This is bekah301's Red Wedding!

After 9 different stores and countless dresses, I'm for sure down to two. The 3rd pic is the dress I originaly fell in love with but it's $3400 :( Let me tell you, it is hard to find another dress when you've already found one you like but can't have! The 1st is very similar to it and I like the train better. Anyways, it wouldn't need anything but basic alterations. In the pic you can see it was a little small on me which may be why I liked the 3rd dress (4th & 5th pics) slightly more although it's different from what I was looking for. (no picture policy in that store BOO!) I would have the straps taken up a little so they would sit off the shoulder more and I would add buttons to the back. Plus it's $300 more. The 1st is more likely. I'm going either Monday or Thursday with a bridesmaid to decide. So excited!

I really want to use a common patten through out the wedding. I want to use it on the invites for the side pockets (3rd pic). For the ceremony I want to line the aisle with pedestals like in the fourth pic but make them black with a thin piece of fabric draped over (table runner style) with the pattern. Then I want to use it on the table runners, the card box, and for the favor boxes, in the bathrooms and anywhere else I can think of.

So here's the issue:
Is the fabric in the 1st pic close enough to the paper in the 2nd pic to use them both together?
Or maybe I could use the paper I used originally on the invites with the fabric? (it fuzzy paper though, I'm not sure about it, it feels kind of cheap/tacky to me)
The paper would be on the invites, the favors and water bottles. Maybe the card box.
The fabric would be on the table runers, the pedestals in the ceremony, in the bathroom and maybe on the card box.

Do ya'll think this would look ok since nothing wold be right next to each other or do I need a new fabric or a new paper? Anyone know where I can find a replacement (trust me I've been looking everywhere!) I like using gift wrap because it is cost effective.

All the flower arrangements I want are pretty simple and I'm sure my family and I wil have no trouble putting them together. Oh wait, I need to share my bridemaid's bouquet idea: I'm going to carry the long stem bunch of calla lillies and each of the bridesmaid will carry a bouquet of only one kind of flower with long stems similar to mine. But each girl will have a different flower. One with tulips, one with roses, one with amarylis etc. They will all be white and similar to mine but smaller and maybe a little shorter stems.

Anyways, so with things being simple, it seemed logical to just buy the floral in bulk from Sam's (by the way I think that's the cheapest place to buy flowers) and put everything together myself. Here's my worry: I've read that white flowers are the most difficult towork with because the petal can bruise more easily. I've also read read that you should be sure that you're florist carries the flowers to the site in a refrigerated truck. Obviously we will not be able to do that. My flowers should be inexpensive to do with a florist since they're simple but I'm sure it will be more than doing it ourselves. Especially since I would like to do something like in the picture. Is anyone else doing their own flowers? Anyone using florists because of the same concerns I have?

I decided right off I wanted a wedding website and I initially picked one off the knot. It was regularly $70 but the knot had a promo to get it at half price. (wedorama.com) Sounded good to me! Then my MOH found a free one that I like sooo much better. It's superweds.com. The pages aren't as unique and you can't add a song but the game is cute and you can add lots of pics where ever you want.
Anyways, I just wanted to share that, maybe save someone some money.

I thought I wanted fondont until I was talking with my FSIL. She's having a super nice, formal wedding at a hotel on the beach in South Beach. She still wants buttercream. She says the fondont doesn't taste half as good and why have a cake that doesn't tast as good as it looks. I'm undecided still. I'll probably wait to see how hers does. What are ya'll doing?

I don't remember which of my favorite brides I stole the first pic from but I know I've seen it posted about a thousand times since! I like the diagonal squares but I think I just want a black ribbon on the bottum of each tier and then flesh fowers added to the tiers, not sure what kind yet. Maybe callas like in the 3rd pic.

I like the next to last cake best for the grooms cake but the last is more realistic. He likes poker so I'm sure it will be something along those lines

I finally have enough picture saved on my computer to share. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with simple calla lillies. So many brides do, so I' hesitant but I do want a look of simple elegance. The 4th picture with the callas and bear grass is pretty cool, I think it would go well with the centerpieces. The 3rd pic i kind of like too but since my sister is doing the flowers maybe I should keep it simple. More likely to turn out like I want. Maybe I'll add pearals to the wrap arounf the stems, I will post a pic when I find a good one.

