sexylilbride's White Wedding Blog - Wedding By Color

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Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:29:00 PST

It's been a long time since I've posted here but I wanted to post the link to our professional pictures! I just received them back today. It was a very long wait due to our photographers getting married the month after we did but it was soooo totally worth it! Our photographers Stephen and Sou-Wah were absolutely fabulous and I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone! They do travel and shoot internationally. =) Enjoy! <3 http://www.stephenanthonyphoto.com/2011/09/amanda-chris-redding-california/

My Advice - To the Brides To Be =)

Mon, 30 May 2011 20:14:00 PST

So here are my words of wisdom to the brides whose wedding day is coming! 1. No matter how much you try to sleep the day before...you won't be able to. I took a sleep aid and it didn't work at all! Taking good multi-vitamins and staying hydrated is the key to looking fresh on your wedding day. 2. A good wedding day coordinator is a life saver. Even if he/she isn't a professional choose someone you know that is extremely organized and is good at communicating. I chose a friend to do this for me and she was absolutely amazing even though she had no previous experience. 3. The two areas you should not skimp out on in your budget is photography and florist/decor. We spent 2/3 of our wedding budget in these 2 areas and the results were totally worth it. 4. Make sure you plan out your wedding day schedule in advance and everyone that is in the wedding party should have a copy of it. However, be FLEXIBLE! My schedule changed every 5 minutes during the wedding but as long as you keep your wedding coordinator in the loop and he/she is doing his/her job things will run smoothly. My venue told me that my wedding was one of the smoothest weddings/events they've ever done and they've been in the wedding business for over 10 years and they are exclusively a wedding/event venue. 5. Flexibility is the KEY to not stressing out on your wedding day!!!!! Seriously, don't sweat the small stuff and just take things in stride as they come. We were 20 minutes late to our own wedding but I was determined not to let that stress me out. All my bridesmaids, photographers, makeup artist and other vendors were shocked by how calm I was the entire day. 6. Don't try to micromanage your wedding day, it'll just make you super stressed out and will dampen the experience for everyone. Trust that people will do what they are supposed to do when they should do it. 7. ENJOY your day! This day is all about celebrating you and your husband! Take the time to cherish the moments and the memories. It is after all, once in a lifetime. =)

I'm married now!! - Mr. and Mrs. Chris Solis!!

Mon, 30 May 2011 19:57:00 PST

Our wedding day was absolutely fabulous! Everything was so beautiful I could not have asked for more. God blessed us beyond anything we could have imagined. Our day actually started a bit rough as we were running almost an hour behind schedule with getting everyone ready in the morning but somehow it all worked out so perfectly that we actually were ahead of schedule by the time the ceremony was finished and stayed ahead of schedule from then on. I could not believe how perfect our decor was! I actually didn't get to see a lot of it but everyone commented on how gorgeous all the flowers were. I can't wait to see the pro pictures of everything. We actually ended the reception early but it gave us another hour of photography time with our photographers so we took advantage of it and took a lot more wedding portraits with him after the reception even though we had already done all that we really wanted to do before the ceremony. Overall our wedding was absolutely the BEST start to our married lives together! The pics I posted are just a few I grabbed off Facebook from some of my friends to share with everyone. I won't get my pro pics back for probably 4-5 months but I know they will be worth the wait. =)

Figgie Shoes! - They're finally here and they're amazing!!! <3

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:27:00 PST

I sent my shoes to Deborah at Figgie Shoes at the very end of January and I just received them yesterday! They were soooo worth the wait and better than I could ever have imagined. If you're thinking about doing them I'd definitely say go for it! Every single piece of art on these shoes is very meaningful to both my FH and I right down to all the flower embellishments and scrolls. I am in awe of these shoes and cannot WAIT to wear them on my wedding day!

Etsy Find! - My custom garter!

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:43:00 PST

I actually had this garter designed around the Hello Kitty charm on the keepsake garter. Pink is my favorite color but there was no way my FH wanted a pink wedding so this is my bit of pink! I had Mary from hellodesigncrew on Etsy help me design and make this garter. Mary was absolutely awesome through the entire process! I took different elements from several different garters in her shop and this was the result. I am super happy with the outcome! I highly recommend Mary and her Etsy shop for your garters. Her prices are super reasonable on all her garters. I paid $25 total for this custom set.

Eyelash Extensions - My new addiction!

