Time to Say Goodbye....

It's been a roller coaster year and now as hard as this may be for me it's time I put my bridezilla crown down and walk away...

Thanks for all the love and support!

To see our wedding pictures and to follow me on my new endeavours and adventures as a Mrs read my new blog... THE ADVENTURES OF A MRS

LOVE ALWAYS,

Mrs. G.

Husband. Wow. That's such a weird word. Husband. Hello. This is my Husband.  Nice to meet you. This is my Husband.  Oh yes, the other day my Husband. ... Weeeeirrrd. Ha! I thought 'Fiancé' was a weird word.

 

DH and I were pillow talking last night about how strange it is to be married. Our life feels very much the same. Me...check. DH...Check... Baby James...Check. same apartment...Check. Yep. Everything is pretty much the same except now I get to say things like "Friday I'm having lunch with my Husband".

 

I won't lie it's weird but it's still pretty cool. 

 

In other news I'm impatiently waiting to see some teasers from our photographer. I simply can not wait anymore. She must be getting a million hits a day coming from my computer. I'm like a child. No pictures yet? Click. How about now? Click. Now? Click.... Now? How about now? Click. Maybe now? Click... 

 

Yea I don't have a life. I mean without wedding planning what else am I supposed to do? 

 

My adventures as a new wife are already proving to be more excitement then what I had originally signed up for. I tuned on my car today and this is what I saw.

 

 

 

Dear run flat tires,  

 

I hate you with a passion. Why the hell are you so freaking expensive? Don't you know I'm a newlywed? Can't I get a break? Please? Seriously. I need one.

 

Love Always,

 

Mrs. G

 

 

 

 

 

Wedding Recap...

That's it. I can't believe the wedding planning monster is gone and I am now a married lady! The wedding was amazing and I now understand why people kept telling me "enjoy every minute of it, because it will go by so fast!" I've been married for two days and I'm still in shock and can't believe I've already had my wedding. Ummm... Can I please go back and do it again in slow motion?

 

I've been dying to come back and share all the little details with you girls!

 

First let me start off by saying that I sooo did not live up to my name. I should have been called "chillzilla" because honestly I was just so calm and didn't let anything get to me. (Minus, one itsy bitsy, tiny little incident but you'll read about that later) I'm very proud of myself. I got comments all day long about how relaxed I was.

 

Did something go wrong? Absolutely. Was it a big deal? Nope. Did I care? Not at all. So I think the lesson learned here is yes something (and sometimes A LOT of things) may go wrong on your day but as long as your groom show up there's nothing worth crying and ruining your make-up for. (Hell, I paid good money to look this good, and I'm going to keep it that way)

 

Here are some highlights/lowlights of the weekend. Keep in mind some of the things I'm writing about here may sound really awful now but I swear in all honestly the day of I didn't even flinch.

 

The Lowlights

 

The weekend started off pretty fabulous, everything was going according to plan until DH and I got to our hotel rooms and realized we couldn't check in because we forgot to work out details of who we would be staying with the night before the wedding. After some thought and realizing that if we didn't get a room together I would have no where to get ready for our rehearsal which started in 15 minutes. So yes ladies DH and I shared a room the night before our wedding. It wasn't what I had originally planned but you know what? I don't care, and it was not the end of the world. He's my best friend and the only person who has really helped me through out this planning process so the hell with it! We woke up the next morning had breakfast together then went our separate ways. Him to the pool to lounge and me off to my venue to put together my aisle decor, table settings, and bridesmaid bouquets.

 

So the beginning of my wedding day wasn't as glamorous as I had pictured it to be. No biggie. After a few hours of sweating and hard work I had to run back to the hotel room so I can finally shower and get ready for hair and make-up. After a 10 minute shower I run over to hair and make-up only to realize that they're running behind for a few reasons..

 

1.) They had a really hard time getting everyone out of the pool and into hair/make-up.

