Category: Wedding

Our Wedding Invitations

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

wedding invitations
The moment I saw our invitations sitting outside our front door, I may have jumped a little.  I was so pumped that they came, they made it to our new address! 

wedding invitations

First thing I did was bring them inside and grab the camera, because that is normal, right?  The dogs were just as excited as I was or maybe just the box smelled… I am not sure.

wedding invitations

We opted for the simple Seal ‘N Send invites for several reasons:  1) they fit in perfect with what I wanted. 2) seemed easier for my friends to have a pull-off postcard to send back.  There was no envelope stuffing for our friends – so easy! 3) cost less to send and if you remember my save the dates I like saving money on postage.

Cheers!

NOLA

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®
NOLA Bourbon Street
Source

Today is the day.  I am headed down to NOLA for my bachelorette party!  I will be down on Bourbon Street for the weekend celebrating with my sister, future sister-in-law, and close friends.  Cannot wait to party down and make memories that will last forever.

J and I are getting closer to our wedding, and this last fling before the ring is a reminder just how close we are getting.

Cheers to a good time!

Phases

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

phases

People go through different phases of their life and interests from time to time.  Right now my phase is all about this wedding and getting everything perfect.  So, I am sorry that I do not have a post ready for today.  I have all these ideas swirling in my head and when I sit down to type them out – POOF! They go away.  I need to take some time this week to make a major long to-do list for the wedding, for work, and for around the house then I can come back with a clear  mind.

I am going to take today and tomorrow off from this little blog of mine to work on formalizing these ideas.

Thank you for being so understanding!  31 days until J and I get married and then life can resume, except I will be a Mrs. and no longer a Ms.

Cheers!

A Life Lived

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

Last night I had one of those down moments.  Where everything just seemed to be going wrong.  There is not enough time to get the details done, I haven’t found time to finish thank you cards for a shower, J could not do anything right, the dogs were driving me crazy, and I just needed to sleep.  It was a mountain to climb and I just did not have the strength to even try.

Those nights it is just best to call it a night and lay down to sleep.  I woke up this morning in a much better mood, realizing that things aren’t as overwhelming as I tend to make it.  Surprise!  I have a clearer outlook for today and spent time to make a list of what needs to get done.  I do love a good to-do list more than most things.

Life lately has been one big, fun ride with trips to see family, friends, and outings with some pretty fun people.  There are times when it hits me that this really is a great part of my life.  I am getting ready to marry by best my friend in less than 2 months.  Even though I get stressed out with wedding details, all the car rides for work and to see family – I am truly blessed.

life lived
DColeman Photography

Counting my blessings.

marrying J
two sweet, sweet dogs that truly love me unconditionally
a nice place to call home
a job that lets me have flexibility
great friends that have been there for me through so much
new friends that really make me feel like myself
family that has always supported me
J’s family that is there for us
the desire to be healthier and cook more at home

life lived

Life is good.

Cheers!

Riding Along and Piling on the Wedding Stress

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

wedding stress

My life is just one long car ride these days and that is causing some serious wedding stress.

Every other week I head back to our old town to work for a few days then I head back home.  That ride is 3 hours one way and has to be the absolute most boring drive in the history of drives.  I mean more boring than having a professor in a monotone voice talk about the Cold War.  I am ready for the day to come that I do not have to make that drive every 2 weeks.  At this point, I would be ecstatic with just once a month.

Add all of our awesome wedding plans on top of the driving for work.  I have had to drive to my hometown for a shower, next weekend I am driving to our old town for another shower and then travel for my bachelorette party.  Well all of these trips are pretty awesome and I am not complaining about them at all.  I miss my family and my friends, so these trips are totally worth it!

Let’s just say I will be happy when each weekend does not have an out of town trip planned so that J and I can spend a Saturday together with no plans.  39 more days until we walk down that aisle and prepare to spend the rest of our lives together.  I love that man, he is my best friend and soulmate.

Cheers!

Bridal Shower

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

bridalshower-tiara

A few weeks ago my absolutely, wonderful, amazing family threw me the BEST bridal shower in my hometown.  There were over the 100 photos taken that day, don’t worry I’ll spare you and here is only a few.

bridal showerbridal showerbridalbridal shower

Our Love Story : How We Met

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®
our love story
DColemanPhotography

With only two months until our wedding day, I thought it would be neat to share how J and I met.

