Wedding Planning

Kyle and I had the rare (and uber fun) opportunity to play "Let's plan a wedding" last weekend. Now, if you had asked me a year and half ago* if I thought "Let's plan a wedding" was a fun game, I'd likely have socked you in the eye. I'm not gonna lie, one of the best feelings in the whole world was waking up on the morning after my wedding and realizing A. I married my soul mate (Eeee!) and B. I never had to plan another wedding. Ever.

But it seems that planning SOMEONE ELSE'S wedding is a smidge different. There's all the fun of making big plans and dreaming about little details, without any of the stress that comes along with actually committing to a decision. A decision that could make or break the ENTIRE wedding and therefore make or break THE REST OF MY LIFE. (I'll admit that I got a bit carried away when planning my big day.) Anyway, when you don't have to make any concrete decisions yourself, planning a wedding is down right fun.

So when two of my and Kyle's dear friends asked if we would help them select a venue for their wedding next year (they live on the east coast and plan to get married here in California) I all but jumped for joy.

Our friends selected a cute little wine country town on the Russian River in Northern California for their nuptials, and asked if Kyle and I wouldn't mind driving up there to check out a few spots. Hmmmmmm, spend a day in wine country looking at beautiful wedding venues along a river? OK! Plus - Kyle and I got to experience that "JustEngagedLet'sPlanAWedding" giddiness all over again. It was an awesome day. I found myself saying things like "Ok, so here is where we... uhhhh, I mean the bride and groom... would stand during the ceremony" and so on. :) I totally found myself getting lost in excitement of it all as if it was my own wedding. But again, without the stress and fear of making, *gasp*, the wrong decision. So much fun.

And the best part is that it seems I'm not half bad as a wedding scout. I diligently took pictures and copious amounts of notes. I checked out restaurants/bars/hotels in the neighborhood so the bride/groom could tell their out of town guests where to go the weekend of the wedding. I asked about preferred Vendors , and bathroom facilities, and the availability of lights and electrical outlets. And then I wrote up a whole report for the bride and groom. Man - if I thought I could actually make a living doing it, I might just toss this whole Engineering career thing out the window and opt, instead, to be a wedding planner. Trouble is, I'm sure every other starry eyed little girl living her life as a cleverly disguised adult would do the exact same thing (either that or own a flower shop - my other secret fantasy job.) Which is why I doubt I could ever make a living doing it. *Sigh* Sure would be fun though.







*Can you believe I've been married for OVER a year!!!!! Kyle and I celebrated 1 year of absolute bliss on Sunday, Sept 27. Eee!

Busted

So I didn't wear any makeup to work today and I was totally called out by a co-worker for the faint black eye that I've been sporting since the ridiculous, drunken celebration that was Kyle's friend Zaza's wedding this past Saturday in Chicago. D'oh.

Photos of the debauchery can be seen here.

Two of my faves:

Kyle and his boys


Kyle, Me, and Mr. B.Cady


So yeah - I partied so hard Saturday night that I managed to give myself a black eye. I can't say with certainty when exactly it happened, but I do recall lunging at B.Cady for a hug, missing, and then running head first into a nearby wall. Yeah, that may have done it.

Some day, I'll be too old for this sort of thing. Some day.

Toast

My beautiful baby sister got married this past weekend.... details and photos to follow. For now, I want to share the toast I gave at the reception - you know, just because I wasn't POSTING this weekend doesn't mean I wasn't letting my creative juices flow.

This photo, snapped by Kyle as Caitlin walked down the aisle, captures my emotion pretty well... so you can imagine what a tough time I had reading the toast. But I actually managed to hold it together pretty well through the whole thing. Although when they had their first dance (to dixieland delight) I totally lost it.



Anyway, enjoy.


