Joleen & Kenneth's PJ&TR-6/7/08 Lcl Wed & Disneymoon-Updtd 9/21 Honeymoon ROCKS On!

[joleen76]

First of all....sorry for not keeping up with this PJ ladies. I will do better!

I am having a major freak out this week. I'm down to almost 3 months before the wedding and I still feel like I have so much to do!

So back to the PJ.

After we decided to have the "real" wedding, we had to pick a date! I thought it should be after the kids were out of school so that we could find babysitters while we went on our Honeymoon! But on the other hand I didn't want it to be to late in the summer when it was soooooo hot. So, I picked the first weekend in June. The neat thing about it, is June 7th is the day after my dad's birthday. The first thing was deciding would we have it at our church? Kenneth and I both wanted that even though I had always kind of had in the back of my mind maybe getting married in the church my parents got married in. Even though they are now divorced. Oh well. I digress. I had to find out if the church was available and fast!

Yay! It was! We thought a afternoon wedding would be best so that out of town guests could drive in the morning of and go home in the evening. We decided on a 3pm wedding.

Now we have a date! And a time! What now? My step-mom volunteered to help me. Thank god! I had no idea what to do. Well other than the basics. I need a dress, flowers, etc.

We decided to go with invitations first because she knew a great place! Why invitations first? I have no idea....but hey, they are out of the way! Oh and thank you notes too.

Here are some pictures.

The envelopes

The response cards

The thank you cards

More to come!

 

[joleen76]

So I've gotten the church reserved and the invitations at this point, but I don't know my budget! I don't have my dress yet! It was the end of January and the wedding is in June!

Lots of not yet's at this point as well. How many bridesmaids/groomsmen? DH says 4 originally to which I cringe imensly since I know the budget is to be small. So I talk him down to 3. 3 should be do able right? Now who will they be? This was so agonizing for me. Who will be the MOH? Do I pick my sister? Who is not my best friend but is close to me, or do I pick my best friends wife who is pretty close to me as well? I really agonized over this decision, but in the end I had to ask myself, who is really up to helping me with the wedding and the showers etc? That was a no brainer. My best friends wife. Hence forth known as the MOH. Yay! Once decision made! Next who will be my 3rd bridesmaid? Bear in mind that my best friends list reads like this.....DH...my dad....John (best friend since 6th grade)....James (other best friend since 6th grade)....John's Wife (MOH). In the end I decided on a friend of mine from work who is also getting married this summer. DH says I stress WAY to much on each little decision for this wedding, but I just don't see how not to stress about them!

Okay, so now I have my bridesmaids, YAY!

I need that dress!

Graciously my MOH offers to come over to my town from hers. She lives about an hour away from me and go dress shopping. I knew my budget was low so I needed to go to a discount or chain bridal store. My consultant wasn't much help, but my MOH was awesome. We tried on about 10 dresses before I found "the dress".

This is one of the runner's up

Second view of runner up

And now the dress!!!!

The front! I have to get the cap sleeves altered.

The back with the veil

And since my MOH was with me.....I had her try on the dress I was thinking for the bridesmaids. Luckly it looked great. Although she would kill me if she knew I was putting this picture on here.

What a relief. I have the BM's picked and their dresses. My dress is bought and the only alteration needed is on the cap sleeves! I even bought the shoes. I was feeling really great at this point, thinking I had accomplished sooooooo much. Which I had done some major things, but oh so much is left to be done!

Next up the photographer.....the cake tastings......OMG I need a florist....and how can I save money and what can I do myself?

 

[Lizby]

Your dress is GORGEOUS! Were you able to buy it off the rack?

 

[joleen76]

Your dress is GORGEOUS! Were you able to buy it off the rack?

Thank you for the sweet comment! Yes!!! I was able to buy it off the rack and I was lucky enough that the shoes I picked out were the perfect height so I didn't have to have it altered. It was truly a find! I am only 5'4 but have long legs. I think that MUST have been my saving grace for a change. It is usually the opposite in dresses.

