Toastmaster

Yes, our best friend and her fiancé have promised to be toast madam/master at our wedding! Thanks a lot! =)
They will help us coordinate the toasts during the dinner. They might also help us with the reception program... if we ask them nicely.

Disappointment

I got my shoes... and they are not as I imagined. In an earlier post I mentioned that I had found someone that made shoes from your whishes. I found a picture of a shoe I liked and send it to the contact person. No problems what the reply and I’ve been waiting a couple of weeks. Now I’ve got them and they are not what I wanted =(
The problem is that the heel is not straight. Might seem like a very small thing, but it was the heel that caught my imagination. I contacted the contact person and they want to replace the shoes. I’m a bit skeptical but they will send me pictures of the heels they have to ‘choose’ from. So now am I waiting for pictures…

Chance to win a cake topper

Aren't they cute?



It is Red Light Studio who gives away this nice little couple.

Just for you

who just got engaged ;) Thought that you maybe need some kick-start to your planning?
Here is an inspiration board that fits perfectly to these shoes:



and here is the board

Credits: Jessamyn Harris, Byron Hoffman and Lasting Images, CUSTOM EVENT GROUP, Jessica Claire, Dia Rao, Jose Villa, Jose Villa Photography

Happy planning!

A bird just told me...

...that one of our best friends has engaged! And they are planning to get married next year as well! Congratulations!!! I'm so happy for you!

Nine months before the wedding

The time is running. The 14th of November was nine months before the wedding and this is what should have been done by then

Start a wedding folder - Well I have a folder on my computer with lots of wedding inspiration.

Work out the budget - Yep, done. Hope we can keep it =)

Build your wedding party - No, this isn't done yet... I know I won't have any bridesmaids or flower girls. My sister has promised to help me dress and take photos of the details during the dressing. We haven't asked the toastmaster yet... and my fiancé hasn't decided about whether to have a best man or not yet. Shame on us!
But I feel no pressure on this. It'll come with time.

Settle on a head count - Yep, we also have the guest list done.

Hire a planner, if desired - No planners in Sweden... we have to manage ourselves and I think we are doing great.

Book the ceremony site - Done

Book the officiant - Well, in Sweden the church (if marrying in church) fix this for you, or you have a very limit choice. We have wished for my fiancé's confirmation priest. Hopefully will she be available.

Book the reception site - Done

Research photographers, bands, florists and caterers - Photographer is more or less done, or at least will we meet one photographer at Christmas and hopefully I'll like his pictures. I'm a bit nervous about this because we don't have so many photographers to choose from and I want pictures in style with Jessica Claire =) So now you know how good he/she must be!

Insert vendor information into a master contact list - Done

Throw engagement party - Done. We had a small engagement party combined with my birthday party this summer. Here are some pictures from that event.

Help on the big day

Now, when the wedding is official will we start to ask people about some help on the big day.
I'll not have any bridesmaids or flower girl/boy, so that's easy. My fiancé might have a best man, but he is still thinking of it. Anyway we will walk together up the aisle, so no nervous dad to hand me over =)

But, we will still need some help. I'll need someone to help me with the dress and other small things on the wedding day and since I don't have any bridesmaids this will be an unofficial role. I have just asked my sister and am waiting for the reply. She will hopefully also be in charge of my camera and try to photograph all small details and my preparations.

We will also need some help at the reception with speeches and stuff. So we have a name for the toastmaster/madam and just need to ask. We haven't come around to that yet.

I hope my mom and my fiancé's mom will be able to help with the reception area and maybe also the church. There are flowers to arrange and the program and place cards...

My fiancé's mom will also be responsible for the brunch the day after the wedding. At this brunch the presents will be opened and there will be quite a few people present. So some nice food and dessert and a cozy area to be in... Oh, I must remember to find a dress for this happening.

Someone needs to pick up the cake (if it isn't delivered...) and the flowers... and there are probably more things I can't remember now. If you notice something I have forgotten, just leave a comment!

Oh, I nearly forgot! We need to ask my fiancé's cousins if they want to sing in church! They are two songbirds and I really hope they will do it for us.

Last about the save the date

I promise, this will (hopefully) be the last post about the save the date cards. I just want to share with you, the picture of the save the date card when it is not folded.
As I have mentioned before is the envelope cut on the Bosskut Gazelle and the text is printed on our inkjet printer. I have highlighted the flowers with a bit of Stickles glitter glue and we sealed the envelopes with a white wax seal.





The Swedish post office wasn't happy when we wanted them to deliver the envelopes. They were too small! I didn't know there was a limit on how big an envelope had to be to be able to send it...
Anyway, they accepted the cards after some phone calls so now do all our guests have the possibility to save the date for our wedding.
But to avoid any problems with the post office in the future, we will make sure the envelopes are at least 9cm X 12cm big.

