Dresses

Oh how I wish I could show you my wedding dress! But since I can't (future hubby may be lurking..I love you darling:)), I hope we can both settle for the bridemaids dresses and the flower girl dress.

Bridesmaids

The flower girl dress has not actually been purchased yet, but I really like this style. We're going shopping this Saturday, so cross your for me fingers that they have this dress!

The white one, but with a red bow! Cute, right? :)

My Image

We are just about at the half way point to the big day. I cannot believe time has gone so fast. It seems like just yesterday we got engaged and now its been almost 6 months.

A lot has changed since then, including my idea of a fairy tale wedding. At first I wanted a huge wedding in a huge chapel with a huge guest list. Well not only did my budget prevent that, but I have come to the realization that a big wedding with people I haven't spoken to in years was never for me anyways.

Our wedding will consist of our close friends and family at a beautiful venue. The ceremony will take place outside on a deck overlooking a small waterfall.

 We'll get the whole grounds to ourselves for the entire day. While our photographer is taking pictures of us as a married couple, our guests will be able to hang out on the veranda, enjoying appetizers and drinks. Our reception will have food, drinking and dancing. By the time the reception starts, I imagine I'll be too tired to think straight let alone notice the beautiful chandeliers, our black table cloths with red rose petals spread about, our beautiful flower centerpieces or the neatly folded red napkins.

But it will be beautiful.

And I cannot wait.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

My awesome friend who just so happens to be the wife of one of the groomsmen has gifted me with my Something Blue.

She makes these cute button rings and I was lucky enough to get one! Thank you Mrs. W :)

Also, my future M-I-L is letting me borrow her real pearl necklace that was given to her by her father. I was going to take a picture of it, but Fiancee put it in a safe place. One that I cannot find at the moment and he is at work. I hope he at least remembers where he put it.

Two down. Two to go.

By the way...I need some help on the something old. Anyone have any ideas?

The Most AWESOMEST Wedding Programs Ever!

Is awesomest a word? Spell check says no, but it totally should be.

Anyways.

Look.what.I.found.

Wedding programs that also entertain while guest are waiting. And of course, I found them on Etsy. And they personalize them to match our wedding colors. Now I just have to come up with the clues. Ooo and I can buy those little pencils and tie red ribbon around them!

Dress Shopping Nightmare

Want to hear something very frustrating?

I bought my wedding dress at this place called CLASSIC BRIDAL. (Classic bridal, classic bridal, classic bridal. I'm hoping if I say it enough, when they search for it, they'll find this page. Classic Bridal.) And actually had an excellent experience. It was fun. My consultant was nice and friendly and helped me find the perfect dress.

BUT THEN, I took my bridesmaids in and that was a task in its own. Do you know how hard it is to get 5 people who have jobs, live out of town, and/or are pregnant together at one time? Pretty difficult. Before I went in, I called and made an appointment with the same consultant that took care of me. She told me THREE days prior that she would pull all of the dresses I liked and they'd be ready for when we came in.

Well, they weren't. The girl even forgot that she had a appointment and seemed very surprised by that fact. But that was ok because we were the ONLY customers. As we started pulling dresses off the rack, a bride walked in wanting to shop for (not buy) a wedding dress. My consultant then left me and my five bridesmaids on our own. I had to go find her and ask her for a dressing room. She gave us one and then disappeared again.

We picked one of the bridesmaids to be the Barbie Doll. We dressed her up instead of having everyone try on different dresses. So there we were, trying to figure out all the crazy lacing by ourselves all the while, my consultant is busy helping the bride. We had to go searching for different dresses to pull and the store is huge. I picked up a dress that I liked another consultant that was just sitting in a chair watching the bride try on dresses said, "Um, that's discontinued." I put it back and picked another one. "That one, too." So I turned to her and said, "Can you please tell me which ones AREN'T discontinued?" She pointed to a rack and then went back to ignoring me.

When we FINALLY found a dress that we could all agree upon...I went and found "my" consultant again. She then proceeded to tell me that (and I quote) "It is too early for you to buy your bridesmaids dresses. Please come back in the fall."

WTF.

And to top it off, because I bought my dress at CLASSIC BRIDAL, my bridesmaids would have gotten a 20% discount on their dresses. Needless to say though, we won't be going back there. I actually suggested we try again next month and they all refuse to go back there. Can't say that I blame them.

Thanks for listening!

