Things I Love Right Now

I've compiled another list! This one is made up of things I've found that I love but probably won't be using as part of my own wedding. I wish I could have 20 different weddings sometimes, haha...without the stress of planning it or paying for it!

1. Having your wedding vows printed on something other than paper.
One idea is to print the vows on the ribbon from the bride's bouquet, and another is to have them engraved on the inside of each partner's ring. How awesome is that?


2. Affordable (and cute!) wedding shoes.
These are ridiculously hard to find, but maybe 2009 will bring some hope to those of us with big feet and a picky sense of style when it comes to shoes. Lela Rose is launching a bridal collection at Payless in the next few months! And yes, there will be dyeables. Thank goodness! Here's one of Lela's non-bridal shoes from Payless:
3. Flirty, adorable cocktail dresses.
My whole childhood I was a tomboy inside and out, but nowadays I've become much more of a girly girl, and I adore dresses. My recent favorites come from Jim Hjelm, especially this one:

4. Vineyard Weddings.
My entire kitchen and living room are decorated in wine-themed stuff, and part of me wishes we could have had our own vineyard wedding. However, I don't drink wine, lol! I just like the way it looks. Here's a gorgeous image of a bride and groom at a winery wedding:

5. Creative Escort Cards
Our wedding isn't really formal enough for a full-blown seating directory, but I love how creative these things can get! If we didn't have 100+ guests, I would be sorely tempted to use this flower idea from Martha Stewart Weddings:


That's it for now, but I might do another of these later! :)

Goodbye 2008, Hello Year of the Wedding!

Jordan and I will be getting married in just under 9 months. H.o.l.y. C.o.w! I don't know where the time has gone, but in celebration of the end of 2008, I'm going to make a few wedding lists!

Completed Tasks:

• My wedding dress has been purchased and altered. It's sitting in my closet, though I still have to finish paying it off.
• My veil is purchased and is also in my closet.
• Bouquet has been purchased, but STILL hasn't shipped even though it's "been ready" for two months. Ugh.
• My wedding band and turquoise bracelet are both in my jewelry box.
  
• I have a general idea of what kind of jewelry and shoes I want, but I still have to buy them.
• Tux style and vest color for both groom and groomsmen decided.
• Bridesmaids dress styles and exact color still undecided. Bouquet styles decided; purses purchased, but no flowers yet.
  
• Jordan's ring style has been decided upon, but it hasn't been purchased yet.
• Photographers booked and 1/3 paid for.
• Ceremony site booked and 1/3 paid for.
• Reception site booked and paid for and food choices settled.
• I know the style of invitations I want, but I still have to buy them and get them printed.
• Cake topper purchased, "his and hers" champagne glasses purchased, cake serving set purchased, ring pillow purchased, reception vases purchased, table number holders purchased, favor boxes purchased, ceremony fans and bubbles purchased.
• Music selections decided upon for ceremony and most of reception.
• Guest list determined and save-the-dates sent out.
• Target wedding registry set up.
  

To-Do Soon:

• Purchase invitation supplies and print a sample invitation.
• Decide exactly what honeymoon we want and start to book it.
• Purchase shoes and bridal jewelry.
• Go shopping with bridesmaids for dress ideas.
• Book ceremony officiant.
• Set up another wedding registry (Crate and Barrel perhaps?).
• Decide upon design of wedding cake.
• Make reservations for rehearsal dinner.
• Arrange for our transportation from the ceremony to reception (we're thinking a romantic horse and carriage).

