I started looking for cake toppers today because I want to purchase and forget. I found one that Matthew wants that I will use at the rehearsal dinner. It's one of those humorous toppers where the bride is grabbing at the neck of the groom and pulling him....(sigh), don't ask, he wanted and I had to say "ok". Now, there was another topper that was actually beautiful and agreed on by the both of us - but I couldn't find it...I was going to look for it online some more but found THIS instead.....

The website is thumbprintkids.com

This site is A-mazing. The cake toppers are actual polymer clay sculptures of the bride and groom made from pictures that are submitted. The detail work is spectacular and the resemblances are phenom...

Whatever your interests may be, the artist will incorporate it into the sculpture; they even include animals...

I'm not going to lie, they are expensive - about $2400 for the bride and groom only. But when you see the pictures I'm submitting, some of you may actually decide to go for it. If you do you might want to go ahead and make a request right away. Dawn, the artist, only takes 5 -6 requests per year because it takes her about 5 months to complete an order.

Here are quite a bit of pictures of completed orders:

This couple wanted to be posed like the characters in "Beauty and the Beast"

isn't the detailing beautiful...

and the sculpture is an exact replica of the brides dress in the picture she submitted, with her in it...

and there's no skimping in the rear either...

If you go to the website you'll see pictures of this couple. I'm assuming they're both detectives...

here is the submitted picture of the couple in the pose they wanted...

again, notice the details...

When you go to the website, thumbprintkids.com, you'll see pictures of each of the couples and how close, if not exact, the sculptures come to the real thing.

If you're unable to do it for your wedding, maybe you can get one for your anniversary. I personally think these make fabulous gifts for any occasion. They do family sculptures and everything. There was one for a young lady on her 16th birthday...

All pictures taken from the Thumb print kids website.

Today it has been confirmed by Mr. Bridgeman that he loves our first venue of choice - AMOA Laguna Gloria. The place is absolutely spectacular! YAY!!!

It was built in 1916 by Clara Driscoll and her husband Hal Sevier. It's theme is everything Italian. It has a large front courtyard, three gardens, a wooded path that leads to a gazebo and an ampitheater where I want to hold the ceremony. It has been renovated and is an Austin historical landmark.

The gardens were planted by Clara herself and most of the decor and sculptures were imported straight from Italy. There are two lagoons that can be viewed from the ampitheater and the livingroom patio.

I don't know what else to say except that I am in love. Now, we will also look for a "Location B" - just to be on the safe side in case something comes along to disrupt my perfect locale, (at a time like this I think it's very important for a bride - to - be to be safer than sorry).

We are having a tiny situation that I'm sure can definately be resolved by you lovely ladies...the living room area is where we are planning to have a "lounging area" for our guests. I want to know where to begin looking for vendors who rent furniture for weddings. 

There is a room on the second floor that we will use as the kids area. Someplace where they can go crazy and not interrupt the adults having fun...yes there will be babysitters....

In the meantime I did take some pictures and hope that you enjoy them. Tomorrow I start making inquiries and hopefully get to "semi-reserve" my date :D

All pictures were taken at AMOA - Laguna Gloria...

This is the Tea Room where we're thinking of placing the DJ. The dining room is to the right. The living room straight ahead and the patio, where the dancing will occur, is to the left.

This is the dining room where we're thinking about placing the catering staff.

I LOVE THIS CHANDELIER!!!

Three of the four Italian statues in one of the gardens.

The ampitheater where the ceremony will be held. Can't beat the beautiful view in the background.

This is a view of Lake Austin from the living room patio.

A beautiful resident of Laguna Gloria.

So, as I said, I was talking to my friend who is getting married herself in November and I had a thought...

First let me get you up to speed as to why I came to this concept. Matthew and I have no children between us. We each have one child from previous relationships. Well we've been going through some things with his daughter and now by the grace of the Lord, she is with us - we're still fighting for complete/total custody. Her name is Ciaira and she's 9. She has been through too much for anyone with children to comprehend. It's been a long battle and we're hoping that she stays with us because for her to go back to her mother will be beyond devastating, to us and her as well.

