This is im2babyblue4u's Blue Wedding!

Hey Ladies!! For anyone who's been keeping up with my blog recently, then you already know that my mom went out and bought an IVORY dress a couple of weeks ago and of course I wasn't too happy about it!! My dad actually picked it out for her and thought it would look nice on her, and it was on sale for $60 so she got it, but then after the fact she asked me if I was disappointed that she bought an IVORY dress??!! Um..DUH!! Well, I decided to ask my fellow WBC brides how you ladies would feel if your mother or your FMIL bought an ivory dress to wear to your wedding, and the comments were all unanimous that you would be pretty upset too and that you would at least politely ask your mother/FMIL to look for another dress. Well, since my mom lives in Virginia, which is where I'm from, and I live in Alabama, which is where my fiance's from, I asked my mom to at least send me a few pics of the dress so that I could make a better judgement of how it looks...and maybe it wouldn't look as ivory as I thought, right??!!

Well, she sent me the pics...and OMG that dress sure looks WHITE to me!! So I had to break the news to my mom, which was a little hard to do cause I didn't want to upset her...we're extremely close and she's like my best friend!! But sometimes the truth hurts...and well I had to just tell her the truth that her dress just looked too much like white in the pictures. Sure maybe it looks more ivory in person, but under the flashing bulbs of a camera, it looks almost identical to WHITE!! So she finally saw where I was coming from and decided that she should buy another dress...and here it is ladies!! I think this dress will look absolutely gorgeous on my mom and I love the color of it!! Since we're having a beach themed wedding, I told her that this color will be perfect because I didn't want her to match the bridesmaids (their dresses will be pool blue), and this color actually reminds me of sand so I think it will fit into our theme perfectly!! She was happy cause this dress was on sale too for $80 which isn't too bad since it's much more formal than the other one, but she'll still keep the other one cause she already has some other things in mind that she can wear it for. Just so you can compare, I'm attaching pics of her IVORY dress...you know, the one that looks pretty darn close to WHITE!! You be the judge lol...all I have to say is that I'm THRILLED that my mom finally saw things from my perspective and so she decided to go out and buy another dress!! ;-)

What bride doesn't want her wedding day to go exactly as she planned with a minimal amount of drama? The truth is you can plan your heart out, but things may not always work the way you hoped they would. We asked newly married brides to be up-front and honest about their biggest preparation regrets so others could learn from their mistakes. Here's what they had to say.

About Receptions

"I would not have combined a chocolate fountain at our wedding reception with six flower girls. Thank goodness for Shout Wipes -- they were the only thing that managed to save my dress."
Tip: Even if you aren't having small children or messy foods at your reception, pack a bridal emergency kit. Items like aspirin, clear nail polish (for stocking runs), and a miniature sewing kit are musts. If you're worried you'll forget it, ask your maid of honor to be in charge of gathering the little things you might need.

"I would have ordered three times more shrimp. My brothers-in-law and a few of the other guests thought we were offering an all-you-can-eat shrimp buffet."
Tip: After sitting through the ceremony and waiting for the wedding party to arrive, many guests will work up an appetite. Beautifully prepared appetizers may not always be the most filling. If you have big eaters on the guest list, you may want to add to your food budget or plan a meal with lots of options, especially if you're having an evening reception. At dinnertime, guests expect dinner-sized portions.

"I would have driven the route to the reception myself instead of just going by an online map. A lot of people got really lost on the way, and I'm still hearing about it to this day."
Tip: If your ceremony and reception sites are not the same, include directions in the invitations. Don't rely on online resources because there can be glitches. If guests get lost and frustrated, it's likely to show in your photos. Map the route yourself and then have a family member on hand with a cell phone for anyone who's lost and may need clarification.

About Being the Bride

"I would have lost weight. After all, I had the time and the equipment."
Tip: If you're gown shopping and you're not thrilled with the figure you see in the mirror, it's the perfect indication that you might want to begin a prewedding workout routine. While you don't have to lose weight to be a beautiful bride, it's important you feel comfortable and at your best that day. You'll love your pictures so much more if you're not obsessed with little flaws. Most weddings are at least a year away, which gives you plenty of time to improve on body issues.

