Sunday, April 3, 2011

Busy day

This morning Pat and I headed out to my dads for a family breakfast. After we headed to my aunts house to see what I could round up from my cousins wedding last summer.

I ended up finding a antique bird cage were useing to put cards in. A TON of old mason sealers. like 4 giant boxes full. 2 Shoeboxes full of all the of decorative rocks. Twenty or so square candle holders. I also saw an old window my aunt is going to put a new pane of glass in and were going to put the menu on it.


Tommorow the yard work out at my dads starts. He has a wheel barrow and rakes and shovels ready for me to start pulling all the gravel off the lawn. Hopefully I can put a big dent in it.

Its been a fantastic week wedding wise! Were really looking forward to it.


Any ideas for games during the reception ? No dice games! Its been over done in our family!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Wedding gifts

So we have started receiving some wedding gifts. Pats great grandmother bought us a new mattress and boxspring. Its a monster. We picked it out but never realized how tall it is. Its a monster.

Anyway things are going well with the wedding.

We managed to get a mock up of our invites and only require some minor changes. They are a beauty!

Anyway i'm off to visit the Maid of Honor and the Best man!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

MOG MOB/ Flower girl dresses.

The last 2 weeks allowed me to find the MOB and the MOG dress. They both managed to find a dress they liked at the bridal shop I found my wedding dress at. My mom selected a short dress and jacket set that I wasant super fond of but she really liked it so that was fine. She's super in love with it.

The MOG selected a stunning long dress with matching jacket. I knew it was the dress for her the second she walked out of the change room she just carried herself different and had a huge smile on.

I managed to find a flower girl dress for a whole 18$. Costco had 4 styles of stunning little girl dresses. The green in the dress is a bit off so we bought some fabric to change the sash on it and the trim on the dress. Its polka dotted and super cute.

The bridesmaids are going to order thier dresses by April first!

Everythings going so fast!

To DO list:

Put an announcment in paper now that engagement photos are done
Nail down wording for invitation. ** Almost done.
Purchase jars for favors
Give list to moms for people to contact for mailing address.
Vist wine shop
Sign contract for cake.
Figure out first dance.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Deposits.

Deposits have been given on my dress and veil, 1000$ photography, 500$ catering and rentals from franz's 500$. I'm meeting with the DJ tommorow night and owe them a 150$ deposit. The florist has agreed to hold our date for us without a deposit untill this week as they were waaaay to busy this week to even go in there with Valentines day. So now that the love craze has passed I can drop off a 100$ deposit to them tommorow.

Were sitting at about 150 invited guests, Dj, photographers, minister for dinner. With 51 mailed invites.

We purchased our invitations and they have made thier way to Meg in Toronto. My girls have picked thier dresses which was super easy.

yaaaah everythings moving along well!!!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Invitations & photography!

So I was debating on where to start blogging wedding wise so I figured I would start with invitations!

My cousin got married last summer and her awesome friend made them for her. Were going with the standard box set from Micheals. Theres a black and green theme one we like. Anyway this girl that made my cousin's in fantastic! She offered to make ours for her at cost! So basically ink. Shes going to typeset and design them for us! (Shes into graphic design)! Then print them at cost for us! Shes doing the invitaton, reply card and map for us! Then we go pick them up and assemble them here and mail those puppys out! Were planning on waiting for them to either go on sale or useing the 40% off or 50% off coupons and buying them untill we have enough. I'll basically be able to buy 2 really nice boxsets with ribbon with the coupon for 50$! score! Then a cartridge of ink! 60$ score!!! Plus gas to pick them up in Toronto! SCORE!!!

Anyway. Invitation wise thats where were at! Look forward to more posts!!

We managed to snag this AWESOME photographer who had a cancellation! We are pumped to do engagement photos with her! We met Friday night and felt like it was an awesome fit! Were heading out to the lake to do engagement photos on the family day weekend! Wahoo! More soon!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Wow!

A lot has changed in the wedding world for us.

We went from thinking on getting married in Sept 2012 to Getting married on Sept 10 2011. OR 09/10/11 !!! WOW!!

Sunday night we decided to not use a tent but to use a new barn my dad built only a couple of years ago. This changed everything. Look forward to lots of posts coming up!

