I try to keep as many of my pages as possible open, to hopefully inspire and encourage other brides! I love to read everyone's unique stories and follow your wedding journeys, so please add me as a friend if you wish and don't hesitate to ask me any questions. I feel so honored everytime someone says they were inspired by something I've done, and it is for CERTAIN that my wedding would have only contained a fraction of the beauty and magic it did without PW. I lived and breathed for this site during my planning process, and I'm a very proud alum! Participating in the January 2012 Bio Blitz was a lot of fun, I love all the positive energy everyone has and even though I'm not planning my own weddding any longer, PW is like a shot in the arm for creativity!!

It was really cool to see my bouquet in the Love IT! feature...this is the thing I get asked about more than anything from other brides, and I know of at least 4 others who have used the same vendor I did after seeing my pictures. I LOVE being able to help and inspire like that!! I was so worried about my flowers because I went with fake to save money and thought they might look tacky. How wrong I was! I used wedideas.com and I HIGHLY reccommend the 'Natural Touch' flowers. My photographer actually thought they were real and kept getting all sorts of close-ups of them right away because she didn't want them to wilt! She couldn't believe it when I told her no worries :) I have this bouquet displayed in my living room now, along with a wedding picture in a crystal frame. (It goes with NOTHING in my decor and I couldn't care less, I love it!)

I am so excited to become one of the newest PW Hostesses!

What an absolute honor!! I have said it before – I owe the beauty of my wedding in no small part to PW and this wonderful community – and I only hope I can inspire and encourage new brides-to-be as much as so many of you did for me.

I LOVE weddings! I love talking, discussing, dreaming, looking at pictures, planning…all of it! That is why I can’t get enough of this site and when you add in the fabulous group of women that gather to share their experiences and build each other up – it’s amazing!

So ask me anything. Really, truly anything. I will do my best to answer and if I don’t know I will certainly give you my opinion!! And I will help point you toward someone who does know or where you might look. That’s really what this is all about – sharing and learning and not necessarily having the right answers but knowing that we are all unique and that we all have something worthwhile to contribute!!

My name is Sam, and DH's name is Jake. He grew up on a real farm, learned construction young and was the first in his entire family to go to college. I grew up in the city, read my first book at age 3 and haven't put one down since. Together, we are a great team!

Jake...

 - can build or fix anything. Anything. He's beyond a handyman and it's amazing.

 - has a passion for antique John Deere tractors. He got his first one at age 7.

 - at age 24 was the youngest intern-turned-employee to ever be given a million dollar + building contract to run on his own. Yes, I'm proud :)

 - loves NPR, especially Car Talk and Waddya Know?

Sam...

 - has taken dance lessons since she was 3 years old. A few years ago I had the honor of performing during the halftime show of the Rose Bowl with my precision kick teammates.

 - is an admitted Bibliophile with an entire spare bedroom devoted to books. All the shelves are full, they are now stacking in piles on the floor :)

 - loves animals with a passion, particularly dogs. I foster as many as I can, and would adopt them all if DH didn't help reign in my addiction.

 - is mildy obssessed with the color lime green.

I was never the girl who grew dreaming about her perfect wedding dress, Prince Charming...or fairtytale anything, really. In fact, even though I'm now 25, the idea of getting married still blows my mind! Nonetheless, my best friend in the whole world asked me to marry him on Christmas day 2008 and I said YES!! 

Jake and I met when I was 16, and he had just turned 20. We are both Civil War reenactors (but not the nerdy kind, just the social, history-loving kind :p ) and we met at an event in Wisconsin through mutual friends. It turns out we had been going to the same events for years and never ran into each other! That first night it stormed so bad we all had to take cover at a shelter house, so Jake and I set up all night talking. We lived 3 hours apart, but he drove to see me nearly every weekend until I was done with school! Looking back on it, I think our time apart yet together actually strengthened our relationship. Long distance doesn't work for everyone but it sure did for us!

We ended up going to college together (Jake had gotten his AA and thought he didn't want to go any further with school, but I convinced him otherwise. He still thanks me!) and getting an apartment. By that time we had been together 4 years and while we talked of marriage "someday", we always knew we wanted to wait until we were settled and could plan for a real life together.

Jake and I are both old-souls. We have never been the partying kind, even in college. We've always enjoyed quiet nights, or activities that we could do just the two of us or with a small group of friends. We much prefer a good dinner and a movie to a night at the bar. Not to say we don't get out and enjoy ourselves from time to time, but we sure are not the typical young couple! While we certainly have our arguments, we' ve never had the big drama I see so many of our friends go through. I like to say we're pretty chill!

The Proposal

As graduation grew closer, we realized we had been through so much together already and knew the day would come when we would get married, but we still talked about it as an eventual thing. For sure we wanted to wait until after school when we both had jobs so we could afford it. I graduated mid-year in December, and Jake had until May. Imagine my surprise when, on Christmas day evening at my family's house, he followed me into a back bedroom where I had gone to get one last present (for the dog!) I turned out and he was standing there with a ring box!!

It wasn't the proposal I had imagined, when I even gave thought to that kind of thing. But it was perfect. He said "I've been trying to figure out how to ask you all day, and I just couldn't wait any longer." He followed that up by saying "Guess what? I'm going to get another tractor!" Jake hobby farms and has always collected John Deere tractors, and I always kid him for spending waaay too much money on those things. I finally put my foot down and told him he couldn't buy another tracter unti after graduation and when I had a 'pretty'. Well, I got my pretty and he got his tractor that summer!