Look, I'm a cartoon!

Remember how I told you all that I was getting a caricature made of Fiance and I to put on our "welcome" table at the wedding?

No? Well we wanted a photo next to our programs and guest book, but then I got to to thinking. Why get just some ordinary photo? So I turned to Etsy, specifically, Erin at Dreamscape Portraits. We emailed each other back and forth a dozen times. She gladly accepted all of my ideas and threw in some of her own. I told her I wanted a prince and princess theme and sent her the colors I liked...

 And this is what she came up with...

Isn't it freaking fantastic!?! Erin is so creative. I couldn't believe how awesome is turned out. She sent me proofs as she was going along and kept me posted at each and every step. I couldn't be happier with the outcome and I'm so excited for all of our wedding guests to see it.

She even added our names and wedding date at the top and an 11x14 print is in the mail as we speak!

Cake Cake Cake

Fiance and I sat down yesterday and picked out our wedding cake and groom's cake. Cake IS the only thing Fiance is really really concerned about in this whole process, so when we started looking online through all of the cakes, he was in heaven. And we wanted something a little non-traditional, so that was even more fun.

So, as many of you may already know, I'm a huge Alice in Wonderland fan. I picked the actual wedding cake.

Except I don't want all of those little extras all over it. Looks a little busy in this photo, so imagine it without all the clutter.

This is the second option.

Which I LOVE, especially if we turn it red, white and black, BUT I am terrified its going to end up looking like this...

Yikes! So I'm going to talk to the baker and see what she has to say. Fiance is pretty excited about the taste testing thing, too.

And for the groom's cake, Fiance picked this...

A fairly simple Zelda cake. Hopefully it will leave little room for error.

Hopefully.

 Cake Wrecks has really put a seed of doubt in my mind when it comes to bakers :)

Etsy Love

Wanna know how geeky I am?

Look what I just ordered.

Why yes, that is a Nintendo Garter.

I'm telling you, Etsy is allowing me to geek up my wedding in all the right places and not go overboard. Lego cuff links? I think so.



We are also in the process of getting a caricature sketch of us in a price and princess theme. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Can you register at Etsy? :)



Super Duper Excited!

I know every blogger says that they have the best readers, but I'm pretty sure mine are the best. When I got home today, there was a package waiting for me. I opened it up and saw this beauty.

It's a journal! And inside was a wonderful note that says,

Best Wishes for a Wonderful Life Together
                                                       Teresa

Thank you so much to Teresa from The Middle Side of Life. You have no idea how happy this gift made me, especially after the Monday I had!!

A Very Surprising Surprise

A little background first...

My mother and I do not have the greatest of relationships. Once upon a time we did, but as we both grew older, we grew apart. Once her kids were raised, she turned into a child herself and I don't/didn't agree with a lot of her decisions.

Now that I'm engaged, she has taken a lot of interest in us and is being very helpful. She wants to plan my bridal shower and everything.

Well, Friday night, she came to my house and handed me $100. I was very touched. She doesn't have a lot of money, like at all, and to her, that was a big expense. I cried and thanked her and told her I'd put the money towards my dress, which is on layaway.

The next morning, a call woke me up. It was my mom and she was beyond excited and said, "You're dress is paid for."

I sat up out of bed said, "Whaaa?"

"You're dress. It's paid for. All of it."

"What? How?" There was still $600 left to pay on the dress mind you.

"Your Step Dad and I won $4,000. We paid off your dress."

Yes, they went and played some slot machines. Which they rarely do. Like I said, they don't have much money. They were trying to kill some time before my Step Dad had to play softball, stopped in and won $4,000. Then they drove over to the dress shop and paid for my dress.

I couldn't stop crying.

Bargains

While browsing the bazillion things that you can buy for a wedding, I stumbled across customized labels for the invitations. I really liked them and thought they'd look a lot better than my handwriting or some generic printed labels.

They also have customized stamps, too, but that may be going a little overboard.

Anyways, I found a lot I liked and while they were not really expensive, I figured maybe I could save some money.

I liked the monograms ones the best, something like this...

No clue who those people are. Please don't stalk them. :)

So I started tinkering around with Microsoft Word and since I already have a large supply of blank labels, I came up with this...

And I can print as many as I want...for free. What do you think?

We also started looking around for invitations to get a general price range. We found 100 invitations with RSVP cards for about $90.00. That was the cheapest. Then I turned to my dear friend, Ebay.

