cop out...

uh, yeah, i'm copping out on you guys once again.  at some point in time, i will finish telling you (yes, all five of you) about our honeymoon trip.  promise!

tonight i'll actually be on the road, heading up to a Kansas State University IIDA meeting!  whoop whoop!  i love visiting my alma mater!  the fact that i'll be eating at So Long's doesn't have anything to do with how happy i am about a Manhattan visit....no....nothing at all....

so i'm writing this post a little early and scheduling it to post later.  that's the first time i've ever done that!  wow, the things you learn on the internet.

anyway, i realized this morning that i hadn't shown off my wedding pictures on my blog.  yes, i did plaster them all over facebook, but that's probably only for a while.  i want to go through, pick my favorites and whittle it down to one album.  that's only 200 pictures, so i guess i better pick my favorites of my favorites!  so many to choose from!

here's the link to the blog post from my awesomely talented wedding photographer, Jackie Cooper, of jackiecooperphoto!

I WAS FEATURED!

well, maybe featured isn't quite the word...but one of my DIY projects for our wedding made it on DIY feature page for my absolute FAVORITE wedding website, WEDDINGBEE.COM!

actually, i've been on there before, for the penguin toppers i made that i've already showed you, but yesterday our guest book (that doubled as our Quaker wedding certificate) was featured as well and this time i got a badge for it!

over there
--------------->
is the badge

you can see the certificate here and the penguins here.

what is a Quaker wedding certificate, you ask?  well, it's been made pretty popular as a version of a guest book in the past few years, but it goes back to when Quaker's were able to get married at any time that they want.  basically, when a couple felt that they were ready to marry, they would stand up during a meeting (basically, it's a church service) and state their intention to marry.  the meeting of Friends, would then assign a clearness committee to meet with the couple and make sure that they were ready for marriage.  then, after the clearness committee had decided that the couple was ready, they would recommend at the monthly meeting that the wedding be taken "under their care" and assign a different group of people to ensure that the couple had everything they needed for their wedding, which included making the wedding certificate.  essentially, Quakers are allowed to marry themselves, as traditionally, they had non-led meetings (in other words, they had no preacher) and the certificate was to bind the relationship together by everyone who had witnessed the ceremony.  in fact, many Quaker churches don't require that you register your marriage with the government and many governments will still accept the Quaker certificate as adequate proof of your marriage.

anyway, i thought the tradition was pretty cool, i took my own spin on it and actually just designed the thing in adobe indesign and printed it on our large format printer at work (shhhh....don't tell on me....)

i love the way it turned out, but i do wish i had had time to paint one.  i'm hoping i can modge podge it onto a canvas and paint over the printed words.  but, we'll see, i love it the way it is and just can't make up my mind!  my favorite part was that kyle's uncle already knew what it was!  (he married us and is a Quaker preacher, in a much more contemporary Evangelical Friends church in Oklahoma City.)  he said that he and his wife have one as well.  i love that everyone that attended the wedding got to sign our certificate, in a sense, especially since in Kansas the couple doesn't sign their own wedding certificate.  just two witnesses (thanks, erin and eric!!) and the preacher sign it.  we think it's so weird that you don't sign it yourselves...but, whatever, that's Kansas for 'ya.

taking another break

from posting about the honeymoon that is.

to show off some of my favorite photobooth pictures!  yay!  

{warning, picture heavy post ahead!}

{ps - all pictures taken by jackie cage, our second shooter to our wedding photographer, jackie cooper!  i think anyway...i guess i should ask one of the jackie's if cage was the only photobooth shooter.  either way, she's the only one that took pictures of me in the photobooth!}

i loved all of the pictures with the kids in them!  they are just SO creative!  these are my cousin amy's two little girls...precious!

awww, my bridesmaid kara and her beau (and my coworker) daniel.  my favorite part is the flowers in daniel's mouth.  daniel, i just noticed you rocked the argyle socks!  sweeeeeeet!

my new brother-in-law and sister-in-law!  i think they may have won most props per person in this one!  those glasses are awesome, i hope they survived, keeping those for possible halloween costumes in the future!

 i love this one for a few reasons...micah hates weddings, but he came to mine!  i feel so special!  also, these two have to be some of the most photogenic people i've ever met.  now, i don't usually pour over tons and tons of wedding photos (let's hope that only happens once in my life time....it's a bit overwhelming) but i have a feel that erin's photog skills give her great intuition in front of the camera, too, because she rocked the photos, there isn't a single bad one of her!

but, this photos also just cracks me up.  the glove is a little creepy, micah.

