The cakes that could not

This weekend should have been a cake fest. Well the only cake I had was the tasting. The cake was good but it didn't blow me away. Needless to say no cake decision. She was really selling her cakes to me. I don't need to know you use the best ingredients, blah, blah, blah. That's all great but the cake was still average. Actually a box cake would have been just as good. I hate to be over sold. I took the samples to The Moms and they both didn't like them. My honey wasn't a fan either. The bakery that I'm sure is my choice, I will email them tomorrow to have my quote revised and we should have a baker!!!!

We did attend the wedding but didn't stay for the cake. Shame. It looked really good!!!! The birthday party was a bust too. We didn't even go. So my weekend full of cakes didn't happen. I was so disappointed!!! One good thing from the weekend. I asked the DJ at the wedding for his number. Tacky but whatev!

Pocketful of Sunshine

Hear ye, Hear ye! We have a photographer. The meeting went really well! She is a newcomer with a great eye. I believe I have found a great photographer. I booked her on the spot. The wedding is 98 days away!!! Every moment counts! So check and mate for the photog. Her name is Sunshine!!!! You should be singing Natasha Bedingfield's Pocketful of Sunshine right now, which by the way is her ring tone, LOL! I scored!!!!!!
www.sunshinesphotography.com

My cake tasting is in 1 hour!!!

Cake takeover

Its Friday and no decision on the cake. Dang it! All is not lost, I have a tasting tomorrow morning. This is the FINAL tasting, I promise! So a decision on Monday! I'm really excited about tasting the cake. Also we have a wedding to attend...MORE CAKE....AND a birthday party...MORE CAKE. If I were the producer of Best Week Ever (luv that show), cakes would be having the best week ever!!!!

Shout to old school wedding cakes!

Swiss Park

mmmm Cake

Edmonds Bakery

eweddingcake.com

Smile for the camera

1 of my cute flower girls, Eva

I'm meeting with a photographer tonight. I hope it goes well. I have met with 3 so far. They have really been great but the prices are not in the budget. You see I'm a SUPA budget bride and I can't afford the grand packages. I want the basics! I know you get what you pay for but I'm praying for greatness!!!!!!

Dear God,

Please let this meeting be greatness. Oh, with great prices too.

Amen

Invitations

Are my obsession!! So many options...Letterpress, embossing, traditional, invites in a box, pocketfolds, scrolls, ribbon, certain fonts & colors, pearls, swirls, stamps, trees, boats, dogs...I get side tracked easily, sorry.

Teacher - Wedding class of 2009, how do you decide on your wedding invitations?

Student - Teacher pick me I know the answer.....please pick me....PLEASE

Teacher - Pretty little girl in the wedding dress please answer the question

Student - Your budget is how you decide

Teacher - You just passed the class young lady

Enjoy!

Dauphine Press

Dochelle

Scroll Wedding Invitations

TGKDesigns

Flower Girl Dress

I have 3 flower girls. It seems like kids are taking over the wedding but who can resist cute little girls, not me. Last week I spent some time in fabric stores looking for the perfect shade of green for their dresses. I narrowed the swatches to 3 colors and submitted them to the wedding committee (the moms, myself and my hubby). The moms picked the same swatch, hubby a different swatch, and as you would know it I picked the other swatch. Even as a group we can't make a decision. So I come up with a solution - lets compare the swatches to my paint strip. My swatch matched the paint strip by they were not sold, haters. Okay lets see which swatch photographs best. Now it could be my less than stellar digital camera but my choice won!!!

Me - 1

Committee - 0

I'm the boss of them! Here is a picture of the dress; our dress will have a black sash. So precious...

Take the time to remember

There are so many horrible anniversaries this week.

Oklahoma City Bombing - April 19, 1995 168 people were killed
Waco Davidian Standoff - April 19, 1993 80 people were killed
Columbine - April 20, 1999 13 people killed; gunmen killed themselves as well

God bless all the families impacted by these tragedies......

No Matching Maids

We have all been in weddings wearing the dreaded bridesmaid dress. You know the one you will NEVER wear again. The color is puke, the sleeves are huge, the puff is ridiculous, and the petticoat irritates your legs. So my vow before I took my vows, was I would never do that to my bridesmaids. Enter: the little black dress. Every woman should have a few of them. All styles - the modest, the modern, the wrap, and dare I say the skank! The skank will not be featured at my wedding, that I know. I love black. My theme is classic elegance and what is more classic than black. Nothing. Black paired with any color is great but with my food inspired greens....AWESOMENESS! Sidebar - green is all the rage this spring. Companies are going green, the grass is green, money....green; green is HAWT topic. Back to black - I only have 3 bridesmaids, Ebby, Laura, & Yelle, and I want each of them to wear a dress that suits them. No matching maids, completely over that trend. I found a few Bari Jay dresses:

There are a few others I like but you get the point. This will be greatness!!!

