week schedule, but who cares?! It's been something like 10 months since the last time my words graced this awesome space on the internet, so I guess maybe I should do somewhat of an update, yea? Don't worry, I won't go into what I ate for breakfast everyday (most likely a smoothie..), I'll stick to the big stuff.

My nephew was born last November! He's 9 months old now and absolutely adorable. He is on the verge of walking already (he took an unassisted step two times yesterday, and he walks behind walkers and around tables now). He giggles, it's not fair that one person can be so cute.

We got a puppy in December! Her name is Oatmeal and she is a chocolate lab. She's already 10 months old and she is so sweet but has LOTS of energy.

I got sinus surgery in February, woo? I had a lot of stuff done that was supposed to make things a lot better, but unfortunately I am allergic to something like 17 things, including dogs, soooo yea, the surgery opened my sinuses up nicely for all the allergens to get in. I am doing sublingual immunotherapy (like allergy shots but instead it's drops you can use at home) so hopefully by next spring my body will start to feel the effects. I am just getting over bronchitis and a sinus infection, so that's cute. Fingers crossed I'm healthy for the wedding! This is how I felt for like a month after the surgery, it's definitely not for the faint (feint?) of heart.

Hansel (one of our mini dachshunds in case you're new around here or forgot, it's okay) had two neck surgeries in March. He is doing SO awesome though and it was a great decision. Thank God for doggie neurologists. In the picture below, he's the one on cage rest.

I got in a car accident in May (no worries, just a burned/bruised arm and busted lip), so I got a new car! 2015 Chevy Trax LT AW, it has the highest safest ratings in a small SUV and 10 airbags woop!

My beloved Pee Pop died of brain cancer in June. Around 300 people showed up to his funeral, which was such a testament to how he lived his life. He did so much for his community and would strike up a conversation with anyone. He will definitely be missed big time by so many people.

That's really it for the updates, besides things like holidays, birthdays, vacations, etc. Oh and the WEDDING, which is only 7 weeks away! I will do an update on ALL things wedding next week. And by all, I mean ALL, so get excited! If you have any wedding planning questions feel free to ask me, I'm basically an expert now you know.

Fall Swap Reveal!

I got partnered with Emily in this year's Fall Swap! I love doing swaps, and I love everything Emily got me :-)

The candle smells so good, the scarf and earrings adorable, and I have already painted my nails and am drinking hot chocolate out of the cute mug!! Thanks again Emily!!!

Excuses Excuses

Am I the worst blogger on the face of the planet? Nah, probably not, but I haven't been the best one lately either! I still feel like my life is a whirlwind and though I'd like to think it will calm down a bit soon, I'd be kidding myself because with the baby shower, Halloween, my sister's baby being born, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. that just isn't going to happen! So what have I been up to lately?

Reveling in the fact that we picked the best wedding date for peak foliage. I think I've mentioned it before know it's dorky, but when Brian and I were picking a wedding date we researched peak foliage dates in Pennsylvania. We went with October 17, 2015, and I think it is going to be perfect. Within the next week almost all the leaves will be changed over and it's going to be pretty!

Suffering from my stupid allergies. Luckily last week my doctor gave me a steroid shot to help calm things down because functioning was not something I was capable of there for awhile. I love love love fall and these allergies have kept me holed up inside as much as possible and away from the beautiful 50-60 degree fall weather! At least I have my fall/Halloween decorations to look at, my candles to smell, and my fireplace to keep me warm.

Taking care of Reese after her $730 dental surgery. When we got her back, unfortunately she hadn't been taken care of very well, so after getting her shots and groomed (she got a lion cut and it's adorable), she needed a dental cleaning and to have 4 teeth removed, poor thing! She's doing great and will be back to eating solid food tomorrow.

Working an extra day a week in the office. So you know how I "work from home" for my job now? Well I still was going into the office Tuesdays and Thursdays 9-12, and now I am also going in Wednesdays 1-4. Meh, it's alright, I'll take it.

Caught up in baby shower planning mania. We have like 45 people coming to my sister's surprise baby shower next weekend! It's being held at my parents' house, and it's been a lot of work. Between having to rent tables and chairs to put in my parents living room (which we are going to have to take all the furniture out of for everyone to fit in there and in the kitchen), ordering the food and cake, making and printing games, favors, ordering and making decorations, etc., it has been nuts, but I cannot wait. Seriously, it's going to be awesome and I can't wait to share pictures. Also, I can't stop buying baby clothes and looking up baby stuff. Hopefully when my nephew is born it will cure this baby fever.

Watching tons of fall TV and Beverly Hills 90210. Fall seriously is the best time of the year. The shows are just top notch (now I sound like my dad). I watch Revenge, Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, Selfie, Manhattan Love Story, 19 Kids and Counting (#ashamed), The Goldbergs, American Horror Story, Nashville, How to Get Away with Murder, and Parenthood (okay okay and Girl Meets World..what? It's cute). Am I missing any of your favorites? Brian's just happy hockey's back.

Rooting on the Orioles in their playoff run! Let's hope for the World Series, Brian and I will be 100% getting tickets to that. Let's go O's!