Sorry for the long break

One reason for the break was to have the Bow Renewal but the other caught me off guard.

I know that something always goes wrong that we should be prepared to expect the unexpected, but honestly no matter how much you think you are ready for it, it still caught me off guard.

That being said looking at the big picture I am so blessed and am married to my best friend for the last 10 years!

I am not sure what the next 10+ will hold but I know as long as we are together there is nothing we can't over come.

The Flowers

You can find so much on line when it comes to Vegas Weddings, what can't you find, pictures of the flowers they offer :( So I took pictures from the brochure they sent - as you can see I LOVE writing notes!

The first set of flowers you see #5 - those flowers will be for my bouquet. I have a beautiful Tussie Mussie holder, I found on Ebay, brand new for a great price.


The Second set you see #23 - the boutonniere from this set is what we will be using for my husband, I have a metal holder


The last #35 - the Single Rose Boutonniere - I will be getting 2 of these for my sons,
One will be Red, the other Ivory.

The Boutonnieres will be put in matching metal holders that I found at Michaels.
They are silver to match mine :)
I love that I was able to find them at Michaels, I was able to save a lot of money, I bought them when they were on sale, 50% off and Bonus Michaels gives Military, Including dependants, a 15% discount. Making them less then $1.50 each, even after taxes :)



Because I have the holders for our flowers, I had to send them to the Chapel ahead of time, so they can get them to the florist.
When I sent them I put the boutonnieres inside my bouquet holder and taped them in with painters tape. to keep everything together and help prevent any damage, as my holder is quite a bit stronger then the guys holders.
I included a piece of paper, on it a wrote the flower selections for each holder and my contact information if there any questions.

When I sent them, I sent them in a bubble envelope and sent them First Class with delivery confirmation, that way I could track the package and it was insured in case it got "lost"

I sent it Friday, it arrived on Monday. I called the Chapel on Wednesday to verify they had them, they did and all is going well, still on track :)

Wedding Planning Books, books, and more books!!!

Oh my gosh, have you ever noticed how many planning books, guides, and downloads there are out there??  TONS!! AND TONS AND MORE then TONS!!!

I love being organized and was excited about having "Workbooks"
I was worried that I would not be able to stay organized and forget something important!

I learned a few things from all my research into what one to buy!
I did not like any of them, so I bought a few of them!!! Not kidding, I liked different parts of 6 of them, so I bought all of them, then I saw things I could down load and got a binder to make yet another workbook, then I found a Yearly Planner, that had a Wedding Planner in it so you guessed it I bought that too.

What was my most valuable lessen I learned, I spent a LOT of money on a lot of things I did not need. In the end I kept, a Binder (The Bride's Essential Wedding Planner - BN)


I added the Colored Tabs - they hold our contracts and receipts
I also added the brochures to the different tabs (that are already part of the binder) Photography /The info from the hotel photographer,  Venue / Info about the different packages and the costumes, Flowers / the info provided about the flower selections

 I also kept the Yearly Planner I found at Michaels (sadly they no longer sell the one I bought, but they do have ones you can add the wedding planner part to) Then I decided that I knew what I needed the most and Made my own using a Spiral Notebook, I found the notebook at Ross and the Page Flags at Staples.



I will be honest I LOVE my spiral notebook the most! But YES I do still use the others.
The great part of this is that I have 2 Matrons of Honor and 1 Maid of Honor - and each one will have a book to use, to keep everything on track on the Big Day :)

I also learned that none of these are really set up for a Destination Wedding or for if you are doing DIY, which was extremely frustrating!!! Hello a lot of people are doing DIY weddings or at least some part of. I see examples of it all the time not only on Pinterest but on lots of Facebook group pages. Owning a Cricut has a lot of advantages, and seeing how creative other people are can really inspire others!

So my Notebook did best at keeping track of my "weird" stuff, the things I have made, need to make and where I packed the things that I finished.

My Main Tabs (7)

My Sub Tabs (29) Yes I might be a bit OCD 

I made tabs and Sub Tabs for
Our Ceremony
      Flower
      Music
      Photography
      Notes / Important
The Reception
      Our Suite
       Areas 1-5 (each had their own tab - the areas mean the different areas of the suite)
      Notes/ Important
The Bride (Tab for me and my stuff)
      Dress
      Timeline
       Bridesmaids
       Girls Spa
       Notes
       To Do
The Groom
        Outfit
        Groomsmen
        Notes
Blog
        Post Ideas
        Links
        Other Ideas
Lists
         To Do
         To Make
         Notes
Packing
         Bride
         Groom
         Ceremony Box
         Reception Box


Sounds like a lot of Tabs, and it might just be, but I LOVE how organized I feel, and that I can check and double check everything a bit better now.

Don't get me wrong I love the other books, and honestly there are things that are done in triplicate (like how the Suite will be set up for the reception) and again I love being this organized it will help keep everyone on the same page :)

The Binder not only keeps our Guest List in check I love that it is a binder and I could add the brochures in it as well as copies of our contracts and receipts of things we prepaid.

I like the Yearly Planner, it is great to bee able to look at the calendar and see what is going on, where we are and how much time is left.

I did pull out a few pages, from both, that I did not need just so I did not have to keep seeing pages that had nothing to do with our event.

The key thing I am hoping you take away from all this - Make it your own, not matter if it is a book you buy or one you make, make it yours!  Make it help you, in what ever way you need help!

The Venue

The Excalibur!

Hello it is a castle!

We started planning this as years ago, again this was originally going to be for our 5 year anniversary not our 10, so I had a lot of time to think about what I wanted, and had talked to people there quite a few times.

Every now and then they make changes to their wedding packages. When I started all this I had chosen my perfect package, I was so excited and so ready, so much research so much work was done to make sure it was the perfect package for us! WELL in 2016 they made some pretty big changes to their packages!  So although I lost some things, I gained other things, what can you do, besides pay the deposit earlier. Thou as it was I paid it in March of 2016 even though the Ceremony would not be taking place till July 2017.

This venue is so perfect not only because it is a Castle, the people there are truly amazing!
They are so sweet, and kind even when you have a 1000 questions and some are really odd, because you have a bit of a different theme then their normal, we are in Vegas why not or their, "White Dress" weddings.

When I fist approached them with my idea they did not flinch, they were just as excited about it as I was and got on board with my crazy ideas :)

When the new packages came out it took me a little while to decide which package was best for us. We did do a few add ons but I am thrilled with the package and excited to see it all come together.
I have to say one of the changes I like the most, is that the cost for the officiant is now included, before it was an additional cost, which I found so odd because they are required. you can't bring in your own person :(

So what package did I choose and what were my addons?

I chose the Tantalize Package
 It included:
    Use of the Small or  Large Chapel
                     (We chose the Large, longer isle to walk down)
     Traditional Music
                      (Which we will not be using we are bringing in a CD with our music)
     Officiant Services
     $100 Floral Allowance
                      (The flower info can be found on the Flower Post)
     Photography
           Silver Photo Upgrade
           18 4x6 Photographs
           Photo Album
           DVD of Wedding
      Bottle of Champagne
                       (We had this changed to Sparkling Cider)
      Breakfast at the Pyramid Cafe

(the only down side to this package is that it only includes 40 guests - if we have more people RSVP we will need to upgrade to the Intrigue which allows for 75 guests - for an extra $300+ it would give us $50 more for floral 6 more 4x6 pictures, and 2 all days passes to the Buffet - instead of just breakfast at the Cafe)    

We Added:
A Sand Ceremony
30 Days of Webcasting
And Upgraded our Photo Package from the Silver that was part of our package to Gold
   What does that mean - 1 more hour of the Photographers time
                for some family shots and some around the Castle/Hotel

We will also have our Officiant dress in The Red Robes and Gold Crown - It is a "Costume" they have available, that can be added at no charge.

We received a discount code for us and our guests to use when they book their rooms, I loved this bonus, it helped us upgrade to a suite and be able to host Reception there :)

Here is a picture of the Large Chapel - It is perfect! 

Save the Date Cards

Here is my Save the Date Card - I LOVE it!!!

Here is the first of many examples that will come of how my Cricut is my hero!

I would have never been able to afford a Cricut. A friend has one and I have always been blown away at all it can do!

I was at Joann's on day and there was a Brand New Cricut Explorer Air - Blue
It was just sitting there in their scratch and dent area - the price $54.27
Yep I bought it! My first stop after buying it? I stopped by my husband's shop to show him, and he was so happy for me, he knew how much I really wanted one, but we could only put a small amount aside for it a month and it would have taken another year before I would have been able to buy ever if it was on sale.

Cricut has wonderful cartridges and images in their program, but Design Space is so much more.
You can find pictures on line and convert them into images that can then be used in Design Space.

For me it was finding the Gold Game Cartridge and deciding that, that was going to be the look I wanted for my Save the dates :)

I found a picture of the Game, turned it into a cutable image, adding the boxes and the triangle to make it look more like the cartridge, then the words :) - I wish I could share the project with you but since the new update something happened and I am not able to open it - If that changes I will update this post with the link.
I can tell you that the Main Font is Triforce - you can find it on DaFont

The envelopes bought on Amazon and printed using our printer.

The reaction, Priceless.   I got messages about how great they were, people sent pictures of them on their refrigerator, and others of people who went out and bought a new calendar just to tape it to the top of the July side.

As a side note if you do go this way the stamp is not a normal stamp, this envelope is considered oversized.

I also had these hand canceled - it is something you have to request at your local post office, because we mailed so many I volunteered to hand stamp them myself because they were so busy I did not want to hold up the line.

3d Printer - Having things custom made

This post is out of order BUT I just got the final picture of our Cake cutter and was way to excited not to post this immediately!!!

Who does not like being unique.
As I have stated before I have a Cricut Explorer Air, and am on a lot of Facebook Cricut groups.
I saw quite a few unique cake toppers and fell in love with the idea of a custom made one for ours.
I started designing it and after 17 different tries I finely had one I loved!!

One day I was on Etsy looking at the Legend of Zelda stuff people make and saw Sarah White's Shop  - Mind to Matter 3D - https://www.etsy.com/shop/MindtoMatter3D take a look at some of the great stuff she has -- I love all the Legend of Zelda Goodies

The first thing I bought from her was a wand from Wind Waker - it was great! I was beyond impressed!

I sent her a message asking if she had a shop, I noticed she was local to me and thought it would be fun to check out her store.  Sadly she did not, but, I learned she did custom work. I decided to send her my cake topper design idea and see if it was something she could make.
Not only did she say yes, the price was right!!  
She sent me a few proofs to make sure we were on the same page, it was beyond impressed with her diligence and communication!

Here is what I sent her

After a need to adjust the font -  Here is the proof she sent me

And the final product

I was so excited when I went out to my mail box and there their it was, even more impressive in person then it was on the screen :)

My husband was thrilled with how it turned out and then posed a new project idea / challenge, to see if she could make a cake cutter.  It would have to look like a master sword and be able to cut through a cake with fondant.

She said yep! And took on the challenge full steam!! A few weeks later she sent pictures of a few ideas she had made!

Bonus she had a cake with a fondant cover and used all 3 to cut it to show me how well they preformed.  I loved being able to see the results and choose what I thought was the best choice.
(the Middle one)

Here is our Cake Cutter :)  I could not be more thrilled ;)

She says in her shop if you can dream it she can make it, and she is not kidding. 

She brought all my ideas to reality and I could not be any more impressed!!!

Our Original Wedding and Sealing (for our 5 year Anniversary)

Some background first,
or you can skip to the next post and go to the Legend of Zelda Specific posts :)

My husband and I were marred in 2007 on a beach in a cave, in Hug Point Oregon.
It was a small, simple but a perfect wedding.
Thou I am sure most people would not have called it perfect, the weather was horrible, rain, rain and more rain, while yes rain in Oregon is the norm, the coolest, the perfect part is that during the ceremony not a drop hit the ground.
The original idea was to be married in front of a waterfall on the other side of the cave but the tide was to high to be able to get to it. The Cave was PERFECT! It fit everyone! We were a small group, but everyone there was family, even my boss :)

The flowers were picked out and picked up that same day, daises and baby's breath.
The "cake" mini cupcakes brought in from Portland.
The dress, off the rack and was on clearance
The officiant, our Bishop who drove down from Tullalitan, Oregon with his wife :)

My bridesmaid was my sister and the best man was a childhood friend of my husband who drove down from Edeomclaw, Washington.

Standing for "myside" were my sons, ages 13 and 9, my mom, her husband, and my boss who also took the pictures for us.

Standing for my husband, his parents, his oldest brother, his younger 2 sisters, one with this boyfriend at the time (Now married with a daughter) and the youngest sister and her family (husband and 2 children) - 3 out of 9 siblings I was impressed that they could come with the short notice. We only gave everyone a few weeks notice.

Our "rehearsal dinner" was at Chucky Cheese, and the first time I met his family.

Like I said it was small, simple, perfect.

The original idea for this Themed Vow Renewal was going to be for our Five year anniversary.

We were living in Southern Utah and life was coming together there for a while, but a wrench got thrown into our lives. We had already started some of the ground work for our Legend of Zelda Vow Renewal, I had 2 of my bridesmaids and they were given their sage info. One of them had found the most beautiful dress too! We were on track :)

Well in 2011 everything changed and that wrench came flying hard and fast!

I had Brain Surgery, for Chiari Malformation. Pretty big Wrench!

I had a job and Habitat for Humanity, as their ReStore manager. They were amazing, and so supportive. I was so blessed with a wonderful and supportive board of directors!
I had to take 3 months off, but I was itching to come back as soon as I could!
While I was able to go back to work, it was only for a few months.
Sadly I never fully recovered.
My husband had been in school, and was finishing his Criminal Justice Degree.
With everything going on and my health declining, my husband made the decision to join the Military. He entered the Air Force, Basic Training started on September 4th 2012.
His job, Biomedical Equipment Technician. His Tech School, was at Fort Sam Huston, in San Antonio, Texas. Technical Training is 207 "Classroom" days - so the equilivent of around 10 1/2 months.

In December they have Christmas Exodus where Airmen are able to go home for a few days for the holidays.

On December 25th 2012, we were Sealed in the St George Temple, in one of the White Rooms, Room 4. Again it was a very small gathering. Our escorts were are friends, Chris and Des,
His mom, one of her best friends, 2 members of our bishopric and their wives,
His mom's best friend is also an amazing photographer, she was our photographer for the evening as well.

Again a small perfect event.

He was only home for 10 days.

Because his School was so long I was able to move out there for a few months.

I was on the road to San Antonio, the first Friday of January.

We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
We believe that when you are sealed in the temple it is for time and all eternity
For more information about the church you can call 877-537-0003
Or check out their website at www.mormon.org