Wedding Jewelry Part 2

I'm sure you all remember my previous post regarding my wedding jewelry, but click here in case you missed it!

Well, I found it! The matching necklace for these beauties. I got it at Jean's Bridal. Isn't it fabulous??

The guest book

If you've been following my blog, you'll know that I've posted about the guest book before: Martha, Martha, Martha. Now, we've come up with a new idea. Kevin and I created a photo book over the weekend. We made the book at snapfish.com, a photo sharing site. It's an excellent site to share and store your photos.

We've featured photos of us together over the past 5 1/2 years. Yep, almost 6 years, I can't believe it! We've been through so much together and shared so many incredible things. I hope everyone enjoys sharing the memories.

And the winner is..........

I did it, I picked my rehearsal dinner dress! J Crew actually had a sale so I was able to get the one I picked out several months ago. It will be nice and cool for the outdoor party!

31 years and counting

What a fantastic time to celebrate a wedding anniversary. My parents are celebrating theirs today! Congrats to my mom and day, I can only hope that Kevin and I are as happy as you two in 30+ years.

I love you both!

Kohl's

We finally decided to register somewhere else; only because we decided what our new dinnerware will look like. I like bright, mismatching plates. Kevin, likes the opposite. This is why selecting dishes was so difficult. I think we got the best of both worlds.

Click here to check out our Kohl's registry

Final Fitting

Today is the day, the final fitting. I'm scheduled at the bridal shop right after work. The nerves are coming now. After having my wonderful dress for a full year, it's time to put all the finishing touches together and schedule a pick up time for the big day. This is definitely a defining moment that makes the wedding real.

Here we go, only one month left!

Book your hotel, PLEASE!

This is just a friendly reminder that the wedding room rate at Shem Creek Inn has been extended until August 6th.

Rooms are $159/night (Fri-Sat) and $119/night(Thurs-Sun)

1401 Shrimp Boat Ln
Mt Pleasant, SC 29464
(843) 881-1000

Also the room rate expires on July 28th at the Best Western. There are plenty of hotels to stay at in the area, but the wedding rates we've provided are a great deal. Rooms at the Best Western are available for $100 per night.

259 McGrath Darby Blvd
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464-2983
(843) 971-7070

The cake stands alone

Here's my cake stand. A great find at my local Marshall's. I've seen these in all kinds of wedding magazines. I am happy I was able to find one for a good price.

Even the storage bins are PINK....

Take a look at last week's Wal-Mart special. We needed a place to start putting all of the stuff we've been buying lately. We also need to be able to easily travel to the reception hall with all our items. These pink bins were our answer. Who would have thought that our storage containers would match the wedding colors! Yea for the $3.50 sale last week. Thanks Wal-Mart!

It's time for timelines

I love organizing my days. I often work off a well planned to-do list at work and so does Kevin. Needless to say I've created a good-old excel spreadsheet that outlines August 27th, 28th, and the all important 29th. It seems simple enough but it's important.

Here's what I will be doing on the Friday before my wedding. First and foremost, I am not going to work! I have nail appointments for my mother, 3 bridesmaids, and future mother-in-law. We need to start pampering ourselves as soon as possible, so a few of us are even getting pedicures on Thursday night! :)

After nails, it's time to get ready to rehearse. The Rehearsal starts at 5pm at the park a cross from Alhambra Hall. Then we will all head to Shem Creek Inn for a nice casual bbq overlooking Shem Creek. After that, around 8pm it's time to party at a nearby bar like Vickery's (right next door) or Red's (a cross the creek).

Wow, it doesn't sound busy until to write it all out. I hope there is time to sleep.

What to wear???

No, no I'm obviously not talking about the wedding dress. I've had that for over a year now and I still love it! I'm talking about the rehearsal dinner. I've searched high and low for a dress that is cute but casual that I can wear again. Do I wear pink or should I wear white? If I wear white, will I spill BBQ on it? Oh the questions. I fell in love with a few dresses but they are not in my price range and then when they go on sale, they don't have my size. Oh the dilemma I am facing. I've found one I like, but shouldn't I love it??!!

Shop till you drop...

Kevin and I (yes Kevin came), shopped until we dropped last weekend. We went everywhere: Target, Michael's, World Market, another Target, TJ Maxx and Marshall's.

Just check out this list
1. metal tubs
2. vases for alter and head table
3. chocolate molds
4. ribbon
5. tea lights
6. stick handles
7. paper lanterns
8. sand dollar ties
9. pinwheel supplies
10. 2 basket trays
11. cookie wrappers
12. chocolate wrappers
13. fake orchids
14. hooks
15. fishing line
16. white rope
17. thick wire
18. sand
19. bags
20. snack pricing

Wow, needless to say we either priced out or purchased everything on that list. What an accomplished weekend.

Rehearsal Dinner

There was much debate about this topic because it was very important that this be a casual atmosphere. We looked and looked for a restaurant to accommodate our small group but nothing seemed right. So a few weeks ago, it was back to the drawing board.

We thought we talked to every place on Shem Creek, but then we turned back to our hotel, Shem Creek Inn . They have a small meeting room that we went to look at. Once we saw the room, we weren't so sure, but then we saw the courtyard. That's it, we found it. It's small, casual, a great location, and overlooks the creek.

