ENGAGED!

Yep we finally made it to that point where there is a ring on my little finger.  It had been waiting for me so long that I forgot what the ring even looked like that I had picked out.  It is more sparkly and beautiful then I thought was possible.  The way the Stone is set really catches every single faucet of light available.

So the Story as I tell if is this....

Thursday night August 5th:  We are discussing the line up for the next morning at the Parks and Rec office to be put in the lottery for the North Bank Pavillion.  Andy decided he didn't want to go because it was too early in the month and he wanted to discuss it with his parents first.  I said wouldn't that be awkard to want to discuss wedding planning without us being Engaged?  He said "looks like someone is going to need their ring" then picked up a cat and ignored my faces at him.

Friday during work August 6th: Andy Txted me asking if I wanted to go on a Bike ride that night after work since the weather is so nice.  I said yeah that's fine.

After work Friday:  I came home and immediately tried to crash on the bed.  Our new cat Franklin decided he would have none of that and destroyed my nap with his snuggles, face kneading and licking.  Andy came home from work and was immediately greeted by our friend John from out of town doing a drop by visit.  He let me sleep till 7:00 pm

After a VERY groggy wake up we headed out for our bike ride on the usual Bike Path which goes right past the North Bank Pavillion (where we want our reception).  We headed past that and up to the new single Arch Suspension Bridge. At Main Street

At the Bridge there was this small overlook across the low level Dam.  We stopped and Andy told me about it and how cool it looked and I sat down next to him when I noticed him fidgeting with this pocket and he said to me "The real reason I wanted to bring you out here is to give you a ring" and he took it out of his pocket and we had a small heartattack as he opened it and it was not there.  It had fallen out and gotten stuck into the lid.  After quickly finding it he put it on my finger and we oooh'd and awww'd in the sparkle of the sun starting to set.

Then we Rode home and I txt'd my family first and then called my Best Friend to share the happy news!

This was us all sweaty and right after the ride.

Running the Gauntlet

There is only one place that Andy wants to have the Reception and that is North Bank Park Pavillion.

Very gorgeous little location but also highly coveted. To get the spot we have go an entire year to the day that we want to see if we can get the venue. Not just that though. If you are not the only person there then you also must take a number and be put into a lottery.

I called into the Columbus Parks and Recreation department to confirm this and it’s totally true. I know people usually choose their venue almost a year in advance but man is that commitment. I will have to get up every Friday for the month of August 2010 (this summer) wait for the office to open and PRAY that we can get our spot as they pull numbers. Luckily the Lady on the other end of the telephone said a lot of people do not try to get anything as late as August so it might not be that big of a deal. I mean honestly we could do into early September if we had to. It must be a Saturday Wedding in my opinion with all the prospective relatives coming in from out of town.

The idea of long banquet tables would be unique and allow for more seating.  Also with that long outdoor yard perhaps a game of Croquet can be set up while friends and family wait for the dinner festivities to begin.  I LOVE the fountain also.  I can just imagine my neice and Nephew playing in it with some of the other childer probably much to the chagrin of their parents.'

Still there is much to think about and always the slight chance we won't get it.  Rule #1 for wedding planning be prepared to make changes and have a back up!

Favors

Hyemi and I were chatting and since we both have Gold in Common for our colors we can probably be cheap and split the costs on certain favors since our dates would only be 4 months apart.

We also came up with an idea for Sandalwood fans being spray painted with Gold for a dusting effect and attach colored ribbons or charms.  I got some in China town when I was in NYC earlier and have been using it throughout the summer during any outdoor event.  Some people think I am weird but hey I'm the only one not sweating the heat as badly.

Sandalwood Fan

Hyemi's Wedding

My best friend's date is set.  I feel I need to revive this and get it going. 
Also August is only weeks away and that means that Andy and I need to start to think of our own plans.
So much that I put on the back burner just because I don't feel that we are officially engaged as there is no sparkly adorning my finger.

Anyways I need to start to make notes to myself again.
I started my Delicious bookmarks for "wedding" where I am sourcing and collecting more ideas from all over and mostly DIY items.

