Always & Forever

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Been a loooooong time

Sorry I have been slacking majorly in updating the blog!! I am sure you are dying to hear what I have been doing in the last month. Well, school, event coordinating, and job searching have consumed my every waking moment, and I have actually not gotten as much time to do wedding stuff. However, this last weekend, my parents came to Michigan, and along with Brent's parents the six of us accomplished A TON!!!! Here is a BRIEF recap of what we got done:

We met with the Florist and put together the whole flower scheme for the ceremony and reception

We had our Taste Testing and decided on the following foods:

o Plated dinner

o Rolls

o Salad: Blueberry Vinaigrette

o Entrees: Medium London Broil, Picatta Chicken, Vegetarian Wellington

o Sides: Risotto, Grilled Vegetables

o Drinks: Coffee Station, Pop, Wine, Beer

We ordered our Guest Favors – this is a surprise!!

Discussed Transportation ideas, Tuxes, Little kids attire, Bridesmaid accessories, Music options

Chose our Master and Mistress of Ceremonies

Decided on how we are going to do invitations

Started laying out an itinerary for the day of. Here is a sneak peak…

o 5:00pm - Ceremony

o 5:45pm - Receiving Line

o 6:15pm - Send-off

o 6:45pm - Hoers 'devours

o 8:00 - Dinner

o 9:30 - Dancing

It was such a crazy day, but soooooooooooooooo good! Brent and I are blessed to have such amazing and supportive families. More to come in the next few weeks.... :)

Monday, February 9, 2009

My Style

It's crazy that in 4.5 months from now I will hopefully (if I get a job and have enough money to own my own place) get to decorate my own space. I am excited to pick out patterns, colors, and furniture that fits my style. But what is my style? Well, According to Imagini Style Finder I am {Funky Modern}. Here is the description:

Your modern and lively sense of style is perfect for today's easy living, and just about suits any budget. Chances are that some of your favourite things were picked up at a car boot sale, in a market while on holiday, or handed down through the family. At the same time, you might have saved (or be saving) for the perfect Eames chair or Mies sofa, a classic that never goes out of style and something you will take with you from one home to the next.

Living Room You have a comfortably contemporary living room. The danger with the 'modern look' is that it too easily falls into the realm of the bland and insipid; 'easy' gets confused with 'careless' and the result is just downright dull! Perhaps of all the rooms in our homes, the living room can be the one that most expresses your sense of style and your interests. Think, too, about how and when you will most use the room. For example, do you want it light and airy or warm and cosy? Try introducing one or two unexpected elements when choosing your accessories: one of the positives of the modern look is that it is very accommodating. Bold splashes of colour indicate a confident sense of style, while glamorous prints and patterns are fun and stylish. With a living room like yours, it's no wonder family and friends love popping round to see you.

Bedroom Your bedroom benefits from a lovely feminine touch. Sleep is fundamentally important to our well being. In busy towns and cities, noise can often hamper a good night's sleep. Soft furnishings really do absorb sound, and touch is such an important sense in the bedroom, from crisp, linen sheets to wool or even sheepskin underfoot. You like to surround yourself with pretty frills and flounces in your bedroom, using light, bright colours to create a refreshing retreat that's easy on the eye.

Dining Room You're an interiors globe-trotter, the inveterate internationalist. At home, your dining space mixes inspiration from different cultures and countries, perhaps reflecting your origins or a favourite holiday destination. It's a common misconception that the 'ethnic' or global look is synonymous with decorating on a budget. You know better, however, and can point to the influence of primitivism on the masters of modernism as proof of its sophistication. When it comes to entertaining, you like to aim for maximum impact with minimum hassle.

Home Office You like things floral and feminine, even in the home office. Hot desking is all very well at work, but having a designated 'office' space at home really does make sense, even if it's in a corner of your bedroom. Pretty finishing touches can transform even the most utilitarian desks: a potted plant, a vase of flowers or family photographs can make all the difference.

Conclusion Fresh, fun and easy to live with, your home is perfect for how you live your life.

A great website to find fun {Funky Modern} decorating ideas is Dominomag.com. The sad news is that with the recent economic crisis domino is no longer able to continue. I do not know when their webpage will be removed from the internet, but here are some of my favorite images:

Also, if you have the time check out this SUPER CUTE blog about DIY decorating: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/

Wedding Filled Weekend!

