Kristina talks about her SC wedding

Today, I am so excited to have an awesome guest post from my amazing friend Kristina.  She got married last fall, and oh man, if her pictures and stories are to be believed (which I think they are), it was one of those rare perfect days.  But don't take my word for it.  Check out what she has to say about that special day...

Hello!  I am Kristina and I blog over at Everything Changes.

My husband, Van, and I recently celebrated our first wedding anniversary by going back to our ceremony site.  With the help of my parents, we created a fun little anniversary photo-shoot with left-over aisle runner and our wedding photograph album.  It almost felt like we were stepping back in time, something I'm always happy to do, and I'm so happy to be sharing our wedding story with all of you! Van and I got married on September 10, 2011 in the courtyard of a tiny, old, South Carolina plantation.  Van actually chose our primary wedding color, which was orange, and our wedding planner handled the rest. We wanted a traditional wedding, but we also wanted it to reflect our unique styles and tastes.  Traditional doesn't have to mean boring.  :)  Van has spent some time in India doing mission work, and just fell in love with the culture.  We wanted our wedding to be a mixture of our southern up-bringing and Indian culture.  I had always dreamed of an outdoor wedding, and thus was born...our perfect day.

My favorite part of our wedding was when we were walking down the aisle.  Our ceremony consisted of singing, making promises, praying, and crying.  It was perfect.  And then, we walked away as husband and wife and we were both in utter disbelief.  For just a moment, we were alone and let it sink in that we were tied to each other in every possible way.  

Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 and there are things I would do differently if given the opportunity.  I wish I hadn't let the wedding cause me so much stress.  I wouldn't refer to it as "Bridezilla" syndrome, but I did let my emotions get the best of me on more than one occasion and everything ended up taking care of itself.  I wasted my time worrying and stressing, when I should have just been enjoying the happy season of being a bride-to-be. On the other hand, there are plenty of things that we overlooked that I wish we hadn't.  There was some miscommunication about what time everyone should be at the ceremony site, and the groom and his wedding party showed up late.  For about thirty minutes, I was worried that he was standing me up.  What a horrible feeling for a bride to have on her wedding day!  I wish we had been more clear with instructions to avoid any confusion!  :)  I wish we had spent a little more time choosing our musician when our first choice backed-out.  I wish we had tasted the food on the menu ahead of time, because it didn't turn out very well.  Haha!  They are silly little things, but they're things that we can laugh about now.  :) My advice to Kristen, and to any bride-to-be, would just be to enjoy this time.  It should be a time of love and laughter.  Also, hire a videographer TEAM!  :)  We had a videographer, and it was the best choice we made, but he couldn't be everywhere at once.  Hire a team of camera-people.  Know what you want for your wedding, and don't let anything or anybody change your mind!  It's your day.  It's your love story.

As for budgeting advice, I'm not sure I'm the person to ask.  I will say that you should prioritize!  What do you want the most?  What do you want the least?  Be prepared to compromise and be prepared to stand your ground on the things you feel are most important.  And of course, don't forget to have fun!  Don't you ever forget that weddings are PARTIES, and after months of planning and pulling out your hair....you deserve to have fun and celebrate the most important day of your life.

Kristen, I hope your wedding will be everything you've always imagined it to be.  Even more importantly, I wish you a marriage more beautiful than your wedding.  :)  

Isn't she just amazing???  And look at the bottom of that dress!!!  Thank you again to Kristina for sharing her wedding with us today.  Want to see more of her special day?  Check out her blog... she's got a whole series of posts about their special day.  They will make you go "awww".  I promise.

Finally making some headway

After feeling like I was at an absolute standstill on wedding planning for a long period of time, I feel like r lot of progress has come really quickly.  Our "Save the Date" cards are printed, and we've started the long process of addressing and getting them ready to mail.  Want a sneak peak?

That's the outside.  You would be shocked if I told you the amount of time that went into the design.  But I am so happy with them.

