This is princessofdenial's Blue Wedding!

I HATE THEM ALL! Well I guess hate is a strong word and it's not really them I hate, it's my body! So I'm a bigger girl, fine and dandy I'm ok with that I just greatly dislike my flab and all the spots that jiggle. I want to be tone again. I don't want to be skinny, I like my curves I just don't want so much jiggle to my wiggle! Also none of the dresses have that vintage flair I am looking for. I want simple, halter/v-neck (possibly sweetheart), satin/satin w/ a lace/chiffon overlay, sweep/chapel length train, a little bling/beading. I get so overwhelmed in the stores and I forget what I want because everything is so beautiful. For now tho I am focusing on my body and tightening and toning and in November we will start again.

Dress one is By Casablanca 1757. Dress 2 is by Alfred Angelo 1995. The sleeves would be removed if it becomes "the one." Dress 3 is by Mary's Bridal. It's discontinued and we haven't been able to find it online it's style 6379.

More shopping commenced today and we *think* we may have found the bridesmaid dresses. It's by Eden style number 7163. It will be in black! We <3 it!

Me and my Matron of Honor have been hitting up some dress shops this week before my schedule gets to insane. Yesterday we found a great shop about 45 minutes out of town where I found 3 dresses that I love! Well today we only had a couple hours so we stopped by a shop in the city called Gallippo's. She texted me as soon as she got there about how "upscale" the place was but I figured what the heck. Well OMG I got there and started looking and not only was there not one dress less then $2000 they were all size 6 and 8! WTF! Fat girls get married too! I politely told the consultant "I don't think this is the right place for me" and we left. Moving forward! Tomorrow we're heading to 3 more shops. I'm actually enjoying this process, primarily because my Matron of Honor is the SHIZNIT! <3

Yesterday my Matron of Honor and STB-MIL went to David's Bridal to have a look at some dresses. Despite my general dislike for David's I did find a dress that I liked. The problem: I don't like my body *ughhhh*! It's really just reinforced the fact that I REALLY need to get focused on losing some weight and toning things up. I was also EXHAUSTED as I had worked the night before so I really look frightening.

Lately I have been having these moments of "OMG we're really getting married... FINALLY!!!" It's all becoming so real now. The venue is booked, the photographer and DJ will be booked next week, the Save-the-Dates will be ordered and mailed by the end of the month and everything else is starting to come together. I can't believe it's really happening!

Have you been to or do you plan on going to any bridal shows?

I went to one last year around this time last year with my MOH and I plan on going to another this year with my FMIL. I think it's sort of a waste for me b/c we are having an out of town wedding but there's free stuff (yummy cake samples!!) and lots of good ideas. On top of that I think FMIL will enjoy it.

We have FINALLY decided on a venue *crowd roars*! And the winner is:

Twin Cedar Farms

The price is right, the location is beautiful and they are WONDERFUL. They were even willing to go out to the pavilion yesterday and take more pictures and email them to us because my mother is unable to get out there anytime soon and dates are filling up fast so we want to book ASAP. Actually every date is booked in June except ours (they are only available for parties on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday). We're so excited! The only draw back is that we are only able to serve beer, wine and champagne and we wanted a signature cocktail but oh well. Now we can move on with the planning!

Originally we started with a 50 guest limit, then it was 100 currently our guest list has over 160 people and growing! Not that it's a big deal we're still pretty sure we won't have more then 100 guests because many cannot get time off for work or afford to make the trip but still it's so amazing how quickly it has grown!

So a friend of mine was recently in a wedding that was taped for Bridezillas.She wasn't a bride but a birdesmaid. I've hung out with the bride a few times and I can SOOOOO see her being a Bridezilla! It's set to air this Sunday, the bride is Megan my friend is Kelly! It should be a hoot!

...and they look great! I ordered them through Snapfish b/c Vista Print just wasn't working for me. It's a little more expensive but it's EXACTLY what I wanted! The back just says more information to come.

Was bored at work last night so I made this.

Just gathering ideas!

Working on our Save the Date. It's a VERY large image so WBC made it look more pixelated then it really is. Thinking about possibly using Vista Print but I'm not sure yet. We took the picture in 2006 in Cades Cove.

So Brother's Cove did NOT work out, not even close! First of all the coordinator they go through was a damn nightmare to get a hold of. She said she would email me things and she never did, said she would call and never did. The one time I did speak with her we found out they wanted $1000 to break the contract they have with their caterer! Outrageous! So I told her we would meet and... hehe... we never showed!

