The Obamas
9.04.2010
I had seen online on many blogs about sending a wedding invitation to the White House to get a little congratulatory note back. We thought we would do so to see what we get and we were SO excited when we opened up the mailbox one day to find this! So much fun!
3 Months
9.03.2010
So yeah - it's been 3 months since the wedding and I give myself a complete FAIL on blogging here for you lovlies. But instead of making excuses I'm just going to jump in because you all deserve to see the rest of how things all panned out - and ESPECIALLY the wedding pics. :) So I've drafted a bunch of posts lately and will throw them up here on out! <3
Hair & Make Up Trial
4.23.2010
To be honest - I was really nervous about this part of the wedding planning. I've never considered myself a super girly girl in the hair and make up realm. I have wash-n-wear curls that I hardly ever mess with and I wear the exact.same.makeup every.day. Although I'm girly in a lot of other ways and would never leave the house without my hair decent and at the very least - mascara on...I just don't do well when it comes to looking overly gorgeous - and I dont understand how people are.
The day started with a minor crisis because I lost a contact! oh, the horror. Actually - yes. I have been on my last pair of contacts for about 3 months now (I know, I know...) and they were killing me, so I'd been wearing my glasses (circa 2002 and so over them) for the last 4 weeks. Oh, and I'm totally blind without anything. So I seriously didn't want to be wearing my glasses the day of the trial so I purposely went to the eye doctor a few days before in order to get new contacts. While putting them in that Saturday morning, I had one on my finger and was excitedly telling DB about how they are blue tinted to you can easily find and see them. Then I said something that caused me to blow the contact off my finger. awesome. we couldn't find it by the time I had to rush to work - and off I went in my glasses. Luckily, I have an amazing man who continued searching for it and eventually found it hanging on for dear life to the door frame...go fig....crisis averted.
So I was a good hair trial bride and washed my hair the night before per Amy's suggestion and got my face all nice and clean after working a shift the morning of. Oh yeah - my hair. It's super naturally curly, right? And when you straighten it - it's not like normal straight hair. But Amy said it'd probably be best to work off of the straight hair - so I straightened it and hoped that it'd magically turn into beautiful cause usually it doesn't do much other than be straight when I blow it out.
Now - let me tell you about Amy of Makeup Ready, because I'm quite proud of this find. I happened to see her featured on a local vendors blog (follow your local vendors! you find good finds!) and then worked out a deal with her for a complete barter. I get hair and makeup services on location plus a trial from Amy while Nick makes Amy a website. YAY - everyone wins! Nick's worked hard on putting together a website for her and I plugged in some marketing lingo and bam! She's so much fun and I kind of want her to be my bff - so naturally, we had a lot of fun at the trial.
She set up camp on my kitchen table and got to work.
First up - make-up.
I didn't really know what I wanted here other than fake eyelashes (mmm) and dramatic eyes. She did her thing, the make-up felt good on my face and it looked great too! yay! the only thing I'm changing for the day of is that the eyeliner be a bit thicker/dramatic. Other than that - easy peezy.
Next up - hair.
I was really afraid of what my hair would or wouldn't do and all I knew that I wanted was something relaxed looking and not prom-like, stiff hair and curls. OK. So we went with a low chignon (sp?)/bun-type thing. I also knew I wanted a bit of height on top because I didn't want it to look plastered back. And I had to have the safety blanket of my grown out bangs swept across my face. So we started with this...
While this wasn't horrible - it was a bit too manufactured prom curls for me. Girls with naturally curly hair are snobs about curls - trust me. :) Anyway, so I was all "yeah, this needs to be more relaxed and stuff back here - but the front's good!" So we went back to adjust the chignon/bun and ended up with something much too "bun-ish" and I was all "no, no...more piecy not just one solid bun." And we concluded, both very happily, on this...
Now, really - this was after two adjustments. But it's the look I'm going for. She said the day of - when it's done straight from the get go - the front going back into the chignon and the chignon itself will be more piecy. I LIKE PIECY. :) So yay - I'm happy.
More pics...
And later that night....
And thus ends the hair and makeup trial. It was fun and I was pleased with how my hair did. I'm excited to see it all together on the day of!
The day started with a minor crisis because I lost a contact! oh, the horror. Actually - yes. I have been on my last pair of contacts for about 3 months now (I know, I know...) and they were killing me, so I'd been wearing my glasses (circa 2002 and so over them) for the last 4 weeks. Oh, and I'm totally blind without anything. So I seriously didn't want to be wearing my glasses the day of the trial so I purposely went to the eye doctor a few days before in order to get new contacts. While putting them in that Saturday morning, I had one on my finger and was excitedly telling DB about how they are blue tinted to you can easily find and see them. Then I said something that caused me to blow the contact off my finger. awesome. we couldn't find it by the time I had to rush to work - and off I went in my glasses. Luckily, I have an amazing man who continued searching for it and eventually found it hanging on for dear life to the door frame...go fig....crisis averted.
