wedding bands [for him]

When the FH purchased my engagement ring, it came with the wedding band as well. At first, I had high hopes. I wanted to just wear the band up until the wedding and hopefully purchase another band for the other side to serve as the wedding band. However, reality hit and that is no longer the plan. [I'm hoping for the second band as an anniversary present sometime down the road] At any rate, I have been thinking about getting his ring purchased fairly soon, and looking high and low for ideas. He is not very concerned with the looks of his ring, he says, "whatever you want honey." I want him to have something durable, and most of all find something that will fit his big fingers. He is no small man, and his fingers, well...they're not small AT ALL. [We secretly call them meat fingers] We need to get him officially sized, but I'm pretty sure he wears about a size 14. That immediately limits the choices. At first I was thinking Stainless Steel because it is durable and [very] reasonably priced. He has no interest in diamonds, so why not save some money. The only drawback is some skin types react to Sterling Silver with a gross green spot where the ring sits on the finger. So I started searching Titanium, because it is also known for durability. I found some beautiful rings, at reasonable prices on Etsy. If you have never been to Etsy, I would recommend you check it out! It is similar to Ebay, but has a lot of neat handmade crafty things that people originally create and sell.

I went to ALL ITEMS and typed in men's rings. After flipping through a few pages, I found a really neat Etsy store, Hawaiian Titanium Rings. They have all sorts of cool options, and make rings in large sizes. Here is the one that drew me in:

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I really like the worn look, but the durability of titanium makes this $85.00 ring well worth it.

The second ring that I found comes from an Etsy store called Titanium Knights. Like the other store, Titanium Knights has lots of experience and makes many different rings, in large sizes and widths. This one was priced at $65.00, which I could definately handle!

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Stop in and check out both of those stores, for very reasonable priced wedding bands. I know as soon as I see the FH we will be getting him sized so that we can purchase a ring for him this summer. Keep checking back to see what we settle on, and how the purchase comes out!

take care :)

honeymoon[ers]

As the wedding plans continue, thoughts of honeymooning with my new hubby sound better and better. Because I am a teacher [and he will hopefully be next school year too], the fall wedding I always dreamed of is falling after Thanksgiving. This allows me a couple of free days off of school right before the wedding to finalize details. Since school resumes promptly on Monday, we will not be honeymooning right after our big day. We have unofficially decided to take our big trip in the Summer of 2010. We'll see.

Where to go?

With all of the mayhem in places like Mexico [not to mention I should have never watched the movie Hostel], I am very leary of traveling outside of the US. SOOOO...what to do here? I'm not much of a vacationer, all of the places I have seen thus far in life were a result of my high school and college volleyball career. I guess I really haven't been on a true vacation. My FH is a true outdoorsman and I'm not sure how well he will fair on a beach for more than a day. I'm not sure how I would do with that. I have self diagnosed ADD and the attention span of a 2 year old, so I would probably get tired of sitting there sipping drinks [that are waaaay too sweet] after about...5 seconds or maybe a couple of days. So I have been reading up in my Modern Bride magazines, and surfing the trusty internet. As of now, there are a couple of places I am [we are] interested in looking:
1. Lake Tahoe
2. Maine
3. Vermont
4. Hawaii
5. a cruise??

I have yet to come across anything that sounds faboulously amazing or any great bargains on honeymooner packages. Where do you find those things? Heck, I don't even know how to search cruises. I guess the other hopes of waiting to honeymoon until Summer 2010 is we will be financially rebounded from the wedding... But I don't know how much money I want to spend on a vacation...we'd rather buy a house! oh me!

Any advice??

tools [that I recommend]

As the days pass, I am continuing to cross things off of my trusty list. Right after getting engaged my wedding planning crusade began almost immediately. I referred to the trusty websites that every girl that is expecting a ring reads all about secretly. theknot. theweddingchannel. brides. and all of the million [+1] websites that have tons of pages of invitations. I have chosen to maintain my checklists religiously on theknot and post my wedding website on theweddinchannel. Although I have my wedding vision in my head, I occasionally return to the comfort zone for some new & refreshing photo ideas.

Anyway, I feel like I am at a standstill as far as moving forward goes. The things that I need to finalize require a meeting with a caterer, a photographer, a cake designer and my trusty neighbor-lady seamstress. SOOOO, the pause button has been pushed, and the time's ticking away. Sometimes, when I get to this point [I have been here before, and will be here again in planning a long distance wedding] I feel accomplished, other times I feel a tad stressed. I suppose suffering from lack of sleep & overload of driving 10+ hours twice in a weekend only add to the feeling! SOOO...I guess in July when I finally get done with my summer continuing education classes, I will be able to spend the extended time in Ohio finalizing those details and my work is clearly cut out for me!

