Is it 5 o'clock yet?

I'm on my break at work and my mind keeps drifting off to my endless list of things to do over the weekend. I have a good mix of big projects (seating chart design, DJ song list) vs. the small things (finding a prop box, gathering enough vases, etc) so it'll be nice to check some of the quicker projects off the list fairly soon. This weekend will be filled with cleaning, painting, designing, printing, planning, packing, shopping, gluing, cutting, framing, decision-making, etc. Everything BUT relaxing! I am sure Kevin and I will make some time to catch some rays by our apartment pool. Need to get a tan for the big day, right?

Last night Kevin and I spent some time looking at our baby pictures. We are going to display some of our favorites at the wedding so we were choosing the best ones. I am going to be so excited to have my own babies on day, considering Kevin was such a cute kid! Probably one of the cutest I've ever seen. His mom took the best photos of him--can't wait to show them off at the wedding :) My photos are pretty darn cute too, if I do say so myself!

The Glass Slipper

So, if you know me, you know I love a pair of FABULOUS shoes! I've been on the prowl for the perfect pair of bridal shoes. My favorite affordable designer is Steve Madden. They fit perfectly, they are comfortable. They are classy but still modern. Unfortunately, I am extremely disappointed in him this spring. Usually he has a pair of wedges or slingbacks in white that I would just kill for. This year? Nothing! So, here a few pairs I've found on Bellisima Bridal Shoes.com that I just love. They are all way out of my price range, but...hey, a girl can dream right?

Life in unpredictable

It just hit me--only a little over 3 months until the wedding! Although I've been very organized with all the planning I feel like I still have a lot left to do. Now that the honeymoon is out of the way (a great big thanks to Tim & Karen), we have been focusing on other things. The hot topic of the moment is where we will live after we get married. Kevin is still in search of a job, so renting an apartment with my income is not possible if we want to continue eating. My parents have offered to let us live with them if we can't get our own place, but like all newlyweds, I'm really pressing for our own place ;) After 5 years of living with roommates, both Kevin and I are anxious for it to just be us and the little Monst.

It's funny because Kevin and I both thought our lives would be so much different than they are once we were out of school. So many empty promises of the great jobs for college grads! Kind of makes our degrees feel like a waste of time. I must admit we are both feeling the stress of preparing to support ourselves after the wedding. In no way do we feel too young to get married. I promised myself and my parents that we would wait until we got our degrees. Now, after 6 years, it just feels like the next step. It's just a little frustrating to watch the economy fall apart around us right before we are supposed to begin our lives together. Leave it up to me to get married in a recession! Ha ha! The point is, we are half excited and half nervous about this big step. All we can do is jump in head first and hold on to each other. I'm sure f it wasn't one thing, it'd be another. Life is unpredictable and we've learned we just got to roll with the flow.

You just can't help but dance...

If any of you haven't heard of Ray LaMontagne, you've been seriously deprived. His music is fabulous, his voice is sexy and raspy. He has the most beautiful voice and beautiful lyrics. Kevin and I are going to use his music in our ceremony, in our wedding video and as our first dance. I can't reveal which songs exactly, because I don't want them stolen! I've learned with all my friends getting married that you need to keep the special things private if you don't want your ideas to turn up at your friend's weddings! Haha...just a tip from one bride to another.

I've made a playlist of Ray LaMontagne for this blog. If you can't hear any music, be sure to turn up your speakers. He's the one artist I can't get enough of at the moment! You won't be disappointed.

Check out our video for wedding details!

or visit this youtube link to see the video larger:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx8lJSUwip4

Getting all my ducks in a row

Everything that still needs to be done for the wedding has been swimming around in my head for the last few days. Here's a list of things that are in progress or have been checked off the list:

