Bride Blogger Nicole: Odds & Ends

With the holidays done, we are now in full wedding mode. I never thought we would get to the point where the wedding was four months away, but here we are! This week we have been tying up some loose ends and trying to get things organized to see what else we need to do.

We got the two limos booked through Luxury Limousine for before the wedding. We are getting a 10-passenger limo and a 14-passenger limo to pick us up from Embassy Suites and take us to the Capital for pictures. The pictures included are the limos we will have before the wedding. They will then take us from the Capital to the church. It will be so nice to not have to worry about who is going to drive and how many vehicles we need. This way also, none of our wedding party has to leave their vehicles at the church. They can leave them at Embassy Suites, where we have a block of rooms for the night. Luxury Limousine's great price made it possible for us to do this, for which I am so grateful!

We have also been talking with our photographer, Townsend Studio, about the timeline for our wedding day. We have another engagement session that is included in our wedding package that we need to get used with him. I really want to do the session when there is pretty snow on the ground, but we'll see if that happens or not--should have done it last year when there was an abundance of the white stuff!

I have had a couple of dress fittings in the past month. There was a seam underneath my dress, right at my knees, that was showing through and bothering me. The seamstress was so great! She lowered the slip that was causing the seam to show through, and now it looks perfect.

So right now, we are trying to get some things paid off and get organized for the big day. I know these next four months will fly by so I need to stay on top of everything. I think the next thing on our list is getting tuxes and getting registered--should be fun!
-Nicole

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Meet our Newest Bride Blogger!

We're excited to introduce Megan Wirth, a new bride blogger for NWD. Read on to learn about her love story with Ty...

Ty and I, believe it or not, met on Facebook five years ago. He was serving in Iraq and I came across his profile on a "Support the Troops" group. I sent him a quick message of support and our conversation continued until he came home four months later. We spent hours on Skype and finally met in person that October on his two week leave. He instantly felt like a best friend I had known for years. We spent every day together until he returned to Iraq to complete his tour.

Eight months later I was there to greet Ty when he got off the bus in uniform. Ty proposed September 26, 2010 at Pioneers Park. We have set the date for August 20, 2011 in Lincoln and we could not be happier! We have crossed off a lot on our "wedding to do" list but we have a lot of decisions left to make. I can't wait to share our wedding process with other brides! Cheers to fabulous Nebraska weddings!

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Bride Blogger Nicole: Transportation

One thing I'm having trouble coming up with is transportation before the ceremony. I am going to spend the night at Embassy Suites the night before the wedding. Then, my girls and I are going to get ready at Embassy the morning of the wedding.

Ryan is going to stay at our house, and probably have the guys all meet somewhere too. We are going to start out taking pictures at the Capital. There are beautiful floors and backdrops inside the Capital, which make for really gorgeous pictures.

The issue I'm having is, I don't know how everyone is going to get from Embassy or our house to the Capital and then to the church. Since we are having a limo bus for after the ceremony, our wedding party won't want to have their cars at the church.

I have thought about maybe calling our limo company, Luxury Limousine, to see what the cost would be to have two limos  -- one for the girls and one for the guys -- that can pick us up at our locations and take us to the Capital and then on to the church. We don't have much room to expand the budget, so I don't know if this is a realistic option or not, but I'll keep you all posted.

Otherwise, we will probably try to get larger vehicles rounded up and take volunteers for who is going to drive us. I do have two personal attendants so maybe they could also be our drivers! :)
-Nicole

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Bride Blogger Nicole: Merry Christmas!

I love the holidays! I always like to wait to do my holiday shopping when the stores are busy, and there is a lot of hustle and bustle. I still have a few items to pick up and I'm running out of time!

However, this time of year is extremely busy; and unfortunately, the wedding has been on the back burner for a couple of weeks. The planning has taken a backseat to many holiday activities. We have been busy decorating the house, shopping for gifts, and doing a little baking! We even went to the Nutcracker at the Leid Center this past Sunday.

Ryan and I are going to enjoy our last holiday season before becoming husband and wife! And, after the holiday season is over, we will pick right back up on the wedding planning.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

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Bride Blogger Nicole

Ryan and I have the most adorable puppy. He is a Shorkie, a mix between a Shih Tzu and a Yorkie, and his name is Brix. We got him in March, and since then he has been our world! We are slightly obsessed with him! :)

We had to decide whether or not he was going to be part of our wedding.

I thought he should be. Since he is such a big part of our lives, it only made sense to me to have him there on our big day.

