I digress...

So, you hear about brides who suddenly need to get a bigger-size wedding dress due to the impending arrival of a certain new family member. Well, we're not getting that sort of bundle of joy. However, Adam and I did recently find our family situation a little small for our liking. You'd think that our combined personalities plus 2 overly-social (read: needy) cats would be enough for one household. But...no. You see, I have spent my life with a big shaggy friend nearby at all times. In fact, I don't remember a time growing up when I didn't have a drooling walking buddy.

At this time in life most people my age are starting to feel the peer pressure to settle down and get married. Not me. Well, yes, I am getting married, but I'm still on the front-end of the trend among people I know. My real weakness? Puppies. Various friends at law school are made so much happier by their furry friend, my friend Katie tells me that it's the best stress-buster she could come up with, and then....my brother got an adorable golden retriever last summer. With all this happening around me, I had no chance to resist.

That's right, folks, Adam and I are getting a dog!!! Due to allergy issues as well as this being Adam's first attempt at canine ownership, I decided on finding a breeder for a goldendoodle. Half adorable, sweet, loyal golden retriever; half allergy-free, intelligent poodle. After much research (and simultaneous avoidance of law school homework - excellent), I found the Red Cedar Farms GoldenDoodle breeder in Hutchinson, Minnesota. They happen to have had a litter of puppies born this month (April) of dark golden colored doodles. So, I contacted Dede at Red Cedar Farms and chatted with her. This resulted in my future ownership of this precious little creature:

I mean, how cute is he? We've decided to name him Gatsby. The name has a little Minnesota to it (F. Scott Fitzgerald lived here), it's based on a great book, and it's a damn cute name! Plus it ends in a vowel, which is supposed to be easier for a dog to learn.

We will be receiving this little bundle of joy May 8, just in time to distract me during my summer of bar-studying-horror. But what to do in the meantime?? We have bought all sorts of interesting books on raising a good puppy. I won't bore you with the titles, but it's actually really fun and interesting.

Although I won't need a newly sized wedding dress (well, who knows after my gelato-binge from last night), I will need to purchase some sort of adorable puppy-sized bow tie for our little bundle of fluff come wedding time. :)

Love,

Em

CAKE

Cake tasting...success! Now, I don't want to give away too many details about this fabulous cake we'll be having on the wedding day, but it is seriously the thing I am currently most excited about! Our cake baker is Gateaux, Inc. She's a small wedding cake baker in Plymouth, MN. Her cakes are works of art. (seriously, check her out: http://www.gateaux-inc.com/). She only bakes two wedding cakes per week and they're truly a labor of love. Also, she's currently featured on a wedding cake show on the WE network. Yeah, she's kind of a big deal. :)

We knew from the beginning that Adam and I are not your typical classic cake couple. As beautiful and delicious as those four tier, white, lacy creations look, we knew we wanted something more artsy. The food is probably the most important aspect of the wedding for Adam and also Mother of the Bride, so the cake had to be a big deal. But most importantly? The thing has to actually taste good!

Enter Robin from Gateaux. As soon as I walked in the door, I was in love with this woman. Not only is she fabulously creative, but she gets just as giddy when she's excited as I do. Five minutes into the meeting we were both actually bopping in our seats with excitement. See, her favorite cakes are those ones she gets to go a little nuts with. This woman and I were like soul sisters. She gets me. We wanted a cake that goes with our theme (lakes of Minnesota) without being overly literal or kitchy. She designed the most wonderful piece of art. It has color, asymmetry, shape, and is just going to be beautiful. I won't give any more details away because I'm hoping to wow all you guests with this labor of love...But it's so hard to keep this exciting thing a secret!

Now, to the cake tasting: Gateaux does this perfectly. One Friday afternoon, you waltz into the bakery and pick up a giant box. In that box are seven cake flavors that you get to take home to try. Adam and I decided to make a party of it. We invited my parents, his parents, Lauren, and Joe to get together, eat dinner (a super light dinner mind you), and try flavor after flavor. While I won't tell you the winners, I will say that we could not go wrong. By the end, everyone was practically fighting over the last pieces of cake. So delicious! So, ladies and gentlemen, rest easy: under that work of art you'll be seeing on Aug. 13 will be a whole lot of tasty!

Hope you all don't mind the hasty, scattered post. I think it reflects my excitement about this delicious dessert!

Love,

Em

Centerpieces!

