10 days to go and 3 years together!

Today is 10 days before our wedding! I am getting SO excited (have I mentioned that yet????) 

Tonight we are dropping off the final paperwork/payment for the caterers and I will get the payment for the Eisner together to be mailed tomorrow...then all paperwork and payments are in! That will be a huge weight off my mind since almost every night I have a dream that I forgot to pay someone and they cancelled our date because of it. Thank goodness that didn't happen!

***ROMANTIC STORY ABOUT KATE AND JIM!!!!*****

Today (Sept. 23rd) Is the day that Jim and I made our relationship official three years ago! I remember it fondly..It was right around my birthday and Jim took me to downtown Chicago (Millennium Park) and to the art museum for my birthday present/adventure...we hadn't really known each other long so I told him I didn't want him to buy me a gift, but if he insisted on doing something, I wanted an adventure! It was after we went through the art museum (Jim was the MOST PATIENT guy ever when I was so excited about a particular self-portrait of Vincent VanGogh that I stood in front of it for a solid 25 minutes examining every brush stroke and Jim did not once ask me if we could continue on and even let me revisit it for 5 more minutes on the way out of the museum. What a sweetheart) It was during those last 5 minutes with not even a protest of the amount of time that I spent in front of that one painting that I realized I was stupid if I didn't exclusively date Jim. On our way back to the car we walked through Millennium park and stopped at what I call "the Bean" - that large reflective sculpture-on what that year was the first day of fall, my favorite season, and told Jim (to his reflection in the bean) that I was "falling" for him and wished nothing more than for him to be my boyfriend. :) 

That seems like it was a long time ago! Funny though, if you would have told me then that, three years from that day I would be preparing for our wedding I don't think I would have been surprised. I just knew that Jim was going to be the one.

12 DAYS!

WOW only 12 days until our wedding!!!!! I can't believe 5 months has flown by so quickly!!!

I had the final walk through last week and I feel better about the details coming together now....we did have a change in schedule from the invitation....the event coordinators suggested that we cut the cake right after we are announced and right before the food starts coming out because we are doing a cupcake tree and that way none of the cupcakes "disappear" before we have the official cake cutting....I agree with that.

I spent the whole weekend getting little odds and ends for the ceremony and reception put together.

This coming saturday is my "Golden Birthday" because I am turning 27 on Sept 27th...I have had quite a few people ask me what I am doing for my Golden Birthday and I just tell them "I am getting married the weekend after....my present this year is a husband!" :)

I also think that my birthday being 1 week apart from our "anniversary" will make it easy for Jim to remember...not that I don't think he will be able to remember it... :)

We also applied for our marriage license last friday, and it will be all ready for us to pick up this friday! It feels like it is all "legal" and everything now!

Our final guest count ended up being exactly 100 people! That is the exact number that we wanted! How did that happen????

Still quite a bit of things to do before the big day, but I think it will all get done with time to spare. I am SO EXCITED to be Jim's wife and see all my friends and family all at the same time...some of which I haven't seen for years....and also to meet more of my new family! I think it is going to be a blast!

Cake tree trimming!

Well only 3 weeks to go now before the big day! Friday after work I stopped by the bakery to get the cupcake tree. Little did I know it came flat packed and I had to put it together AND decorate it! I spend a good 4 hours (and about 25 sticks of hot glue) putting the cake tier together, gluing ribbon to all the edges and gluing "precious petals" to the rest of the cake tier....but it is all ready! Now all I have to do is take it back to the bakery at least 3 days before the wedding!!!

This coming week Jim and I are applying for our marriage license, I have the final walk through at the Eisner with their staff and the caterers, and I need to tie up a few more loose ends mailing in payments and prepping things for the ceremony. I am getting really excited!!!!!


Putting together the tower for cupcakes!!!!


Leo watches from a safe distance to avoid having a "hot glue incident"
Finished! Can't wait to see it full of cupcakes!!!

ONE MONTH!!!!!

Well folks, it is CRUNCH TIME!

One month from today, I will become the happiest woman alive....Jim and I are SO excited that the big day is almost here! The wedding stuff is all coming together nicely (still a lot of work to do, but I am confident it will get done and everything will be great!)

WEDDING GUESTS:

If you haven't replied to the invitations yet, the deadline is tomorrow! Please let us know ASAP! We need to get in the counts for our cake and catering stuff shortly!

If you need to make hotel reservations, please do so ASAP! The block that we have will expire on SEPT 9th...that is this coming Wednesday. I want to make sure as many people as possible get the discount!!!

Jim and I can't wait to see all of you and have you share our special day! 

Invitations are out!!!!!

