Welcome!!

This blog all began the day after my husband proposed to me April 10th, 2010, 6 months before we were to be married. He suggested we blog about our journey through planning a wedding on a budget. I LOVED the idea and he had no idea then, what this blog would become!

To properly view our journey through engagement, you will have to start at the oldest post and read forwards. My favorite posts include Zeh Ring, in which we talk about how we designed my engagement ring, Planning Priorities, and Wedding Faux Pas. We also came up with a wedding contest our guest could participate in to win a gift card. Finally, we posted about our Last Minute "to-dos".

After our wedding, I discovered I LOVED blogging and continued to do so. You can visit my current blog here. I talk about my passions: healthy cooking, saving money, and DIY projects!! I even spent an entire month blogging about 31 Days of New Uses for Old Things.

The "Last-Minutes"

Here is our personal Last minute things to do, things we never got done, etc.' list - We hope it helps those of you in your own planning!

Everybody’s list will be slightly different, but we thought it would be helpful to post our last minute to-dos in effort to help you plan accordingly and not forget anything. The week before my wedding, I worked 2 days, 3 nights, and worked on wedding prep the rest of the time. Matt worked Monday night and had two major tests on Thursday that he was studying for... 

... so creating a list... was a good thing.

Helpers and 'those small-odd jobs'

Wow... talk about taking a break from blogging! (I thought life was simpler and free time was abundant once you marry... no?)

So, we had planned on writing a few blogs soon after our wedding to help out with our close friends who were marrying soon... but unfortunately 'life' called and blogging was put to the side for the time being.

Now we are back, and ready to play catch up. We plan to post a few blogs in the next week to finish out our Wedding blogging. After that, however, this blog will switch to be solely authored by Betsy (with some guest appearances by Matt) as she has many an idea for new posts and blog topics regarding being a wife in the early stages of a marriage. From things to easy/awesome recipes to shopping savings to laundry to finding time for God in married life... the list is long, and detailed.

anyway.....back to the topic at hand.

This list is specific to our wedding. (Duh) So there are plenty of things that could be added or taken away depending on your own circumstances, but, we hope that this will jolt your mind into realizing that yes, you do need cake cutters, or, yes, you do need someone to pull around the car before you leave, etc.

So, without further delay, the list!

Your wedding advice?

We know many of you will not be able to make the wedding, but we want to welcome you in to the celebration anyway by offering us your one, best piece of advice.

Whether you are coming, or not, email us (betsy.matt.wedding@gmail.com) with the one piece of advice you think a married couple can't survive without. Title the email "Wedding advice" and we will wait to read them all over the honeymoon.

We are excited to see those of you who will be there, and sad to know that many of you will not. We pray blessings on you all.

brief update for your viewing pleasure

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

...Thank you for reading, have a nice day...

Betsy & Matt

Ze contest! (Wedding Photo Scavenger Hunt) answers!

Ladies and Gentlemen... start shut off your engines!

You've heard about it, you know about it, you have already completed it, the contest is over... wait, no, that doesn't work...

The Barfield/Pool wedding scavenger hunt contest is officially underway! over!

The contest - Below you will find 30 pictures of our official business card taken at locations around town. These locations Betsy and I have some close connection to or have frequented often.

The Rules - 

Each participant must have [had] their final responses in to us by midnight on Sunday, September 26th to be considered for the contest. The person with the most correct will win the grand prize. If there are multiple individuals who have guessed correctly then the individual that have described the locations in the most detail will win.

We will announce the winner at the reception. If you are not present, we will give it to the runner-up and so on.

The winner will get a $50 dollar gift certificate to Signs of Life.

(Signs of Life is a local art gallery, coffee shop and bookstore in downtown Lawrence.)

MOST locations are in Lawrence, KS; there are just a few that are outside of Lawrence, and none of them are outside of Kansas.

Teams may be formed but we will still only give out one gift card. Hunt wisely.

The answers!

Save the dates, Invitations, Programs

To DIY or not to DIY, that is the question!

For those not fully into the current wedding lingo DIY stands for Do It Yourself. When it come to save the dates, invitations, programs and thank you cards, the designs and options are endless. It is important for each couple to first decide how much of a priority the invitations are - whether you want to spend hours gluing ribbon on each invitation or just printing a pre-made design on cardstock. One options is to go to Michael's (or another similar store) and look through their wedding aisle. 

They have everything from invitations (boxed sets you can print on), guest book, favors, printable Hershey's wrapping stickers, ring bearer pillows, to ribbon and bachelorette party stuff. It's good to just check it out and price shop. What's nice about Michael's or Hobby Lobby is that periodically they have sales. So, if you find what you want, just wait long enough and it will be on sale!