Let's get the planning ball rolling.....

As soon as the announcement was made that we were engaged, I was hit with questions regarding wedding details. Having been together for 5 and a half years everyone (including myself) assumed that the wedding details would already be planned. No doubt, after 5 years I had ideas for what would make our wedding day special. The only problem was that I had TOO MANY ideas! Yes, I am totally one of those girls who had a file folder on my computer where I saved numerous pictures of every wedding detail from the color scheme to the favors. Over the last few years I've managed to save quite a collection of photos and now that we are officially engaged, the process of sorting through them and choosing only the ideas that will best fit for our big day has become quite a task. Thankfully, Zac and I have been able to set a clear path for the basic theme of our wedding which has made choosing ideas a lot easier. But before I get ahead of myself.....

 The day after Zac and I got engaged, we announced the big news to our friends and extended family. (After we called Zac's parents and went to my parents' house to fill them all in on the good news.) A few days later I met up with some of my girlfriends to catch up and celebrate over cocktails. I had already talked to Amy over the phone and filled her in on all the details, so she unfortunately had to sit through the story telling of the proposal twice more as the girls arrived and asked questions. Thankfully she didn't seem to mind.

That night Amy gave me a gift....my very first wedding magazine. I was so excited, that when I got home that night I immediately started going through its pages, admiring all the photos, and making mental notes of things I found to be particularly awesome.

In addition to the magazine Amy and Scott got Zac and I each an owl shaped coffee mug! I am so in love with them. My small obsession for owls has begun to appear in small doses throughout our house. A silver owl lives on a bookshelf, owl print photos adorn the walls, an amazing pewter owl candlestick can be found on our console table, and come Christmas time a few owls can be spotted hanging from our tree. (One of the ornaments is an amazing white and silver bird that Amy and her mom found at World Market. It goes perfectly with the rest of our Christmas decor.) So needless to say they were a welcome addition to our owl collection. I'm sure there will be a few owls spotted at our wedding.....

A few weeks later, as I was just getting home from school, I noticed a large package on our doorstep. It was addressed to both Zac and I. Together we opened the package to find a wonderful collection of goodies and this note:

Zac and Teeny,
Here's a little wedding planning care package for you. Some wedding mags and post it flags for things you like. Some Skittles to snack on while you work. Glasses for each of you for whatever beverage you desire *cough....wine and beer..cough*. If it gets too stressful light the candles and take a nice long bubble bath.
Enjoy!
-Sarah

How unbelievably sweet is that? The package was such a pleasant surprise! Thank you Sarah!!! I couldn't wait to dive into those magazine and start tagging items that I liked. The post-it notes were such a great, helpful idea.

Along with the magazines that Amy and Sarah have gotten me, I bought the Bridal Bargains Wedding Planner to help me keep track of the many to-do lists I will need to complete. I also put together a 2" binder to keep all of my wedding idea photos, vendor contracts, schedules and due dates, and other wedding related papers in order.

The wedding planning ball has slowly started to roll. It will pick up speed once the spring semester is over and graduation comes around on May 21! After that it's full steam ahead! :)



The future Mrs. Chapman

One thing that kind of urks me are plastic hangers for wedding dresses. It's always nice to see a photo of the beautiful dress hanging up as the bride gets ready for the wedding....but that plastic hanger can be so distracting. I don't understand why bridal salons don't automatically offer nicer hangers with the purchase of a wedding gown. Even if they were an additional cost, I'm sure the sellers would make some money.

Needless to say, I was super excited when I saw personalized custom bridal hangers being sold on Etsy.com. I just love browsing through pages on Etsy.com There are some talented people out there.

While looking through pages I stumbled upon the personalized bridal hanger and the excitement was unbearable. There were several sellers offering a variety of hangers made of different materials, in different colored stains. Some were available with the word Bride...

other included intials of the bride and groom separated by a heart...

 but the one that I fell in love with was the option to have Mrs. and your future last name twisted into the metal of the hanger.

I had to have it!

So I contacted the seller, placed my order and happily waited for it to arrive...which it did, just 10 days later.

So excited to hang my dress from this awesome hanger...

...that is once I actually find the perfect dress. :)

Another question to be popped.....

When it came time to decide on our bridal party, I had no question about who I wanted to stand by my side on the big day. The only question I had was "How do I ask them?" I'm sure the girls already knew that I wanted them to be a part of the bridal party but I stll thought that it would be nice to ask them in a special way.