So I was a good hair trial bride and washed my hair the night before per Amy's suggestion and got my face all nice and clean after working a shift the morning of. Oh yeah - my hair. It's super naturally curly, right? And when you straighten it - it's not like normal straight hair. But Amy said it'd probably be best to work off of the straight hair - so I straightened it and hoped that it'd magically turn into beautiful cause usually it doesn't do much other than be straight when I blow it out.
Now - let me tell you about Amy of Makeup Ready, because I'm quite proud of this find. I happened to see her featured on a local vendors blog (follow your local vendors! you find good finds!) and then worked out a deal with her for a complete barter. I get hair and makeup services on location plus a trial from Amy while Nick makes Amy a website. YAY - everyone wins! Nick's worked hard on putting together a website for her and I plugged in some marketing lingo and bam! She's so much fun and I kind of want her to be my bff - so naturally, we had a lot of fun at the trial.
She set up camp on my kitchen table and got to work.
First up - make-up.
I didn't really know what I wanted here other than fake eyelashes (mmm) and dramatic eyes. She did her thing, the make-up felt good on my face and it looked great too! yay! the only thing I'm changing for the day of is that the eyeliner be a bit thicker/dramatic. Other than that - easy peezy.
Next up - hair.
I was really afraid of what my hair would or wouldn't do and all I knew that I wanted was something relaxed looking and not prom-like, stiff hair and curls. OK. So we went with a low chignon (sp?)/bun-type thing. I also knew I wanted a bit of height on top because I didn't want it to look plastered back. And I had to have the safety blanket of my grown out bangs swept across my face. So we started with this...
More pics...
And later that night....
And thus ends the hair and makeup trial. It was fun and I was pleased with how my hair did. I'm excited to see it all together on the day of!
More DIY
4.21.2010
A few more projects done in the last few months to share...
Customized napkins.
We didn't want to pay for the ones we found online and thought we could do a cool design on our own. Sweet. So we bought a circular stencil made of dots, an "M" for our last name and some green and black napkins that match our color scheme and a stamping away we went. We used acrylic paint for the stencil sponged onto the napkin and just a normal stamp pad for the "M." We tested the paint with a condensation-filled cup to see if it would mess up the ink and all was well!
Pomanders.
I stole a few ideas from WeddingBee and created some white tissue pomanders to hang on the ends of pews at the ceremony. Pretty easy - you just need some time to do it!
Out of Town Bags.
I have yet to fill these - but we got them all ready to be filled! I bought 50 muslin bags off of http://www.muslinbags.com/ and went to work! We used the same stamp from the napkins with a creme paint sponged on to it (with cardboard in between to prevent it soaking through!) and then a regular music note stamp with a black ink pad in the center. I also stamped a "tag" stamp onto white cardstock and cut them out and punched a hole in them to attach to the strings. We'll fill these with some fun Minnesota goodies that are still to be determined!
A dress hanger.
The photographer won't even be at the location early enough to take a picture of my dress on a hanger - but I saw all those cute ones on Etsy and decided I had to have on - even if it's just me who takes the picture of it hanging on there! I finally found a black hanger at Wal-Mart and bought some white floral wire to shape the words out of. I was pretty impressed at how easy it was to twist and turn the wire around into the shape I wanted.
Customized napkins.
We didn't want to pay for the ones we found online and thought we could do a cool design on our own. Sweet. So we bought a circular stencil made of dots, an "M" for our last name and some green and black napkins that match our color scheme and a stamping away we went. We used acrylic paint for the stencil sponged onto the napkin and just a normal stamp pad for the "M." We tested the paint with a condensation-filled cup to see if it would mess up the ink and all was well!
I stole a few ideas from WeddingBee and created some white tissue pomanders to hang on the ends of pews at the ceremony. Pretty easy - you just need some time to do it!
Out of Town Bags.
I have yet to fill these - but we got them all ready to be filled! I bought 50 muslin bags off of http://www.muslinbags.com/ and went to work! We used the same stamp from the napkins with a creme paint sponged on to it (with cardboard in between to prevent it soaking through!) and then a regular music note stamp with a black ink pad in the center. I also stamped a "tag" stamp onto white cardstock and cut them out and punched a hole in them to attach to the strings. We'll fill these with some fun Minnesota goodies that are still to be determined!
A dress hanger.
The photographer won't even be at the location early enough to take a picture of my dress on a hanger - but I saw all those cute ones on Etsy and decided I had to have on - even if it's just me who takes the picture of it hanging on there! I finally found a black hanger at Wal-Mart and bought some white floral wire to shape the words out of. I was pretty impressed at how easy it was to twist and turn the wire around into the shape I wanted.
The Show Must Go On
4.17.2010
After getting used to being husand and wife, the show had to go on! There's a big wedding in May and there's lots to be done! In fact, we're way more excited about May now that the "heavy stuff" (ya know, vows and the like) is out of the way and I'm so thrilled about the big proclomation of our love and seeing all of our friends and family and starting off our new life together with everyone!
There are a lot of things on our plates right now and DIY projects have been scattered across our living room floor for months. So let's get the DIY train started!
Today...moss letters.
Nick took this job on which I was glad about because I had no clue where to start. We bought some big slabs of floral foam at Michaels, some bags of spanish moss at wal-mart (they were cheaper than anywhere else!), a glue gun and sticks, some ribbon and he went to town.
