This is springtimeelegance's Green Wedding!

Hello everyone. I know it's been a few weeks since my last post about my photographer (if you're lost read my last post).. I've been very busy with my job and with wedding planning. I have less than a month to ago but I've made one major change...A NEW PHOTOGRAPHER!! Yes, that's right ladies. I fired my old photographer. First, I would like to thank all of you all that made comments, suggestions, and words of wisdom for my dilemma. I took you alls advice and I sent her a certified letter in the mail. In the letter I expressed my concern about her not responding to my emails and phone calls. I mailed her the letter on Monday. Well, that Monday night she finally (after two weeks) decides to return my phone calls. Now mind you, she hadn't received my letter yet. Well, I didn't answer the phone because I was at dinner celebrating "income tax refund" ;-) with my fiance. After dinner I called her back, but like always, she didn't answer the phone. At that point I was ready to throw in the towel. I told my fiance I was done with her and with or without my deposit she wasn't photographing our wedding. But instead of agreeing with me he wants to "give her a chance". Further more, he didn't want to lose our $450 deposit nor pay someone another deposit. The next day in the morning she emails me basically, saying she apologizes for not getting back with me sooner and now instead of two photographers (the original contract) it would just be one person..her and if I wanted her "now succesful" sister it would cost me an additional $200! NOW TALK ABOUT BEING UPSET! WHAT!, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! Now after a few hours of letting some steam blow off I called my fiance to tell him the story and of course he's upset. Well, that evening I call her to "discuss" everything. Surprisingly she answers the phone. I begin to tell her that she was very unprofessional and I was dissatified with how she was treating the entire situation. She began to give me the sob story about her two sick children and being a working mother. Now don't get me wrong, I felt sorry for her because I'm not a mother but I wouldn't want my child in and out of the hospital. But still, when you're running a business you have to be professional at all times! Right?!? So, I mention to her that since SHE changed the contract I would expect my deposit back within 5 business days. I stuck to my guns and told her straight up I wanted my money back. Her comments were "you wanted a lot of hours for a little amount of money". Well, duh, they were your prices! What do you mean " I wanted"!?!? Her final comment was "good luck finding a photographer". But what she didn't know is that I called her ace before she knew it and I had already contacted several photographers to see if my date was available. So, I hung up the phone expected my money back. Well, five days rolls around and I receive a letter NOT A CHECK !! stating that "after speaking with her attorney" she wasn't giving me my deposit back because the contract stated all deposits were non-refundable. But wait! Any common sense person knows that a contract is an agreement between to individuals. Both parties should do and act as the agreement says. And by her changing the agreement from 2 photographers to only 1 without a new contract made the old contract null and void! DUH! So, now I'm taking her to court on April 16th..yep that's right that's two days before my wedding. Of course I would like to wait, but I have to do the small claims court in her county which is about 2 hours away. And I didnt want to interfere with my honeymoon!

So, the moral of the story is to get EVERYTHING in writing. Luckily, I work via email so most of our communication is in emails. But ladies, if you want to add an appendix to a contract, DO IT! Don't feel bad if a vendor ask why. Don't assume anything. Luckily, I have a valid case, but what about her other clients. Do they know. I'm not slandering her name but her name is Christy Rue with Seasons of change photography out of Rocky Mount, NC. Watch out.




**** I will be profiling my NEW photographer after the wedding because I don't want you all to get them mixed up because my NEW photographer's name is Christina. She's very professional and her work is amazing! She's more expensive but as the old saying goes "you get what you pay for". I can't wait for our pictures to come back! ****

So the photographer that I booked months ago has NOT returned my phone calls or emails. I've paid her a deposit and everything but I'm at a point where I want to fire her. I'm usually a forgiving person, but I think its very unprofessional to not return my phone call. The ironic thing is that I had a dream weeks before this whole "non-returning phone call event" about the same situation.

In the dream I was traveling to the reception site after the wedding with my husband, but instead of reflecting on our wedding vows I was pissed because our photographer didnt show for the wedding. So, now I was frantically searching on the internet on my blackberry for a possible photographer to at least met us at the reception site. At that point I was willing to pay anything to photograph my day, but instead my mother suggested that a groomsman go to Walmart and buy 200 deposable cameras for the guest to use instead of paying someone. During the dream my mother's suggestion was well received but at that point I was fed up so I just woke up!

So with that said, should I heed to my Intuition and fire her? Or work it out?

I have six BM and I really wanted to get them in a dress that could work for all body types. So, while browsing David's bridal I came across a dress that was both classic but cute. And after looking at some pics posted by brides/bridemaids who purchased the same dress, I knew I had to get it for my girls!

Now I have a myriad of sizes when it comes to my BM. Ranging from size 2 to 20 and 5 feet to 5' 11. With that said I think this dress will be amazing on everyone. Since all my BM live in different cities I didn't have the luxury of seeing it on everyone B4 making the final decision.

