*170 days to go!*

Ok, I had a few more things to update about the other day but I was so overly excited about my dress that I just.. didnt. haha. I know some of yall have already seen most of this but here it is anyway!

I think I've pretty much finished everything on our actual wedding website so here's the link if you're interested!
http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/GinnyCarter&BaileyRutledge

Also, we finally booked our hotel room! [thanks mama!!]
[noooo makeup obv]

And then the next day I watched the video they posted on the website and did a LITTLE better? Maybe? lol.



ha.. I'm obviously not very good at it! But that's ok. I won't be the one putting it on before the wedding! :D *phew*

Closeup of the fascinator:

You can't really see the peacock feathers here. My bad.

Ugly feet, cute shoes:

Holy CRAP I love them!

Cake toppers are in our possession!

Weeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

aaaaand my garter!

crappy pic, but it's really pretty :]

Randomness:

Bailey's ring isn't here yet. Boo. I mean, they have to make it and everything, and their shop policy says it could take about 6 weeks but I'm so damn impatient. lol. Wahh.

My dress probably wont be in until January [hopefully sooner though]. I can't waaaaaait to put it back on. :D I'm thinking about possibly making it a teeny tiny bit shorter. MAYBE?

Ok, I have a million wedding things going through my head right now so I will probably update again tonite. ;]

*OMG we have a dress!*

Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap.

I just got back from Statesboro with April & I PURCHASED MY WEDDING DRESS.
I found the one.. well.. the TWO really. haha. I fell in love with 2 dresses.
One was short & cute & perfect for Vegas & just totally ME. And the pricetag was prettyyyy amazing.
The second one was long. big. An actual wedding GOWN. But I loved it. And it was expeeeennnnnsive. ha.
So, I definitely went with the first one! But honestly, it was exactly what I was looking for anyway & I LOVE IT. It was so flattering!! I felt so pretty :]

Please forgive us because the pics dont do it justice. WOMP.

First, the one I DIDNT get:


I loved the top of it so much. You cant really tell in this picture but it made me look so voluptuous without a ton of boobs showing all over the place. lol.

And now, the one I did get. MUCH more informal & fun I think:


So cute! Please excuse ME in this picture. It poured rain on us RIGHT before we got there and it ruined my hair & I'm like.. pigeon toed in this picture. wth.

SO ANYWAY. TELL ME WHAT YALL THINK!!!

And I will update later today with some more wedding stuff that's happened in the past few weeks! :D

*cake topper*

I just bought the figures for our cake topper!

*........drumroll........*



&



YAYYYY!!! :D haha I LOVE IT.


I finally got my garter in the mail today! It's gorgeous!
I'll post pics later. I only took pictures of it in the box today because I felt like a chunky monkey when I tried it on. haha.
I highly recommend Etsy seller: MiaVonMinksGarters

Ok now I'm going to go drool over the Link & Zelda action figures some more!

*ring!*

I bought Bailey's ring the other day!

I cant waaaait to see it in person!

It's not a surprise anymore though. WOMP.
I had to ask him a few questions about ring size etc and he finally asked me that night if I bought it and I'm the worst liar EVER so yeah.. he knows now. haha. Oh well.

April & I went to Goodwill this weekend and picked up a TON of vases because why not? We'll use them for centerpieces etc. :]
We also had lunch with Pammie that day and we figured out a lot of the logistics of the reception. Yay!

:D

*guestbook table*

Since Bailey and I met in an airport, I wanted to somehow tie that in to the wedding / reception. I asked everyone in my wedding community [weddingplans on LiveJournal] for suggestions & I think I finally figured out what we're going to do!

I think we'll make our guestbook / card box table 'travel themed'.
One of the girls in the community used a vintage suitcase as a card box instead of making or buying one. It was SO freaking cute. I was planning on making ours, but instead I think I'm going to have to bite her style a little bit. lol.
This was her table:

Love it.

And Bailey bought these for my birthday this past March:

So there we go. We already have our card box. haha. We'll use the little one!

Ok, so we'll do that and then I figured we could probably find an airplane themed guestbook somewhere. I found these on Etsy:



But I think I'm gonna keep looking around until I find one that I love.

