Love you guys
3 years ago
Well I'm married, and I love it! So with my new life, comes a new blog. Because I just can't be Alice in Regularland anymore. So without any further ado, here is my new blog!
hello, there
hello, there
So my wedding blog has basically whittled down to nothing due to the extremely hectic schedule that I have been living the past few months. But I thought I'm long long long overdue for an update and I may as well write something so that the wedding blog isn't all for nothing. So here is what is going on right now:
The month of April has quite possible been the MOST stressful month of my entire life. The tipping point was having when I developed a nice dime sized cold sore at the beginning of the month. So for two weeks I had to walk around with what felt like a giant billboard that announced to the world exactly how much stress I was under plastered on my face. In fact the residual pinkness is still very visible on the corner of my mouth.
April has been the worst month of all for because there is just too much going on. With nursing school, and work I really only have off two weekends and even then I have things scheduled on both of the Saturdays, leaving me with two available days to myself in the whole month.
This is pretty much EXACTLY how I feel!
This is the last month of nursing school and for whatever reason my genius instructors whom I am sure are in cahoots with the devil, decided to schedule four out of the eight exams we have during the semester, all in the last month. Fantastic. That gives me an exam every single week, the last one being the Monday before I get married. And nursing school exams are no joke. I have been blessed with very good testing abilities and these kick my butt every time. There is nothing like walking out of an exam and feeling sure that you have failed every single time.
John and I also need to move by May 1st. His lease came up and we knew we weren't going to renew because his little place was just too small for the two of us. So we needed to find a bigger place that was still within our (his) budget and within a reasonable distance from where both of us need to be. That means that my only two free days off in April were now spent running around trying to find a place to live. And the area that he wants to live in is a unique historic area which means there aren't mass quantities of managed apartment complexes to choose from. We had to research every few days in classifieds and craigslist for postings from private renters. All this equals a lot of work and time and energy.
And then there is the wedding. I have come the point where I have started to relate weddings to tumors. They can suck the life out of you, make you get caught up in all the wrong things and will grow out of control if you let them. Its hasn't been all that bad I'm really just venting more or less but it hasn't been the enjoyable experience I was hoping for. There was a laundry list of problems that happened all along the way. I'm not sure if this happens to every bride or if its just me but I feel like I've been living Murphy's Law for the last few months. If something can go wrong, it will. And I can attest to the fact that it did.
So now I"m down to the last few weeks. Just two and a half little weeks until I become a wife and a partner to my best friend and begin a new chapter in my life. The chapter that I have been waiting and wanting to start for longer than I'd like to admit. And yes, I still have a to do list a mile long, I have homework assignments and tests to study for and we still haven't received confirmation that we have been approved for the apartment that we found but somehow this strange feeling of peace has come over me. Thats not to say that I am still not so stressed out that I'm only sleeping about 2-3 hours a night and hardly eating. But I can finally SEE the light at the end of the tunnel. The mantra that I have been repeating to myself for months now, "the end justifies the means" is really starting to happen. And it feels so good.
So for all of you who have so much on your plate that it feels like an impossible feat to accomplish it all, keep going. No matter how tired you are, how much you want to give up, how much you feel like you just don't care anymore or that its not worth it, I can promise that it is. Because in the end its not the details that matter and its not how you got there, what matters is that you did. <3
With that being said, I promise to blog lots and lots about all the details and the wedding journey once all this madness is over and I can finally think straight again.
This will be us. : )
Here are my updates, which I am sad to say are not very good.
Why? Well lets get straight to the point.
I HAVE NO WEDDING DRESS.
I got my dress in. The one I ordered from China. And in a word its awful. Its literally about 6 inches too small. The only thing I can think of is that they to the measurements that I sent in inches and made it in centimeters. The shape was wrong. Its an A line dress that they made into a mermaid. There's more but I'm literally sick with worry and stress now and I cant talk about it anymore. So now I am stuck with pretty much one option. Buy a dress that is already made via a used or never worn dress from another bride, ebay (in the US and already made) or off the rack. None of it is ideal but it is the fastest and least risky option. So I have once again begun the long and laborious work of trying to find another dress.
I did buy my shoes. I love them seriously the picture really does them no justice. And I got them at an amazing price.
Got both the girls bridesmaid dresses. Which I can't seem to put a pic of but here's the link to Christy's.
And here is Britt's.
I like it. Its summery and pretty and will still compliment the style of Christies. Its not your average bridesmaid dress but Brittney is VERY hard to shop for and she settled on this dress after what seemed like hours of yellow dress rejections.
I also decided to try a new make up product that I am going to write off as a wedding expense lol. I got some eyelash growth conditioner. I have short sparse thin lashes so if this stuff works I'm going to be very very happy. Ever since I' saw the ad for Latisse I've been wanting to try it or something like it. So I did a bunch of research and settled on enormous lash. Hopefully it works. Heck even a little bit would be better than what I have.
