Ahhh it is December?!?!?

I had a rough realization today....IT IS DECEMBER!!!!! We are getting married next month!!! AHHHHHHHH I have not been to the gym in over two months, needless to say I am still the same size and was hoping to drop around 10-15lbs. Crazy month here we come! Also there are so many projects that need to be finished, things that need to be ordered...and probably a ton more things I am forgetting!! I am attempting a list:

1. All flowers

Thanksgiving at our house....

Sure why not? We just moved in and havent finished unpacking, but I would love too! lol! I think I may be crazy but I am really excited!! Thanksgiving at our new house with our combined families for the first time!!

Sad and Happy!!

We get to move in!!!!!! But that means grandma and pa are gone to OR. :( I will post before pics here soon...they are slightly scary...and I am thinking "what have we gotten ourselves into???"

Living with the FIL

I am so very fortunate that my future in laws ROCK! Since we did not expect my place to sell so quickly we had not set up to close until mid November on our house...to give us time to sell...lol! Anyway, Warren's parents graciously have let us stay with them until we can move into our house, which will still be occupied for about two weeks after we close;? Oh well...it is comfortable and I do not have to cook! It is like a mini vacation...kind of nice:) However, our living space is less than desirable due to trying to piling all of our stuff into their basement where our bedroom is...

Mother of the bride dress

My mom works on the north slope oil fields. She works a four and two schedule. For all who are not familiar with this common slang of oil field schedule...this means she works four weeks on and then has two weeks off. They have schedules like this since you have to fly in and out of the North Slope. So while she was home we went shopping for her dress...she has lost a lot of weight and is looking amazing!!! Here is her dress...I will post pictures of her at our first fitting:)

ahhh selling

OK so I went over all the offers and one was over full price. So I took accepted that one. Well, everything was going great! The inspection had come back and there was NOTHING wrong. My agent said it was the cleanest inspection she had EVER seen. Not one thing mentioned! A day later my buyer backs out?!?! What? He said he wasn't comfortable with the crime rate in the area...uh you probably should have checked that prior to going into contact and paying for an inspection? Idiot!

Luckily the other couple with the full price offer had not found anything and was still very interested! So we let them know our other buyer fell through and gave them the chance to place another offer. They did plus had lower our input of closing cost. woo hoo! Even better! Also I have to have it said that we listed my place way above what we should have because we were expecting to have to bargain the price back and forth...I NEVER EXPECTED ANYONE TO OFFER A FULL PRICE! I bough the place about 10k under the appraised price at that time. I have put about 5k into the place, however considering the comps for the area we are sitting on about 15k of equity. Yet, Warren thought my upgrades made it the best property in the area and insisted we list it above the recommended price by our agent, So we did...So we are very very excited to be getting A LOT of extra $$ out of the condo that can be used for the wedding! YAY! OK back on track, so everything is going great and the appraiser pulled comp from other areas in relatively close proximity due to mine being the nicest he had ever seen in the area:) Now we are due to close on/or before the 30th of this month!! Woo Hoo huge house here we come!!! oh yeah and then we can get back to wedding stuff since all of our stuff is packed right now!

We have three offers!!!!

It has only been four days since the property was officially placed on the market...and tomorrow I get to go over three offers! Two are full price!!!

To sell or not to sell...

So we received a phone call from Warren's parents asking us if we may be interested in purchasing Warren's grandparents home. His grandparents decided they wanted to move prior to this years snow fall (well any major snow fall since we have already had some snow:(...we are in Alaska) After discussing our options and the fact that we had just decided to wait to purchase a home until after the wedding. We decided that the deal we are getting far surpasses any "complications" this could cause with the wedding. A wedding is just one day...a great house can last forever.

The house is in a great neighborhood. Has a large lot for int he city (8200 sq. feet to be exact) and the living sq. footage is far more than we ever expected to get with our first home (2600 sq. foot to be exact) However, it is very outdated. Warrens grandparents have lived there since it was built in 1964 and in my opinion haven't changed much of anything;) OK I may be exaggerating but it is REALLY outdated!

So what do we do with my condo? We had previously discussed renting because the area of town I purchased in a few years ago is finally being more developed and I think it will eventually raise the value of the condo. However, at this time it is not considered the best neighborhood. I purchased as a full time college student only working part time...so my options and budget were very limited, but this condo has worked great for me! So after looking at our finances and also considering we had just begun remolding certain areas of the condo (since we were going to stay at least a year or so) We would have to EXTREMELY speed up the remodel and then rush to sell. I was concerned with the market the way it is that we would not be able to sell and come out ahead. So we met with a agent to discuss our options and to see if we should sell or rent the unit.

The agent assured us that the property would sell but that it may be 30-60 days due to the market. Also during this time we had gone to be pre-approved for the house. Our mortgage consultant said if we sold we would be able to put less down. So with all of the reason to sell we said OK...but with he permanent fund being released this week we wanted to get it on the market now!

So the remolded was rushed to finish...luckily we had just finished the master bedroom and painting the living room, but the bath and spare room needed paint and little fixes from personalization we had done. But with lots of family help we did and got it on the market in less than a week. Above are some photos from the realtor.

