Wednesday, March 16, 2011

wedding wednesday's: updates

86 Days to go!

Do I freak out now or later?

Just kidding.

I think I'll make it.

I never knew weddings were soo much in depth.

Decisions, decisions, and mooooore decisions.

Whew.

June 10th, can you please hurry?

Thankyoumuch.

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Upcoming calendar:

3.12.11--1st Dress alteration appointment in Atlanta/ordered veil
3.15.11-- Hair color appointment/Hair trial #1
3.18.11-- 2nd Alteration appointment in Atlanta (Bring home dress) 
3.19.11--First Bridal Shower!
4.8.11-- Bridal Portraits
4.10.11-- CWF Bridal Shower (at my families church)
4.23.11-- Bridal Tea with Cliff's family
5.28.11--Bachelorette Weekend!
6.4.11-- Bridesmaids Luncheon
6.9.11 --Rehearsal & Dinner
6.10.11--The BIG Day!
  
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Still left to do:


Bridesmaids dresses: 4 out of the 7 are ordered!
Groom's tuxes: Cliff says he is handling this part..
Invitations: we purchased several kits. we are actually behind schedule on printing & assembling these. We tried to print them from my Mom's computer a few weeks ago and the printer kept snatching the paper sideways! I'm hoping to work on these this week & figure out an easier solution.
Wedding bands: I purchased my wedding band last week! After days of searching online, I found the band I was looking for at overstock.com! I was impressed. I recieved the band within two days after ordering. It's perfect!

Beauty regimen: I have nasty Crest Whitestrips glued to my teeth as I'm typing this (which would be last night). Yuckk. Does anyone else use these? They make my mouth seriously water like crazy. I realize this is disgusting, but I have to spit constantly.. they're horrible.

I've been trying to tan when I find the time. It used to be convenient before we moved & left the tanning bed at my Grandma's. Now, making the 5 minute drive out there (sad, I know)& wasting 20 minutes of precious time is kicking my bootay.

Hair cut & color: a few weeks ago I got my hair trimmed & my stylist chopped it underneath to make it lighter! Yesterday I went in for a color/hair trial appointment. I did what I said I was planning on doing back in February.



Bridal Portraits: April 8th from 3:30-5:30pm at the Botanical Gardens with our wonderful photographer!

Dress Alterations: I spent this past weekend in Atlanta for my first dress alteration appointment. We drove in on Friday night & had plans with my FMIL for Saturday. Some of you may know, me and my FMIL own a vinyl monogramming business called Embellish Boutique. This past weekend in Atlanta was a wholesale show at the Atlanta AmericaMart. Saturday morning was spent there shopping for new inventory!

At noon, we pulled into LaRaine's & I slipped on my dress!
We were originally quoted $150 for all alterations needed. ALSO due to the fact we live 4 hours away we were told prior to making the appointment, that ALL alterations could be done for us in a single day to eliminate the need to return back to Atlanta for a second time.

Hummphhh. Here comes the bad part.

As I am about to slip on the dress, LaRaine herself comes be-bopping into the dressing room. She looks at me and says, "I know we said $150 for the alteration, but there's no way we can do that. Our seamstress is one of a kind and very, very talented. Therefore, something like this normally costs a few hundred dollars. I am going to have to charge at least $250."

Say whatttt? Are you kidding?
You mean to tell me we drove 4 hours down here and you NOW want to tell us the alterations we were originally quoted at $150 are now being up'd to $250. Nuh,uh. I don't think so.

We asked her to pull our file, where clearly SHE (LaRaine- the owner) had wrote the quote and attached it to our paperwork.

Thankfully, it was there & there was no way in heck she was changing it now.

Next, things are progressing along and the question arises about how long it will take to make all of the alterations.

Note: we were told WHEN WE MADE THE APPOINTMENT that all alterations could and would be done the same day of our appointment.

"There's no way we can do this today." they said.

I'm sorry..did I hear you correctly?

You can't do it today??

