Peach

For my MIB invites I did the same... I googled and saved, then played around a lot... Lightened and played with the contrast and changed colours. It is finicky, but you can get what you want that way, and it ended up looking great. Just play with whatever you find!

We are having an AHR. Some of my family is for it, but my mom is actually against it. I am doing it for my grandma though, who I am very close with. FI and I will both be the first grandkids to get married on all sides, and so there was a lot of drama about the DW in general; I wanted to do it for my relatives, but really I would do the whole thing just to have my grandma be included in some way. I am wearing my dress; it is simple and pretty beachy, so that will not be a problem. I would have loved to do it at my parents' farm, but that was not an option, so I am renting my hometown's community centre (the only option there... small town!). I will probably hire the Elks or something like that for bar staff. Decor is minimal and all DIY. Centrepieces are glass jars my FMIL and I have been collecting, with paper in our colours and raffia wrapped around, and I will have candles and bunches of an inexpensive flower with them (like white carnations or baby's breath). Everything is DIY except I am looking for a few catered dishes, buffet style. Something basic anyway. I will be having a dessert table, and I am making all the desserts from family recipes (as well as cake stands for the dishes). We are going to have an iPod dock hooked up, and my brother, who is in a band, has offered to play as well for free (not a big fan of bands, but hey, it's free and it's my brother). We will probably have about 150 guests I think. As for the bar, like I said, I will stock the bar and hire bartenders. We were only going to have beer and wine, which is a very economical option I think. But since we can stock it with whatever, we will. We are actually thinking about bringing a keg in from the brewery in FI's hometown. And we will be having a toonie bar, which is actually pretty normal around here. I think I have only ever been to one completely open bar wedding. We will play the wedding video and have a slideshow playing. We will have tables and sort of a seating arrangement (assigned to tables, not specific seats). That is just to help with numbers. I WILL be inviting everyone I would invite if I were getting married locally, even if they are not invited to the DW. I am not doing the AHR in the city in which we currently live, so I doubt my coworkers would come, though I will likely invite them (we all get along pretty well!). Most of the AHR attendees will be from my hometown, and I did not invite a single person from there... cousins or anyone... other than immediate family, at their request. So I will be inviting everyone who was invited to the DW as well as anyone else I want to. I will not be doing a ceremony at the same time. I personally do not like that idea, but to each his (or her) own. I think you can hold it on whatever day you want! Honestly if it was near home, I would hold it on a Friday or something, but we also need travel time to get there and back. I do not work during the summer, when it is, but FI does and so travel time necessitates it be Saturday. I do not know what people are going to expect. No one my family knows closely has done a DW and AHR... they know OF people who have, but have never experienced one, so I am pretty sure they have no idea what to expect. I think it is important to try to get the mood of the event out by the style of invitations and information available... spread the word, and people will usually get the hint. Sorry for the long post! Hope that helps!

Congratulations! July 18, 2013

yeah... we have also joked that the best man should come out and dig a whole in the sand for him to stand in if I wanted to go barefoot, but I was beginning to worry that he might take me seriously. I am also not too sure that the sand would be cool enough to go barefoot for the ceremony. I have told the ladies that they can be barefoot if they like, or whatever footwear they choose, so they may want to test out the sand first.

Thanks! Yes I am planning on wearing these at the beach and then during the reception. I am 5'2" and FI is 6'6", so barefoot was not an option. And I did not want to sink in the sand, so wedges it will be! I may eventually go barefoot for dancing in the sand later in the night, but that won't be till later.

Okay, update time! We have gotten permission (well, my travel agent did!) to include my sister, who will be 17, at our resort even though it is switching to 18+ right before our wedding. Whew! My bm, who is expecting, will be unable to take her baby though - who will be 6 months old at that time. She swears she will want a break. I doubt that she will come, but I am okay with it because I know she will be involved as possible before and after for the AHR, and my sister was the bigger deal. Also, it sounds like my parents are probably coming! Yes! They were asking us questions all about it and got our travel agent info, so though they continue to bitterly complain, perhaps they are coming around?! And... I bought my dress! 2nd store, the first day out! I love it! I love that it is beachy and pretty and flowy and a little sparkly near the top... It has a corset back and needs minor alterations (mostly seriously shortened and for me to lose about 10 lbs). But I am in LOVE with it. I hope FI loves it too! It is completely bought and paid for and waiting for me at the store... just waiting for them to get in some fabric bags. Easier to hide and transport than the clear ones they have now. It was a clearance dress. I had such a great day dress shopping with my fmil, mom, sister, and bm. So great! Okay, in other news... my shoes that I bought last summer. I blinged them up a bit. The total for these shoes? About $38. Yup. I have another pair of killer blue heels that I may wear for my legal ceremony or something too. Last weekend I also had a craft day with a friend of mine getting married a few months after me (Actually, another DW - except this one is in winter in the mountains. So fun to compare!) We sliced and glued and attached the tags to my bubbles... Each tag says "Blow bubbles of good wishes for the new Mr. and Mrs." And we went thrift store shopping, where I started to find some pieces to make stands for my AHR dessert table. That is just a few of them. I think I will get a few more and then I will be good. And then we also made my bouts. Okay, these are way different than I originally planned. I will post them here and I would love some honest feedback (they are also posted in the DIY section). I do like them, I am just not sure if some are too odd. I think it is because some are so different than my plans? This was my original idea. FI and his Gm are wearing simple white linen shirts, and he will be wearing a flower bout included with our package. I did make him one too though, just in case, or for the AHR. Some of these will be saved for grandpas at the AHR too. So what are your thoughts? I didn't want them to all be the same... but I do not know how I feel about them being so different. I loved them when we were first working on them... now I guess I am just second-guessing. Thoughts please!

Okay, I can finally post my shoes! I actually got them this summer.. actually. FI picked them out! $30! But I was looking for something to dress them up a bit. Here they are as original. Bright blue wedges. I found these at a fabricland... I think with tax they came to $8. A little ribbon to the back, tied in a knot under the wide strap, and voila!