Well back to the point...she's been through ALOT and has some emotional/mental scars. They both know we are planning on getting married and are happy about it - but talking with Matthew about a moth ago, he thought it would be a good idea to incorporate the kids in the wedding. Though it is a good idea, I couldn't think of a way to do it. I only want 3 maids of honors and she's too old to be a flower girl, I think...then, again while talking to my friend, it dawned on me! Make them into us!

Kwinton and Ciaira will walk down the aisle before I do, and stand at the alter with us while we make our vows. I like the idea because it's symbolic of us becoming a family - together.

I'd like to hear what you guys think and would LOVE to hear any suggestions or ideas that anyone would have to pull this off.

Thanks again ladies,

d...

Here's a pic of my kids and Goddaughter,(Ciaira is in the middle):

...when I first started my wedding planning I decided that I DIDN'T want a big, ballroom, princess gown to walk down the aisle in because I wasn't planning on keeping the dress and I wanted something simple,(I'm still a tomboy and dresses are NOT my thing). So my first plan was to go to a fashion institute and have students make my dress as a class project...I figured it would work out two ways: 1: I could probably get my dress for free,(except fabric), and 2: I could give it back to the institute for display...

WELL....I started researching dresses to get an idea of what I wanted and found myself having way TOO many concerns because I couldn't find what I wanted in a dress! THEN after reviewing another site about 2 days ago I found a beautiful dress - BUT GUESS WHAT?! It was a ballgown:

DANG!!!!  So THEN, I'm talking to a friend of mine in California who's getting married this November, and she was telling me that it took her awhile to find a dress and not to mention alterations yada, yada, yada. So I came to Get Married to see what my other blogger brides were up to AND GUESS WHAT I SAW!!!....

...yup, blogger bride "Born to be Mrs. Beever" had found HER dress designed by Maggie Sottero,(sigh)....the gown is absolutely gorgeous - THANKS "Born to be mrs. Beever"...because NOW, I want to go to the Maggie Sottero site to see what she may have; and found another 7 dresses that were beautiful! What's a girl to do...

So now what I want to know is how long it took for all of you to find that "perfect" dress; and was it what you had expected FROM THE START.

Thank you ladies...

d...

So I went window shopping today and found an aluminum tin container that i might use to invite my wedding party. They were inexpensive,(about $5.00 each); as well as some stamps to make the invites with. I also found some crystal stickers, and ribbon, that I'm thinking about using to decorate the tins with. Still working with the imagination on that one.

I stopped in to World Market today,(Completely forgot I was near one), and found some lotions and other fabulous toiletries I was thinking to use to fill up the bridesmaids tins...what do you think?

As far as the groomsmen, I'm still working on it. I know one of them likes to drink and smoke cigars - so that one's in the bag, but I have two more that I have to contemplate on....Oh well, I have time.

Matthew is sick right now so he's not too interested in any of my ideas - But we have decided to make an official announcement to the parents this December when everyone comes to visit...I'll post info. on how that went when it occurs...

Until then, ta ta....

d...

Hi guys...

I need some ideas here...I was reading another Blogger Bride's page and got a wonderful idea from her,(Thanks brideinablog ;) ). So here it is:

I've already decided on my wedding party - Three bridesmaids and Groomsmen, easy peasy...now what I want to do is ask them if they want to accept the honor. I loved the post that brideinablog did regarding bridesmaids invites -

Popping The Question To Your Bridesmaids

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2008
BloggerBrides-Brideinablog

Now I want to take that idea of formally inviting my wedding party on board, but I want to take it one step beyond and give them their gifts in a box with the invite as a tag...

Any ideas from anyone. I'm going to go shopping for some items today so as soon as I have an idea as to what it is I want to do I'll take a pic and post it - but again, any ideas would be appreciated...

I haven't been online for awhile and I apologize for that but I think that there may be a way for me to redeem myself of my negligence...

I was online last night and found a couple of websites that I think, and hope, may be of use to some of you.The first two I cannot load information from the site to this blog due to copywriting so I'll give you the addresses:

- bridalonlinestore.com= For our brides that may be on a budget this site is pretty good. The prices are very cheap and the dresses are nice. There were two in particular,(GB 1003 and the Hunter Wedding Gown), that I thought were very nice, but not EXACTLY what I was looking for. The prices of both dresses were amazing - the GB1003 sold at a regular price of $999.00 and was sold on this site for $299.00. The Hunter wedding gown's retail price is $4,999.00 and is being sold for $799.00.

