HaselBride

Wow.

Back from our rehearsal dinner, spending the night at my parent's house before the big day. So ready to be Mrs. S and Miss Hasel no more.

Thank you all so much for your advice and listening ear throughout the last few months! I don't know how I would have done it with you all. I am serious! It has been beyond wonderful meeting other women who are interested in the same things I am and understand the silly debates over the details! I cannot wait to be back full force to share recaps and additional projects.

Expect more after the honeymoon!

Not losing my mind {yet}

Ahh... the dreaded week before the wedding. Oh, I'm sorry, did I say dreaded? I meant the glorious week before I marry my sweetheart. Is that better?

Anyhow, things are insane at HaselBride Wedding Base Camp in Indiana {aka my parents' house}. Out of town tote bags are printed and ready to be filled, table numbers are stacked up waiting to be put where they belong, the candle centerpieces are in the living room waiting to be delivered to the florist, the programs are done, the favors are boxed up and ready for transport. {I promise to share details later.} Things are looking good. Nick is currently on the road to Indiana, as well as my sister and her babies. We are celebrating Christmas with my sister and her kids tomorrow. I cannot wait for them to open their presents.

There are still a few things to be done, though: for example, the blank pages I ordered for the guestbook I'd already purchased were not blank pages at all. Actual blank pages are on their way now. Considering how behind I was a few days ago, my to-do list is not too long: finish up simple welcome sheet for the out of town bags, fix up the guestbook once the pages arrive, print cards for non-pro photos Flickr uploading, wrap up the portrait list, wrap bridal party gifts, and a few more random small things.

Forecast from today from WishTV8.

The weather so far in Indiana has been MISERABLE. Normally Indiana's weather is not so filled with freezing rain, snow, etc. before Christmas. At least I can't remember since childhood weather this unpredictable. It could definitely be worse, but it is certainly not perfect. Luckily Friday and Saturday are looking okay, just cold!

I'm hoping to be back later today or tomorrow with more, but I make no guarantees. I added the Twitter application to my sidebar, feel free to keep up with me there. I've been posting my progress/status every few hours and will continue to do so as much as possible! See you on the other side! :)

{Decisions, decisions} Honeymoon

Over the past few months, I've asked A LOT of opinions and advice from you wonderful readers. Well, seeing as how we are eleven days out I figured I would start sharing some of the decisions we've made. Starting with our honeymoon, and I will give you a hint:

 

Nick and I decided that New York City at Christmas sounded too cool to pass up. It might not seem like a true honeymoon filled with fruity drinks, the beach and laying out, but it is the perfect trip for our first married Christmas. I know, I know, we'll be tired after the wedding, but we've got Sunday to recuperate and see our families off. When Stephanie told me to read my post again, I realized New York is where my heart wants us to go. We talked about it in the car the other night on the way home from shopping and decided a really planned out trip to Hawaii is to come in two to three years. Then we can go to Kauai and the Big Island.

Because of Nick's commitment to the Air Force, we can't really plan ever a trip around a specific season/time of year. We can go to Hawaii during any season, but the chance of us ever being available to go to New York at Christmas/around our anniversary is pretty slim. We'll be living across the country from our families next year and will no doubt end up spending that and other future Christmases in the Midwest. Once we start having children {not for a long, long while}, they'll come visit us.

So send on the recommendations! I've never been and Nick hasn't been in a few years, so what show should we see? What restaurants should we eat at? What home decor, vintage, paper, boutiques, department stores do I have to go to?

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More decisions coming later today and tomorrow...

{Honeymoon} Hawaii versus New York

Nick and I weren't thinking much about a honeymoon. Mostly, I was worried about him actually being at our wedding! Air Force training gets delayed all the time, and his original end date was only a month before the wedding. We were waiting until he graduated from pilot training and got his follow-on training dates before discussing honeymoon details. His training dates are pretty much non-negotiable, so we didn't want to chance having to reschedule or postpone. He got his dates a few weeks ago and we definitely have some time to go on a honeymoon. I have had such as stressful and weird year, that I would love to end the celebration of our marriage with a week alone together away from our house, TiVo, and computers, etc.

Originally, we were both leaning toward Hawaii. I spent an amazing two weeks on the Big Island during high school studying marine biology, and Nick had vacationed on Kauai and loved it. Plane tickets to vacation locations are surprisingly cheap right now, I'm sure due in part to the country's economic crisis. However, we hadn't been saving for a trip that much and at first glance it didn't appear to be inexpensive enough. If it were warmer, we would definitely head to the Outer Banks, North Carolina, our favorite vacation spot, but if we're going somewhere in the winter I'd like for it to be super warm. So we were still brainstorming...

A got a text from a good friend currently vacationing in NYC and something got me thinking, wow, it would be so cool to be in New York City for Christmas day. We could go to mass together, order Chinese food in. It would be incredibly cool and romantic to spend our first married Christmas all bundled up together in the city. I always thought I would move there after college, but Nick kind of changed my plans, so how cool to go together for my first visit. It wouldn't be too expensive, and we love exploring new places.

Then last might, Nick was checking on package deals on Hotwire and it looks like we could afford to go to Hawaii after all. Now, I am so torn. There are so many pros to both trips and I think both would make really memorable honeymoons for us. Hawaii would be so warm, and uber-relaxing for me after these next few stressful weeks. It might be weird to spend Christmas in such a warm place, but it is definitely our dream to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon. We so aren't prepared clothingwise, but a quick trip to J.Crew resort might fix that.

However, I just can't help thinking NYC in Christmas would be ah-mazing... just how cool. We might never get the chance to go to the city during this time of year again, and our favorite thing to do is explore new, cool places especially cities. New York would be the perfect location to do that! Plus, Christmas mass at a beautiful Catholic church in the city would be an unforgettable first Christmas. In the four years we've been together, we've never seen each other on Christmas day; I'm always in Indiana and he is in Missouri. What a great way to celebrate our first Christmas.

Sidenote: you know how some say you should go on a vacation with someone before you decide if you are meant for each other? Well, Nick and I are great together on a vacation. We might argue and bicker when we are at home, but send us away and we will almost immediately get along fabulously. It is so cool and one of my favorite things about us.

Nick has left the choice up to me and I have to decide between the two asap. What would you do? Take a winter city vacation? Or spend a week relaxing near an active volcano?

Photos © The Knot.

Band of {White} Gold

Nick and I are finally ordered our wedding bands. I hadn't completely settled on what style of wedding band I wanted so we just kept putting it off. I've been working my way through our football field long to-do list and I finally got back to that task. Luckily, one of my good friends works for a wonderful, family-owned jewelry store and had some rings sent down to try on with my engagement ring. I emailed her a pdf of bands I liked and a few days later I was trying them on at her home.

I knew I didn't want a wrap or a band with a cut out to fit around my engagement ring even though a band won't sit flush with the setting {the photo below from Ice Stone is exactly like the mine}. We had considered having the diamond put into a different setting, but in the end I knew I wanted to keep the original setting Nick proposed to me with. When he first proposed, I been thinking I wanted a band with a rope/cable texture similar to David Yurman's signature rings, but something with a little sparkle kept catching my eye.

So these were in the pdf I sent my friend:

The three on the left are from Tiffany and Co. The wonderful green confection is Vera Wang. {Her jewelry line was gorgeous; I used to spend hours looking at her creations, but unfortunately they are no longer on her website.} The last two are from Leon Mege, The Art of Platinum. As you can tell from the pictures, I really love pave. I didn't want my wedding band to distract from my engagement ring stone, but I wanted to add a little texture to the whole thing and pave seems the best way to go about it. I ended up choosing a gorgeous ring similar to the one on the far right. It is just dainty enough to add some lightness to my very geometric setting. I love it. As soon as we get it from the jeweler, I will definitely share some photos.

While we in Indiana for Thanksgiving, Nick chose a wedding band. We had a credit that needed to be used at a store at home. {The receipt was only a year old, but practically erased from the paper. If we didn't use it then, the next time we tried it wouldn't be there!} He had originally had his eye on the ring on the left from Benchmark, but decided on the ring on the right from Camelot. He is not a jewelry person at all, so it was kind of hard for him to decide.

 

Unfortunately, there is a slight chance Nick's wedding band won't be here in time for the wedding. They said it would probably be here, but they are supposed to quote a four week delivery timeframe. If it doesn't arrive, we can borrow the wrong size ring from the store. Nick wants to use his grandfather's wedding band in the ceremony. He had mentioned wearing that as his wedding band awhile back, but I really wanted to buy him a ring since he'd given me my dream engagement ring. I wanted him to have something from me. Is that weird? Maybe we can give his grandfather's ring to our future child to use as their wedding band.

How did you choose your wedding bands? Do either of you wear a ring from a family member {or plan to}?

Top images © Ice Stone, middle images © Tiffany & Co., Vera Wang and Leon Mege/The Art of Platinum. Bottom images © Benchmark and Camelot.