"I would have searched the dress shop on the Internet before putting down a deposit. When I went to the designer's website and found two stores in my area, I should have checked on them both. The Better Business Bureau would have shown me the complaints made against the one I chose."
Tip: When you're spending major cash at a bridal salon, check references. Impulsive purchases very often don't work out well when it comes to wedding planning.

"I would have taken pictures of my bustle at my final dress fitting. When I was 'bustling up' before the reception, we couldn't quite figure out how to get it right."
Tip: Arranging the bustle is indeed a not-so-easy task. Bring a member of your bridal party with you to the the bridal salon when you go for your last fitting. She can learn precisely what needs to be done for the wedding.

"I would not have worn those ghastly fake eyelashes. They work on some people, but I'm not one of them."
Tip: Try out new beauty products a few times before the wedding day. It's better to know how they work and what you can expect.

About the Wedding Party

"I wouldn't have worried about what everyone was wearing. Instead, I would have given the maids and moms a swatch of fabric and said, 'Don't clash with this.' I'm glad they choose their own dresses, but having to coordinate colors between three different designers was more stress than I needed."
Tip: Always remember that when dealing with bridesmaid attire, being flexible comes with a price. Allowing the ladies to pick something that works for them won't always work for you. If you insist they have options, find a designer that offers multiple dress styles in the same color: You won't have nightmares about clashing colors, and they'll get a style in which they feel comfortable.

"I wouldn't have jumped so quickly to choose my bridal party. I would have taken more time and given it more thought since I hurt quite a few people in the process. I realize now that out of sheer excitement, I hastily selected the people who were closest to me at that time, neglecting the people that were with me for many years before."
Tip: When it comes to picking your bridal party members, give it some time before you contact anyone. There may be conflicts between who you'd like to ask and who expects you to ask them. You'll want to identify those problems before you make any announcements. In most cases, it's inevitable that you'll have to do some damage control, but you'll most likely feel better if you ask after having thought long and hard about your choices.

About the Planning

"We wouldn't have done DIY invitations. The amount of money we saved just wasn't worth the time it took us to make them."
Tip: It's important to understand the nature of the projects that you're taking on before you or your loved ones commit to something you ultimately just won't want to finish.

"I would have hired a day-of coordinator. It got irritating when people would ask questions like, 'Where should I put the extra programs?' after the ceremony."
Tip: The one thing most brides don't get on their wedding day is a break. If you want to enjoy individual moments more and deal with questions and disasters less, hiring day-of help should be a high priority on your to-do list. The quality time you'll gain is well worth the fee.

-- Charli Penn

Hey Ladies...so I've already bought my white heels to wear during our ceremony, but I've been on the hunt lately for some cute (and cheap!!) white sandals to slip into for something more comfortable during the reception!! I asbolutely LOVE the ones like in the 4th and 5th pics, but I've only seen these online and they were between $35-$40 and I honestly don't wanna spend that much on sandals since I've already bought a pair of heels too!! Besides, I don't trust buying shoes online cause I have a hard enough time as it is finding the right size in person...one place I'll fit into a size 9, the next place a size 10...and then some stores I even have to buy my shoes in WIDE!! The only white sandals I've been able to find are just some really plain ones for $6 at Wal-Mart (see the last pic), but the part that goes in between your toes (the "thong") is made out of that stiff rubber stuff and I hate sandals like that cause they always dig into the tops of my feet and give me blisters!!

BUT...I just happened to come across these pics of white sandals wrapped with ribbon around the "thong" part and then decorated with rhinestones, buckles, whatever you want and I LOVE this idea!! I had already thought about buying the cheap $6 pair and just adding some rhinestones to them, but I was afraid of them falling off while I was dancing and then ending up with tiny little rhinestones all over the dance floor lol!! But I LOVE this idea because the ribbon will make them look much more elegant and also I won't have to worry about the "thong" part digging into the tops of my feet!! I really love the look of the ones with just a single rhinestone buckle or brooch, whatever you wanna call it...but I think even if you wanted to add a bunch of tiny rhinestones to them, then I bet they would probably stick much better to the ribbon and you probably wouldn't have to worry about them falling off!! I definitely think I need to go buy these $6 sandals from Wal-Mart this weekend and make a pair like these...I already have turquoise blue and white ribbon so I could experiment with which color will look best, so then all I'd need to complete this look is 2 rhinestone buckles!! YAY I'm so excited that I'll be able to have cute, comfortable, and cheap sandals to wear during the reception now!!! ;-)

Hey Ladies...I have a quick question for ya!