This week has litterly been a complete whirlwind.
Sunday night- Picked Sept 2011.
Monday - Confirmed date with Catering company. Visited with my aunt and picked her brain and looked after a bunch of little details. Looked through dress books with the MOG
Tuesday-Emailed questions out for possiable, DJ's, cakes, invitations and a request to be married to our minister- Made appointment to go look at dress/ picked through thr racks to find 5 I liked.
Wednesday- Booked Minister/ Cake maker
Thursday-Booked tenatively with DJ- Subject to change. ** Long story**
Friday- Booked tentatively with Photographer. Dress Appointment. I tried on 4 dresses a veil and a bunch of tears later I knew I found my dress.



So apparently according to everyone i've talked to thats the fastest they have seen anyone plan a wedding. I was just lucky that I knew where we were getting married and who was going to do the food. I also knew who we wanted to make our cake.

Next week I have appoinments with the florist on Monday. The Catering company on Tuesday and were meeting with the photographer on Wednesday. I'm still waiting to hear back from the invitations maker.


Anyway look forward to a ton of upcoming posts!!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

MOG

Lets turn the focus to the MOG * Mother of the groom. I'm truely blessed I really am that I am going to have a fantastic mother in law.

We had dinner with Pats family on Sunday night! Her biggest advice for the wedding was to invite whomever you want. Dont feel pressured to invite anyone you might not want there. To pick who ever you want to be in the bridal party. No pressure to put the brothers in. To enjoy every minute of it,

She was curious if I have been looking for dresses yet. Lets face it, we watched waaay to many hours of say yes to the dress together. So she has offered to take me all over North America to find that perfect dress.

Not gonna lie i'm prolly going to find a bridesmaid dress I like, order it in white add a sash, a veil and call it a day. Like come on i'm getting married in a hayfield. I'm a country girl.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Wedding planning book.

The other day I was at chapters and wondered over to thier wedding planning book section.

I was amazed at how many books there was. My favorite one had a title like planning weddings suck.

I'm not planning on spending money on a wedding agenda when there is great resource called the world wide web!


Have a great weekend everyone!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Date? Venue? Planning? Oh My!

Most women when they first get engaged, they first start thinking about the DRESS! Myself not so much. My first thoughts turned to any guesses?? A hay field. Not what you were thinking were you.


Being a country girl it has always been a dream of mine to get married down home' on the front lawn. But my dad has built a new house. This new house is without a doubt a beauty. However it does face into the middle of a current hay field.

So for everyone that hasan't had the opportunity to head out to the barn. Hay is what we feed cattle, horses, etc. It is rough, provides tons of little red marks and bumps on the skin but it full of nutrients for animals.

We would love to get married this September BUT in reality, with the amount of time its going to take to turn an ungraded, unlevel hayfield into the green on the 18th hole of a golf course. It wont happen by this September.

So this summer myself, my fiance and my lovely family have offered to help us turn this hayfield into a beauty of a lawn. In reality the actual work wont be that bad. Being based out of a farming family is a plus. I have access to not only tractors, plows, loaders but seeders aswell. So as soon as the frost is out of the ground this year we will be out in force taking care of this hayfield. The time is basically needed for the seed to take and mother nature to do her thing! Totally do-able according to my dad and uncles. I'm taking thier word for it.

So you've guessed it. Its a wedding down home Septemberish 2012.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Telling our family!

Christmas day in my family is well, exhausting to say the least. A VERY long list of houses, breakfast, lunch and dinners X2.

Patrick and I decided not to do the call around to our families.. We were on our way to see them anyway! We may aswell tell them in person.

First stop was the grooms parents house: (We really should have told my dad first but we were going there 2nd). Plus Patrick had asked him!

So we arrive at the grooms parents house who had offered to watch the dog for the day for us. (We had all ready had christmas with them on Christmas Eve at our home)!
We got out of the car got the dog inside. I really had no idea how to tell them. They came into the kitchen and I still had my mittens on. I decided to just take my mits off and show the MOG. My awesome future Mother in law basically tackled me in a hug to the wall! She had no idea it was coming! She was very excited! She has no daughters so she is very excited about me! :)

The FOG, I think knew it was coming. Him and the groom do work together and made the joke about the little thing in a big box as he was leaving work with the box my sign was wrapped in. Hes very excited! The first of his boys to get married!

We then got back in the car and settled into the drive out to the father of the brides house.

Arriving at the home of the father of the bride and my brothers house! We had a car load of presents to unload. So I loaded up my arms honked the horn and headed in the house! I dropped my present load under the tree. My brothers were still in bed and my dad was in the kitchen cooking the turkey for tonights big family dinner.