"Hello and Good Evening! For those of you who don't know me, I’m Courtney, the very proud big sister of our glamorous Bride. I want to start out tonight by congratulating Caitlin and Drew on their amazing wedding. The perfect day and the perfect venue for an absolutely perfect couple, it is truly an honor to be part of such a special occasion.

I’d also like to thank all of you, Caitlin and Drew’s friends and family, for coming here today, to celebrate with us. I know it means the world to our bride and groom to have each and every one of you here.

Caitlin – I just have say – you look STUNNING today. Absolutely drop dead gorgeous. Drew is a lucky man. It seems like just yesterday that we’re were running a line of duct tape down the middle of our shared room to separate “My” side from “Yours”. It seems like yesterday that I’d be tickling you till you cried, and of course then you tell on me to mom and I’d get in trouble, because I’m older and apparently I should KNOW BETTER than to tickle a person to point of tears. When we were little and we’d fight our mom used say, “Oh you two, how can you fight??? It breaks my heart. Don’t you know how lucky your are to have a SISTER???” And while our mom does have a flair for the dramatic, she was right. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have Caitlin as a sister. For 26 years, she has been my sidekick, my sounding board, my shopping buddy, my favorite dance partner, my confidant, and my very best friend.

Now, I never knew Drew before he dated Caitlin, so I can't tell you a whole bunch of stories about him, but I can tell you that I think he is perfect for my sister. I remember, four years ago, Caitlin telling me about this boy she met at party, how cute he was, and how they instantly connected and chatted the night away as if they were the only two people in the room. I remember thinking that this boy was toast – he never stood a chance. He was “The One” for my little sister. Drew – you are such a great guy. Funny, smart, charming, an excellent beer pong player. I have never questioned for one moment your love for Caitlin. She is truly blessed to have found you. And I can honestly say that I feel blessed to now call you family.

Caitlin, Drew, you guys are soul mates. I wish you all the best that life has to offer.

Everyone, please raise your glasses while I toast my little sister and her new husband:

Here’s to soul mates. Here’s to the crazy roller coaster called life, and to finding that special someone to share the ride with. Here’s to love, laughter, and happily ever after.

Cheers!"

:)

House!!

I must admit I am hesitant to write about the house before escrow actually closes (that whole chickens before they hatch thing...) but I suppose I can throw just a bit of caution to wind as we received good news today on the paperwork front with respect the arduous escrow process. (Long story short, the unit we are buying is in the process of becoming a condo... And oh what a process it is! It is currently one third of a three unit building... which is NOT the same as being a one CONDO in a three unit building (as far as the city is concerned)... even though it has it's own front door and walls and address and gas meter and everything... it looks, and smells, and acts like a condo... but make no mistake, it is not a condo... yet. First we must jump through many many many paperwork hoops, and then must we smile really big, and ask the city REALLY REALLY nicely, and even go as far as to pay all of NEXT YEAR'S property taxes up front... and THEN, if we're lucky, the city of San Francisco will graciously bestow upon our unit the miraculous name of condo. At which point in time we can FINALLY get a mortgage loan. Ugh. And don't even get me started on the fact that, long before Kyle and I made an offer on this place, the current owners had to win a lottery just for the mere pleasure of applying and paying for the necessary permits in order to ATTEMPT to become a condo. Gahhhhh!)

Little know fact: The condo conversion process, in total, takes about 2 years... that is after you've won the condo-lottery, which can easily take 7 - 10 years... in those 2 years most people age about 15. It's true.

So anyway... we heard good news today that the Mr. Head Honcho at the title company was "issuing the Title Company Guarantee of the Condo Map today"... which is really just confusing jargon to me... but my real estate lawyer tells me it's good news and we are now mere days away from being a condo. (I think) Hooray! So escrow might actually close in my lifetime.

So anyway - that's the ugly back story. Now for the fun part. House details!!!!!