My necklace and bracelet have arrived!

Last Friday did my necklace and bracelet finally arrive! I was soo excited when I opened the bubble wrap from PenniBelle. And they are amazing!! They are even better then what I had imaging. =) Thank so very much Lindy, you do a great job.

The lilac crystals are a dark shade of lilac and they will match nicely with the dress. We will get a cloth sample from the dress this week and I'll try to take some pictures of them together.

The weight of the necklace surprised me. It is a bit heavier then I though it should be and it feels very genuine. It fits perfectly around my neck, but I need to have the hair done in a way so the broach isn't covered by my hair. I think I'll bring it to the hairdresser together with the picture of the dress.



I can really recommend PenniBelle for bridal jewelry.

Wedding flowers Part I

I hope to be able to grow some of the wedding flowers myself. We have a rather big yard and one of my spare time interests is gardening. I also hope to get some help from the mother of my fiancé and my mother. The flowers will be used in the reception area and might also be used in the church depending on how well they will grow =)

The flowers that we will grow are

Dahlias – White pom-poms and decorative forms. Here it might be possible to add some orange to spice the color scheme up a bit. These will hopefully be in peak flower in August and they are very easy to grow, just put the tubers in the ground, water and wait.

Sweet peas – In different shades of lilac and also white and maybe pink. I hope these will flower as late as August. I haven’t grown so many sweet peas before, so I don’t remember how long they where going…

Stock – This annual has a lovely fragrance but is a bit hard to please. It doesn’t like hot summers so it might not be possible to keep it blooming until August. I’ll try to germinate them at different times during May and June and seed them at a place which gets a bit shade during the hottest hours.

Zinnias – Also an annual which comes in a sea of different flowers, most of them hot like red and pink, but hopefully will I find a color mix that fits our colors scheme a bit better. The shape of the flower is much like a Dahlia.

Amaranthus – This unusual annual will bring some flow to the flowers. The flowers of the Amaranthus are long tails of burgundy or green.

Gladiolus – This spiky flower is also pretty easy to grow, just put the small ‘bulb’ into the ground and wait. Here will we have loads of lilacs to choose between and of course whites.



To be able to bring all flowers to the wedding in good shape, I’m going to grow them in pots to be able to take the whole pot with me. We will probably leave for the destination a couple of days before the wedding.
More flowers for our wedding will be presented in coming posts.

Wedding ring

Yes, I have started to think about my wedding ring. I was looking through Martha Steward Weddings magazine (the reception issue) yesterday to get some inspiration. There was a lot of advertising for different rings, but they are so big! The stones are huge! And there is also a lot of stones, on the sides and everything.

I know that our budget for the ring is very limited. This is a deliberate choice, since the ring doesn't means so much for me... don't get me wrong, the symbolism of the ring means a lot, but it can be more or less any ring.
I want it to fit our engagement rings though... We both have this engagement ring from Hellkes.



Yes, we both have an engagement ring. I don't think that is very common in the USA but in Sweden it is pretty common.
The engagement ring is in sterling silver and gold and I think a thin wedding ring in gold would complement the engagement ring. I still want a stone though, if budget allows... It doesn't have to be a diamond.
It might also be possible to customize the engagement ring so the stone is 'binding' the two rings together. I think that can be nice. The question is what form I want on the stone... (I'm not talking about the cut) I saw one very nice ring in the magazine. It was the 'Leaf' ring from Jack Kelege. Sorry, I can't find any good image of the ring, but have a look on page 86 in the magazine if you can get hold of it. If it was possible to just take the leaf and place that 'above' both the rings... I think we will have to go to a good goldsmith and see what they say.

Guestlist and children

Most of the Save the date cards went with the post yesterday and today the phone has beeped more often than usual =) Lot of friends are surprised and whishes us good luck and looking forward to the wedding. I hope all of them will come, they have been carefully selected.
Our closest family (who already know our plans) won't have the save the date card until this weekend, when we are meeting them all for a birthday party.

I understand couples that get frustrated when it comes to the guest list. You want to share the wonderful day with everyone you know! But often the budget or the restriction of space for the reception is a problem.
In our case we can't invite more than 70 persons; the reception place won't fit in anymore. I have seen a lot of American weddings where the party has been outside in tents or just under a light canopy. This isn't very common in Sweden. Most weddings receptions are inside even in the summer and even though we thought about having the wedding in our garden, we quickly found out that the garden is way too small for so many people. It is a pity we won't be outside, but I think our 'castle' will be perfect =)

On our guest list are as many as 10 children from ages 0-11. I don't even like children... I hope it works out well. I rather spend my wedding day with my friends and their families then on my own, so all children are welcome. The older children will probably look really cute. Hopefully will we see a couple of princesses and maybe even a prince or two?

