{Wedding Updates}

The month of February seems to have flown by...I can't believe March 1st is next week! I've had a crazy, busy month but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Here's what I've been up to:

The weekend after our Engagement Party, we had an appointment at Men's Wearhouse...which was a disaster, to say the least. The employees were so unprofessional and were completely unorganized. Did I mention that we actually had an appointment? You think they would have been prepared.....but no. The salesman who "helped" us didn't really try to show us what they offered as far as tuxes, and only showed us 3 different suits, from which he expected us to choose one. He then pointed us to their very limited samples of vests/ties, and then told us to meet him at the register once we picked. Umm, no thank you. We proceeded to walk out, and decided that we were going to be heading back to Maya Couture for our tuxes too. As it turns out, we'll be getting all of our wedding party's attire from Maya...and I'm really pleased with how that turned out! We went to Maya this past Thursday and picked out all of the tuxes, from Michael's to our groomsmen & ring bearer to our father's tuxes. I love all of them and I'm so glad we ended up ditching Men's Wearhouse in favor of Maya!


On Valentine's Day, Michael and I went to a nice restaurant that we've been wanting to try for a while. We usually never go out ON Valentine's Day because of how crowded it is, but we made reservations well in advance, so it was actually a pleasant evening. We had a very nice dinner along with a bottle of Riesling...and dessert too. I definitely ate too much...so I did what any normal person would do....I went for a run when I got home that night. I know, I'm such a romantic person, right? ;)

It was a late night for me, because I was also packing for a quick trip to Orlando for work. I had a 7am flight on the 15th, so I got very little sleep that night. Which is fine because I wanted to sleep on the plane...only I didn't really fall asleep. I'm such a nervous flier, so if I can fall asleep, I do. However, my flight to ATL was only an hour and then the flight from ATL to Orlando was only an hour, so sleeping wasn't really an option! I arrived in Orlando to 85 degree, sunny weather - perfect, since I left behind cold, cloudy weather in VA. Even though it was a short trip, I had a great time and it was a nice change of scenery! I headed back home on the 16th, and had a bit of a stressful return flight. Both landings, ATL and home in Norfolk, were bad...like uneven, right-leaning landings. It was incredibly foggy in Norfolk, so you couldn't even see the runway lights until we were like ~100 feet from the ground. Seriously. And when we did see the ground, we were definitely coming in at a strange angle. I'll just say that I was so relieved to be on the ground and safe.


Unfortunately, when I woke up the next morning after my trip, I had picked up a virus...and ended up sick all weekend. While I hate being sick, I think it was actually good for me to take an entire weekend to just relax and catch up on sleep! Luckily, I was fine once Monday came around. This past week has been nice...and exciting. I took my engagement ring to get resized, because it was much too big and it needed to be done before it fell off my finger! I couldn't stand the thought of my left hand having a bare ring finger, so I went to Nordstrom and bought a cubic zirconium ring to wear in the meantime. From a distance, it almost looks like the real thing. ;)

The "fake" ring!

I also made an exciting purchase this past week - I happened to go on Rue La La at the right time, during a sample sale....and I found the perfect wedding veil! I had no idea they even had any veils for sale, but I was just checking out the sale, and there it was! I tried on a gorgeous veil at my bridal salon, but the cost was outrageous (nearly 2/3 of the cost of my dress!), so I wanted to keep looking. I hadn't really had any luck finding the type of veil I wanted - lace, cathedral length - for a good price. So when I saw this veil on Rue La La, I knew I had to purchase it. It has small scalloped lace, it's cathedral length, and it's ivory...all things that I was looking for in a veil. It's supposed to arrive in the mail this week, and I can't wait to see it! I can't believe that I've already purchased my dress, shoes, and now my veil...and bridesmaid dresses, and the groomsmens tuxes. Making progress! :)

THE veil!

Engagement Party{♥}

Right after we got engaged, M and I decided that we'd love to have an Engagement Party to celebrate with our family & close friends. We're both very close to our families, and we tend to have plenty of family gatherings throughout the year...so naturally, having a party to celebrate our engagement was fitting. My parents graciously accepted the hosting duties, and we set the date for February 4th. We had a little over a month to send out invitations and plan our menu for the evening, which thankfully was enough time. Any time sooner and we would have been in trouble. Working full-time and having things to do every weekend cuts into party planning time. ;)

Obviously NOT our real invite, but a sample from weddingpaperdivas.com :)

First of all, I have to mention our invitations. We ordered our adorable invites from Wedding Paper Divas, and the quality and turn-around time was fantastic. Once we received the invites, I went back on the site to look at Save-The-Dates and wedding invitations and found so many that I liked! I ended up ordering samples (you can get 5 free samples here!) to see what they looked like in person. I LOVED them, and the prices are really inexpensive for wedding invitation standards. 

Anyways, on to the party. Er, party planning. By now, you should know I have an obsession with Pinterest...and it always becomes useful when I'm planning a party. I searched through my pins and came away with a few good ideas. We threw around several ideas, from having a themed party {a British-themed party, that is} to having a party with different foods from all the countries we visited this past summer, to just having hors d'oeuvres. While the British party was especially intriguing (hello, Royal Wedding), we ended up deciding that there weren't many British food options that would be widely appealing to our guests. Fish & Chips...maybe. Kidney Pie...not so much. So, after much thought hors d'oeuvres it was. That didn't mean it was boring. :) This ended up being our menu: 

• Bacon & Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms
• Shrimp Cocktail
• Meatballs
• Spinach & Artichoke Dip
• Ham & Cheese Sliders
• Bruschetta
• Cheese & Crackers {to go with all the wine, of course :)}
• ...and of course, cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for dessert!

