Checklist Outta Control

I know that theknot.com's checklist is just a suggestion...but damn, kids!  Look how far behind I am:

I've almost got 2 mega-important vendors locked in:  the photog and the venue.  I'm having some heartache with the venue (after I talked Jason out of all his worries, of course), so working with Amanda to smooth those out.  Otherwise, none of our top venues are available.  But like I said before, I'm saving most of that for a post when we either sign the contract or reject this latest venue.  If I ever get to talk to my Beau for a decent amount of time, we'll get a contract signed for the photog....I can't wait to tell you about that!  It's been one of the more fun things to plan/research.  I think I've almost got my maids picked out, and a good friend is helping me with my claim for my ring.  Things are looking up, wedding-wise!

Did your planning ever feel like it was just drraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaging?  What did you struggle to lock in?

Lost & Not Found

Just when I felt like I was finally hitting my stride blogging, something came along and knocked me off my smug little pedestal.  Friends, I apologize for the lack of my presence this week (because there are so many readers, ha).  You see, right after writing about how Beau painstakingly researched and bought my engagement ring, I went and did what every bride fears the most:  I lost it.  And this story (so far) doesn't have a happy ending like this one:

Picture from here.  A better story behind the picture is at NY Daily News.

Sigh.  I took it off for roller derby practice, because I just don't like wearing my ring during physical activities, and also because derby is a contact sport played (for us) on a concrete floor.  I was so scared of falling and catching myself (ok, well just the catching myself part...my derby name is Major TBI [traumatic brain injury] because I have about zero fear of falling...I do it all the time!) that I took it off.  We'd been skating for about 10 minutes when one of the girls came in and told us that the weather was getting really bad.  In Misawa, March doesn't mean Spring...it more often means blizzards and massive snowfall.  We're at 200 inches of snow for this winter and expecting 15-20 more this weekend (good lord, I hope not).   We live off base, where the roads are small and slick, so I was worried about getting back safely.  Unfortunately, that meant I hurried taking off my gear and didn't quite think about picking up my ring.  I had gotten home and started making myself dinner when I realized I didn't put it back on.  The hangar we practice in was still open and the weather had eased up, so I went back and searched, but to no avail.  About five trips back to the hanger, three or more facebook pleas, and one trip to the cops later, I gave up and contacted my bank (also my insurance company).  I'll have to let you know how it goes, but for right now, I'm just one sad, pessimistic panda.  

http://www.wallpaperseek.com/sad-panda-wallpapers_w9164.html 

He Liked It, He Put A Ring On It

(Note:  The title...I know that's SO TOTALLY overdone, but  I love it so much!)  Something I haven't talked about is how Beau picked out my ring.  After our ILY skype date, we skipped straight to talking about rings (this is fairly normal in military life, especially overseas, just so you know...we have to work out details sometimes before we can get all romantic and mushy).  Beau had admittedly never been in a relationship for more than a couple of weeks.  By the time these convos rolled around, we'd been together way longer than any of his other tries (in his defense, he's friends with his ex's...I am not).  So, being in that situation, he was pretty direct about his need for help, which I gladly gave...who DOESN'T like looking at sparkly things?  (Once again, I'm a crow).  My dear friend Natalie jumped at the chance to drink wine, watch tv and scour bridal magazines with me...she was also responsible for suggesting I look at Asscher cut diamonds.

from http://www.nelsonrarities.com/dir01-12/asschercut.html

Holy glittering goodness!  I was hooked, immediately.  I love how it's slightly art deco-y while still being modern.  My other requirements included it being fairly low-profile (not bulky and big) and white gold or platinum.  I don't like gold gold, and I'm not used to wearing rings, so I wanted it to be something I wouldn't mind wearing every day.  With that, I assaulted him with inspiration pictures:

all from brides.com.  from top:  A. Jaffe, Kwiat, Kwiat, Scott Kay, and Tacori.

But there was ONE that absolutely made my heart flutter:

from brides.com.  Kwait Platinum Asscher cut Diamond Engagment Ring.  Sigh.  

