invites are out :)

Invitations are out.  We spent the entire weekend (almost) making these beauties.

As always, and in particular with the invitation madness, our living room was in utmost chaos throughout the process.

But the final result is quite good, I think. 

Yes they look very similar to those we sent in the states.  I reused the idea and the stamps.  I nixed the ribbon as making bows proved to be ridiculously meticulous last time.  We used scrapbooking pins this time.

The invites are in Danish.  Any grammatical errors you can blame on me.  Christian wasn’t confident about how it was all written so I just said well… we can just say I wrote them and then no one can have such high expectations, haha.

Can’t wait to see you there!

Doing it Dane Style

We have acquiesced to a Danish wedding this September.  I don't know how we'll find the energy to do it all again but with a little will there is a way. :)

It wouldn't be us if it wasn't totally last minute.  We have our venues set and we aim to send the invitations this Monday.

Ceremony will be at Fredensborg Slotskirke

Not the same castle I talked about in the past but a castle, just the same!  It will be gorgeous.

We're working on a intermediate 'reception' before the dinner and party begin but this is (as always) dependent on the weather.  Details to come.

The party and dinner are going to be in the garden at Christian's mom's house in Esrum.  

Let us know if you want to help, we're all hands on deck these days! :)

The Danes are coming

Every spring in high school, these small 3x5 cards would start to pop up on walls everywhere and simply read "The Danes are coming."  It was meant to get the school excited about the Danish exchange students' arrival.  And rightfully so, junior year it meant my Dane was coming!  

And here seven and a half years later... more Danes are coming!  All of Christian's immediate family is making the treck across the atlantic to be a part of our special day. We couldn't be more excited!  I know you will all love them just as much as we do. :)

That being said, it's time to educate you all on Danish wedding traditions!  I've written a whole new page on traditions and what to expect at our wedding.  Check it out here: http://jillianc.com/danish-wedding-tradition

Disclaimer... the Danes may or may not alarm you with traditional or self-claimed traditional acts at our wedding. I personally couldn't be more excited about it. Clearly I love my Danes and I love the men of the Als family... who take Danish humor and sarcasm to a level surpassed by very few. ;)

WE ARE GETTING SO EXCITED!!

The Best Shower Ever.

What makes pre-wedding festivities complete more than a shower and bachelorette party? Well, my absolutely wonderful MOH put together a beautiful shower and fabulous bachelorette. Words can't start to describe all the time, thought and love she put into this, of course with help from my other girls, but still! These events had Ms Stephanie Walsh written all over them!

With all the detail she put into the two parties I thought the least I can do is describe it all to you as a memento. I'm sure you'll find some inspiration for any future planning you may be involved with. :)

Two or three weeks ago I was told to clear Aug 15th in my calendar and up until roughly 6pm on Saturday the 15th I had no idea what was to ensue. I was pretty confident a bachelorette was involved and maybe dinner beforehand.

I couldn't have been more surprised and touched to see that there was a proper shower waiting for me upon arrival. The party was hosted on a beautiful deck at Steph's best friend Jeana's house. I welled up in tears as everything sank in.

Tables were draped in pink tablecloths with homemade vases (check out the idea from the knot - so cute) with colorful daisies in the center. Lady Gaga was playing in the background and butterfly lights were strung along the wall of the deck. Plates, napkins utensils were lime green. Scattered were pink and green balloons, as well. Perfect color combination!

At each seat there was a gift bag with a name tag indicating who should sit where.Steph demanded I open mine first so we could start drinking – oh man, I thought. :DInside each bag was an impeccably hand-decorated wine glass saying “Love is in Bloom” with flowers and butterflies.Can only imagine how long it took her to make these.So gorgeous.Mine also said “Bride to be” on it.Wish we got better pictures of these glasses!

Out came homemade sangria (absolutely delicious) and trays of cheese and crackers and hummus. Does this girl know her bride or what?!?! Then came dinner!!! Homemade meatballs, ziti, salad and lettuce wraps. YUM YUM YUM! Such good food. Steph is going to be quite the homemaker!

After eating everyone gave me presents – PRESENTS?! I was so pleasantly surprised and happy! My college girls gave me a themed gift of something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. I may have said “something used” which got a laugh. My other girls treated me to pampering gifts and jokes, a perfect combination in each gift. I am so grateful!

After presents we went inside for Jill & Christian trivia. Three teams of two got competitive while I ate a massive amount of dessert in the background. Butterfly shaped iced sugar cookies, brownies, and a trifle – to.die.for. Sarah Root & Deanna Olenczuk ended up winning the game, I believe. Way to go girls. :D

We then left for the secret undisclosed location of my bachelorette which will have a separate post on O-M-G.

The shower was such a surprise and really better than I could have ever imagined having. My friends are the best there are and I can thank you all enough for your love, support, time, gifts and more. Stephanie Walsh, I love you!

A Quaker Ceremony

We are not having an official Quaker wedding ceremony as there are traditions, such as giving away the bride, that we are still honoring in our homemade ceremony. However, we are not having an 'official' officiant and we are honoring the "open worship" part of a Quaker Ceremony.

The "open worship" refers to a time when the ceremony is opened up to all those attending to stand and say a few words in support for the couple. There are usually some silent periods which are very normal in Quaker worship and are meant as a time for reflection.

