Dave and Katerina (September 15th, 2012 at Merry Spring Nature Park) Got my Dress!!!!

[Fay]

Love the shoes and Srug!

XX

 

[librarygeek]

Congratulations! Looking forward to following along with all of your plans. And those shoes are too cute!

 

[suorkaterina]

So I spent half of the day yesterday doing some research and I finally decided on our wedding colors. Turquoise, Red and White, with black velvet accents. Flowers are going to be mainly red Gerber Daisies. Anyhow, here's an inspiration picture. I'm going to work on an inspiration board in photoshop later this week. But for now here are some general color inspirations. This is more blue than turquoise but, just picture it a little greener. =)

 

[suorkaterina]

Congratulations! Looking forward to following along with all of your plans. And those shoes are too cute!

Thanks, I'm starting to get excited again. It being so far away, I go through phases being eager to plan.

I do love the shoes, but I'm more of a barefoot gal. We'll see how long they last through the ceremony=P I'll have my feet in the grass before the "I Do" I'm sure.

 

[KristiLyn]

Beautiful colors! I love it!

 

[librarygeek]

Love the colors! That combination is so beautiful. There is another bride on here using a similar blue and red scheme, but also with a cotton candy pink for her carnival themed wedding They are such great, vibrant colors!

 

[suorkaterina]

Love the colors! That combination is so beautiful. There is another bride on here using a similar blue and red scheme, but also with a cotton candy pink for her carnival themed wedding They are such great, vibrant colors!

I wanted something bright. I wish I could get married at the Carribean Beach Resort so...I'm hoping to get a steel drum band too.

 

[suorkaterina]

So today I was talking to my mother about wedding stuff and my worry about us being able to save the money for the wedding given the fact that things keep taking away from my wedding fund(car problems, student loans) and my fiance has his own bills sucking up most of his paycheck. Anyhow my mom starts talking about maybe having to let go of either the wedding or the honeymoon. I would rather have a great time away together than pay for a party. It is all about us anyway. But now I'm all depressed. I had a plan, a limited budget, a few close friends, a pretty dress...I try to stay positive about money. I'm a law of attraction believer. But the way things are going right now I don't know if we will have all the money for both.

Anyhow, I've been thinking about taking our Disney honeymoon in Feb. instead of Sept as we had planned, to maximize our stay for the least amount of money. I thought we could hire an officient and photographer and bring them into the park, have a very brief exchange of vows in front of the tiki dudes(my favorite spot) and have the photographer follow us around MK, and then end the evening at the desert party(if they still are going) durring Wishes(when we got engaged. Maybe even on the same day we got engaged.

Perhaps we can plan for a vow renewal in a few years with a big party for all. I will be sad to let go of the traditional wedding though...especially the dress. I was really looking forward to dress shopping.

 

[suorkaterina]

Well I have had some time to think, weigh the options and research the alternatives. This morning I checked prices for Sept vs Feb for our honeymoon and crowds as well as prices are cheaper in September, including air fare strangely enough. Also, I really don't want to get married in my least favorite season of the year. So, I'm back to plan A. But this time, it's shrinking. I'm feeling much better after my freak out, and better equipped to plan this! I'm going to prioritize and try to get the most for my money. So here are some of my ideas, and my budget.

1. With free-dining considered, King bed room at CBR, tickets to MNSSHP, Food and Wine, Air fare etc. I've budgeted $5,000.


2. Merry Spring charges $600 for the entire day if you have upwards of 50 people and need a tent. This was my original plan. Instead I've cut my guest list down to 35 people and eliminated the need for a tent. We will use their indoor area if it rains or is cool in Sept. It's small but very cute, lots of book shelves and windows to the gardens. So that takes it down to $400 and i save on the tent and most likely the chair rental as well since they have a bunch there.

3. Although I desperately wanted a steel drum band, my priority is photography so instead my money will go into a combination engagement/wedding package that's $1500 but I'm hoping to get her down to $1000 or less because i don't need as much wedding coverage as she offers. Durring the reception I'm going to have my photographer friends shoot and have cameras on the tables for people to play with. I also plan to have my camera set up on a tripod with some fun props for a little photobooth.

4. I thought i would go ahead and get into a Disney theme for us and go back to my original plan which was Black/White/Red. I've always wanted a mini monorail and cinderella castle to go around my tree, so i might get those and use them to be the food table decorations. i also thought I'd gather disney board games for entertainment and spend the day playing games in our formalwear.

So those are my ideas. i think i can get away with a casual atmosphere and a 2-3000$ budget. I had to get my priorities straight. Vows in front of those I love, Disney new experiences, and lots of pictures. So there we have it. DF will go along with anything. At this point I think he just wants me to stop changing my mind =P

 

[suorkaterina]

I need some advise. The chairs in the sapce we are renting for the wedding look like this.

