Cristina's Real Life Fairytale - 1/5/2014 <3

[WittyAmb]

You should check out the website The Perfect Palette! Maybe you can get some inspiration from them, just type in the colors you are looking for. Good luck

Perfect palette is awesome! Thanks, Jodi!

 

[Mel*Pie]

Like it would be really cute to have a mini-Up house with the balloons!

I've seen a few really amazing Up wedding ideas. If I can find them again, I will post them.

 

[WittyAmb]

Nicole... Your username always throws me! I'm such a turd!

 

[Mel*Pie]

This is super easy to DIY and you could use this as your card holder thingie or as a table centerpiece, maybe? Not sure if it's too big for use as a centerpiece though.

This shop on etsy sells "My Adventure Book" type albums for use as guestbooks or wedding albums. They are a little pricy but it might be something you can DIY a version of yourself?

And here is an actual Up house centerpiece at a wedding but I have no idea where to find it!

I'm sorry for posting all these unsolicited photos all over your PJ! I promise I won't post anymore unless you've expressly asked for them! lol

 

[Bewitch324]

Oh my gosh I love that UP house centerpiece...so cute.

I know I saw in someone's planning journal that they were doing Pixar movies for their table names and they had done pictures from each movie on black cardstock I think, and they turned out really cute. I will poke around and see if I can find them again.

I love the glass vases with water and flowers in them...

SO pretty!

Brooke

 

[charliegirl76]

Charlie, totally agree! It's hard to picture everything together! I'm hoping that my DIY skills are better than I think they are! I bow down to those who are talented like that!

PS- Pretty sure I spied you on the disbrides fb page

I'm sure you'll do great with your DIY! Yes, I'm on the FB page (my name is Sharli....hence the "charlie"girl actually it has been my mom's nickname for me for my whole life. lol)! I love having all the great information in real time at my fingertips! It's really a great place and everyone is super helpful and nice!

I love your ideas for the Pixar table names! Looks like you got some great information here! Gosh, everyone is so helpful and willing to share. What a great group of ladies here....and on FB!!

 

[Summer Daydream]

I am not a girlie girl either! I have become one though with all this planning! A navy wedding is beautiful. My brother had a navy blue wedding so I can post pictures if you would like. I love your plans this far

 

[issy328]

Issy I totally didn't think blue would be what I go for... purple is actually my favorite color but idk... something about blue is screaming at me for the wedding. You'll have to post some of your own pics! Do you have a PJ?

No PJ for me yet!! I'm still about 19 months away, I have tons of ideas saved on my computer but for now I'm just enjoying all of the PJ's for the gals getting married this year. I'm afraid if I start one before I'm even penciled in that I'll burn out or just confuse myself with toooo many ideas!

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

Nicole... Your username always throws me! I'm such a turd!

No worries! I chose it exactly to confuse people that know me, so it's my own fault if it confuses everyone else too!!

Ooh, okay, I need to sit back and think about Pixar movie inspiration. I love the idea of the Up house with the balloons, but all the other movies always throw me a little. For some reason when I think Pixar all thoughts of subtlety fly out the window! Which other movies are you thinking of using? Also are you planning on using Disney for decor?

Here are some ideas from Disney Event Group:

Nemo:
- http://www.disneyeventgroup.com/index.php/element_view/floral/372/564#inner_content
- http://www.disneyeventgroup.com/index.php/element_view/floral/703/1807#inner_content
- http://www.disneyeventgroup.com/index.php/element_view/floral/703/2271#inner_content
- http://www.disneyeventgroup.com/index.php/element_view/floral/373/590#inner_content
- http://www.disneyeventgroup.com/index.php/element_view/floral/373/2274#inner_content


Ratatouille
- http://www.disneyeventgroup.com/index.php/element_view/floral/373/573#inner_content (technically this is Lady and the Tramp themed, but I'm sure the general idea could be made more "French")

Brave:
-Tartan ribbon
-Thistles or flowers from the thistle family (a very Scottish flora)
-Carved bear

Cars:
-White and black checkered flags or ribbons

And I think I'm blanking out at the moment... Anyway, just some more thoughts to consider!

 

[WittyAmb]

This is super easy to DIY and you could use this as your card holder thingie or as a table centerpiece, maybe? Not sure if it's too big for use as a centerpiece though.

This shop on etsy sells "My Adventure Book" type albums for use as guestbooks or wedding albums. They are a little pricy but it might be something you can DIY a version of yourself?

And here is an actual Up house centerpiece at a wedding but I have no idea where to find it!

I'm sorry for posting all these unsolicited photos all over your PJ! I promise I won't post anymore unless you've expressly asked for them! lol

I love love LOVE that UP House!!!!! How awesome would that be as a centerpiece! Thanks for sharing. My PJ is yours for all your picture posting!

 

[WittyAmb]

I will poke around and see if I can find them again.



Brooke

Brooke,

If you find them definitely share! I'm so curious to know how they came out!

 

[WittyAmb]

Gosh, everyone is so helpful and willing to share. What a great group of ladies here....and on FB!!

Sharli... 100% agree... everyone is incredibly giving and helpful. I feel insanely lucky to have found this and the FB page!

 

[WittyAmb]

:l Which other movies are you thinking of using? Also are you planning on using Disney for decor?

Well... I guess we're using Disney for decor. I'm just not really sure because I'm completely unaware as to what they offer. We haven't had our PS yet. What's the website that you got all of those pixar things from?!

As far as movies go, definitely Finding Nemo, I love Wreck it Ralph, Monsters Inc, Cars... that's about as far as we've got. I also have no idea how many tables we're going to have as we've only sent out save the dates with the pre-rsvps.

I definitely want to keep it "wedding" and not have it turn into a childrens party (though that would probably be funner---that's right--- I said "funner").

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

My understanding is that if you are going with Disney you can pretty much ask for anything, but it's better to have an idea of what you're asking for because they have so much available it's hard for them to catalogue it all. I definitely get the wedding vs. kids party too. My DF and I were actually talking about your centrepiece idea and how to make it subtle and classy. I can't say we came up with much, its so tricky, so many Pixar movies are based on toys and games; they don't have the same kind of overarching motifs that are present in say, the Princess movies, where an apple is enough for everyone to get the message. So I am very excited to see what you come up with!!!

Here is the link: http://www.disneyeventgroup.com/index.php/decor/
And: http://www.disneyeventgroup.com/index.php/floral/centerpieces/

 

[WittyAmb]

First of all, things have been so hectic in my crazy life that I have completely neglected my PJ. For those of you who have been regular readers, I apologize.

Dress shopping. I assume this is what most girls have been dreaming of their entire lives. Go to the store, find the perfect dress, try it on and cry because you know it's "The One". Given that this was the perception of dress shopping that I had learned from social media and entertainment, I thought surely my experience would turn out the same way.

Having my mom with me was really important and for those of you who may be new to this PJ I should tell you that I live in NYC and my mom lives in South Florida. SO... I waited until Spring Break to start the process with her down there. Admittedly, I was pretty psyched about it. Having had all those magical experiences shoved in my face made this outing very exciting for me and I was ready to live that moment myself.

The first store we went to was in Homestead, FL. This woman has been down there for as long as I can remember (as I was raised in that area). Once we had learned that she relocated her store to a much bigger space and that people were traveling near and far to shop, I knew we had to give it a shot. When we arrived I was immediately impressed by the store. It had a lot of options, was very clean and just felt sort of homey to me. I worked with a young girl named Christina who was really awesome. Oh and let me just say about this whole process... getting naked in front of someone you've known for a total of 5 minutes is pretty weird to me. I felt inclined to ask each of them if we could go out to dinner first but no one said "yes". They just laughed at me and I was expected to strip down to my granny panties (because honestly ladies, going there in a thong or skimpy cute little pair of undies just ain't right). But I digress...

We looked through the magazines and marked a bunch we wanted to try. I really wanted lace in my dress. I thought it was so feminine and classy (two things of which I'm not but on my wedding day I wanted to be). Then I was escorted to the dressing room and the stripping commenced.

The first dress... omg... it was SO heavy! I'm a thin girl but by no means am I fit. The thought of lugging what felt like a 20 pound dress around all day was not something I jumped for joy about (mainly b/c I couldn't jump in it). We continued with the process trying one dress on after another. I wanted to see as many styles on my body as I could to help me narrow it down. I tried a mermaid dress and hated it. Not being able to walk properly all day wasn't exactly appealing to me. They look amazing on some body types but it just wasn't for me. Along with that, I really wanted to see what a dress with capped lace sleeves would look like! They are just so pretty! I stripped down and strapped it on and... beautiful! I loved it... until I tried to move my arms. Unfortunately, not being able to lift my arms up to dance is a deal breaker.

The funniest part about this trip is there was a woman working in the store who everytime she walked by and I was in a new dress she'd look at me, look at the dress and say "beautiful". EVERY dress I tried on. It got a little ridiculous and my mom and I would giggle every time she walked by knowing what she'd say. The woman never disappointed us.

After a while, everything was getting so confusing. I found one dress that I liked but wasn't in love with. It was pretty busy with lace and I was quickly learning that I don't like too much business.

Our trip ended unsuccessfully with the exception of the hug that I got from my new girlfriend.

I will say this... there was no magic and no tears. I didn't feel like the princess I thought I would. There was nothing special about the day which was really sad to me.

SO back to the drawing board... I looked up Alfred Angelo because I had read about the ladies here trying on his dresses and of course he had the Disney line. It turns out there was a store in Coral Gables so we made an appointment for the day before I left FL. This time I had narrowed my choices down and written down about 20 different style numbers I really wanted to try on.

When we got there I was less than impressed. The store was not the cleanest it could be and was very cold (hellooo headlights). People in Miami love there air conditioners. What I disliked most about the store is that they only had one very long mirror there and no mirror behind you to see the back of the dress without having to turn around.

The process began. I stripped down, invited the girl to dinner who promptly laughed at me (which of course means "no"). The first dress I tried on was the Cinderella ball gown. I really wanted to see it. Wow was it big! Very full poofy skirt which had glitter on it. This was not my thing at all. We proceeded to try on dress after dress after dress and I have to say that these gowns look different in the magazine pictures than they do in person. Some of them looked cheap and just thrown together. OH and I learned really quickly that I did not want a corset back. No offense to anyone who has one... I know they're very popular now but when i see them I think of an old fashioned prostitute so I dubbed those dresses "the ones with a w h o r e back". That always got a laugh out of the ladies I worked with.

There was one dress that I kind of liked but wasn't in love with. It was just "eh". We took some pictures and left the store. I was frustrated and nervous. What if I didn't find it? At that point I had tried on about 25 dresses and nothing was appealing to me. And still... no magic... no tears and nothing special.

I was so discouraged!! Never did I think it would be this difficult to find my dress. The pressure of finding "the one" was really creeping up on me. What if I didn't find it?

 

[WittyAmb]

Given the fact that we had tried and failed finding a gown in Florida, we decided to have mom come up to NYC and shop here. There is a store called RK Bridal which is basically a warehouse for wedding gowns. They have 50 different designers so basically if I didn't find it there I wasn't going to find it any where. (haha.. makes me think of the Frank Sinatra NY/NY song)

What's really great about this idea is that my mom hadn't actually visited NY in about a year and a half. Andy and I had moved in January and I was very eager for her to see our new place! Also, moms charge for staying here is for her to make her amazing homemade spaghetti sauce... yummmmmm!!!

So before going to RK Bridal I had looked online and made a list of the dresses that I really wanted to try on. There were 11 on the list. Because of experiencing 2 different dress shops, I had basically narrowed down the style that I wanted. I went in thinking, this should be really easy... they'll just pull the dresses, I'll try them on and hopefully love something.

On this trip I was joined by two of my girlfriends which was kind of awesome since we wanted some different opinions other than mom and I.

The thing to know about RK Bridal is that for your first visit they do not take appointments and considering we were going on a Saturday we figured we'd better get there before they open to sign in and make sure this isn't an all day affair. SO... Mom and I woke up a 6 o'clock (which on a weekend is unheard of for me) and prepared to leave. When we got there it was just before they were to open and we were 2nd on the list! I was thrilled about this!

My name was called and I met with my dress consultant, Olga. She was this very sweet older lady. I gave her my list and she proceeded to look them up to make sure they were in stock. I hadn't thought about this. I figured that if it's on the website they'd surely have it there.

First and foremost, there was this Alfred Angelo dress that I really wanted to try on. They didn't have it in the Coral Gables store. She looked it up aaaand... they didn't have it. My heart dropped just a bit but I figured I had so many on my list that it would be just fine.

There were about 7 Casablanca dresses that I wanted to try on. Anxiously, I watched her type them in, look at my list, and cross it off. At the end of all 7 she looked at me and said "we don't have any of the Casablanca's". It was in this moment that I was starting to have heart failure!

Next were 2 Allure dresses that I had written down. Type type type in the computer and nope... neither of them were there.

Finally, there was 1 Justin Alexander dress that I had written down. Surely I thought they'll have at least one of these dresses. Alas, they did not have it.

We had gone through my entire list and they had none of them in stock. I was in full freak out mode!!!! I got really upset... what the h e l l were we going to do now!? Mom was only in NYC until Tuesday and there's no way to get an appointment any where in the city at this point. I did not want to do this without her and it was starting to look like I was going to have to.

Olga was really encouraging. She said we'll go through the dresses and find something for sure. SO We started to pull dresses and try them on. We first focused on A-lines that weren't too busy but everything she was taking out for me to try on was a sweetheart neckline and I just don't have the b o o b-age to support that.

Nothing was really hitting home. There was no magic, no tears and nothing special. Each dress was either too busy or too tight around the waist or just flat with no umfph. It was so incredibly discouraging and I was distraught knowing that if I couldn't find it there where was I going to go!