I have a couple of pics of bouqets with stargazer lillies in them. My sister loves them and the way they smell but I'm allergic to them, we just found out when I got some at the store :(

I Kind of like the flower bracelot idea but maybe it looks a little too much like a coursage (this thing needs spell check) for prom.


I don't think the flower purse is for me but I thought I'd share it.

the bracelots and purse are found at www.creationsbtfitzdesign.com

My dad is old school and all my siblings' spouses call my dad Mr D**** but several of them call my mom, Mom. I think all my siblings call their in-laws by their first name, which has been what I do with my soon to be in-laws. I've considered calling my FMIL Mom, since she definitely treats me like a daughter. What about ya'll? Is anyone getting an old school in-law like my dad or do you call them mom and dad or by name?

Yes! I just made the call! It ends up only $500 more than Winfrey Point since we won't have to decorate as much and won't have to rent the chairs and tables. There's separate rooms for the ceremony and reception and it's all indoor. Just no candles or dogs :( I think we will still fly in with the pups and will just have to start buying those LED candles. And I think we're going to add gold as an accent color to warm up the black and white color scheme to the colors of the courthouse. We'll use it on the table runners, napkins and hopefully get the gold chiavari chairs. Yay! Yay! Yay! So happy to finally know where it will be.

I simply cannot figure out where to get married. I'm sick of wedding stuff right now because I can't plan anything but invites until we figure this out. Jameson really likes the Empire Room. I do also but I wasn't crazy about the ceremony area. It's also expensive, that's the main thing. His dad had offered to pick up the majority of the reception but we're afraid 1- he'll hold it over our heads or 2-his current business merger will fall through and leave us in major debt. I found a nice, inexpensive alternative but we will have to bring EVERYTHING. That kind of scares me. It's honestly probably our best bet. It has a kind of coutry feel but you can see the Dallas Skyline from outside. The basic costs are very inexpensive and then as we know for sure we have the money we could add things like maragrita machines, fireworks, sky writing (I still LOVE that idea) whatever...

Every place has it's issue, maybe I'm just too picky. I want to see everything. I've always been like that. Afraid the minute I commit to anything less than absolutely perfect, the perfect whatever I was looking for will appear. I found Mr Absolutely Perfect but I think the absolutely perfect venue will be out of our budget.

This place seems pretty great but I wanted a semi-formal affair. Do ya'll think you can do that in a venue on the lake where half the reception area is a screened in patio can be made formal? There's a great pic I got from theknot that shows how another couple decorated it. It's looks great but too spring-y for me. I guess it does show that the place can be dressed up.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.. Thank goodness we're having a long engagement!

I have the center piece picked out I just need the vases. I'm guessing they will be at least $20 each :( My two favorite vase website are:

www.save-on-crafts.com and
www.flowersandsupllies.com

but neither have very LARGE buble bowls. I haven't had much luck at the area craft stores either. I want ones that are around 16" in diameter and about 12" tall. THe size is what makes them expensive but it what I want. Help anyone?

Also, anyone recognize this picture? I'm not sure where i got it from (which is the case with many of my pics, I save everything I like but sometimes don't use them very soon). I would love to see more pictures of this reception.

Initially I was against having a seating chart but the more I remember the last two weedings I attended, I'm changing my mind. The first I only knew the bride, groom and one bridesmaid. Fortunately i made friends quickly but the next wedding wasn't so smooth. My FI was the best man and had his time consumed without me. I was really lost at first, not sure who to sit with, getting stuck with people who didn't seem to care to talk to me. OK, I'd like to thing we have more friendly friends than that couple did but who really knows.

So I'm curious, it seems the majority of brides on here are having seating charts. Any helpful hints for organizing the seating? Those of you who aren't, do you have a reason, other than having a small wedding, for not making a seating chart? I'm starting to really see the point of it, yet I'm still not fully convinced I need one. Any suggestions?

