Just Call Me Mrs. Filip ... literally!

I knew that 5 years of college had to pay off ...

For this year, I did not find employment in my dream district as a full-time teacher, but, I have gotten a very great opportunity that I am VERY excited about. I accepted a 3 month, long term subbing position in a first grade classroom. I LOVE first grade, as I student taught all last semester in a first grade classroom in the same district. I will get the same salary and benefits as a regular teacher (on a pro-rated basis when I am long-term subbing), so all is well in that department. The district is also trying to find me other long-term jobs when this first grade position ends at Christmas Break. If nothing else, I will just be a regular substitute teacher during that time. Still great!

Also, all school-year long, I will be part of an after school program where I will be helping kids with their homework and such two days a week.

With a busy photography business and now teaching and the after school program, I'll be busier than ever - but - a good kind of busy!

Wedding

Where has the time gone?!
We have been married for about 5 weeks now, and I still haven't had the time to go thru my own wedding photos that Christy took for us. Here are a few I have gotten to .... hopefully in the upcoming weeks I will get to spend some time on my own, instead of all my clients! :-)

I follow Southern Weddings blog just to get new ideas for photos I take, and they usually have questions and answers for the featured bride and groom. I thought that was cute, and a nice way to help document things, so I took some of the questions for this post.




How did the two of you meet? Tell your story.
We have kind of a different story than normal couples have. We met about four years ago thru a mutual friend. He was actually dating someone I knew, but, odd as it sounds, we always had a connection early on. I was immediately attracted to him and I guess you could say I even had a little crush on him. I was dating someone else too, so the timing was never right. I thought about him a lot, and he used to text me just to talk .... then last summer, the timing was finally right and we got together. We knew right away that we were right together. It was definately the happiest change in my life.

Describe the proposal:
Like I said, we definately have a different kind of story! It was only four weeks after we starting offically dating eachother, and he texted me while I was at work and he said he wishes he could put a ring on my finger before I went back to college. So, I texted back saying, "So let's do it." And we did. We went to Jared's that week and picked out my ring together. There was never an official proposal.

What was the design inspiration for your wedding?
I'm not sure how I came up with the colors for our wedding, but very early on in the planning process I picked aqua and cantaloupe. I think I might have seen the colors in a wedding ad. I want a fun, upbeat wedding, and I think our colors helped pull that off. I never planned for the wedding to have a beachy feel, but in the end, it sort of did. Anyway, we wanted something simple but nice, and that's how it turned out.

Favorite design element of your big day:
I'm not sure if this is a "design element," but my one of my favorite things about the wedding was the sand we use during the ceremony for our sand ceremony, and also the sand for the centerpieces for the reception. We had gone in a trip to Michigan a few weeks before our wedding - to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. We got all the sand for our wedding at the Dunes. It was our first trip together and we had so much fun. So, it meant a lot to me that we were able to incorporate that into our day.

Tell us about finding your wedding dress:
Okay - well. I found TWO wedding dresses. When I started wedding planning, I wanted to keep it as cheap as possible. Then I found a dress at Davids Bridal that was only $299 - and it even matched the style that I had been ripping out of magazines. I DID like it at first - actually, I LOVED it. Then everyone kept saying how simple it was, and I started to second guess it. Then, a few months later, a was looking thru the new Davids catalog and found "THE DRESS." It was gorgeous and still pretty simple. I went with one of my bridesmaids to pick up her dress, and tried it on just for the heck of it. It fit perfectly and I *knew* it was meant to be. So, I ended up ordering the new dress that day, along with new shoes, and a new veil. So, I was bridezilla a little bit. In the end, I had bought two dresses, three veils, and two pairs of shoes!



Describe your wedding flowers:
Orange, orange, orange! I didn't want any roses in my bouquet, because that is just too plain for me. I wanted something different, perhaps orchids, dahlias, or something else. Well... the florist wasn't really up to that, so I ended up having all organge flowers: two kinds of roses (blech) and freesia. Also, I had him add in green hypericum berries. It DID turn out pretty in the end, but its not exactly what I wanted. The flowers weren't a huge deal to me, so it was all good in the end. My bridesmaids had orange gerber daisies and the hypericum berries. I think the moms and other special guests got white roses.

Describe your wedding cake:
Ahh...I *LOVED* our cake. Loved, loved, loved, loved it! It was an all white butter cream frosting cake. It was four tiers, and it had vertical stripes on it made out of the frosting. Hard to explain...there is a picture of it a few posts down. I found the idea from Martha Stewart and presented the idea to the baker. I found some pictures online of the same idea that had turned out really crappy, so I was very nervous until I saw it. Then I did, and OH my goodness ... it was beautiful! It was more than I expected! For the fillings, we had three different types; the top and bottom layers were chocolate mousse, another tier was lemon poppyseed with a European lemon creme filling, and the other tier was strawberry cake with the European creme filling. YUM!



