Vendor Problems???

I’m not really sure where to start with this post...you see, I have some pretty mixed feelings about my hair and make-up trial that I had the other day. Maybe I should start at the beginning and see what you all think...

I don’t have a specific hair person. My hair is naturally curly, and I wear it long which translates to not a lot of fuss. I can typically walk in anywhere and get a trim that I like. So I don’t have a specific hair person. Not really a big deal on an everyday basis, but when you’re planning a wedding, you want special hair...and not having a hair person then becomes a problem.

A few months back I received an email from a beauty consultant offering her services for hair and make-up the day of our wedding, including travelling to the venue to do it all. Seemed like a gift from above, so I quickly emailed her back to check pricing and availability. (I’ll apologize now for the multitude of “her” references coming your way...since I haven’t made a decision one way or the other yet, I don’t want to use names.)

She and I emailed back and forth for a few days, and we worked out that she was available, and she sent me a link to a website where I could view her pricing and some of her work. I contacted each of my Maids to see which ones would also be interested in having their hair done, and I sent off my final counts and awaited a price. I got a quote back and immediately wrote back and asked if the price included a trial for my hair and make-up.

Then five weeks went by. I never got a response. To be fair, I got busy with other things and didn’t notice that I hadn’t gotten an answer, but she never wrote me back and answered my question. So I finally contacted her back and asked point-blank (not rudely, but firmly) again if the price included the trials and was also clear to say that I had not agreed to anything with her yet until I had my questions answered.

And here’s where I made my mistake. When she wrote back apologetic and very sorry and yes, let’s get that scheduled for you, I overlooked the fact that she STILL did not answer my question. Actually, I thought the answer was yes, the trial was included. So I scheduled the trial and went on with my life.

Fast forward to the day of my trial. I bring along my inspiration pictures and we talk. She immediately starts working on my hair, and it takes about ½ an hour for her to finish. It’s not exactly what I asked for...but I don’t dislike it. It looks fine. Once we’re done with the hair, I assume that we’re moving on to make-up. She takes out her appointment book and starts talking about payment the day of, and scheduling and timing and all, and sits down on another chair. After a few minutes of this, I bring up the make-up trial. She goes on to “reassure” me that she does not believe in a heavy hand with make-up, that she wants to emphasize my looks the day of without overdoing and that I can “trust her.”

I have to admit that I didn’t really know what to say. So I said the obvious, that I thought we were doing a trial on both hair AND make-up. She says no, she just does the trial on hair and has another appointment coming in 15 minutes. She then asks me for $70 for her services for that day.

Now, I’m the first to admit that I’m non-confrontational. I seriously like to avoid conflict. So instead of making a scene and throwing a fit, I took out my checkbook and wrote her a check. But in the back of my mind, I’m thinking “What the Hell” is wrong with this lady. I seethe about it, leave and go about my day. But the whole drive home, I’m just SO frustrated. After talking to a few people about the situation, including B, we all agree that I need to make sure of what I remember before I go off on this woman. When I get home, B checks out my hair and says it looks nice, but he didn’t think that I wanted such a “done” look. I admit that I’m not thrilled, but keep quiet about it for the most part.

The trial was at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. I had to take the updo down at 7 o’clock. I had a raging headache from the do, and was all itchy from the amount of hairspray used. J helped me remove all 51 bobby pins...and she even helped me brush it out. The fact that I couldn’t wear the updo for more than 6 hours concerns me. I don’t have a sensitive head...I wear a ponytail most days, and I know that I have thick hair that is heavy when piled up on top. But I’ve worn updos for much longer time periods and not had the problems that I had with this one.

The day of the wedding, she’s supposed to come out and do my hair and make-up at 1 o’clock. It has to last until we plan on leaving around 10:30 that night. That’s quite a bit longer that I wore the do the other day, and I don’t know that I’ll be able to do it. Not to mention that I’m just supposed to “trust her” that I won’t look like a clown?

In her defense, when I went back and checked the emails she and I had sent, I see that she never actually answered my question about the trial being included in the price or not. It was MY mistake. She was so apologetic and wanted to book the trial right then, that I just made the assumption that yes, it was included. I should have asked for clarification...but now I’m torn. I’ve already had what I would consider to be two problems with this woman, and I wasn’t really thrilled with my hair. And don’t get me started about the fact that I never got the make-up trial.

So here’s my question...what would you do? Would you continue on? Or would you look for someone else? I’m really curious to know if I’m over-reacting...and I promise that I’ll post some pictures in the next day or two...I still need to calm down about it all.

I Dream of Etsy...

Yes, if you read the post title just right, little visions of a Genie dancing around in her bottle might appear...or you might find yourself humming along the title song. Duh duh. Duh duh da duh duh. Duh duh. Duh duh da duh duh. You get the picture.

But it’s not little scantily-clad head-boppin’ genies that I dream of...it’s the most wonderful place on the internet – the world of Etsy. I’m sure most of you have heard of Etsy before, as I would think that most of my readers are brides and fellow weddingbee addictees...but if you by chance haven’t heard of Etsy, click here and it’ll take you there.

It’s wonderful. Truly amazing how many talented people there are out there. I’ve looked at everything from jewelry to paper goods and most recently wedding bands for B. The site offers some really great finds, and most of them are at more than reasonable prices.

And I long to open my own Etsy shop. It’s actually very simple, you just need to have goods to sell – anything that is vintage or homemade can be sold there for a small fee, and they will even give you an internet “storefront” for your wares. It is a secret goal of mine to one day open an Etsy shop. I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time now, and I’m pretty sure that I’m going to do this once the dust settles after our wedding. I’ve just had way too much fun creating all of the little projects that I’ve done for our wedding to not share them with others.

I can offer hand-sewn or hand-crafted items on there, like my kid’s activity books for those brides that want handmade but don’t want to hand make the goods themselves. I could offer printed paper goods, like my invitations and thank you cards and such. Or my pocketfolds - I could charge half of what regular stores charge for them, but still be beating the best price online anywhere. I could offer...oh wait. I can’t tell you about that one – it’s still a surprise to three wonderful ladies! Later, I promise...