The invitations are out...in fact, I think most all of you probably got them already, except for my parents. Even though I mailed my brother's invite,  my Nana's invite and my parent's invite all at the same time, the USPS seems to have a vendetta against delivering my parent's mail on time.......maybe they will get it tomorrow???

I spent an entire saturday (last saturday) Addressing envelopes, assembling envelops, stamping and sealing....and got all of them DONE at one go! My hand was useless for the rest of the day, as in this age of computers, I type most everything.....

Anyway, I already have 4 "yes" replies and only 2 "rearranging my sock drawers".....and that is because their daughter is getting married the same day as me and they opted to go to her wedding instead (a wise choice :) )

The fact that we are getting replies is exciting because it makes it really really real!!!!! Can't believe it is about 5.5 weeks away!!!!

For anyone calling the hotel to make reservations and get the discount "block" rate...be aware that for whatever reason the hotel is being difficult. They might say they can't find our information in the computer, but rest assured it is there. 

Both my parents and Jim's parents have had to call twice before getting the rooms. We have spoken to the guy in charge SEVERAL times and he assures us it will work fine now, but just be aware, and if you do have problems, let me know! ( kschalles@hotmail.com)

Not much time left and still tons to do! YIKES!

AHHHHHHH!

The last two weeks have been CRAZY!!!!!

My parents have been out visiting and helping rebuild my rotten front porch since July 24th. It is looking wonderful, but taking much longer than we thought it would! We are all exhausted from working sun up till sun down in the heat (91 degrees yesterday) and mom and dad are itching to get home. Hopefully dad is finishing it as I type this!

In addition to that major project, I have been planning the block party for my block (I am the block captain for our block watch!) which is August 23rd. I had to fill out all the paperwork and get the permit and now I need to organize the food and flyers and stuff....YIKES!

This morning I woke up and thought...oh my goodness! I think our catering packet was due yesterday! I found the packet and sure enough, it was due yesterday!!! I immediately flipped out and then contacted the caterer, who totally understood and said if I can mail it by friday, all will be well with the world. (We haven't even filled it out yet!) PHEW!

I also need to look through all my other paperwork to make sure I have any payments or paperwork for other vendors taken care of this week! YIKES!

Jim and I will be married in TWO MONTHS! I can't believe it! I am so excited!

The invitations are at the printer and I have the envelopes already so hopefully I will be able to get those ready to mail out in the next week! YIKES!

We have a venue for the rehearsal dinner, check!

Hotel is blocked off, check!

Tux stuff is picked out...guys, get your tuxes! Check!

Final dress fitting is next week, check!

Billy, I really hope you have that sound system ready!

still need to figure out the bouquet thing and the exact details of the ceremony, but otherwise, we are looking good!

AHHHHHHH! I am officially in freak out zone!

My Bridal Shower

I got so many great gifts! Thanks everyone!
Whitney and Jim's Mom!
My mom and I with the pretty frame she got me!
Jim's sister Whitney, me and cousin Harley (she came all the way from Arizona!)
what a crowd!
This is the cafe where we had the shower!

Last Saturday was my bridal shower in Woodridge, IL. Jim's sister Whitney and his Mom were nice enough to throw a shower for me even though I said I didn't need one. My Mom flew in from PA just for the weekend and she and Mrs Battle and I got my dress and then the following day went down to Woodridge for the shower. I was OVERWHELMED by the generosity of everyone who came to the shower, especially since many of them had never even met me before! It was so nice to meet more of Jim's family and I had a lovely time! I am in the process of writing thank you notes, so keep checking your mailboxes! Thanks so much to everyone!

SHOES! (I hope!)

After a successful day of dress shopping last friday with "the moms" (my mom and Jim's mom) I can only say that I found a dress at David's Bridal, it was not the one that I posted way back in April, and all three of us cried when I had it on so it must be the right dress, but it will also be a surprise to everyone but the moms and my bridesmaids....gotta keep somethings a secret!

Both the moms and I thought that hot pink shoes would be really cool peeking out from under my white dress, so I have been on a search for those (I need them before my first fitting on the 11th!!!!!) Unfortunately, it seems that they stop selling hot pink satin shoes everywhere after prom season is over..so I turned to the place where you can find almost anything- EBAY!- and just ordered these shoes. Hopefully they look good in person and fit well, otherwise I think the pink shoes are out and I will have to go with white or silver...I paid for quick shipping so hopefully they get here ASAP!

We are so cute!

Here are some of the engagement photos that we really liked. By now you should have seen the save the date cards so here are the rest!

Also about 1 week till dress trying on with Mom and Mrs. Battle! Hope I can find something!!!!!

