Day 365 - ONE YEAR OF PLANNING!

A year of planning behind us we have been engaged now for 365 days and only 246 to go! WOW! I love my fiancé more each and every day. It's been an amazing birthday and now to call it a night and rest myself for more planning for the next 246 days! :)

<3 your hippie bride

Day 363 - Hotels for hire

I have been missing summer already, it feels like just yesterday it was so nice out and we were running around in our summer best. Sweaters are coming out of storage and the sun is disappearing. But this summer will be better! <3 250 <3

I'm currently looking into the Radisson, Delta and Courtyard Marriot for hotel options. I just don't know how they are as I've never stayed in one before. I don't travel often.

I know what I want in a hotel but I doubt it'll exist. I'm all about the view. :)

<3 your hippie bride

Day 362 - Surprise!!

WOW! Today I received my first wedding present from a friend whom I've never actually met. So unexpected and completely appreciated. The question is, do I open it now or save it until my birthday in 4 days, Christmas in a month and some weeks or my bridal shower in may. :p

I'm completely touched and surprised. Thank you so much Evelien!

<3 your hippie bride

Day 361 - Nightmares again

Typically my dreams turn into nightmares around the aspect that has not been planned yet. For instance, I have had nightmares that it was the wedding day and the men didn't have their tuxes. Another where my girls showed up in casual clothes and in some cases nightshirts. I had on where we showed up at the venue and did not have food (before I selected the food options.) OH MY GOODNESS Before I had selected a venue I had a nightmare that people showed up at our place on the wedding day and weren't sure where the wedding was. I'll be happy when I finish the booking and planning all the details so these nightmares can just be dreams!

It's funny though because I am not stressed about the particular problems until the nightmare. Then that morning it's all I can think about. I guess they keep me from procrastinating though. :)

<3 your nervous hippie bride.

Day 358 - That was easy!

I was absolutely thrilled to have all my girls in one spot at once. as much as each may not be as close to the other as much as I am close to each of them it really is so nice to have them all together. 

As it turns out I will have one less bridesmaid than initially anticipated but it is with no drama and without heavy heart. I know it is for the best considering her current changes in life and where life is taking her. We are still great friends and will still be in touch. I'm glad she was honest with herself and I when I brought it up because I would have hated for her to put down a hefty deposit and then regret it later.

As far as picking the dress goes, it was actually really easy. All the girls agreed on one dress and although the original plan was for the maid of honor to have a different color combination than the bridesmaids they all loved the same combo. So instead we will make something else personal, perhaps a different color on her bouquet etc. 

girls in deep though (42)

It has been decided! 

 After dress shopping was complete it was off with my Maid of Honor to do some more bridal accessory shopping. With our daughters in tow of course. My daughter found this adorable lace umbrella and then gestured for the rain to come down.

 

<3 your hippie bride

Day 357 - Changes

Been meaning/needing to get the girls together to decide on a bridemaids dress. We have a general idea of what we all want in a dress but I'm a little apprehensive that we aren't going to find it.
Also, on a topic I don't really wish to discuss here but as part of the blog I guess it is part of the wedding planning game that I'm sure every bride has encountered. The subtle changes in bridal party. Although it is possible that nothing will change... I have this feeling on the breeze that something is amiss, something is about to or should change for the ease and comfort of all involved.

Normally, or at least what I perceive as normally, there is some big dramatic closing when a bridesmaid/MOH/Groomsman/BM back out. You know, a big dramatic fight and tears followed by a giant tub of rocky-road and eventually a reconsilliation either just before the wedding or months after. That is how I've known it to happen in the past. The difference here is it's not drama (at least not right now) it's more changes in life that make me feel it would be appropriate to at least offer the opportunity for a change in bridal party. This is a longer than usual engagement as well which of course lends opportunity for changes in life to drastically effect relations over time.

Long story short, I feel as though one of my bridesmaids might be a bridesmaid currently mostly out of obligation. Again, nothing to do with our friendship but there will be distance between us soon among other apparent things and so as much as I am excited about tomorrow I am apprehensive as well. But I trust that our friendship is close enough that I can bring this up without damning it. Obviously if I am wrong and she still wants to be a bridesmaid then I will welcome the challenge of the distance and any other things to come our way. I just don't want to make this any harder on her than it needs to be.

As a result this post will remain a draft until after we talk.

<3 your compassionate hippie bride


Edit: Boy did I forget about this post :p

Day 355 - Honeymooners

Our honeymoon is a very basic honeymoon. It is more important to us that we get out of debt, get a house among so many other things in our life than we go to some foreign country with our daughter and spend time basking in the sun. However, a girl can dream, so while I have already discussed our honeymoon plans with the other half I figured there was no harm in researching the cost of a honeymoon were we to do something more adventurous.

I thought, "Disney! There is a standard vacation option." I looked it up thinking it would be a pretty straight forward, "cost to enter the park. Bracelets, tickets etc." WRONG All I learned about booking a trip to Disney world/land (either) is that it is very confusing! 0_0

I already knew it was expensive no lesson learned there and I feel we definitely made the right choice in saving for a house over going to Disney, at least for now.

<3 your honeymooning hippie bride

Day 353 - WHOOPS

As you know I am a DIY bride. Among the things I am DIYing there are my bouquets, my invitations and yes even our first dance. So focused am I that I will sometimes rehearse while in the shower. I have learned that THIS is likely not the best venue for practicing your wedding dance choreography. Not a shower activity, lesson learned *whoops*

The positive aspect is that I now have the first minute of our dance rehearsed....now I must go melt into something really cold and refreshing.

<3 your sweaty hippie bride

Day 352 - Dressed to impress...the budget

I'm struggling with the idea of spending too much money on my flower girl dresses. I want something adorable and appropriate but I do not want to spend too much money on it because it will definitely get stained if I do. Isn't that how it works? I think it would hurt to spend $40 on the dresses and I'd much rather pay $20 or less. It's a kids dress, she's going to wear it a few times maybe when playing dress up. It'll be shoved aside in her memorabilia stuff and that's about it. General prices for flower girl dresses lean around $60-$70 so I don't have high hopes right now.

I passed several high school students in the past little bit and I have noticed that most kids now walk around wearing sweatpants. What is with that? Fashion has gone out the window and it's all about comfort? As I reflected on that I thought of my relationship and laughed that you could describe us as fitting together like high school sweatpants. I said this to a few friends who were disgusted with this comparison and insisted I find a better one. I returned with the statement, "I did not realize just how strong my love for him was until he failed to pass the approval test with my parents" This, given my lack of a relationship with my family, was approved by all.

<3 your hippie bride

Day 351- Thought for the day

Thought for the day:
"The greatest pre-nuptial agreement is love" <3 261 <3

Day 347 - Post Halloween invites

My hubby to be is the best the best fiancé ever! And who knew he looked so great in pink?

We took our daughter out trick-or-treating in our bridal fugly with her as a flower girl complete with curlers in her hair. It was super adorable.

 ♥ 265 ♥

I'm sending out the last of the wedding invitations soon. Once that is done I'll have to redesign the invitations a little and send out the open dance invitations. I'm not sure if I made an entry about that final decision, however, to balance the cost of a wedding reception with the desire to have everyone there we have decided to have people for the dance after the ceremony. Of course we ensured each person who would be invited to only the dance understood that it wasn't us shunning them it was us wanting to include them.

<3 your hippie bride