Assuming all continues to go well, Kyle and I will (eventually) be the proud owners of a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom middle floor condo in the Duboce Triangle neighborhood of San Francisco. (Eeeeee!) The building was built in 1906 - which means it's dripping with, ummm, we'll call it character. It even has the original (made in 1904 - stamped right on the bottom!) claw foot bathtub... which p.s. we will NOT be keeping, b/c I hate claw foot tubs. Sorry. (Although it does weigh 400 pounds, so I understand the previous owners' lack of enthusiasm for moving it.) The place is about 1220 sq. ft - which sounds big (to me) but really isn't once you start trying to find room for all your crap (for instance, the piano from my dad's house - ugh, where on earth am I gonna put that thing - I REALLY wish I had just played the flute as a child.) But anyway... there's a WONDERFUL yard (I think this was the biggest selling point for us) out back with some grass, and a plum tree, and a lemon tree, and a whole garden growing everything from herbs, to strawberries, to corn, to tomatoes, to peppers. I swear, Kyle is chomping at the bit to just get out there and get his hands dirty. It's so cute. :) So yeah, the yard rules and sorta makes up for the fact that the building doesn't have a garage (although it DOES have quite a bit of storage in the basement - which was a big requirement for me... because, well, have I mentioned all my CRAP??) The place also needs a new roof, which is annoying, but at least we get to split the cost between all three owners. And the unit itself desperately needs a good scrubbing and an interior paint job and we'll definitely be ripping up the hideous blue carpet that is currently covering up the original hardwood floors. (Hardwood floors - eeeee!!!)

So yeah - it'll be a bit of project house, but the projects seem manageable (I hope!) and the neighborhood is AMAZING and it was in our price range. We're pretty excited.

See the two windows in the middle here? Those will be ours. :)


And now some Q and A's, because I know you want to know.

1. How long have we been looking for a house?
Seriously looking? Since January. And by seriously looking I mean that during the past 5+ months, we've maybe missed 3 open house Sundays. We even saw places on Easter. EVERY Sunday morning we'd get up and pull together all the open house addresses we found during the week and we'd then diligently map out our route (some weekends we had as many as 10 places to see in 3 hours! Proper route planning was key.) Then we'd eat breakfast, get coffee, and be on our way for the rest of the afternoon to check the prospective places out.

2. Did we work with a real estate agent to find places we liked?
No. 99.9% of all real estate agents bug me. And between redfin.com and craigslist.com and my constant vigilance in watching for new For Sale signs in neighborhoods I liked, there really wasn't much information that a realtor could provide me that I couldn't get on my own. Plus they bug me. (Did I mention that?)

3. Is this the only offer we put in?
No. This house was the fourth place we liked enough to consider putting in an offer on. The first place was an amazing (and HUGE!!!) 2 unit building that we wanted to buy with another couple. I loved that place... but it really wasn't in our price range, and the building hadn't been split into condos yet - so financing would have been a pain in the butt. We (us and the other couple) put in an offer but we were out bid by a whopping $200,000. (Yes we were outbid by the cost of a WHOLE HOUSE in most parts of the country.) Defeat. The second place was a upper unit in a two unit building (also not yet a condo, but more reasonably priced.) The neighborhood was great but the floorplan was pretty disfunctional. We decided that we could knock down some walls and make it work and we actually had our offer accepted! Wheee!! But then we tried to get financing and the downstairs owners didn't have enough equity to convince the bank to refinance the loan (see - this is the problem when a place isn't a condo - you can't get individual loans for each unit. Instead you have to get a loan for the WHOLE building - which can sometimes be impossible.) So then we found place number three... place number three will live on forever in my heart as the one that got away. I LOVE LOVE LOVED place number three. HUGE (1600 sq ft), a CONDO!, AMAZING floorplan, garage, storage, yard, huge kitchen, beautiful hardwood floors and gorgeous wood trim throughout. I was instantly in love. Unfortunately so were 7 other people. We offered $21K ABOVE asking and were still outbid. (Probably by quite a bit.) Ugh. And then we found place number four and here we are. :)

4. Did we put offers in on places without a real estate agent???
We tried all sorts of different stuff. For place #1, we found an agent (after we found the place), and wrote an offer the old fashioned way. What's crazy is that she would have gotten the entire Buyer's agent commission for about a day and a half of work. (I am in the WRONG business!) For place #2, we decided to try using the listing agent on the condition that he kick back $5000 to us to help cover closing costs (which seemed fair since he'd be making double commision because he was acting as both the selling and listing agent.) For place #3, we used a redfin agent - which has the huge advantages of a.) the agents don't pester you by trying to find you a place to live and b.) to compensate for not pestering you, they give you HALF of their commision when the deal closes. AWESOME!!! For place #4, we decided to go it alone - I wrote the whole offer contract myself (it's NOT rocket science, in fact it's mostly just fill in the blanks!) We decided not to use an agent (not use even a redfin agent, even though we love them!) because we knew that there were other offers on the table for the place we wanted. And if we didn't have an agent, then the sellers wouldn't have to pay our agent - which meant they got to keep more money for themselves, which made our offer stronger without us having to actually offer more money. Plus, did I mention that it is NOT rocket science??

5. When will escrow close?
I have no freakin clue. Maybe 4 weeks? 6 weeks?? It all hangs on the place officially converting to a condo and then us getting financing for said condo. Booo.

House Details...

... will have to wait. Because first I need to laugh at myself.

Last night I went to happy hour after work and played wing-woman for a girlfriend of mine. We sat at the bar sipping Pinot Nior chatting about men and commenting on the handsome bar tender's cute butt. And then it hit me. "Huh" I thought to myself. "When did I start finding old men handsome?" I'm not just talking about older men here... but like actual, objectively OLD men. This bar tender was cute, but you know, he was old. (Sorta like George Clooney) He had the salt and pepper hair, the worn in "man-hands", and an air about him that said I may be old, but I'm sitll dashing, no?. And he was dashing, but that's beside the point. He was OLD! And I thought he was cute! Weird.

Well, fast forward to the end of the night and it turns out that I accidentally left my wallet at the bar. (If my head weren't firmly attached to my body, I swear...) So I called, and spoke to some kind soul, and was SUPER relieved to find out that they had in fact found my wallet and were keeping it safely behind the bar. Whew! (Insert "kindness of strangers remark" here.) The kind soul then pointed out that he, having seen the birth date on my driver's liscense, was exactly 1 day older than me. Neat!

So I head back to the bar and, upon entering, get the attention of Mr. Salt-and-Pepper OldieVonCute himself and inform him that I just called and spoke with someone who found my wallet and could he please retreive it for me from behind the bar. "Hey!" he smiles "It's the girl who is exactly one day younger than me!!" And then he said some other stuff while handing me my wallet that I didn't really pay any attention to because all I could think was:

WHAT!!!????? I am the SAME AGE as Mr. OldieVonCute????? GAH!

D'oh.

Wedding Re-Cap Part 1

Ok here goes....

The blur begins about two weeks before the actual *big day*. Burnt out on work, and always the procrastinator, I decided to take the two weeks BEFORE my wedding day off from my "real" job in order to devote all of my time and energy to my new "job"... a.k.a. wedding planner extraordinaire. I pretty much gave myself 14 days to finish all the stuff I had been putting off for my entire 13 month engagement. In those brief, and unbelievably hectic two weeks I:

• Hired 2 limos for the day of the wedding
• Wrote my vows, the opening prayer for our ceremony, and an outline for the rest of our ceremony
• Scheduled hair stylists for my 8 bridesmaids
• Made the decision to do my own make-up (which led to me having to stalk every MAC counter I came across asking for tips)
• Selected ceremony music
• Made a "must-play" list for the reception
• Picked out a design for and ordered the cake
• Selected all the flowers I wanted
• Made the decision to just get the D*mn Chiavari Chairs
• Bought outfits for the welcome BBQ, the rehearsal dinner, and the farewell brunch
• Rented ceremony chairs, chair sashes, and table number stands - from three DIFFERENT rental companies
• Made out of town guest welcome bags
• Made 150 escort cards, 16 table numbers, and half a dozen other cutesy little signs
• Switched freakin hotels!
• Planned the entire rehearsal dinner
• Ordered presents for my bridesmaids, the groomsmen, and our parents
• Ordered flip-flops for my guests so their heels wouldn't sink into the grass (a HUGE hit, by the way)
• Put together what I can only describe as the worlds most awesome bathroom basket ever
• Ordered a fancy engraved silver cup/chalice thing that Kyle and I used for the wine blending portion of our ceremony (which by the way, was ALSO a last minute decision) and had it shipped to my house on the DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING! (UPS and Fed-Ex saved my butt about a million times during these two weeks!)
• Ordered 7 different sashes to potentially wear with my wedding dress (p.s. I didn't end up wearing any of them)
• Bought all the wine for the rehearsal dinner
• Made a Card Box
• Sized and re-dipped my wedding ring and engagement ring
• Finalized the linen rental
• Cleaned my house top to bottom
• And probably about a million other things that I'm forgetting now!

It was absolutely NUTS. In fact, if I had it to do all over again, that is one of the only things I would change. I would not procrastinate NEARLY as much. Oh well. I was up until midnight the night before the big day, still putting last minute stuff together, but everything that I wanted to get done, got done. I was so pleased. :)

I absolutely COULD NOT have done it without my bridesmaids. They were rock stars! On the Friday before the wedding, my sis helped make my out of town gift bags and my escort cards. She also fed me - which was VERY important, b/c about 4 days before the wedding I simply stopped eating because I was so busy/stressed. Seriously, it was all she could do to get a PB&J sandwich down my throat! Lucia and Alina went to the flower market for me, picked up flowers, and made 5 GORGEOUS flower arrangements for the reception - while I was out running errands. They also picked my dress up at the cleaners and checked into my hotel room for me! And Alina gave me a necklace to wear as my "something borrowed". (Seriously, 20 hours before I walked down the aisle, I had NO IDEA what my something borrowed would be - sheesh!) Emily and Sophie broke into my apartment in the middle of the night to retrieve my "something old" (my Dad's pocketknife) and my "something blue" (a Go Blue! Michigan garter) - I had forgotten to pack them before I left for the hotel. Sara glued card stock together for my table numbers - but only after warning that she wasn't especially crafty and that I shouldn't expect them to be perfect. (They totally were!) Kim lent me her sister to assist in my make-up dry-run (yes, the night before the wedding was when I did my first dry-run of my wedding make-up.) And Erica, magically, wonderfully, miracle of all miracles, fit into her bridesmaid dress with absolutely no alterations necessary, which I attribute to her fervent prayers. (Erica's dress was lost in the mail and we had to order her a new one at the last minute... it arrived to my house a few days before the wedding and so Erica, Kyle's sister who lives in Boston, never had a chance to try it, let alone get it altered! Each of my other 7 bridesmaids needed to have their dress EXTENSIVELY altered. My sister had to take it to her tailor TWO TIMES! Erica arrived at my house, tried the dress on for the first time, and it fit like a glove. It was an absolute miracle and I absolutely believe that Someone was smiling down on us.)

On the day of the wedding these 8 amazing women dressed me, buttoned allllllll my buttons (it took FOREVER!), fed me, drove back to the hotel for me to pick up my computer (my vows were on it, and I had forgotten to bring it with me!), copied my vows from my computer to a piece of paper for me to read from during the ceremony, helped me pee, cleaned split (Red!) wine off my wedding dress, helped me switch from heals into flip flops, and just were pretty much at my beckon call all day long. Seriously amazing. I love them all and am eternally grateful.

:)

Ok, part 2 to follow... stay tuned.

The Countdown Begins

I went to the gym today... in a full blown panic. I'm getting married in six months. SIX.FREAKIN.MONTHS.

Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

And can I also add ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgggggggggggggggg.

When did it go from being FOREVER away (a.k.a. 13.5 months) to being like tomorrow (a.k.a. 6 months). Do you have any idea how fast 6 months can go by? Whoosh! (About that fast.)

Things I can cross off the Giganto-list-of-stuff-I've-decided-I-HAVE-to-do-in-order-to-not-die-on-my-wedding-day (overly dramatic Courtney is being overly dramatic):

• Save the data cards - check (I made them myself... I LOVE the way they turned out: Front / Back. They doubled as our Christmas cards.)
• Ceremony/Reception Location - check
• Select and Order Dress - check
• Book Photographer - check
• Find Hairstylist - check (just using my regular gal, I heart her, and this gives her incentive to not cut my hair too short prior to the wedding)
• Select Bridesmaid's dresses - check (Aren't they pretty!? They'll be cranberry colored)
• Select wedding colors - Cranberry, light pink, and bronze/taupe - check (unless I change my mind... again)

Things still looming:

• FINALIZE GUEST LIST!!! (p.s. this is the hardest thing on the planet to do! We ended up only sending save the date cards to like half our guest list b/c the darn thing is in such a state of constant flux and our venue has strict capacity limits which we're currently well above.)
• Order Bridesmaid dresses
• Select and book Caterer - this is eating at my soul
• Select and order veil
• Take engagement photos
• Find shoes
• Find "something borrowed"
• Figure out Honeymoon - we've tentatively dedided on Malaysia (it's got beaches, cool outdoorsy stuff, relatively affordable place tickets, it's not on the uber-strong Euro, it takes less than 30 hours to get there, and it won't be winter or monsoon or hurricane season, which is more than I can say for pretty much the rest of the planet)
• BOOK HONEYMOON BEFORE PLANE TICKETS GET ANY MORE EXPENSIVE!
• Figure out hotel accommodations for guests - EVERYONE keeps asking me about this!!!
• Figure out transportation to and from the wedding
• Find and book a florist
• Find and book a make-up person
• Figure out what I'm gonna do for Bridesmaids' hair and make-up
• Design and order/make Invitations
• Design and order/make Programs and Menus and any other paper stuff I might need
• Figure out chairs for ceremony
• Figure out decor for reception (This one item alone could take me all 6 months!)
• Buy wedding bands
• Find wedding present for Kyle
• Get marriage licence
• Get Kyle's dad certified to marry us (this will probably happen day of)
• Create/buy guest book
• Put together welcome baskets for out of town guests
• Firm and tone my flabby butt so I can wear a bikini on the honeymoon
• Find way to erase wrinkles from my forehead
• Find way to stop creating new wrinkles!
• Grow out my hair (think if I concentrate REALLY hard I can get it to grown an inch an month?)

Note that it took me 7.5 months to complete the stuff on the first list... how on earth am I going to finish all the stuff on my "still looming" list in just 6 months???

PLUS I have 8 other weddings to go to this summer. Yep. Including my own wedding I've got 9 weddings in 4.5 months. You do the math.

So yes, I believe the full blown panic was in order. Tomorrow I plan to do 900 sit-ups.

I Knew It!!!

MY BABY SISTER IS ENGAGED!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her and her boyfriend fiancé, who, by the way, I ADORE, have been in Costa Rica on vacation for a week and a half now. Last night, in their fabulous hotel room in the middle of the jungle, he surprised her with champagne and a proposal! :) :) :)

I could not be happier for her!

p.s. I TOTALLY predicted that he would propose in Costa Rica on Valentine's day... in fact I almost blogged about it yesterday, but was afraid I'd jinx it.


Drew and Caitlin
:)
Could they be any cuter together????

