Friday, April 29

The Mannings

If you're a Colts fan {maybe even just a football fan}, you should read this article. Have a good weekend!!

Thursday, April 28

Stella & Dot

Tuesday evening, my mom and I had a little jewelry party. Have you ever heard of Stella & Dot? If not, you're missing out. It's soo cute! One of the reasons why we wanted to have the party now was so I could get some fun stuff for me to take on our honeymoon!! And I got so much fun stuff. I can't wait for it to come! Here's what I got...






{Love this ring!! I can't wait to wear it!}


 {I got these in gold}

 {How fun is this??}

{And, my favorite. A ring. That I'm going to sport on our wedding day. My mom said I could only wear it at the reception though, but I promise you I'll be wearing it!!!}

Tuesday, April 26

rage fest


A week ago this past Saturday, our good friends {and Best Man and Maid of Honor} Josh and Mer had a couples shower {or rage fest according to Josh}. We are so lucky to have such great friends to have a party for us and come celebrate with us before we get married. We had an awesome time. Thanks, Josh and Mer for having a party for us! And thanks to all our friends for being so great!!


The yummy food!


 Kaden {Mercy and Turner's little boy} came to party with us!


Some boys hanging out.

More boys...


Mer and I
Us

We're getting married in 45 days and I can absolutely not believe it's coming so soon!
I'm starting to go a little crazy with all the things we have going on...!

Monday, April 25

refreshing

Kurt and I gave up beer for Lent. Not the best idea we've ever had, but we did it anyway. We did cheat a few times, but for the most part didn't drink beer for the whole 6 weeks. It was so refreshing to taste a yummy summer beer yesterday! I'm about to pop one open right now...

Ahhhhh, how I love beer.

Friday, April 22

respondez s'il vous plait

Since we sent our invitations out a little over a week ago, we've had lots of mail!
Response cards in particular. 


You might not believe me when I tell you that this picture is how many response cards we've gotten back already, but this picture isn't lying!!

47 cards to be exact. 47 out of 150 sent.
And what's even harder for me to believe is that so far only 6 people can't come!
84 people {including Kurt and I}

What's been really fun is reading notes that people are leaving on the back of the cards for us.
{The bottom of the response card says, "Include a message of best wishes for the bride and groom on the back of this card."}

Things are starting to come together and get really exciting. I absolutely cannot wait to see all the people I haven't seen in awhile and share our wedding day with so many special people!

Thursday, April 21

surprises @ the door

Today we got lots of packages in the mail, one we knew was coming and the other is a gift!

We were really excited when we opened up this package...


We registered for this doormat from Pottery Barn. 
Kurt's aunt and uncle sent it to us.
Although I'm not technically a Weiper yet, Kurt insisted that we put it at our front door because we like it so much!

Looks awesome, don't you agree?!?

The long awaited package of part of my bridesmaid's gifts also came today!! I really, really wish I could put a picture up of what came, but don't want to ruin the surprise for my girls! I'll be sure to share after the wedding.

And speaking of gifts, look at what I'm using for the first time to make part of our dinner...


Steamed broccoli is soo good!
We got this for a shower gift from my sister-in-law Allison and her mom.
And I can't forget to mention our little teapot we LOVE...also a shower gift!

We're blessed and lucky to have such special family and friends.

Wednesday, April 20

my "do" for the "I Do's"

In a month or so I have my hair trial. I've been keeping an eye out for updos that I like. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with a veil and headpiece...if I wear them. {I don't want to give too much information in case Kurt is reading!!}

Two of my friends used my hair girl for their wedding updos recently. Both of them had amazing wedding hair!! Here's a picture of my friend Courtney's hair....gorg but kinda hard to see!


So here are a few of the pictures I've saved while searching wedding websites. Not sure which one I'll pick yet, but I have many that are all contenders!






Clearly I'm going for a free form "messy" kind of updo. I think I'm wanting it to be a little to the side, but not sure about this part yet...


...I'm also not sure about how I want the front to be. Do I want my long bangs to be swooped over to the side or totally back and completely out of my face. Too many choices!

My boss offered to make a veil for me. I can't wait to see what she comes up with. It will be so special for me to have that on our wedding day. I'm not exactly sure how I'll wear it yet, but I do like this picture...



