Flower Girl Dresses (A Decision)

After a very successful trip home, we've returned and rested. There were a lot of decisions made and plans finalized over the course of the week. But I left with one thing left to do on my list--flower girl dresses. However, now that we've been back and had time to get all of the ideas down on paper, we've also had the chance to search for flower girl dresses. Honestly, I found myself in a different world--the "Goldilocks bride" world. This dress was too poofy, this one was too grown up, this one too expensive. I even emailed Cathy for an opinion when I thought I had found "the dress." Unfortunately, I forgot to check sizes first. We couldn't get it in both the sizes that we wanted, so it was back to the drawing board.

Mike threw himself on the sword for this one. After half an hour, he had found the perfect dress (isn't he great)! So, without further ado...here is our flower girl dress. It's within our price range and in the sizes and colors we want. Yeah Mike! I'm ordering them next week.

First Dance Song Decided!

As I said before, I've been a bit concerned that Stars Over Texas was a bit cheesy given the tone of our father/daughter song (Cleaning this Gun). The reason that I've been so much happier with our father/daughter song than with our First Dance song was that our father/daughter song is so lighthearted and really expresses the true concept we have for the reception. We are not trying for cheesy, overly-romantic, or any combination of the two. Our reception is about our relationship. We know it's not perfect but it's ours. So, we think that our music should reflect that. After much contemplation, we've decided on a first dance song. It's Brad Paisley's Little Moments. As usual, the link has the song in a video that also has the words.

Yeah! Another decision made

Music: The Not So Romantically Cheesy Reception

Of all the weddings I've been to over the years it seems that the reception music is either really good or really cheesy. So, in an attempt to put together a wedding soundtrack for the reception (we won't even discuss ceremony music yet),we sat down yesterday and compiled a list of appropriate music for the wedding. We've put together a great blend of not-cheesy music and not all romantic music.

We decided that Stars Over Texas will be our first dance song, but we may change that. Part of the reason for changing that is that I think our father/daughter song really sets the lighthearted mood that we're going for and I'm worried that in light of that the first dance song seems a bit cheesy.

Our father/daughter song is still my favorite decision. Mike mentioned it and the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was appropriate for our wedding given the fathers and daughters we know are going to be on the dance floor during the song. Okay, enough build up. Our father/daughter song is Rodney Atkins' Cleaning This Gun. If you haven't heard it before, play the video linked above (it shows the lyrics and has great acoustics). Let me know what you think; I'm dying to know that we're not alone in thinking this is so appropriate.

A Few Ideas about Flowers

I had a scary moment the other day in which two very significant things happened. First, Mike agreed to let me have my cascading bouquet (yeah!), so now I have to rethink my flowers. But with that realization, I have also finally found myself able to make a few flower decisions. Now, some of you may think these are all minor, but think about this flower killing bride as having made some significant progress.

We've decided to have a Christmas tree on either side of the altar decorated with white lights and crimson and silver balls. I thought about adding tinsel, but the kind I want would take WAY too long to clean up.

Now, my tentative plans are to have the wedding in front of the fireplace at the hall, an if we stick to this, I'd like to have a garland of holly berries, gardenia (and whatever greenery I'm using) across the mantle.

I don't know how I want to decorate the rest of the ceremony hall (be patient, one step at a time), but I've made a few other decisions.

I want to stick to the over-arm bouquets for my bridesmaids and have them consist of gardenias and perhaps a few dark holly berries. I want to wrap the stems in crimson ribbon (my "other" color) and then wrap my bouquet in a silver and crimson ribbon (perhaps braided).

I also decided that in lieu of an aisle runner, I'm going to give my flower girls separate colored petals. I want one walking down the aisle with crimson petals and one with white petals. This way, I think there will be enough color variation that I can get away with not having an aisle runner.

Also, we've decided to keep the centerpieces for the reception tables very simple. I want to have a pillar candle in white and then alternate between crimson and silver (if I can find them) tea light candles on different tables. Then, I'm going to sprinkle a few crimson and white rose petals around them and call it done.

So there we have the current flower decisions. Now I'm excited about talking to the florist and finalizing the details for the flowers. I can't wait to see what ideas she has.

Reception Food Decisions

The other night, we accidentally made a decision on food for the reception. I say accidentally because we were thinking only of the fabulous party we were at and the celebration at hand. Then, Donna pulled the nights enchiladas out of the oven, settled them on the stove beside the cream(ish) corn, and it was as though Mike and I had met our "soulfoods." So, here's what we're planning (in keeping with the western theme for the reception)

5 different forms of enchiladas (one spicy and one plain on each one) or some variant of these types:

• Cheese, onion and green chile peppers
  
• Chicken, cheese, onion, and peppers
• Steak and onion
• Steak, onion, and peppers
• Plain cheese (for the kids and those with bad digestive problems)

With that, I'm thinking we can serve a salad, possibly a tortilla soup (but I'm not sure about that part yet) and the creamed corn that we had the other night (which is so simple to make--corn, cream cheese and peppers).

We're still planning on doing the cheesecake for dessert and a combination of soft drinks, tea, water, and this great punch we had at another of Donna's parties (are you noticing a theme here?)

We've got plates and the serving dishes (thanks to the leftovers from Cathy's wedding) but I still need to check on a punchbowl and figure out the soft drinks, ice, tea logistics. But, other than that, I think we have the food part of this figured out.

Oh yes, we still have to see if we can find a baker/cheesecake maker. It's time to hit my mom up for one of her old friends :)

More to come. We've made a lot more decisions, but I find them easier to refresh myself on when they're posted individually.