Invites are started!!

On Saturday, Joe and I went to the Paper Depot and started our invitations. We wanted to DIY them and from the countless number of friends who have recently tied the knot it was recommended as the must go to shop! We walked in not knowing where to begin and were quickly approached by the staff who offered to help. I think our "deer in the headlights" look gave it away. 

Step 1: Browse through their numerous examples of invitation styles and layouts.

You have pocket style, flaps that fold out, crazy cut out corners and everything in between. Joe and I decided to stick to our unfancy ways and have it a little more simple. 

Step 2: Choose your paper.

What they don't tell you is that you'll be browsing hundreds of colors and textures. We spent a good half hour (or more, I lost track) finding the right Navy Blue and Yellow, thickness of the paper and texture. 

Step 3: Grab a number. 

We walked in around lunch time so the designers were all on their lunch break. Although this gave us time to find what we wanted, we, more like I had more time to second guess myself on our choices. I only changed our decision once!

Step 4: They call your number.

A staff member helps you create your invite by putting together a mock trial for you, helping you figure out standard postcard sizes for the RSVP's and gives you all your measurements so you can cut all the paper at home. They even get all the numbers together for you so you know exactly how much paper you will need, how much glue adhesive, and whatever else to make them at home. 

Step 5: Buy all your invite fixings.

Our total price per invite: $0.95!!!

We ordered 175 invites, just to be on the safe side, and the total price came way below what we originally anticipated. Double yes:)

Step 6: Add them to your wedding pile until you find someone to help design and print them off for you.

So here we are. All the paper is sitting on our kitchen table right now and we're on the hunt for the right printig place to help us start the next process of getting these invites looking snazzy. Once we have the writing on the actual paper, these are going to look great!

Step 7: Have family help you put the invites together.

This should be a good time!

Alterations, Invites, I have a 'blog' follower!

Last night I started the process of dress alterations. I put the dress on and the ladies went to work pinning me here and there making sure the fit would be just right. Before I left, she gave me the total of what it was going to cost and I was completely shocked. $400 shocked! I walked out of there, leaving my dress behind because I apparently have a hard time saying no to people when they just spent 45 minutes pinning me up. After sleeping on it, I decided I'm going to go back and pick up my dress. I talked with her on the phone and she lowered the price a little, but not enough to make me stay there. I know she would have done an amazing job (I have two recommendations for her) but $400 is barely under what I paid for the dress itself. Ugh. Back to finding a seamstress.

On a better note, Joe and I are headed to the Paper Depot tomorrow to start thinking invites! I've heard from all of my friends who have made their own invitations that this is the place to go - so we're going! Here are a few favorites that I've seen...



Love how it looks like bark from a tree!



I like the how the print of the names goes off the paper...



I'm a sucker for bunting banners like this!



Top Right Corner: The yellow ribbon and yellow "&" sign!!



Same burlap string that I would use on the mason jars from a few posts ago

In other news, I have my first blog follower!! Let me introduce to you my good friend from college, Lindsey! 

Lindsey is currently out east going to Med School...she's going to be a fabulous doctor by the way! She's so lovely, funny and has such an amazing heart! I wish I could still see her every weekend! Hope to see you soon my dear! You can see more of her here Lindsey's Blog!

Now off to the weekend...er, after 5:30 I mean:) 

A nip here, a tuck there...

And no I'm not talking about the show on E!: Bridalplasty. Have you heard about this show? On their website they write, "Brides-to-be compete in challenges to earn plastic-surgery procedures in a quest to win their ultimate wedding dream." Where's the "are you freakin' serious" button? Wait, found it. Got lost back in the insanity room down the hall.

Thankfully plastic surgery is not what this post is about!

I start my bridal gown alterations tonight!!!

 I think I'm just excited to try on my dress again. It's been awhile. :)

After work I'm meeting with my seamstress to make sure the hem is just right and the bussel is in place so I can dance the night away. Can't wait to get this process started!!

Yep. I'm a slacker.

Is it really already Wednesday? I seem to be losing track of time throughout the day (oh how I love Physiology) which means I'm forgetting about my blogging duties. I sincerely apologize for my lack of effort and trust that you haven't given up on me yet. Unfortunately I don't even have any fun, exciting wedding plans to share other than our suit hunt is officially on since we have all they guys' measurements!

