It's October... It won't be long now!!!

So the countdown has begun. Tomorrow is the first day of October, there will only be 17 more days until the wedding. I'd be lying if I didn't say I am a little nervous, but more in shock that the wedding is so close. It won't be long before I'm married.

So I think that we got all of our invitations out. There are still some that we didn't have addresses for, we are just going to have to call the people to find out where they live or send the invitations to a family member. All in all, I think things went well, with the exception of not putting 'and guests' on the envelopes. So to clear up any possible confusion, anyone who would like to bring a date/guest with them is more than welcome to do so.

I'm starting to work on the programs for the wedding. I hope that they go as planned. I have been waiting on them, longer than what I would like, because I need to meet with the preacher marrying us so that I can be sure to have the correct order for the ceremony and clear up any final questions. I am just hoping that all goes well and the programs turn out half as nice as the invitations.

Jeremy and I got our Marriage License yesterday. That was uneventful but very meaningful (I guess, if that is the word to use) since we have to get it before we can get married and it is only good for 60 days. That's kind of neat. I guess there's no turning back now (don't be worried).

I hope that those of you who have RSVP'd have found it easy to do. Either by calling the number (or using the Call Me button on the top right) or submitting it through our Knot.com wedding website. If anyone has any problems, please feel free to contact me. You can leave a comment either on this website or sign our guestbook on the other website. I will help answer any questions you have.

Well I best be getting back to working on the wedding things. I hope that everyone has a great week and I can't wait to see all of you in a little less than 3 weeks.

~Rachel

44 Days to go

Well, it's been a little while, so I thought that I would post a quick message.

September is already here, where does the time go? Next month is the wedding, there are only 44 days to go. It is crazy how fast the days go, yet it seems like Jeremy & I have been engaged for like a year or more. I guess it is just because we have both been so busy that we don't take much time to sit back and relax. That's good though, otherwise I would get bored and that has the tendency to get me into trouble.

Things are really starting to come together for the wedding, it really amazing and exciting.

I have already submitted our engagement announcement to the newspaper. And Jeremy & I can get our Marriage license anytime now. That's when you know that it won't be long... when you can get your marriage license.

I also picked up my wedding band this past week. It is gorgeous! If I can get some pictures of it sometime, I will post them. The band that we got to go with my engagement ring looks perfect with it, even though it wasn't made to go with my ring. It just so happens that the band has almost the exact same "curve" that my ring does. When we have mine soldered together, they should look like they were always meant to go together.

I have the invitations all printed, I just have to glue them together and stuff the envelopes and they can go out. I am working on them a little each night, hopefully I will have them all ready within the next week or so. I am aiming to put them in the mail around the middle part of September. We aren't doing RSVP cards, so they don't need to go out as early. Instead of the RSVP cards, I put a message inside the invitation saying that you could log onto this website and follow the link on the top right-hand side of the screen or call a phone # that will allow you to leave a message. I don't imagine that everyone will rsvp this way, but at least it gives some people options. I guess we will just have to wait to see how well it works.

This past weekend my friend Amy got married. That was so much fun, I was one of her bridesmaids, so it was nice to be with her on such a special day for her. It was also really nice to see what I need to be prepared for the days leading up to the wedding and the day of the wedding. Hopefully I will be able to answer the questions that everyone will ask me, before they even ask, that way it doesn't seem as overwhelming.

I have been picking out some new music for the wedding. I found the most beautiful song the other week. I talked to Sharon (my pianist) about playing that during the wedding. She is going to play it for me, I just have to decide when to play it.
Check it out here, if you have a suggestion as to when we should play it during the wedding (parent's processional, bridesmaids entrance, etc.) leave a comment at the end of this post.


I have been looking at different wedding programs. I am hoping to start working on the wedding program soon. I will have to have the music figured out before I can do too much with them, but at least if I have an idea I will be able to pump them out pretty quick after everything is "finalized."

