Roasting the Swine

I must give credit where credit is due -- it was all Chris' idea! I will admit I was a little apprehensive when Chris, out of the blue, said that he wanted a pig roast for our rehearsal dinner, but the idea has really grown on me and I am very excited about the pig roast!

Since most of our guests will be traveling from a-far, we wanted to make it more of a weekend rather then just one day. I think it will be really hard and stressful to give our guest the attention they deserve for traveling all this way on just our wedding day, so why not extend the festivities by a day. Our hope is to have a fun, relaxing night in preparation for the semi-formal event the next day.

Chris is in the process of finding a pig roast caterer. He has two leads to follow-up on, but don't worry the pig roasting on the spigot won't be the only delicacy on the menu. We will also be serving chicken, all the fixings, and drinks.

My job is finding a park. Highlands Ranch (the suburb we live in) has an extensive park system. I am trying to find the right park to fit into our needs and reserve it. What is really cool is that we can rent lawn games from the city! Volleyball, bocce ball, croquet, and this game that my brother and Chris created using golf balls and PVC pipes -- you name it and we will be playing it!

So plan on attending our pig roast on Sat, Sept 20, and it you have any fun lawn games please bring them to our PIG ROAST!

The Magic of Macy's

Finally, we are finished with all the registries. We went to Macy's over the weekend, and completed our third and final registry! Luckily, this one only took us 1 hour, unlike the 4 hours at Bed Bath and Beyond (B B & B) and 3 hours at Target. I think this time we knew what we wanted, no lengthy discussions about knives, and also the Macy's by our house is pretty small. We wanted to give people a variety of accessible shops, since all our guests our scattered all over the country, and a wide variety of prices to fit people's budgets. We felt with Macy's that we were registering for some of the same items at B B &B, which was fine because I don't think B B & B is located anywhere in Montana (I can't speak for Ohio, and I know there are some in Minnesota). Although, Macy's was a compromised gift registry, meaning, Chris and I both were very decisive about registering at Target and B B & B, but Chris wanted Macy's and I wanted Crate and Barrel. I think four registries is too much, so we had to compromise. I love the kitchen and home items at Crate and Barrel, but again another lesson in marriage -- sometimes you have to compromise on your dream registry for your partners dream registry. How many resistries should couples have two, three, or is four pushing it? What do you think?

Two Lovebirds Sitting in a Tree KISSING...

Two little lovebirds sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G,
First comes LOVE, then come MARRIAGE!

Lovebirds have become an unexpected theme in our wedding, and a creative smorgasbord of great metaphors to play with regarding our invitations, cake, and even our first dance. For example, I found these white lovebird salt and pepper shakers at Target for $5. They are so cute and will look great on our cake (try to find them at the wedding!) Also, when Chris and I were doing the whole long-distance relationship, we used to make each other mixed tapes. I put “Songbird” by Eva Cassidy on the one I made for Chris, and since then it always reminds me of him. I wanted to walk down the aisle to it, but we compromised and “Songbird” will be our first dance.

Since we are getting married in the mountains, I think it apropos to add an element from nature into the overall design, but I have tried really, really hard to make it very subtle. I don’t want the theme to over power the wedding. I want the theme to be more a metaphor of our love for one another, rather than an expression of our personalities. Have you ever been to a wedding where the theme was over the top? Do you think the theme worked or crashed and burned?
The above photos have been inspirational images of lovebirds for me: Gracious Bridal, Paloma's Nest, Lovin Sullivan Cakes

To Serif or Sans Serif that is the Question?

My Gocco arrived on Monday (YEEHHH!!!!); however, Judy from Northwood Studios wrote me a lovely post-it note that the white ink, which I need to print the save-the-date, was on back order (BOOOOOO!!!). She said it was shipped yesterday, so hopefully I will get it tomorrow or Saturday. If it comes by this weekend, Chris and I are going to be Goccoing into the weee hours of the morning. Stay Tuned!

I don't want to devote a whole post to my paused gocco excitement, but instead want to post about one of my wedding invitation inspirations, Laura Hopper. I admit it I am a typography nerd, and I envy anyone who is gifted with the pen! With this modern age, computer typography is fast and easy making calligraphy a lost art. Laura's designs are so personal and elegant -- I am thinking about recruiting my mom, who does know calligraphy, to help me address the invites. Not only does she address envelopes (as seen above) but invitations, escort cards, and maps. Check out Snippet and Ink's interview with Laura to learn more about her and her philosophy on calligraphy.

The Remorse of the Flowers, Partie Duex

I find it very ironic that I posted about my flowers yesterday, and then today my florist sends me her initial proposal. I think the gods are smiling down on me saying, "See, you should have just done the flowers yourself!"

