I Got My Dress!

I haven't been doing much in the planning process because I've been busy with school. I decided to make an appointment at David's Bridal today to make up for the lack of planning and to just have fun. Who knew I would actually find "the" dress. I would describe it but I don't want Bill to decide he wants to read the blog and find out what it looks like. I can basically say that it was not one I would have ever chosen for myself. I was looking for classic, simple dresses and Bill's mom found the dress we actually purchased. I tried it on and was like "this is a lot of dress!" At first I thought it was too much for me and I would just take it off. But the more I wore it and the more I looked at it with a veil and tiara and shoes I just fell in love with it. I'm just so happy and excitied that I can make a checkmark on my checklist on this big item. It's so nice to have something so big accomplished with a lot of time left 'til the wedding.

Bill and I also saw a florist this morning. I loved the people and know I can be comfortable if we decide to use them. Their prices were also lower than the first florist we visited and she wrote it all down and showed me flowers she was thinking of using which really helped me envision what was inside her head. I feel like the next big thing Bill and I need to tackle is a cake. I really don't want to spend more than $200 on a cake so I really want to shop around so I know I'm gonna get the best bang for my buck. That part will be fun...i love tasting cake : )

Starting Another Week of Planning

So this past weekend was chalk fun of planning excitement! On Friday afternoon we met up with my bridesmaid Kristin and she took some engagement shots for us. They came out beautifully! We got them on Saturday afternoon and have enjoyed looking through them everyday since. Then on Saturday we had three appointments booked with different venues. The first two were very pretty with a very hefty price tags. One place had a $7,000 minimum for the food portion. Where do people get off?!?

We also had some time to look at florist is the area to get an idea of what that was going to cost us. We made an appointment with one for the end of the month and the other place gave us ball park figures. I can't believe how much it costs for a centerpiece of daisies. So I have basically decided that the centerpieces will be DIY : )

The last two places we checked out were perfect. They were within our budget and very nice. One venue we can have both the ceremony and the reception at which I absolutely love. I have pretty much fallen in love with this place and will sacrific what's needed to make it work : ) We have another alternative that we are looking at but hopefully my the end of next month we will have made a decision and a deposit on our venue(s).

I also had a mini little freak out on Sunday. I told my mom about the site that I love and she looked at me as if I told her the wedding was going to be a million dollars. I'm not expecting her to foot the bill but with her reaction I started feeling as if I was selfish and got down on myself. Poor Bill had to deal with me but talked me down and after wallowing for a day I woke up this morning in a better mood with some great ideas.

Not too much on the planning schedule this week. I looked up some ideas for centerpieces today and saw some invitations that I love so as soon as we book our venue I'll get those rolling. Granted it is sixteen months away but I guess it can't hurt to have it done : ) I might go the the Dollar Tree tomorrow before work and pick up a few things to see how my ideas will work out. Other than that I think I'm gonna catch up on some magazine reading. I've got six that have been neglected because of the busy weekend.

Engagement Photos

So today my friend Kristin (one of my bridesmaids) took engagement pictures of Bill and I. We started off at a park in Chino Hills. It was super nice and had a huge pond so we did some shots with the trees, so with the ducks surrounding the pond. Then we headed out to the beach and took some pictures on the pier and down on the shoreline. It was foggy and cold outside but I still think the pictures will come out great. I should hopefully have a CD of the pictures within the week so I'll post some of my favorites on here. Tomorrow we are meeting with three reception venues and possibly a florist. It feels so weird to be doing all of this. Almost like the wedding wasn't real until I started actually going out and planning it. I can't wait for tomorrow. Hopefully we'll get some good news from the venues : )

A Trip to Joann's

So after I got off of work today I went to the Joann's Fabric store to get some samples of my wedding colors. I went to a website that wanted $10 for one color and I got five colors for $2.30 plus tax. I have the blue included in this sample because I did see some bridesmaid dresses in that color that looked really cute. I'm just not ready to rule it out yet.







After I got my fabrics I decided to look around the store and saw that they had invitation kits. Here are two that I really liked. This first one is nice because of the dried flowers and it has the orange for the wedding but the bow is yellow. Would have been perfect if the bow was pink.









I like the second invitations because they are simple but still cute. Both were the same price so if I were to pick one I would go with the one above. I like the idea of making your own invitations because I want to save as much money as possible and don't mind DIY projects as long as someone a little bit more creative is around to help me. I have some other websites that I need to check out that are pretty inexpensive and have online coupons you can use to get great deals on packages (save the dates, shower invities..etc)

One little jewel I did find were some invitations to the bachlorette party. The have this cute little three foot section of items for bachlorette parties and I found these on clearance. They were only $2.97 for twelve invities that you can download the template for and print them yourself. They are pink with black polka dots and at the top it says "Girls Night Out" and has two martini glasses in pink. Even if they don't get used for me I just couldn't pass up the deal. I definately want to go check out Michaels too and see what kind of things they have for weddings. I am still trying to find a cute pink wedding planner that I can put quotes, business cars, fabric samples, etc. I just might have to make my very own.

Some Centerpiece and Bouquet Ideas

So first things first. I'm excitied to announce that we have an officiant. The jazz band director from Cal Poly agreed to marry Bill and I. He's known me for like eight years and has known Bill for three or four years. It will really make our ceremony more personal having him marry us.

Today is the first day that I Googled images of centerpieces for orange and pink weddings. Here are some of the things I found. Let me know what you think.

This first image is of a very basic centerpiece that I like. I love Gerbera daises and want to use them a lot in our wedding

This is a cute idea for the bridesmaid bouquets. Just nice, simple and colorful

The idea that I like in this image in the ring of daisies surrounding a candle. I think it might look cute to have alternating orange and pink flowers surrounded by a ring of daisies simular to the bouquet above.

This image was just something fun I found. It would be cute to throw a garter in the wedding colors ; )

My First Bridal Show

I got engaged a month ago yesterday and went to my first bridal show today. Bill and I had started some planning and throwing ideas around but I really felt I had started the planning process by attending this show. I was able to get up to five people in for free so my mom, Bill's mom, Bill's sister and one of my bridesmaids Elaine came with me. For registering for the show I got 100 correspondence labels (which helped to save time filling out drawing cards), a free bridal magazine and a free wedding planner.
When stepping into the room with all the vendors I felt a little overwhelmed. I noticed that a lot of people were starting in one area of the room so I went to the opposite so as not to crowd that venue and ended up coming to the dress area. Since no one was over there we were able to start a room for me and look for some dresses. I think I tried on about ten dresses and really like five. There were two that stood out to me and they are both so different. One follows the 1940's theme I want to have and the other is what I call my "princess" gown. It's not too big or covered with crystals but the perfect blend of simple and elegant. The prices on the gowns were awesome! I didn't know I would be able to find such great dresses that fit my tiny budget. As much of an impulse person I am I had to keep telling myself that the wedding is seventeen months away and I may find an even better dress.
I also got to try some cake samples (loved the lemon cake) and got lots of vendor cards and coupons. I entered for a free honeymoon and free engagment photo package so we'll see if I get any other free things. I found a photographer that was really nice and had very reasonable prices so I can't wait to call her and make an appointment.
As we left I went back to look at a table that had all the cute bride, bridesmaid, etc. appareal and found a really cute shirt. It's a 3/4 sleeve baseball tee that has pink sleeves and a black center with "Bride" across the chest in pink. I really liked it but was hesitate to buy it. My mommy came to my rescue and got it for me. It is so cute. Another bridesmaid, Kristin, is gonna take some pictures of Bill and me for our website so I think I might wear it in some of the shots just to show it off.
The next bridal show is Feb. 21 and I can't wait to drag everyone else with me again : )