I'm going to stop here. I don't want Kurt to know too much information!! I'll make sure to share more about hair/veil/headpiece after our wedding!! :)

{All pictures from Style Me Pretty}

Monday, April 18

pretty pretty princess {or prince?}

Over spring break {which seems like ages ago}, Julia spent the night at our house. We had a lot of fun hanging out together, but a highlight had to be playing Pretty, Pretty Princess {Disney Princess Edition} with Josh and Meredith. After we ate dinner, Julia and I ran down to their house to see if they wanted to get ice cream and come play a game {we didn't disclose which game until they agreed...didn't want to scare them away!!!}. We all piled in my car and went to McDonald's for some yummy ice cream then headed back home for a fun game. Kurt decided he would wait for another round {which never happened} and let Julia, Mer, Josh, and I play together. We had a blast and Julia won fair and square!!

Trooper!


Princess Julia 
{Olive wanted to play, too}

Julia and Olive LOVE each other! 
Playing together in the morning.


Old Man Coop was exhausted from all the events!

Thursday, April 14

mayhem...

...is the story of my life right now. Funny how things can change so much in one week. I was so relaxed and feeling on top of things last week and am going absolutely crazy right now. Between teacher responsibilities for the next couple of weeks {that seem to continue to keep piling up}, planning what I'm going to teach, planning a wedding, and every day stuff, I think I might loose my mind. Oh and my dad was in the hospital all week and had surgery last night {he's home and doing well...gall bladder}. June 1st {last day of school} can't come soon enough. June 11th is a close second. Hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow with a more exciting post.

Wednesday, April 13

signed, sealed, and delivered {i hope!}

This is what our kitchen table looked like on Saturday afternoon


We picked up our envelopes from my mom's friend, our calligrapher, in the morning and I immediately began stuffing everything! My mom came over to help a little later and we finished with everything in a couple hours of work. 

I L.O.V.E how our invitations turned out and the calligraphy topped it all off! At the end of our afternoon, we were looking at this

{some of the calligraphy is blurred for privacy}

All 150 envelopes all ready to go!
Kurt and I put them in the mail Sunday night and they were to be picked up yesterday morning at 7:00am. 
I hope people start getting them today!!
I. Can't. Wait.

We are most excited to get our response cards back to see who is coming and what meals they are choosing to eat. We also have a part on the response cards asking people to write us a note. We're hoping to get some good ones back!

I'll show specifics some other time...

Tuesday, April 12

tutu or dress?

Originally, my plan I was set on was having Julia wear a tutu for the wedding. My inspiration came from this photo

{Style Me Pretty...I think.}
 
I fell in love with the tutu idea. Julia would be comfortable, cute, princessy, etc. I liked the fact that it would be different than the normal flower girl outfit. I found some other weddings with flower girl tutus and couldn't get over how cute it would be for our wedding. So, the search began. I found lots of different options online, but most tutus were the wrong color, too fluffy, or not the right length. My mom found one while in San Francisco that she bought, but it was too pink. I found a really cute one on etsy, but it had to be a custom order and couldn't be returned. My hopes for the tutu were dwindling. We did talk to one seamstress {who is actually altering my dress} that said she could make one for us, but that seemed a bit overboard...! 
 
I didn't give up hope on a tutu, but I started searching a bit more for dresses. All along I knew that if we had to do a dress, it wasn't going to be a typical flower girl dress. My first stop was Crewcuts/J.Crew bridal {of course}! We ordered this dress thinking it might work out.





Julia tried it on and of course loved it, but I disliked it from the moment I saw it. The color was off and it just wasn't formal enough for our wedding. Plus, the top part is sewn in odd ways and you could see the stitching keeping the fabric in place. So needless to say, that was shipped back against Julia's request. And the search continued. Shortly after we returned this one, I found another dress from J.Crew that looked perfect online. It is even has "vintage" in the name {which is a theme for our wedding}. Too good to be true? Almost...
 
The color is perfect! Matches the peach on the BM dresses perfectly! It's more formal than the other dress, but not too flower girly. And I love the detail on the shoulder....