Like I said, I received the initial proposal from my florist today. She emailed me a general description of thoughts and ideas for the flowers, a detailed description of the flowers, and how much they would cost. I love my florist, but flowers cost sooooo much money! I can really feel the budget crunch, and it's not a good feeling. I might have do some wrangling with my florist to make budget. Overall, this is what I want for flowers: Black Magic Roses, Milva (Orange Roses), burgundy dahlias, burgundy hypercium berries, burgundy mini cymbidium orchids, and leucadenron.

Here is an outline of my budget versus the florist's proposal.

Flower Budget: $1,500

Bridal Bouquet: Me $125, Florist $175-$200
Bridesmaids Bouquet: Me $250, Florist $325

Corsages: Me $80, Florist $90

Boutonnieres: Me $100, Florist $112.50

Centerpieces: Me $650, Florist $690

Cake Flowers: Me $50, Florist $50

Delivery: Florist $200

Total: Me: $1,455, Florist $1642.50

Now, this doesn't include tax and all the other elements that I want to add like bud vases, flowers on the escort table, and rose petals down the aisle during the ceremony. I just need to think creative thoughts and get down and dirty to make all the flowers happen.

Photo from Style Me Pretty and Ameleah's wedding.

The Remorse of the Flowers

I am having some flower remorse. When I saw the photos (above) from one of my daily digest of bridal blogs Style Me Pretty and Ameleah’s July wedding, the remorse started. The bride arranged all her flower by herself! Don’t they look stunning!

I toiled over my flower decision for weeks – Do I hire a florist or DIY the flowers? I did my research, contemplated the time commitment, budget, and transportation issue, as I didn’t want the flowers to wilt from the 1+ hour drive from Denver to Breckenridge. After, Chris’ mom and I visited a local florist in Breckenridge called Bloom, I was sold on a florist. Cindy, the owner, is a fabulous designer, and during our initial consultation her assistant put together a bouquet similar to what I wanted for another bride. I decided that I didn’t want to stress out the day, and I didn’t want to spend a thousand on flowers only to wilt in the backseat of my dad’s car. But after seeing these photos maybe I could have done them myself.

The problem is that I already put my deposit down, I don’t want the stress or the flowers wilting, and want more flowers than my budget via a florist will allow, so I’ve decided to do a little DIYing and leave the rest up to the florist. I am going to have my florist put together all the personal flowers, reception center pieces, and cake flowers and I’ll do the rest myself. I really want to sprinkle black magic rose petals down the aisle and have guests throw them during the processional, but with the florist that dream exceeded my budget. Now, I can make that a reality, plus I can do everything that I wanted like flowers on the ceremony chairs, bud vases for the cocktail tables, flowers for the escort/favors table, and rose petals on the table!

Bed Bath and Beyond

I am happy to report that our second registry is done! (Applause) Our methodical shopping only allows us to do one registry per weekend. Our journey through the aisles of Bed Bath and Beyond (B B &B) took about 4 hours. Yes, you read correctly, we spent 4 hours in the store. Actually, one hour was just spent on what kind of knives we wanted to register! Luckily Bret, the helpful knife expert at B B &B, demonstrated the differences between German and Japanese Steel, weight, handles, and even the differences in what time of year the knife was made -- who knew that buying a set of knives was an intracate decision!? In the end, we decided to register for a Wusthof 8-piece knife block set because of the quality of the steel.

Chris and my styles are similar, yet vastly different. I like a more modern, clean feeling while Chris likes a more tradtional, Victorian style and melting the two together makes for a very interesting design challenge. I also think that is why it takes us 3-4 hours per registry because we discuss almost every item. Compromise is hard, but isn't that what marriage is all about? Finding a common ground and melting two lifestyles together, even if that means giving up your dream flatware for your partners dream flatware.

You can view our registry online at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Stay tuned for our next adventure at Macy's...

Breckenridge Lodging and Hospitality

Finally, I have the lodging secure. Its been quite an ordeal. First, the lady who I was working with apparently resigned without passing along the name of her replacement. Actually, I found out she had left on theknot.com message boards, so I contacted our main contact for Ten Mile Station, who gave me the name for the new group sales manager. Three weeks later and plea to send me the contract ASAP, I finally got all the details from her assistant. The process has been frustrating, but I am happy that it's finally done.

There are four hotels/condos/townhome to choose from: Village Hotel, Village at Breckenridge, Mountain Thunder Lodge, and Great Divide Lodge. The photo above is a picture of the Mountain Thunder Lodge. Chris and I toured all the sites and we recommend the Village at Breckenridge or Mountain Thunder Lodge. Prices range from $97-$214 per night. I would recommend going to their website and checking out the amenities at each site. To book call 1.888.525.1787 and ask for group code BD9LJA to reserve rooms for the Jackson/Chandler wedding.

The concierge at each of the sites will help with any special needs, arranging activities, and transportation up to Breckenridge. There are tons of adventures to have in Breckenridge from mountain biking, hiking, golf, fishing, or shopping in the Victorian downtown. Visit the City of Breckenridge website for more information.

