Sashes, Garters, and Hair. Oh my!

Did some shopping today. Instead of a tiara, I got a flowery headband. I'm planning for my hair to be up, but to have a braid wrap around the up-do I have. Similar to the photo to the right.
Also, have some flowery spirals tacked in there.

I think I'm going to have my mother's friend, Kelly Bodnar, make my veil. She's very crafty in things like that and she said that she should be able to make one for me.

I got a quote back on my flowers and it's not as bad as I thought it would be. It's about $491. If I ask, I think I can get it trimmed up. Like, ask for the girls to have a $25 bouquet rather than a $42 bouquet. Perhaps take out the Groomsmen's boutonnieres all together and do those myself. And for myself, get a cheaper bouquet rather than the $96 bouquet.
OOOOR, we went to Costco today, and they


 have gorgeous Gerber daisy bouquets between $8 and $15. Just get all my Bridesmaids those and myself the $15 one and we're set. Which sounds like a much better idea. Because the florist also requires a $150 fee to hold the date for me and such. With everything, it just adds up very quickly. With Costco, I can make my own flowers. Hell, even if they don't have Gerber Daisies, I'll just pick out some other pretty flowers that match my colors.    

I also bought a garter for myself today. This one is for me to keep. I still need one to toss, but at least one of them is covered. It's blue as well, so there's my "something blue" covered. Pretty much the only materialistic things I'm missing now are my shoes,  cake cutlery, Ring Bearer Pillow, Shoes, Veil, Tossing Garter, Guest Book, Photo Album, invitations, and programs. However, I did buy card stock paper. I'm thinking I will just make my own invitations with my own design on the card stock.

The whole reason I went out today was because David's Bridal called to let me know my sash for my dress was in. I love the sash, this is true, but I wish someone would have showed me the price tag on it before I purchased it. They did this to me with a lot of items. Didn't exactly tell me the price of what I was getting into, just kind of let me go for it and then look at the grand total and just pass out a little bit. Like the bra they threw in with my dress. I am an A-Cup. My breasts do not need support. The only reason I even wear a bra is because I sometimes nip. With the material that THIS wedding dress and MOST dresses out there are made of, I RARELY need a bra. It was such a pointless $70 and I can't return it. It doesn't fit right either. It's just frustrating that there's a useless $70 that will remain in my closet forever. The sash is beautiful though, and I suppose I will just bite the bullet on this one.

 

Only 120 Days to go...

What Even Happens at a Wedding?

I had Jen verbally walk me through a wedding. I really just don't know what happens at a wedding or when this happens and such. So let me explain to you how a wedding should go according to what I think I understood.

1. Guests begin to arrive and you have them seated on either the Groom's side or Bride's side.
2. The Ceremony begins which starts with the officiant walking down the aisle. 
3. The officiant is then followed by the groom. 
4. Then the bridesmaids escorted by the groomsmen or the bridesmaids walk down and the groomsmen walk down or whatever variation you want the bridal party to walk down the aisle really. 
5. Maid of Honor and Best Man
6. After that, the ring bearer walks down.
7. Flower Girl.
8. Then the Bride with her father. (The order in which the party walks is entirely up to the couple.)
9.  The Officiant does their thing.
10. Couple recites vows.
11. They Kiss.
12. Bridal party exits to take photos.
13. Guests are open to Cocktail hour.
14. Bridal party joins the reception and are announced in.
15. The Bride and Groom share their first dance.
16. Dinner is served.
17. Dancing.
18. Cake cutting.
19. Dancing.
20. Toasts from the Bridal Party and guests.
21. Dancing.
22. Father Daughter Dance.
23. Mother Son Dance.
24. More dancing.
25. Then the bouquet toss.
26. Dancing.
27. Then when things start to die off, the couple drives off to their honeymoon.

So I think that's the basics of a wedding. I'm know there's other different variations due to religion and such, but at least I have a base to go off of compared to the nothing I knew before.
I love talking things out with Jen.
I'm meeting with a florist tomorrow and I don't have a photographer. It's probably too late to get a photographer. Hopefully things will work out okay though.
We have such great ideas brewing, I can't see anything going terribly wrong. If we can't get a photographer, well, I'm sure everyone will have a camera. We'll just ask everyone to send us photos they got.

Only 129 Days to go...

Good News, Everyone!

I've chosen a new Maid of Honor. My very good friend, Jennifer Criss. Apparently she's been planning my Bachelorette Party and Bridal Shower from the moment I told her I was getting married. She's very good at it and she's super excited.
We've done almost more planning in the two days we've chatted than I've done for the past 9 months. She also knows way more about weddings than I do. Never does she treat me as if I'm stupid when I ask a dumb question such as: What is a rehearsal dinner really?
I honestly don't know these things. I just make them up as I go.
I found a nice check list that I printed out and I decided I'm not too far behind.
There are things that I am missing that I should have by now though, however, I'm going to get right on them.

I can't decide if I'm going to order in bulk from Costco the flowers I want or if I'm going to go with a florist. It's so frustrating especially when I don't know any of this stuff. I do have an idea of what I want the flowers to be like though. For the Bridesmaids, I want them to have white gerber daisies with some pink ones and  delphinium elatum coral sunset flowers plugged in here and there... and no, I don't know if that's actually the name of the flower. I just kind of googled what 'that other flower' was when I was looking at bouquets and I THINK that's the name of the flower I'm looking for.
Then for my bouquet, it will be the opposite. Coral colored gerber daisies with a couple white and white delphiniums.  I have no idea what I'm going to do for the rest of flowers of if I'm even going to have more flowers.

We went and watched Tommy and the High Pilots recently and Steve asked them to play at our wedding. They were completely honest and said there would be no promises, but if they're not touring and we pay for gas and food for them, they'll be here. I'm not trying to get my hopes up, BUT OH MY GAWD, WHAT IF THEY PLAYED AT MY WEDDING?! WHAT. IF?
Tommy even said that his god father, who lives in Portland, is having a birthday party the same day and if they can make it up for his birthday party, they'll most probably stop by. Two member of my favorite band, stopping by my wedding, just to say hi. No, it's cool. It's cool bro. I won't freak out or anything.

So yes, fangirl aside. I made a list of things I NEED for the wedding. It's a little thicker than I'd like and it all comes with a price tag attached, but hopefully I can get all these items before the wedding:

• Photographer
• Wedding Rings
• Florist
• Musicians (NOT getting my hopes up, see)
• Hair and make-up artist
• Baker
• Rental Equipment (Tables and chairs)
• Veil and Shoes
• Bridal Party Gifts
• Wedding Favors
• Invitations
• Marriage License
• Guest Book
• Tuxes
• Ringer Bearer Pillow
• Flower Girl Basket
• Decorations
• Lighting

Guh, I don't know how I'm going to do it, but hopefully everything falls into place.

Only 130 Days to go...

Terrbile News

My Maid of Honor is being stationed in Germany around the date of my wedding and my sister keeps refusing the position. What's a bride to do?

Only 164 Days to go...

Bought the Dress

The dress has been bought. I bought it from David's Bridal. I spent a looooot of money. I'm not upset I spent that much money, the only thing is I wish I didn't order the strapless bra. I'm pretty sure David's doesn't take back anything I don't need the bra though. I'm not even a full A-Cup, why do I need a bra? Also, the bra was $79. I wish I would have known that. I suppose I can sell the bra maybe. I don't know. That's the only thing I'm really upset about.
Other than that, the dress is beautiful. It's even a Vera Wang! It was on clearance. i didn't buy it because it was Vera Wang, I actually didn't even know that it was Vera Wang until  after I fell in love with it. I was just looking at dresses in my price range.
The alterations on it are going to cost about $300, but I think I can live with that.
Wow, just, I can't believe I spent that amount of money on one thing.

It was nice though that I finally collected up both my sisters, my mom, and my grandma to help me pick a dress. Their opinion definitely matters. It's not ultimate, but it matters. Kelsey and Kylie chose their bridesmaid dresses and they were beautiful. It's hard not to get excited .

Only 189 days...

If Planning a Wedding Wasn't Enough...

Along with planning this wedding, Steve and I bought a house. No, my life isn't stressful enough. I love having my own home. I love being a homeowner; however, we've ran into an assortment of issues in which most homeowners do. Mainly just little fix-its here and there. The laundry room door wouldn't stay on its hinges and wouldn't open and close properly, the toilet constantly drains, we have ants, the wind just blew the storm door off the other day, the blinds are all horrid, Grandma's blinds just fell the other day, and many other little issues. It's okay though because Steve is learning how to fix everything. We'll make a handyman out of him yet.
The other problem is that I LOVE my VHS collection. I have hundreds! And that's after selling/giving away/donating about 2/3 of them! On top of the VHS collection, between Steve's and my DVD collection and my video game collection and his Blu-ray collection, we just don't have any shelf space for all of this! I bought two shelves from Walmart. One three tier, and one five tier all now filled with VHS. Steve had a three tier already which is filled with DVD's. I had plans for this cabinet from Great Grandma to use it as a pantry for food. However, it was turned into storage for VHS's as well.
Now I need more shelving for my kitchen. I have too many coffee cups which is ironic because I don't drink coffee. I do love tea. Well thank you to facebook and great friends, a friend contacted me on a free shelf. Ohmahgosh is it beautiful!

Now I can put all my kitchen appliances that I only use on occasion and not a daily basis on there.
I CAN ORGANIZE MY KITCHEN!
Each step to moving into this house, moving into my life with Steve gets easier and easier. Of course there's a rough patch every now and then, but usually the outcome is pretty good.
Hopefully things will just get even better.

Only 193 Days...

Sending these Puppies Out

Sending out Save-The-Dates for over 220 people. Most of these people are living in Nevada so they probably won't be able to make it, but I would like to at least send them a little something. 

My mom and I went dress shopping the other day and I just can't decide on which dress I want. There was one dress that fit well and was beautiful, but it looked almost like a quincinera (sp) dress to me. Something a girl would wear, not a woman becoming a wife. There was also a Vera Wang that was on clearance, but was of course still expensive. However, it was in my price range. So now the question is, do I bite the bullet and get the more expensive dress, or save lots of money and go for the Quincinera dress and use that extra $500 on something else?

I keep trying to get my sisters to go dress shopping with me, but they seem to have absolutely no interest in helping. I'm on the verge of just kicking them out of the bridal party. I need my bridal party to be helpful, not trying their hardest to ignore me. Crista is in the military and over 1000 miles away and she has sent me more idea from her phone and helpful advice than my two sisters who live 15 miles away from me have even attempted doing. 

Never have been to a real wedding, I don't even know where to start on things. Thanks to TheKnot.com, I've got things kind of in order, but also being new to the area, I have no idea who to go to or talk to for things as flowers, catering, etc. I'm sure I'll come up with something eventually, but it won't lower my stress level any.

Only 196 days...

A Closer Look Under that Veil

I'm starting this blog to give a more personal taste the ups and downs of planning my own wedding. Let me start off with the title of this blog, "Bridezooookie". Behind every wedding is the fear of the bride becoming the dreaded Bridezilla. I don't know how many people remember the Godzilla cartoon from the late 1970's. There was of course, the giant lizard creature, Godzilla... but there was also his silly, cuter, counterpart of Godzuki. So I'm hoping that if I start to go on the crazy path, I will be more of a Bridezookie than a Bridezilla.
That being said, it's been pretty stressful especially with the lack of support emotionally and financially. My family is all for the wedding, it's just hard getting them to participate to help me plan. And I work at Walmart, so "budget" is definitely a big word for me.
So far, I've found a place, an officiant, wedding cake toppers, and have made my own save the dates.
I've been stressing over finding the perfect location for a wedding. Like I said, my brain is constantly screaming, "BUDGET BUDGET BUDGET!!!" Yet everywhere I look is $2000 or more. Some places that are cheaper, like $1000, but require a $5000 minimum catering fee. Weddings are a ridiculous event that I don't understand why people spend so much money on them with the economic state in which we're in. Of course Price Gouging Bastards are going to put their price on it and demand you pay it.
Fortunately, a co-worker who is also a great friend overheard about my stressful situation and offered to have our wedding on her property. I was ecstatic. She invited me out and it was beautiful. With some decoration, it can only get more gorgeous.
For the wedding officiant, I went to www.weddingwire.com and did a search on local officiants. I read the reviews on plenty and started calling. The first woman I called was in McMinnville. This is why she was prime choice. She said that she will write the ceremony, print our vows out on nice paper, and take care of all the legal stuff afterwards for us with the state. Which would be fantastic because I have no idea how to deal with any of that. I'm sure I'd figure it out, but it would be so much nicer to just have someone help me along the way. I then asked her price and she said $50. I thought this was a little steep, but at least I could afford it. I called around for hopefully a better quote. I didn't realize I was kidding myself.
I called the Wedding Judge next. He had wonderful reviews online and apparently gave beautiful ceremonies. I asked his price and he quoted me at $155. Oh.
There has to be a better price out there, right? I called Melissa Coe. She claimed herself not only as an officiant, but something spiritual in which I don't remember. I asked the general rate. $600.
Yeah, I'm sticking local. I called the first woman back and set up for my wedding date. Hopefully things will go great with her.
For my Save-The-Dates, I took a photo from the internet in which I've loved for quite a while. I wanted my Save-The-Dates to have the same style. So I took the photo, put it on photoshop, swapped things around, changed some colors, put the date and time, and voila! Save-The-Dates.
Cake toppers! I'm currently working on them, but it shouldn't take too much. I bought two dinosaur figurines from Walmart for $1 (plus my Walmart discount, so each one was only $0.90. SCORE!) and I bought some fabric to dress them up. Now I'm going to make a veil and dress for one and a suit and top hat for the other. Set them upon my cake and call it good.

So yeah, not a whole lot done for planning since July, right? But at least I'm now getting somewhere.
Hopefully I'll keep this updated and be able to get word out to people and stay connected with everyone on a personal level.

Only 199 days...