Modern Bride

I bought my *first* bridal magazine today... I'm under the impression that it's some kind of right of passage or something... so I did it. I was at the grocery store trying to somewhat stock my kitchen (as I've been out of town for 2 weeks and everything in my fridge is moldy... including fake crab meat... I found that odd), and I saw two bridal magazines at the check out. I had NO idea which one to get, so, being the budget minded woman I am, I bought the cheap one! lol The Aug/Sept issue of Modern Bride.

I flipped through it and I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. There were a few cool things/ideas in there (which I'll share at the end of this post) but, for the most part I was not overly impressed. And, is it a bad sign that I only found a couple dresses that I 'liked' and none that I LOVED?

I have noticed that, as far as the wedding planning/dreaming process has gone, I've thought about EVERYTHING except "The Dress"... I'm wondering what that means. A couple people have asked me style of dress I want... I have very little idea... and, for the most part, I don't even know the NAMES for the styles! lol I know the "mermaid" and I know I DON'T want that... and I don't want anything TOO poofy... but that's about as far as my descriptive talents go in this area. I was hoping the magazine would help me out a bit... not so much. What's a good magazine to get to peruse dress styles?



** Here are some of the items/ideas that I found in the magazine that I DID like though... =)

The "XShot". I am FOREVER taking arm-extended self portraits... this would be FANTASTIC for the honeymoon! lol


Personalized M & Ms! I hadn't really put that much thought into wedding favors. I think the personalized matchbook covers/napkins are kinda a waste of money, and, up until this point I figured we wouldn't have favors, but I think this is sooo cute! Maybe just but a bunch and put a bowl of them on each table or something! =)


David's Bridal, style F13408. I really want to put my bridesmaids in a dress that they will wear again. I don't want them to pay a bunch of money for a hideous dress that's going to goodwill the next time they clean out their closet. So, I want my bridesmaids dressed in dressed that don't look like bridesmaids dresses! lol Plus, I want something short and cute. I like this one! Except for my MOH... I think I might put her in something more like this:

** Love you Josie! lol

Jessica McClintock gown, style 21194 Celine. This looked better on pg. 89 of the magazine, but this was the only shot I could find of it online. So, I would probably never wear this dress, but it DID catch my attention... and then I saw it was only $238 and that grabbed it more! =)


Private Label by G, Style 1370... so I really like this dress... I'm sure I wouldn't like the price tag though...

New Favorite Wedding Blog!

This is the first wedding blog that I've found and read EVERY SINGLE POST... lol.. I love it! It's a blog written by a GROOM. He's hilarious and I actually laughed out loud a few times! I passed it along to my fiance, and I hope he's able to enjoy it and perhaps help with the wedding planning/dreaming a bit more! lol

**The picture is the link!

Video Save the Dates

Jacob and I are not planning on sending out save the dates (we don't really see the point), but I found this on my new favorite wedding blog and thought it was awesome! =)

STDs

Ok.... for all you bride bloggers out there... abbreviating your "Save the Dates" in this way is not good... lol. I have seen numerous blog titles along the lines of "What to do about our STDs" and "Unique STDs"... for the love of wedding planning goodness, please just spell out these words! lol

Unique Cake Toppers

I ran across these comical cake toppers from beau-coup.com today.... I love them! I want one! =)

Reception Site Down the Crapper

Well... our super simple reception site is not going to be as super simple as we'd originally thought. Jacob's parents have a house on the beach in a 5 house "neighborhood" which are primarily used as vacation rental houses. There is a BIG field/yard in front of four of the houses that we were hoping to be able to use for the reception site... but apparently all of the neighbors are not fond of the idea of a wedding party on their property so... back to the drawing board. We are looking for a cute, simple, CHEAP reception site somewhere between Newport and Florence, Oregon. A community center, someone's big back yard, a city park... whatever!

Thank goodness we have miles of possible beach for the actual ceremony! =)

Rebellion!

Ha Ha Ha! I'm back up in BC for a few weeks (sans Jacob) and, since I have no chaperone, it's 11:30 PM and I'm looking at WEDDING BLOGS! *evil smile*

Along my search I started to "follow" a TON more fellow bloggers, and also found this Tacky Weddings site... pretty funny.... =)

Do You Think I Can Get My Wedding Party To Do This??

OMG! I laughed and then I cried... this is just fantastic and they all look soooo happy!