Okay, i know my wedding's still a ways away but these things will take me awhile to put together. I'm going tomorrow to every Michaels in the area to get the flower paper to make sure I have enough. The store I bought the paper at I don't think had quite enough.

So there's a pocket on each side and a vellum sheet in the middle. The front is all black. The only ribbon I could find in the whole house was the blue stuff, definitely temporary. And the seal on the back was left over from the engagement party invites. I didn't put them n here cause they were pretty plain. Anyways, the only thing I didn't get in was a spot for our picture. Maybe I'll skip one pocket and add out picture on the side?

Wow, I'm so happy! They look a lot better than i was expecting, especially since I was only using a 6 in. ruler. Some of the edges are rough. But now I get my fancy, pocket invites without breaking the bank. I'm not sure how much they will cost yet, I will post prices when I get them.

So right after I started planning I thought i knew it all but now I'm changing it all up. I want to go with the center pieces in the pictures, no fish. I liked the idea of fish but I think it's going to to be too much work to mess with. I might still have a few with fish, like on cocktail tables ( out of little kids reach). Good for conversation. I'm not sure if I want the same on all the dining tables and different ones on the VIP tables or just vary evenly between the two.

Anyone know a good place to find the big bubble bowls? Save on crafts doesn't have ones big enough for what I want.

Now the dress. I'm lucky enough to have a figure that's well suited for a fit and flare or trumpet style dress so I'm going with it. I want one that fitted enough I can show off a little but flared enough at the bottum that I can dance. I don't have a picture of my current favorite but it's very similar to the one in the first dress picture but the top looks more like the second dress. Also i want a low back. The guests will see the back of you more than you think so I am definitely going to keep that in mind. I haven't crossed out the one below. I plan on going to try it on again in a couple of weeks to refresh my memory. The first dress I listed is out now for sure. It looks like we're going for the high rise so I definitely want a slim elegant, classy dress.

One thing, the third dress is my fiance's sister's dress, she's getting married this May. Do any of ya'll think the dress I described above would look too similar to hers? I actually tried on her dress unknowingly and really liked it. Thank goodness his mom warned me when she saw the catalouge I brought home!

Lastly the band. I think we're going to get a dj instead. My dad hates the Beatles. Also it will help free up some money for the venue. Who knows, maybe his dad will help out some more, he loves the beatles. We'll see.

We don't have it all figured out yet but I got some inspiration today and here's what I came up with:
I think I want Etta James for the wedding party to come into, then something else for me. Or maybe something else for them and Etta for me. Not sure. I had wanted that song to start with our first kiss but I think something more upbeat would be better, we will have just gotten married. I'm thinking Beautiful Day.

I want to have a playlist of 45 minutes worth of music to play before the ceremony starts while the early birds wait, probably for my family. I have a few I'm sure about:
Dave Mathews Band - Two Step
Dave Mathews band - Crush
U2 - Beautiful Day - if not used in the ceremony
311 - Love Song
Nat King Cole- L-O-V-E (might not be on playlist)

For the reception the must have our:
Dean Martin - Ain't that a Kick in the Head (FI's request)
Outkast - Hey Ya (for my bridemaids, it's our old party song)
Justin Timberlake - My Love (my man's ringer)
Muse - Starlight (the night we got engaged I remember hearing this song specifically right after the big moment)

Yay!

I never really thought about having our dog in the wedding. I love my (now our) dog to death and I come from a dog loving family but I'm marrying one that isn't. I'm one of those people who knows everyone at the dog park. People wave to me while I walk him cause they see me everyday. Still, didn't think Zeke had a place in the wedding until people started asking. Next to what day and where the wedding will be, people want him to be there! I'm a little shocked. J loves the idea. He wants to make bets in how many times his dad will roll his eyes at it . So i got all warmed up, appointed one of nephews and two of my nieces to be in charge of Zeke and the Old Red court house doesn't allow dogs :( I was already looking for doggie tuxes and a pimp leash and....
True we hadn't exactly decided on the court house yet but we were pretty certain. If the girl from the Empire Room gets back to me with a yes on the dog and the quote she's putting together is good we might have to expand our budget a little.

