Ladies and gentlemen...I think we have a winner!

After only one weekend of rummaging through what seemed like hundreds of dresses, I have found my wedding dress. As in THE dress. The one I will marry my wonderful fiance in and look back on in pictures adoringly for years to come. It is simply gorgeous! I know everyone says that about their dresses, but mine is truly awe-inspiring =D It made my mom-who is not known to be a crying person-break down in tears. Just the reaction I wanted! lol I found my dress at David's Bridal and had looked on the website prior to going to my appointment in order to pick which ones I wanted to try on. What's funny is that I never even noticed this dress because the picture on the website just does it no justice. The dresses that I had picked out just didn't look right on me even though I thought they'd be perfect when I first saw them, so my consultant grabbed one from the rack that still didn't appeal to me until I tried it on. I really just tried it on because I didn't want to hurt her feelings or insult her taste, but it ended up fitting so perfect and being the one! I got to buy it directly off the rack since they already had it in my size and it needs no alterations. It's almost like it was made for me! Now FI is usually good and doesn't try to ruin surprises, but just in case he decides to get sneaky and look through my blog I'm going to post a picture of not only the dress I chose but the "contender dress" too. Both gowns I narrowed it down to were organza with lace-up backs. One is a draped pick-up style with a beaded, strapless, sweetheart neckline. The other is a halter with a trumpet fit and ruched asymmetric bodice. Both were beautiful but ultimately one was more "me" and won out. I guess I'll have to make you wait until August 2nd to see which one I picked! You can click on the links below to see the fronts and backs of both dresses.

http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49995498&currentIdx=39&subCategory=-49999486|-49995498&catentryId=1000066

http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49995498&currentIdx=49&subCategory=-49999486|-49995498&catentryId=1000064

A worthy cause

As someone who has always been involved with volunteer organizations in school and through work, I'm constantly looking for ways to help others. Even during my wedding planning that's no exception. I had been looking for charitable organizations catered to brides when I stumbled upon the website bridesagainstbreastcancer.org. This organization takes donated wedding dresses and sells them at a discounted price to make a profit to use towards granting wishes for women diagnosed with severe breast cancer. I think it's a very worthy cause especially considering most dresses are worn once then just end up hanging in a closet. I'd like a better future for my dress and this seems like a good option for any bride who'd be interested in making a difference in others' lives. The real honest-to-goodness truth is that the gorgeous wedding dress you've chosen is probably never going to see the light of day again after the ceremony. Might as well pass that joy along to another girl and help raise funds for women in need at the same time! Another way I plan on giving to others courtesy of my wedding is through a business in Asheville called Second Bloom. They take the flowers from the ceremony and reception and reuse them to make arrangements for patients in hospitals and nursing homes. I thought this was such a neat idea since flowers are usually just disposed of afterwards! Flowers are VERY pricey so at least this way I'll feel like by brightening someone's day I'm getting my money's worth haha Just wanted to make this information available to other brides who might want to make someone else's day after "the big day."

Photo Stamps

I think I can add this to the list of totally unnecessary items for the wedding, but nevertheless I think they are too cute and would use them in a heartbeat if it weren't for our tight budget! They don't cost much but as we all know it's the little things that add up, and if I went out and purchased all the things that I've thought were inexpensive and "worth it" I'd be broke by now! We really don't need them but I think it's a nice way to personalize and I might try to find a way to sneak them in if the funds are there for thank-you letters or something.

Wedding band woes

The ring above is the wedding band I was trying to get for FI. He tried it on at Littman Jewelers and we both really liked it. He wanted something more modern and a bit different from the white gold eternity band he has now, and we thought this one fit the bill! Problem is the guy behind the jewelry counter failed to tell us that the company that makes this ring doesn't design them any smaller than a size 9. So basically that means this one ain't gonna work :( It's a little upsetting because we went to four other jewelry stores in our area and he didn't find anything else that he really liked at any of those places either. After looking on the internet he did see the band below that he likes, but part of me has some reservations about ordering something like that online without getting to inspect it and try it on first, ya know? I guess the search continues!

Let there be light!

I've always loved the look of paper lanterns. I think they are perfect for adding color in a fun way to a wedding. Needless to say, I will be using them in my wedding decor. The place where we're getting married has two huge windows and I've seen lanterns used in them before, although I had plans to use them long before I ever saw that done. The main concern, obviously, is that since they will be hanging from a high ceiling I will not be able to light them. I think just the hot pink lanterns alone though, even without being lit, will be bold enough that it won't matter. If it really ends up bothering me there's always those battery-operated LED lights.

