This is terabyte01's Blue Wedding!

So our Pastor called a couple days ago and we set up our first session with him on Monday. The our pastor requires at least 3 sessions of counseling with him. I'm excited to go. Our pastor is a fun, very laid back guy. I look forward to hearing his insights and advice. It will be nice to have a neutral forum to discuss things that we might not have thought to yet too. We're putting a lot of time into planning the wedding, so we should put sometime preparing for marriage too!

We first looked into actually sitting down with a therapist, but that was a little expensive. We figured the bookstore was cheaper and might accomplish the same thing.

We've bought 2 books, one on "couple skills" (i.e. mostly communication skills) and a second one titled "1001 and questions to ask before you get married". We've gotten a good way through the 1001 questions book. I've read half of the couple skills book. Hoping my fiance will read some more of it too.

We've been together for 5 years and gone through some life changes together. We also started living together a year ago too. I think that we have a pretty strong foundation to our relationship. We definitely have had a lot of time to consider whether marriage is right for us. That's what brought us to this point! :)

I know many of us have spent a lot of time preparing for the day of the wedding. What is everyone else doing to prepare for the days after?

So my mom sent me looking for favors for the bridal shower she's throwing for me next weekend. Yes, it's almost too late to have anything shipped, but I did find some stuff that would get here just in time. I ended up getting the love letter openers. My mom forgot that I was ordering stuff and ordered the compact mirrors too. However, I'm still thinking of going back and ordering some of the more expensive ones for bridal shower gifts. The shoe bottle opener and manicure sets are just too cute!

My shower is coming up the weekend after this one and I'm excited. I can't wait to see all my girlfriends! Gifts don't hurt either :)
That night is also my bachelorette and I'm really looking forward to letting loose!

So time is starting to really tick away now. I got out my calendar for 2009 and have started to work things out.

I think the best advice I've gotten from a friend who had their wedding last year is to put everything down on a calendar and space it out so you can focus on just a few things each week.

So Sunday night, I gathered all the time lines, checklists from websites and wedding magazines that I've collected and sat down with my new 2009 calendar. I just picked a couple of tasks to do each week and they corresponded with the suggested timelines of 2-4 months to go, 1-2 months to go, the week before, etc. Just having a couple tasks each week breaks it out into chunks that are manageable. I'm also trying to make sure that nothing gets overlooked or forgotten, which is one of my fears about doing this planning process on our own.

So now I have everything all planned out on the calendar. Jan and Feb are going to be pretty busy. It slows down a little in March and then all of the confirmations are in April. I have a couple DIY projects left, but I have them on there too.

It's nice to see it all laid out, it seems much more manageable and much less overwhelming. I'm working on getting my calendar to "sync" up with my mom and fiance so that everyone is on the same page.

How long did you date before you got engaged?
4 years

Did you get the ring you wanted?
Picked it out, so yes!

Was the proposal a complete surprise?
Not a complete surprise, I knew he had the ring, he just decided on the timing

Do you wish you had a bigger/smaller diamond? If so How big or small?
I have a sapphire instead of a diamond and I love it! However, I am getting a diamond wedding band, and it's plenty big.

Did you cry when he proposed?
No, just very happy

Was the proposal romantic or creative?
We were opening Christmas presents and he told me he had one more gift for me. Then he got down on one knee and, shaking, asked me to marry him.

Where do you want to go for your honeymoon?
We have booked our Honeymoon for Europe. We're going to Munich, Prague and Vienna. And we're really excited about it!

Are you buying his wedding band for him?
Yes, he doesn't want anything fancy, so it shouldn't be too expensive.

Have you gone over your original wedding budget?
I'm actually $3,500 under budget!

What day of the year will your wedding be?
Saturday, April 18th, 2009

What kind of weather?
Spring, not too hot, hopefully not raining or windy.

Inside or outside?
Inside

Church/justice of the peace/other?
The church I grew up in and my favorite Pastor Fred Morgan.

How many people will be there?
around 150

Time of day?
The ceremony will start at 6pm and we'll be departing the reception at midnight.