We've had a long engagement. He asked me in December of 2008 and we will be getting married in September of 2011. This way we have been able to save up and really have the wedding we want, and we've bought a farm and a puppy in between time!! We now both have the good jobs we dreamed about, and are finally getting excited for the wedding. At first, it seemed so far away that it was ridiculous to talk about, and I still sometimes can't believe I'm actually getting married!

So overall, we are not the typical infatuated, wedding-obsessed couple...but towad the end it all came together and it was soooo exciting! Thanks to PW I'm finding that I really enjoy the planning and organizing. And Jake was just excited about the idea of a big ol' party with all of our friends, he said all along that he trusted me to make it perfect! 

I'm so unbelievably happy right now, it's crazy. I married my best friend and we a darn good life right now. I had  the wedding I didn't even know was in my dreams and the the day WAS magic :)

We stayed at the Iberostar Grand Bavaro in Punta Cana...I can't recommend it enough!! The resort was beautiful and the service was amazing. We are definitely going back!!

Anyone who has been on the boards for any length of time will see some of these, and it's so darn exciting when it's your turn!!

The PW Hall of Fame

Re: PW Guide Article: ~PW Hall of Fame~

We did it!!!

The List

Re: AW: I made the list!!

This is kind of surreal, after the year of watching all the other PW brides get this far!!

Sat, September 10 - spatton21
Sat, September 10 - cupcake1818
Sat, September 10 - hiddengrace
Sat, September 10 - SDonisi
Sat, September 10 - AuntTate
Sat, September 10 - amber16ratm
Sat, September 10 - SincityBride

The Sign-Off

I posted this on 9/8/2011...3 days before the BIG Day.

Wow...I can't believe it's really here! We got engaged on Christmas Day 2008 and I don't think I really believed I was getting married until today when I was picking up FI's tux and getting my nails done! Those two things have been on the schedule for some time but to actually be doing them and telling people "I'm getting married on Saturday!" ... it's surreal.

When I started the planning journey, I had no clue what I really wanted or where to start. I found PW through a Google search for Stargazer lillies and it was the one of the most important discoveries I think I will ever make!! I would never have dared to even dream about DIYing anything before, let alone something as important as my invites. But I read through the countless stories of you lovely ladies and it gave me courage. I not only did the invites and STDs from scratch, I also did the favors and the ceremony decor. And it will all be beautiful...thanks to all of you!! Not only that, PW has given me so many ideas and shown me ways to think about things that never would have come to me without this community. Colorful shoes to go with my dress, or the wonder that is Etsy are just a few of the neat things I've found throug this site. And I never would have used the term 'BM' with such fondness before either!!

I have learned so much from so many of you, not just about wedding stuff but about relationships, family, friendship and even make-up and fashion! No matter what type of question I had, or what crazy issue I needed to vent about...there was someone there to listen and offer advice or even just a hug. That truly made a difference in my life, showing me that there are lots of good people out there and it made me feel like I mattered. PW has done wonders for my confidence in myself and in my abilities. I have given just as much advice as I have received, and I love the release that gives you to feel like you might have made a difference to someone.

My wedding day will be over after Saturday but my time on PW is just beginning! I am already getting excited to post a recap and see what everyone thinks :) From the bottom of my heart I thank all of you for your helpfulness, your willingness to listen and for your sincerity. Most of all for your awesomeness! PW rocks!! See you on the Mrs-side!

Looking back on the wedding planning experience, I learned a ton. But if I had to pick THE most important lessons I took away from it all, it would be these.

Number 1 - Don't feel you need a theme. I drove myself nuts for quite a while trying to find a theme for my wedding, something to tie it altogether. I had all these ideas that seemed so random and I didn't want my wedding to seem disjointed and thrown together. For example, I have always been in love with lime green. It wouldn't have been right if I didn't work it in somehow! I ended loving the green and pink combo, but my wedding was in September. I was super worried that I was doing spring colors in fall, and having an outdoor wedding - what if the leaves were changing?! Add to that the fact that I fell in love with stargazer lilies, which look tropical, but the ceremony was going to be in Iowa at an old mansion. It felt sort of schizophrenic and ill-conceived to me, especially after seeing all these brides with elaborate themes. My dilemma was that I didn't want to give up anything I really liked, but I couldn't see a way to make it all work. As it turns out, it all worked well and I was worried for nothing!

I kept the green and pink running throughout, that's the closest I got to a theme!

I do think picking out colors is important, but once you have that done, everything else will come together if you can include those colors in small amounts throughout. Looking back on my pictures and video, and remembering the day, I had a wedding that was perfectly me! It was a little vintage, a little rustic, a little garden...and I had the bright green I had always dreamed of that flowed through everything! It didn't matter that I had supposedly 'spring' colors in fall. My advice to do what YOU want, go with your gut and you'll know if something isn't working. If you don't get that feeling, it will all turn out well in the end because the main thing is that you are happy and enjoying yourself!

Number 2- Don't be afraid to voice your opinion and make changes if you are unhappy. As you can see from my hair and makeup trial...it wasn't the greatest. I wasn't that impressed but I went by myself and was afraid of sounding rude and Bridezilla-like...so I didn't say anything at the time. I went home and hoped that I would get used to the look and would like it. It didn't get any better. The makeup was starting to run by the time I made it home and I just wasn't impressed with the hair even though I wore it all night.

I'm pretty basic with my hair and makeup on a day-to-day basis, so those of you who are better versed in this kind of stuff won't have these issues...but for anyone new or less experienced in lots of makeup, this is the best thing I did for my wedding! I worried and worried about how I would look on the big day...hair and makeup are kind of important! :) But I decided I didn't care if my stylist thought I was being difficult, I wanted to look my best.

So... I did some research ahead of time, I asked a bunch of people how they thought my trial compared to my vision and what I should do to change it for the better and made a list of the suggestions to talk about with my stylist.

I also did my homework on makeup and what I could do for my skin in preparation. I found out about facial primer (who knew?) and that I should have Photo-Ready foundation. I went to the salon armed with this stuff and had her apply it to my satisfaction...while having all my BMs there to make sure I didn't look orange, cakey, etc. Then I let her go nuts with my eyes, I wanted them to pop!!

I also took a leap the day of and asked her to change my hair...which also worried me because we hadn't practiced the new look and what if I hated it more?

As it turned out, the stylist made my hair look almost exactly like my vision...I was never sure why she didn't just do it in the first place, but the point is things can be changed for you! And my skin looked flawless, it's never looked as good as it did on my wedding day! Not only that, but my makeup lasted all day and into the night with only minor touch-ups needed!

I am SO pleased with how my look turned out, it's something I will have to remember forever in pictures and I would have been devastated if I couldn't look back and love it. 

I encougrage every bride not happy with their look to reevaluate and figure out what you don't like, then speak out!! It's so worth it and you deserve it!

My vision:

My before and after: (note that the before is the first trial, WITH makeup!)

**All pictures were taken by Rachel Miller of Big River Studios, Dubuque, IA. They are copyright released, but please give credit if you use anywhere!!**

Love the 3 generations pictures...

**All pictures were taken by Rachel Miller of Big River Studios, Dubuque, IA. They are copyright released, but please give credit if you use anywhere!!**

I love these shots of DH's face as he watches me walk down the aisle!

Ceremony of Sand and Roses

Exchanging rings...

You may kiss the bride!!!

The entire wedding party:

I've said it before and I"ll say it again - my photographer ROCKED!! She captured all these little things for us, and it helps remind me how special and beautiful our day really was to us.

**All pictures were taken by Rachel Miller of Big River Studios, Dubuque, IA. They are copyright released, but please give credit if you use anywhere!!**

The Bridal Party entrance:

  Ushers and FG

  The Parents

  BM and GM

  BM and GM/MOH 

 The Toasts:

We are so lucky to have such great, caring, people in our family. My MOH is also my cousin and my best friend, no one could have captured what that day meant to me in such a way as she. It was funny, poignant and simply amazing! DH's best man was his brother, who is normally such a shy person that I was curious to see what his speak would be like. It was short and to the point, and awesome! I felt so loved hearing these people speak for, to and about us.

Cake Cutting:

Not many people got to see us cut the cake because the DJ really wasn't on top of things...but that's a rant for a different section! We got some awesome pictures, the cake looked and tasted great and that's all that matters!

The First Dance!    

 Father-Daughter Dance: This was especially personal for me because my Dad and I share a great love of music, and we danced to a song that he first played for me when I was very little and I fell in love with way back then. We have video of me when I was no more than 3 or 4 being held by my Dad, and we are dancing and singing to John Mellencamp's 'Cherrybomb"...so that is the song we chose as our first dance!! It's very unconventional, but so are we! We are definitely not the "Butterfly Kisses" type, so this was perfect in so many ways!!

 Mother-Son (she wouldn't let us take too many pictures, they are not the dancing type and were really uncomfortable!)

SOMEONE refused to take the garter off with his teeth, so I had to show him the surprise I had for him!!! The JD garter :)

                                       &nbs p;       

{I'm so glad we splurged and rented the B&B for the weekend! That way each girl had her own room, and we all converged in my suite to get me ready, and then all we had to do was walk downstairs and out the door to the ceremony site!!}

Friday morning - setting up at the reception site:

This was sooo cute! My dad, DH's dad, DH's grandpa and DH's brother all helping us with the centerpieces. They were taking the beads out of the little bags and putting them in the goblets to be filled with water :)

Saturday Morning:

Myself, the BMs, my personal attendant and the FG all went to have our hair done. I had rented the salon so it was just our party there, they served us Mimosas and fruit/bagels...it was grea way to start the morning!!

  My adorable MOH on the right :)

The dress had to go over my head, it took 8 people to maneuver but not one hair was out of place!! My "team" rocks!!

 All Set!!

 My little brother seeing me for the first time, he actually called me 'beautiful' which is not something he would normally say!! Great moment!

 Ready and Waiting!

 I love this one of DH seeing me for the first time!

 The look on my face in the above picture is because they started singing "Happy Birthday" right then..see my recap if you haven't heard that story!

 And DH hadn't even had anything to drink yet!

Last song of the night - dancing with my brother...one of my favorite memories of the day!!

