decor, finalized.

I ordered my first batch of flowers today! Gotta make sure they don't suck before I order the rest. Here's what I'll end up with:

This vase ***edit** HOLD UP. Shipping for those vases is as much as the actual cost. DEALBREAKER.

So instead, I'll find some bud vases and fill them with some twigs (or these twigs... probably the first ones because they're cheaper. Heh). and a single daisy (I'll break up the bouquets) for the centerpieces.

I'll make some garlands for accents on the head table and probably buffet table.
The centerpieces on the head table are going to be made with three vases I got from work and some vase gems, so we (me, Marsha, Kate) can put our bouquets in them.

I'll make boutonnieres for the ushers/pins for the attendants with these flower heads.

Similarly, I'll make groomsmen boutonnieres with these wooden flower heads.

Darren's boutonniere.
My bouquet.

Ladies of honor bouquets.

Boutonnieres for our dads.

Wrist corsages for our moms.

Finally, because ceiling draping is so expensive (like $600 minimum, srsly!), instead we'll hang green and white lanterns up (sans actual lights). The tent lighting we're renting plus the shitload of Christmas lights I acquired should provide enough light- the lanterns will just be there to add a touch of awesomeness.
ALSO, I bought a new flower clip for my hair. Ordered it yesterday. The other one just wasn't doin' it for me. Or, the other two that I got when I ordered one. I mean, I like them, but I like this one better:

So maybe the other ones can be for mah ladiez.

(for my own reference: today I ordered the bridesmaids bouquets, 1 daisy bouquet, all the flower heads for pin-making, and the flowers for garland-making).

marriage prep

A friend of mine is in grad school right now studying Marriage & Family Therapy. She took a seminar and got her certification to lead Prepare-Enrich sessions. So she's hooking us up. All we have to pay for is the cost of online the assessment and, in return, we'll fill out an evaluation for her. Everyone wins! Plus we get a discount on our marriage license. Extra awesome.

So we met with her for the first time tonight, just to discuss the process. We're meeting again in two weeks to really get started. Sometime before then we'll do the assessments and go from there. I'm looking forward to it, despite that fact that sometimes people go through these courses and end up deciding not to get married. Kinda scary, sure. And sometimes people end up learning nothing new. If I were to fear one of those options it would be the latter- since we've lived together for almost two years we've already figured out a lot of the day-to-day stuff, the financial nonsense, the sexin'... you know.

But, yeah. Darren and I are awesome. I think this'll be pretty neat.

Suit for Darren? The one I posted several months ago doesn't exist anymore. Fail.

He's concerned about single-button jackets, but if he wears a vest... and/or does some sit-ups, I think it'd be fine.

Or maybe I'll have him come downtown and I'll drag him to Men's Warehouse. They have some suits in the same price range as my dress that could work. We'll see.

Five months!

dress!!

So. I was at the Mall of America today with Kate and Kelsey and we were walking past Deb, where they were selling prom dresses. So I was like "hey, let's go to Deb and I'll try on some white dresses because why the heck not?"

And I ended up finding a dress. This one, but in ivory. The ribbon can tie in front or in back. I tried on several dresses and liked two other ones too (this one and this one, both in white), but, you know. They weren't The One. The first one is The One. I walked out of the dressing room and Kate made the "I might cry" face. Wee!

ooh

This vase is super neat.

I kind of want to buy a couple sets of them and, instead of putting full bouquets at each table, do a single flower. With twiggy accents, like this. Or these. Or both! I might find different flowers for the centerpieces altogether... maybe just the two types of branches? Hmm.

Also, I might have my ladies of honor wear these wrist corsages instead of carrying bouquets.

Double hmm....

Vegas, baby

Most of the wedding stuff is planned at this point. Now it's just a matter of making all the purchases.

Side note: it's hard to save money when you somehow end up overdrawing your checking account by $150 despite diligent budgeting ARGH I HATE MONEY! Whatever, I'm dealing with it, plus when Darren gets his tax return next week I'm getting $900 of it so I'm going to stop freaking out now.

We haven't officially booked an officiant, but Darren's mom has a few she said she'll be in touch with for us (and she'll give them my contact info, la de da), and a photographer hasn't been officially booked either, but I've been talking to a couple people so we're mostly good to go there too.

Other than those few things though, it really is just a matter of spending the money. And there's not a lot to be done right this second. So, in the meantime, I'm looking up awesome, inexpensive stuff to do in Las Vegas. Sounds like this is for sure what we'll be doing for the honeymoon, so why not be prepared, eh?

The place we're staying has a kitchen and apparently it's right off the Strip, and I guess they have drivers who will take you wherever you want to go? Amazing. I definitely want to see Cirque du Soleil's Love while we're there, which is going to be spendy but totally worth it. Kate saw it when she was in Vegas on her MLP tour and she said she would've seen it again.

I think it's going to be a pretty amazingly fun week. We probably won't go the week immediately after the wedding, mostly because some friends are getting married on the 14th and we don't want to miss that. If we go the 16th through 21st, it'll work out perfectly: I'd get paid on the 13th, our renter's property tax refund would get deposited on approximately the 16th, and Darren's birthday is the 20th. And I could catch up on work the week before and spend the whole time bragging about how I was going to be in Vegas. I'm only half kidding about the bragging.

Wee!