Gifts and Cake!

Before I start this, I want to add that I'm dragging these pre-wedding recaps out as long as possible because I still do not have our pro-pics.  I checked the mail half a dozen times yesterday and when it finally arrived, there was no disc.  So, I emailed Howie to see if the disc had been sent yet (remember, he said I'd it in my hand by the weekend).  He emailed back this morning to tell me that he had just finished editing them this morning and he'd put them in the mail tomorrow.  I'm getting frustrated.  I know that average wait time is this or longer, but it's double what Howie had told me originally.  Grrr... At least when I have them in my possession, I know that they are going to be fantastic!

Anyway, on with the recap.  You might remember that I bought a special groom's cake for Philip especially for the rehearsal dinner.  I chose R2D2 because Philip is a huge Star Wars nerd--er, I mean fan.  ;)

I was actually really pleased with how it turned out.  It looked like R2D2 and had a special touch especially for us:

 

It's a bit difficult to see, but it says "9  24  2011" with a little heart after it.  

Philip digging in to R2D2's leg.  Do robots have legs?  lol

Poor legless R2D2.

Unfortunately I was not as impressed with the taste as I was the look of the cake.  And, even more unfortunately, I wasn't the only one.  Many of the guests and I thought the cake tasted really not good -- like it had been made a week or more ago.  It was dry and flavorless.  And, I had specifically told her not to use a lot of icing (Philip doesn't like lots of icing).  However, apparently she couldn't get the cake to hold together without a ton of icing.  

Although I was disappointed, Philip thought the cake tasted fine and he loved how it looked.  In fact, after we walked in, he turned to me and said, "Did you see the cake in the corner?!"  I told him that I did and that I had ordered it for him.  :)  He was very pleased.  

And, since it was a bridal shower, we also got presents.  :)

 

 

 

 

While we were opening presents, Philip's uncle Dave was making everyone laugh hysterically (as evidenced by the last photos!).  It was definitely a good time.  

Afterwards, we mingled a bit more and then said our goodbyes.  I was exhausted and ready for bed!  So, we headed back to Dave and Melisa's house to get some sleep.  Unfortunately, Philip turned on the TV to Son-In-Law and I got sucked in, so I didn't get to fall asleep right away.  And, even more unfortunately, I still had to get up early the next morning!  But, more on that next time!

Photos courtesy of Philip's mom Kim, my mom, and myself.

Miss something?  Catch up here:
We arrive in Pennsylvania

We begin setting up

We stock the bar (and skip a rehearsal)

We have dinner and play games at our "Rehearsal" Dinner

The Rehearsal Dinner / "Surprise" Shower

When we arrived at Nanny & Pappy's house for the rehearsal dinner, it was revealed that it was a surprise bridal shower for me from Philip's side of the family.  I've got a secret though.  It wasn't actually a surprise.  Shhh!  In the weeks leading up to the wedding, Philip accidentally left his Facebook up on our laptop.  It was open to a message from his mom.  

I only saw about one sentence somewhere in the middle of the message, before I realized that this was not meant for my eyes.  I didn't know when, but I knew that Philip's mom was planning a "surprise" shower for me.  It really sucked to find out because I love surprises!  

Even though I found out, I never told anyone that I knew.  In fact, this is the first I've mentioned that it wasn't actually a surprise.  I knew Philip would be bummed that he ruined the surprise and that Kim would be bummed that I found out ahead of time.  Oops!

Anyway, despite it not being very surprising, I enjoyed the shower/rehearsal dinner.  I got to see a bunch of friends and family that I hadn't seen in so long!  

College friends of mine, Kamille and Em.

Em and Kamille again.

College friends of mine, Aileen (bridesmaid), Joe (actually my ex boyfriend and the reason that Philip and I met), and Jon (our celebrant). 

Brooke (flower girl), my dad Terry, Brooke's grandmother, Philip's aunt, Dave (Philip's uncle), and my uncle Ernie.

