Engagement Photos (weeeee!!!)

They're hereee!!!! 

I was ecstatic to arrive home today and find that sweet little manilla envelope in the mailbox! 

I'm just going to shut up now, and show you what you came here for. :) 

Just a few of my favorites :)

I have to say, Agape Moments is an UNBELIEVABLE photographer. I've always been a huge proponent of more natural looking, not as prom-esque poses. In addition, I believe the editing process makes or breaks a photo. Anybody with a nice camera can take nice shots, but after looking through the extras (all 300 of them) and seeing some of the above photos in their raw form, I (with an untrained eye) would have just passed them over. What they were able to do with an average photo blows me away. I HIGHLY recommend them!

Wedding DIY: Grab bag...and a bonus ;)

Hey there kids!

I'm here today to bring you an assortment of little DIY's I've been working on lately. 

I saw THIS post on Pinterest, with a free printable for a kids coloring book. I hadn't considered "the kids" too much, but I couldn't pass up free and easy! So, I printed 20 of these at work(free!), and bought a 64 pack of crayons ($3.50) and a wicker basket from Michael's ($3.99), and ta-da! Distractions for the crazy adorable wee ones!

I'm a little confused why this one came out inverted... alas.

I am probably going to print some more, and buy one more box of crayons (or maybe think up a "different" craft/distraction) since there are only about 20 of these books/crayon bundles. 

Next up, flowers!

I, personally, am a frugal person. If I had an unlimited budget... I'd have flowers dripping off everything. BUT, since we're largely funding this ourselves, I can't justify spending hundreds, let alone thousands, of dollars on a perishable item (that I ain't even eating!). 

Enter: Minneapolis farmer's market. There are hearty bouquets of flowers for $4-$6 at the downtown market on Thursdays. So, M's mom bought me a bouquet last week, so I could see what varieties they had in season in early October...make sure they'd last from Thursday to Friday night (when I'd make them) AND to do a 'dry run' of an attempt at a boutonniere. I'm not too concerned about a bouquet, I've seen enough tutorials and trust that I can bunch up some flowers and wrap a ribbon around them pretty easily. It also doesn't hurt that I'm not picky in the slightest about flowers. 

SO, here's the "sample" boutonniere I whipped up, to see if I could do it!

Not too shabby! And, if all the flowers die and/or fall apart the morning of the wedding.. meh. I really am not that concerned about it. Does that make me weird? maybe.

 

Last up.. since I'm not sure my girls read this.. I'll share a part of their gifts! Even if they do read it, this isn't the only thing they're getting, anyway.

I loved the idea of personalized hangers, but didn't like the price tag ($20-$50 depending on where you go). I saw a tutorial on making your own. Really, all it involves is buying floral wire (which I learned accidentally) and drilling a teeeeeeny tiny hole on either side of a wooden hanger to anchor the wire, and then a dab of hot glue to secure it. I finished mine off with a burlap bow, to keep with my burlap theme. 

Here are two of them!

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Laaassttlyyy... I have a top secret bonus for you guys. 

I've seen a preview of our engagement photos. and, I cried. (#dramatic) 

They are more than I could have imagined. I got the log in information for the online proofs, and the DVD is coming in the mail as soon as they receive it. I asked if I could pull photos from the website to share with people, or if I had to wait for the DVD. she said I could do it with the DVD. I'm not sure if that meant I wasn't functionally able to "save" them from the website, or LEGALLY, I couldn't share them. On Mac's, you can do a Command+Shift+4 screen grab though. SO, functionally I could grab them, I'm just not sure if I'm supposed to. And out of a fear of being sued before I'm even a lawyer, I am going to wait to share them until I get the DVD. Plus, the "screen grabs" have a little tag in the corner from their editing. 

That being said, since this blog has never been posted on FB, and I'm not sure they'd ever see it.. I'll share the cover compilation photo from our proofing album. 

Squeeeeeeeeeeee!! I just love them. 

Hopefully this tides you over until I get the DVD and can post the rest! Besides, the left, and 2 middle ones are 3 of my favorites anywhoo.

OH, and M and joined LA Fitness tonight. Joint family membership for, wait for it.. $50 a month. I'm THRILLED with that price tag. Lifetime was $70 for ONE of us. woof. So, I'm going to get my fitness on! Now that I don't have to worry about having a charged ipod and dying of boredom. :) 

-Kelly

Mixed bag

We went into this weekend with few plans, somehow ended up busy, yet I sit here on Sunday totally relaxed with a kitty on my lap and FRIENDS on the tv. It was the "good" kind of busy, the unplanned yet relaxing kind of busy. 

