Goodbye!

Heading out tomorrow after work to celebrate another holiday at my favorite place in the world!

See you all next year!

Bizzaro

This came through my blog roll today about the ten most bizarre wedding stories this year...

I LOVE it.... especially this sweet, yet, not-so-bright, groom to be! lol

My (Other) Something Blue!

I got my garters today! Here's the story...

1) Found an ad on Craigslist from a woman offering to make custom garter sets... a keepsake AND a thrower for (ready for this?).... $17!!

2) Always in search of a good deal, I responded for more info. She directed me to her ebay shop to take a look at some samples that she's done, and asked for our wedding colors/themes so that she could send me some ideas.

3) After e-mailing me MANY pictures of various colors and styles for approval and opinions, I ended up with a fantastic garter set (AND because she was in the area for the holidays, I got it hand delivered! Talk about service!)

Here are my garters! Blue, white and yellow with lace trim and a sand dollar! Yay! =) I HIGHLY recommend Loricia if you're looking for your own custom set!

After Christmas Sales

Just bought 180 feet of icicle Christmas lights for less than $35 (50% off after Christmas sale!) I can't wait to actually decorate the reception hall and see if my vision pans out! =)

source

The Hunt for Dresses for my Girls

I have to say, picking out bridesmaids dresses has been my LEAST favorite part of the wedding planning process. Not because we couldn't find anything or because my girls were difficult (in fact, they were QUITE the opposite) but because I just do NOT like the idea of picking out something for someone else to wear and then making them spend more on it than I'd ever spend for an outfit for ONE DAY! I just can't NOT feel guilty about it! lol My girls have continuously reassured me over the last few months that I shouldn't feel bad about it and that it's expected... and, while that helped a bit, I still didn't like actually doing it!

That said, here's the story of our dress shopping day. =)

December 21st was the ONLY day before the wedding week that I would have all of my bridesmaids in the same state at the same time, so, since this past July we have had a date predetermined to shop for dresses. Originally it was going to include finding my dress as well... but... I couldn't wait! So, much to the displeasure of my MOH, I bought my dress early (Sorry again Josie!). So December 21st was completed dedicated to my girls.

Our plan was to meet for lunch so the girls could get to know each other (none of them had met either of the other two), and then go to Davids and shop around. If we weren't able to find something there, we had another dress shop that we could go to, but it was about an hour away.

The plan was cursed from the very beginning. The restaurant we were going to meet and eat at was CLOSED. It's a pizza place on campus and apparently they decided to only hold dinner hours during the university's winter break. Bah! So then we had to think of another place. We decided on the Olive Garden... which had a 20 minute wait... when our appointment was in an hour! I called Davids and thankfully they were able to postpone our appointment a half hour. Thank goodness! 'Cause I REALLY wasn't feelin' like treating my girls to Carl's Jr. for lunch! lol

Once we finally got to David's I set my girls loose. I told them that I was looking for something short and available in blue (we ended up ordering dresses in "Horizon") and to just start trying stuff on... which they did!

Here's Holly overcome by all the pretty dresses! =) (The dress pictured)

This was the first dress I really liked (and on sale for about HALF the price of the others in the store), but, obviously, Josie just wasn't feelin' it! lol

Had to do the sock shot! It was a cold day in Oregon... have to keep the tootsies warm! =)

Maybe a long dress?

They really loved this one... but it would need to be shortened... just not quite appropriate for a beach wedding as is.

But even the short dresses would need to be shortened... especially difficult to find short dresses with the variety of heights we were working with.

Finally! A short dress that's the perfect length on all of them (a little "sisterhood of the bridesmaid dress" action going on here?), has the flowy chiffon that they liked, was beachy appropriate, and wasn't the most expensive dress in the store (though, it was barely able to make this claim).

Somewhere along the way all three girls fell in love with another dress and we were sooo excited that we'd found something (for some reason I didn't get a photo of this one). Only to find out that it didn't come in either of the two blue shades that I was considering. After the girls jokingly told me I needed to change my wedding colors we continued the search. I came home later that day and looked on David's website, and found out that if we ordered the dress ONLINE (or, at least one VERY similar to it... if not the same one) that we could have gotten it in the color we wanted! (shhh... don't tell my bridesmaids!) So, I guess the lesson for all out there is that if you find a dress you love but the store doesn't say they have it in that color, check the web.

It's over. I don't have to stress about this any more. The rest of it (shoes, hair, makeup, accessories) is all on them to do as they please. Phew!

At least they'll all look beautiful! =)

Going Ons

I going to have a lot of updates for you guys over the next few days! I'm going dress shopping with my bridesmaids today! I'm really excited about this! My girls are all symbolic of different time periods in my life and, thus, NONE of them have met each other before! So, we're going to grab some pizza, get to know each other, and then head out to David's to try up some dresses! Updates and pictures to come I'm sure! =)

Also, I'm in the process of ordering a personalized cake topper AND a customer garter set. Etsy and criagslist finds! So excited to share these with you as well!

But, for now, have a fantastic Monday and a great short week! =)

And the Winner Is...

Which was...



