The Many Faces of a Bride…

Do you hate to be wrong? I do. Maybe it has something to do with being a woman, because let’s face it, we’re right MOST of the time…or maybe it’s just me. But I’d much rather be right than wrong. Although when it happens that I’m wrong, I’m generally a good sport about admitting it.

Which leads us to this post…the entire time that we’ve been dating, B has gently joked with me about the many faces that I make while dancing. To his delight, I vehemently deny making funny faces when I dance and just accuse him of making fun of the way that I dance…I am just a white girl after all! But it’s been a constant, running joke between the two of us – sort of like the joke about how I snore…but I’m not ready to give that one up yet!

But faced with our wedding pictures, I can no longer deny the obvious…apparently I DO make funny faces while dancing. Really funny faces. Like “What the heck was I DOING?!?!” sort of faces…maybe you do it too. I hope I’m not alone in this.

So, babe, this post is for you. Just to show the blogging world that I’m wrong and you were right, and I CAN be a good sport about things. This is a post (with pictures) that is completely 100% about the funny faces that I make while dancing. I mean, we’ve already seen a few other pictures of some odd faces that I make randomly…but these take the cake!

Check these out… Lucky for me, MOH is a good friend and doesn’t leave me alone making funny faces… I think that I must look goooood…or that’s what the expression on my face says to me now! Maid Britney helps me out and makes a funny face of her own! I wasn’t being mean there…I’m 95% certain that that face was made during Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”…hopefully that explains a little bit of it… Obviously Best Man S didn’t want me to be the only one… But I know when to admit defeat in the face-making-while-dancing contest… So there you have it…all the faces that a bride can make while dancing! I hope that you got a good chuckle out of those…because that was SO embarrassing to post!

**All photos courtesy of Christina Carroll Photography

Need to catch up? Here’s some links:
Girls’ Spa Day
Bachelor/Bachelorette Party
Setting Up the Venue…
Practice Makes Perfect…
Rehearsal Dinner
5 Minutes is All that I Need
A “Quick” Stop at the Hair Salon
A Sneak Peek at the Venue...
Arriving at the Venue...to Stay!
Getting Dressed
The Maids Pose for the Camera...
Oops - I’m Out of Order!
The Boys Smile and Say “Cheese!”
It’s Show Time!
Here Comes the Bride!
Becoming Man and Wife...
We’re Man and Wife!
Family Pictures
Now THAT’S Love!
The “Group” Says Cheese!
Now It’s Just Us...
It’s the Smallest Things...
Here Comes the Bride! And Groom!
Raise Your Glasses...
Our Cake Buffet
The Great Cake Cutting Debate
We Danced...
Two More Special Dances...
One Lucky Girl...and One “Excited” Guy!

Now THAT’S Love!

Oh wow. Are you in for a treat today or what? You can’t possibly be as excited as I am right now...you should be, you just don’t know it yet! I have a funny story to share with you. I know, it’s almost unheard of...me doing something outrageous or hilarious and making you LOL while you sit at your desk and “work.”

I mentioned a few posts back that the music was the main “oops” moment during our wedding...and that still holds true. For the most part. But there was something going on behind the scenes that only a few people know about...and it’s pretty funny! I wasn’t sure that I was going to share it with you all...not that I don’t love you...but it’s too funny to NOT share. So here goes. Oh, and I won’t even begin to apologize for there not being any pictures that captured this “oops” moment...just sit back, read and enjoy the story!

We finished with our family pictures, and what I haven’t told you yet is that all during the ceremony – well, mainly just the walking parts, I was noticing a “shift” in garments. Undergarments to be more specific. Standing still for family pictures was not that big of a deal since the rest of the family moved around us and the four of us stayed stationary for the most part. But during “scene changes” between families, I was giving a gentle tug (when I thought that no one was looking and I could be discreet) on my underwear. Now, I know what you’re thinking...the most common underwear problem known to women is crawling underwear...crawling up, that is. But that wasn’t the case here.

You see, in an effort to be slightly romantic for my hubby I had gone out and bought some new sexy VS undies for the big day. But the joke was on me, wasn’t it? Since Mother Nature “blessed” me the day before our wedding, the joke turned out to be on me...hahaha. No, I wasn’t really laughing either! Anyway, so these panties were new – washed, but unworn. They were too pretty not to wear (they were in our colors – black and cream) so I decided the day of the wedding to wear them anyway and feel pretty, even if it was that time of the month. I even managed to go to the bathroom all by myself (like a big girl!) before the ceremony started with no assistance needed from any of the Maids. They were willing, but there’s just only so much a girl can ask of her friends, right?