Despite all of the yummy food, I didn't even have a chance to eat at the party. My mom told me to eat beforehand because she figured that would happen, but of course I didn't listen. Typical. Instead I kept (or rather, M kept) my wine glass full the entire evening. 

We had a fabulous night seeing all of our family & friends. I felt like I missed out on talking to so many people, because we had a packed house. I guess this is just foreshadowing what's to come at our wedding! It was SO nice to be reminded of all the great people in our lives that are excited to share this special time in our lives with us. :) I guess you can say that the Engagement Party was the "kick-off" for the next 8 months of wedding festivities! And I'm going to love every minute of it. :)

 

{THE Dress}

Y'all - I said YES to the dress! Hehe...I just had to say that ;) So, a few weeks ago (at the bridal expo), I made two appointments at bridal salons in the area. One was January 28th, and one was January 29th. I was honestly pretty anxious about dress shopping...I had an idea in my mind about what styles I liked, but I was so afraid that I would hate them when I tried them on and wouldn't know where to begin finding the "perfect" dress. There goes my anxiety again, I guess. :)

Last Saturday was my first appointment, and I had no expectations of making a decision that day. I just wanted to see how things went - after all, it was my first time ever trying on wedding dresses...well, except for that time I modeled in a bridal show (crazy that I almost forgot this...high school seems so long ago!). On Saturday, my mom accompanied me to Maya Couture, where I immediately felt so comfortable and welcomed by all of the bridal consultants and Maya herself! Did I mention that Maya once worked for Vera Wang, and her experience inspired her to come back home and have her own bridal salon? She clearly learned from the best! You can read more about her and Maya Couture here. 

I showed my consultant (hi Patsy!) photos of dresses I liked so that she'd know what I was looking for...and she did a fabulous job of finding the perfect dresses for me to try on! Some of her picks were the actual dresses that were in the pictures I showed her, and the rest were so similar. I also picked out a few that caught my eye on the rack...including a dress that weighed about fifty pounds (in case you're wondering, that one was a huge NO...a girl's gotta be able to dance at her own wedding!). The very first dress I tried on - I loved. However, I thought "Oh, its just because it's the first wedding dress I've tried on." So, I moved on to the others...I will say that about 80% of the dresses I tried on were lace. I tried one or two that were not, and they just weren't ME, if you know what I mean. I had my heart set on lace, so lace it was. After trying on (and LIKING) every dress that I had in my fitting room, it was time to narrow down my choices. There were a few that I immediately did away with (including the 50 pound dress - thank goodness), and I had decreased it to about 3 dresses, so I tried all 3 on again. Surprisingly (or not), I found myself falling for the very first dress that I tried on. There was just something about that one...the way it fit so perfectly and highlighted my waist, the style, the gorgeous lace, the color (Ivory...I did NOT want a white dress!), and how I just felt so naturally comfortable in it. Also, the cathedral-length lace veil that I tried on with it made me even more certain that this was THE ONE. Patsy asked me if this meant I was going to "Say Yes To The Dress"...and I said absolutely! There was no doubt in my mind that this was the one...and I think that's how it should be! I am usually the most indecisive person, ever, so for me to make a decision that quickly, I knew that it was right. Never did I expect to order my wedding dress on the first day I went to try on dresses...but I'm so glad that I went to Maya Couture and I'm SO pleased with the service that they provided! My dress is by Casablanca...but I obviously can't post pictures of it because someone reads my blog. ;) 

I had such a great experience at Maya Couture that I booked an appointment for my bridesmaids for the very next day.You see, I had invited my bridesmaids to go dress shopping with me one of the two days, and they all made plans to meet up with me on Sunday. So when I purchased my dress on Saturday...well, I didn't want to mess up plans, since they had already planned to drive down for the day! That's when I decided to make an appointment with Maya for my bridesmaids to try on dresses. With the quality of service I had received, I knew that my bridesmaids would get the best attention as well. I have to add that Miss Patsy sent me a sweet note today, letting me know that it was her pleasure to work with me and she looks forward to working with me at future visits for my dress fittings and bridesmaid dresses. For some reason, I don't think all bridal salons take the time or effort to connect to the brides on such a personal level. I feel so grateful that I've been able to work with Patsy and Maya!

It's supposed to be more of a navy color - but this is the dress!

On Sunday, we all met at a large bridal chain (whose name I shall not say...you can guess.) that I consider to be the Walmart of bridal shops. After spending 5 minutes inside the store, I knew that it was not going to work out. We managed to pick out a few dresses for my girls to try on, but the quality of the dresses was just poor and many were ill-fitting. We stayed there for a whole 30 minutes before taking a lunch break and then heading to our appointment at Maya Couture. Patsy was our consultant again, which was so nice, since she knew what my wedding inspiration/background was and was able to help us find the perfect dresses to try on. I knew that I wanted long dresses, because our ceremony is taking place in a rather fancy church in late afternoon. Since my colors are navy and green, I wanted the dresses to be navy. There's no way I could put my girls in a hideous green dress (not that all green dresses are hideous...but I just wanted to go for more  of a fancy/classic look). One of my lovely bridesmaids requested that I try on my wedding dress again for all the girls to see, and to see how the bridesmaids dresses looked next to my dress. I got to get all dressed up again with my veil, two days in a row...I can't complain. :) We had a great time trying on dresses, drinking wine that Maya so generously offers to her clients, and talking about wedding plans. We even found the perfect dresses (made by Belsoie by Jasmine Bridal)! All of my bridesmaids, including my MOH, will be wearing the same dress. It's a one-shoulder Navy chiffon, flowy evening gown. Its gorgeous, and it will look good on all of my girls! I think we all really loved this one, so I'm really excited :) 

I can't believe we accomplished all of this in ONE weekend...the very first weekend we went shopping. But I can't complain, and it just leaves more time to work on other wedding plans!