The Hotel

For those of you who are coming from out of town and need a place to stay, we have reserved rooms at the Hampton Inn. The hotel shares a parking lot with the civic center so you will not have far to travel once you arrive! I have not tried to book a room through the website so if you have any trouble, please let me know!

http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/groups/personalized/DALWXHX-LKW-20090731/index.jhtml

FYI: I think Matt and I will be staying at the Hampton Inn for our wedding night so we can wake up and have breakfast downstairs with everyone!

The Food (Part 3)

I need your help!

Matt and I spoke with a lady at a Chinese Restaurant this weekend about catering the reception. I need your opinion on whether it will be enough food. The pan is a 9x13 pan that is probably 3 or 4 inches deep. It is kinda like a pan you would cook a small turkey in. We will be ordering the following pans of food.

• 1 pan of Sesame Chicken
• 2 pans of Brocolli Beef
• 2 pans of Sweet and Sour Chicken
• 2 pans of Low Mien
• 2 pans of Fried Rice
• 2 pans of Steamed Rice

Do y'all think this will be enough food for 150 people?

The Food (Part 2)

While my lovely students are playing a review game today, I decided to start looking up things to serve at a reception. Here are some ideas I found!

Pasta, Salad, Breadsticks, Spaghetti, BBQ pulled beef and rolls, Chinese Food (Matt looked into this and it is actually a possibility), Pasta Bar, Lasagna, BYODish (ha ha ha this cracks me up!)

We are still on the hunt for something that doesn't take a lot of prep time and not a lot of attention at the reception. Anyone out there cater for super cheap?

The Food

I am having a dilemma. Maybe y'all can help! As I have mentioned before, the top three things that Matt and I want at our reception are food, alcohol and music. We have the alcohol and music covered but we still do not know about food.

We originally wanted to feed everyone dinner. However, I would like August first to be as calm and non-hectic as possible. If we do have a hot meal, I will have to appoint someone to be in charge of making sure the food is out, warm and constantly replenished. In my mind, if we have some sort of appetizers, they can just sit out and people can munch as they wish. Matt and I talked about having a meat and cheese tray with a variety of breads and dips. That way, those who just need a snack can snack and those who need a meal can make a sandwich.

Here is the problem. We have spent so much time and effort on making this day elegant and now we are just going to put out sandwiches? I'm not 100% okay with that. Any ideas?

The Hiatus

Many of you have been asking me why I haven't posted this week. I keep meaning to post about things that Matt and I are discussing but nothing is set in stone yet so I keep postponing. We are still looking at the food for the reception and the rehearsal dinner plans. We are also concentrating very heavily on our honeymoon plans!

I was originally going to try to post everyday but things are going so well that there isn't much left to plan. (ha ha ha) Really, I don't want my entire life to become consumed by wedding plans so I'm taking a lot of breaks. We still have 6 months to plan, I have spring break and the majority of the summer to do a lot of the leg work. AND . . . My students still need a teacher...Geeze...they are so needy!

Thanks for being interested enough to check back! I'll be posting again next week!

The Colors (Part Two)

Dennise and I have been brainstorming a bit, actually she has been sending me ideas on what we should call the dark purple and dark orange. Even though David's Briday calls the deep purple, lapis, lapis is really a dark blue. Right now the two favorite names are Plum and Mandarin.

Here are some examples of the colors I like. :)

The Colors

I love the way purple and orange look together...so...our colors will be purple and orange. That doesn't sound very fancy so we will be looking for another name. Right now (thanks to David's Bridal) we will call the purple, Lapis and the orange, Tangerine.

The bridesmaids will wear lapis with some sort of tangerine accents even if it is just the flowers that are orange. They can pick out any dress as long as it is lapis. Here are some examples of the types of dresses I like and the two colors!

The Reception (Part One)

Matt and I agree that we want the actually wedding ceremony to take a very short amount of time. There is NO reason that all of our friends and family need to sit and watch us stare at each other while some random song plays. It should go something like this - Do you? Yup. Do you? Yup - Let's Party! It isn't about the wedding, it is about the marriage and I'm getting a pretty good deal...ya know...marrying the man of my dreams!

Since we already have our venue, now we can start planning the fun stuff! We would like to have food, alcohol and music at the reception. We have decided on a cash bar so everyone can drink as much or as little as they would like and the booze wont run out! We are currently on the hunt for a dj. I have a few leads but most of the people I have found are between $500-$2000! (I think that I may be in the wrong business!) We have also asked Matt's cousin, Dane, to sing "I'm Yours" for our first dance.

Matt and I will have a wedding cake to ourselves and then each table will have a wedding cake as the center piece. This will take care of decorating the tables since the cake will serve as the decoration. I have the best sister in the entire world who is also an excellent cook and baker and she has offered her services to us for free! She is volunteering to make all of the cakes for the reception. (She is going to be a very busy girl!)

Now for the food... There are many options from which to choose! We have decided that cooking ourselves or at least preparing the food for the reception is going to be much cheaper than using a caterer. We can either do a buffet style, sit down meal OR we can do hors d'erves. The problem with the buffet style dinner is that everything has to be prepared and then kept warm. We will need someone to man the table and make sure new/hot food comes out when things get low. The problem with hors d'erves is that I have no idea what to have!

The possible buffet choices are: Brisket with potato salad, baked beans and bread.

Enchiladas with rice and beans.

Taco bar with rice and beans.

Make your own sandwich (lunch meat thingy)

(I am voting for the enchiladas with rice and beans right now!)

The possible hors d'erves are: Various breads with various dips such as spinach dip, cheese dip etc.

Cheese balls with crackers.

Finger sandwiches

Fruit tray

Vegetable tray.

Y'all feel free to give me your opinions, comments and suggestions!

The Travelers

For those of you who are coming from out of town and need a hotel, you're in luck. The Hampton Inn of Waxahachie actually shares a parking lot with the Waxahachie Civic Center. They are willing to rent rooms for $79 a night. If you would like to find out more information, please feel free to follow the following link.

http://www.dallashis.com/

Matt is working on getting a website set up for y'all (yep, I said y'all) to make reservation through so you can get the $79 as a fixed rate without any complications. I'll post it as soon as we know more!

The Venue

After searching venues, comparing prices and making lists of what is most important to have at our wedding and reception, Matt and I have found a place to get hitched! We will be married on August 1, 2009 at the Waxahachie Civic Center! The Crape Myrtle room is beautiful. It has 26, floor to ceiling windows that face west. We will have risers for the ceremony and a dance floor for the reception.

This address will allow you to look at the Crape Myrtle room in 360 degrees!

http://www.waxaciviccenter.com/VirtualTourPages/CCcmrVTL.htm

Click on the picture to view a larger image!

The Date

Matthew Joseph Kleeman and Dianna Kathryn Loofbourrow will be getting married on Saturday, August 1, 2009!

The Bridal Party

It didn't take Matt and me long to decide who we wanted to stand up for us on our wedding day.

Matt's Side

Bestman-Tanner Larsen (Cousin)

Bestman-Andy Kleeman (Brother)

Groomsman-Jeremy Thiessen (Brother-in-law)

Groomsman-Kyle Anderson (Friend)

Dianna's Side

Matron Of Honor - Dennise Warren (Sister)

Maid of Honor-Kimberly Collard (Bestfriend)

Bridesmaid-Jennifer Thiessen (Soon to be Sister-in-law)

Bridesmaid-Kimberly Larsen (Friend-Reason Matt and I met)

We are not sure what everyone will wear but we will keep you updated!

The Dress

Dennise and I went out wedding dress shopping on Tuesday, December 30th. We figured trying on some dresses at David's Bridal would help me start to pinpoint what exactly I wanted to wear on my wedding day. There isn't much that is a must-have at my wedding but a dress is at the top of the list! I knew I wanted a pick-up skirt...I call it bunched. We started by picking through the rows of dresses and I tried on many that I liked and many that I didn't. Dennise gave me one that I wasn't really interested in but I tired it on anyway. As soon as I walked out and saw it in the mirror, I fell in love with it! It is a size too small but it was only $199.99 and is discontinued. However, I think that we are going to pull the zipper out anyway and put in a corset that can be laced and tied with a lapis ribbon that will flow down the back.

This is me in the dress.

This is not. :)

It is a taffeta, a-line, with beaded bodice and pick-up skirt!

The Ring

I originally wanted a channel setting with a diamond sitting right on top. It was important that the ring not be a cathedral setting because if he was going to spend thousands of dollars on a beautiful little rock, we shouldn't hide it with metal. The ring that he picked out wasn't exactly what I envisioned but it is way prettier and much more sparkly! He did a great job!

There are 8 smaller diamonds (4 on each side) with a .83 carat diamond in the center! Beautiful!

(Thanks Dennise!)

The Engagement

After seeing each other for about a week, I was introducing Matt to a song called "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. He, being the romantic that he is, asked "Am I yours?" My face went entirely red and I couldn't speak. That is probably the moment I knew that I wanted to marry him. After a lengthy discussion we decided to be exclusive.

A few days later, I sat down with my sister and my mom and made a list of everything that I wanted in a partner and then I began checking them off according to what Matt had to offer. (I wonder if he knows I did this...) Anyway, everything I wanted, needed, hoped for, wished for...he had...he has!

Our thoughts and discussions about marriage really began when his apartment lease was coming to an end. I knew that I wanted to be traditional in the sense that we wouldn't live together before marriage so began the discussion of engagement, wedding plans, money and marriage. Matt and I went ring shopping once so he could get an idea of what I wanted. The rest was up to him!

I knew he went shopping with my sister, Dennise, and his cousin, Tanner in early December but I didn't know much else. Matt and Dennise would ask me random questions every now and then but I really had no clue what they were up to. I figured Matt would want to ask me when his parents were down from Iowa in late December so I sat back and relaxed.

A few days before Christmas, Matt and Dennise came clean that they had not been able to find the ring that I wanted. Dennise even took me ring shopping on December 23rd and 24th to see if I was interested in a different style. (Truthfully, I was super bummed about Matt not having bought the ring yet!) I decided that I would turn it around, make the best of it and help pick out my engagement ring! (Little did I know that they were being sneaky!)

On Christmas Eve, Matt and I decided to take a little time for ourselves and go to downtown Ft. Worth. In the elevator of the parking garage, I leaned in to give Matt and big hug and conveniently frisked him to see if I could feel a ring. He didn't flinch...he just hugged me right back. Since there was no ring, there would be no proposal and I just relaxed and enjoyed the evening. We ate at P.F. Changs and then took a carriage ride around downtown. (Where Matt spent most of the time asking the driver questions-so romantic!)

At this point, I was freezing and needed to find a bathroom but Matt wanted to go look at the big Christmas tree! We walk up to the big tree and while Matt is taking a picture with his phone, a man gets down on one knee and asks his girlfriend to marry him. She is hyperventilating and their family is cheering! I am ready to go home. :) Matt apologizes to me saying, "I'm sorry, I know you wanted a ring but we just can't find the style you want." We walk to the other side of the tree where another man is down on his knee proposing to his girlfriend. Again...I am ready to go!

Matt and I continue walking around and he is taking random pictures with his phone. I notice he is shaking and I asked him what is wrong. I was very confused. If he is cold enough to be shaking, I am cold and I have to use the bathroom...why are we still wandering around downtown? Being the random person that he is...Matt makes me walk around the block looking for other fun stuff to see and do. We get back to the tree and we are standing on a little platform. He takes my hand and fiddles with my new charm bracelet and expresses to me how the bracelet "is a gift from the heart." At this point he has a really weird look on his face and I know what is happening. DUH! He totally had me fooled! He said, "I have another gift that is from the heart!" and he got down on one knee.

I'm not sure what else happened but I was crying, he was crying, I said yes and dang...the ring was really sparkly!

The Beginning

I met Kimberly Larsen while teaching in Venus ISD. We didn't really talk much while at school but our relationship grew through myspace. The first time I saw Matt (on Kimberly's myspace), I immediately had a huge crush on him.

A bunch of people went out for her birthday last January and Matt was there. However, he was sitting next to Ashley, who was engaged. I put two and two together and made the assumption that Matt and Ashley were engaged...I was totally bummed!

It wasn't until the end of June 2008 that I found out Matt was single. So...I started up a little conversation through myspace. We talked on the phone and wrote emails back and forth. Kimberly and Matt both invited me out to Kimberly's parent's lake house for the 4th of July.

I was extremely nervous walking up to the lake house. I had no idea what Matt was looking for, if he would like me, how the weekend would progress, not to mention everyone watching to find out what was going to happen. I remember walking into the kitchen (holding a 30 pack of coors light) and seeing Matt sitting at the kitchen table. It was probably one of the best moments of my life.

The day went by great. We hung out in the water, with the creepy fish, all day and just talked. We went on boat rides and relaxed. Everyone gathered on the pier for the fireworks show and Matt kissed me for the first time.

He ended up driving my car home (I think he just wanted to drive my cute little sports car) but we parted ways after arriving in Waxahachie. He mentioned something about seeing each other later that night (ya know...after a shower). I anxiously awaited his call and sure enough we met at his apartment and went to get a snow cone and rent a movie from Blockbuster.

I would say that the rest is history...but really...it has been the best 6 months of my life! I am so lucky!

The day we met!