vendor madness

This week has been insane!!

I have been frantic, trying to coordinate our various vendors for our next trip down to our destination wedding site. On the one hand, it is nice to know I can knock all the vendors out in one weekend, BUT on the other hand, organizing all these parties into a small time frame has been challenging at best.

The Bakery that we would like to make our wedding cake, for instance, can't be bothered to meet past noon!! Seriously? Yes. She just didn't seem concerned that my fiance and I will only be down there for 3 days and our mornings were already very busy! Welcome to island time. Clearly, there's boating to get done later in the day. Oh and they only bake 5 FLAVORS-- Vanilla White, Key Lime, Yellow, Chocolate, and Orange Sunset. The also have 5 choices for icing/filling: Vanilla Buttercream, Key Lime Buttercream, Raspberry Buttercream, Strawberry Buttercream and Fudge. Here at home, I would have my pick of all the creative flavors in the universe, but them's the breaks when you have a remote destination wedding. More complications: I am marrying (the most wonderful man ever) Mr. Picky-Pants or Captain Plain-and-Simple. Neither of us like chocolate, so that's out. And he wants *just* vanilla with strawberry buttercream filling. Lovebug, that's soooo plain, how about adding in Key Lime? "I don't like lime flavor." How about adding in a little Orange Sunset? "Sounds weird." I am still working on his flexibility, but at least I finally made an appointment! The good news: My mom and I ate at the bakery last weekend and in spite of the small selection, the taste was out of this world. Yummms. AND, we'll have other dessert choices at our reception aside from wedding cake!

at least it won't be this cake :)


We also were able to secure a florist, a photographer, a DJ, my hair and makeup trial, and our menu tasting for the reception. What a busy weekend! Additionally, this means we will need deposits for all of these vendors (except for the reception site which we did last week) all in one weekend! Only one teensy, weensy detail left to find-- The Officiant. That's only that person that does the actually marrying. Deep breath...I'm working on it.

WEDDING VENUE!

It just hit me. I finally know when and where and what day our wedding will be! It is a huge relief to move on to all the bazillions of other decisions I have to make. At the same time, it is thrilling to actually be able to visualize what our wedding will look like! Unless it rains, of course, because I can't yet let myself imagine anything disrupting all of my perfectly calculated plans. Well, c'est la vie, if it does rain...

This is our wedding venue from the sky:


And this is where our cocktail hour will be:



mmmm, I can almost relax having this MAJOR detail decided...

except for the photographer, the DJ, the officiant, the baker, the florist, OH MY...

Shoe Jewelry

I posted about my wedding shoes, which I bought at JCrew.com for a steal, and I'm not 100% about. I want a kitten heel and they are pretty hard to find when you are as picky as me. I normally wear sky high heels, but for my wedding I want a shorter shoe. I just do, and that is settled. I already have the JCrew shoes, so I should just be done with it right? Right? Maybe.

Last night I found Absolutely Audrey and their super cute shoe clips! Shoe clips may bring to mind visions your dear great-great auntie at church with a bird in her hat, but these, I promise, are really fun! Take a lookie:





Aren't these little blue bows adorable?



I think I may try out the pink flower or the white bow to add a little interest to my silver JCrew sandals. The clips are pretty affordable too, so I won't feel bad ordering them to see if I like them.

Dress Shopping

Saturday Morning, I went Wedding Dress Shopping! I was a bit afraid I would look like this in all those big white gowns--



but no! Quite the contrary, I felt beautiful in every gown I tried on. Even the form fitting ones seemed to love my figure. I attribute this completely to putting on gowns of such exquisite construction. I was at a Vera Wang salon in my hometown. The dresses had form and structure of the most luxurious fabrics, it was a dream come true to my backside! These are a couple of the dresses that I seriously loved wearing:




Sorry about the tiny picture, but the Vera Wang website is a pain! source

This dress was seriously breathtaking. The movement of the skirt was heavenly. However, as much as I first loved it, when I tried it on again, I felt it overwhelmed my frame. As amazing as it looks on this model, when I stepped off the 2-foot stool I felt like a little girl in a BIG dress. I tried it with simple sashes and while the effect was better for me, I then thought the bodice of the dress looked like too many other dresses I've seen on brides. Not my perfect dress! Moving on!

Of all the dresses I tried on, this one was the winner of the day:





My apologies to this lovely model, but --gasp-- I think this baby actually looked better on me! I have curves and the dress complemented them perfectly. It was soft and the skirt was very full with the most airy tulle pleats. The pleats are vertical and just fall to the ground incredibly. I tried it with a few different sashes and loved it even more. Of course the sash I liked best is $450.00! Let's not talk about the price of the dress!! At least it was *right* at my budget price. The problem with the dress? It looks so boring in the photo!!! The image doesn't do it justice at all, but I want a dress that translates well in pictures. A wedding dress is worn once, yet wedding pictures are enjoyed for a lifetime.

At first I thought this dress was a strong Maybe, now I think it is a Maybe Not. I am hoping that I will find "the one" this coming weekend. Unfortunately, we have to drive almost 2 hours to get to the bridal salon that carries the brands I want to see. This store has not only Vera Wang, but also Monique Lhullier (oh Monique, why are you so dang expensive??), Christos (my favorites online!), Pronovias, Rivini, Reem Acra, Anne Barge, Amsale and OTHERS! Basically a ton of amazing designers for me to play dress up in!!

Hopefully this time I will be able to take pictures of me in the gowns, and more importantly, hopefully I will find MY DRESS.

the best week!

Long time no bloggie!!

This is for a few reasons, and I have avoided the blog completely for the past few weeks. The first, and most important reason, is that my better half does NOT like me having a blog. AT ALL. That said, we've reached a reasonable compromise--so I'M BACK!! The second reason, was that I had zero time between my two jobs and was pretty miserable. Well I QUIT job numero dos!!! Happy dance! Happy dance!


More importantly, as is no surprise to my close friends and family--- I am now officially OFFICIALLY ENGAGED. The prettiest bauble ever (to me) is now residing on my left hand. My fiance has made me the happiest gal in the world!



ain't it perty???

Soon to come: our wedding ceremony plans have changed, more DIYs, a planning trip in two weeks to pick out the venue, and tomorrow -- dress shopping!! Stay tuned!