our wedding colors

...with a French Provincial twist:

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the fellers

I have something special this Monday morning. It's been about a month in the making, so I'm really excited to present a guest post from the future mister introducing his "fellers." Without further ado:

Haaaaw Heee!


Best Man Pap - My father is my Best Man, as he is my best friend and mentor. Growing up, I was constantly by my father's side, so much so that he was forced to sneak away in order to go to work or a dental meeting. He always encouraged me in various outdoor activities, be it football, baseball, soccer, hunting, fly-fishing, or snow skiing. Yet, after every minor activity, he would somehow pull me aside in order to point out some deeper life lesson. I constantly tell him that he should be the college professor, not me. We have enjoyed going to Green Bay Packers football games (especially against the Carolina Panthers where we almost got into a fist-fight with a random drunk businessman), fly-fishing in Colorado and Wyoming, and even hunting Cape Buffalo, one of the most dangerous animals in the world, in Tanzania. My father is not only the finest outdoorsman I know (be it hunter or fly-fisherman), but he is also the man I emulate and aspire to be like.

(me, Jonathan, Patrick and Glenn at Patrick's wedding this July)

Groomsman Patrick - I met Patrick in the fall of 2003 at one of our university's dining halls (it was the first weekend of college). Who would have guessed that we were 4th cousins, one generation removed. Because we felt we were the only "mountain boys" from western North Carolina on campus, we hit it off and became roommates from sophomore year until we graduated. Patrick is very charismatic and brings life to any room he enters. At college, I was one of "Patrick's roommates" and I hated walking across campus with him because we could never get to our destination as he would constantly stop and talk to girls. He is a great fly-fisherman and outdoorsman. We have had many good camping trips together, especially on Hazel Creek. He recently married one of my good friends from college, Katelyn. Congrats again, but remember that you are both beholden to me because I introduced you two.

(Glenn, me, Patrick and Jonathan - Hazel Creek, fall 2006)

Groomsman Jonathan - I met Jonathan the spring of sophomore year at college. We were roommates junior and senior year. Jonathan is the "smart and stable" one. He is studying to be a "real Doctor" at Marshall University's medical school and the type of person who would give you the shirt off his back. We've had quite a few memories on the creek bank. The first time Jonathan and I went fly-fishing on Hazel Creek, we had split up, but suddenly he came running up the creek yelling that he caught a fish. I congratulated him, but was worried that the game warden would fine us if the fish came up to be a few centimeters too short. As Jonathan pulled out his creel and showed me the fish, he asked, "do you think this is seven inches and a keeper?" As it turned out, the fish was about fourteen inches and the biggest fish of the weekend.

(Glenn, Patrick, Jonathan and me in Charleston after graduation - May 2007)

Groomsman Glenn - Glenn and I met in the spring of Freshman year. We had several Biology classes together and were roommates Junior and Senior year. Glenn is "the Italian Stallion" or "the Yankee," and is from Buffalo, New York. He is a great friend and has a great sense of humor. Glenn typically has a room full of people enthralled with some hare-brained story or rolling on the floor laughing at a joke. Not only was he a Sudoku prodigy during a business class we had together, but he is also a technology genius. As a roommate Junior and Senior year, Glenn connected a projector and TV antenna together so that we could watch HD television on a pull-down screen that covered one entire wall of the apartment! Trust me, the girls loved our apartment on Grey's Anatomy night.

(me, Heather and Grant zip lining in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - May 2009)

Groomsman Grant - Grant is Heather's younger brother. He attends Temple University and will graduate the week before Heather and I get hitched. He is laid back, quick with a joke and doesn't make too much fun of me on the golf course. I am honored that he agreed to stand up with me on the big day and I look forward to being brothers-in-law.

Well there you have it - the other half of our wonderful wedding party. Maybe I can convince the future mister to write a few more guest posts in the future...

tgif!

Oh yeah, so glad the week is over. We had our first Thursday night girls' night of the year and I didn't get to bed until 1, so I'm dragging a bit today.

Another weekend without big plans, which is a good thing because I've got round two of me against the yudu. I should actually say me against my stupid printer because I haven't even gotten far enough to hook the yudu up. The first step of the screen printing process is to print the design onto a transparency. Well on Sunday, I found out that my (new) printer doesn't print on transparencies! It took me all day to find a work around of strategically taping the transparency to a piece of cardstock in order to get the printer to feed it through. I was finally successful around 4pm and decided that was enough for one day. The goal for this weekend is to get the image burned on to the screen and perhaps, if I'm lucky, a test print.