It began Friday after work, I stopped by Target because one of M's friends' girlfriends' gave me a tip on a pair of dark denim jeans they had for cheap. I ended up leaving with 2 pairs of jeans and a retro T-shirt. 

I came home and found out M had been doing some shopping too....

 

Someone came home with a 60 inch flat screen. M tinkered a little bit, but after a guilt trip we continued on with our plans for a date night. I wanted chinese food, but after stopping down by the mall, I saw a place that M and I have said we wanted to try out for a while. It was such a warm night, so I thought this would be a fun audible. SO, we went to the Galaxy Drive In in St. Louis Park!

 

 

 We parked in our spot, put our orders in, and wandered around the area. 

M tried to steal a bone from a child...

 

and had an awkward encounter with Humpty Dumpty

 

 aanndd then we played a game of giant tic tac toe (which a small human crashed, as you can see above). Turns out tic tac toe isn't so fun as an adult, since the strategy is obvious and all of our games ended in a draw. They also had a giant chess set, and a fire pit that you could purchase a s'more kit for.

The food was great, and it was a fun "different" date night! 

Saturday, M and I went to a waffle feed to benefit the St. Louis Park volleyball team. The girls came door to door earlier that week selling tickets. The running joke in our house is that I am NOT good at being firm/saying no to door to door salesmen. I am not TOO bad at saying no to home repair people, but if it's a neighborhood kid selling food of some kind? I'm 0 for 2. Bought a tub of cookie dough once before. 

We showed up expecting, like, Eggo waffles.. and found homemade Belgian waffles. With a WIDE array of syrup choices, and whipped cream and powdered sugar and sausage and OMG it was good.

After that, we went to M's best friend's house to watch the Gophers game. I painted my nails and ate food,... but mostly was there to hang out. I left M there and took his car to Rosedale Mall to pick up some finishing touches for engagement photos (which are this Friday!!!)

I bought the dress (which is a cream color) at Francesca's

Had the belt (I think that was a Charlotte Russe or Target buy) 

Necklace (of which there is a close up below, in the hair pics) was F21 ($6.80)

Sweater was F21 ($14.50) (in case I get cold) 

I'm struggling with what shoes to wear. My 2nd outfit is dark denim skinny jeans, a long sleeved white T-shirt, and a fun scarf, -- that I'm wearing my riding boots with. I don't really want the same shoes in both sets of photos, plus I'm not sure these particular boots go with the dress. I'm in the market for some flats, or something like that. I have 5 days, and a limited budget (after the damage I did Friday/Saturday..woops)-- so, suggestions are welcomed!

As I was browsing F21, I found these: 

 

I've always said, if I decide to wear earrings for the wedding, I LOVE the "teardrop" style, kind of vintage look. I saw these and stopped dead in my tracks. I have no hangups about buying "fake" earrings, and these were too beautiful NOT to buy, just in case. (especially with the $6.80 price tag)-- SO I have these, and think I'll end up wearing them. 

I also had an idea of what I wanted M to wear for at least one of the outfits, but when browsing his closet, realized he didn't really have anything comparable. So, while I was at the mall, I poked around Macy's and found this shirt, originally $69.50 on sale for $29!

 

He'll wear this when I wear my dress. It's a pale blue, and not quite a silky/formal button up.. it's JUST dressy enough without being too much. He'll be pairing it with dark denim and sperry's. 

Came home from the mall, opened the door, and this ensued:

 

This one cracked me up, with the little lean. We learned recently our neighbor feeds these 2 squirrels that are ALWAYS around, which would explain their boldness around humans. TJ sits at the front door most days and just stares at them, but Saturday I walked up to the door..and when the squirrel saw me, he ran AT the door- not away. He went as far as putting his paws on the glass right in TJ's face. 

Sunday I had brunch with some girls in St. Paul, and then had a hair appointment at Phresh in St. Louis Park.

Here's a before and after (and ignore the awkward smug smile.. I'm never sure what to do with self portraits. I also was walking and trying not to look super vein snapping photos of myself in front of strangers... clearly failed on both accounts)

My hair was a bit of a mousy color before, so I wanted it solid and darker for photos. It'll wash out a bit before Friday (and I'll have it styled more like on the left) but I like how dark it is! I'm also getting a brow wax for the first time tonight.. kind of nervous, but it needed to be done, and in case you've noticed a theme here, the idea of having professional NICE photos taken of me, potentially zoomed in on my face, has sent me into panic mode. I'm scared my makeup will look like it was applied by a 10 year old and my brows will make me look like sasquatch. Needless to say Leah's coming over Wednesday to play with my makeup and give me some pointers. 

