We had a lovely surprise waiting for us in the mailbox when we got home from Kansas on Sunday -- our disc of engagement photos from Alec! And of course, we love them. [Even though I am making weird ridiculous faces in at least half of them. Luckily he took a lot.] Alec's use of light is just brilliant. I am so happy to have him as our photographer. Randy and I have so few photos together, and most are arm's length self portraits from my point and shoot, I know we will really treasure these forever.

Thank you, Alec!


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Here's a little sneak peek at our wedding invitations! They just came in the mail from the printer today. I am so happy with how they turned out.

I've been working on the rest of the pieces and have a few more things to figure out before I can start assembling everything and stuffing envelopes. They will be in the mail in less than a month!




I also snapped a few pictures of my growing jar collection for our centerpieces. I hit the jackpot last weekend in Kansas with my future-mother-in-law, the thrifting queen. She took me to a small town antique shop with shelves full of vintage jars, for as little as a dollar! After stalking them down on Etsy and eBay for $5 a piece or more, I couldn't believe it. I grabbed as many as I could carry home in the car and will probably go back at least one more time before July.


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Hair and Other Things.

[all image sources can be found here]

I was about to post another update sans photo, but thought you would prefer some eye candy. I know I do when I'm reading blogs. So here is my little wedding hair inspiration board. I have been hoarding pictures on Pinterest to eventually narrow down, print out, and take to my stylist for my wedding hair trial. I have already commissioned my talented Etsy friend Sara to make a fabulous fabric flower to pin to the soft updo with low bun and loose curls that I'm envisioning for my hair. Who knows if it will actually look half as good on me as it does in any of these pictures, but I guess that's what the trial is for, yes? I am praying I can get my hair color the way I want it by then as well. No matter what I do to it these days, it looks red. Nothing against redheads, it's just not what I'm going for, and it's super frustrating to get unwanted haircolor results when spending lots of money to have it professionally done. Maybe next time?

You all must have sent some seriously positive thoughts my way after my last post, because we have accomplished so much since then! Immediately after writing that post, Randy sent me an email from work with a weekend to-do list, which consisted mostly of wedding-related activities. This, from my fiance who honestly does not care about every little detail and thinks a lot of this stuff is just a bit crazy and unnecessary. But he was initiating the plan of attack, and thanks to his help, we crossed off so many items from our huge list of things to do. Including some very important ones, like finding an officiant and booking our rehearsal dinner. Check and check!

We also ordered Randy's wedding band this weekend.

And made some progress in the menswear department.

And found flatware that we could finally agree on for our registry.

It's the little things that do it for me.

I thanked him a million times, and I should probably thank him a million more.

On Friday I ordered our invitations from the printer. I designed them myself and we are using Letterpress Chicago for printing. Gary has been so helpful and sent me many gorgeous samples of their work, so I can't wait to see how ours turn out! Letterpress invitations have always been my dream, but I didn't think they would fit in my budget. Letterpress Chicago's quote was unbelievably good compared to the other printers I looked into, so they really are a dream come true. [I would have spent more printing them on cardstock at Kinko's.] Of course the price depends on what kind of paper you choose, how many ink colors, etc. and we are keeping the cost down with one color and printing on chipboard, which fits perfectly with our wedding vibe. I am so excited to finalize the other pieces of our invitation suite and put everything together over the next month. Designing for myself is always a challenge for me, but this has actually been such a fun process.

One last wedding accomplishment this weekend consisted of a mini Sunday road trip to Branson, MO for engagement pictures with our fantastic photographer, Alec Vanderboom. I have been looking forward to this session since the moment we booked Alec back in the fall. I am IN LOVE with his photos. Have you seen them? So good.

We drove the 3.5 hour trip on Sunday afternoon to meet Alec around 4pm in Branson [where he lives]. He led us to one of the spots he had picked out for our shoot, some secluded woods behind the neighborhood he grew up in. There was a large snake and some funky bamboo-like plants, and we brought home a few ticks as souvenirs [so gross!], but it was great to get to know each other before he photographs our wedding in July.

Alec made us feel at ease, despite our inherent awkwardness in front of the camera, and he gave us great direction while still letting us be fairly candid and natural. I am always nervous about seeing myself in candid shots, because obviously there isn't much control over looking "picture perfect," but Alec's photos always look beautiful so I am confident ours will be great as well. We spent most of our time at the first woodsy location, then did a quick outfit change and a few more shots in an open field and abandoned concrete amphitheater. I loved everything about the experience and cannot wait to see the photos.

In non-wedding news...

Last night we had another big house-related meeting. Today we are exactly one month from our scheduled closing date. I am so very grateful to have Randy by my side through all of this, and to be working with such awesome, competent people who have helped us every step of the way in a somewhat overwhelming process.

So far, so good. Everything is falling into place.


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100 Days.

Aside from a few little tornado warnings, yesterday was pretty awesome.

For starters, it marked 100 days until our wedding. I can't believe we are really that close. I also can't imagine how I'm ever going get everything on my to-do list crossed off before then. Please send many productive wedding planning thoughts my way.

Yesterday also marked a very exciting point in our house-buying adventure! We are getting so so close. I am still afraid to jinx the whole thing, so I will wait until it is a 100% done deal to share all the details, but I am insanely excited. Both to finally have a house of our own, and especially to be finished with the hunt so I can stop stressing out about it every. single. day. Today I am breathing easier and keeping my fingers crossed for smooth sailing until we close in May. YAY!

On a whim, I decided to check in on the status of both my wedding dress [ordered in Houston] and my bridesmaids' dresses [ordered in Tulsa]. Both were scheduled to come in late April, so I wasn't expecting them to have arrived yet. I guess it was my lucky day, because I got good news from both stores and all the dresses are in! I scheduled my first fitting for my dress when I will be in Houston in May. I am dying to put it on. The store sample was pretty amazing, but this one will be mine. Cannot wait.

I was so nervous about the bridesmaid dresses when we ordered them. The store didn't seem all that organized, but they were the only place in town that carried the dresses I wanted. So I ordered them and hoped for the best. As soon as I heard they were in, I went to go pick them up, so they would be safe with me and nothing would happen to them at the crazy store. Yes, I might be a little paranoid.

When I was a block away from the store, my bridesmaid Francine called me out of the blue. To tell me she was at the dress store. Picking up her dress. What?! So funny that we both randomly ended up at the store at the exact same time without any prior discussion of picking up dresses. So I got to see her try on her dress, which looks beautiful on her, and I picked up the other 3. Then we grabbed sushi at 4pm and discussed bachelorette plans and the other 3 weddings she is in this year in addition to mine. She might as well be a professional bridesmaid.

Then I drove home in Tulsa rush hour traffic listening to weather warnings on the radio and tornado sirens blaring. The rain started about halfway home, nixing my plan to drop off Megan's bridesmaid dress at her house along the way. When I was 2 miles from home, my car was being pelted with hail and I could not see the road in front of me.

And when I got home, the sun was shining.


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