Here's my inspiration for my hair, and it came out similar. I really love, love, love how she did my hair, but I'm thinking for the big day I may have her try to get it big closer to this picture. She just did a mess of pinned curls in the back, I think I want the elegance of how they hang down on the bride in the picture.

***If you have any suggestions for how to accomplish this, I'm all ears!!!***

Actual Trial:

The Make-up...

I asked for a more natural look, but I think what the MUA did hardly covers anything. I guess I meant don't make me look like a clown, no over the top lipstick or anything. So we need to work on the coverage for the foundation...and I'm thinking vamp up the eyes a bit? I want to make my eyes pop!!

  This is about an hour after I got home, already my face looks shiny and gross. Definitely need to solve this problem!

I looooove this picture of us! It perfectly captures the excitment and happiness we felt right before our big wedding weekend.

Note - having this piece of paper does not mean you will have the actual marriage license at your ceremony. Of all things, I FORGOT to pick up our license from the court house. It was last on my list of things to do on Friday afternoon. I had a few errands to run - picking up the license was one of them - before I headed to the B&B to get ready for the rehearsal dinner that night. I didn't remember until we started the actual rehearsal, but thank goodness our officiant was calm and cool, she said immediately no worries. We just had to get it to her within so many days, so we went the following Monday with two witnesses and got it taken care of!

I am a music aficionado - I don't play but I appreciate...so getting all the music for the wedding right was something I worked very hard on! This was probably one of the most difficult parts of the wedding planning process for me.

Ceremony Music

We had an acoustic guitarist and a keyboardist, they played a mix of classical and contemporary as the guests were getting seated, I didn’t specify particular songs at this point.

Bridal Party Processional: “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” – Elton John

Bride’s Entrance: “The Prince of Denmark’s March” – Jeremiah Clarke

Solo: “When You Say Nothing at All” – Allison Krauss

Recessional: Immediately after we were introduced as husband and wife, the musicians broke into “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”. But we walked back down the aisle to “Listen to the Music” by the Doobie Brothers…a family favorite!!

Reception Music

Bridal Party entrance: “Tonight’s Gonna be a Good Night” – Black Eyed Peas

1^st Dance: “You’re the Inspiration” – Chicago

Father-Daughter Dance: “CherryBomb”- John Mellencamp

            *Story behind this choice: We have video of my dad and I dancing to this song when I was no more than 2 or 3. He’s holding me and I am saying “dance cheek-to-cheek, Daddy!” This was also the first song I ever learned to sing J

Mother-Son Dance: “Through the Years” – Kenny Rogers

Cake Cutting: “Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch” – Four Tops

Bridal Party Group dance: “Thriller”

            *We started dancing as a group, then the DJ stopped the music and we all had to grab another guest sitting down to dance with. After a bit the DJ stopped the music again, and everyone on the dance floor had to grab someone else…it was a great way to get everyone up dancing!

Some “Must Plays”

We requested lots of classic rock, especially Doobie Brothers!

"Buffalo Soldier" - Buffalo Soldier (request from father of the bride)

 "Pour Some Sugar on Me" - Def Leppard

 "Time Warp" - Rocky Horror Picture Show

 "Walkin on Sunshine" - Katrina and the Waves

 "Come Fly With Me" - Sinatra

 "The Way You Look Tonight" - Sinatra

 "I Get a Kick out of You" - Sinatra

 "Brown Eyed Girl" - Van Morrison

 "I Can Love You Like That" - John Michael Montgomery

 "She's Everything" - Brad Paisley

 "Sweet Caroline" - Neil Diamond

 "Hey Ya!" - Outkast

 "Don't Stop the Music" - Rhianna

 "S&M" - Rhianna

 "Grease Mix" - Grease Soundtrack

 "Footloose" - Footloose Soundtrack

 "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" - Big&Rich

 "Take It Off" - Ke$ha

 "Thriller" - Michael Jackson

 "Ice, Ice, Baby" - Vanilla Ice

On the “Do Not Play” list

What a Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong

  "Macarena" - Los Del Rios

  "My Humps" - Black Eyed Peas

  "Gold Digger" - Kanye West

 “Photograph” – Nickelback

 “Love Shack” – B-52s

This was THE hardest thing for me to plan! I had no clue how to accessorize my dress, which 'rules' to follow and not (like what type of necklace to wear with certain necklines). It was a nightmare and one of my biggest stressors because no one I talked to about it could understand my frustration!

Etsy became my absolute best friend in the whole world for this :)

I'm very happy with how it all turned out.

My bracelet

My pride and joy, I fell in love with it and it ended up being a present from my mommy!

My earrings

To match the braclet...I was finally tying it all together :)

The necklace

I was very unsure about a necklace and never did find one I really liked. My mom loves to hunt through antique stores for interesting jewelry and has a huge stockpile. She brought over a few boxes of things I might like, and I was actually planning to go without a necklace but threw this one in my Bride bag at the last minute! I took it out when we were all getting ready, just to see what everyone thought. They all agreed I should wear it and I'm very glad I did! It really matched the vintage-y theme that seemed to flow through our wedding.

My headband

Another Etsy find. I was really on the fence about a veil, and when I found this I knew this look was for me!

My 'other' ring

It's kind of hard to see in this picture, I never got a close up. The big blue stone on my other hand was one of my 'something blues'. My aunt surprised me with it at the rehearsal dinner, it turned out to belong to my other aunt who passed away when she was 19. I was named after her and everyone says I look just like her. I cried when she gave it to me!!