Many so posts

Sorry...I have been planning for a few months and just decided to blog. I'm playing catch up! More to come...stay tuned.

Honeymoon!!!!!

Kind of....We never went on a honeymoon. We bought a house instead. We did spend alone days at our house when the painters left. At any rate, the hubby has agreed to a vacation!!!! I'm SUPA crunk! I LUVS the beach, not pictures of me on the beach but whatev! Working on that see weight loss blog. Hubby does not like to travel. No planes a la John Madden. Persuading him to the vacation wasn't too hard but the length of the stay was an issue. He is a home body. Home + Game Room + 65 inch TV = hubby that never wants to leave the house. That said the standard 7 day trip was out of the question. Then starts the negotiating.



Hubby - 3 days is plenty
Me - WTF! Seriously, 1 day is wasted traveling, another day wasted packing and leaving, that leaves 1 day for fun.
Hubby - Okay make it 4 days
Me - Can I get 5 days?
Hubby - Whatever
Me - That's good enough for me
Hubby - Hey keep it cheap (he yells this as I'm going back downstairs)
Me - Silently rolls eyes but smiling because its still a victory!


I wanted to go into my rant about the laundry list of Pay per view fights he orders but I held my tongue. I was getting a honeymoon! He did say cheap but cheap is all about perception, right. My cheap is not the standard cheap. Cheap has ruled out every place I want to go! Cheap is officially the root of all evil. So I told myself - "Self make it work. You are a budget bride. SUPA budgeting is your mantra." Guess what self did.....Self found an great all-inclusive resort in Cancun.



Excellence Playa Mujeres - an adult only, all-inclusive, beautiful location

I HEART CAKE

I could eat a whole cake in a day. Taste great and definitely filling!!!! So cake tasting would be the best part of this wedding experience right, not so much. This is so hard!!! I don't care much about the outside. I don't need bells and whistles. I just want a great tasting cake. A 'slap yo mama', great tasting cake. We want a red velvet cake.....my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I would love to have a sweet, yummy piece with vanilla ice cream......Wait my diet....my flabby thighs...Okay back on track. I have been to 4 tastings and no decision. I feel like I'm always searching for the best combination of price and taste. The budget bride rears her ugly head. Down girl, down! My goal is to select a bakery by Friday! I guess that means I need to fit in 3 tastings a day for the rest of the week, HA!!! Didn't I just blog about a diet. Who am I fooling??

Once the bakery is selected then comes the design elements. Round, square, or hexagon? Whimsical or traditional? Real or sugar flowers? Initial cake topper, scrolls, ribbons, dots, dogs, trees, squirrels? Many so things to consider!!!!! AND let's not get started on cupcakes....

It's amazing the things you can do with a cake!

I have to lose weight!!!!!!

Today I will start my weight loss plan, well actually tomorrow (because all diets start on Monday, right). I must look HAWT in my wedding dress. Back fat, big arms, flabby legs, I could keep going.....These things must disappear before the wedding. Now I have considered getting my leg amputated but that wouldn't look good in pictures. Even having my jaws wired shut but that would require some forcible trauma to my face and I'm a coward. So my solution is good old working out and eating less, BOOOO!!!!! It has to be done. It can't be avoided. So I will blog about my progress at least once a week. Help me stay on track.

FYI - this blog was prompted by me eating a ginormous plate of chicken, shrimp, and broccoli alfredo.....now I'm off to get an ice cream sandwich. Don't tell my hubby

Save the dates

Since I'm on a budget, DIY blogs have become my friend! Magnet save the dates (STDs from now on) are all the rage. Completing this project on budget is all my rage. I always began a project with questions: Do I want a magnet? What size magnet? How much am I willing to pay? My answers: Yes! Reasonable size! Very little! Enter vistaprint. So I can get the postcards for little of nothing. I can make them a magnet but that's a pain and a magnet size postcards just seems crazy. I wouldn't put a postcard size magnet of someone else on my fridge!!!! So a smaller magnet it is.....searching....searching.....Vistaprint makes a business card size magnet!!!! So postcard and attach magnet to the postcard, perfect! I tried many versions of the business card with the photo. The only thing that worked was a vertical picture.....small faces on a picture aren't too good. I made a design that would accommodate the vertical biz card magnet and here is the final product. Sorry the picture is so bad. After all of my hard work some of the older guests didn't realize it was a magnet...go figure.

