A New Home

Well, in the digital sense, that is.

Koala Chique has a new home now! I'll still be posting here for a while as well, mostly because I can't figure out how to add google connect and other important widgets to the new site yet, but you can also add www.koalachique.com to your google reader and follow me that way!

Side note: Anyone know how to add widgets using the wordpress.org platform? I'm so confused about all this new stuff. This is what I get for trying to get a fancy new site. . .

Another side note (cause I love 'em): Joy Kelley (aka Ms Poodle on Weddingbee aka how joyful designs) is the brains behind my beautiful new site! Pop on over and tell me what you think!

Top Model: Koala Style

I've ventured into the world of modeling. Oh, you say you didn't know that?

Funny, I wasn't aware of it either . . .

Crickets

Can ya hear em? Cause that's about all that's been happening on this blog lately.

100% my fault, I know. I guess it seems that telling you all about the drudgery of my 9-5 and repetitive laundry experiences just isn't quite post worthy. I'm a "less is more" kind of girl, so I tend to write less posts, and try to say more in those posts, then write many posts of fluff.

All Fluff aside, there's some exciting new changes coming to Koala Chique very soon, as well as another wedding to gush about! I'm keeping it hush hush for now, but I can't wait to tell you all about it!

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10 Years

!0 Years ago, I was sitting in 9th grade homeroom, waiting for the bell to ring to head to our next class. The vice-principal suddenly came over the loud speakers and said that everyone needed to remain where they are until further notice and for the teachers to turn on their televisions.

The images that we saw, the smoke, the destruction, the despair, seemed so unreal. Sitting there in my classroom on a blue-sky Georgia morning, I struggled as a young teenager to understand what was happening hundreds of miles away. I had permanent goosebumps all day, even when we were sent home early, I sat at home with my parents in shock.

To those who have served or are serving our country, thank you from the bottom of my heart for keeping me safe and protecting the American way of life.

To all the rest, hug your family and friends today, call them and tell them how much they mean to you. Life is precious, and we should never take our time here on earth for granted.

I'm curious, where were you 10 years ago?

Saturday Morning

Up with the sun (or perhaps a few hours later, the sun should have its moment of glory after all) and zipping down the road. The sights and smells of the farmers market. The variety of their harvest, it's like taking a step back in time, to a much simpler place.

Behold, our spoils of the trek.

Perhaps some vegetable lasagna with peach and sweet potato muffins for a delicious end to the meal?

I'm looking forward to dinner now. . .

What has you out and about this beautiful Saturday?

Today is just one of those days

No, not the sad, everything goes wrong days. The perfect, blissful, sunny and cool, but not too cool, but yay fall is on the way! kind of days.

Sadly, I'm cooped up in my office. My windowless, fluorescent lit office. Between you and me, I have found way too many reasons to wander outside for a few minutes, just to get a few minutes of fresh air.

It's days like today, with the crisp air of fall on its way, that make me wish Nate and I were winding our way up the Blue Ridge parkway in North Carolina. Dancing leaves in the wake of our car, the clouds like marshmellows dotting the sky, and that crisp mountain air that I swear has healing properties.

When the weather turns cool, where does your mind take you?

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The Love Continues!

As if getting featured on Southern Weddings fabulous blog wasn't amazing enough, our little labor of love has been recognized again! This time the ladies over at the Wedding Row have posted our pretty pictures for all their Charleston audience to see.

The excitement continues!

The Covet List

In my continuing effort to procrastinate in finishing my honeymoon recaps and start my wedding recaps ( I've set a goal to get them cranked out before our 1 year, o.k. that's a really lazy goal, but I'm a lazy blogger, so it works) I am going to go on a sidetrack.

This is a pure and simple "I want" post. You know, that mental, or perhaps not so mental, running list of things that you have been jones-ing to have for months, and would surely die happy (or so we've led ourselves to believe) if you had them all.

Without further ado, I present to you, my current "Covet List"

1. Our wedding photos - . . wait, what? yeah, you read that write. The disclaimer: it's totally not our photographer's fault that we don't have our wedding photos yet. They have been in our online proof gallery for months, just waiting for us to purchase the digital negatives. The real reason behind the delay lies in the fact that we just never came up with the mula to buy them before the wedding, and are currently saving up to do so. I CANNOT WAIT until I can hit "add to cart" on these lovelies, cause recaps are fun!

2. THIS GUY

My regular point and shoot Nikon got me through a semester abroad and 4 years of college just fine, but now that I'm a big girl and want to take big-girl (read: not crappy) pictures, I could really go for a camera that can keep up. . .and actually take a halfway decent indoor photo. I mean, really, is that too much to ask?

3.  A decent night's sleep, no . . . scratch that, an AMAZING nights sleep

yes, I've laid on one, yes, they are as amazing as everyone makes them out to be, and one needs to make its way to my house, STAT.

You see, sleeping is not just something I do to survive, I view sleeping as more of a hobby, I'm really really good at it, so why not have the best equipment for all of my  . . . hobbying?

4. The "I Chee" of Kitchen appliances

Somehow, I've convinced myself that, if I possessed this piece of culinary genius, I would suddenly have the time, energy, and skills to whip up endless culinary creations that my friends "ooo" and "ahhh" over. Images of sending my tiny processor sailing over the railing of our 4th story apartment are coming to mind. . . .gimme gimme gimme. On a separate note, why does it seem that every recipe calls for a food processor? Are they trying to mess with me?

5th and Final on the List: I-want an I-phone!!!

Do I really need to explain this? It's the single best social networking, blog following, productivity fueled device out there right now. And my crap-berry just won't die!


Come hell or high water, I'm marching into my local Verizon in September and snagging my piece of the 2011 American Dream!

So tell me, what's on your current covet list? Maybe your list will make me add to mine ;)

For the Technology defunct

You are not alone.

Back in 2006, when this new-fangled thing called Twitter was launched, most people had no idea what it was, and those that did were convinced it was just a fad. After all, no one cares about each other's lives enough to hear about updates every 5 minutes. . .right? RIGHT?!

Honeymoon Recap!: Part II

Our Honey moon Part II

Considering how hectic the days leading up to the wedding were, I felt that Nate and I had made a wise decision to make the focus of our honeymoon “relaxation”. In fact, as we made the 5 hour drive from Charleston to St. Simon’s Island the morning following the wedding, relaxation was our to priority.

It just keeps getting better . . .

Being married is amazing, and it's really hard to top that feeling of being side by side with your best friend, partners in crime for all that life promises to bring.
But Southern Weddings Magazine, you sure do make a case for being almost as amazing. Why amazing? Cause our wedding is up for all the world to see!

I was so honored to be Southern Weddings very first Southern bride of the month, and now it feels like the super delicious icing on the cake to have our wedding featured as well!

Head on over to their site to see Part I and part II will be up later today!

oh and also. . . .eeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkk!!!!!!! (followed by happy chair dance)

Honeymoon Recap!: Part I

I mentioned a while back that Nate and I would be taking a "minimoon" of sorts following the wedding. The problem was, we had no idea where to go!

Tea for Two!

I didn't get to share with you before the wedding, but remember my idea way back when about the favors for our lovely guests? Well I hate to brag, but I'm gonna! Cause our favors turned out so cute!

Greetings from the other side!

On Sunday, we celebrated our one week anniversary of being married. A week already, and yet it feels like only a moment. I guess the realization is proof that life just keeps on trucking, wedding or not.

Can I be candid for a moment? Because it feels so so good to be married. I'm a wife, I'm somebody's Mrs., and now I know what people meant when they said, "It only gets better from here".

Oh, and that little thing called our wedding? It was amazing, beautiful, and darn near perfect. I can't wait to share all of our lovely wedding recaps with you, moment by moment. Until the lovely rolls of film are developed and headed our way, I'll fill you in on our mini-honeymoon to St. Simons Island, GA and the festivities leading up to the big day!

Just for fun: A quick iphone snapshot after getting back from the after party, ready for the first real sleep we had had in days, the very last picture from our wedding day.

When the Going gets tough

the tough forget to blog . . .

Yep, you can just put a big fat fail sticker on me, cause I've been a bad bad blogger. I wanted to share with you guys all about:

• The amazing tasting we had with the caterer, and how I can't wait to stuff my face with the deliciousness
• The gorgeous bridal shower that MOH L threw for me last weekend, and all the gifts that made me want to jump up and down like a kid at Christmas.
• The massive crafting session that ensued when I decided that I wanted a tea-stained, scalloped edge look for the escort cards and just HAD to go all fancy for the ceremony programs (seriously, why did I complicate my life?)
• the last minute fated decision to hire a videographer, and why it's going to be so freaking awesome.
• I even wanted to tell you about the highs and lows of all the wedding related stress that I have been trying to muck my way through. Lot's of mucking, not lot's of progress being made.

But here I am, admitting to you that I am just plum out of time. We say "I do" in a mere 3 days, and as much as I wanted to share all of this with you, life got in the way. 

In short, this is a big fat "I'm sorry". I don't have much of an excuse, but I'm hoping you'll forgive the internet silence.

Here's what I can promise:

I'll be back, this time as a Mrs. and with the help of the fantastic photographs shot by Joey and Jessica, I'll be ready to tell you all about our wedding. Cause, you know, it's fun to show off!

Signing off as a Miss. . .

~Katie

Invites Revealed!

Now that the RSVPs are all back in, I figured it was safe to reveal the invites without ruining the surprise. Let's get to the pretty paper eye candy shall we?

With this Ring

You Guys, it's official, we are really, truly getting married. Or at least we better be. . .because we have rings!

Outfitting the Entourage: Part 2 - The Guys

Why didn't somebody warn me that there were approximately 1,667, 845.7482374 options for men's clothing? And they say that women are complicated, pu-leeze!

Outfitting the Entourage: Part 1 - The Gals

Can you believe that I stressed over selecting the bridesmaid dresses more than my own gown? Or that selecting and ordering the groomsmen outfits took hours longer than the entirety of my dress shopping? No? Well I can hardly believe it either.

A Different kind of Registry

Gasp! The secret is out! (ok it was neither a secret nor does it warrant a gasp, whatever) Nate and I have been living together for over two years. We aren't exactly trying to stock a house from start to finish. Our apartment; however, is a hodge podge of cheap college purchases and hand-me-downs. I welcome thieves to our home. Trust me, you'll be extremely under-rewarded for your efforts.

So while the traditional registry has its rightful purpose (We could really use some new kitchen gadgets and some non-crappy sheets) for us, we really needed a different kind of registry.

60 Days! And a Reason to Celebrate

Yesterday, I had two reasons for celebration, not only did we hit the 60 day mark until the wedding (eeeekkk, can hardly believe it!) but I also turned the ripe old age of 24 (well not quite ripe, but well on the way it feels like).

Southern Weddings Blog Feature

I'm excited to announce that Southern Weddings Magazine has launched a new monthly blog feature called "Southern Bride of the Month" in which they spotlight a bride in the throws of wedding planning. Details about the proposal story, the dress, and how the planning is going are all gushed in an interview style post.

So guess who gets to be the Guinea Pig?


ME!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, this chick got to tell the lovely ladies over at SW all about her wedding, and share some fun engagement photos and my inspiration board, which has been taking shape over the last 8 months.

Head on over to the Southern Weddings Blog to see the full feature. Leave them some love in the comments! And what the heck, leave me some love here too, cause comments kind of make my day :)

Being Grateful

I haven't written about them yet as I want it to be a surprise for all our guests, but our invitations arrived from the printer a couple weeks ago (side note: eeeeeek! so exciting). With their arrival came the need to finally track down those missing addresses, figure out the envelope addressing issue, and assemble the invites 'till the wee hours of the night.

Yesterday, I decided to lament about my frustrations with printing out the guest envelopes one by one. . by one. What does any normal, rational, overly dependent upon social media individual do? They update their facebook status.

I got the usual "Likes" and a few comments offering to help me finish the never-ending stack of envelopes, (which was very much appreciated by the way!)

One response was different.

Engagement Photos Sneak Peek

This past Sunday, Nate and I had the joy of travelling to Serenbe Farms, a pastoral landscaped sustainable living community just south of Atlanta, to have a fun and playful engagement photo session with the amazing Lauren of I love you Much Photography and Design.

A Hair Affair

Romantic, textured, soft, and feminine. All words I would use to describe the "wedding day do" that I am hoping to achieve.

The Search for the Dress

I read all the time about brides who literally spend months looking for THE dress, often buying several dresses resulting from indecision about what they really want. It scared the crap out of me reading these stories. Was I really going to have to spend hours and hours drowning in taffeta and silk,  awkwardly stripping my clothes off in front of strange women? Trying to play the "I know you've seen hundreds of boobs before so I'll act cool about this, but let's see how good I am at covering up all of the essentials AND dragging twenty pounds of dress behind me" game.

Ughh, it just sounded miserable and I'll be honest, I wasn't looking forward to dress shopping. GASP! I know, how un-bridal of me. It's just that I had never really given a lot of thought as to what I wanted my dress to look like. I felt completely unprepared and had no idea what kind of dress would look good on me. Silk, Taffeta, A line, Mermaid, halter, strapless, sweetheart neckline or straight line?!!! My awesome solution to the overwhelming options? I didn't look at all. Great plan I know.

This plan was going along swimmingly until the end of last summer, when I suddenly realized that I needed to get on the hunt ASAP, or I was going to be walking down the aisle in my sweatpants (which actually sounds incredibly comfortable, but perhaps Grandma would have a problem with this?).

