Catching Up!

Its been quite a while since I have posted anything. Everything has been so busy lately. I'm just now fitting in some time to blog. A few weekends ago I traveled to St. Louis for many many wedding happenings. Mom and Ellen were able to come into town also. It was great to get to see them for a weekend and have some helpers along for wedding stuff. I got in earlier than I expected Friday night and was able to meet up with Kara(who just happened to be in town the same weekend!), Nickie and Jenni. It was good to get to hang out with them. I was also able to spend some time with Leslie and Paul who were kind enough to let me stay with them.I got up early on Saturday and began a long, but fun day of wedding stuff. I had a meeting with the florist first, then met mom, Ellen and mama at the dress shop. I put on my dress and it fit perfectly! Then it was off to the caterer. We finalized so many details. It felt great to get so much figured out. After the caterer it was almost time for my first shower of the weekend. Hawaiian theme at the Kozlen's house!

Kozlen group pic

James' group pic

Awesome pillow Ellen had made for me.

The shower was super fun. I felt like I could post a ton of pics from it. Kim had made up a few games for me to play, that I know got lots of laughs out of everyone. The food was yummmm. Karen knows what I like...lots of dip. hehe. Thank you to everyone that helped with the shower and thank you to everyone that could make it!
After the shower Ellen and I ran wedding related errands for the next 4-5 hours. Then it was back to Mama's house where I put everyone to work crafting the rest of the night. They had a blast I just know it. hehe

Sunday we had another shower, in Belleville. It was brunch and was awesome! Its a wonder that I have lost any weight with how much I love food. haha.

Mom's wonderful friends, Rosanne, Tracy and Toni, who threw the shower. Thank you ladies!

Awesome cupcakes and a bride Barbie cake :)

Thank you to everyone that was able to make it to this shower also. I had a wonderful time and it was great to get to visit with all of you!

Girls Weekend!

Last weekend was my bachlorette party. I am not that into big scenes like the Landing in STL or Power & Light here in KC, so I decided to go nontraditional and do a camping trip. :) Although I was not able to skip every bachlorette party tradition. Leslie made me a sweet vail to wear on the river and I had plenty of flair on from the girls too. Last weekend 14 of us headed to Steelville, MO to the Rafting Co.

We arrived on Friday, spent some time hanging out in the river and by our campsite.
We got up Saturday morning and went on a 7 mile float down the Meramac River. It was a blast. Afterwards we sat around the camp site, singing, dancing, eating. It was so great to get to hang out with everyone and do something that we often did while we were at Rolla. I didn't take many pictures while on the trip, but here are a few of my favorites from other people. SL brought water cameras on the river and I can't wait to see those.

It was such a great weekend! Thanks to everyone that was able to make it! And a big thanks to SL for putting it all together.

First Dress Fitting

This past Saturday I had my first fitting for my dress! It was the first time I got to see my dress too. I love it. I wish I could show you pictures of it, but that would spoil the surprise. :) And I am pretty sure the groom reads this blog(he better anyways. hehe) and I don't want him to see the dress until I am walking down the aisle. Since I can't show you my dress here is one sassy bridesmaid at the fitting.
As a surprise bonus to our trip to St Louis, I got to see my Dad! Thanks Ellen for realizing we were both going to be in town at the same time. Dad was passing through the area on his way beck from Canada to New Jersey. So on Sunday Steve, Chewie and I met him, mama and uncle pat for lunch at the Broadway Oyster Bar. They have a great patio area so we were able to bring Chewie along. It was his first experience at a bar and he loved it. He also loved getting to see everyone. I hadn't realized that I would not see my dad until the wedding, so it was really great to get this visit in with him before September. And as always it was nice to see mama and uncle pat too. :)

Bridesmaids!

While mom and Ellen were in town this weekend we got a lot accomplished for the wedding! Including a lot of bridesmaid planning. We found cute shoes for everyone to wear at DSW. They come in bronze and silver. I think it would be really cute to have 2 of each. Ellen picked up a silver pair and they had a bronze pair in Jessica's size so I got them for her. Now the challenge begins...finding two size 11 pairs. Who knew I had 2 bridesmaids with amazon feet(hehe just kidding ladies). So if anyone is at a DSW and sees the following shoes in a size 11 pick them up!
Chinese Laundry, Taurus in sliver or bronze. :)

We also ordered gifts for the bridesmaids :) I love them so much I got one for myself too. hehe I can't wait for September to give the gifts to everyone and see them in their pretty dresses with their cute shoes!

BM's Shoes

I saw this pic on Snippet & Ink of these bridesmaids that are wearing dresses very similar in color to my bridesmaids dresses. I had figured the girls could all get different black shoes, but these ones have on all different colors(white, silver, gold, bronze) and it looks cute. I don't think any of my ladies will be wearing shoes as high as some of these girls have on though! Just a thought. I better figure it out soon though so they can start looking for shoes. :)

Jewelry

I have been thinking about jewelry to go with the girls dresses and I'm not sure what I want yet. Nor do I know if gold or silver would go better. Here are a few pics I have collected of necklaces I like.

by splashdesign

by laweb

both by beadsss

Flowers 2

Finally as promised here are a few pictures from when we visited the florist in December.
My bouquet is going to be all white and lined with hydrangea leaves, similar to below.

All of the girls will have these fuji(spider) mums in this shade of purple. The base of them will be lined with leaves also. Giving them the same look as mine.
The men will have purple mini calla-lilies and Steve will have a white orchid.

The reception flowers will be white hydrangeas and the purple fuji mums. :)

Etsy

Just bought these two flowers from Etsy today. They are by tijusai.

Ellen and I are going to wear them in our hair. I am becoming addicted to Etsy. I could look at it for hours. I have been spending most of my lunch hour looking at it every day. It would be so awesome to make such creative things and sell them on there. It does inspire me to want to start crafting more.

Fabric Swatch

The bridesmaids dresses are going to be aubergine, which sometimes looks maroon(like the yarn I bought) and sometimes looks more purple. So before I go choosing other purple items, I wanted to make sure they matched up. Last week I ordered a swatch of the dress fabric and it came this weekend. I love the color and I think its going to look good on everyone. Just to make sure, I created this....