Bouquets for the 'Maids: Part II

Now that all of the bead "stems" were completed, we were ready to assemble the bouquets.  We had about 600 stems of clear beads and 100 of silver and each bridesmaid's bouquet was to have approximately 100 stems - at least that was the original plan.

MOB and I started out by making piles of 50 of the clear beaded stems so we could confirm we had made enough.  Then, for some reason, we started assembling the first several bouquets with 75 clear beaded stems and 15 silver beaded stems.  This obviously does not add up to 100.  We kind of spaced out about grabbing 10 more stems from the extras pile.  We realized our error after the 3rd or 4th bouquet but I was not about to unbundle them just to add 10 more.  We counted correctly on the remaining bouquets and added any extra leftover stems to the MOH's bouquet.

Supplies used for assembly:

• Wire cutters
• Thick work or gardening gloves
• White Duck Tape
• Tennis racquet tape
• Ribbon (color of your choice)
• Hot glue gun

Bouquets for the 'Maids: Part I

Once I had all of the supplies to make the bridesmaid bouquets, I recruited some help in the form of my MOH, MOB, BM A and FMIL, and we to work on cutting wire, stringing beads and twisting the beaded strands. 

Here was our inspiration picture (from this previous post):

Cake Boss

Remember my post about choosing a cake design? 

Everyone had a different favorite but a handful of you agreed with mine:

Image via Slice Cake Studio

Dancing with My Father

The father/daughter dance is something I'm really looking forward to.  My father is an amazing man and has always been there for his daughters.  He is the smartest, hardest working man I know and I am so honored to have him walk me down the aisle on my wedding day.

When Butterfly Kisses came out all those years ago, I thought for sure it was what dad and I would be dancing to.

Picking a Palette

I can't say that I've dreamed about or had my whole wedding planned since I was a little girl.  What I did always know, was that I wanted to be married in the winter and I wanted the colors to be navy and silver.  The rich, dark navy against fresh, white fallen snow seemed so dreamy!

I can't pinpoint one thing that drew me to the navy and silver.  Maybe it is because those were my high school colors?  Go Wolves!

Image via PrepSportswear.com

Registry Rumbles

Registering for wedding gifts was not as fun as I thought it would be.  Whew!  There - I said it out loud.  What a relief! 

I understand that everyone has their own opinions on the whole registry thing, but in my circle of family and friends, a registry is expected and almost demanded!  It isn't frowned upon and is the norm for an engaged couple in these parts.  I have already had numerous requests from people to have the right to an early sneak peak or to have "first dibs" on choosing our gifts! 

Mr. Ball Cap and I decided on Bed Bath and Beyond, Macy's, and MyRegistry.com.  MyRegistry allows you to add items from any website on the Internet onto one universal gift registry.  It is free to set up and it also allows you to sync other existing registries you may have out there (from Macy's for example) all to one page.  This site fit our needs well.  As Mr. Ball Cap and I are well into our 30's, we have accumulated quite a bit of household things during our life.  While we do need to replace quite a bit, there are other items that would be more practical for us.  We'd love to be able to register at Lowe's or Menard's, but sadly, they do not offer registries.  By using MyRegistry, we can add any item from these stores (or any other online store) to our registry and our guests can go to one site to see it all.

Please Leaf Your Thumbprint

Making the guestbook decision was quick and easy.  I ran a "winter wedding" search on Etsy and found this:

Image via Lovliday Etsy Shop

No Mad Hatter Here!

Hello Hive!  Miss Sunhat here and I think I'm still in shock that I'm really a bee now!  I can't tell you how excited and honored I am to be blogging for the hive.  I found the e-mail at about 1 AM after getting home from a concert (Stone Temple Pilots yeah!) and couldn't sleep for hours!  I've been reading Weddingbee for about a year and a half now and when the tea party generation of icons came out, I knew the sunhat was just the icon for me!

Why a sunhat?  Well I love hats - really love hats.  Like I was waiting for my invite to the royal wedding so I could rock the hell out of an amazing hat.  The bigger the brim, the more I love the hat.  I may not have gone this route:

Image via TruthQuake.com

But something like this would have been so fun and lovely to wear:

Image via TheBigFatIndianWedding.com

Losing Those We Love

Unfortunately this post bears extremely sad news.  On Monday, August 8, 2011, we lost my wonderful grandmother.  My heart is still broken, yet I'm comforted knowing she is out of pain and at peace.