The other little dog is our chihuahua Ringo, who despite extensive socialization, still developed that neurotic chihuahua syndrome. He would have a heart attack at the wedding

Last night we watched the 3rd American Pie, the wedding one and I was just thinking how excited I am about our wedding, especially after seeing venues. Just then he says, "Why is our wedding still a year away? Can't we do it this weekend?" I laughed out loud, cause he was the one that more wanted to wait until May instead of October. Had it not ben the logical thing to do I would have argued about it. It was adorable, knowing he's excited about the big day :)

LONG post

The first two pictures are The Old red Courthouse. It's is very pretty on the inside and has a beautiful staircase for photos. We get the whole building for the evening and we can bring our own alcohol which will save us at least $2500 and then we can have an open bar with all kinds of alcohol. I like that the ceremony and the reception are in different rooms and that we get the whole buiding. Also in the reception hall in each corner is a small room, maybe 10 by 10 which we can put colors and books or toys for kids in a couple, maybe have one for older guests to get away from noise. I really liked that. the reception's on the fourth floor and while it's not as spetacular as the empire room(below), it still has a very nice view. Drawbacks are we can't use any candles or sparklers. The biggest thing and main reason for not jumping on the venue is the color of the walls. They are mostlt this light kind of sea green or a light maroon which sounds much worse than it is. You can see it in the 3rd picture. It's actually very pretty but I'm not sure it will really go with the black and white theme. Maybe we should go back to the red and champange for colors?

Empire room photos 4 and 5
This is the most expensive and impressive place. It's on the 48th floor in the middle of downtown and has windows on all sides. The ceremony takes place in half of the reception room and is broken down while we take pictures. The guests meantime are moved to a cocktail lounge which Jameson liked. I like it because of that mostly and that they specialize in weddings. They provide tealights and nice gold chairs. We also get the entire floor for our use. The girl we're working with has been very helpful too. The room has a formal feel to it, nice carpet and dark wood on the walls. It isn't as inviting as I would like but then at night I'm sure the walls will blend in and everyone will be enjoying the great view too much to notice much else. This, of coarse, is one of Jameson's favorites. the ceremony space leaves an isle that's a little less than 30 ft. That's from the door to the preacher, before the doorway is a big hallway but I still felt the walk was a little short, this is my biggest concern. Next is there is no balcony for smokers. There is a room where smoking is allowed but we're concerned that the smell may migrate. The last is that the reception hall is kind of L shaped. I don't think it will be a big deal but it does waste space

The last two pics are the Hickory St Annex. It's an event venue made from a old Gulf Coast Oil building. It's on the second floor and has a pretty nice view of downtown except this one old ugly building blocks part of it. The floors are white and the walls are too but there are so many windows with these nice gold curtains so it doesn't look bland. the ceiling has open rafters with lots of lights. They look nicer in person than they do in the photos. It has a loft feel. The look of the room would go great with the black and white and we can bring our own alcohol. It also has lounge furniture (really modern couch and chairs), some is provided but we have the option to rent up to 6 sets. The drawback to this one is that there is really only one room to the place. It is big enough to that there is room for the guests to move over to but they will still be in the same room while we breakdown the ceremony area

Anyone see anything that jumps out maybe help us make a decision? The Arboretum for the ceremny is out now, I've heard they aren't very helpful if you get rained on, there's no where to change at the site and the lady has taken forever returning my calls. Anyways, so these venues all would be hosting ceremony and reception. Now just to decide....

So Jameson left this morning to go snowboarding. Originally I was going to go also but there's only guys going and they're all really good at it and I'm not. Also, I don't have any gear and I'm not too crazy about cold weather either. So the deal was he'd go snowboarding and I'd go to New York city to visit my best friend. But she's busy with school, was just down here, I will see her in two weeks anyways and it's cold up there too. So it's delayed til May. Sounded good to me, having the place to myself and having a pass to get some girl time in the big apple but the couch just isn't as comfortable without him :( Since the end of the long distance thing we've only been apart two days and that was over a weekend so I went out with friends and it wasn't too bad. But now I'm here and I'm hungry, trying to remember what I ate when I lived alone cause I know I didn't cook for myself. Sigh... He doesn't get back til Friday- when we're going camping yay! Definitely going to have to have our own tent this weekend.