The point is that I think that there are many things that I could offer up for sell on a place like Etsy. Especially since it’s a store that is targeted to people looking for fancy items, but that are still hand-made and less expensive than things seen on traditional wedding websites on the internet.

So what do you think? Would you open an Etsy shop? Are you as obsessed with Etsy as I am? Maid Britney and I were bemusing the fact that we don’t have more time to browse Etsy...until I pointed out that if we did have more time to browse, then we’d probably have more things than we would know what to do with! Staying on our budget is also important, so maybe it’s best not to have more time for Etsy right now...

The start up cost is minimal...just posting fees, and I could use examples of my own wedding items just to get started, adding more as I increase my “portfolio.” (I feel like an artist using a word like portfolio!) I think that this could work...but it’ll have to wait a bit. I’m ok with waiting, though. That gives me time to think it through and work on some catchy name for it.

Got any suggestions for a name?

Do You Think THIS Will Work?

Hmmm...my thinker has been working overtime, I promise! Here’s the deal...actually, I already posted about the deal here, click over if you need to catch up on what I’m fixing to talk about...

My petal toss bags. You know that it would just be WAY too easy for me to use petal cones. I like petal cones. Don’t have anything against petal cones. I just wanted something more...enter my petal bags. No problem to make a bag like this one:

source

but filled with rose petals instead. Got it? Good.

So now (after MUCH research) I see that fresh petals are the way to go. And now that I know I don’t have to stick with ROSE petals per say...that portion of the previous dilemma has been solved. Petals? Check. Ordered and will be delivered to our door sometime during the week before the wedding.

So now, here’s my question: How do I get these bags made during the two or three days before the wedding? I mean, it’s not like I’ll have ANYTHING else going on, right? Oh no, I’m sure that I’ll have plenty of time to stitch up 160 of these bad boys. Sure. No problem.

Yeah.

No problem, my Aunt Fannie! But I think that I might have settled on a solution, and I want to run it by you to see what you think. What if...instead of filling them from the top, I filled them from the bottom? I know, it took me a minute too. I’ll wait.

You see, the hardest part about the timing is that all 160 bags have to be sewn closed. (Yes, dear, I could choose another option to get those pesky bags closed, but I WANT them to be sewn!) Since none of my Maids sew, the task would fall to me. My mom might be persuaded to bring her sewing machine along for the trip, and I might be able to talk her into helping, but it would still be a lot to handle being just the two of us. On the other hand, if I could go ahead and sew the tags on now, which closes the bag at the same time and that part of the project was done, filling them from the bottom could easily be accomplished with ALL of my Maids’ help.

Now the next problem? The bags came already sealed at the bottom. Well, of course they did. They’re BAGS, and the seal at the bottom makes them a bag instead of a piece of folded paper, right? LOL. In my head, I’m thinking that I’ll get them opened somehow and then just hot glue them shut after they’re full of petals. Do you think that would work?

I could try steaming them open...like they do mail in the movies when you don’t want someone to know that you opened it - but does that really even work? I found instructions on how to do that here. If that doesn’t work, I think that they’re oversized enough to allow me room to just cut off the bottom and re-fold after the bag is filled.

Do you think that hot glue will work? It’s my solution for everything these days...if not, I have double-sided tape, and some kind of liquid adhesive that I bought for the hot cocoa bags that I still am debating about making...

What do you think will work best? Or do you have a better solution all around for me? Maybe it won’t be as hard to sew up those bags a day before the wedding as I’m thinking...let me know!

A Wrinkle in the Plan...

I posted here a few weeks ago about being under scurtiny regarding my job. Then I posted here about being told that I was "off the radar" of being fired.

You know what I forgot to post about? My fears that B would be laid off...

And it happened today. Yes, it did. No, this is not a joke.

My first question to him when he could call me (since he only has a company cell phone and thus had to stop and find a PAY phone to call me from) was first and foremost "Are you ok?"

Which was quickly followed by about a million questions...so many that I can't even think right now. And is it selfish on my part for the first and foremost question on my brain to be "What does this mean for our wedding?"

Hopefully you won't think that's me being selfish. It's an honest question, that deserves an answer. I would assume that this will change some things to our wedding, but can't even begin to think of what. I would imagine that the biggest change will be Who...as is Who is still invited to the wedding from our large pool of co-workers that have been sent Save the Dates...

So tell me, is it considered acceptable to wheedle the guest list down now? Even if you already sent a Save the Date?

70 Days and Counting...

Yep, can you believe it? We’re just a few days away from the big TWO MONTH mark...and it’s official. I’ve been cut off from DIY projects.

Wait. Let me rephrase that. I’ve been cut off from coming up with NEW projects. You see, this is what happens when you’re a bride. You know the engagement is coming (or at least in my case I did) and you start looking right away at wedding magazines. You see some things that you like, and some things that you don’t. You buy a binder (or I did) and you start saving those pages out of the pile of bridal magazines that you blew your last paycheck on (those things are expensive!) starting to compile your “vision” for your wedding.

If you’re a nice bride (like me) you consult with your groom about things that you like and don’t like. You compromise and come to terms with your “vision.” As the wedding process and planning goes on and on and on that “vision” sharpens and becomes clearer, more in focus than it was in the beginning. And THAT is when people like me get into trouble. I’m FINALLY starting to see it all come together. All the little elements that I’ve carried throughout the wedding like a theme are coming together and creating the look that I want and feel reflects us as a couple. And in these last stages of the planning process is where I have gotten the most inspiration.

Now I don’t look at the pretty pictures and think yeah, I like that. I look at the pretty pictures and say yes/no that will/won’t work in our wedding. It’s SO much easier now. Really, it is.

