Wedding: Best Place to Buy a veil and lace garter

The title explains it all. 

I told you all about my wedding dress, but I haven't told you about two of my other accessories. The garter and veil.

First the garter. I mentioned that I bought the belt for my dress from Kristen Keuhn, however belts aren't her only amazing creations. After seeing lots of beautiful lace, antique looking garters on Pinterest I decided this was the style I wanted for my day. But holly cow, all the ones I found were expensive, however Kristen's seemed to be a perfect price for a nice keepsake.

I decided to go with the Rachel Garter. I also had a throw away garter. 

My sister helping me, while I kept it real and hike up my Spanx! 

Now the funny story about my beautiful, well thought out garter. My garter wasn't super tight when I put it on, but it fit. Good enough I said. Pictures were took, we said I do, more pictures were took, and then I asked my bridesmaids to help me use the bathroom. Up the dress went and it suddenly dawned on me that my garter was gone. Who knows where it was or when it fell off. Luckily, I had that throw away garter for the Boy to remove at the dance. I was sure my beautiful garter was long gone, and the Boy hadn't even seen it. Oh well. Stuff happens. 

The next week low and behold as my MIL was about to mow the grass there was my garter. In between the porch steps a little worse for wear, but at least I've got it! Maybe it will fit better as a headband. 

Now onto the veil. 

I really had no idea what I wanted for a veil. However, when I was searching for my wedding dress the sales lady put a Cathedral veil on me, and right away I knew that was exactly what I wanted. However, those babies aren't cheap. The one in the bridal store was more than $400. No way. I began my search on Etsy. That when I found the sweetest lady, Shirley from Joyous Illusions. When I saw how reasonable her veils were (I bought mine for $45) I was a little skeptical. However, Shirly sent me fabric swatches and the tulle was very soft, and of great quality. Did you know I was an expert in tulle?

Our wedding day was really windy and it rained. So I actually hardly even wore my veil. It got to show up for the church and the picture in our barn. Which were actually the perfect place for it. 

I choose the 108-inch veil, however we ended up having the lady that did my alterations cut a little off. At $45 this was the perfect bargain! Spread the word to your friends and family. Purchase $45 veils. It will make you happy. And like they say on Say Yes to the Dress, "It is just a white dress without a veil."

What wedding accessories did you worry about, or were super excited about? Anyone got any stories/

To read more about our wedding details check out the Wedding Style tab. 

Wedding: Rivini Wedding Dress and Kristen Kuehn Belt

The big white dress. 

We've got all our wedding photos back! So I would say it is time for some more wedding posts. This time let's talk about the big secret that finally was revealed on our big day. How did it all go down?

I had an idea of what I wanted for a wedding dress. Sweetheart neckline, no lace and not too many embellishment, and I was pretty sure that I wanted a fluted skirt, however I hadn't found the dress. That's when my hours of watching Say Yes to the Dress finally paid off. Thankfully I had been recording the show when the perfect dress appeared. Yet, they never quite give you all the details that you need to start googling where to go buy your dress. I patiently waited for more information to be posted on the Say Yes to the Dress website, and learned that it was a Rivini dress called Armane.

I knew I wanted to go to Chicago to look for dresses. It was an easy meeting spot for my mom and sister in Alberta, Canada, my one bridesmaid in Detroit, mother-in-law in Iowa and me in Missouri. I picked three stores to shop at, Ultimate Bride, Mira Couture and Jenny Yoo, knowing that we had to stop and look at the Rivini dress first. (Would highly recommend any of these stores!)

When I tried on the Rivini dress at Ultimate Bride I knew I loved it, but I also knew that I needed to try on a few other dresses. However, as I tried on each dress I knew that the Rivini dress was the one. Who knew I would end up buying the first dress I tried on.

I had no idea until the dress arrived for alterations, but Rivini is actually a Canadian brand so my dress says made in Canada! Which was perfect for a Canadian girl about to move to Iowa. (p.s. if you go to try on wedding dresses don't freak out. I was a size 10 and that isn't close to my normal size.) 

 At each of the stores I also tried on some belts to add a little glam. However, wedding belts at bridal stores are ridiculously priced. That's when I turned to Etsy and found Kirsten Kuehn.

She makes the most incredible bridal belts, head bands and accessories. I picked the Cameron Beaded Sash for my dress. It was the perfect amount of glam. I also bought a garter from Kirsten Kuehn, but I am saving that for my next post. 

Me and the Boy in our barn. He's quite handsome isn't he. If you have missed out on any of the other wedding posts including more pictures take by La Brisa Photography, my turquoise Old Gingo boots I wore with my dress or any other wedding posts you can now find them under the Wedding Style tab. 

A picture outside of one of the pastures our cattle graze in the summertime.

