For those concerned (aka the Heroes Game Crew)

I've been trying to work out how to make the white-eyed super heroes less creepy looking. Jake says I can't make them a different color because they're SUPPOSED to be white. I thought changing the eye shape might improve them. Let me know what you think!

A grey-eyed Batman Herky just for Megan:

I'm going to use my license as Super Hero Herky creator to nix this. He's cooler (and more accurate) with white eyes!

Iron Man for Melanie

Here he is!


Here's a blacked-out eyed spiderman:

I think the thing that's bothering me is the double line that ended up around his eyes somehow. 

Off Topic Again

I've been having so much fun with this, I decided to make enough different Herkies for everyone in our group to have a different one. Here are the ones I've done so far:

 Thor Herky is my favorite by far! Wolverine is a close second. I'm a little afraid no one will want Hulk Herky because he's so ugly, but the Hulk is SUPPOSED to be ugly! Anyway, I hope you enjoy them!

The Venue

One of the earliest decisions we made was to have the wedding (ceremony and reception) at my childhood church: Our Lady's Immaculate Heart Catholic Church in Ankeny. Our church was an obvious choice because of the price and because of its ability to accommodate up to 300 guests (we're hoping to end up with around 250 guests, but we'll be inviting over 300). I thought some pictures would help illustrate our plans a little bit. Our sanctuary just underwent a major renovation. It's definitely more now and less nineties, but I do miss the sunlight that's now blocked out by shutters they added to the skylight. People were complaining, apparently. Anyway, it's a large church and lacks some traditional elements, namely an aisle. When I was young, I always thought of the lack of aisle as a deal-breaker. I'd never get married in our church! But it turns out, getting married in a familiar church which holds so many positive memories means a lot more to me than walking down an aisle at my wedding. Anyway, here are a few pictures of the changes:

Mom says pictures aren't allowed in the new chapel (above), which is too bad because it's extremely pretty. It's also the only place in our church with stained glass windows. Fortunately, pictures are allowed from the outside, and, as you can see, it's also attractive!

The social hall has the same pretty wooden ceiling as the sanctuary, and, with the banquet room, holds 300. We've got plans to set up a photo booth in the hallway, a bar in the banquet room. The cake table, cookie bar, and a dance floor will be set up in the main area of the social hall. Instead of the usual head table off to the side with the bridal party facing the guests, we're putting the head table smack in the middle of the action, with guests' tables all around. We're seating people on both sides of the table so the wedding party's dates can sit with us as well. Here's the only picture I could find of the social hall: clearly, a fabulous event is taking place in this photo!

The one thing that's making me a little anxious about my venue choice (and I know how silly and trivial this is) are the ugly brown plastic chairs we'll have to use. Ugh, they're not pretty! And there's no way we're spending the money to cover 250 chairs. I'll work through it! Anyway, you can get a feel for how bright, airy, and roomy the place is from this picture.

That's all for today!

Planning Continues...

I saw a shirt like this on etsy and wanted to buy one for Jake for our wedding. Totally up his alley, right? I was thinking I could get one for Jake and I and we could wear them the day before or something. Mom had the idea that we should make them for everyone who comes to the wedding rehearsal, and I've been kicking around that idea. I also might make a zip-up sweatshirt out of the design myself to wear while getting ready. Anyway, here's a rough draft of the design:

That's far from the only thing I've been up to lately! Mom got some of the dowels for the ribbon dancers (they perform the same sendoff function as bubbles, bells, confetti). Dad cut them into footlong pieces and I've spray painted about 100 of them gold so far. I'm definitely going to add the jingle bells if we find a simple way to attach them. 

The final thing we've been working on is prepping for the cookie bar. As a favor for our guests, we will have several different kinds of cookies (provided by my amazing aunts, etc.) for them to take home. I recently punched decorative edges onto 350 small brown paper sacks (tons of fun, I assure you), and we're still trying to decide what we want to print on them. Did you know you can print onto paper bags? Totally awesome! Here's a cookie bar inspiration picture:

That's all for now! Just wanted to give a shout out to Kelsey, Jake's sister, who just got engaged this week! Congrats!

A Little Off-Topic

Ok, I know this is supposed to by my wedding blog, but I've been working on the logo for our "Heroes' Game" (Nebraska vs. Iowa), and I'm pretty excited about it! Anyway, here it is:

 Isn't he cute?