something blue

I love the latest trend of wearing colored heels on your wedding day.  It adds that splash of fun and spontaneity on an otherwise extremely planned day.   

 

So while I was in Italy, I noticed that a lot of stores sold blue heels and I got really excited.  I was planning on ordering a pair of blue pumps for my wedding and I thought it would be even cooler if I got them in Italy.  So my future cousins-in-law and I scoured all over town until we finally found a pair in my size (trust me, it was a process!).

They are navy blue peep toe slingbacks.  They look a little like the picture below, only they are a darker blue, do not have such big bows on top and they didn't cost me hundreds of dollars!  Actually, they came out to only 30 euros, which translates to about $40 in American money.

Now I just need to practice wearing them so I don't fall flat on my face on my wedding day!

music to my wallet

I know!  I've been MIA for the last two months but not without good reason!

I've been pretty busy with work, and between traveling and not having time to bounce ideas off my work BFF Megan (I like the term workwife but others seem to disagree), I just haven't really had a chance to organize my thoughts.  And now that I'm back home with Momzilla, I don't have much room or time to do anything other than wedding planning!

Ok, enough with the excuses.  The point of this entry was to bring up a topic that I've kinda dodged until now but with less than 5 months until the wedding (gasp!!), I think it's time to face the music.  Pun intended.

I'm a music person.  Always have been.  I even work in a music related industry.  And so when it was time to plan a wedding, I knew I wanted to have some live music in addition to the recorded tunes spun by my DJ.

The big question for me is where are the live musicians most appreciated?  And where are my dollars best spent?

My church apparently has some sort of "contract" with a fanfare company where, for a few hundred dollars, we could have a trumpeter announce my arrival outside the church, play during the ceremony, and announce our departure as husband and wife afterwards.  When I heard the trumpet play the wedding march in church during our workshop, I was sold.

But now I'm contemplating whether or not I'll need to hire another set of live classical musicians to play during the cocktail hour.  I attended another winter wedding not too long ago where a string quartet played classical music during  cocktail hour and I remember it feeling really warm and cozy.   Momzilla is a huge fan of this idea and the romantic, sentimental side of me is as well.

I would love to do both but my wedding budget isn't so sure.  The amount of money I have allotted for live music does not cover both the ceremony and the cocktail hour.  And while I'm more inclined to have the trumpeter at the church (slightly cheaper, more powerful, more noticeable, and heard by me, the bride!), I still haven't completely thrown out the idea of just doing the cocktail hour (more romantic, more guests will hear it, cozier).

So my question to everyone is:

If you had to choose between live musicians at the ceremony or live musicians at the cocktail hour, which ones do you think is more remembered by the guests? 

Or do you think I should just suck it up and get live musicians for both the ceremony AND the cocktail hour?

sprinting to the finish line

Starting in January, my company began using an organizational system called "Sprints" as part of preparing for one of our biggest projects.  How it works is we meet once a month and determine the tasks and goals we plan to accomplish between each meeting (which is spaced about 4 weeks apart).  While there can certainly be large tasks listed, we try to break each one down into smaller, more doable items so that the big picture gets done faster.

So, being the planner that I am, I've decided to apply my work methods to my wedding.  In order to prepare for the big day (t-minus 7 months!), I have broken down wedding tasks by month.  To make it "cutesy," I named each Sprint after a winter word.

Here's an example:

I'm hoping that if I give myself little goals, like addressing 50% of the invitation envelopes, then I won't feel so intimidated to work on my calligraphy.  It also gives me a sense of how much time I'll need to set aside each month in order to plan my wedding.

Of course, after looking at my full Sprint list, I began to panic.  How the heck am I going to get all of these things done?!  Keep in mind that this is just MY wedding planning. None of these tasks are related to my sister's bridal shower, bachelorette party or wedding plans! 

Do any of you ladies have other suggestions on how to keep yourself organized?  

When would you say is the MOST stressful time?  The week before the wedding?  Or the seven months before when you realize how much stuff needs to get done?

in vendors we trust

So now we're down to 7 months and most of my vendors have already been booked.  Some of them, like the hall and the photographers, were hired quite early while others, like the florist, were recently contracted.  All of them, however, required some sort of a deposit at the time we booked them.  On average, I would say each vendor asked for at least 25% of the total cost in order to reserve the date.

Now that my wedding is getting closer, I'm considering whether or not I should be paying off more of that wedding night balance.

On one hand, if I pay off little by little each month, it won't feel like such a financial dent in my wallet.  I've been pacing myself with all of my other wedding purchases and I really think it's what's helped me stay relatively calm about spending so much money.  Fifty dollars here and $100 there doesn't hurt as much because it's spread out.  It also means that on the night of the wedding, I won't need the Best Man or Matron of Honor (yes, Lyndsey, you will be a MATRON) to be worrying about all that cash they'll be carrying.

On the other hand, I am quite paranoid about prepaying for a vendor who may bail on me last minute or not end up providing the services they promised.  I've heard so many horror stories of vendors who take your money and run. 

One example I posted in a previous entry was around Enzo Bridal who unexpectedly closed its doors and left brides without dresses.  Depending on the cost of your dress, a bride may have left thousands of dollars down as a deposit only to have to deal with a lawsuit right before her wedding in order to get it back.

Another example is Celebration Studios, who took thousands of dollars from couples and then ended up filing for bankruptcy in 2008.  I can't even imagine knowing that I will never get to keep the only lasting memories of my wedding day!

So how can we protect ourselves?  Here's what I've been doing so far.

1. Check out their reviews on Wedding Wire.  Not only can it legitimize the vendor by providing other brides who have used this vendor, but it can let you know if there were any problems or issues.
2. Search for the vendor on Better Business Bureau.  Smaller and more local vendors may not be accredited by the BBB but it can at least provide ratings for those who are.
3. Ask for referrals!  Even though I absolutely adore Papillio Photography now, I was still a skeptical bride when I met them so I asked them for references of past brides.  I was assuaged of my fears when a former bride emailed me and answered all of my questions. 

Considering I'm still new to this whole wedding business, is there anything else that you married ladies can suggest?  I'm sure my fellow brides would appreciate the advice!

moving back with the 'rents

So it's going to be a pretty big week for me.  Tomorrow is my 28th birthday (gasp!) and by the end of the week, I'll be living back at la casa de my parents.  That's right, I am moving back in with my folks, or at least until I get married in 7.5 months!

So I haven't been able to blog much lately due to the fact that I've been cleaning out my little bedroom in order to move everything out.  It's amazing how much clutter I've accumulated in just three short years!  But as excited as I am about moving on to the next chapter in my life, I'm really sad about saying goodbye to this one.

When I moved into this apartment, I had no idea what the future was going to bring.  All I knew was that I wanted a fresh start; a change to my life.  Little did I know just how much of a change this one little move would bring me!  The night I called this apartment home, I met the man of my dreams.  The man I am going to marry.  He literally arrived at my doorstep and was standing in my living room when we were introduced.  And believe it or not, I knew from the moment I met him that he was the ONE.  Cliche, but true.

So here I am, getting ready to leave the place I've made my home and move back to the place that made me.  And as much as I tease Momzilla, I'm actually excited about living with my parents again.  MZ and I will have a lot of fun with our wedding plans and when I leave that house on my wedding day, I'll really be leaving from it.

I promise to write more once I'm settled!  Till then, happy planning!

Dancing with Dad

I thought I knew all the obscure "Father-Daughter" songs out there but Miss Newport's blog, Newport Nuptials, posted a new sappy, sweet song from Edwin McCain so I thought I'd pass it on. I've also posted the lyrics below the video.

Enjoy and be sure to keep a Kleenex nearby!