Ryan, however, disagreed. He thought it would be more of a hassle than anything. Our ring bearers would have to guide him down the aisle; and neither one of them are very old, so that could be a disaster. Also, what if he went to the bathroom accidentally in the church, or worse yet, in the aisle? Then we would have to figure out where he would go after the ceremony, and who would take him there.

After Ryan brought up these points, it was pretty obvious to me that he should go to Petsmart and spend the night, where he will be taken care of and where he can play with his friends.

I am still a little disappointed, because I think he would look so cute in a little tux, but I know this will be way easier for everyone!
-Nicole

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Bride Blogger Morgan: Staying on Track

With Jon and I both full-time students, we are reaching the point in the semester where we are both extremely busy and are focusing most of our attention to finishing up classes. The biggest thing to keep in mind in situations like this is to continue to work through your to-do list even if it's at a slower rate.

We are working to start to finalize our guest list and plan to order our save the dates and invitations soon. We're also going back through our original budget and updating to be sure we are still on track. As soon as classes are done, we're going to pick back up and get a lot of the busy work done before classes start again.

Until next time,
Morgan

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Bride Blogger Nicole: Dress Doubts

Almost all of my bridesmaids have ordered their dresses. I wanted to have the girls order them by the end of November/early December, because I wasn't sure how long it would take them to come in. I wanted them to have plenty of time to get alterations done, if needed. I remembered how fast my dress came in, but I wasn't sure if it would be the same with their dresses. Well, the first bridesmaid ordered her dress a couple weeks ago and her dress has already arrived! Here's a photo of the dress (except it will be in dark purple).

When my first bridesmaid, Sara, went in to order her dress, I saw another wedding dress that caught my eye. :)

It was completely different than the dress that I already have. It was A-line and flowy, and had no beading or sparkle to it at all. It was strapless and there was a little rouching on top, very simple and pretty. I have been looking at the picture I have of me in my dress, and it was draping a little funny, so I've been having some doubts. I've also been wondering if I would rather have a more traditional dress. I knew the store had an exchange policy for equal amount of what my dress cost, so I tried it on.

I liked it a lot, but it didn't have any wow factor like my other dress does. Then, the sales associate that was helping me asked if my dress had been altered at all, and I said that it has been. She then said that my dress wouldn't be able to be exchanged. However, they said to make another appointment with alterations so they could make my dress perfect for me!

I am glad I couldn't exchange my dress. I think I would have regretted doing so, but it's hard not to look at other dresses and wonder if you would like them better, especially when I got my dress so far in advance of my wedding. But, my alterations appointment is Friday, so I think putting it on again will make me fall in love with it all over again and I'll be secure in my decision. At least I hope so! :)

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Bride Blogger Nicole: The Music

The music for our wedding is really important to both Ryan and I. At our church, St. Mark's United Methodist, there is a band called Creation that is amazing! They play at the contemporary service on Sunday's at 10:30 and Ryan and I always enjoy listening to them play. For the ceremony, we contacted the head of Creation, Tony Hillhouse, and he is getting together 2 other people and they are going to do our music. Here's a peek of one of their performances from YouTube.


For the attendant's walk down the aisle it was an easy choice for me. I have always loved Pachelbel's "Canon in D" and have always wanted that to play at my wedding. It's too fast for me to walk down the aisle to but it will be perfect for our groomsmen and bridesmaids.

I was having a hard time deciding what song to choose for me to walk down the aisle. I have never wanted to walk down the aisle to the traditional "Here Comes the Bride" song. I started listening to different songs on YouTube and I came across a song called "Bridal Cannon" and the first time I heard it I knew that was what I wanted. It's soft and romantic and really everything I wanted in a song!

For the unity candle song, again I wanted something more modern and not something I have heard at every wedding I've ever been to. Again on YouTube I found a song called "God Gave Me You" by Dave Barnes, and it really took my breath away. It made me cry and I just loved it! It couldn't have been more perfect for Ryan and I.

I think the music is so personal and touching and I am so glad we were able to find songs that really fit us and our relationship and will mean something to us as they are playing at our wedding!

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Bride Blogger Nicole: Happy Thanksgiving!

There are so many things I am thankful for as I am planning my wedding. My parents have been such a huge help, and have been very supportive of the decisions Ryan and I have made. It has been nice to have a stress-free planning process so far, and my parents have been a big part of that. Ryan's parents have also been a big help. I'm thankful to be marrying into such a great family!