But of course, now...at 70 days and counting...I’m out of time. So B has done the deed. He’s stepped up the plate and put his foot down and said these words to me: “NO MORE PROJECTS...or I buy a motorcycle.” You see, that’s the sneakiness of being the guy. A motorcycle is the ONE thing that he most wants that I don’t want him to have. Please don’t hate me, it’s nothing personal. I just worry. A lot. A whole lot. Forgive me, please.

Since I understand that I’m at the crazy point of being a bride (Yes, Maid Britney actually called me Bridezilla the other day!) I have agreed to his terms. But, like any good woman, I bargained a little first. I cleaned up the blanket statement that B made and we agreed that I couldn’t start any project that I hadn’t already mentioned to him doing. Because, in all fairness, there are some projects that just can’t be started until the last two months...and maybe I already have the materials for those projects...what a waste of money to not do them now all due to a little bit of stress?!?! No way.

And, when there was one project that I hadn’t given him the specifics of, just the general idea, he was nice enough to let it slide in too. Yes, my negotiating skills are at a peak right now! He’s not being unreasonable, just trying to help me. He even agreed that I could do a new project that I hadn’t mentioned to him yet if I could give an equal project to someone else (either paid or unpaid). But I’ll give him that one – it’s a little sneaky. He knows good and well that I’m obsessive and “slightly” control obsessed...give up one of my projects? I don’t THINK so! LOL.

So we’ve struck the deal...shook hands on it...and I am now forced to stop coming up with really cool ideas. No matter how super-duper really cool they might be...it’s not worth my sanity. I hope that he’s noticed a significant improvement in my general mood and decrease in my stress level the last few days. It really WAS in my best interest...
To you brides out there, have you had to be “curbed” in by someone? How did it feel and did you adjust ok? I’m trying to tell myself that it will be ok and that I’ve already mentioned all the really important projects to B...crossing my fingers anyway!

Troublesome Times...

OK, I’ll be upfront about this...the post this afternoon MIGHT be a bit of a downer for you to read. So, if you want to skip it, I’ll understand.

What’s going on, you ask? Well, this uncertain and troubled economy is wreaking havoc with my life. I’ve held this all inside from most of the people in my life, but I was told about two weeks ago by my boss that he doesn’t know how much longer the company that I work for will keep my position open. Yeah. That’s a real downer on a Friday afternoon at 4:30...well, any day at any time, really. But still.

What makes this all that much harder to swallow for me, is that I sacrificed for this job. I took the risk to become a specialist for this new software that our company was converting to, and now we’re just not sure that we’re going to keep the software anymore. Always before, my boss was able to reassure me that even if we changed to another system (due to our problems with the new system) that I would continue along the lines of what I do, and I would become a specialist in that new system.

This was the first time that he didn’t mention that being an option.

This time he talked about making our division profitable. He talked about losses across the regions...he talked about a lot of uncertainty. Basically he talked about a lot of depressing things and offered no light at the end of the tunnel.

Not only was it disconcerting for me to find out that my position may no longer be considered valuable, but it was with the realization that I gave up a year of my life for this. And it’s going away. That makes me angry. I traveled, worked between two bosses, two separate cities (Dallas and Austin) for the better part of 18 months...to simply be told that I’m no longer needed? I gave up time with my daughter for this, and it seemed to pay off in a big way for a little while. New title, new office, new salary...but now he’s just not sure that they’re keeping it or me? You took my personal life away for a year...I worked late nights, weekends, and holidays...and you’re not sure that you can find something for me? Anywhere in your large company?

Well...I guess if you’re going to look at the bright side of things, then I would say that I know that I gave it 110%. I know that I did the best job that I could possibly have done. And I know that if they do decide to get rid of my position, then it won’t be because of the work that was given. I know that it was outstanding...even if there were days here and there that some portion of the day was spent daydreaming about my wedding...I still worked hard. I still did the best that I could.

So, that was two weeks ago. I’ve managed to avoid the axe for the better part of two weeks. But each morning, when I take out my access card to open the front door, I hold my breath. And I’m relieved when it still works. Each day, I show up, wondering if today is the day that I’m going to be let go. And today was a pretty rough day over in our world again. More people were laid off, and the rumor mill has started that there could be more salaried positions within my division laid off. I’m crossing my fingers that I’m not part of those, but my heart is pretty sure that I am.

B is so good. He tells me not to worry. That we’ll be fine. That this could be a blessing in disguise – give me the chance to do other things. I’m creative, I’m smart and I’m courageous enough to want to try other things...this could be the little push that I need to do that. Who knows? But until then, I’m here. Working away. Trying to do my best until the end.

Anyone else facing some job fears during this stressful time? How are you coping? Are your wedding plans staying the same?

They’e HERE!!!

I know that it doesn’t seem like that long ago to you, but I’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of these bad boys...so the days have just crept slowly by. And then I thought to check on the delivery, so I opened up my personal email and clicked on the notice for shipment and then followed the link that The Tie Bar sent me for tracking. Hmmm...delivered on the 3rd?!?! Wow. Guess we need to check our mail, huh?

Sure enough, once I grabbed the key from the main office desk and went downstairs to check our box, there was an oblong tie box tucked away just waiting for me to open. I didn’t even wait to get back upstairs, but starting easing the packaging open during the short elevator ride!

And here they are...

(Do you like how I snuck in a shot of my Bling???)

You know, they kinda look cool all nestled there together, all different. We had thought that since the Boys were all wearing different black suits that wearing the same eggplant tie would “tie” them all together nicely. But now that I see them all together, they look kinda cool being different! What do you think?

I took the ties with me when I met B for lunch, so that he could be as excited as I am about them. Well, a girl can dream, right? Anyway, we both voted no to the one with squares...it just wasn’t quite right. But the rest of them all were cool with us.

I wish that I could keep a secret better. Then I could NOT tell you which one that we picked. You’d have to wait for the wedding pictures to hit the internet before you knew...but you know that I can’t do that! I’m HORRIBLE at keeping secrets...so the one that we’re going with will be the STRIPED one!