Also, I was planning on buying Bailey's wedding band today but I dont know how wide the band should be. The standard size for the one he wants is 6 mm but that seems a little wide for him. Wearing a ring is going to take some getting used to for him anyway, so I dont want it to be too much. I didnt want to tell him I was buying it. I kind of wanted it to be a surprise but I think I'm gonna have to ask him. :[ BOOOOO.

EDIT: I'm dumb and was looking at 8ths of an inch instead of millimeters. derrrrrrrrrrr. So nevermind, I am going with the width that they normally come in! WOO!

<3

*more bridesmaid + outfit pics!*

April bought TWO bridesmaid dresses lol.. so yesterday Sam was over and tried on one of them! And she tried on the shoes too. It looks great!





Yayyyy!! :D

Every time something new falls into place I get SO excited!!! :D :D :D

*omg shewz*

Dude. I ordered my shoes YESTERDAY.. after 5:00 and they were here TODAY before 2:00!! WTH!
Definitely not complaining though!

Here they are! [excuse the crappy cell phone pics]


They look so dark on my camera phone! But they are much more vibrant in person.
I tried them on and they are glorious BUT I am not posting those pictures because.. my feets need some lovin before I'm gonna go posting them on the internet. haha.
So those pics are soon to come!
I ordered them from heels.com. They do smell like mothballs though... so they are airing out right now... until April. LOL

I also ordered my veil & fascinator yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!
I did end up getting the ones from birdcageveils.com.

This veil:


And this fascinator:


I do have to pick a different brooch for the fascinator though because they dont have the flower one anymore. I'm so excited though!
The lady who runs the site is named Melody Ginn & she is SO SWEET. I had a question about the veil & fascinator going together so I emailed her and instead of emailing me back she called me.. good stuff. She was so nice & helpful & she ended up pulling one of her employees aside to try them on her to see how they'd look together! haha. Love it.
So I bought them right there on the phone with her yesterday. It was so exciting to me.

ALSO. I bought my garter:


from Etsy seller: MiaVonMinksGarters

I'm so happy to finally be buying things for my wedding!!! AHHH!!!!

<3

*a whole new reception plan!*

YES, WE ARE STILL GETTING MARRIED IN VEGAS.

BUT, our reception plans have gone in a whole different direction now and I'm sooo happy about it. :D

What we ORIGINALLY wanted was to just have a backyard reception at Mama & Eddie's house. And then somewhere along the lines Mama brought up the idea of them just renting a venue for us to have the reception at because it would be 'a lot less trouble'. I was into it at first, just because.. why not? But the more I looked around at venues & prices etc, the more uncomfortable I was with the whole thing. It just wasnt sitting right with me. And I was worried about my guests having a place to stay, worried about our music being too loud, worrying about timeframes, basically worrying that I wouldnt be able to have fun because I'd be worrying about things the whole time!
And THEN, I found out how much my mom & Eddie were going to spending on the whole thing and I just about had a heart attack. I mean, they are already paying our way out to Vegas for the actual wedding.. and paying for themselves, on top of a lot of other wedding related expenses. It just all got out of hand real fast.
So yesterday I talked to April & Ali.. then Bailey, and then finally my mom. And we ALL decided to just have a reception RIGHT HERE.. in OUR backyard!! :D

*HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF*

This is going to be SO much better, so much less stressful, SO much more fun, SO much more laid back [what we've wanted all along!] and SO much easier!! I am already dreaming up all the cute ways we can decorate our yard! Also, that leaves more room to do the things we REALLY want to do because we wont have to pay a venue rental fee! Woo!

I seriously feel so much better about all of this now, it was really weighing on me, and I had gotten to the point where I just wasnt looking forward to it at all anymore. I had almost decided not to do it at all! Bailey is so much happier about this decision too.

Soooooooo, since I'm all excited about it, I made an inspiration board for the reception!! haha



<33333

*NEW inspiration board*

Ok, we made a few minor changes. Purple is out & green is in.
New inspiration board:

I'm going to work on it some more later because a couple of the pics I put on there werent EXACTLY the sort of thing I was looking for, but I was in a hurry!
Purple is my favorite color, BUT green is my 2nd fave. AND it's much easier to coordinate IMO. So it works. :]
*phew*
I will be so glad when I stop changing my mind about stuff. Ali has been making my decisions official lately. haha. Whenever I start second guessing stuff she just asks me a couple questions and then tells me what to do. I need that. Too much wedding stuff going on in my head at once ALL OF THE TIME.

