The Royal Wedding: Part Deux

You better believe I was so anxious for this royal wedding I didn't even need the 3:30am alarm... I was up at 2:30 on my own!

I laughed, I cried.  It was a great morning!


I know that some Americans don't feel that this wedding was a big deal.  Whatever.  I feel like Britain is our older sibling that moved away.  When you get down to it, we are pretty much the same.  The only differences: our head of government and head of the people are the same person (President Obama), while theirs are different (the Prime Minister and the Queen) and which side of the road we drive on.  Oh, and that whole bad teeth thing Britain's got going...  But when you get down to it, we come from the same place, have essentially the same way of doing things, speak the same language...

And on top of that, this wasn't just a wedding for the Brits.  This one event will set the stage for this era of weddings!

I get it... there are bad things going on in America right now (the tornadoes, floods, economy, etc...).  But is it so wrong to just take a day and celebrate the good rather than focus on the bad?  I think not!

So, here's some pictures from Friday's events (along with my witty and colorful commentary):

 
One of the best kept secrets in Britain was Kate's dress.  NO ONE knew what it was going to look like.  The palace sent out a press release with all the details right after Kate emerged wearing it.  It was exactly what I was hoping she'd wear... something elegant and fit for royality yet not stuffy or over the top (like Diana's puffy marshmallow dress).  Simplistic beauty: definitely hope this trend will stick in the wedding industry!




 
 And do you see how tiny her waist is?!?  Man... I don't think any amount of WW will get me looking that thin!  



Although I would never consider a dress with full-length sleeves for myself, the lace was stunning on her.  
I loved how the lace on the sleeves was overlayed onto the rest of the dress.  What beautiful detail!  I hear that the seamstresses working on the lace had to wash their hands every 30 minutes and change needles every couple hours to keep the dress pristine. 

Kate's modest train

Diana's train could've clothed 10 homeless kids!

And her train was just the right length... long enough for a "cathedral" wedding, but nothing like Diana's 25-foot-long disaster.

 


I absolutely LOVED Kate's hair and jewelry!  I'm so glad she choose to wear her hair down.  I've known all along I will be wearing my hair down at my own wedding (look for that post soon on a blog near you!), but it's nice to see someone high up in the wedding world choosing to do the same.  Kate isn't Kate without her hair down!  


The crown was on loan from the Queen (who wouldn't want THAT to be their "something borrowed"?!?).  And those gorgeous earrings that matched the swirls of the crown.  They were Kate's "something new" as they were a gift from her parents (Hint, Hint, Mom and Dad!).

 One of the most talked-about wedding decisions was to put the Maid of Honor and "bridesmaids" in all white.  Most people scoff at the idea of anyone but the bride wearing white, but Kate's sister Pippa along with all the little girls looked beautiful in their white dress.  As for my bridesmaids, don't worry... you'll still be wearing black!

Kate is laughing about the ring not going on smoothly!

The exchanging of rings was a little comical.  When William was trying to put the ring on her finger, it got stuck on the last knuckle.  You could tell he was trying to force it, but to no avail.  Finally, it went on.  I think there was a collective sigh of relief across the world at that moment!

Another controversial move: Prince William will not wear a wedding band.  No really reason is given as to why other than saying it's just not "tradition" in royal wedding.  I guess Charles didn't wear one when he married Diana, but does now that he's married to Camilla.  I asked Jason tonight if he was going to wear a ring, and he asked, "Do you want me to?"  I guess I was expecting him to, but if he doesn't want to, I won't throw a fit.  It's his choice... but I'm sure he will choose to have one!


Kate's bouquet definitely left a lot to be desired.  I thought they would be with with some greenery, but I thought there would be more to it than a few buds attached to a plastic handle.  The lily of the valley flowers were cute and springy, but I expected something more in the royal wedding.  My bouquet will definitely be making more of a statement than hers!

Where they skimped on the bouquet, they went all out on decorating Westminster Abbey: TREES!  I can see it now... the new trend in church weddings is to bring in your own trees!  What a beautiful idea.  It brought the springtime into the building.  Another case of this wedding's simplistic beauty.





I love that Kate and William wrote their own prayer for the ceremony:

"God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage.

