Cakes

I always thought that I'd have a big white wedding cake. But Anthony's not too crazy about cake in general and with his sister as our baker, we have so many more options.



I'm thinking a single or two-tiered cake to cut and for those who want cake. Maybe red velvet or something yummy with filling and buttercream frosting with fondant flowers.



I love these fondant peonies on the cover of Real Simple this year.



Since it will be Fall, apple pie would be lovely. And my parents can freeze enough rhubarb for plenty of pies too.


Image from A Backyard Wedding

And perhaps, I can talk her into a cheesecake, maybe even a pumpkin one.


And if I'm really nice and say pretty please I can get some pretty purple (and accent color to be determined) macaroons out of the deal.

Going for something like this

Except in purple. I found this wedding on Style Me Pretty where the bridesmaids wore completely different dresses, long and short, in similar colors.

See, it does look awesome. And so much less stressful than trying to please everyone's budget, shape and skin. I'm even going so far as to let them choose whatever shoe they want - color, style and heel height.

I made a little mock-up of some color combinations and ideas on polyvore:

Bridesmaids by julesmae featuring Dorothy Perkins jewelry

Bring Your Dancing Shoes

Photo from Altmix Photography

Anthony and I don't agree on a lot of things about planning the wedding. But the one thing we pretty much always agree on is the playlist.

In fact, it may be the thing that we are both most excited about. Every time I think about dancing to a fun song at the reception I just get so happy.

We've picked our first dance song - Lori McKenna's, "Witness to Your Life". I knew that I loved Anthony for real, when I put this song on a mix for him and he became as obsessed with it as I was.

I'm thinking "Daddy's Hands" by Holly Dunn for my dance with my dad. It's a good 80s country song that makes me think of my childhood. And one of my criteria was something we could two-step to and this definitely fits the bill.

Beyond that it will probably be lots of fun stuff that we like. Jimmy Eat World - Sweetness, Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger, Miranda Lambert - Kerosine, Needtobreathe, Kenny Chesney - Ticks, Dan Wilson - Free Life. And lots more that I just can't think of right now.

Should we put a song request line on our RSVP cards?

Mom! This is the wedding I was looking for

Photos via Brooklyn Bride
Aubergine and Lime, natural linen table runners and white pumpkins. Not so sure how much I like the lime, but I love everything else about this color scheme.

We may have a date

Reception venue is available.
Church is reserved.
Pastor is tentatively available.
Organist needs to be contacted.

Looks like St. Paul (for a brief moment I considered Bemidji), on September 26, 2009 is our date. Yay!

I'm thinking dark purple/aubergine/plum dresses, purple dahlias for me and another pop color (green or magenta) flower for the maids.

Photo above from Martha's Blog. If she can grow 'em, maybe I can too.




I could also be persuaded to do a pretty teal/steely blue dresses with everyone having plum colored flowers.



And white pumpkins on the tables. (See the little white pumpkins on the tables above?)




Ooo, maybe white or silver glittered pumpkins! Oh, my :)

Slowly Getting Things Done

I've started to have the problem that I wake up at 4:00 AM thinking about things that need to get done for the wedding. Call this person, call that person, call reception venues, visit reception venues, figure out a date, call the officiant, call the organist, pick a date, tell the church the date, pick colors, order a dress, find a reception venue, ask parents for money, and on and on.

So it feels good that we're going to check out our first reception venue tonight, Sweeney's Saloon. It hadn't occurred to me to look into them until Erica suggested it (thanks). I'm pretty excited, because it seems too good to be true: in St. Paul, cheap, and not ugly. They are one of my favorite bars in St. Paul and I'm sure everyone would have a great time there. And according to their party coordinator they are open the last two Saturdays of September. Only snag would be that they don't have much parking, mostly on the surrounding streets. However the parking would be free.

Anthony and I are going up North for Grandma Albrecht's Dumpling Sunday this weekend and so I'm taking the opportunity to dress shop with my mom and the maids up there. I don't think there will be any purchasing however, because I've been researching having a dress made via an ebay seller.

I've been grilling the seller with fabric questions, foundation questions, and image requests. I've also been searching for reviews of their shop on wedding forums. So far, it looks as though people have been happy customers and pleased with the fit, style and quality.
This is what I want.
Here's what they sent me.
They mentioned that this was for someone who was very tall, thus the added fabric. Otherwise, it's pretty close to the real $4000 thing but for only $600. The flounced lace at the bottom seems like it needs lining though.

And I still need to talk to Anthony's Aunt about making my dress - but she might not have enough time. We'll see.

Next week, we are meeting with a photographer. The same one who took pictures when I worked on Mary Olson's state senate campaign and currently works for the State House of Representatives. The price is right and I'm hoping he can do a nice photo journalistic style that we can edit into amazing photos.

Yay!

New Week, New Possibilities

So, on Friday I chatted with my Mom about all of the issues I was having below. Turns out, my brother has decided to postpone his wedding for probably about a year. Yay! Plans are back on for Kansas, Julie G!

She recommended paying off the credit cards and saving, which was my initial plan before all this engagement happened.

She also really pushed for a non-winter wedding. Mostly, keeping in mind older guests that would be attending from 4+ hours away. I explained that the issue was saving money to pay for the big day and avoiding the Legislative Session and 2010 Campaign season. Then, she offered to help us out in that department. This conversation combined with the news of my brother's postponed wedding has given me hope that we could get married this September or October! Time for a blog name change.

Now, I've got to call the Pastor again to check his availability. Then, we're on a new reception venue search. We've had an offer from a friend to brew us two kegs of beer for a wedding gift, so we need to find somewhere that will let us do that (by some miracle). Also, another friend offered to cater it for us. This was a slightly less realistic offer but good nonetheless. Anthony's sister is going to make our cake and his aunt has offered to make a dress for me. I'm loving that this is turning out to be a family-centered party and not a vendor-center event.

Anyone have a good idea about where to have the reception? Somewhere near my church (Snelling and Marshall) with free parking, and allows us to have our own alcohol and possibly a non-standard caterer. Somewhere that has dates open in September or October where we could have a dance party that isn't insanely expensive (glaring at Eagan Community Center). Ideas?

(Picture of a couple outside the Landmark Center in St. Paul)