The Details

It was such a relief being able to share our big news with everyone the past few weeks. I have never been good with telling lies and have felt rather guilty not to mention a bad friend. Bailing on plans, not answering phone calls, pouring the occasional "mocktail" was not easy for me. Now I just want the baby bump to start showing so I can have an excuse for the excessive wearing of sweat pants.

Until my posts become about pregnancy, babies and everything associated with the two, I would like to share a few more wedding posts.

Our ceremony and reception would not have been what they were without all of the details. I will admit that I planned for months, learned how to sew, and had a dining room table and guest room that was unusable for months. This doesn't count the tornado that I left upstairs at Geoff's parents house. We wanted it done our way. Blood, sweat, tears and champagne. Lots of champagne.

Geoff and I touched every detail and because of that were extremely proud how everything turned out. 

The hours spent driving from one thrift store to another, sewing yards of fabric, being covered in glue and counting down to our big day were 100% worth it. People will see your hard work and know the love that went into every single detail. 

I wish I had even more pictures. 

How We Went About It

As I am typing the title of this post, I realized it could be read two ways. 

This post is about how we told the ones we loved that we couldn't tell in person not the birds and the bees :) 

We were hoping to be able to tell my parents in person but that just wasn't feasible. Living a few states away, we get to see each other more often than when we lived across the country but not within the time frame we would have hoped. 

Our dog, Argos, has been their "grandpup" for the past 5 1/2 years and we knew that he had to be included. This lead to an rather frustrating photo shoot....

The first few dozen were blurry, the next 30 his eyes were closed, and then he decided to fall asleep. It is a good thing I never tried to go the celebrity route.

An embarrassing 100 pictures later, we had a "winner". 

Add a little Photoshop  and a frame and to the mail it went. We sat anxiously, expecting phone calls. It ended up arriving two days after the post office said but needless to say they were surprised. 

We gave the same framed picture to Geoff's parents as well but were able to do it in person.

For my sister, I took a slightly different approach. 

I bought a classic children's book and wrote a simple note:

Aunt Kelle,
Will you read this to me in April? I can't wait to meet you.
Love,
Baby Roe

I should have included a note on the front that said to open the book because she saw the book and called me hysterical yet slightly confused. It was the classic response. 

For my long distance friends, I wanted to do a play off of Geoff's job as well as the size of Baby Roe. 

I boxed up a tangerine and included a note printed on a paper leaf:

We wanted to let you know that our family tree is growing. 

April 2013

Love Geoff & Nicole

I just loved the reactions we received from our friends. We only have a few friends that have kids and a few that are expecting as well. No one knew that we had decided to try so we were able to catch everyone off guard with the great news. 

It was perfect. 

Now I can't wait for our gender reveal: What is Baby Roe going to Bee? 

Our Announcement

The past few weeks have been very exciting in the Roe household. We have had some life changing news to share. We chose to share this news in a variety of ways, both planned and unplanned, to those we love and yesterday decided to make it "Facebook" official....

We couldn't be more excited. 

Our Reception

Our overall goals for our wedding was for everyone to have a great time and for it to 100% represent us. We kept our ceremony simple and wanted that theme to continue. 

Immediately following the ceremony, while the bridal party and family was taking pictures, there was a cocktail hour. The bar was open and there was a station with appetizers including various dips, fruit, vegetables and cheese. None of which either of us tasted... 

Once our guests were seated inside, it was time for our first dance. "Amazed" by Lonestar was our song of choice. 

Neither of us are the biggest fans of being the center of attention and were nervous about our first dance. We choose not to take dance lessons and did not want anything formal.  We just did what felt natural. It was perfect. 

Another tradition we omitted was speeches except for my dads. He deserved the few minutes to stand in front of our family and friends and give his two sense. Sarcasm as well as a few embarrassing stories and the obvious mention of my American Express bills were all included.  

I have always had a lot of respect for my father and appreciate all that he has done for me over the years. "I loved her first" by Heartland was the perfect representation of that. 

Although we do not have pictures of the food, I was very impressed and so were our guests. We had a vision and the caterer was successful with the execution. The meal began with plated, fresh baked pretzels that were accompanied by a trio of mustards. A salad was served that contained a variety of caramelized vegetables with pepitas and an amazing vinaigrette. We opted for a slightly different lunch style that would demonstrate some of our favorite foods. We had three separate food stations. The first was a taco station that included a variety of meats, beans, rice and condiments. The second was a BBQ station that had pulled meats, rolls, and a vinegar slaw. The third was a seafood and pasta salad station. This allowed our guest to sample whichever they liked and everyone left satisfied. It is always hard to cook for a large crowd of people but it was pulled off perfectly. Togo boxes were packed in our car for us to eat once we got back to the hotel. I highly recommend that. We were starving and did not eat nearly enough. 

Following lunch everyone migrated outside to socialize and play yard games. 

Bocce ball and croquet were huge hits. I used to work in a restaurant that had indoor bocce courts. It is a simple game that can be played with a drink in hand. Geoff made the croquet set himself and it has always been a tradition to play when his friends come down to Florida to visit.  

One of our favorite parts of the day was being able to look around and see everyone having such a great time. 