Last but not least, Ryan has been such an involved groom and I am so thankful that he hasn't let everything fall onto my shoulders. Though at times I wish he wasn't quite so opinionated about the wedding, I'm very glad that he cares about our big day as well. The process of planning our wedding has been nothing but enjoyable--hopefully the next 6 months are the same! Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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Bride Blogger Morgan: Dealing with Controversy

This week I was faced with my first taste of wedding stress. On Wednesday I headed to show my final bridesmaid her dress before the deposits were due. When I walked in, they told me that a size 4 sample of my exact wedding dress came in. I was ecstatic since the original dress I tried on was too big for me. When I got into the dress and the representative zipped me up, it fit perfect. Sounds good thus far right?

1 month earlier......

I said yes to the dress and was so excited! When they sized me they thought I needed a 6, and although I told them I had been in a size 4 that fit perfect, they decided to go with the 6 anyway. When they checked to see if we could get the size changed on my dress, they found out it was too late and gave me two options:

1) Take the size 4 off the rack at full price.

or

2) Take the size 6 when it comes in at full price plus alterations to get it to fit correctly.

I was a bit frustrated that I had to decide on the spot what to do, and I was supposed to leave shortly for work. I ended up telling them to pull the size 4 and I would be there Saturday morning with my mom for us to look over the dress to make sure there wasn't too much wear on it already.

When I arrived, the representative that had been helping me the whole time was there (she wasn't working when I found out my dress was ordered in the wrong size). She was very comforting and presented one more option: Cancel my original order, and replace it with an order for the correct size. My savior! She then told me that the headpiece I had my eyes fixated on a few weeks earlier was 75% off starting that day! In the end, I guess everything happens for a reason. I have a dress currently being made in the correct size along with the headpiece I wanted (similar to the one pictured below)!

All in all, I learned a very valuable lesson--don't let the stress get to you too much. It will all work out in the end, and your wedding day will be exactly how you imagined it to be.

Until next time,
Morgan

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Bride Blogger Nicole

Ryan and I filled out the applications to get our passports this past week. It's a good feeling to have that done; now we just need to go get our pictures taken for them. We are still debating on when and where to go for our honeymoon. We are thinking next fall sometime; it surprised me when Ryan agreed to go during Husker football season, but I really think it will be the best time. We were thinking St. Lucia and now Ryan has brought up Turks and Caicos. Really anywhere with warm weather, beaches and umbrella drinks is fine with me!

We also got our first gifts this past week. I had some family in town for the Kansas game this past weekend, and since they live out of state, they won't make it to any of my showers so they were thoughtful enough to bring us gifts! We got a beautiful crystal 8x10 picture frame that will be perfect for one of our favorite pictures from our wedding day. We also got gorgeous crystal champagne flutes that we will use at the reception, as well as a cake serving set that is engraved with our names and wedding date.

Receiving that gift made me realize how fast the wedding is approaching! I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving already, and then before you know it Christmas will be here, and then after the first of the year I'm sure I'll start having showers, then the bachelorette party (I'm so looking forward to that special time with my closest friends) and then the big day!

I don't at all feel stressed about what we have left to do for the wedding. We have been very proactive about booking and having all of our bases covered. We have been able to pay off some things also; it will be nice to not have such a large chunk of change due right before the wedding. I am so lucky to have a fiancé that has helped me out so much with the process,  is organized and cares about the wedding as much as I do! It sure has helped a lot!

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Bride Blogger Morgan

We have booked musicians for the ceremony, and it is going to be beautiful! We ended up choosing the Summit String Quartet. Every time I listen to any of their music, my heart sinks-- I can just picture everything on the big day! We are narrowing down our selection of song choice, but aren't in a big rush as of now.

Our Save-the-Dates are designed; and they look fabulous--Shane and Sunny do such a good job! We are planning to order them soon and get busy writing addresses on them, so we can get them sent out. Invitations will be our next hurdle, and we plan to get busy on those as well to stay ahead of the game.

For flowers, we are contemplating an arrangement of Hydrangea and Calla lilies, with some other exotic/summer flower, such as Roses or Jatropha integerrima like in these photos. We are headed to the church tonight to show my parents around, figure out flower placements, decoration ideas, and such.

Until next time,

Morgan

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Bride Blogger Nicole: Invitations

From the beginning of planning our wedding, I have said that I didn't want to put a lot of our budget toward the invitations. I wanted them to be pretty and look nice, but didn't want to spend a lot of money on them.

I found a design I liked in a magazine and did some price shopping, and we ended up with a great price on our invitations, reception cards and RSVP cards! Since my wedding colors are different shades of purple, I'm so happy with how they look!

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Bride Blogger Morgan

Jon and I attended his cousin's wedding this weekend in Wisconsin and got a few good ideas. The more weddings we attend the better our ideas get. From Saturday, we are 9 months and counting until the wedding! It is flying by, but we are staying on top of our large to do list.

