Checks!

Last count, were at 17 days.

Well. . .lots of changes have been made and everything is coming together!

1. Got my dress in for alterations. After she pinned it in a few places it was fitting much better; I can't wait to see the final product! She also pinned up the bustle; a low, 6 point single french with lots of folds. Very romantic, soft, and beautiful.

2. D'Anelli bridals cleaned my dress that previously had a filthy hem and some dirt around the zipper. I can't believe how clean they got it: it looks brand new.

3. Bridesmaid dresses are being cut as we speak. No, they aren't even close to being done. Next week I'll head up to my mom's house and we will get them all finished in one day. . .I can't wait to see them. I'm getting a little frustrated with everybody on my case about this; unfortunately there is nothing I can do until both my mom and I have a free day to get them done.

4. I have a hair trial and makeup trial scheduled for next week! My 2nd fitting in on July 3rd, and that will be my final fitting unless more alterations are needed.

5. I've decided against the green crinoline - fortunately I did a professional job on it and can sell it on craigslist. I love the idea of the colored crinoline, but I have something even better up my sleeve! Not only that, but we all agreed that my dress will fit even better if we sew crinoline directly into the skirt as part of the alterations. The crinoline slip adds bulk around my hips and waist that I don't want; we simply need to fill out the skirt, not my hips!

6. Well, we're getting real bouquets. My mom found out (well, she knew, but it didn't process until last week) that we were doing silk bouquets because of the cost difference. She said 'my daughter is not walking down the aisle with fake flowers!'. So, we spoke with our florist who is adding real bouquets to our floral order; my mom offered to pay for them and we managed to keep them at a reasonable price!

Our florist is providing the following (both photos are from her website):

a. Bouts: purple mini cala with berries and greenery for the guys, large calla with berries and greenery for the girls

b. Bridal bouquet (left): 3 large purple callas, ivory roses, yellow berries, greenery: very mountain-y without being a busy wildflowers bouquet.

c. Bridesmaids bouquets (right) : Purple mini callas with yellow berries and greenery.

d. Centerpieces: our wonderful florist (we LOVE her) suggested sunflowers to submerge in the water. They were cheaper than fake ones, and will be beautiful, bright, and mountain-y!

e. Cake flowers: wildflowers for the cake

f. Toss petals for our flower girl

The reason we went with callas is because the purple ones closely match the bridesmaid dresses and because my engagement ring was inspired by calla lilies growing in California. (Calla by Nelson). I LOVE the berries, and roses, callas, and berries all hold up well in heat.

7. Our seating chart is done, and the table runners are almost finished. I'm going to make a wreath out of the rest of the silk flowers to go on the front door of our venue.

17 days! I can't wait :)

Fudge Favors

Originally Dave and I were going to make truffles to use as favors; we know that everybody likes edible favors, and chocolate is a big hit with Dave.

When this all started we weren't even going to do favors! But decided that by making them at home it would be worth the small expense and effort to give our guests something.

Well, our truffles were a giant FAIL. They were sloppy, and melted on the plate in the kitchen when the outdoor temperature raised above 75 degrees. I spent days debating what to do about this mess, when Kirstin and I ran into a DIY wedding book at (yes) Michael's!

I opened it up right to a page with mini wedding cakes in the photo; only they were made with fudge! We loved this idea, because then I get to satisfy my urge to decorate a wedding cake (ok, well about 70 of them. . .) and we get to give our guests an overload of sugar and chocolate. Fabulous!

So, I set out to do a trial of one, to work out the kinks before I invited Kirstin and Theresa over for a fudge-making day. I determined that if I buy supplies in bulk at Sams Club (my parents have a membership) I can make 70 of these for less than $30.00. Not bad considering that most packaged wedding favors cost $1.75 or more each!

The process:

I made a batch of fudge. For this to work, I will have to spread the fudge mix about 1/2 thick - so instead of using the recommended 13x9 pan I will spread it out on a cookie sheet.

I will use two different sized cookie cutters, and a plastic film roll container for the 'top layer'.

I also found that by warming the set fudge a little bit it was more pliable and less likely to crumble. This is literally 5 seconds in the microwave, no more!

I stacked the three pieces and secured them with a toothpick down the center. The flowers on top are wedding flower picks from Michael's.

On our mock up wedding table, Dave and I LOVED how they matched our brown napkins, and how the flowers on top gave some color to the centerpiece and added to the wildflowers feel.

I then made chocolate butter cream frosting, and used a decorators piping tool to add decoration to the 'wedding cake'.

Home made butter cream is so simple to make, and doesn't have any of the garbage in it that you get from store bought icing!

Melt some butter and milk in the microwave in a mug or measuring cup. The more butter, the richer the frosting!