OH.MY.GOD.  how can this photo NOT make it!  these two are related to kyle and have to be some of the cutest kids in the world.  sophie caught the bouquet and andrew rocked the dance floor ALL NIGHT.  what  trooper!  those mustaches are a trip on them.  love it!

 who has four thumbs and is an awesome newlywed couple.  THESE GUYS!  the avila-william's family!

 keeping with the newlywed theme we've got going here, kyle's groomsman, ryan, got married two weeks after us!  (in a DROP DEAD GORGEOUS wedding, don't worry, pictures coming soon, in the honeymoon posts!  oh, and did i mention, their engagement photos are on a really popular wedding blog?  yeah, they are that awesome.)  these two are hilarious and absolutely perfect for each other.

 i suppose i can't pick photos of the best man and one groomsman without putting up one of the other groomsman, luke.  oh wait, this is one of the most appropriate ones.  okay, that's a lie, but this is the funniest one!  

don't worry, they weren't the only ones who made my vintage ladies gloves into something dirty...

 HAHAHA!  the look on sarah's face (on the left) is freaking hilarious.  so serious!  and michael looks a little worried there...probably because we all want him to propose already so we can have another awesome wedding to go to next year...hmmm....

 eva showing of her muscles while her husband (yet another set of newlyweds....we all jumped in at once, i guess!) shows off his miller lite.

 my brother, chris, and his adorable girlfriend amanda.  they have some hilarious ones, but this one is the ONLY picture i have of him on my wedding day where he is smiling.  and it's cute.

 more kiddo pictures!  ummm...i taught this little one how to swim...when she was 2.  i'm getting old.

 i'm not sure kevin was quite ready for the photo, but how adorable is his wife, sarah!?!  get it grrrrrrrll!  and yes, another set of newlyweds.

 you would be correct in assuming that three of these four guys are related.  they are the brother's dunn!  michael is admitting he's the only non-dunn, i think.

 who doesn't love pretty girls in dresses with mustaches?!?

one of the better group shots of the entire wedding party.  if only jackie had told poor mike he wasn't in the shot.  :(

and last, but not least, i LOVE that the band got in on the photobooth action!  just shows what a fun group they are!

nerd alert!

i'm too busy watching the election results to continue my honeymoon post from yesterday...yes, i know, i'm a giant nerd.  so, to entertain you this evening, here's a list of five super nerdy things you may or may not know about me.

1.  i love lists - HAH!  if you read my blog ever, you know this.  i'm constantly making lists.  i make lists of lists i need to make!  some call it organized...it would probably be organized if i actually attempted to DO the things on the list.  although, to be honest, whenever i check a thing off my to-do lists i get a little giddy.

2.  i love to read - anything and everything.  i'll read a book that got the worst reviews in history, just because it's a book.  i always had my head in a book when i was younger.  i think it used to annoy my parents, but hey, at least i was reading and not doing drugs, right?  that's gotta be saying something.  the sad thing is i don't feel like i get to read as much as i used to.  i've been reading barack obama's book dreams of my father for almost 6 months now.  granted, i was planning a wedding and going on my honeymoon and other things, but it's small enough i should have finished it in less than a week.  great book, by the way, i love the writing style.  and he lived in indonesia, which is awesome.

3.  harry potter - yup, i'm obsessed.  that's probably enough said, you guys know who harry potter is, just admit he's awesome.

4.  i'm slightly ocd - this probably ties in a little with #1, huh?  a few examples: i sort my skittles and other colored candies by color and i eat them in ROY G BIV order, table confetti (you know, the stuff people put out at weddings and parties and stuff?) yeah, i pick it all up and stack in with like words/pictures and line it up in front of my chair, i sort anything and everything in some sort of order, alphabetical, numerical or by color, and i count all the time (i just found out this is weird...kyle says it is anyway) i count things like how many steps it takes me to get from one place to another or how many stairs i just walked up.  that's all i can think of right now, but i'm sure there is more.

5.  politics - this isn't really nerdy, a lot of people are into politics, but i'm really into researching and getting into the issues.  i hate when people just vote by party, so i look into the voting records and personal beliefs of each and every candidate before vote.

i'm sure there is more, but i'll save that all for another post!

and because no post is fun without a picture...

PHOTOBOOTH!!  my mom sewed the curtains!

a few final wedding projects...

i'm BAAAAAAAAAACK!