J and I do not really have a typically meeting story, or maybe we do.  I don’t know, it’s different than any other guy I dated in the past, which might be why it worked out – again, I do not know.  I’m thinking too much into it.  All I know is that I love telling the the first time we met story.  J likes to tell the how we met story, but the other one is my favorite part.

We first met at a local bar on the South Side of Springfield on a Friday night.  J was new in town and had a few friends visiting from St. Louis.  I was going out with my roommate to meet up with another friend for a birthday party.  J’s friend from out of town asked to buy me and a friend a drink and no offense to him, he was not my type.  I know they always say don’t judge a book by its cover, but it was hard.  The V-neck shirt, glaring white teeth as in Ross from Friends in the episode where he bleaches his teeth so white that they glowed in a black light kind of white.  He was just not for me and I was tired, so I politely turned down the offer.  My friend took him up on it and so then they decided to introduce me to J.  J was feeling pretty good that night, if you know what I mean.  He doesn’t remember meeting me and all I remember is this horrible dancer who looked like he would be in a lot pain the next day

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Fast forward to the next day when J’s friend and my friend conspired to meet up while downtown.  After a night of dancing with my date the five us decided to head to the local Steak-N-Shake for some grub.  I started talking to J who was in much better shape than the night before.  We talked about food, the bootheel of Missouri, which will always hold a soft place in my heart.  I decided that he was pretty decent and much better than my actual date, so I tried to be cool by asking for his number to go to breakfast one morning at the local hot spot.

Two weeks went by and my friend asked for his number to go out with us that night.  I decided to beat her to the punch and texted him first… I was so slick!  He was busy or had to get up early the next day, I don’t really remember his reasoning, but I called him boring and that started the conversation from there.

He finally asked me to dinner on a Monday night, he picked me up in his shiny, red truck and we headed out for steak.  We talked, laughed, and he wasn’t completely turned off by my mess-of-a-bathroom when he dropped me off, but still texted me again – whew!

That was it, we had a few moments of uncertainty along the way or really I had one moment and the thought of J not being around was enough to end that moment quickly.  Now he were are 2 months until the big day when I become his wife.

I cannot wait for the next few months to get here.  But I do not want to miss out on any of our time right now.  I have been keeping all of the little knick-knacks during our engagement in hopes of creating a journal.

Cheers!

How To Create a Chevron Pattern in Photoshop

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

How To Create a Chevron Pattern in Photoshopchair / nails / walls

Chevron is everywhere.

 Walls, bulletin boards, wallets, watchers, shirts, and even nails… Since I do love a good trend, it should come as no surprise that I am using a hint of chevron in my wedding decorations.

We are having a few paper goods printed and I decided early on to design most of these myself (i.e. programs, thank you notes, menus, etc.).  I am having several designs for our printed goods – Stripes, chevron, polka dots… oh my!

You know I had no problem making a strip design or polka dot design in Photoshop – go figure!  I can draw a straight lines and circles on the computer! I was so proud and maybe a little too big headed because my chevron attempt was not successful.   I actually had to think and work at this one!  I didn’t want anything to be actual work, where’s the fun in that?!

I have since perfected it based on a few other tutorials online that I combined.  I thought I
would share my revelation with you to save someone else frustrations.

How To Create a Chevron Pattern in Photoshop

Create a new file… I made mine the size of a notecard 4”x5.5” and put on the grid option.

Select your color and the rectangle tool.  Using the grid measure out equal boxes (for me I needed 6).

How To Create a Chevron Pattern in Photoshop How To Create a Chevron Pattern in Photoshop

Then rotate every other box either 45 degree or -45 degree, then line up the corners to be overlapping.

How To Create a Chevron Pattern in Photoshop

Once your first chevron print is done for the entire length then select the layers and link together.

How To Create a Chevron Pattern in Photoshop

Finally, duplicate the layers and space them out evenly.

How To Create a Chevron Pattern in Photoshop

There you have it, a nice chevron print that was easy to make and no hair pulling was necessary.

Since I wanted to add words to my design, I created a nice white box on top of the print.

Cheers!

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Why I let my Bridesmaids pick out their own dress

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®

If you have been living under a rock then you may not know that newest, hottest trend in weddings is having mismatched bridesmaid dresses.  I love the trend because that’s what I decided for my bridesmaids.  I mean, I am sure that my girls would have loved to wear some fluffy, pink tulle thing with a bow on the butt.  Who wouldn’t want to wear something that’s uncomfortable and costs about half of your monthly living expenses?

mismatched bridesmaid dresses
Source
mismatched bridesmaid dresses
Source
mismatched bridesmaid dresses
Source

I decided when J and I were first talking about getting married that I wanted nothing to do with searching and searching for a bridesmaid dress that fit all my girls, in my color scheme and didn’t cost a small fortune.  They can figure that out!