AND I CAN.NOT.WAIT!

I need a nap. take care :)

a trip to Ohio [and stuff]

what a weekend! It was so nice to see the FH...for a quick couple of days. The wedding we went to was a blast [a friend of mine from college got hitched], and makes me that much more excited for MY DAY!

i've recently become very interested in ring dishes. You know, you take you ring off to shower, sometimes to sleep and usually wash dishes. I want one by my sink in the kitchen, in my bedroom and in the bathroom. All conveneint places for a cute little dish. So I've been looking. I found this cute little item at Red Envelope for $29.99. If you've never been to the website, they have all sorts of cute little gifts for her and gifts for him, many of which would be fabulous for your 'maids or his groomsmen. Some of the prices are a tad high, but it is definately worth the look. I'd sure like to own this ring dish [but am not spending money on things of that nature right now], and would love to share its beauty with you:

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So while I went home, the FMIL and I hit up a couple of country garage sales...such a great place for small treasures with small prices. I snagged up this little dish for my ring for FIFTY CENTS! Definately can't beat that!! It is cute and way smaller than this picture looks, but it's about the size of your palm. It looks like an antique with it's detailed flowers along the edge and just off white color & heavy pottery like [don't know the material] yeah... Anyway - here it is:

Meet my little puppy, Piper. We adopted this little bundle of energy from the Humane Society when we moved to South Carolina and decided we couldn't live without a doggie! You usually don't find a purebred dog at the pound, but she is every bit of miniature daschaund! She likes long walks on the street & playing at the puppy park. She thinks she's huge most of the time, but only weighs about 10lbs. THANK GOODNESS for her, she's the best!

AND just a little shot of US <3 I can't wait to be his wifey! 186 more days

the [brides]maids

It just hit me yesterday...that less than 200 days, I will be a Mrs., and best of all a WIFE! I am half way through, and getting more and more excited as the days pass. Finished projects are piling up, and things are feeling much more complete.

Today, I present you the bridesmaid dresses:

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All 6 of my bridesmaids will be wearing the same dress. Back in December, after our engagement, I went to David's Bridal myself and tried on dresses that I liked for my girls. I wasn't sure, and wish I they could have been with me, but something about 600+ miles didn't allow for that. So I tried them on myself and decided on this one. This dress is so flattering, and would look good on any body shape. I really liked it on me too :) Since I bought my wedding gown at David's, I got a coupon that all of my 'maids could use to save $20 on their dress too. $20 is money, and I'm glad I could save them! The dress color is mocha and it is made, again, out of the taffeta. I love that fabric, it is so light to wear, but looks so classy on. All of my girls have called to report that they love the dress, oh how I can't wait to see them!

Lucky for me, I have a very crafty FMIL. She is doing all of my decorations, flowers and arrangements both at the church and reception hall. We are using artificial flowers -- orange calla lillies mostly. I will be carrying a white calla bouquet, and the groomsmen will be wearing orange calla bouts. The girls will carry a single large long stem orange calla with a few extra details added by the [crafty] FMIL. As I get pictures, I will try and post them because everything is beautiful, and so different. I have never seen a wedding quite like mine, and I like it! Since it is in November, in Ohio, the leaves will have fallen and it will have started to get chilly. So, I strayed away from lots & lots of flowers [i'm not a big flower person to begin with, they wilt, they die] and replacing that with greenry, pine cones, and other rustic tones. The flower girl will carry a basket decorated with pine cones & greenry with mini fall colored leaves to throw instead of petals. The ring bearer will carry a DIY hand made pillow [pictures to come] .

Otherwise, things are fabulous! Only 10 more days with my students and on this long holiday weekend I get to take the drive to see my FH! I haven't seen him in over a month! I'm so excited, and I will be back for updates and hopefully some deco picturs on Monday! Enjoy your holiday weekend [I know I will] and hopefully the sun is shining in your neck of the woods!

take care :)

the other cake [that I love.]

Here is the picture of the other cake that I really liked. I think I like this one mostly because of the beautiful set up. It is a really cute table, and I think I LOVE the piece of wood the cake is sitting on. My centerpieces will include that same piece of wood.

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[that is not the original blog source. I saved this picture to my computer pre-blog and did not save the blog site...if it belongs to you, I would be happy to tag your blog! As of now, it seems to belogn to Laura Negri...?!]

Thanks for your patience to my blog-stupidity! See you tomorrow!

[minor] details

After yesterday's marathon post, I figured I'd keep this one to only a couple of miles.

