Lake of the Ozarks and bridesmaid dresses

Every year I get to spend a whole week at lake of the Ozarks with my mom's side of the family. There ends up being around 40 people in the house at some points during the week. We do a lot of overeating, sunning, floating on rafts, playing cards, laughing, and relaxing.

This was our mansion for the week. We stayed here last year and hopefully next year, also :)

This is a small group of us at our pool. The week we were there was so hot that the pool was not even refreshing when we got in...it was more like a hot tub.

The "party barge"

We had a couple bags tournaments, too!

I had so much fun with Garrett last week :) 

We played many games of spoons...it gets dangerous!

We made a trip to pirate's cove for some mini-golf like old times

 Garrett asked us to do the "kisses" picture

the bridesmaid dresses

The weather was not so great on Thursday of our trip so we went shopping. They have a very large and very nice outlet mall. We went to our normal stores: Nike outlet, Banana Republic, Under Armour, etc. Walking between stores we saw the BCBGMaxaria store. This was significant because I have been paying attention to this line a lot lately because I found a couple dresses (for bridesmaids) that I loved at Dillard's they just didn't come in the right color. We just ran in the store to check it out. We ended up finding the bridesmaids dresses!!!

Here is a sneak peak of Ashley, my sister, in the dress at the store.

I'm so happy to have that out of the way...I wanted to have coral dresses, but I was afraid of the color going out of season and we would not be able to find them anymore. But, we were very lucky and they had 3 dresses in the (almost) perfect sizes and they were in stock!

engagement pictures!!

last night our photographer, Caleb Jamin, came over to Iowa City to do our engagement pictures. We both had so much fun! Caleb took us all over downtown Iowa City, down by the river and IMU, Kinnick, and then to new recreation center pool. Here are some pictures (i took) while we were picking out our clothes:

I am positive our pictures will look better than those above! We are so lucky to have such a great photographer, and that he was willing to come over to Iowa City! It was very special to take pictures here where we met and live :) I'm sure we ended up with some great pictures and I can't wait to go pick them up!

Our new place!

so much has happened since our last post! Both of us have been working a lot, I (Amanda) have been on vacation...more on that later, and we have moved across town! First of all, we didn't end up going to Chicago that weekend that I posted about earlier, here. Instead, we did a lot of packing and saw the movie Horrible Bosses. That was HILARIOUS by the way. We both really enjoyed it. We also made breakfast like we were at Yolk. Here is our breakfasts, both were really good!

Sean wanted Bacon Waffles & Eggs, but we had to improvise and make bacon pancakes with bacon eggs on top since we didn't have a waffle iron.

I "ordered" the Fruit & Nut pancakes. It is multi-grain pancakes with pecans and banana slices inside and then strawberries on top.

Later, moving day came quick. My parents, my brother, and Sean's parents came over to help us move. We have accumulated a lot of stuff so it was great to have everyone help move :) Thanks for all your help everyone! Here are just a few pics from the move:

Here is a pic of our new place! It's an old picture (as you can see from the snow)

We are still working on making it really "our" place; like hanging pictures, getting curtains, and such. But, we are really enjoying it so far!

1 year pre-versary

365 days until our wedding! So what did Sean and I do to celebrate? Well Sean worked all day and I am at home recovering from my wisdom teeth being extracted. I know...we are very un-exciting. BUT next weekend we may be heading to Chicago!!! YAY! I really hope we can make it because I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself (me likey Chicago a lot). I haven't been there in over a year and it's been over 2 years since we have been there together. I feel that it is time to go back! And this time I really wanna go to the Shed Aquarium. The spring break of our sophomore year we stayed for just a night downtown and we walked by there. I think we did a lot more walking than Sean would have liked on that short trip :) we walked all the way from our hotel, which was a couple blocks from the Hancock building, all the way out by Shedd Aquarium, and then to the Sear's Tower to catch the train. Luckily the weather was nice those days. Also, on that trip we went to the Natural History museum...not really my thing, but there were a couple neat exhibits. This time we are going to see dolphins!!!

