Bridesmaids Dresses

I've spent most of my day today ripping pages out of my magazine collection to be able to find flowers, dresses, tips, and other pages faster.

I really want to share what I found for the bridesmaids. Since I'm really considering going to a dress maker for convenience, and to avoid an extra trip and fee getting an already made dress altered. I still haven't decided if I want identical dresses for all the bridesmaids or different styles but made in the same fabric and color. I am also still undecided about having junior bridesmaids. Jonathan's cousin has two daughters, but it's going to depend on him if he wants them to come out or not.


Dresses by After Six Dresses, styles 6580, 6579, and 6581. I really really like 6579 the dress in the middle. All three dresses are the same from the waist down, it's just the straps that differ.



This dress I like too because of the detail in the bust area, the ribbon tie, and the summer look of it. It is also in the color I want. This particular dress is called "Corrine" by Jenny Yoo.



These last two clippings caught my eye when flipping through the magazines. The top one is from Alvina Valenta who has tons of cute bridesmaids styles. The one just above is from J.Crew, who also have bride and bridesmaids selections on the websites.

All the links are embedded within each designer's name, right click to open in a new window.

Graduation and NYC

Where do I even start? It has been another roller coaster week for me with a lot of series of events, and wait until the next post to hear about the wedding part of the roller coaster.
Friday June 18th Angel graduated from middle school!!! He is so big now!

Saturday was One Day Sale, and I closed, so I didn't get home until 1am
Sunday I worked an open-to-close shift, and Monday was blahhh
Tuesday I flew out to NYC for my photo shoot! I (along with 12 other successful EDPers) to represent College Relations Programs on brochures, pamphlets, and online!
Tuesday was such a long day though. I left my house at 7am, drove myself to LAX and waited in ridiculous lines. Long Flight. And a two and a half hour cab ride to the city. I didn't get to the hotel until 8pm and in those 13 hours I just had a cookie to eat.


BUT.... NYC was soooo much fun! I could not believe I was there. We walked Time Square, went into Herald Square Macy's, saw the Empire State Building, took the subway to 5th Ave, walked 5th Ave and saw all the shopping boutiques, walked Central Park and even had dessert at Serendipity's.

Thank you Lili for making time to give me a quick but jam-packed tour!

Wednesday I pretty much woke up at 3am our time to get ready and go for my photo shoot across the street from Madison Square Garden. The photo shoot was so much fun!!! I had my hair and make up done. AND I was a pro with my poses, the photographer hardly had to coach me- He said I was a natural!! After the shoot, I walked to Gray's Papaya on 37th and 7th. MMMMmmmmmmm I loved them! That was the only thing I knew I wanted to have (from Fool's Rush In and The Back Up Plan)

On the plane, I sat next to a 12 year old girl who entertained me the whole 6 hours, minus sleeping time. We talked about our trip to NY, her new school, her family, we played Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader on her DS, and talked some more!

Thursday - Sunday Venue Hunting, posting to follow.

Guest Post: Yolanda

Yolanda jump started on the bridesmaids dress search and put together 2 boards to share with details. Below are the slides! If we decide on a dress style that does not come in yellow, we will have to see the seamstress! Picture all these dresses in a bright yellow color and let me know what you think.

Today: Dissapointment, Excitement, Sadness

We woke up early this morning, filled with anxiousness and prepared with my check to see Hotel Menage. When we got there, I was filled with too many confused emotions. I was upset because the Sales Rep was late, but I was able to envision tables set up by the pool and a dance floor. Jon was negative the whole time. He kept bringing up the fact that it's not worth a $4000 fee for the pool area, that 160 people wouldn't fit, where would the ceremony be, etc etc etc. The bar was divided by a fence. The worse part was that behind the wall by the pool, was the 5 freeway, AND IT WAS LOUD. I started to cry. The one place that responded, had decent price points, was outdoors and was not booked, was right next to the 5 freeway with a huge pool in way.