Random Ideas:

• I want my hair mostly down and curled, with a small pearl and diamond headband. I also have an idea of how I want my makeup done...very simple in shades of pink.
• For our reception table numbers, I want to use pictures of me and Jordan holding up each number in a variety of funny poses.
• For reception centerpieces I'm thinking of using the jello vase centerpiece idea. We'll use either blue or pink jello (whichever turns out better) with two to three pink gerbera daisies per vase, and then blue vase gems on the table around each vase.
• I really like the idea of using our favor boxes as placecards too...we'll just write each person's name on the front of the box.
• I saw a really neat idea for escort cards in a bridal magazine this morning...I can't really explain it well, so I'll just post a picture of it later.
• We're writing our own vows (and I'm actually writing most of the ceremony myself), so I'll have to share that later as well. I'm almost done with mine!
• We are definitely thinking of doing a two-week chauffeured tour of England, Ireland, and Scotland for our honeymoon...it really depends on how expensive it will be.
• For invitations, we are thinking of printing a classic bride and groom image on white cardstock and printing the wording on vellum, then wrapping it with teal ribbon.
  

This all seems very organized, but I feel distinctly unorganized, and I don't know why!!

Pearls and Diamonds...and Turquoise!

Merry (belated) Christmas! :)

I spent my 22nd birthday and Christmas with Jordan's family on their farm in North Carolina, where there are no internet or cell phone signals. I'll be honest...while I had a great holiday, I'm very glad to be back, relaxing in my own apartment. :)

I wanted to make a post that somehow relates both weddings and Christmas, and I finally decided to share my bridal jewelry hunt with you. I'm not the type of girl who typically wears a lot of fancy jewelry...I own mostly big chunky plastic pieces that are super bold and funky. While I love them on a normal day, they aren't exactly what I had in mind for the wedding. As such, the search for the perfect wedding day jewelry has kept me rather busy doing internet searches for the past few months. Here's what I've found so far:

I mentioned a while back that my friend had made me a turquoise bracelet...I don't have a picture of the exact bracelet yet, but here's a very good likeness of it:

I've had a very hard time narrowing down the choices for my necklace...the neckline of my dress (a halter) looks best with a very simple necklace. I decided immediately that I wanted to have the pearls and diamonds look, even if I couldn't afford to have the real thing. Here's the one I want:

And I think these earrings match it perfectly! I wanted to go with something simple again, especially since my hair will be down.

I haven't liked very many tiaras or headpieces that I've seen online, so that might be something I need to go shopping for in person. However, I think I might stick with a simple headband rather than going with an elaborate tiara, again, since my hair will be down. One like this would be nice:

Now I'm off to watch Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas...it's one of my favorites! ;)

I love it I love it I LOVE it!!

I am in love with making inspiration boards, and tonight I made my best one yet! Enjoy!



You can get a better view here.

Dresses for my favorite girls

I think there is an unspoken rule among bridesmaids dresses: they are not meant to be affordable for college students or recent college graduates. David's Bridal is considered "cheap" and their dresses start at $100. Of my six girls, one is still in college, two are recent college grads (one is saving up for her own wedding and the other is probably going to grad school), another is working ridiculously hard just to pay her bills, one has four kids, and the other is my 12-year-old niece. I know that I personally don't have the money to spend $100 on a dress to be worn one time.

So it comes down to the age-old question...do the bridesmaids have to be matchy matchy or can they just wear something comfortable? Since it's our wedding, we make the decisions. Jordan and I have decided that we would rather my bridesmaids be comfortable and spend much less than $100 on a dress. Instead of purchasing "bridesmaids dresses," we're going to keep an eye out for sales at places like Dillards in the spring, and hopefully everyone can purchase dresses in similar colors and similar styles, but they don't have to match exactly.

Here are some dresses that I think would be awesome (but not necessarily all together):




Most people I've talked to have loved this idea, although there are a few people that think it will look sloppy or non-wedding-like. I'm not too worried about that, though...it's not like we're having a super formal affair, and I like the idea of having my bridesmaids smiling sincerely in all of our pictures, thinking, "This $30 dress is ridiculously comfortable...I think I might wear it again on Friday when I go out with my boyfriend." Here are some pictures of brides who have pulled off this idea quite well:

This next one is from Memory Makers Photography and it's my favorite!

In the end, as long as my girls brush their hair and cover up their naughty bits, I'll be satisfied. I just want them to stand next to me and watch me marry the love of my life. ... And then party. :P

Free Engagement Pictures!

