31 Mar

Our ‘Wedding Workshop’

Though we still have a short while before wedding gifts inevitably start rolling in, with fewer than three months until our big day, one glance around the house definitely screams “wedding planning”!

From the kitchen table covered in wine corks, sawdust and my gigantic wedding filing bin, to the home office overflowing with stamps, cardstock and photo printouts, there’s hardly a corner untouched by some type of wedding-related item. And how could I possibly forget my family’s home in California, where my loved ones are graciously storing an ever-growing number of wedding day goodies, including clothing, gifts, a huge photo mat, and countless other treats?

Well, since I’m a self-proclaimed compulsive organizer who’s been known to obsess over unfolded laundry or a sink full of dishes, you’d think this disarray would be driving me absolutely nuts. But you know what? It isn’t! Not in the least. Because each time I see those piles of paper, stashes of wine bottles, or half-printed labels, I realize just how close we are to starting our married lives together. I think about how much fun we’re having along the way, even though the printer might sometimes malfunction or a receipt get temporarily filed in the wrong folder.

Yes, the chaos is all symbolic of this busy, crazy, wonderful time in our lives, and each individual item is only a sign of the fun to come on our wedding day and in the years to follow. Each binder and ribbon belongs right where it is, and I know I’ll surely miss them all when they’re finally gone.

Has your home evolved into a “wedding workshop”? How do you think you’ll feel when all the planning and DIY-ing comes to an end?

(Photo Credits: Heather Warren)

31 Mar

The Wedding Dance {He Said: Lesson 5}

Amazing. That is the only word that comes to mind about Deborah’s dance lessons. We had our final lesson before the wedding and it was the first time we did the full dance. Deborah videotaped us doing the full dance and I am shocked at how much she was able to teach someone as novice as myself in just a few short lessons. My confidence is at an all time high that we will for sure WOW the audience on Saturday night. Although Amy and myself make mistakes or forget little things as we go along, Deborah has shown us the best ways to make those mistakes invisible to the audience and when we watched ourselves on tape, even we couldn’t notice the missteps, even though we knew we had made them.

I cant put into words how happy and excited I am at the thought of being able to give Amy the “first dance” she has always dreamed of and without Deborah’s masterful guidance, it would never have been possible. She is a great teacher and really knows what she is doing. She is truly an expert in her field and I would without a doubt recommend her to anyone who is getting married and wants to wow their crowd.

If you recall my earlier posts, I wasn’t exactly confident that I would be able to do even half of what I feel I can do now on the dance floor. I’ve learned how to keep the beat of the music, how to twirl my angel around, and most importantly…how to dip her without severely injuring her or myself lol. Now that we’ve had a full set of lessons, I know I can pull all of these things off. For Deborah to be able to teach someone like me all of this, I would not hesitate for a moment to say that she can teach anyone to dance

So all you guys out there who don’t think you can ever learn to dance, or don’t want to learn to dance, please listen to my words and know that it is definitely something Deborah can teach anyone, no matter their prior abilities, and also it is something you will find very fulfilling. The look on your future wife’s face when she sees the effort you put in all to make her happy on your special day makes all the dread, reluctance, or whatever you are feeling about the idea of dance lessons go right out the window. And you just might have some fun while you are at it. I know i sure did and all of this is a credit to Deborah and her teaching style. Thanks Deborah, I’m sure you will be very proud of your work when you see the video from our wedding.

****

Stay tuned for a post with our FIRST WEDDING Dance… and read more about the He Said, She Said of the Wedding Dance with instruction from Deborah Joy, from The Wedding Dance Specialists

by RelentlessBride | Filed under: Entertainment | 0 Comments
Tags: dance lesssons, first dance, wedding planning, wedding preparation

31 Mar

The Wedding Rehearsal

Rehearsal day was such a surreal experience for me. I kept wondering how I had even made this far. I mean, this time last year I couldn’t figure out if I was just going to go down the court house, or just have a simple wedding in my backyard…now all of a sudden I was standing in my first choice venue waiting for my bridal party to arrive.