It's a blank canvas for the Warzynski's to create what ever they want from here. We're are very excited to have a BBQ overlooking such a beautiful place.

Everyone is welcome to stop by after the rehearsal dinner is done around 8pm. More details to follow! Sorry no photo!

The Alter

I was not going to have an alter but after meeting one of Kevin's "booth buddies" (the person his booth was next to for 3 full days) from the home show last year I changed my mind. She is going to try to recreate this beautiful alter from Karen Bussen . I've actually written about Karen before, she wrote the Simply Stunning Weddings.

The artist, Sarah from center it designs will be taking on this wedding project. She specializes in event artistry and I've very excited to see how she comes up with this. More to come about Sarah as we finalize the project details.

Dress fitting

I know this is boring but it's very exciting to me. My dress fits P-E-R-F-E-C-T-L-Y! I am just getting in bustled. I just want to say thanks to Jean's Bridal for being wonderful throughout the process.

Paper Lanterns

I know I told you about paper lanterns early in this process, check out this post if you missed it:
http://tiffwedding09.blogspot.com/2009/03/martha-stewart-at-her-finest.html
But now I got to order the whole kit & caboodle! I've been in love with this concept since I got engaged. I ordered them in all sizes and colors. Anyone looking for great prices on paper lanterns should check out Asian Ideas . They had the best prices by far and the most in stock!

Bridesmaid gifts

It's absolutely killing me not to show the girls what I got them. I wish I could take a photos and post it but then they'd see it! All I have to say it Etsy, Etsy, Etsy! It's such a fabulous place to buy gifts. I will be sure to share more detailed information with you once the girls receive the gifts.

The Veil

Here it is the infamous birdcage veil. I am so anxious about this. After I had my hair done the veil I was going to use just did not fit with the style. It should be here in a few days. I purchased it from Etsy. In case you have never heard of Etsy, it is heaven. It's a website where you can buy and sell all things handmade. I purchased it from the Powder Blue Bijoux shop.

Hair Trial Complete!

Sorry, there is no way I am going to post how my hair will be exactly but it was an excellent experience. The make up artist was fabulous. I sat down showed her two photos and she went to town. I have never seen my eyes "pop" that way before. It was subtle but enough.

As for my hair, we did make two major decisions.
1. I get to use my adorable hair clips that I got about 9 months ago
2. I'm going to take a walk on the wild side and wear a birdcage veil

Stella Nova was fabulous. A big thanks to Elaine (my hair dresser) and Malory (the make up artist) We'll see if it actually works. I ordered it today!

What a week!

My mom and sister (along with my two adorable nephews) just visited South Carolina for the whole week. We did tons of wedding stuff. Here's a quick summary of what we accomplished. I will try my best to write an individual post about each one.

1. Hair & Make-up Trial for me
2. Hair Trial for my mom
3. Dress fitting
4. Veil selection
5. Bridal jewelry selection
6. My mom's jewelry options
7. Bridesmaid gifts COMPLETE
8. Complete brainstorm of ceremony & reception set up (that's a big one)!
9. The alter
10.Rehearsal dinner location
11.One big shopping trip to Target
12.And a very long list for Michael's (arts and crafts)for me to go shopping for
13.Welcome Packages

And can you believe I'm forgetting some things....a BIG thanks to my mom, sister, and Kevin for helping me out so much this week. We're under the 2 month mark. It's time to go, go, go again!

Cake...

The biggest question on my mind right now is what to put the table cakes on. If you don't remember, click here for the post about the cakes. Cake stands are so expensive to buy or rent and I wanted to be more creative than that. I am trying to think of a way to adapt this concept to my table cakes. I guess I will have to give it a test run soon!

Ceremony Music

We finally, finally have our ceremony musician! Yea, thanks Other Brother Entertainment. We booked Graham Whorley. He's a local guitarist. He will definitely provide a unique element to our ceremony. He is incredibly talented and has a very wide range. We are still finalizing his song list but I assure you that it will not be boring. Hopefully, he will sing everyone down the aisle.

Here's his site, http://www.grahamwhorley.com/music.html

What to eat on Shem Creek.

I know you're in South Carolina you want to go to the beach, downtown Charleston, and plantations but you should know that there are several options right on Shem Creek (especially if you are staying at Shem Creek Inn).

My recommendations are:
You can see these 3 directly from the Shem Creek Inn:

Vickery's - bar/casual dining, Indoor and outdoor seating overlooking the marsh located next to Shem Creek Inn, ave

Red's Ice House - bar/very casual dining, mostly outdoor seating located across the creek from the hotel

RB's - fine dining on the water, located across the creek from the hotel

Nearby:

Bambu - fantastic sushi & Asian bar. The outdoor patio is great and spacious, located up Coleman Blvd. at 604 Coleman Blvd. Just a few miles from the hotel

Sette VII - Italian restaurant, located at the intersection of Coleman and mill street, delicious food and great desserts

Mustard Seed - this place is always packed and it looks like a house, but they have the best food. I love anything with fried green tomatoes. It's about 2 miles up the road from Shem Creek Inn, 1036 Chuck Dawley Blvd,

And this is just a few...let me know if you need more recommendations. Coleman Blvd. is packed with bars and fine dining.

I almost forgot you can Kayak on Shem Creek too! I've never done this but it looks fun! Check it out here, http://www.coastalexpeditions.com/index.php?page=mt-pleasant