It was my favorite before we ordered them, and it was one of my top two favorites in person. LOVE it. B wasn’t really sure about the lavender stripe in it from the pictures on line, but he admits that it’s sharp looking in person. So that’s one thing done.

I’ve got to return the others and exchange them for the right ones, but otherwise we’re all set on the Boys ties!

Can You Tell...

…if these are real or not?

We’ll do a little test, if you don’t mind. I’m considering the option of “faux” silverware at our wedding, but I’m not sure if it’s ok to do. The affair isn’t formal, by any means, the location is rustic and ceremony is outdoors. (Here is the post that I did about the venue, in case you need a refresher.)

From reviews that I’ve read and ones that I’ve actually seen and used in person, these new “faux” silverware pieces offered are really hard to tell between plastic and the real thing. They have weight, which leads you to believe that they’re real. And they’re shiny which also leads you believe that they are real. They can even be run through the dishwasher if you so chose to do so...and they’re less than ½ the price of renting silverware for our wedding.

So I’ll offer you three choices:
A

B

C

Can you tell me which ones are real? I bet you miss one...

Would you use any of the pieces that I’ve shown? Just curious...

Decisions are the BANE of my existence...

Yes, I said it. I’ll be open and honest and admit to my faults as a bride.

I HATE making decisions.

And that has absolutely nothing to do with being a bride, this is just me. But since I am a bride, and making decisions is pretty crucial to the whole wedding planning process, let me tell you that it’s driving me nuts.

There are SO many decisions to make. I totally get why people with unlimited funds in their budget would hire a bridal planning event to just do it all for them. Sure, they have the initial idea/concept, and they have to sign off on the final presentation, but all the little things that have to be decided day-in and day-out are done for them by someone else.

I just feel like although I’m making major progress each week (sometimes daily) on my To Do list, that there are a million and one things that I haven’t even started to think about yet. Or, rather, I started thinking of them and it was too hard, too time-consuming, or just too difficult that I have put it off. And now, at the 78 day mark before the wedding, I’m at the point where I can’t really put things off any longer. I need to start making some decisions to tie this whole thing together.

And since this is not really something that anyone else, besides B, can help me with...I’m pretty much stuck. My Maids are all so great, and every time I do a post on the looming To Do list, they all offer their services to see what they can do to help me out. But with this part of the plan, it’s pretty much on my shoulders.

So what kind of things have not been decided, you’re asking? Hmmm...ever heard of the rehearsal dinner? Yeah, haven’t even started on that one. No real decision has been made about the honeymoon...we know that we’re not going on a traditional honeymoon right away, but we want to do SOMETHING...with no real clue on what that something is. Seating charts have yet to be broached, along with what I will do for escort cards. I have not done a true mock-up of the centerpiece idea that I posted about here, that I’m 95% certain is the centerpiece that we’ll use. Ditto on the bouquets – have the stuff, just haven’t worked with them yet. Saw some CUTE vases yesterday at the store that I would LOVE to buy and work in somehow, but how? And for what? The bachelor/bachelorette party and the whole time line for us the days before the wedding has not been discussed or established again. And the list could go on and on...seriously on and on...

It’s nothing major. It’s nothing big. I keep telling myself that if none of that came together until the last minute, it would be ok. And it will be. I’m not stressed out about this at ALL, honestly I’m not. But I’m not motivated to work on any of it either...and did I mention that there were only 78 days left? I think that I did...
Any other brides out there hit this same roadblock? Just tired of making decisions and worried about how the whole thing is going to come together? How are you coping?

Unique Wedding Entrance Anyone?

Oh my goodness. I was reading through my blog roll the other day when I stumbled across this post from a new favorite of mine, 100 Layer Cake. (Check out their blog – it’s SUPER cute!)

In case you don’t feel like clicking over, the post was titled “Best Wedding Entrance Ever. Seriously” and it had a link within the post to a video on uTube for you to watch. The point of the post was that no matter how unique a bride and groom might wish to make their entrance for their wedding, it’s cool because it’s THEIR entrance. No matter if you personally like it or not, it’s all about them and their wedding day and a unique entrance can just add a little something extra to the day.

Now, there might be some doubting Thomas’ out there, but B and I SERIOUSLY discussed (as a total joke!) doing a different wedding entrance, something just like what this couple did. There was this one day when B mentioned that it was no fair that a bride got to make a grand entrance and the groom just stood at the alter and waited. So I told him that we could find him a song to walk into too, if he wanted...something like Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back” crossed my mind. Mainly because he makes SO much fun of that song (even though secretly deep-down he likes it!) and I got this whole mental image in my head of his groomsmen standing up at the alter with shades on bopping their heads along saying “Yea” at the appropriate times...and B just dancing his own little jig down the aisle, showing off his moves.

Of course, I shared my vision with B...and it got nixed. But we had a good laugh about it all. And then this video hit the internet...and it makes me wonder if something like that would really be cute?

Go ahead, go watch it. I’ll wait.

Would you do a non-traditional wedding march? Do you think that it would detract from the overall feel of the day? I’m curious...

I Have Dress Envy

I didn’t think that this would happen to me, I really didn’t. You see, I HAD that moment in the bridal salon and you’re trying on dresses and you slip a certain dress on and you just FEEL it that THIS is the dress that you’re meant to have. I did, I really did. And as I read wedding blogs and look at pictures of weddings and such, I really have not coveted another bride’s dress.

Until now...may I present the dress that made me turn pea green with envy?

source

Isn’t it gorgeous? Not that my dress isn’t gorgeous. My dress is. And my dress is TOTALLY perfect for me...it literally screams my name. But this dress...well, it’s also perfect. At least, I think it is as I gaze lovingly at my computer screen.

I’m trying to tell myself that it wouldn’t flatter me at all. That it would make me look fat. That the whimsical flowy-ness wouldn’t work at ALL for me and my own style...but still, it turns my head a little bit.

Just a teeny little bit.

Since I am an encore bride, and I’ve had more than one wedding dress, I’ve already had dresses in different styles. Each was appropriate for who I was at that time...just as this one is. With this not being my first wedding, I didn’t think that I would experience lust for another wedding dress, but apparently I was wrong.

