On the road again...

Here's where everyone will be traveling from the next few days. The map isn't nearly as big as I hoped, will keep trying to make it more legible. Steve, Jerrod's Dad, wins for furthest journey from Dubai, in the Middle East. The Schuler's are making the longest drive from Tuba City, Arizona, 18 hours! Both groups driving the furthest (Jon and Jamie from Albuquerque) are also traveling with babies! Can't wait to see everyone :)

Lalala lala!

With the wedding is so close, I've actually run out of things to do. It's weird, preparing for the wedding for six months and now it's here! The design elements are printed, vendors are confirmed, clothing is purchased and altered (not yet packed). Anyway...

One of the most fun parts of the wedding has been getting back all the RSVP's for the Prairie Wedding with your song requests. There will be quite an eclectic mix this weekend, ranging from Frank Sinatra to Kanye West. Mom keeps insisting on songs like the YMCA, Cha Cha Slide and Boot Scootin' Boogie. Okay, many other guests also requested those, oh so amusing, dance arrangements. I have a feeling we will be Cha Cha Boogieing the night away on Saturday. Maybe not Jerrod, he doesn't dance, but we'll try to get him out there for some Y-M-C-A action.

Websites seem to all have their own idea of what makes the PERFECT wedding song. Here is a funny list of songs just for the Bouquet Toss and Garter Removal/Toss. My favorite suggestion would have to be "I'm Too Sexy" for the Garter Removal or perhaps "Macho Man" for the Garter Toss. There's also The Top 20 Wedding Oldies which feature one I've liked since I was little, "Chapel of Love." I think my Mom used to sing it, as she does random songs, over and over. I get it stuck in my head some days, just wake up with it playing over and over in my mind, even before I was wedding planning.

Really looking forward to seeing everyone who is making the journey out to Kansas this weekend! And keep sending those RSVP's for Ohio, Mom hasn't yet sent final numbers and the group keeps growing, it will be wonderful to catch up with so many people I haven't seen for a long time. YAY!!

* I have no idea who either of the couples are whose photos I featured in this post. Jerrod and I will not be dancing like the first couple, nor will I have a veil like the second bride.

American bison.

Wanted to give you a little background on the wildlife you will be encountering during the Prairie Wedding weekend (very soon)!!

American bison (buffalo) The bison once inhabited the Great Plains of the United States and Canada in massive herds. Bison are herbivores, grazing on the grasses and sedges of the North American prairies. They eat in the morning and evening, and rest during the day. Bison mate in August and September (you might get to witness Bison making babies on the hayride!) Bison are found in both publicly and privately held herds.

Custer State Park in South Dakota is home to 1,500 bison, one of the largest publicly held herds in the world. Wildlife officials believe that there are only four free roaming and genetically pure herds on public lands in North America, Yellowstone National Park, Henry Mountains in Utah, Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota and on Elk Island in Alberta, Canada.

If you plan on doing some hiking along the rustic cattle trails on the Circle S Ranch's 1,200 acres here is a Prairie Field Guide so you can identify the wildlife you encounter. "You may discover the "line shack," traditionally a retreat from the weather for cowboys out checking fence, or perhaps you'll come across the pond, which is full of goldfish." Not sure when you would hike since there is SO MUCH fun stuff planned, but if you really want to experience the prairie, feel free.

Okay...I only actually featured one prairie animal, but it is one I'm sure you will see if attending the Kansas Wedding next weekend. NEXT WEEKEND!

Unique cakes.

A wedding cake is the traditional cake served to the guests at a wedding reception after a wedding. (um, duh, Wikipedia) In modern Western culture, it is usually a large cake, multi-layered or tiered, and heavily decorated with icing, occasionally over a layer of marzipan or fondant, topped with a small statue representing the couple.

The cutting of the cake will be a tradition we partake in, but probably not this much older, archaic tradition, "the bride serves all portions to the groom's family as a symbolic transfer of her household labor from her family to the groom's family." Weird. (the Sunflower cupcakes pictured are gorgeous and matched the Prairie blog perfectly)

Cake Toppers Wedding cake toppers are small models that sit on top of the cake, normally a representation of a bride and groom in formal wedding attire. This custom was dominant in US wedding in the 1950s where it represented togetherness. Modern weddings have embraced more variety in design and significance. Wedding toppers today are often figures that indicate shared hobbies or other passions. Our cake topper would be a flaming typographic E if we combined our hobbies.

We are not actually having a cake topper, but I found these other toppers for other peoples celebrations. The Brutus Buckeye for die-hard Ohio State fans like Ashlee Smith.

Or there's the HUGE Golden Retriever that would have to weigh at least 300 pounds to be proportionate to the poor bride and groom.

Here's a topper for the Kansas country bumpkin' hayride wedding, little line dancers.





And if you're in the Elk Hunting group going to Colorado in October, perhaps you'd enjoy the precious deer family. Yes, I know elk and deer are different. Okay, enough random cake topper images, I will spare you all until the next post. I promise the real wedding and receptions will be pretty and classy, I know I've posted quite a few unique pieces.

Cuteness.

I just couldn't resist posting this picture of Nathaniel/Nate Beckloff, who will become my nephew September 27th. He will be at the Kansas Wedding for all of you to awww over in person. You gotta love his Oklahoma State outfit too, Jerrod is so proud of the little Cowboy fan. Eeeee so tiny!

Prairie advertising.

Found these print ads on a blog I like, Advertising is Good For You. Thought they were perfect to share, urban meets prairie (sounds a little like our wedding with most of you traveling to Kansas for the first time). The ads I'm working on aren't nearly as edgy, our cows can't wear Nelly bandaids. Enjoy!

Headline: Now in the Prairies. The urban-inspired, 2009 Toyota Matrix.

One Month!

One month = 30.4368499 days
One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life
One month of the iPhone 3G and what Apple needs to fix
(still wish I had one, very jealous of Jerrod's iPhone)
One Month App
(the documented process of the one month development of a web application, fascinating)
One-Month LIBOR rate – LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offered Rate. It's the rate of interest at which banks offer to lend money to one another in the wholesale money markets in London.
Learn Chinese in One Month
(it really can't be that easy)
Dollar surges to one month high versus euro
Stimulate a One Month Old Baby's Development with Toys and Play
(Nate (Nathaniel) Beckloff will be one month old on September 12th, which also happens to be Lindsay M's Birthday!)
People with ADHD Do One Month's Less Work Per Year (sometimes I wonder if I have ADHD, but then I remember I'm just a Creative)
SELF Magazine: One Month Makeover
Me and Wii Fit: One Month Later

I will admit, I didn't actually read any of the above articles, but I'm sure you've made the connection that the Prairie Wedding is ONE MONTH from today! Will try to post more as the Kansas Wedding and Ohio Reception quickly approach.

THANK YOU FRIENDS! I wanted to publicly thank all the lovely ladies for attending my Bachelorette party in Cincinnati. Very special thanks to Jeanna and Lindsay for the awesome theme and planning (yes, I was dressed like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz); Erin for all her efforts, the amazing mini tacos, and having all us crazy women at her house; and Dana for the sweet VIP treatment at the bar. Such an amazing night. And an equally rough next morning.