Quick Updates

Here are a couple of quick updates:

1) As I said earlier, I always seem to win a prize at every other bridal show...Sunday's show was my 'other' which meant I should have won something.

Well, I did! :)

I won a nice autograph plate. I just don't know if I should put it out at the Engagement Party, Rehearsal Dinner, or Reception...I just don't think it is big enough for everyone at the Reception to be able to sign it.

So we'll see.

So this pattern means that I won't win anything at the HUGE Bridal Show that I am going to in two weeks. :(

Hehe

2) At Sunday's show I booked a DJ.

He seems good. So hopefully that will work out well.

3) Now that I see the real prices everything costs, my original dream of having a huge fancy Engagement Party have faded away with many of my other original dreams...

With that being said, I was going to just do away with the Engagement Party all together.

However, I think it will be nice for both of our families and both sides of the Bridal Party to meet and mingle prior to the wedding.

So I am trying to plan a small gathering that I will call our Engagement Party. That will just consist of our parents, grandparents, some aunts and uncles, cousins, and the bridal party and their significant others.

So it will be considerably smaller than the actual wedding invite list.

But I was just trying to include the most important people that should meet ahead of time.

Etiquette says the Engagement Party should be like 6months before the wedding. Which brings us to February.

Unfortunately everyone will be driving from either 2 hours to 6 hours or more to get here...And February in Central New York still means a ton of snow. And I hate to make everyone travel in the snow.

So we'll see what happens.

3) My newest Save-The-Date Love:

ADORABLE!

So I was making a rough-draft of one of those for Jon & I...I thought we could use real pictures of us from the dates listed instead of those clip-art pictures.

The only problem is that our lives aren't really interesting...I don't think we have many dates to list.

I came up with the date we got matched on Match.com, the day we met in person, the day we officially started dating, the day we first said "I Love You", & the day we got engaged.

Not the most exciting time line. Heh

I just thought that would be cute and different...And it can probably be done on a magnet depending on the size of the document, and if we want to be cheaper we can always just put it on nice paper without a magnet.

Weekend Update!

Friday Night my cousin, and one of my bridesmaids, came up from Staten Island for a visit. On Saturday, my Gramma, my Mom, my cousin, another bridesmaid, and I went to 4 different dress shops (would have been 5 but they changed their hours, so we got their after they closed). My 3'rd Bridesmaid came down with the flu and couldn't come...And my sister (my MOH) had to work and only made it to one of the stores.

I have narrowed down my favorite Bridesmaid Dresses to two top choices.

I hadn't really planned on trying any gowns on for myself. But while we were at the shops, I tried a couple on.

I now have a better idea of what looks good and bad for my body and height.

I also now know that if the dress doesn't have very much sparkle or bling...I apparently don't like it on me.

I tried on some styles that I never imagined liking...Such as the Mermaid...And it surprisingly looked good on me.

But I learned that I seem to love the ballgown styles the best. AND not every poofy dress looks like it is eating all 5 feet of me! :) So that's exciting. I just don't know how I am going to be able to pick just ONE dress!!

So we hit up all of the local shops on Saturday that we wanted to accomplish...Minus the 5th that was closed.

My Mom is trying to plan a trip to a big bridal store that is like 2 1/2 hours away. We want to do it before December and snow. She decided that we should give my girls this weekend off from dresses...And plan our trip instead for November 21st. Jon's Mom is going to try to meet us there, too!

On a different note...I went to my third Bridal Show yesterday. I didn't win anything, but it was still fun.

The weather outside was uncharacteristically gorgeous!!

It would have been PERFECT for some outdoor Engagement Photos.

Forget the turning leaf photos, because that is over.

Plus I really wanted Fall Engagement Photos more when I thought our wedding would be in the fall. But now that our wedding is technically the Summer, I don't really care what weather our Engagement Photos are in.

But by the time I got home from the Bridal Show...And would have had Jon and my friend who is taking our pictures, meet me at my parent's house (it was nice and sunny out, and my parent's have a GORGEOUS view!) the sun would have went in.

So we are probably going to end up doing indoor photos at the train station in Utica.

It sounds strange to me...But it is a VERY popular location for wedding photos.

The train station is actually quite beautiful.

