Engagement Party

Now thats how you stock a fridge for a party! 

The Angells

The Krause family

Christine, myself, and Kara

Nick and I at our engagement party

Thanks so much to these wonderful women for your support!

For this week's 'wedding' post, I'm going to look back at our engagement party! We hosted it on a Saturday night and rented out the party room from our condo association. It was a pretty chill and relaxed night- we really just wanted to get all of our friends and family together, and having an engagement party seemed like the perfect opportunity!

We had loads of burgers, brats, and hamburgers, as well as plenty of beer and wine!

I can definitely tell looking back that this party was hosted way before I had started my blog, because I only have these pictures from it (although I know more exist, I'm just not sure where!) At this time, Nick and I had also not even been thinking about coming back to the hockey world. He was working downtown, and my restaurant's grand opening was in just a few short days! We loved the opportunity to get together with our friends and family- and eventually, have a night out on the town. Thanks so much to everyone who joined us in celebrating our engagement!

DIY At Our Wedding

Good afternoon! Today, I am going to look at and feature the do-it-yourself (DIY) aspects from our wedding! There certainly was a lot of this, thanks to frequent Pinteresting by me, agreement to the projects from Nick, and a lot of work by people involved (a huge thanks to everyone involved! We were fortunate enough to have help from both my parents and Nick's, my maid of honor Julie, and all of my bridesmaids. You were all a huge help!) Without further ado, here we are with the DIY projects from our wedding!

DIY Card Box

 My Mom was able to make us a card box for our wedding, using a couple of old cardboard boxes, ribbon, tape and some wedding wrapping paper!

DIY Centerpieces

our centerpieces and rose petals

Our DIY centerpieces were also pretty easy-  just a couple of trips to the Dollar Store and we were done! We bought vases that were about the size of a gerbera daisy and added some small rocks to the bottom of each vase. After that, it was just adding in a little bit of water, placing the daisy inside, and scattering a few rose petals on the table before our centerpieces were done. 

Our cupcake stand!

 To be completely honest, I have no idea how my Dad was able to make the cupcake stand for us. This was an idea I had seen on Pinterest and fell in love with- fortunately, he was able to create it for us!

our DIY wine cork place cards

Another view of our wine cork place cards

 The wine cork place cards were another Pinterest project that I found and knew right away I wanted for our wedding (plus, they were a great excuse to drink more wine and save the corks!) This is one project I will warn you on- it takes way more time than I was expecting! With tons of help from one of my bridesmaids and maid of honor, we were able to slice the corks (only a few cuts on fingers from that!) and get the place cards into the wine cork. After that, we used toothpicks to prop the wine corks up. Took a lot of time, but I thought they looked really nice at the wedding!

Head table number on my side of the table

All of the completed table numbers!

 As shown previously, my Dad also helped us out and made the table numbers for us- without me even finding the idea on Pinterest, he just thought of it! At the head table, we had a "7" on Nick's side (his hockey number) and an "11" on my side (my hockey number).

So those are (almost) all of the DIY aspects from our wedding! In addition to those, I also created and printed the programs, vases for the bouquets to be displayed at the head table, and a few other random projects. DIY certainly took a lot of time, but a lot of the effects were very nice as well! For those of you who have been married, what did you DIY at your wedding (if anything) or wish you had done? How did Pinterest affect your wedding planning?

Shopping For my Wedding Dress

One of my favorite memories from the wedding planning period was going shopping for my wedding dress. My Mom took the day off from work, and her, myself, and my Maid of Honor Julie headed out to hit the shops. Of course, the day we planned on going dress shopping there had been a huge snowstorm the night before- and despite the eight inches of snow, we set off to find a dress! Fortunately for me, I had helped a friend find her dress a few months back, and so I knew a couple of dress shops to look at. With this, we had decided on going to Macy's Bridal Salon, Mary Kay Bridal (a small boutique that is now closed), and David's Bridal.

