Four Months Away!!!!

It has been soooo long since I have updated my wedding blog. Life has been crazy busy with well LIFE, holidays, working two jobs and trying to save money for the wedding. I am so excited that the wedding is coming up soon but that also makes me realize that there is still so much to do. I sent out save the dates in our xmas cards and soon the invites will need to be sent out in a few months. I found my invites a few months ago at Michaels they are so cute and on the plus side I got an awesome deal on them. I have to say I am quite the bargain shopper most of the things that I have found for the wedding I have been able to buy either at work at TjMaxx or on sale. After Christmas Brad and Mom called around to stores to track down white lights after several unsuccessful calls my Mom was finally able to find quite a few and got them for 50% off. Last week I found and bought the five flower girl dresses, I had Hannah and Julianne try them on at Christmas. Hannah was quite excited to look like a Princess and she told me "Kari it's time to get married NOW." Next thing to do on the list is get our registry set up I think that might be one of the things that we will have the most fun doing together.

wedding dress

Friday I went wedding dress shopping with my Mom, Grandma and Sister in law. I went to try on and get an idea for what type of dress that I would look good in. I tried on several dresses they all looked good however nothing really sparked a "bride" feeling and it got a little overwhelming. I looked in the David's Bridal catalog and picked out a dress to be the last one I would try on. When I saw the dress I had a great feeling about it, it was everything that we were trying to look for. I tried it on and not only felt great but I finally felt like I was going to be a bride and get married. When I walked out my Grandma had a huge smile on her face and my mom almost started crying. I knew then it had to be my dress. We decided to buy the dress and I am so happy that I have something that I can check off my list of things to do and buy. I can not wait to wear the dress on my wedding day.

9 months left till the big day, I can not believe we have been engaged for three months, still lots of more planning to do. My mom and I met with a caterer/ florist and we are both very excited for her help. She is more of a wedding planner in our eyes she is going to be so helpful. Talking to her gave us some great ideas about the wedding decorations. I am really excited for a craft project that I will be working on, making paper pomanders out of green and pink tissue paper. This will be way cheaper than using real flowers and I believe it will look so cute.

I also am going to try to make a sign for the candy buffet. ( doing all pink and green candy) Why buy things when you can make them yourself?


























I also am going to make a card box. I saw these on www.etsy.com and loved them and believe they will be really easy to make plus really cute. ( I love that this one already has a B and K on it )


I am super excited to do all of these fun projects! :)

Lanterns

I received my green paper lanterns in the mail yesterday. I won them off Ebay and were shipped from china, got an awesome deal on them. I can not wait to order pink ones, contemplating doing two colors of pink or just one color. They are going to look so cool hanging from the ceiling of the barn. I even saw that another wedding had done the same thing, so its great to see how it will actually look.

This is the look I am going for, however the lanterns I ordered are a little bigger.



We have been doing research on DJ's as well, are trying to decide from the two that we found that are in our price range. Ive been making Brad do the calling on this, gotta put him to work a little! :)

Venue Booked- CHECK!

After about two days of trying to get a hold of pickering barn I was finally able to on Tuesday evening and I booked our date, MAY 14th 2011. I signed the contract and got the deposit put down yesterday, I am so happy to have that one particular thing checked off my list. I also was able to call and get a paster set up to marry us, check number two. Now all we have to do is go through the marriage classes and take a test, I hope we pass! :)

I had a wonderful two hour chat with on of my maid of honor's Jess last night (I'm having two Jess and Sheena) I am so lucky to have two best friends that are going to help me so much with this process. Also the fact that Jess plans wedding's almost everyday it will be a major plus especially when it comes to the big day and I need someone to take charge. The three of us are going to have a girls day to check out the barn and go and look at bridesmaids dresses next month. CAN'T WAIT!

On a decorating note, I found some really cute tea light candle holders at IKEA today, 5 for $2.99. I am going to try to find some green tea lights for them to put on the tables.

Planning!

The one thing I wanted first when we got engaged was wedding planning magazines and books. Brad and I went to Barnes and Nobel last week and he bought me an AWESOME wedding planner and organizer plus it came with a super cute bag, what was even better is that they are pink. The planner is so helpful it has everything in it to keep me organized and on top of things.

We also went to Michaels and I got a magazine with lots of ideas in it. It has helped me to think of some great ideas.

FLOWERS!

I have looked at many pictures of flowers even before planning and I have always loved peonies especially pink ones. While I have seen them in pictures I had never seen them in person that I can recall. The other day Sheena (one of my best friends and bridesmaids) and I were at Central Market in Poulsbo and went by the florist station and saw tons of beautiful pink peonies. I am in Love and am really hoping that I will find a great florist and price so I will be able to use them for the wedding. I really liked the two color of pink's I saw and white ones.

Wedding Ideas!

I am hoping to have the wedding at Pickering Barn in Issaquah in April 2011, our friends Shaun and Sara had their wedding their last year and I loved it. Sara also told me that she loved having her wedding there and they were great to work with, which is a total plus. The barn is a great location because we can have the ceremony and also the reception there. I also like it because there are so many great places that you can take pictures outside. My mom and I plan on going down to visit it in two weeks so I can have another look and hopefully book a date! :)
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My colors are going to be Pink ( of course) and green. I love this color combo it looks so great together and gives a girly color and a boy color so the boys don't have to wear pink. :) I love this look of all pink bridesmaid dresses with green bouquets!

Telling my family!

Brad had already talked to my Mom, Dad, and Brother and got permission from them which was great it was something that I thought was important for him to do, even though I knew they would all say they had their blessing.

I told the rest of my family (Grandma, Aunts, and Cousins) this weekend at our family reunion and they couldn't be happier. Everyone loves Brad so much and He can not wait to officially be apart of my family. I have to say no one was really super shocked they knew it was eventually going to happen. I was so happy that it was the day before we went to see my family so I could tell everyone in person.

WERE ENGAGED!

Brad and I are engaged and I couldn't be happier. We went to dinner last Thursday night at Amy's on the bay in Port Orchard. This was also the place that we went to dinner to celebrate our one year in January and they had written "Happy One Year Anniversary" on our desert plate. We had been talking about getting engaged for quite some time and when he told me he wanted to go to dinner that night I had a feeling something was going to happen, but I was not quite sure. We had wine and appetizers and a yummy dinner and Brad insisted that we get dessert which I was trying to pass on. When they brought out the dessert it was on a big plate and in chocolate sauce it read "Will you marry me Kari?" I was so surprised I didn't even realize that the ring was on the plate. Brad was a little to nervous to get on his knee but he told me how much he loved me and asked me to marry him. I got a little teary eyed and of course said yes! This is one the the happiest days of my life! I love Bradley so much and I can not wait to be his wife.