Would you rather...

There have been some changes with our post wedding plans.

In the beginning, we were planning on doing a rehearsal dinner (well, more of a cocktail hour with appetizers, including everyone invited to our wedding since it's quasi-destination), our wedding day events and then a brunch the following morning, afterwards we would dash to the airport for our European honeymoon.



However, we've since changed our honeymoon plans to ix-nay the European honeymoon (there is just so much that we both want to do and to do it the right way would require more time and $$$ than we will have immediately following our wedding) and we will instead spend 10 days in Maui, Hawaii for our honeymoon. The problem: flying to Maui on Sunday afternoon is next to impossible or too expensive for it to be worth it. At which point the question becomes, to spend another day in Carmel (with our families and friends) or to spend an extra day in Maui (sleeping on the plane and then relaxing - probably - in our room).

I want to spend an extra day on our honeymoon, but I feel like the right thing to do is have a brunch the day following our wedding and then leave for Maui on Monday morning. Afterall all of our guests will be coming from out of town (literally all of our guests, no one lives in Carmel) and pretty much everyone is spending the night there, it seems like it would be so nice for our guests to be able to get together the day after for some mimosas and pastries the next morning.



The other upshot is that I could wear something incredible like this:


However, I could wear something like this on our first day in Maui too:



and hopefully he won't wear this:



What do you think about the morning after brunch? Would you rather have a post wedding brunch or an extra honeymoon day?

Holiday Giveaway! KitchenAid Stand Mixer!

I don't normally do this, but this giveaway is too good to pass up.

Mrs. Deal Finder is hosting a KitchenAid Stand Mixer giveaway on her site. It's a KitchenAid Classic 4.5 quart Stand Mixer valued at around $200.


Please go check it out and enter (or don't, makes the chances better for moi!) to win the awesome prize!

Good luck ladies!

C Lo: Revisited

I'm having a crazy love affair with Christian Louboutin heels.

In the beginning of our wedding process I had heard of Louboutin, but I didn't feel the desire to drop upwards of $800 on a pair of shoes (I could buy a couple of suits for that, and a pair of cute heels!) Then at some point I started seeing detailed photography shots of Louboutins and they're sexy red soles. I was hooked, I HAD to have them.

Then, I quit my job and the idea of wearing Loubies on my wedding day was one of the first things I said goodbye to.

Now, I have a new position and one of the first things that popped in my head was that I would have Loubies for my wedding! YAAAAAAY!

So this morning, I've been drooling over bridal Louboutin yumminess and falling in love all over again. Feast your eyes ladies:

Yummy shoe detail shots get me every time!

Soo cute!

The ring shot on the Louboutin heel is something that I've been in love with since day 1

Lace dress with Loubies!! Eeeek, they're so me!!

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I think it's actually really cute that the groom is holding her shoes, unique and cute shot!

I would LOVE to have a shot like this from our wedding day.

I never knew bridal shoes could be so hot!

Have you developed any minor obsessions during the course of planning your wedding?

It's official, like a referee whistle

The future hubs and I have decided on a color scheme, and it's our final decision. There will be no more changes as far as our color scheme is concerned. Period.

Are you ready for it world? Here it is:


Mint, ivory and coral.

Why did we change it again? For a bevy of reasons, let me begin:

Future husby wants to wear a black suit (he's having a suit custom made, and he's pretty excited about it) and the coral and sand theme just didn't feel like it would work with my groom and his buddies wearing black suits.

Secondly, a very long time ago I mentioned that the chairs in our space are hideous. Unless, you're having a green themed wedding in which case, their genius.




Scratch that, I still think they're ugly but if you can imagine a beautiful table scape with mint and coral all over it I think it will really detract from the ugly chairs. (Honestly, I'm having a very hard time justifying the cost of RENTING chairs. I'd be paying at least $600 and I'm basically getting nothing in return. My guests will sit in chairs that are visually pleasing, it just doesn't seem worth it. I'd rather spend $600 shopping while we're on our honeymoon.)

Third, the style of our venues has a lot of coral (or terra-cotta, if you will) coloring. It makes sense to work with the spaces rather than work against them.

Outside of our reception venue (actually, it's the inner courtyard)

Outside of our ceremony venue

Inside our ceremony venue

The altar of our ceremony venue

Cocktail area of our reception venue - all I see is mint, coral and ivory. Perfect!!

Lastly, he wants green (I wanted green in the very beginning too). I want champagne, but ivory is a better choice here (I could probably get away with calling it champagne, hehe). Coral is the fun that ties it all together and makes it feel fresh.

