Signing Off!!!

I'm officially signing off as Miss! With the next two weeks chock full of things to do like relaxing and enjoying being engaged, I'm finishing any and all wedding tasks this week and then cutting myself off. So thank you to everyone who reads this and I can't wait to post recap pictures as a married lady! I am so lucky to have my friends and family support us throughout this whirlwind of a year and a half and we are so grateful for them. And most of all, I am so lucky to be marrying the man of my dreams in just 14 days. He's everything I could have wanted and more and I hope the next 14 days fly by!!!!

Ciao,

Frances :)

Our house right now: we're ready to go!

Let's Get Ready to Rumble!!!!!

And now to touch on the most important part of our wedding, besides the marriage of course. :) The music!!! I've hand picked every song being played at the wedding to make sure that our guests will be on the dance all night long! While searching for some classic rock, hot songs of 2010 and the pop songs we'll never forget, I came across one very talented DJ. His name is DJ Earworm and all I can say is WOW! He does mashups of Billboard's top 20 songs of each year and luckily he just released his new mashup for 2010!!! At 10pm, we'll play his Best of 2009 to get all of our friend's on the dance floor followed by his new mashup of 2010. We'll then go into playing one of the best party anthems of this century, Black Eyed Peas, I Gotta Feelin'.

DJ Earworm is insanely talented so I had to share our two mashup songs! :) Enjoy and we can't wait to blast these at our reception and really get the party started!!!

Hangin' Tough!

I found the most adorable hanger online and of course, had to re-create! I bought some dark wood hangers from Ikea and 14 gauge wire and about 20 minutes later, Viola!!! I was pretty proud of my craftiness. :) I am so excited to hang my wedding dress on this for a short moment (not sure how strong it us!) for a perfect photo op. It was pretty easy to make and I'm thrilled with how it turned out!

Welcome Out of Towners!

If you want to be surprised and you're coming in from out of town DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!



In an effort to make sure that everyone enjoys their weekend in Dallas, I made out of town bags! Each one includes bottled water, a few snacks, Excedrin for the morning after, mints and you guessed it, a packet! The packet includes fun information about Dallas, the door hanger I made a few months ago, a thank you note signed by me and Curtis and our Shutterfly card to upload photos from the wedding to.

Custom Hang Tags with Guest's Names

Small tease to what's inside!

Thank You Note From the Both of Us

Full Packet

Door hanger and Shutterfly Card

I hope that our guests enjoy the fun goodies inside of the bag and makes them feel welcomed by us! :)

Find Your Table

I'm on a wedding roll! I've started to print Escort Cards for those of our guests who have RSVP'd. (*ahem, gentle reminder if anyone hasn't RSVP'd that the deadline is in 3 days) I wanted to keep this classy and elegant so I printed the names on the front of the card in a gorgeous font and the inside will feature the table name they're located at. Our table names are some of the countries Curtis and I have been to together and the signage will be a picture of us in that country! I thought it was a good way to continue the subtle travel theme we have going on. :) Here are a few pictures of my parent's card:






And here is how I'd like to have it setup!



I love the rose petals and candles scattered between the cards and I'll have a large arrangement in the center of the table. This will be in the foyer of the venue as guests get off of the elevator. Since our guestbook and time capsule will be in the main ballroom, and this is the only thing in the reception foyer, I'm hoping crowding won't be an issue. I'm also going to have it set up as a round display where the cards are coming out from the middle of the table instead of having them all facing forward like in this photo. And of course it will be alphabetized by last name of the guest invited or married couple's formal name (mr. & mrs. curtis gulick).

I love the way these are turning out! And knowing I have most of them done already really makes me feel better about the entire wedding planning process. 27 days!!! :D

Signature Cocktails

Even though we're having an open bar, I love the idea of having Signature Cocktails. So we are! I've selected 4 cocktails from each country we're featuring and they are delicious! The cocktails featured are:

Beijing Bellini- Dry Prosecco, Lychee Liquor (a sweet candy-tasting liquor)

Classic Italian Bellini- Italian Prosecco, Peach Puree

Mediterranean Sunset- Greek Ouza, Orange Juice, Grenadine

Rum Punch- Light Rum, Pineapple Juice, Orange Juice, Banana Juice, Lime Juice, Grenadine

The menu: I printed 4 of them and then backed it with metallic gold paper for a little pizazz. :)

I find that people generally enjoy having some sort of pre-set option at an open bar plus it makes it fun to try various drinks from around the world! :) All of the non-alcoholic parts of the drinks will be pre-mixed so I know they'll be mixed properly (I am SUCH a control freak, I'm aware) and then the bartenders will simply mix the alcohol with the pre-made mixes.

In addition to the alcohol, we'll also have the standard Coke and Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper and Diet Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Water, Iced Tea, Coffee and non-alcoholic Champagne. (sparkling grape juice) I hope everyone enjoys cocktail hour and the reception! :) And maybe give a few people some liquid courage to hit the dance floor, haha! :D

Time in a Bottle

29 days away!!! I cannot believe I'm marrying my Prince Charming in 29 days! :) Ok, back to the subject...

I recently read one of the sweetest guest book ideas I've ever heard on none other than Weddingbee. The bride and groom write love notes to each other the morning of the wedding, their parents write notes to each of them as well and during the ceremony, all are placed in a box with a bottle of everyone's favorite wine, a gift from the families. Then on the 10th anniversary of the couple, they open the box, enjoy the wine and relive the feelings they felt on wedding day! Lots of 'bees are doing this now instead of a guestbook and since we already have a guestbook (thank you Ma!) and a Unity candle, I thought this was still be something special and sweet to have out at the reception.



I already made a sign that will go on the guestbook table explaining what to do. Guests will first sign our guestbook then move on to the capsule. Using small pieces of paper provided, they will write either their favorite memory of us, a small piece of advice or something they think we should do/where we'll be then place it in an envelope already labeled with a year. Guests may choose if we are to open it on our 1-5th anniversaries, 10th, 15th, 20th, 30th, 40th or 50th. Then, each anniversary of the year on the envelope, Curtis and I will open the box and read the lovely words from our guests to take us back to our wedding day. (getting teary-eyed thinking about this) What a wonderful way to really bring back those feelings the day of the wedding!



I don't have any pictures yet because the house is slowly becoming chaotic, haha! The wedding room has now been gently dismantled and the front room consists of a "ceremony" side and a "reception" side so I can feel that much more on top of the organizational process. I will post pics though as soon as I have them! :) All I need is a pretty box/chest, cut some paper, label a few envelopes and print the sign to frame. Viola! A simple project that I know will lead to years of happiness of reliving this special time.