My husband and I are both fairly picky eaters, well to be exact I am picky and he picks everything else off my plate. When it came time to decide on a cake I knew this time around exactly what I wanted.

Design wise, something simple and elgant, not a whole lot of fuss, but something that looks good on a white vintage cake stand. Flavor wise, no Fondant, I wanted the cake to not just look good but to taste delish!  Now we both looove carrot cake and chocolate cake and lemon cake, but we wanted to also be considerate to what our guest might enjoy.

So KISS (keep it simple stupid)  We went with a 2 tier cake, top layer vanilla and bottom tier chocolate with no filling, with buttercream and by far it was the best tasting wedding cake ever. I even took pieces to work after the fact and people loooved it. We did decide to freeze a slice and save it for our anniversary next year.

Cake table decorations, I made I Do Letters in our colors and went back and forth on Cake Servers. I had actually purchased two sets, one set was a cheap set cause I really couldn't find what I wanted. The last set was purchased the year before at a yard sale and low in behold after some last minute research and they ended up being an expensive set like crazy expensive.(see random things you can find at a yard sale)

Oh the baker I forgot to mention was fab, she was local, well local to her area and about an hour from us. To save us on cost  we, meaning I, picked up the cake, she even planned my drive and how I drive in making sure, she Prepped the cake for me. She built a lip in the box so that even if the cake slid it wouldn't mess it up. So the delivery (me driving at 90 to make it home in time) the cake was safe and not destroyed!

 I loved our cake and because we had so much left over we are still currently eating a slice or two!

(all personal photos) 

Yes in the beginning I had a beautiful completed wedding schedule but due to my crazy family, friends and everyone in between, I was only able to get two days off prior to the wedding, hello crazy! But with last minute changes and additions, my day surely did not go as planned.

Here is my original schedule:

9am Awake, Shower, Wash Hair
10am Do Hair and Nails
11am Pick up flowers
12Noon Brunch with groom and groomsmen
1pm Relax Organize Bridal Accessories
2pm Bridesmaids arrive
3pm Decorate Hall
4pm Back home (yes I planned on it only taking an hour to decorate)
5pm Get dress
6pm At the Church
6:30 MARRIED!

Well needless to say that was far from how my day went. My day actually went like this:

6am Awake, Shower, Wash Hair
7am Do Hair



8am Pick Up Flowers
9am Attempt to wake groom and groomsmen (they apparently had a long party night)
10am Another attempt and last attempt before I make threats (watch out now!)
11am Breakfast with Groom and groomsmen
12Noon Pick up additional ties for Best Man who had a change in clothes and one who had no shirt and an added groomsmen
1pm Pick up sound system because the halls system broke! (Say What!)
2pm On the road to pick up cake, which ended up being almost an hour away
3pm Pick up cake
4pm Back home, haul tail to go decorate
5pm Finally back home, rush to get dress
6pm Still haven't left
6:30pm Finally at the church
7pm MARRIED!

So lesson here ladies: allow for craziness to happen and ask for help or demand help when you have no help

Now that I mentioned what I wore, what about the guys, the dudes, the gents. Well being the budget savvy bride and lady that I am, My husband actually already had a great suit, (he's an electrician so he never wears a suit) we added a new shirt, new shoes, vest and tie.

Once we picked out a great tie for the hubby, which had to have some pattern and match the guys and have similar colors to the girls dresses. We were able to pick out solid tiffany blue ties (which also doubled as a gift for all of the guys) for all of the gents with matching white shirts. They each also wore there own suits as well.

They also received a white rose boutinere. Easy and in-expensive way of dressing the guys.  I think they look pretty daper right :) Well except the one in the red shirt, long story!

Hi Folks, So I am back after a much needed and hopefully deserved break/mini vacation. I finally got some pictures back so starting today and the next blogs to come I will re-caping the big day.

SO one area I can def. re-cap would be the gown, if you are following my blog on here or on my personal blog you will know I was having major gown issues even up and til the day before (Yikes, is all I can) My lovely gown originally purchased a yr ago for our first wedding no longer fit about a month prior to the wedding, with quick and novice fingers, I went to the web looking for inexpensive, but still wow worthy gown to wear to replace it.

Well I was in luck and came across Craigslist  you know where all of us brides on a severe budget go to look for vendors and up and coming folks to help us out. Well I came across a gorgeous back up dress, took one look at it, and the price and said oh I must have. Well with my luck it didn't fit, this dress was way tooo big and there was not enough time in the world to have it altered.

So leading up to the Friday before (yes the day before the wedding) my first day off from work ( oddly enough I couldn't get any days off really, lovely folks aren't they, but I'll touch on that later) rushed off to a last minute store I knew of called Shingar. Which is this great Indian Store, that happened to have prom dresses and WEDDING DRESSES. I looked through many and finally came across the dress. Not as fussy as my first dress but still simple, gorgeous, elegant and just oh I was ready to wear it. Now if I had thought to go there first, this would have been a huge savings in my wedding budget.

My dress originally was worth over $500 but with my quick and nible fingers I found on Ebay for $150 less. The new gown purchased was purchased for under $200 now you can't beat that and it was quality made, no pushing sales ladies and it will keep for years!

Ok folks, with 15 days and counting I def still have a lot to do, almost an overwhelming amount of things to do. However, I have just completed one of my most budget friendly and fun DIY projects ever. What might you say, well... Drum roll please.......... THE MUSIC!

