Southern Weddings Magazine

So I totally forgot to make mention that my sweetie and I were in a blog post for Southern Weddings Magazine. It was kind of a big deal :)

Click here to check it out!

Tallahassee and Registering

It was two days before our engagement picture session, so JD and I headed to Tallahassee to do some shopping. We were still trying to decide exactly what we were going to wear. A full morning of shopping proved unsuccessful and we decided to make outfits we already had work.

While we were there we figured we should go ahead and do some registering. We knew that we wanted to register at both Macy's and Bed Bath and Beyond, neither of which are located in Valdosta. We started out with Macy's since we were already at the mall. Let's just say that registering is a lot more overwhelming that one would think.

JD and I already live together, and before he moved in I already had "everything" to start a home. However, the things I have are old busted up six year old things from Walmart. Example: a six dollar toaster that managed to melt a bagel wrapper to the side and top. We had to wrap our heads around the fact that it is in fact OK to upgrade and register for "grown up" things. We also realized that everything we have is in fact mine, and he didn't have any say so in picking things... right down to the house we live in! This is going to be our life together so we want to have our own things.

Then came the registry "gun." JD was quite disappointed that it wasn't in fact shaped like a gun :) We set out to zap as many things as we could. Then we became overwhelmed. Who knew there were so many different options of so many different things! We quickly decided to just click anything that looked cool, and figured we could edit the registry online once we got home.

I was definitely having more fun than JD, but I wouldn't have expected it to be any other way. Little girls are raised playing house and picturing themselves having nice kitchen things. JD was more concerned with why we couldn't register for a surround sound system for the TV and new golf clubs. Believe it or not, and my mother is SO proud, I even registered for fine china. Since I was little I have opposed to registering for and owning fine china and crystal. I didn't see the point of it, nor did I understand when I would use it. But, as soon as that registry gun hit my hand, I felt that I needed china. I didn't just need it, but I had to have it!

We left Macy's feeling good, but starting to get tired, and headed over to Bed Bath and Beyond. We walked in and immediately felt overwhelmed. There was a wait to register because they were so busy! After a few moments of walking around we quickly decided to head back to Valdosta and give BB&B another shot on another day. This registry stuff is intense!

Save The Dates!

So from the beginning JD and I sat down and prioritized different things for the wedding. Photography was the most important, so it got the biggest chunk of the budget, followed by venue, food, flowers, etc. Let's just say that we decided that putting a bunch of money into something that people would eventually throw in the trash wasn't our top priority. In other words, save the dates and invites were an area where we were looking to save money.

JD and I decided to design the Save the Dates on our own using good old fashioned Microsoft Publisher. We must say, we were quite pleased with the results...

Then we used Vistaprint.com to print them out. That's right. We didn't use any fancy paper or printing company. We saved a whole bunch of money by doing them ourselves. However... something happened in the printing process. All of the postcards had a strange white border on either one or two sides. To top things off, it wasn't the same side on each card. My thought is that the postcards weren't aligned when they printed.

Being the OCD anal person that I am I decided that I had to cut them all off. Insert paper cutter and a glass of wine... An hour later the Save the Dates were all finished. A small price to pay for the amount of money we saved.

So... Save the Date! 11.10.12

Saying yes to another dress!

If I thought picking MY dress would be one of the hardest parts of wedding planning I was dead wrong! I quickly learned that picking a dress to make all four bridesmaids happy would be much, much more difficult.

Initially I let the girls give me their opinion on long or short dresses. After some consideration, I was leaning towards short dresses. Finding a dress long enough for my 6 foot bridesmaid seemed challenging. Then, after shopping with Rosie we decided long was the way to go. She and I searched for a dress that would complement mine, and it was quickly decided that long and chiffon were the way to go.

We went from J. Andrews, where we found several lovely options, to Alfred Angelo, where we narrowed down selections even more. However, I was not a fan of the one that the rest of the girls liked. So once I got home that night I took to the internet to find something I liked even better. I came up with these five options.

From there, I narrowed it down to these two and let the girls take a vote...

 

It was a 3 to 1 vote for the second dress. We had a decision. All we had to do was get the girls fitted and decide on a color...

 It seemed like all was going well... until the girls started trying them on. My girls are all pretty tiny, and yet somehow, this dress was NOT as flattering on them as it is in the pictures... Go figure. Turns out that those pretty ripples are not in fact there in real life. It's actually a flat front that shows even the tiniest bit of tummy. Eww.

So, my mom and Rosalie were champs and spent an afternoon at Bride Beautiful in Atlanta hunting for a suitable replacement. We tried making decisions through text message pictures, but quickly realized that we could use FaceTime on our phones to actually see the dress! An hour later, Rosalie had tried on at least 5 more dresses and we finally selected the PERFECT dress for all four girls! Thanks to Jennifer at Bride Beautiful for your help and patience with us :)

All four girls have tried on the dress, and it looks FABULOUS on all of them :) We couldn't be happier with the choice, and I know my girls will look awesome the day of!

You'll have to come to the wedding to see the final pick :)

I said YES to a dress!

This weekend was that weekend. The weekend that most little girls dream about. It was DRESS SHOPPING WEEKEND! 

I went up to Atlanta for my dress shopping and took my mom, my daddy, and my MOH, Rosalie with me. Everyone warned me to not take too many people, and I agreed! Now, a lot of people thought I was crazy for taking my daddy with me, but I wouldn't have had it any other way! Of course I had to prep him on what to expect from the whole ordeal, but he went into it like a champ :)

We knew going into the weekend that we had four appointments scheduled. I had a good feeling about the first store before we ever went, and boy was I right! We never even went to any of the other appointments. The first, and only, shop that we visited was J. Andrews in Peachtree City. I have nothing but WONDERFUL things to say about my whole experience there. Sue was my consultant and she was the sweetest lady! I told her that she reminded me of my senior year English teacher, Mrs. Blackmon, and that even though she didn't know who it was, it was one of the biggest compliments that I could give! Go to J. Andrews! Ask for Ms. Sue!