My first word of wisdom thus far is to either make a thorough to-do list, or buy a binder/organizer from a local bookstore. We left it up to the experts and bought a pre-made organizer with pockets, pointers, and lots of check lists. We are starting to narrow down flower girl and candle lighter dresses. Always look out for sales, they can be life savers!


Until next time,
Morgan

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Bride Blogger Nicole: Money-Saving Tips

This past summer, a friend of my mom's had a daughter that got married. Cindy, my mom's friend, called my mom a month or so ago, and asked if we would be interested in purchasing some leftover candles that they had from the wedding. Since we are using a large amount of votives at the reception, this was great for us! They had floater candles, which is what I'm going to have as some of my centerpieces, as well as some votives, and then they gave us the websites that they ordered them from so we can order the exact same ones if we need more.

Then, Cindy also mentioned that they have some branches that they got and spray painted silver and the coated in glitter. I really wanted to have some larger centerpieces at the reception, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a large floral arrangement, because that can get pretty expensive. She brought the branches to me and my mom and they look great! We are going to spruce them up and add some color by putting either purple marbles or flower petals in the bottom of the vase. Then on every table we'll have a good amount of flower petals around the centerpieces. I'm so excited that I get to have a larger centerpiece now without spending a lot! (See photos from The Knot below.)

I highly suggest mentioning to anyone getting married before you that you are willing to buy some things from them if they have anything left over from their big day.(Of course, it has to work with your colors and your idea for your reception.) Most of the time, they want it taken off their hands, and if it can save you a few bucks it's a win-win!

Another way to save on candles and other items is to look after the holiday season. Everything goes on sale then, and you can find great items and not pay full price for them. Weddings can get expensive, so it's really nice when you can save a couple bucks!

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Meet Morgan, our newest bride blogger!

A little bit about us: Jonathan and I have been dating since 8th grade. We went to separate schools throughout high school, and have thoroughly enjoyed living in the same city for college. We are both current students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln pursuing a Business degree. Jon proposed this summer in front of a castle while we were in Germany visiting Steve, a foreign exchange student that lived with Jon and his family during our Junior year in high school. It was so beautiful! (see photos below).

Wedding Planning has been exciting thus far! We have got the major vendors booked for August 6, 2011 including: Church (Messiah Lutheran in Lincoln), Reception Hall (Grand Manse), Caterer (HyVee), Bakery (A lady from Hampton - Jon's hometown- is doing our cake), Photography (Shane and Sunny). Our next step is to book a DJ, musicians for the ceremony, and florist which we have contacted already.

Last weekend I found my dress at J'Maries! Megan, the representative, was VERY helpful--she really connected with what I was looking for and helped me find the dress of my dreams! Unfortunately, I can't post a picture or Jon might see it. :) All I can say is that it is beautiful and captures my personality perfectly.

We also picked out bridesmaid dresses together (see photo below -- the dress is that color, but the belt/bow will be black not navy) as well as tuxedos for Jon, his groomsmen, the dads, ushers and ring bearers. We had a successful weekend to say the least!

Our colors are violet purple and apple green. Jon and I have been experimenting with centerpieces, and are planning to incorporate apples in them. See pictures below of the different ideas we are playing around with, and feel free to let us know any thoughts/ideas!

Until next time,

Morgan

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Bride Blogger Nicole

Deciding what to provide for alcohol at our wedding reception has been a little tough. We always have known that we would like to provide free beer for our guests at the reception, but deciding what else to provide has been tricky. I wanted to do something fun and different, but couldn't decide what exactly.

Originally, my future father-in-law wanted to serve whiskey shots at the door. :) He is Polish, so maybe it's a Polish tradition; I'm not sure? However, we decided that maybe whiskey shots weren't the best choice and thought we could come up with a signature drink, something simple that we could match to our wedding colors.

So I went online and looked for recipes for purple drinks. I found one that was vodka, blueberry juice, and cranberry juice. That sounded pretty good to me, so I went to the store and got the ingredients and Ryan and I tried it one night.

It was good, but it was a little thick, so we decided to add some 7UP for a little fizz, and that was much better. The color wasn't exactly purple, but it was close enough, so we decided we would serve that at the door instead of the whiskey shots.

Then we had a meeting with Rick at the Grand Manse to see what our options were as far as making the drink. It turned out that we could bring in the juices; they would provide the vodka and 7UP and we would pay for however many drinks they made up. Then he told us that not many people drink the signature drink at weddings. So if we had them make up 150 drinks and only 5 people drank it, we would have wasted a lot of money.