2.) My Sister in Law had washed her hair and so she had to have the hair stylist dry her hair before he could put it up. {PS- she also "forgot" to pay for her updo so my mom had to}

 

Yep. There I was. Ms. Bride. Waiting for my turn in hair and make-up because my sister in law was not happy with her updo. Was I fuming? Yes. Absolutely. Did I let it get to me? Thankfully not. To make matters worse it was 3 p.m. and one of my sisters and bridesmaids was still driving down from Miami.

 

The Highlights

 

1.) The first look was absolutely my favorite part of the day. I felt like a princess and I couldn't be happier to finally see my DH and give him a kiss. I guess he liked my dress because he did shed a few tears! That and that alone made up for anything that could have ever gone wrong.

 

2.) My bartenders were right on cue with my patron shot and tic tic before walking down the aisle. (hee hee. My little secret)

 

3.) We started the ceremony 30 minutes late (yep, the bride was ready and her family was not) in the end we didn't mind because it made for a cooler ceremony because the sun was going down.

 

3.) Our ceremony was absolutely beautiful from the pictures I've seen so far. (seriously, I didn't even notice my aisle decor while walking down the aisle because I was so nervous)

 

4.) The best man had the rings and the marriage license (phew)

 

5.) We both said I do!

 

After that it was all pretty much smooth sailing. We had our champagne, and spent an hour taking some more pictures. This was the shortest hour of my life! I was a little sad we missed our own cocktail hour but I guess it will be worth it when we see our pictures.

 

I know you're all waiting for my "zilla" moment so here it is...

 

As we're taking our pictures our photographer tells us "ok we need to wrap it up NOW because we're losing day light" I still did not have a picture with my mom/family or my bridesmaids and at the same time I have my brother in law and his wife telling the photographers to take a picture of them with their baby. They take the picture and then say "ok, let's have one with the groom". (ummm.. hi. Bride here. My wedding. Remember? My photographer?) So I say "we don't have time right now" You think that would be the cue to stop. Nope. So after they take their pictures my brother is law invites me into the shot. (Gee thanks for letting me join) So when he says "oh come on Lorena take a picture with us" I couldn't help but respond with "really? no, come on. You want me in your picture? I mean I'm just the bride! You don't really want me in that picture do you. It looks to me like it's a family photo.. hmmmmm...." Yea. I could see the jaws drop as the words came out of my mouth but it was too late. I was too peeved to keep my mouth shut. No shame here because I still don't think I was out of line.

 

Anyways, enough about that. Dinner was amazing. The cake was great, and our first dance and sparkler send off couldn't have been more beautiful.

 

It's true, your wedding day will be the best day of your life. Glitches and all, and at the end of the day all that really mattered was that we're married.

 

I'm a very lucky girl.

Ever wonder what $200 worth of hydrangeas and calla lillys looked like? Well enjoy. Because right now I'm definitely not.

Cigar box/sign...

Cigar Bar Sign

On a happier note, here are some of the projects I've been working on

Petal cones & Basket

Table Numbers

Birdcage Card Holder

{**Warning- This post contains lots of whiny bitching, read at your own risk}

 

You know the saying "Anything that can go wrong will." Well, it's definitely true and happening to me. For one, I haven't gone to bed before 2 a.m. in days. My face is breaking out again. Bad. This morning my eyelash curler broke {me being the smart person I am, decided to use it anyways} and basically trimmed a HUGE chunk of eyelash out of my right eye. My nails are a complete mess, I feel like I have strep throat and I'm getting sick. Not to mention that my nerves are pretty much shot and I still have a million things to do!

 

This wedding is going to be the death of me.

Last weekend as a single woman...

Ok, this picture probably deserves an explanation. This picture shows my sister crowning me 'The bachelorette'. Yea... can you tell we all had too many tequila shots? Worst part is, this was before we even left the house.

Needless to say it was quite a night. I really did go out with a bang!

Petal Cones...Check!

My soon to be mother-in-law and my FI helped out a bunch by folding the petal cones for me while I decorated them with a simple ribbon.

Thankfully, things keep coming together.

Amen!

White Chocolate Chip Key Lime Cookies...

I'm training to be a good little house wife.

