I'm a married girl!

The title of "wife" is still really weird and I wonder how long it's going to take to get use to it. But it's a official I'm a wife and I have a husband.

The day went pretty much as planned, and everyone seemed to have a good time.

I love the first dance song Sam picked. I told Sam and the DJ I didn't want to know what our first dance song was going to be, and Sam picked a great sound. I love that it wasn't a common first dance song and that it was a song that has been made special over the years between Sam and I. (FYI- the song was "I'll Catch You" by The Get up Kids)

Also, you got to love the fight over the garter. Most weddings I've seen, the guys try to avoid catching the garter all together; but not at mine. There was a full blown wrestling match between my cousin and one of our groomsmen. It was a sight to see. 

Check out the review & video the DJ was nice enough to post of our wedding! You'll see to these highlights and many details you read about in this blog over the last few months.

I'll be sure to add many more pictures as they start becoming available. (I know I wasn't taking any pictures that day, so I'll have to wait for people to start sending them to me so I can post them.)

Question: What is the craziest thing you've ever seen at a wedding?

It's Wedding Day!

I know I haven't posted in a long time, but being that it's the big day I thought would do give everyone a small peak what all that has happen in the last few weeks and what will be seen today!

Candy Buffet- bought and separated and put into many bowls and baskets.

Wedding favor boxes- I so happy a brought 300 boxes for my wedding because when you spill gravy on 20 of them- you become really happy that you bought extra. Also, thank you to all my girls who spent hours tying thank you cards to the boxes. I love you.

 
Bridal Party & Parent gifts- Spa treatment for the girls and a flask for the guys. Picture frames (not pictured) for the parents.

My wedding jewelry- new earrings and a blue stone bracelet (which was Sam's grandma's- so maybe my something old and something blue?)

Got our wedding rings. We originally weren't going to buy any, but we found money in the budget and got them last minute. We brought Sunday and got them two days ago.

I can't believe the day is here... but I'm feel calm (now... lets not talk about my stress level for the last few days) and ready to enjoy today!

Bachelorette Party!

 
This last weekend was the my bachelorette party. It really did not go as plan.

To sum it up...
Potluck & gifts.
Saw HOT boys.
Went home early.

Because I know many of my family members read this blog (including my grandma (Hi Gram!), I'll keep the details to a minimum. However, here a just a few highlight photos for you to enjoy.

(Me and my sister/ maid of honor)

(College roomie Jen)

(Some of the bridesmaids- Anna, Alison, & Jen)

(My cousin Anna- who came all the way from Michigan)

(Group Pic 1 in the limo)

(Group Pic 2 in the limo)

I hope everyone had good time... if nothing else we will have stories from that night that will last a life time. I love all these girls and I'm so lucky to have some great friends!

Family First

With the wedding being only two weeks away, you would think that would be the only thing on my mind, and until Sunday night that was pretty much true. The phone call from my mom I got that night would end up all my wedding worries, and it made me revaluate what’s really important in life.

On Sunday afternoon my mom and dad went on a walk, and only about 1/4 mile into their walk my dad started feeling sick. His chest was tight, he was having a hard time breathing, and he even vomited. He thought he could just walk off the pain, but it became a little too much. With that my mom told him to she would go and get the car, and pick him up from that part of the trail they were walking. While my mom was getting the car, a cop stopped and was checking if everything was ok with my dad. My dad said he would be fine, but the cop was nice enough to wait with my dad till my mom came around with the car.

While waiting for my mom, a nurse happen to also be walking on the trail and looked at my dad and knew that something was wrong. She suggested that my dad really should go to the hospital, and with that they called an ambulance. 

Once at the hospital, he was rushed in to surgery. We later found out that he had a heart attack and that 2 of the arteries in his heart were 100% blocked and another was 80-90% blocked. During the surgery the doctors opened one of the 100% blocked arteries while leaving the other as is.

My dad was in the UIC Sunday night, all of Monday and Tuesday. Seeing my dad Monday morning with all those tubes coming out him was very scary. They had him huge oxygen mask over his face, so he really couldn’t talk. Just see him lying there brought tears to my eyes because I knew that he was really sick and in pain.

My dad has been so excited about me getting married, and I know he really wants to walk me down that aisle. Thought of him not making it to the wedding was something I tried not to let myself think about, but I couldn’t help it.

Wednesday afternoon he was taken out of ICU and put into a regular room. When I saw him on Wednesday night he was pretty much back to his normal self.

This morning, he went in for another surgery to open up the other two arteries. I’m happy to report the surgery went well. The hospital is going to keep him in ICU just for tonight, and he maybe released as early as tomorrow.

You don’t realize how important people are in your life until they are almost (or actually are) taken away from you.  I would tell everyone out there; make sure you make the time for the people that you love. We all get busy, but in the end it’s the relationships you form while on this earth that really matter. Having a nice wedding will be great, but having your family and friends there to share in your special day is what is really important.

(Picture from 1990- I'm in the red tshirt)

Please keep my dad in your prays, and I’ll be sure to post another update soon.

Wedding Centerpieces Part IV

I'm happy to report I finally figured out what my last centerpiece is going to look like for the wedding. For some reason I was having a lot of trouble figuring out what to do with the "fish bowl" vase. 

So last night my mom and I went to Hobby Lobby on a mission to make this last centerpiece. With only 3 weeks till the wedding (that's a scary thought), we really needed to get this done this weekend. So after about a hour at the store and some serious brainstorming, we final figure out something that we thought would go well with the other 3 centerpieces- this is what we came up with.

So here it the final line up of the wedding centerpieces....

Fun with feathers

Tall and earthy 

(with purple beads to be added the day of the wedding)

Crazy with Glitter & Simple and Whimsical

I'm glad I can check this off the wedding to do list. Now I just have to about 5 more of each of these before the wedding. Luckily all of these don't take to long to make, so that's a good thing.

Other big things that needs to get done this week: 

• Make the final deposit on our minimum guest count
• Call the hotel to set up final arrangements for my guests
• Call people who we haven't received their RSVP from
• Order wedding favors 
• Pick out a reading for the wedding ceremony

There are probably other things I'm forgetting about but, I'm not too worry about it. I'm just trying to go with the flow these last few weeks. 

Well, I'm going to try to enjoy this freak 80 degree in Chicago. Have a great weekend!

Wedding Centerpieces Part III

Welcome October.... I can't believe I'm get married this month. Crazy...

Of all my centerpieces I'm making for my wedding, this would have to be the one that will take the most work to put together. However one my mom bought me these vases, I knew what I wanted it to look like.

I have seen many people use this "Eiffel tower" vase, but you can really only do a few things with them. Either a big floral displays or what I like to call "feather palm trees". Considering I'm not using floral in my centerpieces, feathers it is.

What I used to make my centerpieces...

• Eiffel tower vase
• Black ostrich feathers (16)
• 4-6 inch black craft feathers
• 4-6 inch purple craft feathers
• Bouquet holder with a straight handle
• Black paint
• Glue
• Purple ribbon

I started with the plain white bouquet holders.

Because the feathers I was using are mostly black, I didn't want the white foam showing through. So I painted the foam and everything but expect for the handle black.

Then I glued the purple ribbon to the handles on the bouquets.

 
I also, left long pieces of ribbon at the bottom of the handles so they can hang down into the vases.

 
Next, I added the ostrich feathers to my bouquet holder. I order enough to have 16 ostrich feather in each bouquet.

Once the ostrich feathers are in place, I filled the rest of the open spaces with the 4-6 inch black and purple feather.

To add a touch of silver, I added the curly silver glass found in my tall centerpiece. And this is the final product-

I'm a big fan of these centerpieces, but I'm not look forward to making the last 5. However, I see a night of crafty bridesmaids hanging out and getting these made (and whatever other centerpieces and favors that need to be finished at that point).

Happy October... I hope this month doesn't go by too fast!