"The Ride of Their Lives"

I should be an event planner.

No. I should be a wedding planner.

I remember planning two weddings for myself - many, many, many moons ago - but I don't remember it being this much fun!

Nat has made me her unofficial wedding planner. Which is really cool because I have a good feeling for the things she wants. The best part for me so far is the challenge. When we first discussed her theme she said, "Well, peacocks for me and bikes for Mr. T (formerly Big T)". Peacocks and bikes. Just let them settle in. Because the other thing she told me was that she wanted to "keep it organic and natural too". What. The. Hell.

At first, all I could see were peacocks riding bicycles. And it is hard to shake off your initial reaction. But after I really put my mind to it - and googled "bicycle weddings" - I found these:

Magic, isn't it? Especially since we get to personalize the colors.

Now, I know you should start with your budget in mind but that really is for people who are paying for their own wedding. Since my mom and I are funding Nat's big day, we've decided that she gets whatever we can afford at that moment. At one point, we openly discussed her having an $1100 wedding. Heh. The good news is that we can do better than that. The bad news is that we can't do much better than that.

Here's what we know: there will be rich colors, there will be much thrifting, there will be much DIY, and there will be goo gobs of fabric. Goo gobs. In these wonderful colors. (Eggplant, Indigo, Bronze, Emerald)

    

And even though we haven't put together an official inspiration board, we have come up with a lot of solid ideas that will make it into the wedding. We are definitely going with these cute little guys as favors.

And we're going with short vases. If I can't find colored glass than they will be wrapped in colored paper/fabric. The girls will all wear fabric flowers on their headbands. Mr. T is wearing grey slacks and vest, no jacket with his sleeves rolled up and a hat; his tie will match her shoes. Ashton will be dressed just like his dad. The bride and groom will ride away on their bicycles and we're passing up the" Just Married" sign for individual "Mr. K" and "Mrs. K" signs.

We're having Keds dyed to match her shoes (CBS111 - you save my life everyday). And there will be a banner that says "The Ride of Their Lives". I haven't yet decided where it would best be placed. I'm not even considering the altar. Although, that's totally up to Nat.

So that's it. That's where we are with approximately 200 days to go.