Neato photo boards

Some couples have slide shows at their weddings with different shots of them growing up through the years. I think this is a great idea, but unfortunately our venue doesn't have all the equipment to do that without us having to put up a big tacky-looking white screen. Therefore I thought it would be neat instead to make photo boards! Yes...make them. I don't think I'd find one with our colors, not to mention these things are surprisingly expensive! I found some instructions by searching Google (God I love my Google!) and it really only requires ribbon, batting, corkboard and foam, and a stapler. R and I practically grew up together since we met back in middle school so we have a ton of pictures of the two of us. I thought we would make three boards to fill up space on the large gift table provided; one of just FI with his cute little baby pics and all his sports photos, one with my childhood photos, and then one filled with pics of the two of us together through the years. I think it will turn out quite well! Here are some examples of what the finished product will look like:

What's for dinner?

I am so thrilled with our choice of caterer for the wedding. Not only are they super friendly and helpful, but they are making our reception dinner more affordable than we imagined! We are getting a plated dinner for the same cost we thought we would spend on a buffet. Plus we got to custom design our menu and they were very flexible. I don't eat red meat so that limited us to chicken or fish for dinner, and we're both not wild about fish. We decided we wanted a unique chicken dish rather than just having the traditional done-at-every-wedding grilled breast, and so our caterer is making a stuffed chicken filled with broccoli, almonds, and mozzarella. We'll also have linguine pasta and salad with it. YUM! Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I think I'm actually looking forward to this tasting more than I was the cake tasting!

STDs

No, we're not talking venereal diseases here. I'm talking about our save-the-dates! FI and I are getting married in a month when lots of people try to sneak in those last minute vacations before school starts, so we decided we needed to send out save-the-dates to ensure our guests know about our big day well in advance; especially since many are out of town. I've always loved the convenience of save-the-date magnets and I didn't think it was one of those tasks that would be too hard to do myself. I considered using vistaprint.com because I've heard they offer business cards for free, but my OCD got the best of me and I decided the STDs need to match our wedding colors. I bought some magnet sheets from Michael's and downloaded a free trial of Microsoft Office Publisher to get the business card template and then FI who is a bit more computer literate than me actually designed the two different options above that I love! One has little polk-a-dots and one is striped (both with our weddings colors of pink, orange and brown) and I really can't decide which one I like best because they're both cute in my opinion!

FI got his way

It is a tradition in the south for the groom to have a groom's cake, not that FI knew this at all. Once he found out, however, he felt that it was absolutely necessary that he have one. FI and I are both still in college and while our parents are generously contributing what they can, it is still our responsibility to cover a lot of our wedding costs. For this reason he decided that he didn't need his cake, but I could tell that he wanted one. With all the decisions that revolve around what the bride wants in a wedding rather than the groom, I thought it would be nice to surprise him with something he would enjoy. Fortunately the bakery we went with gave us such a good deal on our wedding cake that I was able to snag a groom's cake at a very reasonable price without going over our designated amount we'd put away for a cake. So my sports-obsessed hubby-to-be will have his very own cake at the reception shaped like a football with a Florida State Seminoles emblem. I'm so glad too because I know he's going to love it and I love to see him smile!

The great alcohol debate

To drink, or not to drink? That is the all important question. This question has been the cause for some very animated conversations with both mine and FI's family as well as on some message boards. Now you may ask, "don't all weddings have alcohol?," but contrary to popular belief the answer to that would be no. I grew up in a dry county where there were no bars for miles and restaurants didn't serve any alcohol. Most of my family lives there and since they are accustomed to life in a dry county none of them are big drinkers. We live in the country where a good meal is accompanied by sweet tea or lemonade, not a fine wine or beer! So most weddings I attended were without a bar, thus I thought nothing of not having alcohol at my own wedding. It wasn't until my FMIL brought up the fact that she thought it was odd not to have a bar at such a formal event that I began second guessing the decision. I started to wonder if guests would be upset by the lack of liquor and if we would seem like bad hosts. I already knew that my parents would be against it. I have a large family that's taking up at least half the guest list and pretty much none of them would be offended by attending a dry wedding, therefore I knew my family wouldn't want to share the costs for having to buy the alcohol, hire a bartender to serve the alcohol, and pay the fee for a temporary license for our event when our half of the guests wouldn't be consuming any. It doesn't help that we are on a very tight budget and adding a bar to the mix would definitely drive up the amount we'd have to scrounge up for a bar on top of the meal we're doing. FI was also concerned about guests driving home after consuming since our wedding is taking place in a town where no one on our invite list lives (it's about a good hour away for most who are coming) and because we have lost a loved one because of a drunk driving accident. Another concern that FI and I shared is about some of his family's drinking habits. There have been numerous occasions where he has been more than a little embarrassed by overindulgent relatives and our wedding is the last place we wanted to have a scene. So as if all those reasons were not enough to help us in our decision to not have alcohol, we sat down and really looked at our guest list and discovered that we have a lot of friends who are a year younger than us and are not even legal yet! So the list of people who would be drinking is far outweighed by those who either wouldn't or can't. And thus it is decided that, weird as some may think it is, we are going to be having a nice dinner with only a champagne toast. We briefly considered doing a wine and beer type bar, but that still leaves the opportunity for select members to get a little too rowdy and I HATE the idea of a cash bar. I think it's tacky to invite guests to a wedding only to surprise them by having them pay for drinks. I've been to weddings like this where the other guests would agree with me when I say I'd rather have no alcohol than to expect guests to shell out their money like it's a club or something. So regardless of what anyone says my wedding will still be just as wonderful and special without alcoholic beverages. Maybe I'm naive but I'd like to think that people come to weddings for reasons other than free drinks. When it comes right down to it I know my guests better than anyone who is advising me against having a dry reception, and I know my friends and family are going to be perfectly happy celebrating me and my man becoming man and wife with a sweet tea in their hand ;)