Did you have dress envy? Or did you never so much as glance at another wedding dress? I envy YOU if that’s the case!

All “Tied” Up In Knots

Yeah, I know that it’s a lame play on words...but I just couldn’t resist! I wrote here about finding the suits for B and the Boys. Now, it was time to search for accessories. Since we had left my parents’ house early in order to run wedding errands, I was bound and determined to make the most of the day. Once we settled on the suit issue, we decided to check a few more places to make sure that Men’s Warehouse was offering the best deal.

Of course, their commercials don’t lie, and we couldn’t find a single place in town that could beat their prices. Granted we didn’t go all over, B isn’t THAT patient...but we did check the major players – Dillard’s, Macy’s and Second Looks. Since we struck out on finding a better deal for the suits, I decided that we might as well start looking for the ties that would “tie” them all together. I mean, we were already at the mall...and the ties were just calling my name.

But apparently they were just teasing me into looking at them. We couldn’t find ONE single tie that worked with either our color scheme or B’s taste. There was one or two at Dillard’s (they had the largest selection to choose from by far) that were close...but not cool enough for B to ask his guys to wear them. My plan is to purchase all the ties for the guys as part of their gifts, that way I can sleep secure in the knowledge that they all match. But there wasn’t one stinking one in the three places that we looked. And NOTHING was the actual color of eggplant...yes, Mom, I did think back to the tablecloths. Believe me, I thought about them.

Luckily for me, the internet still loves me. A few quick searches later and I find these beauties. And most were under $20, so score one for the budget!

(source, source, source, source)

What do you think? We were initially just thinking to find something in eggplant. But what about this option?

source

To girly for my manly Marine? Possibly. I haven’t shown them to him yet. I’ll let you know how that goes, or if you’re close enough to Austin you might hear the reaction for youself!

Now, if we can agree on one of these ties and get them ordered, the Boys will nearly be taken care of. We need to find cream shirts and decide about the pocket square / boutonniere question and THEN we’ll be all set...but we’re SO much closer than we were two weeks ago!

What’s your favorite place to find ties? Send me a link in the comments below – maybe you’ll know somewhere else for me to look!

The Great Tux Debate…Part 2

As I mentioned in an earlier post, B has been trying to make up his mind regarding the issue of tuxedo vs. suit. Well, I’m proud to say that we have finalized that decision! B, and his Boys, will be sporting black dress suits for the occasion. And hopefully, I can find some matching ties in our colors to tie them all together, since we’re not requiring them to all wear the same black suit.

Now, before you all freak out about the leeway that we’ve giving to our guys, let me explain. They will all be wearing plain black suits, no stripes, tone-on-tone or otherwise, are allowed. We figure that the venting and the number of buttons doesn’t matter as much, as long as they are similar, especially since my Maids aren’t wearing matching dresses or anything. And to be honest, I think that having them all wear different suits matches the Maids perfectly!

So we went suit shopping this past weekend. B had expressed an interest in buying his suit versus renting a suit for the big day, and since I DID get a new dress out of the deal, it’s only fair to get him a new suit. Plus, he doesn’t have one that he likes anymore, so this is a good reason to get one. We hit all the major stores for suits, but found the best deals at Men’s Warehouse. And wouldn’t you know it? They are running a BOGO sale right now, so he’ll actually get TWO suits out of the deal! SCORE!

B picked out a snazzy black Calvin Klein suit for his wedding suit, and a nice, patterned suit for the other one. With the big sale, this brings the price per suit down to under $300, which isn’t bad if you ask me! So, in looking at the suit that he picked out, and talking to the salesman, we found out some disturbing news.

It came about because I asked about the double venting that B’s jacket sports. I wondered about how it would look if he wore double vents and the others had single vents...the salesman assured me that it would not be too noticeable once you had the black pants on (B was trying the jacket on with khacki shorts, so I guess the salesman had a point!) and he also pointed out that the number of buttons wouldn’t matter so much either, since in most cases you just button the top button.

But this led me to ask about the one groomsman that we know doesn’t have a black suit and what the options are to rent. You know me, I was thinking if I could see the rental jacket side-by-side with B’s jacket to compare. And this is where the bad news come in...

They don’t rent suits. Just tuxedos.

Yes, Mr. Salesman, I get that, but some tuxedos look more like regular suits these days, so I can just select one of those to use for the rentals.

Not really, Mr. Salesman informs me. And by this point, he’s catching on that I’m “slightly” argumentative and says “let me show you.”

Yep, he was right. All of their jackets have a satiny lapel. ALL of them; which just ruins my vision of the guys that don’t already own a black suit being able to just rent one...hmmm. Then, more bad news...we notice the price on the rentals. Now, I knew that tuxes weren’t cheap to rent, but $160 for the cool ones? $199 for the ones that I really liked?!?! Jeez. That’s a LOT of money...I guess that the tux rental business finally caught on that if bridesmaids will pay $200 for their dress, why shouldn’t groomsmen? Anyway.

So then Mr. Salesman reminds us about the sale going on right now, and he offers the suggestion to have the guys buy their suits instead. Going in together on the sale, they could potentially each pay half price...which we all like to hear. We decided to take some time and talk to the Boys and decide with their input which route we should go from here. We ask Mr. Salesman to hold the two suits that B liked for 48 hours while we make up our minds. No problem.

Imagine our surprise when we call all the Boys and the two that don’t already own a plain black suit are more than happy to go in together on the great sale and get a new suit out of the deal. Because, I mean, let’s face it. You can pay $180 (after taxes and such) for a rental, or pay $20 more and OWN the suit when it’s all said and done...not so tough a choice, in my mind. But I know that it’s hard to ask outrageous things of our bridal party, and B and I have worked really hard to avoid asking for too much. I’m glad that the Boys were so willing to join in. Both of them are to go to their local Men’s Warehouse and get measured and find a plain black suit and get us the details. Then we’ll go in and buy them all, and they can send us the money and we can send them the suits for alterations. That way we get the discount pricing that they wouldn’t get if purchased individually. There’s still one last groomsman to hear from, but B is pretty sure that he owns several suits, surely one of them will be black.

