Details...and Pictures Part I

Okay, now for the pictures to go with SOME of the details!! (yes, I am still a slacker and have to get the bracelet pictures and such up)

These are the dresses we are using for the flower girls. It is actually a dress I made for Olivia when Holly & Lex were sealed in the temple, so we need to do a couple changes to hers, and ya know, make one for Marlee! :)

We are going to take off the white flower and do a brown strip of ribbon where the flower is and add a yellow flower. I'm also considering doing some tulle underneath too! I saw some patterns like that and they were adorable!!

And here's a picture of the colors we picked out for Tadd's tux vest and tie.

With these shirts and ties to match for the brothers/groomsmen

Also accomplished this week: bought the dad's ties, invites stuffed into envelopes, just gotta get stamps and finish addressing them all. We are making progress people!! :) Only 23 days! Still lots to do! Like getting my bouquet picked out...oops. That's kind of important and it's been put off. Oh well, week's not over yet! Work work work! :)

Wedding Dress Shopping

Shopping for wedding dresses was stressful! I thought it would be fun...but it was a little overwhelming! So much WHITE! And I felt so "pose-y", like I was trying to be something I am not. As you all know, I am not especially girly....so putting me in a white frilly dress just made me feel out of place. haha

The first store we went to was called Leven's. They had a lot of very pretty dresses, but nothing that really stood out. Well, I did like one dress...but I had to keep looking. My friend Steph went with me that morning. I made her take pictures of every dang dress...even though they were not all good at all. In fact, some were just BAD! But I didn't want to deprive everyone of the experience of dress shopping just because they are far away...So feast your eyes on these:

This one makes me look like a circus tent! :( I swear my body is disproportionate or something. Look at how the chest fits me...am I already getting saggy? :) haha

This was actually strapless....those are my wonderful bra straps your witnessing :)

POLKA DOTS!!! I loved the bottom and back of this dress...the top, not so much! The stitching, the sleeves...just say no!

Second store, Belle's Bridal. This store was an adventure. Dresses EVERYWHERE! With no sense of organization. All sizes, all styles, just crammed, and I mean CRAMMED onto racks. It was more than overwhelming. We did find a few to try on...just weren't thrilled once again. Here are the few I tried...

(Again, this dress was strapless, hello bra straps) :)

This one I did like. The sleeves were cute from the back. I wished they were like that in the front. But once again, apparently my chest is not where it is supposed to be. You can see where the dress thinks they should be :)

I really did like this dress. It was pretty, and modest, and I did like it. However, it needed a lot of alterations, and they charged per alteration...so it was adding up quickly...

After the fairly unsuccessful morning, I made a last minute decision that I wanted to go to David's Bridal in Layton (about an hour from here). So I got my shift covered at Sunstop and called Jamie and Holly, and they were totally up for going, kids in tow and all. It was a much funner experience than that morning. I don't know if it was the road trip factor, or that we are all closer than I am with Steph, or simply the fact that David's Bridal is just...David's Bridal, but we had fun.

We picked out TONS of dresses to try on.

Marlee was so excited to help Resa pick out "pretty dresses" for the wedding. She likes the idea of this wedding business very much, even at 2 1/2! She keeps telling Jamie, "I get married too, k?" and tells Brian (her dad) "I a marry Tadd". She is adorable!

This is Marlee at the BEGINNING of trying dresses on, happy and snacking on Olivia's treats. Every time I came out of the fitting room, she would say, "OH, Pretty!" And yes, this was good for my ego!

And now for the dresses....We didn't do so good at taking pictures of EVERY dress at David's Bridal. There were just TOO many that I tried on...But there were lots more here that I liked a little at least.

Mermaid dress....just say no! Everyone thought it was beautiful, but I felt like I had to waddle like a penguin! Far too GIRLY and just not me...

This one I did like. I guess I lied when I said no dresses at Leven's I liked. This was pretty much identical to the one I did like at Leven's, and almost bought. But we decided although gorgeous, it was a little mature for what I wanted..






This was the result of an hour and a half of trying on dresses. Holly looking exhausted, Livy SO ready to run around, and Marlee, doesn't she just look thrilled to be there? I'm telling you, they were all amazing. Past dinner time, past the kids bedtimes, and they were still happy to be there and be helping. I have some GREAT friends!!

This is Marlee TRYING to be happy...she just wants food I'm pretty sure. :)


Good news is, after ALL of these dresses, I did find the perfect dress! Actually it was about the third dress I tried on at David's Bridal. I LOVE it! It's perfect. Every dress I tried on after that we just kept going back to THE one. I didn't even finish trying on all of the ridiculous amounts of dresses we had picked off the rack. And my dress fit perfect! The only alteration I need done is a bustle. At the store, they said $35 and takes 3 weeks...plus I would have to go down there for an appointment and blah blah blah. I called around up here and found a lady that does it out of her house, she charges $8 and said it will take 5 minutes, and she'll do it while I wait! Uhm, YES PLEASE!! Score!!