1. Contacted our DJ, Mobile Music Entertainment, today in regards to our reservation and in search of the date our deposit needs to be paid.
2. Confirmed that Lamb's Bakery got the deposit check we mailed to reserve our wedding cake.
3. Put my wedding dress on layaway and will purchase it this week sometime.
4. Got a quote from Beyond Elegance in regards to the black chair covers we are renting for the reception. Our sample will be sent in the mail within 1-3 business days.
5. Starting a running list of songs that absolutely have to be played at the wedding.
6. Contacted the Fairgate Inn in search of the exact # of creme crush linens they have in stock.
7. Mailed the deposit for our wedding Videographer Greg Winterrrowd of Prophezy Productions and confirmed reservation.
8. Chosen a wedding shower date (May 16, 2009) that works for Karen, my soon-to-be mother-in-law, to attend!
9. Registered at Target, Macy's and Crate & Barrel!
10. We have picked out Kevin's wedding band at Jared's.
11. Secured our photographer Kacy Jo (a long, long time ago--it was the first thing I did!) based out of Corvallis, Oregon.
12. Kevin and I went to Men's Wearhouse to look at their tux options. We've decided on some styles, but need to schedule a time to have Kevin try some on.

Things still needed to be done in the immediate future:

1. Need to meet with Lamb's Bakery in regards to the design of our wedding cake.
2. Take my mom to Nordstrom to see the earrings I have picked out to go with my dress. Her opinion is needed on any decision these days :) Thank God for moms!
3. Go with my mom to Fabric Depot in search of French netting to make my birdcage veil.
4. Order my love birds for my cake topper from this seller at etsy.com.
5. Order the Eat, Drink & Be Married cocktail napkins for the bar.
6. Contact Serena and Trish in regards to the flower girl dress I've chosen.
7. Take the toasting glasses we've chosen to Things Remember to be engraved.
8. Pay 50% deposit to Party Booths for our reservation to rent a photo booth for the reception.
9. Start thinking about what to get my bridesmaids and flower girl for thank you gifts.
10. Buy Kevin's wedding band from Jared's.
11. Go check out Beaches for a possible wedding rehearsal dinner site.
12. Find a salon to do all the girl's mani's and pedi's the day before or the day of the wedding.

As you can tell, we still have a lot to do!!! The list just keeps running and running...

Love Birds

as you can see from my sloppy drawing made in paint, kevin and i have finally designed the look of our wedding cake. it took a while seeing as we had the hardest time finding a high quality purple ribbon in our lapis color. we finally found it at the joann superstore. in order to cover all our bases, we bought a few rolls in different widths to be sure we'd have more than enough for the cake. in case you don't really understand, the cake will be covered with white buttercream frosting. on top of the buttercream, our purple ribbons will be fastened to the cake in alternating widths cascading down our cake tiers. a few flowers will be added for a touch of our copper colors. now, if you know me, you probably know that i have always had a thing for birds. i was browsing etsy.com and came across these fabulous love bird cake toppers. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_7&listing_id=22634525&ga_search_query=bird+cake+topper&ga_search_type=tag_title&ga_page=&min=&max=&order= i just LOVE them! they are so fun and different! plus, you get to customize everything about them, right down to the flowers in the bride bird's bouquet to the color of the vest on the groom bird. thus, the top of the cake will be a birdsnest with a bride and groom bird, along with a sign that says "The Garvey's".

the design is a simple, three-tiered buttercream white cake. each layer is a different flavor. since kevin and i will be living in an apartment when we first get married, we figured why take up our entire freezer for a year with our wedding cake. so, we have decided not to save our top tier. we aren't really into cake anyway, so it's no big deal. now, back to the flavors...the top tier (that we will cut into) will be our favorite carrot cake with cream cheese filling. the middle tier will be white champagne cake with sherry bavarian cream filling. i had never had a champagne cake before this cake tasting and i immediately LOVED it! the biggest tier on the bottom will be chocolate fudge cake with oregon marionberry filling. all three flavors are to die for! hopefully there will be enough variety for everyone.

The Unveiling

I am going for a vintage glam look for my wedding attire. The inspiration for this look is the birdcage veil. Made of french net, the birdcage adds a touch of glamour and class which I love. I'm still playing with the exact look I want but these are a few options I've come to love. Aren't they fabulous!?!