Here is the inspiration board that has been slowly pulling me towards it for a few weeks now:

I think black suits and mint ties and bouts will look fine for the mens.

This color combo just feels fresh and summery. I think it will be perfect for a late May, memorial day weekend wedding by the sea. Plus, I love all of the fun pops of coral color and the subduedness (I know it's not a word, but humor me here folks) of all three separately but together I think they're chic and seasonally appropriate.

Was there a major part of your wedding that took you several months (and several changes) to come to a final decision?

RCIA - I'm in

So far I've been pretty unhappy with our RCIA process.

I went into this process thinking that these were classes, as in any other kind of class that I've ever been to that requires learning. I even thought that since I took a world religion course in college (it was my humanities requirement for the general education portion) that I had a pretty good idea about what I could expect. Alas, this is not the case; let me bring you up to speed:

Anyone who wants to go through the process of becoming Catholic needs a Catholic person to sponsor them, I chose Mike to be my sponsor (this has really been a pledge of his love to me seeing as we're in football season right now and we're required to go to the 10:30 mass every Sunday.) So each Sunday since late October, we've been going to mass at 10:30 and sometimes we are required to attend a RCIA "class" regarding the religion. We've both really been enjoying the mass, but the classes on the other hand...not so much.

The woman who is running and organizing these classes is super unorganized and can't give a straight answer to save her life. Her is an example from this past weekend:

Me: "When and why do people sometimes touch their head, chest and shoulders before or after prayers?"

Mean church lady: "They're just customs that people have been doing for a long time."

Me: "Mmmmmmm kay." [That doesn't really help me, but okay. Moving on.]

Me: "What are the prayers that are routinely said during mass and where can I find them so I can understand what we're supposed to say. And what is the profession of faith and where can I find that at, is it in the Bible?"

Mean church lady: "The prayers aren't always the same so I don't know which ones you're talking about. Cradle Catholics know what's being said because they were raised in the church. The profession of faith isn't in the bible, you can probably find it somewhere else."

Me: "I was just wondering where I could find them so I could participate during mass. Do you know where I could find it at?"

Someone else's sponsor: "You can find the general outline for the prayers and the order of the Sunday mass online. I'll print it out and bring it in for you next time we meet. Would anyone else like a copy?"

Everyone else: raises hand

To be completely fair, this last class was done by a man who is actually a teacher at a local Catholic school for girls and has a Ph. D in religious studies. His lecture was structured and a breath of fresh air compared to everything we've done prior. Mike and I both left the class feeling as though we'd learned more. Again, to be fair, no one else will ask questions (except for another guy in the class who is trying to become Catholic, but he's a teacher at another local Catholic school for boys) so I asked a lot of questions on Sunday and instead of the nice guy answering the mean church lady was cutting him off and giving me these crappy answers that came off as "stop asking stupid questions, if I wanted you to know I would have told you." And a lot of her responses start with "Cradle Catholics this or that," where I'd just prefer her to keep her mouth shut if she doesn't know the answer instead of making something up or telling me that "that's just the way we do it, it's always been done that way." To which I ask, "why?"

Is anyone else becoming Catholic before their wedding? How have you liked the process so far? (Aside from the mean church lady it's been super interesting and lead to some GREAT conversations between Mike and I!)

Another grain of sand

...has passed through my wedding planning hour glass. And just like that our 6 month mark has come and passed.

I was looking for a picture of a calendar to illustrate, but came across this instead. Who could pass up the opportunity?

Most notably on my wedding to do timeline, the 6 month marker is when invitations should be ordered. Since I won mine (woohoo!!) I am limited on my selection (boo!!). I won a Weddingbee giveaway a few months ago and I will receive 100 invites and response cards for free (holla!) from the Cat Seto line with Wedding Paper Divas. I'm not sure which design to go with, I've narrowed it down to two and I know that they'll be pink, white with brown font. Here's what I have so far:

Rose Bloom

or Artsy Bloom

Why did I choose these two, because they are basically my only pink options (well technically not true because I can technically order any of them in any color I like. But I'm the kind of girl that has to at least SEE something before I buy it (or in this case order it and not pay for it, because I won it (woot!))).

I don't know what it is, but the further along I get into planning this wedding the more muddled my vision of our day is becoming. Deciding on colors that I like is becoming increasingly difficult, but I can for sure tell you what I don't want and don't like; which for someone who is passed the 6 month marker and still hasn't booked a florist, I better figure out what my vision looks like really quick and start making some decisions!