Meet the flower girl dress:

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I bought this cute little dress a while back for the fabulous price of $52.99, [and the best part] no shipping and handling. My flower girl will be wearing this dress in ivory tissue taffeta [not pink!], which is the very same fabric that MY DRESS is made of! It is so adorable, and looks just like the picture. I would recommend Flower Girl Princess items to any Bride looking for a flower girl dress. I had been looking in bridal shops and most dresses start at about $99, and was more than happy to find this great deal! Stop by their website and check out their flower girl dress section!

Next up, the cake inspiration. Being so far away, I wasn't able to stop in the local bridal fairs to sample cakes and check out my options as far as that goes. Being from a small town [and getting married in a small town for that matter] options are not as plentiful as other places. So...I sent my mom and [ever wonderful] MOH. They went and tasted cakes, and actually booked my photographer too! Anyway -- back to the cake... I am not really a cake person. I'm not much of a sweets eater for that matter. So, cake was not a high priority on my personal list but I KNOW how much of a staple that a beautiful cake is at the reception. In all of it's beauty, cakes steal the admiration and close ups of most guests. SO, for that reason, I had to choose wisely. I ended up choosing Tonya's Cakes. She has lots of experience, and has been able to send me many, many beautiful confections that she has created over the years. I am so excited to meet with her and solidify my cake design this July.

Until then, my search for ideas continues. As I said I am not a huge cake eater, my FH LOVESSSSSSSSSSSS pie. So we decided that we will be doing a cake to serve approximately half of the projected guests, and pies for the rest. Our caterer makes pie for a really good price per serving, and that will make up for the rest of our guests getting dessert. Actually, the pies are cheaper per serving than the cake will end up being, so with the huge wedding that we are having...we managed to save money in that category AND get what we wanted to boot! I am really excited for the pies, you know...there is nothing better than pumpkin pie in the fall. ooooooh...and my mom has a REALLY good family recipe for a blueberry pie that we are hoping the caterer will make too! YUMMMM!

Along with my simple chic rustic plan, I want a simple cake. I am going for buttercream frosting because it has an imperfect look to it, besides -- fondant tastes HORRIBLE! Much better price, and goes with my feel...perfect. I REALLY like this little number below:


I want a ROUND THREE TIER cake. So I'm thinking about having it wrapped in latte colored ribbon at each tier base, and just ivory frosted with ivory 'dots' all over. The top will have some orange calla lillies and other decor items. I like the rhinestone monogram and might go for that in some brown frosting dots. At least this is what i'm envisionining thus far. I really like simple. We'll see when I meet with her in July. [I'm not sure where I got that cake picture from, sorry if I stole yours!]

I have another picture that I want to share with a super cute cake on it [forgive me, for I forget where I stole the picture] and I will post that alone in a separate post because I have not mastered blogging yet...and don't know how to insert a picture where I want it to go!

Until next time, God Bless!

a whole lot [of fabulous things]

Ok, seriously, I need to write a whole lot about how we met, our engagement and introduce you to my bling. Here goes... [[warning! super long post]]

how we met: I was a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding. At her bachelor/bachelorette party, this groomsman [his name is Ben] kept telling me about his friend. I had previously known Karyn [Ben's fiance/sister of the groom/bridesmaid], so had met Ben breifly before his endless nagging explanations of this guy that i really should meet. I'll give him credit, he was persisitant but so was I. I wanted nothing to do with another guy, I had just gotten out of a 4 year relationship with a guy that seemed so similar to what Ben was trying to explain. Fast forward to the wedding ceremony. As a part of the wedding party, we were standing in a 'receiving line' outside the church as all of the wedding guests slowly filed out of the church after the ceremony. At one point, I looked up at the oncoming line and noticed this guy. I thought to myself...'wow, mmmm [here enter butterflies & chills], so I promptly loudly whispered to Ben -- who is that guy?!?! oh my...he's so hot!! [sounds shallow, i know but -- you KNOW that feeling when you see someone that you think is so attractive -- what other term do you spring to?!] Anyway, it was HIM. The guy that Ben was tryin to tell me about all along. My heart skipped like 12 beats. We ended up meeting "officially" at the reception, and everything started to come together the very next day. Funny thing is, Ben had been warning HEbird [the FH] about me too, so HEbird knew about me before I knew about him -- and got to get a peek first! He will say even today that as soon as he saw me [he picked me out of the wedding party, never having met me, based on what Ben had been saying] he had butterflies and he just 'knew'.

