The champagne bottle needs some changing and we need to figure out a base but other than that....here's our topper! Love them!!!! Jenn rocks!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Say Yes to the Dress!
The bad thing about having cable again is getting sucked into watch back to back episodes of Say Yes to the Dress (not to mention the Housewives, Bethenny Getting Married? and the Kardashians). Anyway after watching way too many episodes of SYTTD I decided I wanted an experience like Kleinfelds. Dangerous territory for my wee budget. Mom offered to take care of my dress so I wanted to keep costs in the reasonable range, not the insane "I-could-have-made-a-down-payment-on-a-house" range.
After looking at dresses online and doing my research I made an appointment with the Gown Gallery in KC hoping to get a deal during the Maggie Sottero trunk show. Knowing more than likely I'd never be able to afford the dresses in KC I made an appointment at David's Bridal in Topeka to make sure I knew what my cheaper more realistic options were before getting overwhelmed in KC.
Armed with my mom and my niece Adela we took off for David's and had a blast!
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| Mom and Adela in front of my dressing room |
I tried on a BUNCH of dresses. Some cute some not so cute.
Forgive the quality of these photos. They were taken with my iPhone so their not the best. Also forgive the goofy faces I'm making. Adela was my photographer for most of these. She didn't give me any warning she was taking a photo so there was no chance of putting on a more "bridal" smile :D
Adela and I in a dress I really liked
At the time I didn't care much for this one but looking back at the pictures I really kind of like it
Hahaha! This one you need to be a toothpick and 6' tall in order to pull off. Makes me look like a giant cupcake!
And then just in time for the winner my beautiful sisters Mary and Liz arrived to see what we thought was the winner.
With Liz (Matron of Honor) and Adela (bridesmaid)
I found the perfect dress at David's Bridal (or so we thought). I didn't want to be rude and cancel my appointment at the Gown Gallery last minute and I still really wanted that SYTTD experience. So the plan was to go on to KC the next day, play the part then go back to David's afterwards and order the perfect dress.
On to KC we went. This time armed with Mom, Adela and both sisters, Mary and Liz. Upon arriving I was a bit flustered. Everyone needed to hit the loo thanks to the large sodas we got in Topeka for the drive. The space itself was basically a loft stuffed with dresses. The ladies working there seemed a bit stuffy to me. Not at all like the consultant we had the night before at David's. My consultant, Gwen came over, introduced herself and started filling out my paperwork. My heart dropped a bit when meeting her. She definitely seemed a wee bit snooty causing me to be a bit uncomfortable with her. I tried to suck it up and push thru. I was determined to make this fun!
With Gwen
After showing Gwen what I had in mind she took me to the dressing room where I waited while she pulled dresses. Now ladies here's where I need to share some advice. My experience at David's (along with watching too many episodes of SYTTD) had prepared me for the crazy corset style bra thing and slip thing. So I was prepared to put one of those on...however dear Gwen didn't bring those. WHAT?! I was a bit shocked when she came back from pulling dresses, asked me to take off my dress leaving me in my undies and bra. WHAT?! So here I am standing in front a stranger half naked. This modest gal was freaking out! Not exactly the experience was looking for.
Anyway she has me put on the first dress and as soon as I got it on I was in love. Like OMG...THIS is the dress! We head out to show the posse and they loved it as much as I did! :)
So here's the funny part. My sister Mary is a photographer and brought her camera to help document the day. She busted it out at the Gallery and after snapping 5 photos was told photos were not allowed. RATS! We put the camera away and proceeded to try on another dozen or so dresses. None of them even coming close to the first dress (that we managed to snap photos of).
The first dress was THE dress! Hands down. It put the one at David's to shame. Now the best part....the perfect dress was half price making it cheaper than anything I would have gotten at the trunk show. YAY!!!! I managed to get the PERFECT dress and veil and only went over budget by $21. Seriously....$21!
Since Steve can't see the dress until our first look I'm not posting the picture of me in the dress. You'll have to enjoy these instead. :)
With my beautiful mom! :)
With Liz and Adela
With my beautiful sisters, Mary and Liz. I <3 these girls!
