This is nattyham's Purple Wedding!

Originally, we were looking at Punta Cana for our honeymoon. My finance was worried about the heat and humidity in May so we started exploring other options. At first I was totally against Vegas because neither of us gamble or party all the time. I wanted to stay open minded so I did some research and ended up loving the idea of Las Vegas, Nevada. As luck would have it, a family member has a time share at a resort on the strip which we were able to purchase for $500 USD for an entire week. Now we're looking forward to visiting the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, touring the Vegas strip, and shopping at the outlet stores.

Our bridal party is made up of family and our best friends. Plus I've incorporated 5 of my 7 nieces/nephews into the procession.

Matron of Honour - Jacinda, my baby sister
Bridesmaid - Beth, my BFF
Bridesmaid - Debra, sister-in-law
Bridesmaid - Chantal, sister-in-law
Bridesmaid - Angela, groom's sister

Best Man - Jamie, BFF
Groomsman - Jerico, friend
Groomsman - Kevin, friend
Groomsman - Shawn, friend
Groomsman - Eric, friend

I want the little boys to be comfortable so I went to The Children's Place and bought them all matching polo shirts. The two little girls picked out their own dresses to match their adorable personalities.

My mother and Matt's mother have not found their dresses yet :-(

Want to create a bridal cartoon of yourself? Check out theknot.com and go to My Inner Bride. It's alot of fun!

My fiance and I have lived together for four years. We currently rent a townhouse and are hoping to buy our first home next year. At this time, we really don't need or want for anything. Also storage is a huge problem here. I think it's rude to tell people that we just want money but my finance disagrees. My mother thinks it's appropriate to register especially for the older generations. I don't know what to do. Should I register for gifts? Or tell people the truth about what we'd prefer?

People always have opinions and suggestions when it come to planning a wedding. I think their hearts are in the right place but sometimes I just wanna tell them to back off. Since I've waited longer than my friends to get married, I've had plenty of time to figure out what I wanted and didn't want. In regards to the five (5) bridesmaid dresses, I followed the advice of a relative thinking it would save us some money and that it would be easier with one bridesmaid living in another province. We decided to purchase the fabric and have the dresses made by a seamstress. STRIKE!

Living in a small city means shopping is at a minimum including fabric stores - we have ONE. There was nothing I liked at this one store. Soooo...again following the advice of the same relative, we went on a day trip to the US to the Jo-Ann's fabric store. It's a fabulous place to purchase fabric and yippee I found the right colour/fabric for the bridesmaid dresses. Only problem is that we had to order it in which meant another day trip. STRIKE 2!

Okay so now we have the fabric....does anyone know a good dressmaker? Again back to the small city issue...seamstresses are a dime a dozen...dressmakers not so much. With many phone calls, I finally found one that was willing to take on 4 of the 5 dresses. After a couple of months, I received a phone call from said seamstress saying that she had hurt her back and was not able to make the dresses anymore. ARGH! Back to square one. Back to making phone calls, stressing, and freaking out a little... STRIKE 3! Finally we found another dressmaker in a city adjacent to ours.

Currently, I'm waiting on the dressmaker to cut all the fabric so we can bundle up the package for the bridesmaid that lives away. Then she will have the challenge of finding someone to make hers as well.

When you factor in all the time spent driving 3 hours down and 3 hours back (twice!) to the US...factor in the stress of finding a dressmaker (twice!)...It would've been much easier and probably cost the same to just order it from a boutique or catalogue.

I was completely stressed about our wedding invitations. We initially were going to use a friend of the family but it became obvious that he really wasn't interested. We had to find a Plan B. Thank God for my BFF! She suggested ordering the invitations online which I was somewhat skeptical about but kept an open mind. After an hour of searching I found Invitation Consultants. It was alot of fun scanning through the different styles. After narrowing it down to 3 candidates, my oldest son helped me with the final selection. I placed the order, kept my fingers crossed, and hoped for the best. Within 5 business days, the invitations were delivered to my door. I tore open the box - flinging packing material everywhere. I was so over joyed with the final product that tears of joy streamed down my cheeks. The paper quality was more than I had expected and every detail fit perfectly with our Spring themed wedding. I couldn't be happier!

http://www.invitationconsultants.com

I spent alot of time Googling bridal hair styles online. With fine hair I was skeptical about finding a style that would work well for me...and last the entire wedding day. Every search brought me to Carrie Underwood. Her style is impeccable...beautiful...elegant...and stylish without being too "haute couture" for this small town girl. My hair stylist agrees with my choice of hair style to emulate. And I feel that this look goes great with my princess dress.

At first I thought it would be difficult to find gifts for my all 5 of my bridesmaids. I wanted the gifts to be practical but not boring. Since I love taking pictures, I bought each 'maid a wooden picture frame with the word bridesmaid, their name, our names, and wedding date etched on it. I ordered these frames online from Walmart for approximately $30 each. It took about 2-3 weeks for the order to arrive. I absolutely love them and would recommend this gift to all brides!