Married Christmas

This year was Tony and I's first Christmas as a married couple. Not our first together, but first legit Christmas. It definantely felt different to me, I felt more like family to his family and he felt the same with mine. Christmas morning we kept waking up so finally we got up at 7:30. Went downstairs and went through our stockings.

We opened all of our presents together. I got a new laptop from Tony (which I'm on right now!) And I got him a ps3. We also got a few others smaller things. I got some boots and a bumpit (pretty exciting). A makeup kit thing, I got him 2 sweaters a couple games and a new blu ray movie for the ps3. 

When we were all done with our little Christmas we got ready to head over to spend some time with Tony's family. We had a surprise Christmas get together at his Aunt and Uncles house. We all made the food and everything turned out great! We ate and spent time together and it was great! It was nice to see everyone, we hadn't gotten to see since the wedding. It was also nice to officially be part of the family!

After this we headed to my mom's house. Where we spent time and exchanged gifts with my mom and sister. We got my sister 2 shirts and a super cute puffy vest. Which I would love for my self :) Mom got new pj's and some yankee candle stuff!

Saturday after Christmas we finally made it to my dads. It is always nice to see them and I always have such a good time! We opened gifts there and they took us out to lunch at Spaghetti Warehouse.

That was the end of our Christmas finally! It was a hectic 2 days, but we got to spend lots of time with everyone. Today we are you lounging around the house using our new Toys! I feel so blessed to have had such a great holiday and been so spoiled. Now I am just ready to start the new year!

Life after a wedding

Life after a wedding is calm. That pretty much sums it up. I thought I would be depressed when it was all over, but I think I ended up being more at ease. Don't get me wrong I am sad that this huge day in our lives is over. I've been dreaming of this day for a LONG time. So it's hard to belive that it has finally come and gone. It is nice to finally begin life after planning a wedding though. No more fighting and disagreements and stress. Now we just get to be married. Start doing all of the stuff we have been putting off because "we'll do it next year when we don't have a wedidng to pay for." I've begun making a mental list of everything I want to do in 2010. Just small things on the weekends nd maybe some places we would like to visit or people we would like to visit. I keep meaning to post pictures and a recount of the wedding on here, but I never did get around to it. I was putting of this first intial post-wedding blog post. I did begin this because of the wedding to keep everyone updated on what was going on. So hopefully you are interested in everyday boring life now! No more invitations to pick or flowers to make, or honeymoons to plan.
 Love you all. Jen-A :)

Created on FACEinHOLE.com

Create your own FACEinHOLE

And it all came tumbling down

Last night I was awaken by a loud crash. I was half out of it and thought maybe I just dreamt it. Well we woke up this morning and those glasses we got such a great price on.... were laying on the ground broken. Half of what we bought had fallen over and broke. I was really upset about it at first. We're trying so hard to be frugal, and can't afford to have that kind of stuff happen. But we did get a good price, so I guess it's better that cheap stuff broke rather than the $230 worth of liquor bottles. Just trying to think positively. It's just inconvienent, now we have to find new glasses for the candles, or make another trip down th cinci to go to ikea. Bah! Oh well ... Could have been worse.

Accomplished

Today Tony and I made it down to cincinnati. The plan was to visit Ikea to get votive holders, and then to swing over to Kentucky to get all of our liquor for the reception. It is suppose to be cheaper there for some reason? So we made it down to Ikea around noon. Boy do I love that place! It was so hard not to buy everything there! Had to keep telling myself wedding stuff only! We will come back and buy the crap out of this place after the wedding! Or when we finally buy our own place! Ikea is basically a huge warehouse with makeshift rooms upstairs put together with all of their stuff. You write down everything you want and then you go to the lower level. The lower level is just piles of anything you could ever want for your home! It's AAAmazing! So we found what we needed eventually after an hour and a half! Instead of buying actual votive holders we just bought 2 different types of drinking glasses. One type was $3.99/6 glasses, and the other was $1.99/6 glasses. We ended up with about 135 glasses for under $90.00! Which I don't think is too bad! So we felt good about getting that taken care of!

After that we headed down across the border. We ended up in Kentucky at a store called The Party Source. If Ikea is a homeowners dream, then this place is a drunks dream. We ended up buying all of the liquor for the reception. Which ended up being around $230 worth of alcohol! But that should be all we need, other then just a couple of kegs of beer. And you my friends better drink up, I don't want anything going to waste! So those were some big to-do's we got done! Also I ordered bubbles offline for our "send off" from the church.

