Wedding Planning: The Website

So, now that I have officially been down to business, making plans and calling people and confirming things, I have updated our wedding website to a useable status. There were a few pages on there that I was waiting to work on because I needed more info. There are still a few things that need to be finished... but that will come with time. So family and close friends, check it out! Let me know what you think! I haven't given this to ANYONE yet, not even my parents, because I wasn't ready yet. But I'm ready now. Oh, and the address will also be included with the formal invitations, so those who are invited can check out all the details!

Planning: Photography!

Funny how my blog is called Keeping Up, and yet I can't even keep up with my own life. But as part of my life right now, I will briefly discuss my last wedding planning accomplishment: photography. For anyone who knows me well, or who has been to my house at any point in the last ten years, I love pictures. (It doesn't matter which house, as long as it is the space I have the authority to decorate). I knew that when I did get married someday, that the pictures would be really important because I would probably try to hang them everywhere in my house.

Sooooo, picking my wedding photographer would be an important choice. And I have made my decision final. Ben Becker. I first heard of Ben when the boys were talking about him every once in a while, but I finally got familiar with his work about a year ago. Dave's good friend Adam has a twin sister, Lin. Lin married Adam's best friend from high school, Ben. Adam got married last summer, and Ben was his best man. Since Dave was a groomsman too, we got to spend lots of time with Ben and Lin during the week-long celebration of Adam and Jamie's wedding.

Ben is a super creative, dedicated photographer. I'm really excited for him (and Lin) to be at our wedding and capture the most amazing moments. Even the ones that Dave and I might miss. And I want us to look like a rockstar (slash) couture model.

Here's his website. Check him out!

Planning, Planning: flowers

I realized the other day that I have gotten into the habit of thinking about wedding planning CONSTANTLY. I find inspiration everywhere, as I do with any creative project I'm working on. So it has become habit to go looking for inspiration when I'm not busy with work or Dave. I got so inside my head this afternoon on the way back from having lunch with Dave downtown that I tried to drive back to our old house in town (which is across town). And I had even said to Dave as we were finishing that I will be glad when I won't have to worry about the wedding anymore, and just enjoy being married to him... haha. But anyway...

My dress is in the making. They will be shipping it June 23rd to the shop I bought it from. I went last weekend while in town and picked out my sash color (which is a brilliant peacock blue).

I have been shopping around for flowers, DJs and Dave's ring the last few weeks. I think this sounds kind of crazy, but I might go with mail-ordered flowers. I know. Crazy right? I read in one of my many bridal magazines that there are wholesale flowers available online for cheap. So I went and checked it out. I had met with a florist about a month ago to get a quote, and it was much more than what I was expecting. This wholesale flower thing doesn't seem so bad. They come in sturdy boxes all arranged and ready to go. The only thing is, I will only have a general idea of what they will look like until they get here... but I guess it is the same as trusting design to a florist, right? I'm not that much of a flower snob to be super worried about their exact appearance. They will be flowers, bright colored ones, that smell nice. That is all I want for our flowers and our wedding. I'm getting to the point where little things like that don't stress me so much...

or maybe I'm just loosing it... haha.

Oh well. I e-mailed the online company, growersbox.com (the collection I like is called the Bright Collection and the picture above is an example of the bridal bouquet), to ask them a few questions, so hopefully we will get good answers. I think it will go well... I just have one of those good feelings. I feel like I can trust my gut feelings on something like this, especially if it means paying only half as much as using a local florist. :)

They also have boxes of just flowers and greenery that is cheap, allowing me to arrange my centerpieces in the way that I want. I would rather pay less and work a little harder myself (or put my maids to work ;)) than pay an extra $400

Above is what I am thinking for centerpieces. I will probably use different flowers than those above, but I love the idea, and they would be easy to put together the morning of the wedding.