I was lucky enough to grow up next door to my fraternal grandparents.  In fact, it was their farm we used for our engagement pictures.  As a kid, I simply had to take a 3 minute walk through the back fields to reach their house.  Grandma would always have candy bars in the fridge and we'd sip on grandpa's delicious "iced tea" concoction (I know it had Tang mixed in there!).  My grandparents read to my sister and I all the time and taught us how to become fairly good rummy players.  I clearly remember answering my first final Jeopardy! question correctly in their living room (they were avid viewers).

While these are memories I will always treasure, one memory I will not having is the two of them being there on my wedding day.  Grandpa passed away 10 years ago, but I always expected grandma would be there with us.  My heart aches each time I think of how she'll never see me in my dress or witness our beautiful Mass. 

I have no doubt they both will be with me in spirit on that day.  I am grateful grandma was able to meet and get to know Mr. Ballcap and she adored him.  She was so happy for me and loved that I found a good, Catholic, Polish boy!  Her faith was the strongest I have ever witnessed.  I want to be sure to honor her and my grandfather in the best possible way during our ceremony. 

This week we will take the time to mourn and honor this amazing woman.  She'd give my dupa a swift kick if I didn't get back into the joy and fun of wedding planning soon.  Losing a loved one is never easy, but losing her before one of the most important days in my life magnifies the grief.

I wish I didn't have to write such a heavy post, and there is no way my words can appropriately convey all I'm feeling, but I know I am not alone.  I have an amazing family and an even more amazing fiance that provide a fantastic support system. 

To those of you out there who may also be grieving, may your family and faith help you through this difficult time.

These Boots are Made for . . .

Walking!  Dancing!  Struttin around!  My Ugg sparkle boots have arrived!

How Me Became We - Part II

So in my previous post, you learned how foolish I was by pushing away a great guy for no real good reason!

I thought about Mr. Ball Cap quite a bit over the next couple of months, and as much as I tried to get him off my mind, I just felt so bad about how I handled the whole situation.  I assumed I had blown it and hoped that someone else great would come into my life.  But then, on December 17, 2008, while at a friend's Christmas party, I received a text that simply said "How are you?"  It was from Mr. Ball Cap!  I was in shock.  I was surprised he even kept my number!

Over the next few days, we texted and talked and he asked if I wanted to maybe hang out again.  I agreed and we set up a time to meet up.  But then . . . he cancelled on me.  Now I know that sounds terrible, but he actually had a valid reason that I believed.  His youngest brother was going into the Air Force and the family ended up planning a farewell get together for his last night on the same day we were supposed to meet up.  I couldn't blame him for that and hoped he wasn't really blowing me off.

How Me Became We - Part I

I think I owe you an explanation on how this couple came to be!

After graduating from college in December, 2001, I started my accounting career at the height of tax season.  I was lucky enough to join a firm with a fairly large department of young accountants.  I made lifelong friends fast and spent the next 7 years having a ball.  In 2003, the housing market was primed for young buyers so I purchased my first home.  Life was good.  I was having so much fun, but had no one special to share my life with. 

My friends started to get married and have children and I found myself wanting the same.  The circle of people in my life was pretty tight and after going to the same restaurants, clubs, etc., week after week, meeting someone new was proving difficult.

So what is a modern, independent woman to do?  Turn to the Internet of course!  I decided it was time to put myself out there and start meeting people outside of my everyday routine.  I doubled my efforts by joining a dating service and e-Harmony.

Trade Show Jackpot

On Friday, July 22nd, MOB and I had a mother daughter day and went to another of Transworld's Jewelry, Fashion and Accessories show.  I first discussed the show in this post, and we wanted to go to another to see what other wedding goods we could find.

Going on a Friday was a great choice.  The doors opened at 9:30 and we arrived about 20 minutes early.  We waited in a makeshift line and made a game plan on which way to go first.  As the crowd filed in, we were handed some free goodies: