Ikea, diamonds, and a chopped salad

Today was quite the successful wedding day. 

We started our Saturday off by heading to that big warehouse of wonderful, encompassed by a large blue and yellow building. Also known as Ikea to the unfamiliar. As soon as I set foot inside, my heart started racing. I tried to hide it, but of course tt knew that I was getting anxious just by the way I was acting. It wasn't even nervous anxiety, just overwhelmed, I guess. I can't help it, it's just me. He picked me. {I reminded him.}

We walked through the 2nd floor, even though there was really no reason to. I just love doing that. Had I had more time and/or money, I would have bought everything- they have some great rooms staged right now, with new couches and patterns and all sorts of pretties. #notallowed #imonabudget

After a quick walk through, we scurried down the stairs, grabbed a cart, and got to it. {and yes of course the cart was next to impossible to push- isn't that a prerequisite for any cart at Ikea??} We had tasked ourselves with locating the following items for the wedding:

1. Picture frames to act as our place cards and favors {4x6 so that when you print your photos from our "unboxed" photo booth, it creates a memory!}
2. Baskets for our ever-so-nontraditional guestbook, to hold flip flops, and for the bathroom 911 items
3. Vases for the greenhouse tables for cocktail hour

AND I am happy to report that we found all of the above. Not without a few snags along the way, when my dearest accountant mis-counted {twice} and after talking and re-talking about a few choices we ended up putting half the cart back and replacing it with another color. Sigh. But in the end, we left with 70 picture frames, 3 baskets, 1 woven bin, 4 lanterns and grey candles, and 9 tin flower pots. Score.

Lantern {in white}

Basket, multiple sizes

Flower pot, for greenhouse centerpieces

   

Then we went to Nardelli's - and I got a salad. A SALAD?!?!?!?!!?? Yes, a salad. It was delicious, and within guidelines, but it was definitely NOT a half an Italian combo with everything, and I can't even pretend it was close. Sacrilege I tell you. #paleoproblems

Next up on the agenda? The jewelry store. Yup, that's right. Wedding band time!! This was obviously the most exciting part of the day, especially because it involved me putting all sorts of diamonds all over my finger. We picked out and bought our bands and it felt so great! tt's is amazing- it is 8mm with a combination of textures, and milgrain detail to match my engagement ring. My band is a double stack of diamond bands, so it appears to be two separate rings, but it's not. It's an updated version of the sets that go on either side of the engagement ring, which I also tried on, but it took away from how beautiful my ring is alone. The best part is that it doesn't match my engagement ring- so it's 100% me, because I never match anything! Perfection.

We left the jewelry store and figured, why stop now? So we went to the mall, and long story short, Macy's provided us with toasting flutes, a cake stand, and cake knife/server. {Sorry, you'll have to wait til the wedding to see these!!}

Needless to say, it was an expensive day, but such a happy one!! We are checking things off of our list constantly at this point, as the big day draws nearer and nearer... Weeeee! Ok, now off to watch the UCONN game with tt... Go Huskies!! 

Recipe of the day

Cauliflower "Rice" {Paleo}