It's all about the dress

A couple weeks ago, Lindsi (my sister in law/matron of honor), my mom and I went to David's Bridal to look at my bridesmaid dress choices again! My mom wanted me to try on a dress she saw hanging outside of a dressing room. Just one dress, she said. Well, one dress turned into about 20. I had a great bridal consultant who worked with me about what I wanted and didn't want. I went into the store with so many ideas of what kind of dress I was sure would look best on me. Everybody says you'll buy a dress you'd never even think to try on---that was definitely the case. After I thought I'd found THE DRESS (Dress A), my bridal consultant placed one more in my fitting room. She said "It doesn't look like much on the hanger, but I think you'll love this one (Dress B)." I tried it on and knew as soon as I slid it on it was the one because it fit me so perfectly. Lindsi and my mom both loved the dress! It's classy and elegant, but still fun. It is exactly what I never knew I wanted. But, being the worry wart that I am, I left the store to "sleep on it" in order to make sure it was the dress of my dreams.

...

My cousin Michelle and I are getting married within 3 weeks of each other. Mine July 31st, hers August 21st. So, needless to say, there's been lots of talk about wedding plans in our family. Yesterday, I went to meet her at David's Bridal to try on my bridesmaid dress for her wedding. Michelle's mom Debbie, her sisters Emily and Sara, my mom and Sophia were all there to help us pick out our attire. Emily and Sara had alot of success picking out their dresses. Me, not so much. I think I'll need to go back another time when there is not so much going on with all of us girls picking and choosing dresses.

Michelle hadn't really tried very many wedding dresses on so I convinced her to start. It's so much fun! First, I tried on the two dresses I had been debating over a couple weeks prior. I knew I wanted Dress "B" over Dress "A" but I just wanted to make sure I felt the same about Dress B. So, I tried on both dresses and paraded for my audience. I got a few "ooh's and aww's" over how pretty Dress A was. Then, I came out in Dress B...I had a huge smile on my face as soon as I saw myself in the mirror. It was the dress of my dreams. I still loved it just the way I did the first time I tried it on. I tried it on with a couple veil styles and shoes. I even stayed in it while Michelle tried on her dresses! I just didn't want to take it off. Everybody with me thought it just looked like me. That's how I knew it was the dress for me. My mom and I are going back next week to buy it. :)

Michelle found some very beautiful dresses too, but she's not sure if she's found THE ONE yet.

Checking things off the list!

Today, we went to the Party Place showroom to play around with various linens and table setups. We spent an entire hour setting up different tables and deciding which setups/colors we liked for our reception. It was so much fun! Last time we tried, there was another couple there and we never got a chance to use the showroom table. This time, the entire place was ours. We tried all different combos and ended up finding our favorites. Table setups--CHECK!

After, we made a trip out to Ikea hoping to find suitable tealight votives and short round glass cylinder vases. One out of two isn't too bad. We found great, inexpensive votives that match exactly what we were looking for--oversized purple etched glass. The Fairgate requires all flames to be enclosed, so it was important to find deep enough holders. We quickly snatched up that find and I couldn't be more happy with our purchase. Votive holders--CHECK!

Since we couldn't find any round cylinder vases at Ikea, we decided to stop by Michael's on the way home. Not only did we find what we were looking for, but they were on sale for $1.99 each. The only problem was they only had one. While there, we decided to buy some inexpensive silk flowers to use as a mock-up for our centerpieces along with the exact same vases we are renting from the Party Place. At Michael's, those vases cost $3.99 each but to rent them, they are only $1.00 each. Great deal! Vases and mock-up centerpieces--CHECK!

Now we have a complete mock-up set of what we're envisioning for the reception centerpieces. All I have to do is make a plan to meet with our Fairgate Inn coordinator and discuss our table preferences. We plan to take our mock-ups to make sure it's exactly what we want before we set anything in stone. Overall, we had a very productive day. We'll keep you posted on how our meeting at the Fairgate goes.

Katie & Kevin

Options #1-4 for Flower Girl Dresses

Option #2:


OPTION #3:


Option #4:

Great Minds think Alike

Kevin and I tackled the task of creating our wedding registry. It was a lot more fun than we anticipated. First we registered at Target. I didn't realize how much paperwork registering would involve...not to mention the little spiels you have to listen to about their products. Once we finally got the scan gun, we were in business. Once we got started, we kind of realized how much stuff we needed. Coming out of college, neither one of us had any complete sets of dishes, silverware, appliances, or furniture. So it was alot of fun to pick out some real stuff! And I think we did a good job of staying practical.