Wedding Curfew

Two nights ago I was sorting through budget stuff at about 12:00 AM... and after trying to go to bed at 12:30 didn't fall asleep until well after 3:00 AM thinking about everything. This resulted in me tossing and turning (and having some pissed off "why can't I sleep" temper tantrums) which, thus, resulted in Jacob being just as awake as I was.

The next morning Jacob informed me that I am no longer allowed to do anything wedding related after 9 PM. lol I did pretty good last night... though I did sneak a look at some arbors (and found some good deals!)

Cupcake Anyone?

Can I just say that $450 for a wedding cake is NOT going to happen... originally I was against it... but now I'm thinking I may have to go the cupcake route... about $30 for the stand and a mother who loves to bake... ;)

The BUDGET

When I originally thought about our somewhat meager budget, I didn't think it would be THAT big of a deal to fit everything in... but then, with the help of some internet sources, I did some calculations and got a little nervous... (I REALLY shouldn't have done all this at 11:30 last night... I was up half the night thinking about it).

I found this Wedding Budget Worksheet that shows an idea of what percentage of your budget should go toward each of the (apparently numerous) expenses. As well as a free download-able spreadsheet to input your expected costs and your actual expenses (Yes, I realize that I am somewhat overly organized... but it's only going to help in the end, right?). After doing this I see that I have exactly $45 to buy "gifts" for 10 people (I have put bride-groom gifts to the wayside at this point). So... if you're in my wedding party, I need to know what kind of cookies you like! lol (Holly has already put in an order for peanut butter lol).

I've never been a big "do it yourself" type of person... but it looks like I may need to figure some stuff out pretty quick! lol I read an article online about a women who tried to barter for her wedding on craigslist... she posted an add talking about her circumstances and how she really wanted a nice wedding day for herself and that she was willing to trade her services in home design/repair for wedding expenses... the next day she had a DJ, a videographer, and a guitar player for the ceremony! Maybe I should give that a try! lol

You Really Can Find Anything on E-bay!

I've been thinking recently about table center pieces. I know I want white table clothes or white tables with sunflowers, but recently I've been thinking about blue rocks/marbles and sand dollars... then I started to wonder where I can find a bulk supply of sand dollars. So, on a whim, I searched "sand dollars" on e-bay and came up with 757 results in a number of categories! lol I'm going to have to remember this for the future!

What To Do... What To Do...?

I'm not getting married for about 13 months... that seems like a helluva long time to me... and I'm not REALLY sure what I should be doing. I have a book that a bought quite awhile ago with a time-line checklist thingie that I've taken a look at and it has a few suggestions of things to do when you have more than 9 months until the wedding... so I'm working my way through the research and, I have discovered that wedding photographers are EXPENSIVE! OMG! lol I was not expecting for the average quote to be 4 digits for 4 hours! It's just unbelievable to me. So... I started searching craigslist again! lol As you know, I love CL... maybe I should have themed my wedding around them! Anyhow, I'm looking at amateur photogs looking to enhance their portfolios. As I am one myself, I know how important this is to them. Anyhow, I found a woman I like who is doing her first official wedding in a couple weeks. I've seen her portraits and I like, so I'm hoping I like the stuff she puts together to show me at the beginning of August.

Jacob and I are trying to do this wedding thing on a pretty tight budget... the last thing we need is to be in even more debt after the wedding (he owns a house and I have student loans... we don't really need much else!). Chances are that we'll be going the same "amateur" route for most of our expenses and services... so... if you know anyone, PLEASE let me know! lol

Wedding Party!

Yay! I finally have my wedding party finalized! Jacob and I will each have three friends standing up with us. Jacob has his brother and two friends from the U of O. I managed to get a representative from three different "eras" of my life... high school, college, and "beyond"! lol

My Matron of Honor (MOH), Josie, went to high school with me in JC. I was the MOH at her wedding (though she ditched all the wedding planning and 4 of us flew to Vegas for a Little White Wedding Chapel ceremony) and now she'll be returning the favor! =) I still remember when she was a bit of a tom boy in high school and I had to practically bribe her to wear a skirt to the homecoming dance... now I get to dress her up in a poofy-girly dress if I so desire. ;)

I met Jessica, one of my two bridesmaids, when I worked at Papa Murphy's while going to school in Ashland (come to think of it, Josie use to work at a P. Murph's too... lol). Jessica was a year ahead of me in school and moved up to Eugene when she graduated, and I followed a year later... ultimately getting a job at the same place she worked when she left to spend time with the Peace Corps in Fiji (I'm still a bit jealous about this! lol). Now, after two years on a tropical island, and a beach wedding of her own, she's willing to help me out with mine!

