New Year, New Day!

A quote states:

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” Edith Lovejoy Pierce

I say, I will open the book; it's incomplete. I turn the page to start a new chapter, but wait it already has been started. As I look toward this New Year, I plan to continue filling the pages. The old chapters make me who I am today (did I mention how proud I was :-).  Most recent chapter is about the new addition, my husband. The road of opportunities has always been paved, it’s a matter of when you take the right path.  I plan to keep writing in these pages, whether good or bad because life is full of experiences.

May this New Year be filled with all that you want it to be and more! God Bless and Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

BM Dresses pt. 2

If you recall the last post about the ladies dresses (here), the search didn't end there. Here are a few more options we looked in to:

personal photos above

Finding the BM dresses was much more of a task than finding my wedding gown. At this point I wanted to forget about one of "my rules" and consider a different look. Different dresses in the same color/ color palette:

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Though it would make things much easier and each individual would be happy picking a dress that suits her body type, it was easier for me to say than to decide! I was determined to find the dress.

Trois: BM Dresses

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When I began looking for the bridesmaids dresses, I knew of three must haves. Just THREE (3), and knew or thought everything else would fall into place.

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Chiffon, because I love the lightweight, floating appearance of the fabric. I think it's perfect for a summer wedding. 

Long, because I liked the idea of the bridesmaids wearing long dresses, besides I would have to worry less about the appropriate footwear.

Consistency, because I like the look and feel of uniformity.
As an add on, a Brooch to bring a little bit of personality to each dress.

Unfortunately, at least one of the requirements will be changed once dress shopping comes into play. For me, I was able to move from wanting the ladies in long dresses to the possibility of short. Here are a few of the options considered:

None of the options above made it, next I will show you the dress I fell in love with for the ladies and where it was purchased.

Drunken sweet or high!

Cake tasting...I could do this on a weekly basis, well maybe monthly instead (the tasting that is). To be honest I was more excited about tasting the different flavors and picking the grooms cake over the wedding cake. Choosing the cake was one of my least favorite tasks; it was going to be cut anyways. Well, same for the grooms cake but at least I could get a bit more creative and crazy with his cake.

For the wedding cake, I had one thing in mind...Keep it simple!! No cake-topper, no flowers to pretty it up (because I'm not big fan of flowers, just as a nice surprise gift from hubby but that's about it). As for the grooms cake I already knew what I wanted it to look like, I just couldn't wait to see it executed and see his reaction since it was a surprise!

Favorite cake flavor:

Too many to pick from :-)

Least favorite cake flavor:

I didn't have one!

Favorite filling:

Vanilla Bavarian Cream & Cream Cheese

Least favorite filling:

Key Lime (eeks!)

Cake Flavors:

Vanilla, Chocolate, Marble, Raspberry Swirl, Red Velvet

Pina Colada, Chocolate Mint, Carrot Cake, & Vanilla Almond

Fillings:

White Buttercream, Vanilla Bavarian Cream, Chocolate Bavarian Cream, 

Chocolate Ganache, Cherry, Cream Cheese, Strawberry & Key Lime

@ Cut the Cake in Longwood w/ Cynthia (Elizabeth Couture)

After I left the cake tasting, I went straight to a coffee shop and ordered a cup of black coffee. I needed a balance, I was on a sugar high :-)

Cake flavor picked for the wedding:
All!!! (seriously all, lol!)  Each tier (3) was a different flavor, the remaining flavors were part of the kitchen cake (aka cost effective because it didn't need to be bedazzled for photographs :-) The grooms cake was chocolate/ chocolate mint.

Here they are :

You can't see it clearly in the picture but the cake has silver glitter all over it and I simply personalized it by including bands which somewhat matched my wedding band around each tier. Oh, and each tier was a different flavor.

It was a great surprise indeed, he loved it!! Yes, a Playstation 3 with the joystick.

So that concludes the tales of the cakes!

Love it but not...

During my search for a gown, only three dresses left a lasting impression. Fortunately, I wasn't put in the position to pick between the three, which was great.

Months ago I wrote about gown #1, my first gown I fell in love with but wasn't willing to risk purchasing (here). Well, dress #2 was going to be the ONE. I was days away from making a final decision; I only had to justify paying the additional $300.00 for the belt that I think looked great with the dress. But, (I know, there's a but) well lets see the dress first.

Meet the La Sposa Fanal

(Sorry, the pics are a bit blurry!)

Loved it in the color that I tried in on..Oyster, but disliked it in Ivory!! The dress in ivory didn't have the same effect or glow. So the IT dress was placed on the chopping blocks once I saw it in ivory. So there you have it, the ending of dress #2. 

And if you're wondering why I just didn't get it in oyster, well it didn't work well with the wedding colors I wanted to use. 

Thanks & will do!

It's been a while, I know!! But I'm excited because I have my wedding pictures which means I can start my re-caps soon :-)

Since I have been out of the loop for about 4 months due to school, work, adjusting to married life and more, I thought posting would be meaningless; too much time had went by. But thanks to a few emails received about updates I have decided to get back on track.

Thank you to those that had a continued interest and still wanted to catch up. Because of you my fire has been sparked! I have a better handle on things now and will be able to fill you in on what went on with the planning phase (all the diy projects) up to the wedding, awesome vendors I've met, and of course the wedding day recaps! Thereafter, the saga continues with life and everything else that comes with it (other diy projects, recipes, adventures and more).  No matter what happenings and surprises life has for me, I will be Ready As I Can Be.

