Yeah, I know.  It’s been like, forever since I updated this blog!  OK, a little under a month.  That’s not THAT bad!  A lot has been accomplished and yet every time I say that, I feel like there are a million and one more things to do.  

Any other bride or groom ever get the feeling that you want time to hurry up already so you can just be married to that special someone…but at the same exact time you wish you had all the time in the world?!  Lately, as the date gets closer, I feel myself being pulled in these two directions almost constantly.  Hurry UP already….let’s get it done!  No no no…slow DOWN…I’ve got so much to do!!  aaaaaaaahhhhh!  

*deep breath, Jenny*

I need to remind myself that this moment in time–this being engaged, the excitement and anticipation leading up to the wedding–this moment is fleeting and I need to appreciate every minute.  And I do, don’t get me wrong.  I am loving just looking forward to the wedding.  At the same time, I just can’t wait for it to BE here already!  :)  

As for the to-do items that have been checked off the list:

INVITATIONS!  CHECK!  This I am more excited about these than I’d thought I would be.  I went to pick them up the morning of the Presidential Inauguration and was blown away.  They are EXACTLY how I pictured them, but better!  SO gorgeous, so US and 100% recycled & tree-free paper goodness!  GUESTS:  don’t forget–the seed paper (the blue part–you’ll see) is plantable!  Yes, you absolutely CAN plant it and it WILL grow wildflowers!  

CATERER!  CHECK!  Finally.  We are still using Bloomingfoods Co-Op to cater our organic, locally-grown, vegetarian meal, but we had to shift gears.  The guy we were working with TOTALLY flaked on us.  Just NEVER got back to us after 4 whole months no matter how many times I tried to contact him.  So we met with the wonderful, super helpful (and super apologetic) Kai Bookwalter at the East side store.  Ohhhh how we love Kai.  She is on top of things, full of yummy suggestions and actually gets back to us (of course it doesn’t hurt that she shares the name of my beloved future stepson!).  We have a menu, a quote and are now 100% all set until we get a headcount in April.

FLOWERS!  CHECK!  Linda Chapman over at Harvest Moon contacted me herself to check in to see if I was still interested in working with them for our wedding.  I love when vendors do this.  I try to always “check in” with potential and current clients myself.  I, of course, responded with a resounding “YES!”.  We are to meet in April.

HAIR APPTS!  CHECK!  I contacted Les Champs Elysees Salon to set up the day-of hair appts as well as my hair trial.  

SHOES!  CHECK!  While my regular under-the-dress shoes have been chosen and purchased for quite a while now, I decided to invest in some SUPER cute wellies (rain boots for those who don’t follow the lingo!) to wear just in case it rains (it IS May!).  Now I’m kinda looking forward to the possibility of rain!  

And now, the big one……HONEYMOON!  CHECK!  Oh yeah.  Adrian is the BEST.  We are now all booked for a 2-week trip to Europe!!!  Where exactly?  How about Dublin, Barcelona, Nice, Florence & Rome?  How about that, hmmm?  I say, AWESOMEEEEEE!!!!!!!  Can you tell I’m excited?  Now I don’t know what I’m  looking forward to more, the wedding or the honeymoon!

I know there’s more, there’s got to be, but I can’t think of anything else right now.  I’ve got Bride Brain (overloaded, overexcited, and overtired).  

I’ll get back to you as I think of things

Jenny the Bride

Now that the Holidays are over and 2009 has begun we can begin to focus once again on our wedding.

Of course it doesn’t help the nerves that now that it is 2009, everything is going in super fast-forward.  Or so it seems.  Does it feel that way to anyone else?  Before the Holidays, I always felt there was a cushion there, a safety net.  Tthen they came and went.  And now it’s T-minus 4 months and counting and I’m growing a tad overwhelmed and panicky, albeit below the surface.  Just below it.

*deep breath*

Things ARE getting done.

Remember how I’d said once our guests have received the Save-the-Dates that YOU’D get to see them?  Well here they are:

Ta-da!  Save-the-Date magnets from www.vistaprint.com.  $1 each.  Oh yeah.

You see how it says “invitation to follow” on the bottom there?  Well that brings me to my next item of discussion:  Invitations!

Adrian and I decided on the style, colors, fonts, and words for our invitations from Twisted Limb Paperworks last week and sent everything in.  We should be getting to see the first draft today or tomorrow.  I, for one, am SO EXCITED!  Seeing our names, our words, our date & location all spelled out on an invitation makes it REALLY real!  It’s concrete once it’s on an invitation.  No going back!  And that makes me happy.  

Of course for pictures of these, you’re really going to have to wait.  We won’t be sending them out until mid-March.

Next on the list:

• Decide upon a place to hold our Rehearsal Dinner.  So far we’ve got FARM, Finch’s Brasserie, and DeAngelo’s in the running.  We’re leaning toward DeAngelo’s.  
• Meet with Jon C. to go over ceremony stuff.
• Start writing our vows!
• Plan a little something special for our out-of-town guests.
• Actually HEAR BACK FROM OUR CATERER! and book all that.

I suppose it’s all moving right along and I need to take more deep breaths.  More to come as updates continue!

Thanks for reading!
Jenny the Bride

We got our engagement pictures back a couple of weeks ago!  They’re awesome and we are in LOVE with them!  Jason rocks my socks!  Here’s a sneak peek:

To see more & order prints, click here!

Now, on to the “& more” section of this post….

The list further dwindles!  To date we have now:

• Created & ordered our save-the-dates (using one of our engagement pictures)!  I’ll post a photo of the finished design (created by me and approved by Adrian) once I’m sure most of our guests have received them.  
• Chosen our invitations (will order in January).  We’re going with tree-free paper with embedded wildflower seeds from Twisted Limb Paperworks!  Again, no peeking at the design until they’ve been received!
• Our friend, Jon C., got ordained online!  Not sure which site he used, but it’s legit!  
• My wedding  & rehearsal dresses have been fitted!  And believe it or not, I performed the operations myself (eek!)!  But it worked!  Of course, were they not rather simple in design (no boning or the like), I would NOT have even dreamt of touching the dresses with a needle & thread, but thankfully it IS and I have enough experience to have fitted it myself, saving a load of cash!  YAY!  My mantra has been since we started planning (heck, since we purchased our own house):  Why pay someone else to do it if I can do it myself?  Of course, if you follow such words of wisdom, be realistic!  Sometimes it is better to trust the professionals!  
• In the same vein, I have also almost completely finished adding my own personal design aspects to my wedding gown.  I’ve added quite a bit here and there and changed some things about the design, but I am LOVING it more each and every time I touch that thing.  Which is a good sign, because I have been known to not leave well enough alone.  Thankfully with my own wedding gown I’ve done a good job of Keeping It Simple (SILLY)!
• We’ve just about compiled all of our guests’ mailing addresses.  Actually, as of now, we’re just waiting on ONE.  (you know who you are!)
• Decided on a ring holder!  We’re going to order a custom ring bowl from Paloma’s Nest!  I’m so excited because I have been wanting one of these for our wedding since I first saw them!  They’re so cute, so unique, and so reusable (another mantra: reduce, reuse, and….you know the rest!)!  We’re going to engrave it with “Adrian & Jenny / May 16, 2009″ and tie a ribbon in one of our colors through the holes at the top.  After the wedding, we’ll use it as an ornament on our tree every year OR hang it on the wall next to a wedding photo.  Kai will now be carring our rings (he wanted–and deserved–an extra, important job), so now he’ll just carry the bowl with the rings!
• I’ve ordered and received all of my rehearsal & wedding day jewelry (all from Etsy.  Yes, you remember, I’m the Etsy Freak Bride.). 
• I’ve received my headpiece from myrakim (SO pretty!!!)!  It’s made with feathers I gathered from my family’s farm in Michigan City, so it’s extra personal!
• booked a ceremony musician!  We’ll have a solo violinist, a student from IU Music School.   I’m looking forward to this as well because those students?!?  AMAZING!!!
• worked out the timeline/style of our ceremony.  Not the words yet, but the way things are going to go.  We’re doing things a little differently.  More on this later.
• Aaaand last but NOT least, I ordered the oft-raved-about work-the-hell-out-of-you workout DVD:  Jillian Michaels–30-Day Shred.  Yes, that’s Jillian Michaels from “Biggest Loser” TV fame.  Yes, she’s called the “toughest trainer”.  That’s right.  I’m getting in the absolute best shape of my life for our wedding!  

Now, let me explore this tangent a little more, do you mind?  I’m not in bad shape.  I’m a vegetarian, I eat well, I had kept up a pretty decent jogging routine in the warmer months for the past year.  When I wasn’t jogging, I was dancing.  This is the embarrassing part.  I have ANOTHER workout DVD for *ahem* hip-hop dancing *shifty eyes*.  It worked me out, though, and it was fun!  

Then I got this DVD.

I apparently didn’t know what working out was.  

Ho. Ly. Crap (I’ll keep this kid-friendly).

The workouts (there are three levels) are only 20 minutes long.  But, it’s Jillian, and Jillian does NOT mess around!  It’s true, if you want results from ONLY 20 min a day, you’ve got to WORK IT GIRLFRIEND and WORK IT HARD!  No breather allowed!  No mercy!  I’ve only done this once, just started today (in fact only an hour ago) and I can barely even type!  I thought I was in shape and BOY I must have been w-r-o-n-g!

All this is to say, if you want results, if you want your ass kicked hardcore in the comfort of your own home, GET THIS DVD.

OK I think that about covers it for now!  Be back once more is checked off the list!

Thanks for reading.

Jenny the Bride

I am happy to say the list is dwindling.

Over the past week, we:

1)  Blocked hotel rooms for our out-of-town guests at the Days Inn & Hilton Garden Inn in Bloomington.

2)  Started our registries!  We actually had fun doing this!  We went to Bed Bath & Beyond and were able to use the scanning gun to choose our registry items.  This was TOO FUN.  Adrian personally really enjoyed choosing the cutlery & cookware  We also registered at Lowe’s and created an online registry at Wishpot.com.

3)  Met with our dear friend, Jon C., and asked him to marry us.  He graciously accepted (even said we gave him goosebumps!) and is really looking forward to the “honor”, as he said.  We are THRILLED!  Jon has been a close friend of Adrian’s since high school and they lived together when Adrian and I started dating.  So he’s been there from the very, VERY beginnings of “us”.  He was there when Adrian first mentioned me as the “girl at work” he was interested in.  He was there when I used to come over, “as friends”, and help Adrian with our art homework.  He was there when we would all sit on the couch together (after Adrian and I started dating) and watch old “Friends” episodes on DVD (can’t hide from the truth, boys).  He was always supportive, always fun, always a wonderful friend, and we are so excited he’ll be the one to lead the ceremony.  He should be getting ordained online anytime now.  (Speaking of, anyone know which are the legitimate get-ordained-online sites?)  

4)  Met with our photographer and close friend, Jason, to go over some details and have our engagement photos taken!  It was great to see Jason again.  He brought his 9-year-old son Jaden with him, much to Kai’s enjoyment, and while we walked the campus taking pictures, Jaden & Kai ran, jumped, danced, and laughed around us.  We are very excited to see the pictures

That’s it for now!  We’re moving right along at a steady pace, and things are getting done!  

I’m going up to Michigan City to see my family this weekend.  I’m going to bring my wedding dress so they can see it.  I’m so excited to show it off!  There are some things I want to do to it before my trip, though, so I’ve got to get started!

Till next time!

Jenny the Bride 

IS IN!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Postman dropped off a rectangular box this past Friday.  I went out to meet him because I couldn’t wait.

I squealed.  I ran inside.  I promptly told the dogs that this was my dress and made them go stay in the kitchen so it didn’t get dog hair and paw prints on it. 

I tore it open.  Inside was an opaque vinyl garment bag (how nice of Amanda to send it this way!) and a thank-you card inside (how nice again!).

i quickly zipped the bag open, squealing again, and put it on.  

hmm…it’s beautiful, it’s MY DRESS, without a doubt, but it needs some alterations.  So I pulled it tight to get a better idea, put the accessories on and voila!  

I was a BRIDE!  But I was ME!  And it was AWESOME!  It was everything I ever wanted AND it’s reusable.  The way it’s designed, after the wedding I’ll be able to hem it to the knee and it’ll make a cozy, beautiful sun dress  Wow, I’m such a recycling hippie.

