Dear Style Me Pretty Blog,

I love you, you post pretty things for me to look at. However, could you please stop obsessing over letterpress? It's beautiful, but for Christ's sake have you noticed the economy tanking? Who the hell can afford this shit?

Please stop breaking my spirit by showing me things I can't afford. Start showing me things I can. Thanks.

Love,
A broke, diy, I'm paying for it by myself bride.

Friday Night....

We have finally picked where we are staying the night before the wedding!

Holiday Inn Select in Winston Salem on University Parkway.

We really wanted to stay in Mount Airy, and go to the Drive Inn Theater there. But after much thought, we decided we would be very rushed to do the rehearsal, dinner, get to the theater and get a good nights rest. If for some reason it works out to go to the theater we still can, we'll just have to drive 30 mins back to our hotel.

We will (still working on the contract) have 15 rooms reserved.

The Gym, The Gym, The Gym......

I would like to publicly announce that I have been to the gym 6 of the last 7 days. :-)

By the August b-pics I will be healthier.
By the wedding I will be more fit.
By the end of 2009 my clothes will fit better.

Notice: I did not say anything about pounds. I have a goal, to be 15 lbs lighter, at some point. Maybe by the wedding, maybe by the end of 2009. But, I will do it.

And...

We finished our Target registry! :-) Yay for nice towels!

A place for all those pretty things.....

With 12 sets of Crate and Barrel dishes, flatware, and glassware headed our way in a few months I was beginning to panic about where we would put it all! I did NOT want to stick it in the attic, and only pull it out on special occasions.....

Well last week Jeremy mentioned wanting to go to the Polo outlet in Gaffney, SC. I was totally OK with that because it meant that I could look for more of our table runners at the Pottery Barn Outlet.

So, we went.

Stopped in the Pottery Barn Outlet first, grabbed up the two table runners I needed, and began to walk through the store.... and there it was..... a beautiful, white, CORNER china cabinet!!!!!! We've known since we moved in our house a year ago, that we would eventually buy a corner china cabinet, but we had not been activly looking for one.... but there it was, yelling "take me home!!!"

It was marked down to $899 and then it was an additional 15% off, for just over $800 we got a FANTASTIC china cabinet! Our dining area looks so much more complete now! :-)





I got some other goodies too, from Gap and J Crew's outlets! :-)

Oh My!

99 Days to Go!

Gah....

I'm over the wedding....

I can't wait for the HONEYMOON! I need some vaca like no other! :-)

Terrified....

After watching the latest "John and Kate Plus 8" marriage totally terrifies me. Jeremy and I sat and watched it together yesterday. It broke my heart to see John totally check out of his marriage and family.

I confessed my fear of divorce to Jeremy, I never want to be a statistic, or go through the heartbreak of "dissolving a marriage"

He was so sweet, came over to me on the couch and assured me that we would be ok, and work hard to stay together no matter what.

I really, really love him, and pray daily that we never become different people that want to "dissolve" our marriage.

That's all.

oh.....

and.... hope you had a nice fathers day :-)

Oh yeah, and....

I joined the gym..... again.

I drug my sleepy ass out of bed at 6:15 this morning and hit the gym before work.

I was quite proud of myself :-)

Treasures....

In the box of moms china were these goodies :-)



I am guessing this was a wedding gift from someone

AND...

the knife they used to cut their cake... I opened the box, and their were two knives, one with their names engraved on the blade with a wrong wedding date, and then a second knife (tarnished handle) that has their monograms on one side, and the correct date on the other.... we will be using this :-)

And.... I'm Back....

Work last week was crazy, the weekend was a whirlwind, and Monday+ no internet at work= FRUSTRATION!!!!

So anyways... lots to catch up on....

So first: while I was gone for work our box of 150 napkins arrived :-)


Then over Fathers Day we picked up lots of pieces that my sister had cleaned out of her attic.... I was not prepared for this.... we went prepared to bring my family iron bed back for our guest room.... and boy did we get lots more....

We retrieved... a crib (my crib, that my nieces used), a cradle, a high chair, moms china, moms silver, and all my old prom dresses.....

YEAH RANDOM....

and now my guest room looks like a freakin nursery...... oh jeez, someone get me a brown paper bag, I think I might hyperventilate.....

ok, now for pics.....

The bed :-) and take note of the crib pieces under the bed.... yikes
I forgot to get the dust ruffle... it will cover all that jazz


The cradle and high chair.... I'll be glad when wedding shit is out of our attic so I can hurdle these up there and not look at them, till I am about to pop one out.....