We have someone to marry us!

Yay! We met with Rev. Roger last night and he was VERY nice and very willing to help us create a ceremony that reflects what we believe and how we feel our ideal wedding ceremony would be. He has a whole library of readings/vows/things we can do in our ceremony that we can look through, get ideas, and use in any combination that we want! Yay! I think I am going to cry at my own wedding because I almost teared up last night when he was going over different things he would say.....

The Save-the-date cards are on their way to me as I type this! Hopefully they turned out well and I should be able to mail them on monday! Whopee!

So at this point I have:

The place booked

Caterers booked

cake booked

photo booth booked

photographer booked

officiant booked

dress appointment made

bridesmaid gifts purchased

invitations 90% ready to print

save-the-date cards printed and on their way to me

registered at Macy's

Wedding bands purchased

Address list done!

Still within budget!!!!!

I think we are doing pretty well considering the short time we have been engaged!

:)More later including the best couple of engagement photos! (I want to make sure everyone sees the save the date cards first before I post the other photos!!!!

Engagement photos/meeting with Rev./Save the Date Cards!

I have been productive once again! We got our engagement photos on friday (they turned out nice!) and despite the fact that neither one of us is very photogenic, there were at least 5 really good ones and we were able to find one that we wanted to use for our save-the-date cards and for our moms to put in the paper! Yay!

I also finished the save-the-date cards and uploaded them to the printer, I should have them in my hands in 7 days or less and can then stick the labels on and mail them...yay!

I also researched printers for the invites, and looked at envelopes at Broadway paper (love that store) and they have orange envelopes! yay!

Tonight at 5pm is our meeting with Rev. Roger...hopefully it goes well and then we will have the officiant checked off too!

On a side note, I had a nightmare two nights ago that no one used the traveling photo booth at our reception! AHHH! I was so upset and I woke up angry that I paid for something so cool and no one used it.....so please make sure to get into the photo booth at least once! For my sanity's sake!!!!!

Someone to marry us!!!!

Well after a mini-freak out (calling 6 different places only to find that every person who I have found so far that might be able to be our official is BOOKED on our date-the horror!) I finally found someone who, though they have another wedding earlier in the day, is available to marry us on Oct. 3rd. I had just about everything else major figured out and this seemed to be the sticky point! He has another wedding at 3pm on our day, but we were thinking of having ours at 5:30 and it is a mere 4 miles from where his first wedding of the day is, so I think everything will be fine. We are meeting with him on Monday to discuss possible stuff to include in the ceremony and other questions we might have. Hopefully he works out! He seemed really nice over the phone-unlike many of the other officials I talked to that were semi-rude! YIKES! You would think if they were the person you may have leading the ceremony for your wedding that they would answer the phone in a much nicer way! But, this guy (Rev. Roger) was very warm and friendly on the phone and chuckled at my "jokes" about freaking out.....fingers crossed!

I also called and got the appointment to try on dresses at one of our local David's bridals. The dress I am eyeing may be in stock at the store, but if not it is a 12 week wait which would put my dress in on September 26th...a mere 7 days before my wedding....eeeekk! why would it take so long?????

All that aside, things are going pretty well. That's all for now!

We got some wedding bands!

This weekend was a productive one for Jim and I! We got our address list almost completely done for the wedding stuff, I did our cost/budget in a spreadsheet instead of on pieces of paper and post it notes (excel sheets do all the math for you!), we picked out and purchased our wedding bands and we started our registering at Macys....which we will finish online because the store didn't have all the colors of stuff that we were looking at and also we did get tired of walking around with the scan gun (although it was fun at first). I think we lucked out with the registry stuff cause the lady there told us we should have gotten an appointment (who knew you needed one for that!?) but there was no one there when we got in and when we left there were like 5 couples waiting for us to finish! sheesh! We also plan to register at Lowes, probably mostly for gift cards, but maybe some tools too!!!! Anyway, it was fun.

Now for the wedding bands....Jim's is titanium so it should never dull or scratch. I think the design is very manly, which is good for a guy who doesn't wear jewelry all that much (ok, EVER) but he likes it and that is the important thing.

Mine is cool because the "dot engraving" on the edges of the diamonds matches the edges of my special ring Jim had made for me...and there is engraved leaves on the side that kind of go with my ring...plus the thickness of the ring is about the same as mine so it doesn't look too small or overpower my engagement ring. I like it. Plus it was on sale! and it came with a lifetime warranty so if anything happens to the diamonds or whatever, we can bring it in and they will fix it for free (or if my finger gets fatter and I need to have it resized) so that is cool.

We are really making progress! 