Wedding sendoff

I really can't decide what I want to use for me and FI's wedding sendoff. There's so much to choose from these days! I'm not sure how dark it will be when we leave so I don't know if sparklers are a good idea. I like the idea of using bubbles, but I think it would make a better photo op while we're doing our dancing. I found a cute little poem to put on a card near the bubbles that lets guests know when to use them since we're leaving the bubble tubes in a basket beside the guestbook. On the tent card it will read "To fill the room with a touch of romance, please blow these bubbles when we share our first dance." Corny? Maybe. But also kinda cute? I think so :) I know some people choose to have petals tossed at them when they are leaving the reception site, but I've seen that done at a lot of weddings I've been to lately. I found a website that sells little sticks filled with biodegradable confetti that we could hand out to people and I love how they make such a pretty, dramatic scene. I think I might just have to invest in some of those after I check with our venue and see if they're okay to use.

Flower ideas

I want my wedding flowers to be simple and colorful. I don't feel the need to have massive arrangements everywhere or for flowers to be dripping from the ceiling. I've decided to use lots of gerbera daisies because they're so bright and bold looking. I'm also going to use dahlias and carnations. Now normally I would hate carnations; they are after all the so-called "cheap looking" flowers. But in bulk they look amazing! I may incorporate a few roses into my bouquet also because they're just your typical gorgeous wedding flower. I put together an inspiration board of the types of bouquets and arrangements I'm loving below.

Guestbook alternatives

I think guestbooks are lame. I understand that they are useful in recording who was at your

wedding, but signing your name on a line is so boring. Most don't even have a spot to write well wishes for the couple. This is why I will be using a scrapbook as my "guestbook." I planned on making a scrapbook of my wedding day anyway since I think they're more personal and fun to look at than plain albums, so this idea should be perfect. I'm going to put some scrapbooking pens up at the guestbook stand and have guests write little messages yearbook-style on the pages, then when I get my photos back from the wedding I can put them in the scrapbook and use the guest signature pages to space them apart. That way everytime FI and I look back on our special day we can read the comments of all our loved ones who shared the day with us.

Here's an example of what the book will look like.

For anyone else who wants an alternative to the standard guestbook, I found a few other unique ideas.

Polaroid guestbook: This would be great for brides who are renting a photo booth for the wedding. Those machines usually give copies so guests can take one home and use the other to put in a book using glue sticks or specially ordered books that come equipped with a window you can slide photos down into. If you're not so priveleged to have a photo booth you can always accomplish this type of guestbook with a Polaroid camera. After guests have their picture in the book they can write a sentimental note beside it to be cherished for years to come.

Photo mat guestbook: Guests sign their names around a large photo of the couple and then it is displayed in the bride and groom's home. This same idea can also be applied to a decorative serving platter. I've seen this done at lots of weddings.

Quilt square guestbook: I recently attended a wedding where the wedding planner had cut white fabric into little squares and placed them on a table beside some Sharpie fabric markers. All the guests took a piece of fabric and wrote their sentiments to the bride and groom and then placed their square in a basket. After the ceremony the squares were taken and made into a quilt. How sweet!

Puzzle guestbook: I think this is a really fun idea. I came across a site called mgcpuzzles.com that specializes in puzzle piece guestbooks. You simply submit a favorite photo of you and your significant other or some kind of love themed picture or poem and the fine folks at this website will make a custom puzzle for you. During your wedding leave the puzzle apart and let guests write a message on the back of the pieces. Later on when your and your hubby are putting the puzzle together, you can take a moment to read what all your guests had to say.