Now, I thought I knew what I wanted for a wedding dress. I wanted something simple, form-fitting, a corset back, and just a little bit of detailing. I absolutely did not want a princess dress, something lacy, or something that wasn't white. Of course, I had heard from people that you go into dress shopping and come out with something completely opposite of what you want- but didn't believe there was a single chance that would be me!

The first stop for us was Macy's Bridal Salon. I had made an appointment, and as we got there the woman inquired a few things. The first thing she asked was the date of the wedding- which at that point, was just over five months away. You can only imagine the slight heart attack I had when the saleswoman informed me that I should really order within the next two days to make sure the dress would be here in time for alterations and the wedding. Talk about pressure! After explaining to her what I wanted in a dress, we pulled 10 or so gowns and started trying them on. Finally, I found one I liked… but didn't love. I really didn't love when the saleswoman said we couldn't take a picture of it to remember as we continued shopping (so of course, as soon as she left the room, my Mom and MOH snapped pictures). You can tell by the look on my face that this was NOT the dress for me (even though I liked it!)

the only dress I "liked" at Macy's Bridal Salon

Our second stop was Mary Kay Bridal. Again, I found some dresses I liked- and even one I really liked! But, I didn't have "the moment". The one you hear about, where you put your dress on and can just tell that its the one. Where you cry, your Mom cries, your MOH cries. So, a few dresses later we headed out from Mary Kay to hit our last stop, David's Bridal.

Now, one of the things they don't tell you about wedding dress shopping is how the dresses will fit. At both of my first two stops, every dress I tried on was about a size 96 (just slightly exaggerating) and I had to be literally clamped into the dress. Makes it pretty hard to see what the dress actually looks like! In addition to this, they don't tell you before dress shopping that all of the other shops will look down on David's Bridal, and tell you not to go there because "everyone buys their dress there."

When we walked into David's Bridal, I have to admit I was a little worried. Because of what the previous women helping us had said, and because of the woman helping us. When I explained what I wanted- form-fitting, no lace, corset back, simple-- she instantly pulled about five lacy princess-style gowns from the rack. I was worried. Nonetheless, my helpful troop helped me pick a few dresses off the racks and we headed towards the fitting room. As I had been looking at dresses, I kept eyeing this one dress on the mannequin. It was princess-style, but had this gorgeous beading and detailing on it- I couldn't stop staring. When I mentioned to my Mom that I kept looking at it, she told me "well, you might as well try it on as long as you have all these other dresses too." Of course, they didn't have the dress in my size- except on the mannequin- so we took that right off her and brought it into my fitting room!

The first couple dresses I tried on were fine. Then, I put on the dress- yes, the dress I saw on the mannequin. Before I was even all the way into it, I could just feel it. I knew, and I had the moment. Once I was all the way in, I headed out into the fitting room hallway and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Again, I knew. But of course, I had to ask my helpers. I turned to my MOH first (because even though I knew it was the one, I wanted validation. If she said she hated it, it would hurt. But it would be easier to hear from her than my Mom). She said she loved it. Then, I turned to my Mom.

Well, she was standing there with her back turned towards me! I couldn't believe that here I was, standing in the dress, and she just had her back turned and wasn't even paying attention. So, I asked "well, what do you think Mom?" … and when she turned around stating "well, your making me cry" with tears in her eyes, I lost it and joined her in tears. I had found my dress.

After that, I hung out in that dress for about an hour. I tried it on with the custom veil made for that dress, and knew I needed the veil too. I cried. My Mom cried. My MOH cried. The saleslady cried. The Mom of a girl I used to play hockey with (that just happened to be at the store) started crying. Yep, this was definitely the dress.

yep, this was the one!

so happy I had found my dress!

and I found my veil too! Perfect for the dress

I never wanted to get out of it… but eventually, it was time. We thought about ordering it from the catalog, but this dress has just gotten to the store that week and been on the mannequin for one afternoon. After a quick inspection, we bought the dress, veil, and walked right out of the store with my wedding dress! I could not WAIT for alterations to start, just because I knew I would get to wear the dress again. The only thing I wasn't looking forward to about my dress was keeping it a secret from Nick for the next 5.5 months- but I was successful in this (mainly by showing every other person in the world who asked pictures of it!) To my readers (if you've been married) how was your dress shopping experience? I'm looking forward to hearing more stories!