Wedding: Pure Ridiculousness Photos

Pure Fun. 

Today, I would like to take a minute and share with you something that our wedding photographers, La Brisa, like to call Pure Ridiculousness. p.s. we are days away from having the rest of our wedding photos and that means I'll finally get to share a few more photos and details with you. Two months flies by when you are having fun.

It was a tad chilly on our wedding day. However, I think the snowmobile jackets are a nice touch. 

My veil attacked B the photographer. 

And then our groomsmen attacked B.

Chris didn't want to be left out of the fun. 

However, while this was going on...

So was this. Yeah we had a good time. 

If you want some amazing photographers you have to check out La Brisa Photography. If you follow the link you can see a few more choice photos.

Wedding: Let's Talk about Shoes

Put on your dancing shoes. 

Why are wedding shoes so important? I mean no one actually sees them until you kick up your feet on the dance floor to Footloose. Maybe it is because they are one of the wedding accessories you can actually wear again?

I had a hard time picking out what I would wear. I knew I wanted heels for church, and the boots for the dinner and dance so that I could do just that - dance the night away. I was really set on blue shoes for awhile. 

These Royal Blue Wedding Shoes from Nina in particular, but they were pretty high and I was worried that my hem would be too long once I put my boots on. All my bridesmaids were going to wear nude colored shoes, so with a last minute shopping trip in Oklahoma City and spotting these Nine West Nude Pumps my decision was made. 

Even bigger score... these shoes were on sale and are super comfortable. I also wore them at the rehearsal dinner and I took them with me on our honeymoon. 

Photo by La Brisa Photography. 

The girls also came with a selection of awesome shoes. I'm trying to remember where everyone got their's from. I know two sets came from Target similar to these ones. The third ones in were my sister's and she got those at Aldo a few years ago. 

However, as I said I really wanted to buy a nice pair of boots for the wedding. I had been dreaming about a certain pair of Turquoise Old Gringos Cowboy Boots that I had been seeing all over on Pinterest. Just before Christmas while visiting the Boy's sister in Fort Worth we walked into a store called Mavericks and there they were. There was no way I was walking out of that store without those boots. I was ready to scoop them up, when the Boy said you know I don't have your Christmas present bought yet. Bing. Problem solved. 

My heels and boots made a nice pair.

However, I wasn't the only one that had boots with me as I asked all my bridesmaids to bring their boots along for a fun picture.

From left to right. Kristi - a great friend who introduced the Boy and I, Dana - a great friend who I met through the Angus business, Stacy - my sister, me, Abby - another friend from the cattle business, Jaci - the Boy's sister and now min,e too!

Aren't they a smart looking group of girls! With their boots they are all wearing part of their bridesmaid gifts. Men's black button ups that we had embroidered with there initials. The before the rehearsal dinner you could help my brain was turning to mush as I could figured out whose shirt was cBd - oh right those were going to be my new initials! Their boots are from Corral and Ferrini. 

What were your wedding shoes like? Do you still have them today?

Wedding: Cow Pretzel Sticks

A little chocolate, a little cow

The Boy and I for quite a while thought that we wouldn't do favors at our wedding. I have watched far too many wedding favors go unused or never taken home, and thought that maybe it would just be better to forego the favors... that was until I saw these.

That's right cow sprinkles! I knew instantly that I could use these sprinkles to make my starting to be famous pretzel sticks. They were a pretty big hit at Christmas. 

I added additional white sprinkles to the cow sprinkles to make them go a little further. I found all my sprinkles through The Baker's Kitchen, except for the longer white sprinkles that had an iridescent shimmer to them. Those ones came from Hobby Lobby. You can find them also at Jo Ann's fabrics, but Hobby Lobby was better price wise. 

Jon's Grandma Johnson.

Jon's Great Franke, Jon's Grandma Judy and my mom. 

After a couple hours of dipping, sprinking and wrapping we had 350 pretzel sticks made. Luckily I had the help of three generations of family. Me, my mom, my mother in law, two of the Boy's grandmas and a great aunt of the Boy's. 

I use regular melting chocolate for the pretzel sticks. and use a spoon to help spread the chocolate on three quarters of the stick. Next lay the stick on a cookie sheet that has been covered with wax paper. Next use a spoon to sprinkle your "sprinkle concoction" over the sticks. Don't worry about the extras that don't stick, you'll be able to re use them. Place your cookie sheets in the fridge and allow to set for a couple of minutes. Once you pop the hardened sticks off the wax paper they are ready for wrapping. You'll be able to add the extra sprinkles back to the your stash of sprinkles to reuse. 

We used Wilton pretzel stick bags from Jo Ann Fabrics, and then tied with Jute Twine from BurlapFabric.com. Their jute comes in HUGE rolls, but trust me if you are going to incorporate burlap into your wedding you'll want a lot. 