 

[newyearsbride]

Love your dress, so pretty! I really like your BM dresses, very pretty too! Hopefully you will have your dress ready in time?

 

[joleen76]

Love your dress, so pretty! I really like your BM dresses, very pretty too! Hopefully you will have your dress ready in time?

Thank you! They told me at the store that since I only need the cap sleeves shortened that they need the dress 4-6 weeks before the wedding to steam it repair any missing/falling beading and the sleeves. I'm planning on taking it in 8 weeks ahead just in case. I don't want to leave anything to chance! I'm one of those worrysome brides I guess. DH keeps telling me to chill out...but I'm thinking that's a lost cause.

 

[newyearsbride]

Thank you! They told me at the store that since I only need the cap sleeves shortened that they need the dress 4-6 weeks before the wedding to steam it repair any missing/falling beading and the sleeves. I'm planning on taking it in 8 weeks ahead just in case. I don't want to leave anything to chance! I'm one of those worrysome brides I guess. DH keeps telling me to chill out...but I'm thinking that's a lost cause.

No prob. I'm glad you're going to have enough time... but I think we all know how that is at least a little... I'm worrisome as well. I started budgeting for this wedding a year before we got engaged LOL.

 

[Keira1387]

Hey thank you so much! I love your PJ by the way! I'm one of your lurkers.

Haha! Lurk away! Where did you find those monogram thank you cards? I love them! Your wedding dress is gorgoeus!!!

 

[joleen76]

Haha! Lurk away! Where did you find those monogram thank you cards? I love them! Your wedding dress is gorgoeus!!!

I found the thank you cards at a local stationary/invitation shop here in Dallas called The Social Bee. They were suprisingly pretty reasonable. $30 for 100.

Thank you for the compliment on my dress...you always worry if it's as pretty as you think it is and you always have that woman doubt of "do I look fat in this?"

 

[Ennazus8810]

Love your engagement story. My husband and I were friends (only talking once a month or so when we would see each other out) for almost a year. We started dating, he moved in less than a month later, we were engaged within a week after that, and married 7 months later. I still love him to death, and love the fact that we didn't wait. I had waited long enough for him to come into my life, and I knew it was "right". Congrats!

 

[joleen76]

Love your engagement story. My husband and I were friends (only talking once a month or so when we would see each other out) for almost a year. We started dating, he moved in less than a month later, we were engaged within a week after that, and married 7 months later. I still love him to death, and love the fact that we didn't wait. I had waited long enough for him to come into my life, and I knew it was "right". Congrats!

I love your engagement story too!!! How sweet!!! I just love it! I never bought the you'll just know it, and it happens so fast stuff until it happened to me. Now I can say the waiting was worth it, but I'm not a patient person so the waiting still was bad.

 

[padisneyfour]

what a pretty dress and loved the candid of your MOH.... great choices! congrats on finding your DRESS!

 

[joleen76]

So my dad finally got back to me on what my budget was, and while I was free to spend MY money over and above that on whatever I choose, it was less than I had hoped for. That's alright though, I'm not having to pay for it all. Now I have to put on my budgeting hat and figure out where my money is best spent and what is most important to me. As in my previous post says, my dress was the most important thing. Why is that? I know it's a sidebar but, I guess I figure it's my day and everything else can go wrong as long as the bride looks beautiful?

