red and yellow cuddle.

Style Me Pretty via Lark Photos

i gotta say...this wedding comes together flawlessly. From the bridesmaids, to the center pieces, to the invites, all the way to the favors and walking shoes.....Flaw.LESS.

the bride doessss have a career in wedding planning but to pull this off is quite impressive. The colors (yellow and red) work so well together and she made everything personalized, while still keeping it together.

Her attitude, like mine, was to make sure the guests were introduced to the wedding with the style/feel of the invitation and from that moment, till the moment they hop in their cars to leave the reception, the guests were still saying 'that wedding was SOOOO them':)

even the maids' nails were red. And now I've decided I mayyy want to find the perfect pale/cloudy/sky blue shade for my own nails for the wedding. I will start my search today:)

PS. the cuddle in the title refers to my love of cuddling and for some reason this perfectly perfect fitting wedding felt like a great cuddle:)

it's all about the memories. for better or for worse:)

i sometimes feel like I'm giving all the goodies out for free...kinda slutty;) BUT I can't help myself. I just want to let it all hang out...okay...I do feel like I'm referencing a slut..for real.

BUT for real. I love telling some of the details...most of the details...cause I know things look a whole hell of a lot different on paper than they do in person. SO I'm just hoping that it blows your mind when you see it! And it should...but hopefully in a positive way:)

photos courtesy of Flip Video

this little video camera is what we're thinking of purchasing for my nephew, Peyton, to use at the ceremony. I'm liking what I see SO much that I'm thinking $150 isn't TOO bad to pay for something like this. Something we can keep forever and use on our Spain Honeymoon right after! And those accessories....waterproof case for $50 and tripod for $25. I'm thinking these are all a must and will now be added to my Christmas List for mom and maybe even a birthday present from me:)

Obviously, we'll have to have a back-up in case for someeee odd reason P isn't interested in taping the day of. Kids, distracted!? No wayyyy!;) SO we're thinking in that case we'll make sure to borrow...BORROW - to save massive amounts of money - a camcorder and tripod for a guaranteed recording of the ceremony!

Have I mentioned lately how much I want to marry this boy!?!?:)

photo courtesy of Style Me Pretty via Lauren Kinsey

me and Jacob have always wanted to have everyone there for our wedding ceremony. Don't get me wrong. We absolutely, 100% feel right about the small ceremony we'll be having but that doesn't mean there's not a small part that won't miss our goofy friends, BFF's and extended family. They've been a huge part of our lives together and separately but alas, you're NOT invited;) Mostly cause the thought of walking down that isle in front of all those people left me feeling nauseous. No lie. (another admission - the estimate for a dinner group of 125 ALSO left me feeling nauseous). So all in all...I'm thinking for my current weight loss plan, maybe we should have gone big?!?!;)

but to keep you all in the loop and share the magic of our day...we want to enlarge it and play it over and over and OVER again ALL.Night.Long. That way the shaky version of our wedding (that our 10yr. old nephew has been assigned to capture) will forever be with you...like it or not;)

uh oh. david's bridal.

i'm kinda on board with a lot of brides who want to think outside of the box. And by outside of the box, I mean I don't want to shop at the same Bridal Boutiques that all my girlfriends have drug me too. And Psssssst. Have you ever noticed how freaking crabby those old bitty's are at those bridal stores?! I think I've had ONE good experience at a Bridal Store and that's not saying much when I've been in a few weddings, Maid of Honor twice (yes, yes I am bragging;). I'm guessing the marriage thing didn't work for them...or they hate happiness. Hmmm.

sooooo there's nothing too wrong with sticking to the options we have right in front of us...but for some reason, I'd rather say that the girls' dresses are from Goodwill than David's Bridal. No...for real.

below are really the ONLY dresses I liked for my girls at David's Bridal. I THINK it was David's Bridal...anyways...they are super cute and it's fun to see them in a very cool wedding on a site like Style Me Pretty!!!!

a whole lotta' chalk board.

after seeing this photo, it occurred to me that I may have thought of a cute way to do the chalk board thing in our homemade photo booth at the wedding reception.

take a look at this picture from Style Me Pretty, taken by their amazing photographer Marianne Wilson.

can you see where I'm going with this?!!! Readddd my minddddd;)
Okay...so what I'm thinking IS: we prop up a HUGE piece of material (plywood, whatever) and paint that ALL in chalk board paint and leave a cute jar of chalk out w/ erasers for people to write messages on as they go in...they can write anything on it...A-ny.THING!

your name. A hand drawn picture of your cat. Funny face. X's and O's. Profanities. Whateva;)

our photographer hates us.

photos courtesy of Style Me Pretty via Our Labor of Love

i can already feel the hate spewing from behind the lense....is it possible that our photographer already has a feeling I'll be the most difficult bride...EVER?!

ahhhhh, maybe not THAT bad. But man....I hope I can find someone that can bring on the whimsical feel I'd love to get from our photos.

oh, so pretty everythings.

photos courtesy of Style Me Pretty via Abby Ross

although I loved a lot of the details of this wedding and the fact that the bride is also a lover of gray...I was more drawn to some of the bigger things. LIKE:

1/ the brides Monique Lhuillier dress...amazing:)

2/ the cuteness of their L-O-V-E hand shaped picture...good stuff. Me and Jacob were thinking of doing something along the X's and O's....