And why not?

"We have a bridal show tomorrow and we are preparing for it! There's no way I would have time to do this today."

Ok, well can we possibly pick it up tomorrow?

"I can't have it done by tomorrow either. It'll be a few days before I can even get to it."

Are you serious??

We literally drove 4 hours at $3.50/gallon for you to tell us that you 1) are going to charge $250 rather than $150 and 2) that we are going to have to make a 2nd trip to Atlanta to pick the dress up because the alterations can't be done in a single day.

I was fuming.

But, I figured.. hey, if you want the dress to look and fit as it should.. just let them take their time and do it right.

Okkkk.

So that's where we're at.

We have to make ANOTHER (#4) trip to Atlanta to pick up the dress for the LAST time.

Alteration costs (plus new additions & veil)= $529

Bump in the road? Check!

Bridal Showers: My first bridal shower is this coming up Saturday and I couldn't be more excited! It's being hosted by 10 of our family members and over 150 people have been invited! It's going to be held at Cliff's church's reception hall.
All of the invitees received a blank recipe card along with their invitation. They were asked to fill it out with their favorite recipe & bring it along to the shower.

My Christian Women's Fellowship of my church have offered to throw me a second shower. It's going to be held on April 10th.

On April 23rd, we are traveling to Florida for the day in order to meet with Cliff's family for a Bridal Tea.

Bachelorette & Lingerie: My MOH and BF Brooke are busy planning the Bachelorette weekend agenda and lingerie shower for Memorial Day Weekend!

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I think that about sums it up!

Any wedding stress reliever tips?

ha.

4 comments:

  1. can't wait to see shower pictures. That some shower with 150 invited!

    Just breathe.....and enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Caitlyn,
    It is getting so close gurl! How exciting! I had to laugh at the crest white strips cause gurl I do the same thing or used to before I started chemo and mouth ulcers but I would spit out that yucky stuff too...TMI I know but geezy that makes your mouth water like crazy, don't do like I did one time I tried to super white them quickly and did it twice a day for like a week and gurl it sensitized my teeth to the point I could hardly drink it was so painful LOL...but they sure were pretty white hahahahha

    OK so no they didn't try to requote you on that dress alteration stuff crazyiness glad they figured it out,

    YOur hair looks so pretty and I like that updo is that what you have choose?

    Wedding stress tips, pamper you, go get a facial or a massage or your footsies and nails done and de-stress gurl..oh and let your Maid of Honor deal with some of the stresses not all of them but some LOL

    xoxo
    Sums

    ReplyDelete
  3. 86 DAYS!!! I couldn't have a bigger smile on my face for you right now. :D

    1] I love your hair trial.... Beautiful. Love it!

    2] Don't sweat the invitations! You'll get them done. I haven't even decided what I want and I'm freaking out.

    3] Your Dress- a) You'll LOVE bringing it home. I've put mine on at least 3 times since it's been home. They wouldn't let me keep it at the shop. I still have to get alterations. b) Excited that you are having a veil. People X these out now-a-days && I love veils. Mine too, is home and ready to be worn! :) c) Good job on not letting those people bump the cost up $100. What were they thinking? I'm so nervous to see or hear what alterations will be come my time. The bottom of my dress is a little... challenging. :/

    4] Your Showers... I will see you Saturday! :)

    5] Your Bachelorette Party... SOOOO EXCITING! The ladies keep asking me when & where... Charleston or Jacksonville! Where are y'all going? Do you know?

    Caitlin... [with Butterflies in my tummmy] I am soooo excited and happy for you and Cliff. Gosh, YOU'RE.GETTING.MARRIED! Holy Cow! Yay!

    [How do you get your "checklist" like that. I can't ever get mine to show up like that]

    ReplyDelete
  4. I did Crest Whitening strips after I got my braces off! They made my moouth water like crazy too!!!

    BTW I LOVE your hair!!!!

    Good luck getting the invitations done! :)

    ReplyDelete