07.17 2010

They are finally here, folks! Joe and I got our wedding pictures in the mail yesterday so I can finally post a few! These haven't been touched up or cropped as they are just the quick and dirty. The good news is you get to see how beautiful we really are! (Jokes) Enjoy and let us know what you think! A BIG THANKS to Sherrie and Jay Photography! We LOVE our photos! There aren't enough places to hang all our favorites!

Our Wedding: The Reception

Here are a little sneak peak of the reception pictures, friends!

Annnnnnnnnnd we're married!

...And have been for almost A MONTH! I apologize greatly for the silence on here, and promise to do better from NOW ON! :) All you former brides will understand, right? I guess I can't blame it ALL on the wedding and post-marriage life organizing... We don't have internet at our place (can I say how much I miss my wireless?!) and now our laptop has met his death :( Cracked screen. For now, I gotta utilize my time at Sunday dinner at my parents :) We're lucky to live so close to family. Or I guess it wasn't luck. We chose to live here.
Well, anyway, to catch everyone up on the last two months-ish...
I actually did survive the planning and everything turned out well. We are all moved into our new (and first home) here in Kansas. We live in our humble little one bedroom apartment, and are loving it. It has been so fun making it home and home-y. I'm still taking care of infants full-time and Joe is workin hard in the hot sun (which has been off-the charts the last two or so months) selling pest control for Homeshield. If anyone in the area has a bug problem or want to prevent a problem, hit us up and Joe will hook you right up.
We haven't gotten our professional wedding photos yet, but our fantastic photographers, Sherrie and Jay posted a few of them on our new blog so I'm including the link. Check them out -- They did an amazing job on both our engagements and our wedding pictures and they are so, so fun. I 2000% recommend them to anyone in the KC/Omaha area. *Disclaimer* Some of the photos they posted include my special ed smile. Doh! Oh well :) When we get the pictures, we will for sure post a bunch! Keep your eye out for them.

Wedding Photo Sampling :)

WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Just wanted to say that we get married in TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are SO excited and can't wait to be Mr. & Mrs.!

The Latest

Well, Saturday marked SEVEN WEEKS 'til the wedding (!!!). It's crazy how time flies. Originally I was bummed that we had to set the wedding date for the summer (I was hoping for the spring, but there was too much going on and my sister was having her baby, etc.) and that it was so far away, but I can't imagine getting everything done any sooner! I am totally a list person and love being able to cross things off (Am I the only one who occassionally writes things like "Brush teeth" or "Take shower" on the to-do list or things already accomplished so I can check something off??), so wedding planning is the job for me :) Joe is working hard in the Portland area up until a few days before the wedding. He's definitely a trooper, and takes providing very seriously. A few weeks ago, we signed a lease for an apartment about 10 miles down the road, and the move in date is July 12th. We're pretty excited. I got Joe's wedding ring Saturday, and we're working on getting the announcements out this week! That's pretty much what's going on with us!

Together Again at Last : )

Well, another week is coming to a close. JoeJoe flew in a week ago Wednesday and left this last Tuesday early in the morning before work. To say we had a blast is a gross understatement :-) We also got a ton done in the midst of all the fun including registering at Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond; fitting Joe for a tux and picking out his accessories; engagement pictures; signing our very first APARTMENT LEASE at this super adorable place about 10 minutes from my parents' house; and a whole bunch of other GREAT STUFF!!! :) It was so good to be together if only for a little while. The good news, as Joe likes to remind me is that this is the last time he has to leave me, and there are only 6 weeks until he comes back to me :) Just in case you haven't seen any yet on Facebook... I am posting a small sampling of our engagement pictures. Our photograhers were Sherrie and Jay of Sherrie and Jay Photography and they were so amazing and so much fun! Our pictures turned out great and I can't wait to take our wedding pictures with them!

Making Memories

My DRESS arrived yesterday! It arrived by UPS and its box was waiting for me in my room when I got home from work last night. It sounds pretty bizaare that I ordered a non-refundable dress that I had never tried on before off a website, but NO dresses out here have sleeves on them and none of them could have them added with out it looking weird, so there you have it. (I think looking for a sleeved weding dress was the one and only time I wished I lived in Utah... ha!) I had a good idea of what I wanted my dress to look like (Okay, who am I kidding? I knew EXACTLY what I wanted it to look like. It's a girl thing), and I FOUND it on this website that sells modest dresses. We ordered it something like February 2nd and were told that it would arrive by May 1st. One bridal store told us that it was a bad idea because you should order your dress something like 10 months ahead for alterations and who knows what else, but we didn't HAVE 10 months to go and no where else had the dress I wanted, so we took a chance. I cut the surprisingly small box open (carefully) and pulled my dress out. My mom helped me put it on and I fell in love. It's everything I ever hoped for; my dream dress -- honestly! I'm so glad it worked out! After the problem with all 400 announcements, I was worried about the dress. But it is amazing and perfect.
My mother and I just returned from a local bridal store because I needed a slip to go under my wedding dress.  I had been disappointed that I really didn't get to have that "ah-ha" moment in a dress store trying on dresses when I tried on a dress -- thee dress -- and had the "THIS IS IT" realization since I had to order my dress online. I didn't go to the bridal store for that purpose, but ended up standing on that raised pedestal with the intent of trying to see if my dress looked the way I wanted it to and in the meantime, I just looked at myself in that beautiful dress and had my moment. I had my "this is the dress moment" like I had always wanted. There are 84 days until our wedding day, and it is sinking in more and more all the time. Joe will be here in under three weeks for a visit and we will be taking our engagements finally, registering, fitting him for his suit, apartment hunting, putting together our announcements, etc. Things are really falling into place. It's really amazing, and we're really happy.

Invitation Adventure

I received my wedding invitations in the mail on Thursday. I was so excited to get them --tracking them even online as they made their way across the United States on their little UPS truck (okay, several) :) They came while I was at work and all day I couldn't wait to open them. It's kind of surreal that I'm getting married, but seeing both our names on 400 invitations definitely helps to make it sink in. What helps make it sink in more is when you open the box and see 400 messed up invitations (!) and the thought, Am I going to have to send these to everyone I know looking like this?! The format was really off in a significant place and part of one line was on top of the line below. At first, I tried not to think about it or be sad about my odd looking invitations. I assumed that it was my mistake and that they wouldn't reprint them for me so I should just not let it sink in that I hated how they looked at that there were two glaring problems on them. I'm just particular, right? No one else will notice? They showed me the proof online before I submitted my order, so it's my fault, right? But after talking it over with my parents and Joe I realized that the proof I had looked at was to double check (or quadruple check in my case... I checked it literally four times because I was so afraid of  making a mistake and having... this happen) spelling and wording. I looked at the example on the picture on the website and the names to the side were lined up. The names on mine did not line up in any way. That's common sense on their part to line the names up and not have two lines touching each other. I realized the error was not mine. I e-mailed the company about the problem, attaching a picture of my invitation the way they'd sent it (I scanned one of the invitations into the computer) just hoping that they wouldn't stick me with 400 messed up invitations because I had seen a proof beforehand. I didn't see any format errors on the proof except that it wasn't to scale. It looked kind of squooshed online, so I just figured the spacing would be normal on the actual invitations. After I sent the e-mail I noticed on the invoice that came with the invitations that they asked to be notified of any errors or problems and on an e-mail I had received that if you aren't 100% happy, the company will give you a full refund or reprint your order. Still, I hadn't received a response from anyone at the company yet, and being Saturday, the day before a holiday and conference weekend (the company is in Rexburg, ID, a primarily LDS town -- irronically where Joe and I both lived and where I went to school for five years) I figured I wouldn't get a response today. I was pleasantly surprised when I did get a response from them saying that they apologized, and that they were reprinting my order and they would be arrived between such and such days. I am EXTATIC! I have been so worried about them saying no! I am thankful for good customer service, though I would prefer not to need them. Oh, well! We have plenty of time. I made sure to order our invitations way in advance (they only take a few days to print and ship -- good for typical LDS engagements of like 2 months, huh?) just in case something happened. Now, let's hope there is nothing wrong with my DRESS! That sucker takes three MONTHS to be made and arrive! Woo, crossing my fingers on that one! Anyway, just wanted to share our little adventure -- or "scare" if you will : ) I'm your typical bride, huh? I promise I didn't get bridezilla or anything, but I was very worried I would have to send out funny looking invitations. You only do this once, right? : ) Hope all is well with everyone.

Love,
Joe & Bren

I'm lovin' it

No, not McDonald's. The weather! It's a beautiful 67 degrees out today! We have been without the sun for literally weeks so the warmth and the rays are definitely welcome here! It rained for days and days and it was gloomy non-stop. I think Kansas got confused and thought it was Oregon. Shrug.
Speaking of Kansas, go Jayhawks. Joe didn't used to root for Kansas, but since he is going to be a Kansan soon he has started following them and he gets excited when they win (which is just about always duhhhh). Love that!
Even better...Yesterday marked 4 months until I become Mrs. Joseph Tulikihakau :-) We can't wait! On Monday we ordered our INVITATIONS! We are extremely excited! Even though I only have seen the electronic proof, it was kind of sureal seeing our names on wedding invitations. It's a lot of fun, and we can't wait to send them out!

Woohoo!

I'm going to get measured for my wedding dress tonight! Pretty excited! Weddings sure take a lot of work, but a lady told me that if I'm not having fun doing it then I'm not doing it right! Pretty wise, I think. I am enjoying planning and organizing everything, which is surprising me since I am normally kind of a flake :) Things are coming together one thing at a time, but all of a sudden you realize that you're making some serious progress!

xoxo
Bren

Happy New Year, Friends!

Wow, I can't believe it's 2010 already. I spent the evening at a friend's and her dad pointed out that when you say the year now it's quite a bit shorter (i.e: two thousand and nine vs. twenty ten). Interesting. What I like even BETTER about the year being 2010 is that 2010 is OUR year. We get married THIS YEAR! We're so excited to be able to say that! Yahooo! I hope this year proves to be a great one for all of you.

xoxo
Bren

We have some news!

We FINALLY set a date! We wanted to include all of our family and friends and to do so we have set the date of our wedding on July 17th, 2010. We hope to see you all there! More details to follow.

merry christmas

we want to wish all of our friends and family members a very merry christmas. we got a white christmas here in kansas city which doesn't happen often. i could probably count the ones i've seen here, but none specifically come to mind. it's so pretty out and so Christmas-y, thought it's supposed to reach blizzard status overnight and through out tomorrow. snow is beautiful, but i hope no one is stuck driving in dangerous conditions. joe and i are apart for the holidays unfortunately, but next year we will have a great first Christmas together as husband and wife :) we send our love out to all our loved ones out there. be safe and have a happy holiday.

xoxo
bren

dig this quote

"the questions 'where', 'when', and 'how' can only be answered by the person or thing that knows the answer to 'why'."

no clue who wrote that -- i found it on a friend's facebook profile. maybe she made it up. well, regardless, i thought it profound and wanted to share on my domestic little blogaroo.
in other news, i think i found the dress my bridesmaid will be sporting today. i'm pretty excited, especially since finding the perfect dress (adorable, moderately priced, modest, and in the right shade) is harder than it sounds. planning is a lot of fun, but definitely complicated. hats off to those of you who planned or are planning weddings in short amounts of time. those of you who did this voluntarily, i think you're crazy.

xoxo
bren

happy turkey day!

i, brenbren, am thankful for YUMMY FOOD and technology so that i can communicate with you-know-who despite the distance between us 8) i'm also thankful for a few days off from work to just hang, the fact that my hours just got changed to full-time at last, and the fact that i even have a job during this time of crappy economy. i visited joe last week for eight days instead of this week because it was about 1/4 the price of the airfare for this week. i'm bummed to not share thanksgiving with him and to be miss his brother's wedding on saturday. congratulations, charlie and amy! the last few days i have been working on what things we want for our wedding and what things aren't important to us. we like simple. i can't imagine the headaches and tummy aches the brides who are planning super elaborate weddings must get. currently, i am scouting around looking for good, reasonably priced photographers for our engagement photos this spring and for our wedding day this summer. well, anyway, that is the latest on this end. have a great holiday with your families!

xoxo
bren