- unique-vintage.com= This site is more creative. I love it because it's a vintage clothing store based in Burbank, California. If you can picture Betty Page or if you're into the rockabilly fashion or maybe you're thinking about a themed wedding, then this is the site for you. The prices are pretty reasonable and if the wedding dresses don't work for you and you were thinking about a reception dress then, again, it wouldn't hurt to try this site.

Now for the groom...

mensitaly.com= They ship their suits from three warehouses - one in New York, Los Angeles, and Houston...for those of you who do not live in Los Angeles where they are based, and their suits are priced great.

So I treated myself to a trip to AMOA,(Austin Museum of Art), Laguna Gloria today. I did it to get away for awhile and to see if the location was as beautiful as the website had shown it to be.

Well to make a long story short, all I have to say is that I AM ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE WITH THIS LOCATION. It has so much history and the decor and layout is just spectacular. I spent two and a half hours there and will try to make it back this weekend to get Matt's opinion...If he's okay with it I will make it my duty to have the wedding there. I know it's still toooo early, but hey it doesn't hurt to have a few places lined up so that there's no true disappointment...If you ever get a chance to visit Austin, I HIGHLY suggest you go and check out this gorgeous historical treasure...

This leads me to my second find. I just happend to pick up a wedding brochure at the museum,(honestly, it really was an accident), and in the back it had a couple of pages of vendors that they use specifically for that location. Well I reviewed the website of an invitation vendor and all I have to say is OH - MY -GOOOODNESSSS!!!!

The name is KK BLOOM; and all I have to say is if you haven't ordered or decided on your invitations yet, and you have some extra money in your budget, DO IT!!! Your invitations are sent to each recepient in a box or pouch. You may add brooches or pins and customize your invitation from beginning to end.

I'm so enthralled with her work that I've emailed her and requested a catalog...

If anyone decides to order from this vendor, please blog it so we can see the outcome...

 All pictures are from the KK Bloom website at kkbloom.com

d...

Okay, so I started this blog about a week or two ago and I've been rummaging through the site one and off on a daily basis and realized that I haven't really introduced myself or my significant other.... :) oops. So here it goes, if it becomes "lengthy" I apologize.

Alright, my name is Denise and the groom-to-be is Matthew. We've been together for 8 years and have two children,(one from the each of us from previous relationships), but first time marriage for both.

We met while working together in Los Angeles. I hate to admit it, but we REALLY did "click" the first day we met. I was also actually dating someone else and ended the relationship two weeks later, because of Matthew...I have to say that it was a good choice  ;P                We moved out to Texas three years ago and haven't looked back.

If you're wondering what has taken us so long to get to this point I'll explain...

While living in Los Angeles, we weren't doing so well and it was brought up at one point in the relationship, but didn't get taken seriously on Matthew's part. The years passed and I watched two cousins and an aunt walk down the aisle within about a three year gap. I had given up on the whole matter when LOW & BEHOLD!...It was brought up a couple of months ago, by Mr. Wonderful himself after we gained custody of his daughter...I could have turned it down, because it had been so long, that it really didn't even matter to me anymore. But I thought about it and decided that with both of our parents never being married, and neither one of our siblings ever going down that route - NOT TO MENTION THE KIDS - I said lets do it.

Now my best friend is getting married in November and for us, this is an even stronger confirmation of us going down the aisle. My friend has lost ALL of her family and will have a small ceremony in Vegas. I cherish family and I still have a grandmother, mother, Matthew's mother and his father who are not getting any younger; I want them to have a cherished moment in life that every parent has been wanting...They've done more than their share of parenting/grandparenting and they deserve it. Don't get me wrong, this will also be our day, but they will be most of the inspiration for our ceremony...

So in a nutshell, that's our story...I know I still have two years, but I'm very detail-oriented and it doesn't hurt to "research" whether or not I can get what I want...GOD KNOWS I DON'T WANT TO TURN INTO A "BRIDEZILLA"....AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHGHHHHHH