Anyone who wants to can view the wedding ceremony on uStream at 11am central time (recording will be available afterward).  We found out today they have wifi at Dave and Busters so we plan on turning it back on at 1pm to stream the reception as well.

Streaming Video by Ustream.TV

Family starts arriving tomorrow around lunchtime.

Bra

Got it (finally) from Bare Necessities online and it fits and works under the dress, so that is done. Other than the fact that Ann’s Bra Shop can’t seem to credit me back correctly for the one I returned to them.

So all of my DIY projects are done.

Cake and Cupcakes

I picked up the candy flowers for the cupcakes. SUPER cute!

I am picking up the cupcakes and cake on Friday and will put these on them then.

Centerpieces

DONE! (unless I have to add an extra one because of some last minute RSVP’s that change our table count)

Ring bearer Pillow

Done.

Flower Girl Baskets

Done.

Garter

Got one.

Memorial Candle

Done.

Guestbook Card Basket

Done.

Card Box

Done.

Cake Topper

Done.

(no picture because its still a secret!)

Wedding Ceremony Online

We are going to attempt to broadcast our wedding ceremony live online via uStream. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mattandkristiswedding
Watch us finally make it legal from the comfort of your own home!
(times are in Central Time)

Other

I still have quite a few items on my to-do list but it is shrinking fairly quickly.  I made calls yesterday and today to confirm orders and reservations, I still have a few calls to make there.  Tuesday is my last day of work before the wedding then I have 3 full days of running around getting stuff done before the big day!

Dress

Alterations are DONE on my dress and I have it back.  If you are in St. Louis and need alterations go to Patty Kreiger, she is nice and fast and good and inexpensive!

Bra

Stop reading now if you don’t want to read about undergarments .

Okay, if you are still here, then welcome, let’s talk about the bra conspiracy that is going on.

First of all I have a hard time finding bras that fit properly in the first place, even for everyday wear, not to mention special occasions.

My regular bra show in front of the arm holes of my wedding dress.

I bought a new bra and it showed under my arms

Last Monday I went to Ann’s Bra shop in Chesterfield which is a speciality shop, and ordered my bra, a long line strapless. And they quoted me $78 (I almost had a heart attack) and they said, it would be in in about a week.

Later that evening they called and told me it wouldn’t be in for 4 weeks!!!!  That would be  too late!  Then repeated my order to me and it was wrong.  Once she corrected it she said it would be there this Thursday!

Thursday, I call to make sure my bra has come in and get put on hold for 20 minute because they couldn’t find my order, they finally found it and said it was ready for pickup.  Matthew picked it up for me. When I got home I saw on the receipt that they had charged $12 more than they had quoted me when they ordered it on Monday. I called them and they had me look at the tag and turns out it was a different model than the one I had ordered (I hadn’t looked at it yet) but assured me that it was VERY similar and should fit just the same and they would refund me the difference.

Fine.  I had my dress fitting at 6:30pm.  I took the bra out of the package to look at it and it was quite different. Instead of being a regular long line bra it was a bustier, complete with garters. Ugh.  So Matthew finally gets home from the gym at 6:10 and starts helping me get the bra on so I can go to my fitting.  It BARELY hooks! IT is SOOO uncomfortable.  The one I ordered fit perfectly and was comfortable.  Anyway, I had to get to my fitting so I suffered (I could barely breath sitting in the car in this thing). I had my fitting and got my dress (woohoo).   I called the bra shop back and they apologized and said they’d have to order my “real” bra from the manufacturer and that it would take 3-4 weeks but they would try to get a rush on it.  They are supposed to call me back and let me know if its possible to get it rushed.

So far I have not heard back from them at all. I am going up there after work on Thursday to return the torture device and see if I can find one the have in stock.