Has anyone been to a trunk show? Especially for Maggie Sottero? Can you get the dresses cheaper or is it just to see the whole line? Will you be able to try on the dresses?

There's a Maggie Sottero trunk show about 300 miles from where I live this weekend and I'm debating if it'll be worth the drive. There's another in Dallas the weekend I'm going to be there but maybe I should go to both?

**FROM MY SISTER**
No you should not expect to find discounted dresses at a trunk show. You might but don't count on it unles the salon has sent you an advertisement that gives you a discount. She told me if I had nothing to do, I should undertake the drive cause they are ususally fun but not to make any big deal of it, I will get to see the dresses again in Dallas. Mostly it's for when you see that one dress in the magazine and you can't find it in ay stores.

Our original date was going to be October 4, 2008. I have a cousin getting married in April, his sister in May, then my Matron of Honor the end of August- in Mexico. Since my MOH and I will have similar wedding parties, J and I decided to give everyone's pocketbooks a break and go for May 09. We had to wait until after April 15 because there are several accountants in my family. So we picked Memorial day weekend cause it's right after my grandmother's birthday (she'll be 92!) and then long weekend will make travel easier. Yay! we're all happy.

First problem- His aunt wants to throw us an engagement party. We really wanted to go to Dallas for the St Patty's day parade anyways, so we told her we should do it that weekend. She's thrilled, we have a better reason to take off work, we buy ticket and invitations - his sister schedules her bridal shower that weekend. Since we called Sunday and she wanted hers on Saturday, I figured things would be fine but she got miffed so it's now tentively scheduled for June. At least we still have another reason to go to Dallas besides the parade. American Airlines will love me this year.

Then my newly pregnant niece decides she's marrying the father. She's due in August and wants a May wedding. May 09. Sh'e afraid she'll show too much by May this year. I tell her it puts an unfair financial strain on the family (and me- i have to fly in again for that) and assure her if her dress has an empire waist, no one will know. FINALLY, she goes for this April 12th. The venue she wants is completely booked for May. It's two weeks before my cousin's and right before the taxdeadline. Everyone is stressed on how to make it to hers.

Then, my nephew proposes to his girlfriend and she missed the date change from October and schedules hers the week before. I love the girl and told her I would do what I could but honestly, I didn't want to change our date. Hers is somewhere up north that I had never heard of, maybe in West Vriginia. Fortunately she want a very small wedding and we only have 4 mutual guests. I told her I won't hate her if she does go the weekend before me, as long as they postpone or hurry back from the honeymoon so they an be at mine. As of now, they decided to postpone it indefinitely. Poor girl! Hopefully they can work it out for August.

OK- in two and half weeks, we're going to Dallas to see venues. After that, anyone else who wants to crowd me on the date is SOL on my cooperation. argh.... I things just can't be easy

My niece is getting married this April (yep, shot gun wedding) in Waco (where I grew up) and while helping her plan I realized how much cheaper it would be for us to get married in Waco ( yeah the infamous small Texas city :P ) More than half the guests live in Dallas and there is so much better selection in venues, catereres, clubs, restaurants..... But for what we're spending on an average venue in Dallas with beer and wine, we could have a very nice one in Waco ( by the city standards) with a full open bar AND pay for the hotel rooms for ALL the out of town guests and STILL have money left over. Not that the Dallas one won't be great, I mean there aren't any high rises to speak of in Waco or any good places for a bachelorette party or bachelor really, (this is looking even better, JK) Jameson has been opposed to Waco from the start (native Dallas-ites are very proud of their city) but I figured once I showed him how much cheaper it would be, he might go for it. But no. I love Dallas, the venues there fit our personalities and what we would like for a wedding much more and it will be much easier to plan there but I think I'd go for the extra money to keep. Ug, I don't like thinking about it, I guess Dallas is the place to be.