Love is...
stinkin' cute cake toppers!!! :)
If you haven't discovered Etsy.com yet you're missing out! They've got so much cute hand crafted goodies and vintage treasures you can search for days on end and never see everything.
Having done many searches I fell in love with custom cake toppers like these
(source)
(source)
See what I mean?! They are so freaking adorable! After many days of searching it became obvious that this wasn't a dream I was meant to have. The price tags are way too steep. The cheapest I could find started at $125. YIKES! Not exactly budget friendly.
After more searching I found this
(source)
How perfect would this cake topper be for Steve and I?! Love it!!!
Weeks later Steve sends me a message saying his dear friend Jenn wanted to know what she ccould do to help with the wedding. Knowing Jenn is incredibly talented and crafty, he asked if she's up for the challenge of making our cake topper. And guess what?! She agreed! Bust my buttons I was BESIDE myself with excitement!!!! Like stupid giddy with excitement! Just the idea that my dream of one of these super cute toppers might actually be sitting on our wedding cake was enough to make me well up with tears!!! I was sooooooooooooo freaking excited!
Jumping before she could change her mind, we sent her photos of what we were thinking. Version 1 she was on to something. With more input and more photos I knew we were on the right track.
Late Monday afternoon I got an email with this in it and I almost started crying!
(personal photo)
She did it!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!! She did it!!!! I've been gawking at these little guys for almost a week now and every time I see them I get all sorts of giddy! They have a few final touches yet but even without them they are sooooooooooo stikin' cute! I can't wait to see them in person next month!
If you haven't discovered Etsy.com yet you're missing out! They've got so much cute hand crafted goodies and vintage treasures you can search for days on end and never see everything.
Having done many searches I fell in love with custom cake toppers like these
(source)
(source)
See what I mean?! They are so freaking adorable! After many days of searching it became obvious that this wasn't a dream I was meant to have. The price tags are way too steep. The cheapest I could find started at $125. YIKES! Not exactly budget friendly.
After more searching I found this
(source)
How perfect would this cake topper be for Steve and I?! Love it!!!
Weeks later Steve sends me a message saying his dear friend Jenn wanted to know what she ccould do to help with the wedding. Knowing Jenn is incredibly talented and crafty, he asked if she's up for the challenge of making our cake topper. And guess what?! She agreed! Bust my buttons I was BESIDE myself with excitement!!!! Like stupid giddy with excitement! Just the idea that my dream of one of these super cute toppers might actually be sitting on our wedding cake was enough to make me well up with tears!!! I was sooooooooooooo freaking excited!
Jumping before she could change her mind, we sent her photos of what we were thinking. Version 1 she was on to something. With more input and more photos I knew we were on the right track.
Late Monday afternoon I got an email with this in it and I almost started crying!
(personal photo)
She did it!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!! She did it!!!! I've been gawking at these little guys for almost a week now and every time I see them I get all sorts of giddy! They have a few final touches yet but even without them they are sooooooooooo stikin' cute! I can't wait to see them in person next month!
Engagement Photos at Downtown Disney
Paul with South County Photography is a friend of Steve's and was gracious enough to do our engagement session at Downtown Disney. We had a lot of fun with Paul and his assistant Mike. Both guys were amazing! They helped put us at ease. Why is it when you're taking pictures with your point and shoot you can clown around and not think anything of it but when you get 2 people with big lens taking pictures of you it suddenly becomes awkward and weird?! We had fun with it and once we finally relaxed we had a great time and got some great pictures in the process. I am going back to Cali in August and Paul has asked us to do more photos with him at Laguna Beach this time. I'm actually REALLY looking foward to doing more photos. I love what I've seen of Laguna (I'm in love with the the tower across from BJ's!) and can't wait to get some beach-y photos. Now the big question is what to wear. Any suggestions?
Here's some of my favorite photos from our day with Paul.
Here's some of my favorite photos from our day with Paul.
Self Inflicted Bridal Bootcamp...feel the burn!
In the words of the great Jillian Michaels "pain is weakness leaving the body" (something to that effect anyway).
