- Mailing Monday -

It's mailing Monday...

...which means the invitations are making their way to your mailboxes! :D

- {DIY} Flowers -

My parents' house is spewing flowers, flowers, and even more flowers... Let me just say one thing: planning a wedding gets a LOT more interesting when the father of the bride is also the FLORIST!!!

The week after Brian put a ring on it [literally...a week...or maybe it was only like 5 or 6 days], we were raiding every Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Jeffrey Alans, and Old Time Pottery within a 65-mile radius of our house. 

...Annnnd we basically bought out the purple section in every Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Jeffrey Alans, and Old Time Pottery in that 65-mile radius.

"What do you think of these?!"  ...It's fine Dad, it's fine...

He's one of a kind...

Good thing there were no other shoppers!

By the end of our twenty-something-th trip, I was over the wedding flower business and onto the BABY business! ;) ;) Joking, of course. [Luckily, the FOB was too engrossed in flower picking to notice this pose!]

So proud of his purchases!

Cheers to the winter/spring/summer/every season/never-ending flower project in our basement! Goodbye, Dad... See ya in November!

- Fr. Meconi -

Meet our fabulous priest, Fr. Dave Meconi! After the first day in his theology class at SLU, he was instantly added to my "let's be friends forever" list. 

He. Is. Wonderful. Like really, really wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that he and the church were the first things we "booked" after the engagement.

Bridget: Will you marry me?!

Fr. M: ...*pause*...If you mean will I marry you and Brian, then yes!

Yeah, sure, I guess that's what I meant. ;) 

We are so grateful to have him as our celebrant and so blessed to call him our friend!  

[...And in 1.5 months, YOU will be lucky enough to meet and love him, too!]

- {DIY} Invitations - Part II -

Happy "Stuffing Saturday" to us! ;) 

We sat around my kitchen table for several hours stacking, taping, sticking, folding, and stuffing [and even squeezed in two meals during the process!]. At the end of the day, the invitations were finally completely assembled and ready to go! Yeah!

What a relief! Now we're just counting down to the 8-week mark so we can drop these guys in the mail... So excited! 

- Love Story -

I stole this idea from Pinterest, and it was the perfect project for a rainy day. Love it! 

~ Every love story is beautiful, but ours is my favorite. ~

- Today and All Days -

Wednesday night, we graduated [summa cum laude, of course] from four weeks of marriage preparation class! 

4 nights x 2.5 hours each time was totally the way to go. I couldn't imagine sitting in this thing for 8 hours straight and trying to soak it all in in one day... Wowza. 

Our instructors were the cutest people; they have been teaching marriage prep for 20 years and have been married for even longer! We thought it was so valuable to have both a male and female perspective, and we loved hearing all the personal stories they had to share. [PS - Who knew that couples actually fought about what color of Christmas lights to have or how to replace the toilet paper or how to fold socks...?! For real?]  

The main theme that we took away: it's all about communication, communication, and more communication! Speaking on behalf of both of us (really truly honestly, I promise Brian would say the same thing), everything about this class was so fruitful and brought up lots of topics and questions that we had never discussed before.Thumbs up for the St. Louis Archdiocese and their efforts to effectively inspire and impact engaged couples. 

Cheers to today and ALL the days of our lives!

- Rings -

We got the rings back from Chicago today! The world's best fiance brought them over in a bouquet of pink roses. ;)

It's sooo hard to leave this sparkler in the box! 

[Speaking of rings,] I'm just going to let the cat out of the bag that Brian has been breakin' in his new band, too! Marriage looks good on him, yeah?!

Not that we need these physical reminders that we're in love, buttttt...

[Is it November yet?!?]

- {DIY} Invitations - Part I -

After lots and lots and LOTS of intricate measuring and Photoshop editing and last-minute tweaking [and maybe a little bit of rational arguing]...

...our invitations are off to George Press for printing! Phew!

Brian and my dad were AWESOME at transforming my [really picky] visions to words to sketches to computer files!  Making the invitations ourselves was one of the things we were most excited about in the wedding planning, but it also definitely proved to be the most work.  

[Like literally mind-exhausting work. And Brian earned his sainthood!]

We are so ready to get these back from GP so they can be cut and taped and stuffed and addressed and MAILED! :)

[77 days and counting!]

- {DIY} Rose Balls -

Total bummer: our church doesn't allow flower girls to toss rose petals down in the aisle.

[What?!]

That's ok; we decided they will carry white rose balls instead!

Classy but fun, these balls are easily becoming the new hot wedding trend. We had an entertaining few hours tonight sticking and hot-gluing rose stems into a styrofoam ball -- another super easy DIY project! 

This groom is getting craftier by the day!

They turned out really cute [and will be even cuter as an accessory to our sweet flower girls]! :)

- {DIY} Table Numbers -

15 minutes with the MacBook...

...25 minutes with the paper cutter...

...35 minutes with the double-stick tape...

...and the table numbers are finished! 

[Here's to hoping that we get enough RSVP's to fill the tables! ;)]

- {DIY} Card Box -

Our DIY reception card box is painted, glued, nailed, and ready to rock-and-roll!   

To make this box, I ordered four 8x10 engagement pictures from Schiller's in St. Louis (this lab is WONDERFUL!) and bought four black picture frames from Hobby Lobby (they are 50% off every other week). 

Mesh those materials together with one super creative Dad who can OWN a wood shop (unfortunately, this guy isn't up for purchase), and the card box is set to go! 

One more project checked off the list! Yeah! 

- Chicago -

We took a quick roadtrip to Chicago this weekend [mostly] to have my wedding band made, but also [and more excitingly] to explore the Windy City! 

The first stop was ring shopping at New York Jewelers.  On the way out, I couldn't help but gawk at all these GIANT diamonds in the window! Wowza.