We have some very wonderful friends, indeed. This post is dedicated (almost) entirely to my favorite pictures from our free engagement session with Matt Lovell of LH Images Photography. They are just getting started in the business and building up their portfolio, and we lucked out.

Now, PICTURES!

********************

Rainy days aren't so bad...

After all, umbrellas can be so romantic. :)

Perched on a tree branch above the river


Gettin' smoochy. ;)



One of the best pictures of us, ever. :)


We're using this one on our holiday greeting cards, lol.


And now for some funnies! :D




Aren't they wonderful? I am so absolutely thrilled. I have an entire Snapfish album full of them, so if you want to see them all, just comment and I'll send you the link. :)

Now, at the beginning, I said this post was almost entirely dedicated to pictures. The last tiny thing I want to share is an awesome blog that I check pretty frequently because it makes me laugh and cringe at the same time. Check it out!

Pssst, this is a secret!

We have indeed gotten our engagement pictures back, but I'm so swamped with homework and housework right now that I don't have time to share them. We just got back from a week in Michigan and I'm playing catchup.

However, I'm posting because I just bought something for Jordan that I want to squeal about!! I bought them for use in the wedding, but I know I won't be able to hold onto them for another 9 months, so I'm going to give them to him for Christmas.

They are Nintendo game cartridge cufflinks!!!! How perfect is that?!?!


I bought them from Etsy and cannot wait for them to arrive! I ordered one to be Tetris and the other Super Mario Brothers 3. I'll let you know what Jordan says when he gets them on Christmas morning!! :D

Approaching my last Holiday season as a single woman

Since Jordan and I are splitting the holidays between our families again this year, my family gets Thanksgiving and New Year's, and his family gets Christmas (meaning I'll be spending my birthday and Christmas away from home for the first time ever--I think I'm okay with that, though). But since I very rarely get to see my dad and stepmom, we've decided that we're flying to Michigan for our week-long Thanksgiving break. I'm actually quite excited about the prospect of maybe getting to play in a bit of snow this year (*sigh* It's been so long since I've been in real snow).

So my last Thanksgiving as a "Knoll" is just under two weeks away. Two days from now will be two years since Jordan proposed. It's been a heck of a long time. In less than one more year, we'll finally be married and neither of us has any idea where we'll be living or what we'll be doing, haha.

Anyway, since I've been in hiding for the past couple of months (AKA: desperately attempting to keep my head above the water that is my last year of college), lots of stuff has happened. I'll pick a few of the best things to share.

1. My bridal bouquet is just about completed! Here's a picture of what it looks like before they add the ribbon and pearls on the stems:


Just for reference, here's the picture I sent them of what I want on the stems:

The flowers are the "real touch" artificials in two shades of pink gerbera daisies and some stephanotis dispersed throughout. After shipping costs, I only paid $85! :) I ordered it through WedIdeas and they have been so wonderful and friendly!

2. Next, Jordan and I discovered that one of our friends is an amateur photographer looking to build his portfolio, and he asked us if we'd like to do an engagement session for free!! The day we were supposed to do it ended up being yucky and rainy, so we just did a quick "practice session" and got some pretty funny pictures out of it. About a week later, the sun was shining and it was gorgeous outside, so we met at the State Botanical Gardens of Georgia and spent a few hours traipsing around and posing for the camera. Hopefully our images will be ready to share soon, but here are a few from the practice session.

These are two he took so that I could use them for a UGA award I won:

And here's a funny one of me and Jordan...I was giving him "The Look". :P

I think it was really awesome of him to do that for us. :) His website is here, and if you know of anyone in north GA who needs a photographer, let me know and I'll get you in contact with him!

3. Finally, last but not least........................

WE GOT A KITTEN! Haha, that makes three kitties in our family. :) We've been thinking of a good name for her, and I say "Lucy," but Jordan isn't sure yet. I call her BooBoo. :)

And here are two of the haughtiest-looking pictures I could find of my other babies. ;)

My baby girl Nadia:

And my little man Dumbledore:

The end for now. :)

Not wedding related at all, but that's okay!

