Plower?

Ah Korea...the title is in honor of our favorite little old flower lady in Songtan, who would go from group to group at the bars and ask "Plower?" and then when you said no, "WHY?" and if you were lucky she'd hit you with said flowers and walk away.  AKA, I didn't know what to title this post. 

Once I sent off the contract for the 333, Amanda e-mailed me with my next to-do's, which included picking the DJ, catering, and the florist.  Obviously, the most fun thing on this list for someone who is overseas to do is look at pictures of gorgeous flower arrangements.  Obviously!  I had given Amanda the name of one shop whose work I'd liked online, but unfortunately she'd had bad experiences with them and didn't highly endorse them.  So I asked for suggestions...I hadn't given much thought to flowers really.  I knew I wanted fall colors and lots texture, and that was about it.  I only had a few inspiration pictures:

Not sure where the poster got it from, but this is 100% what I want the tables to look like .  Wedding Bee Boards

Can't attribute this at all, except that I found it on Pinterest

Photography by Brandon Witzel picture via Green Wedding Shoes

Scarce, to say the least huh?  So Amanda suggested a few shops and I straight fell in love with one of them...faster than I fell for Jason (once, you know, we admitted we liked each other).  Marius Bell Floral...I die.  Go check out Bobby's work on the Flickr, because I can't share the pix.  I was afraid of how much it would cost, but Amanda assured me that he gave her brides fair prices.  So guess what's going in the mail today?  Yep, another check.  I feel like I'm back in college with all the checks I'm writin lately!

I felt weird because I don't have many flower demands...did you?

A Place to Party!

Ooo...what's this?

Personal Photo

That, my friends, is a license to party!  After much indecision on both Beau & my parts, we finally settled on a venue for our ceremony and reception.  We may have had doubts, but really it's perfect...just "rustic" enough and so wide open to possibilities...Address 333 at the Historic Pritzlaff Building in downtown Milwaukee.  Some pictures from Gravity:

And some pictures from Amanda:

AND she put a video up on YouTube for us.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love my wedding planner?

At first I was completely sold, but then Beau had a ton of worries.  Like, he was concerned about how many pillars there were, which I didn't get at all and made him write an e-mail to Amanda.  She apparently placated him, but then I started worrying that it was too big a space.  I mean seriously, the room can hold something like 600 people.  We're inviting right around 300 people, but we already know so many aren't going to be able to make it.  But this is why wedding planners are amazing.  Amanda reassured me that even if it was a small event, we would make it work. SERIOUSLY.  LOVE HER.

Now, I'm especially stoked to have sent this check off because it means we can start booking other vendors...fun!

Did you have any second thoughts about your venue?

Piercings, Tattoos and Hair Dye, Oh My!

So if you know me, I'm not what you'd call "alternative," but there's definitely a lot of that in my blood.  I'm the kid who has 3 large tattoos, but wears ruffles.  I'm eclectic.  Or something like that.  Up until a few years ago, I might've gotten upset if my bridesmaids had visible tattoos or piercings.  I certainly was tattooing in places specifically for the goal of not having any visible in a wedding dress.  That philosophy has obviously gone out the window:

My face hurts!  Personal Photo

On Tuesday, I had a crazy person moment.  It wasn't impulsive (I'd especially been thinking about that Monroe for a loooooooong time), but it was scary to have my face pierced twice in one day.  I didn't even think about this in terms of my wedding until a friend posted on my fb:
Brittany I see you could not hold out until after the wedding! It is a good look on you... I hope it does not hurt for long!

Wednesday at 9:12pm ·

Oooo...she has a point.  I guess I couldn't!  But it'll be good.  The nose piercing is small and most people hardly notice that I got it done.  Once my Monroe is healed, I'll get something smaller and more sparkly for it.  It'll be part of my wedding bling!  I will, however, have to restrain myself from dying my hair...

http://weheartit.com/entry/24904029/via/bananna?ref=nf

Sigh.  Mostly because it's a fall-colored wedding and I don't want to wreck my hair again (Korea was harsh on it).

What modifications are you holding out on til after your wedding?   Do you care if your bridesmaids/men do any visible mods?