Keep ya posted!
I was thinking about my fancy heels and how I didn't have a clue how I was going to stay above ground walking around in the grass with stilettos on so I did some research and found this blog by Kara and Groomzilla. Its pretty much my thoughts exactly. She posted this great pic which is the very thing Im worried about happening.
Sad, tragic any of these words will suffice.
So I found a few options.
These are called Starlettos:
Personally I think they are a little too chunky. And they have glitter in them which I'm none to thrilled about. But they certainly look like they would do the trick. If all else failed.
There are these:
These are by heelstoppers. Which are more discreet and come in a few colors. They have a lot of bejeweled versions that I personally think are ridiculous looking but again. They are better than nothing.
Now these seem the best:
Mostly because they are the smallest and most discreet. They are pretty much one use only though whereas the others seemed to be reusable. I don't expect needing them after the wedding day but you never know.
These last ones are called heels above:
I thought this photo was a great example of exactly what will happen without the assistance of something like this. I also thought that it was ironic that my blog title was the same as their slogan without having seen it first. "A smart solution to a silly problem"
The only thing discouraging that I noticed though was that all of the products are available through the UK. Are British women the only ones wearing stilettos outside? Do American women somehow not have a problem with their shoes sinking into the ground?
Hm.
I knew I wanted my something blue to be my shoes. Call me a Carrie follower I don't really care. I love the idea of wearing a colored shoe to peek through under your dress.
That being said I already knew, without having searched before, what I pretty much wanted the shoes to look like. The blue needed to be between sapphire to navy shade range, I think anything brighter would clash with my ivory dress. And I wanted them to be preferably satin and preferably have some sort of embellishment. If the shoe came without an embellishment I could easily put a shoe clip on them which would be vintage looking anyway.
And so I googled "blue satin shoe". These are the ones I loved. 
Its the brooch that makes these so stunning really. And the simplicity of the rest of the shoe makes them a classic beauty, but honestly I feel like they are a little bright blue.
Then I saw these.
Love them. Perfect. Literally. They have all the elements I want. High heel, right color blue, satin, gorgeous embellishment.
There is only one problem. They are $400. Not exactly in my wedding budget.
So I looked again.
And found these.
And I thought oh my gosh they are gorgeous too. They are a beautiful mix of the first two and still have all the elements I want. Except, they're $400 too.
Crap.
Well I got a lot done this week.
Thanks to the help of my FI's sister I found a caterer and made a few planning changes that will make things run a lot more smoothly. I'm going with Fat Freddy's. And I'm hiring servers. I wasn't going to becuase I had originally thought, its a buffet what do I need people to do? Well it turns out I need them to do quite a bit. So I'm happy to have that out of the way. The only sad part is since I don't live there I miss out on doing a tasting. And thats the best part! Oh well.
I picked my invites. I know. I know. I already said that I picked my invites but after discussing it with my family the fabric idea was just more time consuming than I could commit to. But thats ok I'm happy with what I ended up with. I picked a preboxed invite kit by BRIDES.
Cute right? Well when I'm done with them they will be better. I made my own succulent graphic because originally I (as you well know by now) had plans to do my own. John is going to tinker with it to make it high quality and I'll put a large version of it in the corner with the wording over top. The inspiration for my wording style is not as ordinary as on this invite either. I'm going to use gray ink instead of black and the typeface will look more like this
Very retro. I likey!
So theres that.
I found my dress which I am very very much in love with but I can't post it because I recently found out John reads my blog on occasion. I told him that this was the dress I got.
Hahahaha!
But I will say that I took a major leap of faith. You see, I fell in love with a couture gown. And so then I was stuck with what I thought were only two choices, (well one really) blow my entire wedding budget on my dress (not really an option but it is an idea) or find something else. But then, a third and rather risky option presented itself to me.
Order a designer impostor. Online. From China.
I weighed the options many times and flip flopped about what to do. But in the end what really sold me, aside from the $4000 savings was that the turnaround time of the online dress was about three times as fast. Could be good, could be bad. Needless to say I took the plunge and order it. So I got out my tape measure, had my mom take about 20 different measurements and sent them an email that very clearly stated what I wanted. And now, I hold my breath and wait.
I found this idea online at project wedding and I think it couldn't be more perfect for the them and style of my wedding. Plus we aren't serving alcohol so it shakes up the regular options.
Really though. Its genius.
And lastly I think I have come up with a very very clever idea for my guestbook. While this has not been something that I've been too concerned about I have known that I didn't want a traditional book that I would inevitably put in a box and never look at again. So last night I had really terrible insomnia and then the idea just hit me. But, I'm not going to tell you just yet. First I need to do my homework and get all the details together.
BYE!!!