Anyway...so these panties were new. Tried and un-tested previous to our wedding day, which might have been my mistake. I maybe should have worn them one other time just to see how they “wore” for lack of a better way of describing things. But I didn’t. Learn from me, PLEASE! Wear your special panties at least for an hour of serious walking around before wearing them on your wedding day when they’re not easily accessible for adjustments! It’s just smart to do these things...me? Not so smart, obviously.

We finished up the family pictures and gathered all of the wedding party back together so that we could traipse off back into the meadow that we all loved so much...and as we’re walking, I admit to MOH (sort of under my breath) that I think that I’m having difficulties. I explain the problem – there are too many layers between gown, under-gown and petticoat for me to find a gauzy layer of underwear and give them a good yanking up. After we both had a giggle about it, I decided to press on and finish the pictures first and then I could make a quick “pit stop” before making our entrance in the reception hall. Good plan, right? Yeah...

Well, it seems that the panties had another plan of their own. Before we could even get around Redbud Hall to the meadow, I knew that the situation was a little more serious than I had first thought. I paused, and MOH stopped with me, along with the rest of the bridal party. One look at my face and MOH broke out in laughter, she understood that look, and immediately took charge of the situation...even if she DID laugh while doing so. She called Maid Britney over to hold all flowers, and shooed everyone else on towards the field, telling the photographer that we were having a “wardrobe malfunction” and would be along shortly. We turned and started toward our dressing room, and I had taken no more than two steps and realized that these undies were NOT going to make it to the dressing room. They honestly felt like they had already slipped over my hips and were making their way down towards my thighs...It had to be fixed, and it had to be fixed right HERE!

Being the good sport that she is...MOH didn’t even bat an eye. She backed me up against the back of the reception hall, put Maid Britney on the “look out” and dove up under my layers of dresses. Where she proceeded to get a good “grip” and make some adjustments for me. In other words, MOH has now seen my bare butt. I mean, not like she was trying to look, but how could she avoid it?!?! I was mortified...but SO very grateful to feel “secure” once again. LOL! And if you ask me, she gave an extra tug – “just to be sure” or so she said...maybe it was payback for having to pull up my britches in the first place!

After all was well in my world again, we fell apart in laughter. I mean, like give-me-side-stitches laughter. It was THAT funny! Luckily, or hopefully, no one saw anything (other than MOH, that is) and we rejoined the rest of the party quickly. B, of course, assured me that he would have been more than happy to help with the problem once I explained to him what was going on...and I’m sure that he would have...but we were in a field with our closest friends and some of their spouses...maybe not the time and place for his sort of “help.”

So the moral of the story? You’ve really got two choices: 1) Wash and wear your special undies for at least a little while before that special occasion or 2) Be sure to surround yourself with women who are willing to “go the extra mile” for you when you start to have wardrobe malfunctions! Either way works...just depends on your own personal level of embarrassment tolerance! ;)

A GREAT Deal... Craigslist MIGHT be my new Best Friend!

Well, those who love Craigslist…I think that I might be willing to join your camp!

I wrote a post last week about looking for a Jazz Fest getaway spot through Craigslist and there were SO many options to choose from! I wrote about 6 people that had posted ads on Craigslist and received quick responses from all of them – give a + for that…unfortunately for me, it seems that I started my search a little on the late side, as five of the 6 wrote me to say that Jazz Fest weekends were all booked.

I even had one “helpful” renter inform me that HIS condo booked months and months in advance of Jazz Fest and I might want to remember that in the future…you see? They’re just SO helpful on Craigslist…are you picking up on the sarcasm? I’m laying it on a little think here…

Anyway, I got a little worried about my timing after I got that one particular response (as I got it first or second) and started wondering if we were just going to have to go the hotel route after all. Then, I started seeing some postings about cancellations and hope sprang once again.

Luckily for me, even though 5 of the owners wrote me to say that they were already book, I had one reply telling me that the weekend was still available. YEA! Insert a GREAT BIG happy face here. The bad news, because you know there’s always a down side…the price was about $50 higher per night than I really wanted to pay. I told her that in my reply email, sort of hoping that she would agree to meet me on this. Her reply back to me? Sorry. Yep, just one word. Oh well, it was worth a try.