Roger (groomsman) and Erin and their twin boys.

Dave, Melisa, Helen, Jim & Marie, Kay - friends and family of Philip.

We played some games - guessing which romance movie quotes came from and some movie trivia.  I told Kim that Philip and I don't watch a lot of romance movies so it wasn't very fair!!  ;)

Then Philip and I had our own version of iron chef making pizzas.  All of the guests had to bring an ingredient and we had to use ALL of the ingredients in our pizza.  

Making our pizzas.

Philip presenting his pizza to the judges.

Me presenting my pizza to the judges. 

In the end, Philip's pizza tasted better (according to the judges who I think were biased!), but I had better presentation skills (meaning, I look better in a dress - HA!).  Overall, I had more points and won the competition.  :)  Score!

There's a bit more to be seen of our fake rehearsal dinner / shower but this post has dragged on long enough so the gift opening and cake cutting can wait until next time!

Photos courtesy of Philip's mom Kim, my mom, my aunt Ann, and myself.

Miss something?  Catch up here:
We arrive in Pennsylvania

We begin setting up

We stock the bar (and skip a rehearsal)

The thank you cards are off!

I finished up the thank you cards for the bridal shower.  I think it actually took longer for me to get the printer to address the envelopes than it took to write the thank you cards themselves!  I don't know why I always have such a hard time getting printers to print on envelopes.  

I know I could just hand write the addresses... but, I thought I had subjected these good people to enough of my horribly handwriting in the cards!  

Right before mailing... taken with my crappy cell phone camera.

It feels good to have them done.  It wouldn't normally take that long to finish them, but with all of the other wedding stuff I've been working on (only 2 nights left to finish everything on my to do list!), it took longer than expected.  But, they're done now.  And, they'll be going in the mailbox when I leave work today.  :)  

Thanks for the (Shower) Memories!

As I said in my previous post, I had a great turn-out for the bridal shower.  It was SO much fun.  But, now it's back to business.  I have to get the Thank You cards started for all of my shower guests.  

I designed a polka-dot thank you card in Microsoft Publisher.  It's in our wedding colors (navy, ivory, and gold).  We had just talked at the shower about how I (and a few of my other guests) love polka dots, so I thought it was fitting!  :)

I printed two to an 8.5 x 11 sheet of ivory cardstock.  

Then, I cut them in half.

Then I folded the sheets in half to make them into cards.

So cute!  I love them.  Now I just have to write something in them!  Ha!  I guess it will give me some practice for the actual wedding!  Honestly, though, I don't really mind writing thank you notes.  I know that I get REALLY irritated when I don't get thank you notes for wedding gifts or baby showers, etc.  So, I really try to put some effort into thanking the people who have helped/gifted/loved me.  :)  

If April showers bring May flowers, what do June showers bring?

A ton of fun and lots of awesome gifts!  Ha!  

My bridal shower was this past Sunday.  My mom and my sister (MOH) threw it for me at my mom's house.  I didn't really know what to expect.  I've never been to a bridal shower (I'm the first of my friends to be getting married).  I was a little nervous...

My sister was a little panicky right before guests started arriving.  She said, "What happens if no one shows up?"  She's a real optimist, that one.  ;)  I told her, "I guess the three of us will have a whole lot of cake to eat by ourselves!"  

It turns out that she worried for nothing.  Almost everyone that they invited came for at least a little while.  The shower guests mostly consisted of my Indiana family.  We played a few games and had snacks and cake.  

The first game was a pop quiz about the bride -- Me!  It was actually really hard.  I told Mom that I didn't think she could answer most of the questions!  A few were easy: my favorite color, my middle name).  But, a few were really hard: my favorite song, what month I met the groom).  There were 16 questions.  There were about 5 people who tied for the winner.  They got three questions right.  Yeah, you read that right.  Only THREE!  ha!  I told you that quiz was hard (If you're curious, the complete quiz is here)!  

