This is soontobemrsv's Orange Wedding!

It has been a long time since I last posted but a lot has changed since then…I have said before how I live in a small town so the guest list was at about 500. I know huge! Well after finalizing the guest list the number that we came up with was startling…658 people!!! Our venue holds up to 1000 so we were good space wise but just food alone was going to be $8,883.00. Table linens 2,200.00, DJ/Photobooth $1,700 and I don’t even want to get into the cost of drinks, flowers and décor. So we were prepared to spend a lot of money on the wedding with the help of our parents and then I had a revelation. Why am I spending so much money on one day when a year down the road no one will even remember what our centerpieces looked like or that the linens were beautiful? So it was at that point that I pitched the idea of getting married on a Carnival cruise. To my surprise EVERYONE loved the idea. So it is official, I will be “cruisin’ down the aisle on Sept. 29th of this year! Cozumel, Belize & Roatan (((SCREEEAAAMM)))) I’m soo excited, I don’t know why we didn’t think of it sooner. A honeymoon, family vacation and best of all a wedding all wrapped in one at a fraction of the cost. We are still doing a reception when we get back for those who aren’t going on the cruise (much more laid back of course) So as of now I am stress free and on cloud 9 counting down the days until we board that ship!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas & New Year! Ours was great but extremely busy so we took a little break from wedding planning for a few weeks! As of Friday we are BACK IN ACTION! On Saturday I along with most of my bridesmaids went to pick out their dresses. All in all the day went smoothly! We picked the dress in an hour! My BMs are so wonderful and easy to please. The only issue we had that day was with our consultant...She was not into the appt at all and was pretty much MIA for most of it until my Mom pulled her boss aside. We also attended the Bridal Show on Sunday and DAVID TUTERA was there!!! We booked our DJ, Photobooth & made an appt for a tasting with a caterer. Pretty successful weekend I think. Next up...FLOWERS!

So I got engaged and went and bought my dress two days later. I was completely in love with it...until I saw my worst fear. I live in a small town which is why there are 500 people coming to the wedding (everyone knows everyone) Anyway Long story short a girl that got married from my hometown has the same dress that I purchased. I LITERALLY WANTED TO BREAK DOWN! What do I do now!? What would you ladies do?! My dress is already in my possession...and there are no returns.

My Bridesmaids are pretty spread out as far as location but I've received so much help from them with all of the wedding preparations. Saturday 3 of the Bridesmaids that live in the San Antonio area as well as my Mom, Aunt and Fiance came over to help with the boutonnieres. They turned out great! My Fiance loves them and so do I! They will be great with their Chocolate Brown Suits!


I LOVE THEM!! What do you ladies think?

My Fiance and I had our engagement party the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Since the wedding will be in San Antonio we had the party in Houston. (So that there would be at least one major event in his hometown) After going back and forth...and back and forth we decided on a "Lovebirds" theme. It turned out great and everyone had a great time! It was the first time that my parents met his entire family. Of course our parents already know and love each other but they had not met his aunts, uncles, cousins etc. It was perfect everyone loved each other. It was a great night!

I guess I skipped right over the details of the engagement. So here goes my version of how the day went...

It was my Birthday weekend so we had hotel rooms downtown because I had a few friends coming into town as well as family. We had an itinerary for the entire weekend which included dinner that night at Texas Pride BBQ. We didn't get to spend that entire day together because I had to work but that afternoon we met up at the mall and I got my make-up done for my party and then we checked into our hotel to get ready. Steve gave me my gift while at the hotel, a Michael Kors purse! ( I was in complete heaven because I had been wanting one for so long) We were in such a hurry to get dressed and I was so excited about the party that I didn't even notice that he had the ring in the room with us the whole time!! We rushed to the party, people arrived, we ate and were all having a great time. The band began to play our song, Brad Paisley "Then" and my Dad grabbed my hand and said lets dance. As we were dancing I told him, "You know I should really be dancing with Steve to this song, this is OUR song" He just laughed. As the song went on I noticed people kept snapping pictures of us, then my Dad started forcing me to face the stage (He wasn't doing it very gracefuly either.) Ok now I know for sure something is up! The song ends and I turn around to all of our friends and family surrounding me, and Steve walking towards me with a cake shaped like a present. I immediately started crying. (because that is what I do lol) He told me to open the card and in it there was a message that said "Babe will you marry me?" At this point I blacked out! I remember him getting on his knee and telling me that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. Then next thing I know I'm blinded by the ring! WOW!! It was gorgeous! I said yes, I cried some more and I spent the rest of the evening staring at my hand and making sure this wasn't a dream or joke. CANNOT WAIT TO BECOME MRS. VALLEJO!

Last night I started cutting the ribbon for our wedding wands (because the venue doesn't allow rice or sparklers) With the help of my mom we have enough ribbon cut for 300 wands! I cannot wait to show you ladies the finished product. Is anyone else out there doing this too?

I know it is pretty early being that I have over a year to go but my mom and I stumbled upon a great deal on some DIY invitations from Michaels. 50 Count Invitations, RSVP cards & Envelopes for $9.99!! AMAZING DEAL! And the design is perfect for our theme/wedding colors. I found only 3 boxes and I need 2 more. I've been stalking all of the Michael's in San Antonio and even had my cousin and FH searching in Houston and we have not had any luck. :( So in true Domonique fashion I am freaking out a little bit, not because I don't think I can find anything else but because I'm so in love with these. Part of me says just return them and go with something else later and the other part says FIND THOSE INVITATIONS WHATEVER IT TAKES! :) Has anyone else out there seen any great deals on invitations? I'm a HUGE bargain shopper. Maybe I can fall in love with some other ones at a great price.

Hello All,
I'm new here, my beautiful cousin told me all about this site. I am looking forward to sharing my journey to the aisle with everyone and I'm sure I will need some support/advice from you lovely ladies who are further along in this process. I can't wait to start blogging!