Cupcakes & Cake

Last Monday I went to order my cupcakes.  I had decided to get them from Dierbergs to streamline things since that is where my flower are coming from.  I stopped by the florist to update my order and then headed back to the bakery.  I stood there for 10 minutes with no one coming out to help me.  Finally a store employee walked by and I asked if someone could help me in the bakery and he said “oh, i can help!” I’m hesitant but say okay, I need to place an order. So he starts looking for an order sheet (ugh) and about that time 4 people come out of offices in the back (that hadn’t bothered to come out and help me before) to help look for an order sheet.  I’m starting to figure out that no one knows what they are doing at this point and ask if there was a cake decorator I could talk to.  They said “no, we don’t make the cakes here, they are made at our design center and brought here daily”.  I say fine, lets do the order (Thinking, its cupcakes, how hard can this be).  We get to the icing color and I ask to see a color chart or sample colors.  She went in the back and looked for several minutes and came back and said she didn’t have one and it would take a few days to get one from the design center.  Exasperated, I asked if I could GO to the design center to place my order. She called them while I stood there and the answer is no, I can’t GO there. I left at that point and went to Sam’s Club where I initially planned on ordering my cupcakes from anyway.  I got that order placed but they don’t make 8″ cakes (which is the size I have to have for my top layer), so I then had to go to Schnucks to order that and still have to stop back by there to talk to the designer about the fact that I don’t want them to use a star tip on the border (how hard is that?).

Anyway, one good note on that.  I stopped by the local cake and candy supply store and ordered gumpaste daisies in my colors to put on the cakes and cupcakes!   They will look kind of like this except in white and green (half of each)

Hotel/Ceremony

Tuesday I get a call from my hotel where my ceremony is, apparently when my future mother-in-law had called to ask a question about the room it was revealed that the guy who told me TO MY FACE that my room was reserved AND took my credit card, had not actually reserved the room! LUCKILY the room was still available and the general manager reserved it for me and when Matt’s mom called back they are giving us use of the hospitality room later that night at no charge.

Centerpieces

Got the chocolate covered raisins to go in the centerpieces, just have to get the chocolate rocks now and finish putting them together.

Flowers

I ordered my flowers.  I am getting them from Dierbergs.  White Gerbera daisies with light green ribbon for the boutineers and corsages.  I think I am going to go with multi-color Gerbera daisies for my clutch bouquet, just for a pop of color against the dress.

Ceremony

We finally decided NOT to have the ceremony at our house.  It wold just be too many people in a small space. So we have moved the ceremony to a hotel near the reception. Most of the out of town guests will be staying there as well so that makes things easier.

Centerpeices

I got the ribbon put on all of the pots for the centerpieces.  I still  have to find a place to get the candy to put inside them!  If anyone knows where to get bulk candy, let me know.

A quick tip: use double stick tape to keep the ribbon from slipping when tying your bow.

Dress

I had my first dress fitting last week (no pics, sorry).   Its being let out 1/2 inch in the waist (this makes me sad), the bubble hem taken out and the hem taken up about 3 inches.  I have to go back in a week or so so she can pin the hem up because she had to take the bubble part out first so the hem will hang straight.

Hairpiece

I have been working on different hair pieces, I posted version 1 last time.

For a refresher, here is version 1

I made versions 2 (forgive the lack of makeup and bad hair, I’ve been working in the heat all day). I like this version, it looks better in person than it does with me trying to take a picture of it myself.  (I look like I am being sent to my death in that 2nd picture)

and version 3.  The only reason I made version 3 is because I LOVE this fabric.

Shoes

If you recall, I bought wedding shoes already.  Cute shoes.  Well, the problem is, they are not very comfortable and the flip-flop nature of them  makes my dress get caught on my heels.  Soooo..I went in search of wedding new shoes.  Last Saturday I went to 3 shoes stores and came home empty handed.  Sunday (my fitting was Wednesday) I HAD to get shoes. I went to 2 stores then the mall, after 6 stores in the mall I was EXHAUSTIVE and resigned to going home empty handed again when I saw the Payless Shoes on my way to the exit and decided to stop in.   And what would you know, I found shoes. And they fit. And they are comfortable!

I like them but they were a little plain, so I decide to jazz them up a bit

I am really happy with the way these turned out.

Cupcakes

Being the nerd that I am, I made a mockup of what my cupcakes will look like on my cupcake tree I finished a couple weeks ago

Cardbox

I re-covered my card box and am much more happy with it!

Other

Most of the RSVP’s are in, just waiting on a few stragglers.  I worked on the top-secret cake topper some more, its almost done.

I ordered and received my necklace and I LOVE it! (That is my new hair clip there too)

I ordered and received new glasses, because I thought my old ones did not look feminine enough with my dress, what do you think?

Current

New

Old with dress

New with dress

I made this little prototype veil thingy (a veilette if you will), not sure what I think about it yet

On Me

By itself 

Picked up the last of the ribbon I should need for the centerpieces

Picked up the flowers for the centerpieces  (hooray for Hobby Lobby 50% off)

Got some chocolate pebbles to put in my centerpieces  to see how they look.  I am going to order the chocolate this week for the centerpieces before it gets too hot to ship it.

