We were back to KC this weekend for Brant and Bridget's bachelor and bachelorette parties. 
While Mike went to Brant's party, I went off to Manhattan to see my sister and mom. We went out shopping for bridesmaid dresses and Brittney was able to find a dress she liked. I decided on black dresses, but will let them each pick their own style. I like black for the reason they could maybe wear them again. I know that is said and no one really ever wears it again, but I thought Brittney and Kate could maybe wear their dresses to prom or some other school dance beings they are still in high school. I also think the bouquets I picked out with the multiple colors will stand out nicely with black.
We saw Van Morrison Friday night at the Hollywood Bowl, it was an awesome show. Very melow and relaxing, but a little chilly outside.
I couldn't resist snapping a picture of our lazy cats.
How much is gas where you are???? We're on our way to $4 for sure!
There is no particular meaning behind November 4th being our wedding date. A while before Mike and I started dating, I was getting a pedicure and my pedicurist was talking about planning her sister's wedding. She was telling me about the Circle S Ranch and another B&B in Baldwin. She had me so interested in The Ranch, that I went home and looked it up on the internet. I thought it would be an awesome place to have a wedding. When Mike proposed, I asked if we could check out The Ranch and maybe get married there. He really liked it also as one of his friends, Jeanine, had had her graduation party there. We went out to see the place the day after Christmas, this last year. The place was even better in person. We asked what weekends they had open in October, because that was originally the month I wanted to have the wedding. I just LOVE fall! It's my favorite time of the year! October is usually when it starts to get chilly at night and you can start smelling the chimneys. The leaves are changing colors and falling off the trees. The Ranch had one Saturday open and one whole weekend open in October. After checking out the cost to rent out The Ranch for the weekend, we noticed November was considered a non-popular month and the cost decreased. We figured waiting 4 days would be close enough to getting married in October and it would save us some money. So, that's how we chose November 4th at the Circle S Ranch. We are hoping early November will still be nice as the past 2 years have been in the 60s. We hope there are still leaves on the trees also so that we will have some color.
I put together my first project for the wedding. I made our save the date cards all by myself. It was a little frustrating getting all the words in the margins, especially on the back of the cards. I also was a little upset, because I'd originally had Kansas spelled out. I forgot to save it before I closed it out and then when I went back in to print them, I didn't notice until I was almost done! Oh well, it's not the end of the world. We are sending these out so that out of towners can get an early start booking hotel rooms. I am not sending them out to everyone, so if you don't get one, it's because you will be staying at The Ranch or you live close enough to drive home after the wedding and won't be letting lose at the reception.We also want to try to get most people to RSVP through our website, but didn't want to include that with the invitations. I guess, by etiquette, it's tacky to put a web address on your invitations. I've learned a lot about wedding etiquette lately.
I've lived here for about 15 months now and have yet to feel an earthquake. The first one that I missed, I was in Vegas for a bachelorette party. Mike called me early in the morning all excited to tell me we'd had an earthquake. The second earthquake that I missed was an afternoon that I was out shopping. I had just had lunch with Mike and he'd gone back to work. I stopped off to get some things at the store before heading home. When I finally got in my car to drive home, there was talk of the tremor on the radio. Mike said he'd felt it in the hospital that he was working at that day, but I'd felt nothing in the store I was in only 3 blocks from him. This morning on my way to work, the radio all the sudden started talking about this tremor that had just occurred. Again, I felt nothing in my car. People were calling in the radio saying they'd felt it all over the county. I assumed as everyone else that we'd had an earthquake. Mike called me to tell me he felt it too. As the day went on, there was never any confirmation of an earthquake. Some people said they'd heard a "boom." Now this boom is a mystery. No one knows where it came from. ..."Speculation is it's a sonic boom or something along that line, but it is all speculation,” said Tom Amabile, a senior emergency services coordinator with the county Office of Emergency Services.
Pendleton in North County said they were doing routine artillery training Tuesday morning, but it was not known whether that was responsible for the rattling felt all over the region.
“I can't say we caused the boom, but I can say we are conducting training this morning with 81mm mortars,” said Marine Cpl. K.T. Tran. “The training started at 6 a.m. and it is going to end at midnight.” ...
Well, maybe we'll know the answer tomorrow?
Mike and I were back in the KC area looking for more photographers this last weekend. We met with 2 more on Sunday which I found through The Knot message board. The first one we met, Kelley, came highly recommended from the ladies online. We liked her a lot, she seemed very laid back and willing to go with the flow with our wedding day events. When we walked away from that appointment, Mike wanted to go back and give her the deposit right away. He really liked her, so did I compared to the last 2 we'd interviewed. But, we still had an appointment with one more that afternoon. This photographer, Mike, had the longest and most detailed presentation of his work than any of the other photographers. He actually took an hour to talk with us. He said he'd probably arrive at The Ranch an hour early to just walk around and get a feel for the place. He might even show up at our rehearsal dinner to snap some photos.Both of these photographers were very nice and seemed like ones we'd want at our wedding. It's going to be hard deciding between the 2, because they both have qualities that we like. On the agenda for this week...making my save the date cards!Photo by Expressions by Michael
We had our florist appointments yesterday. We went to 2 shops and hashed out ideas. I found pictures of these bouquets online that I wanted the florists to design. I love the different colors and specifically want some sunflowers. I also like the white calle lillies in the bridal bouquet. The florists loved them and had great ideas to bring everything together. We only received an estimate from one florist so far and we are waiting for the other florist to email theirs to us. I knew going in that flowers can be expensive. Mike on the other had wasn't quite ready and had quite the reaction. We are probably going to stick to my original plan and have the florist just take care of the bouquets and boutonnieres and coursages. The rest, we would just do ourselves.On the agenda for today....more photographers.
