A Leave of Absence

 I feel as though I have no more posts left to give. My well is running dry and I am out of time and projects when it comes to this wedding planning game.

I will definitely post all of the fun after pictures on how the whole wedding came together and what the final product looked like, but for now I leave you with one simple picture of my handmade cake topper.

Thanks to those of you who faithfully read and followed all of my DIY wedding progress. I appreciate the love! Wedding planning has proved to be quite the difficult task. You enjoy it as much as you allow yourself to and the rest is just inevitable stress. I don’t think I would change a thing about it though.

Same goes for Joel and I, I wouldn’t change a thing…..

No matter what circumstances have come our way, we have continued on. God has a plan for our lives, bigger than we can ever imagine, and no amount of planning or people pleasing will change that simple fact.

Through this whole process, I have walked away with an overwhelming sense of blessing; blessings from the people helping me, those praying for us, and definitely just our circumstances in general. God has really been doing all of the planning all along. I may think that I am the queen bee when it comes to organizational wedding planning, but I would be nothing without my Savior. He provides me the grace and strength I need on a daily basis and then some.

I hope to be back to this colorful little page soon with pictures galore to post! Until then…Take Care

Days Go By....

Well we are 53 days out and I am getting slightly nervous/excited. No one tells you how hard it really is to plan a wedding on your own, on top of having a full time job! It’s craziness. My nights and weekends are anything but restful these days and it seems like there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished.

It’s sad that I have not posted in over a month! Just goes to show the madness that I have been experiencing over these past few weeks.

My goal was to have all my wedding planning done by the holidays…..wishful thinking…more like a pipe dream at this point. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I am going full steam ahead with finishing all the final wedding plans.

My biggest concern right now is my dress. Is it normal that a wedding dress, purchased and ordered in early March has yet to arrive in Illinois and be picked up by yours truly? I think not. Most wedding dress fittings should start 2 months prior to the day of the wedding. Looks like I am going to be a little behind in that department.

The guest list/seating chart is a whole other joy and delight that I must configure by the end of this month.  (Just a shout out to those of you who have received their invitation already via mail, please don’t let it sit in your “I’ll get to that later pile” any longer! Send me a response a.s.a.p. my sanity depends upon it.)

Thankfully I am blessed with many a bridal showers this month! The first one starts tonight, thanks to my wonderful Country Rose family J  I am also blessed to having a loving church, close friends, and family who are all having showers for me within the month. At least that is something to look forward to…. that and my wonderful fiancé Joel.  He makes all this wedding craziness worth it. TRUTH!

It's All Worth It

I’m back on track! I’m getting down to business and tackling some real wedding tasks.

Right now I’m dealing with quite possibly the biggest wedding challenge which as any bride knows, is the guest list. First things first, inviting all these guests.

Thankfully creating  the invitations is done, thanks to Renee Virgo (my amazingly talented future sister-in-law)  Now I’m onto  writing, stamping, sticking, and licking to get these all out in the mail on time. This part has actually proved to be quite easy and doable, mainly because the Josephs have graciously volunteered to hand deliver a great number of their invitations. In their culture it is more respectful and quite normal to just verbally invite the family to be your guests. This means they will be going around to various families’ homes and hand delivering the invites along with personally asking them to be a guest at our wedding. Though this sounds tedious and time consuming, I find it extremely personal and sentimental……Not saying that I would want to volunteer for the job, but you get what I’m saying.

Along with the invitations, I have started a few guest list spreadsheets, a mock seating chart, and my programs are finished. The slideshow is in the works and now I can focus on church décor. Yup I think I’m on track and ready for this month to be over!

Just a side note…. Any brides out there who think they have it rough? Try planning a seating chart for close to 400 people and then come talk to me!…… But seriously you can ask me for help, because I will have mastered it by then.

Lots of busy work but it's all worth it when I'm going through pictures and I see this face.

Change of pace....

This week has been a slight detour from wedding planning.

I started October in wedding mode, thinking that this would be the month that I accomplished the most. This would be the month that would change everything!

It turns out I didn’t get any wedding planning done this week. Go figure, but I did have a good excuse! I got side tracked with some major decisions.

So as of Monday, Joel and I are officially apartment renters! We found the perfect little first place for us. It’s very affordable and the location couldn’t be more perfect in my eyes, (this is because it’s 5 minutes from my work and I can go home to eat lunch everyday….selfish? yes maybe a little) None the less, we are signing the lease and I am moving in quite a bit earlier than I had ever expected, 2 weeks to be exact. This is all very overwhelming but also one of the most exciting times of our lives. I can’t wait to get in there and make it our own. I love to decorate and the best part is we can paint! That’s right we found an apartment we can actually change the boring white walls and paint ourselves (okay maybe we’re only allowed one accent wall per room BUT it’s better than nothing!) I will be sure to post pictures of our progress and reveal the finished product when ready.

Here a few of our "backyard" pictures right outside our apartment. Our patio is right behind Joel.

(The inside pictures should be much more exciting once I get them up)

On top of getting an apartment this week, I was called in by my boss on Tuesday to have a talk. Fearing I had made some huge oversight, costing the company thousands and potentially the loss of my job, I was a bit terrified. She starts off the conversation by asking, “You do have a business degree, don’t you?” My heart stopped as I sheepishly replied, “….yes.” She then proceeded to tell me that they would like to promote me to the business department and have me handle all of the accounts payable. I was floored! I had only been there three weeks and now they were offering me a huge opportunity for a recent college grad. Needless to say I accepted with much gratitude and excitement.

