Save the Date!

Yesterday after I finished my last in-class final, I took a break and went to Costco.  They had our save the dates printed in less than 10 minutes - amazing!  I then drove directly to the post-office to get stamps, and then straight home.  An hour later, I had them address, stamped, and ready to go.  So family and out-of-town guests - watch your mailbox : )

Bouquet Ideas

I have recently found a number of bouquet's that I like, particularly this first one from a wedding featured on the blog Love and Lavender.

Boxes and Jars

Boxes and jars are two things I love.  For the past 10 years or so I have collected all kinds of boxes from all around the world.  I've been asked a time or two if I have enough yet : )  And jars are sweet, although I don't have the same history with them. (All images from Style Me Pretty)

On the box front, I love this idea of using wine boxes as planters to use as centerpieces!

On the jar end of things, I love this idea of creating jars with all the ingredients for cookies or brownies as favors!

Busy is an understatement.

My last fall quarter is wrapping up and I am busy as all get out!  Aside from school, work, and my internship, my wedding to-do list is growing.  Things that weren't urgent last month have been added to the urgent list.  Here's a little snap-shot of what I've got to do...

• Meet with Andrea of  Twelve Baskets Catering to firm up what we're planning to serve at the reception (hint: think breakfast!)
• Finish designing Save-the-Dates... and then printing them! and mailing them!
• Figure out color scheme for the wedding
• Engagement shoot (since we had to reschedule)
• Figure out decoration theme
• Finalize invitation list and finish collecting addresses

And somehow I feel like there is more than that.. haha : )  At least I am enjoying all of it!  And now I must return to my school work...

Drive Away in a BMW Z4?

Anyone and everyone who knows my dear sweet Brian knows that he loves cars! So, Brian and I are looking for a sweet car to drive away in... and the BMW Z4 currently is winning! A place in Redmond rents them (along with other fun cars). We're very tempted : )

Wedding Website

Today was a glorious SNOW DAY here in Seattle... and classes were canceled! So I took the time to work on our wedding website (yes, it is different than a blog). Feel free to check it out: Anna and Brian's Wedding Website. And here is a picture of me with a snowman today...

Tree Obsession

So I have a little tree obsession . . . and I'm not quite sure when it started or why. So one way I am going to incorporate trees into our wedding is through a fingerprint tree! I originally saw this idea on Style Me Pretty, but have since seen it many places. My dear ol' Papa Bear (my daddy) who is an artist is going to create for us a tree of our very own. I cannot wait to see it full of the fingerprints of my nearest and dearests : )

Hair and Makeup : Booked!

I have emailed countless salons in the Seattle/Bellevue area trying to find someone who can handle my request for hair and makeup... after many "Sorry, but we..." I finally found that someone who can do it: Pacific Artistry. Part of the challenge is that I need 6 bridesmaids, 2 moms, and 1 bride (me) to have their hair and makeup done by 9am! I know - early! So the plan is that they are going to arrive at the Westin at 6am with 3 stylists who are going to do all 9 heads/faces in 3 hours. And they are actually pretty reasonably priced for hair and makeup : ) Yay! Now I must start the hunt for pictures of hair and makeup styles I want for myself. I already have my bridesmaids figured out, as you can see below...

Wonderful Surprise...

Brian is bringing me for an engagement shoot for our two year anniversary! One of his friends, Ashlee, is starting up a photography business with her fiancé, Scott, and they offered to do an engagement photo shoot of us. You can imagine that I was excited to hear that we were going to get to do this. Brian said he knew it was something I might enjoy--and boy is he right : )

Check out O'Malley Photographers based out of Seattle, WA! They also have a blog. Below are a few pictures they have on their blog that I liked!