My Shoes

 My ceremony shoes. I got these for a whole DOLLAR on ebay! Apparently a shoe store had a few of these in stock for quite awhile and they were starting to discolor on the heel. I figured for $1 if they looked horrible I could find something else...but you couldn't tell! I wouldn't have know if I hadn't been told.

 My reception shoes. Custom made by an Etsy seller, I wanted them to match the BM dresses! They were super comfy, but we forgot to get an actual pic of me wearing them :(

My garter

A surprise for my John Deere loving hubby! (He collects actual antique tractors). The idea was for him to see it as he pulled it off for the garter toss, but my shy guy decided last minute he didn't want to do it. So I gave him a quick sneek peak at the reception :P

I had no clue what I wanted my reception hall to look like for the longest time. I was definitely on a budget, and there wasn't anything that really jumped out at me...so I was happy to find a woman in the area who specialized in reception centerpieces, and she provided a table with linens and all sorts of decoration and glassware for me to experiment with! This is what I came up with, it's not based on anything in particular:

Here is how it looked on the actual night:

I pretty much let these candles do the talking, we didn't have much other decor except a gauzy curtain with white lights behind it that was the backdrop for the head table.

My cake table was very simple as well. We had purchased an extra 3 yards of the BM dress material for the FG sash, so my mom took the extra and layed that out, then sprinkled some colored stones around. It was kind of done last minute on a whim, I liked it!

Overall, I didn't stress too much about this part because I really couldn't, being on such a tight  budget. But I think less was more in this case!

~Most of my vendors are not on PW, so this will have to do until they approve~

Venue: Four Mounds Inn and Conference Center - Dubuque, IA.  Book with Caution

First of all let me say that this is the most absolutely beautiful spot for a wedding in the Tri-State area! If you like vintage, classic charm...this house is beyond perfect. The house and grounds are immaculate, the staff is pleasant and the actual ceremony location is outside the ivy-covered mansion overlooking the Mississippi. We honestly couldn't have asked for a better setting, especially because with the whole house rental the entire BP can stay together but have their own rooms, and there is another house right on the grounds for out of town family, which has 4 additional rooms and a kitchen...also beautiful!

That said, we were LESS than pleased with the events that occurred during our ceremony and the way the management handled it after. So you can fully understand the issue - the Inn rents by the room or a full-house rental. You must rent the full house to have the wedding there, which was good for us anyway. We paid $2000 to rent the 14-room house, which included the staff cooking a full breakfast for us the morning of the wedding. My family rented the entire 2nd house on the grounds, $100 per room per night. Plus, we had to pay a $200 event fee to hold the wedding outdoors.

That is all well and fine....except they forgot to tell us that they also rent space on the grounds for one of those Outdoor Adventure ropes courses. It can kind of be seen through the trees but it's not right up next to the house and we didn't give it a second thought. Imagine our surprise when about 100 kids began streaming across the grounds the morning of the wedding. We found out it was a group booked to use the ropes course. We called the manager at the Inn, who does not stay on site on weekends when there is an event, she said the guy that runs the course knows he is not to book events when a wedding is going on, she said she would take care of it. We also checked with the people in charge of the kids, they said they would 'disappear into the trees'. No problem.

Except there were a few BIG problems - people with this ropes party were driving up through the area all day, and since parking is VERY limited here, there was no place for them to go. We had plans to direct wedding traffic and guests were instructed ahead of time, because the road up and down is a very narrow, ONE way trail. Having all the extra traffic complicated things quite a bit. And then the SINGING...our wedding vows were interupted by an extremely loud chorus of "Happy Birthday". The people on the ropes course had been heard yelling and screaming all day - they were told to be quiet and they said they would. The manager of the Inn was also supposedly taking care of this.

Finally, it seems shady to me that when I handed the manager a check for the remaining balance, the amount showed on the last invoice we recieved - she said we were short over $100 because the government raised taxes back in April. She said there was nothing she could do about it - but every other vendor I have worked with has you book early to lock in the rates, even if prices raise later. We had booked over a year earlier and were never made aware of any tax hikes. I thought a business had to eat those kinds of costs...maybe I'm wrong.

After all of that, DH and I asked for our $200 event fee back. We felt that the singing that is in our wedding video, the overbooking, the unnannounced added costs, etc. merited it. The manager sent us to the Foundation Director, who waited two weeks to answer my email. (No phone number was given). She stated that I was already given a discounted rate and so she would not refund my money. DH and I paid the amount listed in the brochure - nowhere did it say this was a Discount rate. I pointed this out, to no avail. After a few back and forth emails and threats from me to take the matter to the BBB, the manager sent me a voucher (good only for 1 year) for a one night stay in one room.

Overall - Book with Caution. I strongly advise anyone considering the Four Mounds as a location to double-check that they won't be double-booked with the ropes course. And make sure you get a signed guarantee that the price you are being charged is the final price. We had a contract but apparently that doesn't matter. The site is absolutely gorgeous but you don't want your memories tainted like ours will be.

Reception site/Caterer: The Palace Ballroom - Farley, IA.  Fantastic food and room for all!

