suitcasegnome | 263 days to go! (Reply)

Hey, all! This is my first progress post. My intro post is here. Quick recap: Canadian chick from Nova Scotia marrying a Kansan fella on July 17th, 2010 in a field in a small village near my hometown. We're inviting over 100 people, but because it's an international wedding I'm only expecting about 75 people or so. We're also having a second reception in Kansas for FH's family, but I'm leaving the planning of it entirely in my FMIL's good hands.

I'm really excited about the wedding because I bought my dress this weekend!

Here we are:

So I'll start off with some info about the venue. My grandmother lives in this village just down the street from the venue: a couple of fields owned by various relatives. We will have a tent, and we can use my cousin's house, which is on the property (they've hosted a wedding there before, which is a plus). We also have an alternate venue in case of rain - my mom's neighbour has offered up her beautiful heritage house (which is great, because it's free).

Also free (or close to it):
Hair - my MOH is a hairdresser. I wouldn't dream of having anyone else do my hair. However, I am making sure that she gets pampered and not forced into doing anyone else's hair.
Officiant - My FH's dad has recently become ordained to perform wedding ceremonies. I'm so glad he's doing this for us.
Food - Potluck! My FH and I are both students, so we're asking some of our friends and family to bring food to share for the reception.
Flowers - My godmother is a florist (she used to co-own a floral shop) and is doing all our flowers as her gift. She is very talented, so I am thrilled.

And now, the photo pron!

First off, the ring he proposed with:

And the one I actually wear, which we just got back from the jeweler's this weekend:

So dainty. It is a green diamond - my FH told me that it's green because of radiation, so he calls it my "Hulk diamond".

Here are some shots of the venue. First off is where we'll have the ceremony - the line of trees will be the backdrop. I'm still undecided as to whether or not to decorate them. I like the idea of making an arch out of branches...

Next is the field where we'll be putting the tent - it's the flattest bit of ground we've got.

And here is the view from the tent facing down the hill toward the river. I love it up here. We'll definitely be taking pictures down near the water.

Here are some of my favorite inspiration pics -

This is why my wedding colours are red and turquoise. This photo is by paulapue on flickr.

I am definitely wanting a big bowl of cherries at my wedding.

I have a major garland obsession at the moment...

I also have a paper crane problem:

My FH are planning on making our cake ourselves, and I love this design. So fun!

Initially I wanted the seafoam green beauties that

classiclindsey sported at her wedding, but they do not exist in my size anywhere on the internets, so I've moved on to these beauties.

Makeup:

If I cannot actually be Joan Holloway, I'll settle for looking like her.

Hair ideas. I want curls of some kind. I'm not sure which of these will go with my dress.

This one is my favorite.

And, finally, the dress. I was really stressing about finding a reasonably priced dress that I liked, so I was floored to find a gorgeous gown at my favorite thrift store. I got my prom dress there for $4.25, and my wedding dress cost me... $9.50. Yeah. I'm still in a daze. I need to lose some weight before I wear it; it looks a bit weird around my chest. I'm also considering some kind of simple, short-sleeved chiffon bolero so I'm a bit less naked. Anyone know where I could find such a thing?

Back view (my mum is holding the back together because the dress has a wonky zipper - we'll getting that fixed):