This weekend kicked off Saturday with Brad making me a delicious breakfast of grits, scrambled eggs, and hashbrowns.  He doesn't cook for me often, but I so appreciate it when he does.  He let me have a lazy kind of morning, complete with watching House and fretting about wedding-related activities.  After a bit, we headed out to run some errands.  We went to Michael's and Hobby Lobby, where Brad waited in the car.  We went to Men's Wearhouse, where Brad picked up some new shoes, socks, and shoe trees.  Since he bought all the guys' suits here, on his credit card, he had $150 in rewards and spent about $20 for all his new purchases.  Not too bad!  We also stopped by the mall so I could pick out a gift for my dad.  While there, I noticed that the Gap was running 50% off all women's clothes and Brad let. me. shop.  Now, for those that we don't know in real life, this is a huge deal.  Brad is the saver and I am the spender of the relationship.  I took this as a sign that the weekend and short bit of time left until the wedding would be wonderful.  :)

Saturday night found us at a wedding for Tracy, a girl I went to grad school with and work with currently.  She and her now-husband got engaged a week or two after Brad and I did and we have been thrilled to have someone to talk weddings with. 

Isn't she a beautiful bride?

Delicous candy buffet.  Brad was a huge fan of the gummies.

This isn't the highest quality photo, I know.  I took it hurriedly

with my iphone as I was trying to enjoy the wedding.

Their gorgeous (and delicious!) cake. 

On Sunday, Brad and I woke up early to go to church with his grandma.  She lives two hours away from us, so it was an all-day affair.  We went to church, lunch, and then she had cake and ice cream for us!  It was a sweet day and we capped it off with a visit to his parents, since I haven't seen them in weeks.  His dad wanted to show me how the flowers were doing and talk with me about some other DIY projects I have him signed up for.

Tiny church.

More flowers from Brad's parents' flower garden. 

I am thrilled that we'll have home-grown flowers at the wedding.



Kids, we are at 17 days until the wedding.  I finalized cake yesterday and picked up our guest book.  I finalize flowers on Wednesday (for the bouquets).  The to-do list is seeing some progress, but I will be so happy when Brad and I can just sit at home, as husband and wife, and watch TV.

--Melanie

Feeling Good

Great things that have happened this week:

1. Thank You Card

I received a thank you card from a parent who appreciated the kindness I showed her son and her family as we completed some updated IQ and academic testing that the son needed for transition needs.  The son is an 18 year old with Asperger's who was wonderful to work with and I was so happy to help him with this need so that he could explore college program options for students with special needs.  Also, he is a genius and I had to google some of his answers (he answered in French at times, for pete's sake).  The mom wrote me a beautiful card that makes me feel like I'm doing a good job and included a gift card to a bookstore.  So sweet!

2. Exercise

Brad and I walked for close to 4 miles on Tuesday and, if the rain holds out, I'd like to walk today.  I'm hoping to donate blood, so I guess a walk is contingent on that, but I love that Brad and I are getting out and increasing our activity.  It makes me feel good.  Also, my mom is going to count weight watcher's points with me starting Tuesday (Memorial Day cookout is sure to be fantastic).  I am not doing this just for the wedding pictures.  I have gained about 10 pounds since two or three years ago and I'm not really a fan of that.  I lost that weight doing WW, but then stopped tracking so it's no wonder that I gained it back.  Anyway, I want to feel better physically and self-esteem wise, so here we go.

3. Super Secret Project = Bridal Shower Invites for my BFF = Success

Remember my to-do list about assembling invitations?  Well, I'm hosting a bridal shower for my BFF next month.  She's getting married in August and I'm just so happy and excited for her.  Anyway, invitations can get pricey and I'm broke from my own wedding planning.  Also, I am planning my wedding and trying to finish my first year in a school, so I'm busy, which means I wasn't sure if I could order and receive invites in time for this shindig next month.  So I made invitations.  Lots of invitations.

Pretty stamps.