We took a quick walk through Millennium Park and [of course] posed for a touristy picture at The Bean...

NEVER dreamed we'd bump into my bridesmaid from Cleveland on the streets of Chicago...!!! Weird! We had a great time catching up. :) 

Wrigley Field was pretty sweet, but we made sure to advertise for our CHAMPION St. Louis Cardinals! 

The last part of the weekend was spent at the wonderful IKEA in Schaumburg!  LOVE. THAT. PLACE...

...and Brian did, too! :) 

We made it home safely from Chi-town, but my engagement ring has to stay for two weeks!  

...Fourteen days as a single lady...

What to do, what to do?! ;) 

- {DIY} Unity Candle -

If you haven't figured it out by now, we're loving all these "do it yourself" wedding projects! :) 

Today's endeavor was the unity candle. 1 sheet of 8.5x11 vellum + 1 big white candle + a few ribbons and embellishments from Hobby Lobby + [hardly] 1 ounce of creativity = 1 easy peasy project! 

3 months from today and we'll be lighting this beauty! 

PS - I love our unity candle song [almost as much as I love our fabulous pianist who's going to rock it]... Three claps for Vangelis! :) Stoked.

- Stocking Up -

We spent today stocking up on all of our favorite things for your hotel gift baskets! :)

Randall's: you've met your two new best customers!  

Our hotel blocks are filling up... Have you booked your room yet? ;) 

- Tuxes -

A thousand thanks to Jenn at Formals of Litchfield for helping us pick out the perfect tuxes!  

Dapper groomsmen: this is your [informal] invite to stop by Formals and get measured anytime before September 1. 

Thank you Jenn! Thank you Formals!  Thank you groomsmen! 

- Musicians -

Allow me to introduce some dear friends who have taken on the huge task of performing all of our ceremony music!  

How we met: SLU has a crazy awesome 10PM Mass, and this 10PM Mass has a crazy awesome 10PM Mass Choir. As a meek little freshman, I spent my first several Sunday nights showing up to join the choir and sing at Mass. Annnnnd...

...How we became attached: These crazy awesome musicians who I adored turned into acquaintances. Then these "acquaintances" turned into friends, and these "friends" turned into family. They [especially when all together!] are pure wonderfulness. Annnnnnd...

...How they got the job: [Well, I may or may not've hired this bunch before I even knew Brian existed. Oops.] But then Brian came along. He put a ring on it in October 2011, these peeps saved the date, and now the rest is history! ;) 

Wedding guests: fasten your pew-belts, because you're in for a wild ride with this group!

DIRECTOR ~ Sean Dineen
[He tends to blur after a few Red Bulls...]

CANTOR ~ Chris Klaber

PIANO ~ Nick Hennicke

TRUMPET ~ Joe Malburg

FLUTE ~ Mandi Goethals

VIOLA ~ Ted Juch
[...Yes, we know this isn't a viola...]

SOUND MAN ~ Rob Palermo
[Unpictured because all his mug shots are copyrighted...]
[AND because he be too cool for FB where I stole all the other photos!]

Friends: we are so so excited to have you be a part of our special day and can't wait for everyone to hear your fabulous music! 

Thank you, thank you, thank you all! :) 

- {DIY} Glitter Gourds - Part I -

To accessorize our reception tables, we will be throwing out some small white pumpkins [AKA - glitter gourds!].  The best part? We're DIY-ing and growing them in the back yard!! We borrowed this idea from the Bloome family after Kelly's beautiful wedding last July.  Thanks, guys!

Dad spent a little time earlier this spring chopping the Bloome's old glitter gourds to get some seeds. [Machete madness...ahh!]

Once the plants started growing, they needed a little TLC and LOTS of watering...

First gourd! Success!

Grow little pumpkins, grow! We are ready to make you glittery and gorgeous!

Check back this fall for pictures of the final product...

- MOB Dress -

[Believe it or not,] finding the perfect mother-of-the-bride dress was a huge challenge! We looked and looked and looked, and then we looked some more. Oh, did I mention we looked again?  From St. Louis to Edwardsville to Litchfield to Chicago [and literally everything in between], we scoured every single mall and bridal store. Nothing on the racks was flattering enough for my cute momma!

Last February during our girls roadtrip to Chicago, we made an appointment at the Macy's Bridal Salon on State Street. [Have you ever been to this place?! Hooooly moly.] Manny was Mom's little helper and best friend, and he was positive that we would find something here. Wow...talk about a man passionate about dresses and full of energy! Thanks to Pat and Laura for tagging along with us! Sadly, we left Chi-town empty-handed. 

In March, we stopped in at a bridal shop in St. Louis called Distinctions; this time we found THE ONE!!! Mom looked amaaazing and beautiful and so radiant when she walked out from the fitting room! [Seriously, like totally breathtaking.] 

I'm so happy that she found what she was looking for and am so excited for her to walk it down the aisle in November!

Forget about the bride, here comes the MOTHER! ;) 

- Marrying my Dad -

I'm marrying my dad...

...no seriously, I'm marrying my dad.

It's pretty crazy how similar these two are!  Ahh!

- May to May -

Our relationship has changed from May to May (to May!), and so have we! 

May 2010

May 2011

May 2012

- {DIY} Guest Book -

Want to make the cutest and cheapest (and easiest) guest book ever?!

...Ok. It's super easy: book Kelly Manno for your wedding photography, and you're set to go! ;) 

She'll mail out a huge stack of engagement prints; all you have to do is spend a few hours listening to your favorite music and taping prints onto black cardstock. Add a few silver pens and a lot of heartfelt messages from loved ones on the wedding day, and your super cute project is perfected! 

We can't wait to see our finished product!