Then Olga kind of gasped and immediately left the room. She came back with a Justin Alexander dress and asked if I would be willing to try it on. It looked nice so I agreed. I put it on, looked in the mirror and thought "huh... this is nice".

I walked out to Mom and my girlfriends and showed them. So far it was the best one we tried on. We blinged it up with a veil and tiara. I was starting to really like this dress.

I wasn't completely convinced yet so we tried on another after that that was a bit more blingy but also nice... but there was something about that dress that Olga pulled SO... I put it on again. They have this mirror that you can walk towards so you can see what it looks like when you walk in it. It was in that moment that I started to love it but it's such a big choice that mentally I wasn't prepared to say "yes to the dress".

Olga said we could take some time to decide... come back and try it on whenever we wanted if I didn't want to make a decision today. I was feeling pretty overwhelmed about it all and didn't want to choose so quickly.

Meanwhile there was another bride-to-be who wanted to try on the same dress so I gave it up and put my clothes back on. I decided I wanted to wait to see her in it just to see what it looks like on someone else.

Finally, she came out... I saw her and the more I looked at it the more I loved it and then... the magic hit me... the tears started flowing and I was finally having my special moment! I had found "The One"!!!

Immediately I decided that we were going to order it right then and there. Olga let me put it back on so we could take some pictures and then I stripped so she could take my measurements. Mom gave a deposit and that was it. It was set in stone and there was no turning back now.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still a bit nervous about it but given that I started crying makes me believe I made the right choice.

I had considered putting pictures up or at least telling you the style number of the dress but I'm afraid that DF will stumble upon this and find it and I definitely don't want him to know what it is. I keep telling him that the dress isn't white (which isn't a lie) and that it's super poofy and blingy. IF however, you do want to know which style number it is you can either PM me here of if you're reading this from the FB group PM me there and I'll send it to you.

The day was a complete roller coaster! I went from being completely discouraged and broken hearted to feeling elated and insanely relieved!

Finally, I could mark off this wedding to-do off my list!

 

[Mel*Pie]

I am usually not so entertained reading such long posts without pictures of dresses or invitations or some other wedding related thing to make me to ohh and ahh, but your writing flowed very nicely and built up such suspense! I'm so happy you were able to find "the dress" with your mom there. But I think even if you hadn't cried, that doesn't mean you'd have the "wrong" dress. It is after all a garment of clothing. I believe it's the bride who makes the dress special. Not the dress who makes the bride special. Just my two cents! (Not that you asked for it)

By the way, would you mind saying the name of the store you went to in Homestead? I live in Boynton Beach now but my family and long-time friends are in Miami and that is where I grew up. I would love to know which store it is for future reference since you seemed to really like it. Thanks!

 

[WittyAmb]

I am usually not so entertained reading such long posts without pictures of dresses or invitations or some other wedding related thing to make me to ohh and ahh, but your writing flowed very nicely and built up such suspense!

By the way, would you mind saying the name of the store you went to in Homestead? Thanks!

lol thanks for the compliment! I really enjoy writing the PJ's so it's nice to know it's appreciated!

The place is named Ann Marie's... the link is below if you want to check them out. Very nice ladies there! Let me know if you wind up going!

http://www.annmariesbridalboutique.com/

 

[charliegirl76]

You are so funny! I love reading your PJ. So glad you found your dress! I didn't have that feeling when I found mine. I didn't start crying until after I told the sales associate it was my dress. And I was surprised that no one in my party "ooohed" or "aaaaahed", they just kind of seemed....well, normal. But then my MOH told me my mom was crying before I even came out with the first dress and I knew she was just trying to stay as composed as possible.

Oh and let me just say about this whole process... getting naked in front of someone you've known for a total of 5 minutes is pretty weird to me. I felt inclined to ask each of them if we could go out to dinner first but no one said "yes". They just laughed at me and I was expected to strip down to my granny panties (because honestly ladies, going there in a thong or skimpy cute little pair of undies just ain't right). But I digress...

This is so true! I had my MOH help me in and out of dresses because I didn't want to disrobe in front of a stranger. Still, it was strange, she's never seen me with less than PJs.

 

[LittleKittyMarie]

Congratulations on finding the dress! I love your "search for the dress" story!

I didn't cry at any point with my dress... I suppose I'm a little disappointed about that, considering how many times I tear up watching other people find their dresses on Say Yes to the Dress. But I had a really giddy happy feeling, and also only after I'd told the sales consultant I was going to buy it, so I took that to be the sign I needed instead. And even still I woke up nauseous the next day with worry that I'd made the wrong choice! No one on Say Yes to the Dress ever mentioned that!

Anyway, really enjoyed reading!