To theme or not to theme

I work better with themes. You know when you go shopping for an outfit, you need a vision, a theme, something to steer you in the right direction. Kids birthday parties are centered around themes. Adult parties too. BBQ, Luaus, Fiestas, etc. Themes are essential!!!! Why should a wedding be any different. We need a theme. Simply Chic, no....Modern Romance, no....Vintage Romance, no......Classic Elegance, YES! Vague I know but I change my mind a lot so this gives me room to play.
Now we need colors. I let my honey pick them. His choice green, black, and white/ivory. What is more classic then black & white?!?! LUVS! AND green.....I heart green! Especially the combination of Salmon Pink and Apple Green, wink, wink! So I asked what shade of green. That was a bit much for him so now my search began for shades of green. My main sources The Knot and Snippet & Ink.

I couldn't decide on 1 shade of green....LAWD! Why can't I make a decision! Epiphany....who says you can't use more than one shade. So a paint strip from the store solved my problem. We are using various shades of green (pesto, rosemary green, peapod green, and winter spinach to be exact). One decision down....a billion more to go.....

Say Yes to the Dress

I found this to be the hardest thing. I never had that "OMG this is my dress" moment. Am I strange? I felt like if I would have kept looking there I would have found another dress. Since I'm on a time crunch I figured, stop looking and move on. My dress is not being shipped until June 23rd...YIKES! That's cutting it close but what can you do. I only have myself to blame. I knew I didn't want puff or fluff and no lace up. Well after many dresses I ended up with a lace up gown. It fits my body so great, how could I pass it up. My dress shopping started Davids Bridal and Alfred Angelo. They have nice gowns but I didn't find anything. I tried several other boutiques in Dallas and finally found a dress. I'm sure I put the dress on 10 times over 2 months. Its the one I kept going back too....so that means its mine right? Here are a few that I was digging but didn't say yes to

Jorge Manuel




















Amsale
















Maggie



















Kenneth Pool



















Lazaro



















The list could go on and on......

Location is key

Or so they tell me. When this all started the obvious choice was a hotel ballroom. I'm sure I have checked every hotel in the DFW area. Then it hit me...you like to be a tad bit different why so standard. After months of hotel searching the path changed. Now I checked every museum, loft, event center, etc. Talk about a beating. They all have great aspects but nothing was perfect. Side note: Can you ever really find perfect? Maybe not but we all strive. Ok...back on track...Venue. My mom would blow her last dime on this wedding and being the responsible, wonderful, great, (you get the point) daughter I am, I wouldn't have it!!!! We came up with a budget and a vision. I wanted urban, chic, timeless. So my list of quirky places was decreased by the budget and vision. Here are a few places we (The Moms and I) looked at.

Belo Mansion - I LOVED this place but the budget kicked this out of the running

Hickory Street Annex - great urban feel. This place was booked on my date.

North Texas Automotive Museum - a new space. You can bring in your own caterer and alcohol. This place was great! There are a few design ideas that didn't fit my taste. But Dallas/Fort Worth ladies check it out!!!!!! Don't sleep on this one.

Cityplace - booked; space was also a concern

City Club - If anyone has been to Dallas we all have seen the green building downtown. This place is nice. The layout is different but it works depending on your guest count.

The place we decided on.....drum roll please.......

The Empire Room

Its great. Is on the 48th Floor. Wonderful view of the downtown scene. Urban and classic. At the open house we tried the food (great) and drinks (martinis are awesome!!!!). I was sold.

This is a view from the Empire Room

Some of the lounge furniture

Bride dressing room

Background Music

My hubby and I were married August 2, 2008, his parents 33rd anniversary. It was a very intimate ceremony with only 15 guests including us. It was perfect! I wasn't worried if the vendors were on time or if the flowers looked great...it was truly all about us. Perfection! Enter The Moms (my mother and mother-in law) - they want a celebration. Great! To keep confusion (aka drama) at a minimum we are having a celebration for our anniversary on August 1, 2009. So I'm sure you're thinking....Wait that isn't your anniversary. Well...We have a lot of out of towners so we didn't want to do a Sunday wedding. Although it would have been better on the budget that idea was vetoed fairly early in the wedding discussion. So far I have a venue secured and a dress ordered. Since the wedding is a few months away I guess I should get on the good foot......

So does this mean everything I do from this point on is pseudo wedding stuff????? Whatev! Another wedding is on the way!!!!