Oh so many details!!

Okay, so this is sort of a marathon post! We have been planning constantly for almost two weeks now! And man have we made some extensive progress! Dress is bought, final alterations getting done this Friday (all I really needed done was the bustle). Tadd's tux was ordered this week, we bought shirts and ties for the boys, picked out my wedding band, Tadd's ring got here, we made bracelets for the bridesmaids, made my bracelet, invitations were printed yesterday and are in the process of being sent out, location officially set and reserved, flowers ordered, dinners planned, reception details decided...its been a pretty productive couple weeks!

Now for the details on all these things!

#1 Dress
Of course I'm not posting the pictures of my ACTUAL dress. That's cheating! I will, for your entertainment, however, post the pictures of all the dresses I DIDN'T choose! :) Some are just plain awful! But I will post them in the next post.

#2 Tadd's Tux
That I can give details on! I've seen it, and its not a secret. Black tux, very classic look, two buttons, deep lapels with a satin edging. Soft white tuxedo style shirt with the kind of collar that isn't really a collar, it just folds down at the front...you know what I mean? Hope so :) Yellow vest with darker goldish/yellow diamond print on it and a striped tie that matches. The boys shirts we bought match the yellow perfectly, and the ties are the same color as the darker gold colored diamonds on Tadd's vest.

#3 Wedding Band
It's perfect! Perfect ring, perfect wedding band...my life is pretty dang perfect! :) Its a chevron band which means it kind of comes into a 'V' at the front. It's a thin silver colored band, no diamonds or anything, just solid silver (or white gold I guess). It frames the pearl of my ring perfect! The look on Tadd's face when we tried it out was priceless. Pretty sure he was speechless :) (that's a good thing, right?)

#4 Bracelets for Bridesmaids
The bracelets for the bridesmaids are quite adorable! My friend (soon to be sister-in-law) Holly helped me make them. She's a jewelry genius! Seriously! Wait till you see MY bracelet she made. It was AMAZING! But anywho, the bridesmaids bracelets....they have all the colors from the wedding and are kind of chunky. Yellow glass beads, olive-y green crystal type beads, and wood beads, all mixed with pearls (of course). They are super cute!

#5 MY Bracelet
Holly is a genius like I said! We went to Hobby Lobby and found a bunch of fun beads, and although I liked them all, I could never have imagined something like this that she created. It has 3 different kinds of pearls. Some called "dental pearls" that sorta look like teeth, some small round pink pearls, and some bigger regular pearls. She mixed in some crystal beads and silver as well. The bracelet is three different strands, all hooked to the same clasp, then twisted together. Seriously AMAZING! Pictures just don't do it justice!

#6 Invitations
Tadd designed our invitations! (He's a graphic designer, DUH!) And he did an awesome job. I love them, and so does he. Getting them printed was a little dramatic for me, because there were issues and Tadd was working. I tried to figure out how to change it, but more things just kept getting messed up...by lunchtime I was ready to cry. So of course he saved the day! Fixed the file on his computer at work (a big no no) then on his afternoon break hurried to meet me at the store and get a proof done so we could get them going. They turned out perfect! They will be in the mail by the end of the week, I swear! :)

#7 Location OFFICIALLY Set
Tadd's family found us the most amazing location for the wedding! More than either of us could ever have dreamed of! It's called "The Morey Reception Center". It used to be a restaurant, so inside is really open and they have a kitchen so we don't have to worry about food preparations elsewhere. But the best part is it is RIGHT on the river, so we can have the wedding outside on the back patio and the view is AMAZING! Tadd's mom showed us pictures when she was here on Sunday for the marathon wedding planning session, and it was AWESOME!! I am SO excited!

#8 Flowers ordered (mostly) lol
We decided on silk flowers for my bouquet so we can keep it. The rest of the flowers for bridesmaids, centerpieces, etc. we wanted live flowers. Some sunflowers and gerbera daisies. Tadd's mom got all of them ordered yesterday. I have yet to go order my bouquet (it's been a busy week okay??) :)

#9 Dinner Plans/Reception
Our original plan was a very informal reception with tons of great food and lots of games. Like a big family party! Unfortunately, when you send out 200 invitations out, the logistics of that get a little messy. So instead, close family and friends are invited Friday night to basically the reception I wanted! :) lol The food we wanted, the games, and all that stuff! Just smaller scale. Then Saturday after the wedding we only have to worry about the reception...the real live reception! :)

So that is the catching up! I promise pictures to come ASAP! They are all taken, just haven't had a chance to upload them.

Details, Details, Details...

Okay, so to give everyone a general idea of the details, I will just ramble about the decisions we've made so far.

#1 COLORS

Sunflower yellow

Dark Olive-y Green (Tadd says "almost army green")
and no, this isn't exactly the color...I only have so many choices to choose from on here...

Chocolate Brown (a little darker than this)

#2 FLOWERS
Sunflowers & Gerbera daisies :)

Maybe not exactly like this, but this was the only picture they had with sunflowers in the bouquet!

#3 WEDDING PARTY
Tadd wants his 3 brothers as groomsmen: Brandon, Logan & Lex. The groomsmen are wearing black pants, yellow shirts with a goldish tie. (pictures to come)

My bridesmaids will be my older sister Dena (the maid of honor) and friends Jamie and Lauren. The bridesmaids will wear the darker color green (if we can find some stinkin dresses! So far not so much luck)

Flowergirls are wearing white dresses with colored sash and flower on it. Ring bearer is wearing black pants, white shirt and goldish tie like the big boys.

Mothers will wear brown (or really whatever the heck they want! I'm NOT picky!) and dads are wearing black suits.

Date & Location Set!

The date is officially chosen! After lots of discussion, no we are not gonna wait longer now that we decided to have the big wedding and all. We still wanna be married just as bad! haha SO, the official day is.....

drum roll......

OCTOBER 9, 2010!! (10-9-10) :)

As for the LOCATION....Okay, maybe saying "location set" was an exaggeration. The EXACT place is not finalized, but we do know we are getting married in Burley, Idaho. We have an idea for where, but until all the details are ironed out...the location is just officially Burley, ID.

We are nuts, we have barely a month to get this thing together! Good thing we have lots of people helping already. Thanks in advance for putting up with us!

We're ENGAGED!!!

Apparently this wasn't much of a surprise to anyone! The only big surprises were

#1 - We didn't just elope
#2 - We set the date for October 9th! (That meant only 34 days to plan a wedding, now 31!!!)

So, the story....Because we've already been asked about it a million times! :)

It happened on Friday (Sept. 3). We actually had decided the night before that we were going to "elope". Not really elope but get married just the two of us, no big fuss and no big stress. Then we'd have the big ta-do when we get sealed in a year. We even had a date picked - October 15th! We were both SO excited. Friday I was so excited I couldn't hold it in. I told everyone I talked to that day.

After being asked a million times, "What are you going to wear?" I had pretty much decided, even if it was just him and I, I wanted a princess dress....And it all went downhill from there! :) The thought of a dress turned into, well why get a dress if my family isn't even going to see it? and I might feel a little silly planning a whole big wedding after I've been married for a whole year! So, I slunk home from girls night (no the girls' night didn't help my girly fantasies) to fill Tadd in on the fact I'd been a big fat liar and that I was a good for nothing GIRL!

I dreaded the conversation the whole drive over there. I got there and I told him flat out that I'm a stupid girl and I'm sorry! He of course laughed and just asked what was up. I spilled my guts...I wanted a wedding, I wanted friends and family there...Of course he was understanding and said he was glad I told him now.

We talked about it a little bit, and of course, me being the big jerk I am, the last thing I tell him is, "And I don't really want to do 'rings for now' I only want to do rings once, and don't want to settle just so we can get married sooner. There's got to be a way to figure it out." (yes, I know I'm a jerk, like I said) He looked like I had gut punched him. Seriously! Big suckerpunch right to the gut! He recovered well with, "Well....We will figure something out. Do you want to go for a walk? Clear our heads a little?" I of course agreed. He went upstairs to grab his shoes and I immediately turned around backwards and buried my head in the couch.

I heard him come downstairs, and he came up behind me and laughed. I told him again that I was the world's biggest jerk and he insisted I wasn't. I reached around and gave me a hug from behind. I looked down and there it was, a white ring box! He opened it and said, "I know this isn't the ring you wanted. But consider it a promise ring. A promise that I will always love you and that all I care about in all of this is that it is YOU I am marrying. So, Resa, will you marry me?"

Emotional does not describe it. I felt like bawling but no tears came! I wheeled around and gave him a giant hug and said, "YES YES YES!!!" With the most ridiculous grin plastered across my face. And yes, I felt like the biggest TOOL! Such a butthead. The ring is beautiful. No it's not some fancy diamond engagement ring, but the more I see it on my hand the more I absolutely LOVE it and know it is PERFECT!

SOOO...Here's a picture of us right after (and yes, it is like almost midnight, and I've been crying since I'm a jerk...and yep, I look like CRAP!!)

We're ENGAGED!!! HOORAY!!

I really look awful, but I'm dang excited!! Here's some pictures of the ring.

So now we are in full on wedding planning mode!! We're down to 31 days people!! Stay tuned for updates on the wedding. I keep forgetting who I told what so I figure this way people can just check it out for themselves! Then I don't have to worry about repeating myself 90 times, but of course, feel free to ask me! I'm getting MARRIED! Of COURSE I love to talk about it!! :)