Congratulations Holly! =) And congrats on the graduation! Your e-mail address will be forwarded on to Uprinting and you should receive an e-mail from them at the beginning of the year with further directions! =)

**Disclaimer: Holly is one of my best friends and one of my bridesmaids... but I SWEAR this drawing was COMPLETELY random! (Which is why I included the screen shot of the random.com selection!). =)

Bargain Alert!

Bride on a Budget just posted about this sale and I wanted to pass it on! LinenTablecloth is having a 50% off their LOWEST price on their clearance items! I just bought 14 royal blue table runners for $20 (INCLUDING shipping!).

That Was Fast!

My shoes took exactly 36 HOURS to get to me! Talk about fast service! lol Unfortunately, they were too small! Good lord... this is just not meant to happen!

They aren't quite what I was looking for either... they are more of a winter/fall shoe than a summer one (Jacob will read that statement and laugh at me), but I think what I'll do is take them back to the store tomorrow and see if they can order a larger size for me... even though I don't know if they are the right wedding shoes for me, they are still cute and a great deal!

As of right now, I think I'm going to lay off the shoe search for awhile... I'm striking out right now... maybe I'll look at David's Bridal a bit on Monday when my girls and I go bridesmaid dress shopping! =)

Thank You!

I've been a bad blogger and let this post slip to the wayside for WAY too long!

About a month and a half ago Girl With a Ring was hosting her second Uprinting giveaway for a poster print. I entered this one hoping that I'd be able to use it to create a "Thank You" sign to use for pictures for our Thank You cards after the wedding. I got the idea from this blog post from Becoming His Mrs. I just LOVED the idea.... here's a couple samples from her blog post:





So, after I won (yay!) I set to work designing a sign for us to use. After whittling down all the possible fonts and scanning the internet for sufficient graphics, we came up with our sign, submitted it and, a few days later, received it in the mail.



Couple of things I'm concerned about: 1) it's a glossy finish so I'm worried that it might (like it did in this photo) cause some problems with the reflection and, 2) it's on photo paper. For some reason I was expecting a thinker paper (I really don't know why, I just was). So we'll have to figure out some way to thicken it up... maybe paste it to poster board or something.

But, all in all, I'm very happy with it! =)

Thanks to Katrina from Girl With a Ring!

And don't forget to enter MY Uprinting giveaway for 100 custom postcards! Contest ends Sunday night!!

Take Three

Rescued again by Jill... let's see if they work out this time! (Sorry, can't find a decent picture) Only $20, free shipping and returnable.... I think it's worth the risk. =)

And the Drama Continues...

If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll remember my wedding shoe drama.

First, I was excited that I ordered the shoes;

Then, I was sad that the website was wrong and the shoes were out of stock;

Then I was ECSTATIC when a fellow blogger led me to another shoe find;

Now... I'm sad again.

I ordered a pair of blue ballet flats from dessy.com. They were suppose to take about a week or two for the shipping. Three weeks later I e-mailed customer service to figure out what was up. I got an e-mail saying that the shoes had shipped and sent me a tracking number... for a shipment that WENT OUT two weeks after I ordered the product. So, a month after the order, I finally got the shoes.

I ripped open the package, and tried them on. Too small! I have NEVER had issues with my shoe size! I can go in to any shoe store, put on a 10 (yes, I have big feet) and they fit. Sometimes I don't even try them on first (don't tell my mom!). These ballet flats were about half to a whole size too small.

I was a little annoyed, especially since "all sales are final"... but I figured I'd just try to sell them on craigslist or something.

But THEN I took a closer look at the shoes.

There was a brown spot/stain on the side of one heel. And the other shoe's sole wasn't affixed properly. Instead of the fabric at the heal being tucked under the sole and glued, it was sticking out!

Now I was REALLY mad. It took twice as long to get to me, was too small, AND damaged?? And they don't accept returns. So... I sent out another e-mail.

Thankfully, and this is the pro out of the situation, they responded with a return shipping label and a promise to credit my money back once they recieved the shoes. So, in the end...

The search continues.

My First REAL Giveaway!!

Yay! I finally get to host my own REAL giveaway from Uprinting.com! =)

Leave a comment on this post letting me know how you would use 100 FREE CUSTOM POSTCARDS!



Here are the specs: the postcards are 4X6 and will be printed on 14pt glossy card stock. You get full color on BOTH sides! There IS a catch however... the winner will need to pay the shipping costs.

I, too, will be getting the post cards for hosting this giveaway... but have not decided yet how I want to use them, so I'm hoping to get some inspiration from you guys! =)

Leave me a comment by Sunday, Dec. 20 10 PM PST. I'll choose a winner at random and make someone's Monday morning a little brighter. =)

Counting Down!

Five months down, only 8 to go!!! =)

My e-mail from The Knot this morning told me that this month we should be registering for gifts.

Really?? 8 months in advance?? That seems a little premature to me (kind of like picking out the flower girl outfits this month as another checklist told me). Is this typical? I would just be worried about registering for something that is "in season" or will be discontinued by next summer.

What do you all think? When are YOU planning on registering?