I had quite a Wedding Filled Weekend!! On Saturday morning, Mrs. Boersma's friends threw me my first shower. It was so nice of her friends and they treated me like a princess. Mary Jo Dekker hosted the party, and served yummy treats. We started off with a fruit cup with 7-up, and juices (sooo good), and then ate quiche and tons of pastries. She made a lemon bread thing, like 5 types of cinnamon rolls, sugar bread, and so on. It was a nice treat! Then we played a game, and decorated an apron for Brent, aka a "mapron" (man-apron). Then I opened up all my gifts. It was so much fun, and I feel like I recieved enough to start living on my own! ha ha! We got a jello mold, a baking pan & cover, a crock pot, a hand mixer, a pie divider, a chopper, a level, a fancy silver bowl, measuring cups, a coffee maker, fancy glasses with a "B" on them, a fruit bowl with a banana hook, collapsible funnel, collander and mixing bowls, and pyrex mixing bowls with lids. They also gave me an address book, so I can bring it to all my showers to collect addresses! What a great idea!

Then on Sunday, I went to David's Bridal with Brittnee and Christine to get sized for my bridesmaid dress for Brittnee's wedding. :) And today, Brent and I updated our registry and actually went to Bed Bath & Beyond to open another registry. Now we are registered at two locations: Teerman's & BB&B. They were soooo nice, and took us step by step through the process. Also, as part of the deal we get a free wedding website which is super cool. Brent and I spent a couple hours over there, and our best find was placesetting options. We want dinnerwear this is middle-line, pretty but can be used on a daily basis. So we thought we would go with Colorwave Dinnerwear in three different colors: (4 sets of each) Green, Blue & Red.

And although we were not planning on registering for fine china we found really pretty Kate Spade china:

We found that Bed Bath & Beyond has EVERYTHING, so we are really excited that we chose to register there. We are now trying to figure out our last place to register... Any suggestions send them our way!!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Business Attire

Brent and I are getting married in exactly 140 days. It is my hope that both of us will have jobs in the next 139 days. :) But to get a job, means having an interview first...and after looking through my closet, I have no idea what I am going to wear to interviews! ha ha! So, I have surfing the internet to find cute business attire. Here are some of my finds from spiegel.com:

Dresses

Pencil Skirt/Jacket Outfit

Wraps

Mix-n-Match

Thursday, February 5, 2009

I'm An AUNT!!!! For the fourth time...

Just wanted to share the news - My sister had her baby today!! It is a girl named Eliana Joy. She weighed in at 7lbs 15oz, and 18 3/4 in long! I can't wait to meet her!!!

Simply Cute Dresses for Under $100

If you have never been to Etsy before, you are simply missing out. All handmade items, and you can find almost anything - especially wedding stuff. Tonight I spent about an hour just looking at cute dresses, and I found some fun ones! Check out my finds:

I also found some absolutely adorable dresses at some other fashion hot spots (click on the picture to be taken to the source)

Monday, February 2, 2009

Summer of Brides and Bridesmaids!

Guess what?!? Not only will I be a Bride this summer, but I will also be a Bridesmaid! :) One of my best friends, Brittnee Longwell, is getting married to another good friend of mine, Taylor Blom, on May 23rd, 2009. She asked 7 other girls to be her bridesmaids last April, but her and I have worked together at Volunteer Services for the past year and half, and have grown a strong friendship, and she wants me to have me be a part of the wedding. I feel so blessed and am super excited! So...this Sunday (day after my wedding shower) Brittnee and I will be heading to David's Bridal in Grand Rapids to get sized for my dress.

Brittnee's and Taylor's favorite colors are Blue and Orange (GO HOPE!) so the bridesmaid's will be wearing "pool blue" and holding orange gerber daisies, and the guys will be wearing pool blue vests. Check it out at David's Bridal.

Overall, I am super excited! For the last couple months, I have been meaning to ask Brittnee to play a special role in my wedding, and I can't wait to ask her. :)

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Do it Yourself Wedding Invitations

Since buying a new computer I have gotten the opportunity to use Microsoft 2007, and have discovered that they have some AWESOME clip art! I stayed up until 4am last night doodling, and messing around with clip art and paint shop...and I thought of some super cute invitation ideas!! :) Check out two of my designs...