It was such a beautiful day! I kept praying to GOD that the weather would be the same on the following day for my wedding. The bridal party started to pour in and rehearsal became more like a family reunion. Some of us hadn’t seen each other in a year…some even more…some of saw each other the day before but were equally excited. The best friends, sisters and cousins were in from New York – I was so happy to see everyone.

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I know we started late…but to be honest I’m not too sure by how much. With 10 bridesmaids and extra family showing up just to hang out, I knew that was going to happen, but I could’t have my Day of Coordinator waiting much longer, so minus 3 of my cousins (bridesmaids), rehearsal began.

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(more…)

by (Almost)Mrs.Adams | Filed under: Ceremony and Vows | 1 Comment
Tags: wedding pictures, wedding planning, wedding rehearsal

31 Mar

Shower the people you love…

So I have been waiting for a while to share the photos from my bridal shower which took place back on February 21st with all of you lovely ladies! Unfortunately, we’ve had some problems with getting the photos. You see, my family is not as ‘blogger’ friendly as I would like them to be. So they are not huge on having a camera at their disposal every 30 seconds. I did not bring my camera as my daughter and my cousin happily brought their own and assured me they snapped photos of everything.

However, when we went to download the pics from my daughter’s camera, they were all deleted! GASP! Seriously? WTF? We still don’t know how it happened but they were totally gone

I frantically asked my cousin about the pictures she took. She said she gots lots of pics of me opening gifts and a good amount of the decorations and details that my sister took so long creating, making and setting up. But unfortunately, she only had like 2 pics of me with my mom and a bridesmaid. All of the photos with me and all of the guests were on my daughter’s camera!

Needless to say, I was pretty bummed about the whole thing. Then it took over a month for me to get the pics from my cousin (who is also a bridesmaid) because she is battling breast cancer right now and has been laid up in bed dealing with all kinds of healing and pain from many physical problems, tests and a surgery she just recently went through. Again, another one of the stupid health issues that we are trying to struggle through and deal with in the midst of our wedding plans. I am really praying she feels whole and healthier by the wedding day in 2 weeks because she is super adamant about how important it is to her to be there for me in the wedding. She even postponed her surgery to have one of the tumors removed so that she could still be in the wedding! She’s crazy but I guess the doctors were okay with it.

So, here they are. Rather than post a ton of pics here on the blog, I just put them into a Shutterfly album. If you click the link below the album to ‘view larger’ then you will be able to see all of the captions and explanations of the photos below them as the slideshow plays.

Click here to view these pictures larger

Have you had any unfortunate camera or computer related disasters where something very important, memorable or precious to you was destroyed or deleted?

by Born to be Mrs. Beever | Filed under: Bridal Parties | 1 Comment
Tags: bridal shower, bridal shower ideas, wedding parties, wedding photos, wedding pictures, wedding planning

31 Mar

Wednesday’s Wedding Dish

Bachelorette Jillian Harris talks wedding plans.. will ABC hook us up with front row seats to her big day? And how well do you know Jay-Z and Beyonce? We have some wedding trivia to throw your way!

Check back later for the answers!

by Daily Wedding Dish | Filed under: Ceremony and Vows | 0 Comments
Tags: ABC Weddings, celebrity wedding news, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Jillian Harris, the bachelorette

31 Mar

Lois + John’s Valentine’s Day Wedding in Boston, Mass.

A memorable affair for a wonderful couple, Lois and John tied the knot on Valentine’s Day at their Westwood, Massachusetts home. The blushing bride walked down the staircase to the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” and her nephew became a day-of minister so that he could perform the wedding ceremony.

LoisJohn1 Lois + Johns Valentines Day Wedding in Boston, Mass.

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After the ceremony, a limo took Lois, John and their guests to the Four Seasons Boston for an intimate dinner party.

01 600x398 Lois + Johns Valentines Day Wedding in Boston, Mass.