(P.S. Apologies if the font is small/looks weird... blogger has, for some reason, taken away my ability to reside/change the font this morning... hmm... weird).

A Little Holiday Fun

Another fine use for our engagement photos. ;)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

My First Night as a Married Woman...

...will be spent here!






Jacob called and booked the room yesterday... I'm just hoping that we aren't so tired that night that we can't enjoy the jacuzzi tub and wonderful views! =)

This is the SECOND place we've booked for the wedding night... the first turned out to be a bit of a mess. I'd been browsing around hotels in the area (online) and wasn't able to find anything "special" enough that wasn't going to cost more than I felt we should have to pay (and I really don't want to spend our wedding night in the same hotel as our family... if you knew my family you'd understand). And then I started thinking about beach houses and how I didn't need a fancy hotel room, but a cozy little place to stay for the night and watch with the waves with my new husband.

Beach houses in the area are pretty reasonably priced, especially since it's not a huge touristy spot. HOWEVER, many of them have a two or three night minimum. With our budget and the fact that we're having a Saturday wedding and need to work Monday morning, it just seemed like a waste of money to pay for two nights. However, after finding one house that we liked, we decided to go for it; even though it had a two night minimum, we figured we could rearrange our schedules a little bit.

So we booked it... without knowing that there was an additional booking fee that wasn't clearly stated on their web site. Now, the booking fee was not going to kill us, however we were already spending more than we had budgeted to pay for two nights. When we saw the final cost and I recalculated a bit Jacob and I pretty much determined that we couldn't afford it and should look elsewhere.

There was a cancellation fee, but it was minimal (according to the policy information that I'd seen on their website). I sent off an e-mail stating that I was aware of the cancellation fee and accepted that we'd be paying it, but that we needed to cancel our reservation. I received an e-mail back saying that the cancellation fee that I'd stated was not the current fee, and that the current fee was about 150% of the rate quoted! I looked on their "policy" page on their website again, and, sure enough, there was the small cancellation fee that I had originally seen. So, I sent another e-mail. And got another e-mail back directing me to their policy page!

APPARENTLY going to the policy page from their "home" page took you to a different set of policies than the link from their "reservations" page. I downloaded the policy that I had seen and e-mailed it back to the company. Then I got a phone call.

"I don't know where you got that policy, but it is our old one and no longer valid."

"It was on your website"

"Please hold"............ "The policy page on our website is the new one."

"Do you have the website open??? Go to the reservation page and THEN click on the policies link"

"Please hold"............. "Well, that's our old policy. Did you not see the new one"

"Umm... no."

"I don't know what we can do for you. Our manager is out of the office until Monday so I can't do anything for you until then"

Seriously? I couldn't believe this. It is ON THE WEBSITE! How can they not do anything for me? It's their fuck up, not mine! Thankfully the manager agreed and we got an e-mail the following week telling us that the entire cancellation fee had been refunded to us.

So, happy ending, but still not something I wanted to deal with.

Save the Date.... REVEALED!

Alright! Save the Dates went out on Tuesday and they have started to be received so I feel like now it's o.k. to put it out there in cyberland! =)

As some of you may remember, back in August (on my pre-nniversary in fact!) I won 100 custom save the date cards from Rachel Jasper Designs via The Thirty Something Bride.

Working with Rachel was great. She put together about three different designs for us to look over and then altered slightly the one that we loved so that we'd love it that much more. =)

So... without further ado, here is our Save the Date that went out to family, the wedding party and far-away friends!

Updates

I think this is the longest I've gone without posting! lol.... though, I guess three days isn't really that bad. ;)

A few updates....

I spent a couple of days in BC this weekend. Had a meeting with my academic supervisor regarding my "thesis" that I'm writing next term... found out I have ANOTHER paper I'm suppose to write, too. FML.... stress!

To add to the stress (and lack of time to complete the stressful tasks), I started my new job yesterday. I had a great first day! I really think I'm going to like it there. However, the next 4 months I'm going to have no social life as I try to write TWO papers while working full time. Ugh.

On a wedding note, my save the dates are here, addressed and going in the mail today! Woo hoo! I'm share more about these in a couple days after people have had a chance to get them... I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone! =)

Mail Call!

Jacob went to get the mail tonight and guess what?? LOTS of great stuff! My Save the Dates, treat/favor bags and UPrinting Poster all came! (And, maybe my wedding shoes... there's one more box in the office that I need to pick up and I'm not EXACTLY sure what it is).

Soooo excited! I'll blog about everything more later (when I have more time (and energy) and after I've mailed off the Save the Date cards)!

Say YES to the Dress!

I just watched about 2.5 hours of a "Say Yes to the Dress" marathon on TLC (I made Jacob change the channel before I kept going!) and I have to say, I love my dress more than ANY of the others that I saw on the show... I wanna put it back on! lol

P.S. I'm in Vancouver, BC right now.... here's a shout out to all you BC brides. I'm loving the sunshine up here right now! =)

LOTS of Free Stuff!

Check out this AWESOME giveaway over at Fabulously Frugal. LOTS of great stuff!

Don't forget to mention me when you enter! =)