This picture, however, is making me crave summer. And I love this inspiration from this picture for the mason jars that will be on our tables. I'm going back and forth between the twine around the neck of the jar. To twine or not? I think it adds a little someting but then again, is it really necessary? Will only I notice the twine around the jar? We are officially under the six month mark so decisions have to be made and started.

I think I'm more excited for the Honeymoon. Don't get me wrong. I'm just as excited to experience the amazingness of our wedding day but let's face it...Honeymoons rock! (Or so I'm told.) No school, it's summer and just me and my husband off on another adventure. Sounds perfect.

Whole lot of Goodness...

There is A LOT going on right now wedding wise/life wise so let me get to sharing...

1. The biggest thing that is happening RIGHT NOW is that it's my Mom's birthday!

Here's the birthday girl! She is the greatest, most amazing mom ever and I wish I could be celebrating in person with her this year! Although I'm over a hundred miles away, I am definitely celebrating in spirit! Just wait till she gets my call later and I burst out in "Happy Birthday to You"! Love you Mom!!

2. Andrea & Mel are getting fitted for their bridesmaid dresses today which means the order will be sent off for production! Can't wait for these ladies to get their dresses. Everyone is going to look so beautiful:)

3. I'm getting a new windshield tomorrow morning. Long story short, Joe bought me remote car starter for Christmas (just in time too...the high today is -4 with a windchill of -16) and when it was installed last Sunday, they cracked my windshield. Thankfully, they are paying for the replacement one and my car will be back to good in less than 24 hours!

4. Last night was the first time this week Joe and I were able to have dinner together, laugh and catch up on the week because of our new school schedules. It was so much fun and I was wide awake until 11:30 because I was having so much fun hanging out with him. Ahh the simple things in life.

5. While Joe and I were hanging out, we were going through possible songs for our ceremony because we may have found our musician!! He's a friend of my good friend Megan and he's on board with our song choices so far. Whoo - what a relief! We have to fine tune our selection just a bit so that will be one wedding project for the weekend.

6. On Sunday, it will be exactly SIX MONTHS until the wedding! The crazy/chaos/fun/exciting mess of wedding planning is about to begin. Hold on kiddos.

7. Lastly, it's Friday. Enough said.

So as you can see there is a lot of goodness all around. Life is pretty good right now:)

Oh, and Happy Birthday Mom!!!

It's already starting...

Joe and I are back at it with class and all that comes with it...reading, quizzes, exams. This is my second week of school, today is Joe's second day of class and I can already tell this semester is going to be a little exhausting. Poor Joe, he gets up at 6:30am, heads off to work for the day and then goes straight to class from 5:45-9:05pm. I have class Monday nights until 9:30pm and then Joe has class Tuesday & Wednesdays leaving us with four days to actually have conversations other than "Good Night, Love You." But learning is fun right?!

I officially applied to the Nursing program at my school today and I'll find out my future at the end of April! No sense in worrying about it either because if I get in, I get in, if not I'll be put on the waiting list. My worst case scenario would be having to reapply a year from now and try it again until I get in. Prayers are welcomed by all:)

Joe and I might be doing wedding related stuff this weekend or might be studying but either way I'll keep you posted. I found this picture yesterday (top right hand corner and hard to see) with birch logs behind the table. I love this! Maybe behind our gift table?

Gray suits, where are you?!

Do you know how hard it is to find a light, gray suit? I suppose if you've never had to find one than you wouldn't know but I'll fill you in...it's harder than you think. Joe and I are in the process of getting everyone's measurements so when we find "the one" we can order them all at once.

Yep, this is what we're looking for and we're coming up with not so many options. And of course, darker grays are super easy to find. Just my luck. I think the lighter gray will make the dark navy dresses pop a little more than having the colors be similar. So the hunt continues...

Cake it is!

Last night as Joe and I were talking, I asked him to make the decision on what we'll have as our wedding dessert to cut into ourselves. There were three options: real cake, pie, or cheesecake and he chose to the more traditional route so we're having actual cake. My good friend will hopefully be able to make one of her amazing creations for us so now I'm thinking cake toppers! Here's a few many ideas I have and maybe something I could even do myself! 



