A year of engagement

It's official--almost!

2008-03-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

We had today off from work so we planned that today would be the day that we would apply for our marriage license! For the State of Florida, we have a 3 day waiting period so we will get the license in the mail next week. Nonetheless, we had a lovely time celebrating afterwards. We first met with our DJ to review the reception, then we wander around Barnes & Noble and picked up several books. Then off to dinner in a historic part of our area. Sangria and paella makes for a great time!

I can't believe our wedding in next month!!!! ACK!!!!!!!!!! :)

Everyone loves a little sparkle

2008-02-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

I've been scouring the internet for wedding ideas pretty much the moment my lovely engagement ring was placed on my finger. Thanks to the internet, I was able to score two items for the wedding...

(1) Bling for the Hair

Courtesy of Ebay!

(2) Bling for the Cake

Of course, we will have a B!

Can I just say that my mom is AMAZING?

2008-02-23T12:36:00.000-08:00

I seriously have the most amazing and talented mother. Not only because she gave birth to me (I kid I kid), but seriously...she is incredibly talented! She made both flower girl dresses, my veil (complete with Swarovski crystals) and all the centerpieces for the tables! And yes my mom works full time as a respiratory therapist at a Trauma 1 hospital!! I told you -- she is amazing! I will post actual pics of said items soon, but here were the inspiration pieces that she used to make these items...

And for the Bridal party...

2008-02-23T12:23:00.000-08:00

Last week, I went on an almost all day shopping extravaganza with my mom and sis (who is also my MOH). The main objective was to find Sis a Maid of Honor dress. We hit up David's Bridal and found an okay dress, however Sis had actually already worn that same dress in aqua for a wedding a few years ago. We were on the search for a stylish black strapless dress that was not a bridesmaid dress. However we figured we owed David's a chance. After a couple other stores, we ended up at Dillard's which for you non southern readers, this is the closest thing we have to a Macy's! My sister found a stylin' black satin Calvin Klein frock that she adored. Score! Mission accomplished.

Here it is!!

We also found the ties for the gentleman, including my wonderful groom. The men are his father, my father and his brother (also the Best Man). They will be sporting black suits, but I wanted paisley ties that complimented our wedding colors. These fit the bill perfectly!!

Everything is coming together! Currently I'm working on picking out pictures for my hair trial at the beginning of April. I'll share some pics as I find them!

Bridal Shower and Rehersal Dinner Wardrobe

2008-02-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

I'm a notorious last minute shopper. I can know months in advance that I have a special occasion to dress for and I will still be last minute scrambling for an outfit. Case in point, the night before my first bridal shower, I was in Ross scouring the racks. Well I broke my habit today by purchasing dresses to be worn for the next few bridal showers and the rehearsal dinner!

Check it out....

I think these should be spring like and lovely for either occasion! Any thoughts on which one I should wear for which event??

Tick tock!

2008-02-12T19:00:00.000-08:00

Time is just flying by! In roughly 2 months, we will be getting married!! As expected, so much is going on. In the past month, I (or in some cases WE) have..

(1) Had my first bridal shower -- thrown by one of my aunts
(2) Learned that 2 more showers were going to be thrown for me
(3) Mailed my invitations out and started to received RSVPs
(4) Pick up my wedding gown
(5) Ordered my wedding shoes
(6) Ordered my labels for my favor boxes
(7) Had dinner with our officiant

and more!

What a crazy time, but all in all, I'm enjoying it.

What a weekend so far!!!!!

2008-01-19T18:54:00.000-08:00

After a few weeks of not much wedding activity, this weekend sure did make up for it. On Friday, we had a tasting at our reception venue. They sat us in a private dining room, which was lovely. We tasted our chosen appretizers for the cocktail hour, the salad, and all the entrees (except for the prime rib, but really--we all already knew prime rib was tasty!). Here is what we had:

Appetizers
Chilled Shrimp with Boursin cheese on a cucumber
Broccoli Cheese Bites
Swedish Meatballs
Chicken and Veggie Skewers
**Spanitopita** We didn't actually try this since they were unable to prepare it for our tasting

Salad
Field Greens with grape tomatoes, candied walnuts, and red onions served with a raspberry vinegrette

Entress
Mahi Mahi with pineapple salsa and jasmine rice
Risotto stuffed in a roasted tomatoes with roasted seasonal veggies
Chicken Cordon Bleu with Cauliflower puree
**Prime Rib** didn't actually try this

Overall, we were very pleased with the tasting. We all left very full! Luckily we could bring my parents and sister to the tasting :)

In other wedding news, my dress is finally in!!!!! I tried it on today and was tickled when it was actually too big! Wahoo for wedding/job stress causing me to lose weight! LOL

Below is a pic of me and mi madre at the bridal shop!

After the bridal shop, my mom, sister and I saw "27 Dresses". It was very cute! Definitely it into our theme for the day!

Finally, Sis and I headed to Office Max to get outer envelopes and labels for the invites. Yay for one more thing to cross off the list.

Tonight, I'm organizing all the addresses on a spreadsheet. Fun (haha) !

It's official!

2007-12-13T07:39:00.000-08:00

There is no turning back! I've ordered the invitations :) Yay! After pouring over invitation books in person as well as online shops, I decided to purchase my invitations from a little company call Whimsical Prints. I found Leeanna and her charming designs on Etsy.com. Click here to see what I got! Of course we customized the wording etc. The fiance even likes them!

Why did I choose these invitations? They are pretty basic, no letterpress or crazy ribbons. Honestly, I'm on a budget! Would I have loved to order invitations from Kenzie Kate? Sure-- If dropping $1,000 bucks on pieces of paper was a priority to me! Initially I thought I would be all about the fancy invites After all, I'm always loved personalized stationary! However I had to be a realist. It's not like people save the invitations!

So, for 100 invites and response cards, including printed envelopes...I only spent $186.00 and that includes shipping! Also, Leeanna is excellent at providing personalized customer service. She is very prompt with replies and even did a few customized samples mailed to my home so I could make a decision! She is amazing!

Flowers flowers everywhere!

2007-12-13T07:16:00.000-08:00

I love my floral designer! She was a referral from a co-worker who was married last year. Honestly, I wasn't really into picking out flowers. However once I had my consultation meeting, I found out that I actually have very particular tastes. For one, I do not like calla lillies. Also I really only want a very round bouquet. So after consulting with my very patient designer, we came up with the following:

Bridal Bouquet - green and light blue hydrangea, white peonies, white roses, white and green hypericum berries with crystals sprinkled throughout. This will be a large, tight, round bouquet tied with an ivory ribbon.

Here are some pictures of the flowers. Unfortunately, they are pictures individually rather than in a bouquet.

Other than the bridal bouquet, I ordered my maid of honor, flower girl petals, mothers' cousages, and men's boutinierres. My MOH (sister) will be carrying a white and light blue hydrangea bouquet with crystals. The mothers' coursages will be white roses and blue delphniums. The men will also be wearing delphiniums.

What the heck is a delphinium anyway??

A fun way to spend your day off!

2007-12-03T17:03:00.000-08:00

I spent my day off getting more wedding tasks out of the way. One of the things I wanted to cross off my list was a discussion about ceremony music with my musician. Luckily, he is a friend from high school who went to music school and now runs his own music school and performance company. So it was pretty informal and fun to catch up on old times. After our discussion, we finalized the following:

Prelude: Mix of contemporary and classical. I don't care especially since I won't be able to hear it!
Mother of the Groom: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (real original huh)
Processional (Flower girl and MOH): Canon in D (again , another original! lol)
Bridal March: What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
Recessional: Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles

My friend in incredibly talented and I'm very pleased that he was available to play at my wedding! I hired him as well as a guitarist from his company to play as a duet.

Another fun thing that I got to do today was a consultation for my wedding day makeup! Wahoo! I told my makeup artist that I wanted a fresh and dewy look and she did exactly that. We did the consultation at her amazing place on the river with her adorable dachsund and kitty cat. She is a lot of fun and very talented. What a fun way to spend the afternoon! She is also a licensed esthetician and clean up my eyebrows for me! I definitely needed it.

For this week, I need to order my invites and call our officiant to set up a dinner date!

A gift from Williams-Sonoma + shoes

2007-10-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

No, I didn't get a gift purchased at Williams-Sonoma. But I did get a gift FROM Williams-Sonoma. They sent me a subscription to Modern Bride magazine as a "thank you/ for setting up a registry on their website! I got the card a few weeks ago and disregarded it, thinking it was a scam. But lo-and behold, I got he two most recent issues of MB magazine in m mailbox! I'm wondering if an invoice will be making its way to me... I don't think it will though!

In other wedding news, I stopped by to check on the status of my wedding dress. They don't know when it will be delivered yet, but said they would call me this week to let me know. Yikes. I'm sure it will be fine (I HOPE!!). I did get to check on some shoes though. I knew I wasn't looking for an open backed shoe. I wanted some support for my heel. I found the following shoe and was surprised that they were cuter on my foot and way more comfortable than I thought they would be!

While looking for a picture of the shoe to post, I also found these:

The second pair has a lower heel (less chance for tripping) but I don't know if I like the ankle strap.

Opinions? Please help!

In other wedding news, we have an officiant! Yay! another tasked checked off! Also I asked my parents to have them both walk my down the aisle. This is typically a Jewish wedding tradition. I love it and think it is a nice way to honor both my parents!

More progress!

2007-09-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

I finally ordered my dress from the local bridal shop near where I grew up. It was rainy today so the shop was practically empty when I got there. Personally I prefer it this way as a gaggle of brides to be isnot exactly where I want to be when I have a tape measure wrapped around my "i wish it were smaller" waist. I'm excited I got this done. I mean, it is really for real!! :)

A productive little wedding gal!

2007-08-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been MIA, but I'm happy to report I've made progress on the wedding planning!

(1) Photographer: I ended up getting the photographer that I wanted in the first place! She is very sweet and talented! Her prices are insanely reasonable. I'm paying $900 for 6+ hours of coverage! This also includes an alum, 5 CDs of pics, more prints, plus the rights to the pics! YAY!

(2) Ceremony Music: I actually played a few weddings in high school! I played the flute along with this violin virtuoso that I went to high school with. 10+ years later--he owns his own music school and he also plays weddings! So I emailed him and he is available as well as his guitar player. I'm debating if I want very traditional or more contemporary music. I guess I've got some time for that!

(3) Officiant: My Fiance works with a guy who actually married my photographer to her man back in May! He is available and said he would be happy to do it. I need to call him to talk details, but I am sooo excited! I was worried we wouldn't find someone since we weren't getting married in church, nor do we belong to a particular church (I'm a recovering Catholic).

Things I need to do...

(1) Order my dress: yes yes, I know. I already picked the dress out! However I was waiting till I got some cash to put the downpayment on it. Finally got that, then I went on a big work trip yadda yadda. My goal is to order after labor day. Kepp me acountable my few but loyal readers!

(2) Pick invitations: I don't know what my problem is, but I have invitation ADD. I am constantly changing my mind. Also, I have expensive taste but a limited budget. Nothing new there! I love the look of letterpress, but it is very pricey. I do like the invites on Wedding Paper Divas (www.weddingpaperdivas.com) and more than likely till pick from them. I've heard nothing but great things about their service and product. I ordered a sample long ago and it was nice. As I keep searching, I realized how nice they really are!

Nothing else to really report! I've been reading more wedding blogs that actually writing them. I'm addicted to Wedding Bee (www.weddingbee.com)!

Love to you all and I hope you have a safe Labor Day weekend!

A Candy Bar

2007-07-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

My first idea for favors was to get these cute glass photo coasters. To make sure they were quality products, I ordered one a couple of weeks ago. At first, I was totally sold on them. But a co-worker brought up a good point. Did I try to change out the picture to see if it was easy to do so? So I tried it and it was horrible! My hands got all sticky and I never did get the picture out of the coaster. Bye bye coasters.

However I did see an idea that I like even more. A Candy Bar. No -- not like a Hershey Bar. More like a table with lots of different candy options, complete with plastic bags with our wedding labels on them. We would invite our guests to create their own bag of goodies tailored to their individual taste. Here is an example of what I have in mind...

I don't know if I would only do candy in the wedding colors. I honestly like the idea of different color candies. I'm not a "matchy-matchy", I must dye my shoes to match the dress kinda gal.

Thoughts? Suggestions on type of candy?

Even Steven

2007-07-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the Seinfeld episode that talks about Even Steven? Well I feel that it is totally applicable when it comes to wedding planning. My fiance and I have been meeting with different dj's. We found our guy though! He has a great personality, is professional, has great references, and most importantly--appreciates our diverse taste in music.

However... I got an email from my photographer that said she realized that she was already booked for our date! So it is back to the drawing board. I have found a few other photographers though and hope to have this booked within the next week. I'm a fan of mixing the photojournalistic style with some classic traditional photos. In particular, I'm interested in the following photographer...

www.krisgrahamphotography.com

If I had a ton of money, I would totally book with this gal...

www.agneslopezphotgraphy.com

Her packages start at $3,000. YIKES. I can't spend much more than $1,500. I really am more interested in the actual photography service. I don't want them to make me an album, as I actually want to get an actual book made from the KODAK gallery website.
In an ideal world, I would get 5-6 hours of coverage, ownership of the photos, and a couple of prints suitable for framing. My co worker (who used the first photograher) said she negotiated her package to get something similar to what I want for $800! Wahoo! I would love to get that.

Flower and cake planning!

2007-07-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

My lovely little sis will be making my wedding cake as her gift to us. She will also be making the grooms cake. She is a pastry student at Johnson & Wales and extremely talented. So I've been scouring websites to find pictures to show her what I like. Here are some I've found so far...

Here are some flowers that I like as well. Notice a trend?? lol

What do you think??

Found it!

2007-07-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

One of my biggest (okay, actually THE biggest) topic of anxiety for me has been finding a wedding dress. I'm not 100% comfortable at the size I am at now. I'm a size 14-16 petite. I didn't think that the bridal shops would have carry anything in my size. I thought they would all be size 6's. Plus all my friends were telling me how you have to go up a jazillion (okay, maybe not quite) sizes up from your typical size since they size wedding gowns smaller. But after a pep talk from some friends, I decided to go with mom to take a first peek at wedding dresses. I had the following criteria in mind:

(1) No strapless dresses
(2) No color aside from white or ivory
(3) Lace on the bodice

We hit up the cute bridal shop near my childhood home. I immediately inform the little old lay of my dress size fears. She instantly puts me at ease. Looks at me and guesses my regular everyday size perfectly and immediately leads me to the Alfred Angelo dresses. No more than 15 minutes later, I've got the below dress on.

How the heck did this happen? But I saw the dress, lost my breath for a second, and the next thing you know..I'm on that bridal pedestal in front of a 3-way mirror. I tried some other dresses on but this is THE ONE. I'm going to show it to my sister and future mother in law in a week or so when I order it.

Now that I've found the dress I really wanted (again, a surprise!), I'm even more excited about planning the wedding! I found a photographer, favors and am close to pickin invitations! So I hope to be posting more when I finalize these details!

A must read for the newly engaged woman!

2007-07-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

When I got engaged, I almost immediately went to my local Barnes & Noble to stock up on every bridal magazine I could get my hands on. I also looked for books on wedding planning. However the best book I bought was one that sadly, many brides to be do not acknowledge. I'm speaking of Allison Mohr-Smith's Emotionally Engaged: A Bride's Guide to Surviving the "Happiest" Time of Her Life. This book explores all the emotional feelings that happen during your engagement. From anxiety to sadness to happiness, this book honestly made me feel that I wasn't alone. I really enjoyed the sections on your changing role of daugher/sister to wife. I also learned a lot about why I felt that my single friends abandoned me.

The books on dresses and flowers are great, but I really feel this book is what is helping me enjoy this process!

Finally!

2007-06-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

We finally picked a place and date!!

We selected a local golf and country club that has a beautiful plantation style clubhouse! We will be getting married overlooking the golf course with a dinner immediately following.

As for the date....

April 19, 2008!!

YAY!

Bridal Bonanza?

2007-05-20T16:44:00.001-07:00

Or so I thought...

I attended my first Bridal Show today with my mom and sister in tow. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I can definitely say that I won't be attending another one. Here are some of my observations...

(1) Lots of couples. I didn't expect this. My fiance is involved somewhat in the planning, but I would never think to bring him to a Bridal Show. I picked up vendor information to share with him, but I would hate for him to have to deal with the insanity that it there. Anyway, to each his own..I just wasn't expecting this.

(2) Lots of Bride to be accessories out there. I saw girls wearing "The future mrs. (fill in your intended's last name)". I saw another girl carrying a totebag that said "Bride to Be". I had no idea there was a dress code for these events!

(3) Lots of women who'll openly embarass themself for a free (insert cake, vacation, photos, $25 gift card). There was a dance contest on stage and the winner won a free trip. It is one thing to shake your moneymaker a little. It is another thing entirely to recreate your routine from the Gold Club (a local stripclub). Yikes.

The tickets were $15 originally. Then they lowered them to $10. Then we had a $2 off coupon per person. However even at $8 a person, it was completely not worth it. There were only 2-3 photography vendors, cake vendor, and DJ vendor. Lots of real estate people plus the Sandals people. Otherwise it was pretty sparse. I did like that we got to taste some of the food. But I think I'll stick to doing my research on the internet and getting recommendations from friends. The bridal show isn't my cup of tea, but I hope some other brides found it helpful.

Welcome to my Wedding blog!

2007-05-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

Hello! My wonderful fiance and I got engaged last month. I decided that having a blog would help me keep track of planning this very exciting and somewht stressful event! Plus, it would be nice to have an electronic record of all the hilarity that is sure to ensue. So thank you for stopping by!

I have a couple of topics I'd like to cover, but I'd like to start with what was going on in the first few days of our engagement. No more than 3 hours after getting engaged, friends, family and co-workers were all asking "When are you getting married?". I reacted the same to all of them by politely saying that my fiance and I were just enjoying the engagement and had not decided. But why would anyone think that we would already know? I mean, I was just getting used to seeing this lovely piece of sparkle on my hand! How the heck would we already know?

So for those of you who are already engaged or married...did this happen to you? Did everyone bombard you with the "When" question so soon?