I have had soooo many compliments on the food we had at the reception, and it was all thanks to Joyce at The Palace! They do catering and so prepare the food from scratch right there in the kitchen at the Palace. They have a large menu but will make anything you request. We had roast ham and chicken alfredo, with potatoes au gratin, buttered vegetables, caesar salad and dinner rolls. Yum!! It's served buffet style but for an extra charge they will serve everyone or just the head and family tables. **Make sure you are very specific about what you want - we wanted the family tables served in addition to the head table with the BP, and somehow they weren't aware of this and didn't have things ready to go...however they recovered nicely and there really wasn't a delay. They also didn't wait for our cakecutter to come around, they just cut the cake without asking us and served it, we didn't realize that and ended up getting charged. Not a huge deal but definitely make sure you are clear about all the minor details.**

The Palace holds 900 people, so it's plenty big enough for any size wedding! They have an assortment of round and banquet tables and you are able to set it up and decorate however you wish. They are very flexible about when you come in to do this and have a whole selection of things you can use - extra lights, arches, candle holders, etc. It's nice so that if you forgot something with the centerpieces/decor or if you need to change something last minute they are prepared right there. Joyce will go over your ideas for the floorplan ahead of time and they will set up everything as much as they can for you in advance, and will have all the candles lit and ready to go. They have a nice dance floor, a raised platform for the DJ and a fully stocked and tended bar. 

DJ: T's & J's Productions - Dubuque, IA.  Unprofessional, wouldn't recommend

I booked T's & J's quite a bit after the rest of my vendors because my original DJ went out of business unexpectedly. T's had a good reputation and have been around for a long time, and they were really pleasant to speak with. I actually ran into them later at a bridal show and they were offering my package for $100 cheaper than I had paid, when I mentioned it they reduced my price on the spot!

But...they were very hard to get a hold of throughout the planning process, they never answered their phone and when they did call me back it was always after 9 at night on a weekday! We met one time to go through our "must play" lists, etc. and we were very clear about the songs we wanted for certain things and the the Do-Not plays. However, a few days before the wedding they called to tell us that the DJ we had met with couldn't make it and they were sending someone else, and to make the check out directly to this person.

It turns out they must have overbooked and subcontracted out to a completely different DJ service WITHOUT telling us - and didn't tell the new DJ until right before the wedding. He came with only half of our information and didn't have enough time to get hardly any of our Must-Plays. I had requested mostly Classic Rock to be played that night because that is what our families like and he didn't play hardly ANY. It was mostly pop music which no one really danced to. So much for their motto of "We Like to Party - How About You?"

The new guy (I'm not giving his name because I don't feel this was entirely his fault) couldn't pronounce our names right during the Intro, and he rushed through everything. We had literally just finished walking around to all the tables when he started the first dance, which caught us off guard. And before we could catch our breath he was right into the Father/Daughter, Mother/Son, and we no sooner were done with that than he started playing the cake cutting song but didn't announce it!! So we had to rush over to cut the cake but didn't realize that no one was watching because he didn't announce it. I found out later that only a few people saw us cutting the cake and got pictures.

We never got an explanation from T's & J's even though I've called a few times. Overall everyone had a good time so I'm not making a big deal of this, but I would never recommend these people.

Cake: 1st Avenue Bakery - Dyersville, IA. Delicious, Highly Recommend!!

OMG Yum is all we can say! These cakes are the most absolutely amazing thing you'll ever have in your mouth!! And she is very reasonable, considering how good they are and how she can pull off any kind of design you can imagine. All I had to do was drop off a picture of my idea along with my color-scheme and any extras I wanted - ribbon, flowers, etc. The designer is brilliant and will work to make sure you get exactly what you want. I double-recommend the Spice cake!

Photographer: Big River Studios - Dubuque, IA. Highly Recommend!!

Rachel is fantastic!! She answered all my questions promptly both before and after I booked her, and she was very open and friendly about getting my vision down correctly and making changes as time went by and my plans were altered. 
She took all of my suggestions for 'must-have' shots and added a ton of creative and beautiful ideas of her own and everyone commented the day of the wedding on how great she was! She was everywhere that day, I don't think there was a single thing that was not photographed! She brought an assistant for the ceremony and pictures after, so that with 2 cameras working so many more angles and important moments were captured.
She was always pleasant and friendly, and when it appeared that she had finished all the shots we truly wanted at the reception, rather than wait out the time taking a bunch of random pictures of guests she asked us if we wanted her to stay and do that or if she should leave 30 minutes early and save us $100! I doubt too many people would offer that up front even though it makes perfect sense. She is one of the more reasonably priced photographers in the area, offering many different packages or the by the hour rate which we did, and we get 3 disks full of edited, copy-right free images to do with as we please. I highly recommend!!

Limosuine Service: Stratton Charters - Cuba City, WI. Recommend

I found Stratton Charters to be extremely reasonably priced. By the time we decided we wanted a limo to take us from the ceremony to the reception (DH wasn't sure it was necessary!) all the limo services in the Dubuque area were booked for 9-10-11. I was worried that a service coming from 25 minutes away would charge us quite a bit to then drive another 25 minutes in the opposite direction - but they didn't care at all! I think we paid $180 for 3 hours, mileage didn't matter. And the 3 hours started when they arrived to pick us up, so we had plenty of time to drive around and get pictures, etc. This was a 10-passenger car. They told us their rule of thumb was "8 adults comfortably, 10 teenagers" but the 10 of us in the BP fit just fine. The limo was beautiful - spotless inside and out, and very comfortable. The driver was professional and courteous and arrived well ahead of time. 

Centerpiece/Decor Rental: Elegant Occasions - Dubuque, IA. Stay Away From This Nutcase

DH and I are pretty easy-going people, not much riles us. But the lady running Elegant Occasions about drove both of us up a tree, along with MOH, who only met her twice!! I was calling her 'the Wackadoodle' by the time it was all over with. When we first met for a consultation I loved the pieces she had, I hadn't found glassware like what she offered anywhere else, which is why we booked her. I did think her a little odd, but friendly and she jumped right in with ideas. She had several tables set up that you could place linens and centerpiece stuff on to really visualize what you wanted. 

We booked very far out since the date was so popular. We couldn't do much after getting her our idea and the depost, until we had a firm headcount. As soon as that came in I emailed her the number so she could order the table runners...and never heard back. I then called her, no one answered. I started calling more frequently and finally got through...she didn't know what I was talking about. I finally got her to remember (luckily she had our deposit and notes on what we wanted) and she said she still needed a headcount, she had never received my email. I told her I was resending it while we were on the phone...she said that was perfect and she would review the info and get back to me after the weekend. She never got back to me...I had to track her down and she said she never got the email, but after looking - oh wait, she did have it! This kind of stuff happened a lot throughout the planning process. She charges extra to set up the centerpieces herself, so my Mom, MOH and MIL decided we could do it. We made arrangements to pick everything up at a certain time, which Wackadoodle specified because the time I wanted she wasn't available. We show up, the Thursday before the wedding (decorating Friday morning) and she wasn't there. The door was open but no one was around. We called, we knocked, we walked around the building...eventually she came to the door, she had been napping in the back! She didn't have anything ready, she thought we were coming the next day even though SHE picked the time to do this. I was freaked - the day before we are suppose to set up and all my reception decor wasn't ready?! She promised to have everything delivered to the reception site but obviously that didn't make me feel any better since she had such a stellar track record of keeping her end of the deal. We didn't have a choice because she refused to get it ready while we waited, so I spent a lovely night before the RD sweating it out. She finally showed up with all the decorations the next day - LATE - and didn't stick around to help us set up. Two of the glasses came to us broken and she included almost double of what we needed, although that's better than the other way around. (The woman that handles the reception hall said this wasn't the first time she had had trouble with the Wackadoodle). When it was all said and done, she was suppose to inventory the materials we returned and get our deposit back within 2 weeks...it was over a month before I got the check and that was after I had called and emailed several times. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!!!

**I wore Alfred Angelo 2083. She had a semi-cathedral train, and was net with sequins over satin. Here's my little secret -I bought her as is off the rack! No ordering, no sizing, I walked out of the shop and straight down the aisle!!**

I originally had my heart set on another, much different, gown. Alfred Angelo 2020.

  However, we had to drive 3 hours away to find the closest store that had a sample to try on, (or pay $80 to order a sample, and if I didn't like it, oh well!) so my mom and MOH and I did a road-trip. I tried on the dress, loved it, but took my family's advice about not buying the first dress you try on! So I looked at a few others, and the detail on the bodice of my gown is what caught my eye. It was all folded and bagged up, so  I had no idea of the silohouette until I tried her on. I came out of the dressing room and my mom and MOH's faces were shocked. First I thought 'uh-oh...how bad is it?!' Then they started raving about it...my mom called it the 'Va-Va Voom dress' LOL!

But still...it was only the 3rd or 4th gown I tried on, so we called it a day at that shop and vowed to keep looking. A few weeks later I had a day off and was home visiting, so MOH and I went to our local bridal store that has been around for ages. I hadn't even thought to look there. Wouldn't you know it - they had Miss Va Va Voom on the rack, she had just come in the day before and no one had even tried her on! It was my size, and fit like a glove! Plus, she was $100 cheaper than the other store, and because I bought her off the rack, I got a 15% discount. I hadn't planned on buying a dress that day, but MOH just looked at me like I was crazy and said, 'it's fate - you HAVE to get this dress!'.

So I did :)

And I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, too!

I wouldn't have even entertained the notion of DIYing anything for my wedding before I found PW!! I have ZERO crafty abilities, I'm not kidding when I say I have issues with stick people :)

But I've seen sooo many lovely things on here, I decided to give it a try. I tackled invites first, and while I was completely overwhelmed when I got started, they turned out way better than I could have hoped, and that has given me courage to try a few more things....

My inspiration and actual invites!

I found what seemed to be an easy tutorial to make wrap-labels. Here is the inspiration:

Whooo...it wasn't as easy as I thought! I was determined, and luckily I had a lot of time on my hand at that point! After a lot of trial and error, I came up with these that I fit 8 to a page in Microsoft Word. We printed them on 8 1/2 x 11 label paper.

My next project will be the favors. I struggled for a long time to find something unique that wouldn't break the bank, and I finally settled on cookie cutters!

my inspiration

ACTUAL...I'm so incredibly pleased and proud of these!  :)

Finally, my mom and I are going to tackle pomanders for the aisle. I had first thought to do regular flower balls, but that is just going to be too much money, either to have someone make or to do ourselves. Then I found an article on tissue pomanders!