How exactly do you cover such a strange shaped chair? Hunter green is sadly not one of my colors. I wonder if it would be cheaper to rent different chairs than to cover up these. Thoughts?

 

[librarygeek]

First of all, I love your current plans for the wedding. I really like that it's casual and fun - it sounds like it would be such a fun wedding to be at! Disney board games sounds like an awesome time

Unfortunately, I don't really know about the chair covers - it does look like it would be difficult to cover those, maybe someone else will have an idea?

 

[suorkaterina]

Guess what I just bought on ebay!

2 Just Married buttons! Yay!

 

[suorkaterina]

First of all, I love your current plans for the wedding. I really like that it's casual and fun - it sounds like it would be such a fun wedding to be at! Disney board games sounds like an awesome time

Unfortunately, I don't really know about the chair covers - it does look like it would be difficult to cover those, maybe someone else will have an idea?

Still working on those chair covers. I have no idea. Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and rent white ones.

 

[suorkaterina]

All about the dress: So I had planned a day in September to go with my bridesmaid(from NY and her mother) my aunt(from MA) and my mom and bestfriend/matron of honor. This past weekend I was looking through David's Bridal website and found THE DRESS. It screamed my name. It was on sale on line only though. Here is the dress.

So I sent a picture of it to all my ladies and they were all "Woah, that is totally you!" So they helped me decide to run to David's Bridal and try on anything they had similar in shape to this dress. I only had a small window of time. It takes me almost two hours to get to the David's Bridal in Maine. So when I got there i told them I'd never tried on a wedding dress before and before I knew it there were half a dozen dresses waiting for me in the dressing room. So I started with the dress that was most like the dress I loved online. I put it on, got out in front of the mirror and started to cry. The i realized nobody was there to see me, no Mom, no best friend, and I started to cry some more. This dress was amazing. I felt like a greek goddess. It crosses in front with a beaded band and has straps(which I was really wanting) It's chiffon and floats so pretty. It's casual enough for my garden wedding but classy too.

Anyhow, the girl next to me and her mother loved it and so did the consultant. So I moved on to see what other shaped dresses worked on me. As a big girl I never expected any dress to look so great. Trying on clothes is my least favorite thing to do. But every dress she picked out could have worked. As we went through they all had potential. In the end i went back to the original and i got teary eyed again. She put a veil on me and I was never taking that dress off. The other mother said it was her favorite too. I asked about the price and it was LESS than the online sale dress. So I decided instead of losing such a good deal, I better buy it. So I did.

Later i brought it to my Mom's to try it on for her. She said it was nice, but didn't get emotional over it like I hoped she would. Putting it on at home without the corset thing they give you made the dress not fit as well. Then Mom took a picture and it really doesn't look as good in the picture as it does in person. I'm still convinced this is my dress though. I'm very happy with it. I just wish all my ladies could have been there to see it. I really wanted to have my "Say Yes to the Dress" moment with them.

I can't find a picture of this dress online! So here is the one with me in it. It's not great but you get the basic idea.

 

[suorkaterina]

Things are moving along. I've paid the deposit on Merry Spring Nature Park for September 15th 2012. Well, my mom did. It's her wedding present to us. With her paying for that I am saved 600$ to get a tent so I can have the outdoor wedding I want. We've decided to invite 60 people and expect 50 which saves on renting a portable toilet as well. Over 50 and you have to have one. I'm looking forward to our intimate and simple wedding.

I've started Weight Watchers again and seem to be taking it a bit more seriously this time. I have a lot to lose to get to goal but i figure if i can lose just 20 pounds by next year i will feel better how my dress fits. Right now it takes some serious underthings to hold me in but that stuff makes me so uncomfortable. In my dreams I lose so my weight that I have to get a whole new dress! While that may still happen, I'm certainly not going to count on it.

This weekend I'm taking my Mom, Aunt, MOH and my bridesmaid and her mother to the bridal shop. Since I already bought the dress I'm just going to try it on for them and have them help me pick a veil. Then we are going to concentrate on watching MOH try on dresses since my one other bridesmaid is currently pregnant. Then maybe look at MOTB dresses and flower girl dresses. My MOH's daughter is going to be flower girl but she doesn't know it yet. I'm giving her the dress to tell her. I can't wait! The I'm going to look for jewelry and we are going to have a girls day of shopping. Yay!

I also put the deposit down on our DISNEYMOON with Tracey at Dreams Unlimited of course! I'm hoping we can fit right into Free Dining dates next year, the savings is about enough to cover the flight. So, I guess I'll just have to wait patiently to find out. i already told our bosses they were gonna have to find an Inn-sitter for two weeks next year. They took it well, I think they think the Inn will be sold by this time next year...in this economy? I think their dreamin'!

Feeling good about all the progress I've made preparing. Just a little bit at a time. We also decided on a theme. Since it's a nature park we are going totally organic, lots of natural fabrics and colors. For color it's all about the Dahlias! There is a dahlia farm and I'm going to buy in bulk. They will be everywhere. I think our accent colors will be aqua and blue though. Just because aqua is my fave and blue is my DF's.

