HaselBride

Viva Las Vegas, continued

We have arrived! Nick and I made it safely after a three-day cross country drive. {Yes! Three! Ah! It. Was. So. Long.} We're currently shacked up at a hotel and up until a week ago or so, were house-hunting daily. Those of you who follow me on Twitter already know most of this: we are thisclose to being homeowners. Something I thought we wouldn't do for a long long time because of Nick's commitment to the Air Force. I will keep you all updated on our house buying journey. I am so ready to be living in a house, not a hotel.

The trip was insane. I personally love driving long-distances, but after the journey from Mississippi to Nevada, I've had my fill. The first day {February 12} we drove from Mississippi through Arkansas to Oklahoma. One of the couples we've know since college, is now living in Oklahoma City, so we stopped there to stay the night. The next morning {February 13} we met them for an early lunch at Panera. Then we headed off and drove through Texas into New Mexico, where our other friends from college have been living since after their wedding last year. Then on Saturday, aka Valentine's Day, we headed off through Arizona, which was by far the most exhausting day. The drive absolutely exhausted me, the mountains were beautiful, but oh the curves and the inclines. I was a ball of nerves by the time we arrived in Las Vegas late that night. Long story short, there was some confusion about our accommodations that night and the city was packed with people in for the holiday weekend AND Valentine's, so we ended up staying at not-so-fab motel and moving into a nicer hotel the next day.

That day, our first in Las Vegas, we met up with Nate from Turtle Pond Photography to pick up our dvd of hi-res images and proof book. He was here for the event of the year it seems: WPPI. Every one and their sister/brother was here, twittering away about my new city, including That Wife and some of the ladies from Southern Weddings Magazine. I would have loved to have bumped into them, but Nick and I were only on the "strip" for a few hours Sunday so I could take a peek around. {I had never actually been to Vegas before we moved here.}

I'm hoping to start recaps soon, but I'm honestly not sure where to begin! I feel like I have a whole lot more to share with you, but at the same time I am quickly moving on from our wedding and onto setting up our home. I still want to blog about weddings, but I am a little bit over ours. :)

What are your suggestions for handling recaps? How do you like recaps? What else would you like to know about our wedding? I am definitely looking forward to starting a second lifestyle {design, home, fashion, etc.} blog. As far as lifestyle/home blogs go, do you prefer those with one voice or two {ala the SCOOP}?

{Also, I owe a few readers emails. I promise to get to those soon.}

Viva Las Vegas

First off, I apologize for not posting lately. I am definitely in that post-wedding slump exacerbated by an impending cross-country move and Nick's month-long TDY (temporary duty assignment). Oh, how I love the Air Force. What's with the cross-country move you ask? You might have caught wind of it before now, as I mentioned it in passing a handful of times, but here's the official announcement: we're moving to Las Vegas next week.

Yep, Sin City is our new home. It was an unwelcome shock at first because this particular plane and assignment had not really been on our radar, but as we began to examine the pros, oh how they outweigh the cons! Nevada will probably be our homebase for the next three and a half years or so, and then hopefully Nick will officially enter the fighter world. I am delighted we will be stationed at another warm weather location and thrilled that the location is an actual city! So many Air Force bases are located in the middle of nowhere or in not so big towns. I am absolutely thrilled to be living in a place that has almost anything I can think of and flights to and from my home state are not through the roof.

As excited as I am for the five Targets, it is bittersweet to me to leave our wonderful home here. Although it was a rental, it was our first house together and is the style I would eventually like to own. We have built-in bookcases, white trim, etc. I'm sure we'll find another great home in Las Vegas, but I'm going to miss the place where Nick proposed, where we hosted our first party together, where we returned after our honeymoon, etc. etc. We have so many memories in these walls.

Anyhow, so what does this mean for the blog? I had hoped to have some recaps or posts up and scheduled before we begin our three-day road trip next week, but I've been working 12 hour days catching up on work and then at night I prepare our house for the move. I'm still hopeful I'll be able to get a few posts finished up and posted in my absence, but if I don't please peruse the archives and fill me in on what else you'd like to see on HaselBride. Advice? More real weddings? DIY projects from my wedding? What do you want to see?

After the recaps, I'm planning to keep HaselBride up and running as a resource for fellow winter brides as long as I remain interested in weddings {which will probably be a long time}, but I'm thinking about starting up a lifestyle {design, fashion, home, food} blog to share my adventures outside of the wedding. I mentioned something to one of my best friends/bridesmaid about blogging together, but we haven't yet decided what we want to do. What would you like to see as the next installment of Hasel?

As usual, follow along with my adventures in the sidebar or directly on Twitter.

Images © The Knot.

{Decisions, decisions} To see or not to see

I'm going to resurrect the "Decisions, decisions" series while I wait for the dvd with the hi-res photos to arrive in my mailbox from our photographers. I had originally wanted to wrap this up before the wedding, but ah, time how it gets away from me. So I'll pick up where I left off.

As far as seeing each other before, Nick and I decided against it. He was opposed to it, and since he didn't ask for much regarding the wedding, I agreed. We really appreciated all of your comments; they really helped us weigh our options. Someone commented that it is a really personal decision, and I definitely agree. Our early ceremony time made it not as ideal for us to see each other before and it actually give us more time in the end. Not seeing each other before, I already had to be showered and ready to get my hair and make-up done at 7:30 a.m. If we'd seen each other before, my wake-up call would have been much earlier or it wouldn't have made a difference at all. So that option proved not to be a good one for us. We had always planned to have some photos before, so we did photos of Nick and I with our respective friends and family.

We planned two hours for it on the actual day, but getting dressed once we arrived at the church took a lot longer than I had expected for various reasons {a face-eating veil, a wedding gown that needed to be steamed, oooh and ahhing over the flowers, etc.}. In in the end, we took about one hour to take the formal portraits and an hour and a half after the mass to take a handful of family portraits, bride and groom shots, and wedding party photos before heading to the reception around 5:45 p.m. {Dinner was served around 6:30 p.m.} Honestly, if I had the day to do over, I would have rushed everyone a bit more to get dressed so I could take a few more fun photos with my bridesmaids not in the church. All around though, not seeing each other before worked out great for us. Did you feel like you had enough time for portraits? Were you pleased with the final outcome?

Photos © Turtle Pond Photography.
Please do not repost without providing credit and a link back to Turtle Pond and HaselBride. Thanks!

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! :)

{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.

Thankful...

I'm back home in Indiana again for Thanksgiving and to do some wedding stuff {get our marriage license, meet with the priest, etc., it has been a busy week!}. I have been swamped with work, wedding and a cold, but I hope to be back next week blogging full force. I have so much to share with you all, and I have missed you! I can't hardly find time to comment on other blogs or say hi to you all, but I have read all of your comments and emails, I promise. I loved them all! I hope you all had a great holiday...

This year I am incredibly thankful for my family and friends {virtual blog buds included!}, especially Nick. I am looking more and more forward to our wedding the closer it gets. I cannot wait to be married to him.

What are you thankful for this year?

A word to the wise...

If you are a perfectionist, procrastinator and/or graphic designer with a lot going on in your life aside from your fabulous wedding... please for the love of all things paper, don't try to make your invitations all by yourself. Come up with a design, but then spring for letterpress, have them offset print, do anything but Gocco each and every invitation, rsvp card and accommodation/direction card by hand with multiple colors. You will end up crying, twice. It will be bad.

So, that's my little bit of advice, don't try to do it all yourself. Hire someone to print your fabulous design for you. Why oh why did you tell your mom you'd do it yourself to save some money? You did not save your sanity...

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I am ALMOST done with them. Honestly, I wanted to have them out the door at the eight week mark, but after my grandmother's passing and the timing of all of these important nights in Nick's career I gave up that dream. I am now glad to have them out at a little under six weeks. Once they are in the mail, I promise to share photographs of my serious labor of love.

Back in the Saddle... and Tagged.

I'm here, I promise. Sorry for the delay in my return. This past week has been filled with catching up on work, finishing loads of projects for the wedding {with my visiting mom and aunt}, and a big night for Nick's Air Force career. It has been a busy and important week all around. I have much to fill you in on about our future and the wedding.

The week before that of course, I was back in Indiana celebrating my grandmother's long, wonderful life. Thank you all for you kind comments and sharing your stories, I appreciated them so much and read each and every single one more than once. It has been a rough year as far as loss goes, but of course I'm so thankful to have awesome friends {in real life and through my blog} and family to support me and give me strength.

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Figured I'd start back off with something fun... I was tagged by Stephanie from Gossip. Style. Wed. to share six quirky things about myself, six things I value and six things I do not. I should take this time to mention that Stephanie has graciously agreed to be my day of coordinator. I am thrilled to have someone the day of to take the lead with the hotel and at the church. Just from our first conversation, I already feel very confident with some things in her hands. She has also offered to help me sketch out a timeline, which is so helpful and has already taken a few things off my plate.

Anyhow, on to the facts:

Six quirky things about me:

1. I only like cheese with certain things. I will eat pizza, grilled cheese, nachos with melted shredded cheese, plain slices of colby cheese BUT I will not touch a sandwich of any sort with cheese on it. I am very picky when it comes to cheese.
2. I claim to be organized, but I am honestly an organized mess. I can't work in chaos, so I keep most of it in our bedroom. My friends can attest to all of the piles of clothing and magazines. They are neat piles, but piles nonetheless.
3. My daily uniform is a black t-shirt and jeans. Not really that quirky. I try to wear color because I love it, but I always end up slipping into my comfort zone: black.
4. I almost got a tattoo a few years back with my two best friends. I am so glad we never got around to that! I am just not a needles or tattoo person...probably comes from having a dad covered in them!
5. Freshman year of high school I wanted to be a meteorologist or a pharmacist. Then I got into Journalism classes and out the window that went in favor of graphic design! My dad was so disappointed. :)
6. I love tomatoes and bacon. If you put tomatoes and bacon on something I don't like there is a good chance I would probably eat it with little complaint.

Six things I value:

1. My family. Not just my mom, step-dad, dad, step-sister and niece and nephews, but my cousins, aunts and uncles {included my step-dad's family}. They are my world and mean so much to me! I have said it before and I'll say it again, I am so so lucky to have an extended family that is close and so wonderful. Don't get me wrong, we have our spats and differences, but at the end of the day we all love each other!
2. My friends! They are like another extention of my family. I am so fortunate to have really good friends from different times in my life who I still keep in touch with. I have known my matron of honor C since kindergarten and my bridesmaid T and I have been inseparable since middle school.
3. An education. I feel so fortunate to be some of the first generation in my family to have a college education, especially since my degree allows me to do what I love.
4. My home state, Indiana. Oh, how I picked on you in my youth. You aren't so bad. I miss you more than ever now! The cornfields, the Midwestern atmosphere, Indianapolis with the shopping I know like the back of my hand, I could go on and on. I will always call you home.
5. A fiance who loves me even though I'm a little crazy sometimes. He would never admit it, but I think he enjoys me that way. He and I come from just slightly different backgrounds, but one thing that is so similar is how close his extended family is. It makes it much easier for him to understand why I want to be at home {Indiana} sometimes.
6. Having pets. Oh man, oh man, I want a dog so badly right now it is a bit ridiculous. Hopefully after our next move, I will be a proud dog mom.

Six things I do NOT value:

1. Inconsiderate people.
2. Coffee. Don't drink it. Never have, probably never will. Wish I could because it is far better for you than my caffeinated addiction Diet Coke.
3. Traffic in an unfamiliar place. It doesn't stress me out if I know where I'm going, but if I don't, well it's over! Meltdown ahead!
4. Not having my own space {it's an only child thing}.
5. Bugs. I hate them. If I find one and kill it, I leave it's dead body on the floor until Nick gets home. What am I going to do when he is deployed?
6. The time change. Indiana just started changing time two or so years ago. I am still trying to figure this whole thing out. Everyone makes so much fun of me, but it is confusing for a person who never grew up with it!

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I will hopefully be back later today to continue the Invitation Only posts. My invitations are only a little behind schedule, but will be sent out at the six week mark versus eight. When did you send your invites out?

Honoring Family Members

Yesterday morning, my paternal and only living grandmother {aside from step-grandparents} passed away. She suffered from Alzheimer's and had been living in a nursing home for the past three years. Even while there, she had always been pretty healthy, just forgetful and sometimes confused about her location or how old we all were. She never forgot who we were, which was such a blessing.

When Nick and I first got engaged, my mom and I had discussed how she might be able to attend at least the ceremony with the assistance of a nurse. When her health began to decline significantly in the past few months, I came to terms with the fact that she probably wouldn't be able to attend at all. However, I'd held out the hope that we'd at least get to show her photographs from the day.

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My grandmother picked me up almost every day from school from second grade until I finally got my license at the end of sophomore year. I was mortified when she still had to pick me up in high school, but now I am so glad to have those memories. She would take me to McDonald's to get a small order of french fries for a snack or to the library to check out books.

I am incredibly lucky to have been very close to both of my grandmothers. They were so different, but both amazing women. I really really wish they could both be here for my wedding day.

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I am planning to carry as my something blue, my maternal grandmother's rosary and I will wear my paternal grandmother's ring. However, I have always loved the small, framed photographs attached to bouquets. Once I get back, I will be ordering two of these charms from etsy seller Designs by Tami to put their photographs in. Even though they won't be with me physically, having their photos so close will remind me that they are there in spirit. It won't make me any less emotional, I'm sure.

Images © DesignsbyTami.

Thank you for indulging my really personal post...I'll be back posting next week hopefully.