The Favor Reveal

Our wedding favors were one of the first decisions we made in planning the wedding. We both fully agreed and loved this idea. Before I reveal it though, I need to say this.

Alright, are you ready for this? Our wedding favors will be KOOZIES! For those of you who aren't aware of what these are, here is how Urban Dictionary defines them:

A koozie is a neoprene or foam rubber material sleeve used predominantly by rednecks to keep their crappy watered-down American beer cold.

It also doubles as a fashion accessory on which the redneck may display his/her favorite NASCAR driver, swimsuit model, brand of beer, brand of tobacco, or local blue collar business.

Paw: "Hey Maw, check out this Dale Jr. koozie that Bubba from the liquor store gave me." "It was supposed to come free with an 18 pack of Budweiser, but Bubba gave it to me anyhow even though I bought Keystone Light."

Maw: "Dang!" "You, kin use it when we go to the track on Saturday."

Paw: "Why wait til Saturday, when I kin use it right now?"

Maw: "Na, you should just used yer ol PBR koozie and save the Dale Jr. koozie fer special occasions like Bobby Sue's weddin' reception or Saturday at the track."

Paw: "Dang"! "I never thought of it that way".

Okay, so that is slightly dramatized but also kind of funny. I know what some of you are thinking... that koozies are tacky and or redneck. But hear me out.

Whenever we are on vacation somewhere, I always buy a koozie. The cheesier the better. For example, my koozie I got while we were on vacation in Belize. 

 

While koozies are typically associated with beer, I personally use mine to keep my Diet Pepsi cold. It can work for any canned or bottled beverage.  I love collecting koozies, and they are consistently used in my house. 

When we were trying to decide on favors, we wanted something that people might actually use but also fits us well. Koozies are affordable, fun, and totally us. Here are a few examples of wedding koozies:

{Image via Kustom Koozies}

{Image via Kustom Koozies}

{Image via Kustom Koozies}

{Image via Kustom Koozies}

{Image via Kustom Koozies}

Our guests can use them during the wedding, and hopefully will take them home to enjoy. We live in California so we figure they can use them camping, at the beach, fishing, or even at a backyard BBQ. 

I know that if I received one at a wedding, I definitely would make use of it. Although we do realize that not everyone may be down with this idea, and there is a huge chance some people may not even use them.  Like I said in my post yesterday though,  you can't stress about favors or try and please everyone. Our guests aren't at the wedding for the favors, so our hope is that they will have fun with the koozies. Who knows, they may be a huge hit!

Do you think people will enjoy the light heartiness and fun of the koozies? What do you plan on doing for favors, if any?

Favor Expectations

So, what's the deal with favors? I have to say, some of the strangest criticisms I hear about weddings is about the favors. I've heard the following far too many times: "I can't believe they gave us (fill in blank.)"

Excuse me, but do you go to the wedding for the favor? No, most likely you do not. At least I am hoping you don't. So again I ask, what's up with favors?

I feel like far too many people put too much concern and worry into the favors. The fact of the matter is, most favors cost anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars. Most likely you are not going to have some outrageous favor to present to your guests. If you do, then hey that's awesome! Where I come from though...that just doesn't really happen.

Your guests know this! I personally have never gone to a wedding expecting some type of incredible favor. 

My point here is that the debate on favors is never ending. Some people say food is the only way to go. Some people dog on Jordan almonds (I personally think Jordan almonds are delicious.) Matchbooks, mints, wine topper, spices...you know the usuals. Some people prefer to donate money in their guests honor. Some people decide no favor.

Whatever you decide, I honestly feel they are all great. It is your wedding, and you don't have to conform to any pattern. Do what you and your fiance feel is best. Better yet, have some fun and do what you feel fits your personalities the best.

Ladies (and gentleman?) let's stop stressing about the favors. Yes they are nice to have, but I think we should all stop fretting so much about it. And for goodness sake, let the criticism on favors subside.

You might have noticed that I haven't mentioned what my favors actually are. I wanted to get this all out before I tell you what our favors are and potentially take some heat for them.

What is your take on favors? Do you think as brides we worry about them a little to much sometimes?

Christmastime Is Here

Wow, Christmas is this weekend. Ya know, in case you didn't know. (That's me, being sarcastic.) I'm quite sure the insanity at the malls and grocery stores have been a constant reminder to you. As well as the incessant jewelry commercials that have graced the TV.

