My Dress!

So, I said that I would post about the dress that I'm purchasing, so here it is!

The second I had the dress on I knew it was the dress I was going to buy.

It had the elements I really wanted in a dress:

1. it was fairly simple

2. It was strapless

3. It has a corset back!

I didn't have to see it in the mirror to know it was the one.

Something clicked in my head and I couldn't wait to see it on.

I had a very hard time trying not to cry when I was showing it off...

one of my best friends, Lauren, caught the moment perfectly in the previous pictures.

After trying on the rest of the dresses, I went back and put this one on again...

And we had a little bit of fun.

Lauren wanted to see a veil on my head

(I think I'm veto-ing the veil however)

Then I needed to test sitting down in the dress...

So I decided to show off my fabulous DC's...

in our wedding colors, none-the-less!

I seriously didn't want to take the dress off (in case it isn't evident from the numerous pictures!)

I can't wait until the one we ordered for me comes in!

It will probably have some alterations that will need to be done to it,

but once it fits like a glove, I'll be sure to post pictures of me in my REAL dress!

And just cuz I love it so much

(it's the last one until mine comes in, I swear! lol.)

Dress Shopping!!

On Saturday,

me, my mom, sister, two of my very good friends Sabrina and Lauren, and Zoe (Sabrina's little girl)
went to the wonderful Alfred Angelo Bridal Salon in Roseville, CA

where we were assisted by the lovely Adrienne in trying on, choosing, and buying my wedding dress!

So, here are picture from said trip:

First: the dresses that didn't make the cut:

The dress that came in second place

(and my fiance's first choice):

I did purchase a dress that day, and it was the perfect dress...

But I'm saving that for another post!

Comming along fabulously!

I must say that wedding plans are comming along so well!

As I mentioned before, I have my ring

(my engagement ring, I have decided is the only one I want)

we have our color theme picked out

(Black, Indigo, and Silver)

We have also decided on a few new things, and have some others that are in the works!

We have an appointment at the High Sierra Iris and Wedding Gardens in Camino, CA on Friday to check out their facilities:

(www.weddingsnflowers.com/weddings.html)

and if that doesn't work out for us,

we're going to host our wedding festivities ar Matt's Grandparent's house!

We're deciding between two weekends, but are shooting for October 21, 2011 now.

I also found a photographer that we want to use.

His pricing fits perfectly in our budget and the photos he has on his site are incredible for the price.

www.corytrese.com/index.html

I found some great centerpieces that I want to re-create and/or use as a base for my own ideas including:

paper flowers from: meholder.blogspot.com

something a bit rustic and fall-ish from: http://www.oncewed.com/

Dramatic candle lighting from: howidiy.com

I have also collected ideas for decorations, gifts, etc from the following places:

mydiyweddingday.com,

myrecipies.com,

engagedsacramento.com,

http://www.diywedding.org/,

http://www.diynetwork.com/,

http://www.chillpit.co.za/,

http://www.diybride.com/

http://www.fiftyflowers.com/,

http://www.do-it-yourself-weddings.com/,

my best friends,

and a few other sources.

I can't wait to really get started!!

The fun of planning your own wedding...

...I am going to get to share so much of it with my closest friends and my new family.

I can't wait to really be able to get into everything.

Right now, it's all the technical stuff:

Where the venue is going to be?

What photographer do we want to use?

Do we want to have a DJ?

Who do we want to do our cake? And all the details that go with that,

How much money do we really want to spend?

All that kinda stuff.

The stuff I can't wait for is the decorations!

Getting to make the center pieces,

putting together mine and the girls' bouqets (and possibly the boutiners too),

Getting the decorations for around the area...

All that kind of stuff.

Although, I do get to do some fun stuff now...

like putting together registeries!

Although I do have to have Matt help with some parts of it...

like what kind of furniture and certain household items we want.

I can't go around planning every aspect of our lives after all. lol

But it's still fun getting to look at everything

and think about what our place is going to look like down the road!

I can't wait!

I think the next 15 months is going to come really fast as far as planning goes,

but not fast enough to make him my husband!

Not many people get to marry their best friend..

not even that, he is pretty much my soul mate,

my other half,

my "better half",

and I am so lucky to not only have met him,

but for us to have fallen so deeply in love with one another.

It's going to be a great life.

Fun wedding stuff

Tonight, or this morning as I guess it actually is, I decided to flip through one of my bridal magazines,

getting ideas for the nuptials taking place next year, and I found an article about choosing songs for the processional, recessional, and ceremony...

This of course, led me to take some of the suggestions, then I turned to trusty youtube.com,

where I found some great videos of some very interesting (and different) ways to come into (or leave the ceremony)...

as well as some fun first dances (not your typical ball room-esque dancing),

and some fun surprise dances that I could do with my bridal party...

The last part I found most intriguing and have decided to look into some fun songs that me and my girls could perform to.

I also looked a little at flowers at work that I could get for really inexpensive

and would make not only cute decorations,

but fairly inexpensive favors for those who take them after the reception.

My idea would be to put some smaller rocks into a container of some sort,

then put the flower (still alive, not picked) into the container as well...

And surround them with some candles of different sizes.

Cute but simple center pieces that are low so people can see everything going on around them.

The more I look into things, the more excited I get...

I just hope that it all comes together like I want it to.

Still have a little over a year to perfect it all...

I really want to do a good job.

A bit discouraging

The more I look into some of the venues in the area, the more discouraged I get.

It's difficult to try to plan a wedding when the fiance has other things on his mind,

even more dificult when there isn't a budget set,

and even more so when it seems like many of the venues just keep getting more and more expensive,

or have hidden costs that they don't tell you about in the main part of the quote.

We keep talking about doing a small ceremony with just immediate family and doing a larger reception later,

and with the way prices are, it seems like that may be the way to go.

It'll make a lot of people mad, but I'm running out of ideas for making this a fairly inexpensive wedding

(as if those actually exist. lol)

I guess I'll figure something out,

and I hope he starts coming around a little more and helps make some decisions...

maybe setting up a cake testing one of these days would be a fun idea to get him a bit more in the mood.

Anyone have any anicdotes or ideas that you may have used to get the man in your life to help witht he wedding plans?

So much to do... 15 months to do it in! lol

It's been a while since I've been on here!

Work has been giving me crazy hours

and on my free time I seem to be either down at my mom's or "house hunting" with Matt.

But BIG news... well, it's already gotten all over facebook...

and I think just about everyone knows, but...

I'm ENGAGED!!

Matt proposed on the beach in Seaside the day we got down to Monterey for our 1 year anniversary!

I of course said, "Yes"... actually, I said "absolutely"... but same difference! lol

SO now, it's on to wedding plans.

We've gotten some done.

Out tentative date is: October 25, 2011

and our colors are: Black, Blue, and Silver

We haven't really decided on a theme yet, although I have a few in mind

(I think that part may be part of my job. lol)
We've got an idea of where we want to host the festivities...
We really like the idea of Apple Hill in the Fall, since it something we really enjoy together...
Tahoe or areas of Placerville are some other ideas that have been discussed.
I think we pretty much want it outdoors where we can really enjoy the color change...
and preferably NOT in Sacramento. lol...
although there are some areas like the Delta King and Old Sac that could be kinda fun for that sorta thing.
We'll see.

I have decided that a good portion of it is going to be DIY..

things like: Flowers, hair, make-up, decorations...

and hopefully the things that aren't DIY I can get fairly cheap from places like

Walmart, Target, Wishing Well, and Michaels... and maybe garage sales. lol

Or any other places I see fit :)

I'm really excited, cuz I'll pretty much be marrying my best friend!

And after years of not being happy with other people, we finally found each other last year, and now we get to spend the rest of our lives together!