We Shall Wed!

I’ve really never heard about this tradition among my family and friends. Honestly, I didn’t even know if Mexicans followed this tradition at all. A quick Google search and I confirmed that yes, we also follow this tradition. My mom has never mentioned anything about my something blue, new, old and borrowed, but that won’t stop me from wearing these beautiful earrings.

This is what I found on The Knot:

"Something old represents continuity; something new offers optimism for the future; something borrowed symbolizes borrowed happiness; something blue stands for purity, love, and fidelity; and a sixpence in your shoe is a wish for good fortune and prosperity, although this remains largely a British custom."

This is what I found on Publiboda.com: "Lo azul en Inglaterra se dice que "aquellos que se visten de azul tienen amores verdaderos". La costumbre se originó en el antiguo Israel, donde la novia usa un arco azul en su cabello, que representa fidelidad."

I guess it has pretty much the same meaning, the Spanish version says that those who wear blue have true love.

I’ve been trolling Etsy quite often lately; there is just so much inspiration and gorgeous options to choose from! On a particular night, I was looking for a pair of earrings for the wedding and I stumbled upon Joyce’s store: Handwired.

I immediately fell in love with her Pearl and Swarovski cascade earrings. The price was very reasonable as well so I went ahead and ordered right away. They arrived in a week or so and I couldn’t be happier, I love them! I see it as two for one; I now have my “something blue” and my wedding jewelry. I think that’s pretty much all I’m wearing; I don’t want a necklace and bracelet to compete with everything else. I like simple.

So, what’s your something blue?

Something blue...

2009-05-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

I've just ordered my "something blue" and I can't wait 'till it gets here! UPS guy needs to make my house his first stop! He always apologizes for making mine his last stop at almost 8pm!

I still haven't figured out what the "something old/borrowed" will be. I gotta get on it, we're two months out!!

What's your something blue, borrowed, new and old?

Etsy Table Numbers

2009-05-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

We all know that every girl out there planning a wedding, loves Etsy.

And this is why:

Lovely eh? You can either buy each number printed and have it shipped to you at $2.00 each, or buy the digital file for $25.00. Head over to GraphicByDesign on Etsy and check out these lovely numbers.

I'm still trying to figure mine out, what to do, what to do....

Are you creating your table numbers or going with the standard white ones provided by the caterers?

Ring less no more!

2009-05-09T16:27:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my very first post; there was no proposal. There was a decision made by D and me. Would I have wanted a proposal? Yes, of course..what girl doesn’t? I can’t lie; I have to admit that I was still secretly hoping for a proposal sometime before the wedding. Why not? I didn’t want to miss out on that experience! But I know D too well, it won’t happen. Oh well.

Now, I still get a ring right? And I get to chose it! Fine, I’ll get over the “no proposal” issue if I get to choose my very own ring. Back in February, we went to Downtown L.A’s Jewelry District just to “look around”. We walked around and after about 6 stores, I was getting annoyed. I couldn’t find something I liked, something I’d want to wear for the rest of my life. And if I did like something, it was out of our budget. We were walking around the corner to walk on the other side of the street heading back to the car. St. Vincent’s Jewelry Center is on the corner of 7^th and Broadway; we walked inside and didn’t make it very far. At the very entrance, we found a super sweet lady who was eager to sell us “the” ring. We were looking at her collection but I couldn’t describe what I was looking for, maybe because I had no idea what was it that I wanted! She showed us ring after ring and nothing caught my eye. D picked his wedding band 5 minutes after we sat on the stools to check out the pieces. Men. The lady then said that her husband had just designed a piece 2 weeks ago. I think, sometime recently. She took it out and I immediately liked it, after I put it on my left finger I told D this was it. I wanted this ring and we could go home now. The sweet lady (being a sales person of course) told me that “it was meant for me” since it fit me perfectly and it was a unique design made by her husband. I believed her of course (don’t judge me).

So we bought my ring and agreed to come back later to order my custom-made wedding band. Since the engagement ring has an odd design, the wedding band has to be custom-made as well.

I went back last week and dropped off my ring so they can take the mold for the wedding band. It was ready last Monday but we couldn’t pick it up until today.

Wondering why there is only ONE pea? well this little monster took "care" of the other one :[

Our ring sets are complete. We can get married now! Over all, I think it was a pretty easy process for us, we didn’t spend months and months looking, it took couple of visits and we were done.

Do it someone else veil

2009-05-07T01:36:00.000-07:00

I cannot express how shocked I am every time I look up veil prices. $400 for a veil? Really? that would cost me more than my actual wedding dress (which i changed for something else btw).

On my wedding day, I could only picture myself with a mantilla cathedral lenght veil. Nothing more, nothing less.

image found through eBay

Looking at the prices had me pretty sad because I knew I would not spend that much, I just couldn't! I went back and forth regarding the veil. At times I just wanted to give up and find a simple and CHEAP veil. I later started thinking about doing it myself, but who am I kidding? I dont have those kind of skills. For several months, I left the subject alone. That was until a week ago when I had a freakout moment and I suddenly needed to figure out what the heck was I going to do regarding a veil?

I bit the bulled and asked FMIL for help. I had totally forgotten that she has a sowing machine at home. She was actually very happy to help out with this project! I printed the picture above and told her i wanted something like this, but a little smaller. I asked for an Ivory mantilla cathedral lengh veil. She said she was able to do it with no problem.

That same weekend, we headed out to the garment district of where else? Downtown L.A of course! It didnt cross my mind to take pictures while there, sorry. We were quite concentrated on finding the perfect tulle and lace applications. After a couple of hours of walking up and down those crowded streets, we settled on one design, we purchased several yards and went home.

This Sunday, my FMIL called me and asked if we could stop by for a minute; she had already cut the tulle and wanted to see how long will it be on me. Again, it didn't cross my mind to take pics of the tulle on me, but i did snap some of the work in progress. I am beyond excited and thankful, I will be able to have the veil i wanted and for less than $50!!

I will show you more pictures as it gets done, we are aiming for a two tier mantilla veil. I still havent figuered out what to wear for the reception. Maybe a DIY hair flower? Im no a big fan of birdcage veils. Idont think it looks well on me. Any ideas??

What type of veil are you wearing or wore on your wedding day?

Lost at sea

2009-05-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been feeling like I'm lost at sea with the mister. We're on a tiny boat and a thunderstorm has been over us for the last few weeks.

But we know the exact date when we will see land again. Also on this day, the skies will clear out, letting beautiful sunshine along with a rainbow make it's way back into our lives.

This date is July 11th. Oh how we will see sunshine in our family and friends faces.

July can't get here soon enough, but really, take your sweet time.

-- Post From My iPhone

DIY Moss Initials

2009-05-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

On my last post I mentioned that I had to buy a couple of Styrofoam initials to bring my total up to more than ten dollars in order to use my debit card.

When I brought them home, I wasn't exactly sure what i was going to do with them. I always knew I wanted to try to make these lovelies with silk flowers.

However, after looking around for silk flower prices I was taken back! Freaking $3.99 per stem? That would not be a cheap DIY project. I couldn't justify spending the money on this project so I forgot about it and the initials ended up in some corner of our apartment.

On one of our many trips to Downtown L.A, looking for our favors we went to a craft store called MOSKATEL. I think it's from the Michael's Stores. Everything you find at Michael's, you find it here. While walking around looking for tiny glass containers, I found a bag of beautiful green moss. It was just laying around as if someone changed their mind and didn't want to buy it after all. I grabbed the bag (again, with no idea on what to use it for) and checked out.

So after having the bag of moss just laying around, I decided to sit down and come up with some ideas on how to use it. I was just sitting there with nothing in mind and then I saw the initials! Why didn't I think of it sooner? After all, the green moss fits perfectly with our color scheme. So I took my glue gun out and got to work. With only one letter down, my glue gun decided to stop working, lucky for me, my FMIL has one and she let me borrow it to finish the project.

I know this would have worked better with a green initial, but i made do with what i had in hand and I love how it turned out! It was very easy, all i did was hot glue the moss onto the initials. I pressed hard when attaching the moss to the hot glue to make sure it was properly attached. My fingers were in pain after all the burning with the super hot glue but I'd do it again! (only maybe with green letters lol). In the pictures you can see some white spots but in person you cant really tell, honest! To attach the ribbon, I simply made a hole and inserted the ribbon right at the middle of the top.

I'm planning on hanging these at the entrance gates to the reception site. Are you incorporating your initials in any of the decor?

Craft Depot in L.A

2009-03-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

If you are in the L.A area, you should check out Craft Depot in Downtown. I have to note that its not exactly a "craft" depot because you won't find stamps and scrapbooking items here. It is more like a favors and decorations store.

Sure, these aren't the Vera Wang Love Knots. But at 2.99 for the pair you can't deny it's a bargain.

Here you can find ribbon (lots of ribbon),
DIY favor items, vases, silk flowers and more.

The parking can be a little hard to find as their lot is a bit small but be patient! Another thing, make sure to take cash or purchase $10.00 or more in items to be able to use your debit/credit card. The last time I was there, I didn't know about this and had only $6.00 worth of ribbon. I didn't have enough cash on me so I had to go back and look for something else, I found some styrofoam initials and grabbed an S and a D. They weren't as big as I was planning on getting them but I had to get something, I'll show you what I did with them pretty soon!

401 E. 7th Street/ Wall
213-627-5232

Why can't these precious be around in July??

2009-03-18T10:41:00.001-07:00

-- Post From My iPhone

Is it July yet?

2009-03-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

.....inhale.....exhale....

Payless Bridal Shoes

2009-03-11T02:35:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about the new shoe line at Payless called Unforgettable Moments by Lela Rose. You read that right, I typed PAYLESS! I am facing the fact that I will not be able to splurge on such things as wedding shoes, of course I would love me some J.Crew or Kate Spade heels. I can't afford it, end of story.

I forgot where I read about the Lela Rose line at Payless but I was sure I'd be checking it out. On Monday during lunch hour, I was craving fresh fruit so I walked down 7th Street hoping to find me some. I walked and walked and didn't find anything. I was so energized thanks to the 2 cups of coffee I had that morning that I decided to walk one more block and then make my way back. Just when I was on my way back, I was lucky enough to find the fruit place and as I was paying, I noticed that a Payless Shoe Source was across the street.

I went inside and checked out the shoes, at $49 I was sold before I tried any on. Seriously, I can have them dyed any color I want for only $49? Hell yeah! I didn't order anything yet because I haven't decided what color I want and I am debating between three of the shoes.

I havent tried these on but I like them!

These are my favorite of all three but they might not be very comfortable

I like these mostly because they are very comfortable.

So girls, help me out please. Which do you like best?

image 1, image 2, image 3

If only....

2009-03-05T21:57:00.000-08:00

.....I had paper cutting skills. I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with our table numbers, but these are so awesome! You can find them on Etsy's store papercutdiecut. How can you go about creating something close to this?

Are you sticking to the regular table numbers or making your own?

Not as crafty as I thought!

2009-03-05T01:04:00.001-08:00

I finally have STD pic's! First off, let me tell you that they were a pain in the butt, but it was my entire fault anyway. I waited too long to get them started and as much as I was super excited to get going, I kept telling myself that I had plenty of time. I was so wrong; I didn’t count on things not coming out my way. I had a hard time with the measurements, then the cutting and a couple of other problems with my Gocco. I originally intended to send them out around December, well December came and went and nothing. January came along and I was sure I’d send them out by the end of the month, wrong again! It is now March and they are out of our hands finally, very late indeed. I shouldn’t be surprised when people thank us for the “invite”. Sigh.

Spanish & English

I was so frustrating during the process that I totally forgot to pictures of the STDS in the making. All I have is the final product.

I bought the paper from paper and more and the envelopes from Kelly Paper. The ivory paper was already cut and cheaper than 81/2X11. I bought tons of apple green ribbon from Craft Depot in Downtown L.A; they sell 7 to 10 yards for $1.00!

At the end of the process I was already too tired and I wasn’t too concerned on the addressing, I did it myself with a brown super fine sharpie pen. On a trip to Michaels, I saw a really cute stamp and I had the idea to stamp all of the envelopes and write the addresses over it. It worked out great because not only is the color perfect but the addresses will be nice and straight!

David hard at work!

love the cute bird details

I'm sorry I don't have specific details and a cost breakdown, but feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment with any questions!

Here I am, defeated by our STD’s

2009-02-25T16:37:00.000-08:00

I quickly gave up on cutting the paper for our save the dates, it just wasn’t coming out how I wanted it (perfect!). Needless to say, I became frustrated and I started regretting taking up the task in the first place.

I thought about taking the paper to Kinkos but didn’t really make the move because I thought it would be too expensive. I just needed to suck it up and keep cutting. One night, I mentioned it to D and he insisted that we take the paper to Kinkos right away (I’m sure he was fed up with my complaining). He convinced me that it would save us a lot of time and stress, not to mention tears.

Before heading out, I read several reviews on the Weddingbee boards and they weren’t all that great. I took a chance anyways and I’m glad I did. My paper came out perfect and I didn’t care that the Kinkos employee wasn’t very friendly. We spent a total of $14.49, I don’t remember exactly but I think they charge $1.49 per cut. They place all the cardstock together and cut all at once according to your instructions. I definitely recommend taking your paper to Kinkos and let them do the cutting. Come to think of it, maybe I just needed a better paper cutter? Meh, I’d do it again!

They may not be 100% DIY now, but the concept is the same. After all, you can’t have everything your way, I am learning to let go and just let things be.

Up next: Our STD’s are finally mailed out!

I'm alive!

2009-02-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

Umm... Hello there! Memba me? : waves to the lovely Yined:

Well let's see, last time I was here I told you about our first meeting with Father Francis and I mentioned how nervous I was. I've heard from other girls that their priest wasn't pleased when they mentioned they lived together. I am very happy to report that our meeting was great! Father Francis was quite nice and understanding, especially when I had to talk about my dysfunctional family. He gave us comfort and he helped me understand D's personality a lot better. He never made a negative comment; he was just happy that we chose to get married with a catholic ceremony. There is one thing we both like about Father Francis’ service, it’s in Spanglish. It may be confusing for some people but it works for us, after all, that’s exactly how our home runs… Spanglish sentences all day long!

He did however, give us homework:

Attend church every Sunday (we already do this).
Pray together every night. I must confess this we have not done.
No sex until after we're married. Touchy subject to say the least, hah! He had a point though; we asked to be married at the Cathedral, the mother of all churches so we should do this the right way.

Father Francis asks all of his couples to attend a 3 day weekend retreat and it's a must. We don't have a choice and although it's a bit pricey, we're going to have to budget for it and make it to Santa Barbara on an April weekend. It should make for a nice break from all the planning.

We are a mere 4 months away and it’s all coming to place, post material I do have. Stick around! How are your plans coming along?

TGIF!

2009-01-30T17:22:00.001-08:00

Thank. God. It's. Friday! I am exhausted, mentally and physically. I've been having a pretty rough week in all areas; work, money, relationship, measurements (STDs), kids, you name it. I was looking forward to Friday to be able to take the weekend and tie some lose ends that are killing me. My work day is almost over, and I couldn't be happier.

Just as I was picturing another stressful nigh at home due to some decisions that need to be made ASAP, I get a call. Father Francis of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels called me to set up our first meeting and get the ball rolling with our wedding! I am extremely excited and his call made my day (or what's left of it), actually, he made my weekend! I am now carrying a smile on my face and I am looking forward to our first meeting. I can't help to be a little nervous as well; what is he going to say when we tell him that we live together and (GASP!) we have children already? I shall tell you all about it!

Did you have a Catholic ceremony? If so, how did your first meeting go?

Holy STD's!

2009-01-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

Brand new Pronovias- $750

How foolish of me to think that I'd be able to design, assemble and mail out our save the date's in a week's time. Yes, go ahead and laugh at my lack of common sense haha. I decided on a very simple design inspired by a babyshower invitation I saw at PaperSource, little did I know that geting it done would not be simple at all! I've mentioned before that I am not very good with photoshop but D is, so after a minor argument he finally helped me out and although we ended up with a totally different design, we love them! I feel that we are a little too late for a STD but eh, they will go out soon anyways.

I must say that the hardest part was definetely getting the measurements right. I was thinking of doing the STD's first and then looking for and envelope to fit them in. Backwards, I know. Lucky for me, Mrs. Cupcake of WeddingBee posted about her DIY invitations and gave a very detailed and helpful step by step. She saved me a few tears of frustration! Her post was a life saver as she suggested that the first step should be finding the right envelope to then have correct measurements. That made sense so the same day I read her post I went over to paperandmore.com and ordered a few envelope samples at 50 cents each with $1.00 flat shipping.

We are now done with our STD's design and are ready to begin printing! I don't think I've mentioned that we are doing two sets of STDs; Spanish and English. I must say that it was pretty difficult figuring out how to word them is Spanish since save the dates are not used in Hispanic (read: Mexican) weddings. I'm sure a lot of people will think that they are the actual invitation even though it says "Invitation to follow".

Below is the basic wording for a STD in Spanish, of course you can spice it up if you wish.

Por favor reserve la fecha para nuestra boda el Sabado 31 de Febrero del 2009.
Los Angeles, California
Invitacion formal de seguir

We left the "Por favor" (please) part out and made both versions pretty similar to each other. I can't wait to finish those suckers and be done with them, right after sharing them with you of course!

How did you figure out the measurements for your DIY paper items?

Must it be new?

2009-01-26T00:22:00.000-08:00

When I started gathering ideas and inspiration for our wedding, buying a used wedding gown was never even a thought. I always thought that I'd do like most girls I know; go shopping for prices and styles and just have my dress custom made a some local bridal shop. Once I realized how expensive weddings really are, I started contemplating the used dress idea after all, I always knew I didn't want to go dress shopping with my bridesmaids and try on tons of dresses. I'm just not that confident. Instead, I decided to buy a dress already made preferably used. I browsed the WeddingBee classifieds, Craigslist, Once Wed and even the FIDM Student Store, hoping to find The Dress. Well, we all know how that turned out.

While some people may criticize me because "OMG, a used dress is bad luck!", I don't really care. I love my dress. What if your dreams wedding gown is way out of your budget? Nobody will know you are wearing a used dress unless you tell them so I say go for it! I can assure you that there are dresses out there that are to die for and much much cheaper that buying it brand spanking new.

Here's my opinion on the places I looked through when I was looking for my dress and helped out a lot with my search.

WeddingBee Classifieds- You can actually find a lot more than dresses here but that's a different post. For some reason I find it very easy to trust the WB Classifieds' sellers, most readers are super friendly and extra helpful. I think of it as a really tight comunity and I just don't see anybody robbing someone else. I bought my Gocco from a WeddingBee reader and it was very easy and hassle free. Of course you have to be careful and ask as many questions you can think of so that you know exactly what you are buying.

Once Wed- One thing I specially like about Once Wed is the search option; you can sort out your search by designer, condition, size and of course, price. You don't necesarily have to buy a used gown since there are many new ones out there.

Brand new Marisa Bridal- $200!!

Craigslist- We all know that you can really find anything on Craigslist, right? Most people selling their gown just want to recuperate some of the money; some just don’t have the space for it. As with everything else, you just have to be cautious and trust your gut. There are scammers out there but they are usually very obvious, for example, offering more money than what you are asking for or offering a money order. I have to admit that I was very nervous when I went to meet the girl that sold me her dress, especially since D wasn’t with me! In the end, she was lovely and I had nothing to worry about.

Used CASABLANCA- $540

FIDM Scholarship Store- I first heard of this store from Ms. Meatball, she purchased a dress from this store for her TTD session (that’s not saying that the dresses here are in a bad condition). I am very lucky to work only three blocks from the store so you bet I went there a few times during my lunch hour to browse the racks, hoping to find The Dress. The wedding gowns available at the FIDM store are donated to them to raise funds for the school so the gowns may vary from week to week, depending on the donations received. They have several styles and sizes, some new and mostly used. While I was there last week, I found a brand new CASABLANCA gown for only $300!! I have never seen a gown for more than $350 there; some go as low as $200. You should definitely check it out if you are in the L.A area.

This dress looked new to me

the price?

yup, $300!!

Are you wearing a new or used gown?

My own money saving tips

2009-01-19T16:10:00.000-08:00

In an effort to save every penny possible and put it towards our wedding, we've made some changes here and there in our daily lives. I'm sharing them with you hoping that they help someone out there that wants to know where to start. These are not huge, life changing steps but they sure help.

No more cable TV -A few months ago we cut our cable and we do not miss our $80.00 monthly bill at all! We decided this was something we didn’t actually need and we’d be okay without it. We might get it back after the wedding but for now, we don’t miss the tons of reality TV shows. Our kids hate us a little bit but it’s all good, they will thank us later.

No eating out –This is by far our biggest problem and I always blame myself since at the end of the day I'm too stressed, tired and grumpy, the last thing I want to do is go home and cook. Not only do we spend on a daily lunch for me and D, but we also go out to dinner several nights a week. This is such a waste of money because at the end of the dinner we are left craving a homemade meal while our groceries are going bad in our fridge. So from now on, I am making a big effort to cook every night whether it be an elaborate dinner or just a sandwich and soup. I also try to cook enough to have leftovers and take lunch the next day. We are saving around $100.00 by taking our own lunch every week!

Pay bills on time –This saves you money obviously because late fees add up and it’s practically giving your money away. I tend to forget what bills we have laying around and by the time I see them again or remember, we are late and we get slapped with a late fee. Those need to stop asap!

Avoid Costco –I love Costco like I love Target (another store I try to avoid). One trip to Costco can make me walk out with at least $100.00 in what, 3 or 4 items? Sure, they have great wholesale prices but let’s face it, It’s not like I’m feeding The Gosselin sextuplets and their siblings. It is only four of us and a trip to the local supermarket with $100.00 will probably feed us for a week and a half.

Do not rush when buying something –Do your research first. One thing I truly hate is buying something full price and then finding it 40% off somewhere else later on. I’ve controlled myself lately and so can you! You will be proud of yourself.

Public Transportation –I don’t really have a choice since we only have one car for now, but I can truly say that I enjoy it. Not only will you save on gas, but you can also have some time to yourself on the ride to work. Just make sure you put your headphones on so people won’t bug you. You may have to leave earlier but think about it, if you drive to work, you can’t do anything else but drive. Riding public transportation will allow you to read, listen to music, draft your blog entries, make a phone call, text and even apply your make up! All without getting a ticket. See, you are even saving money on that ticket you will never get! You will also be contributing to a greener planet.

