Sneak Peek: Reception Decor

WOW! It's been more than three months since I've posted on this blog! Crazy how time flies. I think initially I was really excited about planning the wedding, then I realized how much time we had left, so I halted planning somewhat, and now were past the four month mark. So I'm getting up and running again. Time is running out!

So here's an idea of what the linens will look like on the reception tables. The charger will be silver instead of gold, though. Chair sashes may or may not be tied like this. Hope you like! More to come soon, I promise.

Hampton Inn to open downtown

I'm happy to report that a brand new Hampton Inn & Suites is opening in September in downtown Gainesville. This is good news because it's very close to the wedding/reception site!

We have a block of rooms there, and the cost per night is $114. This is going to be the best choice if you want to stay close to the action (and in a nice chain hotel) but not quite on top of the action. There are other bed & breakfasts nearby if you want to stay at a B&B but not at Sweetwater.

Let me know if you have questions, and start booking your rooms! :)

What's Your Favorite Blue Drink?

I'm considering having a "signature drink" at the reception. Since my colors are aqua and red, I think it would be neat to have a blue drink. My wedding planner sent me a few suggestions. Check them out, and let me know what you think!

Blue Cosmo

Blue colada

Blue Rox’s Martini

Blue Screw

Blue velvet martini

Blueberry Daiquiri

More Museum Fun!

Here are some more photos from our shoot w/Robbie's friend's wife in Sarasota at the Ringling Museum. Enjoy!

Make-up, Make-up & More Make-up!

Sorry I haven't posted as much lately. It's been a busy few weeks! I had my third make-up trial last weekend. It was probably the best thus far, but after three trials, I think I have come to the conclusion that I want to do my OWN make-up on my wedding day. I will get some of the products that were used last weekend but do it myself. I think this will be a wise decision, even if it has the potential to add additional stress. {One thing I WON'T do is my own hair, though!}

Here are some photos from last weekend.

Sample Bouquet: It's a Winner

My florist put together a sample bouquet for me a couple of weeks ago. I got to watch her put it together, which was definitely beneficial, as I realized I didn't love what we had originally planned. She quickly pulled some things out and put others in and ... viola!


We ended up with pin-cushion protea {planned}, red roses {planned}, flame/mango calla lillies {planned, although not the color I thought they were going to be} and hypericum berries {not planned}. We edited out the green kangaroo paw and bluperium.



I took the bouquet home and stared at it over the weekend, and I think it's a winner. {Unfortunately, the cats thought so too. I had to keep them away from it as some lillies are dangerous to cats.} I was originally not sold on the color of the calla lillies, but I think they go well with everything else that's in the bouquet.



Love to hear your thoughts!

Make-up Trial #2

I got my make-up done by another person last week. Overall, it was good, but I think the foundation is slightly too light and not blended enough around the hairline.

Check out the fake eyelashes! Aren't they awesome? Definitely a must for the wedding day.

I think I may have one more person do my make-up and see how that goes. What do you think?

We're in the News Again!

Our engagement announcement was in my hometown newspaper, the Winter Haven News Chief, on Sun., June 7. I was {pleasantly} surprised it was in color! It turned out nicely. I cropped it here, but below that you can see what else was on the same page. I think it's hilarious that there's a retired couple in a dancing pose next to us!

Also, click here to see it online. Hopefully the photo will show up soon.

Cheers!

Weekend at the Beach

Over the weekend, Robbie & I went to Longboat Key. One of his friends (and groomsmen), Chris, and his wife, Anna, came down from Tampa to visit while we were there. Anna is the owner of her own photography and graphic design business, AR Annahita, so we did an impromptu photo shoot on the grounds of the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota. What a beautiful place!

The grounds are full of banyan trees, bamboo, roses, etc. At the back of the whole place is the former house of John Ringling, the Cà d'Zan Mansion, and it sits right on the water. The architecture is amazing.

Here is a sneak peek of the photos. She is mailing me a CD of all of them this week. Can't wait!

Make-Up for the Big Day

For my make-up on wedding day, I want to have smoky eyes & nude lips and a bit of bronziness on my face. I totally just made up that word! I am inspired by Eva Mendes's make-up, so I took a picture of her with me when I did a make-up trial recently at Merle Norman.

It didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped, so I am going to do another trial with a different make-up artist so I can compare. The make-up in the photos below is a little too "pink," if that makes sense. What do you think? I am actually going for trial #2 today, so I will post new pics soon!