I walked over to my dad, Mits and jacket still on gave him a kiss on the check said Merry Christmas and thank you! He asked for what with a big smile on his face. I pulled off my mittens to show him my ring. He gave me a big hug a wink and walked over to the top of the stairs to yell at my brothers to get out of bed and upstairs. Patrick and I headed back outside to continue to unload the jeep.

My brothers came upstairs and it turns out they were expecting it. They had been home when Patrick came over to ask my dad if he could marry me! They just werent part of the conversation. But they knew something was up.

Once My brothers were upstairs and we were opening stockings dad called us all over to the kitchen where he had a bottle of champagne chilling. Now my dad isnt a drinker so for him to go buy a bottle of champagne is a big deal! Dad poured some bubbly and made a toast to our family and to Patrick and I! I cried AGAIN!!!

The FOB suggest going over to my aunt and uncles house and telling them before lunch with my mom. I'm sure they knew the second we pulled in the driveway what was up as we usually dont see them till dinner that night. We managed to tell them and all of thier kids and husbands/ wives/ grandchild! We are very close with this part of my family. When my mom left when I was a kid my aunt and uncle really stepped up to the plate. My aunt who is very VERY VERY into rings. Was very impressed with my ring! SCORE!

We then ventured onto my moms house. My mom left my dad when I was in grade 7. So I never had a good relationship with her. I tried, it just didnt work. We walked into my moms house. Wished her Merry Christmas and told her the news and I got a "Oh, that's nice". Really MOM???? I just told you i'm getting married and you said "oh, that's nice)! ???? REALLY. Not that I expected anything else. This women gave up her wedding dress shopping rights years ago.

***Sorry to all the moms who might read this that I just crushed.*******

We had lunch with her and ventured back to my dad house.
There was an afternoon dinner with Patricks side of the family that we decided to skip... Way to much driving.

So the FOB and I settled into the kitchen to cook and clean up the house for the afternoon!

Family started to show up bit by bit and we settled into dinner untill everyone got there. Theres over 50 people at our family dinner so we just start eating and eat in shifts. Some of my uncles farm so parts of my family show up later due to chores.

So bit by bit all night we tell our story! Lets face it my family was figureing it would happen sooner rather then later. We've been living together for a few years and own a home together.

So thats the full story on how we told our family. We continued to drop in on family and friends to tell them before we put it out on facebook that we were engaged! Our family and close friends have a right to know first!

The Proposal.

Its December 25th Christmas Day 2010.

I get out of bed, turn on the christmas tree lights and the lights on the garland down the bannister. Morning light was just starting to come through the windows. Start the coffee brewing and crawl back into bed with Patrick.

We crawled back out of bed and made our way out to the living room. After some coffee we settled into opening stockings. Then into presents. I made Patrick open his present from Santa first. The board game life. Of course!!! We finished opening our presents and all that was left was my big present.

Patrick had said all week that my big present gets opened last. I wondered over to the tree with my coffee and went to pull the present over to the couch. I realized how heavy it was and was afraid of scratching the floors. I ripped the wrapping paper off and found a big peice of duct tape over the top flaps. I ripped off the duct tape and opened the 4 flaps. I put my hands up to my mouth unable to breath and turned around.

There was Patrick with my ring! ( There was a sign in the box that said Marry Me? ) I started to cry and choke right up. Hands still over my face. He walked towards me and asked me still holding the ring box if I wanted to put it on. I couldant even talk. He started to put the ring on my finger and all I could choke out was..... I havant even said yes yet! (What I was thinking ??? Right I wasant. Just living in the moment!) I then choked out a YES and jumped on him with the ring on my finger!

Its an absolute beauty of an engagement ring. He knew I liked the trinity style rings. Solitaire diamond rings just look silly on my short and stubby fingers. I just dont have those long piano player style fingers.

We spent the next 2 days driving around telling family and friends.

Look forward to the next post about how my family re-acted!

Monday, January 3, 2011

About me:

My name is Katelyn. I am a country girl with big dreams! I am now engaged to the most wonderfull man I know. This blog is a chance for me to write out everything i'm thinking. Plus maybe a chance to connect to the other brides in the world.

Patrick and I are planning on having a Champagne wedding on a Beer Can budget!

Patrick and I might break the mould on traditional weddings as we want it to really be about US and who WE are.

Patrick is more involved in wedding planning then most Grooms i've met before were. He has some very good imput and ideas that have blown me away so far!