I’ll take this slow sweet walk with you
You’ll let go of my hand to say: I do
He will discover just how blessed a life can be
I know cuz all those years ago
Someone handed you to me

Every step that we take
Brings back the memories
Winter snows and horse shows
Dancing on the beach
I can’t help thinking that I’m the lucky one
You’re still my baby daughter
And now I’ve gained a son

Chorus
I’ll take this slow sweet walk with you
You’ll let go of my hand to say : I do
He will discover just how blessed a life can be
I know ‘cause all those years ago
Your mom handed you to me

Don’t miss a chance to put each other first
Now that you’ve vowed for better or for worse
Don’t let the beauty of this life pass you by
In the times of trouble you’ll stand side by side

Chorus
I’ll take this slow sweet walk with you
You’ll let go of my hand to say : I do

I picture a slow sweet walk yet to be
When you’ll take my hand and say : Daddy come see
Then you’ll know what it felt like
You won’t believe what it feels like
Then you’ll know what it felt like
When she handed you to me

She handed you to me

busy, busy, busy!

To my faithful readers, I deeply apologize for not writing an entry sooner!  It's not that I've been too busy to write, it's just I haven't had too much to write about just yet.  

I've been spending the last few weeks finalizing my DIY plans.  What began as a simple thought of making my own menu cards has now turned into doing everything myself!  And while I'm still ironing out the kinks, I thought I'd share with you a couple of things I've learned so far:

1. Give yourself enough time.  While your ideas may change along the way, it's really important to leave room to not only decide on your vision but to determine how you're going to achieve it.  Sure, layered programs don't look like much but when I actually sat down and had to figure out the dimensions of the pages, I was relieved to know I had plenty of time for trial and error!

2. Order samples.  Textures of paper or fabric cannot be felt through a computer screen and colors are RARELY represented accurately.  I probably spent $25 on all sorts of papers and ribbons and invitations but it was well worth it.  What appears nice on the screen may end up looking cheap or tacky in reality!

3.  Seek inspiration.  Just because you're doing the project yourself doesn't mean you have to be creative enough to come up with an idea from scratch!  My design didn't just magically appear in my head; I took other creations and mixed and matched them to fit the snowflake vision I already had.  If you have an idea or color, I suggest entering in a keyword into Google images and let it do it's thing.

4. Be organized! If you were to ask my father about my organizational skills, he'd laugh.  My work desk has papers scattered all over it, my bedroom has drawers filled with random junk and my car needs a maid in order to stay neat.  When it comes to my DIY projects, however, I am pretty anal.  I keep track of everything - the color, size, amount, company, cost, dimensions, etc.  And I don't order anything until I consult my spreadsheet.

5.  Ask for help. Don't assume you can do all these tasks by yourself because unless you are a stay-at-home bride, you won't have the time.  There's so much that needs to be done and some of it doesn't even require lifting a finger.  My co-workers have been so helpful with helping me determine paper colors and design layouts that I don't think I'd have the confidence to go forward with these projects if it weren't for them!  And when it comes time to assemble everything, I'll be fine even if only one or two members of my large bridal party can spare an hour or so to help out.

6.  Know when to go professional.  I'm doing a lot of the stationery myself but that doesn't mean I want it to look that way.  So instead of using Momzilla's temperamental deskjet printer, I'm having all of my stationery printed by my local Alphagraphics.  And while I was able to pull off a crash course in calligraphy, there are still some trades I know I will never be able to learn.  Like how to cut in a straight line. As I mentioned above, my program pages will be layered and I really don't trust myself to use the paper cutter in my office to make each layer the exact length it needs to be.  So, in addition to printing my stationery, Alphagraphics has offered to laser cut my programs, menus and placecards as well.  This will certainly cut my DIY time in half!

So there you have it!  Granted, nothing major has been finished yet so I can't tell you if these tips really work but so far, everything has been going smoothly.  I've started the invitation making process and have already begun addressing a couple of envelopes.  I don't want to post up any of my finished work until after the wedding, but I do plan on blogging my progress along the way.  And if any of you other DIY Brides have advice or questions, feel free to comment below!

Happy DIY-ing!