After our first attempt at registering was over, I realized why it went smoothly. We have very similar tastes! There was not one fight over which kind of dishes we wanted or what thread count is the best. It was an overall enjoyable experience. Kevin really enjoyed having full control of the scan gun at Target. I knew the next store would be my turn! :)

The second store we registered at was Macy's. I LOVE MACY'S! We spent a couple hours in the store on two different occasions to complete that registry. After listening to the consultant's spiel about how it would really be to our advantage to own a Macy's card and very firmly denying, we got control of their scan system. It was different than Target's--much harder to use and annoying to scan products with. However, that didn't stop us from completing our list. Once we got home and checked our registry online, we removed some products that were overpriced or that we had already chosen at Target. It's so convenient that you can manage your register over the internet. Isn't technology great?

Lastly, we decided to register at Crate and Barrel. It was very spur of the moment. There were a few things there that we really liked so that registry is minimal compared to the others. We just couldn't justify registering for a $14 pie dish at Crate and Barrel when there's a perfectly good one at Target for $3.99. It was fun to bargain and compare the different store's products.

Today, we are going to print out each registry and make sure we covered all our bases without registering for too many of the same products. I'm sure we will have to alter them a little bit but atleast that's another task we can check off the To-Do list. It feels good!

The Fairgate Inn

This is the front of the Fairgate Inn. This picture is really what drove Katie and I to investigate this place and to consider it as the venue for our wedding. The building is so stately and grand and the landscape is so beautiful.


Our wedding ceremony is going to take place in the courtyard behind the house. There is a large covered patio where our guests will be seated. The courtyard is surrounded by pots, planters, and hanging baskets filled with multi colored flowers. We also plan to make this space accessible after the ceremony and to set out some cocktail tables for our guests to relax and enjoy what will be a wonderful summering evening. There will also be a secondary dance floor outside.

The dance floor and reception hall is accessible from both the front of the house and the courtyard in the back. The beautiful wood floors and numerous windows peeking into the gardens in the courtyard give this room a very warm and homely feel. I think that the purple and copper colored flowers and the various candelabras that we will set out will go perfectly with the decor and feel of the room.

The Icing on the Cake

Kevin and I aren't sure what we want our cake to look like. I found these while on my break at work. I like the look of the multiple ribbons spanning the whole height of the cake, rather than the traditional ribbon at the base of each tier. It would be fun to find pretty ribbons in our lapis purple and copper to help carry our theme along.

Does anybody have a favorite look from these photos? Comment with your opinion if you want :)

I think this one is my favorite. It's so simple and elegant.

Kevin and I found these gorgeous copper roses that would be perfect for the roses. Then, we could either keep the white on white look with the ribbon or buy ribbon in our purple to match the rest of our theme.

Fun Details

Since all of you have so many questions about the wedding details, I thought I would add a few pictures every now and then of what I'm planning for the wedding.

My colors are going to be much like the save-the-date colors--deep, rich purple and shades of copper/orange/yellow. Much like the calla lilies in the bouquet photo at the bottom of this post. The wedding will not be overwhelmed with these colors, they will be more like accents. Our venue, the Fairgate Inn (fairgateinn.com), is indoor and outdoor so it will have a relaxed formal feel with a lot of natural color from the surrounding flowers and grass.

My centerpiece flowers are going to mimic the bridesmaid bouquets as well as mine in the sense that they will all be in the same color families (purples and coppers) but different flowers. For example, look to the photo with the Bravo sign. That photo is my inspiration. My tables will have staggering vases in my colors, with one type of flower per vase. Other tables will only have accent flowers with candles. It's fun to mix it up!

These are the boutonnieres I am doing for the groomsmen. However, I am still deciding whether or not I want all the flowers to be exactly the same, or the same colors but each a different type of flower.

All of my bridesmaids will have bouquets made up each of a different flower in the same colors. For example, Lindsi may carry a bouquet of orange/gold calla lilies while another bridesmaid carries a bouquet of copper roses. Same color family but different flower family. I like the idea of them being unique to each girl. Makes it a little more personal and different.

And finally....the photo above is my bridal bouquet! Isn't it GORGEOUS!?! I love the mixed flowers, it gives it a very tropical feel. I also love the vibrancy and richness of the colors. I am very excited to hold this on my wedding day! :)

Kevin loves it too. That's always a plus.

That's all for now.