The rest of the weekend involved a lot of this with my favorite furball: 

Hope you all had a good weekend! 

-Kelly

Bridesmaid dresses, photographers, engagement sessions

I've been a busy little wedding-bee since we last chatted. I was putzing along on Twitter the other day when imagine my surprise, I see a tweet that basically said:

"Target carries bridesmaid dresses. genius" annnddd my little heart leapt.

What do women love more then weddings and Target? Answer? NOTHING.

What I love even more? What you're about to look at, looks like they could be bridesmaid dresses from ANY boutique across the country. BUT? a FRACTION of the price tag. I lurve Target.

So, I put totether a few boards of the styles/colors/fabrics I liked. I've always wanted to do different styles. I think it looks nice, and I have 7 girls with VERY different figures/breast sizes, to be blunt. We have some busty babes, and some "just a handful" not to mention a 5'10" and a 5'0".. so, it was hard finding a "one sized fits all" approach to style. Or at least I thought so. That being said, all the designer lines where you can pick the same color/fabric but diff styles are insanely expensive. Call me crazy, but I was in knots thinking about asking people to pay $140+ for a bridesmaid dress.

Aside from my wedding dress, I never have and NEVER will pay more than $100 for a dress, unless forced to (i.e. I'm a BM myself). Prom dresses were both under $100. I just can't bring myself to spend that much money on any one item of clothing.

SO, imagine my delight in seeing target had a few styles of a few dresses in coordinating fabrics! Behold, my initial "design" boards made with MS Paint:

 I sent the 3 options to a few girls, knowing all the while I liked the chiffon best. I'm not even sure what "shantung" fabric is, but it scared me a bit. Looks a LEETLE like a garbage bag in the photos. and the sateen were a LEETLE bit too shiny for me. Sorry if any of you reading picked shangtung or sateen dresses, they COULD be gorgeous, but knowing we can't try them on before means photos are important. -- oh yeah, the dresses are all "online only"- which isn't ideal, but they all can be returned "in store".. plus, if they are a bit "off" in how they fit? at $70 a pop, I feel comfortable that alterations for a bit more still isn't unreasonable.

SO, the "chiffon" collection it is! I sent an email last night, and almost everyone responded right away, and so far we have 2 picking strapless, 2 picking 1-strap, one with the 2-straps... I love the variety, and I think the styles will look great together!

In other news, we met with a photographer on Tuesday that came recommended by a co-worker. I had the contract signed and deposit ready by Wednesday morning.

We went with: Agape Moments.

 I LOVE their style. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I wanted a photographer that

1) took the type of candid/non-posed "different" shots I liked naturally so I didn't have to feel like a crazy pants saying "did you get a shot like this? what about this kind?" and I could just relax and smile and put my total faith in them.

2) had the type of finishing style I liked. I LOVE the kind of vintage filter they use in a lot of their photos.

We emailed a bit today, and officially have an engagement shoot on the books for October 5 - a.k.a exactly 365 days before our actual wedding! How fitting! I'm sure the fact that it marks the 1-year mark will produce plenty of natural "grinning like an idiot" moments for the photos. Now begins the compulsive Pinterest scouring for outfit ideas for both of us. I cannot flippin wait.

Tomorrow we're having a long overdue small ceremony at Fort Snelling for my grandpa. He passed away in February of 2011, and was cremated. There was a lot of discussion about what to do with the ashes, and myself, along with others, were upset that there was not going to be SOMETHING at Fort Snelling. Scatter 98% of his ashes if you want, but I personally wanted a solid concrete place I could go on "important" days, to visit him, to leave flowers, to sit. Also? If anyone deserves to be at Fort Snelling it was my grandpa. He was the 2nd youngest lieutenant (I think that's the right designation, I could be off) in WWII. Fort Snelling is such a beautiful cemetery.. all the national cemeteries are.

Anyway, after that we're off to Moorhead for the weekend to visit M's dad and gf, his sister and her bf will also be up there, so I'm excited to get to spend some quality time together! She just found out she got into the U of M law school on a special program that allowed her to skip the LSAT! (LUCKY. soooooo jealous. hahaha).. so, I'll be sure to take some pics and post a recap Sunday or Monday!

-Kelly