Favors.

Cole's friend from college, Ali, has a business making and designing cookies in Portland (Frosted Custom Cookies). We asked her to put together our wedding favors for us and she said yes!!

I may need some help the week before to package these up... any ideas on what would be an efficient way to get the job done? (i.e. plastic bags tied with ribbon, boxes with stickers, etc) There will be around 200 of them...

Here are some cookies for her past clients:
The 'H' cookies were done for a previous wedding and yes, those are Beaver cookies...

Yummy cakes!

My cousin Abby has a friend (Cindy) who is going through pastry chef school and has recently started doing wedding cakes. I recently became friends with Cindy on Facebook and checked out her AWESOME cakes. I got in touch with her and she may be moving away from the area pending her husband's job situation, so we will find out at the end of the year what the outcome of that is.

But I wanted to post some of her beautiful work. We would be so lucky to have these at our wedding!

Menzwear.

I'm thinking the girls finding their dresses sparked Cole's interest in searching for what he's going to be wearing! We went over to Macy's and found this pin stripe suit that we both liked. He opted out of the jacket and is going to be wearing the suit pants with a vest. Yes, there will also be a white dress shirt underneath...
I forgot to snag a pic of him when he tried it on, but here's a pic of the suit from online. He looks so great in it! :) He said he'd have the groomsmen all wear the same vest and pants too... That's one more thing to check off the list!! Yes!!

Bridesmaid dresses? Check!

The girls were all able to arrange their super busy schedules to do a little brunching, mini-fashion show and shopping on Saturday! Michal put together a wonderful brunch at her place to start the morning off (Thanks Michal!), then some of the ladies tried on the dresses that had come in the mail. They looked fabulous! Then we were off to David's Bridal and Nordstrom to check out their dresses.
We found the dress everyone liked the best at Nordstrom - one of the dresses Michal had ordered to try on for us (see below). Dark purple color with flower embroidery on the neckline and hem. I am going to have one HOTT bridal party :)

Now what the heck are the boys going to wear?!

Bridesmaid Dresses

Michal ordered a couple dresses and has taken pictures of herself in them for our viewing pleasure. Lovin the sassy pose, girl :) They are two shades of purple, but I really like them both!













Maryellen said she has also ordered a couple dresses and will be getting them soon. Do I sense a fashion show soon?

Day-of madness

My dear friend Sherri has agreed to be the day-of coordinator for our wedding! She worked with a wedding coordinator down in California and I am excited to see her in action :) Here's Sherri looking pretty on her wedding day with husband Ali.


Thanks so much Sherri!

Shoes!!

So I've been looking for shoes, keeping an eye out on what's out there. I've considered purple shoes, white shoes, high heels, flats... and I think I know what kind of shoe I like, considering the following ones I really like are basically the same thing...
They are from J.Crew and I'm realizing I basically like everything they have for wedding stuff. Why I can't just like stuff from Target, I'll never know. Anybody know comfort level for J.Crew shoes?







Thoughts?

Rehearsal Dinner

Cindy, Glenn and the little ones drove all the way from Portland to have lunch with my parents, Cole and I on a VERY rainy Monday! We visited Ramblin' Jacks in Olympia - they had great food and huge portions! They have a nice back room which is perfect for larger groups... AND it's available on April 9th. How convenient!

Here's the back room.







And here's the restaurant logo! Oh yeah.

Boutonnieres for the anti-boutonniere-ish

So Cole is iffy about a boutonniere? How about making him something inspired by these:

http://rosenowfloral.com/frittsrosenow/index.html

You think I'm kidding - okay, maybe a little bit, but not really too much.

Orchids

Orchids could be great flowers/centerpieces. A friend of mine used them for her wedding in June. They come in a plum-like color and in cream, and they sort of look like little folded pieces of origami.

Tall branchy centerpieces

http://sakurafubukidesigns.blogspot.com/2009/06/origami-wedding-cherry-blossoms.html

kind of like cherry blossoms?

