Wedding Photos!

Hello Friends!

Our wedding was everything we dreamed of and more!  Every aspect of it was so wonderful and perfect!  I have a few photos to share with you!

13 of 25 family members arrived in Newport Thursday night.  We had an amazing drive down the coast from Portland.  We took the scenic route through Cannon Beach and down highway 101.  Beautiful drive!  Oh My GOSH!  Towering evergreen trees, mountains, ocean...simply incredible.  We even stopped at a roadside stand to get some cherries.  Yummy!  I loved how the farms were so varied.  In Texas, farmers strip a huge plot of land and plant one crop.  Not so pretty.  Most of the farms we drove by and flew over in Oregon were planted with different vegetables, grapevines, had cute roadside signs, and looked so natural and earthy.  Wonderful!  They blended in with the landscape.

Thursday night we went to Cafe Mundo for dinner, which had rave reviews on TripAdvisor.com.  I was not a fan of the food.  We had fun anyway, just because that's how we roll :)

Friday dinner was at Bay 839, right on the water, and it was FABULOUS!  I can't say enough how great the food was, the view of the water, and the owners are.  Danielle, Ian, and Arlene were fabulous!

Mark and I are on the left.  

My mother-in-love, Aunt Alaire, and cutie Evie practiced their act for the talent show on the Bay 839 patio.

While waiting for her food, Evie browses the Toys R Us catalog.

After having a fabulous dinner, we went back to Ocean House Bed & Breakfast (DIVINE!) for the talent show!  That's right!  We convinced all our wonderful family members to participate, and we had an awesome time

Saturday morning, my grandmother surprised me in the spot where our ceremony was to take place in a Glenda the Good Witch/Fairy Godmother costume.  I was so thrilled!  When we first started talking about our wedding, I had asked if she would wear that costume to perform the ceremony.  Later, we decided against that, but she still made my costume wish come true, magic wand and all! I don't have the photos from that initial meeting yet, but I do have one of Grandma Petey, Me, and My Mom at breakfast:

At one o'clock, my mom and I were ready to come down the stairs and walk to the garden.  However, several members of Mark's family (who shall remain anonymous) were not ready yet, so my mom harassed them until they took their seats :)

Mark and I walked with our parents to the back of the ceremony site, walked a short distance by ourselves, and then walked to my Grandma Petey (officiating the ceremony) together.  We wanted to symbolize that our parents guided us through the first part of our lives, then we had many years as single adults, and finally enjoyed the past several years as a couple.  It was very important to us to recognize the beautiful journey we've been on for the past two years.  (By the way, my top is from the etsy dealer Plum Pretty Sugar and was a gift from my mom).  

The necklace was worn by Mark's grandmother (MamaMama) at her wedding and cousin Kelly at her and Ethan's wedding.  It matched my dress perfectly.

We had so many moments of laughter in our ceremony, which I loved :)

Mark and I stood next to each other during the ceremony, which was just perfect.  

Beautiful photo of saying our vows that shows the back of my dress.  At this point in the ceremony I looked over and saw Evie, the beautiful girl in the photo.  She sprinkled her magic and fairy dust and we continued.  It is one of my favorite memories from the ceremony.

Here's a photo from our reception.  We left our beautiful homemade streamers up from the talent show the night before.  So lively!

After the reception, my Grandma Petey, Jim, my mom, and my brother provided our getaway car to go to town and enjoy the Newport Seafood BBQ and Clam Bake, which is an annual food, crafts, and music festival in Newport.  We had a fabulous time!

Saturday night we had a bonfire at the beach and watched the sunset.  It was the perfect fun, romantic, and relaxing end to the day.

Mark and I are wearing our Bride and Groom hats from Mark's mom.  My mom's in red in the middle, and Petey and Jim are on the right.  I'm enjoying leftovers from the cheese tray at the reception, and Mark's enjoying even more champagne :)

We had a wonderful day Sunday, relaxing, hiking to the lighthouse and tidepools, and enjoying the rest of the time with our family.  We drove back to Portland on Monday and headed home to 90 degree Texas weather.  Ha!  What a difference!

So what's next?

Mark and I bought tickets to Dublin last night to start our tour of Europe.  We don't have anything planned except our one-way plane ticket, but everything in due time, right?  We bought hiking backpacks and boots last night, and we're going exploring!

I hope you've enjoyed our wedding adventure!

Love,

Melanie Rummel (!)

Wedding Update

Hello Friends!

It's getting so much closer --- 8 days until Mark and I get married!!!  We're both really looking forward to it (obviously), and we're still having so much fun in the planning process.  I finished painting my dress, and spent over 12 hours beading it last weekend on the way to and from Lubbock.  Mark and I decided to take a road trip to see his father's side of our family before the wedding, and it was the perfect opportunity to finish beading my dress.  We had such a wonderful time!  Mark and I listened to the first Harry Potter audio book while we were in the car - great choice by my honey!  We had a marvelous time in Lubbock, and Mark's aunt, Phyllis, gave us a beautiful card she made to congratulate us on our wedding.  It was so thoughtful and beautiful, I cried! I love handmade treasures.  I can feel the love that goes into them.  Thank you Phyllis!