So, I feel MUCH better having this decision made. And I like the direction that it’s going...now, I just need to find some cool ties that will coordinate with our color scheme and those Boys will be set!

Did selecting your groom’s attire go this easily?

Is it just me, or is it just easier for guys to all agree than girls? Even though my Maids were GREAT about it, I know that sometimes it doesn’t work out so.

I feel a little better…

Well, the sense of impending doom and gloom is gone...for now. Don’t worry, I’m not silly enough to think that it’s gone forever! I just had a really productive weekend...and I even travelled out of town for a “family” member’s wedding!

So here’s the skinny and what I’m proud to share:

- I FINISHED the 120 arcs that make up the wedding rings on our guest quilt!!! Yeah, go ahead, do a little happy dance with me – you KNOW that I did one Friday night when I realized that I was done!
- The signing pieces are all traced and cut (THANK YOU to Mom and B for taking charge of that project while I was in my “injured” state this weekend!). I also put the “signing border” on all of them last night and attached them all to freezer paper. Nearly done with what I can do before the signing pieces are signed...which is a BIG relief! I even went ahead and put the sewing machine up – you can see our dining room table again!
- The wedding invitations got a final proof from Mom this weekend (she’s the BEST at catching things!)
- I did an almost perfect trial mock-up of the invitation suite Friday night – Printer Beast 4...Fair Maiden 2! After the corrections are made, I’ll start running those bad boys off this week...
- We left Mom’s house early yesterday to make some decisions regarding the men’s attire, and got LOTS done and decided...more to come on that later!
- I got a rough draft of our ceremony that I “think” that I like...now to pass it off to B to see what he likes/doesn’t like.
- I weighed in this morning and didn’t lose any progress on my fitness goals. I was worried about this as I missed two normal workout days last week and ate horribly over the weekend!

Looking back at it now, it doesn’t seem like all that much, but I tell you, I re-did my To Do list this morning as it was looking a little rough...and it’s back down to just one page (front only!)! YEA!

So, I was either really productive this weekend, or I removed some things that were on the To Do list that didn’t need to be there yet. Or maybe it was a combination of both. Either way, I feel a little better than I did when I wrote this post the other day.

Any other brides out there have a productive weekend? Is it really possible to knock just a few little things off of your To Do list and feel THIS much better?

Tired of Making Decisions...

Please tell me that other brides out there with about 3 months left until the big date reach this point too...it looks like this, and carries with it a lot of stress and turmoil.

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Yes, ladies, that is the face of “I do NOT want to make another decision!” I feel like I wear this face some days. Some items are so easy to cross off of my To-Do list...while others require constant and endless decisions. Is this just me making things harder on myself than they have to be?

I don’t know. I know that I’m anal retentive. With a side serving of slight OCD. I get that. And despite it all, B loves me anyway. And we’re getting married in 90 days. Nothing will change that fact. Whether we have flowers or not. Whether The Guys wear suits, tuxes, or overalls...the wedding WILL still occur.

That’s what I try to keep foremost in my mind. That no matter what else happens. No matter if the caterer backs out, the cake tasting is a bust, the ceremony isn’t exactly what we wanted, or if it rains on the big day...at the end of the day, we’ll still be married.

It seems weird to me. There are so many details that go into planning a wedding that I couldn’t care less about. And then there are things that I get stuck on that have to be perfect – that’s probably just the OCD talking! It’s just easier to focus on what I want to focus on, and leave the rest to fall as it may.

Many days, at the end of the day, I feel like I’ve made SO much progress...and I scratch so many things off of my To Do list that I have to re-write the darn thing just to keep all my marks straight. So here’s the question for you: If I have to re-write the list because of all that’s scratched off, how can it possibly double in size when I re-write it???

Can someone please answer that little bitty question for me? Please? That’s all I want to know.

Regardless, this IS fun. I want the big wedding. I’m sorry, WE want the big wedding. And I love my family and friends for stepping up and offering to help. Unfortunately, none of them are close enough to do much good other than offer me advice from afar...mental note, find closer slaves. I mean, friends. Yeah, that’s what I meant!
Are you other brides out there struggling with these issues too? Are you tired of designing and printing, not to mention folding and taping and hot-gluing? I love it all, don’t get me wrong...but there are days when Vegas SCREAMS my name...

We have a Baker!

OMG, I am SO excited to write this post. My Mom has been SO worried about me making this decision...well, she can finally rest at peace – we hired a cake baker! And it wasn’t who I originally thought that I would go with. Yep, that’s the shocking part.

You see, I love Target. I love all things Target. Seriously. Target rocks. If you see something good in the world, chances are that it came from Target. So imagine my surprise when I found out that one of the top bakeries in the Austin area for wedding cakes was none other than the fabulous Archer Farms –located out of...you guessed it, your local Super Target store. I was in love. SO in love.

I even ordered J’s birthday cake from there as a sort of pre-wedding tasting to see how their cakes tasted and held up. I loved it. It was just a plain white cake with buttercream icing, but it was divine. Light and airy, but totally filling all at the same time. So, the decision was made, right? Wrong.

Enter The Sweet Stuff. It’s a local bakery located in our home town of Kyle, Texas. Check her website out, it’s really cool. Go ahead, I don’t mind waiting. You’re back? Good.

Now I know what you’re asking yourself. You’re scratching your head and wondering this thought: “But S, I thought that you said that you were going to NOT do a traditional cake and go with the whole cake buffet idea?” I am. That hasn’t changed. I had a long phone conversation with Michelle, the owner of The Sweet Stuff, and a totally cool lady, and we talked long and hard about my cake buffet and what it would take from her to pull it off. She had some great suggestions for me, and we ended up talking shop for about twenty minutes longer than I had intended to keep her tied up on the phone.