It's my blog and I can use it how I want to use it. :P

I'm just posting to say that it's ELECTION DAY and I voted for Barack Obama.

He's such a cutie. ;)

You're Invited

So I think I've finally made a decision about our wedding invitations. After hours of deliberating, moaning, complaining, and painstaking work/research on the interwebs, I may have possibly made a decision. I say "possibly" because there are still several things that might go wrong in the process and thus I may have to change my mind again.

In the end, after visiting http://www.paperandmore.com/ I fell in love with the idea of printing our bride and groom image on white linen cardstock and the text on translucent vellum, then attaching the two layers, either with a decorative brad or with simple vellum glue dots. Our response cards will then be printed on "Aqua" cardstock (read: akin to Tiffany Blue and David's Bridal "Pool"), and the two elements will be held together with a pretty ribbon of approximately the same color. The response cards will be accompanied by white envelopes, while the entire invitation package will arrive in a pearly/shiny "Aqua" envelope.

I designed the invitation elements using http://www.scrapblog.com/ because I liked their bride and groom image best, as well as the font called "Apricot." It's just whimsical enough while still retaining a slight bit of formality. Best of all, I can practice because PaperandMore sells samples of all of their products at about 50 cents a page! I ordered my samples, which arrived in three days, and I love the quality! I have enough of everything to print out two samples, so pretty soon I'll be going around to various places (such as Kinkos and Staples) to find out who will print on vellum and cardstock and how much they'll charge.


Here are the base images I'm working from:

This is a rough idea of what it might look like to have the text printed on vellum, which overlays the image on cardstock

And here's what the response cards might look like:

I have to admit, I'm pretty excited. This (and lack of funds) has been the most irritating part of this process so far. I'm just about sick of this invitation business and it will feel wonderful to have everything decided.

A Special Post

Today is a very special day. In exactly one year, at this time, I will be married to my wonderful Jordan! And tomorrow marks our fourth anniversary. Hopefully, a year from tomorrow, we will be on our way to Ireland and the best honeymoon I could ever imagine.

We have gone through a lot of stuff since he asked me out on a date four years ago. I was a senior in high school and he was a sophomore at UGA. Three months after we started dating, he told me he loved me and I said it back, meaning it with every ounce of my being. Five months after that, I left home for UGA, dealing with a lot of family issues. Jordan was always there for me when I would randomly burst into tears because of stress and high emotions.

A year after we started dating, we moved in together. Two months after that, we spent the most amazing week together in Jamaica for his brother's wedding. Within a week of returning, we almost broke up because of some very unfortunate issues. We spent the next year rebuilding our relationship from the bottom up, and he had to win back my trust after hurting me very badly. I also had to learn how to trust him again. From that point on, we were both very different people from what we had been when we started dating in 2004. We had reached the breaking point, but instead of giving up, we both showed a lot of maturity and strength and stuck with each other, even when we were both being our most annoying/frustrating selves.

One year after that, Jordan proposed to me in front of the UGA Chapel; he said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and asked me to marry him. I said yes, and we decided to wait until after we both would be graduated from college (me with a Bachelor's Degree and him with a Master's). So the date was set for September 20, 2009...one day shy of what would be our fifth anniversary.

Here we are, four years after he first asked me out, almost two years after the proposal, and exactly one year from the wedding. We are still growing together, and sometimes the process is painful, but we both try to keep in mind how very much we love each other. Things have been tough for us, especially lately. We're both dealing with the stress of finishing our respective degrees, finding the money to pay for both rent and this upcoming wedding, and still finding the time and energy to show our love for one another. It's definitely not always easy, but anyone who tells you that love is easy has never truly been in love. It takes effort. It takes work. But the final outcome is worth a lot more than what you'll ever have to put into it.

Have I had doubts? Of course. But it's overcoming the doubts that has strengthened our relationship more than anything else.