I think that is all I have for now. It won't be long and you will get to see how everything, that I have been working on and mentioning on here, comes together. I will try to keep you posted as the days get closer.

Have a great weekend!
Rachel

Our Engagement Pictures

I wanted to share our engagment pictures, from this past Sunday, with you.

I love how they turned out. Julie did an amazing job and we all had a lot of fun. The day was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for better scenery to work with. We took all the pictures in Dayton either at the University of Dayton or in the Oregon District.

Julie is also doing another session with us this coming weekend, we are going to take some additional photos around home. Not like we don't already have a ton of great pictures, but we are just going to try out some different things.

If anyone is interested in booking Julie to take pictures for them, be sure to call her, I'm sure that she would be delighted to work with you. Here is her information:
Julie Wenning - Photography by Julie - 419.852.8122 - photobyjulie.net

You can also follow this link to see the larger pictures: Rachel & Jeremy's Engagement Pictures

As far as wedding plans go, things are moving along very well. Earlier this week, Jeremy & I met with Tom Knapke about our wedding cake. I brought him the picture of the cake that I wanted and we picked out the yummy flavors for the cake and all the fun details. So everything with that is all squared away.

That same day we met with Sharon Chaney, our pianist, to pick out our music to have played at the wedding. That was very helpful and nice to have figured out.

My grandma's friend, Joyce is working on the bouquets and boutonnieres. I saw a sample of the bridesmaids bouquet and it was absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to see mine and all of the rest of them when they are done. I think that everyone will really love them. Joyce does amazing at everything that she does. (If you read this Joyce... Thanks! You are the greatest!)

I received the unity candle holder a few weeks ago. I love it, it's so elegant, I can't wait to use it at the wedding. The picture doesn't do it any justice, it is actually a matte silver and polished silver finish. I bought it from Lenox. I wanted something that could be used again and not "scream" wedding unity candle holder.

The wedding invitations are pretty close to being ready to be printed. I am going to meet with Sara Suchland, of Sarapaper, to go over the final details and before she prints them. I think that they turned out pretty well.

There are only 3 months left before the wedding, as of this coming Friday. I can't believe it, time is going so fast. It will be hear before we know it. I am excited though. I have waited for this day for so long.

I guess that is all for now. I will talk to you all soon!
~Rachel

A lot has happened lately...

Sorry that I'm not updating as often as I did at first. It just seems like there have been a lot of things going on, not necessarily wedding related. I did look at my "Wedding Planning Checklist" and I am not behind on anything, so that is a plus. Even thought I feel like I haven't done much work for the wedding, I just tell myself that it was because I got allot of it figured out the first couple of months of our engagement.

I have had a few people ask me about how the church situation went. Sorry I forgot to mention that the last time. What we determined was that our wedding was going to be at St. Paul's United Church of Christ in New Bremen. The church is large enough that we will be able to fit all of our guests in, without having to "squeeze" everyone in. Plus with the gas prices looking the way they are, if people have to drive a little distance for our wedding, they will be driving to the same general area, since our reception is in Minster. That will be allot nicer that having people drive a distance to Celina and then to Minster and then back home, so hopefully everyone can appreciate that a little.

Lately I have been working on the invitations for the wedding. Jeremy & I have decided to not use RSVP cards, he says that allot of people won't send them back, so we are just going to go with a panel card as our invitation. As a graphic designer, people have high expectations from you, hopefully everyone will see the time and thought that has gone into everything that I am doing for the wedding. Below is a monogram that I designed, this will most likely be used throughout the wedding. I thought that it was very adorable. You see, having the initials J and R, you have to be careful how you design with them, otherwise it looks like Jr. and that isn't what we're going for here.

I also ordered our unity candle a while back. It took forever to arrive, in fact, I had to call the company and talk to someone before they even sent it out. I don't think I would deal with their company again, but at least I got our candle. It is very simple, yet very elegant. Here are some of the sample pictures from the internet. Ours is the Ivory candle with the name Rachel & Jeremy engraved on the token.