Then we played a word jumble of common wedding words.  There was a tie for the winner in that game as well.  However, the winner got 16 out of 17 right on that!  I missed one of the questions... the answer was marriage!  ha!  If you're curious about that one, you can find it here.

Next, there was a memory game.  My mom put a bunch of things on a tray and people got a few seconds to look at the tray.  Then they had 2 minutes to list everything they could remember.  I think the winners only missed an item or two.  It was tricky though!

Then it was time for cake!  It was pretty good.  We got it from Fingerhut Bakery in Bass Lake, Indiana, if you're curious.  We were all a little disappointed because they spelled Philip's name wrong (put 2 Ls in it) even though Tonya told them that it was only one L.  Oh, well. 

Then it was present time.  I wasn't expecting a whole lot.  I was mostly excited just to get to see some of the family that I don't get to see a whole lot.  I was thoroughly surprised!  I got a ton of stuff off our registries.  It was a little overwhelming!  

But, enough chatter, bring on the photos!

Tonya taking around the memory tray.

The little ones telling secrets.

Two of my aunts discussing how hard the quiz was!

Another little one (and our snacks!).

The cake with the misspelled Philip.

Getting ready to open presents.  Tonya was my scribe.

Guests getting some snacks.

Opening presents!

More presents!

Some of the guests.

Opening another present.

Cards galore.

The gift from my FMIL.  Thanks, Kim!

Operation: Gift Opening -- Complete!

When the gifts were all opened, we spent some time just chatting.  After a while, the guests started to leave and then we did the clean-up.  

I cannot even describe how pleasantly surprised I was with my bridal shower.  It was absolutely wonderful.  I cannot thank my mom and my sister (mostly my mom! ha!) enough for putting one on for me.  :)

A visit to the Hoosier state...

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I have my flight booked.  By this time in 2 weeks, I will be in Indiana visiting my family!  There are a few things happening while I'm there.

First, we will be working on the DIY table numbers.  I can't find any 4x6 frames at the Dollar Tree here in Colorado, but my mom found a bunch in Indiana.  That actually works out better anyway (I won't have to cart those things along with me to Indiana in September -- more room in my car for other stuff!).  If I think of any other DIY stuff that they can help me with, we'll probably do that, too.

Next, a shower.  I don't know when this is happening.  I've just been told that it will be while I'm home.  I'm excited because it means that I will (hopefully) be able to see some family members that I don't get to see very often.  :)

And, lastly, I will be getting my alterations started.  My dress is currently hiding in my dad's enormous gun safe.  It is hopefully being guarded from any form of destruction!  I will actually be getting my alterations done by the mother of my best friend from Kindergarten and first grade.  :)  

Before I knew that she could do the alterations, I was in a bit of a panic.  I've seen so many alterations disasters.  I really don't know what I would do if my dress got destroyed during alterations.  I don't even want to think about it!  But, I'm actually feeling much better now that I know that she will be doing my alterations.  My dress will be in wonderful, gifted hands.  :)   

Wedding Registries

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If only that were a possibility, right?  ;)  But, kidding aside, registries are hard.  I don't know what to put on them.  I've been on my own for years now so I've already accumulated a lot of stuff I need for our home.  

Plus, I kind of feel awkward about it.  It's like I'm asking for gifts when I'm doing the registry.  I don't want people to think that they have to give us gifts.  But, all of the etiquette things say to do at least 2 registries to make it easier on the people who do want to buy you gifts.  

So, a lot of the stuff on our registry is the upgraded version of whatever we've already got.  I don't know what all kinds of things are supposed to go on a registry, so I think ours might be a little strange.  I don't know.  There's just only so many dishes you can register for before you get bored.  ;)

Also, I'm supposed to put smaller things on there for people to get me for a bridal shower gift.  I don't know what to put!  Who knew registries were so complicated!?  Any ideas for me to put on there?  Any help is greatly appreciated!