Alright, so I was told by Benjamin how the getting of this news went today, so this is a revision of the post I made on Tuesday if you read it once already…

So Benn was sitting at his desk at work on Tuesday when he heard Joe say, “Hey, Wolfe, you have a call on line four.”

Benn picks up the phone and says, “TAT International, Wolfe speaking” as he always does even though it’s a transferred call and the caller knows he called TAT International…lol that always makes me laugh.

So he says, “Oh, hi Reverend!”  Apparently Brad (geek squad dude) then says, “He’s talking to a Reverend!” to Alex, another geek squad dude.

Benn was talking to Reverend Marty, the Reverend at Unity in Kalamazoo who we asked to be our officiant at our wedding.  She said she would love to be our officiant!  We are so excited!  We love her messages at church, and we know her message for our wedding will be perfect for us.

We can’t wait!

Mindy

• Mindy |
• Be the first to comment!

After a fun Thursday evening and Friday in Ludington and Manistee with Scott, Stacy, Sierra, Joshe and Benn, (The Wolfes) I thought I’d be out cold once we got back home today, but I guess I had enough rest on the way home.  I’m just watchin’ Simply Ming on Create (a PBS channel we now get thanks to the converter box!)  Benn was hoping to watch him tonight but he’s been out since about 11pm.

I decided to hop on the computer and look for honeymoon options, but my thoughts quickly took a turn toward centerpieces and ceremony decor.  I was going through my wedding folder where I keep such related bookmarks and found a Save-on-Crafts website which has been very helpful.

Peach and red are really growing on me.  I ran into a few flowers that came in peach and red on the site and they look very nice together.  The first thing I found were these hanging flowers.  I saw a picture online that used similar hanging flowers on the gazebo they were getting married in front of and I thought it was a very nice touch.  Plus they’re cheap if you use fake ones!

Mom bought some vases for us because the Mattawan Floral shop went out of business so she got them on sale.  We have a few Eiffel Tower vases and tall square vases.  I have no clue what do to with the Eiffel Tower vases, but with the square vases in mind, I found these “ice cubes” in red and orange.  Not quite sure how it would look, but it might be nice to have a few pieces in the bottom of each vase, stick the stems of one or two lilies in the cubes and fill the vase with water.  It might be nice with a candle on top too.

I’m really trying to enjoy the planning since a lot of people hate it.  So far I can say it has been enjoyable!  I guess Benn and I were a little stressed when we couldn’t find a reception site that pleased both of us.  I’m trying to keep the worrying to a minimum/non-existence because I really want to enjoy this time.

I appreciate all the ideas and comments!  Thank you!

Happy Father’s Day!! (almost!!)

Mindy

• Mindy |
• Be the first to comment!

…the expression Benn and I use when we finish a task.

We paid our down payment for our photographer, DJ, florist, and videographer!

We’re so relieved to have all of our services through Dan.  He’s very organized and helpful, and we are happy with Rich who will be our photographer.  We were able to see some pictures of weddings he took when we were meeting with him today.  We thought his style was a bit more traditional than Dan’s, but he had a lot of true emotion pictures as opposed to poses.  We’re very pleased   We have to figure out which DJ we want, but the videographer isn’t such a big deal.

Andrea, Dan’s wife and the florist, is very sweet and I think she’s going to be helpful when it comes to designing the boquets.  First things first though, I have to speak with my bridesmaids and get the dress colors figured out.

Well, the dishes haven’t been done in about a week and a half (ew, I know) and Benn doing them by himself will take five years….so I’m off to go help him!

Have a great weekend!

Mindy

• Mindy |
• Be the first to comment!

Monday, Benn and I went to visit with a photographer in the Grand Rapids area.  I mentioned him in my last post…his name is Dan DeWard.  I had been interested in his work since April when I first ran into his website. Now that we have our date set I’ve been a bit more serious about finding our photographer…as you may have noticed from the last post.

His studio has a lot of banners of photoshopped pictures, which look amazing!  Benn hadn’t been to his website before the visit, so I wasn’t sure what he would think.  Fortunately, he was amazed when we walked in!  Dan does great photoshop work and Benn was very impressed since he works with photoshop for stuff at work, too.  The package we will be going with is $2200 and includes an engagement session, signature matte, 10 x 10 album for us, parent albums, and the coolest thing is they will project our ceremony pictures on a screen at the reception!  I’ve never heard of any photographer doing that.