Something I have looked up today, regarding our mini-moon, is where we will be staying the weekend after the wedding. Our first choice is McMenamins Edgefield, but they might already be booked that weekend (I'm not 100% sure yet, I need to call). Our second choice is McMenamins' newest hotel, the Crystal Hotel, which is in downtown Portland. It would be awesome if we could do that too, all the best coffee is right within walking distance ;) (*cough*cough* Stumptown) We have yet to book our room, so we shall see!

Honeymoon...?

So, shortly after setting the date for our wedding, Dave decided that it was time to become a full-time student again. We soon realized that class for OSU starts the Monday after our wedding, which is a Friday. So we decided that we would probably spend the weekend somewhere nearby with our cell phones turned off, then go on a real honeymoon during winter break. Our roommate, Chris, recently showed me this video, and this is one of my votes for our honeymoon! No joke, as soon as I finished the video the first time, I told Dave that was where I wanted to go (more likely though, we will probably go somewhere warm).

It's the Volkswagen factory in Germany and it is something out of the future (those damn Germans and their seamless engineering) But it's really cool and I would still love to go there someday...

Coffee Nerdery: A favorite

One of my favorite videos ever. I'm a total coffee nerd, I know, but that machine is a crown jewel! ugh! I want it!

Cappuccino, Intelligentsia from The D4D on Vimeo.

However... I can DO that. :) All day, every day!

Matthew and Me

Ah how time flies by, and how the blog gets ignored. I should have made it my New Years' resolution to blog more... maybe I did and I forgot to write it down with the others. Oh well... my life marches on (but it feels more like running sometimes).

Things are going well. Shortly after New Years, I went home for the weekend to visit my Daddy for his birthday. It was low key. We went to our favorite restaurant in town, Buon Appitito (it is TO DIE FOR italiano), and did lots of laying around the house watching Law & Order like my Dad loves to do.

The weekend before that, Sarah and I took on the Portland Bridal Show, to get good ideas and meet some vendors for the wedding. There were SO many WOMEN there. Brides, bridesmaids, moms, aunts, grandmas, ugh. I work with 5 other women (even though I love them so, they are enough woman for me) so this was almost too much for me. Sarah did a great job of asking questions, grilling them on what they do, what they can do for our wedding, and asking for sample slices of cake. At one point, she walked away from me, to throw away a napkin from a previous sample slice, and came back with a whole cupcake! I have no idea how she pulled that off. But then she proceeded to carry the cupcake around for the next 30 minutes or so, until we sat down to watch the fashion show. She later told me she was using it as protection, threatening the bridezillas (in her mind, not out loud, of course) with the pink and white frosting on top. Haha. She didn't like getting bumped into so much. It was fun though! We made some good connections, and I even made an appointment at a bridal salon!

And quicker than you can say "bridal couture", my appointment day had arrived. The boutique is called Anna's Bridal, in Lake Oswego. They carry a lot of the brands that I had been admiring in the magazines I have bought over the past few months. Of course, going in, I had no intention of buying, but just getting a good idea of what I might like. I asked Sarah and Meghan, another bridesmaid, and Meghan's mom, Jody (who is like a mom to me, she has known me since I was little) to come along. We got there a few minutes early, and so they ushered me into the office to fill out an info card while I waited for the consultant to be ready for me. As we waited, a tall, slender, tan, model-esque physique strode in and sat down behind the desk. He busied himself there for a few minutes while Sarah described her excitement to me, to help calm my nerves. He looked up and asked "Who's the lucky bride?!" I rose my hand in reply. He began to ask me a bunch of questions about our wedding: where, when, outside/inside, what type of dress I had my eye on. He then filled me in on the trunk show happening there that day, for the Matthew Christopher Bridal Couture line. He then informed me that he was THE Matthew Christopher. IN THE FLESH! Standing before me in all couture glory. He was totally flattered when I told him that I was familiar with his work. He stood right up and said "I have a few dresses you might like. Come with me." He picked out a dress called Peggy Sue first. I about passed out when he showed it to me. It was PERFECT. But one isn't enought. He picked out a few more for me, and sent me on my way with the consultant to the dressing room. Peggy Sue was the first dress I tried on. I then tried on about 10-15 more, but each time it reminded me how much I loved Peggy Sue. I put it back on at the end, and realized that it was the one when Sarah burst into tears. Matthew measured me, and helped me get a good vision of the finished product (were making a few small changes, such as making the neckline more of a sweetheart). He was SO much fun to be around. It is AWESOME that he goes around to bridal shops for trunk shows and helps out. At the end, he asked me if I had had fun, and I told him yes. It was a bit of a rush, and it went by so quickly. But getting a custom made couture wedding gown, picked out for me by the man who designed the dress, it could not have been more perfect. Anyway, check his 2011 line out, it is divine :) www.matthewchristopher.com