Should get the engagement photos this week and hopefully send out the save the date cards next week! Fingers crossed!!!!

Update...this is what's going on this week!

This is the agenda for this week:

Tomorrow-we get our engagement photo taken! Jim was gonna wear an argyle polo shirt and I was gonna wear black. I emailed the photographer asking what he thought about our choices and he says actually mid tones look better in B&W portraits. Guess we were horribly wrong, but crisis averted! Now I have to figure out what to wear! Jim will just revert to a solid polo shirt. Easy. Dang him.

Jim's mom says we have to register ASAP as she is throwing me a bridal shower while my mom is in town at the end of June. SO this weekend we get to hit 2-3 places with the scan gun. Should be fun (at least for me) :)

I need to call and figure out how many dress places to make appointments at. David's Bridal for sure, but maybe at least one other place just incase nothing works out at David's Bridal. (and for the fun of it)

We need to get serious about finding someone to marry us. That is like the last big thing that we have to schedule. (unless I am leaving something out)

We need to check into hotels to see what kind of block rates we can get for people for friday and Saturday night.....hopefully something downtown can be affordable.... :)

I feel like we are doing pretty darn good so far. Tackling a few big things a week....it is working for me right now. The invitations are like 60% done being designed. The address list is 90% done.....we even went wedding band shopping last weekend. I have it narrowed down to two choices!

CAKE TASTING!

We just got back from the cake tasting and boy oh boy is Jim a happy guy! In all we tasted 6 different types of cake with different frostings and fillings. We decided on breaking up the cupcakes so we will have 5 different flavors (marble, chocolate, lemon, red velvet and confetti) with buttercream frosting. Yummy! The cupcakes are the perfect size for you to eat some cake and not have too much (it is rich!) I couldn't eat all my cake samples, but someone else didn't have any problems putting them all away.

:)diet starts next week!

Center pieces idea?

Even though Jim and I will not be hosting a sit down dinner, we will have some tables set up so that if people want to sit while they are eating, they can. The caterer will let us have plain white tablecloths and we can rent pieces of orange and hot pink fabric to make an x across the circular tables and add some color without too much cost.

I don't want to leave the tables bare, but I don't want to spend a ton of $$$ on it either. I was thinking about getting one of these for the center of each table and putting an orange or pink pillar or tea light candle inside (whichever looks better). Then it would be minimal and I could possibly even add a little something else around it (maybe mini picture frames with our photo booth shots from our engagement in it???

Thoughts?

Caterers/Bar....RESERVED! (and tasty!)

Jim and I met with the caterers last night and they far exceeded our expectations. They were very professional, organized and friendly (which is always good). They had everything all set up so we could try a bunch of food and make notes about what we like and don't like (we basically liked it all!) and we got a great deal for signing with them last night (which we were going to do anyway, but hey, always nice to get a discount and some freebees!) 

They make all their own food fresh just before our event and bake/cook it at the Eisner museum so it is all REALLY fresh and VERY tasty! I won't spoil the menu (we need to make final decisions anyway) but there will be plenty of variety, plenty of filling food (concern since we are not having a sit down dinner) and there will be an open bar (beer, wine, soda, water) so no worries about having to pay for drinks. Jim and I think that their stuff is A+++ and have gotten many recommendations from other people who have used them before with great results...hopefully our wedding food will impress and delight the guests!

In a sudden twist of events, our cake tasting that was scheduled for tonight is now bumped to friday....guess Jim will have to wait one more day for his favorite part of the planning!

Photo booth....RESERVED!!!!

Yay! I called and reserved the LAST photo booth that this company (the best company in my opinion) had available for October 3rd! I even got a discount when I told the guy that Jim and I got engaged in the photo booth at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh! 

This photo booth not only looks cool with its retro styling, but it is roomy (nice bench versus the little stool that is hard to get two people on) and it has lighting and stuff to make the photos look vintage, but also make the people look their best! Every strip prints within 20 seconds, and there will be two copies of each strip, one for our guestbook and another for the people who were just in the booth. After the wedding, they will host the photos on their website and you can go on there and look at all the photos and order any that you might want copies of. They also will give Jim and I an event CD with all the photos on it for us to use in our wedding album or to email to our guests that request them!

I am working on making a "props" bin with funny hats and glasses and whatnot for people to use in the booth. If you have anything that you want to bring, feel free!

I am SO EXCITED!

Bridesmaid dress decision....

I have decided! The bridesmaid dresses will be this style! It is available at David's Bridal and is on sale until May 25th! $99 instead of $135!

Since I now for sure have all four bridesmaids.... (Yay! Jen said yes despite her having two other weddings that she is in this summer!) it is time to get serious about the dresses!