**Waco description**
Waco is almost the only city between Austin and Dallas, right smack in the middle, 100 miles from either. It is it's own little city in a way. It has suburbs of it's own but including all of them it's probably still maybe 175, 000 people. There are suburbs of Dallas bigger than that.
Unfortunately famous for a cult that went down in the 90s, actually outside of Waco but since it's the only real city in a 200 mile radius, it took all the blame.

we're good friends with this couple here in Florida and we both kind of regretted that we hadn't asked them to be in the wedding party. So last night- after a few drinks, we decided they should be in it! I'm not sure I wanted more but I'm really glad we added them because they were so thrilled! Shannon gave me the biggest hug and swore to help out in every possible way. I said if we're having that many, we might as well add the older of my two nieces I had previously blogged about. So we're up to nine on each side. Truthfully, I'm happy I added her too, even though the wedding party might be getting a little ridiculous. Her younger sister is going to be by the guest book and made an unoffiial bridemaid. What can I say - we don't want anyone to feel left out.

Speaking of I have three nices I babysat over the summer evey year - for years. The oldest is a bridesmaid and I think it woud be nice to include the younger two. At this point, I guess adding two junior bridesmaids wouldn't matter but I'd rather have them do something else. Any ideas?

My bridesmaid will probably help in the reception decorating and if my sister gets to cater- we will all be peeling shrimp the night before too! So I plan on getting them each a little package of things. First off one of the few things I already knew I wanted for my wedding is for at least the weding party, if not everyone, to wear flip flops to the reception to dance in. I am having a semi-formal reception so I figured this would be a great way to keep it from being too stuffy. So they're all getting flip flops. Then I found these hilarious luggage tags. I moved to South Florida almost a year ago and I keep bugging them to come visit- I'm on the beach, not like I'm dragging them somewhere cold. So the Plan is a personalized beach tote, flip flops, luggage tags and then these wine bottle stoppers just because they were cheap and I know they'd like them. Yeah, probably not the most important things to buy first but you gotta take care of your girls!

THE REMEDY?
First off thanks for everyone earlier input!

Although I have a lovely ring, I would have picked a wider band for this ring, My idea was to have two wedding bands but is that a normal thing or is a second band something you add on a significant anniversary?

Also, there are diamonds on three sides of the band, two sides will be covered by the other bands so I guess we shouldn't weld the bands together. I thought that was what you did- weld the bands together but my fiance says he's never heard of it. What are you guys doing with your bands?

** update**
The other day my FMIL was asking meif we had thought about what kind of bands we would want. Then she said she was excited about mine because it was DESIGNED to have two bands! Yay! I'm not being greedy! I'm so happy, my ring will be simply magnificant with two bands!

I was all ready to buy my printable magnets and make them myself, them I found these on ebay. The average was $50-$60 for 100 and you can design them yourself or pick one of their designs. I'm excited. We're going to a photo booth and getting the 4 sequential pictures to go down the side in black and white and the details on the right. I will post the final picture when I get it. Yay!
It'll be a little bit though, I'm planning on mailing them 9 months before the wedding since only about a third of the guests are traveling, most of them only 100 miles, and they all already know about the wedding.


On the side, when is weddingby color going to add more colors! Like black and white? I emailed them about it a month ago; red's my favorite color but it's not my wedding palate.

So afters hours of internet searching, I have 13 possible venues. I emailed 10 of them on Sunday and called three yesterday morning. It's only 8:15 AM in Texas but I am a little disappointed that I have only been contacted by 6. Don't these people want my business? Fortunately 3 of those that contacted me were from my 6 favorites.

My fiance wonders if I'm over doing this, he asked why I didn't want to just see the 6 favorites, surely one of those will work. I said we don't know anything about these places other than what's on the internet and who knows which ones could be grossly misrepresented or under-represented. I think we need to see them all. Did I get too many?

So here's what we've got, a wide variety: two downtown high rises-(one on the 48th floor- that's a favorite); one country club; two historic places; three event centers; one theater; one art muesem; one of those places that was made for mostly weddings; and two community centers. It is going to be a busy weekend in Dallas! I am so excited about his part though. All the rest of the planning is pretty muchly on hold til we know where we're having it. Some places don't allow candles, other provide them, some are cheap and plain so we'll have to decorate alot , some are so pretty, too much decoration might make it look busy.... the anticipation builds

I found two great dresses, both took my breath away. One was simple and elegant, $790 though. A LITTLE much for no beads and all. It's called Nadine by Maggie Sottero, who is a designer after my heart. I love so many of her dresses. But it looked amazing(1st picture). And we came up with a great idea of using a black ribbon to lace up the back with. The second I don't have a picture of yet (waiting for the MOH to send them) It did spectacular things for my figure. It was beautiful also. Big skirt, lots of beads and embroidery and lace under skirts and just beautiful. It better be for $1600! I think that helps me decide. The second dress I still like and the one below also but I'm holding out for a breath taking one.