Not only is Christmas on Sunday, but it is also mine and Mr. Buck's one year mark of being engaged. Or in more technical terms, our engageaversary. Okay never mind, that's not technical at all. You get what I mean.

I distinctly remember last Christmas thinking wow, we are going to have a whole other Christmas before the wedding. This is going to be torture having such a long engagement. Then BAM, it's already here again.

I can't help but think how quickly time moves. My dad mentioned to me recently that in the amount of time it just took me to blink, that's how fast the wedding will be here.That could not be more true.

Now there is only five months to go. I feel like my to-do list is getting longer and time is doing the opposite.

A year ago the wedding seemed like a distant vision, something I was having a hard time grasping because it was so far away. Now it is just around the corner, and I can feel and taste the sweet beauty of it.

For those of you who are in a long engagement, I assure you that it will be here before you know it. Savor your engagement, and make use of the precious gift of time to do all that you need to do.

From both of us, we would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Also to all of you in the Hive who got engaged last Christmas, happy engageaversary to you :)

Has time seemed to move abnormally fast for you lately? Are you doing anything special to celebrate the day you were engaged?

Private Vows

As I have mentioned in the past, Mr. Buck and I have been together for going on ten years. I think anyone that knows us will say that we are very private people. We aren't ones to be mushy and lovey dovey in front of people. We have an extremely close relationship, but the details of such do not get shared with friends, family, coworkers or gasp- facebook. That's just how we are and how we prefer to stay. I know what you are thinking, "but you're a bee blogger." True, but I write about details of our wedding, not our relationship.

Which means originally the two of us were freaked out to write and say our own vows in front of over 100 people. We would both get super nervous, awkward and probably end up something like Doug from King of Queens:

{Video via You Tube}

I want the vows between us to be natural. I am confident if we try and do anything other than the traditional vows, both of us are going to end up in the awkward zone. We don't want that, but we still want something personal. So how do you have your cake and eat it too?

What we have decided to do is write our personal and private vows to each other. We are planning to trade them the night before, to be read on our wedding morning. Then we will proceed with the traditional vows during the ceremony. By doing this, I feel that we will truly be writing to each other from our heart. Instead of writing for the ceremony and avoiding certain details we may want to say to each other, but don't want everyone hearing.  Or trying to be too creative and failing (a la Doug Heffernan.) We will also have hand written vows to keep.

We plan on doing something special with the vows we write to each other. We haven't quite nailed that detail down, but we are thinking something similar to Mrs. Waffle's jar sealing ceremony. Except we would still keep the words in the letters between the two of us, and just seal them up in a jar.

I have heard a few comments here and there from people I have told this idea to. Some like it, some don't. In the end, I can't say those thoughts influence our decision to do this. Doing our vows this way is what makes the most sense to us and feels the most special.

Do you plan on writing your own vows or are you going the traditional route? Have you thought about doing private vows like we are?

The Lantern Card Holder

Lately I have been trying to catch up on the smaller details. Mainly my Google, Pinterest and Etsy searches have been dedicated to one thing- card holders. To any "normal" person this may seem a little boring and possibly crazy. But to all of us engaged ladies, I think you can understand my obsession.

What would be the perfect object to house any cards that might show up at the wedding? There are many options: box, bird cage, mailbox. Or how about Mrs. Earrings beautiful vintage suitcase card holder. I love all of these, and so my obsessive searching began.

I still came up empty handed though. You know when you obsess over something too much then all of a sudden you just give up and stop caring? Yeah, that's what happened to me. I decided to let my brain have a rest and just forget about it.

Well, good things do come to those who wait. One day after a lovely lunch at Red Lobster with my family, we quickly stopped in next door to Pier 1 Imports. (Random, I know.) I went in to check out their fun Christmas decorations, but instead I got distracted by something else. It takes a lot for me to get distracted from Christmas stuff, so you know this is good.

They had beautiful lanterns in all different shapes, sizes and styles. It hit me that this would be perfect to hold cards at the wedding. I found a beautiful white lantern with an open top and a door. It was as if it started to sing to me, it was absolutely perfect.

People can drop cards in from the top, or open up the door and stick them in. It even looked "wedding-ish" which means I don't have to mess with it at all.

This little gem only cost me $20. Not bad considering I was preparing myself to spend too much money for one on Etsy. Now I have a pretty little lantern to hang in my house after the wedding.

