Dorky, but I like Dorky

I am sure many of you have heard of the website Bridal Party Tees. Is is in like every wedding magazine you pick up and is an add on almost every wedding website. They make shirts that say things like "Mrs Williams in Training" and "Soon to be Mrs. Smith." They make underware, things for the groom, bridesmaids, groomsmen and everything in between. Like I said it is all very dorky, but I love it. I went ahead a purchased a couple things. One, for the day after the wedding. I know I am going to want to put on some jeans and be in something comphy . . . plus it is cute:

(Image from Bridal Party Tees)

I also bought some of these for the wedding night!!

(Image from Bridal Party Tees)

Now . . . I wont be Mrs Smith, but you get the idea!! Anyway, I think it is really fun, and I think M will like it!! Hopefully I will get them in the mail soon!!!

Amazing unexpected gift

In order to save money, M and I put a couple of our wine club memberships on hold (yes, we actually had multiple to put on hold). I either e-mailed or called and just told them the situation, trying to save money etc. etc., getting married blah blah blah. Most wrote back saying, "that's fine, we'll put your account on hold." A couple wrote back saying, "No problem, we'll do that. But just so you know we offer discounts on wine for weddings." Now that is something I like to hear. Sokol Blosser offers 25% off wine for weddings. And Esterlina offers 35%. This is exciting news for me. These are some of my favorite wineries! I get wine shipments from them every couple months for goodness sake! So, this is an amazing gift I stumbled upon, but the even bigger gift came in the mail a couple days later.

(My Images)

Esterlina sent us two bottles of wine! Who would ever think that a winery would send you a gift? A winery is a business . . . did Target give you a gift when you registered there? Well, Crate and Barrel did, but I was sending business to them. I had just told Esterlina I wouldn't be giving them my business for at least 8 months! I was surprised/amazed/and so happy to see this gift in the mail. And I guess now I will be one of their wine club members for the rest of my life! You all should check them out, their wine is amazing, and if you ever find yourself in the Anderson Valley you should call them for a personal wine tasting. You sit up in the hills at the winery overlook the entire Anderson Valley. It is beautiful!! Thanks Esterlina.

Blog Love 2

I found myself on someone else's blog today. Man that makes me happy!! I found me on Peacock Feathers & Diamond Rings.
I love this little bridal blog community! . . . what they heck am I going to do when I don't have wedding planing anymore? I guess I will have to figure that out when the time comes. Maybe I will have to figure out someway to break into the Bridal Industry. I love it way too much!!

Weather

Oregon weather is fairly predictable . . . rain . . . rain . . . rain. The summer months really break the forecast because the sun actually comes out and the rain goes away. Amazing I know! But it makes it a little tricky to plan an entirely outdoor wedding. It normally doesn't rain in August, but how am I to make sure?

Well . . . did you know that you can set up a person page through Weather.com, for your wedding date? When I was building my wedding website, I was trying to search for historical weather for August 8th in Salem Oregon. Finally I came across the Wedding Planner at Wedding.com. It really is neat. You set up a page for your date and location and it will tell you about the averages for temperature, cloud cover, rain, and snow (although I am pretty sure it shouldn't snow this coming August, it would be good to know if there was a chance). You can even add all your different wedding events (Rehearsal dinner, bachelor party, welcome dinner, bridesmaid luncheon, whatever), and it will give you the weather for those days as well.

(Images from Weather.com)

It will also be a great resource as your wedding gets closer because it will add the 10-day forecast, and when your wedding is only 48 hours away it will add an hour-by-hour forecast. I added a page for M and I immediately and added it to my wedding website. I hope my guests will appreciate it!

Way Cute

I saw these today over at Isn't She Lovely, and I just had to share them. I don't really have a place to hang anything, but if I did I would be looking into this!! I love it!

(Image from Esprit Cabane)

I am so Lucky

I am so lucky. I know so many wonderful people that are helping with my wedding. My brothers girlfriend, Deanna, has offered to do my hair (as well as my bridesmaids and probably my moms hair) . . . I am hoping that she will help me with my makeup as well. My Maid-of-Honors mom, Nani, has already been helping my mom with the planning and I think she is basically going to be my wedding day coordinator, making sure the reception tables are set up and look pretty and all that. A friend of the family, Sue, is going to be helping with all the flowers, bouquets, boutonnieres, etc. She used to work at a flower shop, so she knows how to make everything look pretty! As you saw earlier, my friend Chris drew me a bunch of Inspirational images. A friend of M's and mine is going to play guitar at the ceremony, he owns the store where M and I met and he is a great guitarist. And last, but not least, my Aunt Martha is going to be our officiant! She actually is an officiant at weddings quite regularly, so we are really excited that she agreed to do ours as well.

I really am just so lucky!! And I am so glad to have all these wonderful people in my life. There are obviously many others who have been helping as well (my mom, my bridesmaids, etc), but I just wanted to make a special note to these people who are providing a service that they could be charging me a small fortune for! Have I mentioned that I am so lucky??

BANJO!!!

I play the banjo . . . ok, I used to play the banjo. It has been some time now since I have actually played regularly, or really played at all. But when I saw this, I just swooned.

(Image from Martha Stewart)

I am not sure why I would need this, but I wouldn't discourage it. I am planning on walking down the isle to banjo music (although I am not quite sure what song as of yet). I love the sound of the banjo. If I could figure out how to add this to my wedding, without much work or money, then I would probably do it, but somehow I doubt it would be that way. Oh well. Maybe I will just have to make mini chocolate banjos another time!

Things are moving along

Some things are done, which makes me feel good.

1. Location: Britton Ridge B&B
2. Photographer: Alyssa Jul
3. Caterer: Occasions Catering
4. Baker: Custom Cakes
5. Rental Company: A to Z Rentals
6. Officiant: My Aunt
7. My Dress: I will tell you more about this soon
8. Save the Date Magnets: from Vista Print (I will show you these soon)
9. Bridesmaid Dresses
10. My DJ

Now there are some things I need to get done . . .

1. Address Save the Dates
2. Rent Porto Potties
3. Decide of invitations
4. Make some gifts (I can't tell what they are - I want everyone to be surprised!!)
5. Work on Escort Cards
6. Figure out where to buy favors
7. Finalize Tuxes
8. Out of town bags
9. Reception Decor
10. Meet with Photographer to write up wedding day schedule.

I think I need to stop before I stress myself out!! Let just say there is a lot more to do . . . but this little list of 10 are the next major steps. I should be able to get #1 done this weekend. Numbers 3, 4, 5, and 7 are slowly being worked by me. Number 2, my mom is working on. Numbers 7, 9, and 10 will be done on my next trip to Portland. So, I think with 6 months to go it is looking pretty good. Anything major I am forgetting??

Thank God!!!

So . . . I talked a couple days ago about my bridesmaid dresses. I ordered them from a store down here is Southern California partially because of the price ($115), but also because I thought it would just be easier for me because I would be able to pick them up and get them to everyone and all that jazz. My other thought was to order them from a store up in Portland. There is no sales tax in Oregon, so I thought they might be cheaper. When I called the store up there they told me the dress was $175! That is a huge difference! They said they might be able to match my price and they would call me back. In the meantime I made my decision to order them down here. Well . . . now I am so glad I did. My mom sent me this article, titled "Bridal Shop Leaves Some Brides in a Bind." Please if you are getting married in Portland DO NOT order from Tres Fabu!!! Brides would pay for their dress, the store would tell brides everything was fine, but in reality they wouldn't have even ordered the dress!! I cannot even imagine going through this. Absolutely horrible. I am appalled!!

The article mentions checking with CitySearch and the Better Business Bureau before doing business with anyone. Especially anything for your wedding. It is the one day you want everything to go right!!! So girls . . . check with the Better Business Bureau!! And read this article and be upset!!!

(Image from KATU)

I Love this Wedding #1

Have you ever seen a wedding that you would be perfectly happy if it was your own?? Well, if not, maybe it is just me, but if so then you understand me. Anyway, this wedding is one of those Weddings! I love everything about it! The style, the details, the colors, everything! I might be stealing some of their ideas as well! It was featured in Martha Stewart Weddings (the magazine). It is the wedding of Jennifer and Ray and it takes place in Dana Point, CA. M and I actually go to Dana Point all the time. It is a cute little town where the people are really laid back. It is a fun place to go spend the afternoon.
Escort cards with Fabric! So much fun. I love to sew and I love to craft, so this may be the prefect combination. Plus, it is just so colorful. Apparently each fabric represented a table, so your escort card would match the napkins on the table! How fun. I am planning on having a couple different fabrics on the tables at my wedding, but probably not one for each table. Love it anyway!
I am totally having kids at my wedding, partially because I love kids and many of my friends/family have kids, but mostly because I think they make weddings more fun. They help make everything more casual and that is what I want. A fun, casual, family wedding!