It was important to me to have my girls feel beautiful.  There is nothing worse than not feeling confident in a dress that you are having to wear all day, be photographed over hundreds of times, and be plastered all over facebook.  I wanted to avoid that and I’m sure they are grateful … at least I hope.

I did not necessarily give my bridesmaids free reign to find a dress.  I did establish a few guidelines for when they were out looking for a dress.

1) navy
2) knee length
3) eggplant, dark purple heels

That’s it.  Only 3 parameters to follow.

I hinted at this part before, but it’s pretty big so I’m going to say it.  I delegated the stress of finding a dress for everyone.  I had a hard enough time finding a dress for me, a tux look for J and his guys, catering choices, song choices, and not gaining 100 lbs from other pressure points.   My girls know what they like and don’t like, I do not.

If you decide to let your bridesmaids pick their own dress, please be prepared for your family’s reaction.  I have family that keeps asking if I had my girls go to David’s of J. Crew with a certain color code to find a dress, if I selected a specific brand that they had to find a dress under, blah, blah, blah… and the answer is no.  N-O.  I think it keeps freaking out people that I really do not care.

The best part – All my girls have sent me pictures of their dresses or I’ve seen the one they have bought and can I tell you something?  They are better than anything I could have picked out!

Perfection!

Cheers!

I selected this post to be featured on my blog’s page at Blog Nation.

Wedding Planning Tips: Save the Dates

Posted on by Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®
wedding planning tips save the dates
photo by Savoy Ballroom, graphics by MereLynne

Want some valuable wedding planning tips when sending out your Save The Dates?

Well, you have to come to the right blog.  I recently sent out our save the dates – actually a few weeks ago, but waited to post my tips until everyone received their postcards so I wouldn’t spoil anything for anyone.

J and I decided to send postcards over an actual formal save the date card with the fancy tissue paper and embossed envelope.  First,  I am not that formal of a person and second, the postage is so much cheaper on postcards! Saving some of that cha-ching for more important parts of the wedding.

Here are some wedding planning tips when selecting your save the dates and things I would have liked to do differently:

1) postcards, postcards, postcard.  I mean, postcards are simple and easy to send.  No envelope licking (ew!) required.  Gross!  Just the thought of licking nearly 100 envelopes or having to use a wet towel – it’s just a mess.  Not to mention if you wanted to go super-duper traditional and have the outer envelope and the inner envelope – that’s double the licking.  And like I said above, the cost of sending a postcard is considerably less when sending a standard letter or worse an odd shaped envelope.  I had that happen to a friend of mine, she budgeted the average amount of postage stamps for her save the dates then when she went to USPS to mail them.  While waiting in line she got slammed when she learned that the envelope was a square and that would cost more… almost double.  That adds up for 150 save the dates… let’s do the math.  $0.46 per stamp * 150 save the dates = $69 bucks.  Now double it – $138 bucks just went to USPS that you had not planned for.

2) ensure that you have the spelling correct for all your guests.  I did not know everyone on my guest list.  Some were family of J’s that I had not met and others were some of his family friends that I had not met.  Names can be weird.  Spellings are not always common.  Double check that spelling before you waste a save the date or worse, send out a misspelled name!

3) one thing I would have done different is placed a return address on the postcards.  Luckily, I had a stamp made a few months ago, but it would have been so much nicer to have them pre-printed on the cards.  Also, I didn’t want to be blissfully unaware of any save the date not reaching their intended target.  My OCD tendencies could not handle that.

4) another thing I wish I would have thought of was space.  The space to address the save-the-dates was a little small.  I do not normally require people to have a magnifying class to read my handwriting so I had to nix first names.

5) do not put off address your save the dates.  I kind of did that.  I thought it was going to take so long to sit down and actually address the cards so I put it off, like any normal person who was avoiding a task that didn’t seem fun, which it was not fun.  It did not take as long as I thought – like an hour, maybe?  If that.

There we go – simple, easy wedding planning tips that I like to pass on to others so that they could be wiser in their wedding planning than me.  Go forth young ones and conquer.

Cheers!