The week after we purchased my dream dress I decided it was time to do something about my weight and overall out of shape-ness. I did some research, emailed a trainer at the local YMCA and was hooked! Beth (my trainer) was so kind in her emails I quickly made an appointment with her to see what she could do with my flabbiness. During the first session I knew i hit the jackpot. In person Beth is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! She is so nice, friendly and so helpful! My previous experience with trainers have not been so nice. They usually were kind of aloof, looking around the gym not paying much attention to what I'm doing, offered very little encouragement nor did they inspire me to push myself. Beth did all this in ONE session. As soon as I finished with her that day I knew 2 things....1) I was going to hurt like hell the the next day (and that was her "easy" session) and 2) I had to do more.
3 weeks later what I now call my self inflicted bootcamp (SIBB) has turned into 1 day with Beth, 2 days of core/spin workouts, 1 day lifting on my own and walking 6 days a week. While trying to get into the groove of things and into a routine I've discovered somethings about myself:
What are you doing in order to be the best version of you for your wedding day?
The week after we purchased my dream dress I decided it was time to do something about my weight and overall out of shape-ness. I did some research, emailed a trainer at the local YMCA and was hooked! Beth (my trainer) was so kind in her emails I quickly made an appointment with her to see what she could do with my flabbiness. During the first session I knew i hit the jackpot. In person Beth is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! She is so nice, friendly and so helpful! My previous experience with trainers have not been so nice. They usually were kind of aloof, looking around the gym not paying much attention to what I'm doing, offered very little encouragement nor did they inspire me to push myself. Beth did all this in ONE session. As soon as I finished with her that day I knew 2 things....1) I was going to hurt like hell the the next day (and that was her "easy" session) and 2) I had to do more.
3 weeks later what I now call my self inflicted bootcamp (SIBB) has turned into 1 day with Beth, 2 days of core/spin workouts, 1 day lifting on my own and walking 6 days a week. While trying to get into the groove of things and into a routine I've discovered somethings about myself:
- I'm stronger than I think I am
- I actually like the feeling of working my body till there is nothing left to give
- I'm gonna look hot on my wedding day! hahahaha
What are you doing in order to be the best version of you for your wedding day?
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Momma didn't teach me to share!
Just kidding! Kind of...
This blogging stuff is hard work! So hard I obviously don't do it much. I just do my own thing and then think afterwards dang I wish I would have shared that.
So much has happened...let me get you caught up. I left off with our trip to Denver. That was a huge success! Got all the important stuff taken care of. We have a church, reception venue, caterer and drum roll please....I now have a dress!!! WOOHOO!!!! I'm sooooooo in love with my dress! :) More about dress shopping later.
The save the dates have been ordered and have arrived. I heart Vistaprint! I took full advantage of one of their sales and scored 100 save the date postcards for $14, 2 lawn signs to help folks find the Cussler for $17, 250 free business cards that we are using as photo share cards/escort cards, a free pen for the guestbook and 10 free thank you cards w/ matching envelopes.
Invites are in progress. I found an awesome invite online but unfortunately they were WAY out of our budget. Thankfully I have an amazing coworker who recreated them for me. YAY!!! The plan is to create a cute pocketfold (minus the pocket) for the invite goodies. That's been challenging but I think we finally have an idea that might work. More about that later as well.
This blogging stuff is hard work! So hard I obviously don't do it much. I just do my own thing and then think afterwards dang I wish I would have shared that.
So much has happened...let me get you caught up. I left off with our trip to Denver. That was a huge success! Got all the important stuff taken care of. We have a church, reception venue, caterer and drum roll please....I now have a dress!!! WOOHOO!!!! I'm sooooooo in love with my dress! :) More about dress shopping later.
The save the dates have been ordered and have arrived. I heart Vistaprint! I took full advantage of one of their sales and scored 100 save the date postcards for $14, 2 lawn signs to help folks find the Cussler for $17, 250 free business cards that we are using as photo share cards/escort cards, a free pen for the guestbook and 10 free thank you cards w/ matching envelopes.
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| My Vistaprint Loot |
Invites are in progress. I found an awesome invite online but unfortunately they were WAY out of our budget. Thankfully I have an amazing coworker who recreated them for me. YAY!!! The plan is to create a cute pocketfold (minus the pocket) for the invite goodies. That's been challenging but I think we finally have an idea that might work. More about that later as well.
Stay tuned! In our next episode we'll discuss engagement photos!
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