Any kind of theme?
Blue, because of my sapphire ring... but nothing else just "classically simple"

How many bridesmaids? Who would they be?
5 bridesmaids, Angela , Alana, Nichole, Dana and Stacy and one honorary bridesmaid Cynthia plus Diana

What kind of cake/what will it look like?
4 tiers, french vanilla cake with strawberry and cream cheese filling. It will be iced in white cream cheese frosting and dressed with blue hydrangea. The topper is a script brushed metal M for my new last name and it will have script writing of the words of our first dance.

Where will you have the reception?
at the country club near the church

What kind of dress will you have/color/material?
It is all white, A-line, strapless. Satin with an organza overlay. It has crystal beading and a corset back.

What kind of flowers in your bouquet?
White Roses, White Orchids, Blue Delphinium, Blue Hydrangea, Italian Ruscus, Rosemary

Kind of engagement ring?
White gold, pave set diamonds in a criss-cross patter around a sapphire

Kind of wedding bands?The first one of mine is a white gold 3 stone ring with 3/4 carat center stone and 1/2 carat side stones. The second is a white gold band with prong set small diamonds, probably 7-9 of them. His ring will be white gold comfort band with some detail, not sure yet.

How will you wear your hair?
Half up and curly

Who will be important to be there?
All of our closest friends and as much family as possible since we're a pretty small family.

Will the reception be big or small?
Same as the ceremony

What will the groom wear?
Black tux with white striped vest and solid white satin tie. He picked it out as well as the groomsmen who will be in the same but in platinum instead of white

How long on Honeymoon?
Long! 12 days, plus a few days to relax once we're back.

What will you do?
As many cathedrals, historical sites, beer halls, museums and art that we can fit into 12 days. Plus a river cruise in Prague, a symphony in Vienna and lots of beer in Munich!

Will it be modest or costly?
By some standards modest, but for me, costly!

How old will you and the groom be?
I will be 26 and he will be 28

How long will you be engaged before you get married?
1 year, 4 months

Live together before or wait till married?
We live together now.

Take a long time to plan the wedding or will it be simple?
It's taken a long time...

Will you do it yourself or with family or hire someone to plan the wedding?
I've been doing it myself with the aid of my mother and my friend Nichole.

Will you write your own vows or use something pre-made?
We'll probably just use something pre-made. We might write one or two of our own vows.

I bought this gorgeous ribbon from garden ridge the other day. Just couldn't pass it up. I've bought 80 yards of it. I'm not sure how I want to use it though.

The blue fabric in the pictures is the overlays that we've made for the tables. I've also attached a photo of my floral centerpieces. The ribbon is 2&1/2inches wide, so it fits the exact height of the votive candle holders that I have for the centerpieces.

I was thinking about wrapping the candles with the silver ribbon, but I'm not sold on that being the best use. Any other ideas for how to use the ribbon?

I got my candles from candles4less.com. They all arrived promptly, no broken glass and there's all 144 of them! I put a quarter in the pictures for a size reference.

My fiance reserved the limo yesterday. It's so nice to have him take care of some things! We only wanted the limo for the ride from the reception to the hotel, but most of the limo companies had a 5 hr minimum. He did find one company that would just book us for 2hrs. He booked a black stretch 2008 limousine, unfortunately no sun roof. It's only $200 (+tip), so we're under my $400 budget! More money for the honeymoon!

Ok, so I thought when the invitation company wants to charge $2 to $5 per item(invitation, reception card, response card, etc) a for a proof that they would actually send me the printed invitation. Yea... they just faxed a copy to the bridal shop. Oh and when the say 40% off invitations, they just mean invitations, that doesn't apply to envelopes, response cards, etc. Just FYI...

Good thing we did get the proof though since they had used the wrong font and didn't show that we ordered the response card. It's all been corrected though. A second set of proofs should be available to me on Thursday to review. Hopefully this time they will be just what I wanted.

We booked all our accommodations through HostelWorld.com. I discovered this website when planning the 2 backpacking trips I've been on around Europe.

We're staying at one true hostel and two apartment like guesthouses. All of our accommodations are a private room with ensuite bath. In the second two cities the rooms are like apartments with kitchenettes and living/dining space. However they average about $98 a night for the both of us.

I'm glad to have this out of the way! I can't wait for our honeymoon!

