Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Tux Info

For those of you out there that read this and have males involved in our wedding, here is some information regarding the tuxes. I called them to clarify some of my questions, as I kept asking Nate these things and he had no idea... Here's what I know...and what I sent Nate to email to all the guys:

Measurements for the tuxes need to be in by no later than Friday, August 1. You can have your measurements taken at any formalwear store convenient for you and call them into Savvi Formalwear at 636.532.1800. When the measurements are phoned in, you will have to pay a $30 partial payment to reserve your tux. If you'd rather, you have the option of paying in full at that time. Total cost for tux and shoes will be $126. If you choose to only pay the $30 partial payment, you will have to phone Savvi again no later than Friday, September 26 to pay your remaining balance.

We are planning on picking up all the tuxes ourselves, so that the guys don't have to worry about traveling with them.

Is there anything I'm forgetting? Ladies with guys in the wedding...questions?

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Friday, May 23, 2008

First of all, Happy Birthday Nate!! He doesn't actually read this, though...so my wishes are wasted here. Sigh.

I wanted to do a bit of follow up to my post yesterday about the music. Once I had our music list in my eager fingers, I was able to map out the rest of the ceremony (like readings, prayers, etc.) in preparation for a meeting with our officiant, Fr. Medina. Nate calls him Officer Poncherello...I'll let you all decide when you see him. I think I'm a bit young for that show...

It was a rather quick and painless meeting. Not that it would have been painful...he's a cool guy. Just that it went really smoothly. I guess I was well prepared. :) He approved all of our song and reading choices. We discussed order of procession, jobs for my uncle who will be assisting (he's a deacon), and rehearsal and rehearsal dinner (rehearsal is scheduled for 6:00 - unless we change our minds).

One question I did have for him was what do the moms use to light the taper candles that are part of the unity candle set?
Answer: Not matches, a pre-lit votive candle hidden behind the big unity candle. Never would have thought of that.

A few other food for thought items he presented:

  • Receiving line - yes or no?
  • How would we like to be presented? Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Seibel? Nate and Kelley Seibel? Not at all? I hadn't considered this...
  • Marriage license - very important :) I HAD actually thought of this...
Fr. Medina said no more meetings are needed, so we're just coasting right up until the wedding. I probably will call him a couple of weeks out to confirm a few things.

Does anyone have any tips for the ceremony? Or things you think I haven't thought of?

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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Music to My Ears

I write this as I'm rocking out to my iPod.... Gotta do something to keep up the motivation. I've been at work since 8am this morning and I'm STILL here. The good news is that we're leaving anytime now - like next 15 or 20 minutes - and heading down to Huntsville, AL to see our friends Dave & Michelle for a little R&R. A little boating, some time in the sun. Ah, can't wait! Dave is a groomsman in the wedding, but hopefully we won't be thinking about the wedding TOO much this weekend. I need a break - from both that and work. Oy.

What I really wanted to write about is my experience meeting our singer and pianist over the weekend. I went with my mom's recommendation on the singer and booked her without even hearing her voice! Well, I have to say, my mom knows her singers. We met Connie (singer) and Susan (pianist) at a local church where they had just finished singing/playing for someone else's wedding. My mom and I felt a bit like wedding crashers walking into the church right after the ceremony--in fact, they were still taking pictures. Uh, are we rude or what?! BUT, Connie and Susan assured us they do this all the time and that the couple didn't care. Anyway, what I was trying to get to was that right as we were walking up to them, some other lady who was a guest at the wedding cut us off and began talking Connie's ear off about how she was the best wedding singer she's ever heard, could she give her daughter who was planning a wedding Connie's name, blah, blah. So right away I thought, "Wow, she really MUST be good." And then it was proven when she sang bits and pieces of songs for us. Connie just has an extremely powerful voice and I'm so glad she's ours for the day!

We ended up spending two hours with those ladies, discussing each and every part of mass and different song options. I left there with a full list of music for the ceremony - everything completed! Of which, I'm going to keep secret. Sorry, I can't tell you everything!!

Two things that really impressed me about them both:
1) Although they are up with the times, they are both still very respectful and treat church as a place of God - where only "appropriate" music can be used
2) If I had a song suggestion that they knew they couldn't perform with 110% confidence, they said so - and I respect that

One thing I will tell you, which I think is neato - I'm having them do a song during the prelude that my parents used at their wedding. Any John Denver fans out there?? I guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you! And you thought I was going to give it away...

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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Holy Clematis!

Has anyone else had the incredible spring flowers we've had this year? Our clematis on the back patio has exploded with blooms. It's so beautiful...

I mean, wow! The flowers are bigger than my hand. Just gorgeous!


Nate also said he's never seen this bush at the corner of our house (sorry, don't know the variety) bloom so much. The colors are just so vivid.


Purples and pinks... How can a girl not love that?!

Has anyone else experienced extra beautiful flowers this spring or is this just a central MO occurrence??