How awesome would it be to have a plane come write Jameson and Rebekah maybe with a heart around it, in the sky above the ceremony? Ok, I maybe that's not really in the budget but seriously, wouldn't it be cool?!

So after we got engaged my fiance told 7 guys they would be groomsmen! I was thinking we should have, like 3. I thought about it and came up with 3 best college friends, my 3 only high school friends and my closest niece, who happens to be the current black sheep of the family (I used to be so I'm standing by her). After this, I wondered if I should have asked my two other bridesmaid-aged nieces before my friends. Their mom, my sister, is helping me find a discounted dress from market and is doing my flowers. I don't want to offend her but I don't think I can unbridesmaid someone. One girl MIGHT not be able to make it, so the older of the two nieces could replace her. (The younger one goes to college in Nashville so I could use that as an excuse to exclude her I guess) My other sister suggested i should have them cut the cake or pass the bucket in the dollar dance. I think that would more keep them from having fun at the reception rather than make them feel included. I was thinking maybe tell them I made too many promises before i was engaged and offer to make them unofficial bridesmaids; include them in the bachelorette party and the spa day but not have them walk the isle. Or may be I should just make it 8 and have the younger (wo)man the guestbook? Any opinions/suggestions?

It looks like the bride in the picture has 10!

This dress looked awesome on me. The way it gathers at the side (may be hard to see) took inches off my waist and the neckline was surprisingly perfect. The only thing I didn't like is that the train was completely plain. Nothing on it at all. I don't want gobs of beads and design but I want something on it. I'd rather not have one than have such a bland one. I guess I could get it removed maybe or have some embroidery done but it was $399 at David's Bridal. Not too bad but that's already more than I wanted to spend. I've looked on ebay but there's so many on there it can be a little intimidating. Also I'm superstitious and would NEVER want a used dress unless the seller promised me, maybe proved to me, that she was happily married and not divorced or widowed young. Just seems like that would bring bad vibes in. There are engagement rings on there too! Ack! I would take a plain band before a used engagement ring. Maybe if it was from an old lady with no kids to pass the ring on to, who had a long happy mariage and was only parting with the ring out of financial necessity. Then I think I'd feel bad and just give her some money. Ok, that's my rant. Each to their own. Saving money is saving money.

Please let me know if you see any dresses like this. The neckline is not really common. I also really like the gathering on the side. I think I want a trumpet or mermaid style though. I have a lot of dancing to do so I'm not sure I want a huge skirt. The one on here isn't very big, almost perfect

There's this awesome Beatles cover band in Dallas, A Hard Night's Day, that I would love to have at our wedding. I've seen them live and they're very entertaining. What I really love is that they keep the music very close to the originals, no creative interpretations. I need to talk to them about other music, if they play any non-Beatles music or if they will play some cd music during breaks. Not sure that I want 100% Beatles. This is the big splurge of our wedding so it's gotta be right on. I'm really excited about this, I love the Beatles!

I just read a great idea. One bride put a spot on the rsvp card for the guest's best tip for a happy marriage. I was thinking maybe add a comment/advice box at the wedding. We could go through what everyone had to say with a bottle of wine on the honey moon.

I've learned today especially to check out every location thoroughly. Don't write off anything too soon. I found out not long ago, there are venues overlooking downtown Dallas I can afford (that was a pleasant surprise!). Then today, I was looking through theknot's featured weddings and some locations I had decided against because I didn't feel had the right look, I changed my mind about after seeing photos of other weddings there. Oh my. I have one friday, a sunday and a half a monday to look at venues in Dallas and my list is up to 7 must sees, 5 maybes and 13 more I just found out about and need to get info on. I'm going to be busy!