Guess that's it for now. Doesn't seem that anybody is reading this. I should probably participate instead of stalking other peoples PJ's. If you read all this let me know! I'll post more pictures as I can. i know they are the fun part =P

 

[suorkaterina]

Ok, if you want pictures, here is my inspiration board over on Pinterest.com. if you havn't heard of this site...you are missing out! Check it out. It's so much fun and really helpful for wedding planning. All sorts of great ideas over there.

http://pinterest.com/katerinay/organic-wedding/

 

[librarygeek]

I'm reading! Just got a little behind with the my own wedding and the honeymoon! But now I'm back and catching up on PJs! I really like your dress, though it's kind of hard to see since the picture is small. I also wanted something with straps and I'm so glad I did, since I felt so much more natural and free to move around and dance at the wedding! I also felt like the dress didn't look the same at home. However, after getting alterations done it fit perfectly and looked so much better.

I think your trip to Disney should fit in for free dining - fingers crossed! It seems September is a slow time of year, I know that it seemed pretty empty when we were there! You're less than a year away now!

 

[suorkaterina]

Thank you Librarygeek for hanging in there with me. And congratulations on your wedding and honeymoon!!!!

I havn't updated in a while because I had a death in my family. On the 4th of October my father died from complications with Parkinson's. He had been sick for a long time. I didn't expect him to make it to my wedding but even knowing the end is coming doesn't make the blow it gives you any easier.

It's been very busy for me and my interest in the wedding has waned. I'm more looking forward to the honeymoon I must admit. We are both sort of shy, so pouring our hearts out to each other in front of people seems a little daunting. So in that vein we have decided to shrink our wedding and our budget. We are planning a 40 person or less wedding. Just a nice dinner with friends. Still at the nature park for the ceremony, but inside their on site building for the reception which cuts down on tent costs. Also with less people i won't have to rent tables or chairs.

We went and got our wedding bands, which I will post later. And my fiance has decided to buy me a birthday/christmas/wedding present of my bridal jewelry. They are diamonds and way more than I wanted to spend. But I kept drooling over them. He told me he would buy them but I said no, that it was too expensive and he was genuinely disapointed because he liked the sentimantality of having this beautiful set and giving it to our daughter or grandaughter someday as a wedding present. He deffinately sold me on the idea then. So I'm very excited to pick up the necklace and earings in a few months and I'll post them along with the rings.

So my theme now for our small little wedding is enchanted forest. Lots of natural elements. Moss table runners, tree branches, natural fabrics. Mixed with elegant touches like silver candlabras, twinkle lights, candles etc. I hope I can make the little room there look like an enchanted fairy dinner party.

The honeymoon is coming together. We decided on more days vs more extras so we have 10 days in the parks! I'm having fun using touring plans even though the numbers are probably not even close since it's still so far away. but that's ok, I love planning.

In a new development My mother, and me and my best childhood friend and her mother are going to Disney again in February 2013, just 5 months after my honeymoon. Disney twice in one year? I'm beyond happy. i just hope I can afford it. The story is, my family and her family would go to disney together all the time. We were all very close. My Dad was as big a Disney fan as the rest of us. Now that he is gone, I want to make sure my mother has good memories going forward of WDW so I think this girls trip is the perfect way to do that. So I arranged it and it looks like everyone is in! it's going to be a good year.

So things are coming along. I'm not looking forward to the long winter ahead, but I just submitted my application for grad school (MFA Creative Writing) which starts in January. So I may be very busy this winter. here's hoping!

i guess that's it for now. It's been a crazy few months. I'm missing my Dad like crazy but I know he is watching over me and proud of all the good developments happening in my life right now. I just wish he was still here so I could share them with him.

 

[suorkaterina]

http://pinterest.com/katerinay/enchanted-forest-wedding/

There is the new inspiration board.

A couple things I forgot to mention. My two bridesmaids have their dresses in "truffle brown" which looks like a dark esspresso color. And we had our engagement shoot as well which I havn't gotten back yet. I'll make a new post with lots of pictures when I get all this stuff together.

 

[librarygeek]

First of all, I'm so sorry about the death in your family Hang in there.

I know what you mean about sometimes looking forward to the honeymoon more than the wedding - when it got stressful I would just think about Disney World and know that if I just "got through" the wedding then I would be at Disney! But in the end I did really enjoy the wedding as well.

I love the idea of an enchanted forest theme for your wedding! I'm sure that will be beautiful and I can't wait to see pictures of what you have planned

Your honeymoon choice sounds good to me - ten days in the parks! I was going to use the touringplans website but just can't bring myself to pay for it in order to do so. Maybe when I get closer to my next trip I'll give in, we'll see... Also, your February 2013 trip sounds like a really good idea. Lots of Disney to look forward to!