We have also started buying our bridal party gifts. Which is a difficult task. Everyone is different and you want to get something everyone likes. It's hard when you have a bigger bridal party. What you get never seems like enough to show the people you love that you are thankful for them! On that same note we have also started getting parents gifts too.

So we got a lot done this weekend, and we had fun spending time together doing it. Which is what an engagement is about. It's hard when you are so wrapped up in just making it to the wedding date. You forget to enjoy the whole "engagement process" Well we have been enjoying the engagement process for 11 months now, and I am ready for the big day!

Hugs and Kisses :) Jen

The light at the end of the tunnel

I'm not sure if I see the light at the end of the tunnel yet. The light being the wedding of course. Everything still seems so surreal and so far in the distance. When I start to realize how close it actually is though, I start to panic. I feel like the procrastination is starting to set in. Everything I said "well I'll do that over the summer" or "I'll do that once the wedding gets closer" Well surprise! Summer is almost over and the wedding is definantly closer. I find myself at work going over every little detail, to the point that I'm completely zoning out. The big stuff is done, but now it's time to worry about the little stuff. There is so much little stuff though I worry I will forget a few of them.

I've been trying to make weekly To-Do lists. I feel like that is when I get the most done. I made one today, and we got our invitations ordered and engagement submitted to the newspaper. So I guess the moral of the story is make To-Do lists! That is all for now I guess. I'm just getting so excited and I think we're ready for the big day to get here! I can't wait for the fun to begin and for all of our friends and family to get into town!

Save the Date

Front

Back

The little things

I picked up Tony's wedding ring today. Mine is still at the jewelry store and has to be paid off. I was going back and forth between 2 rings. The shape of my engagement rings is unique. And no one thought to make a wedding ring to fit with it. So ulitmately I ended up going with a 2 sided ring that my engagement ring will fit down in. So it will be quite blingy together!

These are our champagne flutes that I purchased. If you look at the top it is uneven. Just gives it a little different touch! Haven't decided whether we want to get them personalized or not.

Those are just a couple of little things, we've gotten. Nothing big, but still exciting!

Procrastination

For as long as I could remember I've always been a procratinator. In school and i'm sure other parts of life. I feel like with the wedding planning I've tried to plan everything as far in advance as possible. Whether out of excitement or fear or things not getting done. Many times i've been told that it's to soon to do certain things. And I've been reassured plenty of times that i'm on the right track. But with under not just 6 months but now 5 months. I feel myself starting to panic. yes october feels like a million year away. But 4 months! 4 months in wedding time is not the same time as in normal people time. I'm sure I am doing fine, but I worry more about what is going to happen when it's down to 2 months or 1month. I have had many nightmares of stuff not being done in time. Right now we have been procratinatin on the save the dates and invitations. We had thought about doing it outselves, but I am definantly having second thoughts right now. So I guess that is it. I can't picture that day actually getting here. Everyone says the engagment flies by and that the wedding day will be here before we know it. I do admit we've been engaged for 9 months now and it has flown by. But I still don't feel like that actual wedding day will ever get here. I can't picture myself actually getting married. Not because I don't want to. I'ts just so surreal, and I've been thinking about this moment my whole life. I can't believe its a mere few months away! So everyone just hope everything comes together! And that there is no major disaster or bridal meltdown!

Picture Perfect

Engagement pictures are posted online!! Yay I'm so excited, I've been waiting a whole week.... I have little patience for things like this. So you can log on and take a look!

http://trautweinphotography.smugmug.com/invite/447915154a109d01df7e33.05616396

Password is october24

Hope you like them :)

Wedding season in full swing!

I haven't posted anything in a while! The past couple months have been very hectic! March we had Rachael and Kevins wedding. Which we drove down to Florida for. It was a nice little vacation but busy at the same time! It was a great time and I am so happy for my best friend! Then April we had back to back weddings. Tony's friend Joe which Tony was the best man. And then the next weekend My dad got married. So i've been kind of weddinged out lately. Even on my own wedding! But we don't have another wedding until July, so now we can focus a little bit on ours! Tony booked our honeymoon in the middle of all of that madness! We are going to breezes, which is an all inclusive resort. The location we're going to is called Curacao. It's a little island near south america.