There you have it, my mini-money saving tips. Have you had to make any changes to your normal lifestyle since wedding planning started?

Sunny Los Angeles

2009-01-19T13:51:00.000-08:00

It's a beautiful day in Downtown L.A. The streets aren't crowded and the boss is out of town!

This is the 7th & Fig plaza, can you picture a lovely outdoor wedding on this plaza? Surrounded by the greenery and the highrise buildings, pure bliss.

Blue Monday

2009-01-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

Did you know that today is the most depressing day in HISTORY? I had no idea until I was reading That Wife’s comment section and someone pointed it out. Experts say that this particular Monday has found many people depressed over a number of reasons including the weather.

It’s almost noon and I’ve been having a pretty dull morning with no desire to lift a finger. D and I were running late this morning and we were both in a bad mood. Experts blame the most depressing day to Christmas being behind us, broken New Year’s resolutions, the weather and of course the crappy economy. In fact, they say that the economic downturn makes it even worse and they projected a quarter of workers not showing up, sure enough, we had some people call in “sick”.

Planning a wedding during a recession makes me want to pull out my hair every other day. I can be lying in bed, ready to go to sleep and I’m suddenly panicking. How the hell are we going to make this happen? What if one of us (GOD forbid) loses their job? Its tough staying positive during these times, especially if your wedding is not yet paid in full. I guess I can blame my depression on our money/wedding problems since I am more than happy that Christmas is behind us and to be honest, I haven’t even started my resolutions. Getting there people, getting there.

What can we do to stay sane during the planning? First and most importantly, stay grounded! I know that we all wish for the PERFECT wedding and oh how we wish that money was not an issue. Unfortunately, for many of us, money IS the problem. At the beginning of our planning, I had every desire to splurge (within our limits, of course) and go to great lengths to make our wedding day perfect.

After D lost his job last year, I had to take a seat and be realistic. Do we really need this or that? I am letting go of many things that while they may be gorgeous and be perfect for our venue, we don’t need them and our wedding day will be just as special with what we can actually afford.
I am in no way saying that we should settle, not at all. What I’m saying is that we can have a wonderful wedding if we focus on other things. I know I rather have no flowers at all if that would guarantee me that all of my friend and family will be able to fly to be with us. We may have to hold back on the wonderful spot lighting and draping but in the end, we will be married. And who knows, maybe we can start a savings account and really go all out on a 10 year vow renewal.

So let’s make this day a better day, we are alive and we will get through this. Now put a smile on your face and tell me, how does a garden themed wedding come together?

Happy Monday!

2009-01-12T10:51:00.000-08:00

What’s there to be happy about you ask? Well I guess going back to work isn’t very exciting, but we have a new week in our hands, let’s get some things off our to do list!

I planned to finish the design of our Save the Dates and start the printing but I completely forgot that we had volunteered to help a good friend move. The move wasn’t bad at all since she had several friends and family help as well, we finished in no time and went back home after picking up little D from grandma’s. However, I did not plan on catching a cold! After the move, all I wanted to do was sleep, my body was aching and the runny nose was taking the best of me. I slept all afternoon.

On Sunday, we attended the birthday party of one of our flower girls. Even though I wasn’t feeling well, we couldn’t not attend. We weren’t there for too long, we ate, broke the piñata, sang happy birthday and had cake. I took a long nap when we got home and woke up because it was too hot.

The only thing we actually got done was putting down our Christmas tree (yes, we still had our tree up). Thankfully, I’m feeling better today so I better make some progress with our STD’s! My MOH is coming down on Saturday to go through everything I am planning and to decide on the style of the BM dresses. Hopefully she does make it and maybe we will even head to Downtown L.A and get some items I will be needing soon. There are tons of bridal stores in Downtown so maybe we can chose a place where to get the dresses done and hopefully rent the tuxes as well. I. Better. Make. Some. Progress! I feel like I’m running out of time and I really don’t want wedding nightmares to start due to the stress.

So tell me, what do you have planned this week? Or did you check something off your to-do list?

Dress hunt is over!

2009-01-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

What great news? I bought my dress!! Completely unexpected. I was browsing Craigslist on Sunday night and I came across a post for a beautiful dress. I wasn't looking for a dress just yet but I decided to e-mail the seller for more pictures anyways. She emailed me back on Monday morning and she sent more pictures, the dress has been worn once and is in perfect condition.

I was going to write about my dress dilemma on a later post because I really didn't feel like going to stores and trying on dress after dress. To be perfectly honest, the dress was the one thing that I wasn't super excited about. After reading Bridal Bargains, I decided that I would try to find a once worn dress and save some money, I just didn't know it was going to happen this early! I though it was going to be super hard to find a dress that was perfect for me due to my height, I'm 4'11!

This was meant to be, I just know it. The lovely girl that sold me the dress is just as tall as me! She was super nice and she mentioned that she had received other calls about the dress but they were from Bridal shops looking to resell the dress and she really wanted to sell it to someone that was going to use it and that was little ol' me! Sure, I didn't have the "this is it, this is the one!" moment at some bridal shop while trying on a lot of dresses, but this is the one! I love the dress and it really is my dream dress. I can't believe how lucky I was to find the post without actually looking, I just ran into it. It was fate.

So are you wondering how much my dream dress cost? An entire $350.00!!! Can you believe it? I'm still drooling over the dress locked up in our room, D was not allowed inside. He knows it means a lot to me so he promised he wont peek at all! I'm still thinking of having a friend keep it meanwhile. D knows about the blog and although I highly doubt that he actually reads it, I wont post any pictures of the dress. I will however, give you a little sneak peak.

It's a CASABLANCA

This just adds to the energy flow I am feeling with the beginning of the year. Now let's make a mantilla veil shall we? Hah! just kidding.....or am I?

How was your dress shopping experience?

Help me locate this....er, brush?

2009-01-08T16:37:00.000-08:00

Or is it called a flourish? I have no idea really but if you know where I can download it or buy it, please let me know! I love it and it will tie this little project of mine together!

Purdy please with a cherry on top!

OMG!

2009-01-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

I may have some great news later today! (or tomorrow morning) Stick around!

Complaining is not allowed

2009-01-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

Why do people always assume that we don’t know the meaning of marriage if we complain about something? Wedding planning is not easy! Sometimes my Gocco gets a mind of his own and doesn’t want to work, what do I do? I take it to any board and ask for advice, what am I doing wrong? you damn gocco! then someone out there thinks that because I am complaining, I have totally forgotten that being able to marry D is the only thing that should matter to me and if he is still on board with this wedding thing then I should be happy and stop complaining.

I know that I am very fortunate to have found "The One". There is no need to remind me that him showing up to church is all that matters. I’m going to have many problems and things not working my way during the planning process and I'd like to vent without being judged. That is the whole point of boards and blogs! Our family and friends don’t want to hear us talk about the wedding every minute of the day, so we go to the people who do. I'm sorry if I don’t have a huge budget to include a wedding coordinator and have her handle all of my problems. I am doing a lot of things myself and so are many others, naturally, I'm going to take it to the boards and blog to ask for help and advice.

Please, don't assume that because I am having a bad day with my DIY projects I don't have an idea of what marriage is really about. I do and that is why we are getting married.

-gets off soap box

Guess what came in the mail yesterday?

2009-01-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

My pretty, shiny paper! I have been slow on everything, not just the blogging. I've been saying that I can't wait to get started on our Save the Date's and yet, I hadn't even ordered the paper to get started. I did however, order some samples to get a feeling of what I wanted and to confirm that the colors matched our scheme. I was very happy to see that the colors matched perfectly. And thankfully, with the start of the new year, I am feeling energized and ready to get to work. My goal for this month is to get those STD out!