On a side note, this Thanksgiving was the best Thanksgiving I've ever had in my entire life. Generally the holidays are a major cause of stressing and fighting for me (mostly with my mom, sigh). But last year we had just our parents over for dinner the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (we cook food that is so un-Thanksgiving so we don't piss anyone who is cooking the next day off) and it was a blast. We did it again this year and it was so much fun! Then we did his family's the day of Thanksgiving and another Thanksgiving with my mom on Friday. Needless to say, we had turkey and gravy coming out of our eyes, but the food was excellent all three days and the company was even better. The best part, no fighting. Sadly, I can not remember the last holiday where my mom and I didn't have a blow out fight but it was so wonderful to not fight this Thanksgiving! Crossing my fingers (and hoping I haven't already jinxed myself) for Christmas to be equally awesome!

How was everyone else's holiday and which invite would you choose? Rose bloom or Artsy bloom?

I might have changed my mind. Again.

This past weekend I went flipping through all of my wedding magazines from Spring/Summer in search of another ad showing my dream gown. I didn't find another single picture of my dream gown, but I did find inspirational pics that I had looked over the first time around. One such picture was of a color scheme out of InStyle Weddings - Summer 2009, from their color report they did a page on Sand & Coral. I love it:


I love these three colors together. Here are some inspiration pics using this color scheme:

Found Here

Found Here

Found Here

Found Here

I think these colors would go perfectly with our locations that we've booked and I still feel like the color palette evokes that timeless elegance that I want from our wedding.

How many times have you changed your mind about your color palette?

And it goes on and on and on...

Jack Johnson says it best:



Only I'm referring to my list of DIY for the wedding. This weekend Mike and I sat down with a couple of drinks and went over what we have left to do for our wedding. I made a list of things that either of us could do and then a list of DIY items, only I feel like my list of DIY list keeps growing which means I really need to get to work!

Here's what I have on my list of DIY to do:

Invites (yes, I won them but I have plans to make them a little more spiffy!)
Programs (I can't begin working on this until we have our readings, etc. ironed out)
Guest book & ensemble (Mike has some really good ideas for this!! I was pleasantly surprised!)
Escort cards
Place cards
Menu cards (our tasting is scheduled for January!)
Napkin rings
Favors
Thank you cards
Bouts for the mens
Cocktail table centerpieces
Reception table centerpieces
Table numbers
Pomanders for church pews
Out of towner bags (this is for pretty much all of our guests)
Paper wall idea for behind the bar (seen here as idea for photo booth back drop)
Cocktail napkins (I will make my gocco useful)

I know this isn't the craziest list of to-dos but after the time it took to do our save the dates (that I thought would be a cinch!) I think I should be more liberal in assigning time allotments for each of these projects. It doesn't help that almost daily I see new DIY projects that I would love to incorporate into our wedding somehow also!

Are you taking on more DIY projects that initially anticipated?

It happened one night...

...my first wedding related nightmare.

Found Here

Very early this morning I am laying in my comfortable, warm and cozy bed when I wake up with great relief realizing that it was all just a bad dream....(enter dream sequence swirls a la Wayne's World).

Found Here

I am at some kind of venue that is a mix between Vegas and a theme park, it's my wedding day and I have been waiting for hours for someone to come and help me prepare. I'm waiting in a room that is similar to a small private room where you would have a birthday party as a kid at Chuck E Cheese, my MOH is there with me and we're waiting up until 20 minutes to the start of the ceremony and we finally leave our room to ask what's going on.

As we're walking up to the front desk, there are suddenly what feels like miles and miles of steps leading up to the front desk to ask for help. When I finally get to the top of the steps my MOH has disappeared and I'm asking for help all by myself. When I explain my situation (I don't know where my family is, I can't find my mom, my DOC hasn't called me, I don't even have my dress or know where it is) the girl I'm talking to at the front desk doesn't offer me help, she shows me pity. She tells me that she can't help me and as I turn away I hear her tell the people around her what has happened, especially how sad it is that I don't even have my dress on.

In my dream I feel my chest begin to heave as boulder sized tears form behind my eyes and then I wake up.

Groan, I've actually had a nightmare about my wedding. I was hoping that I could get through this whole process without having any wedding nightmares, and we still have 6 months to go...

Have you had any wedding related nightmares yet?

DIY Inspiration

I freely admit to cyber-stalking my photographer, she's just soooo good at what she does! While cyber-stalking her blog today I came across some DIY that she recently shot at a wedding that is to die for!

Fabric flowers on the invites

Fabric flower on the tree at the guest book table

Fabric flower on the BM's right hand

Fabric flowers on the escort cards

Above pics Found Here

I love these little handmade details! Because they pop up all over the place there is no doubt in my mind that the bride (and probably some friends too) made these little details themselves. It's a part of what makes a wedding so personal and memorable. I'm feeling inspired to do something similar, off to Michael's in a little bit to purchase some goods to do my tulle pomander trial this weekend and maybe picking up some goods for some other DIY projects now too!

Where did you find inspiration for DIY or general wedding ideas?

Firsts and Lasts

With Thanksgiving being only 1 week away, I'm already thinking about what I'm thankful for.

Found Here

At the same time, I'm enjoying the fact that this will be the first (and last!!) Thanksgiving that we'll be spending with our families as an engaged couple! (Last year, Mike's nephew asked his mom what I was to him since Mike is his uncle, she kindly replied that I am a friend to everyone in their family, sweet huh?!) As happy as I am that we're finally engaged, I'm even happier that at this time next year, we'll be getting ready to spend our first Thanksgiving with our families as husband and wife. :) And I will be a new auntie to 2 teenage boys, 3 teenage girls and 2 adorable little boys, not to mention that I will have gained 3 sisters in law and 2 brothers in law.

Found Here

With so many things that we've been doing I get a little rush in knowing that we're no longer doing them as boyfriend/girlfriend and I'm even happier knowing that in about 6 months time, everything will be done as hubby and wifey. :)

Is being engaged making you feel little bursts of excitement and happiness all the time too? What's your favorite part of the holiday season?

The Dress Hunt: Part II

Yesterday I met with the most wonderful wedding vendor to date: Carole, the woman who will be making my wedding dress.

Source

I contacted Carole last Friday and we scheduled an appointment for yesterday afternoon. After we got off the phone she followed up by sending me some pictures of a dress that she had recently completed that was similar to the one that I wanted:

Similar lace but my lace won't be stark white, it will be hand tea dyed by the designer.

When I first walked into her studio yesterday she mentioned Project Runway and instantly I knew she was the one. :) She was so excited about the style of my dream dress. She showed me different options for fabrics and different laces. I told her what areas I love on my body (my back) and which areas I would like to pull the eye away from (my thighs and ka-dunk-a-dunk). We took some interim measurements of my body and worked out a schedule for official measurements, fittings and pickup of my dress.

I can honestly say that of all of my wedding related meetings thus far, meeting with my dress maker has been the best experience! The best part is that I truly feel as though I will receive a product that is exactly as I want it and it's for a very fair price. This purchase will have the highest value (considering money paid for service/product received), second runners up will probably be our venues...

What has been your best wedding planning vendor experience so far?

Whitedressitus

A disease in where every white dress, of the non-bridal variety, seems to serve a purpose in your near future, causing unintended spending on new clothes.

I don't know about you but every white dress I see (that isn't a wedding dress, there is only one white wedding dress I want - in case I haven't established that yet) will serve a purpose in our wedding and/or honeymoon. Case in point:

How perfect would this hot little number be for our rehearsal dinner (it's lace - eek! - and it's in champagne, I adore the shoulder detail. This dress was made for me to wear.):

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This would be so much fun while we're on our honeymoon, say dinner in France, oui?

Source

I may or may not have already purchased this dress for a bridal shower that hasn't even been planned yet:

Source

This one I love for the bachelorette (it comes in ivory, that's what I would buy it in):

Source

I'm suffering here. Everyone of these hot little numbers is intended for dinners, dates and parties that only exist in my head at the moment (however, I know that we'll be out to dinner every night on our honeymoon and I know that there will be a shower and bachelorette).

Are you too suffering from whitedressitus? You should speak to someone, it helps (unless your MOH is a shop-a-holic, I think my MOH might encourage this behavior in me...)

Including our loved ones

ie: I would love to include our furbaby in our wedding day celebration. Look at how cute these pictures are:










I especially like this last one with the sweet little black dog with the pink flower around her neck. Can you imagine this cuteness with a sweet little pink flower tied around her neck?

Okay the first picture is from when she was 7 weeks old, but still. Pretty cute huh?!?! Ultimately, there is no way that the mission would even allow our dog on site, let alone in the church. Same probably goes for the La Playa. I wonder if they would even allow us to stay with her in our room...on second thought, I don't want our furbaby sleeping in our room on wedding night. If we were getting married close to home it would be fun to involve our love puppy in our wedding day.

Are you going to involve your furry children in your wedding day? Have you been to a wedding where pets were present?