Let's be honest, the colors couldn't be more appropriate:)



Ok, the wedding nightmares need to STOP

Spring Semester started Monday so I've been back on the books. If I don't post every day, please forgive me. I'll do my best to keep up with the latest on the wedding front in the midst of keeping on top of my studies. I made my appointment yesterday to meet with a seamstress for my bridal gown alterations! My friend recommended that I go see her so January 27th we'll start the process!

Now, about these wedding nightmares I keep having. I don't have them every night but I feel like the closer we get to July 23rd, the more frequently they grace me with their presence. Last night, my florist charged me an arm and a leg for bouquets of weeds. Literally. And to top it off, for some reason I stood by a campfire and got propane gas all over my dress! The wedding didn't start on time and everything was a mess.

I've had dreams where all the groomsmen are no where to be found and our photographer cancelling on us the day of the wedding. The caterer serves the wrong food and they don't play the right song for our first dance. I wonder if Joe dreams about these things too? And you wonder why brides-to-be get stressed when planning for their day.

J & S and a couple other deliveries

Remember those letters I searched high and low for, complained about not being able to find what I was looking for in a post, and then the next day found some?! Well last week they came in the mail and are now sitting on our bookcase in the living room waiting to be used on July 23rd. They look awesome!

My shoes came in the mail yesterday and the candles arrived on Saturday so my "wedding spot" down in the basement is piling up! Although, this doesn't even compare to all that is at my parent's house. Thank goodness for free storage!

And then there were 14...

I had an absolute blast this weekend with the family! We ate tons of delicious food, laughed, played outside, went to bed early due to exhuastion from the day's event and mangaged to create more memories along the way. Here's the group!

Sadie and Andrea wrote Sadie's speech for the wedding including lines from every movie they've seen together or laughed about in the past. (I'm thinking hoping it was a fake.) You never know what's going to happen when those two get together as seen in their leg wrestling match here.

 Devin and Joe were best friends all day and played DS games or 'Devin jumps/hangs on Joe'. Yep, Devin was pretty much connected at his hip. The guys raced their sleds down the hill and we're still not sure at who won.

Brody and Grandpa were best buds playing the hat game or making noises at each other. I think Grandpa has a new best bud:)

Overall, the Micke family Christmas was such a great time! I may be bias but my family is amazing:) P.S. Joe and I finished bottling our wine! 150 bottles are now sitting in my parent's basement aging to awesomeness!

Celebrating Christmas (again) this weekend!

Every year my parents and siblings celebrate Christmas together after Christmas because it simply works out better with everyone's schedules. Usually someone has to work or has other family Christmas celebrations to attend to. So our holiday tradition is to have "when we can" and this weekend is it!

And I think I'm even more excited because everyone is spending the night at the house. Usually my siblings come for the day and head out late but we're going to have a full house! My nephews are at a fun age and Devin is so excited to play with Joe. Last night I got a text from my sister asking if Devin should bring both of his DS's in case Joe wants to play too! I know we'll have lots of food, many laughs, old stories to share and new memories to make. I'm hoping the weather warms up a bit too because we always spend some time sledding and playing outside.

Christmas 2009

Before Joe and I can partake in all the Christmas activites though, we are finishing up our wine! The bottles are in, all three kits are ready to go and after tomorrow morning we'll have the wine done! Another thing to cross off our list:)

Happy Weekend!!

Shoes! I found shoes!

Although I was on a mission to find my something blue in the form of shoes, I've had little luck in the blue shoe department. I thought for sure there would be something as this year's summer shoes have started hitting the shelves, but still, no luck. Yesterday as I was browsing through DSW's website, I found these cute, blush pink flats with flower details on the top of the toe. I headed to the mall, found them, walked around in them for a bit, and decided I didn't like them as much as I had online. They rubbed the inside of my foot the wrong way and even looked dirty. Ugh.

Lo and behold as I was walking to see if anything sparked my interest I came across these...