The Willemstad, the main city in curacao.
Breezes, the resort where we're staying! Ok my add has caught up with me, so I'm done witht his post!

Just trying to keep up.

I'm finally starting to feel like we are at a good spot in the wedding planning. I've had numerous breakdowns and freakouts on Tony and yelled THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO. YOU SHOULD SEE MY TO-DO LIST!!! Then a few minutes later I finally realize I'm being irrational. I have gotten to cross a few things off of the list, which is probably more exciting to me than it should be. It feels good to see things coming off of the list. Here is a brief overview of what we have accomplished.
1.) The ever important wedding dress purchased. Should be coming in around April or May (SOON) I need to see it again b/c i've been afraid I wont love it anymore. But I'm sure as soon as I put it on it will all come back to me.
2.) Reception Booked. We've done our taste test and picked our menu.
3.) Church Booked. A couple of months before the wedding we will meet with the church coordinator and discuss everything ceremony related.
4.) Photographer Booked. A big thing I was stressing out. Photography is sooo expensive. Some of the photographers I saw online were almost as much as our whole reception. But we found a very reasonably priced one. Engagement photos to follow sometime in May once it gets nice.
5.) Semi final guest list. I feel like the guest list is never finished until the invites actually go out.
6.) Flower situation is almost figured out. My mom found this great place in Centerville that sells flowers super cheap, and you have the option to arrange them yourselves. You get to work with a coordinator who orders your flowers. They even provide a facility and supplies to arrange everything. We're meeting with the coordinator on April 4th.
7.) The Bridal party is picked, and the girls have picked their dresses and purchased them.
8.) We decided on Save the Dates and will be taking pictures for those in Florida next week. Hopefully we will have those sent out sometime in april.
9.) Decided on a Honeymoon. Tony has been talking with a travel agent, so she is trying to get us a good price. That is my BIG To-Do right now. To put down a deposit and get our room/flight booked.

I guess that is all ... I feel like that is a good amount of tasks to have completed. But I know there are A MILLION little ones that are still left, and a couple of Bigger ones. Next up
1.) Get Honeymoon booked.
2.) Start registering
3.) Invitations.
4.) Book Hair/Makeup

We're leaving for florida next Tuesday for Rae's wedding. I can't wait! Seeing how excited she is and thinking of what it must be like to be that close to the wedding makes me excited!

To the Ladies

This is an ode (I dont know why I'm using that word?) to the ppl that will probably somehow by a miracle make all of this happen! My bestfriends, family, and my bridesmaids! :)

Lizzy:: My maid of honor. She is such a good maid of honor that she has actually researched the "position" I've known liz since middleschool and we've been best friends since highschool. I know she will be the saving grace in this whole wedding thing. Plus tons of fun so you know the bachelorette party will be a good one!

Rae :: I've also known Rachael since middleschool and have been bestfriends ever since. Rae is probably one of the nicest and caring people I've ever met. We've been together through a lot. And even though she lives in florida now, I get to be a part of her wedding in March, and I'm so excited she gets to be a part of mine!

Tiff:: I've known Tiff since Tony and I started dating I guess. Tonys family put her on speaker on so she could meet the new girlfriend. I think we've gotten a long quite wonderfully ever since we met. Maybe it's our similar sarcastic humor. I was also lucky enough to be a part of her wedding. I'm excited for her to get here and help me, and take some sweet pictures! I feel lucky that i'm going to have such a cool sister in law.

Abigail:: This picture Pretty much says how long I've known my sister I guess. She's a little bit older now. She'll be 13 this month! She looks so grown up in her dress too! We've always gotten a long for the most part considering a 10 year age difference. I think we're a lot alike, goofy and moody at times. lol But I hope I can be a good big sister and be there for her when she gets older and has problems.

Misty :: Misty is Tony's cousin. I got so lucky that Tony had such awesome family. They all accepted me in as their own. Misty accepts me as the princess that I am :) She's super fun and funky and all over the place! I wish she could spend more time in Ohio. Also she really loves Obama.

Ann:: Ann and I work together, and shes probably one of my first "grown up friends" haha. Having people at work definantly makes it a lot easier. She's super funny and always fun to be around. I'm glad that we had the chance to get to know each other outside of work and become better friends.

