Can't Do It Alone...

In case you didn't know, we are just under three weeks away from introducing a new Mrs. Wierer to the world. (that's me, in case you were wondering!)

The nine months since we were first engaged, we have encountered a ton of event vendors. Some good, some really weird and some just plain idiotic. I really feel like we landed on some great peeps to help make our wedding day go as planned.

Oh and if weren't yet aware...wedding's are expensive - even when you're doing it on the "cheap"!



Take a look!

Hair
I've been going to Capricio Salon & Spa for 1.5 years now and love it! If you're looking for a kick-ass stylist - try Kim. She seriously is one of maaaaaybe two stylists in my lifetime that left me loving my hair every time I leave.

I'm excited to have her style my hair for the wedding day and have no doubt it'll look great!

Venue
As I wrote in a previous blog: 3 Essentials of Life, we are super excited about having the wedding at Swig in Milwaukee's downtown Third Ward area.

Check out the menu -

-- WARNING: Do not read with an empty stomach --

House Salad w/Fresh Bread
Sauteed Veggies
Baked Mac 'N Cheese
Peppercorn Encrusted Tuna
Beef Tenderloin w/Two-Potato Mash
Backed Stuffed Chicken w/Fettucini

Vanilla Cheesecake
Red Velvet Cake
And then a special dessert I worked with the chef on...in memory of my grandparents.

So good. Oh, there's hors d'oerves too. Stuffed mushrooms and more. Yummo.

Erin's been great to work with so far. I'll report back after the wedding to let you know how the space turned out!

DJ
We are super pumped for Double Platinum DJ.

He's been so easy to work with and we are very confident in his making the night run smoothly. We actually have our last meeting with him Monday night. So awesome. Here's the services we selected to use:

Uplighting
Music (unlimited)
Time-lapse video of the entire day from guest arrival to ceremony to late night dancing
Monogram Wall Light
MC responsibilities

And he's offered us great advice on how the evening could run. He had ideas we are using that I would've never thought of - we really did get way more than just a DJ from them. So far...we highly recommend Double Platinum DJ.

Manscaping
After a little convincing, I was able to get Carl to agree to a manicure for the day of the wedding. My dad will be joining him as well for a professional head shave. Their appointments are at a local men's salon: Groom.

It's a salon targeting men so I believe most of the stylists are women.I've known a few people that have gone there and liked it. I told my dad and Carl "No funny business with the hot chickies!" I have no doubt it'll be a good experience for both of them.

Photographer
Our photographer, Mark Hines, is a friend of ours and a great local photographer. We are excited to have him use his creative eye to capture real emotion from the day. He'll fit in great with our guests!

Flowers
Bah humbug. So, thinking I was a money-saving genius, I decided to DIY the wedding flowers.

Well, they looked nice enough on the kitchen table...but eventually I overdid the DIY (as I typically do) and they became a big 'ole mess. I decided to march around the house carrying the "done" bouquets and flinging my arms around. Let's just say, the bouquets didn't survive.







BUT WAIT! There is a silver lining.

Carl and I met with The Flower Lady and Loreen is creating seriously gorgeous yet simple flowers. I can't wait. My brain decided to forget about the DIY mess and lost $$. These flowers are going to be really nice. We even ordered two white balloons for our flower girls to carry. Got that idea from pinterest :)






I'll give you all updates after the wedding to let you know how the final things ended up with the vendors. No mincing words - I promise :) Funny - I suppose, if you know me - then you already know I won't hold anything back...

Advice From a Really Awesome Dancer...Me.

Have you seen our wedding web site?!

We used WeddingWire.com: www.weddingwire.com/wierer

If you or someone you know has a wedding coming up - my advice is to set up a web site with all the details. It was so easy to build and it helped manage the RSVPs without the cost of postage.

We even sent our Save the Dates via e-mail.

Things are really starting to come together! Who would've thought my goal of being pretty much done with the planning by June would actually work. Just a few little things left now.

Also...I hope you've been practicing your dance moves. Because mine look a little like this:

My Last Name

Yep, our adoreable flower girls are right. Exactly 30 days from today, I will be Mrs. Wierer.

Man, that statement holds a ton of feeling. I mean, come on! 32 years of my life as "Sara Krause" are suddenly in a blink of an eye changing to "Sara Wierer." Such an odd feeling.

I've always held great pride in my last name. My father is an only child - so my sister and I are the absolute last of the Krause generation. That is CRAZY to comprehend, I mean crazy!

Here's a pic of the Krause's I grew up with. I just love these old pics. The kiddo is my dad - what a cutie.