Later that evening, I was catching up with Mr. CC and told him about hearing from this lady. He was very quick to point out that even if we paid the $50 more per night, it would still be cheaper than a hotel. You see, the hotels were going for $179/night, plus taxes and parking. This condo was $200/night, but included taxes and parking. Yes, Mr. CC you are wise beyond your years…

But what was a girl to do? I’d already written her and told her that it was out of our budget! Oh well, in this scenario you only have two options…suck it up and beg for forgiveness or move on and keep searching. There are many out there that would probably go for option #2, but I’d already done all the searching that I really wanted to do, so option #1 it was. I was nice and blamed Mr. CC for the mix-up! LOL! Just kidding, Mr. CC – relax. I actually told the owner that after discussing things with my fiancé, we had decided that we would be willing to pay the extra $$ and was the condo still open? Then I held my breath…

And held it a little longer…

I’ll admit it, she had every right to make me wait a bit. But lucky for me, she’s not mean either, and she wrote me back at the end of last week and told me that the condo was still available at $200/night. I replied that we wanted to book it for just two nights of the Jazz Fest. And then I waited to hear back from her. We had a busy weekend, so it wasn’t until late last night that I realized that she had not written me back finalizing things. Just about that time, my crackberry buzzed to let me know that I had a new email.

Sure enough, it was the owner…and surprise, surprise…she really wanted to rent the condo for a full three nights and was willing to come down to my original asking price of $150/night if we would stay for three nights. Deal! Sold! Where do I sign?

So we’re taking a mini vacation to NOLA the first weekend of Jazz Fest! And we’re getting three nights at an awesome condo for only $50 more than we were originally going to pay for two nights! Awesome! And check out the pictures that she sent me…this place looks SO cool. Private condo right on Canal street, private security entrances, parking included, rooftop pool and a fitness center…I don’t think that I would have asked for anything else.

Has anyone else taken a non-wedding related trip during the middle of planning? Did you feel that it helped you to get away from all the planning, even if it was only for a weekend?

Oops! Did I Do That?!?!?

Sorry, ladies, but I couldn’t resist that title when I thought about writing this post…images of Steve Erkel just came running to the forefront of my mind…

You see, I ALMOST made a mistake with my STD envelopes. Well, in actuality, I DID make a mistake, but since it’s correctable, it turns into an almost mistake…you like the way that my mind works? I thought it worked out nicely for me! Anyway, back to what I did. Or didn’t do.

When I first started thinking about what I wanted for our Save the Dates, I fell in LOVE with embossing. Being a scrapper (like I’ve mentioned previously) you would think that this is something that I would be familiar with. Turns out, I’ve never even thought about it before. But I love the finish that it can give to your paper goods. Love…love…love the wedding invitations and STD stationary that I’ve seen where brides have added a touch of embossing to their project and saw what a change that little step can make. I knew immediately that our wedding stationary would be embossed in some way.

I’ve also been very good at reading what they did right and wrong and trying to learn from their mistakes. So in that frame of mind, let me share with you what I think that I did WRONG…and how I found that I could correct it!

I wanted something embossed on my STD, but with the postcard ordered and the magnet small enough that my stamp of choice for our stationary set was too large to use, I was bummed thinking that I would not be embossing anything on our STDs. Then I came up with the idea to emboss the envelopes with the scroll that I wanted to use. Cool! Back in business.

I read all that I could, and bought my supplies. I already had some stamping stuff, for my scrapbooking, but not an embossing gun or any powders. I followed the advice of other bloggers and went with colored ink and clear embossing powder, and picked up the gun at Hobby Lobby for a cool $20.

I thought that a “test drive” was in order for my new toy, and proceeded to stamp some scrolls and stuff on some test paper…dumped the powder on…shook off the excess…turned on the gun. Low and behold, that stuff works! And it’s easy! Cool. Miss CC is ready to do some embossing.

But I also noticed that my stamp was bigger than my ink pad. Hmmm…when I bought the embossing tools, I seem to remember a large black ink pad…maybe I could get a new one of those…since my black ink pad is old…kind of drying out…yeah, I can talk myself into anything! Off to Hobby Lobby for the BIG ink pad and back home again.

I worry about running the envelopes through my printer after the embossing process, so I proceed to print out the return address and all mailing addresses onto the envelopes first. The envelopes were just cheap cream envelopes that I picked up at Office Depot for about $8, so they ran through my printer like a charm, and I loved the font that I chose to do all of the addresses in.

I take out my new toys again and get to stamping and layering on that embossing powder. But to my surprise when I shake off the excess, almost no powder stays on the envelope…hmmm…scratch my head. Chalk it up to me not being fast enough. Try another two or three envelopes…same result.

The first thing that I decide was that the envelopes were such a cheap quality that the ink was just drying too fast. They were thin, after all. And they weren’t specifically an invitation weight paper or anything. Could be….but since it worked on regular computer paper, I think not.