Wedding: We got hitched

Introducing to you Mr. and Mrs. Blin

Well it is time to break the silence. After a little wedding vacation and then a honeymoon vacation from the blog I am happy to be back - as Mrs. Blin. Some people are a little surprised to find out that my last name is actually not Cattle. I told the Boy that Cattle seemed to be pretty popular so maybe we should both use that, but he didn't quite agree. Anyhoo....

Our wedding was amazing, and I can't wait to share the details with you. Some of them will have to wait until a few more pictures come in, but we'll start with the basic info.

Where: The Boy and I decided to marry in Iowa, even though I am from Alberta, Canada. I moved to the Midwest in 2003 to attend Kansas State, and I really wanted all my family to see my new Iowa home. We had the ceremony in the Boy's hometown, and the reception was at the Park Place Event Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Highly recommend them - beautiful place and amazing service!

Dress: I traveld to Chicago to buy my Rivini dress. I actually first saw the dress on Atlanta's Say Yes to the Dress television show. I knew there was a reason I spent so many hours with my eyes glued to that show. I will definitely have a separate blog about my dress and accessories. 

First Dance: After some persuading I convinced the Boy we should dance to Are Going to Kiss Me or Not by Thompson Square. It is one of my favorite songs, and while the Boy and I were dating he may or may not have received many late night phone calls with me belting out this song. I think the best part was how many of our guest were belting out the song as we danced. 

Wedding Party: Our best friends made up our wedding party. My sister was my maid of honor, and the Boy's good race car buddy was his best man. The funny thing was that each of the them caught the bouquet and the garter. Except for the Boy's sister none of the groomsmen or bridesmaid met until a couple days before the wedding, and I would say we have great taste in friends because they got a long awesome! 

Photography: Other than marrying my best friend this had to be one of the highlights of the day. If you are having a wedding you must consider La Brisa Photography, and don't worry about location because they will travel! Chris Heish our photographer totally surprised us by bringing a second photography B to help capture our day. Our engagement photos were amazing, and with the teasers they have already provide (that's right the night of the wedding they have already put up more than 100 photos for us) they again blew us out of the water. Be sure to check out the La Brisa Facbeook page! 

Watch for many more posts to come, and if you have specific questions email me at crystalcattleblog@gmail.com and I'll work on putting a blog together to answer them. 

DIY: Jute Monogrammed Wedding Letter

Thank you Pinterest inspiration. 

I had been eyeing a very similar wreath to the one I created, however my thrift (a better word than cheap) self said, "Self you can make that yourself." And so I did.

Don't be fooled this project takes a little while (more than an hour in my case). But it was a great way to fill the time while the Boy was at bowling.

I didn't take any step-by-step photos, but here are some tips.

- I bought my styrofoam letters online here They shipped out super quick. Mine was 12" tall and 1" thick
- You'll want to wrap the letter in jute twine. I bought a HUGE roll from Burlap Fabric.com (you should see all the other cool stuff I got for the wedding! However, that is for a later post). Pick a really thick jute, because that will mean less wrapping, and trust me by the end you'll be glad!
- You'll need a hot glue gun, I went through one of the super long sticks. Choose the low setting on your gun otherwise the styrofoam will melt a little
- whatever decor you want to use as an accent

I started in the middle of my letter, and began wrapping toward the top, and the did the bottom half, trying to put most of the glue on the back side of the letter. The jute is easier to work with if you cut it into 2-3 foot sections.

I love this jute stair runner.

Have you been inspired by all the burlap and jute decor that has been popping up? I am so glad that we choose it as one of our wedding colors. p.s. It is exactly one month until the big day! We can't wait.

Turquoise Thursday: Wedding Registry

It's like Christmas

The Boy and I have just over a month until our wedding, and we couldn't be more excited. I don't think we have received so much mail in our life. Between RSVPS, packages arriving from Etsy (yes, I am a little addicted) and wedding gifts arriving we feel pretty popular.

Last week, when I arrived home from a travel trip to Georgia, I asked the Boy what the big box was sitting in our entryway. He replied, "Oh, I just thought it was something else you had order." Nope that big box was a gift from Bed, Bath and Beyond. We quickly tore into the box to find this.

This is what a very happy girl looks like.

We received an awesome KitchenAid mixer from the Hatmaker and Parke families! 

But the best part is that it is Turquoise! Well technically it is called Ice, but it makes me smile every time I look at it. 

I have already put it to use. Baking up two loaves of banana bread with a recipe out of a great aunts cookbook. 

Other turquoise-ish items that I am hoping will end up in our home. 

Pottery Barn Jute Braided Pillows in Ice. 

This Mixing Bowl set from Dillards. I love the big turquoise bowl.

