Hair/Makeup and room accommodations

Hello ladies,

I am trying to figure out who would like to have their hair and makeup professionally done.

For hair, I was thinking about asking the hairdresser in Cincinnati that my mom uses and I used to go to. She is reasonably priced for haircuts ($25), so I can't imagine hair styles would be that much more expensive. I will have to call for exact pricing. I could ask her and another hairdresser to possibly work on everyone. I am leaning towards having my hair mostly down and curled.

I will probably get my makeup done professionally, but I do not expect this of everyone. If you would like to, it will be $50 from the makeup artist that I will most likely book. (It is Makeup by Karina). If you are interested in getting your makeup done, let me know!

Also, for Marjory and Amanda: since you will be coming in from out of town, I would like to figure out where you would like to stay. There is room at my parent's house (double guest bed, pull-out couch) as well as my sister's house (her basement, as she is also hosting my cousin+family from Washington). If you would like a place to stay for the few days surrounding the wedding. Or, we have rooms blocked at a number of different hotels. These will go up on the website as soon as we have the contracts figured out for all four hotels, if you would like to book nights at a hotel instead. Either will be fine, but let me know if you would prefer a free place to stay Friday and Saturday!

Centerpieces

I've been doing a lot of thinking about what the centerpieces would look like. I am going to use this blog post to keep track of ideas, so it may be a bit jumbled!

Each table will have a square piece of purple fabric with a diamond of the damask piece inside. I think I may use paper for the damask, because I bought a roll of wrapping paper in this print - mainly because I found it and knew it would be cheaper than buying individual pieces of paper or fabric. I still need to figure out which size square would fit properly in the center of the table.

One third of the tables will have tall Eiffel vases with floral arrangements. The remaining tables - I still need to figure out. I might do the remaining tables with the same centerpieces or have two alternating centerpieces for them.

I like this idea of using rubber bands around vases and spray painting them. I think a trio of different sized cylinder vases would look nice.

Some cheap cylinder vases:
- 7 1/4" by 3 1/4" Cylinder Vases from Dollar Tree $1
- 4" Glass Candleholder from Dollar Tree $1
- 3.5" by 9" Cylinder vase $3.99
- 4" by 12" cylinder vase $7.92
- Set of 12 10.5" by 3.25" cylinder vases $39.99 ($3.33 each)
- Set of 12 4" by 10" cylinder vases $49.20 ($4.10 each)
- 12" by 5" cylinder vase $6.49, 6/$32.94

Save-the-date magnets

John and I ordered our save-the-dates magnets (finally) and we will send them out as soon as they arrive. I am hoping to get them out by the beginning of January. I really liked the idea of a magnet because it's something people will actually put on their fridges and remember, rather than a card or postcard that could get easily lost. Here is the proof they sent me of the magnet, if you'd like a sneak peek.

P.S. There is not a whole lot on the website right now. I'm in the process of fixing that before we send out the magnets. :)

Bridesmaid shoes

For shoes, any style of black heels will do. Whatever shoes you have or would like to wear will be fine. As for the reception, you can wear black flip flops or flats if you'd like.

Photographer

I had originally wanted Kate's mom to do our wedding photography, because I thought that would be a special connection to the wedding and us. Unfortunately, she is unavailable in June due to a possible surgery. My mom and I met with a representative from Birch Photographers on Monday to discuss different options. We were able to choose from a few different portfolios to select a photographer we liked. Ultimately, we chose a photographer named Sarah. I didn't think we would be able to find a better value for wedding photography, so we decided to choose Sarah and Birch Photography to be there on the wedding day. A few weeks before the wedding, we will discuss our photography needs and wishes with Sarah so she will be prepared for the wedding day.

Pre-Cana counseling

I know John and I have been wavering about having the ceremony in a Catholic church. For a number of reasons, we have decided to keep the ceremony at Our Lady of Visitation, as originally planned. We are also pursuing online pre-cana classes to fulfill our requirement of marriage counseling with the church before getting married.

Transportation

The transportation between the ceremony and the reception will be provided through "A Savannah Nite" limo company. We reserved a white SUV limo that seats 22 people. Click for more information about the limo. We will have the limo after the ceremony until we arrive at the reception hall. Other transportation details will be worked out closer to the date.