I also got the chance on Monday to visit with out vendor for table/chair/tent rental.  The one hitch with our venue is that they require that you use one specific rentals vendor.  I was nervous, because the quotes they had initially sent seemed really high, and for not a lot.  However, when I went to the showroom, everything changed.  I got a good sense of what they were actually able to provide, and how that could fit into our plans.  They have the most amazing hand hewn farm-style tables and benches.  I NEED these for our wedding.  Take a look:

I am so in love.  We are going to put chairs on the ends instead of the short benches, but I think that when it all comes together, we are going to be so incredibly pleased.

We still have a lot of vendors to pin down.  However, things are starting to fall into place, one small bit at a time!

The best advice.... wedding planning

Ever since Ammon and I got together, we have received a lot of advice.  Some of it is great.  Some of it is so-so.  And if we're being 100% real, some of it really, really was stupid.  Every relationship is different, and every couple needs to decide for themselves what does and doesn't work.

 Oktoberfest costumes work out great for us, as it turns out.  Something about beer...

The best advice we've received so far about wedding planning comes from my co-workers:  It takes a village to create a perfect wedding.

I would be lying if I said that we could do everything that we're doing now without the love and support of our friends and family.  So I want to share with you the ways that we're calling in all of our favors, so that we can pull out all of the stops.

1)  My brother is finishing up his degree in graphic design, and we've commissioned him to design our stationary.  So far, we have the "save the date" cards knocked out of the park.

2)  Our amazing friend Vivian owns an amazing vintage shop called Viv's Vintage.  She offers some of her goods on rental for special events, and we plan to take her up on that offer.  It's going to add a lovely, unique touch to our day.

3)  Vivian's husband is an incredible professional chef, and we are so thrilled to have him helping with our catering.

4)  Ammon's mom and step-mother will be sewing the bridesmaid's dresses

5)  One of my sweet co-workers is going to sculpt a custom cake-topper for us.  Since we're having lots of different cakes, the topper will probably just be on a stand on the cake table.  But still awesome.

I know there are many other people who are helping us, and who will help us along the way.  But these people are going above and beyond the call of duty so far, and we are so grateful!  I am so eager to share with you their contributions, and how they help us create our dream wedding.

Getting registered

Happy Monday!  Now that we are under the "8 months to go" benchmark in wedding planning, The Knot tells me that I have 190 tasks to complete for our wedding this month.  You know what I have to say to that?  Well, I'm trying to be a lady here, so I can't tell you specifically.  However, it's safe to say that it involves colorful language most often employed by the most stalwart of sailors.  Why every single vendor needs to be booked 8 months in advance with contracts signed is beyond me.

One of the items on their 8 month to-do list is to start the wedding registry.  The concept of a wedding registry is difficult for me.  I mean, you're essentially telling people, "So, I know that you've already graciously changed your schedule, and arranged travel to our special day, BUT in addition to all that, there is quite a bit of crap that we would like for you to provide us with, so here is our 15 page list of things we want.  Thanks so much."  Nevertheless, my friends and family have all been strongly encouraging me to start putting together my registry, really focusing on the items we'll need, not just the items that everyone else would put on their registry.  So, slowly but slowly, I'm trying to come up with the backbone of my registry wish list.  Instead of limiting myself to just one or two stores, while I'm trying to figure out what we actually need, I'm picking items from all over, and then putting them into a pinterest pin board.  Once I know what I need, then I guess I'll make the hard decisions about what stores to register with.  Until then, I'm going to race yo with the "OMG I need" items gracing my pin board:

Source: fiestafactorydirect.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: kohls.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: westelm.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: kohls.com via Kristen on Pinterest

So, a question for all of you married ladies out there:  What did you register for that you wish you hadn't?  What did you not register for that you wish you had?

Everything comes back to Chipotle

Today is the three year anniversary of our first date.  It is a notable, memorable story, and I love it.  When I think of that night, I get so happy, because it was the best last first date ever.