---------------------------

i kept a few wedding projects until the last minute.  i'm a bit of a procrastinator, i have to admit...  :)

anyway, one of the last minute projects that we wanted to do was a cake topper for the grooms cake.  kyle had found some really cute polymer clay ones online that i became obsessed with, so i decided to recreate some (for, well, a lot cheaper than we could have purchased them for.  just an fyi).  i adore penguins, so he had found some really cute ones.

so a trip to michael's, two bags of pluffy and about two hours later, we had our penguin groom's cake topper!

here they are in all their little penguin glory:

i painted the bride's bow red and the groom's tie aqua.  i LOVED them!  when i get the professional pictures, i'll be sure to post a few!  i figured i'd have to settle for something not quite as cool as what he had found online, but i guess those two years of ceramics in college really paid off!  yay, fine arts!

project total:

clay - 2 bags of clay at $2.99 (used a 40% off coupon)

paint - 2 bottles of paint at $.99

-------------------

around $8

$160 cake topper found online can suck it!

engagement pictures

i know i'm way late getting these up here, since i've had the cd for like...oh...6 months?  i dunno, it's been a while anyway.


here's our engagement pictures!  we had a blast taking them.  even kyle opened up a bit and SMILED.  now that never happens.  or at least rarely happens.  in photos.  i mean he smiles in real life all the time, just not in photos.  i'm glad our package included engagement pictures, it was a great way to get to know our photographer before the wedding and see how she works and so she can get to know our personalities a little.


all photos by jackie cooper, check her out at jackiecooperphoto.com.

i think this is one of my favorites.  i look like i have a secret or something...

jackie appeased us by letting us bring along the brats.  look at sly, such a model.

i love this one!

we had an impromptu shoot at the house when we went to change.

i heart sun flare!

another favorite.  we are hoping to get one just like this during the wedding with all the guests in the background!  i can't wait to see that one!

doesn't it look like he likes me or something?!?  :)

this is over by my work, so i threw this one in there, and i love that necklace that i happened to find at my grandparents house the last time i was there.

LOVE!  peaks of the exploration place, looking into the future, and the colors look amazing in this.  it was almost pitch black when she took this, but i love it anyway!

when the boy is away...

...the crafter will play!

so, probably something you don't know unless you have been one of the poor souls that has had to listen to me drone on and on about my wedding, is that i'm pretty much DIYing the shiz outta my wedding.  why?  because i love to craft.  and i love weddings.  and i'm cheap.  so why not?  :)

[that being said, i'm SO INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL for the crew i have handling a lot of the projects that i took on and am now like, "holy crap, i'm getting married in almost insertnumberofdaysatthetime days and i don't have this insertrandomprojecthere done yet!"  they have SAVED MY ASS on a lot of this.]

more on the awesome people helping me out later, but i thought this was hilarious.  i found it via weddingsandcookies who found it via 100layercake (side note: how did i miss this?  damn you google reader and my ability to fly through super fast while trying to decide what to read!!!)  and it's totally appropriate being that i'm going to attempt to tackle over half of my "wedding to-do list" this weekend.

anyway...this is awesome.  and so true.  i needed this about, OOOOOOOOOH, 8 or so months ago.  but that's okay, i'll survive, thanks to my awesome crafting crew!  enjoy.

source

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.

-------------------------------------------------

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.

-----------

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...

warning - adult language

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

mmmk? you'll be my friend forever.

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!

the UUUUUUUGLY!

okay, okay, none of them are THAT ugly!  but it ain't gonna be pretty, that's for sure.


without further ado...

okay, so there's nothing really that ugly about this dress.  and it just does nothing for my body type at all.  and i hate pick ups, for sure.  moving on....

HAHAHAHA!  look at my face!  there's no pretending that i liked this dress.  i looked and felt ginormous in it!  and i thought it aged me a ton.  don't you think?  is it just me?  i think i look over 30 in this picture, but maybe it's because i'm actually frowning.  i'm SOOOO obviously not loving this dress.  wow, the picture is even worse than it was in person.

i told you that you'd get to see my in some mermaid dresses!!  this is actually a drop waist, but it's low enough i'll call it a mermaid.  and, well, i looked like a friggin' stuffed sausage.  'nuff said!

in case you needed further proof, another low drop waist.  this dress would be so beautiful on a skinny minny!  look at that rouching and bead work.  swoon!  seriously, i wish i could have loved it.  

i actually did like this dress when i had it on, but i thought the belt hit me kind of weird.  and now that i see the picture, i'm putting it in the ugly section.  because, don't you think it makes me look all weirdly proportioned?  is it just me?  that sash just looks really strange.

HAHAHAHAHA!  look at my poor boobs, they are just DYING to get out of this dress!  again, this dress would be so gorgeous on someone who was proportioned right (although, i have to say, i really hate this color...it washes everyone out...) but only about half of my boobs made it into the dress.

up next...THE DRESS!