Trooper

Dean was such a trooper this weekend- I'm really lucky to have him.

On Saturday, we weren't feeling very well and he embarked on a shopping excursion with my Mom, Dad, and myself. He tried on quite a few suits and shirts (to my great amusement) and finally he landed on getting an English Laundry suit.



The only difference is that Dean's suit is black, and he'll be wearing an Ivory shirt and black tie. My Dad also picked out a very nice Perry Ellis suit (with the help of our own personal Macy's shopper Ken) and a beautiful shirt/tie that will be stunning for sure. I also bought myself a pair of jeans because of my...unfortunate ripping accident that I will not go into any more detail about! (Nothing scandalous, just totally embarrassing). Thank goodness for our personal shopper also helping Mom find her outfit. She got a fantastic blouse/skirt that I can tell she felt gorgeous in. She tried on a fantastic skirt/shirt combination but it was just too formal for our wedding. She said it made her feel like Meryl Streep!

Yesterday we went to Huntington Beach Central Park for our engagement photos (finally, after almost 8 months of being engaged). We are not very photogenic, and my hair was blowing around WILDLY near the lake but we should have at least a few good pictures. I just hope that our personalities came out on film. I managed to stay away from the evil, evil geese at the park and we even saw two horses! Though, there were some typical Huntington Beach characters in the park that were there while we were taking pictures. One guy was fishing on the small dock by where Alice's cafe used to be and said that there were 'small carp' in the lake and he accidentally ripped one's eye out. How romantic. The second was actually a group of teenage boys who were imitating the geese and although it was funny at first, it started getting kind of weird towards the end of it.

I also bought the groomsmen's ties, as well as Dean's and I will be buying my bone socks today as well.

I cant wait to see the pictures that Kevin took, and all in all it was a really productive weekend!

Guest Book Purchased

I ordered our Guest book. This lovely lady on Etsy is making it for us. It will look like this one:

Times they are a changin'

RSVP's are coming in. Instead of the focus being on 'what do we still need to buy for the wedding'it's now replaced with 'what do we still need to put together for the wedding'.

I am currently waiting on getting the last few things for the reception. I am waiting eagerly for the curly willow branches I ordered which should be here on Friday. I am really hoping they will work for the red vases- they should have enough height to be pretty but low enough to see still.

This is sort of what we'll do with the curly willow, obviously on a much smaller scale, but we'll do 12 of these:



Instead of the little votive lights that are on there....remember the beads that Laura made? She made some strands, specifically for these branches. Notice the lack of hooks on the ends :)Laura rules.





Now I just need to go to Michaels and get things for the Boutonnière, and buy our guest book. This weekend Dean and I are finally going to the mall with my Mom and Dad to go find the boys their wedding attire. Things are happening every day, small and big, and I am so grateful for all the wonderful things I have in my life. Even with all the challenges, I rise up to meet them gladly because I have so much to be happy for. My Mom, cousin, Grandmother and I have never been closer and I am really excited to have them 'enter my world' for one day and see that even a horror movie reception can be done with class. I have the best Fiancé anyone could ask for- and lastly, I have some of the most incredible friends who have helped me so much and stood by me through everything. I'd be lost without you guys. /end mush.

Last minute plans...

I realized while talking with my Mom this weekend that I really wasn't thrilled at the idea of having everyone seated for the ceremony. We're certainly not doing this formal, so it didn't make much sense to me. Also, people would miss my entrance (the way the room works), there's really no aisle to speak of) and even though the ambiance is great, to get married in a small of a place and already being at our reception is just kind of silly.

So since it will be November (but a November here in Socal, the possibility of rain is there, but not at all probable. Probably a 30% chance) we have opted to have our 5 minute ceremony outside in the gazebo. Dean and I wrote our ceremony together and I timed reading it- with plenty of lengthy pauses. Here is a picture of it that we took when we first went and scouted locations. We will be married here, and then head over to the lounge for the reception. :)

Guest Book

So, I wont post a picture of our Guestbook that we found, but I am going to try my hand at making a nice set of pens to sign it. Something that looks like this:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/54210449/princess-peacock-collection-guestbook?ref=sr_gallery_4&ga_search_query=peacock+feather+guestbook+pen&ga_search_type=all&ga_page=&order=&includes[0]=tags&includes[1]=title

I also just reminded myself that I need to make the boutonnières for the boys. This to be exact. I can make these from the small peacock feathers Nana got me. Looks like I need to make a trip to Michaels to see what I can do. Crafty. Crafty Crafty.

Panic?

"I cant believe how calm you are when your Wedding is so soon"

Really-should I really be panicking? Yes, things are happening very quickly. The Wedding is now 59 days away. Am I panicking? No. I know what I want, and I know how to get it. Sure, it's stressful. I wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of my family and friends. This whole process has made me totally respect event planners and how many things you need to keep track of. I'm going to face this as calmly as I can. I already have a lot of hats to wear, so what's one more? I am ready, and I feel that my entire life has been leading up to this.

Now, the fun stuff-

Our Wedding Invitations are done (but I cant post pictures yet until everyone gets theirs, but I will post a teaser picture). Mom, Elise, Dad, and I probably all worked on them for at least 30 hours.



There's your teaser picture for now ;).

I now have my black bra/crinoline and I got off SO lucky- My dress doesn't need alterations! All that really needs to be done is a small fix to the halter neck.

I cant believe that since I got my hair done (courtesy of my lovely Nana) I haven't posted any pictures!! Now of course, this was amidst us playing with hairstyles, but here's an idea of the color-