Bridesmaid of the Week: Christy Wilson!

Now, CC is technically my Matron of Honor, but for the blog title's sake, I had to write bridesmaid :). Where do I start... my sister has been and always will be my best friend! She is the only person who has been with me through everything. She made a beautiful bride last September, and it's been such a blessing to have her and all of her bridal knowledge throughout my planning process. I feel like I could say much more, but I have to save that for the wedding program! I love you CC!

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ALSO, thank you SO MUCH to CC for creating our awesome blog layout! It's amazing!

~~Katie

Checklist!

Due to extreme craziness at school, wedding plans have unfortunately been the last thing on my mind! (Ok, they were actually the first thing on my mind, but the last thing on my list of things to do..) I had 8 projects/papers due over a two week period which meant little free time. I can finally relax a little as I have things finished and am just waiting to turn them in. So onto blogging! Earlier today I was able to make a to-do list of all of the major things that need to be done asap! The list consisted of 18 things - not sure if that is good or bad! Luckily only about half of them should be done very soon.

Today, we were able to check off a HUGE to-do, which was book our flight to Hawaii!! My nana has been calling airlines for the past few weeks trying to find a good deal but was having no luck. On a whim today, I decided to see what I could find online. To my amazement, I found the best deal that we had been able to find yet! I am feeling so relieved that we got this done! When I realized four months until the big day was right around the corner, I knew we had to get our tickets fast! SUCH a BIG THANK YOU to Josh's mommy for all of her help today! I am going to have the greatest in-laws :).

Here is where we will be staying in Hawaii (with an ocean view room I might add :) THANK YOU NANA AND PA!):

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~~Katie

Our Wedding: The Red Bird

In honor of my dad's birthday today I thought I would share how we are going to be remembering him on our wedding day. It's extremely hard to figure out how to commemorate someone who should be such a huge part of your wedding. Not only is it really sad, but it's hard to know the right way to do it. My sister got married last September and found a really neat way to represent our dad in her ceremony. My dad was a firefighter, so she put his firefighter hat on the chair next to my mom where my dad would have been sitting. I think it really touched everyone's hearts who were at the wedding, especially those who knew my dad.

(Photo by Genevieve McKeiver)

To go along with that, Josh & I will be incorporating the red bird. A while back my Nana shared with me, The Legend of the Red Bird. I'm not exactly sure of how the legend goes, but basically when someone in our family sees a red bird we remember my dad and are reminded that he's looking down on us. So, throughout our ceremony and reception I plan on incorporating red birds. It's amazing how many times I've seen an actual red bird since hearing the legend. In the dead of winter even. I think it's God's way of reminding me of His perfect plan. Here's a picture I took last November of a red bird I happened to see. You may have to look pretty close to see it!

I'm not exactly sure if these will be the only ways we remember my dad at our wedding, but so far this is what we have planned.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

~~Katie

Our Wedding: The Invitations

I have to admit, invitations weren't my biggest concern. Knowing that people just read it, and eventually end up throwing it away or storing it in a keepsake box reminded me that I didn't want to spend a fortune. This doesn't mean I wasn't going to be sure they were really nice, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time and money on them. I remember reading that the average couple spends about $700 on invitations. Compared to other wedding expenses, that isn't too bad, but I was sure I could still get something that Josh and I loved while spending a lot less. Personally, I would rather have the money we could save for our honeymoon! Anyway, my mom and I were out shopping one day and had no intent of buying invitations. We stumbled upon a great deal on some invitations that I had casually seen before and really liked. So I called Josh made sure he was fine with it, which he was. Needless to say, we bought them! Including printing them on our own, I think the total cost will be around $100! Here's a picture that doesn't tell all: