i saw the sign

yep...did this blog's title take you back to the days of ace of base?  me too.  :)

i was looking around on the knot one night and found some cute ideas for signs at the wedding.

 i've actually made us these already except mine are much cuter.  not to brag.  but it's true! :)

another cute idea but our chairs aren't going to be facing this way.

i really like this idea, especially since our ceremony and reception will be at the same venue just in different locations.

this one's cute too.  just a little too small.

we are going to have one of these.  we already registered for it at bed bath & beyond.  looking for a wedding gift?  hint hint... :)  i have a vision of hanging it over our "soon to be" fireplace!

this sign would go along with my other blog about the candy bars.  it's cute though!

so i leave you with a little reminder from 1994.  ohhh the middle school days! :)

need a laugh?

i stole this from a friend's wedding blog.  i couldn't help it!  it looks absolutley hysterical!  i hope i can get some girls together to go see it when it comes out!

welcome to the world cletus j.!!

daniel jacob pomykal jr.

april 18, 2011

9 lbs. 10.4 oz. 21.5 in.
5:48 p.m.

baby daniel finally decided to make his way into the world around 6:00 pm hawaii time!  i am so excited to become aunt stephy!  if you don't know, he's the son of my best friend and matron of honor!!  also my future ring bearer! 

when leah told me she was pregnant, i had to come up with a nickname for the baby!  i tossed around fetus and poppy but for some reason "cletus j. pomykal" stuck with me!  i also enjoyed saying "cletus the fetus can't wait to meet us".  i work with a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds.  what do you expect?  :)  sometimes it's cletus.  sometimes it's cletus j.  sometimes it's just c.j.  i don't think i'm going to be able to call him by his real name.  poor kid.  my hope is that one day, he'll look at leah and say "mommy, why does aunt stephy call me cletus?"  all she'll be able to say is "ohh, that's just crazy aunt stephy!" :)

i love you cletus and i can't wait to meet you!

how sweet it is

i've been playing around with the idea of a candy bar for our reception.  our pta at school set up a candy bar for the staff this past week.  it was so cute and seemed like an easy idea!  here are some of the cutest candy bars i found online.

now my only questions are...

1.  what kinds of candy would i use?

2.  would people like this or would it be a waste of money?



happy 30th birthday johnathan!

happy birthday fancy!  i love you!

april 17, 2011

save the date!



we have a videographer!!

video was another thing that i knew nothing about.  i mean, i have a tripod and a video camera...but i've never paid anyone to do it.  some people said "do you really need a video?"  my answer is "OF COURSE!"  if you know me at all then you know how much i love pictures.  well, i have the same obsession with video.  i still watch my junior/senior prom video.  (ooh.  i think it's time for another viewing party!)  there's also a pretty entertaining video of leah and i in the mountains.  have you ever had a mouse fall through a spiral staircase onto your back?  i have.  :)

this was my senior prom.  why did we have such a hard time posing for pictures?  so awkward!!

after emailing lots of videographers and getting some VERY outrageous prices, i found a guy out of wilmington.  check out, aria moon.  i really like steve's laid back attitude.  it's not like i need some hollywood production but i do need a video of the whole day.  and he gurantees to have your video to you in 30 days or you get a full refund.  that's great, cause i'm very impatient!  leah tells me "patience is a virtue." i'm still learning.

sparks fly

now that i've got a lot of the big stuff figured out, i'm starting to think of smaller details to add some personality to our ceremony and reception!  one thing i've been thinking about is our send off at the end of the night.  it's a little tricky cause we're going to be staying at the same hotel wedding night so it's not like we're going to be going far!  maybe we can drive off into the darkness and then sneak back into the parking lot! :)  that detail can be figure out later!

i know you're not allowed to throw out rice anymore.  *you should see johnathan's impression of what happens to a seagull if they eat rice.  it's pretty funny.  makes me laugh everytime!*  i also don't really care to have bird seed pelted at me.  bubbles would be pretty but my FAVORITE idea is SpArKLeRs!!

i've always loved playing with sparklers and what pretty photos we could take!

i need a cute way to display the sparklers but also something easy for guests to grab.

i really like the idea of having a container with sand and sticking the sparklers in the sand.  i bought some purple and lavender sand buckets for $1.00 this weekend.  i think they'll be a cute touch!

i was also concerned with how everyone was going to get their sparklers lit at the same time without burning themselves!  i had a vision of someone with a lighter running up and down the aisles of people lighting sparklers and then telling us "ready, set, go!"

easy solution?  attach a matchbook to each sparkler or two and everyone can have easy access to some matches!  you can actually order large amounts of personalized matchbooks for a super cheap price!  our only problem?  "stephanie & johnathan" has 21 characters (letters+spaces+&) and most matchbooks only hold 18 characters per line.  so i guess i'll have to be "stephy".  i just hope no one says "hey, who's that??"  :)

play that funky music :)

dj's were one thing that i had no idea about.  i didn't know anything about pricing.  johnathan and i attended richard and jessica's double wedding last october in emerald isle. 

jessica knew i was looking for a dj and suggested i email tom bone'.  i contacted him and he was available!  he was very willing to meet us at our venue so that he could check it out as well.  he's a fun guy who seems to have the same taste in music as us!  get ready for a mix of country, top 40, oldies, beach music, and of course...the electric slide, cha cha slide, and cupid shuffle!

now i just have 1 question.  is it appropriate to play "push it" and "smack that" at a wedding reception? :)

does it have fonDANT?

cake tasting was what johnathan has been looking forward to the most!  it was the last stop on our wedding planning marathon.  lucky for us, all 3 vendors use the same building so there wasn't much driving involved! 

cake flavor was pretty easy for us.  johnathan's absolute favorite flavor is red velvet.  it's what i always make him for valentine's day.  red velvet is one of my favorites too.  i also like chocolate, yellow...well...anything that's cake actually! :) we met with gunilla from american dream cakes.  she brought us several flavors of cake and icing.  johnathan dove right in for the red velvet!  that was a hit with both of us.  we also liked the yellow.  everyone likes yellow and it's always tasty at a wedding!  i also loved the strawberry!  plus it was pink!  we vetoed the white and marble cakes.  the chocolate was good but we already had red velvet.  the buttercream icing was delicious and will go with all 3 flavors!  so, our layers are....

red velvet (anniversary layer)

strawberry

red velvet

yellow

 i also knew i didn't want the traditional wedding cake.  they are very boring to me.  i wanted something unique and creative.  i guess along with "say yes to the dress" i watch too much "ace of cakes" as well!  i wanted a seashell theme somewhere on the cake.

i love the seashells on the first one.  simple but elegant!  i like the swirly pattern on the icing of the 2nd cake.

i like the starfish on the 3rd plus it incorporates my purple theme.  i really like the 4th and how it has "sand" around the edges.

this is an example of the cake we chose.  it's actually in gunilla's portfolio.  we made a few changes to it but it's the one johnathan and i both loved.

there are a lot of choices for cake toppers out there.  flowers?  bride and groom?  initials?

i think the bride and groom statues where the bride is dragging the groom by the collar and stuff are cute but kinda cheesy.  the initials are pretty but wouldn't go with our seashell theme.  we're going to have enough flowers at the reception without having more on top of our cake.

i ran across these awesome bride and groom bobbleheads during one of my late night googling adventures.  you can email a photo of you and your fiance to this company and they will custom make bobbleheads to look like you!

i REALLY thought johnathan was going to be into this idea!  to my surprise, he shot me down!  who wouldn't want a bobble head of themself?  i think i should surprise him with one.  ;)

the idea i've had for awhile now is to have a starfish bride and groom on top.  i actually saw my idea on a cake at the state fair this year.

there's some online too but not many.

gunilla seemed to know what i wanted and i hope she can get the starfish to stand up on top!

watch out...you never know where a bobblehead stephy and johnathan might pop up!  :)

OH...and as for the title of this blog...when i told leah about our cake, she asked "does it have fonDANT?"  you know...fondant?  that hard icing stuff they use to make fancy cakes?  isn't it fun to say in a british accent?  leah and i think so.

flowers, flowers, everywhere!

flowers were another stop during our wedding planning marathon one weekend!  i had no doubt what kind of flowers i wanted and i had plenty of examples to help me!  to my surprise, we met with the owner of coastal petals.  it was like she read my mind!  i came in with these examples...

and she pulls this out of her portfolio...

YES!  it's like she read my mind!  of course, we came up with something a little different but i was so excited!

we then had to come up with other things like boutonnieres for the guys.  i really like the idea of a starfish with a possible flower for them.

 

once again, she knew exactly what i was talking about!

so after deciding on a few other things, i felt really positive about the flowers!  i can't wait to see all the color they're going to add to the wedding!

my inspiration

i've had a vision of my wedding for years.  i just needed someone to make my ideas come to life.

i knew i wanted to incorporate a beachy theme into my wedding.  i wanted to use seashells and starfish and flip flops of course!  i've always loved those paper lanterns!

i also wanted to use shades of purples and pinks throughout the ceremony and reception.  that bouquet is one of my favorites!

i love the purple chair ties.

so, to help out with my ideas, johnathan, his mom, and i met with megan from crystal coast event rentals.  she took my ideas, showed me what they had (which is pretty much anything) and made my vision come to life!  i never knew there were so many options!  we chose lots of shades of purple and other accessories that i think will bring my "purple beach" theme together!

we chose this arbor for the ceremony.  it will be decorated with greenery and starfish!

some rows will have a lantern hung with a shepard's hook.  imagine flowers cascading out of the lanters.

all the chairs will be tied with purple chair ties and a starfish.

i plan on getting crafty and making some cute signs to lead guests to the ceremony area!

the lanterns will double as part of our centerpieces for the reception.  great idea to save some money!

this is very similar to what we want to do (minus the fishing net).  the flowers will still be in the lantern and candles will be placed around it along with seashells.

several paper lanterns will hang above the dance floor.

i plan on getting crafty once again and making johnathan and i signs to hang on our chairs at the reception!

i guess that's enough of a sneak peak for now!  come to our wedding to see how it all comes together! :)

wisteria=lavendar

i knew i wanted my girls to wear some shade of purple.  although pink is my favorite color, i didn't want a bubblegum pink wedding.  i have the problem of wanting to please all my girls with the style and color.  i know dresses fit everyone differently and i want them all to feel comfortable and pretty!  i thought i wanted long dark purple dresses at first.  the more i researched, i realized i liked the short style better!

there are lots of options out there but since my girls are all over the place in hawaii, georgia, and different parts of north carolina, i wanted something that was going to be easily available to everyone!  i decided to go with david's bridal since they are located in every state.  the problem was that the "lapis" color looked more like navy than purple.  so, my next option was lavendar.

at david's bridal, the lavendar color is called "wisteria."  we stopped by after our burlington road trip so sarah could try on the styles i liked.  we finally decided on this style.  she's gonna hate me for posting this! :)

this style...

but in this color.

i think all my girls approve!  i just hope they can get to david's bridal soon to order them! :)

we've even found an adorable flower girl dress for gracie at target!  i think it's silly to spend $100 on a dress for a 3 year old!  this one at target is $20 and it's just as cute!  plus, her super creative mommy is going to add a few special touches!

it's white.  i'm not sure what that greenish glow is in the middle!