Wednesday, October 26, 2011

semi-crunch time


since we'll be booking our venue soon that would mean i have to start to really get serious about:

-1. finishing the WYB (i got lazy)
-2. start buying materials for my bridesmaids' foot accesories
-3. start wedding invitation mock-up

i have all the materials i need for the WYBs minus the paper.... i'm still trying to look for the perfect paper for my theme..... i need the paper for both WYBs and invitations....... i do know what i'm looking for i just don't know where to get those paper i want....... i need to invade michael's or a.c. moore again to see if they have them.... my goal this week is to finish those WYBs so i could start with the invitation mock-ups..... the foot accesories can wait....... i can actually hold off doing those until after the holidays....

but i did accomplished something yesterday and today..... i have picked out the songs for the ceremony and reception.......... i finally decided on the foot accesories' design...... i also have decided on the invitation design and have listed down the steps and materials i need........  and! i have also decided on what to do with my hair! lol


i still have more stuff to think about like:

-1. how to decorate the isle for the ceremony
-2. whether or not i'll use pomanders
-3. if yes, should i buy those or make them myself
-4. should i just tie them on the side of the isle chairs or stick those on the sand...
-5. what color should i use, just white or tiffany blue or both
-6. if i should use sashes for the chairs or should i just save the sashes for the reception chairs
-7. should i use two arbors
-8. if i'm going to use two arbors where should i look for cheap white tulle or muslin or taffeta
-9. i still need to decide whether or not i need to look for someone to do my hair and makeup (preferably asian)
-10. or if i should just do my own hair and make-up
-11. where should i buy sashes for my bridesmaids
-12. should i use my DIY bouquet or use real flowers
-13. flowers for the bridesmaids or the "alternative"
-14. DIY butonniere or don't bother
-15. beach themed wedding favors



i also have some church wedding stuff to take care of:

-1. book wedding coordinator - the team im thinking of getting hasn't replied to my emails yet! bad sign....
-2. start scouting for couturier for church wedding bridesmaids



but again, those can wait...... the priorities now are:

-1. book venue (this saturday)
-2. book ceremony rentals (hopefully this saturday too)
-3. book photographer (next week)
-4. book musicians (next week)
-5. choose justice of peace (by end of november)
-6. do taste test  (saturday)
-7. apply for beach permit to have the ceremony by the beach
-8. buy jar and two sand colors for unity sand ceremony

then....

-1. WYBs - deadline this sunday
-2. pronovias trunk show (yes, that's part of my priority, lol)  - nov 5
-3. send out invitations for the engagement dinner - around 2nd week of november
-4. autumn engagement photo shoot (the trees at valley forge national park is almost at its peak and they look pretty!) - 1st week of november


still lots of things that needs to be done but i just try to look at the "smaller" picture..... one teeny weeny To Do item at a time so i won't get overwhelmed......

Monday, October 24, 2011

and so i changed my mind...again..


i finally mustered enough courage to ask two of my girl friends if they can accompany me to this premium outlet for maggie sotteros....... i'm not being uber dramatic, ok? when i say mustered i mean it..... i am one for not being comfortable asking favors, i just don't want to be a bother and before you jump to conclusion, no, that's not two way, in fact i'm flattered when friends asks for favors, that means they trust me.... but in my case i'm just shy to ask favors..... so anyway, finally i did.......

i changed my mind about choosing a gown from our top 5 finalist..... the top 5 that the h2b chose...... we got yelled at by friends and family that we shouldn't be doing what we're doing..... that it's bad luck if the groom sees the bride's dress before the wedding...... i really don't believe too much on superstitions but i do like the idea of surprising my h2b......the h2b on the other hand got a teeny bit paranoid that he's now encouraging me to ask some girl friends to help me out on choosing gowns....... so last thursday (i can do it on a saturday, but i figured weekend is something that everyone looks forward to and i don't want to steal my friend's weekend) J and J and i went to feasterville so i could try on new wedding gowns and i could show them our finalists.....

two of the finalists were kicked out.... one looks old fashioned and the other one looks like i have a buoy under my belly on certain angles.... but there's one finalist that made it though.... and then there's this one gown that's on sale that my friends think look absolutely gorgeous on me...... unfortunately, i didnt share their excitement about that dress because i somehow managed to have gown myopia, lol...... i like the other finalist better......

an hour and a half later what's left on the rack are the two gowns.....the gown on sale and the finalist from my previous fitting...... the lady who was waiting on me told me she could hold the gown on sale for a few days and after that she jokingly uttered SOL (sh*t out of luck), lol........... so i told the lady that i have to sleep on it and then i'll call her again to set up an appointment once i made my decision...