(Images from Martha Stewart)

The fabric on the cake table was made on Spoonflower, a website where you can create your own fabric! I love this too. If I was a better designer I would probably use this site all the time!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this wedding as much as I do.

I won!!

So, I went on my regular blog stocking routine . . . I had made it part way down my list to Lucky Me, and all a sudden I spotted my name (PDX Bride). I won a giveaway from Photo Card Creations.

(Image from Lucky Me)

It is a $50 coupon for a purchase of photo cards. The cards are really cute. I like this one:

(Image from Photo Card Creations)

I am very excited to learn about the details. I am thinking this would be wonderful for our thank you notes with pictures from the wedding.

Engagement Photos

Here are a few of our pics from the Engagement Shoot. Because this is basically a destination wedding, our photographer is up in Oregon. I really wanted to get some engagement photos taken, but didn't think M and I would be able to get up to Oregon together before we would actually need our Engagement photos (I want to make some Save the Date Magnets, and a photo is needed). Anyway, we decided to find a local photographer just for our Engagement Photos, which is actually kind of fun because they will represent this part of our lives (our life in Southern California). We got the pictures taken in San Juan Capistrano, which was beautiful, and we really enjoyed our time with Janel from Focus Photography. I have a bunch of other photos . . . maybe I will put some of them up another time!






This last picture with "BUMP" on the road. I actually had Janel remove that from the photo . . . it looks a lot better now!!

This is AWESOME!

Ok, I just think this is really funny. Have you ever had anyone at work, or home, who has stolen your lunch?? Thinkofthe has created some Anti-Theft Lunch Bags. They are plastic baggies that have green splotches on both sides, making your food look moldy! Yuck! My only fear would now be someone throwing your food away.

What a fun product! A also like their framed objects . . .

You can actually put flowers in the vase, place things on the shelf, or hang things from the hooks!! So much fun.

(All Images from ThinkofThe)

Finally we have Bridemaid Dresses!!!

So, I have been looking at Bridesmaid dresses for awhile now. And of course there are lots of issues. First, non of my bridesmaids live anywhere near each other. One is in Tennessee, one in Missouri, one in Portland, Oregon, and one in California (with me). Second, they are all different body types, which I guess isn't completely unusual, but I have one that is very well endowed in the chest area which means we have to make sure she can get a dress that will fit those babies in as well as straps so she can get the proper support! Very important as all us girls know!! My biggest problem is that I tend to like strapless dresses and there really aren't as many strapped dresses out there (what is that about anyway?). Third, they are all way over priced. I don't think it is ok to ask these ladies to shell out $200+ for a dress. I was really trying to keep the dresses in the $150 range at the highest!!

So this dress that I finally found is strapless but the bridal salon said it would be super easy to add straps. Here it is:

(Images by Mori Lee)

I love that this image is in the actual dress color. Chocolate brown! The only difference is that I am going to have a sage green sash (removable). I hate to say it but I really do think this could be worn again. It is not so bridesmaidy that you couldn't wear it to another wedding, or date night with the boy. I don't know, I think it is prefect! Plus, the best part, it was only $115!! Now we all know that that is a big lie too. You end up paying for shipping, extra fabric, sales tax, or $30 more for any dress over a size 18 (which in real sizes is about a 14 - aka not that big). Oh well, I think it is still a good deal compared to $265 before all the extra whatnot!

Here are some of the others I looked at. I was trying to find some that came in similar designs but one with straps and one in strapless so the girls could choose. And there are some others that I just liked!

(Images by Watters)


(Images by Watters and Mori Lee)

(Image from Alfred Angelo)

I was very interested in this last one because it was also only $115! But the girl at the store was very honest and mentioned that you could see everything in the dress (very clingy), so we decided against it!

Anyway, I think we got the perfect dress! I am very happy with it, so I hope the girls will get their deposits in soon so I wont have to worry about it anymore. Man it feels good to get things off the "To-Do" list!!

Valentines Day

I found a very fun present for M this weekend. I immediately ordered it! I was trying to keep the price reasonable, because well . . . I am paying for a wedding right now! But I just think these are so much fun and I had to share.

(Images from Bread and Badger)

I guess I can tie this in with weddings. It seems to be a new thing to have photo booths with props. Like this wedding I found looking around on East Side Bride.

And this one, I found on The Moxie Prototype.

I think this is all way to much fun. Anyway . . . I hope M enjoys his new glasses!