Rushing to the Finish Line

    The weeks leading up to the wedding were a bit of a blur (obviously, since no one managed to post any announcements for the wedding in the last few weeks.)   Jeff and Courtney - as well as their family- were busy planning and crafting out the last minute details of the ceremony and reception. And all their hard work was paid off with a very fun weekend!

     Courtney and Jeff had two wedding showers, one thrown by Jeff's side of the family and the other by Courtney's. The flower girls all got their dresses in and their hair pieces settled (all the girls wore some kind of headband for the ceremony) and the guys finished getting their tuxes the day before the ceremony (squeaking by!) Courtney decided on doing her own hair and makeup for the wedding as she liked the results from the bridal shoot so much she wanted to do it again for the wedding.

      The day before was Courtney's bachelorette luncheon at BJ's. Of course, it decided to snow in the morning, but most of the girls were able to make it to the lunch. Then we went over to Stephanie's house to do other bachelorette-y type things I shouldn't mention (wink!)

     The night before the wedding was the rehearsal dinner at Kendall's Restaurant in Noble, OK. The guests arrived to board games set out on the tables to encourage play and interaction between the bridal party and family. Chad beat Paul in a tight game of Chess that took nearly an hour and Kelcie beat Kate at many games, including Connect 4, battleship, matching game, and break the ice. We also did more important things at the rehearsal like go over the format for the wedding the next day. Bob Kelpine presided and Jamie made any last minute corrections to the speech as needed. Then we got to eat some delicious Southern style cookin' which was, undoubtedly, the best part of the night.

      The night ended with the girls going over to Courtney's for some more girl time as the guys headed to Chad's house in the city to do a bachelor party (board game night!) I don't really know what all happened there either, but they did play Cards Against Humanity at some point. 

 

    

Just a Teaser from the Bridal Shoot:

Can you tell who photobombed the session?

How about who photobombed this picture?

Hint: We don't know him at all!

Photography

     Last weekend, Courtney had a bridal photography session on the OU campus. The leaves were turning orange and fall was in the air. (It was also pretty cold and Courtney had to put on a jacket between shots.) The photographer for the event was Steph Bidelspach and you can check out some of the photography she's done in the past on her website: http://stephbidelspachphotography.com/  Since Steph was recently married herself, she knows exactly how it feels to be the bride as well as the photographer. 

    The few pictures from this session that I've seen are absolutely beautiful, but we can't share them with you yet. Guess you will all have to wait and see them at the wedding. And speaking of the wedding, has everyone sent in their RSVP's to Courtney and Jeff? If you haven't yet, make sure to send them off as soon as possible so that they can get a head count for the amount of food and drinkage they need to order. 
 
    They are meeting with Bobbicakes next week to finalize cake flavors. (I have my fingers crossed the lemon cupcakes make the running!)

     A last tidbit of wedding news is that dresses for the flower girls have been (mostly) finalized.  And that the bridesmaids shall be wearing beautiful headbands to go along with their updos. Ooooh, ahhhh. They kind of remind me of butterflies. Maybe it is metaphorical statement from Courtney? No, I won't even go there.

Tresses or Messes?

     Well, either way, it is pretty tress that stems from a mess of twisting and twirling. Courtney has pretty much decided on the hairstyles for the bridesmaids at the wedding as well as her own coif for the big day. Both ideas come from the blog/website, The Beauty Department.

Photo credit: Kristin Es

The first is the look for the bridesmaids:

     Hopefully they are as easy to pull off as the website makes them seem.
     For the bridesmaids, the look begins with a bun in the back and two braids along either temple and through various wrapping and pinning techniques, this look is achieved.

     To get the full step-by-step guide, click this link. 

Still no word on what Kate's hair shall look like, but there is going to be a headband involved somehow.

Photo credit to Kristin Ess via The Beauty Department

 The second look is for the beautiful bride:

     To achieve this look, you first must know how to do a fishtail braid (I don't so thank goodness I'm not in charge of hair). After that, you loosen the braid enough to slip in sections from either side of the head and secure with pins.

    Again, for a more complete tutorial on this look, click this link.

 Next step in the wedding is to figure out the makeup for the day. I know Courtney has said she wanted a natural look (thank goodness), so we will keep you posted.

Bridesmaid Dresses Are In!

poor camera phone quality pic

    Kelcie, Court, and Kate went up Sunday to get the bridesmaids dresses that came in. We tried them on and they fit beautifully and are such a pretty green color ("Holly"- the color of the picture really doesn't do it justice). Since we were right by a shoe store, we also decided to check out what shoes would look the best with the dress. Courtney liked black the best, but nude, grey, golden 6" gaga shoes, and silver were also acceptable choices.


     Courtney's favorites were some Ann Marino black vintage heels with a bow in the front. They are kind of like a cross between victorian style and a 1930's heel. Very classy and sexy at the same time. Of course, we will look around and see if we see anything else similar elsewhere.

