2 Weeks to Go

We are in the final countdown. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!
14 days! We are seriously 4 days away from single digits!

1. Final dress fitting- is scheduled for Friday the 28th. May I just say I LOVE MY DRESS!!!!!!!

2. Give shot list to photographer- I haven't done this. I have a board on pintrest. But they are flying in early next week and we have a small additional shoot lined up with them. So excited. 

3. Give playlist to DJ- Done. :)

The menus and programs have been printed, they are amazing!!!! I'm so pleased. 

We are finishing up all DIY projects and they are going swimmingly. We have plans in place to get them knocked out over the next few days. 

May I just take a moment and say how much I love my future husband and my mom! They have put up with so much and helped beyond belief! If it wasn't for them, none of my wedding dreams and vision would have come true.This wedding is the perfect combination of our 2 personalities. 

1 Month to Go

1 month to go!!! And because February is a short month that translates to 28 days!!

I missed the 6 week mark, we are actually 4 weeks out!

1. Apply for marriage licence: DONE

2. Programs and Menu designs are DONE (by myself: I will do a post after the wedding with a picture and the file I used to make them for any other DIY-ers) They need to be printed, but I want a final head count before I do that.

3. Plan welcome baskets: No, sorry to all the out-of-towners, no welcome baskets. It was just a little too much to add to the to-do list.

I had my second dress fitting yesterday and it is magical!! I LOVE my dress! I am having some major/minor alterations done to it, but the alternation lady at Victoria's is fantastic! (she use to work at Klein-fields in NY)
I have received a special piece to wear that is made of my mom's dress, it turned out so great I am beyond pleased with it. It came from this Etsy shop: Brides Boutik She was seriously one of the BEST people I have dealt with on Etsy (and I know I say that with everyone, but she is probably my top 1) I have passed her shop along to another friend getting married in June. I would HIGHLY recommend her to anyone! Now you don't get to know what is it that I got until the day of! :)
Josh had pulled off another great surprise for the rehearsal!!
I have ordered the boys boutonnieres, they are going to be awesome!
We have done our centerpieces, they are complete and look great, I'm so pleased with them and we actually found a slightly easier way to DIY them.
My girls have finalized the way they are wearing their dresses (they are wearing infinity wrap dresses, so they all will be different) I am so pleased with how great they turned out and how beautiful they look!
I need to order my dad's gift, I know what I want, I just need to get it.

For everyone still holding on the the RSVP card, please send them back. Even if you cannot make it, send it back saying "sadly decline". They are already pre-stamped and I would really like to have a definite decision in my hand, instead of guessing if you didn't send your not coming. - Thanks!

On This Day

On this day 1 year ago, my handsome fiance proposed to me! I remember that day like it was yesterday and yet we have 41 days left until we are married!!!

To celebrate this we had the intention of setting of a lantern, but I have caught a cold and just wanted to curl up in pjs and sleep.
We will be setting one off soon though! :)

If you missed the story check it out here: The Proposal

I'll leave you with this chalkboard doodling

My Bridal Shower

My bridal shower was this last Saturday, and (not to be biased) it was the BEST bridal shower ever!

I got the awesome invites from Paper Heart Co on Etsy. They were some of the most efficient and quick people I have dealt with on Etsy. They were simply one of the best!

Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. My girls did a fantastic job of making the vision in my head come to life. It was a little whimsical and fun. We carried the lantern theme though the shower that will continue though the wedding as well.

(Stephanie E [MOH2], Stephanie C [BM], me, Aubrey [MOH1]

We had a fabulous drink bar with the lantern decor above it. We had build your own sangria, tea, lemonade and water.

The lantern cluster!

drink bar with make your own sangria 

The dessert table was drool worthy and I think everyone indulged! We had an amazing ring cupcake cake, cake pops, Oreo pops, chocolate covered pretzels and other amazing flavor cupcakes.

The gift table was my favorite. We had pictures of Josh and I through the last 6 years (which FYI is A LOT! Try like 86, we narrowed it down to about 30) tied to balloons floating above the table. Josh had gotten me the Build-a-Bear bride and groom outfits for Christmas so of course I put them on my Disney Princess bear and Star Wars bear. (would you expect anything less?) I made the "meet the maids" sign and was very pleased with how it turned out.

The games we played I thought were great. They we're the overly annoying games that everyone groans to be involved in.
We played "How old is the Bride?" first:

I did all the editing of this picture in paint

It was great to hear everyone's guesses. So many people we're off by 1 year. :) Josh's step-mom Eve won this game with 6 points.

Next was "What's in your purse?":

Again edited by paint. I found the template via pintrest and erased what they had and input my own. It was still the "What's in your purse?" game, but I didn't like all the selection they had.