Mom's china :-)




....... More to come :-)

Craziness- NWR

• Leaving for New Bern for work tonight
• Board meeting and tour Thursday in Beaufort County
• Beaufort Co. Grange meeting Thursday night
  
• Asheboro for a reception at the Zoo on Friday
• and working my table at the Kannapolis Intimidators Baseball Game that night.....
  

I'll be so glad when Saturday is here!

Weekend Recap....

OK here we go.... lots of goodies to share.....

Friday-
1. Went to Michaels, bought stamp ink in copper and chocolate brown, and another grapevine wreath.
2. Went to IKEA to buy the rest of the sheets.
3. Tested out stamp ink on our orange envelopes. We decided on the brown, the others were hard to read.
4. Stamped our return address on 80 envelopes, and put postage on them.

Saturday-
Got up early and drove to Asheville to experience the J Crew Sidewalk Sale. I bought:
A. White pants for me ($10)
B. Khaki pants for me ($10)
C. Navy blue pants for me ($10)
D. Polka dot bikini for me ($6!) Still on sale online for $34 for each piece!
E. Khaki pants for Jeremy ($10)
F. Khaki pants for Jeremy ($10)

AND.....

to make myself feel better about the whole dress issue... I still wanted a backup dress in case my moms dress is a disaster. So... I popped in the clearance store- I picked up the 3 wedding dresses that were in my size- 2 strapless and another one.... the first 2 were ok..... the third fit PERFECT! It was only $40, so I had to have it!!!!! It's def. not something that I would have normally picked out for myself- but at $40..... I'll find somewhere to wear it, or I'll sell it, if I don't use it for the wedding.

Is it my perfect dress? No.
Is it perfectly suitable? Yes.

It's the goddess dress on J Crew's site, if you want to see a picture of it :-)

now for pics-
Testing out the different inks- Gold at the top, Copper in the middle, Chocolate Brown last

Stamped our envelopes

Put postage on envelopes

All the sheets from IKEA- 36 tan, 10 white

J Crew Sidewalk Sale- this is only about 1/2 the place!

So much to blog about.....

too bad I am leaving for a marketing meeting in Raleigh.....

I'll catch you all up later today, or tomorrow :-)

Happy Monday!

Yes. I spent money on this.

I'm sorry, I had to do it. They were just too cute, and too perfect for my rustic, fall wedding.



Pumpkin ring pops! (don't worry, they are orange flavored, not pumpkin!)

Napkins. Found.

Thanks to Shan on the knot.... she listed a linen site for us girlies to check out...

cvimports.com

I can get 150 chocolate brown napkins for $87! :-)

I am thinking about buying some of their wide sashes to use as table runners too :-)

Dud.

The JCrew dress was so pretty. But;

A. Not wedding-dressy enough for me.

and

B. Not worth $700

Out For Delivery!

My JCrew dress has made it to Charlotte, and is "out for delivery"

I can't wait to get home!!!!

:-)

Must. Do. This.

I keep thinking about draping curtains on the rec hall porch, where our reception will be. After seeing the pics from Halli and Adam's wedding.... I absolutly MUST DO THIS! I just love the way it looks. I've already done some math, and I think I can use queen sheets.

Our reception place.....


Their reception place.....

Having Cold Feet....

about the whole dress issue. Here's the time line of events.

1. Jessica buys beautiful Amsale Tyler dress in October for 1/4 of retail.
2. Jessica has buyers remorse and sells said dress in March/April. She breaks even.
3. Her sister brings her their moms dress in April.
4. Jessica tries on the dress, it fits. Jessica starts thinking.
5. Jessica takes dress to seamstress to have it analyzed for the possibility for remaking it.
6. Jessica gets excited.
7. Jessica starts to have second thoughts about moms dress.
8. Jessica is still in love with a J. Crew dress she saw months ago.
9. Jessica decides to order said dress to see if she loves it as much in person.
10. Dress is G.O.N.E. from JCrew's site.
11. Dress magically reappears 3 days later on the site, but in a size to small, and too big.
12. She orders both.


13. She's anxiously waiting.......

Our Canvas Arrived!!!

So, after we had our engagement pictures done, and Ashley let me know that they can order me canvases, I knew I had to have one for our house, and to use at the reception! Her prices were great!

But unfortunately for her, I found a different co, that does them a bit cheaper (sorry Ashley!)

Well, I ordered it the end of last week, and it came today!!!! :-)

A Bone To Pick....

OK, the knot got my on my nerves again today.

Today their was a discussion about how a girl was irritated with what she was spending on her future-sister-in-law's wedding this coming weekend, and that she was supposed to also provide a covered dish.