All in all, the wedding is shaping up to be very traditional, with a slightly vintage vibe. As per the rhyme: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Courtney on the lookout for something borrowed- does nail polish count?

Flowers + other updates

    An update about flowers: the bridal bouquet and the bridesmaids boquets are all finished.  And, thanks to Debbie's amazing skills with flowers, some of the entry hall table centerpieces are also finished. The centerpieces for the tables are getting there, but progress still needs to be made.

  Kelcie and Kate have learned through this experience that arranging flowers is not one of their many talents.  Also, Sonja (Court's cousin and bridesmaid) is (update: no longer) engaged!

Engagement Photos

Today we took a few photos of Jeff and Courtney so that they can make their save the dates for the wedding. Here are an example of what the save the date might look like:

To see more of their engagement photos, click here!
(If the link isn't working, click the page link on the right side of the blog called "Engagement Photos")

Dress Drama= Done Deal!

    Courtney, the girls, and Court's mama went dress shopping again yesterday. Back up to the city, to David's Bridal because Courtney pretty much had her heart set on a certain dress. She brought a pic. of a dress that Jeff had liked and tried on a few more dresses just to be sure. A couple of the strapless gowns she tried on were stunning, but they had a bit more bling than Courtney was ready for. Here is another example.
     It was down to two beautiful dresses and Courtney tried one on and then the other until she was sure. But as soon as she'd tried it on again, after viewing the other, she knew. The assistant said that was the first time she had ever seen a bride actually hug her dress. And she got to ring the bell to let everyone in the store know she had "found the one" (besides her fiance Jeff, of course.)

(Jeff- do not click on this link!!!!!!) Here is the dress she chose.

     Then it was onward and upward to the bridesmaid dresses. Sonya had to work, so Kelcie and Kate got to pick out which dress they wanted (sorry Sonya- hope you like it!) Kelcie wanted short and strapless; Kate wanted the opposite. At one point, Courtney said they could all wear the dress they wanted in the color that they wanted, but eventually Kelcie's preferences prevailed. They got this beautiful number, in Holly Green with the concession that the spaghetti straps could be added in the same color.

    Next on the list is the Junior Bridesmaid and Flower Girl dresses, in the color of watermelon.

Wedding Books

Courtney bought a big 'ole wedding book today. Does anyone else have any other book suggestions for  wedding planning or decorations? If so, make sure to leave us a comment with the title or author.

~Thanks!

Say "Yes" to the dress?

Courtney tries on dresses!

     Hello everyone, it's Kate writing a post to tell you a little bit about our first experience dress shopping yesterday. To introduce myself, I am a bridesmaid and one of Courtney's friends since middle school. Anyway, I'll get back to the more important matter of The Dress.

    Courtney and I looked at dresses the other day online and from that, I got a few clues as to what she was looking for in her wedding dress: classic, lace, A-line, and vintage were just a couple of the words I picked up on from the dresses she showed me. A few days later, I got a text asking if we wanted to go up to David's Bridal in the city to take a look in person. Heck Yes! 

Lily, wedding dress extraordinaire

   So Kelcie, Courtney, Debbie (Court's mom), and I all started out on an adventure Saturday afternoon. Once we got there, it was a bit overwhelming being surrounded by a million static-charged dresses and lots of happy engaged brides, but soon our lovely David's Bridal Assistant, Lily, emerged to help us wade through the options. 

    Almost everything looked amazing on Courtney (yes, all 12 dresses), but she somehow managed to narrow it down to two options, both of which embodied "classic, lace, and vintage." However, each of these gowns had their own vibe and will create two very different weddings. We left undecided. 

Check them out below and make your vote as to which dress Courtney should pick:

Option 1: All Over Beaded Lace Trumpet Gown

                Highlights: cap sleeve, lace overlay, beading, train

Option 2: All Over Lace Patchwork A Line Gown

                Highlights: strapless, tiered lace on skirt, fitted bodice

Well I Guess We Are Getting Married (And A Brief Breaking Dawn Talk)

     For New Year's Eve, 2010, my friends and I decided to go to a Party. This is very much out of our character, as our interests tend to be similar to either twelve-year-old boys or eighty-year-old women. We waited patiently for the one person we knew at the party to text us on his arrival. After two hours of waiting we finally made it the party. It was there that I met a very nice young man, and a year to the day later he asked me to marry him.
     We have been engaged for about three weeks now and I decided to make this blog for those whom (isn't "whom" such a pompous sounding word?) might be interested in the goings on in the wedding process. You will get to read the ups and downs of working on a budget, mod podging together leftovers from other weddings, and the other shenanigans that will make this wedding possible. Not quite sure about which people will be posting on this thing, but hey, that is part of the fun.

 -Courtney aka The Bride

(So, while writing this I looked up wedding videos on YouTube and came across the wedding scene form Breaking Dawn, the first of the last of the Twilight Saga. It was very authentic. I mean I really believe that a teenage girl was given unlimited money to plan a wedding; it was that tacky. I enjoyed reading the books, but really? Go look it up on YouTube and you will see what I mean.)