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:33:00 PST

My friend/boss paid for a set of eyelash extensions for me as she wanted me to try them out before the wedding. I must say that I totally love them! It makes it so much easier in the morning not having to worry about eyeliner and mascara. I've seriously cut about 5-10 min out of my normal face routine just by having them on. They lasted me about 2 weeks before having to go back in for a fill. For the wedding I'm planning on doing the lashes fuller and slightly shorter than the current length on the pics. Only one small downside to note, when the lash extensions come out completely your natural lashes will be thinner and shorter than usual but they will grow back! If anyone is hesitating about doing this I highly recommend!

Wedding Hair Style - My Hair Trial

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:27:00 PST

I had my hair trial in January but I've been too busy to update this blog much until now. I had a couple ideas of what I wanted and took them with me to my hairdresser and this is the outcome. I think for the wedding I want her to have the bun slightly lower on my head and more centered but other than that i love it! My florist will be providing orchids for my hair the day of the wedding. The best part about all of this...she didn't charge me a penny for the trial and said she's not going to charge me for the wedding either! I've been going to this particular hair dresser for over 10 years and this is her wedding gift to me!

Makeup Trial! - I love my MUA!

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 14:06:00 PST

I had my makeup trial this morning and just wanted to share the results! I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do but she made some suggestions and I went with it! I really love the outcome too. The eyes are pretty dramatic but I am all about the drama...lol. We went with a dark plum purple on my eyes, false lashes (for the wedding I'm doing lash extensions), and a pretty pale pink lip gloss. First set of pics were done without flash inside and the second set were done in day light. Enjoy!

Figgie Shoes - I'm GETTING A PAIR!!!!!

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:52:00 PST

So I'm sure a lot of you have heard about Deborah and Figgie Shoes. She hand paints and personalizes your shoes to whatever you want. I knew I really really wanted her to paint a pair of shoes for my wedding mostly because I can't get super elaborate heels (my FH is only 1" taller than me) and I couldn't find any flat or short heel shoes I liked. They are expensive considering this will be one of the only times I will ever wear them but to me it's worth it. I'm doing them as a surprise for my FH and I'm going to have Deb paint things that are really meaningful to us as a couple. Total after she paints them I'll have spent a little over $300 on my shoes. I'm sooo excited to see how they turn out!

Engagement - Our Engagement Pics are In!!!!!

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:06:00 PST

Our engagement pictures are finally in, all 224 of them!!! My photographer emailed today and said he mailed out our photos today! He posted about 50 on Facebook and featured several of them on his blog! I've posted just a few of my favorites here. Check more out on our photographer's blog! http://www.stephenanthonyphoto.com/2010/11/amanda-chris-sacramento-engagement Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=259847&id=10523739455

6 Months!!! - Till the day I say "I Do"!!

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 21:33:00 PST

Today marks exactly 6 months till our wedding! I am so incredibly excited to marry my best friend and soulmate! He has been my rock and anchor for the past 4 years and I am so blessed to be able to spend the rest of my life with him! =) All my wedding planning is coming together so beautifully. All of our vendors have been chosen and booked, my invitations are almost complete (I'll post full pics of invitations when I'm completely finished) and mostly what's left are the smaller details. I am going to be one chill bride by the time May rolls around! For now I am just going to enjoy the process leading up to the first day of our forever! My advice to all you brides out there in the midst of planning, take it one day at a time and don't forget to BREATHE! Enjoy this very special engagement time with your fiance, remember in the end it's all about marrying the one you LOVE! =)

Engagement - Teaser from our 10/30 e-session

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:21:00 PST

AAAHHHH!! Our photographer just posted one pic from our engagement session and now I'm DYING to see the rest!! I LOVE my photographer sooo much. Any Cali brides (or even outside of Cali...he's international!) I HIGHLY recommend him. He studied with the amazing Scott Robert Lim, an international award winning wedding and fashion photographer. Stephen is so amazing to work with. We spent 4 STRAIGHT hours of shooting e-pics with him and he kept us comfortable and relaxed the whole time. He even apologized for keeping us for so long (not that we minded...lol)! http://stephenanthonyphoto.com

Love My Mailman! - Our Ring Bearer Bowl Came Today!

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:06:00 PST

I love love love our ring bearer bowl!! If anyone is not sure about buying these I would highly recommend this etsy seller! She states on her listing that it could be up to a 3 week wait before she ships out since these are individually made but I got mine in 2 weeks! I ordered the one with the silver leaf edge but it also comes with plain edge or gold leaf edge. It's so pretty and dainty in person. The letters stamped in it aren't quite straight but it just adds to the character of it. I really can't get over how beautiful it is! The seller also makes other things like ornaments, ceramic letters, and tons of other cute stuff. Check her out! http://www.etsy.com/shop/palomasnest

Wedding Gift Registry - We just got our first wedding present!

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:29:00 PST

Sooo exciting!! Our first wedding present was delivered to my door less than 10 minutes ago! It was actually quite a fiasco getting this package since the first time it got STOLEN! My bridesmaid had the gift shipped to our door October 11 and it was supposedly delivered on October 13. She contacted me October 23 to see if I had received it yet and I totally flipped out when she told me it had been delivered on Oct. 13 at 4:37p and it had been "left with a man". My fiance and I were both at work at that time and there is no way anyone would have been at our apartment! Anyways to make a long story short, UPS determined it had been stolen and Bed Bath and Beyond went ahead and sent us a new one which arrived today! I'm waiting till my fiance gets home before I open it but I already know it's a Cuisinart Belgian Waffle Maker!

Ask a Question - Bed Tanning vs. Spray Tanning?

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 10:17:00 PST

My FH and I have our engagement session next Saturday and I would like to get my skin a little darker before then. My skin is always a medium beige color to begin with but I do want it to be darker especially on my legs (I hate how my legs look because I inherited varicose veins from my mom) since I'm wearing a shorter dress. I am not a fan of tanning beds because the UV ages your skin drastically. I am also uncertain about the spray tanning as well because I don't want to end up orange or streaky. I'm just looking for a light golden tan and I've never done either tanning beds or spray tanning. I was looking into airbrush tanning which a trained technician applies by hand as well. What do you girls think? Like I said I have no experience with this at all so I have no idea what to do. Maybe a combination of both? Let me know. Thanks girls!

Wedding Cake - Cake tasting take 1!

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:13:00 PST

We met with our baker this weekend to discuss cake flavors and get price quotes. Since we already know the cake we want it made things so much easier. For the cake exactly as it is in the picture with buttercream icing, white ribbon (real not fondant or gum paste) and real flowers she quoted us $132.50 for 53 servings. On top of that we'd order an additional 1/2 sheet cake for $45 for 45 servings. I thought this was an excellent quote since we get exactly what we want for under $200! Her cakes look amazing too! We saw pics of her cakes made with buttercream frosting and they looked sooo smooth just like fondant. We ended up choosing 3 flavors that we liked the most red velvet with cream cheese, chocolate with bavarian cream, and white with mocha hazelnut. We haven't completely decided to go with this baker though. Her cake was good but not amazing. My mom is going to ask about cakes at a local grocery store. They have AMAZING cake but I'm not sure if they can make my cake.

Wedding Flowers - Just met with my florist!

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 14:47:00 PST

OMG I just met with my florist for the first time today and it was absolutely AMAZING! My florist is a family friend who has been a florist for 20+years. I had a general idea of what I wanted but she was able to pull together everything very beautifully! My flowers for all my decor are going to be a mixture of cream and white Peonies, David Austin Garden Roses, Lily of the Valley, Ranunculus, Tulips, Hydrangeas and Carnations. We were able to discuss and design ALL of my flowers and decor today in the 2 hours we talked. I am absolutely soooo excited about this! She is absolutely going to be able to pull together my vision of our wedding so beautifully! She was also getting really excited with all the details I was showing her. The best part is she has EVERYTHING one could ever need for decoration. She told me she has hundreds of different glass vases, votives, crystal strands, everything so I won't need to buy all this stuff. This makes my life so much easier! I cannot WAIT to see the magic she is going to work!

I <3 Packages! - My Bouquet Charm came today!

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 18:43:00 PST

I was waiting all day for the mailman to deliver this to me today! It's absolutely gorgeous!! I'm so excited I can't wait to put this on my bouquet! I'm also thinking of possibly wearing it during our engagement session as well. If anyone is interested in purchasing one of these use this link: http://notjustanyoldday.com/plated_calendar_discount_NJAOD.htm it will give you a 20% discount good through Oct. 30!

Wedding Rings And Jewelry - I bought his ring!!

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 09:02:00 PST

This weekend my FH and I went to San Francisco to get my ring resized at our jewelers. While we were there we decided we'd go take a look at the men's rings as well. He ended up choosing the ring he had picked out the last time we were there and we purchased it on the spot! We had his ring engraved with our phrase "Dance With Me Forever" and our date 05/14/2011 and we had my ring engraved with D.W.M.F (My ring is tiny so no way we could fit the whole phrase) and our date. I love how simple his ring is. It almost matches the promise ring I gave him 2 years ago. He loves it too. =) Sorry it's not the best pic since I took it with my phone. I'll post better pics later when I get off work.

Ask a Question - Which bouquet charm??!?

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 10:42:00 PST

I can't decide which one I want! Ok, here's the deal...the company I want to buy these from has a really good deal on their Calender Key Charm. I can get the Calender Key charm with a silver plated 30" chain for $36. The Calender charm is $95 and doesn't come with a chain. The reason for the price difference is the Calender Charm is sterling silver and the Calender Key charm is silver plated. I just really prefer the look of the Calender charm over the Calender Key Charm!! I think it will look better as a bouquet charm...but can I really justify the price difference??!? I do plan on wearing it as a necklace after the wedding so it's not going to be a one time use type of thing. Help!!

Wedding Dress - MY DRESS IS IN!!!!!!!!!!

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 14:08:00 PST

I just got a call a few minutes ago from my bridal shop and my dress is in!!! I can't believe it! I ordered my dress on July 30 so it only took 7 weeks and 5 days to come in! AAAAHHHHHH I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I just need to figure out when I can come in, try it on again and pick it up! WOOHOO!!! Can't wait to try her on again!!

Wedding Invitation - Calligraphy for my invitations!

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:09:00 PST

I was talking to a family friend about my wedding invitations a few days ago. She owns an at-home business creating cards and stamping. She is hosting a mini wedding invitation making party at her house to make my wedding invitations sometime next month. Anyways, she volunteered to do hand calligraphy on my invitations!!! I'm sooo excited!! I know a lot of people pay a ton of money to have someone do this and I'm getting it for FREE!!!!

Wedding planning - Sooo unmotivated!!!

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:03:00 PST

Is this bad? I'm 8 months away from my wedding and I'm completely unmotivated to do ANY wedding planning!! I think it's mostly because right after we got engaged I dove head first into planning our wedding. It sort of felt like I got half the wedding planning done within the first month of our engagement. We've barely been engaged for 2 months. Here's a list of what has already been done: - Wedding Ceremony and Reception venue: booked and fully paid - Photographer: booked and deposit paid - Caterer: booked and deposit paid - DJ: booked - Florist: hasn't been officially booked but she's already saved my date. 99% sure she's going to be doing my wedding since she's a family friend. - MOB and MOG dresses: ordered and paid for. - My dress: ordered and deposit paid - BM gifts all put together and finished. - Invitations designed and all the materials bought. - My bracelet has been made - DIY parasols have all been painted - BM dresses have been chosen and one has already ordered her dress. - Veil and garter ordered. Waiting for Etsy seller to complete them. - Honeymoon booked Still sooo many things to be done but so not motivated to do them at the moment....I don't know how you girls that are planning your wedding for 2-3 years do it! Props to you girls for keeping motivated for so long.

Bridesmaids Survival Kits - Completed!

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 08:33:00 PST

Over this long weekend I was able to complete the survival kits for my bridesmaids! I love how these turned out! Finding the BM bag from Michaels was a pain though! All the Michaels in my area were sold out of them. I finally was able to snag them about a week ago. Anyways here is the complete list of everything that I included in their survival kits: - Hair ties and bobby pins - Hair Spray - Q-tips - Oil blotting sheets - Wisps - Lip balm - Saline solution and contact case - Benadryl - Advil - Tums - Safety pins - Kleenex - Wet Ones - Emery boards and nail polish remover pads - Clear nail polish - Tampons and panty liners - Deodorant - Lotion

Engagement - Day of Engagement pics! 7/3/2010

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:45:00 PST

I was finally able to get the pics from the day of our engagement! One of our tango friends was taking pictures of our entire engagement and took a couple posed pics right after as well. After Tango Weekend, we didn't end up seeing him in our tango classes till last week due to him being sick and his wife hurting his foot. I was sooo anxious for these pics the entire time! These are just some of my favorite pics from that night. =) The tango pose pic we're having made in to a large 16x20 canvas that we are going to display at the wedding! I'll post pics of it when I get it!

DIY Wedding - Handpainted Parasols!

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:20:00 PST

These are my most recent DIY project and so far my most difficult. I had seen these awhile ago and knew that this was something I definitely wanted to do. I did not want to pay $40+ fpr each parasol and decided to try it myself. Even if it didn't turn out I would only be out maybe $15 and my time. It took me about 2 days total to make all 6 of these parasols and I think it was COMPLETELY worth it!! I started out by printing the letters out in the font I liked. I used a font I downloaded from dafont.com and printed at a font size of 400. The capital letters had to be printed individually and then the regular letters could be printed about 2-3 letters per page depending on the letter. After I printed them out I cut around the letters to make it easier to tape them to the back of the parasol to be traced. Probably the hardest part of this whole project was lining up and taping the letters to be traced on to the parasol. Lining the letters up so that they were on a straight line with each other and lined up correctly on the parasol took some time. I figured out that if I taped the letters together before I cut them out made it easier to keep them straight with each other and also helped keep the spacing between the letters. After taping the letters together I cut them out and taped them to the parasol. I traced the first time using a pencil so I could fix any mistakes I made. One tip, use a drawing pencil. I was using a mechanical pencil and I had to be really careful not to poke through the parasol as the paper is very thin. Tracing the letters with the wood umbrella "skeleton" underneath was quite a challenge. I sometimes had to freehand parts of the letters because I couldn't see them from underneath everything. Once the tracing was done I started painting. I used black acrylic paint I bought from Michael's and a variety of different size brushes to start with. I found out that using the smallest brush I had worked out the best. The brush size was similar to that you would use to apply liquid eye liner. It probably took longer to paint using that small of a brush but it gave me the cleanest lines on the edges and was the easiest to control. I think the total time it took me for each parasol was about 2 hours after I got the hang of it. I have about 5 leftover parasols (I ordered 12 from Oriental Trading, 1 didn't turn out quite right and then the 6 I successfully finished) and I'm considering custom painting them and selling them. If anyone is interested let me know!

Wedding Workout - Sedusa Studios

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:34:00 PST

A couple weeks ago I had sort of suggested to a girlfriend going through a breakup that we try something new together. We ended up going to an intro to sensual dance and pole dance class! If you have never gone to a class like this I HIGHLY recommend it. We had sooo much fun and it really is a great workout! During the sensual/pole dance class we were taught a short choreographed dance to do both on the pole and on the wall. Super hot! We were provided with 5 inch platform stripper heels to dance in as well! They're actually a lot easier and way more comfortable to walk/dance in than I ever imagined they would be. My arms were sooo sore after this class it was crazy! Pole dancing requires quite a bit of strength in your upper body and we only really did a simple twirl around the pole. In addition to the pole dance class we also tried an intro to Pussycat dance class which is a faster paced/club dance type of class. We ended up signing up for a 4 week pussycat dance class and I'm so excited about it! It's a really great ab and booty workout perfect for losing weight and toning everything for the wedding! I want to sign up for all of their different classes now! After this one I'm probably going to sign up for sensual dance which is a precursor to pole dance. Totally a fun and sexy way to get a sexy body!

MIA - Sorry Girls!

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:38:00 PST

So sorry I know it's been forever since I've posted!!! Life just kind of has this way of stealing all your time. I also just got back from a week long birthday vacation. I turned 25 on Tuesday! My last birthday as a single lady! I have tons of DIY projects I've been working on and I promise I will share them all soon! Couple things I've been working on include hand painted paper parasols, bracelets for my BM, BM survival kits and my invitation envelopes.

Ask a Question - To do or not to do???

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:24:00 PST

I am seriously debating about whether to do inner and outer envelopes or not!! I can't decide! There are a few pros and cons to this whole thing but I'm totally indecisive! Please help! Pros: 1. Adds more formality to your invitations 2. Looks nicer 3. I just like how the inner envelope looks crisp and new when you take it out of the outer envelope. (plus I'm embossing on my envelopes and doing inner and outer will help preserve the embossing) Cons: 1. More work in addressing the envelopes 2. More expensive as I'd have to buy more envelopes 3. Not eco-friendly as there would be more paper waste My mom is voting against doing the inner and outer envelopes. Please let me know what you think!!

Wedding Venue - We booked our ceremony and reception venue!!

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 08:57:00 PST

Yay!!! Things are moving right along for our wedding. =) This last Sunday we went up to my parents' house and we were able to sign the contract and pay the deposit for our venue! I'm so excited about this place. We will be getting the entire facility for 6 hours the day of the wedding plus we will get 4 hours of pre-event time for the rehearsal, photography and whatever else we need. All tables, chairs, linens and full wait staff will be provided as well as an event coordinator that will be available to me from now to the day of the wedding. The event coordinator will take care of directing ALL my day of vendors as well as setting up ALL my decor exactly how I want it to be done!! I only have to setup a sample centerpiece table for them and they will do the rest! The nice thing is my venue is already beautiful on its own so it won't require too much decorating! Now I can get busy on working out centerpieces and decor. =)