Here's the inspiration, also from PW! Bride Marinag :)

We are going to do some in green and some in pink!

Hopefully the aisle will look something like this:

ACTUAL:

I loooove how these turned out, my Mom did an awesome job!! We ended up using a Martha Stewart design I found on line, Google Tissue Paper Poms by Martha if you want the directions!

So I had never heard of such a thing as inviting the President or Mickey and Minnie...yet another 1st from PW!

I sent out an invite to the Obama's (DH's response when he was double-checking all the envelopes before we mailed them was great: "Um...you invited the Obamas? Ok.")

In all the pre-wedding craziness, I forgot all about doing so until I got THE card in the mail! So excited to join the club!

It was important to us that the gifts to our bridal party and family were kind of special and unique. His guys in particular are so not the traditional beer stein or money clip sort!

For the guys we ended up going with leaather coolers that look like lunch bags. They are insulated and can be used as a manly lunch sack, or there is a removal holder for a six pack! We had them mongrammed with each guys initials and Jake filled each one with the specific guys' favorite beverage :)

It took me a long time to find something suitable for my girls. I ended up getting them cute little tote bags with each of their names, and inside I put a little silver jewelry box that had their name engraved on it, and inside that I put the necklace I wanted each of them to wear! I waited until the store on theKnot.com had a huge sale, and then I got the bags and the boxes pretty cheaply! I recommend!

I got my FG the same type of tote, but it was smaller and had a little bear inside that said "Flower Girl!" and a little fingernail polish set.

The ushers were only 11 and 13, we were really unsure what to get them and so settled on Itunes gift cards because that is what they are really into right now. They loved them!

Our parents refused gifts. They put their foot down and said they wanted to help us, their contributions to the wedding were their gift to US, and it didn't make any sense for us to spend $$ on them. We were touched, but we ignored them and got them a little something anyway! MIL got a cute little kitchen utensil holder in the shape of the bear figurines she collects, and my parents each got a bottle of their favorite wine :)

Here are the pictures I found throughout the wedding planning process that ended up really inspiring me! I've included how the actual item turned out so you can see the process! (There are a few more in the DIY section!)

The Cake

The STDs:

The Flowers:

 and 

mine: 

Aisle decor:

The FG dress:

 Actual:

    If you can see the cute little bow MIL made out of extra BM dress material!

Since we have had almost a 3 year engagement, I didn't get overly excited about planning the wedding for a long time. Sure, as soon as he asked me I started checking out wedding dresses, but that quickly faded. Everything was just too much money, and it was too far away to start thinking. HA....

 (my inital inspiration board, in 2009)

We decided on Labor Day weekend 2011, this was back in December of 2009 when we finally picked a date. I started calling a few places to get some ideas for the budget, and we quickly discovered that nearly EVERYTHING we wanted for that weekend was booked!! We were floored. It was a quick initiation into the crazy world for wedding planning, that's for sure!

With the chilling thought that we were way behind on everything, I quickly jumped into action. We had to push the date back a week and ended up on 9-10-11, which we thought was pretty funny. Within a week I had the ceremony and reception site, photographer and DJ booked. Not long after that we decided on a cake person and the bridal party. Whew! That meant we had almost two years to really work out the details and take our time putting it all together. Once that initial burst was over, we really weren't that excited. There was just so much we couldn't do that far out. And since we are financially taking care of almost everything ourselves, we really had to be budget conscious. Having the time to really decide what was important to us has been a huge help. (Sure, I really want the wrought-iron garden chairs at the ceremony, but black is $2 cheaper a chair and they will be just fine!)

  (We are getting married outside this gorgeous B&B we booked for the weekend, on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi)

Flash forward to 3 months before the big day, and I'm finding a TON of stuff I want/need to do, and I'm really starting to love it! I credit PW entirely with giving me the courage and the inspiration to DIY a lot of stuff and go for ideas I may never have thought of otherwise! (Pomanders, blingy shoes and DIY invitations just to name a few!)

My favorite color is limegreen, anyone who knows me quickly realizes this! So naturally my wedding will have green incorporated.

I am having my BMs in apple green dresses with stargazer lillies and dark pink roses, and that theme will be carried throughout. Even though the wedding is in the fall, I don't care for fall colors so I'm doing what I want. Pink and green it is!

I so do NOT have an eye for decorating or accessories or anything that would come in handy when putting a wedding together, but I'm trying :) Our cake is going to the same shade of apple with pink ribbon and accents in the flowers the BMs will carry.

   (The FG dress, and the BM dress in a different color)

 (inspiration for the cake)   (My dress!)

 (Original inspriation for my bouquet, I knew I wanted to add some pink accents.)

Actual bouquets!!!

Overall, I'm not sure what you would call our wedding style. Jake is very laid back and keeps telling me that I should do what I want and he knows that whatever I come up with will be great. I see all these pictures of elegant tablescapes and cute candy bars, ice sculptures and rose petal aisles and I admire those girls so much!! As much as I love so many of the ideas I see here on PW, I will never be able to pull it off! Either I just don't have the DIY chops or it's way out of my price range, but I'm slowly pulling together a simple, cute wedding that incorporates a few of my visions, and we are doing it all for right about $8K. Not bad for a non-creative gal on a budget!!