Where do I go from here?

Ok, so I have accepted the proposal and we've set a date, now what?? I really have no idea what i'm doing. My friend Leia has offered her back yard as a venue which is awesome and a huge money saver, but I'm missing out on all services that the reception centers provide for you. Then there is the other issue, namely the fact that I want to do everything myself.. make the decorations, make the cake, make the food, etc. Good thing i've got some time. If I was a little more skilled on the sewing machine I would even be planning on making the dress.

Steve has accomplished what he wanted to do, design the Save-the-date. They turned out super cute and I was happy to give my stamp of approval on them. You can see a pic of the save the date on our wedding web page. I guess his next wedding project will be the invitations, i'm sure i'll love those too.

So back to my delimma. I've started gathering ideas on my Pinterest site, feel free to take a look. I'm actually very excited about getting to DIY so much of my wedding but I also fear I will eventually reach that point of being totally overwhelmed. Lucky for me I know I can count on my friends and family to help out.

So here's where I am so far. I have a venue for the reception. Steve would like to do the ceremony somewhere in nature. I'm a little on the fence on that.. I love the idea of taking advantage of the beauty that Utah has to offer but I don't like the logistics that will have to go into it. I am really trying to make this wedding the cheapest celebration on the planet so that would mean the wedding party would be expected to go up and do all the decorating and set up and take down chairs then move them all to the reception location. Not to mention, I don't want to get ready for my big day in a cramped tent or trailer. Also it means a bit of a drive for everyone from the ceremony to the reception. None of these things are deal breakers, just not the kind of things I want to have to deal with on my wedding day. However, I have been looking at some locations to use for the ceremony. I've been trying to find areas that have amphitheatre's we can rent to at least save us the trouble of bringing chairs to the ceremony site. I found an amphitheatre in Dimple Dell nature park which is very near to my parents house which would make it easier for me to get ready I have also found one at Storm Mountain a couple of miles up Big Cottonwood canyon. The one at Storm Mountain looks prettier (i'm going to go see it in person this weekend) but it's quite a bit further away from the reception and has no buildings for me to get ready in. Torn...

Dimple Dell Amphitheatre (Dead of Winter)

Storm Mountain Amphitheatre (Summer)

I have also started trying on dresses. I'm pretty close to narrowing down the style I want. I've decided I want to decorate with Mason jars (send me your jars). I have begun collecting brooches for the brooch bouquet I want to make (another thing I want to do myself ,lol). The save the dates are out and the wedding web page is up. So I guess i'm not doing too bad for the stage of the game. It's so much to wrap my head around.

If anyone out there knows how to make paper flowers of many different styles and sizes let me know. I saw an idea for paper flowers that I love and have pinned the picture on my pinterest site.

Alright, time for bed. I'll post again when I have more decisions made and things created. Goodnight World!