It's hard to only pick 6 because there are other people that I would have liked to been able to be in it too. But I think I have a perfect group. No one is difficult, they're always helpful and I know they all have my best interest in mind. But I just wanted everyone to know I appreciate them!

Traditional Veil ::VS. :: Birdcage Veil

In the beginning I wanted the full out veil with the Blusher covering my face and everything. But then I realized that I would walk down the aisle and my dad would lift the veil up and that would be it. So I nixed the blusher. I keep seeing these birdcage veils more and more and they are growing on me. They look great in pictures and I think are romantic in their own way. Rae is wearing one and I think it will look awesome on her. She already has that vintage 20's look to her. But I dont know if I could pull it off. I also think the dress has a lot to do with it. I didn't end up going with something as POOFY as I had originally thought. I think it might be just streamilined enough that It might work. But I guess we will have to wait until my dress comes in (april/may) to see how everything comes together.

Nothing new

I don't feel like I'm doing a very good job at this whole planning thing. I haven't really done much of anything recently. We decided on the centerpieces. Which I will post a picture later. They're simple but I think they will be nice. And save us some money. A couple of bridesmaids have purchased their dresses. I'm sure the rest will soon too. I feel like it's still so far out that there isn't much we can do right now. The main thing is booking the honeymoon and finding a photographer. So hopefully in the next month or so we can get those couple of things done. We will be taking some pictures in march for our save the dates. And will get those sent out ASAP. So look for them early april. We're going to St. Augustine, FL for Rachaels wedding. It's such a beautiful city I know we will find some awesome places to do the pictures! I am super excited for this trip. I get to be part of one of my best friends weddings, plus I get away from work and Ohio! We went last year for vacation and it was so much fun!

Chic for Cheap??

There is no technical "theme" to our wedding. Our colors are purple and silver, but I'm basically just going off of purple. I like the very rich deep purple I think it will be awesome for fall. Of course money is always an issue. So we will be doing a lot of DIY stuff. Wedding stuff is out of control expensive. Flowers if one of the big things right now that i've been trying to get ideas and figure out what I'm going to do. Our reception venue is very simple and I think we're going to need a lot of flowers and candles (etc...) to dress it up. Just looking at some florists online we realized that there was no way we were going to get the look we wanted for the price we wanted. So we've decided to do the flowers ourselves. Which is going to be quite a task. But I know with all of the help from the wedding party and family it will be great. I have 3 different ideas for centerpieces and I think we will be doing about 4 of each. The first is a Topiary. I know these pictures aren't all in purple, but the centerpieces will all be in a purple scheme. These are just some ideas for basic shapes that I like. I think with the topiary I will probably will just use silk flowers that way I can get them done a few months before the wedding, and save some money rather than using real. Another Idea is A tall cylinder vase filled with water with flowers submerged. I've been thinking purple tulips. I may be able to use silk flowers for this one also again to save money. The last one which I like the most is just low round centerpieces with lots of flowers. I've done my research on the flowers I like and the flowers that come in purple. I don't know if anyone knows this but purple is not the easiest color to find for weddings it seems. I really like hydrangea that is one of my favorites so that will be in coporated. Also carnations are very cheap and come in a range of purples and are good for the "roundness" that I like.

The girls will be carrying mini calla lillies in a deep purple. Ihave not decided what I want for my bouquet. I want a big round bouquet, I'm just not sure if that is something that I will be able to do myself. We will have to figure it out though because I will not pay $200 for ONE bouquet! So those are my ideas for flowers. I also want lots of candles, that is a cheap way to add "warmth" to the room and kind of set the romantic mood. I also like the paper lanterns for lighting, even though we will be inside. I think they would be cute over the dance floor

to highlight it. So those are my ideas for decorations. Hopefully it will turn out how we invision it. We are ordering flowers through a wholesaler online. It is much cheaper that way, and has good reviews. The flowers will arrive the thursday before the wedding and will soak all day, and then friday we will have to bust it to get everything together. I know we will have a lot of help, we have a great bridal party and family that have all offered to assist. I know we couldn't do it by ourselves. So it is deeply appreciated. Once it gets closer I'm sure more will come together. It still seems unreal and so far away right now. But the months go faster and faster. The wedding is 9 months from today! Here are a few more pictures of stuff that I like...To be Continued....