I make cards from time to time and I figured it was pretty much the same thing.  Kerry's shower is a blue-theme shower, so I tried to keep with that when I bought the paper.

Also, Kerry really liked invitation designs with a bride and a groom, so I went with the couple part when I bought the stamp.  I figured I could emboss that image on the invite, which I did.  Super easy, super quick.

I played around in pages on Brad's Mac and created the invite, which I printed in blue ink on blue cardstock (from the pack).  Then, I just took the paper cutter and corner-rounder to the dentist when Dad had surgery and cut paper for 90 minutes.  I continued doing this at Dad's house after supplying him with Vicodin and gauze.  Then, I continued doing this at my mom's house the next day.  Good gravy.  It was a little more time than I anticipated, but I ended up with 40 beautiful, homemade, and from the heart invitations.  Also, Kerry loves them.  :)

Finished invitation!  Also, rhyme that I stuck on the back of each invite encouraging everyone to wear blue.  The invites were placed in the envelopes so that the rhyme would be seen first when opening.  (Click on the pictures to make them bigger.)

4. Cooking

Guys, I am starting to get the hang of this cooking thing, I think.  This was our dinner Tuesday night--sweet potato fries, fruit salad, steak.  Simple, but good (and full of iron!).  I also bought some flowers from Kroger to spruce up the table a little.  

Two weeks ago, when I was in search of a good dessert, my sister rescued me and sent me a dessert pizza recipe.  Delish!  

Here's the recipe:

18oz sugar cookie dough

8oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 C brown sugar

1/4 C creamy peanut butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 medium granny smith apples (I went with presliced apples for convenience and non-browning.)

1/4 C caramel ice cream topping

1/2 C chopped peanuts (I omitted this.)

Preheat oven to 350.  Roll out cookie dough and bake for 16-18 minutes.  Let cool, then loosen from baking stone (or whatever you baked on).  Combine cream cheese, brown sugar, vanilla, and peanut butter.  Spread on cookie.  Peel, core, and slice apples thinly. Arrange evenly over mixture.  Drizzle warm caramel over apple.  Sprinkle peanuts on top.

(I left the peel on the apples and it was fine, just a bit harder to take bites of apples.)

Terrariums are a go!

 So, remember when I professed my love for succulents?  Well, Mom and I made a trip to Lowe's for plants and then devoted a lovely Saturday morning to constructing terrariums.  I think it went pretty well, though we do want to make a stop by Hobby Lobby sometime to check out their miniatures in order to hide things in the terrariums.  She told me I wasn't allowed to raid the toy box I keep for my nieces.  :(  Anyway, here's some pictures of the process:

Laying out all of our materials.

We started with small river rocks (seen on the left-most jar), but decided that for the little jars, we like the fish gravel size better.  Now, I just have to invest in some non-neon fish gravel.

Look at her go!

We think that it'll be best to do a small layer of dirt, the fish gravel or the river rocks, then another layer of dirt, then plant with the tall jars.  Our logic is that if we go that route, the plant will sit lower in the jar.  Right now, if it grows much, it'll stick out and I like the idea of it all being encased in the jar.  Thoughts?  And, while we're at it, do you like it with or without the lid?

 Finished terrariums!  I like the short ones, too, don't you?  This is bad since Mom and I can't agree which ones we like more.  Opinions, please!  We're also opinion to you choosing a third option that we haven't even yet considered!

Happy terrarium planters!

After we finished the terrariums, we planted some wildflower seeds.  After that we decided to go gorge ourselves on Mellow Mushroom pizza and see Bridesmaids.  So funny--even with my mom! 

I worked After Prom later that night.  My school does it in this completely amazing, mind-boggling, am I really in the school building kind of way.  Incredible.  Also, I was in the tie-dye room and worked my butt off from 1-4:30 am and had an amazing time!  Monday morning, though, I slept right through the alarm.  Whoops.

--Melanie

Inspiration Board

All photos taken from google search results and http://bouquetbridal.blogspot.com. Feel free to click the image and make it even bigger.