In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy.

Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen."
I love how raw and honest it is!  Definitely think I'm going to use this (or something very similar) for my own wedding!


The biggest thing I noticed... throughout the entire wedding, Kate appeared to be both at ease and honestly happy!  In every picture, her smile is genuine.  Diana was thrown into the fast-paced Royal lifestyle without really knowing what she was getting into.  Will and Kate have been together for almost a decade, and she took on the role of princess knowing it will be difficult, but wanting to make a life with the Prince.



Kate's kinda like every girl's real-life Disney dream come true.  A common girl who's so easy to love.  She not your dumb blonde, but rather the educated, everyday girl-next-door type who met a prince, fell in love, and married him.  No, it wasn't perfect, but life's not perfect.

William and Kate's tale is a "feel good" story... and in today's world, we can talk as many of those as we can get!


So, good luck to Will and Kate (even if she did steal my man! ;o)

All images from National Post

The Royal Wedding

Maybe it's because I love watching wedding shows on TV...

Maybe it's because I used to have magazine cut-outs of Prince William on my wall...

Maybe it's that Americans don't have any Royality...

Maybe it's because I think Princess Di is/was awe inspiring...

Maybe it's the fact that I'm planning my own wedding...

But I just have to say, 

I am SO EXCITED for the Royal Wedding this Weekend!!!

Such a cute couple!!!

The more I think about this wedding, the more I realize that this isn't really "Kate's Dream Wedding," but rather "Catherine's Royally Traditional Wedding."  I'm sure many of her "decisions" were dictated to her by the royal family.  It really makes me appreciate all of the decisions about my wedding that I have to/get to make.  :o)

In keeping with the trend of other wedding-planning brides...

Here are my Royal Wedding Predictions:

Dress:  
I just don't see Kate (excuse me) Catherine in a strapless dress.  I think the Queen would blow a gasket if she did!  I'm guessing she'll be in a semi-conservative tank-top-like dress... maybe cap sleeves?  It will be white, with lacy short sleeves/wide straps.  I think it will be more fitted (like the dress on the right and below) and less ball gown-y (like the one on the left).  I don't think it will have the 25-foot-long train that Princess Diana's did, but I think it will be longer than your average train.  I wouldn't be surprised if she changed into a different dress for the post-ceremony shin-dig!  Something short and fun.  She's "Catherine" during the ceremony and "Kate" during the reception!

Hair:  

I think she Catherine will have most of her hair down.  She may have a little bit of it up, but most of the gorgeous flowing locks will be down.  I also think they'll be a little something extra in her hair... flowers/jewels/feathers.  It's her style.  Who knows, I may use her hair as the inspiration for my own wedding 'do!

Veil:   

It will be a long veil, but (again) not Lady Di length.  I think it will be lacy (like the dress).  Also, despite becoming a princess, I don't really see her wearing a big royal tiara during the wedding, but possibly a jeweled headband.  I could also see her trading out her veil for some post-ceremony sparkly thing before the reception.

Colors:  

 I'm guessing that the Royal Family won't allow anything too bright for the colors.  I could see her Maid of Honor dress being a deep purple (the color of royalty) or navy blue (to match her rock!).  Other than that, everything else will be muted colors... mostly white.

Where can I get one of these?!?

Shoes:   

As much as I would love to see Catherine in some shoes to match the color of the MOH dress, I have a feeling they will be white/silver.  Probably some big designer name shoes with a little something extra (jewels, lace, flowers, bows, etc...)!

Flowers:   

Out with the Princess Diana style of a flow-y/vine-y bouquet... I have a feeling Kate's bouquet will be all roses.  I don't think they will be bright ones, but maybe a soft pink or something (dusty rose).  I also think there will be a little bit of greenery to off-set the white-on-white.

Cake:  

 I'm thinking 6 tiers adorned with sugary, flowery awesome-ness!  All white.  I'm guessing there will also be a traditional British fruit cake.

Man, SO HANDSOME!

Prince William:  

 I'm sure he will wear his military uniform (he is a helicopter search-and-rescue pilot after all).  And he will look dashingly handsome in it!

They look so majestic and royal already!