I'd like to drape turquoise/aqua colored tulle around our headtable(s) (set up like the 3rd picture), the cake table, buffet tables, and maybe the gift table, but I'm really not sure what the best way would be to fasten it down!! I just bought all of our table linens from www.tableclothsfactory.com and everything has arrived and I LOVE them...but I didn't want to pay any extra money for table skirts, so we're basically just gonna have the linens themselves on all of our tables. If we were having table skirts, then I'm sure it would be much easier to drape the tulle and just fasten it to the clips that they use to hold the table skirts in place. BUT, since we're just gonna have the linens themselves, there's really nothing to fasten the tulle TO if you know what I mean!!

So ladies, what would be the best way to keep the tulle in place?? I like the look of the flowers or bows like in these pictures, so if I needed to literally tape the tulle down or something, then I wouldn't mind doing that cause I'd just cover it up with a bow or some flowers!! BUT, I don't know if that would be a good idea or if it would be the best way to fasten it, but I honestly can't think of any other way to keep the tulle in place since we won't be having any table skirts. Any ideas ladies?? Thanks in advance for your help!! ;-)

Hey Ladies!! Some of you may remember reading my post from a few weeks ago about the dress my mom bought that she planned on wearing to our wedding. My mom just had shoulder surgery last Friday, so she wanted to make sure that she went dress shopping before that because after the surgery, she figured it would just be too hard to get in and out of the dresses to try them on. So a couple of weeks ago my mom and dad were at the mall and my dad was the one that actually spotted this dress first and he told my mom that she should try it on because he thought it would look really nice on her. Only problem is...it's IVORY!! But he thought it would match nicely with the ivory vest that he'll be wearing, and it was on sale for $60 (normally $100), so my mom figured she would go ahead and get it and she said that it was the type of dress that she could easily wear again for other things.

So when they got home that night, she called and told me that she found a dress but then she told me that she was sorry it wasn't any of the colors that I had suggested. I had e-mailed her (cause they live in Virginia, which is where I'm from, but I live in Alabama now with my fiance, which is where he's from) and I gave her some pics of some MOB dress ideas that would fit nicely with our colors for a beach themed wedding...I recommended a shade of blue (just nothing that would match the BM's dresses too much), a shade of pink (which will match our flowers), or a beige/tan colored dress (which is the color of sand). So she told me that she wasn't able to find anything that she liked in any of those colors and so the dress she chose and that my dad actually picked out for her was IVORY!! And I guess maybe I gasped or just got really quiet...I don't really remember...but whatever I did my mom said "You're not disappointed are you?" Disappointed wasn't really the word I was looking for...I guess SHOCKED was a little more like it...quite shocked in fact that my very own mother (aka the MOB!!) would buy an IVORY dress, which is just way too close to white!!

So I posted up about this a few weeks ago and all the brides who left comments seemed to be in agreement that it wasn't really acceptable or appropriate for anyone to wear white or ivory to a wedding (or all black for that matter), but especially not the MOB!!! I searched for ivory MOB dresses, and I found a few pics that looked nice enough (like the one in the main pic for this post) and if my mom's dress had been a dark enough shade of ivory, then I think I would've been ok with one that looked somewhat like this. BUT...just to be sure, I asked my mom to PLEASE send me some pics of here dress so I could make a better judgement of the color and then I'd let her know what I thought about it!! Well ladies...I'll let you look at the pics for yourselves!!

