Group Pictures

Getting everyone ready for the surprise picture was probably the most nerve wracking point of the day for me. The guys were not cooperating and they were taking their time walking up to the location for the pictures. It was hard to time when I was going to come out because we were going to have a reveal picture for Jonathan to see me for the first time.

Luckily I had a great photographer who kept me cool and calm through this and things turned out better than expected.

The Flowers

Rob Greer's signature bouquet pose above, of my orange and white Dahlia bouquet

For my bouquet, I only used orange and white Dahlias to make it simple and classy. We made it a bit fully with seedy eucalyptus and wrapped the stems with cream colored ribbon.



The center pieces also included orange and white Dahlias, with orange, white, and yellow Gerber Daisy's, seedy eucalyptus, and 2 -3 stems of Bells of Ireland Seeds.


My mom, my dad, my sister and my bridesmaids were my florist the night before the wedding. We all sat in my hotel room and made an assembly line as one person cut the stems, the other counted and divided the bunches, another one took the price tags off the glass vases with soap and water, another cut ribbons and made bows on the neck of the vase, and my mom and dad arranged them. It was fun and also nerve racking because time was ticking sooooo fast. That night I slept in a refrigerator hotel room, the temperature in my room was so low to maintain the flower arrangements fresh and I was freezing but it was all worth it. The next day mom made my two bouquets, one was the back up.

Wedding Theme: Polka Dots and Pinwheels

When coming up with ideas to make my wedding different I really wanted it to be meaningful, but little did I know that everything would start with a tie we had bought a year ago before we even got engaged: a white with orange polka dots tie - Jonathan's wedding tie. The color scheme was a given ORANGE, and the accents would become yellow and white.


The tie polka dots later developed into hanging summer lanterns in an invitation which later became real-live orange and yellow lanterns at the venue.

Summer lanterns inspired pinwheels as boutonnieres and instead of bouquets. Shopping for the materials was probably the most interesting part because I needed to tie everything in. When walking into different fabric and art crafts stores I was stunned with a beautiful orange and white polka dot pattern that Natali found. This would be the connection!

The pinwheel theme continued to the center pieces with larger 12x12 inch pinwheels, and the polka dots continued into the yummy cake! When making 15 large pinwheels for the centerpieces and to place near the entrance of the venue I didn't want to use all the same polka dot paper because then it would make the bridesmaid's pinwheels and groomsmen's boutonnieres feel less special. Instead I bought a large scrapbook sized pack of paper with different orange patterns and made the pinwheels out of all the different patterns, still keeping true to my pinwheel and orange theme.


The polka dots continued into my veil that had tiny round crystals and our toasting glasses did too. It was about connecting small dots together. Making things look simple but with a lot of thought behind it.

2nd Wedding Board

These are some party favors and decoration ideas.
Clippings taken from The Knot and Martha Stewart Weddings

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.

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.

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

Photography

Today is my day off so I'm going to do a double wammy:)
I've been clicking away since 7:15am this morning since my parents and Angel woke me up and I couldn't fall back asleep.

I started to research photographers in the area since a lot of the blogs I've been reading were featuring photographers from the bay, Utah, Texas, Maryland, Massachusetts, etc. I had recently found Bella Pictures which would amount to about $3200 plus tax and service fees for 8 hours and an album. Studio Blue would offer the same coverage and the album for $2100 plus tax and fees. BUT today I found Rob Greer and his style of photography was 10 times more artistic than Bella and Studio Blue.

(all photographs from above from Rob Greer's Blog)
Rob Greer Photography reminds me of Jonathan Canlas' style, cutting faces off and getting different angels to make the photograph feel more artsy.

P.S. Packages have very decent price points!

My 1st Wedding Board

A lot of thought has gone into this first inspirational board, click on the image to enlarge. I have no idea how Kathryn from Snippet & Ink makes so many of these, almost on a daily basis, hats off to you girl! I do want to give credit to her for giving me the idea of making this board and organizing my thoughts.

From top to bottom, left to right: Row 1. Bridesmaid dresses from I Love You Man from Dallas Wedding Planner Blog. Night venue view, Mountain Gate Country Club. The monogram was designed by the bf, approved by ME. The tie we purchased about a year ago by Geoffrey Beene.
Row 2. Day venue view, Mountain Gate Country Club. Orange and Yellow mixed yellow arrangement from OnceWed. Cup Cake arrangement from Sprinkles. The Ferrero Rocher chocolate name placements from Wedding Bee.
Row 3. The large orange table arrangement from Once Wed. The pink and yellow flower bouquet comes from Snippet & Ink. The dresses from I Love You Man again from Dallas Wedding Planner Blog. The long stemmed tulips from Martha Stewart Weddings.

New Adventure: Wedding

The bf and I have been talking about getting married lately A LOT... and since we've already gone to look at rings, we're talking about our wedding with friends and parents, I guess it's okay to start writing about it. If not, then this post will disappear as soon as Jon says so.

I have begun to create guest lists, budgets, and to-do lists. I will break down my adventures into budgets (most impt), venues, diy, bride, groom, stationary, flowers and details. The list will probably grow, but for now I think I have a good start.

As of last night, April 10, 2010, we officially have a monogram! I've been asking Jon to create something for the longest time and he just wouldn't take the time to do it, but yesterday I tied him down (metaphorically of course) and he made something that I instantly fell in love with! It's simple yet eye catching.


I am so excited to start this new journey with lots of energy and laughter with my better half who is taller, heavier, calmer, and funnier - but he is also lazier and messy.