Wishing tree guestbook: You can put long, cascading branches in a vase and decorate them with beaded/crystal garland or spray paint them for some color. Have slips of paper on the guestbook table with a ribbon loop attached so that guests can write a wish for the couple then hang it on the tree. Google some images of a wishing tree guestbook and you'll see how beautiful this can turn out.

You can eat these?

Alright, I know I said I was done with the cake postings but technically I didn't lie. These aren't cake designs that I'm actually considering, I just came across them in my search for the perfect wedding cake for my wedding and thought they were too unique not to post! They look more like works of art than edible dessert.

I love s'mores and this is just too cute!

Edible sandcastle

Okay what kid didn't grow up playing Mario? This cake is awesome!

Someone's a bit of an egotist but still I give props to the bakery who made this life-size cake

Cakes (page 3)

Yet another page of wedding cakes I adore. I hate being indecisive! Maybe I should just do cupcakes instead lol

Cakes (page 2)

Another page full of wedding cake designs that I like. The only thing I am sure of as far as the cake goes is the flavor. FI and I wanted to have a variety of fillings and such to appease everyone, so we're thinking right now that one layer will be almond with strawberry filling, another will be marble with chocolate ganache filling, and the third will be vanilla buttermilk with European buttercream filling. All the frosting will be standard buttercream since it's cheaper and tastier than the fondant in my opinion.

Cakes (page 1)

So I got a little Google happy today since FI and I are doing our cake consultation and tasting nest Tuesday. I was trying to see what kind of designs appealed to me so I can show our baker what we had in mind, but I learned a valuable lesson in the process - give a bride-to-be too many options and she will likely be more unsure than she was before. I found so many cakes that it's going to take multiple postings to show them all on here because for some reason this blog won't let me post more than four pics at a time. So if you are hunting for a cake design as well feel free to look around at all the cakes that have inspired me. I will go ahead and apologize now that there are so many pages :p

I love Wal-Mart

So this is a pic of the cake topper I got from Wal-Mart for under five dollars. I saw this exact same topper at other stores and online for over twenty bucks! I like the interlocking hearts design because FI gave me a promise ring back in high school that looks similar to this. I'm not the type of girl who goes out and spends a hundred bucks on something as small as a cake pick when I can find one that looks just as nice for so cheap! I have more important things to use my hard earned cash for so hooray for being thrifty!

Bridal party attire

I have done it. I have finally figured out what kind of dresses to get for the six lovely ladies that will be in my wedding. I thought I had figured it out before, and then David's Bridal decided to discontinue the dress I had my eye on! I wanted all the girls to be able to wear a dress that made them feel comfortable since they're all different body types. More importantly I wanted them to like the dress I picked seeing as how they are paying for it. I was pretty set on having them all dressed the same since I like the 'uniformed' look, but my bridesmaids like different styles and I wanted to make sure they all looked good in a style that complimented their figures. With my OCD nature, obviously this presented a problem haha Fortunately I have an even number of bridesmaids and together we decided that three will wear a dress with a halter neckline and three will wear a strapless style. The colors and length will be the same so I think it will coordinate nicely. I got the pics below from the DB website. The dresses will be in azalea pink with a truffle brown peek-a-boo skirt and sash. My maids will also be carrying bouquets of orange flowers to tie in all three colors I'm using. I just wish they offered the sashes and skirt option in espresso brown instead since it matches better with my color scheme, but I guess you win some and you lose some right? As for FI's men, he has decided on chocolate brown suits with tonal pinstriping details. I would never have considered dark brown suits before, but it actually looks really good! They will have orange bouts to match the girls bouquets and we've opted to just do a pink tie without a vest to avoid pepto-bismol overload and ruining the boys' masculinity ;)

If the shoe fits...

Every bride has that one detail of her wedding that she just has to have her way, no matter how many people advise her against it. For me that detail is pink shoes. I love shoes, and I refuse to compromise and wear something plain white on my feet on the greatest day of my life. That's why I will be wearing pink shoes when I walk down the aisle. Yes you read that right - pink shoes. Pink heels to be exact. It matches my wedding decor anyway, so why not? Just thinking about a pair of bright pink bejeweled slingbacks under that white dress of mine makes me smile :) It's so unexpected! I love how unique it will be. I'm sure some people who read this will think my choice of footwear is highly odd, but it just seems so 'me' to wear something like that on my big day. (And after all...it really is all about me, right? lol) I personally think they will make for some fabulous wedding photos. Darn me for being an unconventional bride ;)