And a fun little fact, he is the male model in EVERY advertisement for his line. (but the mustache is fake... haha) I think that is so awesome!

All other wedding things are moving along! I'm getting really excited! It's going to be a BLAST!

Christmas and New Years

In a violent blur, both Christmas and New Years have come and gone. But not without lots of ups and downs. For Christmas my Dad, Jackie, and Nana came up and we all stayed at my Aunt Candy's house. To be honest (and Candy, if you are reading this... this is a huge compliment to you, your home, your husband and your dogs), it opened my eyes to something brilliant.

When I was growing up, we leaved near Aunt Candy and her family, but in my memory we didn't spend a whole bunch of time with them. Then we moved away to California. Since being back in Oregon, I haven't spent time there still. But after Christmas, after being away from my family, after missing them so much during this exciting and important period of my life, I REALLY want to spend more time with my aunt and her family and her house and her dogs. (Here come the tears). Anyway, back to Christmas... we opened presents on Christmas eve, and stayed up late (which is huge for me). On Christmas day we went over to Dave's parents' house and spent the day there with Donna, Kent, Annie, Abby, and Paul. It was great fun! After eating way to much and being much too tired, we went back to Aunt Candy's. It was awesome being able to see both families in one go, and spend time with everyone. But boy did it wear me out (and stress me out...) haha.

After Christmas, Dad and Nana drove home, and so did we with Jackie in tow. We came home to find that our rat friend, whom we had found taking in our pantry the week before, had returned and left "dropping" presents in our living room. It had also chewed off/ stolen 2 pairs of shoe laces off of Dave's shoes (which we later discovered, it had used them to build a nest... GROSS). Over the course of the next few days, the Rat War had begun. We set traps, which it was able to avoid. We set out poison, which it ignored. We chased it through our house one night when we came home and found it under the washing machine. We had the handy man fill it's entrance holes with spray foam, which it chewed through. Finally, after laying awake all night listening to it running around our house, and after about 10 e-mails to the landlord, he sent over a friend who was an experienced exterminator. He set 5 traps in our tiny apartment. The next day, after coming home from dinner, we found that the traps had finally worked. And poor Jackie, though all this, ended up sleeping on the floor in our bedroom because it was the only room it hadn't managed to get into.

So, while the Rat War was going on, we celebrated Dave's parents' anniversary with dinner at Big River one night with the whole Spackman crew. We celebrated the coming of a New Year at home with party poppers and champagne. And now, it seems, things are getting back to normal. I have lots of random pictures, so check out Facebook in the next few days. It was fun having Jackie here, but it never lasts long enough.

I think, for the new year, (especially since I'm getting married in September), that it is time to loose some weight. I have a goal, but I donno if anyone wants to hear how outrageous my ambitions for myself are. So far, I'm struggling with eating better and working out... but I am taking my vitamins and getting good sleep (especially now that the rat has... um... perished.) I need some motivation, I am such the fair weather runner... speaking of which I need to charge my ipod... haha.

2011 should prove to be a good year. Lots of planning and projects for the coffee shop, including adding a SECOND espresso machine... we will see how it goes. Wedding planning is coming along nicely. We have our venue all set up, now its on to dress shopping. We might be moving soon, so hopefully there won't be any fleas or rats where ever we end up. But we need more space... we have too much stuff.

Here's to a great 2011!