So, I was newly single.  I had been dating a guy for about 3 months, and while I was dating him, I had started the slow process of relocating from Longmont to Fort Collins, where he lived.  I had gotten a job working at American Furniture Warehouse doing sales, but was commuting to and from Longmont, almost an hour long drive each way.  After we broke up, I decided to still move to Fort Collins, because I really loved it.

Ammon was also working at American Furniture Warehouse at the time, but in the warehouse department.  Even though the warehouse and sales didn't interact, I have always made it a point to make nice with the strong guys I work with, just because you never know when you'll need a favor, or someone to walk you to your car after someone scares the crap out of you =).  All of the warehouse guys were about my age, and single.  I wasn't really interested in dating... I hadn't been single for more than a couple of weeks at a time in 2 years... I wanted a break from the whole relationship thing.  I wanted to just be me.  That's never stopped me from a little harmless flirting, though.  And there was a warehouse guy who was just so, so cute.  I found out his name was Ammon, and that he was taking a couple of semesters off from attending CSU.  I immediately assumed that he was younger than me, and got a little worried.  I mean, I have nothing against dating younger guys... but I wasn't supposed to be dating anyone, and I wanted to date someone over the age of 21 if that was going to happen at all.  He looked so young that I was convinced that I would be lucky if he was over 20.

Despite my resolution to leave Ammon alone, I found myself talking to him more and more.  Little snippets of conversation here and there.  Nothing important.  Nothing much more than small talk and flirting. Until Halloween 2009.  Things started getting real at that point.  I was going out with some friends, including a guy that I was casually kind-of dating at the time.  Ammon decided that he might want to meet up with us, so we exchanged numbers.  A long, irrelevant story short, we didn't meet up.

On Sunday at work, Ammon apologized for not meeting up.  I told him that it really wasn't a big deal.  I should have known then that he was over 21, because he was supposed to meet up with us at the bars, but I still didn't get it, so I wasn't trying to encourage anything.  He asked me if I would get Chipotle with him as we were leaving work for the night.  Well, I had stayed with friends the night before, and really wanted to get home to Mr. Beckham the kitty.  I figured he was lonely, and needed some time with me.  So I was really hesitant.  But Ammon persisted, and convinced me to go to Chipotle with him.  Did you know that Ammon loves Chipotle?  He REALLY loves it.  I figured he was lonely and wanted company.

Ammon has worked for Chipotle a few times, and I knew this before that night.  So when I was ordering, Ammon payed for both of our burritos, and I thought we had gotten them for free, because he was friends with the manager on duty.  This was the second time that night I guess I was absolutely clueless about what was really going on.  I just knew that we were good to go once my burrito was done being made.

We sat and talked for over 2 hours before I realized that we were on a date.  In those 2 hours, we talked about everything:  family, dreams, goals, religion, politics, etc.  Pretty much everything that "they " say you shouldn't talk about on a first date.  It wasn't until one of his friends from college came in and stopped to talk to us that it clicked:  we were on a date.  Wanna know what tipped me off?  He introduced me to his friend, instead of politely talking around me.  They made a point to include me in the conversation.  Oh man, did I feel ridiculous.  In that moment, I figured I had blown it.  We had talked about EVERYTHING we shouldn't, and I was just starting to like him.

A few minutes later, I was shifting the way I was sitting in my chair, and I fell out of my chair.  On our first date.  With a guy I kind of really liked.  In Chipotle.  But the funniest part?  We had just been talking about how I liked to do yoga several times a week.

You can't make that stuff up.

Finally, I decided that I had done enough collateral damage for one date, and things wrapped up.  We walked outside to our cars for the awkward first date goodbye.  And oh, was it ever awkward.  He didn't kiss me.  Nope, he didn't even try to go for a hug!  That's right... we had the most G-rated first date goodbye ever, which concluded with a wave goodnight.  That was it.  He really didn't want to date me at all.  I had gotten my original wish to not date for a while, because I had blown the whole date from the start.  I was so clueless, and then so clumsy, that he wanted nothing to do with me ever again.

Except that isn't nearly where the story ends for us...