Then, mix some powdered sugar and unsweetened cocoa in another bowl. You don't need to measure, taste it!

Add the milk mixture bit by bit and stir until you reach the desired consistency. It's that simple :) You can substitute vanilla or cinamon for the cocoa for variations.

Our final product will be a lot neater than the one pictured above. They are cute though!

Centerpiece Trial #2

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Dave and I set up another centerpiece because we're having trouble figuring out what kind of flower to put in the water. We wanted to maintain the whole wildflower look, and were finding that (naturally) orchids looked much too tropical. In a previous trial, we tried purple iris flowers, however they looked almost navy blue.

At a recent trip to Michael's, Dave and I found these giant yellow flowers. We loved the idea of a large pop of color, and how having one large flower really simplified the centerpiece.

In this photo you can also see our 'table numbers'. We are using photos of Colorado 14ers (14,000 foot peaks) that Dave has taken. Each table is then named after that peak, and displayed in a $1.00 plastic frame from wal-mart (the cheapest place to buy them). On an easel entering the reception hall will be a large board covered in a Colorado area topo-map, and over that the same photos and names of our guests with their table.

On the napkin (in which the menu cards are tucked) will be a large river rock with their name on it. It's a work in progress, but I think we've worked out the big kinks!

Second Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party

I had a very elegant bridal shower in my Fiance's home town that was thrown my by future mother-in-law and her friends. This post is for my second shower, which was thrown by my matron-of-honor Theresa.

Theresa and Kirstin (another bridesmaid) got together on this one and rented a beautiful little cabin in the mountains on Colorado's famous peak-to-peak highway. After holding the shower, we were to stay the night and have a 'girls' evening to celebrate my bachelorette party; I'm not the girl who would enjoy a night of bar hopping in a silly veil and my bridesmaids know that!

That cabin itself was beautiful! It was a 2 bedroom/2 bath house with a living area, kitchen, and patio with a hot tub and fire pit right on the St. Vrain river. A lot of the appliances and supplies in the kitchen were very dated, and some of the furniture was antique. It was very cozy and we have decided that we'll definitely be back to stay again!

Every single guest for this shower came up in my parents motor home, since they all wanted a ride and didn't fit in one car. They came and left together, and were mostly friends of our family.

Theresa planned several games, including one where she had emailed Dave and asked him some questions that I was to answer. Every question I got wrong resulted in another piece of bubblegum I had to chew; which really stinks because I HATE gum.

I answer 8 of the 10 questions accurately, and failed on two. One being his dream car; I knew it was a fast sports car but the actual model? Not a chance. The second question being what he would chose as his 'last meal' if he was on death row. Having already one large piece of disgusting bubble gum in my mouth (I can't believe they didn't accept sports car!) I was flustered and answered Thai food, knowing full well as soon as I said it that the answer was actually going to be steak.

So, two pieces of bubble gum. I had to argue about one other question, that being where our first kiss was, because Dave was wrong! I couldn't believe it, but they let me slide on that one because yes, us girls remember these things better!

We played some other games (how well do you know the bride, name the spice, etc.) and they also put me on the spot with a silly 'getting dressed game'. After being blindfolded, the following story was posed: 'you and Dave are on your honeymoon. He calls you and says that you have 5 minutes to get dressed for a reservation he's made. The caveat? The power is out in the hotel and you have to get dressed in the dark!'

Then they put oven mitts on my hands.

Yikes.

Once I have a picture of this awful outfit I had to put on, I'll surely post it!

Theresa bought the most amazing carrot cake from a bakery in Denver, and I almost went bridezilla and changed our cake order to this bakery! Wow, it was amazing and beautiful.

She also provided large amounts of fabulous food, and ordered a platter of petit fours from another bakery in Denver. Amazing!



After our guests left around 6pm, Kirstin, Theresa and I put some chili in the crockpot and changed into more comfortable clothes.

Our 'bachelorette evening' included talking about our respective husband, fiance, and new date (Kirstin has found an amazing man for herself!) as well as marriage and the usual assortment of wedding stuff.

We spent a good amount of time boiling in the hot tub on the river, and stayed up late. We ate some of the chili, spent another hour in the hot tub, and went to bed. The next morning we had a great breakfast of eggs and bacon, and drove 10 miles to our venue so that Kirstin and Theresa could see where the wedding would take place.

Our original plan included a hike, but once we returned from visiting our venue the rain started coming down. We spent the rest of our day at the cabin chatting on the couch.

Chloe (my mutt) was with us all weekend, and she missed Kirstin (a former roommate) so much that she was glued to her lap for a good portion of the weekend! Chloe knows where to get the best belly-rubs from. . .