And now I have to stress over what to wear in the photographs.

If we ended up doing them outside yesterday, I would have just worn jeans and my black pea coat and maybe a cute scarf.

But for indoor photos, I am thinking I need a cute skirt or dress or something.

OK So maybe need isn't the correct word...Just more like really want.

So hopefully we can get that done this weekend.

And the Damask Continues...

I went to a Bridal Show with my Grandmother yesterday.

She must have been good luck, because I won one of the drawings!

It was a cake from one of the vendors there.

So nothing helpful for the wedding...But I still won something. :)

My family ate about 1/2 of it last night already. Hehe

I talked to a couple of the cake vendors there and showed them the cake design I drew...And they were all so impressed that I came up with the idea by myself. Go me.

Anyway, I found a guy (not the place I won the cake from) who said he can make the exact cake as I described...And it will supposedly be less than $1,000...Which is fantastic! Because I really thought for all of the intricate details I want, that they would charge me an arm and a leg. So I am really excited about that.

When I told several of the vendors my wedding colors/pattern...They all said how popular that was lately. I don't even know what gave me the idea for that style choice...So I had no idea it was popular.

But I guess it's good that so many other people like the idea too...It shows that I'm not totally crazy with my color and style choices then.

Also, I got to thinking...Instead of just having my MOH wear black with pink trim and the maids wear pink with black trim...Maybe they should all wear black with pink.

Because I got to thinking about flowers.

I want pink bouquets. And against a black dress it will look really sharp and it will really pop nicely I think. But with a pink dress, what kind of flowers could they hold? I guess they could hold pink flowers against their pink dresses, but I feel like it just doesn't 'pop'...You know?

And there is NO way they are holding black flowers!

There is always white flowers with the pink dresses...But I think that I am loving the idea of black dresses with hot pink accents and pink bouquets...And maybe even hot pink shoes!

I still need to find a way to make my MOH stand out.

Unless she is the only one who gets a pink ribbon with the black dress, and the maids just get the black dress without pink...

Or maybe they get pink ribbons and she gets a white ribbon...

Or back to my original idea that they all have the same dress...In this case I guess black with pink trims...And they all have halter tops and she has strapless...Or whatever style they agree on.

Just something subtle to make everyone know she is the MOH, without ruining the uniformity I want.

And now for some fun inspiration:

Guest Book and Pen Set...I can probably make that.

Or Black with white designs.

I am planning on going to a fabric store to look for the exact black & white pattern I want, and then try to make a lot of these things instead of buying them...Hopefully it will save money, but also this way everything will match 110%!! :)

I will probably pick white with black designs, as opposed to black with white...But I can decide better when I see them in person.

And if I was ordering all of these items, the patterns wouldn't be the same and all. So I think for the uniformity that I want to be pretty strict about, I will be forced to have a lot of DIY projects.

Which will be fine, if I can get things figured out and then start the projects soon. So I can do them all nice and calmly over the next 10 or so months. And not be stressed and rushing to do everything like a week before the wedding.

I was thinking of making my own table runners...Jon said I should make my own tablecloths and chair covers too...But come on now, who has THAT kind of time? Even if we have like 10 months until the wedding. LOL

Plus, I don't have a sewing machine. Sooooo, I think that will pose a problem for the big crafty items.

This is a Unity Candle...But I had been thinking about something similar for a centerpiece. Like probably just the middle candle. But it was just an idea I had as an alternative to flowers.

Bridal Show!

Next Sunday my Future~Mother~In~Law and myself are going to our first Bridal Show together!

And actually my first Bridal Show for me!

My prior Bridal Shows were to accompany my friend who was the bride-to-be at the time.

Despite the tiny detail of Jon and I not officially being engaged just yet...(Read: "Still no ring!")

Either way, I'm excited! :)

It will be held at the Esperanza Mansion...I have mentioned that venue before, but I have never been there in person.

Bridal Show Note from their Website

This venue isn't far from Jon's parent's house...But we all have a wedding to go to the night before that is 2 1/2 hours away...So we are staying at a hotel.

So depending on how early we leave the hotel the next morning depends on what time we get to the show...And if I can be one of the first 100 brides to get the free giveaway bag or not! :)