We found 100 invitations, 100 RSVP cards, 100 labels, and 100 reception cards. For $75.00.

We went ahead and bought them. It was a steal. I'll let you know how they look when I get them!

What a weekend!

Friday

• Had all the bridesmaids over
• Ate too much pizza
• Had margaritas that were way too strong
• Picked out shoes and jewelry for the girls
• Decided on which bridesmaids dresses we like
• Tried to work with everyone's schedule to go shopping
• Still working on that
• Told my little sister that I wanted her to be my maid of honor

Saturday

• Woke up way too early
• Met up with my mom, Fiance's mom, BFF and little sis.
• Went dress shopping!
• Tried on 15 dresses and became discouraged
• Not because I didn't like them
• I liked them all
• Was ready to give up
• Store owner came over and told me to try on one more before I left
• Tried on the dress she picked out
• It was THE dress
• I cried
• Fought with the consultant because she made me take it off
• Made up with the consultant when she told me that since that dress fit me perfectly, I could buy the sample dress at get a discount
• Put a down payment on the dress
• Happy Danced
• Invited Fiance's Mom up for dinner
• Went to meet with a hair stylist that is going to do our hair and makeup for an awesome price
• Went home and took a nap
• Woke up and waited for Fiance and his mom
• Ate dinner
• Drove the 2 miles to the Waterfall Inn to show off our venue
• Everyone loved it!

Sunday

• Woke up to Fiance making strawberry and whipped cream pancakes
• Met Dad at venue
• Signed contract
• Watched Dad write out a deposit check
• Did another Happy Dance
• Made it official that we will marry on May 12, 2012.

It was a great weekend.

Slightly more relaxed

I know I keep saying how stressful wedding planning is, but apparently, I'm a pretty kick ass wedding planner. Everyone keeps telling me that I could have my wedding this fall with how fast I've done everything.

Yay me.

Still, we will wait until Spring.

I have decided on the Waterfall Inn. As soon as I read your comments and especially Skippy Mom's comment about us getting engaged at a waterfall, so we should get married at one, too, my mind was made up. And seriously, that connection NEVER dawned on me. I'm an idiot sometimes.

So for some exciting news. My first dress appointment is this Saturday at 10:00!! And then I meet with a NEW salon who will do our hair on the day of the wedding for only $20 more dollars than the other place. And last night, I met with a DJ who just moved here from Kentucky and is trying to start a new client list and since I'm her first client in WV, she is only charging me $300 as opposed to the normal $650 rate that every DJ around here likes to charge.

But, you know me, always the skeptical. I got references from her and I get to see her in action this Saturday night. If we like her, we're signing the contract.

Oh and remember the photos I showed you on Jumble Mash? Yeah, well the guy that took them and was supposed to give me 120 photos of us, up and moved to freakin' New York. I have no idea when we will get those photos...if ever. But that does give us excuse to have another engagement shoot.

Look at me looking on the bright side.

I can say that I am much much happier now that we decided on the Waterfall Inn. I am positive about the decision and I absolutely love the place. I can't wait until you guys can see some pictures!

I'll be gray by next spring.

Wedding planning is turning out to be more stress than I imagined. And I even imagined a lot of stress. I feel very conflicted right now.

Currently we are under TWO pending contracts. One is for the venue I showed you and on April 28, 2012. The other is for May 12, 2012 at a different, outside venue. The first venue is in budget, but I was not in love with it. After seeing the place and meeting the staff, it just wasn't for me. Yes, its beautiful. But its not me. It's not us.

So, we went to another place called the Waterfall Inn. The ceremony would take place outside on a big deck next to...you guessed it...a waterfall. It's truly beautiful and on a private estate. The reception will take place in their Grand Room with decorations and flowers INCLUDED. We'll have the venue for the entire weekend, so rehearsal will go on the night before. And the owner? She doubles as a wedding coordinator. I will have someone with me every step of the way making decisions and telling people where to stand, what to do, etc. She also hires a wait staff along with caterers. All for only $90.00 more than the first venue.

You may be thinking, well it doesn't seem like there is much of a choice, because that's what Fiance thinks too, BUT if we change the venue and the date, we lose the DJ and the people that were going to come and do our hair and makeup.

Can they be replaced? Hopefully. But we had researched and found excellent prices and people for the jobs.