Okay, maybe I am using it to hold all my Christmas cards right now. I can't just leave it packed away in the closet for the next five months, now can I?

What do you think about using a lantern for a card holder? What do you plan on using for cards?

The Flower Girl and a Special Dress

Our flower girl has quite the important role in our ceremony. Not only is she the keeper of the flower petals, but she is bringing in some fun family history. You see, my dad comes from a family of ten kids. The youngest was only five years old when my mom and dad got married. Naturally, she was their flower girl.

Fast forward twenty seven years, she now has two daughter's of her own and I am getting married. My aunt was my mom and dad's flower girl, and now her daughter will be my flower girl.

Don't you just love how stuff like that works out? She also has the cutest Southern accent EVER. (Okay, it's an accent to this Californian. I so wish I had a cool accent like that.)

Such a beautiful princess needs a dress befitting as such. I know most bridal stores have flower girl dresses to choose from. I bought my dress at Alfred Angelo, and they do have many options. However, I am not sold on all of those dresses. I don't feel like I need to get her dress at a bridal store. What about opening up my options to department stores that carry fancy little girl dresses? For example, I found some great options at Nordstrom.

{Image via Nordstrom}

{Image via Nordstrom}

{Image via Nordstrom}

Bridal stores have a scary return policy, whereas Nordstrom is known for their customer service. Being that I don't live near my aunt and cousin, I feel like ordering a flower girl dress through Nordstrom would be a safer option. Plus, their prices seem to be slightly lower. 

I need to start making decisions here so that we can find the perfect dress for our very important flower girl.

How do you weigh in on the bridal store  vs. department store route? How will you be dressing your special flower girl?

Fakeagement Ring

I know I haven't talked at all about where we are going on our honeymoon, but lets just say it is out of the country. Let's also just say that every time I go on vacation, I lose something. Such as my favorite Juicy Couture jacket that I had found for $20 at Marshalls that I am convinced got stolen. (Obviously I am still a little upset about that one.) Also jewelry, favorite makeup products...you name it. I don't know what it is, I must have a hole in my suitcase or something.

This got me thinking (read: freaking out) that something would happen to my wedding ring while on our honeymoon. I wouldn't be able to wear my ring while we are out snorkeling or swimming. I also wouldn't feel comfortable leaving it in our hotel room. This is quite the conundrum, what do I do to keep my ring safe?

The easy answer is to not bring it at all on our honeymoon. However, i'm not really down with not wearing my wedding ring as a brand new newlywed.

Enter the "fakeagement ring." (Surprisingly, I made that word up. Shocking, I know.) If I can find a decent looking ring to wear on my honeymoon, then I can keep my wedding ring locked up in our safe. If something should happen to my "fakeagment ring" while on our trip, then no tears will be shed and there will be zero heartache.

I had been on the search for awhile now for the right ring. I needed it cheap in order to achieve the purpose, but I wanted it to look decent. I needed a good lookin' CZ. Where do you go to find a good lookin' CZ? Why Nordstrom of course!

I found a dramatized replica of my ring at Nordstrom for $26. I say dramatized because it is huge. I look like a real housewife of Beverly Hills wearing this ring. The reason why I chose it though is because it had the same style as my ring.

Here is a reminder of what my real engagement ring looks like:

 

Here is the "fakeagement ring":

Here they are side by side for comparison:

The ring on the right is fake and cost $26. The ring on the left is real, and well...didn't cost $26.

I will be sad to not be wearing my real ring while on my honeymoon. However, I would be devastated if something happened to it while traveling. I will have peace of mind knowing that my real ring is safe. If something should happen to my fake ring? Who cares!

What do you think of the "fakeagement ring" idea? Do you plan on doing something similar?

The Piggy Bank

I know I mentioned here that my first wedding purchase was shoes. Technically that is not true. It was my first big purchase, but truth be told my first purchase for the wedding was actually a piggy bank.

Yes, a piggy bank. Two days after our engagement I was at the Hallmark store and I found this:

You know that phase you go through soon after your engagement where you buy ANYTHING that might say "wedding", "bride", or "groom" on it? Yeah, I was definitely in that phase. I bought everything. (Because apparently I really needed that Bride key chain? I know. Lame.)

However, this wedding fund piggy bank came in handy recently. For almost a year now I have been randomly dropping change in it when I think of it. I wasn't very consistent, so it took awhile to fill it up. This past weekend I realized it was probably time to head on over to the Coinstar machine at the grocery store and cash it in. 

