Venue: CHECK!!!

I know, I know... I've been a horrible blogger.  Truth be told, I've been in a wedding-planning funk lately.  I have so many ideas and so much that I want to do, but I don't want to buy anything without knowing what our venue will offer.  Will I need to provide my own centerpieces or not?  Will I need to rent tables/chairs/linens?  Will there be room for a photo booth?  Questions, Questions... So all planning is on hold until I find the venue.

I'm happy to announce that, as of about 7 pm today, we have our wedding venue: The Stowe Building!

Jason and I finally got the chance to go look at it tonight, and we LOVE it!  It's located in the West Bottoms right across from "The Beast" (the haunted house).  If you know Downtown KC, it's right by the 12th Street Bridge.  Not the best part of town, but there's no bars on the gas station windows (Jason's standard for an OK part of Downtown).  It's less than a mile to the Downtown Marriott.

They have two floors available for weddings, the 2nd and 9th.  The 9th floor is more "loft" style and comes with roof-top access.  Sadly the 9th floor is pretty much booked solid through the summer of 2012.  We will be having our wedding on the 2nd floor.  This level offers a separate space for the ceremony and reception (which we really wanted) and is a little nicer... not so "rustic."  It was the right price, and (Jason's favorite part) it includes an ICEE Machine!  Be looking for the "Rum and Coke ICEE" as his signature drink!

I sooo wish I could share beautiful pictures of this space with you all... but they aren't even officially open yet... a little scary, I know.  Their first wedding will be this spring.  Don't worry, I'll be sure to get some pictures up in April when we go to their "Open House."

This building is owned/operated by the same couple that does the Mission Theatre (our second choice).  After looking at the Mission Theatre a couple weeks ago, we thought that it would be our venue.  The guy that gave us the tour kept talking about his "other site" downtown.  I did a little internet searching and thought this place might be worth a look... guess I was right!  And how random is this: the girl who gave us the tour is actually getting married there at the same time we are, but one year earlier (Sunday of Memorial Day this year).  It was a sign. :o)

I'm so stoked to finally have this decision made!  It's such a HUGE sigh of relief, and a mega-burst of excitement!  YAY!!!

A Successful DIY!!!

I'm so stoked!  I'm really impressed with how AWESOME today's try at the hanger concept turned out:

 I still need to attach the metal to the hanger, but I think it looks AWESOME!

I did have a slight giddy moment today when I realized that was MY name... what can I say, I'm just so excited about this whole marriage thing!

(Well, that and the fact that Jason will be moving to Kansas City at the end of this month!  NO MORE saying goodbye every Sunday night and having to wait a week to see him again!)

Snow Days = Amazing!!!

Wedding Inspiration

Today's snow day is a sunny one!  Who can be in a bad mood when it's so bright outside with fresh, white snow and NO WIND!  So today: a super cheesy, ultra corny, just grin and enjoy kind of blog post!

I'll be 27 when I get married (just a week or so short of 28).  That makes me a baby in the 80's and a "Child of the 90's" (and early 2000's).  Growing up, I looked to these couples for love advice and wedding inspiration.  Enjoy!
 

First up, Disney.  Need I say more?

And who can forget Cory and Topanga.  The proof that sometimes, opposites do attract.

Then, Uncle Jesse and Becky.  They annoyed each other so much they fell in love.  And this song will probably be on our wedding playlist!

In Junior High, he was the love of my life.  I even had a whole binder devoted to pictures and articles of him.  Plus, I wanted to be "Pacey and Casey."  Cheesy, I know.  Proof that even smart girls can get the cute and fun guy: Pacey and Andie (no, NOT Joey!!!)

More recently, the on-again-off-again couple who just couldn't seem to get their timing right (until the very end): Ross and Rachel

From my favorite show, the quick-witted Gilmore Girls: Luke and Lorelai

And for my biggest influence, the show I've logged more hours watching than any other (and still watch loevery morning on TBS) Saved by the Bell's infamous couple: Zack and Kelly.  First, their tribute video:

And their wedding song, which I'm still trying to sell to Jason as a possible first dance song for us:

**Jump to 5:13 for the wedding part, or watch the whole thing and enjoy!** 

Isn't love just GRAND?!? :o)  What was your favorite couple?  Did I miss a good one?

A Little Something for the Dress

Couldn't let a snow day go by without a blog post!

In all my internet idea searching, I came across this, and fell in love:

from Wedding Bee

How cute is that?!?  I had the feeling I would have a snow day today, so I went to the hardware store last night (before it got bad out) to get some wire and wire cutters to try this out on my own.  I had read through some DIY's and was planning to get 14 gauge wire.  When I got there, they had this 20 gauge stuff that had a green plastic coating.  I thought I'd try it out with this wire, and if it works well, see if I can find some pink coating.  Well, here's what I came up with:

In case you can't tell, it says "love" with a heart on each side.

Although my heaviest dress held up on it overnight, I don't think it's strong enough for a wedding dress (and the 14 gauge stuff DEFINITELY wouldn't have worked).  So I started searching around on the internet some more and came up with this:

From Etsy

I'm thinking this would work MUCH better and be way stronger.


So I might get some thicker wire and a wooden hanger to try again (too bad it's the Blizzard of Oz out there right now)... or this Etsy person sells the metal names part for just $15 (pluse $5 shipping).  The ones she's made look way better than mine, but maybe with a little practice, I'll get it to look better.  I hope. :o)