weekend accomplishments

after spending a good bit of time at the new apple store in town, danny & i decided to stop by steinmart and check out their tie selection. it's a good thing we did! we found 3 matching ties that danny really liked on sale plus the cashier gave us an extra discount as a wedding gift. gotta love that! still on the hunt for a slightly different tie for danny, we went next door to ross and somehow found the perfect one - the lovely paisley one on the left. it's the same brand as the 3 we got at steinmart, so the colors are a perfect match. cheers for the first purchase for the men!





the next afternoon i went by old time pottery to wonder around. first find was a photo album that is perfect for our photo guestbook. it's grey like the suit we have picked out for the boys. cost? a whopping $4.99!



second find was fabric. old time pottery has a large table of random pieces of fabric. some random lengths, some still on bolts. after some searching, i found this:

i think it'll look great on the tables as either table runners or accent squares possibilty on top of a gold tablecloth. there was 6 yards which is enough to do 6 table runners. i already liked the idea of mixing fabrics for the tables so if i can find another fabric to compliment it, it'll be perfect.

3 wedding purchases made in just 2 afternoons! aren't we efficient? :)

the boys' attire

our current idea for the boys is suits. danny would really like to have a nice suit to have, so my idea-searching onthe internet has been focused on suits, not tuxes. we haven't quite figured out what the other boys will do - rent vs. buy. it really depends on the price of the suit we find, i suppose, which won't be too much (we like a good deal (can also be read: we don't have a lot of money)). jen found her husband's wedding-day suite at the banana republic outlet for a really good price, so we might be making a trip. i'd love to buy the suit for all of them...that's probably a bit unrealistic but maybe we can help.

suit - so, based on the pictures i've noted, i seem to be liking brown suits. but i don't like plain brown. i prefer it to be pinstripe. danny has recently said that he'd like his suit to match his car which is a kind of gunmetal grey. i think he was joking, but that could be a pretty awesome color for a suit. an almost blue/grey.

(from mrs. onion on weddingbee.com)

(from theknot.com & banana republic)

tie - i've pretty much decided on an orange tie. danny loves the one on the left. an idea i had the other day was that the other boys could have a tie that matches the girls' dresses & danny would have an orange one. or, they could all be orange & danny's would just be slightly different.


(from theknot.com)

shoes - we were watching a wedding show the other night (really, i should say i was watching...danny just happened to be in the room), and the groom wanted to wear white converse as party of his wedding day outfit. his bride-to-be had a fit and told him he wasn't allowed to wear tennis shoes. danny turned to me and asked how i would react in that situation, probably expecting me to veto it right on the spot, but actually, i like it. a suit with some cool vans or something. besides, why shouldn't guys get to get a pair of shoes that they'll wear again like the girls? here's an example (i don't particularly like the brown color on these, but you get the idea). also, i do still reserve the right to change my mind. ;)


(from theknot.com)

and the wedding planning has begun

i can't believe we've already been engaged for 3 months now. even though time has passed, it still feels new, and in my mind i perpetually have a year before the wedding to plan...so it freaked me out a little when i got my email from theknot.com that told me i had 9 months to go...uh oh...

we have gotten a few major things off the list:

1. we have a date! september 13, 2008. that's pretty huge. we knew we wanted september...it was the month we started dating & the month we got engaged AND hopefully it will have started to cool off a bit and won't be 105 degrees in alabama. also, the 13th of june is danny's birthday, so i'm hoping that sharing the same number (13) will make it easy for him to remember.
2. we have a venue! monte sano lodge. it's in huntsville on top of the "mountain" where we go mountain biking. i think it really fits us. we're going to have both the ceremony and the reception there. the ceremony will be outside, and if it rains, there's space to have it inside. for the reception, i'm picturing it very open with people flowing inside and outside. the view from the bluff behind the lodge - which will be the backdrop for the ceremony - is gorgeous.
3. we have a photographer! allison jansen. i fell in love with her work long before we got engaged. i think she takes great pictures. she's a bit pricey, but i think she's worth it & after meeting with her, danny thought so too. her time at the wedding is unlimited, so she'll be with us all day. we're also going to do some engagement pictures with her at some point before the wedding.
4. we have maids & men! nat, yamini, amanda, scott, dave, & jimmy. danny and i each have 3 people standing with us, but what makes it really special is that they really cross both sides. the 3 men standing next to danny are just as much my best men & the ladies standing next to me are just as much danny's maids of honor. they are all 6 our best friends.
5. we have an officiant! mr. terry wayne. it was important to us that we have a relationship with whoever it was officiating over the wedding ceremony. i didn't want some random person that i had never met before playing such an important role in the wedding. wayne was really the obvious choice.

wow, that list made me feel some what accomplished. 5 things is pretty good, right? the next big thing on the list is finding a caterer.yamini and i are going to go to a bridal fair on saturday, so hopefully, we'll meet some potential candidates.