I am a huge fan of country music, always have been since I was a kid. I have my aunt Laura to thank for that. There was a time I only enjoyed New Kids on the Block & Milli Vanilli but Laura played country music around the clock and always in the car. I seem to remember a lot of Reba or maybe I think there was a lot of Reba because the first country songs I took a liking to was Reba's The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia & her classic Fancy.
I remember once Laura took her daughter Jessica & I to a local country bar (unfortunately now that I'm of age it isn't around anymore) The Rock'n Rodeo. Jess and I were ecstatic, we put on our best outfits! I can still remember what I was wearing: black shorts and a purple silk blouse (I know.... weird I remember that, it's not like I remember other outfits I wore to other events during that time.... Except the denim Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs outfit, but I'm not going to mention that, in fact forget I even said that! I did not have an all jean Disney character outfit!!!). Jess and I were playing with a water balloon in the back of the car on our way to an evening of line dancing with Laura, which let me tell you was a real treat! We were getting to go into an adults only BAR for a night to dance and there was going to be cowboys there! Well the water balloon ended up EXPLODING all over me, mostly covering my purple silk blouse. If you've warn silk and spilled on it, you know it's not fun! It stays wet forever and looks terrible! I ended up spending most of the night trying to dry my outfit by standing in front of a giant fan that was bigger than I was on the dance floor meant to cool down sweaty dancing people. Luckily for me though my cousin Jess stayed right next to me the entire time and brought me a soda or two. One of the million reasons she's one of my bridesmaids.
Ok point of the post today, I was listening to Pandora.com on a George Strait station because I wanted to hear the songs that took me back to those days. Just some good ol country music that never gets old. This one came on, and totally made me smile. I had completely forgotten about it. I think it would be nice in a wedding :o)
Hope is a free gift. It exists for all of us. All we must do is not clip it's wings. Let if fly and sing freely. It's song can be heard over the the strangest seas, coldest of lands, and in the worst of storms. It is a song that never ends as long as we don't let it.
Probably the most frustrating part about planning a wedding. Especially if you're like us: Just getting started in your career and BAM the economy tanks! Now you're stuck in the same pay bracket you've been in for the last 4 years. Honestly though, I can't complain, my fiancé and I have both been fortunate enough to have survived the horrendous layoffs. Unfortunately we are both in the Architecture business so even as things begin to pick up we'll be one of the lasts to see it.
After we got engaged our office (yes we work together) gathered in our open meeting space and our boss poured champaign for everyone and gave us a very nice speech. Something about... "The times are hard but you've brought the smile to the office that we've all needed and you're moving forward while the economy is holding us back, you're taking a chance...." and a bunch of other mushy stuff I can't remember because I was lost at the bottom of my champaign glass.
But you know...... he was right,
WHERE THERE'S A WILL THERE'S ALWAYS A WAY!
First thing Levi and I did was move into a house together that increased our monthly rent. OK, that wasn't very smart but, I finally agreed to move in with him and we needed a house. We have a very large dog that requires a very large backyard. I did however pick up this cute piece of home decor to help remind us to save:
Chalkboard Piggy Bank $10.00 @ Target.com
Next we sat down and talked about what we expected of our wedding. Luckily we're both easy going and enjoy the natural beauty a nature setting has to offer. <----- This will save you $$ on decorating. We both also agreed on a rustic venue. A rustic venue comes with it's own charm and doesn't need anything more than a little sprucing to make it look wedding worthy. We were able to find this in a State Park for less than half the cost most vendors charge for weddings. The State Park facilities we toured ranged from $80 a night to $800 AND came with tables and chairs to accommodate most sized weddings.
Next we started talking to our friends about wedding costs to get an idea of what we were up against. OH BOY IS THAT A FAR AND WIDE RANGE! However very helpful! Since at least one of us had attended each wedding we were able to eliminate caterers by high cost first, taste second, and we managed to find a caterer at a low cost with delicious food that we both had already tasted!
After word spread that we got engaged I was shocked how many people offered their assistance to help make our day special: We have friends that offered to: Play ceremony music, do flower arrangements who work at nurseries, roast pigs, search flea markets and vintage stores for decorations (some people just find the deals!), make cakes, coordinate our day/events leading up to it, take pictures, help make dresses, cook, set up and take down..... If you have friends with such talents RECRUIT them! They'll feel honored to help and be a part of it.
Everyone we talked to said the photographer would be an important/expensive check box on the budget list. This, I was willing to fork out some cash for until a married coupled friends of ours who recently had a baby mentioned they went to the local college and put an add up in the photography classroom for family photos. They said they had a huge response from students, graduates and even professionals looking for work offering outstanding deals. They were able to pick through the list and decide on what style they liked best. SCORE!!! That's a great idea that I never would have thought about!
Last do your reaserch! If you're reading this I assume most of you are, but there are lots of blogs out there that give crafty people like ourselves inspiration to do a lot on your own. A wedding isn't about the bells and whistles it's about having a good time and spreading the love with your family and friends, most people you talk to wont remember the decorations they'll just remember the time they had so don't fret on perfection, do some of it yourself and save a buck or two.
