Friday, July 30, 2010

Drumroll please...the dress is in!

Whoa, I was not ready for that email.  On my original receipt the expected delivery date was at the end of October and here we are at the end of July.  But who cares?  My dress is here!!!

I went to pick it up and schedule an alterations appointment.  Got the dress home (luckily B is in Hawaii for the week, so no spoilers for him) and had to try it on.  With the aforementioned sky-high heels, the dress is the perfect length.  In fact, if the dress was a micron shorter, or the shoes a bit taller (impossible, by the way), then I would be in big trouble.  YAY!

So all I'll have to do in September is have it taken in a bit at the top (or get a boob job - haha) and sort out a bustle.  Easy peasy!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Dress your feet

Before I even started wedding planning, I knew I wanted to have fabulous shoes.  My prediction was that I would end up spending the same amount on the shoes as I would the dress and as it turns out, I'm not too far off! 

I have been coveting these shoes since I saw them in my very first bridal magazine when all this hullaballoo planning started.  A couple of weeks ago I finally pulled the trigger and bought these beauties:



Yes, they are SKY HIGH but surprisingly comfortable.  I love them!  Let's see if I'm still saying that after the wedding.  :)

Kudos to http://www.piperlime.com/ for having great descriptions, reviews, no shipping fees, and an easy return policy.  It made my purchase worry-free!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

DIY invite mock-ups

I put these together as a trial and we're still trying to finalize all the little details before we go ahead and start making these little suckers.  Horizontal vs. vertical?  Green vs. white?  Bi-lingual or not?  Decisions, decisions...

Monday, July 12, 2010

Say Yes to the Dress

Friend (and now bridesmaid) S came out for the weekend to help me find a wedding dress.  Anyone who knows me will know that I'm not a "traditional" or "typical" bride.  I haven't been thinking about this day since I was 11.  I never played dress-up wedding.  So I certainly had no idea what kind of dress I was looking for. 

Strapless?  Straps?  A-line?  Trumpet?  Sheath?  Princess ball gown?  Definitely not princess.  Ivory?  White?  Train?  Veil?  Sweetheart?  V-neck?  Empire?  Silk?  Satin?  Charmeuse?  Chiffon?  Lace?  UGH, it'll make your head spin! 

Over the course of the weekend we hit 4 bridal shops ranging from not-for-profit Bridal Garden to the high end Kleinfeld, made famous by the TLC show, Say Yes to the Dress.  Needless to say, they were all very different experiences and S helped me every step of the way.  I honestly could not have done it without her.

I tried on so many different styles at a wide range of price points.  And in the end, I had some really good options to choose from all within budget (score!).  After a week of deliberation, I made my decision and submitted my dress order!  I should be getting it at the end of October.  Fingers crossed!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

When to DIY

Planning a wedding on a budget is a pain!  Dealing with people who charge you double just-because-it's-a-wedding are annoying!  But thus far, we have gotten what I would consider reasonable pricing for most things.  Most things, except invitations.  UGH.  Why are invitations so expensive?  Even crappy looking invitations are expensive.  Nevermind letterpress!  I totally understand that a "small run" doesn't make alot of economic sense for most printers, but c'mon. 

And thus, I am considering doing the invitations myself. 

Yes, I know I'm crazy.  But I have seen some really great invites done by everyday brides at a fraction of the cost.  And they seem so personal too.  I'm sure much more so once I have constructed 250 of those bad boys by my own two little hands.  I'm no designer, but how hard can it be?  (I will probably be eating those words soon!)

So I will be looking into this option and deciding if I am really willing to go down this path, because once I buy all of the supplies, there's no turning back.  I'll share design ideas soon!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Rest your head

We finally decided on our hotel blocks.  It's another difficult thing to do when you don't live in the city!  We had to choose hotels based on websites, TripAdvisor reviews, and again, the responsiveness of vendors.  It's amazing how far that will go in the eyes of a customer.  I am much more inclined to do business with someone who gets back to me in a timely manner, answers all of my questions directly, and then follows up when they don't hear from me. 

According to "wedding experts" you are supposed to choose 3 hotels in different price ranges, but every hotel we called was willing to offer about the same rates and seemed quite reasonable to us.  So we're going for the following 3 hotels:

The Adolphus, grande dame of downtown Dallas hotels

The Magnolia, modern boutique hotel that serves milk and cookies at night

The Stoneleigh, spa hotel in Uptown

I think they will all be fine for our guests, and at $99/night, who could complain? 

Friday, July 2, 2010

Strike a pose

One more thing checked off the list!  We've secured our fabulous photographer.  He's one of our grad school classmate's husband, and he does great work.  He's even throwing in a couple of extra hours gratis to shoot the traditional ceremony at the folks' place.  Check out Tony Ku Photography!!