This is mz2handgrip's Blue Wedding!

I've mentioned before that I was including a bottle of wine in my bridesmaids gifts. I was thinking about ordering the labels but since i've been making the water bottle labels, why not just DIY the wine labels as well? Well thats what I'm doing! So far this is what I came up with!

I'm keeping with the theme since I'll be giving them their gifts at my bridal shower.

The past few weeks have been so crazy and stressful. I've been in tears almost everyday. This is going to be a long one!!!

MOH#3 had a lovely shower on the 4th. It was a small intimate shower with about 8-10 guests. She looked absolutely beautiful and was so excited. The food was great, we played a few games and they were so much fun, and she had a friend there to do body jewelry. Almost like temporary tattoos but sparkly with jewels, etc. It was really fun. Everyone loved the water bottles i created for her.

I've mentioned that my brother may not be able to make the wedding but I just didn't have the energy to go into details. Last year sometime my brother ended up getting a DUI. He didn't complete the classes or whatever it was he was supposed to do or pay the fine. He was supposed to appear in court the day of his wedding which he skipped of course to get married. So last month he got pulled over and was arrested for driving on a revoked license, failure to appear at court, and he has an unregistered gun in the car. He's facing up to four months, but could possibly take a plea deal and able to be released sooner. So of course that has me stressed out because I really want my brother at the wedding. If he can't make it, then we would ahve to add someone in his place at the last minute, which is not a big deal with all of FH's friends..

Since he has been gone, his wife whose also a BM has been wilding out. They have 5 kids between the ages of 12-16 and she has been letting them run wild as well. My brother does not tolerate that when he's there. They've been partying, having people over every night, fights breaking out at their house. it's ridiculous. I don't want to tell my brother because I don't want to stress him out when theres nothing he can do about it. She really pissed me off over the weekend when she got drunk and disrespected my mother. She has never done that before. My two brothers are married to cousins, so my other SIL was there who is also in the wedding (the one who dress we had to buy). My mom told them we all need to sit down and have a family meeting and get things under control and she shook her head no. I'm on the verge of kicking them both out the wedding. My mom bends over backwards for them and their kids and they are so ungrateful & disrespectful.

My brother & his wife that i just mentioned have separated and are not getting along. They are supposed to walk with each other in the wedding. So now I have to change our line up again because I don't want any drama.

My final payment to venue and 3rd catering payment were due around the same time last week. So a few weeks ago when I got my dress, my mom is paying for the dress and was supposed to pay off the final balance. She didn't have the money at the time and asked if I could pay it and she would give me the money back. SO I did. I ended up using the catering money to do so. So we were together the day after she got paid and I reminded her that I needed that money back because our payment was coming up. She gave me this I forgot look. She was like oh, I don't have it. Then went on to tell me about the bills she had to pay. I was so upset with her and I started crying. You know this wedding makes us sensitive. I couldn't belive she did that to me. She should have replaced my money then took care of her business. So now the catering payment is going to be late, which I didn't want to do especially since I had the money. So she says she'll give t back her next pay period. Fast forward to last friday. I'm like mom I really need that money because we are now late with the payment. She gives me half of it, yet again she had other things to take care of. So now I have to add the other half. That really messed up plans I had because I didn't budget for that. We already have a mortgage payment, energy bill, cable, etc all due around the same time. I guess sprint will have to wait! lol.

All the guys got their money in for the tuxes except the usher. He keeps coming up with excuses, but it's not that big of a deal since he's just an usher and the suits come in really fast, like within a few days of ordering. So my future brother in law takes it upon himself to call him harassing him about the money. They use to be best friends and always have these arguments over everything. It didn't help that he'd been drinking. So they are on the phone going back and forth. FH was trying to tell him to chill out its not that big of a deal...but of course he didn't listen. He took it upon himself to kick the man out the wedding. So now I need to find a new usher, which we have lots of options, but I hate having to ask someone at the last minute.

This bridal shower has been stressful as well. None of the girls have been helpful or offered to do anything, except MOH3. Basically everything has fallen on my mom, which she doesn't mind...but they are suppsoed to be the ones hosting. No one has called to offer any help. I like to be hands on as far as decor and planning, but I wasn't expecting to have to pay for my own shower. My mom & I are footing the bill. Then my moms has invited everyone she knows, lol. I wanted a small shower with a few close family & friends. People have just invited themselves. If everyone shows up that got an invite then we will be looking at 30+ people. Half of which I don't even know. So some of the things I wanted to plan for a smaller crowd I have to change to accommodate everyone. Now we'll have to have more food, more favors, more tables & chairs, etc.

Our guestlist has increased as well. We have budgeted and are pre-paying for 125. With his last minute family additions & my step dads additions we have close to 160 invited. I know some who can't make it, but I'm hoping we can stay as close to 125 as possible. Otherwise our final catering bill is going to be crazy, we'll need more favors, more tables, linen, centerpieces, etc...which means more money. I might be the only person looking forward to No on the RSVP. lol. People keep trying to invite themselves to the wedding as well. Who does that? One lady I don't even associate with on my nieces side of the family mentioned to her she's coming to the wedding. I didn't invite her, we don't even speak. Then I stopped by my parents house yesterday and my stepdad was in the yard with a neighbor and he mentioned I was the one getting married, then he said oh I'll have her send you an invite. Does he not know we are already over the limit? I don't really know this neighbor, and they have strict religious beliefs. I can't take it!

Other than that, I had a great weekend shopping with my mom & FMIL for our black dresses for the bridal shower. They found everything else but the black dresses, lol.

If it was up to me our wedding music would have been finalized a long time ago, but of course FH holds up the process with his procrastination. I know how much he loves music so I wanted his input but he takes too long and makes weird suggestions that just don't fit in...such as his parents will escort him down the aisle first. I want something modern, slow & romantic. He wants an oldie song to honor his mother's musical tastes...which is fine, but he suggested playing temptations "imagination". Love that song but its not what i have in mind for a ceremony for them walking down the aisle. Especially since that same song will continue as my grandmother and mother are seated. I'll save that song for mother/son dance and go with my choice. Anyway, here's my music list:

Ceremony
Prelude - “Giving Myself” Jennifer Hudson
Entrance of Groom (escorted by parents) - “So High” John Legend
Seating of Grandmother “ “
Seating of the Mother of Bride “ “
Attendants Processional - “You Are” Charlie Wilson
Bride Processional - “Real Love” Eric Benet
Lighting of Unity Candle - “I Found Love” BeBe Winans
Recessional - “Wifey” Next

Reception
Intro of Bridal Party - “Clique” Kanye West *Edted version of course!
Bride & Groom First Dance - “Number One Hit” R. Kelly
Bridal Party old school dance off - "Let's get married remix" Jagged Edge ft. Run-DMC
Cake Cutting - “Made to Love You” Gerald Levert
Father/Daughter Dance - “My Girl” Temptations
Mother/Son Dance - “Imagination” Temptations
Bouquet Toss - “Run the World” Beyonce
Garter Toss - “Lights, Camera, Action” E.N.K * FH's son's song
Last song - "Tonight" John Legend

We've had people ask why we didn't choose a slower 1st dance song...well this happens to be our song. For New Years 2011 FH & I drove to Chicago & had an awesome time. On the ride to and from we listened to R. Kelly's Love Letter album the entire time, which had released a few months before then. We fell in love with that song & had it on repeat and sang loudly. He also loves music...I mean really love music. He use to be a Dj, he has a serious music collection, he manages his twins' band as well as a few other local artists. He said the song combines his love for me & music. So it means a lot to us, so we will be stepping the night away for our first dance. We are a really fun & silly couple so it fits us perfectly. We even have this stupid hand gesture for the end of the song when he says "our love, we blew up"...lol. We might make the wedding party do it along with us!!!

This is my list, but I have to get final approval by FH. Most likely he'll go along with it. The only song he was really passionate about was the first dance song.