Sold. I found the dress I wanted her to wear, but there was one small problem. There was a little tear on the seam of one shoulder. I took it into J.Crew to return it and order another one on the "red phone". {If you don't know about J.Crew's "red phone", you should! Free shipping when you order from the store AND I can use my teacher discount.} Long story shorter, I returned the dress and reordered another. But the guy on the phone said there was only one dress left. This made me nervous and made me think I should repurchase the dress with the flaw. The ladies in the store said I didn't need to buy it back, but they'd keep in on hold for two days until I heard for sure that the new dress had shipped. Close to the end of the 2nd day, I figured out {from calling customer service} that in fact the dress in her size had sold out and it wouldn't be shipping to me. Ahhh, I freaked out! I immediately called the store and thankfully they hadn't returned it yet. So, I went back and bought it {again}. They fixed the flaw free of charge. Phew, dodged a bullet on this one!

I can't wait to see Julia in the dress on the wedding day. She's going to look so grown up. She will be going with us the day before the wedding to get her nails done for the first time! And my hair girl will be doing something a little special for her. The make-up artist even said she could give her a little special blush or lip gloss to make her feel special. She's going to love it! I'm having a hard time finding shoes that I like for her, but the search is on. 

While I'm kinda sad that the tutu idea didn't work out, this dress makes me feel good thinking about how perfectly it fits into the whole theme of the day. And my cute fiancé informed me that the bottom of the dress is kinda like a tutu...which is true! :)

Monday, April 11

Garb for the Men

While it seemed quite easy picking out dresses for the girls, trying to think of what the men were going to wear simply stressed me out {which isn't very hard to do!!!}. Our wedding is pretty formal, so we knew we probably need them to wear tuxes. But I have a problem with rented tuxes...they are made to fit the "norm" population of men, meaning that they don't fit as well as a tailored suit or tux. Kurt's body build is not in the "norm", so everything we looked at seemed too small here but too big somewhere else, etc...ugh! We looked into the option of having all of the guys buy a black suit for the wedding. After comparing costs, the suit option would have been quite pricey for each guy, so we decided against it.

One thing I learned while tux shopping {that I still don't understand} is that most places don't have tuxes for men to try on before deciding which one to pick!!! What, really?!?!?! Kurt and I both agreed that we would not choose a tux without him being able to try the whole thing on. There was no way we were going to pick out something for the most important day of our lives without seeing it on. Anyway, we found a place in the Indy area that does allow you to try on tuxes. After Kurt tried on a couple different options, we picked the look we want for both him and the other men {including our dads}.

Kurt's Requirements:
-tux {he did entertain the suit idea, but really does want to wear a tux}
-vest {Not my favorite because I think it looks funny when the guys take their jackets off at the reception. He assured me that they have full-back ones that look okay with no jacket.}
-shoes {he wants all the guys wearing the same shoes}

My Requirements:
-simple
-classy
-not much color
-fit Kurt well
-comfortable

Finally we came up with two tuxes that we really like and think will look great on our wedding day.
Here's what Kurt will be wearing
Up Close {the tie has a bit of a stripe detail that you can't really see}


Here's what the other men will be wearing. 
Same thing as Kurt but different color tie.


Up Close shot {it looks kinda grey because of the flash...}
The strips on this tie match the one Kurt will be wearing.


I love the black tie because one of the stripe colors matches the grey bottom of the bridesmaid dresses! 

And yes, the vest is full-back so I'll feel comfortable with the guys taking their jackets off once the party has started!

I think these two tuxes match the requirements we both had for tuxes for our wedding. Let's hope all the other guys look great in them, too {if they ever go in to get fitted!!!!!}.

Sunday, April 10

laziness = boredom

Lazy days sound wonderful to me all the time. But let's be honest, I get incredibly bored when I'm attempting to be lazy. Today is one of those days. I'm sitting here thinking about what to do and can't come up with anything. {Well there are some things, like buying flowers and planting them, but that would be require me driving to the store and spending money.} Of course, the very last day of my spring break is a beautiful and hot spring day. I have been attempting to enjoy the nice weather.

I've already done a lot. And now I'm B-O-R-E-D. Feeling like I should be working on wedding stuff....

I tried to get some sun while catching up on my magazines...

...and listened to the sweet sound of our new handmade {by Julia!} wind chime.

 
I watched the Blackhawk game with Kurt. Now we'll have to watch the Dallas game tonight because they must lose for the Hawks to get into the playoffs. Ugh.

I attempted to brush one very lazy dog...



I keep telling myself that the wind is going to pick up outside so that we don't have to turn on our A/C. But for now, I sit inside our house that is 83° watching golf {gross} trying to think of what I'll do for the rest of the day! 

Maybe you should remind me not to complain when I get super busy in the upcoming weeks...