Yes, once I was out of my dress I took a picture of the "sad dress" without me in it on the ground. 

My Minneapolis Bachelorette Party

I can finally say that I leave for my honeymoon tomorrow! I have never (and probably will never) be this excited for a super-long flight again. Over the next few weeks, I have several posts scheduled here, and will hopefully be able to post some pictures as well from Thailand as a little preview! Mostly, I will be using my Instagram account, so be sure to follow me here for all our honeymoon updates. As I get ready for my honeymoon, I figured I would post about another fun part of the wedding process- my bachelorette party!

When Nick and I figured out we were moving to Sweden for the hockey season, it threw wedding planning into full gear. Instead of having two and a half months to finish planning everything, I all of a sudden had about four weeks. And of course, one of the items on my mind that I hadn't even really thought of was my bachelorette party.

My MOH Julie and I before our night on the town!

Thankfully, I had a wonderful maid of honor who took on the full, 100% task of planning the party, coordinating who was coming, inviting everyone, and doing everything for it…without telling me a thing. For me, it was so nice to be able to completely pass the reins on, and trust that it would be a great time. All I was told about the party was what time to be ready, and what I would want to wear!

To start the day out, Julie had everyone meet at Nick and I's condo downtown (convenient location for most people) Once we had all assembled, we headed outside and hopped in a limo to take us around the city!

In the limo headed to the daytime activities!

All of the girls before the day's festivities

After riding in the limo for a little bit, we made our first stop of the day at a local brewery- and this is where I finally found out our plans for the day! We were going to go to several different breweries for tours and some drinking- which, for those who know me well, know that I enjoy beer and trying new ones out! 

Beer flight at our first stop

During the beer tour

the first (well ok, second- but first official!) beer of the day!

During the day, if memory serves me correctly, we stopped at 612 brewery, Dangerous Man, and Fulton. At each of the stops we had time for a couple beers and to check out the brewing process! It was interesting to learn about the different beers the companies provided, and of course to taste them at the end. I had a great group of my high school and college girlfriends with, and had even gotten my Mom and future mother-in-law to come with! After the brewery tour, we headed back to the condo to change and get ready for a night on the town.

My Mom and I before heading out for the night!

Catching a glass of wine before dinner for the night!

After a quick stop to change clothes, we headed to a little wine bar by my place before dinner for the evening. We had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Minneapolis, Sanctuary. After dinner, it was time to head out for the evening!

poppin' bottles at the party!

Nick and the guys had gone paint balling during the day, then to a separate restaurant for dinner and drinks. We met them at the club, Aqua, for the night at about 11 PM with bottle service. We had reserved the upper balcony, and had the entire area- plus private bathroom- to our group. We had so many of our friends and family members join, and it was great to see and celebrate with everyone! The bachelor/bachelorette parties were really one of our last chances to see everybody before we took off for Sweden, so it was great to see all of our friends at once. We certainly didn't do our bachelor/ette parties in the most traditional way, but it was perfect for us. If any of you are reading this, thanks so much for being there for us! For my readers, what has been most memorable to you at bachelor/ette parties?

4 Ways To Save Money at Your Wedding

Everyone who has hosted, attended, or been a part of a wedding can agree that weddings are expensive. Very expensive. According to the knot.com, in 2012 the average cost of a wedding was just over $28,000. That is definitely a big chunk of change (or a new car, down payment on a house, loan payoff, the list goes on…)

Fortunately, there are a LOT of ways you can save money on your wedding! The first step for my husband and I in planning our wedding was setting the budget. From there, we decided what was most important to us (besides becoming husband and wife!). For us (me), the most important things were my dress and the photography, so these were the two things we were really willing to spend good money on to have the results we wanted. Personally, I think both of these turned out excellently!

Just one of our great wedding photos- well worth the money!

A close-up of the detailing on my dress!

 After we had spent some time (and money!) planning the wedding, it was time to decide a few spots where we could save. Here are just four of the places we saved some money, and how we were able to do it! There are many others ways we were able to save money (having my Dad make the table numbers and cupcake stand, my Mom make a card box, bridesmaids helping me with place cards, DIY programs, the list goes on!) so these are just a few ideas for others.

We saved a ton of money on our flowers by going to the farmers market!

1. Flowers: This was a pretty easy area for us to save some money on! The first flower shop I called and consulted with, telling them what I wanted for flowers, quoted us at about $1475. For flowers. Neither Nick or I truthfully cared too much about the flowers and what they looked like (especially since we would only enjoy them for exactly one day, before heading back to Sweden!) To save money on the flowers, we headed down to the Minneapolis Farmers Market on a Sunday morning and bought some flowers from two different vendors, as well as grabbed business cards from each vendor. I set up a couple of consultations, described what I wanted, and got some quotes. We ended up paying about a quarter of our original quote for flowers!

Now, here is the warning if you go this route: your flowers may not be exactly what you want. Mine weren't, and you can read about that at What Went Wrong At My Wedding. And you know what, it was OK, the flowers still looked good, and nobody but me knew they were wrong!

Our DIY wedding Centerpieces!

2. DIY Centerpieces: Now, I'm not a creative person (at all!) but even I can do these! Each of our centerpieces cost us around $2.33. All it took was a trip to the dollar store! I bought 25 vases, and 8 bags of the little rocks you see in the vase. Pour some rocks in the vase, add some water, and then stick a gerber daisy inside and you've got a pretty great, simple, easy centerpiece! We added to the table with scattered rose petals, but all in all these were very easy and still looked nice.

Our wedding invitations from Invitations by Dawn

3. Save The Dates & Invitations: For our Save the Date, we went with a hockey theme, had a friend do some photoshopping, and then ordered them online! We ordered our invitations online as well, from Invitations By Dawn. By joining their mailing list, they sent a coupon for 20% off, which was a nice to save a little additional money! Invitations by Dawn was cheaper than many other invitation sites I found.

Our cupcakes from Gigi's were absolutely perfect, and delicious!

4. Cupcakes vs. Cake: Wedding cakes are another area to save a ton of money on! After a lot of research, we found Gigi's Cupcakes in Golden Valley, MN. We headed out there for a taste test (and, throughout the summer, several other cupcake stops!) and absolutely loved the cupcakes. Not only were we able to choose several different flavors, so everyone at the wedding could enjoy whichever flavor they like, we were able to order "mini" cupcakes so they were almost bite-sized! Having bite sized cupcakes allowed us to order more than enough (and get a couple for every guest!). The cupcakes were delicious, and we saved tons of money on them! I would highly recommend Gigi's to anybody getting married! I should also mention that the cupcake stand you see here was made by my father, instead of renting or purchasing one. I saw this idea on Pinterest, loved it, sent a picture to him and he was able to make it! Looks pretty good, don't ya think? Perhaps someone has a new career possibility in creating wedding decorations!

What Went Wrong At My Wedding

Before I got married, I received advice from what seemed like everybody in the world- married, divorced, single, anybody who had the chance wanted to tell me what to expect at my wedding and give advice for it. A lot of it, unwarranted. A lot of it, unnecessary. Even rude at times. But there is a bit of advice I've accumulated that I think was important, and rings entirely true:

Things will go wrong. Not everything will be perfect. But at the end of the day, as long as you are married, the day went perfectly. And oftentimes, those things that went wrong turn out to be one of the best parts of the day.

There was certainly plenty that went "wrong" on my wedding day (that I'm aware of!) and I'm sure even things that happened that I have no idea about. Here are some of the things I do know of, that have turned into awesome memories.

Running inside to avoid the rain!

1. The beginning of the day went off pretty smoothly- hair & makeup done, dress on, everyone arrived on time (according to the watch that I wasn't wearing, but my mental clock!). We got all of our wedding party pictures done, and had moved on to taking family pictures. Towards the end of this is when the rain moved in! Above, you can see both my mother and father in law helping hold my dress up as I took off running for inside! The rain meant we had to move our ceremony (and cocktail hour) from the original outdoor setting to a new one (fortunately, our venue had an awning and our photographers could still get amazing shots!) Did you know rain on your wedding day is supposed to be good luck?

Mom to the rescue with my veil!

Now that the veil is on, we can continue. (Love Nick's expression in this one!)

2. After the whole debacle with the rain, and postponing the ceremony for what felt like five hours (you sit in a bathroom in your extremely hot wedding dress, waiting for the rain to stop so you can start) we finally lined up to walk down the aisle. The ushers ushered, the bridesmaids and groomsmen walked down the aisle, and finally its my turn! Cue "here comes the bride" …. and "Dad! I  forgot my veil!" frantic rushing, calling down to an usher (no idea what we were saying) and too late, time to walk down the aisle anyways. Luckily, my Mom heard this and off she went running to find the veil and get it up to me! So, mid-ceremony I got my veil and put it on- to many laughs from Nick, myself, the wedding party, and all of our guests.

Just keep talking, Sam. Just keep talking.

3. After receiving my veil, the rest of the ceremony went smoothly. I was definitely in auto-pilot mode. Nick repeated his vows, put the ring on my finger. I repeated my vows, put the ring on his finger. Cue, the minister's turn to keep talking and move the ceremony along. Well, apparently I wasn't ready to give up talking quite yet, because I continued to repeat after him "at this time," …Again, cue audience laughter. I guess I just wasn't ready to be done in the spotlight quite yet!

Have you ever tried pouring wet sand out of a glass?

4. Nick and I had decided to do a sand ceremony during the wedding ceremony. Remember that rain I was talking about earlier? Yep, that comes back to haunt us again- the sand in our individual vases had become absolutely soaked, so as we were supposed to slowly pour the grains of sand into the larger vase- both Nick and I just ended up dropping out big chunks of sand. I guess wet sand doesn't quite work as well!

Pretty flowers, right?

5. I had decided not to spend an incredible amount on flowers for the wedding, because truthfully flowers just don't mean that much to me (and the first flower place I went to quoted me at $1475. For flowers. That would die. In a week.) So, we went the much cheaper route, headed to the farmers market, got a couple of cards from vendors, and went through one of those vendors for less than 20% of my original quote. The flowers up there look pretty great, right? Right. But I had asked for an all red rose & white calla lily bouquet for me, and a white rose & red calla lily bouquet for my bridal party…Definitely not what I got. But you know what? I'm the only one who knew the flowers weren't right, they still looked great, and like I said above- I still got married, so the flowers don't matter at all!

Don't all brides drink champagne like this?

Pretty steady diet of beer, 5 hour energy, Red Bull, and champagne

6. My ulcer came back. Perhaps due to the steady amount of champagne, red bull, beer, and 5 hour energy flowing into my system the entire two weeks before the wedding. Or perhaps, because my bridesmaids and I passed around the bottle of champagne in the dressing room (since technically we weren't supposed to bring it in) and drank it like the above picture? Either way, Nick and I left our own wedding and were curled up in bed by 11 PM- possibly even earlier.


7. Unfortunately, I learned while getting married who my true friends really are. In specific, I had a "friend" determine that because my wedding day was focused upon Nick, myself, our families, and closest friends, she no longer wanted to be a part of our life. Said friend stopped speaking to me and chose not to show up at our wedding, offer congratulations, or any form of contact whatsoever. So, in the process of gaining a husband, I lost somebody that I thought was a friend.