Then, a few days ago I went shopping with my mommy.  We had such a great time!  We found my wedding shoes, had a wonderful lunch together (and a much needed pina colada - hehe), and spent hours lounging and watching Monarch of the Glen together on Netflix.  Monarch of the Glen is a BBC show that my mom used to watch when she was a teenager (she's British).  I asked if she ever thought then that someday she would be watching it with her daughter.  It was really nice to have the mother/daughter time.  I have the best mom.  We have always been best friends.

What other news???  Oh yeah, back to my dress.  So, today I am going to work on the bodice of my dress and sew a bra into it.  Everything else is done!  Well, except the hem.  Technically the hem is done now, but I think I'll have to shorten it a bit because my shoes are flats, and although it seems very princess-y to lift up my dress when I walk, it's not practical.  Plus, I'd probably end up with a plate of chocolate covered strawberries in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other, and then I'd trip on my hem and fall flat on my face.  Not so graceful.

I have to apologize for my writing.  I start writing a sentence, and then my thoughts just float away on something else, and finishing each sentence feels like trying to hammer a round peg in a square hole.  I've just got a lot on my mind.  That's why I haven't been blogging on any of my blogs much.  I haven't even done my monthly newsletter for My Magical Journey yet.  Doh!  I have the idea of what I'm going to write about, got great inspiration for it, but the actual writing bit is sludgy.  I would rather convey my ideas telepathically for the moment.  Sometimes when I get messages from my guides, it's like a gentle wave of information comes into my body.  I feel it and know the entire message all at once, rather than it being delivered in a stream of words, like writing.  What if you picked up a book in the library, and you instantly felt the entire story?  After this happens (the wave message - not the library book thing) sometimes my conscious, logical mind pauses and rewinds the message, then replays slowly, breaking it into frames of meaning and dissecting each frame.  Sometimes I wonder why the knowing isn't enough?  Why does it need to be dissected and inspected if the message has already seeped into every cell?  You know why?  Because then I usually have to put it in verbal form to communicate it to someone else.  I usually find that it's easier to do if I sit and feel the message, rather than think about it, before communicating verbally.  Anyhoo...

Okay, so what's next?  I'm going to write a blog right now about my handmade thank you cards!  I found a box of cards I didn't like in our cabinet, so instead of buying new ones, I painted over them!  Now they look great!  I've taken lots of photos, so I'll show you all of them and post it for tomorrow.

Also, Mark and I have spent days painting streamers to decorate for the talent show we're having the day before our wedding.  That's right, we've suckered all our family members into performing for us to kick off our wedding weekend.  It's going to be so much fun!  Anyhoo, I'll post photos of that project in a few days, too!  I'm going to use the handy dandy feature of blogger where I can write a bunch of posts one day and schedule them to go online several days later.  I love technology!

Thanks for reading!

Melanie

As if I Can Keep a Secret

Of course, this is still a work in progress.  I've been thinking about what I want to do next, but haven't settled on anything yet.  Why does it make my boobs look so enormous?  I may need to do something about that.  

I've finally figured out how to insert a bra and bone the midriff!  Yea!  No, I haven't started working on it, but at least I know how.  I've been busying myself with refashioning other items of clothing.  I'm having a lot of fun and will post the results when they are actually finished. 

Love,

Melanie

This morning I sewed the gathers on the skirt and sewed the skirt to the midriff.  Right now they're basted together, which is convenient because one of the seams didn't line up, and I'm going to have to undo everything and sew it again.  I'm not really as short as I look in the pic, but this was taken by my honey, who is quite a bit taller than me.  I still need to hem it, put the zipper in, dye it, and embellish.  I'm really happy with how it looks so far.  Plus, I put some cups in the top to test it, and they stayed!  I think it will actually work!  Yea!  Here are the pics, and I'm going back to work on it!

Putting it Together

Tonight I began sewing again after a few days of thinking things through.  I've decided not to build in one of my bras.  Instead, I'm just going to sew it and figure out what to do after it's finished.  I'm a creative girl, and I'm sure I can think of something.  

I sewed the lining on the midriff and graded the seams.  Oh yeah, I know what grading is now.  I'm a big girl sewer.  I've moved up a grade.  Sure, all the seams look like a drunk person cut them, but let's not be picky.  Speaking of wobbliness, I've realized it's quite the challenge to sew straight.  I read in a sewing book that it was important to practice sewing straight lines.  I thought, "What kind of dodo doesn't know how to sew in a straight line."  Since then I've realized....me.  :)  Oh well, I'm practicing on my wedding dress.  Ha!

I also sewed the right side seam on the skirt and skirt lining.  We're getting close, folks.  There is that zipper to contend with though.  And I think the midriff is too big and needs to be taken in over an inch in order to be more form-fitting.  If I wasn't worried about my boobs popping out, it wouldn't matter. 


So all I have left is

• sew left side seams of the skirt

• sew skirt lining to skirt

• insert zipper

• hem dress

• figure out boob situation

• dye dress

• add embellishments

• celebrate!

But now it's time to dance with my honey.  I've been giving him private dancing lessons in our living room.  So nice :)

Love,

Melanie