Cootie catchers?

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11454819

Etsy has it all! Are these actually called Cootie Catchers??? that sounds so wrong. What about these for place cards? Guest name on the outside and table number on the inside! Cute and easy if I remember my middle school homeroom...

Oooo ooo she has one that is jumbo for a PROGRAM too!

Origami Ideas

Soooooooo this etsy seller is off having a baby this summer - who does that? oh, yah. but maybe she'd be back in action by next spring OR we could just get ideas from her pretty arrangements previously sold in her shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop_sold.php?user_id=5204239

non-flower shapes could be beautiful arrangements too Elissa! my sister has been doing an origami calander this year and has tiny fingers if you need some helping hands with the folding!

Update

So. Wedding season is over for the summer, which means that wedding planning for the Peters' wedding is in full swing! We've already taken care of a few things... so here's a rundown of things that have been done and things that have yet to be completed:

Checklist

Venue - Lacey Community Center. Over looks a pretty lake in Lacey, WA.

Caterer - O'Brien's Catering. We've had their food before and it is de-licious! We will have a small cake to cut, but the bulk of the desserts will be served by the caterer. And my cousin Abby raves about their grape pie. Whaaaaat???

Drinks - Dad Backholm is taking care of this. He is doing excellent research on wines and beer. No hard-a, my friends.

Photographer - Portraits Expressions. We've been keeping in touch with Molly and she is fabulous. Thinking of doing the bulk of the pictures before the ceremony (ie family and group shots). Other than that, not really sure what to do. We may or may not do an engagement session - still deciding.

Wedding colors - Plum and cream... Dark purple and white in boy terms.

Female attire - I got my dress pretty much right when we got engaged... it's simple and I love it! I'm not wearing a veil, but got a silk hair flower instead. Still need to work on jewelry and shoes... And for bridesmaids: we are still brainstorming ideas for dresses... any thoughts? Think purple. Or black...

Boy attire - Cole is thinking of buying a suit. That's as far as we've gotten.

Ushers - groomsmen.

Guest book/gift table/handing out programs - We're counting on Shannon to round her troops for people to watch over these!

Flowers - My Uncle Dean has some hook ups for bulk flowers... anybody up to make bouquets the day before? :) As of now, no flower centerpieces and Cole is iff-y on wearing a boutonniere.

Ceremony music - I have asked my cousin Melina and my Uncle Dean and would also like my Uncle Doug to be part of the music. They are amazingly talented and I can not wait to hear them!

Reception music - Cole and I will put together a playlist (gotta love iTunes) The community center is equipped with a sound system so it should be easy to set up!

Invitations - Cole and I picked these out. We will have to create and print the verbiage ourselves, but they are very cute! We are not planning on sending out save the dates, but we are almost done putting together a wedding website that we will send out later - this will have information for everyone on date, location, etc. and will be updated as needed.

Hotel accommodations - Maryellen had her wedding in the Olympia area and reserved rooms at the Phoenix Inn in Olympia, WA. It is not too far from Lacey, and it was very nice and clean inside. It also has a continental breakfast and is within close proximity to local bars!

Decorations - I have been folding paper cranes... but am not sure exactly what to do with them. I figured it would be fun to decorate tables or something? I'm using black, white and purple paper. I was also thinking of making origami balloons and putting them in vases. Would that look weird? Any other ideas? My main goal is to be able to do a lot of the decorating items prior to the wedding day.

Still to-do:
Officiant - Might ask my Uncle Devin. Otherwise, anybody know of someone?
Guest list - Finalize.
Rehearsal dinner location - There is talk of Cindy and Glenn coming up to Olympia sometime in September to scope places out...
Rings - I think we both know what we want, but we'll buy them in Oregon at a later date. Gotta love no sales tax.
Favors - no clue.

Anything I'm forgetting?

I'll be posting things on this blog from time to time. If you have any input, ideas, anything - I welcome you to post them!!

The wedding is less than 8 months away... I am so excited!!