Man, I used to sit and day dream for HOURS about how I would meet Prince William (while touring Buckingham Palace on vacation), how we would fall in love (while sipping coffee on the Champs-Elysées and gazing up at the Eiffel Tower in Paris), and get married (Westminster Abbey... duh!).  It's making me somewhat nostalgic to think about him actually getting married.  I have to admit, I really like Kate (yes, I'm calling her Kate!).  She's not some ditzy girl off the street.  She's a girl who actually has an education, who is strong-willed, determined, and down-to-earth.  As long as she stays true to herself, I think she's a great addition to the Royal Family!

I'm thinking I'll set the alarm Friday morning for 3 am.  That gives me time to shower and get ready before the real fanfare starts at 4.  We'll see how excited I am about this royal wedding then! 


I'm thinking I'll probably just DVR it and spend the weekend watching it all.

 

Congrats to William and Kate (oops!) Catherine!

Left Foot, Right Foot... Feet, Feet, Feet

Pedalaphobia (n.) the irrational fear of socks.

While I wouldn't say that I have pedalaphobia, I do have a strong dislike of socks.  Yes, I know... You probably think I'm crazy right about now, but hear me out...

I truly don't like socks.  While wearing them, my feet feel like they are suffocating!  I'm a flip-flops girl from mid-March through November... and all of those warm-ish days sprinkled throughout the winter.  My toes love to breathe!  Also, socks stink.  They make your feet slightly damp and majorly stinky.  Oh, then there's that whole lint-between-the-toes thing... It just grosses me out.

With my hate of socks, it'll probably surprise you that I'm fighting on the socks side of a wedding "battle" with Jason.  He says black socks.  Blah... so plain and BORING.

I want the groomsmen to wear some fun socks so I can get pictures like these:

I want some pink, gray, and black argyle socks.  What do you think?  Is this idea stupid?  Should I just give this one up?

(Oh, and 10 points for if you can name where I stole this blog post title!)

T-Minus 400

I happened to be on theknot.com and saw that, as of today, we are 400 days away from our wedding!  I know, it's over a year, but it's still a milestone.

 And because I'm a math geek that likes keeping track of statistics...

• On our wedding day, we will have been engaged for 548 days (1 year, 5 months, 1 day).
• Before getting engaged, we officially dated for 478 days before getting engaged...
• But it was 530 days from our first date to our engagement...
• And 1078 days from our first date to wedding (16 days short of 3 years).

And on this note... I'm so tired of hearing we are going to be engaged for too long, or that we didn't date long enough before getting engaged.  Just because we aren't mirroring your relationship timeline doesn't mean we are doing it wrong.

So go away haters... 'Cause I think these numbers are perfect for us! 

Decisions, Decisions...

Why am I so horrible at making decisions?!?

Seriously...

So we've been on the venue hunt again.  We lost our first venue (read all about it here and here), and didn't want to use our second choice as it was with the same company/guy.  I was nervous we'd get screwed over again.

So we've looked at 6 places the past week and a half, and have it narrowed down to two TOTALLY different places:

Option 1:  Black on Burlington

This is an old cable factory that has been renovated.  It's got that "urban loft" feel to it: brick walls, exposed ceiling (all painted black), square tables, cement bar... It definitely has the downtown/modern setting we were wanting.

But it's in North Kansas City... a totally industrial area.  The nearest hotel is a couple miles away.  Not exactly the location we were hoping for.  Part the the appeal behind a downtown wedding is that people could walk from there hotel to the venue, and then to Power & Light afterward.  No chance of that here.  Although North Kansas City is safe, it's so far removed from the actual "downtown" that it loses some of it's appeal.

They have a do-able option for the ceremony there (we don't want to have guests sit at their tables during the ceremony), and the owner-lady was AWESOME!  She was totally open to new ideas/thinking outside of the box.  She wanted to work with us to customize the space for our needs.

But I just got the feeling that we would totally be on a time crunch there.  5 hours for a wedding, cocktail hour, dinner and reception?  I just don't think that's enough.

Option 2: Stony Point Hall

A co-worker recommended this site to me.  I couldn't find it after googling it, but this place was actually at the emergency booking bridal fair for the unlucky Stowe brides.

