This is mrsantonio13's Purple Wedding!

I just came across this website 123print.com and I am in love. We just ordered our baby sprinkle invites from there and I also was able to order three FREE customized wedding invite samples. Usually places won't let you customize the samples so it will be pretty cool to see our name in print on an invitation before we commit to buying.

Oh and the pricing is awesome! They have Save the Date magnets, the small ones for $40 for 80 of them!! And the invitations are reasonably priced as well. If you haven't ordered already then they are worth checking out.

Just thought I would share :)

My bridesmaids are ordering their dresses in January so that way we have enough time to get them in, altered or returned if there are any problems. They are from a vendor on Ebay that I got my sister's prom dress and another formal dress from so I'm familiar with their work. each dress is about $45 each with shipping.

All of my girls are different sizes ranging from size 6 to a size 20. I want them to feel comfortable and look great in whatever they have to wear.

I'm trying to have them pick their own but still make it look somewhat uniform. They can choose any of the dresses and they can choose it in either purple or blue.

Do you guys think that these match?! Or should I just have everyone vote and wear whichever one wins????

I'm stumped because I really don't care. I wasn't even going to have them buy dresses at first but they all want to stand out as bridesmaids so i have to come up with something.

I haven't been on here in forever but I am doing much better! So much has happened since July. We booked our venue for September 2013 and we found out that we are having a GIRL!!!!! I'm so excited for her to get here! I'm due the end of February and I hope she doesn't come on Valentine's day lol

My pregnancy is going a bit better though I'm having bad migraines and dizzy spells still but my doctor has taken me off bedrest about a month ago.

I'm jsut deliriously happy that i'm better and the baby is healthy. And i was feeling pretty bad about the whole wedding not happening as quickly as I wanted it but this way my little girl and boys are there and mommy is not sick and feeling rushed!

lol i don't mean that literally its just that I thought I would be able to get everything ready in 3 months. What I didn't realize is that I will be constantly sick to my stomach, migraines and put on bed rest! If it wasn't for Netflix and my laptop I would go insane! FH is working from home so he has been a MAJOR help with the boys but i just feel miserable! I never had morning sickness with the other two, if anything I felt sick for about a week like a bad stomach ache and that was it! I've been puking non stop and having terrible migraines not to mention strong cramps that made my doc put me on bed rest. Two days ago I had a fever and FH took me to the ER. This is just all so much. We talked last night and he now wants to wait until after I have the baby to get married since my health has become so fragile. Sigh i know that this is what's best but I'm still hoping for a miracle :(

Pssst.... wanna know a secret? Im getting married in three months! But don't tell anyone, they think it's just the engagement party!

Lol yep that's right! FH and I just found out that we are pregnant with #3 despite me having an IUD! Soon as we left my doctor we decided that we must get married before I deliver. I'm about 8 weeks along and due in February. We know exactly when it happened, one day before his father died and about a week and a half before my IUD was placed. I was a bit upset and scared at first but I feel like this must be his father, especially since he wanted us to have alot of children and even asked after we had Milo in April when were we gonna finally give him a girl. So i'm praying that this is his girl!

So now I have to plan an engagement party/wedding in 3 months!! Right now I'm trying to decide who really needs to know so we are sure that they will attend. Im debating on telling our entire bridal party. I say we just tell our maid of honor and best man. The rest will more than likely show up b/c they always show up for any party we throw. The only thing is I would like for the girls to wear their own little black dresses and the guys wear black slacks and a white shirt. I plan on having purple sashes and ties at the place waiting for them. We would also need to tell his mother since she is moving back to Kentucky in 2 weeks (plus i want her to have something to look forward too!) And my father since he lives in California.

Everyone else would not know a thing, my mother included! LOL

I'm very excited, happy, scared, confused and elated all at the same time. Right now I'm in super plan mode and trying to just get a list of everything I need to take care of.

We still have to figure out:
Guest list
Food
photography
videography
favors
invitations
centerpieces
linens
chairs/tables
officiant
flowers
music
rings
vows
dress/tux
sashes for bridesmaids
ties for groomsmen


It feels like so much and i'm pretty sure i'm forgetting something. We already have the venue figured out, jsut have to go give her the deposit and we already planned a trip to Montreal in October for my birthday. we're just going to extend it by 2 days so that will be our honeymoon.

Any of you guys ever attended a surprise wedding???

Whew! Lol sorry for the long read!!!

So the other day I posted that the whole planning process was getting to be too much for me. FH and I talked and we decided to just limit our guest list to about 85 (including us and our bridal party) and have it at a smaller venue.

I am completely happy with this and feel even more at ease! Plus doing it this way we can move the date up even more and splurge for other things like our honeymoon and new furniture lol.