So the very next Saturday I recruited the woman who knew me best; Mommy dearest, and off we went to our first stop.

I had heard about an appointment only sample sale going on for a gown distributor in Atlanta. They are only open to the public once a year for this sale, the rest of the year they sell directly to dress retailers. I could browse a great sample of gowns at great discounts!

Let's get right too it shall we? The place was small, we weren't helped for almost 30 minutes, and I felt like I was having to change in front of the whole store. Since all of the samples were in sizes 8 and 10, it was a little hard to envision how each dress would look altered to my size (I'm a tiny person if you haven't picked up on that). We were off to a great start. . .not!!! (channel Borat here). Here are a few that I tried on.

Can we talk about my face in this pic?

I really liked this dress, the lace was really pretty and it was so light and breathable. The neckline was not flattering on me at all though, and I felt super self conscious about the lack of straps. How was I supposed to boogie down at our reception if my dress was going to be falling around my ankles the whole time? (somehow I don't think Nate would have a problem with that).

Yikes, bad lighting= really unflattering photo

I really loved the train on this dress. It definitely had that "sexy" vibe to it. Satin, off the shoulder neckline and very very comfortable. I also loved the beading along the bust line. The cons: I thought that it wrinkled very easily (I mean, do you see the wrinkles on this thing?!) and it was a very modern looking dress for the type of wedding we were planning. It was a contender, but I could not see myself buying a dress at the very first place that we went. Since the sale was only going on for that day, I was going to have to commit if I wanted it. We left with the promise of returning by the end of the day if we were going to buy. So on to the next place!!

Our next stop was a dress consignment shop located in Buckhead. I'll keep the name of the place anonymous because of what I'm about to say. The shop owner was a crazy, overbearing, BEOTCH. There, now that I got that off my chest. I will say that she was very nice to my mom and I, but we heard her having a phone conversation with someone on the phone that would have you shaking in your boots. She was screaming and threatening the person, and it made trying to be excited about the dress I had on just on the other side of the wall a leeeetle difficult.

This is where I channeled my inner princess.

Note the aforementioned dragon lady in the corner!

It was poofy, princessy, and really freaking heavy!!

I love the veil!!!

Part of me was in love with this dress. It was the quintessential princess bride dress. It screamed "bridal" and I loved how it swished like a bell when I walked. I even momentarily thought about buying it. It was just so much. . . gown. I felt like I was drowning in it. So we sheepishly said goodbye to the Dragon Lady (secretly hoping she wouldn't eat us) and moved on.

Our third and final stop of the day was Kelly's Closet

Sorry for the bad pic, it's hard to find pics of this place!

Can i just say that I thought Kelly's Closet was the cutest little place and was exactly what I had envisioned in terms of the "dress shopping experience". The cutest, comfiest couches nestled in between some of the most beautiful delicate gowns, and full length gilded mirrors to admire the potential dresses.

I found my dress here, on the very first day of looking, and I am head over heels in love with it. how do I know it's the one? My mom cried, and then I cried, and then it was just a big cry-fest. I knew the minute I put it on that this was the dress Nate would love. Speaking of Nate, he reads this blog, which is why I'm sure you'll understand that I'm not posting a pic of the dress! Such a tease I know, but only 3 short months before everyone gets to see it in action!

What was your dress shopping experience like?

Pressing the Easy Button

Planning a wedding is hard work. With all that hard work, comes a slew of really difficult choices to make. When it came time to choosing out photographer however; I kind of feel like I pressed the easy button.

{Thank you Staples for this fictitious button}

Well ok, not literally, but choosing our photographer was the easiest planning decision I have made so far. I spent hours searching the Internet for someone who fit the look and feel I had in mind. Even our planner suggested a couple photographers that she had worked with in the past, but when I saw their portfolio, I wasn't wowed. They were nice, but I wasn't looking for nice, I was looking for take my breath away.

"Now wait a minute", you say, "searching for hours on the Internet doesn't sound that easy."

You're right, it wasn't. The whole process of looking left me feeling frustrated. I felt like I was never going to find the photographic Yin to my wedding Yang.

Then I saw this post over at Style me Pretty, and I knew I had found them. (this is the point where it got easy. See? I was going somewhere with the easy button)



Sigh. . . Pictures just don't get any better than this



{All of the above breathtaking images are from Joey and Jessica Photography}



After seeing these pictures, I knew they were going to be our photographers. I called Joey up and hit it off instantly. They were quite a bit more than we had originally budgeted for, but I took one look at our priority list and knew that splurging on photography was worth it to us to have the day captured perfectly.