This place is in the middle of nowhere... somewhere between Lawrence and Baldwin.  It's owned by a husband and wife (whose house is on the same property).  There is also a barn on the property that was the original site of the Wakarusa Music Festival (for the first two years anyway).

I'm going to be honest... inside, this place is just one big plain room.  It's a blank slate.  It's not the modern look we were wanting, but I don't think that would fit with a place in the middle of nowhere.  I would consider it more "classic."  I think we could make it a little more our style with the decor.

And the best part: for just $150 more, I get my outdoor ceremony option (...content sigh...).  I had written off that possibility a couple months ago when I just couldn't find a place that had an indoor back-up that I liked.  This ceremony site is just what I was wanting: simplistic beauty.

And the other best part: we get the place from 8am-1am... we don't have to squeeze everything into a set time frame.  If we want to have a 4 pm wedding, followed by an indoor/outdoor cocktail hour, we can.  We could even have some yard games set out for our guests to enjoy during this time.  Then have dinner at 6, and dancing, etc. after.

This seems like the "laid back" style that Jason and I truly enjoy!  And the owners were so nice.  It really seems like they are doing this because they enjoy it.  And... There's no "extra fees" what so ever.  You pay sales tax on any rentals, but that's it.  None of those stupid "gratuity/service/added fees" that add up to 15-30%.

Right now, my gut says to go "laid back."  I've slept on it one night (but overslept this morning... ack!), and I think we're going to give it another couple days.  (And by "we" I mean me... Jason's says it's not really that important to him).

I know, it's more about the marriage and less about the wedding, but I just want to make it the best it can be!  If anyone has been to a wedding at either place, lemme know what you thought of it... or if you just have an opinion, I'd love to hear it!

Colorboard

In searching around on the internet, I came across this site called 100 Layer Cake.  Although they are just "ehh" in the DIY ideas, marketplace, and vendor areas, they are known for their colorboards.  They have some great inspiration boards based off of unique color combinations.

Sadly enough, they don't have a "created your own" sections, so I used my awesome copy and paste skills to create my personalized color board:

 The colors of pink available for the background of this blog aren't really want I'm wanting, but this pink is!  It's just so fun!  And when group with black-white-gray, and I think it looks very classy and modern.  I just love it!

To Top It Off...

So... I have a dilemma.  I'm in love... with these adorable cake toppers!  The dilemma, you ask?  Which to choose!

Jason's choice:

All from the Pink Koala on Etsy


Casey and Ossie's choice:

All from the Pink Koala on Etsy

Or... the combo:

Is it too weird to have Oss and I normal (dog and person) and Jason as an animal?  I want to represent both of our teams... but does it look odd?  Help!

(And so some of my color-coordinated friends don't freak... These won't be going on our big cake... that one will have lots of pink that would clash with the red!  These are for our "grooms" cake that's actually half groom-half bride!)

Dude, Will You Be My Groomsman?

The last time we were in Pitt, Jason's friends were questioning who was in his half of the wedding party.  I guess his assumption of "They know..." didn't cut it.  Since then, some of his friends have even been asking his family if they know who's in the wedding.

He swore he was going to call them two weeks ago... yeah, totally didn't happen.  So I got to DIY another project!  While Jason was playing Mario two weekends ago, I came up with 4 possible ideas.  And the winner?

Meet... Our Groomsman Invites!

Jason came up with that sentence himself! ;o)

 We mailed out these postcards last week.  Just another thing to check off of Jason's Wedding To-Do List!

Bridesmaid Newsletter

Intermixed with the bills, credit card offers, coupons and catalogs, my wedding party ladies received a little something in the mail last week.  Just to get everyone on the same page wedding-wise... a Bridesmaid Newsletter!

I saw this idea online and LOVED it!  What a great way to keep everyone updated... especially since none of them are around KC right now.


I promise it looks pink (not purple) when I printed it!


I designed it myself in Word... just creating different text box sizes and shapes.  I did download a bunch of free fonts to use.  Depending on how much I accomplish, I plan to update them once a month (or every couple months).  Besides... who doesn't love getting REAL mail?!? :o)