--Melanie

More of the Same

Kroger informed me that they could do the flowers for about half the costs I've been quoted. That is fantastic news. I just have to decide what flowers to use, which is driving me crazy. I want to see and touch and arrange different flowers to see if I can get the look that's in my head. I don't even know what colors to narrow it down to just yet. This is problematic.



The above picture is what Kroger suggested, but I am really not feeling the hydrangea.  I also don't know if I want bright bright yellow.  I don't know.  I love the green button mums in the picture to the right (a Kroger bouquet), but I am not a fan of roses.  See, it's ridiculous.  Who knows what I'll end up with.


Also, I've been feeling poorly yesterday and today, which does not make me happy.  I don't have time to be sick right now (who does?).  Plus, I have an IHOP/Michael's trip scheduled with Mom tomorrow (and possibly my sister) and I want to go.  I want to start on some DIY stuff and a trip to Michael's is necessary.  Don't worry, as soon as the DIY is completed, I'll show you most of it.  There are some surprises I'd like to keep until the big day, if you don't mind.

--Melanie

I don't really have much of a green thumb...

I'm currently considering the possibility of growing and arranging the flowers for the wedding. There's only the centerpieces, my bouquet, three bridesmaids bouquets, one flower girl, five corsages, and three boutonneires. I think it's doable, but a few have stopped just short of laughing in my face.

The reason I've even begun to consider this is the price of florists is obscene. Quotes for my bouquet start around $110, which is simply ridiculous. I do have a meeting with Kroger Floral Dept. this week (who knew?!?) and we'll see how that goes. At the very least, they are able to order in bulk flowers for me if I still stick with arranging my own.

I still need to decide what flowers/colors I want in the bouquet, but I love blue thistle, seeded eucalyptus, and gerbera daisies.

Here are some bouquets that I like:

Picture from wholeblossoms.com

Bottom two pictures by Me.

Cake, Etsy, & Flowers, too!

Hello, out there! My job has kept me pretty busy as of late, so I apologize that I haven't been posting more frequently. Next week is Spring Break and I'm hoping to recharge and relax and plan some wedding stuff!

Brad and I went to the BonBonerie on March 8 and ate so much delicious cake and had a wonderful time! Well, I had a wonderful time. Brad figured out that wedding cakes cost money and was displeased at the prospect. :) Our consultant welcomed us and offered any drink we could see. I chose a Crush because, well, that sounded yummy. We were shown the available list of cake flavors and invited to choose five for tasting. While we were tasting, she discussed different ideas of how the cake could look and paid special attention for my request of a non-table-scratching cake stand. She recommended that we keep the cake strictly on the silver platter and decorate with flowers in order to protect the table the cake will sit on.

When we were preparing to leave, she took the time to put our leftovers in a box along with a sixth cake flavor and two cupcakes. She made sure that we had--in writing--the prices of each option we were considering. Such a switch from the last cake tasting! After munching on cake for the next three days, Brad and I decided to go with the BonBonerie and paid a deposit.

Another great thing that happened recently is that I made my first etsy purchase! That site is amazing and I've bookmarked so many things that I love. I might be dangerous... Anyway, here is a picture of our personalized silverware that I am beyond excited about. Anyone who knows me knows that every piece of silverware I own has been acquired from some restaurant. Every piece. It seems fitting then to have strange silverware at the wedding.

Finally, I have started looking at flowers. I've gotten quotes and ideas from two florists and I think I know what I want the bouquets to look like. I just need to find the best price now so I can tell Brad that we kept at least one thing within budget. I want the bouquet to be tied, so it'll be a round shape with lots of texture, height, and color. I'm pretty stoked about this, but I want to remind everyone with allergies that this will be an outdoor shingdig. Please, take your allergy meds.

Please feel free to comment if you have ideas of flowers that may look wonderful in this bouquet and/or recommend a florist to me!

--Melanie