So I'm beginning to get excited about wedding design! And the most obvious bit of design that comes to mind is the centerpiece. It's what stands out to me most in those crazy "platinum wedding" shows. Well, generally you don't really have an option when watching those tv shows as the centerpieces are often six feet tall, complete with trees, crystals, flowers, candles, the list goes on forever. Apparently the thing to do when you have a $100k budget is to design towering centerpieces that block you guests, and can even blind them if the light shines off them in a certain way. Yikes! And they all look so fragile that one tipsy bump to the table could create a disaster. So, that idea's out. And, as cute as those vases full of lemon/lime slices are, they're just not quite me.

Here's what has been running through my brain: water, vases, candles, stones, and blooms. Sound like a lot going on? Well, if you know me you're probably not too surprised. :). Somehow, however, I would like to insert some sort of scheme to this mess. SO! What I've found myself drawn to are tables w/ tall vases filled with water and floating flowers over stones, with other blooms and/or candles on top, surrounding by votive candles.

Insert Emily's Inspiration Board:

I love the look of floating orchids with candles on top, surrounded by votives. I think the votives next to the vases makes the water and flowers light up beautifully. Or maybe we could do a tall vase filed with orchids, and a smaller vase or two next to it with tea roses, surrounded by votives. So many options for pretty flowers and candlelight! The water effect is important to me because our wedding is themed around the element of water - the lakes of Minnesota. I just want it to seem candlelit and romantic!! Oh boy.

That Damn Kelsey Banyan...

In my mailbox (snail mail that is), I received the cutest little postcard the other day (week). Immaculately done, artistic, abstract, romantic. Kelsey and Dave's Save the Date card! And then I thought to myself...oh crap. How is it that she is so very on top of things, so much so that she sends out these cards before me when she's getting married a month afterwards???

So, naturally, wedding nightmares ensued and a frenzy of active inactivity. That's right. Did I get off my butt to suddenly throw together an immaculate card of my own? No. First, I was on winter break. What does winter break mean for the average law student, you may wonder. Basically, it means a decompression bubble where they tend to ignore the outside world and essentially everything outside of crappy tv and trashy magazines. My second excuse, which may be more relevant, is that I am not in any way as organized as Ms. Banyan. Third, the oft-mentioned lack of aesthetic sense I possess in spades.

Well, the time has come to finally get over myself and get out that first-wedding-impression to all our lovely friends and family. About all I know right now is that I want it to be creative. As much as I love those little photo-booth shots, I fear that my friends may not attend my wedding based on receiving yet another one of these cards. Martha Stewart suggests I send out a little envelope, where you open it and pull out this immaculately crafted ribbon with the dates attached.

Although Martha's idea is beautiful and simple, it (a) seems pretty complicated for this craft-simple bride and (b) just doesn't quite seem to be "us" (whatever that means).

So, naturally, I googled "creative save the dates" and came up with some things I really like!

This one I love because it could totally go with our "lakes of MN" theme we have going. We could use a "Lakeshore Weekly" newspaper and feature MN all over it, as well as a fun picture of us. Maybe have a winter lake in the background with a fun sunny photo. Seems very fun, and it's got that little bit of humor I really like.

This one is great because it goes with one of my favorite pictures from our engagement photos, where we have our chucks shoes tied together (tying the knot, get it?!). See the following image and insert "awwww."

So maybe that would work for us.

This one I also love, but it may require creativity a bit beyond my level.

I would love to come up with something cute like "no, you can't bring your x-box to the wedding." Or, alternatively, he could be commenting on the fact that I want to wear an entirely pink wedding dress...

Ok, I guess I have a few inspiration ideas. What I now need is a little perspective. What do you all think?

Love,

Em

Bridesmaid Dress - Success!!

I apologize, friends and fam, for my absence from wedding blogging. First there were finals and then the holidays...well I got busy. But Adam and I have been busy (although not so much with the subject of today's blog). We have...bridesmaid dresses!

Ok, I'll admit it - they're pink and taffeta. Before you start harping about images like the following:

Despite the images that pink + taffeta draw to the mind (and despite my momentary panic about such dresses when I chose these), they're actually very pretty! I chose a watermelon pink - which translates to a middle of the road, flattering pink. And without it being a totally shiny, 80s style taffeta, the material looks great on everyone. Silk and chiffon, while cute, tended to shout "bridesmaid!" in letters a little too loudly for me. The taffeta looks, by contrast, like a cute cocktail dress. At the wedding, you may just find yourself wondering, "how did these gorgeous ladies happen to match one another?" Ok, maybe not.

They all do, however, get to choose their own style. I thought about posting pictures of the various dresses, but the websites do not at all get the actual color right. They turn a simple pink into a very loud fuchsia. So, I won't. The dress styles to choose from flatter all body types, and I think my lovely maids will be happy (or at least not horrified) but the selection.

So, hooray for dress success! More to follow (I promise!)