Dan is booked for our day, but he has another photographer, Rich, who will be our photographer.  Dan said his style of photography is similar to his, and they have similar photoshopping techniques, though Dan is the main photoshopper.  So we’re meeting Rich tomorrow and paying our down payment!

The cool thing is Dan’s wife is a florist, he has three DJs available, and two videographers.  If we use any additional services we get $100 discount for each service.  We’re difinitely thinking about use all four of his services.  Benn thinks it might be better to get someone in Kalamazoo to do our flowers, but I think it would be easier to have Andrea (his wife) do it since she’s only about 5 minutes away and it would be much easier to plan with her.

Needless to say, we’re very excited that almost all of our initial planning is taken care of!

Mindy

• Mindy |
• Be the first to comment!

One of the first things I heard when I woke up this morning was, “What about peach and red?”  That’s right, Benn had a color suggestion!  I’m very thankful that he likes contributing.  It makes the planning process very enjoyable!

Red.  It initially made me think of winter, cranberries, Christmas, and December.  Benn said that to him it was a “lovey” color.  After thinking about it for a few minutes, peach and red would go nicely together.  They’re closer to each other on the color wheel and I think they’ll blend a lot better together.  (Benn didn’t like teal AT ALL.)  I searched for peach and red weddings (as I have with many color combinations) and a few boards popped up.  This board is from Elizabeth Anne Designs.  “Elizabeth Anne Designs is a wedding and lifestyle site updated daily with tips and stories from real brides, newlyweds, and wedding vendors.”  I haven’t explored her site yet, but I’m sure I will.  This board is from Kathryn, another blogger.  Her board has a country style feel to it.  I love looking at these boards people make because they are each unique and there are so many styles that can be portrayed.

So peach and red will be my/our new focus.

I also wanted to talk about some photographers I found lastnight.  There are a few that I am very interested in.

The first is Tara McKinney.  I like her style of photography.  She is a photojournalist, so she’s been all over the world.  You can check out her amazing pictures here. Very cool.  Her packages run from $2,000-$3,600.  Her Engagement session costs $295.

Next is Dan DeWard. His packages run from $1,795-$3,095 including deposit fees.  With two packages he includes two parent albums and with our four sets of parents, I asked what our options would be for two extra albums and he said that wouldn’t be a problem, so that was good news.  He seems very nice and his photo editing looks great.

I also like Micheal Terri. His packages run from $1,895-$3,345.  His most popular package is $2,895 and includes videography.  His style is contemporary.

Last but not least is Holly! She seems very fun, and I think I like her style the most.  I just got an email back from her and her prices run from $3,000-5,000…and those are the starting prices.  Half a day starts at $3,000 and a whole day starts at $5,000.  They prefer to sit down and talk through what we want, so I’m not exactly sure how much it will cost.  I would definitely like to meet with her.  It will probably be too much though.

I hope you’re having a great day!

Mindy

• Mindy |
• 2 Comments

I’ve been thinking more about colors lately so I thought I’d get your opinions.  I would like peach to be the main color…my bridesmaids will be wearing peach and the guys will somehow have peach on them.  I want to leave that to Benn because I’m not really familiar with suits and how they work.  If he wants them to wear black and white suits with a peach flower that’s fine, or a black suit with peach and white…it really doesn’t matter to me.  I’m sure the guys will look fine.  I’ve been having trouble with the accent color, and I’ve been stuck on teal for a while.  I think it’s kind of bold…and more fun than just peach and white or peach and brown.  I would still incorporate white so it’s not JUST peach and teal.

Another idea Benn and I talked about was having a sunset theme.  Now, Benjamin thought of it and I thought it was a great idea!  I immediately thought  I could have my bridesmaids wear different shades of peach.  Then Benn started laughing because he thinks it’s a horrible idea.  I still think it would be awesome!  Benn’s point is that people migtht be distracted by the non-uniform…ness of the girls which would take their attention away from me.  (aw)  I don’t think that would be an issue because all the girls walk before me, so I don’t see how it would matter.  Sweet of him to think that way though…I was very surprised.  I didn’t even think of that!

So what do you think of peach, teal, and white?

Mindy

Check out my colourlovers palette here.

• Mindy |
• 2 Comments