Luckily for me, two days after our phone conversation, J had a doctor’s check-up visit scheduled, so after we got her all checked out, she and I ran over to The Sweet Stuff and met Michelle in person. I had some an inspiration picture for her, seen below:

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She was thrilled with the pictures, but assured me that she thought the cakes needed something more. Not much more, but a little bit more. She’s planning on doing some tone-on-tone designs on the cakes, making them a little ritzier...even though those were pretty darn perfect in my opinion! Maybe something a little more like this?

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And the best part? The price. For an 8” round cake with two layers and a filling, Michelle normally only charges $22/cake. Which I would have GLADLY paid...but she’s a dear, and because of the sheer number of cakes that I’m going to order (10-12), she knocked a little bit off of the price. SWEET! So the budgeted amount that I had in my head got knocked down by 2/3! Yep, you read that right. The total cost that she’s charging me is only 1/3 of the total that I was estimating needing for the cakes. And she’s included in that price one double tiered cake so that B and I have the top smaller cake to save for our one-year anniversary. A sweet deal, if I do say so myself.

While I was there, I went ahead and booked a tasting with Michelle for B and I on the 22nd of August. I can’t wait to see if the cakes taste as good as they smelled in her shop! If all goes well at the tasting, the deal will be sealed...and that’s one more thing crossed off of the To Do List!

I’ll be sure and take some pictures of the tasting and let you know how it goes. In the meantime, if you didn’t check out her website, scoot on over and do it now. Central Texas brides – check her out! Her prices are beyond reasonable, and hopefully, the taste is just as nice.

A Twist on My Favors?

Now that the cat’s out of the bag on our favors, there are some other options that I’m considering. No, I’m not changing my mind again about making the charitable donation, calm down, Mr. CC! I still want to do that idea, but there are some options that we could have in regards to the charities and the donations.

Something that I saw in a post on weddingbee last week by Miss Taffy was giving her guests “chips” (think cute poker chips) and having three pre-selected charities picked out and selected that the guests can then choose which charity to put their chip towards. So that at the end of the wedding, there are possibly three good causes getting a donation, and the guest gets to select the charity that is closest to their heart. Here is a pic of her mock-up:

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I like it. I like that it gives the guests some control over which charity gets their money, in case not everyone shares my love of the American Cancer Society…but it would mean more work for me. With that being said, you KNOW that I’m willing to DIY some cute paper-covered “chips” that reflect our black/cream motif going on with other décor…

But if I do this, I lose the in memoriam feel to the favor that I was initially attracted to. I suppose that I could select three cancer charities…one dealing with research and cure search…one that focuses on offering help to families going through the treatments…and one that focuses more on extended care like Hospice or something. That could work…all the charities wouldn’t necessarily have to be cancer-related, but I’m sure that I could find three different cancer societies out there.

Here’s what I see my options as being:
1. Stick with my original plan and just make the donation to the American Cancer Society and keep this simple.
2. Select three “cancer” charities to allow the guests their choice of where their donation goes.
3. Select three random charities, one being American Cancer Society, for the guests to choose from.

What do you think I should do? You know that I welcome any excuse to have another DIY project going on…but should I just keep this simple and leave it how it started?

Do you have problems seeing things that inspire you and alter your original plans and make them more complicated? How do you avoid it?

Ask Miss Emily Post…

I’ve got a question about wedding invitation etiquette. Actually, I’ve got LOTS of etiquette questions, but we’ll focus on one thing at a time. Normally, I might turn to the tried and true Miss Emily Post, but I’m not sure that I would find this situation in her book of advice.

Here is a glimpse of some of the wording that I think that Mr. CC and I have settled on for our invitations: (not our real names)

Option A:

The honor of your presence
is requested as
Betty Jean Scott
and
Samuel John Adams
are joined in marriage.

Option B:

The honor of your presence
is requested as
Betty Jean
and
Samuel John
are joined in marriage.

The only difference in the two options is our names and the format used to present them. Option A shows with our first, middle and last names, and Option B does not list our last names. Mr. CC actually doesn’t have an opinion on these two choices, as he got LOTS of say in the splicing and dicing of several different invitations that we used to design the whole invitation. What do you think?

The only reason that it bothers me is because my previous last name is on the first option. Obviously, since Mr. CC is a guy, when he got divorced, he didn’t lose his last name. Since I had a child from my previous marriage, I kept my married last name after the divorce. And I think that it looks awkward being on my wedding invitation now.

I could always go with Option C, which would read:

The honor of your presence
is requested as
Betty Jean
and
Samuel John Adams
are joined in marriage.

This last option would show me with no last name and Mr. CC’s last name…which looks like my middle name is my last name. That option looks a little off to me too. Normally, I might not put this much thought into something so minor, but this is our WEDDING INVITATION, so it kinda matters. And I would like to do something nice like framing one of these for our house, so it really matters to me what my name shows like.

Give me your opinion, if you have one. Am I being silly here? Help me out, please!

A Thought to Ponder…

I have a question…even though I’m pretty sure that I already know the answer. Can you un-invite someone to your wedding?

Ok, that question was a little TOO simple. Try it like this: Can you un-invite someone to your wedding that you already sent a Save the Date to?

Yeah, see? That one’s a little bit harder. But it’s a question that I ponder as I sit here and tally and total the guest list and the costs per person that encompasses my ever-growing guest list. There was a time when Mr. CC and I started out planning this shin-dig when it wasn’t quite this large.

Why is this on my brain, you ask? Well, you see…someone at a party over the weekend happened to ask about my wedding. It was a company party, and since Mr. CC and I both work for the same company (although at different locations now) everyone knows that I’m a bride right now. A bride planning her wedding. A bride planning her wedding that is only 3 months away…

Ooh. I have to stop myself. I’m feeling a little bit faint.