Mr. Buck and I took bets on how much we thought was in the jar. His guess was $7, mine was $13. 

We were both wrong. This is how much it came out to:

For those of you who are math challenged like I am and don't want to count, that would be $34.43. Not bad, right?

My thinking is that "wedding fund" money can only be used towards wedding things. I don't want to just waste it on any ol' thing. I know some of you are wondering what on earth I could buy for the wedding with such little money.While it may not be a large amount of money, it's still more money in my pocket than what I had yesterday. I am determined to find something for the wedding that I can buy with that money. 

Have any of you found a creative way to save money for your wedding?

A Tiffany Blue Surprise

Earlier this week I came home to find a package on my front doorstep. I didn't remember ordering anything, so I suspiciously brought it inside. As I began to open it, I noticed an iconic blue color staring back at me.

Tiffany's? Someone must be playing a joke on us. How did they find a box that perfectly matches Tiffany's?

I then removed the ribbon and opened the enclosed card. My eyes laid upon this fun goodness:

 

Oh my word, this is not a joke at all. This is in fact from Tiffany's (insert jumping up and down here.) It is a gift to us from the owners at our venue, Monte Verde Inn. As I opened it up, I could not believe what I saw. Two perfectly gorgeous champagne toasting flutes.

This was extraordinarily thoughtful and classy. Monte Verde Inn truly knows how to make two people feel special. As I have said in the past, they are a very popular venue and hold a large amount of weddings each year for many different brides and grooms. Yet, they know how to make each couple feel important and valued. Their commitment and love for what they do is undeniable.

This was such a huge surprise and we are both incredibly thankful that they would take the time to think of us. (As well as all of the other Monte Verde Inn 2012 brides and grooms who also received this generous gift.)

Now I can check "find toasting flutes" off of that big to-do list!

I guess the only way to properly end this post is with a quote from one of the greatest movies of all time, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

"Did I tell you how divinely and utterly happy I am?" -Holly Golightly

Have you had a huge surprise come your way while wedding planning?

Working On My Fitness

You guys, I just discovered the most incredible thing for weight loss. It's seldom used, but works like a charm.

Oh yeah it's uhhh, called exercise. I've been lying to myself for years thinking all those fad diets work. You name it, i've tried it. I even tried that all liquid "Hollywood" diet. Yeah, I nearly passed out on that one.

News flash, none of that works. Maybe it will help you lose a little weight here and there, but nothing that will keep the weight off.

In reality, we all know what the magic spell is....eating healthy and exercising. I always thought I could get away with the former, but in reality I need both. It is not fun, in fact I absolutely loathe exercise. I kept putting it off because I had a really awesome reason why I shouldn't lose weight.

Are you ready for this? Here it goes: I already had my dress, what if I lose so much weight that they can't alter it enough?

I know, I know...horrible excuse. We all know dresses can be taken in. I was just avoiding the hard work that comes with weight loss.

I now have a treadmill in my house, so there are zero excuses. I just need to roll out of bed in the morning and get my tooshie moving. Lately I have been feeling really great and I can tell that I am improving. Running farther, lasting longer...that kind of thing. Yet, I still feel like this sometimes:

{Image via Pinterest}

Okay are you done laughing hysterically? I know I am not the only one that feels that way. I huff and puff on that treadmill and barely make it sometimes. I am quite certain I look ridiculous the majority of the time. I have to keep in mind though that I am better off today than what I was yesterday. I know that I am making progress, even though it might be slow. 

My dress fitting is in approximately three months, which means I need to get serious here. It is time to achieve buns of steel. No more working out when I "feel like it." Let's get real, when do I EVER feel like it? I just have to set my routine and stick with it. The last thing I want to do is look back on my wedding pictures twenty years from now and regret not achieving my goal.

Who else has taken up exercise to try and lose some weight for your wedding? How's it working out for ya?

Rehearsal...Lunch?

I consider myself to be a traditionalist, but if something else works out better then I am not afraid to go in that direction. Which is why we will be holding a rehearsal lunch instead of a dinner.

When we started researching options for rehearsal dinner locations, I was absolutely flabbergasted. It seemed anywhere decent I found cost nearly as much as the food at the wedding. I had a hard time wrapping my head around why a large amount of money is going to be spent the night before the wedding. (Where a large amount of money had already been spent.)