I decided crazy.....

I found my TTD dress!! I won it off ebay and got it in less than a week!!! Love it and it is very similar to my actual dress! Yeah!!!

DIY Dress...or am I crazy??

So in my search to find a TTD dress I stumbles onto the following blog:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=245247.0

and followed up with the instruction blog:

http://rowena.typepad.com/rostitchery/infinity-dress.html

So I think I could do it with the help of my friend who has some sewing experience, I have none! When I told Warren last night that I was thinking on making my own dress he laughed and said just spend the $150 on the dress you found. I asked if he thought I could do it and his reply was, "I am sure you would make something that could slightly resemble a dress, but a dress that you would LOVE...NEVER!" and then he chuckled and said, "you make a dress?!? You must have lost your mind."

Here is my dilemma...I have been challenge! He thinks I can't do it and that makes me want to do it even more! Also I think this is an awesome idea and if the long version comes out great then I could make a shorter version in a fun color and have a multitude of dresses and only have to bring two garments on the trip! I think it is a great idea! So I am going to attempted a DIY TTD...Maybe I have lost my mind?!?!

Disclaimer:

I figured since I am now using this like my bio I should place the normal Knottie disclaimer: If I used any of your pictures and/or ideas please le tme know I and I will properly credit you!

Flowers

So I finished my bouqet and I love how it came out!!

Here was my inspiration from Angels Accent. I would have loved to order from them, however they are not taking any orders prior to Feb. 2009:( I only want white and green flowers so I changes the variety of orchid and did not want the lilly's.

Here is what I ended with and I love it!

I ended up using cabbage rose, orchids, peony, and hydrangeas.

The bridesmaids will be Just orchids and peony's. The flower girls will have pomades made of Hydrangeas, cabbage rose, and orchids. I will post pic's once they are done:)

Anchorage Reception

We are going for a Mexican Fiesta...Bright colors, fun, and laid back!The cocktail hour will include chips, salsa, dips, margaritas, sangria, and tequila sunrise.

We will enter with a mariachi band and they will play through dinner. Dinner will be a taco/burrito bar and then the full bar will open.

After dinner we will have our first dance to a romanic marichi song. The the DJ will get the party started:)

This is the cake we are having but we will add bright colored flowers to it like the second picture...

Wow...where did the time go??

This summer has been super busy! I have found that I suck at blogging. However I am going to try harder!

This summer FI and I have painted two houses for extra wedding money. At first I thought what the heck do I want to paint a house for afte rmy regular job...But after painting the first in two nights and one day and getting the $3000.00 paycheck...all was well in my book. Since I now look at money in terms of what it can cover for the wedding that was a nice chunk. It also came right in time to put all of our deposits down. What can I say through all my complaining it was worth it!

We have only made it camping twice. Which is very sad considering we live in Alaska and do not have much time to enjoy warm weather:( But our last camping trip was our annual dip netting trip and we caught over 100 fish one day. Whew but the aftermath of cleaning, cutting, smoking, and canning...I can not fully explain unless you have ever tried to process 100 fish:( not fun! BUt it will be worth it over the next year considering the cost of Alaskan salmon.

Anchorage seating chart...well at least the layout

Odd layout I know...but I am odd so it fits:)

THE dress

Must imagine dress with tan skin! The wedding will be in Mexico so I should have a good tan going on instead of the pasty white color.

Here it is with my hair trail

And some other hair trial photos:

(I think the poof will have to be a little less the day of)

Mood board for Mexico

This is what we are going for in Mexico:

What to wear what to wear?? -Bridal Party

This is the dress the bridesmaids are wearing. Cute, simple, comfortable, and affordable! The colors will be Teal and Lake Blue with a brown sash and brown flip flops. I am making all the jewelry with brown fresh water pearls.

Groomsmen will wear Polo Shirts with khaki cargo shorts. It will be one of these blue colors.

Mexico Wedding Planners....AHHHHHHHHHH

Ok, to this date I have tried to work with four different wedding planners. The last one was an event planner for the resort we will be staying at. She was great. They had wonderful prices and she would answer your questions in a timely manner. THEN SHE GOT A PROMOTION! :( I am happy for her cause she was really great at her job and she deserves it….but can I throw a little selfish fit and say….”HEY WHAT ABOUT MY WEDDING???” Ok I am done. So they replaced her with a new person.

This person doesn’t seem to know that it is really not appropriate to take a month to answer a simple yes or no question. I simply asked if there resort has a sound system for the beach or if I would need to find one to rent? I really think that this type of question should be able to get an answer within a week? Maybe I am too impatient, but seriously a month?!? What happens when I ask her the cake flavor choices? Will that take two or three months? Wow, I though I was ahead of the game since I started planning over a year in advanced, but I guess not for her. Ahhhhhhhhh!!! I am just a little frustrated right now. Plus I keep having nightmares that we get to Mexico and they are like “What wedding?!?” Ok enough venting for now.

Tesoro Resort

We have decided on Tesoro Resort for the wedding!!!