I had fun going through ideas and looking online for fun and unique options.

Tip Junkies had this cute idea for a candy gram.

I saw an adorable homemade card on Once Wed.

In the end I decided to create something that asked the question with a personal touch. I created wine labels with pictures of each girl that said: "Another question to be popped....Will you be my bridesmaid?" To go along with the wine bottles I got the girls each a wine glass on which I etched their first initial.

Here's a little run down of how it went:

Step 1: First I needed to rid the wine bottles of their current labels. This involved filling up the kitchen sink with hot water and soaking the bottles. I decided to leave the bottles in the sink for a full day. This was mainly because I had to work all day but in the end it helped to make the labels come off much easier. Originally I thought that I would do champagne bottles since my girls and I love champagne, but using hot water made me nervous that I would have some corks popping.

Step 2 : The next step was to print out the new labels. I used Microsoft Word to design the new labels, which I then printed on Post It stickable photo paper. I chose two pictures for each label; one silly photo and one cute picture.

Step 3 : Next came relabeling the bottles. The stickable photo paper wasn't quite sticky enough. To make sure that the labels would stay put, I lined the back of each photo with double stick tape along each edge. It seemed to do the trick. The labels didn't budge once they were on.

One for Sarah, asking her to be my maid of honor.

After the wine bottles had their new labels, it was time to work on the wine glasses. Using the Cricut that Zac got me for Christmas, I cut out the first letter of each of the girls' names on construction paper. I taped each letter to the inside of the wine glasses to use as templates. Using a small paint brush, I brushed on some etch cream that I picked up at Joann's Fabrics. The cream only takes 10 minutes to settle. It washed off easily and left a nice frosted initial on each glass.

The final part of the project was to create gift bags for each of the gifts. I used the Cricut again to cut out the girls' first and last initial on hard cardstock. I glued the letters on brown paper gift bags. After adding some colorful tissue, the gifts were done. 

I decided to give the girls their gifts and ask them to be a part of the bridal party at Sarah's baby shower. It was the first time in a while that we were all together in the same place and I didn't want to wait any longer to let them know. 

It had only been two weeks since Zac and I had gotten engaged but I was still anxious to get started on planning and asking the girls to be in the wedding was the first step.

They seemed to love them! I had no doubt about their answers but it was such a happy feeling to hear them unanimously say "Yes!" These girls are so amazing and I feel so blessed to have them in my life and to be able to experience this amazing time with them by my side.

** PS. I was so disappointed in myself for not taking photos of the wine glasses and gift bags. Thankfully Miss Amanda posted a photo of her gift online....so I happy stole it. : P

The Proposal

Zac and I moved from our apartment into our first house in November, 2009. We spent the following year working on making the house our home. With many changes to be made, the garage was at the VERY END of our list of priorities.

Shortly after New Years 2011, Zac made a good point that, since we always parked in the garage, the garage door was our entrance into the house and should be as nice as the front door. He immediately made plans to clean out the garage and make the area a welcoming space. He informed me that he wanted the end result to be a surprise so he would be working on the project himself, and the garage was off limits for me eyes. As my talents are more decorative than handy-girl, I had no objections.

January 14, 2011
After about two weeks of hammering, banging, sanding and other sounds coming from the garage Zac announced that he was done. Believing that they were heading to the train station that evening to pick up Zac's dad, I spent the day cleaning the house and then took a much needed shower. Meanwhile, Zac frequently slipped into the garage throughout the day, acting somewhat suspicious.

As I was getting into the shower, Zac told me that he was leaving to clean out his car. Little did I know that he was actually on his way to pick up the last detail for the surprise reveal of the garage. A banner that read "Marry Me!"

When he got home he asked me if I was ready to see the garage. I was excited to see the changes he made. Wearing a bathrobe and slippers, hair still wet from the shower, I went downstairs and followed Zac's instructions to close my eyes. He led me into the garage and when he told me to open my eyes, he was kneeling on one in knee in front of me, holding an open ring box. Behind him was a table with candles, a bottle of champagne on ice, dozens of tulips (my favorite flower), balloons, and his banner creation.

It was here that Zac asked me, "Can I be your husband?"

After catching my breath,we celebrated our engagement by opening the bottle of champagne and toasting to our future. As it was getting close to dinner time we set up one of our dining tables in the garage, got take-out from P.F. Changs and had a candle lit dinner in the spot where Zac proposed.

It was a perfect evening.