For the cake cutting, my inner ratchetness came out because I want to play rihanna "cake". LMAO. Not the whole song, but have the DJ create a mix with just the cake part and if you want it put your name on it...on repeat. I thought it would let everybody know what time it was. LOL. I can see the look on my mom's face if I told her that. I can see the younger club crowd like "aww shit" and the conservative ones like "I know she didn't". I'm at my desk right now laughing so hard as I type this.

About two weeks ago I ordered bridesmaids jewelry for my girls from the prettybrideshop on etsy. They were the cuttest little tiffany ribbons on a pearl charm. I asked if she could make 7 for my girls and she agreed, she also made coordinatng earrings. I wanted something to coordinate with the girls dresses but not be too flashy. She sent me a message last Friday saying they were ready to ship. So I went to my custom listing and purchased. They arrived so fast on Monday. I wasn't expecting them that soon. She had them packaged so neat in tiffany blue paper! She also included a thank you card which was a nice touch! Nicole was a joy to work with! I'm going to probably put them in little tiffany boxes and give them to the girls along with their wine & wine glasses at the shower!

So the BM that initially told me that she wanted to come up with games for the shower won't be able to make it. So in typical mz2handgrip fashion...I'm working on the games. This will be a large shower consisting mostly of my moms friends/co-workers. We are expecting around 30 guests so I had to keep the games simple.

The first game is similar to the bridal shower clothes pin game, but instead of clothes pins we will use strands of pearls. When each guest arrives they will be given one strand of pearls. They have to refer to me as bride or maybe darling in keeping with the breakfast at tiffany's theme. If they call me by my name then they can get their pearls taken away. At the end of the shower the person who collected the most pearls will win a gift bag posted (Audrey hepburn gift bag, mug, microwave popcorn, the movie, eyemask, and journal).

The second game is what's in the brides purse. I created my own sheet using the theme and changed some of the items around to reflect things i actually have in my purse. The person with the most points will win. I'm thinking of another audrey hepburn tote or either a purse as the gift.

The third game is the traditional toilet paper dress game. Some people hate it but I absolutely love this game. Since there will be so many guests I will have them break into 5 teams, lead by the 5 bridesmaids who will be in attendance. The BM will be the captain of the team and will have to describe my dress to their team without using their hands or helping. The team will have 5-10 minutes, 1 roll of toilet tissue and one roll of tape to re-create my dress. My mom, FMIL, and myself will be the judges. It will be so fun to see how they recreate my dress, especially with the rosettes, lol. The winning team will receive small gift bags. I'm not sure what to include in those yet. I saw some cute aqua colored buckets in target's dollar section. I could probably get 5-6 of those depending on the number of team members. Fill them with a bag of microwave popcorn, movie theater style candy & a pair of nomad sunglasses for the tiffany's theme. I'll figure it out!

I posted before about us redeeming our giftcard for free bands from JVL jewelry that we received at a bridal show. All the bands are pretty simple, but I can't pass up free. Only thing you have to pay for is shipping, which is $25 per ring, so $50 altogether. We received the rings about 2 months ago but they were a little tight so I sent them back to be exchanged. To exchange them was $8 per ring ($16). I didn't do priority mail so it took a few weeks to get to them in CA. But they finally arrived this week. They arrive in a padded envelope. Inside is a white box wrapped with a gold ribbon. Once opened the rings re in a red JVL jewelry pouch.

I can't remember which bride asked me to post about it, but here it is. Their customer service was great to work with. Again the rings are pretty simple and nothing fancy, but they will get the job done. I'm not even sure if I'll wear it because it doesn't wrk well with my e-ring. Actually I haven't been able to find a band that works and I really don't want to go the custom route. My e-ring doubles as a band so I might just leave it at that. All bands I try gets lost and the e-ring over shadows it. Like you literally can't see the band from the front. If I can fit it into the budget then I'll probably get us better bands, if not we plan on upgrading for our 1 year anniversary.

