Invitations

The invitations have arrived, and they turned out very pretty I think!


Now to put them all together... I never realized how much work is involved.


To save time and since I have horrible handwriting, we opted for the envelope icing, which I thought was pretty much the only thing we had to do besides put them together.
Not so much...

1. Use the glue dots to insert the inner envelope liner.
2. Put the names on the outside of the inner envelope. (Which I did not know about)
3. Put stamps on the RSVP.
4. Stuff the inner envelope with the RSVP and invitation.
5. Add the envelope icing to the outer envelope.
6. Put stamps on the outer envelope.
7. Seal the envelope.
8. Go to post office and make sure we have enough postage.
9. Go to post office and get them hand canceled.


So far I put all the liners in the inner envelope. I want to practice before writing the names on the inner envelope, luckily it’s the shorter name, only Mr. and Mrs. SoNSo, and no address of course, but I still hate writing it, plus I want to go get a pink pen to match the other names ink. I still have two more weeks before they go and I want to wait for Valentine’s Day stamps at the post office so I have some time still. It was so neat to see them though, its so official when its all written out to see, once again, I am so excited!!

Mother of the Bride

My mom has been having a hard time trying to find a dress for the wedding and then I found this gorgeous dress through Jasmine Bridal. I hope the teal is not as dark as it is on my monitor, my mom went in and saw the swatches, and said it wasn't too dark for Spring, and it is in their spring collection. I am sure it will be gorgeous! Very elegant.

Weekend Recap: Dan’s Birthday

We had great weekend, and I am so glad because it was Dan’s birthday!!


The weekend started off with a friend of ours coming into town for the weekend from San Francisco, we met up for Mexican food at Salsas and then moved on to Lexi for wine, martinis and chocolate crème brulee before Dan and I called it a night around 10:30. Home to watch The Soup and Conan’s last show and to stay up for midnight to sing Happy Birthday.


Up around 8:30 Saturday to walk the puppies and make homemade ham and cheese croissants for Danny’s birthday breakfast. After present opening, getting ready, and another puppy walk, off to River Rocks for lunch. It was such a pretty day we sat outside on the deck and enjoyed tropical drinks during lunch, I had a mojitos, lobster bisque and a pesto and cheese flatbread and Dan had a rum punch, and fresh catch of the day Mahi-Mahi.

After another round of drinks we were off to Essential Spa for a couple’s massage and pedicures and Dan got a free express facial for his birthday from the spa. We decided to get ready at the spa for dinner after the steam room since it was only an hour until our dinner reservations. A quick run home to let the puppies out and change, then on to dinner at Djon's.


Djon’s is known for amazing food and a very nice upscale atmosphere, neither of us had been before so we were really looking forward to it. An appetizer of crab cocktail, a dirty martini for me and a vodka tonic for Danny started off the meal, then I had the veal chop and Dan got the Delmonico both with steamed broccoli and garlic mashed potatoes. Around dessert menu time is when I realized since we got ready at the spa I didn’t put together Danny’s peanut butter pie for dessert, so we broke tradition and had dessert at the restaurant. I had the bread pudding and Danny had the chocolate meltdown cake, then after a quick stop at Amy and Jai’s home to crash.

Sunday morning we got up early to meet up with Amy, Jai, Carrie and our visiting friend Kelly for brunch before her plane left. Home to watch football and make Danny his peanut butter pie, before relaxing and getting ready for the week ahead.

What a great weekend for Dan’s birthday!!

Engagement Photo session outfit

Our engagement photo session is this Tuesday and I can’t wait! It was suppose to be two weeks ago, but we had to cancel because of the cold snap, and thank goodness we did because it gave us more time to come up with outfits! I had an idea for the first outfit but couldn’t find my dress black wrap dress, so I was on a mission to find a new black shirt dress and finally found the perfect one this passed week. Here is some of my inspiration...
I just loved Reese Witherspoon’s outfit in Four Christmases, and this photo I took out of Town and Country, sorry its wrinkle, a little old. And I thought they would look very nice paired with Dan’s black Sport Coat and jeans look.