Heck, that still makes me giddy.  I loved it so much that I even let Natalie e-mail Jason to "hint" that this was the one I loved...despite trying REALLY hard to just let him pick!  And even though this isn't the ring I received and lovingly wear every day, Beau did a really good job picking mine out.  I mentioned before that he had to order my ring off the Interwebz, and believe me, that made me nervous.  But it shouldn't have...he got awesome recommendations from other Air Force dudes about bluenile.com, and they were great to him.  When he called in to order my ring, they even recommended a different cut and clarity combination that saved him money, and I could care less that it's of "lesser quality" because for one, it's really not, and damn, they were right and you cannot tell  at all!  I really appreciate that they did that, actually. So for any other ladies who might know their man is looking for a ring on bluenile, don't worry sweetheart...they'll take care of you!  Just in case you're wondering, this is my setting:   Petite Cathedral Pave Setting.

Did anyone else get their e-ring from an online vendor?  Were you nervous about/pleasantly surprised/(hopefully not) horrified by how your ring turned out?

To Theme, or Not Really to Theme?

When I first started planning this here party we're havin, I had to nail down our vision.  I would love, love, LOVE to not have one or to just go with the flow, but my ideas get too wild and unconstrained.  I want to do all the wedding things!  At the same time, I didn't want anything super obvious.  I think some themes are way fun, like carnival:

images via Unpredictable Bride

Or Alice In Wonderland:

images via A Perfect Celebration

But no hard-n-fast theme really appealed to us.  As we pulled together our ideas and my Pinterest board grew, we noticed trends...fall colors, rustic touches, Asian influences and lots of paper lanterns and candles...and that became our psuedo-theme.  I call it "Glowy Japanese Garden."

from stylemepretty.com

from etsy.com

from google.com

from google.com

from  http://blog.weddingwire.com/index.php/weddings/tahiti-orange-gray-wedding-inspiration/   

from the Wedding Bee Boards

  What do you think?  Do you have a theme or just a color pallette, or something hybrid like mine?

The First Dance

One of the very few details that have been set in stone our entire engagement was our first dance song.  Jason and I both love (or loved, before they broke up/reformed) is Paramore.  Jason was pretty convinced Paramore would play at his wedding, but because he was going to marry Hayley.

I can't blame him--Hayley's GORGEOUS!  photo via  here

So, as soon as I had the ring, I knew exactly what song we'd dance to.  Beau readily agreed....
  

The Only Exception...because Beau is the only exception in my world.  I never even wanted to get married before I opened my eyes and realized that he was my partner in all this madness.  Everything in the video, lyrics (especially the lyrics!) and all, are 100% true to life for me.  I never had much faith in love lasting til we fell in love...I still have to work at it, but (cue my favorite line from the song):

Oh And I'm On My Way To Believing

It gives me chills just thinking about that dance...it's the only thing I'm 100% sure I'm gonna get really sappy about.

What's your first dance song?  Why did you pick it?

Saving the Date, Complete

So my beautiful designer friend Chris came back with round two of our STDs on February 20th.  They looked like this:

Round two!  All photos/screen captures personal.

Jason and I liked them, but took a few days to let them settle.  During that, I figured out that I wanted entire words to be in the same font, but different fonts for each word.  So I sent her this:

She had an exercise to do at work, which means that we just now got back together on Skype and came up with this:

Ta-da!!!

We ended up taking the green border off the backside, and a few other small things.  Chris was going to take them to a print shop in Korea, but didn't like the paper selection.  So she ordered cardstock from Cut Card Stock and decided to print them herself.  I ordered printed ribbon for the "fortune" part, and kraft envelopes to send them out in.  On a rainy day, I attacked this box of goodies:

and started assembling them!

A little 3D element

deciding how to use the ribbon

And stamped the envelopes...

We ran into an issue with our printer, so it took quite awhile to get the front printed, but I was SUPER happy with the results, thanks to fontspace and Beau's computer-savvy-ness.

And finally, theme-appropriate stamps I ordered:

FINALLY!  Ready to fly.

They're supersimple, but I'm happy with the results!