We then "forced" everyone to come back inside so we could cut our wedding cake. My mom had a special cake made for us that I could eat. It was a great treat and I am already looking forward to eating the remaining slice on our anniversary. We chose to serve our guests cupcakes and provided a variety of toppings. The interactive decorating and no need of a fork worked perfectly. 

I will brag that Geoff kept it classy and only got cake in my mouth. I was rather nervous. 

An additional activity that we included was having a polaroid camera for the guest to pass around. We had cute props that were a big hit. It was so much fun as well as an inexpensive addition to the festivities. 

After everyone's sugar rush, the dance party began. We found a great local band called Wayward Reason. They were so much fun and were able to play our favorite songs. They got almost everyone on the dance floor, including my dad. 

The dancing continued until we were told it was time to depart. If it weren't for the bar running low, we could have stayed all day. 

I still have mixed feelings about our use of lavender to be tossed as we headed towards the car. It smelled amazing and looked great but took far too much effort to pick out of my hair and we still are finding pieces of it. 

A few of our friends got rather aggressive with the "tossing"...

We were both on cloud 9 with how perfectly the day went. 

Hiring a driver for the day was such a great treat. It eliminated the stress of us having to drive as well as having a family member drive us. A perk to having a noon wedding was that it was earlier than most other events and the driver was able to double up on weddings. 

We wouldn't have changed a thing. 

It looks like our friends had a great time as well. We love y'al! 

The Gazebo

My birthday was this past weekend and for once I made it extremely clear to Geoff what I wanted. Normally I will drop hints or leave a web site open to a particular item on our laptop. Not this year. 

I wanted the gazebo to disappear. FOREVER.

Everyone, even those who aren't renovating their entire house, has a project that has been on the to-do list for years but never tackled. I am not referring to large scale expensive projects but the less than a half day and basically free projects. For us it was the gazebo. 

I know when I say gazebo most are picturing a cute, decorative piece of lawn furniture that could be present at a wedding. I am sure at one point it could have been classified as "cute" but that may have been in the 70's. In its present state it was over grown with vines, providing a storage location for miscellaneous gardening and building supplies and most recently became the cats favorite hunting territory. Spiders, lizards, snakes, and varmints call it home I'm sure.  

Lets begin with the before pictures.

As you can see this beauty was located in front of our addition which was the former location of a screened in porch. It may have provided privacy but nothing that a curtain couldn't solve. 

Prior to starting this Saturday morning project, Geoff may have thought he got off easy this year. Then demolition begun. 

Step one included the removal of "greenery". Vines that have been part of this earth longer than we have were not as easy to remove as he would have hope. Multiple shovels were sharpened. 

The second step was to clean our everything that has been hiding within the shelter. 

An impressive amount of stepping stones and rotting wood was discovered. 

It was then time to figure out the game plan of how to tear it down. I suggested sledge hammer but power tools and manual force won out. 

The hairy helpers were out in full force. Multiple holes were dug when pleads for attention were ignored. 

The cat was not thrilled with her gazebo being torn down but was easily distracted by the large amount of lizards that were loosing their home. 

Much needed breaks were taken. Florida fall still consists of high's in the 80's.  Notice the pineapple plants in the background? 

We have one growing!

From my air conditioned view in the laundry room, the actual demolition didn't take too long. 

The larger battle appeared to be the disposing of all of the "materials" and dirt. 

Did I mention dirt? There was a lot of dirt and with our house being on a hill we weren't too sure what to do with it. Geoff tried to convince me that we needed to plant pineapples...

WE agreed that we would just pile it up for now and once we determine a landscaping plan we can adjust. I believe that a landscaping plan is #2759 on my list of things to do. This is still MY birthday present after all. 

This is progress. Now we can get back to painting this portion of the exterior. That is # 2 on the list at the moment. After the remaining granite for the kitchen but before finishing the hall. 

The step stones even got rinsed off and repurposed for the time being. 

Happy birthday to me. 

Now to think about what I want for Christmas.... a finished kitchen perhaps? 

Details: Programs

DIY details became the theme of our wedding. We had 15 months to plan, craft and create. Most of my creative research came prior to be discovering pinterest.  Although I can't imagine life without that website now, it forced me to search in a more traditional way. 

One of my favorite details that you find at most weddings is the ceremony program. Besides the order of the ceremony, it typically includes information on the families, the names of the bridal party, and a description of the the songs or readings as well as what is to come next. 

I was inspired by my friend C  from 6 Petals and the rehearsal dinner invitations she did for her brother's wedding. She did something I would have never thought of: sewed paper. Her invitations turned out amazing with lots of graphic design details that are far out of my current ability but I took the sewing concept with the craft paper backing as my starting point. 

The scalloped craft paper was found at Staples and the off white paper was from Sam Flax. I chose to use a gray thread. Printed on the craft paper was a list of family members as well as our bridal party. The front page included the order of the ceremony as well as a list of songs and readings. 

The sewing process was quite simple and it became a fun bride and groom project. I sewed without stopping because there was no need to cut between each program. Geoff would line the two layers and cut between the programs as the "tail" grew. 

I was so happy with how they turned out. I wish we would have saved one...