I thought I had a dress so only needed to buy accessories, so I was looking for a bright red chunky necklace and a red pocket square for Dan, just to add a little color. I found both last weekend, and then realized this passed week I had no idea where my dress was so I decided to try and find a really nice shirt dress online.


I found this one at Talbots.com on sale but it wasn’t at the store and I was worried it wouldn’t get here in time with shipping.


Then I found this one at Ann Taylor Loft, sans the belt and fancier in person, and bought it, it was a little casual, but adding a dressier belt and accessories I thought would dress it up some.


Then I walked next door to Coldwater Creek to see if they had any bright tops for the second outfit(which I still havent come up with by the way), and found the perfect Black shirt dress, its dressier and has a very vintage feel, and came with a better belt than pictured. I took back the Ann Taylor dress and am all set for look #1 for our engagement session, now to figure out look two before Tuesday! I know it will be the casual look with a nice solid bright top and jeans and Dan in a button down with a stripe of the same color and jeans, but that’s all I got...

Flowergirl Dresses

My sister found the cutest flowergirl dresses on ebay and for only $19.99!! Thats such a good deal considering the ones I picked were $140 even with my bridal discount, you cant beat $19.99! I love great deals on wedding stuff, but who doesnt!

I actually had already bought flowergirl dresses, but they were in ivory and I had to get another bridal gown for myself in white because the ivory one was too short for me, oops, that was a rough week, but my bridal shop saved the day.

I will be switching out the white flower sash for a apple slice green one to match the bridesmaids dresses and bought three one for my one year old niece who wont actually be walking as a flowergirl, but is one in spirit.

Here is the ebay seller's store.

DSW Gucci Sale!!!

There is a huge Gucci sale on DSW.com right now! Such great prices! I scored this one for under $200, originally $795 and you can get free shipping also when you use promo code NEWYR10!!

Bridal Show

The bridal show was such a nice time yesterday afternoon. I arrived early to get my hair and makeup done by a local spa, then got to walk around and see all the vendors, try lots of food and cake, and get the swag. You wouldnt believe how many people actually thought I got my hair done and wore a tiara for the bridal show itself, silly.

Hair done but before make-up, can tell I didnt get enough sleep the night before, thank goodness for concealer.

My dad arrived to videotape the fashion show just before I had to go get dressed, I thought it was sweet that he asked if he could come see me. Then it was time for the show, it was so fun playing dress-up especially in bridal gowns! For the finale we had bouguets and we got to keep them, yay, mine was a pretty purple with peacock feathers!



I will share more photos when I get them.

Puppies in the cold

So I have never been one to dress up my dogs or even look at dog clothes, but when its in the 20's and 30's in Florida and the little puppies are shivering on their walks you have to do something, so I got them little matching sweaters, and they looked so cute I couldn't help but share...


Miss Lily!


Little Miss Olive on Mommy's lap, ahh we match, I swear that wasnt planned!

Surprisingly they did very well with keeping them on, not like the bows and hankerchiefs the groomer puts on them, I guess they must have been doing their jobs of keeping the puppies warm.

Warning: Dates are closer than they appear!

Thats a sign in my bridal boutique, so true!!
We are now less than three months away from the wedding!! I am so excited, I know I say that a lot, I really cant say it enough! I have gotten a lot done in the past two weeks, only minor things left. We were suppose to have our engagement session tomorrow, but had to reschedule because of the weather, its unusually freezing in Florida right now, and taking outdoor photos would be hard. Thursday we have our tasting with the hotel, I am looking forward to that, hope everything is yummy, we went to a wedding there two years ago and the food was very good.