And these turquoise placements from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Hope you all have a fantastic Turquoise Thursday!

Farm Life Never Stops even when you have a party dress on

Farming in heels. 

This weekend the Boy was a usher in our good friends' wedding. It was excited to be a part of their wedding with our big day less than two months away. I have been tweeting and instagramming (yeah I just made that a verb) about us getting two heifers and a bull ready for the Iowa Beef Expo sale.

On Saturday, the Boy and I worked together on the cattle until he had to leave to go put his black and hot pink tux on, while I finished up on the cattle and met him at the church.

This is what I like to call the barn to party dress transformation.

Barn clothes to wedding clothes in an hour. I also smelled much better. 

The dress is from Express (bought last year) and the silver pearls are from my favorite western store in Kansas City, Nigro's

The wedding was wonderful, but we knew at some point we would have to go back to the farm to do night chores. Cattle get hungry and their needs always come before ours. So after supper, and when the first dance was over we slipped out of the wedding. 

Doesn't the Boy look handsome. 

One of my Twitter followers said that the calves are going to expect their feed on silver platters next time. Our wedding photographer also saw this picture, and asked if we could do this for our wedding? The fact is that on our wedding day the calves are still going to need to be fed. So there is a pretty good chance I might be seen in a wedding dress holding a feed bucket! I wouldn't trade life on the farm for anything. 

Turquoise Thursday Note Card Giveaway

Sometimes all you need is a little turquoise. 

The Boy and I are getting a lot closer to the big day, so it is time to get a few things scratched off our list.

My dress came last week! So excited to show you all what it looks like, but you'll have to wait until April. The Boy has no idea what it looks like, and we have planned not to see each other until the ceremony.

The dress is tucked away safely at the Boy's parent's house.

I also used Shutterfly.com to finish our guest book. People will be able to sign their names around our engagement photos. Which I have to give a shootout to La Brisa Photography. Chris was amazing to work with.

I love Shutterfly because of all their coupons you are able to use. On this order alone I got 50% of photo books, $10 off for spending more than $10 and free shipping. However, to get to that free shipping I needed to add one more thing to my cart.

Anyone remember this picture from when it was my blog header?

Enter in cute turquoise notecards with one of my photos. I've got 6 of these Thank You notecards for one lucky blog reader. 

To Enter:
1. Leave a comment below and tell me who you would say thank you to with one of these notecards.
2. Follow the Crystal Cattle blog, leave a comment saying you do on this blog and I will give you an extra entry.
3. Follow Crystal Cattle on Facebook, leave a comment saying you do on this blog and I will give you an extra entry.
4. Follow Crystal Cattle on Twitter, leave a comment saying you do on this blog and I will give you an extra entry.

The giveaway will close Saturday, February 4, 2012.  

Crystal Cattle Wedding: Engagement Photos

Up Bright and Early

This weekend the Boy and I had an awesome time with our friends. It was our annual American Royal together weekend, which meant great cattle, wonderful friends and lots of laughs. This year we also throw in engagement photos.

I really can not say enough wonderful this about our photographer Chris of La Brisa Photography. I have admired his work for a long time, and we are so excited for him to be our wedding photographer.

The morning started REALLY early. By 6:30 a.m. we were in my car and headed to Smithville Lake, Missouri. Chris thought it would be awesome to start off the day with a sunrise session, so did we. We just forgot how cold it was going to be. Chris, the Boy and I braved the below freezing temperatures but as you can see it was definitely worth it.

You can check out the rest of our teaser photos at La Brisa Photography's Facebook page and be sure to give them a like. 

Crystal Cattle finds a wedding dress

The big day is getting closer. 

This past weekend my sister, my friend Dana, my mom and my future MIL all headed to Chicago for the search for a great white dress. And I found it!

Before the weekend I had actually not tried on any dresses, so I was pretty excited to start the adventure. The day started out with me trying on a dress I has saw on the TV show Say Yes to the Dress - I watch the show all the time. Well it turns out that the very first dress I tried on! I still kept all my appointments that day, but in the end we headed back to that same store and I bought that wonderful dress.

I loved in Mira Couture how all their dresses were displayed. 

Jenny Yoo was another great store with awesome dresses.

I am pretty sure it was meant to be because when I was trying on the dress for the final time I told my consultant that that I had saw the dress on the show, and that's when she told me she used to work at Kleinfeld's and knows all the people on the show!

I thought all this dress fabric was beautiful.

Now, no one will be seeing the dress until the big day. The Boy wants it to be a surprise until I walk down the aisle. We'll also be waiting to do our photos until after the ceremony! Therefore you will all be kept in suspense until April 7! However, I will tell you the dress came from Ultimate Bride and they were awesome.

Chicago Skyline