So, Rick's suggestion was to just do the simple beer and wine, and then maybe hand out some drink tickets if we wanted to give some to our wedding party, or whoever. That's what we decided to go with. I really would like to have something fun and different, but I don't want to spend money on it if it's not going to get used. Plus, it's much simpler to have the Grand Manse take care of getting the alcohol, instead of our having to make sure we get enough juice, and so forth. I'm glad Rick was honest with us and told us that it would be a waste of money to do the signature drink, and that it would be a better value for us to just do the beer and wine.

-Nicole

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Bride Blogger Nicole: The Waiting Game

Well, this coming Monday is the one year anniversary of our engagement. Looking back at this past year, we have gotten so much done, and sometimes I feel like it has gone fast and other times I feel like the wedding will never get here! I am so anxious for the day to get here, to wear my dress, spend the day with our family and friends, and to finally be Mrs. Ryan Beck! I'm sure the rest of 2010 will go by super fast, because the holidays always do, but it's January, February, and March I'm worried about. Those first few months of the year always take forever. I'll have to find a new hobby for those months!

Even though waiting for the wedding to get here is very hard for me, I am glad we have had a long engagement. It has given us plenty of time to make decisions on what we want, and given us enough time to change our minds on some things if we needed to. One of the best things about it is that we have plenty of time to pay off some of our vendors instead of having to pay everyone in the last month before the wedding. It also gives me plenty of time to be organized.

The nice thing about planning your wedding is that it's all about you! If you don't want to have a big, fancy wedding, you don't have to. If you want to serve hamburgers, go ahead. It's your day, and making it yours is what makes it fun and enjoyable for you and your guests! Happy planning brides! :)

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Bride Blogger Amanda: The Big Day, Continued

After the ceremony, the best and most memorable part was opening the doors to leave the church and being greeted with the most amazing blue skies and warm sun! And tons and tons of bubbles, floating all the way to the top of the church’s steeple! I had never seen anything like it. It’s like the weather cleared up just for us, and it managed to turn out to be quite the perfect day weather-wise.

The reception was nothing short of fantastic. The food was delicious, and the company was treasured. The cake was fabulous as well. The DJ really kept our dance moving and people out on the dance floor. We had a smaller crowd, but that made it much easier to make sure we saw and chatted with everyone. The reception allowed John and I to relax and have fun. It was quite a lovely event, if I do say so myself.

Our photographers at C & J Photography took some wonderful photos and posted a blog shortly after our wedding to showcase our day. I absolutely cannot wait to see more! All the photos posted here are courtesy of C & J Photography.

Overall, I cannot think of one thing I would do differently. For the most part, everything went exactly as John and I had planned, hoped and imagined. Those things that didn’t go exactly as planned were too small to worry about or I didn’t even notice. We truly enjoyed every moment of our big day, and we were honored to share such an important event with all our friends and family.

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Bride Blogger Amanda: The Big Day!

When I woke up the morning of my wedding and saw that it was pouring rain, I’ll admit I was a little disappointed, but I wasn’t too worried. I was just excited to get this show on the road that had been 16 months in the making! And I kept my fingers crossed that the weather would clear up.

Photo by C & J Photography

No such luck. I wasn’t going to let it get me down, though! John, my soon-to-be-husband, was already on it, heading to the store to pick up some fun umbrellas for the wedding party to use in pictures and to and from the ceremony and reception sites. He found these adorable umbrellas that said “love” on them, and we knew they’d be perfect if we needed them.

I had such a great time getting ready with my bridesmaids, and I could not have asked for a better personal attendant. All these ladies helped calm my nerves, helped me look my best and helped me kick off my celebration in the best way possible – champagne and Frank Sinatra!

It was still raining when we headed to the church, but the fabulous hotel shuttle driver along with my family helped make sure my dress and I stayed picture ready! From there, it was a blur. Pictures. Flowers (which turned out amazing!). Anticipation. Music. Vows. Rings. Unity candle (which we couldn’t get lit, until John’s aunt came to the rescue!). And then: Mr. and Mrs. John and Amanda Sullivan.

Everything was simply beautiful from the flowers to the music. We made sure to add several personal touches – for instance, John and I chose some untraditional wedding music instead of playing the same old music typically heard at weddings. I walked down the aisle to “Con Te Partiro” – an amazing Italian tune made famous by Andrea Bocelli. Actually, John and I walked down most of the aisle together, which was another way we made our ceremony our own. My brother took me halfway, and then I met John and we walked the rest of the way together. I’m so glad we decided to do the processional that way. It truly was our wedding, and I’ll never forget it.

Check back tomorrow to read about the reception!

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