And one more teeny tiny detail. I never ever wanted to have an outdoor wedding. Too much can go wrong. Too much can happen.

So, now I'm trying to talk Fiance into eloping. Or just forgoing the reception all together. He thinks I'm nuts right now, but he isn't the one planning a wedding. He just says, "I wanna be there for the cake tasting." Ah, gotta love him.

Honestly though, is the reception worth it? That's a lot of money that I can put toward a down payment on a house. Everyone says I'll regret it if I don't do the ceremony and the reception. What's your experience?

Just in case you're wondering...

Our wedding date is set to April 28th, 2012. And we've chosen red, white and black for our wedding colors. Here's some inspiration.

What were your wedding colors?

Discovery

I have made a discovery.

And I'm in love.

While browsing for wedding music which was actually the only fun part so far, I found a lot of people referencing VSQ. I was like what the hell is VSQ. So I googled it and found out that it is Vitamin String Quartet.  (click link to see list on Amazon.)

A string quartet that remakes popular songs. For example Sweet Child O' Mine.


Or Wonderwall.


Awesome.

Then I happened to find one of Fiance's favorite songs, Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix. So we decided to use that as the Prelude. But now that I've found all of these awesome songs, I want to use like every single one of them.

Unity Ceremony

We are debating on which unity ceremony to go with.

1. The Traditional Unity Candle- The mothers will walk down the isle first, light the two smaller candles and then after Fiance and I exchange rings, we use the small candles to light the big one.

Downside? I pour wax all over myself because the first two candles will be lit for a while. Or I catch the whole place on fire. Hey...I'm clumsy. It could happen.

2. Sand.  Like us, not as traditional but is becoming more popular. Same concept as the candle except we'll pour sand instead of light candles. Not to mention, we can put a lid on the big one and save it.

Downside? I can't really think of one right now. I may have to get back to ya.

3. Water. The large cylinder is clear water. The two smaller ones are food coloring. When you pour the two small ones in the large one turns colors obviously. Very visual. Of course, we would use red.

Downside? The mothers' role would be cut out unless they just pour the clear water in first. Kinda lame.

So, let the voting begin!

A gift!

Look what my awesome Dad got me!!

It's a flower girl basket, ring bearer pillow, guest book, pen, and a garter in a set and then a cake serving set. AWESOME. All on Amazon for less that $60.00 (I think).

It's weird seeing the stuff in my house. Makes it more real. Like, hello...you're getting married!

Thanks Dad!

Introducing...

JUMBLE BELLS!!!!

What do you guys think?

With much help from Amy at Life's Journey With a Smile, (ok, she pretty much did everything) I now have a wedding blog.

Isn't the header just amazing? Amy rocks and if you're reading this, THANK YOU AGAIN!!!

The first post was the one from Jumble Mash yesterday, so if you've read it, you can ignore it!

And today, I only have one bit of news.

We have a meeting Thursday at 4:00 to try our BEST to get this venue. It's in our price range. It has a beautiful courtyard and an indoor reception hall. The only problem? This place usually books 2 years in advance. We don't wanna wait 2 years.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Saving Money

I am really racking my brain trying to cut costs in every way I can. Weddings are freaking expensive in case you haven't heard.

My awesome dad is covering most of the costs, but the decorations, invitations, programs, and dress are up to me. So how do I save money on flowers?

Step 1.
Decide that fake flowers will be just as nice as real flowers, especially when you have an aunt that is crafty as hell and would absolutely LOVE to put together some nice flower arrangements for you.

Step 2.
Shop around local crafts stores and Wal Mart. Realize that paying $2.00 per FAKE rose is ridiculous and start feeling like a failure.

Step 3.
Call sister and complain. When she seems distracted and acts likes she doesn't care if you can't afford flowers for a wedding, hang up and pout.

Step 4.
Put on a determined face and turn to the interwebs.

Step 5.
Ebay.

Step 6.
Find a seller that is offering 252 red roses for $37.99 with FREE shipping.

Step 7.
Faint.

Step 8.
Realize that it's too good to be true and start researching.

Step 9.
Determine that the seller has tons of positive feedback and the flowers have a 60 day money back guarantee.

Step 10.
Then debate with yourself whether or not it is too early to buy flowers.

Step 11.
Tell self to shut the hell up and click Buy already.

Step 12.
Do a happy dance because you just saved $466.01.

Cha Ching.