ummm...'scuse me?

that's what i said when i found out that all the candles at my venue have to be encased in a candle holder that covers the flame by TWO INCHES.  now, let me tell you, in the wedding votive world, that's a lot.  like it might as well be friggin' twelve inches.  sheesh.
hopefully you remember what i told you i'm doing for my flowers, and since i did finally find a votive candle holder that did cover the flame by two inches, i wanted to show you what they are!


are you ready for this?


blue. mason. jars.


okay, so not as exciting at some people think, but i adore them.  and they remind me of my grandmother (who, coincidentally, i got most of my jars from...)


feast your eyes on some candle jar porn:

source

source

source

seriously, i'm in love with these and i can't wait to see it all put together on the big day.

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in other big news, our house is OFFICIALLY clean!  like really and actually clean!  kyle's grandparents came into town this week to see his great aunt (who lives nearby) and they wanted to see the house, so we spent a few days picking up and organizing all our crap.  it's SO NICE to be organized.  huge relief.  and now i can focus on wedding invites this weekend!  i also have my first dress fitting, so my mom is coming back to wichita to spend the weekend, so it will be a wedding filled weekend!  yay!

my "other" wedding

the other day, i found my "other" wedding.  you know, the wedding that i would have planned if i were to get married again.  (hey, i just thought of this....there's still time for vow renewals!)

ironically, it's still in my color scheme, which is the main reason i clicked on it...to get some inspiration/ideas for my programs.

i am LOOOVING this wedding...80s high school sweethearts?!?  hello, if that doesn't scream "catie" than i don't know what does.  i mean, other than "retroish family-affair kid-friendly i-do-what-i-want awesomeness" which is what my real wedding is.  :)

oh my, i might just have to start blogging about wedding inspiration, because it just makes me smile every day!  :)

i love a good chair.  i can't help it, i'm an interior designer for christ's sake.  and the bunting made out of an old school jump rope?  friggin' adorable!

oh, handwritten font...i SO wanted you for my invites...but you just didn't fit anywhere!  sigh....how cute would it have been if they put an arrow through that heart?  just sayin...

a report card style menu and schedule of events?  adorable!

i love hand drawn elements.  i almost hand drew a few antique frames for my invites and scanned them in, but in the end, i really like what i did (post to come...eventually).  if a cassette doesn't represent the 80s, than i don't know what does!

i love their outfits...that blusher veil is awesome.  don't show kyle though, he'll want to wear a hat to our wedding...i wanted a short dress at first, but changed my mind later.  i got the best of both worlds though, i'm wearing a short dress out to the bars after the reception (yes, you read that right, we are going to the bars after the reception).

okay...ONE MORE!  i love this idea of the "pass a note" guest book, too cute!  we are doing a "recipe for love" guest book...that i have yet to complete!  i did, however, locate and spray paint a recipe card tin (thanks, mom!)

all images from http://www.elizabethannedesigns.com/blog/2010/06/23/1980s-retro-high-school-love-wedding-ideas/  and http://www.thesweetestoccasion.com/2010/06/80s-school-theme-wedding-ideas/

milk glass vases

so, i said i was going to work on blogging some more...here we go!  i think i've officially annoyed and bored the crap out of everyone in my life by telling them all about my wedding, so i'll just move on to you all!


okay, so this is probably a repeat of some of you.


deal with it.

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early on in our engagement, i started gathering information from all my recently married friends on where to find inspiration and ideas.  one of the best websites, pointed out by my friend megan, was stylemepretty.com.

oh. emm. gee.

love them, loooooove them!  they have the most gorgeous weddings and inspirations i've ever seen!

anyways...one of the things that kept popping up on SMP was milk glass vases.  i LOVED the idea!  i started gathering some other inspiration images and went to my florist (aka, my mom's friend Cindy) and she also loved the idea!

here's a few of the pics i've been gathering:

seriously, what's not to love about those vases!?!

so i started searching online and found that milk glass vases are very expensive.  don't believe me?  check out ebay.  yikes!

being the thrifty self i am, i started scouring thrift shops here in wichita.

SCORE!  i've been able to find most of my vases in varying prices, but the majority have been for under a buck.

dumb ol' ebay.

i'm not even going to tell you how many i've collected.  it's a lot.  an embarrassing amount.  :)  more than enough for 3-5 vases per table, which was my goal.  and i've got a few extra that i gathered just for myself.  i may have opened a giant can of worms here...

happy father's day!

well, i've been a failure as a blogger lately.  i promise to get some wedding projects ready to post soon...


in the mean time.


happy father's day to my dear old dad (who didn't pick up the phone this evening, but it's okay, because neither did kyle's dad...) and to all the dad's out there!

have a great one!

warning - adult language

can someone please do this when they get my wedding invitation?

mmmk? you'll be my friend forever.

sorry to all...

i've been MIA for a while and probably will continue to be for a few more weeks.  more later on all that jazz...

in honor of mom's out there everywhere on this mother's day:

love you, mom!

ummm....oops?

sorry guys!  i totally just realized that i left you guys hanging...oops!


without further ado...my dress!

front

back

so...i'm showing you this on the model first because the dress i tried on was 8 sizes too big!  so, the pictures i have aren't the best...

the front will probably not go so low on me and the dress is obviously a little long...

i LOVE the back and how it dips slightly.  you'll have to look at the model to see that, it doesn't show well with the large clamp on it.  :)

close up of the lace and my favorite part - DOTTED SWISS!!

close up of the lace and scallops of the top part.  the beading is only on the top half of the dress.

i absolutely LOVE my dress!  it's a mori lee dress and we got it at kari lynn's in mcpherson, ks.  it combines all of my favorite parts of every dress i tried on, the lace, the dotted swiss, the modified sweetheart neckline, the small amount of beading, and the intricate detail of the scallops!