Her son and fiance are both in the wedding, she has to take off work, and bought herself a new outfit to wear. She's dropping a little over $400 to go to this event. And, she's even more outraged that they have decided to host a potlock reception, and expects this girl to provide a dish.

Really? Quit with the bitching. It's their day, if they want potluck, let them do it. Who cares!?! If it's what they want, big deal!

Luckily most of the girls were like..... Um yeah that's really not much to be spending.

Then another girl had the nerve to pipe in and say how she was outraged that a girl she knew was getting married, in another state, where no one lives, and providing their guests a veggie tray, and turkey sandwiches.

Well how dare she provide what she can afford!!?!?

The girl was pissed that she was spending x amount of money to go to the wedding, and not be fed a "proper" meal.

Give me an effing break!!!!!!!

Why is it that we expect brides and grooms (or whoever is footing the bill) to way overspend on one day???? You'd think as brides in this economy we'd be a little more simpathetic to these situations!

I personally think a potluck reception is awesome, and quite cost effective. I also think that if you can afford to serve sandwiches and veggies, and want to; great! I will gladly attend you wedding and bring my covered dish, or enjoy your sandwich (which could very well be packaged awesome, think, picnic theme!?!?!?!?! :-))

On Style Me Pretty....

I'm glad I am not the only one collecting random jars for flowers!

"For a year we collected glass mason and milk jars, some vintage and some spaghetti sauce jars to use as vases and candle holders."

The Name Change.....

So if you don't already know, my last name is Newton. Jeremy's last name is Horton.

Jessica Newton Horton is a mouthful.

but I don't want to drop my maiden name. Jeremy said he thinks I should keep my middle name too, so I think I am. I'll be:

Jessica Leigh Newton Horton

Newton will become a second middle name for me, NOT a hyphenated last name.

So for future reference, my monogram will be JHL

I love that my new monogram is symmetrical.

:-)

To Buy:

I have my "to do" list on the side bar, but maybe I need to start a "to buy" list. I always have more direction with a list, and don't tend to buy things I don't need. Here's my best shot.

(This is just the "little things" obviously, I still need to get booze, flowers, ect.)

1. Plastic punch cups for the spigot jars at the ceremony. (And maybe for the wine and martinis)
2. More grapevine wreaths (I'm working on that week by week with my michaels coupons)
3. Ribbon for the BM dresses and "chandeliers"
4. Fishing line to hang "chandeliers"
5. A few more tall vases
6. Candles from Ikea
7. Trays for cupcakes?? Maybe??
8. Sharpie for the guest book.
9. Photo albums or scrap books to put at reception.
10. Chocolate brown fabric for table runners.
11. Copy our parents wedding pictures for the photo screen.
12. Lots of brown or black extension cords.

Tick Tock

4 months to go!

122 Days to go!

I know it will be here before I know it, but I feel like it's dddrrrraaaaaaaaaggging.

Educating Guests

While at Susan and Rodney's wedding a few weeks ago, I noticed lots of guests asking questions about the place. I'd already decided I wanted to provide info on Sertoma 4-H Center to our guests while we are busy taking pictures.

We are not having a formal cocktail hour, or food before dinner (although the bar will be open). So while are guests are busy hanging out, waiting for us, I wanted to give them something to look at. We'll have several photo albums for them to flip through.

1. Our House.
2. Us over the last 2 years.
3. Our prom pictures.
4. Our engagement pictures (our guest book)

AND..... this book! I found this book years ago at a Barns and Noble. I had to order it off amazon because our local one didn't carry it. It has a whole chapter on the mineral springs in Stokes County, which we are getting married at Vade Mecum (now Sertoma 4-H Center). The book shows all kinds of old pictures of the place, and gives a little background.

DIY Tablecloths

A while back I decided to sew my own tablecloths. I got the idea to make them from Ikea twin sheets, after doing this for a neighborhood party we had, and I made them for that.

Friday afternoon I rode over to Ikea to clean them out of DVALA beige, flat sheets. I left with 16, all they had, I need 36.



After I got home, I realized I could have bought white sheets, and rit dye, and dyed them chocolate brown (the color I wanted to begin with). So, Saturday I went back, bought a white sheet, came home, and tested my theory.



White Sheet- $1.99 x 36= $71.64
Dye- $2.46 (Can do 2 sheets per pack)= $44.28
Total would be = $115.92

Sounded good in theory. Once I did it, not so much. The sheets turned an odd beige/brown/purplish color.....



So much for hand dying all my tablecloths..... I guess I will stick with the beige DVALA sheets I bought.

36 x 4.50= $162 + tax

But, for those of you out there not using chocolate brown..... this might be a good option with a different color!