More of the Details

Pictures went well and I am anxious to see them! We took pictures in our dress outfits at Vesterheim on the west side of their building. We ran into the Chamber to change and headed out to the quarry for the fun pictures. We took some pictures in a pile of lime which I refer to as a rock pile and Chad laughs at me. We also took some pics against one of the truck, by an old building, and in the bucket of a loader truck. And it snowed the whole time!

Enough about pictures. As I have mentioned we are using Jewels for our reception. The advantages are that we can choose our caterer and control the bar. The disadvantages are that the place is a mess and it requires cleaning and a lot of decorating. We were concerned about the bathrooms and I really hate the thought of having to clean them ourselves. In fact I refuse to. I have been in touch with ServiceMaster to clean the bathrooms. I will gladly pay them to clean it. I figure if I am not willing to clean them myself I should not ask either of our moms to do it either!

We are getting all of our decorations through Party Island. They are very helpful – you can check them out on Facebook. Tammy Brink and Jill Dawley are great to work with and they have a lot of ideas. The majority of our decorating bill was spent on linens and their labor to cover up all the orange shag carpet at Jewels. I am sure it will look beautiful and I am glad that Party Island is available to make the days leading up to the wedding a little less stressful for us. And since I nearly kicked her at our appointment I am glad Tammy is still willing to help!

I want to use burlap down the center of the tables and put the centerpieces on it. I am on a mission to get the burlap in town. My first stop was at Pine Needles Quilt Shop. They don’t carry burlap and don’t have a distributor for it. I made another call and had a very interesting conversation that left me a bit perplexed. They actually told me they don’t get what people mean when they say they want to shop local. They offered to email me some pricing information on flowers and burlap which I never received. Needless to say we are moving on. I plan to talk to some of the landscapers to see if we can get some from them. We are getting the cake from Pinters so I think they will probably be my next call.

All the flowers are coming from The Country Garden. They also have a Facebook page. The price is right and JoEllen is great to work with. We are using white gerbera daisies and roses. The bridesmaids will be carrying just three daisies with a bit of greenery. All boutiners will be a single daisy. My bouquet will have a rose daisy combo. We are hanging pails on the edge of the pews and they will have green hydrangeas in them. I am excited to work with JoEllen on the wedding.

We need more tables than what Jewels has on hand – did you know that Windridge Implement has a trailer full of tables you can rent? Not sure if we have enough yet but we should probably finalize the guest list before we get too crazy!

Can that be Photo Shopped?

Tomorrow we have our engagement pictures taken. When we made this appointment it seemed out there a bit and now here it is. I imagine the next seven months will feel that way!

Choosing a photographer was one of the toughest things in the wedding planning process thus far. We were in touch with nine photographers and many of them were already booked. Prices were pretty comparable with a few exceptions. There were two that had photos one their website that really stood out to me. One was booked and the other was available – and I feel very honored to have Auny Kerndt Pole as our photographer. If you saw the bridal edition of the Decorah Newspaper she was the photographer for the White wedding. You can view some of her work at www.aunypolephotography.com

We have been gone quite a bit in the last two weeks. We spent last weekend in the Dells with my family and this week we have been at the Iowa Limestone Producers Association Convention. I find it easier and more fun to refer to it as the Rock Head Convention. Now that I am home and am thinking about pictures I feel ill prepared. Oh, the outfits are all ready to go, you must know that has been planned about as long as we have had our appointment. Now I wish I had gotten a haircut and probably should have waxed my mustache. There my big secret is out. A couple of months ago all the boys here (Chad included) ganged up on me while I was making breakfast and ooohed over the fact that I had a mustache. Carter came to my defense a bit saying that we all have little hairs. However, I immediately text my fashion consultant/hair stylist/hair remover to tell her we had an issue. Thank you Jody for taking care of me!

So tomorrow I hope my hair cooperates, that my mustache is not visible, and oh yeah, did I mention got a new pimple? Never fails right?

We are taking the pictures in one of Wiltgen’s quarries. We have two outfits planned and Chad very wisely wonders where we will change our outfits at. So if you are on the Madison Road tomorrow and see people in the quarry the people changing behind the rock pile are me and Chad. I’ll be the one with the mustache and the Rudolph like pimple!

Cheers,

Kristina

And just to clarify - the picture on my previous post is NOT my wedding dress.

The Dress

I must admit that the day we went dress shopping I was just not really feeling it. I have no justification for this other than I may have just been feeling pressure to find the right dress. I wanted a simple dress. Nothing fuffy or over the top. And of course it has to be comfortable and affordable.

And you must know that I had a picture of two dresses that I liked in my wedding binder along with a picture of the bridesmaid dresses I wanted. All filed under "clothing."

I had already found the bridesmaids dresses online. If you have not looked at formal dresses online you should check it out sometime! When you find a dress style you can look at it in different colors until you find the perfect one. And as they say once I found it I knew. Bridal Productions has many links off their site to designers they carry so you can shop before shopping! http://www.bridalproductions.com/

As for my dress, I tried on seven and went with number two. My mom feels I need a veil and I don’t want one. The reviews are mixed on that decision but I am sticking to my guns there. This dress was a very close second. Even now when I look at the pictures I wonder if I made the right decision but then I think of how I felt in the other dress and know I made the right decision. Ignore the headpiece thing in the picture - it is not included!

Before leaving my mom got her outfit planned for both our wedding and my sisters, Chad’s mom got a dress, and most of the bridesmaids got their measurements done. The staff at Bridal Productions was fabulous. They were very helpful and courteous despite how busy they were on that Saturday morning. It was a great experience.