Enjoy the weekend!

DIY shoes

Remember my perfect shoes, that aren't so perfect due to their 4.5 inch heel? Well I came across another contender while reading through my wedding blogs last week:


I could easily dress up plain ivory peep toes (with a shorter heel) from Nina shoes with some robin's egg blue chiffon (or some other pretty fabric) as shown in this DIY from Green Wedding Shoes. Definitely something to ponder.

I'm marrying a grad student

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Both of these comics are a pretty good representation of my life.

Giant box of ramen from Sam's Club - check
Bill paying - check
Hours of proofreading - check (I've even fallen asleep once or twice!)
5.5 to 6 more years until graduation - check

And although the future mister's thesis isn't dedicated to me (probably wise, since we weren't yet engaged), I did get a mention!

To be honest, I probably have it pretty good. While I pay the bills, menu plan, grocery shop, keep the house tidy, proofread/edit, act as a sounding board, reassure, encourage, and praise, the future mister does all of his own laundry, helps with the cleaning when possible, and tries to carve out some time for the two of us every weekend. Unfortunately, it's sometimes very difficult for me to remember what he does do to help after I've come home from a long day at work, am tired, cranky and starving, the house is torn apart and I need help right this second to get dinner on the table. It is frustrating, to say the least. And if the future mister is tired, cranky and starving too? Whoa - bad news bears.

There are definitely ways that we can both improve - PATIENCE probably being the biggest area - but I'm glad that we are doing this together. I'm not really consoled by the fact that it "will all be over someday" because, let's face it, five or six years is a long time (on top of the three that he has already completed). I am reassured, though, by all of the day to day victories: making a good comment in class, getting positive reviews from his students and professors, publishing an article and, my favorite, the way my future mister's face lights up when he finds an exciting piece of new research. It is my hope that these little things will continue to sustain me through the coming days, weeks, months and years.

Anyone else in grad school or living with, engaged or married to someone who is? How do you deal?

musically torn

Last week the future mister and I sat down to watch Shutter Island. Has anyone else seen it? Kind of creepy and, well, creepy movie = creepy music.

Imagine my surprise when a song started playing that I associate with weddings:





Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight

I don't think it's a very popular song, but I first heard it on our videographer's website (click on Enter Gallery to watch a short clip). There's just something about it that fills me up with emotion. Sigh.

So, naturally, I want to find a way to incorporate this song into our ceremony. I always thought I would walk down the aisle to Canon in D, and now I'm torn. Here are the three options I've come up with:

1. On the Nature of Daylight - during the seating of guests; Canon in D - Bride's entrance

2. On the Nature of Daylight - Processional; Canon in D - Bride's entrance

3. Canon in D - Processional; On the Nature of Daylight - Bride's entrance

Which option do you think I should choose?

engagement announcements

I'm sure you have all seen the unfortunate engagement/wedding announcements that have been circulated through email and the Internet, but in case you haven't go here.

Luckily, ours won't be anything like those. I've got a German last name and the future mister's is Irish (yep, I'll be a "Mc"). Now that we have our engagement photos, we'd like to place announcements in our parents' local papers. I thought I had it all figured out and sent the following snippet to my parents:

[My parents' names] of [my hometown] are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter Heather to [the future mister's name], son of [his parents' names] of [his hometown]. Heather is a 2003 graduate of [my high school] and a 2007 graduate of [our university]. She is employed at [my place of employment]. [The future mister] is also a 2007 graduate of [our university] and is pursuing a PhD in History at [current university]. The couple is planning a May 2011 wedding in [where we live].

Then we sent this slightly different version for his parents to submit to their paper:

[His parents' names] of [his hometown] are pleased to announce the engagement of their son [the future mister] to Heather [my last name], daughter of [my parents' names] of [my hometown]. [The future mister] is a 2003 graduate of [his high school] and a 2007 graduate of [our university]. He earned a Master's degree in History from [master's university] in 2009 and is pursuing a PhD at [current university]. Heather is also a 2007 graduate of [our university] and is employed at [my place of employment]. The couple is planning a May 2011 wedding in [where we live].