I love how chair covers can really transform a room. The best deal I have found so far is at

www.cheapchaircovers.com

It seems they are $2.50 each (to rent) and that includes the sash and there's free shipping, for now anyways. The actual name of the website scares me a little though. Is the quality going to be cheap? Anybody have experience with them?

I also love www.yourwedding.com
they had some great ideas on inexpensive decor

and www.save-on-crafts.com

however save on crafts wasn't as cheap as it seemed after I visited a Micheals here in Florida. The prices were about the same really. Still, you can't always get 30 identical vases at a crafts store and they also carry the submersible (sp?) LED lights. The guy at party city looked at me like I was speaking Greek wheb I asked about those!

Okay I was going to keep this idea to myself but I just shared it with another girl who had a similar idea in mind. I want varying heights on my center pieces, some low and wide others tall and thin. For the tall ones I want to use a thin square shaped vase with just a few calla lillies or amarylus's (amaryli?) or whatever flower I decide on in it. I have two different ideas on that. For the other I want to use 8" fishbowl, the round, bubble-like ones and put decorative white and clear rocks in the bottum with an LED light buried in them. Then I want to float two small or probably one big flower floating on top and have a white and a black fancy goldfish swimming inside. The LEDs put off very little heat but I am worried about the sound vibrations. How awful would that be, center pieces with dead fish?!! I guess the fish will depend on the size of the venue we choose. The best part is these came to only about $12, fish and flowers included. The others came to about $5, with flowers. Average $8.50, not bad. I have 10 nieces and nephews coming from my family alone so I'm sure it won't be hard to find them all homes at the end. I saw a similar center piece at my prom (back in the day) but they had the bowls on this set up which held them above a candle(no fish of coarse! but that's the first thing i thought it needed). It was really beautful how the light emanated from under the flower and illuminated the whole bowl. I sure the effect will be pretty similar wih the LED light. Man I can't wait to go look at venues!

Just so no one worries, I have a 50 gallon fish tank and lots of experience with their care. I'll be absolutely sure they're properly set up for at the reception or I won't have them.

I'm really excited about having a black and white wedding. When we were originally planning for October, I was going for a deep red and champange but I threw those out when we decided to wait until May. It's a long engagement but trying to plan a wedding 1300 miles away and having so many guests (200+), that extra few months will really help. Not to mention we don't really want to be the 5th wedding of 08.

Anyways, with 7 bridemaids from aroung the country, one set style is almost impossible. I'm just telling everyone to have a black, classy satin dress. Black is black mostly so it should look good and many of them will save some money by using one they already have. (more money for the bachelorette party right?)

Our wedding is at the Dallas arboretum, a gorgeous garden full of flowers, which I think will really compliment our colors. We can't have all black and white. We're hoping to have the reception in one of the high rises downtown and it won't be until 7:30 or 8, so I think the formal colors will really be a hit.

****Thanks to my awesome MOH I have a photo narrative of the proposal. She's the bestest!***

Jameson and I have been dating Since July 06 but for 8 months we were 1300 miles apart! I knew we would get married but I was thinking he would maybe ask after his sister gets married this May. It had come up but we had never looked at rings; he actually had pulled me away from them while we Christmas shopping.
So the week before Christmas he starts acting a little funny. One day he absent mindedly examined my ring finger, then held my hand looking at it. Then the night after Christmas he suggested my friends and I do our gift exchange up at our favorite bar, where we met. All of his friends showed up too, which kind of surprised me but everyone is up there a lot anyways. So after a couple hours he buys everyone in the room we're in a shot --I knew it! He did a toast to family, friends and a Happy New Years but no proposal! I was wrong! We all took our shots, then I turned to kiss him and he was on one knee :) I was so shocked and a little embarrassed (there were 30 people hanging out with us) I hardly remember what all he said but he ended with Rebekah D*** would you be Rebekah H**** I said yes and buried my face in shoulder as everyone in the whole bar cheered. Apparently, he's been planning since August (when he started having my ring made) and my whole family had known since Thanksgiving! And the whole bar knew that night before I got there!