What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day?
Definately the last two dances of the night. They were both slow dances, and I can't remember one of the songs, but the other was Kenny Chesney's "Me & You." (We kind of had two first dance songs, "Your Everything" by Keith Urban, and "Feels Like Home" by Chantel Kreuzivek). Anyway, we both loved Kenny Chesney and had gone to his concert a few weeks before the wedding and he had played that song. It was also my brother and sister in law's first dance song, so that's also what made it special. But what made those last dances so memorable was that it was the most intimate few moments of my life. I dont mean intimate in the way most people think, I just mean the closeness emotionally I felt in those moments. Chris felt it too, and the most amazing thing about it was we didnt have to say anything - we both just knew. I still think about how I felt, and it still makes me all gushy and happy everytime I think about it. *sigh* It was a great time.


Our favorite detail of the wedding:
Again, probably the sand in the centerpieces and sand ceremony because of our trip together.

Hardest decision you made in planning?
Finding the church to get married at. It took us some time, and then when we did find our place, there was a huge issue with the timing in the day. We would get married at 11 am the reception wouldn't start until 5. So, that was tricky trying to plan. We decided we loved the church and "knew" it was the place. To help with the huge time gap in between, we held a lunch reception at a different location, and then had the regular reception at the golf course begin at 4.

What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future?
We are just looking forward to having a great marriage, taking more trips together, buying a house, and having kids. :-)




Were there any special family traditions you included in the wedding?
It wasn't a family tradition, but I knew I wanted to honor our grandparents who are no longer with us. I had a white candle for each grandparent (or one per couple if both are gone) and their names on tag in front of the candle. They were placed on the alter at the church, and I had my aunt on my mom's side light the candle for my Grandpa Seubert, and my godmother on my dad's side light the candle for my Grandpa Richards. Chris' sister Michelle lit the candles for both sets of his grandparents.

The most unexpected event on our wedding day was:
I can't really think of one. Everything went just as planned, and nothing jolted us or made us worried. It really was a wonderful day! I guess something unexpected was that almost everyone stayed all the way til the dance ended at midnight. As a wedding photographer, I go to a lot of weddings and a lot of people leave around 10 or so. It was great to have so many people there so late in to the evening.

A date we went on that we’ll always remember:
We never really went on dates. One date we went on before we were engaged was to the county fair. I know, how hick-town right? But anyway, there was a good band playing Chris wanted to see, so we went. I can remember us having a great time dancing during the show and hanging out with friends we met up with. But the most memorable, Chris took me out by where the cars were parked in a field so we were alone, and that's when he told me he loved me for the first time. I love how I can still remember it being quiet in our little spot by the cars, but still being able to hear the sounds of the fair -- and then all the lights from the rides. Such a great memory. My mom got married the next day, and he of course was my date, and the ambiance of a wedding day made our relationship feel that much stronger. We decided to get engaged the following week.

Best advice or most memorable comment someone made to you during the wedding celebration:
Well, I know Chris' favorite comment was from his parents' friends. They are an older couple, and are obviously still going strong and happy. The husband is kind of a funny old guy (you know the type) and he was telling us about committment. I don't remember everything he said, but every now and again, Chris will mimick how the guy said it, and we both just laugh about it. Ok, so I didn't explain that very well, but it was great commentary the way he said it!


Funniest moment?
We were eating dinner when I noticed the wedding coordinator at the golf course removing the top tier of my BEAUTIFUL wedding cake. We had not had our cake cutting yet. I jumped up, went over to him, and loudly said, "Waaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit! Noooot yeeeeeeeeet!" The coordinator thought we werent having a cake cutting, and was very embarressed and put the top tier down. So, that's why in our cake cutting photos, the top of the cake is all messed up. I was never mad about it, but I think the coordinator thought I was. I just took it as having a funny story to tell!
Hardest decision you made in planning?

Three adjectives that describe the day are:
Perfect, magical, FUN!

Any DIY items?
Oh, yes! Everything was "do it yourself" besides the cake, the dinner, DJ, flowers, and photography. All the little details were put together by yours truly .... the invites, the centerpieces, the flowers sprinkled on the tables, the candy buffet, the tags for the candy bags, the guest book, the programs, the signs around the reception, the bathroom basket, the place cards ... and I'm sure there was more! I had so much fun doing everything again -- and I can't wait to have a wedding renewal someday so I can do it all again! ;-) Oh, and my mom made the flower's girl dress.