Here's a few ideas I've found helpful so far:
Make a play list (On your invites ask each guest to choose two of their favorite party songs and write them down on the back of the return reservation card)
Grow your own flowers or pick wild ones depending on your Season. I'm planning to make terrariums, those cute little chickadee cactus's reproduce themselves. All I have to do is pick a few from my yard and gather some moss!
Hand-make your save the dates and invites
Bake in bulk or can veggies/fruits for your guest gifts. I'm making my grandmas Strawberry Jam & his grandmas Apple Butter Sauce.
Shop thrifty - There's lots of good finds out there if you take the time. Vases, jars, plates, linens, utensils, clothing, picture frames, furniture..... Pretty much anything
Don't be afraid to ask for hand-me-downs. My 2-B sister in law is getting married this year and she's happy to hand down some items we're both collecting.
Give yourself some time to be engaged. This will allow you to have time to do these things, to savior the engagement and enjoy a little time before being Husband and Wife - After all you have the rest of your life for that.
After most of these tips Levi & I have managed to come up with an estimated budget of only $7,000 and to be honest........ I think we can do it for less plus throw a band in there!
Now that the venue is in place I can really start considering my decorations, but lets be honest here..... Every girl considers her decorations before she's even met "The One". I'm still sticking with the Vintage Victorian feel. Our venue has so much original rustic charm I think this simple elegance would be just the right amount of flair to spruce it up a bit and make it feel like a wedding.
Collection item #1.
Vintage decorated plates. My grandmother has already given me a set of 15 but I need a total of 150...? I'll gladly accept tea cups and saucers as well. But be warned, if you give me tea cups you cannot have them back.
Collection Item #2.
Glass Pie Plates
Collection Item #3.
Pie (I guess you would call them cake) stands. I'm not going to be picky about these. I like Glass but I also like assorted colors and textures. A few with a lid would be cool too.
Collection Item #4.
Heritage Lace Table Runners. In all sorts of shapes and shades of off-white/cream. I think it's safe to assume that the tables are about 5 feet long. I need 25.
Collection Item #5.
Apothecary Jars. Preferably on tall or stubby stands and they must have a large mouth. I'm using these in hopes to build a-whole-lot-a terrariums.
Dress shopping is not at the top of my to-do list right now but every once and awhile if I see a bride that has a pretty dress on one of the blogs I frequently visit I'll look at the designers website. That is how I found THIS ONE! I love it! I love it! I love it! I love the details on top and I love the pattern on the bottom, the only problem is when I called the designer the price tag read $11,500. CRAP! Who is this Monique Lhuilier anyway!!!
I have 89.9% committed to making my own dress. I like the idea of walking down the isle in a dress that I designed, that is one of a kind and that has my sweat and tears into it to add to the the meaning and the whole made with love wedding experience..... So now I'm wondering.... Can I make something like this?
I'm a sucker for a love song, they make me cry, they give me goose bumps, but most importantly they just make me happy!
Levi and I are constantly listening to music, and when we find something that makes us think of each other we share it over the speakers @ home. We've listened to many that touch our hearts and make us want to slow dance for a crowd... Dan Aurebach's When the Night Comes, Van Morrison's Into the Mystic, Rolling Stones Wild Horses, Tim McGraw & Faith Hill's I need you...... and so many more far and wide in-between, but I keep coming back to this one:
Nestled inside beautiful Silverfalls State Park right outside of Salem Oregon. The Silver Creek Youth Camp is everything we were looking for minus the a mountain peak backdrop. It's rustic, it has cabins, it's private, it's PERFECT, AND are you ready for this......... It's only $800 a night! Given we can only rent the place out before June and After August we'll have to push our date out further but for that price and this location DONE!
Our new date is 9.8.12, two days before my birthday. That means for the rest of our lives we'll be celebrating our anniversary and my birthday together. I'm ok with that because hopefully we'll be going on a trip whether it being a European Vacation, Visiting the Mayan Ruins, Laying on a white sandy beach drinking something fruity with little umbrellas, checking off one of Americas National Parks on our list, or just a local camping trip I can't think of a better way to kill 2 birds with one stone!
Well I guess you could count that as 3 birds.... Anniversary, birthday, and yearly vacation? If it's a destination vacation we could throw Levi's November birthday in there too.....
Ok, this picture here is the big open field at the front of the camp. It has a baseball diamond and horseshoes. In the first picture you can see a few of the buildings. You can't see the first one which is the dining hall but you can see the administrative office where I'm thinking the guest book will be and the gift table, then the dance pavilion, after the pavilion there is a 4th building that is set up as a "meeting hall" but it looks more like the perfect place for a booze room. Probably because there is a stone deck wrapped around it with just the right sized ledge to place your cocktails....
Looking down the field you can see this pond! I know it doesn't look like a pond now but in the summer for the YMCA camp they damn it up under the bridge and it turns into a pond. The ranger informed me that he usually has the Y kids take the damn down but if I want it up for my wedding he'll have the inmates from the Oregon State Penitentiary take it down when they come to do community service in the park. Sounds like a plan to me! Now I just need to find a little rustic row boat that still floats!