Enter my WONDERFUL Matron of Honor, I can't even begin to imagine the amount of hours this girl put into looking for locations for us. She's my hero! We have narrowed her findings down to 2 places. The first is Twin Cedar Farm in Maryville, Tennessee and the 2nd is Country Jewell in Heiskell, Tennessee. We're leaning more towards the 1st because the price is good and it includes 3 hours for a rehearsal and 12 hours the day of. I'm hoping to have my mom go and check it out after she returns from her honeymoon.

New theme new dresses! Going Retro!

I'm really loving these oriental lilies.

FH and I have spent the past several days stressing over this wedding. We were in desperate need of an affordable ceremony location and having no luck. Before giving up I sent emails to several ministers in the area that read:

Hello,
I am hoping you can help us. We have been trying to locate someone who can make our dream wedding a reality. What we are looking for is a no frills wedding ceremony for us and 60-80 of our closest friends and family June 24th, 2009. What we desire is an unobstructed glorious mountain view with no arches, columns or tacky floral arrangements that cost hundreds of dollars merely to rent. We can provide out own photographer, flowers and decorations. We'd like to be able to provide seating for several/all of our guests as many are disabled or elderly but it is possible for us to rent this VERY inexpensively and set it up ourselves. We have a very meager budget but are hoping to get the most out of it. I've been to literally HUNDREDS of websites trying to find someone who can help us make our dream wedding come true but all I have gotten is high pressure sales tactics, outrageous price quotes and headaches. I have been searching for a year now with nothing to show but disappointment. Please let us know if you can help us! Thank you for your time!

I got several responses but one was EXACTLY what we were looking for. So much so we are discussing renting the lodge next door to it. It's called Brothers Cove. It's beautiful and I am once again overjoyed! We are heading down to Tennessee this Thursday for my mothers wedding and will be stopping by to check it out on our way home. I just hope it's as beautiful in person.

The past few weeks have been filled with several un-pleasant surprises. We've had several unexpected expenses including having to put my sons 11 month old kitten to sleep. The poor little guy had FIP which is not treatable and he went into renal and hepatic failure this weekend. We opted for my son's sake to have him cremated and purchased a lovely urn to place his remains in. This cat was his very best friend and we are all so sad to see him go.

On top of this our drain on the bathroom tub is leaking and in order to replace it the entire floor will need to be torn up and both the plumbing to the tub and toilet will have to be replaced. In addition we need to also have our sink repaired and the ceiling in our kitchen completely torn down and replaced. Lovely!

Needless to say money is TIGHT! But the wedding MUST go on. Our wedding plans will be changing. I'm not exactly sure of the details yet but when we figure things out I will certainly post them here!

A current trend in wedding ceremonies is for the bride and groom to be facing their guests with the officiant off to the side. What do you think? I like the idea but then again I may be even more nervous looking at all the people watching us!

Sometime ago dd977chic posted a slew of vintage hairstyles and since I'm thinking about going vintage I found a slew of my own. I'm leaning toward the 1st Irene Dunne or the Vivian Leigh with a birdcage veil.

Found this dress and Julius Bridal and I just LOVE it. My problem though is the whole ordering it with out trying it on deal. I'm not even sure if I would be able to find a dress even remotely similar to try on to see if it works with my body type.

I'm working on my menu layout and want to make it sound a bit fancier then it is. Here's what we are having:

Appetizers
Vegetable & Pita w/ hummus

Salad
Tossed Salad

Entree
Roast Beef
Chicken & Dumplings

Hot Side Dishes
Broccoli Casserole
Macaroni and Cheese

Cold Side Dishes
Potato Salad

Bread
Corn Bread
Buttermilk Biscuits

Dessert
Mini Pecan Pies
Divinity


Any suggestions on how to make it sound a bit more appealing?

I made the decision yesterday to add another good friend to the wedding party. She will be my Matron of Honor. Now I need to find another guy for Rich's side!

Erica
We met gosh about 8 years ago now, I was her boss! We became very good friends until some silly nonsense got in the way but we're back together and more in love now then ever, hehe! Isn't she gorgeous!

We would like to have 2 people do readings at our ceremony but we are not sure who to ask. Some of the people we were thinking were the MOH and Best Man or my mom and his mom, or my oldest brother and FH's cousin. Are there any guidelines as to who should and shouldn't do readings?