My wonderful friend and bridesmaid Amy was able to pick up the glass votives that I need to begin working on the hanging votive holders for the birch branch centerpieces. I should be able to get those from her this weekend and hopefully will be able to begin working on those within the next week or so. Making the wire hangers will be the most time consuming part of the centerpieces. After I get all of those done, I will just have to arrange the branches in the vases and then they should be all ready to go for the wedding. Unless we add any extra details later on. I guess we'll all have to wait and see about that.

I talked to the lady about decorating the hall. I think that what I might do is rent some of the stuff from her and then between the bridesmaids and family, we should be able to get the hall decorated. I think that everything will come together beautifully.

My grandma's friend is going to work on the bouquets for me. That will be a huge help for me, so that tasks is pretty well taken care of already. I do have to begin working on the "isle runner" candle stake arrangements. Awhile back I had picked up some wrought iron garden candle stakes that I am going to put into a painted terra-cotta pot to use in place of an isle runner. I am not exactly sure what I will put in the flower pots to "decorate" them, maybe some flowers and probably a ribbon hanging on the candle stake, something like that.

I feel pretty comfortable with how the wedding planning is going. To be totally honest with you, I'm not nervous or worried that things won't get done. I know that there are some other people that are worried for me, they say that I'm stressing them out with how "carefree" I seem to be, I guess that isn't a bad thing. I will keep you posted if I start freaking out that things won't get done in time.

In the middle of July my other wonderful friend & bridesmaid, Julie, will be taking our engagement pictures. I am really excited for that. I think that we are going to some pretty awesome locations to take pictures, so I can't wait for that. If you haven't already figured this out, I am really into photography. I don't look at pictures just as a picture, I look at pictures as a piece of art. I love to see things that are different and really capture the emotion. I really trust Julie doing our pictures, she can see where I'm coming from when I tell her what I like about pictures. I think that she will do a great job and it helps having a friend as a photographer b/c you aren't as limited on where you take pictures at. I think that we are actually going to head to Dayton to get some pictures. I know that they will be amazing. Thanks Julie!

I also think that Jeremy & I have figured out what we want to do for our Honeymoon. We are planning on going out west and traveling around to different sites. We talked about taking a train out west, but I don't know if there are any that don't leave on the same day as our wedding. If we can't take a train out there, then we will probably fly out there and either rent a car or see about catching a train out there. I think that a train would be an awesome way to see some of the beauty of the west. Sometime Jeremy & I are going to set down and figure out all the different places we want to visit and then talk with our travel agent to see what she can help us figure out.

So the BIG NEWS...

As of 3:30 on Tuesday May 27th, Jeremy & I have become "homeowners"...
...well we still have the paper work and everything to do before it is official, but the sellers accepted our offer yesterday. That's pretty exciting for us, freaky, but exciting.
The property has 13+ acres with a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage home; there is also a horse barn, pasture and approx. 2 acre field and approx. 6 acres of woods. I am super excited about this place. Our First Home! I think I could see us living there for the rest of our lives. The house is on State Route 66, just south of Newport, in Houston. It isn't the first town that we would have picked to live in, but the location is great for us to get to work. Plus it sits way back off of 66, so it is kind of peaceful back there. The house has a sun room off the back of the house that you can sit in and just enjoy the scenery. I am so excited! Once I get some pictures of the house, I will be sure to post them. I just pray that the inspection turns out okay and that the closing goes well, those are the only things keeping us from officially owning the home. So just keep us in your prayers that everything will go well for us. It is much appreciated!

So for now, I think that is all the rambling that I have to do. I will be sure to keep you posted on anything new and hopefully I will be a little better about updating more often.

Only 4 months & 3 weeks until the wedding. Time will go super fast.

Talk to you soon
~Rachel