Meet the SM Heaven Glitter Flat, in ivory. It definitely goes against what I originally planned on getting but I really do love these shoes! The hint of glitter makes them perfect for a wedding (hey, I can be a little girly on my wedding day!) and because they're flat, I'll be able to walk all day and dance all night in them! Of course they didn't have my size so I decided to look online and find out where I could pick these up. To my luck, no DSW stores in the area had them available but they were having free shipping on orders of $35 or more!

I quickly placed them in my shopping bag and proceeded to check out. After applying my $10 off reward that I had plus the code for free shipping, I couldn't figure out why I still wasn't getting free shipping. The light bulb came on in my head as I was talking to a nice lady from DSW this morning and I realized that I was no longer over $35 after my $10 off. Thankfully, since she was a nice lady from DSW, she honored my $10 off AND the free shipping making my shoes only $29.95. Perfect!

Now that I have shoes I can start dress alterations. But first, I'm checking shoes off the Ultimate To Do List!

Wha-bamm!

Candles = Check, Organizing = Still Checking

Yesterday was another day filled with tackling the ultimate to do list and creating more spreadsheets. Apparently I have found a new love, "ORGANIZING" (please use Oprah's enthusiasm like when she is sharing her list of favorite things). I started a 'Wedding Expense' sheet that helps us keep track of everything we've bought so far or any estimated costs we may have or know of. It pretty much looks like this: $$$$$.



Going through the wedding bag and pulling receipts



Things we have crossed off so far:

- linens (and for cheaper than we anticipated)

- water pitchers (again, found them cheaper)

- One ferry ride for our honeymoon,  need one more

- Getting lots of addresses (about 85% done)

- Compostable Cups (but we can't order these too far in advance because anything we don't use can be returned for a 100% refund within 101 days of purchase. Sweet!)

- And candles - found 216 votive candles for under $50! It's all in the wrist - er, or how you find online coupons!

Bring it on Ultimate To Do List!

The Ultimate To Do List

Yesterday I spent the majority of my day doing a little wedding organization. I had three separate Excel spreadsheets going; one for the guest list, one for the to do list, and one for the song playlist, each list with its own rhyme and reason, bolded words and headings.

I started asking for addresses from friends and family and am continually putting those into the guest list as I get them. It's crazy to see where everyone is moving to for jobs and life in general. We have friends and family in DC, Chicago, Montana, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and more places to come I'm sure.

My big task was creating our Ultimate To Do List which has everything we have left to do until the big day. However, just when you think you're done and have everything you need, there seems to be something else to add to it. I organized it by Ceremony, Reception, Attire, Honeymoon, Decor, etc so whatever we have left to do for say the ceremony, like programs and music, it's under the ceremony heading. Even pens for the guest book is on my list!

I was so excited to show my new wedding project to Joe, once the list was up on the computer I started rattling off everything we needed to do. Call the pastor, pick ceremony readings, how about the wedding cake?! This is how his mind works:

So he worked on booking the ferries for our Honeymoon last night. I guess it's true that women are more multi-tasked oriented:) So I'm working on a few things today off the list - finding compostable cups, candles for the mason jars, and the on going guest list.

200 days to go!

2011 - The year of the Shelerud wedding!

It's our wedding year everyone and the countdown is officially on! There is no time to casually wade through the list of things we have to get done before the big day and it is now time to take action. 201 days people!!!

Joe and I rang in the New Year at home with a few of our closest friends. Then New Year's day consisted of sleeping in, laying on the couch, getting off the couch to rent Toy Story 3, and then back on the couch to finish off the night. In other words, it was glorious and a much needed break from our busy lives.

Yesterday, Joe and I scoped out a possibility for the Groom's dinner in Chanhassen where our hotels are located. It was a good option but we're going to search around for a few other locations to have on hand. Even Joe is jumping on the "to do" list bandwagon - whoo! Joe asked all his groomsmen and ushers for their measurements so we can hopefully catch the 'buy one suit, get one free' deal going on at Men's Warehouse. And he wants to help pick out how our invitations are going to look:) Love it!

This is my last week off from school and I start up again next Monday. It's been a nice break but I'm ready to hit the books again! So this will be the week of wedding research... Look out 2011! Here we come!!!!!