I BOUGHT A DRESS! (Again... And Then Again)

Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I'm so excited I could throw up. Literally. In fact, I almost did. This morning. Have I mentioned how stressful it is to plan a wedding??

ANYway.

I BOUGHT A DRESS!!!!! YES!

In fact I bought two dresses... in about 18 hours. Which brings my total number of wedding dress purchases up to three. Gah!

Who has two thumbs and buys THREE different wedding dresses?? This girl. [Points both thumbs at self]

Luckily there's that 24 hour return policy that the Bridal Galleria in San Francisco is SO AWESOME for having. I heart them, seriously. And I pity them. Well, mostly I pity Anne, my sales lady, who has now spent a grand total of five and a half hours watching me change in and out of fluffy white things. Oh, and fret. Yes, there was much fretting on my part and Anne was very patient. We love her.

So yesterday I went to Bridal Galleria to try on the Marisa 729 dress, which they told me they had. I got there at 11 am and, much to my dismay, they DID NOT have the 729 dress. (mrrrr) They did, however, have a similar dress (yay!) , which I didn't like as much (again with the mrrrrr.) And then the worst thing EVER happened. They told me that the 729 dress had been DISCONTINUED!!! I felt like someone stabbed me in the chest. Apparently it was discontinued JUST LAST WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And a call went out to the bridal salons to pull it from their rack. JUST LAST WEEK!!! I tried the freakin thing on on Saturday for crying out loud! And now, 8 days later, they're telling me it's discontinued!?!?!? Kill me. Anne told me that since it was JUST BARELY discontinued, they could probably still order it. But I'd have to act fast. Like order it right.then.and.there fast. (Which p.s. I really didn't want to do because I'd already found the 729 dress for $1000 less from a salon in Louisiana!)

So I had to weigh my options: Spend $1000 more and be sure to get the dress, or risk ordering it the next day, from a salon in Louisiana that I've never been to, to save a grand. Ugh.

And then I found another dress...

It just so happens that the salon was having a trunk show with one of my favorite designers, Lazaro, at the same time that all this fretting over the 729 dress was going on. And he was THERE! And he is AWESOME. As I was trying other dresses on (because, hey, while I'm there I might as well try on 15 more dresses) he picked out a dress from his (very large) collection specifically for ME! It was beautiful. Very luxurious. I thought FOR SURE I could never afford it. But it turned out to actually be in my budget!! (Hooray!) I wasn't a huge fan of the color, but Lazaro told me he could make it from a different color fabric, JUST FOR ME! I felt very special. So, after 3 and a half agonizing hours, [Do stick with the Marisa 729? Do I buy it here? Do I wait till tomorrow? Do I buy the Lazaro???] I bought the Lazaro dress. (And Lazaro sketched a picture of it for me and signed it and everything!!! Very cool.)

So anyway, then I went home and looked at pictures of me in the dress and decided that you couldn't see ME at all. It was all dress. A beautiful dress. But *I* want to be the star of the show, not my dress. I wanted the Marisa 729. But now the SF store was closed and the Louisiana store was closed and I had a dress that I didn't want. Enter fits of panic and nausea.

I could barely sleep last night.

This morning, on my way to work, I called the Louisiana store the MINUTE it opened. I told them I wanted to order the 729 dress. The man on the other end of the line told me it had been discontinued [heart sinks... eyes well up with tears] but that he'd call the designer really quick and see if he'd still make it. Sixty (horrible) seconds later, the nice Louisiana man came back on line and told me that I could order the dress [clouds part... angles sing.]

I told him the size (10), the color (white silk satin with white lace), and that I wanted 3 inches added to the length and a modified neckline (inverted scoop... like a bump instead of a dip). He took down my visa number and told me I'd have my dress in 5 months.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

I then called and canceled my (second) dress from Bridal Galleria. I'm pretty sure they hate me.