Reason #1 that I believe in love at first sight.

the engagement: We had recently moved to South Carolina in pursuit of my career as a teacher. We spent a football season in Arkansas pursuing his football career dreams and that ended abruptly with a career ending knee injury, followed by a painful surgery. After a few grueling months of living at his parent's house in Ohio, we finally made the plunge to SC. I knew something was coming but wasn't quite sure when. I could have told you after dating FH for 3 months that we would end up married. Something about him was so different, so perfect. Anyway - I was coming home from a long day as a teacher [meetings, grading, etc.] and he had been calling & nagging me so much I was about at my wit's end. The last thing I had said [or shouted] to him was 'I'll be home around 5!' , and his impatient response was 'I'll see you at 10.' hah! When I finally walked in, around 5 [as I had estimated] he was just sitting in the recliner in his work clothes. My first thought work clothes?!? i knew he had gotten off work early... I was so confused! AND he had such a weird grin on his face! All odd. Our puppy was jumping at my feet and he kept telling me to pet her, but I just couldn't quite take my eyes off of his grin... When I finally bent down to pick her up I noticed that she had a ring around her collar. A ring that I had around the house since we moved in AUGUST!!!! I was so not impressed. My actual response was "sweet FH, this ring has been on the mantle for...three months now!" He was like '...well...I have been looking around all day for the perfect ring, and I just want you to have exactly what you want. I'm going to take you to pick out your dream ring.' Tears ensued [spelling?] and off we went to the jeweler. This is what I chose, and I am so lucky to have such a thoughtful FH!! I absolutely love it's unique setting, and have never seen anything quite as like mine.


JEWELRY: after much seraching & thinking, thinking & searching, I ended up with the multi strand of freshwater ivory pearls. I always knew I wanted pearls, just had to find the "it" necklace. You know what I mean! I found these beauties at Macy's for 50% off!! They have such great jewelry sales. I ended up spending [brace yourself] $55 on a necklace that was originally marked $110! Now that's a DEAL!



...and for the wrist: I searched some more, because I am a simple person it didn't take long to fall in love with many bracelets, but I knew I could find a deal. I ended up with a single strand freshwater pearl bracelet, with sterling silver clasp for a whopping $6 at Dillard's on major sale. >>I found the bracelet below, very similar to mine, at carolee. If you are still in search of the perfect set of jewels, check out the website here! There is a special section for a Bridal Collection.

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and the shoes: Shoes are always a task for me. I am 6'1" and rarely wear heels. I just don't like to tower over people, I'm already tall enough! I have never had a shoe obsession, let's face it, from college to career search, it has never been in the budget for me. However, I can always find a way to dress up a really cute pair of flats. Anyway, my FH is about 6'3" and LOVES cowboy boots, so I'm sure I could get away with a little heel on my wedding day if I really wanted to...but in comes the other problem: they don't make wedding dresses [in my budget range] at endless lengths. My dress is PERFECT length with just flats. No alterations necessary! I'm so lucky! After a wide search for some fancy bridal flats, I was coming up short. I actually came across this same shoe on a Bridal Shoe website, for almost 3x the cost! On a quick trip to Target, I spied these! I was immediately in love, and purchased these brown Mossimo creations for $24.99. Who could beat that?

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Hopefully this painfully long post leaves you with a new outlook on some of my wedding details, and not too tired of reading to come back and visit me again!

[[remember I have so much catching up to do ... I have been planning for 6 months!]]

Have a blessed evening, and be sure to come back & be updated!

.:ashley:.

DIY projects [catch up session]

I have been engaged since November 19,2008 and have recently decided to start this wonderful page to keep my family & friends in the loop. With everyone 650 miles away, this is my way of sharing my projects and ideas with those who mean the most to me. I have taken on lots of projects, in a sort of effort to keep busy, but as you also know, to save a ton of money. Success! If you can, I would recommend doing things with your own two hands. Not only am I so proud of myself and appreciative of the finished product, [i'll say it again] I have saved a lot of money.

The following projects are a compilation of what I have been doing for the past 6 months, plus more to come.

First up: Jewelry for the Bridesmaids. I love pearls. I think they are so classic and pretty, and can be worn over and over again. I wear mine with everything, come on people I am a middle school PE teacher, and I even wear them to school. So what, I like it. Anyway -- I created, destroyed, and recreated a ton of jewelry and this what I ended up with:


Like I said, very simple. The earings are definately my very favorite part of the trio, but this picture does them no justice. All items were purchased at 50% off at [my favorite] hobby lobby. Bronze faux glass pearls and Khaki faux Swavarski crystals were both used in this masterpiece creation.