so i went home and watched all the videos my friend  took of me wearing different gowns, specially the "final" finalists ............. i also looked at all the pictures of the two gowns on all angles....... that's when i had a gown epiphany, lol........... there's one gown that i look nice on every angle..... on every single angle......  i knew then that that's the gown i'll be wearing for my civil wedding by the beach.....




to give you a clue i only have a few criterias when looking for a beach wedding gown.......... (1) flowy, (2) it has to be a "certain" neckline, (4) ruched/corset, (5) my bilbil isnt showing on whatever angle (front view, side view, sitting down, etc) ....... the gown i chose exactly has all those......

and the nicest part? i can wear a maggie sottero without breaking the bank.........i will be wearing a maggie sottero gown with a divisoria tag price! how awesome is that!  that's because that gown's design is 2 years old and have been phased out so it's on sale plus i got 20% off...... oh, and did i mention the h2b hasn't seen that gown yet? so it's like 4, not 2, but 4 birds in one stone! -- it's cheap, has all the elements i want in a gown, the h2b hasn't seen it and it's a maggie sottero...... so very glad i asked for J and J to come with me because i almost dismissed that gown (it looked too simple for my taste when i first saw it, lol)........

i went to the shop yesterday and bought the gown........ i just have some changes on the gown so i could put my "stamp" on it and had to adjust some other stuff........... so excited to see the finished product!  my first fitting is going to be on march next year, 2 months before the civil wedding..........

next stop would be a pronovias trunk show at paoli......... that is for the church wedding gown hunting..... the h2b and i went there a week ago and we love their gowns.......... i have enough money for the church wedding gown now that i bought my beach wedding gown cheap so i think i can afford a pronovias gown without hurting my budget..... plus on trunk shows, you get a discount if you buy your gown from those kind of events so i'm crossing my fingers!

p.s.
no, that gown on the photo is not the gown i'll be wearing...
that's a vera wang gown from davids bridal

Thursday, October 13, 2011

wedding gown shopping with the h2b? why not chocnut!

i can see eyes as big as saucers right now, lol........ i know what you're thinking, that there should be an element of surprise........ or that it's bad luck.... or that i just used that title to catch your attention......

welllllllll, yes, the subject is there to catch your attention but its the truth too....

remember what we did with the second engagement ring? the h2b wants me to choose my own ring because he wants to make sure i like and that i'm happy with my engagement ring..... so we shopped together, chose the finalists and then i made the h2b choose from the finalists  and told him not to tell me until he's ready to give the second ring to me (ofcourse i still want to be surprised!).

anyway, so i thought of doing the same thing for my wedding gown..... i figured since he's the primary person i want to impress i want to make sure he'll like how i look when i walk down the aisle.....

we went to two bridal shops, coronet (a maggie sottero premium outlet) and david's bridal (because i want to try on all the gowns in my favorites list even if i know i can't wear some of them anymore)..... i want him to decide too which silhouette looks good on me..... actually it was still kinda early to shop for a wedding gown, early for our church wedding atleast but i want to see how i look like now in a wedding gown so i'll get inspired to lose weight (ie: now i know i need to make my arms to look thinner, masculado eh!)

so far i have tried on 8 maggie sottero, 1 allure and 12 from davids bridal (2 of which is from vera wang & 1 olleg cassini)...... and since i have tried on 21 gowns total on that single day (october 1, 2011) and plus because i tend to try on the same gowns 2-3 more times before we leave the shop, it overwhelms the h2b and he tends to forget which is which and i could use that to my advantage......i'm counting on him to forget what the gowns looked like and i just make sure i ask him right away if the gown i currently have on is something that he would want to see me wearing and if he said yes i include that in the "finalists"......... we still have 3 bridal shops to go to.....

he's a very good shopping buddy........... he's very patient and he actually enjoys shopping with me, (which is really a rare thing to happen to me, lol)............ he's a very good, in-your-face-no-sugar-coating critic and boy, you should hear him say stuff like "you look like a sack of potato there" or "that's an awful design" or "you can throw that out", lol ....... and mind you, some of those gowns he didn't like, i actually like so im really glad i took him with me.........  so far we have 5 finalists and the pictures below aren't one of them...... i displayed only those gowns that i'm 100% sure i won't be wearing because it would be inappropriate (there's 3 of them here & i'm sure some of you knows what i'm talking about) or simply because it just doesn't look good on me.........



anyway, come decision time, i'm hoping to find some girl friends who'll be willing to come with me and help me decide...... yes, that's when, ofcourse, i should have the h2b out of the loop......