Anyway, so I decided my big catagories of money are 1) the dress, 2) the photographer, 3) the cake, & 4) the flowers. (and not necessarily in order of costs) Luckly I didn't have to worry much about the location since we are members of the church we are having the wedding & reception at. There are only nominal fees. Whoo Hoo!! One thing in our favor! So I have the dress, the invitations, and the church booked. Now on to my next big money hog. The photographer. Let me just say, I was so nieve going into this experience. I'm sure it was funny to watch me and see me have these looks on my face of WHAT??? HOW MUCH!?!?!? Luckly, I did most of my pricing on-line before I made phone calls so I did not embarass myself too much. It took me about a month to find a photographer that not only could I afford, but that I really LOVED!! We are so blessed by the one we got. My husband says we are really lucky I have such a great personality. We were only able to book the photographer due to my great ability to talk through words. You see I e-mailed him on the slimmest chance he might book a high season wedding at a lower price. I know such a shot in the dark, but I just fell in love with his work and so desperately wanted him to shoot our wedding! So I figured, plead your case....what's the worst he can say..no? So I did. The first response was very nice and tentative. But it wasn't a no! I thought....well it's not a no....try a little more. Tell him more about us and our story. It turns out he loved our story so much he agreed! Can you believe it? I couldn't! I ran around the house screaming in excitement. Kenneth was looking at me like I was crazy until I calmed down enough to tell him why I was so excited. He was excited to, but not like me you know.

In the end we added a "mini-Safari" which is an engagement shoot. We decided to pay for that ourselves. We really don't have any pictures of us, and thought it would be great. Also as a nice perk for doing so, Jim, (the photographer) is giving us the guest book for our wedding. It will have pictures from our engagement session on the pages. I can't wait! The session is actually a week from today! I told Kenneth we are going this weekend to buy him something to wear for the pictures. He said what you don't like my jeans? This is an inside joke for us. I bought him jeans for Christmas, only he told me the wrong size. So now we is wearing jeans that are two sizes to big and they are soooo baggy. It's funny really.

Oh the link to the photographers website in case you are curious to see his work is http://www.jimrode.com/

Big plans are in the work for the next week. I have a cake tasting today! Then next Wednesday I have a meeting with a florist. I just hope she is within my budget and can do what I want! Whatever that is....Honestly I am struggling with the flowers part.

 

[joleen76]

what a pretty dress and loved the candid of your MOH.... great choices! congrats on finding your DRESS!

Thank you! I love the picture of my MOH although she HATES it! Oh well I have to have some joys in this whole process with all the stresses right?

 

[michellem1118]

Who are you meeting with for cakes & flowers? I still have all my research from last summer when we were booking our vendors (lots of info, since we're living in NYC right now), so I might be able to help you find someone reasonable in price. Let me know if you need any help.

 

[joleen76]

Who are you meeting with for cakes & flowers? I still have all my research from last summer when we were booking our vendors (lots of info, since we're living in NYC right now), so I might be able to help you find someone reasonable in price. Let me know if you need any help.

Hey Michelle! Hope you had a great trip here to Dallas! Was it last month? I would love some vendor information you have. That would be just awesome!

 

[michellem1118]

Hey Michelle! Hope you had a great trip here to Dallas! Was it last month? I would love some vendor information you have. That would be just awesome!

If you haven't checked out Hot Chocolates in Hurst yet for cakes, they're totally worth the drive! ~$2.50 per slice, super moist & tasty, and they can create anything. The website is www.hotchocolates.net.

What other vendors are you still looking for?

 

[joleen76]

If you haven't checked out Hot Chocolates in Hurst yet for cakes, they're totally worth the drive! ~$2.50 per slice, super moist & tasty, and they can create anything. The website is www.hotchocolates.net.

What other vendors are you still looking for?

Florists!!! And a good one that's not to expensive! I know it's like a shot in the dark, but I'm still hoping.

 

[Leleluvsdis]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding... We are getting married on the same day! Oh and btw we had the same runner up dress as well!!! how funny!!!

 

[joleen76]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding... We are getting married on the same day! Oh and btw we had the same runner up dress as well!!! how funny!!!

Thank you! Congradulations to you too!! How neat we are getting married on the same day! That is too funny we had the same runner up dress too!! It wasn't that, that dress was bad. It wasn't. It just didn't have that "wow" me feel when I had it on. I was fine with taking it off. The one I ended up buying it was different. I wore it for a long time while we were there. The lady at the store even commented on how long I'd had it on. I just thought to myself "well I'm buying it...I'll wear it as long as I like". LOL