I realized there is no explanation for the small "pom pom count" at the bottom of my last few notes. I am a knitter, actually because of John but thats another story. I have been looking for a way to incorporate my love of fiber into my wedding without it looking campy or cheap. I will admit that I was looking for inspiration long before I was even engaged. Hey a girl knows what she wants sometimes right? Anyway I struck gold when I found this wedding...
Seriously can you stand it? I know!
Anyway, as I'm sure you can figure out this was the answer. And now that I am engaged and my colors are chosen the pom pom making has begun. And its tedious and slow but its going to be worth it I'm sure.
So as I said before I want to do my invitations like the ones I showed you below that I found on merriment designs. I think the are chic and pretty and have that unique vintage twist I was looking for. The fabric featured on these invites are litterally perfect for my theme. It is the right colors, yellow and grey and it has great retro look too it. Sadly what I thought was a stroke of luck turned out to be a disapointment because after doing a little research, aka stalking the designer, I found out that this is vintage fabric and the girl who had these made bought all of it. Smart girl. Bad news for me.
So I kept looking. It is really not that easy to find fabric in a yellow, grey and white color scheme with large flowers on it but.....
I think I found it.
I think.
I say this because the picture of the fabric on the website (which I cannot reveal because I don't want it getting all bought up!) is dark and its hard to tell if its cute but I think it would really work.
What do you think? Maybe yes? Grey, yellow and white?
And (go with me on this) doesn't it kind of look like the flowers could be succulents?
Could be perfect?
Well thats that.
Oh I booked my photgrapher! Yay go me!
pom pom count: 60 of 800
I would say the two things I really don't want to do are pick out invitations and pick a photographer. Honestly its only because these two have the most choices and required the most research. And for the invitations I want to do DIY but I have never done this nor do I know anyone who has so I find this task to be not only arduous but intimidating because I don't really know what I'm looking for. That was until last night.
I sat down to, once again, try to narrow down my invites when I came upon this website, merriment design, and it was like the heavens opened and sang! All I could think was this is it! This is them! And as if that was good enough Kathy (the designer of these beautiful invites) placed VERY detailed instructions on how to do them yourself and where she got her supplies from. The icing on the cake was that her sources were exactly my price point.
DUNNZO!
I am redesigning the merriment invite (with the help of my very talented web designer fiance!) and I am going to probably make some kind of fabric belly band that opens and has a large flower in the middle. So for your viewing pleasure I would like to present my inspiration for my invites.
Seriously can you stand it?
This epiphany has inspired me to face my next dread of getting a photographer narrowed down. So I'll be on the phone all day.
And on a depressing note, I was really excited to pick up my ring today and its a little bit to small for my chubbo fingers. So now, even though I spent forever trying to find a jeweler who could get it back to me in less than two weeks its gunna end up taking that long anyway cause now I have to take it back. : (
Good Grief
Pom Pom Count: 53 of 800 done.
Even though I have only been engaged for a 2 and half weeks because of the shorter than norm time frame I am bombarded with things from to do lists. Which can be very overwhelming when over half of them say "overdue!". But part of me feels happy that we are breaking out of the mold. Happy that we are going against what society says we should do when we get engaged, to plan for at least a year. It can be done. My wedding will be the most gorgeous wedding of my dreams and I will have done it all in a little more than four months. So to toot my own horn per-say I am proud to say that I have my ceremony venue, reception venue, baker, and officiant booked. I have my entire decor plan done for both the ceremony and the reception, lots of estimates from caterers, photographers and rental company's. My wedding party has been asked and they are looking for their dresses. I have a clear vision of what I want for my flowers, favors, invitations, my dress and Johns attire. I have the entire day outlined to a "T". All my DIY projects listed out and a few of them started. All in two and a half weeks.
So take that bridal magazines! And here is some eye candy for today!
How much do you love these? I know I do!
<3
I am temporarily turning this into my wedding inspiration blog!
Thats right. I'm getting married. John proposed and I said yes and now we cant wait to be husband and wife! So we've set the date, May 8 2010 in Phoenix AZ followed by a ring ceremony and open house in Wilmington DE. Yes its fast but when your in school full time and work full time there are few choices for a wedding date and I couldn't bear the thought of waiting over a year till my next break so 4 Months it is! And boy do I have a lot to do! But thats ok I have been VERY VERY blessed with a free wedding planner via John's sister-in-law Christian, an interior designer with impeccable taste.
The first site I went to was oncewed the site features tons of real weddings that all have a vintage theme. I love love love all of the weddings on this site so the theme was the first decision I made. Next I needed to choose a color scheme. I wanted it to evoke the joy and happiness that we are going to be experiencing that day so what better color than yellow! Flowers were an easy choice because I have known for a long time I wanted to feature succulents as my flowers because they are one of my favorite plants.
And so there you have it!
Here is some inspiration photos!
And so there you have it!
Here is some inspiration photos!
So there you have it!