This was a lot of fun! I was really funny to hear what people had. My Aunt Carmen won this game with 90 points total! 

Josh's mom, Debbie was the only one (besides my mom) to have a picture of the bride AND groom in her purse. 

Next was Aubrey's game of "How well  does Katie know Josh?" I needed a few extra glasses of sangria to play this game. It turned out to be a lot of fun and I had help from all my guest. 

For the wedding shower favor, my girls worked with Northwest-Engraving to produce these amazing personalized wine stoppers! 

It truly was a magical day and I can not thank everybody enough who came to share this special day with me. It was great seeing some family and friend (who are basically family) enjoy this moment with me! 

I also can't forgot how generous everyone was with the thoughtful and amazing bridal shower gifts!! 

54 now!!!

Be sure to check out the photo sharing site to see all the pictures from the amazing day!!!

https://farrellhertelwedding.shutterfly.com/

2 Months to Go

I can't believe we have 2 months to go. I told 1 of my friend today that as I realized that I would be doing this post tonight, her response: "OMG holy shit that is crazy!! YAY!!". That's exactly how I feel. I like how 2 sentences (not even proper ones) exude so many emotions! We can seriously start counting days at this point... 60 days! (+/- a few).

1. Settle on hair and makeup: I had a trial done a few months ago, but have decided to change it up a little since my hair wasn't cooperating with the way I originally wanted it, so I am not fighting with it, I'm dealing with it. I am getting a haircut in a few weeks.

2. Finalize the ceremony: I suppose I need to do this. This is not done. I have vow selections we need to choose one and give back to the officiant. We have decided on 2 readings to be done though.

3. Mail the invites: We just got them printed. They will be going out in a few days. This is the 1 aspect of wedding planning that has been stressing me out the most. I did not like this process.

A few other notes:
I have found a way to incorporate parts of my mom's dress into my look.
My Bridal Shower is this Saturday, I'm so excited to see all the friends and family that are able to make it & will miss the ones that can't.

*NWR* Christmas & Traditions

*NWR*=Not Wedding Related

 

 

 

This was Josh and my last Christmas as "singles". We have been together for 7 Christmas. Since we have been living together we have already started some of our own traditions, but I can no wait to add more as we start our own married lives!

One of the time honored traditions I have been apart of since I was born, and my parents went to for years before I was even thought of. Josh has now been apart of it for 6-7 years.

Every Christmas eve we go to my parent's and my dad's past co-workers house. There is piles and piles of food, and sweets and drinks and FUN! And ever since I can remember there has been a "fruitcake name drawing" tradition. This fruitcake has to be between 20-25 years old. Apparently someone had brought the fruitcake to the party, and Glenda joked "What am I suppose to do with this??"

So what did she do, she kept for a year in the freezer, then decided to put everyone's name into a bag and have the kids pick 1 and whoever it was had to take the fruitcake for the year and keep it and bring it back the following Christmas eve. Once, for 4 years in a row, I picked the same name!! After that I wasn't allowed to draw anymore. Now this year, because Josh and I are old enough to be getting married our names got thrown into the mix. And who won the fruitcake this year?? Yes, that is correct, say hello to Mr & Mrs Fruitcake for the year. It is now sitting in the back of my freezer. I can not wait to go back next year and pass this fruitcake one. (fingers crossed we don't get picked again).

This has been an amazing Christmas filled with so much love, and joy and excitement for next year.

 

Merry Christmas from the future Mr. & Mrs. Hertel!



3 Months to Go

3 months to go. Seems like just yesterday we were celebrating our engagement, and now we will soon be celebrating our marriage!

We booked the officiant; Lowell
We have selected our reading(s). Working on the right flow for the vows
We have made a mock up of the invitations, getting a proof of that soon (those will be going out soon)
We have ordered and printed the shower invites: they will be going out by next week. We ordered them from an Etsy Shop, they have been AMAZING!
The boys are going to get measure for the suits on Friday. We have their shoes and socks.
I have my first dress "pre-fitting" this week, and have all my accessories: veil, under the dress essentials, shoes for ceremony, shoes for reception, socks, earrings, necklace, rings (of course).
I have compiled the DJ list of songs
Getting my hair cut/trim so it is healthy for the wedding day
I need to finalize wedding day transportation
I have gotten Josh's wedding day of gift, and he is seriously going to LOVE it!!


Things I still need to DIY:

• Garter
• Guest book
• Card box
• Table numbers

We are getting together this week to compile the list and get started on some things


Things are going great, and honestly I haven't had any MAJOR freak outs. I have really been enjoying the process and making our day as special and individual as we are.