I ordered my paper from Paper and More and I recommend it 100%. The paper quality is great and their customer service is very good as well. Another great thing about Paper and More (besides the prices) is their shipping! They charge $3.99 on ALL orders and the shipping is pretty quick. I could not be happier with my order. As you may know, our colors are apple green, chocolate brown and ivory. To match those colors I ordered Green Fairway #105, Bronze #105 and Champagne #107 in Metallic Cardstock.

I know I should have sent these STD long time ago but like I said, my goal is to get them out before the end of the month. Let’s cross our fingers! Everything will come together, I just know it.

How early did you send out your Save the Dates?

Great way to start the year!

2009-01-06T06:36:00.000-08:00

Wow! Thank you, Sony of Bridal Bliss for nominating my blog for the Fabulous Blog Award. This is certainly a great way to start the year off. Thank you so much for thinking of us even when we’ve been a little absent. Here’s to a New Year with lots of blogging!

Here are the rules: List 5 obsessions/addictions that you have, and tag back to the person who gave you the award. Post the rules. Tag 5 more people!

1) My number one obsession right now must be my new iPhone! D surprised me with it the day after Christmas, sooo unexpected and I love it! I guess I don't have an excuse not to blog everyday from now on, I can do it anywhere and anytime!

2) D says that I have to include Weddingbee, as soon as I have a free second I log onto the website and ignore him for as long as I am reading.

3) One of my obsessions has always been sort of OCD. I arrange things to be facing a certain way, in order by size and/or color. Sometimes I don't realize I am doing it and I must admit I feel embarrassed when I catch myself doing it.

4). This one has to do with obsession #3, all the hangers in our closets MUST be facing in. Always. When I was a little girl, I would go into my parents room and organize their closet (weird, I know) my mom hated it!

5) MySpace and AIM, I log in every single day. When I sign in on AIM i sign off right away. I only sign in because I have this weird feeling that one day a long lost friend is going to be online and say hi! As for MySpace, I log in and do absolutely nothing, it's just a habit I can't get rid of and now that I have the iPhone it's even easier to log in at any time.

So there you have it, not very juicy information but part of me nonetheless.

My five picks for this awesome award are. . .

Yined of Boda for Pennies - love reading her Spanglish blog!
Mrs. Vee of The Starlicious Blog - She's a new find and I am enjoying catching up on her posts!
Heather of To The Altar - She has great taste and lovely inspiration.
The Bona Fide Preppy Bride - I am in love with her colors!
Heidi of 2State Bride - Super fun and lots of inspiration!

Christmas is here!

2008-12-23T20:22:00.000-08:00

Well let's see, I can come up with tons of excuses on why I haven't been around. But really though, I've been extra busy and just plain exhausted!

I've been super busy at work and at home. Shipping out all of the bosses gifts takes time and dedication! Not to mention all the shopping and wrapping of gifts for our families, and I still need to buy D's gift! I am beyond tired, not even my "morning fix" helps now a days. I cannot wait until Christmas Eve at 2pm when I get to go home! The house can use some serious cleaning and I can use some relaxation.

I have more than 15 post on draft, waiting to be edited and photos to be added. I need to make them decent for posting. Let's not even get started on my Google Reader, I'm pretty sure I am well over 2,000 posts behind! I long for those days off so I can finally clean the house properly, drink hot chocolate and lay on my couch to catch up! Almost. There.

Until then.... please don't leave!

From my family to yours,

s + d

Morning fix

2008-12-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

I've noticed lately that I am a bit "down" if I don't have coffee in the morning. I mean, when I drink it, I'm wide awake! If I stay still for a second, I start shaking, anxious to do something...anything! Tons of blog entries and plans come to mind and I want to get so much done. I drink coffee probably once a week and during the weekend but I had not felt the actual effect other people claimed. Before, I could drink a cup of coffee right before bed and sleep like a baby. I've tried those drinks that promise tons of energy but I really don't feel any different when I drink one, no energy boost at all and It certainly doesn't give me wiiiiiings.

Dolce & Gabbana - The One

I'm going to start brewing a pot of (strong) coffee every morning as soon as I get up. I will need it with the tons of things I'm adding to my to-do list!.

How do you stay energized during the hectic wedding planning? Exercise, energy drinks, coffee? Do tell.

Your Wedding Scent

2008-12-09T00:15:00.000-08:00

We all want to remember our wedding day with a certain fragrance, something that takes us back to that minute when you had butterflies in your stomach right before walking down the isle. I hadn't really thought about it until a few days ago when I was in the elevator with a girl and her perfume took me back to my High School days. I want that feeling years and years after our wedding, to go back in time just by smelling that fragrance I used on our wedding day.

I must confess that I do not have a single perfume to my name these days. I absolutely love the last perfume I was wearing, D gave it to me for Christmas last year.

I ran out and I've refused to purchase a new perfume. I thought i should start using the many, many Victoria Secret body sprays I've accumulated over birthdays or Christmas. I could not give them away or throw them out, they were gifts!. Times are rough and perfume can wait! Yes, I hate smelling like my 15 year old sister, but I'm secretly hoping D gets me a perfume for Christmas again!

So here are my two choices for my wedding day scent:

Chanel - Chance

It took many, many chances to get here. Chance has a delicious, sweet and smooth scent! Definitely my new obsession.

The one, need I say more? What a perfect name. This one is a little stronger for my taste but it's not bad. I got a sample on one of the Sephora catalogs and rubbed it on my wrist, D liked the smell and I noticed the name probably an hour later. D is the one.

Are you planning a whole new scent or are you sticking to your regular perfume?

Relieved

2008-12-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

Great news for this household! D is now employed! I cannot describe how relieved we are, it’s been a very stressful 6 months. It was so hard to keep my head up and continue with the planning when in the back of my mind I was considering postponing the wedding. We are about 7 months out and we have a LOT to do. We are hopeful and eager to work hard on this wedding; we are in it for the long run.

I almost jumped out of my chair when he called me and gave me the news. Yesterday was specially a hard day, it is no secret that money problems bring fights. Today is a new day.

Our light after the storm.

Photography....check! (long post, pic loaded)

2008-11-30T13:42:00.000-08:00

Right after booking the church, we booked the photographer. I can honestly say that photography was the one item we planned on splurging on. Yes, for us, those prices were a splurge. The fact that we got a great deal with our photographer doesn't mean that the quality of her work is just "okay". When I showed D her work, he liked it just as much as I did. Her prices are also more affordable and flexible than other photographers out there.

Before we signed a contract with our photographer, we met up with a gal from Bella Pictures. Their prices weren't too bad but there were two reasons why we weren't convinced:

Their packages include only X amount of hours and I honestly don't want to be freaking out on the day of because we might run out of time, or pay lots of money for additional hours. Of course we don't plan on having our photographer there from sun up to sun down, but time flexibility was something I really wanted and it will for sure ease my nerves.
We didn't know who our photographer would be from the get-go. They select a photographer according to the style of your wedding and your vision of the day (have I mentioned we don't have a "style"?). So what if we didn't like the results? We wanted a visual first and we would not get it with Bella.

I found Janice Trowbridge Photography through MySpace while browsing a florist's page; Janice was on their "Top Friends". I clicked on her profiled and browsed through all of her picture albums, I loved what I saw so I contacted her via MySpace message. She quickly replied and informed me that our date was available!

We met with her in February and liked her work even more when we saw it in person. Her work is awesome! We booked her a few months later and we could not be happier; she has what we were looking for.