Pictures taken by Scott and Ashlee of O'Malley Photographers

As Promised!

top row : Megan, Lena, Catherine, Anna (Me), Elle, Kim, Michelle
bottom row : Jody with Nathanael, Susan

Bridesmaid Day

Bridesmaid Day was a success! It started off with Starbucks, as every fun day with the girls should : ) We drove down to Puyallup to pick up my dress, which looks just as beautiful as I remember when I tried it on the first time! After that, we went to the Robinswood House so that everyone who had not seen the place could check it out. Unfortunately, it rained all day yesterday, so we had to do this in the rain--but we are from Seattle, so we were prepared. After our fun morning activities we had lunch at Panera as a treat from my mom : ) It was good to have (almost) all my bridesmaids there and just enjoy a meal together. We ended up having time to go by Bellevue Square before going to Moms, Maids, and More (bridesmaid dresses)... and I was able to find the most darling pearl headbands for my bridesmaids to wear and they were on clearance for $3.90!!! Then we got everyone measured and fitted for dresses so that they could be ordered.

It was so much fun to spend the day with some of the most important girls in my life! I wish my mom could have been there, but I was blessed to have my other two moms there (Jody- my future mother-in-law, and Susan- my "adoptive" mom, aka. my sister's mother-in-law). Will post pictures soon : )

Excited and Pie

Today I have a cold. And I will probably still have my cold for the rest of the week... but that does not matter because this weekend is Bridesmaid Day! We are going to have so much fun regardless of my cold : ) We are going to...

• pick up my dress down from Lady Margaret's in Puyallup
• see the Robinswood House
• have lunch together in Bellevue, WA
• have my bridesmaids fitted for their bridesmaid dresses

And.. we have our cake maker! One of my really good family friends (who is a professional baker), Rhoda, is going to make our cakes. Right now we are thinking about doing cakes and pies. Brian prefers pie, and I like both : ) Speaking of pie.. check out these pie pictures!

Tea and Invitations

This morning I met with Sara of Constellation & Co. at the TeaCup to talk about invitations over a hot pot of tea. Constellation & Co. is a Seattle based company that does all things printing - invitations, announcements, cards, etc. Brian actually found them on Mars Hill's Marketplace :) Sara is absolutely delightful and I am so excited to get to work with her on our wedding invitations. She and her husband, Brad, are going to create a custom letterpress wedding invitation for our wedding - how cool is that?! And they are very reasonably priced. Check out their Esty shop and their Felt & Wire shop. Here a few examples of their prints:



P.S. I know I said I decided to just make them myself... but after a little more research and finding Sara... I quickly changed my mind!

Wyoming Wedding

Oh my word! This wedding that was posted on 100 Layer Cake yesterday is aaaammmazing! You have got to check out "Real wedding: Katie & Dave"! The scenery is just breath-taking...

Arrived!

My dress arrived today! I'm dying to put it up here, but Brian is well aware of this blog and frequents it... so you're just going to have to wait until June! Hopefully I will pick it up on Bridesmaid Day so that all my girls and my mother-in-law can see it : ) In the mean time, you can guess which one of Mori Lee's Blu dresses is mine!

In other news, I discovered a new wedding blog that I love today! It is actually based in Washington : ) So go check out Love and Lavendar right away...

Week of Decisiveness...

I'm feeling quite on top of things this week when it comes to the wedding! It feels great!

• I made an appointment at Paper Source in Bellevue to come in on Friday and check out the Letterpress Combo Kit ($149.99) that they have in their store. They said they would be more than happy to show me how it works, etc before I decide on purchasing it. Wonderful!
  
• I have "Bridesmaid Day" all figured out and set-up for November 6th. Brian's Mom and sister will even be able to come up from Vancouver for it : ) One of our fun activities will be to go to the Robinswood House, as most of them have yet to see it in person.
• I decided on bridesmaid dresses: Alfred Sung, d437 from Moms, Maids, and More. The girls are going to get fitted for the dresses on "Bridesmaid Day". They are giving us a 10% discount because I'm getting 6 of them, which essentially pays for the tax. Before tax, they're going to be $156, which is pretty average. I think I'm going to go with majestic (purple), as that seems to be the girls top pick.
• Brian and I have decided that we want to go with Twelve Baskets Catering, who actually catered the dinner reception for my sister's wedding. We are working on setting up an appointment to try food options sometime in the next few weeks. Yay!
• I worked on the invitation list some more last night... and began figuring out the save-the-date list (as we are most just sending save-the-dates to family and out-of-town guests).