Now am I off to look through the wedding magazines I bought yesterday. I was in Stockholm for work and had time to source the bigger range of magazines.

Inspiration board

Look at my inspiration board over at Style Me Pretty

Credits: Fleurdelisascakes, Cecilia Wester, https://anywedding.blogspot.com, Unknown (2), http://www.etsy.com/shop/PenelliBelle?page=1 (2), Alfred Angelo 1516

All done

The save the date cards are now ready to send away. Here is the finished result:

Inside


Back


Front


I think they look really good, and after a couple of tries we got the wax seal to look good as well =)

My wonderful necklace and bracelet

Today I got some pictures from PenelliBelle at Etsy of my necklace and bracelet I have custom ordered. They are gorgeous! Wonderful! Stunning! =)
Thank you sooo very much!
I can really recommend PenelliBelle to anyone looking for stunning jewelry. She is soo sweet and helpful and cares about her customers.

Here are the pictures

The necklace



The bracelet



And both together.


I can't wait until I can have them on and they will be worn often and hopefully become an heirloom in out family.
They will fit perfect into the theme of the wedding.

I promised you...

... some pictures of my tiara. I know, it was a while ago, but I haven't forgotten.



It is not very fancy, but it sparkles and fits really well on my head =)
I think I'll go for something like this when it comes to the hair-do, even though my hair isn't that long.



Oh, way is it such a long time to the wedding??? I want to do it NOW!
Well... maybe not exactly now... it is very grey and it is rain in the air... but sooner. =)

Progress on the 'save the date' cards.

Yes, we are making progress. The design is finished, the mock-up done (and redone a couple of times), the different parts printed and glued together. All that is missing at the moment is a stamp and the wax seal.

We bought heavy lilac papers for the envelope and a crème paper for the paper with the text on. I had the Gazelle to cut out the envelopes and printed the address and the inside text on the printer. I think it turned out really well, but something was missing. It didn't feel anything special...
To add some sparkle and some texture, I added small dots of Stickles to the flowers. This really took the std card from good to great. It is in the details =) Sorry that is doesn't show up on the photos very well.



I'll take some photos of the finished card later tonight. Hopefully sharing the details.

I also want to show you this place card I've made. I got the idea from Etsy and it wasn't that hard to make yourself. If you have Photoshop it is just to find a brush of the motive you want, in this case a butterfly, and then either print them on paper and cut or import the picture to the Gazelle program and cut with the Gazelle.

It looks just like the butterfly is hovering above the glass. I'll use the Gazelle to print the name on the inside/upside of the wings.

The tricky thing is to get the butterfly to stay on the glass =)

Carpe diem or Catch the light

This is not about the wedding, but I just have to share one of my mornings earlier this week. It had been raining during the night, but cleared early in the morning and the temperature dropped to around freezing. The air was very clear and high and it was a wonderful morning. I had the opportunity to go out, playing with the camera for a couple of hours. Many of the photos are a bit burned out, but I like the effect and I really like how the light is caught.

















More days like this please! Just imaging a bride walking through these pictures, the sun turning her hair into gold...

Theme and colors

Now, when we finally have started working on the Save the date cards we also settled for a color combination. Of course the Victorian Lilac is the main color and lilac in different shades will dominate the color scheme.
To add to this we have the ivory color from the wedding dress and probably black from the grooms clothes. To spice all up a little we have also added a thouch of dusky orange-yellow. This will be just a touch so it doesn't become too monotone and boring.
I envision something like this



I have also been thinking of a theme. I don't think we will have a pronounced theme for the wedding, but I want to get a feeling of this:

Pearls, Flowers, Luxury, Heavy fabrics (textures), Candlelight and Fragrance.

I hope we can pull this off without breaking the bank! =)
I'll present these words and colors for our vendors and hopefully they will come up with the best they can within our budget.

I'm planning on sowing and cutting many of the flowers for the ceremony and reception myself, together with my mother and my fiancé's mother. I'll tell in a later post what flowers I plan to grow =)

Seeing each other before the wedding

As I have mentioned in another post, I'm a bit unsure whether we should take the wedding photos before or after the ceremony. My fiancé talked to a photographer the other day about wedding photos and he recommended taking the photos before the wedding. I'm more and more into this thinking and just read this

When a couple gets to meet before the wedding, the groom is able to take his time and really look at his bride. Notice the details of her dress, her hair, the way her makeup is done. It’s a perfect time to talk about what you are about to do, exchange gifts or love notes, cry, laugh and enjoy the fact that you are about to embark upon an interesting journey.

.
There is a long series of blog posts about this topic at the Planning forever events blog. Here is another post in the same series.