So many of you may live in cold weather climates, but my city, Austin, Texas is pretty temperate. However, a cold front is moving into our area tonight and is causing the perfect conditions for sleet/snow! It's only 34 outside, so it won't stick, but this only happens to us once every few years. It's also crazy to think that it was near 70 yesterday and we ate lunch on the patio.

I ordered the votive candles that I wanted from Candles4less.com. They have a really good deal on votives + votive holders there. I got 144 of them for 69.99! That's together, not separately.

I wanted a lot of candles on the tables to get the look of the centerpiece in the picture. The flowers will be exactly the same in my centerpieces.

I also had an idea of doing candle wraps from a website that sold the ones pictured. Mine will be simpler, but it's a good, relatively inexpensive way to personalize and color the table decor.

I also ordered my guestbook & pen from TheKnot.com, a bridesmaid gift, a "Bride" t-shirt for me and my garter set.

The guest book and pen are part of the Lenox Opal Innocence set so they should match a frame that I will put next to the book, the unity candle and the table runner that I'm using for the head table.

I had wanted a garter that had organza on it and looked simple with no lace. It even has a blue charm for "something blue". Although I think my something blue will be covered with my blue shoes, my sapphire ring (and hopefully other sapphire jewelry) and a blue trimmed handkerchief from my great grandmother.

And lastly I've been looking at the to-be-wed wear for a while. This is a guilty pleasure because I feel like I'm taking my obsession public. I think I will enjoy wearing it, but I'll try not to wear it everywhere, just to wedding related events.

I saw the blue Minolos from sex in the city and loved them even before I saw the movie. Then I saw the movie and loved them even more! I am not going to buy shoes that cost more than my dress... so I've been trying to find a substitute because I really did want to wear a blue satin pump with my dress.These might do just perfectly! Also found a second one that's cute. Might suggest these in silver for my bridesmaids. Found them on DSW.com

I have been working all weekend to get my linens finished and we're not quite done yet. My mother, what a kind soul, has done the majority of them. I give many thanks to her, because it is very tedious work. It's not too hard though.

The look I want for my linens is turning out to be the Ivory linens that the club already has plus a square overlay that we're making. The overlays are the most beautiful stone blue chiffon fabric. My mother also found seaming tape to do the edges with so no sewing involved! It is an iron on type thing. We fold the edge over this tape, iron it and the edges are done. It comes in 1/4 in width, so the edge is small, but perfectly done.

Look for updates to this post. I will post pictures.

I did get to talk to the new catering manager yesterday. She seems sweet and she has all the emails that I've sent so far. Plus I'm pretty organized and documented in how I want things to look so it shouldn't be that hard to orient her in how we want things to look.

Plus I called my second choice venue and they're already booked for my date. I guess I could change but I'd have to decide like right now since my invitations are only awaiting my approval of the proof before being printed.

My mom and I will go by there tonight to meet her and take some table measurements. We're also going to try on some of the linens and chair covers to get an idea of how things will look.

I hope the chair covers fit! Otherwise, I'm not sure what were going to do. My mother is against chair covers. She thinks they look fine the way they are. The second pic is a picture of the chairs that I took a month or so ago.

Any opinions? Chair covers or no chair covers needed?

Ok, so the first time, I just thought it was a fluke. But this is now the 4th person that's been in charge of catering at my reception venue. I hope this new person isn't as flaky as the last. Maybe that's why she's not there anymore.

I'm spending close to $10,000 with these people, you'd think that they'd be more responsive to a simple request for the widths of the 6 and 8 ft tables.

Arrrgggh! I haven't really gone bridezilla on anything yet, but this might just do it for me.

The first time we went to talk to the venue they had this guy named Justin. Then when I went back there was a different Justin. Then there was Marie and now there is April. WTF!!! This has only been since February of this year. And they've also had 4 different chefs during this time as well (that I know of).

The reason why I choose this venue is that it is extremely close to my ceremony location. I've attended one event there, my high school choir banquet, and have friends who've done a wedding reception there before. I have put down a $500 deposit, but think that I might be able to make a case for refunding it. I'm getting so frustrated with not being able to have any consistency with them. I'm already busy enough, I don't have time to call them and email them 5 times for something small like table sizes! I've contacted my second choice for a venue to see if they still have the date available.