On that note, we recommend that you rent a car for the weekend. Breckenridge is approximately 1 hour from Denver via I-70 and is a beautiful drive. You can take the Colorado Mountain Express from Denver International Airport which will cost about $144 round trip; however, we recommend renting a car from Hotwire. First, it will be a lot cheaper and will give you flexibility if you want to take a mini-trip to Vail or check out Denver for a day.

Creative Focus

I just wanted to take a quick second to introduce you to our photographer Everett Stout from Denver Creative Focus -- he'll be the guy running around like mad with a camera. Above is a quick sample of his work, which is a modest selection of the over 1,000 weddings he has photographed. We're very excited to have Everett on board, especially because he 's services won't break the bank.

Finding a photographer all came down to cost. I love a more photojournalist style -- opting for more candid shots than very posed, proper photos. However, many photographers that I looked at charged anywhere from $3,000-$5,000 for 5-7 hours of time -- granted the total cost also included prints, a wedding album, and retouching, I feel with my graphic design talents I can do at least the wedding album and retouching myself. My budget, nor Chris, would allow me to hire a photographer for $5,000. Enter Everett to save the day! When I was searching for a photographer my mom suggested Everett, as she had worked with him on several wedding at her church (my mom is a super event coordinator for her church) and commented on his professionalism. She was more than right! We are getting 8 hours of photography, $200 worth of prints, no travel expenses, rights to the photos, and engagement photos for less than $2,000. He even told me that he was going to make a trip up to Breckenridge prior to the wedding at no additional cost! What a great deal!

Club Wedd

Over the weekend, we spent a whopping 3 1/2 hours at Target perusing the aisles with a hand-held scanner (I love those things!) and putting together our first gift registry. I am so glad that Chris suggested we only do one registry per day, because I don't think I could have spent another 3 1/2 hours in other store -- although, I must admit it was incredibly fun and exciting!

So if you would like to see our registry either stop by your local Target or check it out on the Target website. We will also be registering at Bed Bath and Beyond and Macy's ... more to come on those adventures.

Go Go Gadget Gocco

My excitement is a little overwhelming, but I will try hard to contain myself. Being the graphic designer/creative person that I am decided that when it came to our invites that I had to design them myself. I was already to take them to a print house, when during my daily wedding blog reading I came across many DIY Brides uses a Gocco to print their invitations. What is a Gocco?

Well according to save gocco.com: in the 1970's Noboru Hayama, a printer and the Japanese inventor of the "print gocco" system, wished to develop a quick and easy household color printing system. cleverly combining the basic principles of screenprinting and rubber-stamping, "print gocco" is a clean, easy, and fully self-contained compact system that exposes and prints all in one unit. Using flash bulbs similar to those found in old cameras, an original image is thermally imprinted on a master screen. next, colorful prints are made by pressing the ink-applied master screen against a sheet of paper placed on a sponge pad. The simplicity in making a screen, and the low cost of production makes the gocco system attractive to professional screenprinters, artists, and designers, and enables even a complete novice to begin printing immediately.

The name "print gocco" is derived from the Japanese word and concept "gocco", loosely translated as a type of make-believe play used to learn common rules and knowledge.

I am ordering it over the weekend, and should get it very soon to start printing out the save-the-date cards. Go go gadget gocco!

Something Old or Borrowed -- I Can't Make Up my Mind!

I was visiting my grandmother, who has an extensive jewelry collection, and together we went through her pieces to satisfy my Something Old or Borrowed. We found these beautiful old earrings. The back is very unusual, it actually has a little screw that tightens to the back of the ear. I was a little hesitant about wearing "screw-on" earrings, but I think they are absolutely stunning and will go perfectly with the dress. Not only did we find my Something Old or Borrowed-- I haven't decided which one I want to use for the tradition, but what was unique about the experience is that she found her wedding and engagement ring (which was very well worn), my grandfather's wedding ring, and my great-grandmother's wedding ring.

I just ordered my wedding dress, which is going to be my Something New. I haven't decided on my Something Blue, although the blue ribbon on my bouquet might be it. Also, I will have to find Something Old or Borrowed depending on how I categorize the earrings.

As an inquisitive mind, I wondered where this tradition came from, and finding out it was British melted my heart having lived in London for six-months. According to theknot.com: This tradition comes from an Old English rhyme ("Something Olde, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, A Sixpence in your Shoe"), and the four objects that the bride adds to her wedding outfit or carries with her on the big day are just good luck charms. Don't stress too much about them -- they are the little tokens of love your mother, sister, other relatives, and attendants will give you at the eleventh hour (although you can give them to yourself, too). Something old represents continuity; something new offers optimism for the future; something borrowed symbolizes borrowed happiness; something blue stands for purity, love, and fidelity; and a sixpence in your shoe is a wish for good fortune and prosperity, although this remains largely a British custom.

Now all I need is either Something Old, Borrowed or Blue. I need some ideas? Please post your comments about what you did to satisfy this age old tradition.