Then a thought popped into my head about our venue. Our venue is fairly popular and tends to get booked up every weekend pretty quickly. There is a good chance that there will be a wedding the day before ours. I decided I should check with them on this because if that is the case, then a rehearsal dinner the evening before was not going to work. Sure enough, there is a wedding that Friday evening before ours. Our options are either to hold our rehearsal Thursday evening or a 10am rehearsal Friday morning.

Well shoot. I was thinking, that stinks big time. We are a good hour away from our venue, so it seemed like quite the drive to have to take two days before the wedding. Also to be completely honest...I wanted the traditional "day before the wedding" rehearsal. Then I started to contemplate the idea of having a Friday morning rehearsal...is it really that bad? Our bridal party was planning on taking that day off work anyhow...so what's the big deal?

As it turns out, lunch menus are MUCH more affordable than dinner menus. We started to research our options and I came across a quirky little restaurant in Old Town Auburn called Awful Annies.

{Images via Awful Annies}



As you can probably tell from the pictures, this place is pretty down home casual. It's not your typical fancy schmancy restaurant where rehearsal dinners (ahem, lunches) are held.

However, their food is out of this world fantastic. Isn't that what really matters? The cherry on top is that the owners are easy to get a hold of  and are as sweet as pie. Instead of having a set menu, they told us we could choose a few options from their regular menu to serve at our rehearsal lunch. Their flexibility, responsiveness and helpfulness was so welcoming to me. I feel this place really fits the bill for us in more ways than one.

My only concern is that I have this guilty feeling that our bridal party will be expecting something more elaborate. Instead it will be a laid back and casual affair. In my eyes, I see this as a great thing. We can relax, drink, have a grand ol' time the day before the wedding. I honestly am not too interested in having two fancy shindigs in a row. I would rather have a casual rehearsal lunch, followed by a fancy wedding the next day.

What I have to remember is that our bridal party is made up of our friends. I highly doubt anyone will have issue with a casual rehearsal lunch. In fact, knowing our friends I think that they will find this even more fun.

What do you think about the idea of mixing things up and having a rehearsal lunch? If you were part of a wedding that did this, how would you feel about it?



Somewhere Over The Rainbow

I have a secret to spill. I am a Wizard of Oz nerd...big time. It is one of those movies that seems to have been with me throughout my life. Like most people, I grew up watching this movie. I never really had a favorite character because I loved all of them...even the flying monkeys! (Unlike most people, they did not scare me.) I had the entire movie memorized by the time I was eight years old.

When I was younger my mom use to do after school daycare at my house. Which was great because there was always kids to play with. I decided that I would put on a Wizard of Oz production with the daycare kids, and then we would perform it for all of our parents. Being that I was the oldest, I of course had to be every main character as well as the voice of Dorothy.

What is the voice of Dorothy you ask? My younger sister begged me to be Dorothy, so I let her but told her she could not sing. My voice was so beautiful (not) that I was going to hide behind the wall and sing for her while she lip sang. (I obviously was delusional and was a typical older sister.) All the other kids played the munchkins and my 3 year old brother was the wizard. I was rotten and apparently was on a power kick. Our poor parents sat through the entire show and I can only assume they were trying to hide their boredom and laughter.

I love everything about Wizard of Oz, and to this day will still put it on if I need to cheer myself up. It would only make sense then that I would be marrying a guy whose nickname in high school was "The Tinman." Check it out, he does kind of resemble the tinman.

{Right image via John Strange}

I could go on forever about my love for Wizard of Oz, but I am sure you are more interested in why I am even bringing this up. When I think about music for the ceremony, one song I cannot get out of my head is Somewhere Over The Rainbow. I have such a huge connection to this song, and it seems only fitting for it to play at the wedding.

On my iPod I have FIVE versions of this song. Why I need so many, I have no idea. I think every time I find a new version I just automatically hit "buy song." Then later regret it when it dings my account. Anyway, I started listening to these various versions and nothing felt right. For me it all felt too "in your face", and I was searching for a subtle version

It took some digging but I finally came across an instrumental version played in the Canon in D. There is no video format of this song so the best I can do is give you the link if you would like to preview or buy the song on iTunes. I absolutely love this version and I think it is perfect to have playing while our parents and grandparents are being seated before the ceremony.

I feel that music can really make or break things, and I am ecstatic that I found a great version of such an important song. Most likely nobody will notice but I will know it is playing and that is all that matters.

Do you have a song that is important to you that you want played at your wedding in a subtle way?