Our 12.12.12 S&D Wedding... *Update!* I BOUGHT MY DRESS!! :-)

[DarkPhant0m]

Well, since the deposits are getting paid and the planning is in full swing, I guess now would be a good time to start a PJ. I’ll be honest right out of the gate, I don’t know how much I will update or post, but I’m going to do my best to keep everyone in the loop! And I know I’ll be looking to you wonderful girls (and guys!) here soon for info on planning. I have so many questions, and I know I’ll be able to get some positive input from everyone! I will try to make sure I can fill in with pictures or links as much as possible. I've been writing this at work and I don't have any access to any online photo sites, and I'll break up what I have into a few separate posts. Ok people, let's get this show on the road!

The Background:
So, here’s a little background on me and the DF. I’m AnnaLe, he’s Mike. And we’re a couple of goofy, nerdy, geeky gamers, with 2 kids who are equally as goofy as us! I have a son from a previous relationship, he’s 9. And Mike and I have a daughter, and she’ll be 3 in May. Mike and I met about 4 years ago through his, now, ex-SIL whom I worked with at the time. He was going through a pretty nasty divorce, and I was in the process of ending a 3 year relationship. He took a real liking to me, but being the silly girl I was, I just wasn’t ready to start anything so soon after just ending another relationship. But I did find him enjoyable to be around and we made each other laugh, which is what I think we both needed at the time! So I agreed to go out with him, but just as friends, to enjoy a movie and hang out. Our “date”, for lack of a better word, was scheduled for a Friday. He called me on Wednesday and said he couldn’t wait until Friday and wanted to know if I could meet that night! I agreed, because I had nothing else to do, and we haven’t been apart since!

The Proposal:
We got engaged almost a year ago in May, on our 3 year anniversary of our first date together. I had just lost my job, and it seemed like my entire world was falling apart! Nothing was going right, and the stress was getting to be too much. I was in the middle of the kitchen, trying to figure out how I was going to afford health insurance for my kids, help put food on the table, make sure we had money for rent, bills, etc. AND keep a smile on my face through it all. I had only been at my job for 4 years when I got laid off, so I only qualified for 4 weeks of severance. That was only going to last us a month, and DF didn’t make enough on his own to support a family of 4. So I did what any strong, independent woman does when at the end of her rope, dangling above the crocodile pit… I sat in the floor and cried, lol. I just lost it. And my DF came in, helped my lump of tears off the floor, and hugged me. He kept reassuring me it was going to be ok and that we’d make it through. Then he starts tearing up, which was not normal for him, and tells me he has a plan. He says “let’s get married”. I, of course, think he’s just trying to make me happy, since he had said he never wanted to get married again, after the train wreck of a marriage to his ex-wife. I had secretly wished for years that he would just ask me, but he never did. He apologized for not having enough money to buy me a ring, or do the proposal right, but he confessed that he wanted to ask me for a long time, but didn’t know how to. He’s silly, lol. I had to ask him if he was serious, and when he said yes, I cried again, ha ha! Of course I accepted, and now we’re trying to plan the big day!

Up next: Now what do we do?; My Big Fat Italian Wedding; and *Gasp* Drama...

 

[yourgypsy]

Hello, from one half of another pair of geeks! We also had the 'non-traditional' route and hey, what's meant to be is what's meant to be is how I feel about it. I look forward to reading more of your plans!

 

[Sizzle]

Welcome from another Swan Bride!! This community is so gracious and helpful, we are all here to help along the way!

I of course, am only here to look at the pictures

 

[2dogmom]

Welcome from still another Swan bride. Can't wait to hear how your plans come along!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Welcome AnnaLe from an old (old being the operative word!!!) S/D VR bride!!
You will not, I am sure regret your decision to entrust JM and the S/D with your special day!!!
I will be following along eagerly with your plans.
Good luch sweetie and happy planning!!

 

[Icecoldpenguin]

Hooray AnnaLe I am glad you started your PJ we need more of our S/D sisters with PJs. I can't wait to hear more girl.

Teresa

 

[DarkPhant0m]

Hello, from one half of another pair of geeks! We also had the 'non-traditional' route and hey, what's meant to be is what's meant to be is how I feel about it. I look forward to reading more of your plans!

Hi yourgypsy! Glad to have you on board! Hope you enjoy the ride, lol!

Welcome from another Swan Bride!! This community is so gracious and helpful, we are all here to help along the way!

I of course, am only here to look at the pictures

Thanks for the welcome! And I think we're all here for the pictures, lol! I'll try to post as many as I can! I'll be looking to you girls for plenty of help with all of this planning stuff!

Welcome from still another Swan bride. Can't wait to hear how your plans come along!

Thanks 2dogmom! I can't wait to share the things that are going to happen over the next 10 months!

Welcome AnnaLe from an old (old being the operative word!!!) S/D VR bride!!
You will not, I am sure regret your decision to entrust JM and the S/D with your special day!!!
I will be following along eagerly with your plans.
Good luch sweetie and happy planning!!

Hi JoAnne! I have zero doubt in my mind that having a S/D wedding and going with JM is going to be the best decision I have ever made! Well, next to saying Yes to the DF, lol! You are a big part of the reason I chose to heavily consider the S/D and JM for our wedding, and so far they have been wonderful! Thank you for following along, I can't wait to hear everyone's input!

Hooray AnnaLe I am glad you started your PJ we need more of our S/D sisters with PJs. I can't wait to hear more girl.

Teresa

Yay for PJ's!! I love reading everyone's stories, all the ups and downs, too! It helps to know that other brides out there are having similar experiences and are having to make the same decisions that we are! Thanks for tuning in, lol!

Thanks, girls, for encouraging me to start this PJ. I hope I'll be able to provide some current and future brides with some information, idea sharing, and above all, laughter! I have a really long entry to share, so I will split it up into 2 separate posts. I will work more on some entrys this weekend, too, to get some more details out there! Alright everyone... on with the show!

 

[DarkPhant0m]

The Planning, Step 1, Date and Location:
Planning hasn’t been easy. We tossed around ideas of when we wanted to get married, and nothing seemed… right. Either he or I had an issue with every day we thought of. I started looking at venues and seeing what our options were around here. Nothing I was happy with, that’s for sure. And some of the places were really expensive! Then something in the back of my mind started screaming, Disney! I immediately dismissed it because, of course it being Disney, it HAD to be expensive. I was really wrong! I am a Disney freak, and I love everything about it! I have only been twice, and DF went for his first time back in 2010 for our family trip. He was in love! Our DD was 15 months old at the time, and he got to ride Dumbo with her and see her face light up with excitement! His heart melted and he says that he’ll gladly move to Florida with me when I’m ready, lol! So once I had it made up in my mind that I was going to be a Disney Bride, nothing was going to stop me! And then everything just came to me! 12/12/12 @ Disney was going to be it! I wrote the date and place on DD’s MagnaDoodle (see, I said we were goofy!) and I left it hanging on the refrigerator for him to see. I came home that night from work to find a smiley face and “Ok” next to my proposal! I will admit, I may have done a happy dance when I saw that he was on board!

The Family:
Before DF proposed, he did the very manly thing of asking my DS (!) if it was ok if the two of us got married. DS was 8 at the time, and honestly had not a clue about marriage, but agreed anyways, lol! Then DS spilled the beans to my parents, and needless to say, they were less than thrilled. My mom didn’t want to hear about it, and didn’t want to talk to me about it either. They love DF (at least they act like it!) and are always super nice to him, but my mom always has a way of finding the negative in everything! It’s really aggravating to be honest. So for the past year almost, we’ve never discussed it, and my parents don’t really know anything about the plans. Now that I have my STD’s addressed and ready to go, I’m going to leave one with her today after I pick up the kids. That will give her time over the weekend to get everything out of her system before I drop the kids back off on Monday morning. I know it’s probably horrible to have that kind of relationship with my parents, but I can’t control the way they act or think. Every life changing situation I’ve been in has started out this way. They, mainly my mom, will get really angry, doesn’t speak to me for weeks, and then tells me how happy she is. I don’t get it sometimes. But it is what it is.

DF called his mom and dad the night he proposed (even though I asked him to wait!). They, of course, were over the moon and thrilled for us! His family loves me and took to me like I was the daughter they never had! Mind you, DF’s family is Italian. Very Italian. I joke with him all the time that our wedding is going to be like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, lol! His entire family was so excited when we told them at the 4th of July family reunion that we had decided on a December Disney wedding. Everyone said they would try and make it down! Whoa! The numbers just started flying through my head at that point and I had a rough count of 80-100 people coming to Florida for this wedding! How in the world were we going to afford that!?! I didn’t have the heart to tell the family that we were only planning on having something small, like 20 or less. So we just went with it. Hoping things would work themselves out.

Planning, Step 2, Guest Counts:
Let’s skip ahead to Christmas of this past year. Nothing really happened between July and Christmas with the planning anyways. I did manage to start working again through a temp agency in October, which was a plus! I had it set in my head that I would call Disney at the year mark and start making plans for an Escape wedding. I few days before, I sent out an email to DF’s entire family with sort of a Pre-RSVP. We just wanted to get a rough idea of how many people were serious about coming down for the ceremony. We agreed that there wasn’t going to be a reception in Florida, mainly because of cost, and that we would be having a big reception locally Memorial Day weekend 2013 so that anyone who wasn’t able to come to Florida could still celebrate with us! We got a definite yes back from his one brother, a maybe from his other brother and SIL (they would have a 4 month old and weren’t sure about making the trip from Missouri, understandable!), and a maybe from 2 of his cousins. Everyone else was a no. Including his parents! I was appalled! Really!? His parents said no?! DF’s mom is disabled. She doesn’t walk very well and has to use a walker or scooter everywhere she goes. She has this idea stuck in her head that it’s not going to be very handicap accessible down there. ?!? Now, we all know this is not true! FMIL not only tells me that they’ve decided not to come 2 days before Christmas, but she does it on Facebook and sent the message to the whole family! I was mortified! DF was so mad, he didn’t even want to spend Christmas at their house. I did convince him to go, but it was so awkward with all of the tension in the air. So to recap, our guest count went from 100 to 10 in a week. Well phooey. Now what was I going to do!?

Up next: Do we really want to go to Disney??... Um... YES!

 

[DarkPhant0m]

Planning, Step 3, Back to the Drawing Board:
So with our guest count out the window, I really started reconsidering the Disney wedding. I wanted everyone to be able to come and spend the time with us! But then reality set in and I realized we weren’t going to be able to afford a big wedding. DF and I had tried to take out a personal loan to help cover the costs, but it was a no-go for various reasons. I told DF that if this wedding was going to happen, we were going to have to pay for it using our tax returns. Needless to say, I wasn’t too hopeful at that point. I started looking into local venues again. And again, I wasn’t happy with anything. I wanted a Disney wedding and nothing was going to compare. Our guest count was 10 including me, DF and our 2 kids. I’m assuming my parents will come, and then my best friend (MOH) and her mom, and DF’s brother (BM?) and his +1 (if there is one). A Memories package wasn’t going to work. We were dead set on the wedding being on 12/12/12, a Wednesday. Memories are only on weekends and we had too many people. An Escape was too expensive for what we wanted. I had done a rough estimate on our taxes and our teeny tiny budget was $8,000. Total. For everything including hotel, tickets, etc. I was hopeful at that point. I started looking into Swan weddings again. I am determined to do this wedding for $5,000! Question is, can I do it?

Planning, Step 4, The Wedding Planner:
I contacted Just Marry about having our ceremony at the Swan in the West Courtyard. I had spoken with Karen back in December, but when plans fell through with the family and we began to re-consider, I broke up with her, lol. When I emailed her a few weeks ago, she remembered speaking with me and we picked back up right where we left off. She told me that she was no longer handling Swan weddings, and that she would transfer my information over to Erin. Karen was even nice enough to go ahead and put in our site request to check for availability, even though Erin was out of the office for a few days. I got a response back from her the next morning that we had been approved for a 4pm ceremony!! I was so excited that we were able to secure our date! We did have a back-up plan in mind if the 12th was going to be completely booked, but thankfully we didn’t have to settle for that. I wrote Erin with some of the details that we already had figured out and what our basic plans were. She is the sweetest person! Very helpful with answering my questions and figuring things out! I explained that a lot of this wedding was going to be DIY to keep the costs low. The only things I needed from her were the site, an officiant, some minor floral décor for the space, and some bottles of champagne or cider. I told her that I had planned on securing the photographer, hair and makeup, musician, and cake myself. I figured then I would be able to get exactly what I want, and hopefully save a little money in the process! She was more than happy to help accommodate our moderate requests and said that I could turn to her for anything if I wasn’t able to secure vendors on my own! She came up with a contract that pleased everyone, and I signed it and emailed everything back to her with a huge smile on my face! Our ceremony is now booked, in ink no less! Lol Erin had also mentioned to me that we had been approved for the last available time on 12/12/12! That really got my heart racing, thinking that we could have missed out!

Ok, that's all I have typed up so far! Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to post about the dresses I'm considering (I need opinions! lol) and go a little more into detail about some of the vendors I've secured or am hoping to secure!

 

[msylvester01]

Congratulations on getting the date and time!!! I have been in email with Erin just recently. Even tho we won't be getting married till fall next year, she has been super helpful.

 

[Jilian]

Congrats and welcome from another non-traditional swan bride Your plans sound good so far, you can totally do it for around $5,000! Definitely! I'm gonna get my stuff in gear and try to post my final budget tonight to show just how affordable S/D weddings are. Can't wait to hear more about your plans, welcome to team Swalphin!

 

[yourgypsy]

Wow! You guys got super lucky with getting that last available time!

 

[virtuous girl]

Welcome Dont worry about having a small guest count, i think as long the people who r most important 2 u r there nothing else really matters ... im only having less than 20 people & im EXCITED about it! u can do more with a small guest also if budget is a big concern.. Congrats on getting the date u want what a unique day

 

[DarkPhant0m]

Congratulations on getting the date and time!!! I have been in email with Erin just recently. Even tho we won't be getting married till fall next year, she has been super helpful.

You will love Erin! She has been so sweet, and has really made me feel at ease with the planning!

Congrats and welcome from another non-traditional swan bride Your plans sound good so far, you can totally do it for around $5,000! Definitely! I'm gonna get my stuff in gear and try to post my final budget tonight to show just how affordable S/D weddings are. Can't wait to hear more about your plans, welcome to team Swalphin!

Thank you! I took a look at your budget that you posted on your PJ, and you guys did great! We're not having a reception, just maybe a small dinner after the ceremony, so I feel really hopeful that we can do everything for $8,000! I did a quick check of totals so far, and I think we'll be able to hit our mark of $5,000 for the wedding part, and $3,000 for the extras (hotel, food, gas, tickets, etc.)!!

Wow! You guys got super lucky with getting that last available time!

We did get very lucky! We had a back up plan if we weren't able to secure the 12th. We thought about going to the courthouse on the 12th and having our papers signed so the date was official, and then having a "Blessing Ceremony", or something like that, the next day or so afterwards. Thankfully we didn't have to settle for that!

Welcome Dont worry about having a small guest count, i think as long the people who r most important 2 u r there nothing else really matters ... im only having less than 20 people & im EXCITED about it! u can do more with a small guest also if budget is a big concern.. Congrats on getting the date u want what a unique day

Hey there! I totally agree with you on having people with us who are special in our lives is more important than guest count! And I am really glad that we're only having a small number of people! But at the same time, I don't want to look back and see that there were only 4 people sitting, watching the ceremony, lol. I think I was just so aggravated that FMIL had decided that they weren't going to come down. Knowing that they had just traveled to Missouri for FBIL's wedding about 3 years ago. We know that FFIL really wants to come, but someone has to stay home to take care of FMIL. I would love to have everyone celebrate with us, but in reality, that makes for a harder planning, coordination, not to mention cost! We shall see how this all plays out over the next few months!

 

[DarkPhant0m]

So, this weekend was pretty uneventful. I dropped a STD (I sooo dislike that acronym, lol!) off at my mom's, and to my luck, they weren't home! So that made it a little easier, since I didn't have to face her just yet and it would give her time to get what ever she needed to do or say out of her system. When I dropped the kids off this morning, she was already up (which is unusual for her) but said she had been up all night, sick. Why do I have this feeling she'll try and blame that on me, lol! She didn't mention or say anything about the card, and I was running late anyways, so I'm sure she'll bring it up when I get the kids later. Or maybe she won't. It's always a guessing game lol.

We also went to the FIL for dinner on Sunday. I took the STD's for them and FBIL1. Anything to save on postage! Before dinner got started, FMIL and I were just sitting around chatting, like we always do. She asked how things were going and if we had made any progress with the wedding. I gave her the STD and she opened it, gave it this look and then put it back in the envelope and put it behind her on the counter. I told her that things were in full swing, with the planner and photographer being paid, and hopefully I'll be able to go look for a dress next weekend. She goes, "Oh, well, how's the job working out for you?" Um, ok. That was an obvious re-direction of conversation. I just went with it. You can lead a horse to water... ya know!?

So, I got my Flickr account up and running this weekend, so hopefully I can post a few pictures or links to share some of the details. I don't know what my post count has to be to be able to do that, but I'll find out here soon, lol.

Here's my engagement ring:

It's a darker blue than in the picture, but it looks so pretty in the sun! I just got it on Valentine's Day last week! I can't believe I went almost a whole year without one, but feeding my family was more important. I'm not used to wearing rings or jewelry, so I've been messing with it a lot.

Here are the STD's we're using:

I will shamefully admit that I recreated a design I saw on another bride's post. I can't remember which bride used this design originally, but I fell in love with it! I have a background in design, so I got to work using Illustrator to re-do the card from the bottom up. I had a $25 credit with Shutterfly, so I got them printed as 4x6 pictures. I got 135 of them for FREE! I just had to pay the $8.00 shipping. So if you want to get technical, each one cost me about .06! Hopefully I will be able to score a deal like that when it comes to our Invitations!

Ok girls. I have a meeting to go to here at work, so I'll post more about the dresses later. It's a slow day here with no mail because of the holiday, so hopefully I can get the post done before I go home.

 

[DarkPhant0m]

And I haven't even started yet, lol! I know this probably sounds weird, but I am dreading going and looking for a dress! I am a buy it, take it home, and then try it on kind of girl. Or I buy it online. These are two things that I can't easily do with a wedding dress.

My MOH and I decided that we would go next weekend and look at dresses. I'm going to ask my mom if she wants to go, because that's the nice thing to do and I don't want to hurt her feelings in the long run. I doubt she's going to want to go, but I guess there's hope. I know she looked at the STD I left for her, it's sitting on her desk, opened. But she's being overly nice. I can tell she wants to say something to me, but she won't. And I'm not going to bring it up either. The ball is in her court for now.

But anyways, here are the dresses I'm considering. I never wear dresses. Ever. But I was told by the DF that I need to make an exception just this once, lol! Any input from you guys would be great (if there is anyone still out there? )! And as a side note, our wedding colors are Cobalt blue, Orange, and Pink. I loved lurkyloo's scheme and it helped that those are our favorite colors and they work so well together! So, all of the dresses I've picked out are able to have color added to them, so the plan is for the dress to be white with cobalt/royal blue accents.

Dress #1) My MOH's favorite:

Alfred Angelo Style 1516

Dress #2) My favorite!:

Alfred Angelo Style 1797

Dress #3) I love the front, hoping it will take away from my belly and hips. I'm built small on top, bigger in the hips. Classic pear is what I was told. Whatev. My MOH doesn't like it because there's no train. I think it would be nice to not have to mess with a bustle, but at the same time, I like the way some bustles look.

Forever Yours Style ??

There are other dresses I have saved, but I think these are the top 3. Opinions? Other suggestions? Also, if anyone out there has any tips on getting a dress cheaper than msrp, please let me know! I don't want a chinese knock-off! I want the real thing, and I know that comes at a price. But I have been scouring websites that have used dresses and I'm not finding what I want. Which isn't that surprising, to be honest. I wonder when the next AA sale is??

In other news: The photographer is officially booked!! He got our contract and deposit and is sending me a planning packet to work on over the next few months! We're going with Jason Angelini, and securing him for our date was the second most important thing I wanted for our wedding! I had seen the work he did for Wendy's (weedee) wedding and I was hooked! I've been cyber-stalking his blog and FB page and I just fell in love with his style, it's exactly what I was looking for!

I am in touch with Beaute Speciale for hair and make-up and they are available for my date! I am just waiting to hear back from them on the contract and that will be good to go. Question: Has anyone on here who's used them had them do a tattoo cover up? I'm looking to have 2 covered for pictures and I just wanted a general idea on how they do it. I'm so clueless when it comes to hair and make-up. I was one of those girls who was too busy playing in dirt and fixing computers to care about that stuff. It seems to have bitten me in the butt now, lol! Oh! And any advice on regular make-up vs. airbrushing? What's the difference? I want to go with a very natural look since I never wear make-up.

I think we want to have a musician at the ceremony, so I'm thinking about emailing the harpist everyone uses. Christine McPhail (?) www.orlandoharpist.com I know she comes highly recommended. I just hope she's in the budget!

And I still need to contact the bakery. I want to try It's Tasty Too, based on recommendations as well. We're going for a Mad Hatter/Topsy Turvy cake! It's going to be small, but who cares!? It's wedding cake!!! Anyone have any advice on using them?

 

[2dogmom]

I am so not a shopper either. I was able to save some money by looking at the website of the store I went to (House of Brides) and finding the dresses I wanted to try on (and they were on sale). HOB matched their internet website prices saving me about $100. Good luck wedding shopping! I love that first dress.

I just booked Christine for my wedding and am using It's Tasty Too as well.

 

[Jilian]

Your engagement ring is gorgrous!! I love it! I went with sapphire for my wedding band.

Good work on the STDs too (I hate that abbreviation too, when I first joined here I was wondering what on earth people were talking about)

Yay for dress shopping! I think there was another Dis bride that did dress #1 but with red. I hope your mom comes around soon. I hope she goes dress shopping with you so you can have a mother-daughter bonding experience. I'm bad at choosing dresses so I'm no help there, just try a bunch on and be open to switching your style. I went in with about 8 pictures of dresses I liked and they looked so different on. I ended up hating most of my top picks and going with a dress I would have never picked.

Yeah for booking Jason for a photographer, he's done some really great work!

I'm using beaute speciale too, I had a trial with Jackie and she was really nice. I thought airbrushing was more for people with problem skin by some of the other girls here say no. I went with just regular makeup and it was fine. Just tell them you want to look natural. I brought pictures of the hair and makeup I wanted and they made it happen.

I don't have experience with Its tasty too or the harpist, but I've heard lots of great things about both of them recently here. I know Joanne used its tasty too and I think Faith is too. I think she recently had a tasting with them that she talked about in her PJ.

Your colors sound great, we are doing pink and blue too. The orange will really make your colors pop.

I can't wait to hear how dress shopping goes, take pictures!

 

[PrincessMelo]

Hi there! I just read what you have so far & I can relate to you about your momma drama. My mom is also not so lovey dovey with me either. I'm the oldest of 4 & I'm active duty AF so even though i hardly see her, when i do, it seems she'd rather spend time with my sis & brothers. I'm the only one with the kids but whatev. Anyhow, I know she will be less than thrilled when i tell her that me & DH are renewing our vows & how its such a total waste of money & its not necessary. She is always so negative. So i'm hesitating about how she'll react when i get out my STD's (i know that abbreviation is terrible?!) But, hang in there. Maybe since you are just getting married, she'll see it more special i hope? I love your story too btw! =)

 

[DarkPhant0m]

I am so not a shopper either. I was able to save some money by looking at the website of the store I went to (House of Brides) and finding the dresses I wanted to try on (and they were on sale). HOB matched their internet website prices saving me about $100. Good luck wedding shopping! I love that first dress.