So we showed up bright and early ready to go. They asked me the basics about style, designers, budget, and turned me loose! Talk about overwhelming! Rosalie and I started looking through a few racks. Mom just planted herself in a chair. My silly daddy went straight to one of the most expensive racks in the store and started pulling dresses left and right! Needless to say, my daddy wasn't aware of which designer he was pulling, nor was he looking at price tags. Daddy's picks promptly returned to the rack :)

After about 10 minutes of overwhelmed pulling, Ms. Sue brought me back to get started. Now, going into the appointment I was in love with two completely different styles of dresses. When I say completely different I mean COMPLETELY different. Get ready for a run down of the trying on experience...

Dress 1: This one was the closest thing they had to my mom's favorite. Well, let's just say we all know I'm not a stick thin tiny bride, and this sample was smaller than their usual samples. While I know that bridal sizes are different than regular dress sizes, it was hard to not feel like I was a sausage stuffed in a casing. It made it hard to like the dress as a whole. Though I told Ms. Sue a few things I liked about it, I was ready to get it off.

Dress 2: This one was the total opposite style from the first dress. I loved the fit and shape, but hated the excessive bling. Again, a beautiful dress, but just not quite me, and still no moment. Time to move on to dress 3.

Dress 3: This one was back to the same style as the first one. It was even smaller than the first one. I didn't just feel like a sausage, I looked like a sausage. I didn't even want to come out in it, but my mom insisted. Well there is a reason there are no pictures in that dress (side note... J. Andrews let me take a picture of EVERY SINGLE DRESS, not just the one I bought. Loved that!). After showing it to my entourage I promptly told Ms. Sue to throw that style out the window and not to bring me any more like it! I loved it in the pictures and on the hanger, but HATED it on me!

Dress 4: This was the first one where I felt like we were headed in the right direction. I really liked it. A lot. I got all "jacked up" as they say on SYTTD: Atlanta. It was pretty. But there was one thing I really didn't like about it. I told Ms. Sue what I liked, and what I didn't like. So we moved on.

Dress 5: I finally used the word LOVE. It was everything I liked from Dress 4, and nothing that I didn't. This could have been the dress. I loved everything about this dress. There wasn't a thing wrong with it. I got jacked up again. I answered all the questions. Yes, I loved it. Yes, I could see myself walking down the aisle. Yes, JD would love. Yes, I could move comfortably, wear shoes, sit down, etc. But there was no moment. I was worried all along I would be one of those brides that wouldn't have a moment. I was convincing myself this was the dress, but I just wasn't sold. I asked Ms. Sue if there was anything else like this, and she said she didn't think so. She left me to discuss it with the family.

Dress 6: Then, as I was sitting there with the family, she snuck by me into my dressing room carrying a dress that she clearly didn't want me to see. I saw just a glimpse of the dress and freaked out. I had to see it. I had to know what she had. It had to be the one!

I walked back into the dressing room anxious to see the dress. Before Mrs. Sue even had the door closed, I saw my dress in all it's glory for the first time. It was the perfect shape from Dress 2, but had everything style wise that I loved from the others. It was the PERFECT combination of the two styles I loved. I started crying while it was still on the hanger! I was having m MOMENT! Ms. Sue told me to hush up and get it together! She didn't want everyone to hear me (it's a rather small shop). I started begging her to get me out of Dress 5 and into Dress 6. The whole time she was getting me in she had to keep reminding me to take deep breaths. I was barely holding it together when I walked out to my family.

My mom took one look at me, gasped, and started crying. I started crying. I'm pretty sure that as Ms. Sue was getting us tissues she was crying! Rosalie, the ever present voice of reason, kept it together, but I'm pretty sure she knew this was the one too :) After only being out of the room for maybe 15 seconds I announce to the whole store, "This is my dress! This is my dress! This is my dress!"

Then it dawns on me... "WHERE IS MY DADDY?!?" Daddy had stepped back out to the lobby because another bride was standing there in her bra as they were measuring her for her fitting, and he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable. My daddy had missed my whole moment! Well you better believe I high tailed it into that lobby to find him! Then in typical Daddy fashion this is the response I get when he first sees me...

"What the hell are you crying for?"

If you know my daddy then you know I wasn't upset at this. If he's not picking on you then he doesn't love you. He loved it. I loved it. Mom loved it. Rosie loved it. It was the one. I even announced again, "I don't care if I'm not on the show, I'm still saying YES TO THE DRESS!" Well I go jacked up again. Considered different veil/hairpiece options. Talked about shoes. Took a ton of pictures. The works. It was eventually time to get out of the dress and do the paperwork. Blah, the NOT so fun part!

As I was sitting down to do the paperwork, I noticed my mom and dad talking, and then my dad walking out the door pretty quickly. I later found out that my daddy had just asked one of the consultants how many dads really come to shop for the dress. The lady told him very, very few, and that my daddy should be honored that I asked him to come. Well, as he was telling this story to my mom, he apparently broke down crying, and that's when he left the store in a hurry. That's right. I got my daddy to cry :) I love him :)

So I had my dress. The day was a success! Mom called and canceled all of the other appointments. We went out to lunch, and eventually returned to J. Andrews for bridesmaid dress shopping... but for that, you'll have to turn to another post :)