Our Wedding Day Details:

8:00 Ladies Hair Appts at Impressions of Mayville
10:00 Wedding Party Arrives at church The Gardens
11:00 Let's Get Married!
11:30-12:30 Pictures at the church, Photos by CK Photography
12:30-1:30 Lunch Reception
1:30-3:30 Drive to the beach, Take Photos, Drive to Mayville of Club for reception
4:00 Drinks begin at reception
5:00 Dinner, cake cutting, speeches ... Cake from Recheks in Beaver Dam
8:00 Dance & Karaoke Dreamstar Karaoke

I Did It!

I took the plunge and bought my dream camera today....

Big old thanks to Christy (ck) for helping me find one in stock!

Wooooo hoooo!

Today is a great day!

Isn't this the cutest?

My new "junk cup" is sooo cute!

Decal is from Red Velvet Art:

Shall We Just Start with the Rehearsal?

I have so many photos from our wedding weekend -- which is obviously a GREAT thing, but it leaves a girl to wonder ... o-kaaay, where do I begin with editing, posting on the blog, etc.

Well... since the rehearsal came first, let's start with that!

I think I'm just going to chunk the rest of the photos in to blocks as well ... getting ready, ceremony, portraits, the reception, some dance photos, some gift opening, and then (oh boy) the massive amount of honeymoon photos.

I will get to all of this as time allows.

How does that sound? Good? Good!

Onto the non-edited photos, because well, I just don't have the time! (sadly...)

Hello, here we are ....

With our best man, Craig, and our maid of honor, Alanna:

One of my most favorite snapshots of us ever...

Making things official.....

My dad, my GORGEOUS bouquet, me, and Chris:

We are now at the rehearsal dinner....this is my brother and sister in law Shannon.... they also stood up in the wedding.....

Woo hoo!

Alanna, Burgundy (who played our ceremony music), and groomsmen Thomas getting all cheesy with their bridal party gifts .... girls got diamond + blue topaz necklackes, their favorite candies, and flip flops to wear for the dance ...... the boys got beer mugs engraved with their name and role in the wedding and also their favorite beer......

Chris and another groomsman, Dave:

Funny moment of the evening...refilling the pitcher with his own gift beer.....

Katelyn, me, and Jacque .... two of my other bridesmaids:

Another cheese shot with Alanna and Burgs:

Jacque and Jaelynn, bridesmaid and flower girl:

Now we (aka all the girls) are at the hotel and its time for gifts! I had a flower girl gift for JBug, a maid of honor gift for Alanna, and a birthday gift for Shannon! I got a surprise gift from Katelyn too! Thanks! I love the make up brushes, bodywash (LOL! FUNNY STORY!), and Starbucks card!

One final shot before it's time to sleep and wake up and GET MARRIED!

Just a Few Honeymoon Pics for Now...

This is going to be more of a photo-post instead of talking about our honeymoon near Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I am literally too exhausted from the trip yet to talk about it at lengths.
I will have more photos coming along with stories -- and don't worry -- I still have to post TONS about our wedding!

Some photos from the beach by our resort:



Our last night we went on a Lobster Dinner Cruise. The lobster dinner actually came after the catamaran drinks+appetizers+gorgeous sunset cruise ... here we are on the boat:




Sunset on the boat:


Back at the beach after the cruise. This is where we had our Caribbean lobster dinner. So gorgeous:


Us dancing.... seriously the best night of my life -- besides our wedding of course!


Earlier in the week we went on a deep sea fishing adventure.....please excuse my appearance!
Chris reeled in barracudas, a sailfish, and a spanish mackeral was also caught. Here are the barracudas:


And the gigantic sailfish:


Hope you enjoyed a little sneak into our honeymoon!
More to come!

Photos by Christy ... ckphotography

All the photos in this post are:


copyright ckphotography
http://www.ckphotosite.com/
http://www.ckphotography.blogspot.com/


I can NEVER thank Christy and her husband Ryan enough!


Here are a few of the sneaks she graciously provided me with!

Vows and Two Rings ...

Just call me Mrs. Filip!

Yesterday was... amazing, fun, blissful, perfect, and more-than-I-ever-imagined-it-would-be!

Before the wedding, I had this idea in my head that I was going to blog every detail the day after. Well....its the day after and I'm way too tired for that! It's a good tired, but I think I'm going to wait until I'm a little more clear-minded to write about it all (or at least until all the bobby pins are out of my hair, lol!).

Scrapjazzers (or former Scrapjazzers)... my official photographer was the generous and talented Christy Kennedy from http://ckphotosite.com/ or http://www.ckphotography.blogspot.com/ ....so fun and awesome to work with!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH CHRISTY AND RYAN! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE ALL THE PHOTOS!