I decided to live with it. The envelopes looked fine as they were.

But then, the other day while “killing time” at Hobby Lobby, I notice my big mistake. Embossing apparently requires embossing ink. Guess what I bought? Archiving ink. Yep, that’s right. My big black SUPER stamp pad was the wrong. kind. of. ink.

Boy do I feel dumb…

Luckily for me, I remember from my previous research that another way to do embossing is to use clear embossing ink and colored powder. Hmmm…since I’ve already stamped the scrolls in black, I wonder if I can stamp over it in clear embossing ink and cover with clear powder and get close enough that you won’t be able to tell the difference. Since all embossing supplies were on sale this week for 50% off at Hobby Lobby, I gave it a whirl.

Did another “test drive” last night with the already stamped envelopes and clear ink and powder…works like a charm. So now I know what I’ll be doing this weekend…fixing the other 70 envelopes…oh well. Live and learn, right? At least it’s fixable.

See? You can't even tell that I did this in two steps...

And don’t get me wrong. There’s not a thing wrong with leaving my envelopes just stamped. They look great. But I think that they look BETTER with the stamp being embossed! Yeah, Type A personality…bridezilla…whatever you want to call it…it’s peeking its head out right about now!

Did anyone else run into a little snag during a DIY project that you were also able to fix? Better yet, did anyone else realize that there were like 5 types of ink on the stamping aisle at your local craft store? And that it mattered which one you used? I didn’t!

High Praise...

I have to admit it….I’m hooked. I LOVE blogging. I wasn’t sure if I would like it or not, but I L-O-V-E it!!! (If I could do cartwheels or something to mark the occasion, I would, but trust me it wouldn’t be a pretty sight to see this lady fall down and hurt herself.)

My fiancé paid me a high compliment last night. He told me that I was a regular Carrie.

Now, for those of you lost somewhere in the Stone Age, that would be Carrie Bradshaw of Sex in the City – the famous journalist with a style all her own and an important column in the paper in NYC. For everyone else in the world who knew immediately what he meant, I’m sure you can understand why I’d be so flattered.

If you can’t understand, then please allow me to try to explain.

You see…I wasn’t really sure about telling him that I was doing a blog. It wasn’t that I wanted to keep something like this a secret from him – Lord knows that everything that I write about has already been discussed with him in detail. So it wasn’t a matter of hiding something from him out of not wanting him to know what I was doing. It was more of an embarrassment factor.

Is that odd to have? I was a little embarrassed to tell him about it in the first place, I didn’t want him reading it right there in front of me, and I thought that he might think that it was silly. And since I didn’t really know (and still don’t) what direction I would take with the blog, I wasn’t sure that he could read everything that I was writing. I mean, if a girl wants to write about her wedding dress, her future husband can’t be reading about it, much less looking at the pictures that said girl might be posting on the blog, right? Right. So when I told him about the blog, I told him that if he ever came upon a post that instructed him not to read it, that I would ask him to respect that and promise not to sneak a peek.

He immediately assured me that he didn’t need to read my blog at all, unless I wanted him to read it. He understood that I might need an avenue to vent and get things off of my chest that deal with my frustrations with him directly, and that he didn’t need to read my blog. Since I sometimes explain things in my head that don’t end up getting said out loud, I immediately started telling him that I wanted him to read my blog. So now, the poor guy is confused. Some crazy lady is sitting in the middle of Wendy’s telling him that she’s blogging now and that she wants him to read it, unless it tells him not to read it. Then we he offers to do the gentlemanly thing and not read it at all so that it’s a private journal so to speak for me, the same crazy lady gets all upset that he won’t read it now. I mean, really. What’s a guy to do?

I, being the crazy lady in Wendy’s, was luckily able to remember that I had failed to mention or fully explain the WHY behind not reading my blog. Once I rectified that, we were on the same page. And being the gentleman that he is, my fiancé totally makes the grand gesture to only read my blog if I instruct him to do so.

So then I had to come clean about the truth of the matter. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him to read my blog. I need him to read it. I want him to see this creative expression of myself and still love me anyway. I want to know that it’s ok to be a little neurotic about things, or insecure about myself, and to get that reassurance back from someone whose opinion I value more than any other.

And he came through in spades, didn’t he ladies? Me? Being compared to Carrie? I’m truly honored. (And SO totally blessed to have a guy that even KNOWS who Carrie is, or that she writes an article in the show!)

Back off ladies….he’s taken! Thank you for the high praise, babe. I am the lucky one!