I wanted to share a wedding find today...
I am a big fan of the colorful paper parasols in all these pictures, and decided since I was having an outdoor ceremony and cocktail hour I would jump on the parasol bandwagon. I know a lot of outdoor weddings do parasols, and I have seen a lot of forums and blogs look for coupons for Luna Bazaar, but I found an even cheaper and nicer resource and wanted to share with you today.
It's AsianIdeas.com



For the 32 Inch Parasols I wanted in spring green and hot pink instead of being $8.50 for 1-12/$5.50 for 24+ at luna bazaar I got them for $3.75 for any amount in the pink and $7.25 for 1-5/$4.00 for 20+ for the green and ivory at Asian ideas, and they are nicer!! They dont have a weird separate square piece of paper over the top like at luna bazaar!

Its complementary my dear Watson!

So I was doing some after Christmas sale shopping on SaksFifthAvenue.com the week after Christmas, and I was so excited to find one of my favorite artists ornaments were on sale for more than 75% off!! I first discovered Michael Storrings when my mom brought me back one of his Saks ornaments from a New York City trip when I was in college, and I just fell in love. I really love anthing with a building facade, especially a New York scene.


When checking out I decided since it was Christmas I would get them in their complementary gift wrap, I love free gift wrap, so sad Sephora stopped doing it, anyways when they all came last night, it was like it was Christmas all over again. How gorgeous!! I will always get gifts complementary wrapped from Saks from now on!! What a way to top off a great sale!!

Honeymoon

I can’t wait until after the wedding, Dan and I will be husband and wife and we get to go on a two week honeymoon!! Since we live on an island/beach in Florida and our last vacation was at a beach resort we decided to not go tropical. Both of us have never been to Europe, so we figured it would be the perfect time to have a European vacation. At first we decided on Italy, but since it is pretty cold in Europe in April and we would be on the go a lot to see all of it we decided to hold off on Italy for another trip. So we decided on France and Germany for the honeymoon! Paris is suppose to be gorgeous in April and my family lived in Germany before I was born so I would love to see it.



Since flights are cheaper and direct out of New York City and we can expand the layover we have in London coming home we decided to add a few days to the beginning in New York City and one or two in London at the end. I love New York City and havent been in a few years so it will be nice to go for a little bit and Dan said we can stay in one of the fancy fancy hotels! Yay!

To prepare for the long trip Dan bought us new luggage! The set that goes with the wheeled club bag I got for my DC trip last spring, but instead of the 25 and 21 inch, we got the 28 and 25 inch. And it arrives today!! I wish it was closer, I love figuring out outfits and packing for vacation, but then again that would mean the wedding is closer and I still have things to do!

Here comes the bride!!

Fun news, I just have to share!!
I was trying on my wedding dress during my first dress fitting, and the owner and my "attendant" starting whispering and giggling to each other, it made me kind of self-conscious at first and then very inquisitive, and then I hear my attendant say, yes I already thought of that, so finally I asked what was going on...
"We are having a bridal show at the end of the month and was wondering if you would like to be a model?"
OMG!!! How fun, a model in a bridal show right before I get married!! I thought it was very bridal of me, and said I would love to!!! We get to each wear 5 bridal gowns and unfortunately have to wear 5 bridesmaids gowns as well, but we get to get our hair and make-up done and walk around the show before the fashion show portion of the bridal show! I am so excited!!

It's c-c-c-cold outside!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! Mine was so busy I didn't even have time to blog while I was off, I did get a ton of stuff done for the wedding though! Including my first dress fitting! Yay!

It is so cold outside, Florida in 30's, yay! I just love it!!! I love this kind of weather, even though everyone says its a novelty for me since I have lived in sunny Florida my whole life. I love the cold so much I have been trying to convince Dan for a few months to move up north, I just cant handle the Florida heat, and would love real seasons. Its nice, I have been able to use all my winter coats all week, its almost like dress-up to me since I never get to pull those out unless I go on vacation. I just got a new one from Victoria's Secret on sale for $59, couldn't handle the snow like my ski or Lands' End jacket but its pretty and looks nice for work.

I hope it warms up next week, we have our engagement photo session on Tuesday...outside. Speaking of, I am totally freaking out, I have no idea what we should wear!! Ahhhhh!! Better come up with something fast!

Stay warm out there!!