Invitation Option 1:

Invitation Option 2:

So, maybe I will be able to print my own invites!! How fun would that be??? Let me know what you think of the designs.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Our First Registry

On February 7th, Melissa (future sister-in-law) will be in Holland, so Mrs. B's friends are going to throw me a bridal shower!! And since everyone in Holland loves Teerman's Brent and I spent yesterday afternoon registering. We registered for a toaster oven, an electric hand mixer, electric knife, crock pot, salt and pepper basket thing, Spice rack, cheese cutting set, cake and pie divider, collapsible colander, mixing bowl and funnel, covered cake pan, fruit bowl, rotary grater, fruit/veggie chopper, storage set, jello ring mold, bathroom mirror, and a photo frame hook rack. We thought we did pretty well for our first time! And it was a lot of fun picking out things for our future home...wherever that may be! :)

Talking about future homes, Brent and I have also been diving into the whole job search thing. I finished my resume and had it checked out at Hope's Career Services last week, and Brent is bringing his over there tomorrow. Tonight we talked about what kind of jobs we are looking for and here is what we came up with...
Caitlin is interested in any of the following:

Women's Ministry or Networking (a job that coordinates activities, puts together growth groups, plans opportunities of growth) This could be in a church, or in an organization that promotes empowering women :)
Some sort of Event Coordinating...similar to what my dad does. Ha ha! I would rather not work 60 hour weeks every week. Maybe 20 hours one week, 60 hours another week. And I don't want an event coordinating job where I would have to work nights and weekends on a weekly basis.
Working with Non-profits or a Volunteer Coordinator of a company
However, I am open to trying anything...particularly if it falls under Religion or Communication
Someday, I would like to go back to school though

Brent is interested in the following:

A job that he could be challenged (to an extent) and learn more about his strengths
Community Relations
He is willing to try ANYTHING. College has mostly consisted of classes, coffee shops, basketball games, and volunteering at church, so he is looking for any kind of job where he could try new things and find what he is passionate about

So, if any of you know someone who could help us find a job that would be awesome! :) It's crazy thinking that Brent and I will be married in FIVE MONTHS!! Hopefully we will have something lined up by then...

Monday, January 19, 2009

First Dance

So, who is all about fun first dances? Do you think I could get Brent to do one of these dances??

Sunday, January 18, 2009

A Closer Look at the Theme

So, a couple entries ago I posted some links to pictures of the new theme I am going for. And I thought it would be fun to take a closer look at these.

A long time ago, I wrote about how I want to use curly willow on the pews at Dimnent Chapel. I envisioned walking through a forest, but I had a hard time explaining to my mom what this would look like. And finally, after much searching my mom found the perfect picture of what look I am going for. Here it is...

This picture is great, because Dimnent also has the white and black tile aisle, and it has stained glass at the front of the church. Dimnent is a little darker though - darker woods, and the stained glass is all different colors, so I am still unsure if I want white curly willow, or natural wood curly willow. It's pretty though, isn't it!?!?

Then at the reception my mom and I were hoping to make mini tree centerpieces, kind of like these:

Here are the materials we would need:

Vase (clear, or white, whatever is cheaper)- Dollar Store or a craft store for $1-$3 a piece ($20-60)
River Rock (if the vase is clear) - Dollar Store $1/bag ($20)
Branches - we could get these from the backyard! (FREE)
White silk or paper flowers to stick on the branches - Michael's or Walmart, or another discount store ($20-40)
Bird Ornaments - We found them at Target after Christmas ($15)
Glue & Glitter - Michael's ($10)
Time Spent with Friends and Family making the Centerpieces (PRICELESS...maybe we won't think this after we are done though)
Total = $85-125 for 20 centerpieces. That is about $5/centerpiece

Has anyone heard of people doing this before? If so, feel free to send your suggestions my way! :)

The Perfect Music

I have discovered that every bride is different. Some brides think the most important part of the wedding is her dress. Others it is the table decorations. Others it is the theme. One of the most important aspects to me is the CELEBRATION - the music, dancing, family and friends. I just want everyone at the reception to have a ball. So, I have started to think about the music. Although, these are not "dance" songs, the following are cute songs that I have found that would be perfect for non-traditional music in the ceremony or first dance song at the reception. Check them out, and send any suggestions my way! :)

Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life