Engagement Announcement #1

Our engagement announcement was in our local paper, the Gainesville Sun, this past Sunday. Below is the proof along with the scan from the paper, which obviously isn't very good! It was fun to see it in the paper and have friends and co-workers mention they saw it. I guess people still read the newspaper! It's also supposed to be online but isn't yet.

Two additional announcements will be running this weekend in my parents' local papers. I will post them afterward.

Our Wedding Web Site: A Sneak Peek

I'm not sure if I've mentioned before that I love The Knot. They have a lot of resources online, and their wedding magazine is my favorite of all wedding magazines. One more reason to love The Knot is that you can create a personalized wedding Web site. This is different from this blog as it allows you to post info about the proposal, wedding location, logistics and registry. I am in the process of creating mine and Robbie's, but here's a sneak peek! I will post the link when it's ready.

An Aqua Shoe Update

Sorry it's been several days since my last post! I guess I've been busier than normal. The good news is, I found a pair of shoes that I would love to be my wedding shoes. I ordered them, received them and tried them on. The bad news is, I think there's something wrong with them!

They are jeweled aqua sandals by Nine West with a low heel -- perfect!

But when I put them on, it's as though the actual thong part that goes in between your toes is too far toward the inside of the shoe - on both shoes. So when I wear them, my feet do not stay on the shoe.

Here's a picture so many you can see what I mean:

Can you tell?

I thought maybe they just weren't meant to fit my foot, so I wanted to have someone else with a different foot type try them on. The only person around at the moment was Robbie, so he tried them on! They did the same thing for him, and he and I definitely do not have the same type of feet.

I contacted Nine West to see if anyone has ever had this problem before, and they said no. I wrote them back to see if they will send me another pair so I can see if perhaps the pair I got are just defective. Man, why does this have to happen?! I will keep you posted ...

Engagement Photo

Our photographers, Powers Photography, were kind enough to send me a Web image of mine & Robbie's main engagement photo for me to put on my Facebook profile, so I thought I'd share it with you. It turned out really beautifully. The leaves and coloring look great, and I'm glad Robbie & I wore the colors we did. I was so into what I was going to wear, and it ended up that you can't really see the outfit anyway! There are some other photos that show our clothes more, though.

Have a great weekend!

Save the Dates ... Signed, Sealed, Delivered!

One of the more fun aspects of wedding planning for me has been picking out save the dates and invitations. I've always loved stationery and cards. Soon after the planning began, I fell in love with Wedding Paper Divas. They have so many neat, fresh designs ... I want them all! The save the date is their "Captivating Coral" design, and I think it looks chic and modern. Obviously, the image below isn't of my actual save the date because my name is not Frances Elaine Turner, but it's the same design. They were mailed about a week or two ago, so hopefully they have arrived in mailboxes!

You may wonder, why do you need a save the date? Why not just an invitation? Save the dates are fairly new and are getting more popular. At my last job, we always sent out save the dates before an event, so I kind of just didn't think twice before doing save the dates for my wedding. They are probably more popular for destination weddings since more people are traveling, but I thought it would be good to let people know the date since we picked it so far out.

Invitations will be going out in a few months!

Inspiration in Atlanta

I went to Atlanta last week for a conference and stayed at the Omni at the CNN Center downtown. I was surprised to find one of my potential wedding flowers in one of the lobbies - because it's not a common flower. {At least I didn't think so!} The flower is a pin-cushion protea, and as you can see it's quite tropical. What I like about it is that it's somewhere between orange and red. My florist is putting a sample bouquet together for me next week because I am having trouble picturing how all the flowers we've discussed are going to mesh. I will be sure to post photos of it.





I also saw pretty orchids in rectangular vases with ... AQUA marbles in the bottom. I thought they were cute and of course the right color!

Fun Photos

Here are some photos from the first days and minutes after Robbie & I got engaged. It's fun to look back on them. My only regret is that my hair was really short. My mom has always warned me not to cut my hair really short because it's not as flattering, but I continue to do it! Thankfully, it's grown out considerably now. Enjoy!

This was minutes after Robbie proposed. It was approx. 6:45 a.m. on Christmas Eve.



I obviously didn't get a photo of Zoe wearing the ring around her collar for the actual proposal, so I put it back on her to get some photos. Dad calls her "FedEx" now.

My ring. I painted my fingernails to make it show up better. :)

At Robbie's parents' house the next day, Christmas Day.