One year from today, our lives will become even more interconnected than they are now. And we'll be eating delicious food at Paula Deen's restaurant!! :D

Have some pictures:

A wedding party mosaic:

And a bridal mosaic:

I love contests

I have been entering wedding contests left and right, and so far I haven't won anything, but they're usually fun to enter anyway.

David's Bridal is having a "One Love" contest in which you basically make an inspiration board and tell the story of when/how you knew your fiance was your "One Love."

Of course I entered!

http://www.davidsbridal.com/onelove1.jsp?pbb_qsi=4693629&=PBB_DavidsBridalOneLove_336_PPIMEMAIL

If you have about an hour, enter! It takes a while to get used to the editor (very clunky and frustrating). Also, vote for mine please? :) If you enter, send me the link to yours and I'll vote for you too.

A new engagement ring!

Jordan is one of the sweetest people alive. We've had really tough times, and lately has been especially rough on us, but he always manages to make me feel loved. Today he took me to Kay Jewelers, traded in my original engagement ring, and got me a larger engagement ring, along with the matching wedding band. It is absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait until it arrives next Friday! Here is a picture of the set:

Also, our anniversary is this month. We both had such an awful week that we went ahead and exchanged gifts. He got me the coolest thing ever! It's a set of three stacking rings with hearts, yet when they stack together, they form a four-leaf clover! Here it is:

He spoils me. :)

Bad News

Classes have started back, so I've been rather busy, and not really in the mood for posting on here. Not to mention, because of budget cuts here at UGA, I've sort of lost my job. I have to cut back on hours (which means bringing home $200 less A MONTH) until November, at which time my position will be permanently eliminated. How absolutely thrilling. As if everything else in my life hasn't been falling apart too.

I guess that's a little over-dramatic, but things have really felt awful lately. I'm gaining weight instead of losing, I'm swamped with work for my classes and research, I lost the best job I've ever had, Jordan and I have been fighting a lot more, I'm usually too busy to hang out with my friends, I'm way more irritable than usual, and I don't even really feel like doing any more wedding planning. That's how I know it's gotten bad...the only thing I really want to do is stay in my bed all day, sleeping and maybe coloring. I don't feel like eating, I dread the thought of having to go anywhere, and I especially don't want to go to work or classes anymore.

Ugh. This has gotten bad enough. I'm just hoping that some sunshine will come back into my life pretty soon (sans the heat and sunburn parts). I don't know how much longer I can handle feeling so gloomy and miserable.

Wait, what?! A rehearsal dinner?!

I guess it just slipped my mind, but I had completely forgotten about that whole rehearsal dinner thing until my mom mentioned it a few weeks ago. How else is everyone going to know what the heck they need to be doing on the morning of our wedding?

Well, damn.

So I decided not to stress about it. The wedding is going to be formal and fancy and traditional enough. For the rehearsal dinner, we're just going to have fun!

Jordan has let me make the majority (okay, pretty much all) the decisions concerning the wedding. The pink flowers? My idea. The bride and groom theme? He could care less. He's even letting me pick out most of his outfit. The wedding as it is coming along really reflects more of my personality than his. Most people would agree that that is pretty common and a well-established tradition, but I'd still like to let his personality shine through in some way. That's where The Pirate's House Restaurant comes in!

The Saturday evening before our Big Day, we are going to have the wedding party and the closest members of our family join us at The Pirate's House in Savannah for our rehearsal dinner. This is what their website says:

"Situated a scant block from the Savannah River, The Pirate's House first opened as an inn for seafarers, and fast became a rendezvous for blood-thirsty pirates and sailors from the Seven Seas. Here seamen drank their grog and discoursed, sailor fashion, on their exotic high seas adventures from Singapore to Bombay and from London to Port Said.... At the Pirate's House, our most precious treasure is our food, acclaimed for over three decades.... We operate 15 separate dining rooms each with a distinct charm all its own."

