Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Wedding Wednesday: Love Day

Yesterday was one for the history books! The hardest thing about wedding planning has been scheduling. Because of Coffee Buzz, J and I work completely opposite schedules. When he's at the shop, I'm not and vice versa, so finding a time when we are both able to meet with vendors or get stuff done has been extremely difficult. Thankfully, our amazingly awesome employee Sara was willing to come in yesterday afternoon to give us some time to get things done. And, get things done we did!

The first stop was the post office to MAIL OUR WEDDING INVITATIONS!
What a HUGE step! I seriously cannot believe that our invitations are out, talk about making things real! I am so excited for our guests to receive them and I'm even more excited to share them with you! Let the RSVPs start rolling in!

After the post office we made a quick stop at AAA to get our passport pictures taken {the county service center charges $16 a person for pictures but AAA charges $20 for two people! Yay saving money!} I had plans to scan in our pictures, but I left them at home this morning....so sorry, you don't get to see our super awkward passport pictures.

Next we made a quick stop for lunch. J has been dying to try this place by Lake Calhoun called Burger Jones since it opened over a year ago, so we decided to finally give it a whirl. We had heard really mixed reviews but we LOVED it! We both did the "Create Your Own Burger" {I did a turkey burger with pepperjack cheese, sauteed onions, bacon and avacado mayo} and we split an order of the parmesan waffle fries! We loved both! Everything was so good, especially the $3 happy hour glass of chardonnay.













Once our bellies were full we headed to Thurston Jewelers to pick out our wedding bands and finalize plans for our wedding gifts to each other! You'll have to wait a little longer to get details on both, but I am SO EXCITED! Just a quick plug....if you're in the Twin Cities check out Thurston! The owner, Llyod, is the bomb and they have amazing stuff for amazing prices! It's a small family owned business {gotta help out local businesses!} and you won't be disappointed. The location is a little ghetto, but get past it. I promise you it's worth it!



so excited to put a ring on that boy!















Next, we spent forever at the County Service Center getting our MARRIAGE LICENSE and our PASSPORTS! While I was not thrilled about spending that much time or that much money at the stupid DMV, I am PUMPED to check these two very major To-Do's off our list!

















It was an incredibly productive and incredibly special day! With the invitations out, our wedding bands done and our marriage license in our possession...there's not much else to do, but GET MARRIED!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Bachelorette Weekend!

How to put this past weekend in to words, I have no idea, so it's a good thing I took a lot of pictures. It was simply amazing! My bestest friends in the whole world {and my mom} planned a fabulous weekend getaway up in Northern Minnesota at a fantastic resort/lodge called Pehrson Lodge. We left Friday afternoon and spent the next couple of days drinking, boating, dancing and laughing more than I've ever laughed in my life. Here's what went down....

A couple of the girls got to the cabin early so by the time I got up there I was welcomed through the door with cheers, pictures being snapped and this lovely surprise:
My amazing MOH, Libby, had these ADORABLE towels with everyone's names made, as well as got everyone a tote bag full of fun goodies. 



BB and Christina modeling said goodies

Our cabin was awesome, we had a full kitchen, a huge deck overlooking the lake, two bathrooms, three bedrooms and a loft with enough beds to sleep all of us. 

The first night consisted of eating pizza, playing games, decorating tank tops and of course drinking. 



so excited to be the bachelorette!




all the girls. thank goodness for self-timers.
My mom brought up a bottle of Kinky {which, if you haven't tried...you need to! SO good!}We all got a shot and did a toast. Each of the girls toasted me individually and then I went around and toasted each of my girls. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip....there were definitely tears all around. 

Those of us who were still standing spent the morning very late evening on the deck with some girl talk and sparklers. 

We all finally made it to bed and after a couple hours of sleep were up and ready to get the day started. After a wonderful breakfast {and a bloody mary for me} we were ready to head out and enjoy the lake.



happy camper!



my favorite girls!
Unfortunately, my soon-to-be sister-in-law was only able to come up for the first night. But, it meant the world to have her there and I'm so glad she got to partake in at least some of the shenanigans.

My girls rented a pontoon for the day, so we spent our time in the sun with some drinks and the wildlife. 



me and courtney, i am obviously enjoying my fave...twisted tea!



my sissy-face, Nat, was our "Cappy" for the day. she did a great job!



the beebs and i working on our wedding day tans.





This is "Darby the Dumb Deer" who we found swimming in the middle of the lake! At first we thought it was so awesome, until we realized that Darby was a complete idiot and should be on land, not in the middle of a lake. I should note that we also saw three bald eagles fishing....everyone thought it was amazing...I had my head in between my legs {remember, bird fear?}
After a couple hours on the boat we decided a bar bathroom stop was necessary.



showing off our adorable towels!
 After a long and wonderful day on the lake we headed back to the cabin to shower, eat dinner {tacos, my favorite!} and get ready for the night ahead. We all sported our decorated tank tops from Friday night and took advantage of the great photo op with the gorgeous sunset.

After our pre-drinking was complete we walked up to the main clubhouse where apparently someone was going to be waiting to drive us to the bar. I was completely oblivious and completely shocked when I saw that my girls had arranged for a limo to drive us around for the night!



all of us girls with Tim, the greatest limo driver to ever live!



this is my shocked face. totally surprised that everyone kept this a secret from me!



my amazing bestie and MOH who put this all together!




i could really get used to this bachelorette thing!




first stop....the liquor store for champagne! thanks court!!!
Courtney later asked me {on the way home} what my favorite part of the weekend was, and I said the limo ride to the bar. We had a BLAST! We were jammin' out to Britney, drinking, singing at the top of our lungs and just being girls. I was having the time of my life!

Once we got to the bar, it was pretty much business as usual when it comes to Bachelorette Parties. We drank, danced, made friends with a Bachelor Party, caused a ruckus and had the band tied around our fingers.

We left the bar and our darling Tim was there waiting with the red carpet rolled out.

Sunday we all slept in, had a nice breakfast and then packed up to head home. Let's just say the 4 hour drive home was less than enjoyable for most of us.

This trip was more than I could have ever imagined. I am truly so blessed to have these incredible friends who cared enough to go to all this trouble to make it a weekend I will never forget. I definitely felt celebrated. I can't believe the weekend has come and gone, I wish I could do that every weekend, except my liver might kill me.