What do you think? Should I find a new venue?

I found this via an article from Brides.com. I was initially struck how the stick on acrylics were used to decorate the candles. However after a trip to their site, I love their stuff!

It's a little too pricey for me, but it did give me the idea of wrapping candles with a message or a monogram. We could print them and cut them out to wrap the candles. That's another DIY project that we'll add to the "may do if I have the time..." list.

The vows on the wall behind where you're doing your ceremony would be beautiful. They also have monograms for the dance floor.

Their website for wedding related stuff is : http://www.wonderfulgraffitiwedding.com/

I found this place online the other day and I absolutely love their jewelry! It's beautiful and is pricey, but not a fortune. They have a wonderful collection of earrings and brooches. Enjoy!
http://www.tejanibridaljewelry.com/bridal-index.php

Check out this link my photographer sent me. She put together this great photo montage of our engagement pictures. I can't wait to go over and see all the pics in HD!

http://animoto.com/play/ahOWXkYfcUDFLNedPE5VVg

I'm very grateful to my MOH as she is letting me borrow all of the linens from her wedding that her mother made for her.

We went to Houston this weekend to pick some of them up and go shopping for the blue overlays that we were going to use instead of her brown overlays. We found this great stone blue colored chiffon fabric to use to make the overlays. We also looked for another fabric to make the head table and cake table stand out. I think the Lennox Opal Innocence table runners in Platinum will fit the bill, but we're still searching for a coordinating blue fabric with silver embroidery.

Making the overlays will be a large DIY project, but I think my mom and I can conquer it, hopefully before the holidays.

If anyone has any advice about DIY linens or sewing chiffon, it would be much appreciated.

We did already decide to make the overlays by making squares that are the same width as the fabric - 58". These will go over 60" tables, and the straight sides won't quite reach to the edges of the table, but the corners will drop a few inches off the table. She also has chair covers for 250! Hopefully they will fit my banquet chairs.

DJ and I went ring shopping on Sunday. I'm going to get two rings, the first being the simple 3 stone ring like pictured and the second being a wedding band. My engagement ring will then be a right-hand ring.

DJ and I did our engagement photos on Sunday. Michelle has sent us this pic that very evening. The day couldn't have been more perfect. The weather was beautiful, the sky was slightly cloudy making the light just perfect. We had a fun day shooting around campus and the river. I can't wait to see the rest!

So I was researching how much to save for lodging for our honeymoon.

I first went to hotels.com and found some highly recommended budget hotels and for the 11 night trip it ended up totaling to $1200.

I then went to my trusty hostelworld.com which has gotten me through a few backpacking trips around Europe. This turned out to be just what we needed. With budget hotels and one hostel (with, of course, a private rooms!) that totaled to $900. So much better! The place in Prague was actually a small apartment complete with kitchenette! I was very happy with what I found there.

We'll probably use both sites to book everything since I didn't like the accommodations they had for Munich. I did like the hostel in Vienna, where u definitely will spend a lot for a hotel, and the pension in Prague.

Just thought I'd share my travel tips with fellow brides honeymooning in Europe. If you were already planning on staying in budget hotels, consider hostelworld.com to help you find them. The LetsGo series of guide books is extremely helpful in finding budget lodging and most helpful in finding less expensive, but very good places to eat. Also good for finding other things like internet cafes, laundromats, etc. They don't have a bunch of pretty color pictures in them, but I have always found them to be trusty and very helpful!! And the trains are a really wonderful way to get around. I'm excited about reserving our sleeper for our trips!

I'm soooo excited!!!! I just booked our flight for our honeymoon online. We'll be flying into Munich, Germany then headed to Vienna, Austria by train and then Prague, Czech Republic by train then headed back to the US from Prague! I can't wait!!!

And for cheap tickets, go to sidestep.com for the best price comparison. With all taxes and fees we got a multi-city(arriving in munich, leaving from prague) round trip ticket for a little over $1500. That's total for both of us.

Yay! Soo Excited!!!

