Thursday, March 14, 2013

Another venue OUT

The wedding drama never ends. It’s been a few weeks since we first stopped into the Vintage Motor Club in Concord. I wasn’t completely sold on the venue but for the price and location, we thought it would be doable. Also, it fits 300 VERY comfortably AND they were willing to let my mom cater the wedding. It was charming enough and maybe we could play up a vintage theme around all the classic car images and indoor (non-working) gas station decor.
Ugh, that all changed Tuesday. Apparently, the venue now has an exclusive caterer from Charlotte (Best Impressions Caterer). And the guy was just like, I know how important it was to have your mom cater, so we wish you guys the very best. I mean, no discussion about it at all.

Seriously, it must be something about me wanting to sign off a chunk of money to a place that makes them want to say, eh – nevermind, we don’t need your business. (Not really, but ugh, I’m wining).

So I guess I now know why I wasn’t completely sold on the venue. What a week!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

So soft, so sweet

This dress was so soft and so sweet. Loved the tulle - although I was scared Sebastian would tear it up from jumping on me.

And y'all, we got out a veil for this one.



Gotta be honest - did not like the belt that came with the dress (featured in the photos).

This could've been the one... But, it just made me feel pretty. And it's totally the dress I would've picked out for myself. No surprises with this one. Is that a bad feeling to have?

Random note - I just love my facial expressions in these dresses. LOL.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Hello, drama!

Look how dramatic this dress is. I LOVED it's dramatic flair!





And damnnnnn, my waist looked small. But I did look like I had a front pouch. LOL.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

All kinds of bad

I think my face says it all. This dress was all kinds of bad. LOL

I'm sure it could be beautiful on the right bride, but not me.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Cake toppers!

I seriously have tried on every kind of dress out there. Some people call them princess dresses; some call them ballgowns. I call them cake toppers, because seriously y'all - I feel like I should be on top of a really big cake. Gotta say though - these dresses were so much fun to try on! They're so full of life and personality.



Just not quite for me...

Thursday, February 28, 2013

First trip to New York Bride

First off, I LOVE New York Bride. They truly have a no pressure approach. You don't need an appointment to be seen and they have a huge selection of gowns - and perfect for a low budget. Their prices are seriously comparable to David's Bridal. My sister bought her wedding dress there - and they price matched her gown for one at Burlington Bridal Mart!

I visted with them twice, so thought I'd share several dresses I tried on. I don't have specific names/brands/costs for all of them because I think I tried on like 20-30 gowns there. LOL. Here are a few randoms!
Pretty boring, eh? And I have NO CURVES. LOL

This one was an experiment. The dress is such a great idea... but obviously, it doesn't work for me.

I seriously don't think this would look any better even if I was taller.

This is a dress I picked out for myself. I LOVE the idea of a laced top. But after this one, I definitely crossed that out. On our second trip to NY Bride, my mom tried to get me to try this one on again. Um, it was a disaster the first time!

Love the pockets though!

This one is SUPER sweet and SUPER romantic. My boobs look really weird.

Gotta say though, it was a very soft, very dreamy dress.

More to come soon, including a close runner up!

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The Havana Social Club, Cornelius, NC

So, what made the Havana Social Club in Cornelius THE venue?

It was SO affordable and included everything from tables to linens to decorations and set up and break down. It could also easily seat 300 guests .The venue also had built in audio and visual equipment we could use at no additional costs. The location was not too bad or too far from us.

And when we walked in for the visit, the wheels in Tim’s head just started going. He had all these ideas for our wedding and what he could do for it. Even he was inspired!

The club was an old movie theater that had been converted into a ballroom where ballroom dancers competed, practices, etc. - there was a huge dance floor. I also loved that the venue had tall ceilings so it felt very big. They also had the old movie poster lightboxes mounted along the walls still, which would have made great picture displays.

So sad. Look at what we could’ve had!









Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Finding a reception venue

So another big dilemma we’ve been facing with the wedding is the location of our reception. On the way to put down the deposit for our venue of choice, The Palace Theater, aka the Havana Social Club, in Cornelius, NC, we were told the venue had been sold and any events after July 1 would have to be canceled. That SUCKED because we were starting to plan around our date of September 1!

So, what is our criteria for a venue?
  • Everyone says you pick out a few verbs that you would like to describe your wedding. My words were inexpensive, classy, fun, easy. In a perfect world, it would be rustic, timeless, romantic
  • Has to fit 300 guests – my mom’s number, not mine. We made a list of friends and it’s at about 85. Plus family, our list would probably be closer to 200. That’s 100 people I don’t really know.
  • Affordable. Definitely affordable. Under $1K would be ideal, but we can go up to $3K.
  • After arguing with my mom, we decided we needed a venue that will allow my mom to cater some, if not all of it. Again – not my choice.
  • We have a DJ in mind, so the venue would have to be OK with as well.
  • I don’t want to spend a ton of time setting up, breaking down, decorating, etc., so if any of that is offered, that’s a huge plus.
Even though our venue has changed, most of this criteria holds true. We're trying to be flexible but with our budget and time, we're running out of options. Arg.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

David's Bridal Dress, Number 3

So, there are several others I've tried on at David's Bridal, including these three that I could actually find online: Style WG3512, Style CRL277, and  Style WG3263.

But I could not find this one online. I also really liked this one tulle dropped waist gown.




Pros:
  • All the prices were right at David’s Bridal!
  • I loved the way this one felt – it was REALLY light.
  • It was figure flattering – and this the first time I thought a dropped waist gown might work (which is kind of what I had wanted all along). 
Cons:
  • I was worried about Sebastian scratching the tulle.
  • The accessories enhanced the dress more than it needed, which would add to the overall budget. You can see, without the accessories, the dress looks kind of blah.
  • It just didn’t make me feel inspired. This seriously felt just like another dress on the rack. Maybe too much tulle?
  • We all thought it was meh...

 So... still not quite the one - but a good option!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

David's Bridal Dress Numero 2

Here’s another dress from David’s Bridal – style T3342. This silk charmeuse gown with an upper beaded lace bodice and cap sleeves. There was also a very cute and romantic keyhole back.




Pros:
  • This was the first time I felt like I was actually getting married!
  • Loved the simplicity and that the beading wasn’t overly dramatic.
  • I loved the back as well.
  • Beautiful upclose, beautiful far away.
Cons:
  • Back fat… Arg.
  • The beading was kind of itchy.
  • Depending on the way the light hit the charmeuse, I looked preggers.
  • It’s more beautiful in person than in pictures.
  • Ada did not like it. LOL
 How it looks on the model:

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Attempting to find the dress - Bridal Mart, Burlington, NC + David's Bridal, Greensboro, NC

Finding the perfect dress has been a long journey. I’ve tried on 45 amazing dresses and I’ve finally found THE one. But before we do the big reveal of THE one, thought I’d share some of the dresses along the way.

I didn’t want to share my first dress shopping experience with anyone other than my best friend, Cathy. And since she lives nearly two hours away and just had a baby, I thought I’d take the experience to her. So, on a rainy Saturday in January, I drove up to see her in Greensboro, NC.

First, we went to the Burlington Bridal Mart. This store is known for being a large outlet store for all things wedding and formal dress. They have amazing discounts on their dresses and you can pretty much search the racks for your size at your leisure. Unfortunately, we had a horrible experience there.

First, no children are allowed on the actual floor where the dresses are. It makes sense, but it was just me, Cathy and a 4-year old. Seriously, you couldn’t do anything to help us? I walked the racks all by lonesome while Cathy and Ada waited – which was miserable for all of us. I attempted to try on three dresses there and gave up. We didn’t get any help with finding a dress, trying them on and it even took us a long time to get attention for a dressing room. Probably a bad idea to go to an outlet store on a Saturday. Ugh.