Key Lime White Chocolate Chip Cookies from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

3/4 C Packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

2 1/3 C Original Bisquik

6 oz white chocolate chips

1 Tablespoon lime zest (but I would up this to 1 1/2 or even 2 tablespoons)

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice

Preheat to 350ºF. Beat butter, sugars, vanilla and egg with electric mixer until well mixed. Stir in Bisquick mix. Stir in lime juice, white chocolate chunks and lime peel.Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto parchment lined cookie sheet.Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set but not brown. Cool 1 minute; slide parchment from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Single Digit Countdown- 9 Days to go.

ummmm.. this is self explanatory and pretty much sums it all up!

Q. What do skeletons say before they begin dining?

 

 

 

 

 

A. Bone appétit !

I love laffy taffy jokes. They're so bad, they're good!

More Wedding Gifts...

What? What? What is this? More wedding gifts?!?!

I'm officially like a little kid on Christmas! We've received our second {and very unexpected wedding gift} today! We don't have a registry so our gift expectations are at -ZERO.

This means I can start writing thank you notes now. Who knew I'd be so happy to be writing thank you notes?

Our family and friends and really awesome!

I can't wait to go home and open this baby up! Luckily the gift was delivered to my FI's office and not mine because I would have opened it up HOURS ago!

**Update- We were gifted with very cute matching his and hers Lacoste Beach towels! A must for S. Florida!

Good bye Wedding World...

The time has come for me to say good-bye to all things wedding related and to be honest I'm surprised to find that I am ok with that. It's been a good year. Stressful, but interesting none the less. When I first got engaged I swore I wouldn't be sucked into the wedding world. I vowed to never be "that" bride who bored all her friends with questions like should I go with the '85 pound' linen cardstock or should I go with the '65'? {Fat chance of that not happening} I bought every wedding magazine out in stores {and read only maybe 2 of them} I watched every wedding t.v. show I could possibly watch. You can see why I'm a little surprised to find myself wanting to get rid of every bridal magazine in my possession and delete every wedding related show from my DVR. {Yes, I really got rid of Bridezillas, Cake Boss, Say Yes to the Dress, Happily Ever Faster etc.} I'm sure my FI is going to love me that much more for it.

 

It's kindda weird. I feel like I'm closing a chapter of my life. What am I ever going to do with all this extra time I'll have on my hands now? How will I ever survive without spending hours at a time on the knot? I think I'll miss the companionship and support of the girls the most.

 

I now have to deal with what to do with my little blog as well. Do I continue blogging or do I retire? I'm not sure I'd have a lot to write about after the wedding. {I'm pathetic. I know.}

 

Anyone have any new blog title suggestions? I can't believe I have to hang up my 'Bridezilla' crown.

Wedding etiquette for Dummies

 

I'm convinced that someone needs to publish a "Wedding etiquette for Dummies" book. Not only should this book include proper etiquette for brides but most importantly for guests as well. Since there is no such book out on the market today I've decided I am going to publish it. I'm going to title my book " Wedding Etiquette for Dummies and Those who are just Plain Rude"

Chapter 1. Wedding Guests

 

What to do/Not to Do when invited to a wedding...

1.) Thou Shalt Not ask for an invitation for your flavor of the week boyfriend/girlfriend just because they're your flavor of the week. I know this is probably hard to believe but the bride and groom who sent you that little invitation put a name on the outer envelope for a reason. If you don't see your name followed by a "and Guest" that likely means that your "and guest" is not invited.

 

2.) When a bride/groom sends you an invitation with a little paper on it that says "RSVP" that is not a coaster. It's not a paper airplane, and you don't wipe your boogers with it. It is not a Kleenex. It's an RSVP card and the bride/groom expect to have it back by the date written on it.

 

** Please note that this is especially true when they also provide you with a self addressed and stamped envelope. This usually says "I really need it back fuckers"

 

** Please also note that it is under no circumstances 'ok' to RSVP a week before the wedding. You can not expect a bride to hold your seat that long. If you couldn't care enough to RSVP what makes you think she cared enough not to replace you with someone else?

 

3.) If you are a member of the wedding party Thou shalt not wear something other than what the bride/groom suggested because you think "it looks better" Although your mother might have told you "you are special" truth is you may be but in this wedding party you are not. You do not get to tweak your outfit. If this will be a problem for you, you might as well politely decline being in the wedding party all together.

 

4.) It's very rude to expect a bride to call you the week before the wedding to deal with you and your nonsense. If you have a legitimate question which needs to be answered by the bride, just call her. Simple. Do not leave messages with her family member about having the bride call you because the bride will automatically think that

 

(A) either your question is not really important and can wait until after the wedding or that

(B) You really are special and don't know how to use a telephone, either way she will not sympathize with you.

 

** The excuse "I don't have the bride's telephone number" will not work because if you had the sense to call her mother to ask that she tell the bride to call you, you could have had the sense to call her mother and ask her for the bride's number so you can call her.

 

5.) Thou Shalt not wear white. No excuses. All guests wearing white will automatically be sent to the bathroom by the bridesmaids with a hefty bag and immediately be asked to change. Seriously.

 

6.) Thou shall be on time. Someone else's wedding is not the time to be "fashionably late" The only person allowed to make an entrance is the woman wearing white (and because we already went through that in step 5, you know it's not YOU)

 

7.) A guests job is simple. Open Invitation, Return RSVP card, Show up on time (not wearing white), sit down and enjoy the evening. If you are thinking (even for a split second) that you will have a hard time accomplishing this task, simply RSVP "Declines with Regret"

 

The End.

and the Nightmares Continue

For the past few days I've been getting the worst sleep possible. I toss and turn all night and have the weirdest dreams. Last night I had one of the worst wedding nightmares I've ever had. In my dream I woke up last on my wedding day, my hair and make-up people didn't show, I couldn't find my shoes or jewelry, the wedding started at 9 p.m. instead of 5 p.m, it was too dark to take any pictures, and most of our guests were tired of waiting around so they went home before the ceremony even began.

 

Sheesh! Can anything else possibly go wrong? I take that back. At least I didn't trip down the aisle, rip my dress, or not have the groom show up. Thankfully this was just a dream and even though I know something will probably go wrong the day of, I doubt it can go this wrong.

 

In other news, I almost threw my printer out my apartment balcony last night because it kept eating up all my place cards and getting paper jams. This is how you know you're almost a week away from your wedding day.

 

Printers beware. There's an frustrated bride on the loose!

 

I've also committed the worst sin any bride can. I can hardly admit I did this because I do not suggest it to anyone else getting married.... I... looked.... I looked.... I LOOKED AT MY WEDDING DAY WEATHER FORECAST! Ahhhhhhh! I said it. Ladies DO. NOT. DO. THIS. I repeat. DO. NOT. DO. THIS!  

 

Luckily for me, the forecast is as follows:

 

Sunday, Oct 4

Partly sunny and humid

Low: 75 °F

High: 85 °F

 

Ha! Can you imagine if it said something else? I would absolutely have a fit {Hey, at least I can admit I'd go nuts} Now, if the people at accuweather.com happen to be wrong then..........

 

Oh god. Why Can't my mind stop wandering? It needs a leash or a cage.

Birthday Wish List

Realizing I've only got 12 days to go before I am officially a Mrs. I've decided to include some more random blog entries because after all, I can only blog about color schemes, engagement rings and cake for so long { Plus, god knows I need to write about something non-wedding related to keep my mind off my wedding for 5 minutes before I go crazy!}

Today I'd like to share with you my birthday wish list. { 2 months is never too early to start making a list! After all, you should see how early I write my Christmas wish list}

This birthday is going to be a big one! It's going to be my first birthday as a Mrs.

Let's start with my imaginary birthday list {because wishes are free and fun}

{The 2010 Volvo XC60- Because it's just so bad ass and by far, the coolest looking SUV on the road today.}

{David Yurman purple or yellow "color" collection bracelet- Because it would complete my collection and well who really needs an excuse for more jewelry?}

{ A new Louis Vuitton bag- Psth. Self explanatory}

{Cartier Roadster- Because now I'm really dreaming!}

ok ok, back to reality. This is my "real world, no we didn't win the lottery" birthday wish list...

I'd love to tell you I'd like world peace {not that I wouldn't} but I'm no beauty queen so I won't even get on that soap box.

In all seriousness, my real birthday wishes include:

{Red Velvet Cake or German Chocolate Cake- Blame wedding planning but I want the girliest pink swirl or crazy polka dot cake ever made! I want it to be so girly it's sickening, so girly a man would be ashamed to be be in the same room as my cake}

I'd also like breakfast in bed, a good night out on the town getting trashed with good friends {because I don't know how many years left of young and stupid I've got and would like to take advantage of all of them!}

In all truth, in lieu of birthday gifts, I'd like to just save up money for our honeymoon. We're not going anywhere right after the wedding and it sucks. Paying for your own wedding is no fun!

See why I like to dream instead?

PS- Damn it. I could not stay off wedding topic for 5 minutes!

10 ways to blow your budget...

So you mean my wedding won't be as good as other people's weddings because I'm not having fireworks or a belly dancer? I'll take my chances..

The knot usually sends out great newsletters on wedding how to's today, not so much. Today's article "10 Ways to spend lots of unnecessary money"WOW" your wedding guests" really pissed me off. The list of ways to "wow" wedding guests included things like

1.) After the Ceremony Change out of your Wedding Dress
2.) Have a fireworks send off
3.) Send your wedding invitations in silk boxes
4.) Hire professional flamenco dancers, break dancers, or ballroom dancers to put on an amazing after-dinner show.
5.) Rent Up lighting
6.) Rent a photo booth

Seriously the knot? Come on! What ever happened to budget brides and weddings? More than half of the suggestions on this list included spending big bucks! No wonder brides feel so much pressure to come up with new ways to "wow" their guests. Obviously exchanging vows and getting married in front of family and friends is not "wow" enough.

I do love the knot because it's given me very creative ideas throughout the wedding planning process but at the same time, I do feel like there has been a lot of pressure to do a lot of unnecessary things. Out of town bags, candy bars, cigar rollers, bathroom baskets, etc. are nice but really are they needed?

How about this list of "ways to wow your wedding guests"

1.) Prepare hand written Thank you notes for all the out of town guests and leave them in their hotel room
2.) Write your own vows
3.) Keep your youngest guests entertained during dinner with their own coloring books and crayons
4.) Instead of having a traditional guest book have guests sign a blow up picture of the bride and groom and display the picture with your guests messages in your new home.
5.) Have the bride and grooms homemade treats as wedding favors

Any other cheap ways you can think of to wow your wedding guests?

Wedding Reading...

I tear up everytime I read this... I am going to be a mess on my wedding day

"I Carry your heart with me"

icarry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)
i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

ee cummings

Carpe diem!

Wedding Countdown...

Bridal Beauty...

I'm sure most grooms seem to think that getting ready for their wedding day is as easy as zipping up their pants and tying their tie. Not a lot of thought goes into it I'm sure. Women on the other hand, we take forever getting ready. We sit in a chair getting our hair and make-up down for hours and it doesn't even begin there. Weeks and sometimes months before the wedding we start primping. We start worrying about our hair and how we should maintain it until our wedding day, we worry about going to the gym and doing squats. We take care of our teeth getting them cleaned and whitened. We get weekly manicure and pedicures, we get facials. Oh my god the things we do to look our best is never ending!

Last night was the first time I'm in serious bride mode! I went for my first facial in a loooong time. One of my fellow "Knotties" Michelle referred me to 'Rescue Skin Care' in Miami and I couldn't be happier with the results of my facial. Heather the owner and esthetician spent a good hour and a half meticulously and gently removing every single impurity on my face. It's been the first time I've ever left a facial appointment with skin that looked good automatically without any red spots or new acne. This morning I just couldn't stop starring in the mirror because my skin looks so radiant! {I'm vain, I know.} I also can't believe how smooth my skin feels too.

I wish I would have started taking care of my skin earlier. I do however plan on visiting Heather more often. I could definitely get used to glowy clear skin.

I'm now realizing how much of the wedding business and planning process is done by referrals. While we're on the subject of beauty and referrals can anyone point me in the direction of a good nail polish color to wear on the wedding day? What are you ladies planning on doing with your nails? Clear polish? French tip?

I'm looking for something more on the white side and less on the pink. I usually wear Essie nail polish in 'wicked' and have been known to also wear Essie in 'Marshmallow' when going lighter and on the white side.

Any suggestions? What color do you normally wear?

Mother of The Bride Outfit...

Has your mom found what she's going to wear to your wedding yet? If she hasn't I suggest you start shopping NOW. I'm practically 2 weeks away from my wedding and my momma still does not know what she's going to wear. Bridal stores have very matronly dresses so we've been trying to stay away from there. We've been looking at places like Macy's, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue with no avail.

Here's a compilation of my favorite MOB dresses...

and now here's a compilation of my mother's favorite MOB dresses apparently she likes Zac Posen.
She has her mind set on having someone custom create her dress. Two weeks away and that spells disaster to me.

Sigh. Oh mother.

Free Giveaway!

Hello Blog Stalkers!

The lovely folks at DigitalRoom.com are sponsoring a FREE GIVEAWAY this week to my readers. That's right! No Shipping or handling fees will be charged to claim prizes for this week's giveaway.

One lucky winner will win (1) "18x24" rolled poster print!

What better way to create your own photo enlargement or the infamous "Here Comes the Bride sign" That's what I'd do!

The only catch is that this offer is open to US residents only

To be considered in this drawing leave me a comment explaining all the creative ways you'd use your free poster if you won. Please be sure to leave me your email address on your comment so that you can be contacted if you are a winner.

*For extra entries

1.) Leave me more than one comment (One entry per day please)
2.) Become a follower on this blog.

Drawing ends September 30, 2009 so post all your comments before then...

Custom Favor Tag...

So after such a party pooping post yesterday let's move onto bigger and better and much happier things...

My favor tag designs are in and I love them. The only problem I'm having now is that I can't decide on which one to use! {Psth. Like I'm going to be decisive when it comes to anything wedding related}

Here is design Number one

and design Number two

I'm REALLY not sure what will look better on my favor boxes. The favor boxes are going to be a gold color with an Ivory ribbon.

Any suggestions?

Not so fun Stuff

I spent three hours of my work day at my doctor's appointment this morning because my doctor's office is constantly and unnecessarily full of people. (Maybe he gives out free cookies or something? Either way, he's never offered me any) I had to have an ultrasound taken (Guys, just thank god you're not a woman and don’t have a uterus because if you did you’d be miserable too) The process is long, drawn out, and more tedious than it should be. You need to drink large amounts of water and quickly too (because obviously you want to get the hell out of there as soon as possible) but you have to be careful as well because if you drink 15 glasses of water too quickly (like I did today) then you just throw all that water up and have to start all over again. Not a lot of fun.

Once you finish chugging your 15 glasses the ultrasound technician then proceeds to poke and probe at your uterus and your extremely full bladder all while you shake and have your teeth chatter because your half naked and cold. If anyone has ever poked your bladder really hard first thing in the morning while you've been holding your urine for hours... well you can imagine the rest.

Good news is I currently have TWO eggs  (ripe for the picking) Do you know what that means? That means that if I wanted to this month I could have twins!

Bad news is I probably can't have kids right now because my eggs would likely be blocked by the 2 cysts I've now been housing as well. Of course with all the medication I've just been given I'll likely be sterile forever!

But hey who wants kids anyways? God knows I'd prefer to never take a maternity leave and work forever. So

Dear Work, 

Please feel free to email me and call me anytime. I've got nothing better to do!

Sorry, it's been a rough day.

A better Picture at least Color Wise...

 

Yes. I honestly do think my florist rocks...

Floral Updates..

Friday night as some of you may recall we had our final meeting with our florist. We had to finalize all the details and I wanted to change the overall look of my floral design {yet again}

I just wasen't 100% sold on my previous floral design because there was just something I didn't love about it. I felt like the flowers used were great but the colors were a bit off. In the end, I decided to go with something a little bit brighter and bit more tropical. I've realized that I've been so focused on keeping the whole "pink on pink" color scheme that things were just looking a bit off. At the end of the day I've realized it's ok to throw some more color in your palette and not have everything be so "matchy matchy" especially for me because my wedding is supposed to be a "tropical" wedding.

When I met with my florist all I said was "give me more color, and work with hydrangeas and orchids because I love them but feel free to throw in all sorts of different flowers".

I couldn't be happier with my new floral design. Please excuse the crappy blackberry pictures.The color is really off as well and I'm not sure why the orchids in these pictures came out purple when really they are a beautiful shade of maroon/fushia.

We're having a centerpiece and two accent pieces on each table. The accent pieces at each table will be different. Some will have orchids, some will have orchids and roses, some with have orchids, roses and yoko ono mums some will have light pink roses some will have darker pink roses. Well you get the idea.

Wedding Day Jewelry...

This weekend I ventured out to the mall with my mommy in order to finally find her MOB {Momma of the Bride} outfit and my wedding day jewelry. We visited Macys, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue. As for the MOB outfit, my mom's been eyeing some pieces in the Adrianna Pappell collection {Great MOB stuff by the way} while I was having a hard time with Jewelry.

Macys- Has some great pearl items and some nice jewelry in the 'Givenchy' collection but other than that, the stuff kindda sucks and looks pretty fake. Either the jewelry is way too shiny and looks really cheap or it's way too dark and looks corroded.

Saks- Has great wedding day jewelry but nothing that really took my breath away or looked fabulous because I was looking for a larger/longer hanging pair of earrings.

Nordstrom- I hit the jackpot! I LOVE their 'Nadri' collection. They have beautiful and relatively affordable pieces. After about an hour of trying on a million pieces and mixing and matching I finally walked away with my wedding day earrings and a bracelet. Here is a compilation of some of my favorite pieces ...

Hooray for getting things done. Now onto petal cones, escort tags, place cards, more DIY paper projects, painting,and the list goes on and on and on and on............

That's what I love About Sunday...

This past Sunday Lucas' family came over for an afternoon lasagna lunch. I'm lucky because my Fiance can really cook {even if he just makes pasta dishes}

Having guests over the house for us is always a battle. Let me explain. For one, I'm a crazy "Type A" perfectionist. Yep, even for a simple afternoon lunch the plates all have to match there has to be flowers on the table, and the menu has to absolutely be planned in advance.

Lucas on the other hand is a "let's just wing it" kind of man. You can't begin to imagine how many arguments that brings about.

By the way, how great are those black plates I purchased for our Halloween Party?

Yep. This is another Cake Entry...

Need I say more? My new obsession is silk ribbon wedding cakes. Again, I know I don't have the time to be second guessing every decision I make however, this one was forced I swear! You see, Publix called and let me know that with my previous cake design we would not be able to cut down the spacers in between each tier to anything less then 5 inches. Unfortunately 5 inches is a whole lot of spacing between tiers and to be honest I'm not sure that would work out too nicely. So I've decided to go the easy route and rather than throw a bridezilla fit I've chosen to just scratch my previous cake design and go with a new one all together.

I've chosen to stick with a white three tier stacked wedding cake with an ivory ribbon trim and white and pink orchids.

Now thanks to one of my wonderful "knotties" I also have a wonderful silver cake stand. Thank God for helpful friends who are willing to go 50/50! Irene I LOVE you!!

I can only hope this will be my LAST entry about freaking cake.

All things Floral

In preparation of meeting with my florist tonight {and because honestly I can't possibly focus on anything else} I thought I'd compile some of my favorite floral design. I know he's going to want to kill me when I tell him I think I want to brighten up and change the flowers again. Here are his original floral design..

Here are some of my favorites..

I'd like him to definitely add some brighter colors and maybe less white. Oh boy. I do not have the time to be doing this.

Here is a picture of what my bouquet design {for some reason I can't let go of the whole white bouquet thing}

Bridesmaid's bouquets

Seating Chart Galore...

I've made HUGE progress in a span of 48 hours!

Even though this may not seem like much to you, this is my seating chart. Yep, no fancy smancy seating program here. Just your regular "old school" paint and word program. I can't even begin to tell you how stressful working on a seating chart is. There's always that one person who hardly get's along with anyone so you have no idea where to sit them. Anyhow, that's all over and done with and the important thing now is that I have a seating chart and I'm that much closer to being done with wedding planning.

Noon today I have a meeting with a calligrapher to talk about my escort tags.

I also have my final meeting with my florist today and I can't believe I'm still working on deciding what color the flowers should all be. I can't wait to finally get that out of the way. I swear that after this afternoon I will not look at floral arrangements until I see my own the day of. I just have to keep repeating to myself "Wedding porn is bad. Wedding porn is bad. Wedding porn is bad. Wedding porn is very bad".

Today is a very busy wedding planning day. Come to think of it, when you're a month away everyday is very busy wedding planning day.

So I had to eventually jump back on the wedding planning wagon so here I am again. Today I'm making the final decisions on our favor boxes and tags. Seems simple enough but like all things wedding related.. it's definitely not. At first I just couldn't decide what color to purchase the boxes in, and then I had the dreaded realization that the standard 2x2 cube favor box might be too small for the white chocolate chip coconut key lime cookies I wanted to hand out to my guests. So what do I do? Do I order the boxes in a larger size? {Nope, Can't do that because the next size up is way too big} Do I just forget about the damn cookies and fill the box with something else? {God forbid I gift my guests with the usual Jordan almonds, truffles, or chocolate}

 

In the end in the middle of the night I had an epiphany! I'd still love to fill them with the original key lime cookies, but am going to have a cheap alternative back up instead. I decided that if I get to the keys and purchase the cookies and realize they don't fit I'm just going to head on over to Publix and purchase a few boxes of Entenmann's mini soft baked chocolate chip cookies.

 

To my surprise not only does one Entenmann's cookie fit into the box comfortably, three do! 

 

If you've never had a box of these cookies, I suggest you try some a.s.a.p. They're very soft and yummy.

 

Are chocolate chip cookies a cheap wedding favor? I think it's different. Maybe not as great as having white chocolate chip coconut key lime cookies, but you know what? If they don't' fit they don't fit and I can live with that. 

 

My second epiphany came today when trying to decide on what color the favor boxes should be. I had considered white, pink, and magenta, before realizing that a gold color {like the color I used for my pocket fold's} would look nice as well.  

 

I've been going back and forth with Jessica from Jessica's Design Shop {Yep, that's also where I got my lovely monograms} with the design idea for the favor tag's and stumbled upon this lovely creation from Jessica.

Look familiar? I think so. Her design is almost identical to the designs found on my menu's so naturally I just couldn't resist myself. My tag's are going to be gold and magenta I think and will match my favor box perfectly. I think I'll tie an Ivory colored ribbon around the boxes {Like I did with the pocket fold invitations}

 

I'm breathing in a big sigh of relief because I think it is all finally starting to come together.

 

Amen!

A little off track...

"Mango-ritas"

INGREDIENTS
1 (10 fluid ounce) can frozen BACARDI Mixers Margarita Mix
1/2 mango, diced
1/2 cup BACARDI Rum
5 cups ice
Mango or lime for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Blend together BACARDI Mixers Margarita mix, mango and BACARDI Rum.
Add ice and blend for 45 to 60 seconds or until uniform.
Garnish with mango or lime......

Drink a few of these puppies and what do you get?

Cupcake Tower & Halloween Pumpkins...

Home made "bloody" candle sticks...

Bloody Hand purchased at Michaels and used to stick on mirrors/windows...
Halloween Cupcake Party Pack...

Creepy owl and black crow...

Do I really need to say more on this post?