Photographers

So I've been told that one of the most important thing about your wedding is the photography. I believe that probably is the truth. After seeing many of my friends get hitched, I have found that your wedding day blurs by and before you are aware its over and you are exhausted, thinking "Whoo-wee, its over, but I don't remember much!" So, taking my dearest friend's experiences with their photographers, I am trying to figure out what I want in my pictures. I have found I like funky-artsy photography. Weird angles, lots of sky and focused on objects that you would not normally think of. I have fallen in love with this one photographer based out of Seattle (One Love Photo), but alas when I did more research she is REALLY expensive! But her style is so cool and different. So, I think who ever I end up with I will want them to replicate her style.

If you have any photographers you know of let me know! I'll keep searching in the mean time.

For now here is some eye candy of weddings I really enjoy! Courtesy of (One Love Photo)

Dresses, Dresses too Many Dresses

I began to look at dresses online and there are so many that it gets a little overwhelming! I have been thinking that I would like a dress that has straps of some sort.... most likely halter style. Here are a few that I have looked and have liked so far. What style do you like???

Scouting out our Potential Wedding Site

So, in a few weeks we are going to go scout out a potential wedding site. Earlier I wrote a post about the Kitsap Memorial State Park and we are still really interested in the site and we are goign to go check it out in the beginning of August. A girl I met during college through a friend just had her wedding there on Saturday. I saw her pictues and they were so pretty!

I am excited to check it out with my family and friends!

Here are some pics of the place.

Get Your Smore on

Matt and I really like the idea of having a campfire and hanging out around the fire. I thought these smore packets are super cute! I love smores and it reminds me of all of our camping trips we have taken together. We will have smores if we have a campfire! I am not sure if I'll make the smore makings look as cute as these, but we will have 'em at our wedding!

Cute Backdrop for Pictures

I really like the idea of having an area where people can take pictures while hanging out during the wedding. I've seen the mobile photo booths like they have at fairs, but I have found that renting those are EXTREMELY expensive! One great substitution for the photo booths is having a fabric as a backdrop and keeping a camera handy for photos. While I was looking at various blogs today I found this fabric that was really cute!! I probably wouldn't have a backdrop like this one but I thought it was too cute!

Pie, Pie, Pie

So, I think that we are contemplating about having pie as our "cake" for the wedding. Matt does not like cake too much and we both really like pie. We got our great inspiration from the Oram's and we really enjoyed all of the wonderful pies their family and friends brought to the wedding shindig.

Check It, Yo.

This rock centerpiece is really awesome! I love rocks. And it's even better when they are cool rocks stacked up all cool like. :)

Wedding Venues Numero Dos

Well, the more we think about how we vision our wedding the more simplistic it becomes. It almost seems backwards compaired to other people's wedding.. Usually you start out simplistic and it becomes some extravagant event!

We have been toying with the idea of making it a whole weekend event. This would include some form of camping...whether it be in a tent, camping trailer, or cool cabins, we want a weekend where we hang out with family, have really good bbq food, play tons of games, and enjoy the great outdoors with the people we love!

One of the places we have found was out on the Kitsap Pennisula. It is the Kitsap Memorial State Park – Log Hall. Its pretty freaking awesome! Its located out on the Puget Sound, has campsites and cabins! So it fits everyones comfort zones for camping! It has a huge awesome log hall and has grassy area to be able to have our picnic bbq and play yard games!

The best part about his park is it is CHEAP! It costs about $1,100 bucks to rent the hall, kitchen, and pavillion! Now thats what I'm talking about! :)

This is not our final decision, but we definately think a place like Kitsap Memorial State Park would be the ideal place to have our wedding. If you know any cool parks similar to this let me know!!

Scoping out some Wicked Wedding Venues

I have been obsessed lately with finding a wicked sweet place to have our wedding. I thought it would be fairly simple to find various places... but in actuality its alot harder than I thought. As you all know Matt and I love the outdoors and we all know Matt doesn't like "Your typical wedding" so that makes things a bit interesting when it comes to looking for a cerimony site.