Now i'm just researching more intimate venues around us and I think I have found one that would be perfect! It's the Prairie Avenue Gallery (formerly The Keith House) in a historic district in Chicago. It is even near a beautiful park with a great fountain and old trees for us to take pictures. I just emailed and called the coordinator there and hopefully she calls me back in the morning.

Really happy that I made the decision to cut the list down and minimize alot of things. I know alot of people will be upset, especially since I won't be inviting anyone under the age of 18 so alot of my cousins and 2nd cousins won't be invited. The only underage people who will be there will be my 9 year old sister and my two boys who will be 2 and 1 at the time and their babysitter will pick them up after the ceremony. So if people are upset, I at least hope that they will understand and still come and support us anyway. If not oh well, the nuptials will still happen! Lol

Now I'm trying to convince myself to not add blue to our colors. But black, purple and blue sounds really pretty right about now lol

Okay so this is more of a rant than anything....

We're only in the beginning stages of planning and i'm already pulling my hair out and wondering do I really want this type of wedding???

We have a budget of 20 grand and the more I talk to vendors, tour venues and plan, I'm starting to wonder if this is even worth it?!

I'm getting so frustrated and disenchanted with the whole big fairy tale wedding scene. FH originally wanted to go to Hawaii to get married but I really want my parents, grandparents and siblings there and that's at least 10 people. Plus I have 12 aunts and uncles who unbelievable I am close to and have had a major impact on my life.

We're planning a wedding for 140 guests and now I think that is just too much!

I've already started looking at alternatives to maybe just have a super small wedding at a bed and breakfast somewhere, or even go to Canada and get married with just a few people.

I really don't know what to do but I think I know that I no longer want to spend 20 grand on this anymore......

It won't put us in financial ruin but the more and more I think about it and all the hard work I have to do (by myself) I just don't know!
Plus I have a 3 month old and a 15 month old so that makes me busy alone lol.

Plus we're paying for all of our bridal party's attire and accessories for the day. That's 22 people if you include my father and our mothers! And our budget doesn't include our honeymoon either, which is a big expense by itself.

Maybe I'm just over thinking everything? I mean I was the one who said I wanted this huge wedding but now idk! Anyone else ever felt this way?

FH and I have been together a little over 5 years and we have two beautiful boys (14 months and 2 months)! He first proposed a month before we found out I was pregnant with our first so we postponed the planning, then when we started back we found I was pregnant with #2! lol Now we are in full swing of planning our dream wedding! We are planning on having an engagement party in October since that's our anniversary, the month he proposed plus my 27th birthday. Most of our family and friends are looking forward to it since most of our bridal party will be meeting for the first time as well as our family.

One friend that I mentioned the party too seemed completely shocked and disgusted that we were even considering having an engagement party since we've been together for so long and technically have been engaged for over a year. She said it was tacky of us to expect people to show up and want to celebrate an engagement that is really old and we shouldn't have any of the traditional parties like engagement, bridal shower or big bacholerette party.

Of course I was shocked and hurt and then thought that maybe everyone else is thinking this too? We're paying for the engagement party ourselves, venue, food and drink and I was even going to make really cute favors to pass out. But now I'm worried that everyone is thinking that we're fishing for gifts??? We don't need anything! FH has a really successful career and I'm at the tail end of opening my online store while I finish school.

Anyone whose had a long engagement have you run into this same issue? And if you had an engagement party was it super casual? I wasn't expecting anyone to dress up or anything even though I would probably wear a cute dress. Am I'm doing to much?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

So last night FH decides that he doesn't like red and has never liked red -_- I've spent almost 2 months getting my ideas and things together to actually showcase the red!

Our theme is kinda old hollywood/harlem renaissance and I thought the black, red, ivory and silver just fit that so well! It took everything for me not to hit him lol So now I have to think of another color to complement the others. I was thinking purple since I love that color anyway but since we're getting married in the fall, wouldnt that be considered a spring color??

OKay, we are finally planning our wedding! yay me! lol but we've been running into a few problems as far as the venues we want and availability. It was suggested to us to have our wedding on a Thursday night. Most of our guests are local, we do have a few family members from out of state but even if we had it on a Saturday they more than likely would just send a card. Our bridal party and immeadiate family (parents, grandparents and siblings) say that a Thursday is perfectly fine for them.

My question is: has anyone ever held a weekday wedding or attended one? What was your experience?

We're thinking of doing first look and family photos at 5pm, cocktail hour at 6pm, then ceremony at 7 and reception starting no later than 7:45 with everything ending at 11:30pm. Is this a reasonable time line? I figured doing cocktail hour first would give us the chance to mingle with guests and allow everyone time to get there. Does this seem feasible?

Any advice would be great!!! Thanks!