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Engagement Pics

Well, our engagement pictures were taken Sunday without a hitch! The weather was absolutely marvelous - around 72 degrees and sunny - and no humidity. The only slight disadvantage I had was it was sooo windy, so my hair may have something to be desired in the pictures...but I was trying to keep control over it. Maybe I'll just have a windblown look! smile

The pictures really were a blast to take. We were a bit unsure of ourselves at first, but we got the hang of it rather quickly. We started out at The Landing (area in downtown STL with cobblestone streets) and posed in both a casual and dressy outfit. We did fun things like dancing in the middle of the street and pretending like we were fashion models... Then we moved on to Busch Stadium to take some pictures in our Cards/A's gear. Those should turn out pretty neat - and have special meaning since we got engaged at the Cards v. A's game in Oakland last year.

Stephen's wife and daughter came with him on the shoot. His little girl, Novalie--very different name--was SO cute! Stephen said the pictures should be on his website in about a week, so I'll be sure to let you all know when he posts them. More to come about the rest of my weekend in the next couple of days!

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Friday, May 16, 2008

Plans for the Weekend

I'm making a trip to my home town this weekend to get through some more wedding items. Here is what the agenda is looking like:

  • Meeting about invitations (design, wording, etc.)
  • Meeting with musicians (hearing them play/sing, picking out music)
  • Meeting with the priest (discussing readings, music, those participating in mass, etc.)
  • Browsing for jewelry for bridesmaids
  • Picking up ring bearer's pillow from the cleaners (hopefully it's ready)
Other non-wedding items:
  • Attending my cousin Nathan's graduation party
  • Meeting up with some friends to have dinner, catch up, and share wedding planning stories!
I'll be sure to provide an update on how it all turned out next week!

We also are getting our engagement pictures taken on Sunday evening. Our last attempt to do this was three weeks ago when we had some cold, rainy weather. The forecast is looking much better this time around...
Sunny and 75 degrees! Should be a beautiful day.

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Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Great NW

The reason I've been scarce lately is that we had a big conference for work in downtown St. Louis last week. Then on Friday, I flew to Seattle. The original purpose of the trip was to see Nate's friend Dave get married. Then just recently I found out I needed to be in Bellevue for some work-related activities, so I also ended up tacking on a couple of days to the end of the trip (Monday & Tuesday) to stay and accomplish some work.

The wedding we attended was a casual affair. It was at a venue called The Attic. The room consisted of hardwood floors, huge windows, and exposed brick, so it really gave the wedding a cool setting. Dave & Carla (the couple) did something different in that they had cocktail hour start an hour before the wedding. So when we got there, the couple was at the door greeting people. Carla was wearing a colorful dress--not her wedding dress--to start off the evening. Then an hour later when the ceremony was to begin, she ran off to change. They got married in front of the fireplace in the room, with a very casual ceremony and beautiful vows.

We had a nice buffet dinner--the food was good and the cake...fantastic! I do have a sweet tooth, though. redface It was simple white cake with a whipped icing, but was really made it great was the lemon filling between the layers. Yum. They also had mini cheesecakes, which was Nate's dessert of choice. He's thinking of getting a cheesecake for his "groom's cake."

We didn't stay too long into the night as we found their mix of music was a bit hard to dance to. In fact, Nate and I didn't even get to dance. I hope that we do a better job of music choices! Besides being a bit unorganized, overall it was a good wedding. It's always fun to go to other people's weddings when planning your own. You notice little details that you probably wouldn't normally and can get ideas of what to do and not do.

So besides the wedding and work (which I will not talk about...boring!), on Sunday we did a little sightseeing. Nate drove us up to Snoqualmie Falls. It was a beautiful drive as everything in Seattle is blooming. It was a bit chilly and wet, but that didn't stop us from taking in the beautiful falls.
The waterfall itself is 270 feet high, which is 110 feet higher than Niagara Falls. If you are interested in more of the history, you can read about the falls here. As you can probably see in this photo, there is a fine mist in the air swirling around created from the force of the falls, and if the wind blew in just the right direction, it sent the mist toward the crowd.
As you can tell from this picture, the wind was definitely blowing in our direction that day. I look like a wet dog! rolleyes There's also beautiful Salish Lodge right next to the falls--you can sit out on your own private deck and take it in.
Quite the view from the rooms, I'd say. And I doubt it's cheap either!!

After visiting the falls, we kept driving up the pass so we could get high enough to see some snow. Nate drove up to one of the Snoqualmie ski resorts called Apental. It was still snowing there, and let me tell you they had a lot of snow! People were still skiing, in fact. This should give you a general idea:
Yep, that's snow alright! Nate said he had been up there a couple of weeks ago and a lot of the snow had melted since then. Uh, really?! I've never seen so much snow, but I guess I am from MO. smile It was really pretty up there.

We ended our excursion with some nice warm hot chocolate--mine with an addition of yummy butter rum flavoring. It really was a great day and weekend. We were able to relax for once since we weren't at home and preoccupied with all the things we should be doing!

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Shopping Spree

Tonight I went on an online shopping spree! I purchased paper from...
for the bridal shower and bachelorette party invites.

Envelopes to put the invitations in...
from Paper-Papers.

And our fabulous toasting flutes...
from Cooking.com! Gotta love online shopping!! cool

I also followed up with the florist and photographer on a few items/questions. Finally some wedding accomplishments again. I'll fill you in on what's been happening the last week sometime tomorrow....

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Sunday, May 4, 2008

Weekend Finds

Whoa, five months and counting!

My parents paid a visit this weekend and we got ALL of our flowers planted outside! That in and of itself is a big accomplishment, but we also did a little shopping and I had the best of luck finding some things. It was one of those trips to the mall where you just happen upon things you've been looking for for a long time. Know what I mean? And with all the great stuff I found, I didn't end up spending that much money. cool I had coupons for almost every store I bought something in, which is a huge help. I almost refuse to buy anything anymore unless I have a coupon. Anyway, on to the finds! I found several honeymoon items, all of which I'm very excited about. I'll start small first... White sunglasses for the beach!

I'm really loving the big sunglasses right now. And don't worry, these aren't Paris Hilton big! They have some cute detailing on the sides, as you can see in the picture below. And all for an affordable prices of $6. Score!

And speaking of the beach, anyone a fan of the big, floppy hats? This one isn't huge, but it's a great size for a mid-day walk to the beach to lounge in the sun. It was no where near the $100 version I saw in the Boston Proper magazine I received in the mail recently. AND the best part is that it fits!!! Some of you know I have a rather large head. razz Thank you Gap!

And the final item, which just screamed "beach in Tahiti" to me, is this wonderful, ORANGE, lightweight, flowy top. It will be perfect to cover up a swimsuit with white shorts or capris. And I got it for 40% off. Woot!

And the best find of the entire weekend had to be my earrings! As you will recall from my post a few days ago, I was having a really hard time determining if I wanted something sans pearls. The first store we went in was Macy's, and my mom convinced me that we should look at the jewelry again, although we had already looked through the entire jewelry section in a previous shopping trip. Well, all I can say is I'm glad I listened to her, because I happened upon these babies:

They are the perfect combination of dangle and sparkle. No pearls needed! I tried them on and I think they will be a perfect compliment to my dress and hairstyle. Now I'll just have to find a bracelet that compliments the dress and earrings!

Amidst all this stuff that I bought for myself, I also got a very good start on bridesmaids gifts...and I'm especially excited about one of the items my mom discovered for them! I will say no more because I know you all read this, but hopefully you'll like this item as much as I do. Along with starting the BM gifts, we pretty much knocked out a gift for the flower girl as well.

What a great shopping weekend!!

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Friday, May 2, 2008

Invitation Wording

I've been exchanging several emails with my aunt the past week and I have talked to both sets of parents and Nate to get their thoughts on the wording for the invitations. I wanted something a bit different from the traditional wording, but not too far fetched. And, of course, I could change my mind tomorrow, but this is what I think I've settled on:

BECAUSE YOU HAVE SHARED IN THEIR LIVES
BY YOUR FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE
RON AND BRENDA KLIETHERMES
REQUEST THE HONOUR OF YOUR PRESENCE
AT THE MARRIAGE OF THEIR DAUGHTER
KELLEY ANN
TO
NATHAN SCOTT
SON OF DAVE AND BERNI SEIBEL
ON SATURDAY, THE FOURTH OF OCTOBER
TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT
AT TWO O'CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHURCH
LOOSE CREEK, MISSOURI

Where are my proof readers out there? What do you think? We decided to go with less formal names for the parents, so instead of Mr. and Mrs., we just used the parents' first names. I also added the first two lines to make it a bit different from the traditional wording. Hmm, now that I've read over this again, I wonder if I have to have the exact address of the church since we're having quite a few out of town guests? Everyone normally knows where the church in Loose Creek is! biggrin But if there was a map and directions included in the invitation, would that be overkill?

To go along with my post about choices on Wednesday night, have you ever thought about how many different fonts are out there?? Gazillions! eek I'm looking for something simple and easy to read for the majority of the wording, with our names being in more of a scripty font. Should be easy to find, right? wink And then, of course, there's the actual design, paper colors, inserts, etc. But I think I've got a good grasp on which direction I want to head with that. I'm actually really enjoying this paper-crafty stuff!

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Thursday, May 1, 2008

Sweet Relief!

I was reunited with my dress and shoes tonight! The dress is in mint condition. And the shoes? Dyed to ivory colored perfection! Thank goodness. Now I'll be able to sleep tonight! wink

Ah, don't let me fool you. I've been sleeping just fine these days. On to the next fun thing to accomplish...

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