And there you have it, a crazy week full of God’s blessing and provisions. He is continuing to provide for me and Joel and I can’t help but to think how far He has brought us. Around this time two years ago was one of the most challenging times of my life. I doubted God’s sovereignty and His plan for me. When everyone around me seemed to turn on me, and the future seemed dismal, God had a plan. Through all of the circumstances that brought Joel and I together, God had a plan. I know now that I am more blessed than I could have ever imagined and to be where I am today is completely by the grace of God and nothing Lindsey Belanger could have ever planned. I am so thankful to God for blessing me with Joel and allowing us to share this life together.

The Rings

O Boy, 96 Days to go!

I go back and forth from being so anxious for January 5^th to just get here already! To being so worried that I am running out of time. Being less than 100 days out definitely gives me that reminder that I need to get a move on.

But for now I would like to take a break from the chaos to show you my ring and accessories. I am not a flashy girl, so the simplicity and the petite-ness of the whole thing really suits me. I love it and I could not be happier.

Needless to say I didn’t want to take it off, but Joel refused to let me wear it out to dinner the other night. Now his ring has a friend! Don't they look great together?

Here are some possible earring candidates that I found this weekend. Still can't decide if I should go with a stud or some sort of drop earring. Hmmm..... I've got time to decide, I guess.

Artwork....Not My Cup of Tea

This week has been filled with a lot projects that I am not capable of doing myself. This is frustrating but also inevitable when it comes to anything regarding art or design. Thankfully I have involved some very qualified people who are up for the task.

I got the bright idea to make my own wedding programs. Sounds simple right? I am the DIY queen and I figured I could make anything comparable to what I see on Etsy these days. Well it turns out that I don’t have the talent or wherewithal to make a program that looks anything like this. So what did I do? I broke down and ordered someone else to make them for me……..
You can’t win em all.

The second thing on my list of to dos was the guestbook. I have known for quite some time that I wanted to do a thumbprint tree. I have always loved this idea and I think it so cool to break from the norm and do a non-traditional guestbook. Once I again, I thought I could easily whip one of these babies up and it would be identical to the ones you see on weddingchicks!
Turns out what I think isn’t always what makes its way onto the paper……





Example

 




My Handiwork

 

Thankfully, my amazing future sister-in-law Renee Virgo has volunteered to design me an amazing guest book tree on top of already making all my invitations. Needless to say I am blessed and very thankful to have my own personal graphic designer on top of things. Here are the mock ups she just finished putting together. I am extremely happy with the way they turned out!

It's been a good month and I'm feeling good with the progress made. The big projects are always the most daunting, but thankfully I have had a lot of help and guidance.

106 DAYS AND COUNTING!

Branches, Berries, & Beads

My miniature forest is complete! After waiting months for my berries to go on sale, I could finally put all of my centerpieces together. I love my branches and berries. The finishing touch will be hanging the wish tags that guests will write advice and well wishes on at the reception. I also came across an awesome rummage sale (a bride's best friend). I was able to get a ton of votives, decorations, crystals and pearl strands for my wedding. I could not be happier with the progress I am making!

Plans, Plans, and More Waiting

It is the end of August and I cannot believe that the summer is almost over. Everyone is heading back to school and it still has not sunk in that for the first time in my life, I do not have to. Instead, I find myself staring at a list of to dos, with January 5th soon approaching.

Thankfully the honeymoon is officially booked, the down payment paid and now we wait in anticipation for our Caribbean getaway. Destination: RIU Palace, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 

I feel like I've been sifting through materials for days

The outcome is well worth it

Another big expenditure was made. I purchased and have in my possession my future husband's ring. 

It's been a busy couple of weeks but very productive! Right now I feel like I am in limbo. I'm waiting for some sense of direction before I carry on with any more wedding plans. Within the next four months, we need to find full time jobs with benefits, a place to call home, and gather all the contents to make a home.... in that order. It's very hard to have patience when you don't have control over certain areas of your life. God knows that I need this. This is building faith but also bringing Joel and I closer. Prayer and patience is all we can do for now. Until then, I shall keep myself busy with more crafts, plans and wedding day preparations!

Engagement Pictures

Here are a few other pictures that were taken by the lovely Shayna Sherbondy. The lakefront is in Milwaukee and the rest of the shots were taken in one of my most favorite places, Third Ward! I was so excited to get my full disc of pictures that I couldn't help but to show them off. Enjoy!

These are just some of my personal favorites! If you would like to find out more about Shayna Sherbondy Photography or to book a session please visit:

http://www.facebook.com/shaynasherbondyphotography

http://asimplebeautifullife.blogspot.com/

Cards, Candles and Crinkled Sentiments

This week has been productive to say the least. Nothing is better than that feeling you get after checking things off your wedding "To Do's before the I Do's" list.

Flowers of all sorts were first on the agenda, starting with the most sentimental bunch. I decided to take all of the roses that Joel has ever given me and sadly peel away every petal. I will use those petals for my flower girls to throw at the wedding. I will be walking over our past and towards my future husband.

I also met with my lovely florist this week and decided on bouquets for the girls and I. 

I finally put together my unity candle set-up. I was fortunate to find the candle holders form Goodwill and the candles are from Hobby Lobby. The fabric is left over from my place mats. 

I still feel like it's missing something... I'm open to suggestions. I have a hard time committing to one look. 

The back drop is a prototype but I plan to do something similar on a much larger scale.

Card Box is finished! Thanks to my vintage suitcase finds and some crafty paper and letters, I am more than pleased with the outcome of this project

Hope you enjoyed the updates. I will try and keep you posted on a more regular bases from now on. Between work, Sunday school lessons, Kids Club, and Reading I haven't devoted much time to blog posts. My goal is to make Saturday-Wedding update Day! So for future reference please visit the blog on a weekly basis, or however often you would like, and log in Saturdays for new progress and completed projects. Have a great weekend and a blessed Sunday!