Holly is another of my craigslist finds. =) She moved down to Eugene a couple years back and posted an ad looking for some females to hang out with... as I was in need of some estrogen as well (Josie lives in Iowa (which is where Holly originally CAME from) and Jessica had just moved to Fiji) I responded... and, in totally platonic terms, it was love at first sight! lol She's FANTASTIC! So much fun and an awesome friend. She's currently finishing up her time at the U of O before she heads off to ride across the country next summer on her spiffy new bike with her two dogs in tow! (She just better make it back before the wedding! lol)

The Ring!

So... I don't QUITE have the ring yet, but Jacob picked it up for me today and sent pictures!! So, I thought I'd share! =)

As I mentioned in a previous post, he used his grandmother's ring when he proposed. But, my fingers are chubby, the ring was too small... so we decided to get a different one for me. After getting requests to post a picture of his grandmother's ring, here it is... diamonds and rubies:


A few days later we went ring shopping together and I picked out my ring. I'm not a traditional bride-to-be... the size of the diamond is not important to me, and, in all honesty, typical engagement rings don't really do anything for me. I wanted something with a little style, and some character, so, I opted for a sapphire and diamond band:

Jacob and I were both born in September (1 year less 3 days apart), so both of our birthstones in the sapphire. Plus, I LOVE blue... so.. this is perfect! I can't wait until I'm back in Oregon and get to FINALLY put it on my finger!! (3 days!!!)

The Proposal

How many people can actually say that they had a positive, life-altering experience in front of a toilet? lol I can... as that is exactly how Jacob proposed! =)

We went to the coast for the 4th of July weekend. His parents have a vacation home/rental on the beach... it's gorgeous! Anyhow, our plan was to go down to Yachats on Saturday to watch the fireworks, and get there early to find a good spot to sit and have a little BBQ before the show started. Apparently Jacob's original plan was to ask on the beach before/during/after the firework show... but the weather SUCKED! It was cold and misty... Jacob's glasses were covered in a thin layer of water that wouldn't go away. We were under a blanket during the show and couldn't wait to get back in the car and back to a warm, dry house.

When we got back I decided to take a hot bath to try to warm up. Jacob started to the water for me and started to get ready for the feeling to come back into my toes! lol A couple minutes later he came back into the bathroom, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! lol... my response was, "Are you kidding??" I was in total shock... was not expecting it at ALL. It took me a good 10 minutes to actually say yes.... after he reminded me that I hadn't actually answered yet! =)

He proposed to me with his grandmother's wedding/engagement ring... unfortunately my fingers were too fat for it and resizing it would cost a bit too much and may damage the band since it's already been resized and it would have to go up at least 2 sizes for me, so a few days later we went shopping for a new ring.

I Love Craigslist!

In December of 2007 Jacob and I were both recently out of pretty messy relationships and were looking for something a little more mature and "normal". I am a rather adventurous sort and thought I'd try the online dating scene but websites like match.com and eharmony wanted my money... which I sure didn't want to give them! lol So, as a frugal investment move, I posted a personal ad on Criagslist. Among a few others (some seemed like nice guys and other lunatics), Jacob responded. We "talked" for a couple of days online. He seemed like a fairly "normal" guy (comparatively speaking! lol). After a few days he asked me if I'd like to grab dinner as I was just home from work and hungry and all he'd had for dinner was a slice of Boston Creme Pie! I suggested we meet at Shari's (I like Shari's... what can I say?)

My first impression was, "hmm... we'll see", and Jacob's was, "wow... she's tall!" lol But we had a good evening, and a good dinner (though Jacob was so nervous he couldn't finish!) , and the dates continued, getting better and better each time!

Welcome!

Welcome to my new WEDDING blog! lol

As you can see by the title, my goal is to have the PERFECT, sandy, beach wedding!

Over the next 13 months this blog will chronicle the trials, tribulations and tremendous excitement and fun that I am going to have with wedding planning and preparations!

YAY!!! =)

(I'm very excited!)