Perfect

This is perfect.
I'd like a cake just like this at either our rehearsal dinner or reception.
Can you imagine how cute our cake would look...
Love

Friday, April 8

Spring Break....

...is over.

I've been on spring break for the last two weeks and I can't believe it's already coming to an end. We didn't go anywhere this year because we need to save money for our honeymoon.

I had many plans to get lots of stuff done and have pretty much failed at getting any of them complete.

The weather has sucked around here, making it impossible for me to do anything outside, especially start working on a little tan.

But I have done a lot of relaxing, sleeping in, reading, and catching up on shows. It's been a good two weeks off school. Only 7 more weeks {and a couple days} left until summer officially starts! And that means our wedding is coming up!!!!

I'm off to celebrate and fill the last couple days of my break with fun activities. Have a good weekend!

Thursday, April 7

Colors & BM Dresses

One of the very first things I did once we were engaged was begin looking for bridesmaid dresses. I wasn't exactly sure what colors I wanted for the wedding. I think I worked on things a bit backwards because I wanted to make sure I could find the perfect dress for my girls that went with our color scheme....whatever that was going to be!

I quickly found a Lula Kate dress that I loved at Bella Bridesmaid in Indianapolis. My decision was made and I knew I didn't need to go searching around other places.


Choosing the colors was a whole other process that didn't go as smoothly as choosing a dress. I knew for sure that I wanted a pop of color but nothing over the top. I wanted to keep our wedding colors as neutral as possible without being drab. So, eventually I choose to go with a mixture of dark grey, ivory, and muted peaches.

Here are the swatches {that are beginning to get a little ratty from being in my purse for almost a year!} for the dresses. The whole wedding has somewhat evolved around these three swatches.

Meredith, my maid of honor, is wearing grey on the bottom and ivory on top.
All the other bridesmaids will be wearing grey on the bottom and the peach on top. 

I am beginning to get really excited to see everything put together. At first, I had a hard time envisioning how things would look, and I was worried that we weren't going to have a cohesive look. Ideas are starting to come together and I am hoping that everything will look beautiful...I can't wait! :)

There is one slight problem...at this point, my all the girls will be walking down the aisle barefoot! I have been searching for shoes for them to wear and can't seem to find any that go with the dress, are comfortable, and not too high of a heel. Let's hope I find something soon!!!

Wednesday, April 6

Newest {mini} Addition

When I first started blogging, I told all about my family here and here and here. Almost 6 weeks ago {I can't believe how fast time flies}, Andy, Quinn, and Julia welcomed another little baby girl, Lauren Victoria.


 Lauren was born on February 24th, weighing in over 9 lbs!!! When Kurt, Christopher, and I went to the hospital that day to see her, she was very alert. What a precious addition to our family. :) I can't wait to spend more time with her and watch her grow.



{Kurt practicing for one day...ha!}

Tuesday, April 5

Wedding Updates

All of the big plans are set and major decisions have been made! Our wedding is in 67 days...but who's counting?!? :) We're now getting into the smaller details of our day. I can't wait to see it all come together! Each day I'm getting more and more excited about our wedding day and spending the rest of our lives together. And I must admit, I'm getting less and less patient!

Here is a quick update on some of the plans for the wedding:

-Our wedding day is June 11, 2011.
-Ceremony - Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church {where I went to school!}
-Reception - The Conrad {downtown Indianapolis}
-Honeymoon - Europe for two weeks {couldn't be more excited!!!}
I could spend all day going into specific details, but I'll spare you the time {for now}! I promise to keep updating with wedding plans and many more exciting things going on around here.

Monday, April 4

Go Dawgs!!

Although my heart belongs to the Indiana Hoosiers, I can't help but to be excited for Butler!! I basically grew up on the Butler campus, taking many, many gymnastic lessons there and sledding there each and every winter. What an exciting time for the team, students, alumn, etc!!! You know who I'll be cheering for, what about you?!?

I'm back!!!

Okay, I know I've been gone for almost a year. Originally I started this blog of mine with plans of blogging all of our wedding planning {and I didn't know when that would be}! Recently, I looked back at some of my old posts about our house, friends, etc and realized that I've been missing out of documenting this exciting time in our lives. I know I won't be able to make up for missed time, but I hope that I can catch you up on things that have been going on and share the many new and exciting things happening in our little home.