Details

Oh.MY.WORD.

Do you know what time it is?

Rather, do you know what DAY it is?

Our wedding is ONE WEEK from tomorrow! WOW how time flies!!!!

For it seems like the last FOREVER, I haven't posted anything because I've been way too extremely busy doing wedding stuff. Making invitations, Calling People, having showers, and sometimes, real life interrupted.  How Rude.

But, since its so close, and we're pretty much finished with everything, I thought I'd take a moment to gloat brag entertain you all with the details of this fine occasion- since we've spent the last 6 months planning it all.

Now, all girls dream about what their wedding will be like.  Most of them know the colors, the dress, the flowers and the cake that they want - and they've known it forever. I however, did not.  It was kind of liberating actually.  I got to start fresh, and do what felt right NOW- not what I thought would be cool 10 years ago.   

Some things, we've gone uber simple on, others, not so much.  For instance, I told both the photographer and the florist that they needed to tell me what I wanted, because, not only was I overwhelmed, but I like SO MANY things, that I had a hard time knowing where to start.

We started with the venue.

We needed a place that did ceremonies too.

We looked at three places.

And decided on the first one.

We are getting married at Chantilly Mansion, in Layton.  We love the gardens, and the whole atmosphere of the place.  Vintage, Classy, Happy.

Pretty, huh?

We'll have our ceremony at the bottom of the stairs, surrounded by windows, like this lovely couple

Our wedding party is small, with a maid of honor and a best man.  

As for the colors, I decided that I wanted most things to be overwhelmingly Ivory and Black- but I did want color in the flowers, so I chose Yellow.

in my bouquet, there will be:

White star lilies

Yellow Calla Lilies

Yellow Tulips (yes! even in August!) I <3 my florist!

Freesia in both white and yellow

And probably some fillers.  I can kind of a little bit maybe assume that the final product will look a little bit maybe similar to this:

kinda.

The boutineers for the wedding party (Oliver {BM} and our dads) will look similar to this: 

with Nick's being a bit more elaborate,

And then, to tie all of Nick's brothers together, they will all have a boutineer made of freesia like this

classy, huh?

The mama's will have corsages, and my maid of honor will have a bouquet, similar to mine but we are substituting the lilies for white and yellow roses

There will also be flowers on the cake.

Our cake is also very simple.  Three layers, square. the top and the bottom layers will be plain fondant with a ribbon and the center layer will be covered in shredded coconut.  I took my inspiration from these:

The flavors {from top to bottom} Red Velvet, Chocolate, Coconut.

The dress will be kept a secret (unless you've checked Facebook), but I have, as of yesterday, FINALLY decided how to do my hair.  The trial run is tomorrow, and hopefully it looks good on me- if not, we'll revert back to the hairstyle from the bridals.

I have that hair clip too  :)

And my shoes, which I'm extremely excited about

The Tuxedos for all the guys are Calvin Klein.  Nicks will have an ivory shirt, tie and vest- like their ad for the tux

 (but Nick looks way better in it than this guy}

And then we'll do a toast

cut the cake

and Dance,  We've hired a 5 piece Jazz band- which I am thrilled over!

{and i'm making my dad dance too- it should be interesting.)

We'll also have a slide show for the viewing pleasure of the guests.

I didn't want to do one with cheesy Celine Dion love song crap running through it, so we decided on instrumental music.

Until I got a better idea

It's a good one, too.

Nick's favorite band is Metallica, 

SO

I got a bunch of their songs as piano solos,  Its totally epic.

Here is a sneak peak into the slide show

lil me

isn't Nick just so cute?

Our book is super special.  A large leather book with line-less handmade paper.

I wanted people to write us messages, not just sign their names.  Who wants a book of signatures they can't read?

And finally, we will leave.

NO ONE will touch our car

Mwahahaha

so, we'll be picked up in this:

which is ridiculously cool.  :)

then, we leave monday for our honeymoon!

aaahhhh! so excited!

I'll post photos of what the flowers, dress and everything REALLY looks like when i get the wedding photos back.

We are seriously so fortunate that we have wonderful parents who have gone above and beyond to give us a beautiful wedding.

What would I do without my mother?

Seriously.