Some of my favorites

I can't wait to have her shoot our wedding! Was photography one of your "big" items?

The Mister and I

2008-11-25T19:42:00.000-08:00

D and I, we’ve come a long way. Too much has happened in the time that we’ve been together, however, not many people know how we met, I believe only my mother, sisters and perhaps some of my close friends do. By now, I don’t remember who knows and who doesn’t and the people that don’t know it yet it’s because we either lied when asked or they haven’t asked yet.

Why lie? The only reason I can think of is to prevent ignorant and hurtful comments. There are people out there that tend to look down on people and criticize anything and everything, disregarding their feelings. So instead of support and positive comments, you get rude and disrespectful little comments and yet you have to be okay with it because “they are just playing”, therefore, making you regret sharing something with them. So yeah, why bother, no?

Well, we didn’t meet at a bar, a party, at work or through a mutual friend. Nope, we met online. Good ol’ AOL. I guess in a way, we did meet through mutual friends but it’s too complicated to explain. We “met” on Thanksgiving Day of 2004. We talked online briefly and exchanged phone numbers. After talking over the phone for I-don’t-know-how-long, we met in person and hit it off. We had a rocky start, no doubt, it was on and off for several months. We had a hard time trying to work it out and make the relationship work. I have to admit that it was always me who broke it off, I had no patience and gave up on us at the first sign of trouble. Sometimes He called after a couple of days or I would call and we were back on.

To sum it up, we became pregnant, moved in together and are now planning a wedding. I cannot imagine being married to anyone else; D is a great guy with a huge heart and a great dad, of course!
We will always have fights but I know we will make it through. Bad moods or not, I love him with all my heart!

Won't always like you, but never not love you - Murs

So, where did you meet the Mister?

Lasting favors

2008-11-20T01:10:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking of possible favor options and I just couldn't find something that people would not throw out sooner or later. I am guilty of keeping the favors around for a while, but once I'm cleaning around...they get tossed >.<

Some of my options include the Ferrero Rocher chocolates, delicious eh?

One little problem; we're getting married in the middle of the summer so I don't think our guests will enjoy melted chocolates.

Another cute option is cookies! I'm sure cookies will not go to waste, right?

Earlier today I was browsing Craigslist for mason jars and I came across a listing for several wedding items. Her prices are pretty good so I went over to her blog and checked out the entire list of items.While browsing around I noticed her favors and I made up my mind, what a great idea this is!

favor by Joannie

I showed D and he likes the idea, I'm sure I can get a good deal at the Flower District, theres a lot of bamboo shops. So there, we will have bamboo favors, 2 in each votive, embellished with ribbon and what ever else I can think of. Let's just hope that the FMIL likes the idea, she offered to pay for the favors.

Are you giving away favors at your wedding? If so, what are they?

People actually read this!!

2008-11-18T22:09:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it, seriously! Thanks so much to Carly and Heather who nominated my blog for The Uber (AKA Super) Amazing Blog Award! Check out their blogs and click here to see the rest of the nominees.

The Uber (AKA Super) Amazing Blog Award is a blog award given to sites who:

Inspire you
Make you smile and laugh
Or maybe gives amazing information
A great read
Has an amazing design
And any other reason you can think of that makes them uber amazing!

I need to continue passing the love around and nominate 5 of my favorite blogs for the award, but it's a bit late so I will nominate 2 of my favorite!

Yined at Boda for Pennies

Wedding Poop

The rules of the award are:

Put the logo on your blog or post

Nominate a minimum of 5 blogs

Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog

Share the love and link to this post and the person you received your award from

I made up with my Gocco

2008-11-18T20:11:00.000-08:00

So, remember how my attempt at making business cards with my Gocco failed? I left it alone for a couple of days until I figured out what I was doing wrong.

The big problem and the reason for my image not being able to burn onto my master was because our stupid printer is not a Laser printer. I emailed the template to myself and printed it at work on a Laser Jet printer and tried again as soon as I got home that evening.

I got it right on the first try! I was soo glad that it finally worked and I started printing while dinner was cooking.

Finally, image burned!

Placing the ink over the image

Almost done!

I can't wait to start my Save the Dates!

Michael’s Coupon

2008-11-12T12:15:00.000-08:00

Awesome deal from Michael's, they have a printable coupon for 50% off! It is valid only in stores and for one item only. If you need more than one item, just take the FI and each take a coupon!

Click to print coupon

Enjoy!

My Gocco hates me!

2008-11-11T22:42:00.000-08:00

My mom's friend asked me to make some business cards for her and I was happy to use my Gocco for that task. I was glad to have an opportunity to put it to use! D made the business card on Illustrator and I was ready to start printing! Alas, the Gocco wasn't.

After trying to burn the master, I saw that it was never burned. I checked everything and I went online to watch a tutorial, I gave it one more try and this time I left out the blue screen.

This didn't work either and did I mention that I can only use the flash bulbs ONCE!?!?! Yes, I wasted 4 $#%^&* flash bulbs! I still don't know what the heck is the problem or what is it that I'm doing wrong.

cards cut and ready to be printed

I will give it another try tomorrow. Do you know what I might be doing wrong?

Ring Bearer Pillow

2008-11-05T23:00:00.000-08:00

Our plan so far is to have both of our boys walk together and have one of them hold the rings. I have not decided on the "pillow" yet, and I say "I" because these little details are the ones that D doesn't really understand. One thing I know is that we will not have a traditional ring pillow.

I have two choices and I can't decide, one of them is a DIY project and the other one will only take the click of a button to order it from Etsy.

I love Paloma's Nest Bowls because they are so simple, beautiful and I won't have to store it away. I can also use this after the wedding to hold our rings. D likes this option better but he likes the price on the flower pillow better!. The second one is a green mum pillow and I can try doing this myself and buying the flowers Downtown. The Paloma's Nest Bowl is $25 plus shipping while the flower pillow can cost less than $10! So I can't decide!

What if we have both? We can have each of our boys hold one ring. Yeah, I don't think so....we're trying to save here! As I'm typing, I am convincing myself to go with the cheaper option, the flowers are after all my favorite color ever!

Are you using a traditional ring pillow?

VOTE

2008-11-03T14:51:00.001-08:00

So I know this is not wedding related but i feel the need to urge people to vote. If you are able to vote, please vote!Image Source

Inspiration

2008-11-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

We have settled for Chocolate Brown, Apple Green and Ivory. Below is my attempt at a mood board. We really don't have a theme for our wedding, just going with the flow.

What's your wedding theme and how did you chose it?

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-31T08:41:00.000-07:00

image source 1, 2 & 3, 4, 5

Good food?... Maybe

2008-10-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

I must admit that when all this planning started, the food quality was not my priority (yes I know!). Food was the least of my worries, I mean; I just knew that it had to be edible. To be honest, I have never tried the food at Casa Italiana. It can’t be that bad, can it?

Maybe I didn’t care much because I’ve been to parties where the food wasn’t all that, but I didn’t leave complaining and telling everyone how bad the food was. I didn’t pay for my plate after all and I know it takes a lot of hard work to put together a party. I have it well set in my mind that we can’t please everyone, even if the food was delicious, someone out there will not be satisfied and will complain just to make my day.

Believe me, if we had the money, we would host an awesome catering company. Not only for our guests, but for the two of us, yeah, we both love food.

image source 1, 2, 3

With that said, let’s hope that our family and friends enjoy our ceremony and reception, good food or not. We’ll try to make it up with the cake!

Was the food quality your number one priority?