On a side note: I just have to gush a minute and say that Joey and Jessica are seriously the coolest couple. They are great to talk to, have such an excitement for life, and it definitely shows in their work. So imagine my delight when their photo shoot was chosen to be on the cover of Southern Weddings Magazine!



{Way to go you guys! Head HERE for more of this adorable shoot}

 O.k. gush over. I was just so excited for them! One of the reasons we chose them was because Joey and Jessica shoot predominately with film rather than digital. While some may argue that this reduces the number of quality pictures, I think it is a testament to the skill of the photographer. If a photographer can take tons of amazing photos and not have the luxury of instant view and delete as is the case with digital, then that says something to me. Plus, I absolutely love the rich color and sharp quality of good old fashioned film.

Decision. Made. Easy.

How easy (or hard) was it to choose your photographer? Was there another time in your wedding planning where you pressed the easy button?

Making good on my priority list

I'm not rich. There, I said it. Lest any long lost relatives come to me hoping for a piece of the pie, I am here to inform you it is a very small pie indeed.




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What does this have to do with our wedding? Well if you are like me, spending hours on end drooling over stunning images of weddings that had a limitless budget will tend to give you that "I must have the best of EVERYTHING!" feeling.

Yeah, back to the not being rich thing. As much as I would love to, I simply cannot have everything my little greedy heart desires. So I had to prioritize.

Prioritizing our wedding meant that I needed to identify what was most important to us as a couple, and what things could fall a little further down the list and that we would be ok if they weren't completely perfect.

Here is a list of our priorities, and a list of things that aren't so important:

1) An amazing photographer - when the wedding day if over, the cake has been devoured, the dance floor has been torn up (by the guests' amazing dancing skills) and the guests are gone, the only thing you have left are the memories. . and the photos. So for the love of all that is good about weddings, we needed a photographer that could capture our day perfectly.

{Love it! Source}

2) Southern food at its best - We are NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, a caviar and lobster kind of family. When I think of good wedding food, I think of finger licking, savory, stick to your ribs kind of food. More importantly, 90% of our guests simply will not eat fancy food (more than 3 ingredients? you can forget that!) So we needed to find a caterer who could bring us the best the south has to offer, and serve simple food. . artfully.




{Shrimp & Grits, you are my B*tch lover!}

 * 10 points for any one who can name the above referenced movie. hilarious!

3) Location - I am of the firm belief that if you pick a venue that jives with how you want your wedding to feel, it makes everything else (setting the mood with decor, lighting, and music) so much easier. We needed to find a place that oozed with southern charm. And we did!

And now for the things that are not so vitally important to us:

1) The flowers - Yes, of course I want our flowers to look pretty. Beyond that, I'm not worried about it. I know the general color scheme that I want, but I'm not obsessing over specific flowers that MUST  be included or how big my bouquet should be. I picked our vendors because I felt that I could trust them, so once I convey my vision to them, I back off and let them do what they do best. If the flowers don't turn out exactly like I pictured, I certainly won't lose any sleep over it.

{Yeah, I have no idea what most of these are called}

2) The attire - I love my dress and I will tell you all about it in a separate post. Beyond that, I chose the bridesmaids dresses after minimal searching, am giving the groom and his men full reign on their look, and am letting my maids choose their own accessories and shoes. Why? Because I want everyone to look good, and know they look good. If they are comfortable, I will be comfortable. I'm not going to pull my micro-management card on this one. Let's be honest, I have waaaayyy more important things to obsess over.

{O.k. well maybe the guys can't wear ANYTHING they want}

3) The Paper goods - Photoshop? Gocco? Yudu? Illustrator? ummm, yeah I have no idea how to operate or use any of these. Nor do I want to learn. Here are some of the amazing paper creations that I see in the blogosphere.

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Say it with me. . .ooooo, ahhhhhh. Gorgeous paper goods at every turn. Do I have the skills to produce said gorgeous paper goods? No freakin way. So I will resign myself to having minimally pretty designs that I can somehow scrap together on Microsoft word, and call it a day. It would be nice to have pretty paper things and I envy those brides that posses skill in this department. Ultimately though, it won't matter one cent and our wedding day will still be fabulous. I'm doing all the paper goods myself (Except for the invites, more on those later!!), so let's KISS (keep it simple stupid!).

I have to give myself a pat on the back here, because despite my tendencies to want everything at its finest. I have really stuck to my priority list and given those things on the "must have" list the bulk of the budget. It means we will be sure to get what's most important to us before we run out of money to pay for it!!

Have you had to prioritize (and perhaps re-prioritize) your "must haves" for your wedding? What would be your must haves if you aren't planning right now?