The Website 

Dan & Laeci @ The Knot

The Registeries

Target  (the majority of our registry items are here)

Bed Bath and Beyond (this supplements our Target list)

Walmart (we're registered for dishes and a few extras here)

The Date and Time

August 3, 2008, at 10:30am. Here are some actual questions I've answered about the date/time:

Q: Why August in Redding?!? It's sooo hot!

A: Originally my ideal date was in July, actually--but it just so happened that half my family is getting married this summer (exaggeration: only my cousin and my aunt) and it's all happening in July. Because I didn't get out of school until the third week of June, that left August.

Q: But seriously! Sooo hot!

A: Yes, it is--which is why the wedding is at 10:30am, before it really starts to roast. In addition, Shasta Lake is about 10 degrees cooler than Redding and it's always cooler by the water (Shasta Lake itself), so the weather should be pretty nice. My cousin Deeanna got married in the morning at the Dam a few years ago, and at first it was cool enough for sweaters.

Q: Isn't 10:30am too early? Will you (and Dan) even be out of bed?

A: Of course I'll (we'll) be out of bed, it's our wedding lol! In addition to the heat factor, Dan and I want a relaxing day for those who have to drive home afterwards (since it's a Sunday, and many people work on Monday), plus this way we're not worn out for our honeymoon. =)

The Location

Dan and I finally decided on the Shasta Dam recreation area in Shasta Lake, CA. (Here's the [albeit ugly] Shasta Dam site.) We're having both our wedding and reception (immediately following and completely lowkey) in the park to the right of the dam. Here's a picture of the approximate location (ours is actually a bit to the right, but the view of Mt. Shasta is the same.)

And here's the dam itself (because it's cool!)

The Colors

Green (various shades of sage; similar to the colors on this site), cream, and brown.  Green is Dan's favorite color and one of my favorites, and we went from there.

The Wedding Party

Maids of Honor: Kaeli and Makayla Turk (my younger sisters)

Bridesmaids: Daylene Alexander (my cousin), Kassi Turk (my youngest sister)

Flower Girls: Calle Turk (my cousin), Hannah Williams (Dan's half sister)

Best Man: Christian Cardenas (Dan's cousin) 

Groosman: Kyle Williams (Dan's half brother), Brian Gruber (Dan's friend)

Pastor: Don Smith

My Dress

I purchased my gown from Bridal Mart in Rancho Cordova, CA. Even though it will most certainly be the most expensive anything I've ever worn, after shopping for wedding dresses in Sacramento all day we felt like we found a great deal, and I recommend this store to anyone in the area. I don't have a picture of the actual dress (and even if I did I wouldn't post it, because the surprise is half the fun!) but here are some that are similar.

The differences are that my dress doesn't have a train or a flower/bunchy thing on the gathered fabric, it's cream-colored, and it doesn't look this hot on me (because, after all, I'm not a model.)

My Accessories 

My shoes came from Kohl's. My sister Kassi and I were shopping and she found them for me, and they were on sale for only $9! They look a lot like these shoes, only with a higher (foam) heel:

I bought my necklace and earrings from JessicasBridal.com:

 (They don't have a picture of the earrings on the website, for some reason; I found them both in a catalog.)

My hair barrette (which I'm doing instead of a veil; I'm just not a veil girl) looks a lot like this, only it's a barrette instead of a comb, and it has (faux) pearls scattered among the sparklies. Oh, and I bought it at Icing (yes, in the mall lol).

I bought these garters from Brides' Village for my Something Blue (now I just need old/borrowed):

 (The little one is for tossing, the big one for keeping. I like the little Swarovski crystal heart bead!)

The Bridesmaid's Dresses

This was a saga!  We actually found two versions of dresses before we finally found the perfect dresses from Macy's... which of course, isn't appearing online.  But here's a cell phone picture of Kassi and Makayla trying them on in the dressing room:

The Flower Girl's Dresses

This was one of the last things we purchased for the wedding, and kind of random.  My mom, Kassi and I were meeting my dad and Makayla for lunch, and since they were running a little late we decided to step into Ross - and what did we find but the most adorable flower girl dresses!

Calle and Hannah haven't tried on their dresses yet, so I have yet another cell phone picture - just try to ignore the huge orange tag. =)

The Groom and Groomsmen's Clothes

After a successful day of shopping, Dan and I found the men's brown pants and Dan's shirt at JCPenney's, and the groomsmen's shirts at Old Navy. All the shirts are button-down; Dan's is ivory while the rest of the groomsmen's are ivory and brown pinstriped.

As one might guess, none of the males involved were willing to model for me, so we'll just have to wait until the wedding to see their handsomeness. =)

The Invitations

Dan and I decided to be semi-creative and bought our invitations from Michael's, the craft store. This required printing and assembling our own invitations, but with the help of my dad and sisters Kaeli and Kassi, they came together quickly.

Here is a (tiny!) picture from the Michael's website:

We were excited to find that both the shade of green and the pattern on the bridesmaid's dresses matches the invitations nearly exactly!

Note: if you were expecting an invitation and haven't received one, please don't worry. We've been having all sorts of trouble with the post office, with some getting sent back and others requiring extra postage and still others going through the mail just fine. If the wedding date is drawing near and you're worried, email me and we'll make sure you get one!