Reception Venue pt. 2 of 2

2008-10-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

I now present Casa Italiana, our reception venue. I'm sorry for the lack of pictures, I couldn't find much online and we didn't take many when we went to check it out, the lights were off.

This venue doesn't have beautiful gardens and a courtyard, but we like it nonetheless. It is situated just south of China Town and very close to our church. There is plenty of space in case everyone invited shows up. I think the room is large enough to hold 450 people (seated).

The prices per plate are way cheaper than any hotel or nicer venue. That's what we can afford and that's what we are having. There is no fee to rent the space if you have more than 200 guests. If you have less than 200, they charge a $1,000 fee.

You have the open or cash bar options, we've decided to host a cash bar. I must admit that it scares me a little to think that they can alter our tab but all I can do is trust them, and maybe have D check on that every now and then?

I can't wait to see it all set up. Maybe ill sneak a peek on the way to the ceremony =D.

What were the main factors when you chose your venue?

Reception venue pt.1

2008-10-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

I looked everywhere; online, driving around, asking friends. Not many people had suggestions. I wanted something nice of course. The budget that we had set was soon to be replaced. Boy was that funny. We were crazy if we thought we would find something decent for that price. The worse venue we saw was in Korea Town, we arrived at the building and there was a paper on the door offering a reward for a person who murdered someone in that exact venue!

We were looking for a place that allowed outside catering because I thought that it would be a lot cheaper. I of course, didn't realize that by doing this, we would have to pay for everything else separately and costs will add up. We were very close to signing a contract with one of the venues but I honestly just got lazy and we never got around it, thank God. I was afraid that people would not go because it was a bit far out and I was also concerned that maybe everyone would show up and the place would be too crowded.

We (read: I) were looking into the Union Station reception hall. It seemed reasonable and they didn't provide catering anyways. I made an appointment but again, I got lazy and didn't go. The reason for me being lazy about it is because this was back in February and I thought I had all the time in the world hehe.

Source

Then out of nowhere, May rolls around and I though; OMG, I'm running out of time! So I started stressing over us not having a reception venue booked yet and I started looking on line yet again. I must've called 100 venues in Los Angeles and the South Bay too. Right around that time, my SIL's best friend posted some pictures of her brother's wedding on MySpace. I asked my SIL if she knew where the reception was held and she asked her BF. She gave us the information and I searched online for reviews but couldn't find any. I decided to go with it anyway since SIL's BF had good comments about it. We checked it out and liked the place. We loved it compared to the other places we've seen. Another point was that it was very close to the church! The price is reasonable and everything is included, except for the cake. We don't have to worry about renting chairs and tables, hiring a catering service, buying the alcohol, renting plates, silverware or any extra stuff. Sounds good to me! They will have wine on the tables and serve the food. Sounds like we won't have to worry about much (I hope)……..

TBC...

It's Here!

2008-10-11T17:08:00.000-07:00

It's finally here, in my hands! A brand new Gocco. Can't wait to try it out!

FedEx stalker

2008-10-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here, paying no attention to t.v (or D, for that matter) refreshing the FedEx web page for my package. I am stalking the FedEx man! I can't wait!!

Our monogram

2008-10-10T23:23:00.000-07:00

In the beginning of the planning I wasn’t sure if we were going to use a monogram. After much web browsing and running into beautiful monograms, I decided to create a monogram to use on the STD’s, invitations and other paper goods. Not long ago, I found BriannaNicole’s blog; she has beautiful monograms and even has DIY tutorials! I showed D and asked if he could make a monogram for us. D is more experienced when it comes to Photoshop, all I know how to do is press play on the actions.

D agreed to make one but never got around it, I started thinking about giving it a try myself, but quickly gave up. Photoshop and I are not friends! I went back to Google and searched for monogram ideas. I found a post on Bona Fide Preppy Bride’s blog, she had her monogram done by Swishdesigns of Etsy, super cheap! I went over to Donnas’ blog and browsed her samples, D and I settled on 2 possible monograms and I sent her an e-mail.

Donna was quick to reply and we LOVE what she came up with! It is exactly what we wanted. She changed the brown and ivory I had chosen originally, it looks much, much better with her choices. I love it! Thanks so much Donna, now we can get to work on our Save the Date’s!

Centerpiece talk again?

2008-10-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

Why yes, thank you for asking. This is why a long engagement is not a good idea, ladies. You have tons of time to change your mind over and over again. You also have a lot of time to see many other details all over the net, therefore, you add things to your to-do list once every other day.

I will soon post a list of all the DIY projects I have in mind. I finally purchased a GOCCO today and I hope to receive it pretty soon! When that happens, I can finally get started on some of the projects I have planned. For now, I will leave you with another idea for centerpieces.

I would like to alternate this type of centerpieces with my Tulips. What do you think?

Are you still changing your mind on the details?

I am sorry for I dont remember the source of this pictures. If they belong to you, I'd be happy to give you credit.

I've been tagged!

2008-10-03T10:03:00.000-07:00

I've been blog "tagged" by Meiki-Mek of Wedding Poop, so here it is...

4 Things I Did Today (based on yesterday)
1. I arrived to work early so I sat at the courtyard and "people watched".
2. Browsed around Macy's during my lunch hour.
3. Had dinner at my mom's house.
4. Took driving lessons on a whim.

4 Things On My To Do List
1. Must. Do. Laundry!! The pile keeps getting bigger.
2.Try to save my dying plants. At this point, they need more than water.
3. Place some stuff for sale so I can buy a Gocco! Care to contribute to the Gocco fund, D?
4. Sort out the pile of papers, bills and wedding cut-outs that’s sitting on the kitchen table.

4 Of My Guiltiest Pleasures
1. Desperate Housewives, am I alone here?
2. Food, it follows me everywhere, I can’t get away.
3. Celebrity Gossip blogs – Perezious anyone?
4. Pretty pens although I hardly ever write anything.

4 Random Facts About Me:
1. The sun makes me sneeze. If it’s a sunny day I will for sure sneeze!
2. I’ve lived in the Los Angeles area since I was 5 or 6 and I’ve never been to Disneyland, on the other hand, my 10 y/o has been there 4 times, WTH!?!
3. I love Spanish rice… with ranch! This is thanks to a friend who ate that all the time when she was pregnant. Yum!
4. When I was around 9, I called a friend of my dad’s, (whom owned a restaurant) and asked her to give me a job. I wanted to start earning money already damnit! LOL. I don’t think she ever told my dad about it.

And now, it's time for me to TAG you! And I TAG...

Boda for Pennies

Baby and me

Will work for peonies

Yes We Can!

2008-10-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

I was gone again. I guess part of me gave up on this whole thing due to the money problems. D’s job is still as unstable as the boss and his girlfriend. This was the first time I’ve given up on something before using all my resources.

I was talking to a friend a couple of weeks ago; he mentioned that I didn’t sound like myself anymore. I had always been a fighter, what’s stopping me now? The money, I said. He then started with the “It is only up to you to make things possible. If you try hard enough, you will succeed” He remarked that we can either give up and be defeated, or try our best and make it happen no matter what. He’s right, like always. I miss him.

In short, I’ve decided to stick around, fight for this and make it happen. I can already see the huge smiles on our face on the day of our wedding, feeling proud of ourselves for making it happen and not giving up. We can do it, I know we can!

I love you D.

Too soon to have wedding nightmares?

2008-09-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

I had a nightmare last night, but uumm, don't they come around when your wedding is around the corner? There is 10 months until our wedding. I'm not sure what caused it, maybe a post on Weddingbee stayed in my head all night, maybe it's the stress I am going through, whatever it was, I did not like it!