Bridal Productions also carries tuxes but we have decided to get those through Amundson’s so we can share the love so to speak! The dresses are forest green and the tuxes will be chocolate brown. Should be a great combo.

Short Form, Long Form, No Form?

Choosing a wedding date was not terribly easy. My sister is getting married on June 11^th of this year as well and I did not want to totally overwhelm my parents! We also did not want to wait until 2012 to get married. When all was settled we were planning for September 17^th.

So begins the conversations with the church. Chad is Catholic and I am Lutheran. Chad’s preference was to get married at St. Aloysius in Calmar. I was open to that as I am in the process of joining a new church and don’t have the established relationship that he has. And having grown up Catholic I was more than willing to go along with his wish.

So first we make sure the date is available with the church – yes! Next we must meet with Father Hawes. I’ll admit I was more than a little nervous as I had heard that the process may not be as easy as we were hoping for. Turns out I had reason to be nervous. I honestly feel as though I may have been better received had I been to prison and back rather than being divorced. I further complicated the situation by growing up Catholic and marrying Lutheran the first time.

I was going to need an annulment. The question was did we need the short form or the long form? The short form is easy - $25 and a couple of weeks and it could be done. I needed a copy of my marriage license and my certificate of baptism. Easy enough. The long form was more expensive (I don’t recall the amount) and it could take 9-12 months with out a guarantee of approval. What?! Really how many people are willing to wait for that?

We left that initial meeting feeling pretty disenchanted. Lucky for us within 24 hours of that meeting we were told we could file the short form and all turned out well in the end. I plan to stay with the Lutheran Church as my boys are being raised Lutheran and I would like to worship with them.

I am happy that Chad is able to be married in his family’s church as his brothers were. Don’t interpret this posting as a religious battle. In my opinion we are both Christians and it is more about making our wedding what we want it to be.

We will be married on September 17, 2011 at St. Aloysius with the reception to follow at Jewel’s Skate Country.

Of course there are more details to come!

Cheers,

Kristina

I'm a Beaver?

As I mentioned the planning process has really set off my need to plan and organize every little detail. And for me it is never too soon to start taking care of things. However, I am not sure everyone appreciates this. One of the first things that happened following our engagement was the creation of “The Big Book of Wedding Plans.” Now, I did not make this binder. Emily helped me out with this. But I am sure it was only a matter of time before I would have created the same thing or set out to purchase something similar. The book has a calendar through September as we are getting married on September 17th, a tab for wedding party, clothing, Decorah-ations, ceremony, reception, etc. And you must know the binder is nearly full and I have asked Chad to get me a new binder today as he is out and about. All of two months into this the binder is coming apart. My instructions are specific “please get one that is an inch and a half and no plain jane stuff get me a pretty one I am a girl you know.”

Last weekend we attended the M.A.T.T. class in Cedar Falls. Marriage and Trusting Together is a class designed for couples looking to marry in the Catholic Church when one or both have been married before. Since I have been married before we registered and cleared our calendars. Of course the day started with introductions. We were asked to tell everyone how we met, our wedding date, any children we have, and one word to describe our partner. We were the last couple to do introductions. My name is Kristina Falck we are getting married on September 17th, we met on a blind date, I have two kids ages 11 and 7 and I think Chad is a true gentlemen. Chad introduces himself and says Kristina is organized, oh and caring. What?! Others used words like beautiful, charming, loving, fun-loving, etc. But I am organized. Now I’m getting a complex.

Part of the M.A.T.T. class was a discussion on personalities. Which I always find interesting. And yes, I am fully aware of my personality types. However this time I was given a label that was new to me. We were given a sheet of paper with four columns. We were to check each item that we felt described us and add up each column. The columns were labeled L, O, G, and B. Upon watching the coordinating video we learn it is actually Lion, Otter, Golden Retriever, and Beaver. Lions are leaders. Otters are motivators and entertainers. Golden Retrievers are sensitive, routine and loyal. Beavers are inspectors and accurate. Can you guess where I fell? I actually scored equally between Golden Retriever and Beaver but who are we kidding I am a Beaver. Perhaps they were the only stuffed animals the guy had a home as props but really a Beaver??

Last night we had our final meeting with Father Hawes until the wedding approaches. As we were leaving Father says to me “Kristina see if you can get this thing organized now.” Wait a minute, was the priest mocking me?

So if you follow me at least now you know what you are in for!

Cheers,

Kristina

My Big Fat Winneshiek Wedding

It finally happened, we are engaged. And now the planner, organizer, type a personality I am kicks into high gear. It is time to plan! Our goal to have the “Pay It Local” Wedding. Everything we need is right here and supporting your local economy is the only way to go.

So, let me tell you about the engagement… On Friday, December 17th we had not made any real plans for the evening. Not terribly unusual for a Friday night. I did a little Christmas shopping downtown after work and Chad and I arrived home around the same time. In the kitchen Chad tells me he has a present for me. A nicely wrapped small box from Mark’s Jewelry. Kudos to Chad as I am familiar with their boxes! I anxiously open the box and find a pair of earrings. I might have been happier if they were not the earring he had given me the previous year for my birthday! After expressing my feelings on this Chad pulls the ring from his pocket throws it at me and very quickly asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes and the ring fit perfectly. In celebration we went to Albert’s for dinner followed by a drink at Your Place.

I have no intention of becoming the high maintenance bridezilla. I want a nice wedding with family and friends. Most of all I am on a mission to show all items couples feel are necessary, or just wanted, can be purchased local. Stay tuned as we plan our day by supporting local businesses.

Cheers -

Kristina