Confession Time

I feel like I should have confession time.  I'm not Catholic, but I'm marrying one (that's not my confession, BTW).  Today's confession is this:  sometimes I don't know if we should have this wedding.  Scary one, huh?  We're already legally married, and sometimes, marriage is hard ya'll.  Jason and I have definitely had our struggles in our first year of marriage.  It wasn't blissful and happy...but it wasn't terrible either.  We had some issues towards the end of my Korea stint that were difficult to overcome, but we've mucked through it.  We're in counseling, which sometimes helps, but it's definitely not a cure all.  We don't fight about the things I thought we would (dishes getting done, my laundry piles everywhere, him being at work all the time, etc.).  It's sometimes not as fun as I thought it would be.  We have terrible fights that may or may not have been influenced by watching certain movies:

image via here

 That was Monday for us.  We spent much of the week not talking about it, but having a pretty darn good week regardless.  Last night we finally talked it out, and I think we've decided that we're always going to have issues...but we're also always going to be the love of the other's life.  It's not perfect, but worth celebrating.

image via We Are That Family

So what's my point?  I spent a lot of time the last two weeks reading about/watching happy couples and moping that we might never be like that.  I didn't blog as I should have (although now I have tons of fun stuff to catch you up on).  I had to snap outta some negative thinking and have it out with Beau to remember what we have.  I hope you never have to do that, but if you do, don't worry...it's just life.  I won't pretend it's a fairy tale, but Jason and I have a great story and you can bet we're gonna have a blast at our wedding!

Have you ever had any doubts about getting married and/or throwing a huge expensive party for your marriage?

Pictures Worth Thousands of Words

Or at least I hope they will be!  Bet you can't guess what we did...or you totally can.  I totally got antsy and started searching for our photographer way, way early.  I was worried all the best ones would be taken!  But they definitely were not, and I'm happy to tell you we booked our photographer!  It's actually a bit premature to say that, since the contract and check are in my bag, waiting for our next trip to the post office (yes, living overseas for military is a bit like old-school small town living, where everyone has to go to the post office to send and receive mail).  But, since our photog only shoots a certain number of events a year and had said he was willing to do ours even though he's already booked that magic number, I think it's fairly safe to announce it.  Meet Steve:

http://stevebowmanphotography.com/

Seriously...any guy that dresses up like Spiderman on his own website wins my photo-lovin heart!  Plus, he's British and hilarious and takes wonderful pictures and thinks that jacking up his prices for weddings is a rip off.  Go read his philosophy on it, it's brilliant!  Especially the part about wedding packages with names are dumb, which is true...although I did talk to a really sweet photog who had named wedding packages...it's just that Steve's humor won us over.  I initially won him over by telling him we live in Japan and like people who don't talk like us.  I was totally sold when he e-mailed me the day after I lost my ring, telling me that if all his equipment failed, he would take pictures on his iPhone with Instagram and that would be "pretty boss."

Check out this vimeo video of a reception he recently shot.

He's the right mix of traditional (for Beau) and artsy (for me), and he picks awesome music!  It's a perfect match.

Which of your photographer's traits (other than awesome picture taking skills) won you over?

Ringless: Update

I have to admit that I was extremely pessimistic about getting my ring replaced.  I'm naturally pessimistic, and sometimes I'm grateful for it.  I'm not surprised when I don't find things or don't get the free seat on the airplane back to America (yes, that happened this week too.  It's been stellar).

I should have this mug!  http://www.yankodesign.com/2007/05/03/the-pessimists-mug-by-despair-studio/

So when I went to file an insurance claim, I was almost positive (ha) that they weren't going to refund us for it.  I was pretty dang sure they were just gonna call me an idiot and trash the claim.    The first e-mail I got confirmed this fear:  the claims adjuster said she was sorry that it happened, and then sent me a barrage of questions that I was sure would label me as negligent.  Specifically, question #3: Was this in a safe location that was locked?  Ahhhhh!  Who carries something to lock up their valuables on the go?  If I was at the gym, sure, but the base gym won't let us skate there.  We skate in an aircraft hangar.  Luckily, I have a friend here who is a Judge Advocate (that's Air Force speak for lawyer).  I sent her the questions and asked her advice for answering them.  She quickly replied that I should definitely not lie, but that it'd be alright to kinda adjust my answers.  For example, instead of just answering question #3 "no," she suggested I write "It was in a closed aircraft hangar, inside a secured facility."  NEVER would've thought to say that on my own.  So I answered the adjuster's questions, attached my receipts, and had the base cops help me write up an incident statement.  My lawyer friend had assured me that insurance companies usually pay out for simple negligence, so I was feeling pretty good when I hit the send button.  I wasn't disappointed...a few days ago I got an e-mail that said they couldn't replace the ring, but were giving us a check for a few less dollars than what J paid for the ring.  Winning!  It doesn't replace my ring, but I guess at least my finger won't feel so naked in a few weeks.  The point of this story?  The money you pay to insure your ring is WORTH IT!!!  DO IT!!!

Is your ring insured?  Why/why not?