Until the "real" photos are ready ....here are some guests' photos to tide you over ...

Our First Dance -

to Keith Urban's "Your Everything."

Later on, we had a second "first dance" to Chantal Kreviazuk's "Feels Like Home."

I absolutely ADORED (adored!) our cake. I found it in Martha Stewart weddings .... and I had NO IDEA it would turn out exactly as I wanted it to! I was so sad to see it cut into 200 pieces! LOL.

Our funny cake cutting story ... it was time to cut the cake, and then we got up there and realized we NEVER had a thought in the world during our wedding planning about getting a cake cutting set! So ... I got up there and said, "Whoops!" and found the next best thing to cut the cake ... a butter knife! :-) Good times!

Some of my lovely girls... and one very lovely little girl :-)

Tequila shooters :-) We have a special memory with Jose Cuervo so of course we had to drink some on our wedding day! (I love the sign in the back that says "Great Team.")

Of course, there will be MORE to come!

We have been married for one hour! Blogging from the car! Im officially Mrs. Filip! Woo hoo!

So {3} days, huh?

That's what my wedding countdown says!

I can't believe it!

Where has the time gone!?

Everyone keeps asking me if I am getting nervous.

No, I'm not nervous about the getting MARRIED part - that's the part I am just way too excited to be nervous about!

However, what I am nervous about is seeing how the day is actually going to come together - the schedule, all the details, etc...

I have found that you can plan all you want, but there is no way of actually knowing just how it'll all come together and flow until the big day! We'll see!

Today I visted the beach where I want some of the portraits taken. It was gorgeous and I hope it all works out and we can get there that day!

Some other "wedding" things I did in the past couple days....

• Met with the golf club and finalized the menu, guest count, and bar situation


• Ordered the food for the lunch reception in between the ceremony and dinner/dance reception


• Picked up our travel documents for Mexico


• Finished the programs


• Finshed the directions cards to be handed out at the ceremony


• Finished the floral decor for the reception


• Figured out who is driving what cars to where (this is actually a very complicated part of the day!)


• Confirmed rehearsal dinner plans


• .....and so much more!

This week I've also gotten busier with photography business stuff and picked up three extra days of subbing for summer school, trying to find a new apartment, figuring out how we are going to fix Chris' Jeep ------ ack! Such a crazy week! I can't wait til Friday .... when all I have to think about is WEDDING STUFF!

{3} days to go!

Chocolate Chip Pecan Shortbread

I made this shortbread this morning and it's delicious! (I'm obviously not on a "bride diet")






Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 stick butter
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup crushed salted pecans


Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine flour, sugar, and cubed butter pieces. Mix with hands until dough forms. Then added in chocolate chips. Press into a glass 8 inch pie pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Take the pan out, and sprinkled crushed pecans on top. Bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Oh God

I can tell the day is getting close .... you know how?

So I just listened to our first dance song .... and at the same time I was looking at hair pics I had picked out ...

And I started to tear up.

Oh boy.

(Don't worry - it was a good cry!)

4th 'O July Fun

It was a busy weekend for us ... a good busy though... Friday we did the Kenny concert, and Friday I also spent a long morning and afternoon at David's Bridal getting my dress in order. Glad it finally got done right and I was able to take it home ....

Saturday (the actual 4th Holiday) we went to the matinee of Johnny Depp's new movie "Public Enemies." They shot part of the movie in my town and also in a town a few miles away. They shot it in Wisconsin because that's where John Dillinger hid out from the police. It was neat to see my hometown in the movie -- but they got it all wrong! They made my town look like ARIZONA ... why the heck didn't they make it part of the Wisconsin part of the movie? Anyway ... it was a pretty good movie. A little hard to follow, but I think it was because I was still sleepy from Friday night. :-)

After the movie, we had a cookout at our place with our friends Kate and Josh ... we played Rodeo Golf and of course, the girls won. Of course!

Then, we headed over to Kate's parent's neighbor's house and enjoyed their festivities. The neighbors had bought over a grand worth of fireworks and they put on a great show! It was awesome!

Moving on to Sunday...

Chris and I headed to his parents house, which is a little bit up north, and we had yet another cookout. Chris rode around on his toys for awhile and I spent the day just relaxing in the sunshine.

Had to sneak the American flag somewhere in this 4th of July weekend post!

Isn't he cute?

Mmmmm YUM -- 8:30 pm sunshine is amazing light!

And what's on the agenda this week?

Today, with only {12 days} to go, I have my trial up do!

Thursday I'm getting my hair colored up...

And hopefully, the days in between, I'll get a few more wedding things scratched off my list!

Have a great week, everyone!