All right. All jokes aside, this is a popular question that I get from all fronts. “How’s the wedding planning going?” is a great question for someone that you don’t know all that well, since more than likely the bride will latch on to the smallest bit of curiosity from an outsider about what is hands-down THE most important day of her life and start to prattle on and on, leaving you just listening. Why does a bride do this, you might ask? Because she’s already driven all of her own friends and family MAD with talking about the wedding. Seriously. It’s a proven, scientific fact that brides lose friends.

But since this question came from someone that knows me a little better than a passing stranger, and she was recently a bride herself, I knew that she could relate. I tried to stem the gush of information that I almost overloaded her with, and tried to play it cool like I had everything under control. Did I mention that she was recently a bride? Yeah…I’m pretty sure that she knew that I was blowing smoke…

Either way, she posed another question. “Is it a small wedding?” I answered yes, before I stopped and really thought about it. Yes, I think that my wedding will be small, in that it’s not our first wedding (for either one of us) and therefore we don’t have to submit to the strict rules of etiquette allowing your parents to invite people that you haven’t seen since you were a baby, but by-goodness they went to their daughter’s wedding and spent over $100 on their present, so these people WERE getting an invitation. Our guest list is MUCH smaller than that of a first-time bride/groom for this very reason. We’re really only inviting family and friends. There shouldn’t be anyone at the wedding who hasn’t known each of us personally. Yes, our parents are all inviting some of their friends, but we’ve at least met and spoken to these people at some point in the past two years…

Yet, once I started to answer with my resounding YES this was a small wedding, I stopped. At a guest list that nears 200 at its peak, is it still a small wedding? Where does a bride draw the line in the sand between small, intimate, and over the top?

I wouldn’t say that our wedding is intimate. Intimae weddings to me seem to be something with fewer than 50 guests in attendance.

A large wedding, in my opinion, is any wedding with over 300 in attendance.

Now, those numbers are based on final head counts…and my count of 200 is our guest list. There are people on the guest list that we’re sending an invitation to, but we seriously do NOT expect some of these people to make the trip in for our wedding. At the same time, they are important in some way to one of us, and we feel the need to include them and make them feel welcome at our wedding. Even though we know that they know that we know that they won’t really plan on being there. It’s the thought that counts.

I heard that a good rule of thumb is 75% when you’re trying to estimate a head count. That means that 75% of the total number that you invite is what you need to plan on being there. That means that we should plan on having 150.

So is 150 guests in attendance still small? This is what I wrestle with. I want small. I think that 150 is on the small side for weddings. Do you agree?

But when I look back over our guest list, I see a few people that I could cut from the list…trim the fat so to speak. Is it rude to not invite them now, once I’ve already sent them a save the date? Part of me says – YES! But a small part of me says that I could probably blame the dwindling economy and get away with a few invites being “recalled” between now and the actual wedding.

Like the lady that is letting me borrow some flower girl stuff. I had her on the list because I thought that I needed to do that, as a courtesy. MOH assures me that she lends out her wedding hurricane vases ALL the time and does NOT expect a wedding invitation from each bride that borrows them. Then again, since this is someone that I work with, is it just easier to let it go and be done with it?

What do you think? Is it rude to not send out the invitation after they’ve received the save the date? Do you think that I’m a terrible person for even considering doing that? I hope not…but I need some honest feedback here, and I know that you won’t let me down!

One More Non-Traditional Element…

I’ve had a lot of different thoughts regarding the favors that we’ll do for our wedding guests. And when I say a lot, those two little words just don’t seem to encompass the sheer amount of thoughts that I’ve had. A lot. Two little words that mean so much.

I’ve literally changed my mind on the favors at LEAST a dozen times. I started with baked goods, moved on to crafted goodies, went back to baked goods, then treat bags of mixes that guests could bake later…literally all over the board. But the other day, I came across an idea that I really, really liked. And it tied into another “problem” that I’ve been stewing on the back burner for a while. And you know that I like killing two birds with one stone!

I’ve been thinking about a way to bring in our loved ones that are no longer with us…using charms on my bouquet or personal memorabilia in our décor that gives a nod to each of them…the ideas are endless and there will be more on that later, I promise. But the one thing that they all have in common was that they lost their battle with cancer. Yes, you read that correctly, everyone that Mr. CC and I would want to honor on our special day that is no longer with us is no longer with us due to cancer.

What better way to bring them closer to us on our day, and honor them at the same time, than with a donation made to an organization like the American Cancer Society? I can’t think of anything better…

It seems to be a popular choice of late to opt out of doing traditional bridal wedding favors and make a charitable donation in the guests’ names instead. I like this idea for several reasons, mainly that the gift would mean something. Both to us as the bride and groom paying for it, and to the guest as I’m sure that most of them have known or at least heard of those that we would be honoring with this request. I like that our guests will not just get junk that they don’t need or want to be thrown into a drawer or shoved onto an already packed junk shelf in their homes, but that the donation could go towards research for a cure or treatment of those currently struggling.

For as long as I can remember, this is something that Mama CC has done in lieu of flowers at a funeral of a loved one who lost their battle with cancer. I lost my paternal grandmother at the young age of 14, and even then (which was MANY moons ago!) Mama CC made a donation to ACS in my grandmother’s name instead of spending gobs of money on a floral arrangement that would be gone within a few days time. I thought it was a thoughtful and kind gesture at the time…and nothing has changed in my opinion on the matter since then.

So I talked this over with Mr. CC and luckily he agreed with me that this would be a fitting memorial to our loved ones, and a perfect “gift/favor” for our wedding guests. He’s SUCH a good guy!

And since you probably know that I can’t just do this with a little piece of paper stating what we’re doing, I’ll probably still do a baked treat in a bag and on the tag, there would be an explanation of the donation. That way the guests do get someone a little sweet to snack on later (or right then!) and we get to make our donation.

I like it. It strikes a chord deep inside me as being a good thing to do. I talk a lot about our budget and paying for this big wedding, and I worry about it constantly, but this is money that I can feel good about spending!

Are you doing something non-traditional for your wedding favors? Do you like this idea or should I just stick with something a little more standard?