Now off to look for turquoise petticoats, yet again!

*inspiration board*

I made this today :]



:]

*DRESS & groomsmen attire changes!!*

I've changed my mind about the dress I want!

I had a bit of a freakout a couple of weeks ago because I realized that I was actually planning on ordering a dress that I wouldnt even be able to TRY ON until it came in the mail.
Now.. that wouldnt have even phased me a couple of years ago BEFORE I HAD A BABY.. but um.. my body is not the cute little thing it used to be anymore lol.. and I am still getting used to what looks good on me now.
SO. I decided to go to some more dress shops and try on some more dresses just in case THE ONE was sitting somewhere around here instead of California.
I didnt find the one, but I did find a STYLE that I loved. And I also realized that I'm not comfortable in strapless AT ALL anymore. I wasnt standing up straight, I didnt feel confident, and I kept trying to adjust my boobs.. NOT how I want to feel on my wedding day!
Then I tried on this Casa Blanca gown:

It was long and full with a train which I wasnt into but I LOVED THE TOP SO MUCH. It was minimizing in the chest [which I definitely need] and it was just so flattering. I fell in love [with the top].
I couldnt justify buying the gown and then cutting $200-$300 worth of material off to make it shorter though.

Then I realized that there is a new Dolly design! The Beverlywood! AND IT IS PERFECT!! :D
I love it. So I am 99.9% sure that this will be the one I get!
I'm going to have it made WITHOUT the sleeves though. Still with the strap part, similar to the top of the Casa Blanca gown, but no sleeves.
Here it is:



What do yall think? :D


Also, Bailey and I decided to change the groom + groomsmen + bridesdude attire. We registered everyone for tuxes but that wasnt what we wanted to do in the first place! So now we are going back to our original plan!
Bailey will just be in a suit & the other boys will just wear black dress pants + white dress shirt.
And then we will order their ties:

We're ordering them from Etsy seller: toybreaker
They will look something like this.
We havent decided on black ties with colored ink, or colored ties with black ink.
Bailey's tie will be blue & the other guys will have purple ties. :]

*yay ali!*

WOO! Ali got her dress in the mail today and emailed me pics!
I will leave out the one where she's making crazy-face so she doesnt kill me<3





Loooove it! And I think it looks great! :D

She gets here in SIX DAYS. I'm so freaking stoked! And I'm going to take pics of her in April's dress & petticoat while she's here! haha

<3

*bridesmaid dress update*

Pics of April in her dress + petticoat + shoes!
[just crappy cell pics but you get the point]









What do yall think? Thoughts and opinions are much appreciated!!!

<3333

*woo!*

April's petticoat came in the mail today!! And I of course texted her immediately and asked if I could open it. LOL
Now she just needs to get hooooome so I can see the whole outfit allll together! :] Excite!

I think we are pretty set on booking our reception at Marker 107.. the restaurant I posted pics of earlier. I heard back from Dana, the lady who is opening the place, and everything sounds good! My mom said to go ahead and plan on it then.
I also checked out the tide charts for that day and hide tide peaks at 6:45 that night which is PERFECT.

Also, I found a ring yesterday that I really like on Overstock.com. We are still going to go see a jeweler about how much it would cost to reset the stones from Bailey's mom's wedding bands into white gold.. and we'll get/do whichever one works out to cost less! :D
This is the one I found on Overstock:

It matches my sapphire engagement ring & I think it would fit the shape of my e-ring. I didnt want to get a normal straight band because it wont sit flush with my e-ring, but I dont want one that is bent just to fit around it because then it would look funny if I wanted to wear my wedding band alone.

Oh well, we'll see!

*invitations & reception venues*

Pammie came over today and brought a ton of color swatches that she ordered from cardsandpockets.com!
After much debate and several oohs and aahs and a few blehhhs [haha] we came up with something I REALLY LIKE and Pammie didn't hate! YAYY!
I wont post the whole thing here and ruin the surprise but I did get to pick out the main color and it is bright! :D So I am excited about that! I'll show that part:

I dont know if it will be rectangular or squared.. I'm thinking probably rectangle like the picture.
And we're not buying the pocketfolds from there. We are just getting all of the card stock and totally making them on our own! :D
Yayyyyy a project! haha I'm excited. Can you tell?

I'm not stressing so hard anymore about getting them done ASAP. We will send them out about 6 months in advance, and right now we are about 8 months out. :] *phew*

Also, today I met up with Mama and we went to Richmond Hill, picked up Carroll Ann and went to check out TWO possible reception venues! :]
We were originally planning to just have the reception at Mama & Eddie's house in the backyard but, 1. there are NO hotels ANYWHERE nearby for the drunkies to spend the night, & 2. it would just be so much trouble & stress for them, and all of us, to worry about renting tents & chairs & tables + food + drink etc.
SO now we are renting a place and having catering. :] It's a little more than I was planning but I am definitely not complaining.
I only have pictures of the first place we checked out today.
I know these pics will probably get cut off because I never have them the right size to post to blogspot but here they go anyway!









I'm going to have to make a pros & cons list later because I dont really know which location I liked better!
Once I find out prices, maybe then I'll know. haha. ;]

*wedding overdrive*

I am feeling so overwhelmed lately.

What's new?

April ordered a size smaller in her dress and got it in the mail the other day. It looks great so I think she's going to go with that one! :] It fits a little better in the boobage area and it's not as long! She also ordered her purple petticoat yesterday! So I cant wait to see it all together!! :D

I talked to Mama yesterday and she expressed some concern over having the reception at her house because if people are drinking they would need to stay somewhere nearby obviously... which is a problem because there is NOTHING near my mom's house in the way of hotels. Nothing. Nada.
So now we are looking at possibly renting something in Richmond Hill for the reception. I just hope we find something that will go along with what we want! *crosses fingers* [and somewhere that will still let us get crunk hahaha]

Also, I saw this yesterday in one of my wedding communities and I fell in LOVE. So I sent it to my mom and asked her if my stepdad could make it.. and it looks pretty promising! Sooooo I'm excited because we will be making one of these!!!
So cute. I already have ideas in my head of how I want it to look! <3

Today I made a list of the DIY things that we need to get started on:

-invitations [soon! we are waiting on the samples that Pammie ordered!]
-photo booth wall
-bouquet charms
-time capsule
-card box
-bridesmaid's hairpieces
-bride / bridesmaid emergency kits

I know I'm forgetting some things.. like I said, overwhelmed. I feel like my brain is FULL!

I'm anxiously awaiting my wedding contract in the mail and I am DYING for it to get here. haha. I finally heard from our wedding coordinator yesterday!

I've been collecting addresses also, the sooner the better. And I cant WAIT to get my invites out! :D

*it's all happening!*

OH MY GOD I JUST BOOKED MY WEDDING!!!

I am so freaking excited right now I dont even know what to do with myself! We just booked it for April 3, 2010 at 6:00 pm!
It's like SUPER real now. haha. Bailey is making so much fun of me because he's like 'I cant believe it's just hitting you NOW'. It's not that it's just hitting me now. DUH I knew I was getting married. That's been real for a while. But now we are having a WEDDING. Like, for sure. The wedding part is real. YAYYYYYYYY!!!!!

Also, April came over and tried on her shoes with her dress last night!






I cant wait to see the whole thing all at once, with the petticoats & feather fascinators! :D

Going to make some phonecalls now!! <3

*hello ladies*

Maddox is napping soooo I am going to make a wedding party post!! :D

This is my bridal party & I hope to GOD they can all make it!! [the downside to destination weddings lol] They are all planning on it though! <3

April, my older sister & Matron of Honor:


Casey, my younger sister & Maid of Honor:


Ali, BFF & bridesmaid [& her boyfriend]:


Melissa, BFF & bridesmaid [& her daughter/my god-daughter!, Dharma]:


Sam, step-sister & bridesmaid:


Rusty, BFF & bridesdude:


:D It works.
I'm so exciiiiiited!!!

Oh and I am booking our wedding TOMORROW instead of today. I'm sure I'll post a HUGE SQUEE! about it when it happens. :D