First he had to carve the foam into letters "N" for Nick and "M" for Meredith.
Then, he hot glued the moss on.
Lastly - ribbons glued to the top to hang on the wreath hooks (you can see these in the pic)!
These will hang on the outside of the church doors and hopefully not shed moss over everyone as they walk into the church. :)
There are a lot of things on our plates right now and DIY projects have been scattered across our living room floor for months. So let's get the DIY train started!
Today...moss letters.
Nick took this job on which I was glad about because I had no clue where to start. We bought some big slabs of floral foam at Michaels, some bags of spanish moss at wal-mart (they were cheaper than anywhere else!), a glue gun and sticks, some ribbon and he went to town.
First he had to carve the foam into letters "N" for Nick and "M" for Meredith.
Then, he hot glued the moss on.
Lastly - ribbons glued to the top to hang on the wreath hooks (you can see these in the pic)!
These will hang on the outside of the church doors and hopefully not shed moss over everyone as they walk into the church. :)
The After Life
4.15.2010
I'm not gonna lie - it's weird being married but not married. It's kind of a weird in-between and an odd way to start out a marriage. I feel like we can't fully be husband and wife and it's kind of a straing. We live together (finally!) and wear our rings from time to time (if we're not going to be around people we know) and we call each other husband and wife but we're not really to the whole world. Plus, we can't focus on us and our marriage right now - we're planning a wedding! There have been plenty of moments in the last few months that I've caught myself out of my mind and thinking "this is not the way to be a wife" and I tell myself "I can be a real wife after May 29th." It's awful - but sometimes true. The stress, time-constraints, etc and etc that go along with planning a wedding isn't a very fun way to start a marriage when you wish you could be all "honeymooning" and everything. Ah, well - this is our life!
A few of my girlfriends at work and a couple of my bridesmaids know about our marriage - but not very many people. A coordinator at the church accidently included us in the newsletter with other couples who were married that month - so know the whole church knows...but that's not a big deal because they dont know my guests. Plus, our friends at church understand our reasonings better than many other friends would.
Nick and I joke every once in awhile about "yeah, you only get married twice" and those types - we try to laugh about how we did things differently because at times, it's draining. It's hard to validate yourself all the time and explain the situation to those who need to find out. But we're glad we did it - it's made our life a lot easier right now and it was pretty romantic, I must say. :)
A few of my girlfriends at work and a couple of my bridesmaids know about our marriage - but not very many people. A coordinator at the church accidently included us in the newsletter with other couples who were married that month - so know the whole church knows...but that's not a big deal because they dont know my guests. Plus, our friends at church understand our reasonings better than many other friends would.
Nick and I joke every once in awhile about "yeah, you only get married twice" and those types - we try to laugh about how we did things differently because at times, it's draining. It's hard to validate yourself all the time and explain the situation to those who need to find out. But we're glad we did it - it's made our life a lot easier right now and it was pretty romantic, I must say. :)
I'm a Miss and a Mrs.
4.13.2010
Lovelies,
I deeply apologize. I ran off and got married and then disappeared. I have a zillion excuses but I'm not even going to start...I'm just going to jump back in.
Here are some way overdue pictures.
The day was beautiful and so much fun. I woke up early, went and picked up my groom and we were on our way. It just occured to me the night before that we should stop by the local florist to get some flowers - so we did. They ladies there wrapped a little bouquet up for me and were excited about our big day. We met the photographer at the church a little early, took some pics and then our parents arrived. We talked and joked around with the pastor a bit and then he did the ceremony. It was beautiful. I cried, we exchanged rings and we were married. The pastor did a lovely job under the circumstances and is the same pastor who will do the ceremony in May - a nice point. Afterwards, we all went out to lunch at the hotel we're having the reception in May (nice touch) and then Nick and I escaped to a hotel. We giggled a lot and told every stranger we could that we just got married. We went out to eat and got many "congratulations" and some wine and dessert bought for us, and then we spent the night in a hotel in the neighboring suburb.
It was so much fun.
All photos by Cheryl Neuharth Photography
I deeply apologize. I ran off and got married and then disappeared. I have a zillion excuses but I'm not even going to start...I'm just going to jump back in.
Here are some way overdue pictures.
The day was beautiful and so much fun. I woke up early, went and picked up my groom and we were on our way. It just occured to me the night before that we should stop by the local florist to get some flowers - so we did. They ladies there wrapped a little bouquet up for me and were excited about our big day. We met the photographer at the church a little early, took some pics and then our parents arrived. We talked and joked around with the pastor a bit and then he did the ceremony. It was beautiful. I cried, we exchanged rings and we were married. The pastor did a lovely job under the circumstances and is the same pastor who will do the ceremony in May - a nice point. Afterwards, we all went out to lunch at the hotel we're having the reception in May (nice touch) and then Nick and I escaped to a hotel. We giggled a lot and told every stranger we could that we just got married. We went out to eat and got many "congratulations" and some wine and dessert bought for us, and then we spent the night in a hotel in the neighboring suburb.
It was so much fun.
All photos by Cheryl Neuharth Photography
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