That woman better live forever.  :)

My Not-So-Real-Life

I love my life.  I am very blessed! It's full of great People, Experiences and Things, with many things to come!

But, with the hustle and bustle of everyday adult life, I can't help but daydream......

because anything can happen in a daydream!  {whether it's logical or realistic or not} 

and sometimes I just have to go to my happy place.

In my dream world, I live on a farm. Yes, a farm. Full of Dairy Cows, Horses and sweet little lambs

Aren't they cute?

And a Mess-a dogs that follow me everywhere, like in Secondhand Lions

And even a cute lil pig

At my farm, the cows get milked, the grass gets mowed and the poop gets scooped all by itself!

 Money grows on trees, 

and when it rains, I can put on my cute galoshes and jump in puddles - - because the puddles NEVER disappoint, my world!

 when I wake up and look out the window in the morning, this is what greets me

and this

and this

and this

As I begin to start my day, I wander around my wonderful farmhouse

That is decorated in classic farmhouse style, of course

Isn't the white so cheerful and calming all at the same time?

After that, I'll call a few of my best girlfriends, and we'll have tea and cupcakes out on the porch- true tea party style, with no limitations

After that, we'd stroll around the flower garden- full of Lilacs, Hollyhocks, Hydrangeas and Peonies- but they would be the most full, vibrant, fragrant flowers you ever did see....er...smell.

After the girls leave, I'll take a nap in my hammock, and let the wind in the grass lull me into a lovely nap

Following the nap, we'll go pick giant juicy vegetables from our garden for dinner- except, there are far too many for our family to possibly use, so we invite 20 of our closest friends over for a garden party dinner

I will have, of course, prepared the entire meal in my gorgeous gourmet kitchen, all while wearing my ridiculously frilly apron

{In reality, I actually DO have this apron!}

I could also  wear ridiculously beautiful dresses, for no reason, and no one would think it was weird

after the glorious party, we ride off into the sunset

only to get up the next morning and do it all again!

Don't I have a wonderful life?

Too bad it's all in my head!  ;)

Got My Mind on a Puppy and a Puppy on My Mind

haha, the title of this post is stupid. and I love it.

Anyway, 

We've been thinking about getting another dog.

Yes, I'm serious.

{but definitely not yet! we have a wedding to plan!}

For one, there are just so many awesome dogs out there, and we need to take advantage of all that puppy love, 

and for two, this monster needs a lil' playmate

In case you are unaware, this is Yoshi, the 30 pound fluffy-love-machine.  He is an almost 3 year old Shiba Inu, who thinks he rules our roost. Small dog, 

BIG Napoleon Complex.

He is such a sweet and loving boy- he comes everywhere with me, and enjoys every second of it.  If you give him food, he will be your friend for life, and if you're a guy- he'll probably howl at you for the first 20 minutes of your relationship with him.  {He thinks he's big and scary, you see}

Anyway, since Yoshi is such a wannabe Alpha Dog, we need to get one with a more mellow temperament- usually this means a larger dog, or a basset hound- but I'm not sure I'm ready for anything THAT lazy!

Here are a couple of the breeds we're considering.  If you've had any experience with these, or other wonderful breeds, please send me some feedback!

The breed we've been considering for the longest is the Great Pyrenees:

Couldn't you just eat that puppy up? Oh my word, how stinkin cute.  

They're HUGE though.  with lots of long hair.  I'm ok with both, but what I worry about is the fact that they are prone to hip problems due to their size and breeding.  There are breeders out there who certify their puppies are healthy, but still.   Apparently, at 8 weeks, when you can bring these lil guys home, they are....about as big as Yoshi. haha!

Moving on, 

We're also contemplating  a Bernese Mountain Dog:

And I do definitely love this one too!  They are slightly smaller than a Pyrenees, but still large.  I hear their temperament is very mellow, gentle and snuggly, which is a plus.  I don't think I've ever heard or read a bad thing about this breed....definitely tempting.

and the new one on the list: a Labradoodle

This thing kills me, it's so cute!  He looks SO friendly!  I love poodles, and Labs, and this would be a good mix.  I've heard good things about these dudes.

And so, we go back to window shopping.......

What are your favorite breeds?  What do you look for in a dog?