All my bridemaids will be wearing FERN but my sister (MOH) will be wearing CHAMPAGNE.

*** SIDE NOTE: none of the pics are mine. I got them off the David's bridal website.***

I finally picked out my invitations and I decided that it would be another DIY project. I've been eye"ing" these invitations at Michaels and I broke down and got them yesterday. But before heading to the store I grapped all the Sunday coupons. I took both my grandmothers, my Future MIL, and my mothers. So I walked into Michael's knowing what I wanted and with coupons in hand I was ready to G-O! My only hurdle was the check out counter. Now we all know the small print at the bottom of the coupon says "one coupon per person per day", but WHO CARES! Don't they know we're in a recession! They better be glad I'm making a purchase! But luckily
the girl at the register didn't mind ringing up my purchases separately so that was great! The original price was $34.99 but I saved 40%!! The only thing I don't like is the ivory ribbon. So, to bring in a splash of color, I've decided to use a olive colored ribbon instead! I only picked up 4 boxes because I only had four coupons. Therefore, I'll be making another Sunday trip to Michael's...but with my coupons!

I've decided to DIY my aisle runner. I've posted some pics of what I like. As with every DIY project, you have to have a plan. So first,..the actual fabric for the runner. Can you say Wal-Mart Clearance rack! Yes, they have all types of fabrics starting at $1 per yard. But of course you have to go in the right day and the right time. But I'm willing to check in every so often until I find the perfect fabric. They did have some ivory colored fabric the other day but it was too thin, so I'll just wait.

Second...the stencil. So, the plan is the print out all of the wording and artwork that I want and then trace the outline on the semi-clear plastic board. Now I refuse to pay $4-5 dollars for a little 4 x 4 sheet. Instead I went to the Dollar Tree and got two 12 x 12 sheets for $1!! Can you believe that?!?, Now with that price I can afford a few trial runs. But there is a catch..the sheets from the dollar tree aren't actual stencil sheets, but rather plastic cutting boards. They're so thin (and cheap) it works!

Now all I have to do is trace my printed designs (which will probably be a monogram or our initials and the date), cut it out using a X-acto knife, and paint the fabric using so fabric paint. It's that a plan?!?

Tell me what you think... Pay at least $150 for a runner or DIY for less than 50 bucks??


UPDATE: I've posted a simulation of what our runner will look like. Tell me what you think!

So, I'm less than 100 days from my wedding and now I think its time to
do some serious planning. I've been engaged for about 1 1/2 year. Now
don't think that I haven't done anything I'm just talking about the
small details. And I know that's what make every wedding special. So my
plan is to think about how I want to make my day special.

Things to do over the next 15-20 days.
-Choose wedding songs
-Find favors
-Decide our parent's gifts
-Get our rings engraved
-Choose our first dance song
-Finalize table top
-Order/DIY invitations
-Order/DIY programs
-Start aisle runner (DIY)
-Find accessories for myself and BM
-Find BM shoes
-Find BM gifts
-Start our registry
-Call all vendors, just to say hello ;-) ....(Just to reinforce the idea that I'm not playing when it comes to my wedding)


So tell me, are any of these items on your to-do list?

I've always thought that a wedding dress is suppose to be a "BIG REVEAL" on a bride's wedding day, so I haven't shown my dress to anyone...not even my BFF. I want to keep it a surprise to 1) to create an air of expectation and 2)...... well, I can't think of a 2nd reason so I'll just stick with the first one...lol. Will is be strapless??...ivory??...short?? Who knows (except my mother and I) One thing I can tell you is that it is B-E-A-Utiful!! What do you think?

Of course it's every little girl's dream to walk down the aisle in an amazing white gown while thinking about the wonderful life she's about to have with her prince charming. But to have all of that at what cost? Its just amazing to me to what lengths people will go to in order to impress family and friends. But wait...look at the pot calling the kettle black. My budget is small...$10,000 for 250 but that amount is all relative. To an ant a slice of toast is an "all you can eat" buffet, but for me it's a morning snack. With that said, to me $10,000 is a reasonable budget, to some it may be more than enough to create their special day, and to some it may just be an appitezer to thier $100k+ wedding budget....it's all relative to your needs, wants, and family budget. So, if you're a bride that's spending $500 or $500,00 I'm not mad at you...Go ahead and strut your stuff on your special day because after the last peice of cake has been eatten and the music has silenced all you have at the end of the day is your marriage and to me that is priceless!

Am I the only Bride not freaking out? I mean really! I read all of this Blogs and everyone says "OMG, I don't have enough time"...blah, blah, blah. But my wedding is less than seven months and I'm not about to go into cardiac arrest.

Did I miss something? If so, please let me know. Is it bad to say "I'm bored" ? Even my fiance mentioned this weekend during a relative's wedding that everyone is more excited. Can the wedding fairy please come and dash some of her "good wedding" dust over us. Or maybe we should just bathe in the stuff.