3/ the maids are beyond adorable. I can't get over how much I love seeing different dresses on the brides maids AND in a super neutral color like off white/cream.

4/ the lighting is everything I want. And I WILL have it. It's completely understated and I've been wanting the strung garden light look forevvvvver...but after seeing this. I see you can go with little to nothing and still have it be beyond amazing!

check out Style Me Pretty or Abby Ross for more of this fabulous wedding!

wood dancing floors.

photo courtesy of Style Me Pretty via Drew B Photography

these remind me of what my parents have in mind for the floors that will be in their new home someday. The home that we will be using as our reception site next September.

i believe I will clip clop around on these floors till the sun comes up!

diy-ing, in every sense of the phrase.

all photos via Style Me Pretty - Photography by Davina + Daniel

here's some seriously ridiculous details and besides quitting my job and recruiting the entire family...even the family of family...and their neighbors kids....I would not be able to accomplish all the details I'd like to incorporate into our wedding day and reception.

I'll have to settle for drooling over these and convincing myself that I will indeed make it ALL happen, if only to sleep at night, knowing that I'm closer to a good cry than I am to making truffle for the wedding.

the chalk board idea - check. This is completely doable.

vintage plates - Are you kidding me?! I have no use for these in any part of my wedding but I will now force Jacob to stay up an extra hour tonight while I come up with any reason to get these plates. Even if it means setting up a lonely card table in one corner just to set them on for show.

wild flowers - check. This is done.

trifle - I must have a friend out there...a friend of a friend...that can make 2 of these for the wedding. AND our guests will need glass vintage plates to eat it on, of course. On it.

randoms that my wedding wants.

photo courtesy of Style Me Pretty via Bella Grace

STILL loving the chalkboard theme that we're trying to stick with. I think this set-up would be a great addition to our reception. I had planned on hitting up IKEA for some cheap-o wine glasses and I've been collecting bottles of wine over the last 6 months in hopes of having a great looking wine table...this is what I envision!

photo courtesy of Style Me Pretty via Bella Grace

this photo booth set-up feels perfect for me and Jacob. It's simple and charming (that may not be a word that is commonly used to describe us...but we like things that are charming...we wreck them:) and I think if I added the streamers or garland that I was thinking of....it'd be perfection!

photo courtesy of The Knot via Jones Soda

i lOVE LOVE love the idea of the Jones Soda as favors....super cute and personalized with whatever picture you'd like and the quote/saying/wording of your own choosing. Very special. If only they offered that on Bud Light bottles...seeing as we live in WI and I think we may be inching the top of the list for most alcohol consumption by any state - if we don't already hold that honor....beer might go faster than a 'soda pop';)

photo courtesy of Style Me Pretty via Joey + Jessica Photography

what a great picture. Just fills me up with a carefree, happy, loved feeling. Very much how I feel...most of the time:) But I can see Jacob doing this...I can see this being us!

fiesta style.

photo courtesy of Style Me Pretty via The Nichols

brilliant. That I am:) I find this picture and now I know what we should have at our reception!!! YESSSSS! We've been going round and round about what food to have at the reception. We knew we wanted it to be 'us', as everything should be. SO we decided on our favorite foods:

me -watermelon, grapes, skittles
jacob - beef sticks, cheese curds, pizza bites
*again...we are as classy as they come;)

BUT then there's my dad. He's a hungry hippo...ALL the time. So we were 'encouraged;)' to add something a little more substantial. And I agree completely with this. Seeing as NO one will be attending the wedding ceremony, we'd like to make the reception as cozy and family/friend orientated as possible and really show everyone a good time! So having a little more food there sounded like a great idea. BUT until now we were thinking little pieces of chicken, little buns, blah, blah, blah. And THEN...this picture!!!!

so we decided to officially, go with some burritosssss! Yum Yum! Mini soft shells, big bowl of shredded cheese, some sour cream and salsa, warmers with beef and pork chunks and a few bowls of pico de gallo (find the recipe HERE, although my mom makes it the best:)!!!! It sounds like more work...but it really, really isn't and it's a really, really simple little snack that will fill you up but won't hurt if you have a few!

because I was sooo excited...I had to call Jacob at work. He agreed that it warranted me interrupting him from making hot dogs:)

go big. OR small.

breaking news: the idea of doing a SMALL, immediate family ceremony is baccccckkk on the table! Something about it just trips my fancy! And it's easier and it's cheaper and it's just US and yeah. It's harrrrd to decide.

So at this point we're throwing it back out there and now waiting it out. Seeing how we feel come September when the wedding is FINALLY a year away and then making a final decision!

but looking at the pictures below...I remember why I wanted some people there. I mean, we were only talking about 100 friends and family but something about that has still never felt quite right. And one thing me and J agreed on was that we want it to feel right. Maybe we're putting too much pressure on this one day. But to us it's not really pressure. It's just that everything else about us and the things we have planned and the life we have together DOES feel right. And so because this is alllll about us....it's just got to be right!

decision to come...t-minus 5 months:)

1 and 2/ courthouse wedding pics above courtesy of 100 Layer Cake

- Best wedding site out there. Go there if you're getting married, getting remarried, your friend's friend is getting married...SO worth it:)

3 and 4/ cute medium-ish sized wedding pics courtesy of Style Me Pretty

- also...tremendous site...worth your time:)