So now I have (one) dress that I love. And I saved $1000. Which put the dress WELL within my budget. And I bought it from a part of the country that could probably use the influx of cash (the salon is right in the heart of New Orleans) and the dress is made in America! I could not be happier.

The first dress I bought can be seen HERE and HERE.

The second dress I bought can be seen HERE and HERE.

The third (and final) dress I bought can sort of be seen HERE and HERE. (Remember, the dress will be a bit longer, with a different neckline, in a different color.)

Much better pictures of the dress I bought can be seen on this lovely lady's website. (Note: she changed the back and left the scoop in front... so my dress will be a bit different... but I think this gives the best idea of what it will look like.)

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Also, no, I'm not finished with my paper yet...

The Promised Update

We're quickly approaching midnight here in the midwest and I've yet to find something truly noteworthy to blog about today. Blah. And so all you get is an update of my weekend. And you'll just have to like it.

We made it to the wedding last night with a solid 37 seconds to spare, whew. It was a lovely ceremony followed by an awesome reception. It was Kyle's cousin's wedding, so a lot of the guests there were members of Kyle's family, which gave me a nice little peak into what our wedding might be like next fall. In a word? Dance-tastic. Young and old alike shook what their mamas gave them until 1 am. The bride's dad had quite the repertoire of moves including, but not limited to, the sprinkler, the little old lady with a walker, the shopping cart, the lawn mower, and some move that involved the motion of cleaning your ears out with q-tips (???) He was down right hysterical. We danced till they kicked us out and then headed upstairs to the hotel bar. We shut that place down at 2 am and then decided that we had had enough and came home. It was SUPER FUN and I especially liked all the time I got to spend with my future extended family.

Some pics from the festivities:

The reception site - quite stunning. Note the chivari chairs. Sigh.


First dance.


Kyle's dad and sis cutting a rug.


Kyle's mom and bro getting down.


Kyle, me, and the beautiful bride.


Shake it, sister.


I totally want a shot like this at my wedding!

Today we watched miserable football game after miserable football game. Yuck! Tomorrow, we're doing an early Thanksgiving. Yay!

Here's To Happily Ever After

The post wherein I hug my monitor and squeal over my cube walls to any and all that will listen...

THEY DID IT!!!! Two of my very favorite blog friends got hitched!!! And I am so beyond excited for them. Both had beautiful beach weddings where the brides glowed and walked barefoot through the sand while their true loves waited with smitten smiles at the end of the aisle. Surrounded by their closests friends and family, they vowed, and promised, and kissed and were pronounced. Ta-Dah!!! My heart fills with butterflies when I think of each of them living their own version of happily ever after.

Congrats and Best Wishes to Mrs. Kerri Anne and Mrs. My Life Is Brilliant.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Things

1. Thank you thank you thank you for all the congratulatory comments and good wishes. :) I love you all!

2. Just got back from my first ever trip cross country (Michigan to California!) I'm uploading pictures and working on a post... stay tuned.

3. In the mean time, LOOK HOW ADORABLE MY NEPHEW IS!!!! And the best part? My brother is so beyond smitten with this little baby that I hardly recognize him. I've never seen him so happy. He is SO IN LOVE with his new family. It's down right inspirational.


Look at that face! ................ Flirting with his aunties


Happy family................................... Tyler and Garin (mesmorized by the trees!)


Uncle Kris........................................ Aunt Courtney and Aunt Caitlin


Pretty mamma..................... Giant daddy hands :)

!!!!!!!

Story to follow...

I Miss It

Kyle was in one of his best friends' wedding last weekend. It was lovely ceremony and reception at a local winery. The weather was perfect, the bride looked stunning in her gown, the groom cried as he read vows he'd written himself, and, following strict orders, Kyle was facial hair free.


Bye-bye beard


The ceremony


Me and my handsome guy

(He's a hottie either way... but I gotta say, I miss the fuzz.)