Jordan loves pirates; or rather, he loves the concept of pirates (and I'll be honest, so do I!). I think we'll all have a grand time...and the food is said to be freakin delicious. :D Oh yeah, and it's supposed to be haunted... ;)

Okay, cool. Location? Confirmed. Now what's that about invitations? Well, I guess that's necessary, too. Since we're only inviting a handful of people, we can afford get a little more creative with the invitations. Here's something I found that fits Jordan perfectly:

I have to admit that I also have a bit of a soft spot for the Wii as well (especially Paper Mario and Cooking Mama), so this is a fabulous idea. I'm a pretty awesome Mii maker too, so I look forward to perfecting our Miis that will be used on the invitation!

We are going to use the rehearsal dinner to relax with our close friends and family before the Big Day, and also to hand out gifts to these same people, who will have tolerated my wedding talk for over two years by the time next September rolls around. Plus, since the wedding is so early in the morning on Sunday, they'll all have to be in Savannah Saturday evening anyway; us providing dinner will help them feel welcome and loved.

In other news, I created yet another wedding website, haha! I was on Shutterfly and noticed the "free share sites" link; so I created a wedding planning website that focuses mainly on pictures, but it also has a calendar, a discussion forum, polls, etc. Check it out!

http://samanthaandjordan.shutterfly.com/

JEWELRY!!

Just wanted to share some quick news before launching into Wedding Planning City: Jordan and I are now officially moved into our AWESOME new apartment! It's just across town from our old apartment, but it feels like the two places are worlds apart! We have working AC, better neighbors, more space, and a washer, dryer, and dishwasher, yay!

--

Okay, so besides being a ridiculously difficult word to type correctly, jewelry is one of my favorite things in the world. Fortunately for Jordan's wallet, I'm usually attached to inexpensive, plastic, funky colored jewelry rather than diamonds and gemstones, though I do have my weaknesses.

Being that I love jewelry so much, you would think that deciding on my bridal jewelry would be a piece of cake, but I've discovered that narrowing down my choices is harder than the hardest diamond on earth. *le sigh*

I have come to a few general decisions: 1) I want my bridesmaids to wear turquoise to match their dresses and possibly pearls to match their bouquet purses. 2) I want to wear some combination of pearls, diamonds, and turquoise. 3) I will have one piece of jewelry that reflects my personality and typical jewelry tastes. And 4) None of these materials have to be real, except for the metals. That is, I don't mind substituting glass beads for real turquoise, fake pearls for freshwater pearls, and cubic zirconia for diamonds, but I have to have either sterling silver or white gold. Oh yeah, and I might as well throw in 5) I don't want to spend a ton of money on my jewelry.

I can't say it hasn't been fun surfing the internet for ideas, and here are the results of two days worth of searching:

First of all, I love simple bridal tiaras, with just pearls and diamonds:

Because of the neckline of my dress, as well as the halter straps, I want my necklace to be fairly simple, so as to not to detract from the many details of the top of my dress. Also, because my hairstyle will also be pretty fancy, I want my earrings to match the simplicity of the necklace. Alas, this is where I am most indecisive about what exactly I want. Some ideas:

Earrings to the left, necklace to the right:

Two different sets I like:

Next up is my bracelet. Not a necessary part of bridal jewelry, but this is the piece I am going to use to show off my personality. I know I want it to be made up of pearls and/or turquoise, and I want it to be chunky and bold. But there are so many options!

For the bridesmaids, I have found these pieces that I love:





















Also, this is a set at David's Bridal that I love. It comes in the color Pool, which would match their dresses exactly:

And let's not forget the rings! This is the easiest part of all my jewelry decisions. I know exactly what I want, and Jordan mostly knows what he wants. Mine will be white gold with inset diamonds, and he wants titanium with very little fancy stuff on it. Our wedding bands will be pretty much exactly like these:

As a little sidenote, we are going to get our wedding bands engraved as well. We are thinking about having the phrase "Less Than Three" engraved because when we first started dating, we were in a long-distance relationship for several months and we chatted a lot on AIM. We started using <3 a lot and it just kinda stuck!

So that's where I stand on jewelry for the big day. Rather indecisive and in need of a lot of suggestions/ideas/advice. Feel free to offer it! :)