I just booked Christine for my wedding and am using It's Tasty Too as well.

I had read somewhere that AA was no longer being affiliated with House of Brides, so that may be out. I did see that their prices were affordable though. I'll have to look into the rumor more and see what it's all about. I didn't realize they even had a brick & mortar store!? I will look into that!

Your engagement ring is gorgrous!! I love it! I went with sapphire for my wedding band.
Thank you!! I was dead set on having this style ring! I was very lucky to find a great deal on it and I just went for it! Our wedding bands are going to be matching Tungsten carbide with blue sea glass inlaid in the band. I'll post a picture soon!

Good work on the STDs too (I hate that abbreviation too, when I first joined here I was wondering what on earth people were talking about)
Thanks! I was feeling really bad that I had remade someone else's idea, but it was just a perfect design for what we wanted. And getting them for FREE?! Nothing better than that!

Yay for dress shopping! I think there was another Dis bride that did dress #1 but with red. I hope your mom comes around soon. I hope she goes dress shopping with you so you can have a mother-daughter bonding experience. I'm bad at choosing dresses so I'm no help there, just try a bunch on and be open to switching your style. I went in with about 8 pictures of dresses I liked and they looked so different on. I ended up hating most of my top picks and going with a dress I would have never picked.
I'll post a little about my mom in my next entry. We did talk yesterday and things went surprisingly well! And I also have about 8-10 dress styles that I am taking with me to look at. I am prepared to realize that no matter how beautiful a dress looks on a size 4 model, it is not going to look exactly the same on my curvy hips! But I am hoping that me and one of these dresses are able to come to a compromise!

Yeah for booking Jason for a photographer, he's done some really great work!


I'm using beaute speciale too, I had a trial with Jackie and she was really nice. I thought airbrushing was more for people with problem skin by some of the other girls here say no. I went with just regular makeup and it was fine. Just tell them you want to look natural. I brought pictures of the hair and makeup I wanted and they made it happen.
I agree with you on the regular vs. airbrushing. I think it would just be better to do the regular make up. It will save me money and I don't really think there's a need to do it. Although I could be wrong. Make-up is not my forte!

I don't have experience with Its tasty too or the harpist, but I've heard lots of great things about both of them recently here. I know Joanne used its tasty too and I think Faith is too. I think she recently had a tasting with them that she talked about in her PJ.
I still have to contact both of them. I won't be able to do a tasting session, but I have faith that it will be awesome! Picking our flavors will be the hard part!

Your colors sound great, we are doing pink and blue too. The orange will really make your colors pop.

I can't wait to hear how dress shopping goes, take pictures!
I will!!

Hi there! I just read what you have so far & I can relate to you about your momma drama. My mom is also not so lovey dovey with me either. I'm the oldest of 4 & I'm active duty AF so even though i hardly see her, when i do, it seems she'd rather spend time with my sis & brothers. I'm the only one with the kids but whatev. Anyhow, I know she will be less than thrilled when i tell her that me & DH are renewing our vows & how its such a total waste of money & its not necessary. She is always so negative. So i'm hesitating about how she'll react when i get out my STD's (i know that abbreviation is terrible?!) But, hang in there. Maybe since you are just getting married, she'll see it more special i hope? I love your story too btw! =)
I'm an only child, so I can't relate too much to having siblings, but as far as Negative Nancy's go, I've dealt with it for a long time. I'll post about it here in a while, but my mom and I did have a talk yesterday about everything. And things went really well! And something I have learned over the past year of "planning": if this is what you and your husband want to do to celebrate your happiness together and your wonderful family, then do it! I agonized for months about having a local wedding or going to Disney. I would have never been happy staying here and having 120+ people, knowing I could have had the wedding of my dreams in Florida with a handful of close family and friends. Do what you feel in your heart to be right, and you will never be wrong. (Can't remember who said that lol)