Weddingbee bios

i had been out of collage and working for a year when i met jake. he was graduating the month we met. i am a medical assistant/lab manager at a pediatric clinic, and he is a service manager for a materials company. two completely opposite work fields, but i don't think we'd change a thing.

what a story, LOL, i was out with a bachelorette party in st. cloud the night that i met jake. our first stop was the red carpet. like with all bachelorette parties, we were hitting on guys, selling suckers, bead necklaces, etc...jake was the first guy i went up to that night. i asked "do you want to buy some beads for the bride to be?" he said sure and gave us a few dollars. i was a little tipsy at this point, so i told him if he wanted them, he'd have to take them off with his teeth! after that, we exchanged numbers, only he had to use a friends phone since his was dead. i know what your thinking, but we did talk the next day and pretty much everyday we didn't see eachother since. now 5 years later, we're getting married. the rest of that night is history :)

the night we were engaged was a total surprise to me. we had just gotten home after dinner with a few couples friends of ours. it was in our new house which is our first owned home together, in the same spot we had our first meal in our home. we were standing there hugging eachother when he said " i didn't get you anything for your birthday because i want you to pick it out". i just said thats ok, i dont need anything, i didn't really get you anything anyway. he replied "no i want you to pick it out" when i looked up at him, that's when he asked "will you marry me?" i just stared with a huge smile for a minute and said "you already know the answer". looking back, i still don't see any signs that that night would have been the night i was engaged. i thought for sure it would have been in chicago over easter weekend when we were standing on the pier at night watching the fireworks. he has since then admitted that that's when he wanted to do it, but chickened out.

we found a great photographer. she is someone who works with my mom, and does photography for fun. she went over the top with photo shots, editing, flexibility, commitment etc. she lives in big lake, MN. i can send her info for anyone who is interested. our entire wedding photo sessions, including engagement/save the dates, outdoor engagement photos wich we will do later in the spring, and everything the day of our wedding from getting ready, well into the reception are included for us.

 

choosing my bridesmaids was hard. i have so many great friends from all parts of my life, work, school, mutual friends now between jake and i. we both chose 6 people each, so our bridal party including children ended up being 17 people! my maid of honor is my sister suzy. we work together, car pool, talk all the time, and share a bond that no one could even come close to. she has a 5 year old daughter who is also on of my flower girls. two of the girls are from high school, jess and jen, who i've kept in touch with the most since graduation. the rest of the girls by my side include my cousin andrea, co-worker amy, and simone who is jakes friends wife.

jake chose his 6 closest friends to be his groomsman, most of them are from collage. at some point almost all of them have lived together. dusty is his best man. ryan, jarod, travis, will, and josh.

our families are wonderful. very supporting and helping still see the realty of wedding planning. my family has my parents, and one sister and a brother, kevin. my sister is the maid of honor, and kevin is one of our ushers. jakes family consists of his parents, 2 sisters, and 3 brothers. his brothers are also our ushers, 4 total. he also has 6 nieces and nephews, a brother in law, and two sister in laws. i am the first in my family to be married, although my sister does have a 5 year old, who is one of our flower girls. his god daughter/niece is our other flower girl, and his youngest nephew is our ring bearer.

shelly, from work, is my personal attendant. she is such a good friend, always caring and interested in the wedding planning. she is a great help at work and the kind of friend everyone should have.

i found my dress on davidsbridal.com under their sale/outlet section. i called a store to see if anyone had the dress. there were two stores who had it, one was my size, the other a size bigger. simone and i went to the first store because they were supposed to hold it but actually sold it the day before, so they sent us to the other store who had the bigger size. i tried it on, loved it, and was ok with the alterations that needed to be done because i was only spending a $100 on a bridal gown. she made me try on several others because "you can't just try on one". in the end, i tried this on on again and bought it that same day. being the DIYer and crafty person, i am making a few changes such as adding beaded lace under the bust and around the bubble hem, and also wearing a lavender sash to match the bridemaids dresses.

after countless trips to davids bridal trying on all bridesmaids dresses in every shade of purple they offer, i chose a dress at the wedding chapel. i was on my last leg in the search for dresses. the wedding chapel offered so many different short styles, which is what i was looking for. the picture is only for the style of the dress. they are made to order because of the wide choice of color combinations. the color of the dress will be lilac purple with an ivory sash. the flower girls will wear ivory dresses or an ivory dress with purple print on it if i can find one, and have a matching purple sash. my dress is also ivory and i will have a matching sash as well.

i still haven't found flower girl dresses, so if anyone has any good websites or ideas for me, please let me know! they have to match davids bridal ivory, a very pale, almost white ivory. i prefer kind of plain around the top because i have already ordered a sash and would like to try and use it instead of let it sit in the bag and go to waste. i would really like to try and find a purple floral print with ivory background if possible. something like a summer or easter dress would probably work.

4-6-10

my flower girl dresses have been chosen! actually the fabric for them has been. my mom and i are going to make them. they will be A-line with some tulle underneath. i am debating on dying the tulle purple to match my crinoline which i am also planning on dying purple.

 

 

5-3-10

the search is over! we decided to not take a gamble on the "ivory" fabric we found at joann. instead we are having our flower girsl (all 5 of them now) wear the same dress. style# V1249 from davids bridal, in ivory. we decided to include all of our nieces as the flower girls because they are all 5-7 years old and we felt bad having some left out. our wedding party has now grown to 25 friends and family, but it is all worth it.

                    

for our men's attire we chose a tan wedding suit from savvi formalwear. we weren't very pleased with the limited styles offered by men's wearhouse, plus i also won $40 off each rental and 3 additional free rentals besides the grooms, from savvi. it pays to go to those wedding fairs! the suit is tan, lightweight fabric with an ivory shirt, tie, and vest. the shoes and socks are brown.

our groomsman will be wearing the same tan suit as jake, but with a lavendar vest and tie to match the bridesmaids. the shirt will be ivory, and the shoes and socks are brown.

this is a "best man" button i found online. we purchased it for dusty, the best man of course. we got the idea from the movie you, me, and dupree.

our fathers and ushers will also be wearing the same tan suits. the ushers will match the groomsman with purple vests and ties. the fathers will wear the tan suit but with a matured grown up feel to them by wearing a latte vest and tie. the pint size ring bearer will wear purple vest and tie.

my favors will consist of dove promises and heshey hugs and kisses. they will be an a 3x3x3" white box with a two tone twisted ribbon around them. see the following link from martha stewart weddings. inside they will be wrapped with tissue paper with a seal or something to incorporate the words..."sweet bliss is...a hug, a promise, and a kiss!" clever idea that i found in a brial magazine.

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com:80/photogallery/boxed-favors

i found my invites at joann. they are wilton brand. i'm not changing anything with them except the ribbon will be a light purple to tie everything together. i am also printing my directions/lodging info on frosted vellum paper as an insert. they are wilton pressed lavendar invites, 50 count.

i made our std's using snapfish 5x7 collage print. i uploaded these images, adding a title at the bottom "jake & jen   july 31, 2010" and whoolllaa, cute save the dates. our photographer took multiple shots of us holding a sign for each frame.