Finished covering, decorating and putting together the cupcake tree

Finished version 1 of my card box, there is probably going to be a version 2 because I don’t like the seams on this one!

My shoes came and are very comfy!

Got a nice heavy duty extra long dress bag

Did some work on the secret cake topper, Mom is going to help me some more when I see her this coming weekend for Memorial Day.

Dress #2 came today. Not sure if I like it or not.  I like it, its comfortable, but its sleeveless.  Here are some pictures.  What do you think?

Reception

Mini-envelopes for favors will be here tomorrow.  Need to decide how to decorate them.

Centerpieces

I have been experimenting with the centerpieces.  I got some green wrapped sugar free mints to use to work with, these are not the “real” candy filler.

Which do you like? (vote in the poll below)

a. b. c.

d. None of the above

Flowers

I worked up a bouquet and a corsage, not sure how I feel about either one or how easy it would be to do with fresh flowers.

Bouquet

Corsage

I ordered the dress. I received the dress. I put on the dress. I am returning the dress.

The reasons:

1. I am not the most svelte creature on earth but this dress make me look extra poofy in areas I don’t want to look extra poofy in
2. it is see through
3. it is very matronly looking (no, apparently 2 and 3 are not mutually exclusive) , the bottom would be okay with a slip if the top was not so weird looking

See for yourself

So I am back on the hunt once again.

I do like the length on this one though.

Centerpieces

I have decided to do candy centerpieces.  I bought some cylinder glass vases, I plan on doing 2″ paper sleeves with our names and the date to put on the inside, then  fill with some type of candy (to be determined), wrap a ribbon around the outside, put a small daisy on it, and stick a big whirley pop lollipop in the top.  I’m going to mock it up in the next few days and will post pics.

Flowers

Got some silk gerber daisies that I have been playing around with. Will post pics tomorrow probably.

Reception

I found out that the event coordinator at the venue will setup everything except the cupcakes, so that will save us some time, we won’t have to get up there very early.

Started working on slide show and am continuing to add to the play list.

Invitations

My printer died but I was able to resurrect it.  Gotta love HP printers.  It lived through printing my envelopes (yeah, I decided to do that so that the post office could actually read the address) the invites and the inserts.   We are getting the invites out early due to the number of people coming from out of town.

Dress

100% decided against making it myself even with help.  I went shopping on Friday, for hours.  I hate shopping.  Really. Really. Really hate shopping for clothes.  I came home with no ideas and depressed.   However I got online again and actually ordered a dress today.  Ordered it from one of my regular clothing places so I can return it if I don’t like it.

This, in white

Reception

There is a big screen in the reception room,  I am thinking of putting together a slideshow.

Instead of a guest book I am thinking of doing small note cards that people can write on, then after the wedding I can assemble them all in a frame to hang on our wall.  What do you think of this?

Any ideas for fun, simple centerpieces?

I have to figure out the logistics of getting to the venue early, after the ceremony, to get everything setup there

Ceremony

Back to having it at the house,  may have to rent some chairs.

Diet

I’ve decided I need to lose some bulk before the wedding since I will be one of the centers of attention (not my favorite thing) and be in a lot of pictures (also not my favorite thing).  So we started South Beach on Monday. Ugh.  Its hard. Mentally and physically. The cravings get bad sometimes and its a lot of work to make the meals, all of the meals from scratch.   However, I have lost 6 pounds since Monday morning, so I guess its worth it. Only one more week on phase 1 then it will get a bit easier.

Flowers

Jocelyn found gerber daisies for $1.30 a stem.  Now we just have to figure out how to make corsages and boutonnieres.

I have decided that learning to sew and making my dress in the given timeframe will be too stressful. So now I am looking for a dress.

Requirements:

• Long (ankle)
• Does NOT look like a wedding dress
• Less than $200 (preferably much less)
• NOT white (but beige is fine)
• NOT empire waist
• NOT Pink
• NOT Purple
• NOT Yellow
• Would prefer to get it locally so that I can try it on, but if online MUST to be returnable
• CANNOT be sleeveless

Okay….GO!

Flowers

Florists are expensive.

Invitatons

Picked a font and did a test run on the invitations that finally arrived.  Have to decide on if I want to embellish them in any way.  Hot glue is looking like a good idea…

Have decided to print the addresses on the envelopes instead of hand addressing.