11 DAYS!!

It's only 11 days until "The Big Day!!!"  Both Brandon and I are very excited and ready!  I thought I'd let you see our ride for the special day, it's pretty sweet!

Battle Won!!

I talked to the priest at church and he's going to let me hang my big A and B from the doors!  I got them all covered in green moss yesterday and I think they look pretty killer!!!

I Got Showered!

My matron of honor, who happens to be my sister Laura, threw me an awesome wedding shower this past Saturday at her home in El Dorado.  A lot of my aunts and friends came and showered me with gifts and wrote me well wishes in a book.  Brandon and I enjoyed reading everyone's adivce during our drive home the next day...I imagine coming back to that book in 5 years and getting a kick out of what everyone had to say!  Thanks to all who came and for all of the great gifts!

Dress Shopping

My niece, Tara, wrote this great story and drew an amazing picture of her mother about our "Adventures in Dress Shopping."  I think it's really cute!

Finally.....shoes!

I finally settled on a pair of shoes!  I bought some dyeable flats and then bought some super cute shoe clips on Etsy!

Check your mailbox!

The invitations will be going out this week!  And I even got Brandon to help me out with them!!  :)

Double Score!!!

I've had pretty good luck in the past few days finding wedding stuff and I'm super pumped about it!!
Here's some great pots I found for possibly buffet table arrangements (I bought 2):

And, I was walking around the garden center at my favorite local HyVee and found this AMAZING succulent bowl on sale for $15!!!

Picture Face!

Check out our engagement photos!http://blog.lemonlimephoto.com

Coming soon to a mailbox near you....

I got my final piece of my invitation puzzle today!!
Here's a sneak peak of our invitations:

It was in the paper, so now it's official!

My quest for the perfect centerpiece

As I stated in an earlier blog, I am collecting white pots to plant succulents in and use as the centerpieces at the reception.  I have been collecting all shapes and sizes of white pots that I can find.  I bought a lot at Ikea and have recently been scouting thrift stores and ebay for anymore that I can find.  The best ones are the $.49  unique pots that I find at thrift stores, in fact, I found 2 more today!  This picture shows part of my collection so far.  (I'm also looking for fun white vases to put the boquets in at the head table, I have 1 so far that you can see in the picture.)

I have also been collecting succulent plants along with the help of my amazing mom!  I had a nice crop growing in my backroom and they didn't get enough light over winter, so a few passed on to plant heaven.  I finally had to hand them over to my mom to try to save what was left of them....her thumb is much greener than mine!  She has had very good luck with them and has been a huge help!  I recently bought some more cuttings and headed out to the greenhouse this past Saturday and scored a few more really cool plants to break apart.  I spent about 4 hours yesterday planting them in a variety of my pots.  I think they look really great, so I hope I can keep them in good health and growing strong until Septmeber!  I can't wait to see how amazing all the plants will look all put together on the tables at the recption!  And if I didn't mention this before, the plants will be favors that the guests can take home with them.  Although, some of these beauties may be pretty hard for me to part with.  So if you see me wrestling someone over a plant, you'll know why!

Ohhh Helvetica Black how I love you....

Being a graphic designer, I love typography!!  I saw a few ideas here and there with large letters as decoration on the church doors or at the reception somewhere.  So, I started my research!  I found a website where I could buy big wooden letters any size your little heart desires.  Then, I started researching how to decorate them.

I like the idea of painting them and making them look vintage(maybe a little too shabby chic for me), but I also love the idea of covering them in something green, like moss or leaves! 

I’m not sure what I’ll do with my giant AB yet, but I am SO in love with them and Helvetica Black was the perfect choice for me!!  Oh and PS, my church said I can’t hang them on the doors.....but I’m going to find a way!  I can always go to confession, right!  :)

UGH!!!! Bubbles...

I've been having a dilemma about what to do as Brandon and I leave the church.  Everyone blows bubbles these days, I don't want to blow bubbles.  It's so cliche....I know, I know....I mean, these guys over here on the left are LOVING the bubbles.  I'm sorry if you did it at your wedding, I know it's cool and looks good in pictures.  But I want to be different!!!  I really wanted to release balloons as we left the church, I thought it would look super cool and no one else does that!  And it would be in the sky for everyone to see and celebrate!  I mean, who doesn't love a good balloon release??  Well apparently, my church doesn't love a good balloon release!

So now what??  The response I got from the church was: "you can do bubbles."  Please help me, I need suggestions!!  The only other idea I can think of is throwing up leaves...it would fit in with my GREEN theme.  I don't know, is that lame?  I've also seen sugestions of flower petals, but that seems expensive.  I may just have to resort to bubbles.....or do nothing, I guess!

Help us!

So....I'm on the hunt for some fabulous green shoes to wear with my wedding dress.  I have scoured the internet endlessly and I haven't found much.  I need to get flats(per Brandon's request) and they have to be super cute.  So, let me know if you come across anything!

Also, we are trying to decide on songs for the reception. We don't have "a song,"  we have a whole cd!! And it's not really first dance material...the Format, Dog Problems, check it out if you've never heard of it.  Anyways, any suggestions on first dance songs?  What about father/daughter and mother/son songs?

Our Wedding Web Site

I finally got our wedding web site set up! We haven't gotten our engagement pictures taken yet so it a little bare on the picture side of things.  Plus it was really hard to think of things to say to describe myself!  Check it out and leave a comment on the guest book page!! Here's the link: http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/AliciaClouse&BrandonDean

I also order the save the date cards tonight....so be looking in your mail for it this month some time!!

My Dress!

So, my dress came in last week and I went in to try it on today.  I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to fit into it....(I ordered a size smaller than I originaly tried on.)  But, it was actually too big!!  I was a little shocked and asked if they ordered the wrong size!  I'm happy it was big...I have been trying really hard to eat better and work out more, so it's paying off!  I was just hoping for less alterations, but it looks like there will be some.  I'll have to see how it fits in June...thats when they will start altering it!

The best part of today is... I still love the dress!!  :)