That's So Inspiring...

from Snippet & Ink

Coming up with a color scheme and theme was difficult for me. I turned to friends and family and asked them how they had come up with theirs and some went with their favorite colors and some just chose colors based on the season of their wedding. I don't really have a favorite color so I asked Brian if he had any preferences. He said he definitely did NOT want purple (Husky color)! He said he liked blue and green. So with those guidelines I started researching.

I hit the wedding blogs for research purposes. Snippet & Ink is just one of the blogs that I have been reading lately. She posts some great inspiration boards and provides so many different ideas. She also posts photos from "Real Weddings" and it is really interesting to see how other brides have incorporated ideas into their weddings.

The inspiration board above caught my eye. I thought the colors and theme really meshed well with the vibe of our venue. Not to mention that it has blue and green. The colors and images on the inspiration board just exudes a calming, casual, and relaxed feel. This is exactly what we want our wedding to feel like.

Yesterday Brian and I had to stop at Fred Meyer after the gym to pick up some things for dinner. I asked if we could stop in the housewares department. I wanted to look at the paint chips and hopefully see some colors that were close to those on the inspiration board. After holding up several paint sample cards next to each other to see if they matched we came up with three colors from the Dutch Boy Paint line that we are going to use for our color palette:

1) Bartel Blue

2) Dining Alfresco (a pale green)

3) Phyllo

I like the colors because essentially it is sea/sky, grass, and sand - very natural colors. I'm excited that we have another thing we can check off the list. Now we can use these colors to start brainstorming invitations and decorations.

Next up - trying on wedding dresses this Sunday with my MOH, Samantha. Stay tuned...

It's Time!

...or at least everyone is telling me it is. What is it time for? Time to try on wedding gowns, of course! I don't know why but after securing our date and venue and getting my wedding binder organized I just have not been that inspired to do much wedding planning. Maybe it's because it seems like it is so far away that I have plenty of time to make decisions. Although part of the reasoning behind August 2010 was to give us ample time to plan and not to rush. Now I just hope I don't procrastinate since I think I have sooo much time.

So I did it. I bit the bullet and made an appointment. I just need to start the process and start window shopping. Now that I made my appointment, I'm actually getting a little excited about it. I still have no idea what I will like or what will look good on me but I guess that's part of the process.

Getting Organized

For the past two months I have been browsing wedding websites and blogs and just taking in all the different ideas I come across. I never really knew how many wedding websites and blogs existed. I was immediately overwhelmed with all the wedding lingo and acronyms - STD's (and no not that kind), DIY, inspiration boards, gocco, pocketfolds, and pomanders. I found that I was spending more time on wedding websites than I was on sports sites like espn.com and si.com. This is why I was completely out of touch during NFL draft day. I didn't even know what the Chargers potential draft plan would be. That is so unlike me! 


After browsing all the wedding websites I have a bunch of "mental notes" of things that looked interesting to me. Apparently my mind can only hold so many of these "mental notes" before it just starts doing a data dump. Before things start to get out of control, I figured it was time to make myself one of those handy wedding binders I keep reading about on these blogs. I need to be organized so I can physically file away these ideas and items of inspiration so I can have something to refer back to. That has pretty much been the extent of the wedding planning so far. 


1. Venue - Check!
2. Wedding Binder - Check!


At least with my wedding binder in tow I can continue with the planning :).


People have asked me how the wedding dress shopping is going. I feel like I have so much time so I don't have to worry about it yet. I don't really know how to go about it. Do I just make appointments at bridal stores and try on a bunch of dresses? Or do I have to wait until I have a better idea of what I want and then go to bridal stores? I've been looking at some magazines and online and haven't really found anything that I like.  I do know that I'm leaning toward the "beach casual bride" look so at least I have some direction. Like I said, I still have plenty of time to go dress shopping.


As Brian and I continue to talk more about the wedding we envision, the more we realize that there is so much to plan and consider. Not just the big things, but the logistics as well. That is one reason I'm glad we aren't getting married until next year. We will have plenty of time to figure things out without feeling rushed and stressed. 


Now I just need to find a balance of browsing wedding websites along with keeping up with the Chargers during the offseason and upcoming training camp. After all football season is only 4 months away.

It's Official!

Quick post from me.  Earlier this week we got the confirmation that our deposit was received and we were confirmed for our date of choice. We're in! 

Orcas Hotel - August 7, 2010!

Lindsays wedding

So my little sister got married this past weekend. It was nice to have all of my family together for a great event.

 It was all very surreal. I had spent the majority of my life looking at Lindsay as this little annoying girl that used to bother me when I played video games. I know that she thinks of me as brother that used to give her Charlie Horses, Noogies and Indian burns :).

It all hit me how real it was when I saw her walking down the aisle with my parents. It was a great scene being in front of all of my family and long time family friends.

Mr and Mrs. Andrew Leisner!

My Neice's Ella (L) and Tate

Tate stood up and gave a very funny toast to her aunt. She reminds me of Lindsay when she was young and it freaks me out she is already 10!

Everyone was excited, and the day went perfect... Well, almost perfect. The reception hall bathrooms ran out of paper towel and it was so annoying because every time I walked out of the bathroom there was someone I had yet to speak with and I had to give them the wet hands "sorry I peed on my hands" hand shake and joke. Here is me interrupting the first dance to let the bride and groom know we need more towels in the mens john.

This entire weekend made me think about how excited I am for next August and to get married to Stephanie. This event was alot larger than what Stephanie and I are planning for our wedding day, but still fun to attend and to think and talk about what our big day is going to be like. 

I am excited for you to be my bride baby!

After ceremoniy, eating, toast and first dance, it was time to party hardy!

My Sweaty brother Scott and I w/ midgets

Stephanie and Bella

Mom and Jack

My Dad, Lindsay and Stephanie late night!

Look how into the music I am right here!

Uh yeah...I was "that guy" towards the end of the night

I am so glad that I was able to share this magical day with Lindsay and AJ, as well as all my family and friends, and especially Stephanie, my bride to be!

First Post

This blog is an attempt to keep friends and family up to date as we plan our wedding on Orcas on August 7, 2010. Bear with me as I try to figure this out.

Brian and I used this past weekend as an opportunity for a mini getaway and to check out a potential venue on Orcas. We left Seattle early Saturday morning and headed up to our first stop - La Conner.  

Waiting for breakfast

 La Conner is a cute little town in the Skagit Valley, two hours north of Seattle.  After a delicious breakfast, we headed to Tulip Town to check out the tulips in bloom.

The tulips were in full bloom that weekend and we were lucky enough to see them on a nice day. There were tulips of every color and there were just rows and rows of them.

So many tulips!

The colors were so beautiful

Stopping to smell the tulips

We then had to hurry on over to Anacortes to catch the ferry. No matter how much we plan, it just seems like we are rushing for the ferry.  Since we were walking on it wasn't too bad of a rush.  We could just basically park the car and buy our ticket at the counter. The only problem is that we parked in the further lot so there is that feeling of anxiety as we are walking towards the ferry terminal hoping that we will make it just in time because the next ferry wouldn't be around for another few hours.  Luckily for us we made it and didn't even have to make a run for it. 

The ferry ride from Anacortes to the San Juan Islands is a beautiful one. As soon as you step on the ferry and pull away from the dock you immediately feel like you are on vacation. It seems like you are more than just 2 hours from Seattle. The ferry ride, depending on which one you take, is about an hour and a half. Plenty of time to completely unwind and start adjusting to "island time". The ferry we took had a few stops before arriving at Orcas. We stopped at Lopez and Shaw.

This is the view of Orcas as we approach the dock.

Leaving Shaw and heading towards Orcas

Gotta back up and rewind for a second....

Shortly after we got engaged, I started browsing wedding venues around Seattle. At this point we hadn't really decided what kind of wedding we wanted so I was looking at everything big and small. During that search I came across some beautiful venues but I was drawn to the Orcas Hotel. I showed the website to Brian and he liked it too. The only catch was that it is a smaller venue so that would mean we wouldn't be able to invite that many people. After some discussion we agreed that we both would like a small and intimate wedding where our loved ones could spend the weekend with us and just share in our special day. Since we don't all get a 

chance to get together very often this seemed like a great opportunity for everyone to get to know one another better and party! I made a reservation for Brian and I to stay at the Orcas Hotel on Saturday, April 25th to take a tour of the property and meet with a wedding coordinator. That weekend (4/26) also happened to be our 2 year anniversary so what better time to do it?!

Ok back to docking on Orcas...

View of Hotel from Ferry Dock

As we got off the ferry we saw that the hotel was not far at all. It was so easy to walk off the ferry and straight to the hotel. We checked in, dropped off our stuff in our room, and met with Samantha (the wedding coordinator). She showed us photos of some weddings that they had hosted at the hotel. She asked Brian and I what our vision was for our wedding and showed us around the property. She told us what they had done in the past and what options we would have. She made us feel very comfortable and answered all the questions I had. 

That's it for now. I'll write more later. Take a look at the collage above of some photos we took of Orcas Hotel.