As I mentioned in the invitations post yesterday i was waiting for my moo cards to arrive so that I can complete the invitations...well they came!!! I used my heart shaped hole punch to punch a hole in the moo card, slid it on the ribbon, and then tied it all together. The purpose of the mini moo card for us was to cut down on paper products and save money. It's the size of half a business card and you design them however you want. For ours one side has one of our e-pics and the other has our website along with details, directions, accommodations and registry. Now I just have to address them all, add a stamp and mail!

***The invitations were pretty cheap from exclusively weddings.com. Processing & shipping was really slow, so if you need them soon I would suggest paying extra for rush processing and shipping. After a few weeks of waiting I called and they were still processing and it was too late to add rush processing then, but I did pay an extra $2 for shipping. The moo cards were ordered at moo.com and they shipped within a week with regular shipping***

I was so happy when I got home yesterday and found this big box on the porch. At first I thought it was a wedding gift, but I was equally excited to find out my invitations arrived. The box was pretty heavy as well. When I opened it everything was packaged so neatly. I didn't know they included inner envelopes, but great! They also included a few extra invitations and envelopes due to over flow. They had one assembled in the envelope as a demonstration. I added a black ribbon to hold everything together.

Now I'm just waiting on my moo cards to arrive so that I can add it onto the ribbon before I tie them. Should arrive tomorrow. I learned about the moo cards while reading many different wedding blogs. If your not sure what they are just google them, they are so cute. They are half the size of a business card and typically used in weddings to put your photo, wedding website & details on. On mine I have a black & white pic of us on the front and on the back is our website. underneath the website is listed details, directions, accomodations, registry. Hopefully our guests notice the card and actually read it. I read some brides whose families discarded them or didn't think to look at the back. It was a cute money saving addition to keep from having to order extra pieces (maps/directions, accomodations cards, etc.). For $19.99 you get 100 mini moo cards. Cheaper with their various promotions. If your interested visit moo.com.

Also included in the box were their catalogue, a coupon for hundreds of dollar worth of wine for $69, and a sample of impress red press on nails. I've been seeing the commercials and thought they were cool but not something I was into. But since i have a free sample why not try them out right? I must say i am a believer! They were really quick and easy to put on. Just clean your nails with the provided alcohol wipe, peel the back off and press on. 30 minutes later you can shape them to your liking. They look really professional and have lasted. I've been opening cans, typing, washing my hands liek crazy, scratching, etc...and they haven't budged. I'll definitely try them again in between manicures or when I just want a quick change because they come in different colors and designs. I'm not sure how much they cost in the store but its worth it. I usually spend $30 for a gel manicure that only lasts a week, 2 at the most. I don't usually get fillings because I hate that line, which I can see because I pretty much always get french or american tip so ofcourse its visible. I may be late on this, but I'm loving it. I showe dmy mom this morning, she was liek when did u have time to go get a manicure? LOL Excuse my fat fingers in the pic!!! lol

I found a black dress for my breakfast at tiffany's bridal shower! Ok, I have a ton of black dresses in my closet but I just wanted an excuse to shop!!! lol. Not to mention my black dresses are meant for work, church, funerals, and the club!!! not a bridal shower...lol. I found this Kate Young bow dress at Target and I absolutely love it. Not something I would normally wear, but for this occassion I think its great! I saw my size I just need to go try it on and hope it looks good on some curves! In Tiffany's style I'm going to pair it up with a pearl necklace, long black gloves, sunglasses, cigarette holder, and a tiara of course!!!

Last summer we put down a $500 deposit for the venue and final payment is due 90 days prior to wedding. Guess what??? Tomorrow we will have reached the 90 day mark!!! I was a little shocked when the final payment notice arrived in the mail last month. Why are taxes so much??? The contract we signed last year definitely did not reflect taxes. I made it my point to have all vendors include taxes and service charges to avoid any surprises...I must have forgot to do that with the venue since it's the first thing I booked. So we're paying more than we expected thanks to these damn taxes! Now back to stressing over my final two catering payments! lol