The Scene:
A park ~ Preferably by some body of water whether it be a lake or the Puget Sound. We want a park so we can play games after the cerimony and after the traditonal foodies, toasts, wedding cake or in our case pies... and so on.
The Games ~ Bocce Ball, Frisbee, Flip-Flop, Croquet, maybe even Badminton??


Potential Sites of Question as of current date~

Kiana Lodge- Location: Poulsboish area
This place is pretty sweet. It is located right on the sound, has a grassy area, very beautiful photo opportunities, and you can have a beach fire!

Farm Kitchen- Location Poulsboish area again! Its just pretty there!
This place is pretty awesome too! I loved the idea of the farm and all of the cool plants and flowers growing there! The place seems cool but the first one is my numero uno choice. ;)

Semiahmoo Resort- Location: Just north of Bellingham (Blaine)
This place is just beautiful. I love walking along the beach here and its cool that you can see White Rock Canada from there! I just love the water and the Hotel itself is beautiful!

Lairmont Manor- Location: Fairhaven
I love Fairhaven and the area around it. I never knew of this place before searching for weddings. This place is very nice and it looks so vintage and cool. The pictures on the website are beautiful.

The Lovely Ladies!

So, I finally picked the 4 lovely ladies that will be by my side during my wedding. :)

~Maid of Honor~

Jami Shank

Jami has been my bestfriend since Kindergarten and has been there for everything. Jami is considered another sister in my family and I could not imagine not sharing this day with out her. Jami is a type of friend that will go out of her way to help you out and she has done that for me numerous times. I am so glad I have shared all of my important experiences with her and look forward to all of the future expriecnes to come. I just had the wonderful experience of being her Maid of Honor and now I am so excited Jami gets to share the special day with me!

~Bridesmaids~

Niki Galaktianoff

What can I say.? She is my little sis and I love her with all my heart! Niki makes me laugh and she brings life to a party. Her smile lights up a room and everyone loves her because she is always smiling and laughing about something! I can not wait for her to be up here in Washington causing some ruckus and sharing jokes and laughing like goofballs.

Lauren Galaktianoff

Again little sisters are irreplaceable. I also love Larry with all my heart! Lauren also makes me laugh and is always making everything fun and entertaining. Lauren's laugh and smile makes me happy inside and I am glad Lauren does not hate Niki and I for being crazy older sisters. I am so excited to share all my ideas with her and her being my buddy during this time!

Keleen Conway

It was in third grade in Mrs. Burr's class where I became friends with this girl. From that year on we have been BFFs. Keleen has always been the girl who is down to try silly things with me. From sleepovers to her house, to innertubing with our suicidal parents driving, to our latenight escapades we have been through many hilarious and embarrasing experiences. Keleen is a great friend that will always go out of her way to help her friends out and I am so glad I get so spend my special day with her!

Centerpieces!

Today I was inspired by other blogs. I looked at Jesse and Deanna's wedding blog and found that they decorated their tables with what I had in mind.
I absolutely love Dahlias! I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have Dahlias in my bouquets or centerpieces. I love how cute the funky glass bottles are as their centerpieces. After being inspired I went to Value Village and Goodwill and found some super cute and funky glass bottles! So, if you find cute mason jars, old olive oil bottles, wine bottles, vases, or anything else that is cute and funky let me know! I am keeping my eyes peeled!

Wedding Date

I am well aware that is been about 3 weeks since Matt proposed and I have noticed how antsy people are about all of the details of the wedding. I am trying to build the suspense! Hehe! Today Matt started swing shift and we had some time this morning to discuss a wedding date.

The two of us love the summer, so it just seemed natural to have a wedding during that time of year. We have dwindled it down to anywhere from June-August! I know, I know... its not very specific; however, I am just happy we have decided on the time of year.

... Just in case you have not noticed Matt and I are fairly indecisive decision makers, so just bear with us. :)

Getting Started

Well, I just got back from Seattle this weekend with hanging out with the girls! While I was down there I talked to Alexis' roommate Anela about weddings and she inspired me to start my own blog! So, hopefully I am good at this blog thing! I'll be posting ideas and thoughts about the wedding.

As for now, I do not have much planned... no date, not even what season! So, everyone will just have to be on the lookout with those things as they come up! Please comment and give me ideas! I'll be needing as much as I can get!

Here's to wedding planning! :)