The nightmare included my dress being knee lenght, I hated the dress! Somehow, my MIL (in my dream she was my aunt) was in charge of picking it up from the shop. When I started crying she told me not to worry, it looked fine. She claimed that the bridal shop didn't have enough fabric to make my floor lenght dress, I cried again when I realized that the make-up and hair girls never arrived, I started to do my make-up and hair and of course, I was having a bad hair day! To top it off, my aunt (MIL) was the only one in the room, helping me get ready. For some odd reason, she was going to walk me down the isle. (???)

I was finally picked up by my friend (a friend I've never seen before) to take me to the church. I got in her car and started crying again because nothing was working out. To cheer me up, she showed me our invitations, in the dream, this was the first time I ever saw them. I loved them so much! I started smiling and after that, I did not care about the dress or makeup. I was just completely in love with the invites.

I woke up with a smile on my face! I have no idea why the invitations made me so happy, after all, they were YELLOW! I never considered yellow to be one of our colors, maybe it was a sign to my previous post about adding a third color? LOL

Has this happened to you?

Think green

2008-09-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

Choosing our color scheme wasn't too hard. My favorite color is green, specially vibrant greens. Some people hate it I know, but I looove it! Something about it makes me feel happy. We settled on apple green and we needed another color to compliment it and pink came to mind. I've seen beautiful combinations of pink and green weddings.

The mister however, was not too fond of pink at all. Something manly perhaps? Brown it is, chocolate brown. So up until now our color scheme has been apple green and chocolate brown.

I love the combination but sometimes I feel that we should incorporate a third color. It is a rule that they have to match?

Last week, while catching up on my Google Reader, I saw a post on the Southern Weddings Blog and I fell in love with the purple accents of the wedding. The bouquet looks AMAZING!

source (click to enlarge)

Maybe I can incorporate it somehow, somewhere. What do you think, should we add a third color, maybe pink ;]. How about minimal purple accents? Or should I just settle with the common ivory?

One thing is for sure, this decision will affect my shoes! ;]

Long engagement, not enough time!

2008-09-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

I mentioned on my very first post that in October of 2007 we started talking about the wedding. Around that same month we settled on our wedding date. Although we did not get our original date, we are happy with what we got.

The reason we chose April 11th was because on April 12th of 2006 we moved in together and we wanted our anniversary to fall on or close to that date, not to mention that it wont be hot as hell during that time of the year. Oh well, I hope we survive the heat on our July wedding in L.A. Guys, I don't think Guayaberas will help you much with the heat.

So there, we had 21 months to plan a wedding and I kept saying we had more than enough time. So I slacked. Now we are about 10 months out and I am freaking out! Things did not work in our favor and money wise, we are not ready. We made plans and saving arrangements only to be sidetracked with D starting a new job. It hasn't picked up yet so we aren't doing much saving these days. Some days I am calm, telling myself we have enough time and everything will workout. And then there are those days when I freak out and don't think that our plans are going to workout.

I'd like to think that time line wise, we are doing well. We have the church, reception venue and our photographer booked. I pretty much settled on one idea for our flowers, the dress is still in the back seat of all this planning. I have no desire to start looking but I will soon. We know the type of attire we would like for the wedding party also. We basically have many decisions and ideas settled, we just need to execute those ideas. I'm still hoping I can get a Gocco before I have to start working on paper projects.

I plan on doing many DIY projects to save money and if I start soon, I should be fine. That's right, I haven't started a single project!

How long is/was your engagement?

Word on the cheap

2008-08-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

Soon after we started planning our wedding, I bought a wedding planner & organizer.

Source

It has not made my life/planning any easier by the way. My suggestion? Don't buy one. Go the wonderful DIY route instead. Buy a regular binder, add dividers and voila! You have a Wedding Planner. Many wedding websites have printer friendly planners anyway, budget and guest list forms along with seating charts. You can just print them and add them to your binder. No need to spend $30 bucks, specially if you are on a tight budget. I know, I should have know better.

Along with the pricey planner, I bought the Bridal Bargains book by Denise & Alan Fields

I seriously recommend it. It gives you so many points towards planning a budget friendly wedding. It goes behind the scenes of the bridal industry and tells you how we (brides) get ripped off and how to avoid it. After reading this book, I am seriously contemplating the idea of buying my dress from China for less than $200. Well... almost. I have to keep reading a little more to convince myself.

It's never too late to start reading it. I'm sure it will help you save money somewhere along the way. Hey. every penny counts!

Have any of you read Bridal Bargains already, how did it help you?

If money wasn't an issue..

2008-08-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

Interrupting the flow of this blog (yeah, what flow? lol).. I would like to share this amazing video of Mrs. Milkshake's wedding day. In my opinion, photography and video are the most important details of the wedding. Why? well it's obvious, those are the two things that you can look back on and remember the day, with an image and video.

Cheryl + Andrew's SDE - Vancouver from StillMotion on Vimeo.

I think this type of memory is priceless and totally worth working overtime to be able to do it!

If money wasn't an issue, what would be one thing you would totally splurge on?

M.I.A!

2008-08-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

Meh, so I haven't updated this as often as I should. I suck, I know. So, I posted about our ceremony site and now it's time for the fun and dance. I think this was the biggest headache I got over wedding planning. The ceremony site was a pretty easy decision, the photographer wasn't as easy but we made a final decision pretty fast (more on this later). But the reception venue, man, was money an issue!

So the next post will be about choosing the reception venue. Without being broke before booking!

Do it yourself, yeah?

2008-08-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

My SIL and I did a mock up of the centerpieces I talked about on this post. It worked out pretty well and I was pretty excited to see it come together on the day of. I want to do all the flowers a la DIY, not just because I'm a control freak but also to save dinero. Flowers can get pretty expensive as soon as you mention wedding. I bought the flowers at the Flower District in Downtown L.A for about $25 dlrs.

But (I know, there is always a but) now I am a bit discouraged because the tables may be too crowded. My plan is to use a medium cylinder vase and three mason jars around it. Did I mention votives ? Well add to that two bottles of wine, bread, favors and whatever else I'm not counting. Oh wait! I forgot the table numbers! What to do, what to do?

The table setting. I may want the napkins folded instead of inside the glass.

Here are the simple yet beautiful centerpieces. (what? i do think they are beautiful!)

I will eventually figure out what to do with the votives, maybe velum?

I love the tulips and I also love that they are pretty easy to set up. But now I'm confused. What do you think? Should I just give up on the idea and start searching for a florist?

My very first trial!

2008-07-24T22:25:00.000-07:00

Quick post..

Which would look better on a table with mason jars and simple white flowers

as center pieces? I made one with a brown ribbon at the top and a green bow on top of it. Another one with just brown ribbon around it. And the last one, plain, no ribbons.

This the actual center piece I'm hoping for.

Are you going the DIY route for centerpieces?

I do... do you?

2008-07-21T23:12:00.000-07:00

When we started planning our wedding we really had no idea where would it all take place. Me being raised in the South Bay, could only come up with ideas on that side of town. My first guess was the Nativity Church in Torrance.

source

Actually... that was my only option. Doh! I attended that church when I was a kid and my Quinceanera mass was held there. I don't think I mentioned it to D, I knew he would not be too fond of going all the way out there.

We looked around our area while we drove to work or just running errands. We never really went to any church to officially check it out. Mind you we didn't attend mass on a regular basis, therefor, we didn't have a church.

I came across the Wayfarers Chapel in San Pedro and seriously contemplated the idea. I really wanted our ceremony there. It's just so beautiful and great for our pictures!! I quickly had to give up on the idea due to the price and the fact that its in San Pedro, even further than Nativity Church.

You cannot tell me this isn't beautiful! source