The reason for no officiant, as we understand, is because in the Quaker tradition there are no religious leaders per say. No ministers or priests. Rather, they believe that God is always present and when they feel moved to say something, it is his will. The same is true of how they practice regular weekly worship.

Some great resources for what to expect are found below:

The Knot explains what to expect.

A Backyard Wedding depiction is very similar to how we'll adapt our ceremony.

Wikipedia (of course) provides a straight forward definition of a Quaker wedding.  If you want to know more specifically about the Quaker religion you can read about it here.

one month away!

Today marks one month until our wedding! So much has gone into planning the last three weeks. I went home last weekend and accomplished in a 10 hour day on Saturday what usually takes brides and wedding planners months. No room for indecisiveness!

10 Hour Wedding Planning Saturday:

8:00am : Leave house with my aunt

8:45am : Buy coffee and a bagel

9:00am : Meet "Tom the tent guy" at his store in Media, pick out tables, linens, chairs, flatware and glassware. Rentals done. Check!

10:00am : Plowing through Joann Fabrics looking for material to make table runners. 60% off sale and we have found a gorgeous pattern for $8/yard.

10:45am : We're en route and I'm ordering the fabric sku over the phone with the Exton Joann Fabric. Fabric ordered. Check!

11:30am : Arrive early to our cupcake taste testing in Malvern

11:45am : We're eating DELICIOUS cupcakes and I eventually order 50 Triple Chocolate Ganache and 30 White Chocolate Vanilla Ganache. YUM. (Be excited) "Cake" done. Check.

12:30pm : We're in Downingtown at florist number one. Quote is ok but they won't do a ribbon tie on my bouquet

1:00pm : Florist number 2. Quote is high but I get them down a little and I get a ribbon tie. Chr's boutonniere and my bouquet done. Check!

1:30pm : Quick stop at the house and split a turkey sandwich as we're walking out the door. Protein for sustainability. Check.

2:00pm : Scoop up the children at the pool, Maya shows me how she can do a proper dive off the diving board. Love her.

2:45pm : Maya and I get dropped off at the salon for a trial run of my up-do

3:45pm : Up-do is done, I love it. My hair will be gorgeous. Check!

4:00pm : Go to Produce Junction in Exton, find that there are gorgeous bundles and bundles of flowers for under $5. They have bags of petals for Maya to use. Flowers for bridesmaids and decoration will definitely be bought here. Check!

4:30pm : Mens Wearhouse (or as Maya says – Mens Produce Wear) to pick out the tuxedos. Pick out the design and put together a group number. Boys have until 8/29 to be measured and ordered. Check!

5:00pm : Scoop up Jack from birthday party.

5:30pm : TJMaxx has apothecary jars on sale for $5 and $7 each. Buy three for our candy station. “Favors” will be a treat bag of candy – conceptualized by my wonderful and creative Aunt. Favors decided. Check!

6:00pm : Cracking open well deserved beers!

Sunday was productive as well. I met with our caterer who has a great vision – will turn out perfectly. Also had lunch with my cousin who is going to be our officiate. As always, more details to come!

Invitations are out!

Yesterday I dropped all but one invitation in the mail.  After staying up until 2am with my MOH I had them 70% done, just missing assembly which I accomplished during lunch with help of a coworker.  None of the invitations look the same but I'm pretty proud of our homemade work.  Lots of love going into those :)

Disaster averted...

Circa 1 am as I am (sloppily by now) writing out the RSVP postcards, Steph looks up and says... "Sh*t...." And I look at her and say, "please tell me it is something we can fix and it does not involve starting from scratch."  Turns out we didn't create a way for people to let us know whoooo was RSVPing.  With little hesitation (so proud of myself) I found a solution.  So just don't worry about it, the little number on the bottom left corner will let me know who is replying!

If you excuse the AWFUL lighting my camera phone captures (especially in my office) here is a picture of what all the hard work looks like!  Invite on the left, RSVP on the right.

Saved some money doing them ourselves, I think.  Here are a breakdown of costs:

Scrapbook Paper: $15
Frosty Paper: $6
Ribbon: $16
Fleur de lis & "Adore" stamps: $16
Stamp Ink: $4
Envelopes: $14
Sharpie Pens: $4
Postage: $33
Total:  $108

We have plenty of both types of paper left over as well as the stamps & ink (of course) to use for other things like place cards, programs, or whatever my creative MOH can think of.  So... not a bad $108 spent, at all!

Someone marry us please!

So... I don't know how we're getting officially married yet and it's driving me crazy!  

I've been researching Quaker Ceremonies and I found them truly unique and special but I'm not sure Christian and I can meet all the requirements.  My lovely family is hard at work doing some research at their meeting houses which is awesome.  Check out this amazing blog - she had a very sweet Quaker Ceremony: A Backyard Wedding

In the meantime, I'm also trying to locate an officiant to give us a civil ceremony as a plan b.  Or potentially as the official plan seeing as I'm unsure the Quaker ceremony is a possibility.  I just feel like a lot of the people who can afford to advertise themselves on the internet charge a lot of money for something some people just take a $50 donation for doing.  hmm. I'm not getting very far, please let me know if you can recommend someone!!

I read that Pennyslvania doesn't recognize internet ordained ministers.  Bummer.  That could have been you. :)

Most of you probably saw the email about the hotel - sorry I probably should have excluded the locals.  I promise no more mass emailing.  Just come here for any updated details or feel free to email me.