I heard a song earlier this summer that really got me thinking
(as if I wasn't already thinking about all this). It's so right on:





I hold all the pride in the world in my last name...but then I also love that Carl chose to share his pride with me. It is a great honor and I am excited to share the last name with our future children and building that pride within them. Maybe some day I'll have a daughter that will experience these feelings and will have the opportunity to tell her about the prides of my life.

However, I'm not denying this: you are likely to see a "Krause" tattoo on my body before the wedding. Dad, when can you join me?!

A Whole Lotta Work & A Bit 'O Wedding

If you are connected with me on Facebook, earlier this week you may have seen this post:

Planning a corporate event with 1,500 attendees AND a wedding at the same time...not my best idea. Good thing I have Starbucks as my trusty sidekick :) (specifically a Grande Double Dirty Chai)

Carl & I initially decided on an October wedding date because it was after my busy time at work. However, I realize that I may have stretched even my own multi-tasking abilities this time! Take a look at the event my work team (4 of us, to be exact) has been working on since February - it's pretty awesome and something I am always proud of: www.PDS2012.com. Take a look at the Sessions page, this shows you all of the speakers I manage. A TON of work - but so rewarding once you see the conference in action. This conference is the epitomy of the definition of teamwork - however, we each have our responsibilities...one of my favorite responsibilities is the WhozNext Technology Student Leadership Program. Check out the video, it's a pretty cool opportunity for local students:



Anyways, it's not all awesome...there's times I want to pull my hair out and scream :) But, gosh - if I didn't have those feelings, I wouldn't be me. No one ever claimed I was cool and laid-back. Poor Carl, he gets to hear it when those feelings take over me. It's days like that when he usually has a homemade Pina Colada or Mojito waiting for me when I get home from work. Quick fix and I'm back to normal and ready for more planning!

Last weekend Carl had his Bachelor party in Chicago, I took advantage of the time alone and had my dress fitting. My trusty sidekick, Abbey, came along for the ride. We went empty-handed, but returned with, *gasp*...a part of my dress riiiiipped out!






Little secret for any bride-to-be: Your dress may have one price when you order it...but then they add the alterations price...and THEN if you have any "special" alterations...they add $200 more! But really, a little extra $$ to have a dress that looks like this for the wedding day? No big deal and totally worth it:



And now you ask yourself: Is she kidding or is she serious? I guess you'll just have to see on October 27th.

Elvira in Milwaukee

About a week ago, I decided I'd try a make-up trial for the wedding.

No. No. No. I looked like a drag queen.

When I described what I wanted…I told her Audrey Hepburn cat-eye - muted and not dramatic.

I also explained to her that I don’t typically wear a ton of make-up and do not want a ton on for the wedding – just want to look a little nicer than my every day.




In lovely list form I’ll tell you what she did:

1. She drew eyebrows for me so that the lower part met where my eye lashes ended and she used a super dark, dark, dark brown. It was mortifying.

2. She lined my lips with a pretty pink and then put a frosted color over the top – but leaving the lip liner on the outside…..OUTSIDE lining my lips. I looked like I was from the late 80’s/early 90’s.

3. I told her I wanted a matte, nude eye shadow with a focus on eye liner and lashes. Well, she used a dark gray sparkly shadow on the upper portion of my eyelids UP. TO. MY. EYEBROW line. Then she took a stark white sparkly shadow and filled in the rest – including down the sides of my nose. Then she proceeded to rim MY ENTIRE CIRCUMFERENCE of my eyes with black…and thick.

4. The only part I liked were the eyelashes…which I am fully capable of doing myself.

Worse yet!! My make-up chair was facing everyone. I didn’t get to see the make-up until she was completely finished. So there I am, thinking I looked great and wasn’t really all that embarrassed that EVERYONE was watching what was going on….until B.O.O.M. she shows me the mirror and it takes every mental, emotional and physical bone in my body to not cry, laugh or just emotionally explode – maybe even give her a little punch. I looked like a clown and my ego was smashed to the ground! I politely said, “it’s just a bit dramatic and intense.”

Oh and…I had to pay $35 to look like a clown.

Long Weekends in September

Man oh man, I have some great people around me.

Some days it's easy to forget but then after a brief moment of reflecting...or daydreaming...or simply avoiding that co-worker's e-mail (you know, the one who N.E.V.E.R. reads your entire e-mail before replying with utterly unnecessary questions) - oops, I slightly digressed there. Anyways, after just a second of thinking about it - it's easy to remember all the awesome people in my life.

Sister, Sister! Last Thursday my sister flew in from Brooklyn for the long weekend. My world always feels perfect when my sister, Carl and I are all in the same town together. Unfortunately, I had to work Thursday. No worries though, Carl & Amy both were generous enough to send me pics of their lunch at AJ Bombers. Whatever...WHAT. EVER. Great, just thinking about it makes me hungry for their burger with peanut butter on it. Heavenly.