That's right, the music list. Well let me back up and explain. We are doing an IPOD/Zune Player DJ. That's where  you use all of your own music, make your own list and etc... The past hmm 4-5 months. I have been hooked on Itunes looking for our favorite songs and songs I think our guest might like as well.

I even posted the question to fellow brides to be about what their top ten music list would look like on another blog(shameless plug, be sure to check out my other blog at www.sweetoctoberlove.blogspot.com)

Geared up with an arsenal of music, including our personal cd's and a friendly list of suggestions, on to Itunes we went. We now have about 3 hours worth of foot stomping, aching feet from dancing so hard music (not including cocktail/dinner music and our special songs, those come later).

Here is a glimpse of our top must play songs, if you want to see the whole list message me

Justin Timberlake           SexyBack

Fergie                           Fergalicious

Men at work                   Who can it be now

Cool and the Gang         Celebration

Rick Ashley                    Never gonna give you up

Day 26                          Got me going

Trace Adkins                  Honkey Tonk Badonkeydonk

Gretchin Wilson              Here for the party

Scissor Sisters                Paul McCartney

Cupid                           Cupid Shuffle

Kelis                             Milkshake

Yes my goodies, no not what you think, but what I am wearing underneath my dress, I could only be talking about the garter! Hello:) With all of the trends and styles I was even overwhelmed by what type or style of garter I should get.

I mean there is everything from sport themes, movie themes, and on and on and on. Now mr. soon to be although he loves his sport themes, I don't think he would notice say a redskin garter, maybe but I don't think it would be appealing.

So low and behold I went to my favorite friend, ETSY. I came across the beautiful works of Jessica, EYSY shop Birds of Paradise, who custom designed a too die for garter, I mean it's super gorgeous.Being that I am a bride on a budget, or smuget as I now like to call it, has in-expensive prices (really, no joke, check her site)

(Jessica, if you are reading, you have know idea how stoked I am)

So I am pleased to show you my new garter!

I am sure by now everyone and there mom has seen this fab video on Youtube. I am totally in love with shoes, and have pairs that I am in love with that I haven't even wore. That's right! With that said , of course my wedding shoes would be a huge deal. I looked and looked for weeks, which turned into months and now at the brink of deadlines and all things crazy I had to decide on a pair ASAP.

I was woed by colored shoes, super expensive chic shoes in multiple styles and colors. I took to many blogs, and I mean many and most of the suggestions were for kitten heels. The only shoe I dread is a kitten heel. I am 5'8 so they look weird on me. The man is also 6'5 feet so a heel has to be worn.


Also being on the whole budget friendly kick, I had to look for an inexpensive pair, low and behold ebay! I finally came across Stuart Weitzman Shoes which are to die for but pricey, I found one of my favorite pairs the Karnac Peep Toe and finally found a seller at a good price and wouldn't you know it..... I WON THE BID! Yep, sure did. So cast your eyes on these beauties, however I do believe I will add a jewel at the top to jazz them up a bit but I loooove them!

So Another one of my dilema's that is finally checked off my list is the state of what my ladies were going to wear down the isle. At this point I was getting ready to say Vegas or Bust. But my ladies and I made an appointment at trusty budget friendly David's Bridal. Yes the usually overcrowed, screaming kids in the background DB's. So needless to say I forgot my advil to make my day go smoother, but it actually was a pleasant experience and went very smooth, no regrets and fast!

We arrived to DB's on a Saturday afternoon around 12, armed with a game plan. Find my blue Tiffany Blue which in DB's language is Capri. But I hated all the dresses that came in capri that were knee lenth. So on to plan B. the next color Cornflower, which wasn't as dark as some of the other colors or as aqua looking as Poole. Needless to say it was a success and then I got to thinking, why not allow the ladies to pick between blue and brown. SUCCESS! HOLLA All my ladies either liked one or the other.

They look amazing in these dresses and even found vintagey looking shoes to make the dress look extra stunning! So I am finally thrilled and pleased to show you the ladies selection! The first pic is of the first liked choice and the 2nd pic is of the actually chosen dresses.

Don't they look great! Phew now only 100 more things to check off my list!

So I am happy to finally report ( ok I am sooo sorry for it being sooo long) that we finally took our e-pics with a wonderful photographer Fola Adewole. The photos began 2 weekends ago at the Senator Theatre in Baltimore, MD.  

This theatre is apart of Baltimore history, as you walk in with the gorgeous Chandeliar that hangs from the ceiling and the old skool phone booth that sits in the corner. We absolutely looove this place.

We took so many fun pictures with Fola and her husband Aba. It was probably the most fun we have had in some time. Well enough of the delay here is a sneak peak!

Photo: Fola Adewole

Although things seemed very bleak from my last post, I am happy to say I have officially have the church booked. I am sooo pleased to be having my wedding ceremony at the Patterson Park Baptist Church in Baltimore. Not far from the Baltimore Harbor if you aren't familar with parts of Baltimore.

It's a cute church with lots of history and background. Pastor Eddie will perform our services and I am sooo thrilled. So yes one thing off of my check list. Look how gorgeous the inside of the church is. I just had to post a picture. It's gorgeous, fairly easy to find for everyone else.

I can just imagine how pretty it will look the during the ceremony. Now I can actually start seeing how at least the ceremony will look. Big Sigh of relief folks~