We will walk down the stairs and out toward the ocean for the ceremony!!! I love it and am so excited!!!

Invitations- DIY or purchase? That is the question??

Well after completing our DIY save-the -dates, that happen to come out fantastic(will post pictures soon), we decided that it may be cost effective to purchase inviations. So I began my search for a great deal.

Since this blog just began you have no idea what kind of a bargin hunter I am. Some may call me cheap, but as anyone in my shoes...I call my self thrifty.

Ok, back to invitations. A co-worker who is getting married this summer pointed me in the direction of http://www.costco.com/ for wedding invitations. I thought to myself..."Costco sells wedding invitations??? How ghetto!" Well, being a bargin hunter I still checked it out and it just so happens it is not really Costco that sells them. It must be some sort of partner deal where if you log onto the website on http://www.einvite.com/ via the Costco website you save a TON of money. Not only are they very well priced they have an awsome collection! Needless to say more, when I got home that night Warren and I logged on via Costco.com and found the perfect invite for us. That night I ordered a sample and it showed up earlier than expected and looked great! We added a peacock feather to the front to personalize it just a little....Voila the perfect invite at an unbelieveable price...we could not have made them at this price.

So we made a spreadsheet with the guest list for the Anchorage reception and the Mexico Ceremony and needed about 50 invites. We ordered 75 to be safe. lol and at times I think I am too prepared as we ordered our invitations 4/10/08 for our 1/20/09 wedding. Oh well, they were on sale and it is one more thing that is finished and didn't take alot of time!

D.I.Y Save the dates

I was really Happy with how well they came out! Warren designed the front and the magnet. With some basic assembeling they were ready!! Super easy D.I.Y project!

Inspiration: Peacock feathers

I wanted something unusal for the decor and color scheme. So I picked peacock feathers for the inspiation of everything for a Mexico ceremony and dinner party.

I ordered a ton of feather from Matoska Trading Company http://www.matoska.com/cgibin/gencat.cgi?AC=gencat&PC=11&ST=0&S1=92&S2=NULL&RS=2&NO=0, if anyone is looking for feathers they are the best price and they ship fast! I have ordered three shipments from them with wonderful results each time!

Location, Location, Location

After much debating...we selected Ixtapa, Mexico for our destination Wedding. Look at that sunset!

The Proposal and Ring:)

Warren completely shocked me with the proposal on October 13, 2007! We had dinner reservations set up for that night and then we were going to meet his parents at his house to play cards. But around 4:30pm I was starving! I told Warren I was hungry and didn't want to wait until 6:30pm when our reservation was. He said ok and it just so happened that we were driving by the restaurant (our favorite) and we had our first date at. Warren asked if I wanted to stop there and cancel our reservations. I agreed and we sat at the same booth from our first date. He kept saying really sweet things about our year together. Warren is normally really sweet and says things like this all the time so I didn't think anything of it. When we left, Warren said he had one more place to go so I laid back in the front seat and took a quick nap since we would be up late. When he woke me up we were at the park we had gone to on our first date. I was surprised and he just said that we had some time before meeting his parents. So we walked to the point where you can see planes taking off over the inlet. We were talking about an upcoming trip we had when Warren bent down, so I turned to see what he was doing and he was tying his shoe...so I turned back around and continued to talk. He was down there for a while when I turned around and said "do you need some help?" Yet, I was stopped mid sentence because he was on one knee with the ring! I was shocked! Honestly I do not remember one word he said. All I remember was hugging him. He finally said so will you? I hadn't answered or looked at the ring!

This ring was all him. He had it custom built with the center stone so he could have a radiant cut diamond!! I love love love it!

Intro

So I may just be a bride maniac and a copy cat, but I just do not care;) I loved the idea of having an open dialoge through the rest of my wedding planning. Will anyone read it? Probly not, but I will have something I can save and look back on all the little things that bugged me, pissed me off, or just made me feel on top of the world! However, should anyone attempt to read my blog I must place this disclaimer...please see below

**** DISCLAIMER**** I suck at puntuation! I suck at spelling! I suck at anything that has to do with grammer! So should your eyes glance across my blog and notice numerous mistakes...look the other way because I know and it sucks to read if you are a grammer perfectionist...but sorry.

So if you are still reading...WOW thank you! I hope you enjoy and if not Oh well, this is a personal thing.

About us

Pictures from the Christmas Party...the last one was later in the evening...can you tell?? lol

Warren and I met while I was working at the House of Harley. However, we didn't start dating until the following winter shortly before Christmas. I invited him to my company Christmas party for our third date and this is where we would actually pick our wedding date. Wait, we are not crazy! We had both had a couple of cocktails (ok more than a couple!) and started to discuss when the perfect wedding day would be. I do not remember the full conversation; however we ended with January 20. The funny part was we had valid reasons for the date, we live in Alaska and both had always wanted a beach wedding so it would be perfect timing for a break from winter. It wasn't during any major holidays and would be more of an off season since schools would be in session. Well, it would be a while before we would know that that conversation would set the date for OUR wedding.