You know what happened out of all this though? An INCREDIBLE amount of laughs. Memories I'll share with Nick, our friends, and our families forever. I easily confess that my wedding day did not go off perfectly, but thats what made it so perfect. We were able to laugh, and have fun, the whole day- especially when things didn't go so perfectly. I have videos of our entire wedding party laughing during the ceremony at the things that didn't go quite right- how many others have that?

At the end of the day, I was married (actually, I was married in the middle of the day when we signed the papers!). It wasn't perfect by the standard definition, but it was perfect for us. Did anybody else have any wedding-day mishaps or memories that made the day what it was? And truthfully, this is exactly how I feel about our wedding - the whole point of the day is to get married, and as long as you do that, everything else is besides the point! I married the love of my life in front of our family and friends, and I couldn't be happier about that!

Our Hockey Wedding

Hockey Puck Table Numbers

Nick, myself, and our sticks

KHK jersey as a present for our ring bearer

ring bearer's reaction!

 When Nick and I got married, our wedding almost centered around hockey. From the time we sent out our hockey-themed Save The Dates, until the day after the wedding when we traveled back to Sweden for his hockey career, it was on our minds. For Nick, the wedding was quite a whirlwind. We had moved to Sweden August 1. I went back to prepare and get the last arrangements ready in the beginning of September, but he stayed back to practice- and play in the first game of the season on September 12, way up North. The morning of the 13th, he woke up, hopped on a flight to Stockholm, then to Amsterdam, and finally to Minneapolis; arriving at about 3:00 PM. Just a quick 2 hours before the wedding festivities would start- and of course, with the time difference, it was already 10 PM for him. For Nick, it was fly home Friday, Rehearsal dinner, Wedding Saturday, fly back Sunday (I joined for this flight!) and he was only in Minnesota for 48 hours. Talk about a quick trip!

Our save the dates were one of my favorite parts of the wedding, just because it worked perfectly for us. As we both play hockey, it made sense to do a somewhat-hockey theme!

After the Save the Dates, it came into our table numbers. My Dad was amazing in helping, and created the table numbers for us (100% his idea, too!). I think overall he made 25 of these, one for each table. And of course, he had the foresight to make both a 7 and 11 for the head table (both my number and Nick's number). This is just one of the many ways he helped us for our wedding.

Of course, we had to get a bride and groom picture with our hockey sticks! It is one of my favorite pictures from the wedding actually, and the only one we currently have printed out and hanging in our living room here (thanks Mom & Dad!).

Lastly, one of the funniest moments of the day was when we gave our ring bearer his present. Nick had purchased a KHK jersey for him, and we were both excited to give it to him. However, as I was holding it out to give to him he ran and jumped into Nick's arms, apparently scared of the black bug on it!

There are just a couple of the details from our wedding! Hope you enjoyed them!

Wedding Wednesday: Our First Look!

Last week, as Valentines Day rolled around, I realized something: I've been married for an entire five months now, and done exactly one post on Nick and I's wedding! Perhaps this is because after it was all said and done, I was busy with writing Thank You cards, and then just wanted a break from it all. To the point where I just now, finally, picked out the pictures that will be going in our wedding album from the photographer. So I figure its time to start a new series of posts on the blog- Wedding Wednesday! For this week's post, I'm going to post some pictures from our first look.

Nick looking nervous!

Almost there...

Ready to go take more pictures!

"How do you walk in this thing?!" -From Nick

I love looking back at these pictures! I can look at them and see how happy both Nick and I are. It was so nice for us (and our wedding guests!) that we were able to do a first look during the day. It allowed our wedding guests to not have several hours of downtime while we took pictures, and it allowed us to get these pictures out of the way and enjoy each others presence! Another huge bonus for us was that it started raining around 4PM on our wedding day, so if we hadn't done a first look we wouldn't have been able to have outdoor pictures!