I don't know about you, but to me the dress looks WHITE!! She said it looks more ivory in person, and maybe that's true...but under the flash of a camera...well it sure looks pretty freakin' WHITE to me lol!!! And considering that she would have to be in a TON of pics with me...well I just had to break it to her after I saw these pics that I just didn't think this dress would be appropriate!! I know she might have been a little hurt about it at first, but after we talked about it for at least 30 mins. straight...I finally convinced her that it just wasn't appropraite for ANY guest to wear something that even resembles white, but especially not the MOB!! I told her that she got the dress at such a great price that it was still worth her buying it and she had even mentioned before herself that it was the type of dress she could wear again for other things...so I told her to just please save the dress for those other things lol!! I also told her that I brought this subject up on my wedding blog here on WBC, and that all of the other brides were in agreement that they would ask their mother's (or FMIL's if need be) to please find another dress that would be a more suitable color for a wedding...so I guess I was able to get through to her that this just wasn't the best option, and she eventually agreed with me about everything (but like I said it took at least 30 mins. to explain it all to her and to get her to finally realize that she should look for another dress)!!

So...my mom actually just told me today that next weekend once she's out of her shoulder sling, she plans on looking for another dress and we actually both have the same one in mind...it's another dress from JC Penny's and it's more of a champagne or sand colored dress, which I think will fit much better into our color scheme and the theme of the wedding. I'll keep you ladies updated on everything, especially if she ends up getting this other dress!!

Hey ladies...please excuse my WHITE legs in some of these pics lol!! Alot of the pics were turning out pretty blurry, so I thought I'd place my jewelry against my leg so you could get an idea of how it would look against my skin, and it seemed to me like those were the pics that were actually a little bit clearer lol!!

Anyways, so last Wednesday was my 24th birthday so I took the day off from work and my fiance's little sister (my FSIL) and I went out to eat and then to the mall. I had only 2 things in mind that I really wanted to be able to find...#1 on my list was to find some bridal jewelry and #2 was to find a pair of white shoes. I pretty much found this jewelry set right away...we had only been in the mall for maybe 20 or 30 mins.!! The shoes were a completely different story...but I'll post up the story about that and pics of them later!! Anyways, so I found this jewelry set in a store called "Earrings & Things" and on the sign it specifically said something about prom and wedding jewelry, so of course I had to go inside!! I completely fell in love with this set as soon as I saw it because the flower on them reminds me of the stargazer lilies that we'll be using for our main wedding flowers!! It was only $35 for the necklace and earring set, so I definitely couldn't complain about that for something that was this beautiful!!! Sorry that the pics are so blurry, but I had to turn off the flash or else you would've been blinded by the glare from all the BLING lol!! But without the flash on, our camera does have a major issue with looking blurry and fuzzy. Anyways, I'm sure you can still tell how beautiful this jewelry set is!! The guy in the store said it was a brand new item that had just arrived...so that on top of the fact that it looks like a stargazer lily, and the price was just right...well, of course I had to buy them!!! ;-)

Hey Ladies!! I just wanted to post up some pics of our DIY invitations now that they're completed and fully assembled...and we mailed them out last Wednesday, which was actually my 24th birthday lol!! We got our first RSVP postcard in the mail on Saturday from one of my fiance's older sisters, so of course it was a YES...2 adults and 3 children (one of them being our ring bearer). Then we had another RSVP hand delivered from one of my fiance's groomsmen which was of course a yes too...but we also got our first "Sorry, unable to attend" today from one of my co-workers!! She's pregnant and her baby is due any day now...I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but the wedding's not until August 7th so I don't think that would be the reason, so maybe they'll be out of town or something.

Anyways, these babies were a TON of work to put together all 100 invitations and belly bands (which was the most time consuming part of it all)...but they were SOOO worth all of the time and effort in the end. Unfortunately these pics do them NO justice whatsoever!! I had to turn the flash off in all of these pics so that you wouldn't just see a big white blur...but without the flash, it automatically seems to make them fuzzy looking!! The only really good pics are the ones that say "Belly Band Stages"...because the camera was dying when I took those, so the flash was ON, but I guess it was pretty dim since it was dying...so there's just the right amount of light to capture the way the belly bands sparkle and glitter!! So just try to imagine how they would look with the belly bands sparkling and then all of the colors are actually much brighter and more vibrant in person...so they look very fun and beachy, but the look of the belly bands adds a little touch of class and elegance to them!!

Again, I can't say THANK YOU enough to Nearlycapone08 (Lauren) for designing our invitations, RSVP postcards, and thank you cards...basically anything you see with the absolutely gorgeous seashell designs on them!! I came up with the idea for the belly band myself with the stargazer lily image in the center, but Lauren helped me find a much nicer font than what I originally had!! Once she was completely done with the designs, I printed everything out through VistaPrint and I only spent right around $100 including shipping and everything arrived in about a week (with the "slow" 21 day shipping)!! For that price I got 100 invitations, 100 RSVP postcards, 100 thank you cards (actually oversized postcards that I'll fold in half), 50 oversized postcards for the belly band squares (6 per postcard, so 300 total), and I also got 140 address labels for our invitations, and then another 140 that were slightly different and not quite as fancy, so they'll be for our thank you cards and just for everyday use once we're married!!

If I had to guess...I probably spent somewhere between 25-30 hours total assembling all 100 invitations and getting them ready to be mailed...but I think they were 100% worth every minute I spent working on them, and definitely worth all of the blood, sweat, and tears lol!! I'm already getting SOOO many compliments on them and everybody loves the fact that they're so personalized since I put alot of work into making these myself, yet they still look professionally made since I did have them printed from VistaPrint!! I just wish you ladies could all see how amazing they look in person...they really do shimmer and sparkle so beautifully and the colors are so much more bright and vibrant...but hopefully you'll all be able to use your imaginations lol!! Yes, these took ALOT of time to make...but I would definitely recommend that any bride who's considering making DIY invitations...DO IT!! I saved SOO much money by making them myself...grand total with stamps and everything was only about $160 for 100 invitations!! Not only that, but making DIY invitations is the best way to capture exactly what it is about your wedding that makes it unique...and it's the best way to give your guests a little sneak peak of what they can expect when they come to your wedding!! It was sooo worth making these just to hear everyone's reactions to them and knowing that I made them all by myself (with a little bit of help from Nearlycapone08 and VistaPrint, of course...ok maybe ALOT of help lol)!!!

Hi Ladies...for anyone who's been on WBC for awhile now, then you may remember one of my posts from back in January about my mom having shoulder surgery on her left shoulder for a rotator cuff tear. She's actually been having problems with BOTH of her shoulders for the past 2 years now, but at first her family doctor just thought it was tendonitis, so he kept giving her shoulder injections for the pain. Well, after 2 years of doing it that way, I guess the doctor FINALLY decided that maybe it was something a little more serious than that, so sometime last fall he told my mom she needed to have an MRI done on her left shoulder (the one that was worse at the time) and that's when she first discovered that it was actually a rotator cuff tear and that she would need to have surgery.

So her first shoulder surgery was back in January, and unfortunately it wasn't a success. The shoulder specialist (not her family doctor) told her that by the time they finally discovered what the actual problem was, obviously the rotator cuff had been torn for too long and it was worn too thin so once he got inside of her shoulder to do the surgery, there literally wasn't enough tissue left for him to even repair it!! So ever since January my mom's been going to physical therapy to help keep some of her range of motion in her left shoulder and so it won't completely just lock up on her. The physical therapy has helped some...but not really that much and she's still in pain all the time. Knowing how serious the tear had gotten in such a short amount of time, obviously the doctor wanter to do an MRI of her right shoulder as well (which I think was back in March). Low and behold, she had a rotator cuff tear in her right shoulder TOO!!

So this morning she went and had surgery on the right shoulder...but so far it sounds like it was a success!! The shoulder surgeon said that he could tell based on the MRI alone that this one didn't look as severe yet, and after doing the surgery today he still said the same thing...and the good thing was that this one did still have enough tissue left to repair the tear!! So things are sounding pretty promising so far and the doctor said that with physical therapy for the next 2-3 months, she could eventually get complete range of motion back in her right arm and she might even have anywhere from a 90-100% recovery!! So ladies please pray for my mom that everything will work out perfectly for her right shoulder since things really didn't go well at all for her left one. The doctor did say that in a few years she might be at the point where he would recommend a complete shoulder replacement for her left shoulder...so I guess there still might be hope for that one too...but it'll be several years before he would even recommend it, especially since she just had surgery on it in January (although it was more of a minor surgery since they didn't get to repair anything).