Winston's Flowers provided this gorgeous bouquet (and John's boutonniere)

Photos by Maureen Ford Photography

by Stacie Francombe | Filed under: Bridal Parties,Ceremony and Vows,Fashion, Jewelry & Runway,Floral & Decor | 2 Comments
Tags: green, home wedding, snow, white, winter wedding

31 Mar

Our Wedding Monogram

We are finally done with designing our invitations! We’ve spent a lot of time looking at invitations and stationary online and even went as far as to inquire about designing invitations with a professional. But we finally settled on doing them ourselves since Mr. Milk is pretty talented in this area.

Mr. Milk is definitely the creative one in this duo. He has a good eye and does a lot of similar things for his work. He also has some connections with a professional printer, which means we can get our paper products printed for much cheaper. So after we got over the technical issues we were having, we got into creative mode, and started with the monogram. We chose the font we liked and off we went.

Here is what we first came up with.

We both liked this one and it was the contender for a while until we worked on it a little more. Not sure how the color will show up on your screen but they are supposed to be pool/aqua (border, names, date) and sand (initials). Between the different computers we’ve seen this on we get light blue, very bright blue, and aqua. But you get the idea I guess. The monogram will be backed onto metallic aqua cardstock, hence the border.

We were happy with the color scheme but thought about making it a little more modern. So here is what we finally decided on:

What do you think? How are you doing with invitation/stationary design and/or purchase?

P.S. 6 MONTHS TO GO!

by A Chocolate Lovers Confessions | Filed under: Ceremony and Vows,Invitations & Save The Dates | 3 Comments
Tags: momgrammed wedding invitations, paper products, personalization, turquoise, wedding invitations, wedding planning

30 Mar

What stores are the best places to create your wedding registry?

So my fiance and I have talked a bunch about registering… I think that is what he is most excited for because he wants to run around with the scanning gun!

Anyone have suggestions on what are great places to register? I have thought of the usual suspects:

Crate and Barrell

Macys

Target

Bed Bath & Beyond

March 30, 2010 by caitlin1122 | Filed under: Registry,Wedding Etiquette & Advice,Wedding Gifts & Favors | 5 Comments
Tags: bridal advice, target, wedding gifts, wedding presents, wedding registration, wedding registration locations

30 Mar

Wedding Inspiration Board | Sun Kissed Marrakesh

With Spring in the air and the inevitable arrival of summer chic, I’m inspired by all things sun-kissed. No matter what part of the world you live in, by ocean, jungle, suburb or sky scrapper, envision the ultimate souk-style wedding in sun kissed flavors.

(Source: Wedding Nouveau)

If you live in the city, you could easily accomplish this look by renting a loft or rooftop space for your venue. You’d be surprised what lighting, tent fabric, decor, candles and music can do to transform a space.

by Fri | Filed under: Entertainment | 1 Comment
Tags: blue, marrakesh, morocco, orange, wedding inspiration, wedding inspiration board, wedding inspiration boards, wedding planning

30 Mar

And it begins….

I don’t know how many other people have this issue but my mother HATES my future husband. I man with a passion in her soul. SO she informed us that we would be paying for everything ourselves and she would have no input and would not be attending the wedding. Well when she heard me talking to a friend about dress shopping she decided that she wanted to go. I know this is going to go very badly. When I asked her about a possible catering menu she looked at me and said “let popeyes cater” I was looking at her like WHAT!!!! For those who don’t know Popeyes is a fast food place like KFC… she just doesn’s want me to marry this man. She doesn’t think any of my ideas are good enough…. Enough whining.. lets just say it stressful for me.

I was watching Platinum Weddings the other night and I saw a really cute item on their tables that I would like to mimic. It was like a vase with rose petals and water inside and floating on the top was a candle. I know it sounds simple but it was beautiful. And I know where to get flowers wholesale and I am almost positive I can get vases from the dollar store or hobby lobby that look good enough. Floating candles can be found at Hobby Lobby.. so yay my first DIY inspiration!!! I am always on the lookout for new things that I can save money on. The flower website where I can buy the roses in bulk wholesale is a blessing. I found a BULK thing of red passion roses for my bouquet and enough for the centerpieces for the table for 70 dollars!!!!! I think I’m getting the hang of this DIY wedding idea. Once again when I figure out how to put the picture of the dresses on here I will.

RONZA