Shedd Aquarium with the Chicago skyline and even some of the lake!

I am also looking forward to Yolk for breakfast. I have been telling Sean about this place since I went there with my family last year when we there for the Taste of Chicago. I have talked this place up so much I hope it meets his expectations now!

In addition, I'm hoping we have time to go to the beach for part of the day and go shopping (we have engagement pictures August 7th).

 

If we don't make it to Chicago we have a lot of other stuff we could be doing. The big thing being cleaning/packing since we are moving into a new apartment on the 27th! Sean and I are moving to the west side of Iowa City with my sister, Ashley. I'll be sure to post more on that later...but I'm excited to leave my current apartment for a NUMBER of reasons!!

 

I also just want to thank everyone for reading our blog :) Sean and I can't wait for a year from now when everyone comes together to help us celebrate! This next year will be full of planing and trying to make everything perfect with the hope that you all will enjoy it! Thank you for all the support and love!!

engagement party invites

So both Sean's and my parents wanted to have an engagement party for our families this summer. One of my duties this past week when I was home was to help make the invites for the party. Last Tuesday my mom, Abby, and I made an assembly line; my mom was in charge of inking, I was in charge of "powdering", and Abby was the embosser or heat tool-user. I really enjoyed making these invites and thank you mom and Abby for helping!! They turned out awesome! The invites were designed by my mom around a stamp that I made.

The stamp was from earlier in the summer when I felt like being crafty. I had seen it done in magazines and online a few times so I thought I would give it a try (at that point I had no idea what it would be used for...I just wanted to make one). I had to go to the art supply store and buy all the supplies...a rubber mat and a carving tool. Then I looked up online different tutorials for how to make it turn out the best. First, I made a design on the computer that I wanted. Next, I printed the image out and traced over it with a pencil. I then rubbed the image onto the rubber mat to have the image show up. After that, it was just a matter of carving around the letters! I LOVE the way it turned out!!

Like I said before, my mom did all the inking of the stamp. So she used the ink pads and made a tie-dyed type of look and then stamped onto white cardstock. Next, while the ink was still dry, I sprinkled the embossing powder onto the image. After all the excess is removed, Abby used the embossing tool to "crystallize" the image...pretty much the powder is like a wax or plastic material with a low melting temperature. Once it cools down and dries it leaves the image looking shiny and awesome! Here are some pics of the process:

When we were ready to put it all together it was easy. My mom had already cut the cardstock for the cards and made the inserts with the information of the party. All we had to do after we were done stamping the front was trimming the image and then gluing it all together.

We put them into the envelopes and the next day I went to the post office to find out the postage cost and got these sweet stamps :)

the Venue

We began looking for places to have the wedding almost immediately after we got engaged. We looked at places in Iowa City, Des Moines, and Ankeny....hotels, arboretums, golf courses, and many more places. We quickly narrowed it down to a few places that would accomodate our group and also had the look we were going for. Ideally, the look I was looking for was outdoors.

here are a few pics of inspiration

However, with the weather in Iowa being so iffy we threw that idea out the window. I still wanted the place to be comfortable, fun, "not stuffy", and bright. The place we chose is as close to the outdoors as we could get.

The venue is the Enrichment center on the Ankeny DMACC campus. I remember when my mom first found the place. She was on the phone talking to me about different venues in Ankeny to go visit. She was still looking online at places as she was talking to me, too. When she came across this she said "oooooh!! No I just found it. I found the place!" I was a little bit hesitant at first, but now I do believe it is the perfect fit for Sean and I.

Overall, the place is a white, modern, blank slate for us to make beautiful. The first area that you walk into is a large atrium that is floor to ceiling windows on 3 of the walls. One of the walls even has like a garage type door that can be opened to the outside. This is where the ceremony will take place. Also, it will be conveniently be converted into the coctail hour location. A large glass stairway is in the middle of the room. These are the stairs that I will hopefully NOT be falling down during the ceremony.

This is kinda the lay out for the ceremony site...well you can kinda get the picture.



The reception room right down the hall has TONS of windows that face west so we can watch the sunset :) (hopefully it will be pretty that night).

I'm not a fan of the chairs provided nor do I like chair covers....yuck. So we are renting fancy-shmancy white chairs that will be used for both the ceremony and the reception.

A few other important things this place has is plenty of nice bathrooms and tons of parking. :)

my dress

My dress is exactly what I wanted. It's simple, but not boring. Exciting, but not over the top. And, I wanted something that will look pretty going down the stairs, and it does it.

When i started looking, I wanted something soft, A-line, not a lot of bling, and a sweatheart neck line. First of all, wedding gowns look nothing like what they look like in the magazines. After my first appointment I kind of changed my view of what would look good; I found I liked the fit-and-flare look.

here are a few pictures I took to show what I liked

The day after my last final for the spring semester my mom came over to Iowa City so we could visit a couple bridal salons in the area. The next week we had a jam packed schedule before we went to the Florida Keys. Here was our schedule:

Friday, May 13th: XOXO Bridal, Tiffin 2:30pm
Saturday, May 14th: Heart to Heart, North Liberty 9:00am
Wednesday, May 18th: Christiani's (caterer), Des Moines 11:00am
            Saley's Floral, West Des Moines 1:00pm
            Schaffer's, West Des Moines 2:00pm
Thursday, May 19th: Caleb Jamin (photographer), Ames 1:00pm
            Storybook, Boone 2:00pm
Friday, May 20th: Bridal Connection, Ankeny 11:00am
            Bridal Boutique, Des Moines 1:00pm

We visited 6 bridal salons in a little over a week, and we estimated about 50 gowns. I was very ready to say yes to a dress. I found ok dresses at the first 3 places, but not the one. After we visited with Caleb Jamin (our photographer) it was kind of a spur of the moment idea to head up to Boone for the bridal shop there. Sean's mom, Katie, met us at the salon.

First, we looked on the floor and found a few to try on. Then the lady at the store brought down a gown from the upstairs. She said they didn't have it on the floor because the manufacturer was having difficulty making it. I could tell I reeeally liked it as she was walking down the stairs.

I tried on a couple gowns and they were really nice. But, then I tried on the one...i feel like i should name the dress instead of calling it the one, but I can't think of one. So for now it's the one. They didn't know for sure if they could order another dress in. Luckily, the dress fit me really well and it would only need minor alterations. I really wanted my sister to see the dress before we made any decisions so we left the salon that day empty handed.

The next day, my mom and I visited the Ankeny Bridal Connection and found a gown there that I really liked also. After Ashley got into town, my dad, my mom, Ashley, and Abby went to the Bridal Connection so they could see that dress that I picked out there. Ashley and Abby didn't love it and they had seen pictures online of the gown in Boone. On our way back home, I said yes to my dress (the one in Boone). Right away, my mom called up to Storybook just a few minutes before they closed to purchase it.

We still have to go pick up my dress...hopefully in the next couple of weeks. Thank you mom for taking me and watching me try on numerous dresses :) Also, I'm so happy that Katie was there to share in the enjoyment when I was trying on that dress. Thanks for coming Katie!

Here is a sneak peak of the one

My binder

So right after we got engaged, my soon-to-be sister in law, Abby, called and said she had something for me. I'm pretty sure it the week we got back from Mexico I came back from class one day and I had a package. It's always so exciting to get mail :) Inside was a wedding planning binder. It is awesome!

Last weekend I made sure I got a picture of Abby, the book, and I.

Inside, sections are split up into categories such as: Attire, Ceremony, Music, Flowers, Photos, etc. Each section has a title page like this one:

There are also plenty of extra page protectors that I put magazine cut-outs, notes, ugly free drawn pictures, maps of the place, and anything else I wanna throw in there.

Here is a calandar that I write in all of our appointments, when we book venues or people, or basically anything I want. I just want to make sure I know what I was doing when. The plan was to kind of have it color coordinated, but it didn't happen.

The binder also includes tons of checklists, pages to fill out about details, planners, budget worksheets, and lots of others. Pretty much there is everything and anything I could possibly need. When I first got the binder I was overwhelmed that I would have to do everything in here. But I have come to find it incredibly helpful and great to have everything in one place. Here is the at-a-glance planning calendar. (excuse the sideways pictures while I still try to figure this thing out)

As you can see, our wedding is still over 13 months away and we have already checked off things in the 6-9 month category. go us! 

I thought I also might include a picture of my back of the binder. This may be a continuation from my color post a few days ago, but anyways this is a collage of our wedding colors made with paint chips. I am obsessed with paint chips. Both my sister, Ashley, and Sean would call me a hoarder in the paint chip category. But I thought I could use my collection and put it to good use by making this. And me likey!!

the weekend and my wedding shoes

On Saturday, Sean and I went to Waterloo to watch Sean's niece, Avery, for a few hours while Abby worked. We had so much fun! We tried to go to the Waterloo farmer's market and ended up running into a parade. Avery enjoyed watching the balloons, animals, trucks, and tractors.

After Avery's nap, we went to the mall and got a little bit of shopping done...I even got my shoes for the wedding! We had already made a purchase in Dillard's and as we were walking by the shoes I thought I'd give it a quick look around...and then I saw them! They were EXACTLY what I had wanted. I couldn't picture anything better.

Here is just a sneak peak of part of the shoe.....this is probably going to be the most "bling-ed" out thing at our wedding. Even though I normally don't like things with a lot of rhinestones and such, these I reeeally like.

Abby ended up buying them for me (the Hagan's are very stubborn when it comes to these situations). I am so very happy that Abby was there to help me pick out an important part of my outfit for the day. Thank you again Abby!

After the some merry-go-round riding and some other purchases we went out to eat at a local dive in Waterloo. It was called Hickory House. I got the fried chicken dinner. SO GOOD. Sean and Abby both got the ribs and chicken dinner. Everything looked and tasted delicious! It was like a 5 course meal. They first came out with a relish tray. Then your soup. Then salad. Then bread. Then you got your meal and your potato. We were all so full after that meal, but I would definitely go again. Thanks to Abby again for dinner :)

Today, we have just been kinda lazy. We went to the mall to return something, and ended up buying more. Then went to Olive Garden for lunch (we used Sean's gift card from my parents for Easter). Then we walked downtown where the Iowa Arts festival was going on. We first walked through some photography and craft booths and then we found the food carts!! I love going to places where there is fair food, carnival food, or just food in carts. I truely don't know what it is about it. I just love it!

We got some overpriced fresh-squeezed lemonade and a funnel cake. They also had fried rice, our favorite dipped ice cream popsicles, corn dogs, etc.

Yummy!!

Color

As you can tell by the background of the blog, our color scheme is shades of corals, pinks, oranges, and little bits of yellow. Of course with our wedding still many months away, this could always change slightly as I get inspired by other things. When I decided on these colors, I couldn't have just 2 or 3 colors....Mostly because I'm indecisive. But also, I love the "ombre" effect and the different shades of colors put together. I think it adds a lot of softness. Overall, I think the colors will be perfect for a summer wedding! We are going to have a lot of greenery from plants and shrubs in the reception and the ceremony so hopefully Sean won't get overwhelmed by too much pink :)

Here are some pictures I found for some inspiration from pinterest (I love this website by the way-thanks to Jenni for introducing me)

I have seen so much of the color coral out there in magazines, clothing stores, and online. I'm afraid that the color will be too popular this summer, and by next summer it will be old news. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll still be "new" next summer!