Stamp-ede 2!

If you re-call from my previous post,  Stamp-ede , I was working on a cover. Well this post gives the remaining detail. Well, the cover was for our "Passport Programs"! I went back and forth between program fans or nothing and in the end the passport won, thanks to Aylee bits "Passport Invitations".

I consider my passport ONE of my prized possessions, with every stamp and marking means a new journey. So it made sense to include it in the wedding, not only as part of the theme but the beginning of our new journey.

Aside from trying to get the stamp to show on the covers, the remaining process fell into place.

Hard at work trying to get it done. I was fortunate to have awesome individuals willing to help out as I tried to achieve what I wanted.

Used cutters that my friend Cynthia (Elizabeth Couture) provided. 

 I purchased this corner rounder from Joann Fabrics; pretty neat! (can you see the rounded edges?)

 Embossing powder

 Laying to dry

Two different colors :-)

Us hard at work day 1 out of 3 days. It would've taken less time if not for the printer failing on us during day 1. 

In the end, it was all worth it!!

Taken by our wedding photographer! PlushGlamour

Inside the program next :-)

Stamp-ede!

I was very excited when I was able to find a seller whom was able to supply me with the stamp I wanted to use.

Arrival- drum roll please!!

I was very nervous at this point because I was hoping it came out as expected. And...

Awesome!!! now the next prayer in line was hoping that the embossing phase would be visible on the cardstock I had. Materials and supplies lined-up and we are ready for a trial!!

Now I set the powder on for at least 30 seconds:

And we have:

A disappointment!! The emblem wasn't showing properly :-(

Finally got it right, 2 trials and  4-6 hands later :-)

End result coming up, along with the purpose/use of it!

Still On..Vacay

I'm still in vacation mode!! Back to work but the mode hasn't been switched yet :-)

But I am almost back to update on the happenings from these past weeks. Some of you may already know but it's official!!!

We took it to the alter!!

Unfortunately, the automatic post(s) update never occurred, by the time I realized, it was too late. In any case, get on this ride with me while I add all the old posts and get back on memory lane.

Enjoy!!!

Suckered In!

He says he was “suckered in” but I call it “fairness”.

Briefing:

I had this whole perception that after the wedding, couples change clothes and board a flight for a journey to their honeymoon location; then I started planning for my own wedding. Within weeks of planning, I knew there was no way we would do that.  All I thought about was resting after the wedding and the following day we would go to our honeymoon location.

Weeks into months:  This wedding shindig was a lot more expensive than we thought.  I was calculating based on my sisters wedding, which took place about 6 years ago.  I should have known better, not only did policies and regulations change but the prices are A LOT HEFTIER; I mean by the thousands. At this point, I couldn’t believe that I was actually suggesting for us to wait on our honeymoon.  All I knew, was that I did not want to cut myself short.  If we were going to do it, then we were going to do it right! So we decided we would wait four months after the wedding to go to our honeymoon.

Closer to the wedding months:  Given how much work was involved planning, we thought we needed to get away for a few days after the wedding to relax. In comes the MINI-MOON!! Yes, I convinced him to go on a mini-moon after the wedding. What seemed like a small plan started growing and growing! After all decisions were made, he realized:

“Wait a minute!  I just got suckered into TWO honey-moons!!”

My response: No babes, this is the least you can do after all the work I have put in to this wedding  J!!

Suckered in?!! maybe yes but it’s still an awesome idea.

Mini-Moon location decision coming soon!

Peek-a-boo

Thank you Plush Glamour for executing my vision! 

I thought

I bought

I changed

I swayed

I decided

I finalized

in the end it was all worth it :-)

Gone for too long...

Gone for too long, is a sign that I've been getting closer to the date! I've been working on different projects, okay maybe one too many but I am trying to tie up the loose ends.

At this rate, if I don’t slow down, I might need a consultation.

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DETAILS! DETAILS! DETAILS!

Why did I decide to do most of this on my own instead of hiring a company to make the place cards, programs, table numbers, etc... right, I was on a mission to save money and put my talent to work. Well guess what, it's costing me. Not in the pocket but TIME. My pillow and I barely meet and I still have plenty more to do. Thank God for the extra hands willing to help but seriously, I wish I could get some sleep. No regrets, I enjoy all these projects that I have taken on but sometimes I need a reminder, I chose to go this route. 

Well in all, let's just hope I don't do this the day of (tempted thought!):

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Crunch

None of this:

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Definitely, none of this:

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Need to be doing more of this:

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But all I am running out of is:

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It's crunch time and I am starting to feel more of the pressure. So much I want to do but so little time! I am at the point where I am going down the list and being realistic with what can be done and what I simply have to let go :-(.  Wish I was having a two day wedding to incorporate all the ideas in my mind :-)

With it being crunch time, I know I have been posting less but honestly I have a few posts that are time sensitive. In other words, they will be posted during or after the wedding so I won't completely spoil it for my guests. I may be off but there will be posted posts :-)  

I'm a little sad of the idea of letting some of the details go; if you were in my position, did you regret leaving out a few of your "must-have" details?