Below are the jewelry folders that I made up to give the girls their jewels. I found this [super inexpensive] project here, compliments of the ever fabulous DIY bride Jenn. If you are interested in zillions of DIY projects and ideas, check out her blog at With this Ring. Mine ended up being very similar to hers, as our wedding colors are close to the same [i suppose]. Anyway, all credit to the ever crafty! These were really easy to create with some spray adhesive, scrapbooking paper and a good eye for cutting a stright edge with scissors. If you visit the above link, Jenn has typed out and explained the entire project: consider that a recommendation! At any rate, this is how mine turned out:

Next up: Bridesmaid Gift bags. I am oh so in love with this idea, as I received one from being in a friend's wedding a couple of years ago and still use it all the time! These bags started out as plain creme colored bags that I bought at Wal-Mart at the nice price of 3/$5. I would have loved to buy the already monogrammed ones in my wedding colors from some place like the Wedding Channel Store, but let's be honest: [$35 x 6 bags] not in the budget! I bought little spools of cute brown ribbon at Michael's for like 5oc each, and to town I went! I hand stitched [as you can see] the ribbon along the handles, and made small bows and attached them at the base of the strap with a button [remember, i LOVE buttons!]. I think it turned out pretty cute! These babies are not finished though - they need to see the monogrammer! Monogrammed you say? Yes! Monogramming is such a southern thing, I thought this would be a cute and personal way to incorporate my present life in the south to my 'maids.

And then I decided that I wanted something for my hair after the veil comes off. Let's be honest, I'm not wearing that thing all night long! Although it is beautiful, it's going to have to come off. The veil will be replaced with this pretty little flower that I made all by myself! I need to add some feathers, but haven't done so yet. I don't know if I wan to include white feathers, or the same brown pheasant feathers like I am using in other places of wedding decor. I made this for... I'm not even sure how cheap! The flower came off of the fabulous little dress I ordered for the flower girl, but was too big for the dress/not my thing on the dress. So I just kept it around, and I finally found a use for it. Then, I took a stirofoam ball and cut it in half. I used some of the fabulous faux pearls and swavarski crystals and attached them into the ball with twisted wire and a little super glue to keep them all in. Last thing I did was use a hot glue gun to glue the center in place. It turned out pretty cute:

Those are only the start of my DIY posts and projects. If you missed the memo [or are not in the family and do not know], I am planning a wedding for November 2009 in Ohio. Call me crazy... it will be chilly and the colorful leaves will be nearly gone. I say, I always wanted a fall wedding. As a teacher in South Carolina, my options were slim so the date was an obvious winner. I will be trying, over the next week or so to post things like:

1. My wedding shoes

2. My jewelery

3. Bridesmaid dresses

4. Cake ideas

5. Hair inspiration

6. Flower details

and I am sure many more deatils that I have been diligently working on in the past 6 months.

Now, I can recommend that you get out your bible and read Philippians 1: 1-11 which was the sermon in church this morning. Jesus Saves!

God Bless you on this Sunday!

the [saturday] purchase

Saturday is my day to go out and look for wedding related things, usually at hobby lobby. If you have never been, you need to check it out! Not only do they have great prices, they have great sales! You can find almost anything in there related to craft or home decor. Check out their weekly ad and print yourself a coupon here.

My project this weekend was finding a way to incorporate guests at the reception, but not another guestbook to sign. I was blogging around, and found a wonderful idea on {with the pixie grin} 's blog. She showed these cards:

which I would stamp with fall rubber stamps. What a great way to personally decorate the cards, and cut them out. The cards will be scattered on a table near the entrance to the reception hall for guests to write down a wish or quote of their choice. I will then use the cards [post-wedding] to make a scrapbook style memory book with pictures and the guest well wishes. $25 and a trip to hobby lobby later, I came home with this jug:

It is pretty large, but I am having a huge wedding, and who wants to reach in every 5 minutes to straighten out the cards? So, I figure, with about 4oo guests I will get about 200-300 cards to leaf through full of inspirational wonderfulness! I was also thinking about all of the ways I could use this jug after the wedding, all of the decorative things [apples, flowers, etc.] I could put in it after it's cameo at my wedding reception.

[[i'm new to blogging and am having a heck of a time inserting pictures. they insert at the very top of the post, no matter what. frustrating! how do i select where it puts the picture??]]

Let me know what you think! Is that jug too large?

[pop] i'm blogging [yikes]

i said blogging. i am new to this, and i will probably never use that word again. i will also probably never: capitalize correctly, post daily, or post a picture of my wedding dress.

I will try.

So, the point of my blog: I currently live almost 650 miles from my momma && family so I like to keep them updated on my life && wedding planning. I also think i have some pretty [fancy] wedding ideas, so for you i share.

read it && enjoy.