Ah the moss of the old growth forest, beautiful. And it's all over the park. This is what the trees look like in the section we plan to hold our ceremony.
This is the dining hall, built in the 1800's. Picture it unwinterized with the doors and windows open looking out over that huge field.
Here's the inside of the dining hall. Check out the awesome wood work. I see white lights sturng about. There's even a projector screen if we decide to play some sort of slideshow or funny video.
OH YEA! Did I mention that all 4 buildings have a wood burning fireplace?!!!!
The dining hall includes 25 of it's original wood tables along with benches. Benches seat 3 people each so that is seating for 150 people! Exactly the amount we have been planning for!
I like these tables just the way they are. Actually I take that back I LOVE these tables just the way they are! I don't think they need table cloths, I think a nice off-white lace table runner would be perfect! Accented with a few collected jars of wild flowers or homemade terrariums in assorted apothecary jars!
This is the dance hall! We're hoping to hire a live band so we can shake a tail feather all night long! Those doors open up to the field and it's steps away from the booze room!
OH! OH! and when you walk pass the booze room down a little trail you come to the camp fire pit! A big fire pit with built in log benches for lots to sit, chat and be merry around.
The camp holds 4 individual camps. Each camp is equipped with 8 bunk cabins. Bunk meaning they sleep 6, bring your own mat, bring your own pillow, bring your own sleeping bag style.
The bottom left picture is a lodge, each camp also holds a lodge with a fireplace inside.
We plan to rent the camp Friday-Sunday so all of our friends and family can get to know each other and spend the weekend together and our out of town guests are accommodated.
We also will have to option to set up tents.
I saved the best for last. This is what they call the "Chapel". There is a short trail that leads back to it, when the ranger asked us to go check out the chapel we were expecting to come to a small building at the end of the line but no we ended up here. It's a circle opening in the trees with built in amphitheater seating and stage. There is also a creek running through that makes for a perfect background noise. I couldn't think of a better "chapel" for Levi and I to say our vows in because our religion is getting out to connect with the real world.... The great outdoors. We camp, we hike, we pack, we float, anything to be outside in beautiful surroundings.
If you don' t know enough already here's a informational video that explains the camp a little better than my pictures and my wording could do.
We're getting married in an old growth forest, lots of tall mossy trees will be surrounding us and our guests during the ceremony. I thought it would be a good idea to hang round paper lanterns from some of the trees as decoration but these handmade yarn or twine balls are even better! Not to mention a dollar saver!
Blow up a balloon. Not to it's maximum capacity so that it is rounder.
Prepare your work area by laying down a tarp. We hung a shower curtain between two chairs and suspended the balloons by it with string so we could have plenty of working room.
Mix corn starch, glue and warm water together until it's not lumpy
Smear the petroleum jelly all over your balloon until it is completely coated.
It's best and much faster if you have a friend help you with this. One of you begin feeding the yarn through the glue mix and handing it off to the other person to drape around the ball.
Tuck the start and end pieces of yarn beneath other pieces of yarn. Begin wrapping the yarn around the balloon vertically at a comfortable tightness, and gradually switch to wrapping horizontally.
After your ball has dried for 24 hours, you can pop the balloon! Use a chopstick to knock out any glue crystals that developed between strings.
Spray the ball with clear fast drying spray paint tie the fishing wire to the ball and hang!
Levi & I have been talking a lot the last few days about what he is going to wear?? I added to the budget $100 for his attire.... That's fair right?
His only concern is that he wants to look like a P.I.M.P (Pretty Impressive Male Person) and with the $100 budget I assigned him I believe the best way to accomplish that would be through a second hand store. There's other second hand stores out there other than Goodwill people! How do I know this? Cause ladies is P.I.M.P.S too......
Anyway here's my favorite style for my handsome groom to be. I know he looks good in a fitted shirt rolled up to his elbows because that's his office attire. I also know know he looks good in a vest because he's got a nice gray suit that includes a vest. His goal is black so I vote for this outfit (minus the jeans) in all black. Black vest, black shirt, black pants, black tie, and black shoes. I like black. I could go with a white shirt under the vest but I feel like that is so cliché and to close to a tux and I hate penguin suits!
I also really like the idea of him wearing a paperboy hat like so or a fedora..... Kinda like paperboy better.
He'll also be holding my grandmothers handkerchief in his chest pocket that she purchased for me back in 1984 (the year after I was born) in Holland and had my initials embroidered into.
She still hasn't given it to me but she's told me it's waiting.
If the black and white is what he insists on going with I think this is perfect. A nicely fitted suit would compliment is physic well and I love the pencil neck tie.
As far as the grooms men, I like the idea of them mixing it up a bit. Vests, jackets, just a nice shirt, ties, suspenders.... All in different shades. Levi thinks I'm going to have a really hard time getting his men to wear suspenders but I LOVE them!
There we are with the suspenders again!
However we do have a groomsmaid. A female who will be standing on the grooms side. I would like her to wear a black or gray dress.
These vests are pretty P.I.M.P. Again we could go with different shades and all diffrent ties or even cool belt buckles, maybe a pocket watch here and there? And I think sunglasses are a great idea for groomsmen (OH and groommaids) gifts?