But seriously, I am so relieved.  Every bride, from what I hear has 2nd thoughts and the more I thought about the dress (before it arrived) the more I doubted my decision.  Don’t ask me why.  I was doing exactly what I wanted to do.  I was having my dress made out of the fabric I wanted, into the style I wanted, by a ridiculously talented dressmaker.  But still, the doubts came, but disappeard completely once I put the whole ensemble together.  I mean, completely.  I am in LOVE with my gown.  It’s so ME and it’s SO beautiful!!  I can’t wait to wear it to become Adrian’s wife

In other news, checks we have done so far:

• Ceremony site (Rose Well House on IU campus)
• Reception site (Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Grand Hall)
• DJ (Tom Marshalek from The Dance Machine)
• Flowers (Harvest Moon Flower Farm)
• Rentals (Master Rental)
• dress (Amanda Archer handmade creation)
• Caterer (Bloomingfoods Co-Op)
• Photographer (Jason Miller with Silvertree Photographics)

First off:

THE DRESS IS DONE!!!!  eeeeeeeee!!!!!!  

Ok now that I’ve got that out of my system I can move on.  

NO wait.  Seriously.  MY wedding gown.  My custom-made wedding gown.  is finished.  and it’s beautiful.  and by next week, I should be able to put it on!  It’ll be moments like that that I’m glad Adrian’s at work all day and I’m at home alone so I can prance around in it and edit pictures in it…

Second update:

We met with our first choice for a caterer (Bloomingfoods Co-op) and decided on a DJ (Tom Marshalek with The Dance Machine).

 Adrian and I both knew going into this that we wanted a fun party for our closest friends and families.  What better way than with good food and good music?!  To be honest, Adrian wasn’t all gung-ho about the DJ thing like I was.  He still isn’t.  But in my line of work, I’ve seen a TON of DJs.  I totally get why he’s a little scared.  I’ve seen the cheese in person.  I’ve seen the DJs that don’t know when to be quiet, or the ones that don’t realize this isn’t a show all about them, or the ones that totally didn’t listen to the bride & groom’s requests and just played whatever they want.  I’ve even seen the DJs that will stop a song that’s rocking out before it’s over leaving dead silence hanging in the air while the crowd that was just having a good time groans in disappointment.  

But our guy is not these guys.  I’ve seen some great ones too in my line of work, don’t get me wrong.  But Tom is the absolute best choice for us.  He and I have worked together at two wedding receptions in the past couple of years.  Only two, and at these two he impressed me exponentially.  We even got to talk quite a bit at the most recent one only this past month.  He’s a lot like us.  Heck, we even found out recently that he’s our neighbor!  He lives like one street over.  How small a world is it?!  Anyway, he gets it.  And he truly loves what he does and I feel that really makes a difference.  When vendors “do weddings” just to make money, or in their “off season”, you can tell.  When they do it because they love it, it shows.  Tom is excellent, end of story.  Adrian still may be a little hesitant, but he won’t regret it.  I appreciate so much his trust in me in this.  And for the record, this is the only aspect of our wedding planning so far on which we haven’t seen eye-to-eye.  I mean, iPod weddings may work for some, but for a rockin’ party, you need someone whose sole purpose is to crank out some excellent music!

As for Bloomingfoods, we both agreed on this from the beginning.  After meeting with the super-friendly and totally laid-back (like us) Alan Simmerman from the near west side store, we felt even more sure about our decision.  We’re still awaiting a price estimate which will help us make our final choice, but we’re pretty set on them.  All organic, vegetarian, and super ridiculously delicious food.  How can you go wrong? 

In other planning news, we’ve also discussed the whole officiant thing.  I mean, technically, the officiant is the most important (read: necessary) vendor.  And when we think about it, it feels very strange to us to have anyone marry us that doesn’t already know us well.  So we’re heading very seriously down the track of having a friend who gets ordained online marry us.  We discussed possible friends of ours over lunch one day and came up with a couple of names.  We’ve since narrowed it down to one that we think is the best for the job.  Next step:  Asking said friend.  And no, we’re not giving away the name until he/she is asked!  :)  Nice try, though.

So yeah, I think that about covers it on the wedding planning front.  More as things progress!

Jenny the Bride

I’ve always heard brides say that while they were engaged, they would have countless terrifying nightmares about various aspects of the wedding day.  In these nightmares, things would go horribly, horribly wrong.  They would have to go down the aisle naked, as they’d forgotten to put on their dress.  Everyone forgot about the wedding and no one showed up.