Friday was my Milwaukee bachelorette party. I didn't really want a full-blown extravaganza - but my friends and sister planned an evening of fun that was an exciting surprise!

Meeting at my house, we drove downtown to a surprise hotel room at The Pfister. Yeah, we know - we're fancy. After dinner at Cubanitas they surprised me with a bar crawl of all the bars I frequented as a 21 year old. #Awesome

Saturday we woke up with a bit of a headache. But nothing a little Advil couldn't help! By 9:00 AM my sister and I were dressed and driving two hours north for our cousin's wedding. It was so great seeing our entire family all together again! Very few things beat dancing the night away and laughing with family.

This is my cousin that got married. Well, it's him about 18ish years ago. Him & his sister were such cutie pies :)






Finishing the weekend back in Milwaukee by just hanging out with my sister was the perfect holiday weekend wrap-up.

Just 53 days until the wedding...suppose I should start focusing on wrapping the planning things up!

p.s. Even Lewis loves it when my sister visits!

Rock Your Socks Off...

As many of you know by now, I've tried making the wedding info & RSVP as cost-effective and automated as possible. Save the Date e-mails, online RSVPs and, well, basically online everything!

There's this little item on our wedding web site that allows you to submit a music request.
I know, I know...bombtastic.



We've had a few requests, however if you want to dance and don't see your favorites here - then get submitting!

Here's a glimpse at a few we've received thus far:

Dance to the Music, Sly & The Family Stone
Lucky, Jason Mraz
Footloose, Kenny Loggins
Thriller, Michael Jackson
Three Little Birds, Bob Marley
Home to Carolina, Grasscats
Elvira, Oak Ridge Boys
Safe in New York City, AC/DC
Call Me Al, Paul Simon
All My Friends, LCD Soundsystem
Beast of Burden, Rolling Stones

We want everyone to enjoy the evening...so keep sending your requests!

p.s. I wonder if wedding's ever do Karaoke...hmmmm

Summer Break, Right?

Bloggers get a summer vacation too, right? Ah, good - that's what I thought!

A lot has occured since my last post. First things first, congratulations to my totally amazing and fabulous sister and her new fiance. Those two are great together and I couldn't be more excited! She's my heart & soul and I'm ecstatic to see her so happy.

And now...let update central begin!

Wedding Registry
March was just the beginning. Since our initial registry day, I do believe it has evolved and will probably continue to evolve until the wedding day. And by "evolve," I mean me continually removing items and adding new items. I tell ya, it's a fun way to shop without spending any money! Carl doesn't really get it...but I know he's pleased with the fact that it keeps me from actual $$ spending :)

Dessert
After selecting our dinner menu, we had to put some thought into what we wanted for the dessert. Knowing neither of us are huge cake fans - it was easy to rule that out. H.O.W.E.V.E.R. the difficult part comes down to this one fact:

**My love in life, besides shoes & cheese, is dessert.**

Seriously, how is a girl supposed to narrow something so wonderful down to just one itty bitty thing?!! My dream dessert would actually be an all dessert wedding with no actual dinner. That would be just heavenly.

After more thought, Carl & I narrowed dessert down to our mutual taste for cheesecake. Our dessert will be set up in tiers with a 6-inch vanilla cheesecake on the top tier and mini cheesecake bites on the next two tiers.

And then...

I met with the dessert chef and discussed one of my favorite childhood memories with her and she was able to relay that into a special, unique dessert that I am so excited to share with everyone. This one is staying a surprise - but I just love it. Look for it on the bottom tier of the desserts :) Yummo!

Showers Galore
Going into this whole wedding thing, I wanted to play it low-key and that also included avoiding any type of shower charade. Well...I've had two engagement party/wedding showers and they were both very pleasant surprises. To be honest, I struggle a bit with being the sole center of attention, it's a bit awkward. However, everyone has been so wonderful and Carl & I have been super stoked to get the families aquainted. We're both so lucky to have such awesome people around us...even IF we had to feed each other cake in front of my entire family :)

Special "cheers" to all the awesome family friends I met this past weekend. Talk about a great group of people that made me feel instantly connected. So great.







Wedding Dress Worries...Pish Posh
Back in July, my wedding dress came in. So my friend Abbey, her awesome, awesome mother and I went to try it on. It had been so long since I first ordered it that I had begun to worry the dress would be too large to alter or worse yet - ugly!

We arrived in the parking lot and were greeted by the Abbey's mom's bright smile. After a few hugs, we walked in and they brought my dress out. Seeing it again reminded me how much I liked it...but then, I tried it on and decided I never ever wanted to take it off. I felt like I did the day Carl proposed to me...I hope I feel that way periodically throughout my life as Mrs. Wierer :) So happy that I can feel it in my bones from my toes to my fingers to the top of my head!