Now this is where I need some help. I thought that it was appropriate for his parents to announce the engagement in their paper - i.e. their names first. However, my FMIL seemed a bit confused by my wording and thinks that it is proper etiquette for the bride's parents to announce the engagement, regardless of which newspaper. Did you announce your engagement in the newspaper? What's the proper etiquette for doing so?

And just so this post isn't completely pictureless, here are the photos we are considering:

Which is your favorite?

makeup fail

So now that I've showed you our photos, I want to talk about makeup. Prior to the shoot, I mentioned that I made an appointment at Sephora because they offer "free" special occasion makeovers. Ideally, I would have loved to have a professional makeup artist, but the one that was recommended to me charged over $200! I just don't have that kind of money. I don't really know of any salons in the area that provide makeup services, so the next logical option was either a makeup counter in a department store or Sephora. I went with Sephora because you have the option to use any product in the store, whereas at a makeup counter you are usually limited to one particular brand (at least that's been the case in my experience).

Well Sephora ended up being a makeup semi-fail. I say semi because it wasn't all bad. My foundation, blush and lip color looked great. The eye makeup (including waayyy too filled in eyebrows), though - wow. If I were to put it delicately, I'd say it just wasn't me. But I'm more blunt, so I'll say that I was on the verge of looking like a streetwalker. Unfortunately I was too anxious and worked up to take a picture of myself, so you'll have to use your imagination.

The woman who did my makeup was perfectly nice and probably would have redone my eyes, had I asked. I'm just not the type of person to speak up, though, especially since I wasn't paying for her services (I even ended up walking out without making the required $50 purchase). So as soon as she was done, I raced out of there to find the future mister so we could leave, proceeded to have a mini-meltdown on the ride home, and bucked up and redid my eyes myself with the help of my mom over video chat. Crisis averted.

*photos by Heidi, cropped by me

strike a pose, part 3

These are the last of our photos and definitely my least favorite of the bunch. The future mister changed into a red polo and the photos were in front of a red barn (not sure what we were thinking). So needless to say, I like these best in black and white.

*all photos by Heidi of Our Labor of Love

Now that you've seen a decent amount of our photos, any suggestions on how I can incorporate them into the wedding? Keep in mind that save the dates are out since we're doing something like this. A guestbook is an option, but I'd prefer something more unique than the typical album from snapfish or blurb. Thoughts?

strike a pose, part 2

*all photos by Heidi of Our Labor of Love

strike a pose, part 1

Okay....so I am having a REALLY difficult time picking out my favorite engagement photos (did anyone else have that problem??). I don't want to bombard you with too many, so I'm going to break it up into three posts according to our three different outfits. First up, dressy.

These outfits were actually an afterthought. I was only planning on casual clothes, but the future mister really, really wanted something more formal. Fortunately, I had this great navy blue dress from a wedding I went to last year. Unfortunately, the future mister didn't really have anything appropriate, so we spent the Tuesday before at the mall (45 minutes away) searching for a suitable outfit. And to tell you the truth, as stressed out as I was trying to rush around at the last minute, I'm really glad we went through with it. Because I might like these just a teensy, tiny bit more than our casual photos. (Hopefully the future mister doesn't read this or I might get a big, fat "I told you so!" - ha.)

*all photos by Heidi of Our Labor of Love

who wants a sneak peak?

*photo by Heidi of Our Labor of Love

the hankie lady

While home I was also able to spend some time with my mom. On Saturday we went to visit the "hankie lady." Back when I decided that I'd be creating handkerchief save-the-dates, I put my mom in charge of scouring up the hankies. In the winter, while at one of the local craft/antique places, she met Nancy who owns an antique linens booth. Well mom and Nancy hit it off and Nancy has gone above and beyond to find me the perfect handkerchiefs. I received another installment of about 20 on Saturday that were gently laundered and perfectly pressed. And she wouldn't take a dime for them! Wow. We also discussed doilies and mason jars, which she has also volunteered to gather for us (the doilies were actually her idea!). The plan is that the vintage lace doilies will go on top of our burlap table cloths and then the blue mason jars will set on top of those with some twine tied around the lip. Ohhh it's all coming together! I was even able to find some perfect inspiration photos:

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Did you have any friends, family members or vendors that went above and beyond the call of duty for your wedding?