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.

♥

wedding wednesday's: wedding bands

I think we are behind schedule in regards to purchasing our wedding bands.

It's crossed my mind a few times early on, but recently I've been focused on the bigger things that rings have completely slipped my mind.

It was only due to a friends FB status {today} about hers that it even rang a bell. Ummm, hellooo?, you have to FIND and ORDER a wedding band!

First off, Cliff and I hardly ever go into town.

And if we do, it's for me to go to clinicals and for him to go for work purposes.

In other words, it's HARD to make a trip to Savannah just to look at wedding bands.

And now that gas is $3.29 a gallon here, I don't believe that'll be happening any time soon.

Soo, I started browsing online for this one band I fell in love with a while ago.

Problem: I can't find the darn thing anywhere.

This is the little beaut...

it looks more like it fits a round cut rather than square.

Or this one...

I'm honestly not sure that either will fit or look good with my square princess radiant star solitaire!

But, I'm really digging this style!

HELP! 

Do any of you have these bands? If so, WHERE did you get them from?

For the mister, he's fairly simple.

Plain.and.silver. were the only recommendations.

Simple enough? 

$250

Or this?

$290

I wish we were that simple! Geeeee ♥

STDs

Save the Dates went out Saturday morning! Yipeee!

We went with a vintage-themed postcard!

1) I had never heard of/received a STD "postcard" from another couple

2) It was cheaper on postage, which= saving money {$0.28}

We purchased 200 and hand typed them all using an old typewriter for a more vintage look.

Here's the front:

And, here's the back {with a little editing}

What do you think?!

wedding wednesday: 5 month update

First off, let me just say I passed that horrid clinical calculations test.

The second time was a charm!



Now to wedding plans..

♥ Our wedding coordinator meeting this past Monday went well! She is incredibly knowledgeable & crafty in this field and I can't wait to see how our ideas will turn out. Speaking of her, we have another meeting scheduled for this coming up Sunday. We are picking her up and driving over to our venue to show her around & explain the plans we have set thus far. From there, we are venturing over to Mom's house {where all of our wedding junk items are stored} to plunder through and show her what we have purchased & discuss what needs to happen from here.

♥ Catering: I think we may have decided to opt out for hor d'oeuvres and instead go for a sit down meal. Since our theme is rustic charm with southern accents, we are considering chicken or pork of some kind to accentuate.

♥ Tuxedos: It's about that time to start ordering tuxedos for the groomsmen, ushers, ringbearer, and the groom himself.

I'm not sure if you remember this post, but this is the color  tux we are going with.

We will be ordering these the beginning of Feburary.

♥ Save-the-Dates: We are hoping to see these in the mail before Friday :)

♥ Favors: Weekend before last, some of the women and I spent a Sunday afternoon working on these. We still have a few more weekends before they will be complete, however. Let me just say that we have more than 1 "favor"..? hehehee, it's a surprise!

♥ Bridal Showers: I've had a few family members, members of our church, and close friends parents contacting me asking to throw a shower for Cliff and I. We are trying to sort out details, themes, and dates at the moment, but things are about to start getting pretty busy! We are soo thankful for everyone who has offered & are soo blessed to have these special people in our lives :)

Also for all of you newly engaged or soon-to-be wed, Jessica's coupons has posted a link to a free 1 year subscription to Bridal Guide magazine. Only while supplies last, so ya better hurry!

Have a good one!

monday blues.

So this past weekend ended the long awaited for, 3 solid months of deer hunting season that we get in the state of GA. It's always such a depressing time for us. I'm not sure whether it's due to the fact that we now have several months of free Saturday's with nothing to do, we won't get to have the every weekend friendly fellowship, or just the thought of not being able to run and gun outdoors in general...?

Regardless, it always seems soo gloomy when it finally comes to an end.

Speaking of gloomy, the weather today looks like this around our neck of the woods:

{Blah.}

Which calls for a well spent day indoors!

monday blues reason #3.....

school starts back tomorrow.

In some sense, it's actually somewhat rewarding to say that due to the fact that this is the start to my LAST semester of college!

Come May, I will be a 4-year College Nursing Graduate and upon taking my state boards will be a Registered Nurse before too long thereafter!

My day starts off tomorrow at 8am with non-other than a.......TEST.

Yes, you're right.

You're probably thinking, huh?

How is that possible? Her first day of class is tomorrow and she already has a test at 8am? 

Gosh, what time does her classes start? 12 o'clock midnight?? Geez.

How does she know what to study? Does she even know what it's over??

Haaa.

Yes, yes, no, no, yes, and yes.

Our test is over clinical calculations & medication administration. Prior to starting our clinical rotations, we must pass this test with a 90 or above average. We have 3 attempts to do so before we are unable to proceed with clinicals.

We have these exact tests at the beginning of every semester. 

Therefore, this will be my 4th semester taking them.

I'm hoping they will be a breeze!

Say a little prayer :)

On a happier note, I finalized and placed the order for our save-the-dates today with our photographer. 

{I'll be posting pics as soon as our guests begin to receive them in the mail- which should be sometime next week or so}.

 

 {just a random picture from my wedding file}

#2- We are meeting with a wedding coordinator tonight to discuss day-of wedding details. 

Her and her staff will be in charge of the following:

-Coordinating rehearsal & wedding day {telling attendants when to walk, etc.}

-Setting up table linens & centerpieces at reception

-Lighting lanterns & candles at reception

-Setting up the bride & groom's cakes after ceremony

-Setting up and restocking candy buffet items as needed

-Helping tear everything down after reception

To brighten up these dampened spirits of mine, I'll end the post with this pretty picture :)

I can't WAIT for sunshine & summertime!

Can you?!

wedding wednesday's: cake tasting & dress fitting

240 days to go! 

There's not much going on in the wedding world around here lately. We've been busy working on guests favors & little what-nots, but that's about it. Our biggest concern at this point is reception catering and the wedding cakes. Last Wednesday we had appointment #2 with a separate cake caterer than previously. The place we went to actually made our engagement party cake and has made several, several cakes for several members of Cliff's family for years now. So, we knew the quality of the cake and how good it tastes already! We were just hunting for the best overall price! If you don't remember, a few months back I went to cake tasting #1 and my total was about $100 over budget.

Cake place #2 was $1 over budget.

I think we will go with the #2 option ;)

As you are currently reading, my Mother and I are on our way to Atlanta for my first dress fitting! Ahh!
It came in a few weeks ago and this is the first day we've had available to make a trip up there.
I truly hope it fits! Wouldn't that be something?!

Here's my checklist for the month of October:

Save-the-dates alreadyyyy?? I was thinking more like 6 months! 

How many months before did you send out save-the-dates?