So I'm thinking I might hire a trumpet player in addition to the church organist. This video is my inspiration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBSUA2lrLBk&feature=related
I really want to do the Trumpet Voluntary, or the Prince of Denmark's March by Clarke for my bridal processional. I've contacted a trumpet professor at UT (University of Texas) to get his recommendation for a player that's for hire. I think this will add the special touch of flair that I'm looking for.

Has anyone used or using an online rental company?

I'm considering using an online rental company because of cost. Specifically, I'm thinking of using Bright Settings Table Linen Rental to get my linens.

I'm doing a wedding for 150. I can get a stone blue with a sparkle organza overlay for all the tables, cake table head table and candy buffet. Along with plain white banquet chair covers and white napkins. This is exactly what I want, but in comparison to the local rental companies, the price seems too good to be true. It's $620 with shipping. I can't get this for less than $1000 at the local rental companies.

Has anyone had issues with an online rental company? Has anyone used Bright Settings? Reviews please!

The champagne tasting was a sucess!

We tried the following 4:
CRISTALINO BRUT SPARKLING SPANISH CAVA NV [SPAIN]
CRISTALINO EXTRA DRY SPARKLING SPANISH CAVA NV [SPAIN]
CODORNIU ORIGINAL BRUT SPARKLING [SPAIN]
VEUVE DU VERNAY ROSE FRENCH SPARKLING NV [FRANCE]

The Cristalino Brut was the favorite followed closely by the extra dry. The Codorinu was awful and the Rose was just ok. Unfortunately I only had bought the small bottle of the brut and we weren't able to retaste and compare. I think we might need a runoff tasting for the Cristalino Brut and Extra Dry.

I went a bought 4 bottles of champagne to taste this weekend. Our venue is letting us bring in the champagne for the toast, but no other liquor. Strange Texas liquor laws that allow this, but doesn't allow us to bring anything else in. So before we buy three cases, I'd thought we'd try a few bottles. We'll definitely be inviting friends over to help us taste! I also bought the mixers for bellinis so we don't have to drink the remaining champagne just by itself.

Cristalino is the brand I orginally found for $6.33 a bottle (in a case). It's rated by Wine Enthusiast as a 91 and had 65 good reviews out of 68 total on Wine.com. I'll post again with the tasting notes for all four, because all of the champagnes were tasting are less that $8 a bottle when bought by the case.

Wine.com is also having a sale right now. One cent shipping on all orders of $99+. This is what originally got me to start looking, but it turns out that I can get it cheaper at my local liquor store, Spec's.

The people at the store said that the only time their champagne goes on sale is in the weeks running up to New Year's because they can buy and sell more in bulk and get the better prices.

I bought the organza bags for the candy buffet off of Gifts International Inc ( http://www.giftsintl-us.com/organzabag.php )
with shipping, they ended up being about $0.21 a piece! They are 5"x8" with a drawstring in the stone blue color pictured.
I also got my white rose petals there for the aisle and flower girl for $1.80 for 100 of them. I hope they arrive looking as good as they do on the website!

We went for a tasting at the Country Club on Wednesday night. I had given a lot of leeway for the chef to create a menu for us. I figured he had a lot more culinary training than I did. I just described the backgrounds that DJ and I came from. DJ's family has a Cajun influences and my family comes from generations of cattle ranching. beef was a must for the menu.

They served a green salad with 3 choices of dressings: Feta Vinaigrette, House Honey Mustard and a Raspberry Vinaigrette. The Feta and Raspberry Vinaigrette were good. I think we'll do Ranch and the Raspberry though. We need at least one good standby and then one that reflects the spring wedding.

Then the main courses were served. First the chicken. It was a baked chicken with a roasted red pepper and tomato cream sauce over rice with steamed vegetables. Delicious! And then the beef. The Fillet Mignon was blackened with a sweet onion demi glaze. It was served ontop of garlic mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus. Wonderful! All of us loved both dishes. We were presented with the plated dinner option because it now is within our budget. So we will have two plated courses the salad and entree. I'm excited that this option is available to us since it will add a touch of formality to the dinner and I didn't think it was an option for us before.

Our host also kept our wine glasses full with the house wine that we will be serving which was a welcome perk of the tasting, especially with my mom and dad.

We will have to return again for another tasting. This time it will be appetizers! My mouth is watering already at the thought of mini crab cakes!