Flowers
Sooooo...I've been going back & forth on what to do about flowers. Being in October, any flower I actually like wouldn't be in season. What to do? One day I was at a craft store looking for materials to make our flower girls floral crowns. Oh by the way, we are going to have THE CUTEST flower girls ever. Hannah & Alice have adoreable personalities and add that to cute headbands, cute dresses that they are picking out and two white heart balloons and you have cute overload. I promise you this.

Anyways, getting back on topic - I was at the craft store and started playing around with flowers. By 9:00 PM that night, I had a bridal bouquet and maid-of-honor bouquet made! Saved tons of money, got exactly the type of flowers I wanted and have a forever keepsake. Done and done!

The Look Ahead
Recently, I've been concerned with my vision of the wedding. I really want it to be just a laid-back day with our closest family & friends. I decided to do minimal decorating and have mostly focused on food and music. Sometimes I wonder if it's better to be like other brides and have everyone matching, lots of decor and tons of details.

Carl assures me we will love it. Sidenote: But he has to say that! He's the fiance!

In reality, I know it's going to be a great day and, much to my dismay, I've already shed some happy tears in front of groups of peope (think wedding showers)...I can just imagine the happy tears that are yet to come. Ugh, what is happening to "tough" Sara!?!

I can only hope the wedding will turn out just like this.

What is May 7th to you?

To you, maybe May 7th is the day you decided to cook your family a homemade meatloaf. Or maybe it's the day you had to pay off that massive bill that's been annoying you for months. Well, for me - it's the day I met Carl :) I don't get sappy much - but here you go! May 7th is what could be considered the best day of my life so far.

This past year has been pretty awesome. It definitely was more than I ever really even knew was possible. I always had this internal goal of finding someone that would duplicate the love I saw between my grandparents...strangely enough, I fell into that one year ago today. I couldn't ask for more. I'm super happy and totally excited for everyone to join us in October for an evening of fun and great memories! That's all for now. Just a little tidbit for those of you that care :)

3 Essentials of Life: Eating, Shopping & Music

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NOTE TO ALL MY READERS: I was recently made aware that some of you may not know that any words that appear in green on my blog are actually links. Please remember to click the links in my posts! If you don't, you'll miss out on some awesome youtube clips and even an amazing photo of a real-life Home Depot wedding! So, remember - after reading each post, don't forget to click the green words. That's all :) Thanks for reading!
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Holy Moly! Carl & I recently agreed we've never been this busy...ever.

Since my last post, we've done the food tasting, chosen our menu, redid the entire first floor of our house, started our wedding registry, narrowed down our photographer and chose our MC/DJ!

Food Tasting
Swig knows how to do a menu preview right! Not knowing what to expect, Carl & I arrived and were greeted by the event planner and taken to our own table (set exactly how it will be at our wedding)w/nametags, single-flower centerpiece and black linen atop a dark wooden table.

About 5 minutes after sitting, the servers brought each of us a full, tall signature cocktail. It was an awesome pineapple infused vodka. Kind of reminded us of our trip to Jamaica. We were then instructed to head into the front room where we could try TONS of food and 6 different wines. We tried everything...for those of you that know me, you will be shocked to know that I even tried the shrimp & mozzarella stuffed mushrooms. You will see these on the menu - they were heavenly!

I could tell you more about the menu, but then that'd be one less surprise for you later. So until then, I'll leave you with a photo to help your imagination:

Wedding Registry
This was like an ultimate shopping spree! Well, let me clarify - my ultimate shopping spree would have included a new wardrobe & shoes as well :) I never knew hearing the barcode beep of a product would ever sound so cool. I'm thinking I may start my own business registering couples all day long - it's like vicarious shopping!

MC
Tonight we booked our DJ! We started out not really knowing if we even wanted a DJ. We knew we wanted lots of dancing and a great party - but we didn't know if the $$ would be worth it. I spoke with a few DJ's and the majority of them came across extremely sleezy...picture for yourself a young male with his shirt unbuttoned just a tad too low and, for extra measure, a little shine added to his chest. I'm not kidding. AWFUL!

Well tonight we met with Double Platinum DJ Service, LLC. Right off the bat, the owner, Bill, greeted us at the door and was very approachable. Zero pressure, just a comfortable meet & greet to discuss our thoughts and his. After leaving, Carl & I decided (before we even got in the car) that we found our wedding MC!

Not only did Bill have great suggestions, but he also made us feel confident that our fun evening will run smoothly with no need for us to manage it all night long. If you want to get a better idea on what they do & their personality, check out their blog!

Oh...and you know what this means - time to start submitting your song requests on our wedding web site!