Well, I had my first a couple of nights ago, and it was scary! When I think about it now, I should have realized it was a dream while I was having it, but you know most of the time, while you’re having a dream, you are 100% certain everything is REALLY HAPPENING to you.   This was one of those dreams.  This one centered around my dress.

As you know, I’m having my dress custom made by Amanda Archer (awesome!).  I have had zero doubts about my decision to do this, as I know Amanda is extremely talented.  Or at least I thought I’d had zero doubts.

In my dream, Amanda showed up at my house with my dress (super cool if she would actually show up at my house in Indiana since she lives in San Fran, but I highly doubt this is going to happen).  She took the dress out of its package and it was…. words cannot describe.  OK, I’ll try.  It was made out of about ten different kinds of eyelet lace, none of which coordinated with the others.  It was two pieces.  The bottom piece was PANTS.  It was tea-stained brown.  That enough for ya?  Oh, and she had no idea why I had a problem with it.  Now, remember, I was firmly convinced this was all really happening to me.  I was so livid and scared and upset and confused!  How had this wonderfully talented dressmaker even concocted something so hideous?!?

…Then I woke up.  Aaaahhhhh that relief when you realize that nightmare was just a nightmare!  It never really happened!  Oh joy oh joy oh joy!  Angels were singing in my head!  My dress could still be beautiful! But my GOD how that image has stuck in my mind!  I cannot get that abomination out of my head!  The only difference is now I realize it was just a dream, and I can laugh a little at myself.  Because really, it wasn’t the talented dressmaker that concocted such a hideous mess.  It was my own subconscious.

Weird.

Jenny the Bride

Vacation is over. Time to plan this thang.

Checklist:

• meet with Bloomingfoods for catering*
• send in $ for reception site
• Meet IU Student Activities director in person about ceremony site
• Check out DJs/ceremony musicians (latter will likely be IU music student)
  
• Decide on officiant
• look into honeymoon options
• look into registry ideas
• meet with Jason (photographer)
• discuss clothing for guys

(*italicized = top priority.)

Stay tuned!

Jenny the Bride

I’m having it made.

I want to give you so many more details because I am so so so so so so excited to be having my gown custom made, but alas, Husband-in-Training would come across it and know all too much.

So what helped me make this decision? During all my tryings-on of bridal gown after bridal gown, I found myself thinking “this is not ME. This gown was made for ‘a bride’, but not for ME.” and there were things I would want changed with each gown. This includes the amazing Pronovias gown I almost went with from Bridal & Formal.

Upon coming across an amazingly talented dressmaker based in San Francisco, CA, I knew I found the young woman who would make MY gown. And it felt SO right, especially after exchanging a few e-mails, sending along a photo of what I was looking for and even more so after receiving the fabric in the mail. It was all coming together and it would be MINE!

This decision feels so RIGHT, so GOOD, and I am THRILLED! Anyone who is interested in seeing the photos of the design and fabrics, shoot me an e-mail (jlnowak [at] gmail [dot] com)!

Any other brides out there having their wedding gown custom-made? Please share!

Jenny the Bride

Yesterday I received an answer to the question of whether we were allowed to have our wedding ceremony at the greenspace outside of Simon Hall on IU’s campus.

NO.

So while at first both Adrian and I were disappointed, we realized there was nothing we were going to be able to do to change the committee’s mind and decided on another (already pre-approved!) site:

The Rose Well House:

(The Rose Well House set up for a wedding.  Image courtesy of Cathy Teeters Beautiful Weddings)

(A wedding going on–in the middle of a torrential downpour–at the Rose Well House!  Image courtesy of Jessica R. Strickland)

From Bloomingpedia:  “The Rose Well House is a small structure built in 1908 from stone door gates that were originally part of the old College Building. The well house is located over what was the first cistern used on the new Indiana University campus, on the north-eastern edge of Dunn’s Woods. It is situated close to Wylie Hall, Owen Hall and Maxwell Hall.”

As a matter of fact, it all works out for the better.  Even though here we can’t have an in-the-round ceremony based on the shape, Adrian and I went to the Rose Well House on our first date (along with fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies from the Bloomington Bagel Company!), so it’s a spot that means something personal to us. And because of this, we are looking forward to vowing to be together forever in this spot where we, back in the fall of 2004, sat with our chocolate chip cookies and talked for over an hour, learning about one another as we began our relationship.

Jenny the Bride

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