Here are some of the readings we are considering:

From "Gift From The Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity - in freedom, in the sense that the dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern.

The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits - islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.

From "The Irrational Season" by Madeleine L'Engle
But ultimately there comes a moment when a decision must be made. Ultimately two people who love each other must ask themselves how much they hope for as their love grows and deepens, and how much risk they are willing to take…It is indeed a fearful gamble…Because it is the nature of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to be created, so that, together we become a new creature.

To marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can take…If we commit ourselves to one person for life this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but participation…It takes a lifetime to learn another person…When love is not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation which is our human calling, and which implies such risk that it is often rejected.

From A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works "Being in Love"
If the old fairy-tale ending "They lived happily ever after" is taken to mean "They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married," then it says what probably never was nor ever would be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be "in love" need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense-love as distinct from "being in love"—is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be "in love" with someone else. "Being in love" first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.

I'm sure most of the other DIY brides like myself have found this site already but I figured I'd share just in case. If you become a member you can access downloads and message boards. It's a really great site, check it out!

DIY Bride

My shoes came today, brand new in the box as promised. The white ones are ADORABLE the blue ones however do not fit! Damn my wide feet. Thankfully I can send them back. If anyone else is looking for different/original shoes check out Metronomeshoes on ebay.

I was at Hobby Lobby and found a stamp I really liked and decided to have a go at hand stamping and then embossing. I think both FH and I agree that this one is the best. I have decided to go with the Kaleidoscope embossing powder, adds just the right amount of shimmer! I'm excited!

My father and I do not have the best of relationships. I have seen my father a total of one time in the past 15 years. I used to call him weekly to exchange pleasantries and then it became bi-weekly and now it's whenever. Since he married my step mother he has become an awful father to be quite honest. She controls everything from when we (my 2 brothers and I) are "allowed" to visit (how bout NEVER) to what kinds of gifts he can give us (which is always NONE). The core of my brothers and my disdain of the whole thing is that she dictates how every penny is spent despite my father being the sole bread winner. My oldest brother has stopped talking to him over financial issues, my middle brother talks to him only when he has to b/c my dad co-signed on his student loan and he is constantly harping on him about the payments. I have NEVER asked my father for anything, never a cent and he has NEVER offered me a cent except maybe a secret X-mas card with a $50 in it that says "Don't tell your step-mother." I love my dad don't get me wrong but my step-mother is a greedy bitch. So greedy that we are not even sure that they will even be at my wedding.

So Sunday I was on the phone with him and my step-mother (who is ALWAYS on the phone for all our conversations) and I mentioned us discussing having the wedding at Mountain Harbor Inn. What do they say "Ohhh... so how is Collin?" I mean WTF? I don't know if they just don't care about my wedding or if they are worried that if we talk about it I will ask them for money or what. So in my pissed off irritation I emailed them the link to the Inn and wrote this:
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Hi yah!
So what do you guys think of the place? We're going to go see it in August while we are there. I'll send more pictures then. It looks just wonderful from the website though and we get the whole place! If we decide to go with the Inn we'll be offering rooms for $75 a night to the first 12 people that would like them. Thankfully Reva is working to help us pay for it and mom and Markie are going to cater it which will save us a lot of money. I'm so excited! Less then a year!

Also forgot to ask you guys if you have thought about the guest list yet? I'm going to mail the Save-the-Date cards in August so I need the names and addresses of anyone you would like us to invite by then. Even if you don't think they will come I'd like to send an invite to at least announce that we're FINALLY getting married! Ok love yahs!
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Yes I'm very passive aggressive when it comes to dealing with my father!

FH said I was digging a little deep but you know what I'm pissed. I also intend on charging them for a room while my mom, FH's mom, and the wedding party will not be charged. I don't want him to walk me down the aisle, he "gave me away" when I was 13. I don't want a father daughter dance unless it's to a song that says how much he has hurt me in my life. Ughhh I'm so angry/disappointed/bitter/hurt and all those things a soon-to-be bride SHOULD NOT be!

Ok so I start a new job tomorrow and I am not sure how much spare time I will have so I spent today playing with invite ideas. Here are a few I came up with. They are all 4x6 and embossed w/ Kaleidoscope embossing powder. Which one do you like the best? Or do you like the previous version?