Currently I need to focus on my Task as Maid of Honor and figure out the bachelorette party as well as figuring out what else I can do to help and make Hyemi's life easier.

I need to contact all the Bridesmaids and figure out the dress that we will all be wearing.  So far I know it will be above the knee and a shade of baby/robins egg blue.  better to have a blue dress then a Gold dress and much easier to find.

Hyemi's Colors are Gold, White and Baby Blue.  It is less then a year now away since it will be memorial day weekend on a Sunday.

DIY- The Slice

It might be crazy but I am thinking of more and more DIY items to do for myself and my bestfriend's wedding.  When I went to visit her last week I brought along on my of my new favorite craft toys "the slice" by making memories.  It is this handy little die cut machine.  Some people want to nay say it for the fact that you can only do one pattern at a time and not entire phrases unless it is a pre-made phrase.  personally I enjoy that because then I can choose what and where.  Honestly if you practice with it enough then you have no worries and it is very easy to use.  Just like any new insturment or tool you need to practice with it.

Some innovative things we did were cutting from vinyl sheets and shinky dinks!  Making tags with the Shrinky Dinks worked out really well.  If we had more colors I'm sure we could of made some really fabulous stuff.  I actually picked up the ones we used at the local Joann Fabrics in the kids craft section.  you can get sheets of it to cut into whatever shapes you want in several different colors.

I've been using the slice of late to make my Mother's day Cards and they turned out wonderfully, wish I had remembered to take a picture of them.  I also ordered with some of my recent Birthday money a new design card set called Vintage Findings.

Other lovely things that I like about it is that it is not just a die-cut machine.  You can change the tips to make it emboss paper, there are marker tips to draw out the patterns instead of cutting them out and then you can cut fabric out of it also.  Putting on a two way fusible facing onto the fabric first you can make ready cut out patches.  Which is the real reason why I bought it in the first place.


**Double Posted- to Muse on Wedding and Torn Angel**

Big Blossoming Flowers

Currently I am a bit bit obsessed with the idea of having HUGE fabric flowers out of silk organza amidst everything else being super simple.  Or even just the details of layering to give the effects to flowery petals.

All of these images I pulled from the knot.com  but which designers I can't quite remember I feel like it was mostly Love and Mori Lee.  I need to really start remembering these things and tagging it for further reference and unfortunately today the website is down as well so I can't really verify. ~sigh~
 **Edit The top 3 pictures are dresses by Jenny Yoo Collection and the bottom two are LOVE (no really that is the name of the design brand)

The Colors

I never knew picking wedding colors was so important until I started to look into the decorations. Even at the cousin’s wedding it didn’t dawn on me. I think the biggest impact on the choice of colors were my bridesmaid dresses. I did not want my dear and close friends to have to spend $200 on a dress they will wear once. That is completely impractical so I wanted to pick a color the dresses could be that would transition from day to night and easy to accessorize. Of course everyone thinks black! But we are in a wedding not going to a funeral and I have never been fond of the idea of black at weddings unless that is part of the theme such as Halloween or gothic. I decided to go with another dark color, a rich dark brown. As for the dresses themselves that is an entirely other chapter that I haven’t even thought of yet.
All weddings need a little glitz so it was between silver and gold. I picked Gold because even though I don’t have a fondness for the color it goes the best with the Brown and I won’t be wearing it anyways.
Lastly we needed a good accent color to liven it all up. My favorite colors are blue and green. Blue with the brown and gold just seemed to dark and formal to me and going with a light blue reminded me of a baby boy shower. I went with green it seems refreshing, classy and can be for all seasons. When we first picked out colors we had no idea what season or time of year we would be looking at so that gave us a wide range to chose the shade and it would all fit perfectly.
Choosing these colors made me feel good because it didn’t lock us into a flower due to a particular color. A lot of people who choose reds or pinks get stuck on roses, yellows are daffodils and daisies, blue gives you blue bells, lavender etc etc. Our colors leave us completely open to add in whatever colors we feel will fit or none at all and use fresh bamboo or palms which will be cheaper and the Bamboo can be kept by people as well.