Jonathan could feel my emotion overload and was pretty much prepared for anything. As soon as I said I wished the Westin would have responded, he thought of driving there and seeing the place first hand. We drove for an hour or so, drove in circles until we found a flat rate parking of $10, just to find a $7 flat rate parking lot behind it after we had already paid and parked. I thought I remembered the patio/garden being on top of one of the circular buildings, so I take Jon (who prefers to stay in ground levels) up to the 35th floor in a glass elevator. When we didn't find it, we decided to ask and find out where it was, and when he heard it was on the 4th floor, I thought he was going to kill me with his eyes! (hahaha sorry baby!)

We took a different elevator up this time....
I LOVED IT.

This would be the back drop to the ceremony. With chairs in a semi-circle shape.


This would be our reception. The perimeter would be the tables and the center would be the dance floor. The back part with the stairs and pool would be covered and the skyline would be our backdrop. Amaaaazzzing.

Ahhhhh... Unfortunately they were having a huge conference and no one from banquets or catering had time to see us. I don't even want to know how much it costs. I already know $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I just want it! :(

Good News & Bad News

Two of the venues that I contacted on Tuesday replied back. The good news is that Hotel Menage in Anaheim sounds like they have decent price points, it's large enough for our party and it's outdoors!!! We're going to visit and see the venue on Sunday at 10am, AND I think I'm going with a checkbook.


The bad news, don't really matter now because of the good news, but The Santa Barbara Zoo replied back and the venue is booked and secured with a deposit for our date. Why are a lot of venues already booked??? How much time in advance are women planning their wedding? I started to do some brainstorming before the engagement and I thought I was planning with too much time in advance, but I guess I wasn't planning ahead enough.

I've also decided to throw in a couple of fun touches to the reception so I've started to work on those projects.

Soon to come: Bridesmaids Guest Posts and Mr. Tailgate Guests Posts

Destination Weddings

It is now an option.
Thoughts?
- Prices are more flexible and hopefully it's cheaper
- Destination weddings are more memorable
- You can do activities there with your bridal party and make it fun
- it's Prettier!
- It was one of Jonathan's original ideas, so then I get to have the honeymoon in Greece!

I started doing some quick google searches and found that the Hilton has outdoor seating! My number one problem with California venues. They have room for up to 1100 guest - beat that! They also have special spa and dinner quirks for the couple!

Appointment Goal - Fail

I did tons of research today and focused mainly in Ventura County and Santa Barbara. I wanted to have at least 4 appointments to view venues for this weekend but it didn't happen. No one answered their phone, and the one person who returned my email, sent me information for the wrong venue. I am beginning to feel hopeless, and it's barely the beginning. Should I go with an indoor wedding since the outdoor part of it is becoming the hardest part? Should I change the date since it's going to be too hot? Should I change the date to a Friday? What do I do?! ay ay ay

Venue & House Hunting

So far we have squeezed 2 venues and 2 condos in 2 weekends. While today was my 7th day straight of work, I'm still up and about venue and house hunting in between. Tonight and tomorrow morning I'll be doing a lot more research and try to book at least 4 venue appointments in the Santa Barbara/Ventura County Area for Saturday and hopefully Jon can find us 3-4 condos to see on Sunday.

Today I found these:
Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens
Limoneira Ranch

* Courtesy of Here Comes the Guide

On a side note: my sister brought be a Brides and Modern Bride Magazine and in one of the inserts was an offer for both magazines for the price of one. Mailing that in tomorrow!

Emotion Overload!

I am now pre-qualified for a home!!! As excited as this makes me, it also makes me nervous because I'm not too sure what my next step should be. Should I ask one of my employees who is in real estate? Should I contact the short sale specialist that my friends referred me with? Should I contact an agent from Redfin? When? How long am I pre-qualified for? As soon as I got the phone call this morning, I jumped on Redfin to re-look at our options. I started to question my location: Is Long Beach where I want to live for next 3-4 years? Why? Why not? There are a handful of places that we really like and then we have the places that we like. Several within our budget. I can't wait! I want to move in already!!!!!

AHHHHHH!!!!