Believe it or not, we were originally gonna be getting married tomorrow lol!! But we decided back in December that we needed more time to get everything done and to save up more money of course, so we pushed it back to August 7th. But maybe this was the reason all along that we knew we needed to make the decision to push the date back...we just didn't know the exact reason why until now!! Anyways, so this will work out for the better in the end...and my mom will hopefully be completely healed by our wedding date!! If not completely, then she'll at least no longer have her arm in a sling and her physical therapy will be done at that point...so the timing should be just right for my parents to come down for the wedding and for my mom to be able to actually enjoy herself!! Things sounded very promising according to the doctor, but ladies please still pray for my mom that she will have a speedy recovery and that hopefully she will be pain free in no time!! ;-)

Hey ladies...tomorrow is my 24th birthday and I'm super excited because my boss actually approved my day off request lol!! But I guess you could say I'm a very hard working and dedicated employee, and I rarely ever take anytime off, so I guess she figured I deserved it for this one day...and not to mention I'll be requesting several days off around our wedding too (August 7th, 2009)!! So my fiance's little sister Nikki (my FSIL) has been begging me pretty much for forever to go off and have a girls' day out together...so I told her why not go on my birthday??!! Nikki and her mom used to go off all the time and have their girls' days together, but unfortunately my FMIL passed away last July and so it's been very hard on Nikki, especially because she has a learning disability known as Russell Silver syndrome, so it makes it a little harder for her to accept things and understand things. Anyways, so she's been begging me literally for the past few months to have a girls' day out together since she really doesn't have anybody to do that with her anymore other than me...so I'm excited about having the day off and all, but I'm even more excited about knowing how happy it's going to make Nikki to finally have this time to spend together!!

So we're gonna start off by going to our favorite restaurant...the Olive Garden...YUMMY!! And then she wants to go to the mall cause she's a shopping-aholic!! Nikki is 21 years old, which I'm sure you could never tell by looking at her pictures...yeah she's teeny tiny, and when it comes to certain things, she does have the mind of a child...but when it comes to shopping...this girl knows how to shop lol!!! She is addicted to purses, I swear she has at least 100!!! Anyways, so her only requests were to go out to eat and then to go to the mall afterwards. What she doesn't know is that I'm actually gonna ask her to be my MOH tomorrow!! Unfortunately, my original MOH Stacey (who I've been best friends with since the 1st day of Kindergarten) had to back out of the wedding because she found out that she's pregnant...and her due date is on our wedding date!!! She lives in Virginia, which is where I'm from, and the wedding is in Alabama, which is where my fiance's from and where we live now, so it's just too far for her to travel that close to her due date...even if it turns out that the baby comes late or something!!

Anyways, so Nikki hasn't put two and two together yet that I'll need a new MOH...so of course she has no clue that I'll be asking her!! It still sucks that my best friend can't be there, but it makes me extremely happy knowing how excited Nikki will be when I ask her and how important and special it will make her feel to not just be a bridesmaid, but to actually be my MOH!! One of the pics shows her trying on the bridesmaids dress that we picked out, so she already know she's gonna be a bridesmaid of course, but I think the thought of actually being my MOH will just tickle her to death!! If we have time, I'd like to actually swing by David's Bridal so we can place an order for her dress and shoes...she has such teeny little feet (a girl's size 12)!! I'm also hoping to find some bridal shoes for myself and some bridal jewelry...and maybe even some cute white sandals to wear during the reception.

So Happy (early) 24th Birthday to me...and I'll see you ladies on Thursday cause we'll be busy running around all day and having fun on our girls' day out tomorrow!! ;-)

Hey ladies...just a quick question...

For any of you lovely brides out there who are making bathroom baskets - Are you making one for the men's bathroom too or just for the women's??!! I LOVE this idea...especially for the women's bathroom!! BUT I'm not entirely sure if any of the guys at our wedding are even gonna pay any attention to the basket sitting there...even if there was a sign right on the basket itself that said "Compliments of the Newlyweds" or something like that!!

So are you ladies making a basket for both the women's AND the men's bathroom??!! If you are making one for each, then what types of things are you including in the men's basket...and do you think they'll actually even use any of these items or even pay attention to the fact that the basket is even sitting there at all??!! (You know how men can be...lol!!) Thanks in advance ladies for all of your help and advice!! ;-)