So we took a break. Had lunch. And decided we’d try David’s Bridal – which highly recommends appointments. In fact, I called earlier that day and asked them about doing a walk-in, which was not likely going to happen on a Saturday… But we did it anyway – and I’m glad we did. We had a much better experience and got a good idea of where I could pick up dress shopping. I tried on about six dresses. I honestly feel like we could’ve gone through a lot more but the person helping me was pretty busy that day – and that made the experience a little bit of a challenge. She would put me in a dress – and walk away for about 15 minutes. Even if I disliked the dress, I had to stay in it for longer than I wanted. Arg.

Anyway, here’s an initial look at one of the dresses I tried on - a strapless organza print ball gown with dropped waist (style PK3502). The dress also had a ruched bodice.

 
The little princess and me. She was THE MOST patient 4-year-old.

We were at David's Bridal for THREE hours!
Pros:
  • LOVED the colors and the dress had a personality of it's own.
  • The price was right at under $1,000.
  • It's a very unique dress - for a very unique person.
  • It was very light.
Cons:
  • It just didn't sit on my hips or waist area right. Maybe it was the sample size?
  • I was not a bit fan of the way the fabric wrapped around the bodice. I didn't feel like it was flattering.
  • Cathy really disliked it - and from the start. Probably should've taken that as a sign. LOL
  • OK, OK... Maybe too funky.
Dress on the model:
So... on to the next dress!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wedding Woes

I've been trying to blog about this wedding but it's been hard to find time...

Man, planning this wedding has been a pain in the ass. Well, at first everything was so easy… but it was too good to be true.  We’ve been thinking about wedding plans since last summer – at least getting idea of real costs. A few years ago, I put together an estimate for how much our wedding would actually cost. I put the real numbers against it last summer.

And finally in December, the boy said we should probably actually start putting things in action. We picked a venue, a date, the program, catering options, decorations – even the photographer – you know, the big stuff.

Then we started to share our information with people, which just opened up a whole can of worms. Seriously – I can’t believe how many people tell you it’s your day and then tell you how you should do it. So frustrating.

It’s been one thing after another. I got in a big argument with my mom about the food, the location, the entertainment, the program. Our venue got sold – the day we were going to put down the deposit. All other potential venues have additional costs that we didn’t have to worry about before = budget blown.

And that’s why we’ve decided to do a small, private destination wedding. And we’ll just come back and party later. More details to come, but a breath at last. 

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

2013 Grammys


So, I know I’m a few weeks behind… and I realize this post is no longer relevant. But my friend Steven Tilley (https://twitter.com/mdhtter13) inspired me to write this post about the Grammys. He live tweeted the event, and that inspired me to write down my own thoughts about the event, in no particular order.
  • I want Adele to win every award. She’s funny, yet humble.
  • The Miguel/Wiz Khalifa performance was the weirdest introduction into the Best Country Solo Performance.
  • I finally get Justin Timberlake’s Suit and Tie song. I did not like it before.
  • Sadly, I still really like Chris Brown’s music.
  • Why do I keep thinking Kendrick Lamar is Frank Ocean?
  • I love fun. Even more after the Grammys.
  • WTF John Mayer. Need a new suit ASAP.
  • Who is Mikky Echo? He was the best thing about Rihanna’s performance. 
  • John Legend is so damn hot.
  • I love that JayZ is so classy. And Frank Ocean is so sweet – “Mr. West.”
  • Kelly Clarkson is such an amazing vocalist. So glad I saw her in concert last year. Too bad this was the turnout.
  • It was only a matter of time, but Hunter Hayes really annoys me now.
  • Absolutely love The Lumineers, but I’ve been listening to their CD for about a year now. I need new material!
  • Lena Dunham – I kind of want to know her connection to the fun. guys. She was their personal cheerleader all night.
And that's all I got!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

2013

when did it become 2013? and i haven't posted anything since october. i need to get better at this. arg. i guess that's what happens when life happens.

happy new years!