I think this style will flatter all four girls (which is important! No one wants to wear a dress that is not cute!) 

Since Cary is the maid of honor (obvious choice since I have known her for OVER 20 years! whoa!) and her favorite color-like mine- is orange, then I thought she could get this dress in the tangerine color they have and Whitney, Jen and Nicole can get it in the watermellon color. I think having two different colors will add interest to the wedding party and since I am doing minimal decoration, it will reinforce the pink and orange color scheme.

As far as shoes, silver would be cool, but I am not one of those crazy brides that wouldn't let my bridesmaids wear shoes they might already have in another color...so girls, if you see some cute silver summer shoes, this gives you the permission to buy them! :)

Wednesday is the caterer "tasting" where Jim and I basically get a free dinner full of tasty things that you may be able to eat at our wedding!

Thursday is Jim's big day-the CAKE TASTING! He is super pumped! After we finish this week with all the yummy food, summer slim down camp begins for Jim and I. Personally, I would like to lose about 10lbs (which is very do-able before october)....not sure if Jim has any goals, but he promised to "work out" with me... which probably means we can play "Wii fit" after work. :)

Invitations idea....

Since we are having the wedding and reception at a museum featuring advertising and Design, I thought it might be cool to make the invitations and stuff look like vintage newspaper ads. I like the looks of this kind of ad... I am using it as a model for the invitation concept I am working on.....

Tonight we meet with the potential photographer! Yay! Exciting!

cake ideas!

Jim and I decided we don't wanna do a normal cake....and to avoid cake cutting fees and stuff like that, we thought it would be fun if our cake was "self-serve". We could cut the very top and smash that in each other's faces (or eat the cake) and then our guests could help themselves to cupcakes galore! 

another possible bridesmaid dress

This one is cute, I think it will flatter all my bridesmaids and it comes in pink AND orange!!!!!

Dresses

So my colors are going to be pink and orange...I found a few bridesmaid dresses I really like (Cary, I found one that comes in Orange!!!!) and also a gown for myself that I think is BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Any thoughts on these?

So we have a spot....and a date!

Jim and I toured the Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design and we fell in love with the space. Not only is it affordable for us, but it is a great space and they still had a saturday this fall open! We reserved Saturday October 3rd and will have both the wedding and the reception in the museum. It is SUCH a cool space filled with great photo opportunities, cool stuff on display and is so very unique just like Jim and I. We both agreed immediately that is was perfect!

So, MARK THAT DATE!

SATURDAY OCTOBER 3RD!!!! :)

In the meantime, visit the website for a virtual tour and see what it is all about!
http://www.eisnermuseum.org/

Gotta Have One!

Ok, so if you are an artsy person like myself and you get engaged in a photo booth, then you surely need one at your wedding reception. I am looking at this company in particular:

http://www.thetravelingphotobooth.com/

I am thinking that if we have both of our wacky and fun families and all our friends around, what better way to have them leave us memories of our big day than in a photo booth! I don't like posed photos anyway, the true character of someone really comes out after they have had a few cocktails and a stint in a photo booth.... :)

I like this company in particular because the photos come out really fast and they print two right away so the guest gets one and they leave one for the guest book. You can also pick black and white or color. How fun is this?????

WE ARE ENGAGED!

So the Friday evening that we arrived in Pittsburgh to see Nicole and Mike, we all decided to go to the Andy Warhol Museum because I had been talking it up so much and telling Jim how much I like that museum and how I wanted to go in their vintage 1960 photo booth. We ended up getting there at 8:30 pm (they closed at 10pm) and looking around at their Darth Vader helmet installation (which was really cool).

So it gets to be about 9:45-15 minutes till the museum closes and we still hadn't gone to the photo booth. Jim was asking "do you wanna go now? Do you wanna go now????" So we headed down to the booth. Jim and I hopped in first and started taking pictures. Right after the second photo, Jim says "look over here" and I look down at his hand and he is holding the MOST beautiful ring I have ever seen! Then he said "will you marry me Kate????" and I said "Really?" and I screamed really really loud and then said "YES!". I was screaming so loud that all 7 floors of the museum heard me and wondered what was going on. The staff came running and Nicole and Mike told them what happened. I was shaking and crying and Jim said that he called my dad and asked for permission to marry me (my dad said, "good luck, it is her decision.") and I couldn't believe that Jim called him because my dad has always intimidated my boyfriends in the past. We took another strip of photos that was more posed once I calmed down, and the whole way out of the museum people were congratulating us. What a perfect story that we have about the day we got engaged!

I am so in love!