And now I shall leave you with an awesome picture that I saw on Style Me Pretty today :)

P.S....

I had to wait until after midnight to put up this post.. because 8 months from TODAY I will be putting on a pretty white dress and marrying the love of my life! I'm just a little excited ; )

A Productive Sunday Afternoon

Today, Brian and I spent our afternoon registry shopping with my sister/maid-of-honor! We were quite successful, which was nice for a change :) We found towels at Pottery Barn and potentially our future dining room table! After spending a while there and taking a Jamba Juice break, we headed over to Macy's to look for bedding. We registered for a down comforter... and couldn't decide on anything else quite yet (like pots and pans). Last but not least, we went to Crate and Barrel! And as you will see below, we found a few things :)

Feet!

For some reason, I just love pictures of people's feet at weddings... and you can put money on it that I will have some taken at my wedding : ) Here are a few I have found over time. The last two are Michele Waite pictures, a photographer from the Pacific Northwest that I love. I don't recall exactly where I found the first one, but I'm sure it was from one of four places (Style Me Pretty, 100 Layer Cake, Green Wedding Shoes, or Michele Waite)...

On Tonight's Menu...

Aren't these plates adorable?! We've registered for them! I can't wait to serve some yummy home cooked meal to friends and family on them. And they'll look great on our table clothes from India that my mom got us while we were visiting my parents (I'll have to show you them in them later in another post).
(from Pottery Barn)

Desired

So, as a typical engaged woman, I am looking for things to put on my registry. One of the places Brian and I are registering at is Pottery Barn. Long story short... I stumbled upon this cubby organizer that I love! I just have to share...

Camping?

I told Brian tonight that I would go camping on our honeymoon if we could go to Paws Up in Montana! So really it is actually "glamping," but I would do it in a heartbeat! I found it today on one of my favorite wedding blogs, Green Wedding Shoes. What girl wouldn't go camping if this is what it was like?!

All things Invitation!

So I have decided that I am going to make our wedding invitations with the help of my bridesmaids, friends, and family! I looked at oodles and oodles of invitations online and in stores...my conclusion: they're expensive! I'm not all together sure what it will cost me to do them myself (especially with all my fun ideas), but you can't put a price on love, right?!

I am undecided about what specific method/style I am going to use... but whichever I end up choosing... I have about 200 invitations to make! My two current ideas are the following:

1.) Create homemade letterpress invitations using the Letterpress Combo Kit by Lifestyle Crafts. They offer this wonderful option of Custom Printing Plates. Long story short, I am currently in love with this idea!

2.) Create homemade invitations on nice card stock with a fancy paper backing! I got this idea yesterday when I was covering a shoe box in fancy paper so that I could use the box to put sewing stuff and buttons in it... and I had these scraps and BING! it came to me that it could be a fun idea!

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping!

Saturday I went bridesmaid dress shopping with four of my six bridesmaids. It was loads of fun and very successful! We started at Macy's, which was a fail. Nordstrom was a bit better, but not great. The last two places we went were tons better: Moms, Maids, and More and Bellevue Bridal. The sweetheart strapless dress is an Alfred Sung dress carried by M,M, and M. The halter dress is an Alfred Angelo dress carried by Bellevue Bridal. I suppose I like dresses by people named 'Alfred' : )

2 Months and 9 Days later...

I'm back! Engaged! And well on my way with my wedding plans! Brian proposed on a perfect August afternoon by the Kirkland waterfront. It was perfect! I was overjoyed to the point of shaking. Andrew Teng, my sister's brother-in-law, took pictures that turned out absolutely amazing (see below). And he got me my DREAM Tacori Danatela Ring! Later that evening, we picked up my mom at the airport and surprised her with the news; it was priceless!

2 months and 9 days later... I have my dress (by Mori Lee, found at Lady Margaret's in Puyallup, WA)... our ceremony and reception location (Robinswood House in Bellevue, WA)... our invitation list... our bridal party (6 bridesmaids, 6 groomsmen)... our budget... and lots of ideas!

(photo from: www.seattlebride.com)