This is thefuturemrssims's Black Wedding!

We booked our photographer and caterer this week ! I really feel like my wedding planner did such a great job recommending our vendors. We booked our engagment shoot for next month.. I am super excited :)
If anyone lives in the Tampa area I would highly suggest you look into Misty Miotto Photography and Amici's Catering.
We had our tasting last week and it was soooo much fun. I went with Ben and my Dad and the food was OUTSTANDING ! We also found out that we will be getting a FREE ice sculpture because of the size of our wedding ! YAY!!
Now I am ready for my CAKE tasting!

My wonderful aunt was sooo sweet to make me my Future Mrs. Sims Jacket ! I love it : ) It's almost cold enough in Florida for me to wear it ! I love her :)

I really love our venue and I am so excited that we get to have our wedding there!

The RITZ Ybor is Tampa Bay’s premiere Special Events Venue. Built in 1917 as the Rivoli Theatre and restored in December 2007, this beautiful concert and event venue is conveniently located in the heart of the famed Historical Ybor City, near Downtown Tampa and The Channelside District.

Between the time it was a theatre and an events venue it was a night club. I have so many great memories of this place... and then it just so happens one of our groomsmen is the public relations and special events director ! Yay!

Along with having 3 great rooms for us to have a progressive wedding in, we have decided to rent out the art gallery as well for our guests to enjoy during the cocktail reception!

So we have one year left until we get married. I cannot believe how fast the past four months have gone by! I am feeling a little stressed today, but I guess that is to be expected. We are going to dinner and a movie tonight to celebrate our one year countdown!

My meeting with our wedding planner went great yesterday! We discussed all of my ideas and it looks like we are going to be able to make everything we want happen and stay in the budget !
I also told her about my idea to decorate the checker board dance floor with large chess pieces since Ben is a huge chess fan, and she already found some !
She also gave me a great idea to buy Ben a nice set for his wedding present and put the actual pieces on the grooms cake ( see prevoius post ). I think this is a great idea!

I am going to met with my wedding planner with my Mom today! I am super excited! We are going to discuss decoration and catering. I have decided that my inspiration is Ashley Simpson's Alice in Wonderland wedding. Although we are not using the Alice and wonderland theme, I love the color schemes that she used.

My MOH/Sister and I made our card box tonight... well my sister mainly made it..but I made the S ! I am so happy that it turned out so awesome!

I found the best cake for Ben today! He is a great chess player, so I thought he would LOVE this cake :)
The dance floor in our venue is black and white checkerboard, so we are also renting huge chess pieces to put on it for decoration before we all start dancing.. kind of like this pic ....

My parents are throwing Ben and I an Engagement Party In January.. on my Birthday ( I am so excited!!!).

My questions are ....
How many of you had engagement parties?
How many people did you invite ?
Did you register before hand ... and did anyone bring gifts ?

When my sister first told me of this guy named Ben when they first started dating, I asked my sister 3 questions.
1) Where did you meet him?
2) What does he do for a living? and
3) What's his last name?

She was very excited to tell me everything and I listened like good lil' sis should. But what really caught my attention was when she told me his last name was Sims. I love The Sims and so does my sister! It is without a doubt our favorite game ever and I told her, "Marry him, if for no other reason than to be a Sim" and we both laughed. But now she really is marrying him! She is so lucky to be an actual Sim now and to find a great guy that goes with that name.

So, I took it upon myself (with the inspiration of Kristin) to create her and Ben in the Sims, have them fall in love and hold a grand wedding ceremony in the game. It was a lot of fun and I took some pictures of the event to share.

Ben and I found out yesterday that his school schedule is not going to permit us to take our extended India vacation, so we are going to take it in the summer when he is off.
I was looking for Alternative "mini-moons" and I found a Carnival Cruise sailing out of tampa very close to our wedding date, which works out very well for us. But, neither of us have ever been on a cruise... so my questions for you ladies are ....

Has anyone ever been on a Carnival Cruise.. and what did you think of it?

Is anyone taking a Cruise for their Honeymoon ?

Did you utilize the Honeymoon registry. and has anyone actually got you anything off it ?

Thanks Ladies !!

Today I booked this entire hotel for our families and Bridal party to stay in the night before and night after the wedding! It is a historic hotel across the street from our venue. They let me go into the honeymoon sweet and it is so beautiful and vintage! I am so excited about spending our first night as husband and wife in such a fantastic hotel! We are also going to have the day after the wedding brunch here :)

My MOH and I found great damask stuff at Ross and Marshalls in Brandon! Anyone who lives in the Tampa Bay area let me know if you find any damask stuff locally !

So my MOH and I went dress shopping today! It was unplanned.. but we wanted to kill some time before we met with the wedding planner. So we went to David's Bridal. I really liked some of the dresses.. but nothing really wowed me. And the funny thing is that EVERYTHING I picked out online did not look good on me at all. We did however find the bridesmaid dresses! the picture to the left is my MOH/ sister and myself in my favorite David's gown.
Our wedding planner suggested we go to Jon's bridal... and the first gown I put on was the ONE !!! I am going back tomorrow to buy it with my Mom, MOH, and one of my Bridesmaids ! I will post tomorrow !!

My MOH and I are going to meet with a Wedding Planner this week. We are just having a consultation with her, but I am really thinking I can do everything myself and just need someone to help our wedding day run smoothly....

Question - Are you hiring a Wedding Planner, and do you think its really necessary?

This is the look that I am now going for : ) I know there is no green, but I will be incorporating it into the reception. There is no Wedding by Color Black weddings ! LOL.

I love my new Inspiration Board! My MOH was so sweet to help me make it today :)

Ok. So I spoke with my mother a few nights ago, and she was concerned regarding our venue. We are already paying over $5000 to rent the gardens, then we found out that they require the caterer to pay them a 10% fee to rent the facility, which we have to pay too. We have to use their approved caters, and they are ALL insanely expensive. My parents where willing to pay it, if I could not live without it, but I was already feeling guilty about them paying for the wedding. So, I have decided to change our venue, and change our theme. It has been really hard for me, because my heart was set on the gardens, but one of our groomsmen/ my best friend does public relations for a refurbished theatre in Tampa, and can get us a great deal... so I am going to take a tour with my mom next week to see if it will work for us! My FH really likes the idea of saving money, and we originally wanted a slightly gothic inspired wedding, and this venue will give us the outlet to do that... I am in the process of making a new inspiration board and my MOH and I made a crystal tree last night ( I will make a post for that as well)! Overall I am excited about getting re-plan everything :) Wish me luck! ( The picture is the new venue )

I found these luggage tags at a store in Martha's Vineyard called rainy days, but you can order them online. I thought they would be such a cute idea for our honeymoon luggage !

My wonderfully thoughtful Aunt gave us these beautiful toasting flutes right before we left for our vacation. I am so excited we got our first wedding gift!

I finally have a good picture of my ring thanks to my best friend/ groomsman :) I love it so much ! Its like a dream!!!

Ever since we got engaged I have felt happy but stressed. I have been working a ton of overtime and my job is pretty high stress. So I am taking two weeks off (yay!!!) and my FH and I are taking our last vacation before the wedding to Martha’s Vineyard. I am so excited !

Question - What are you doing to decrease your wedding induced stress ?

My FH and I have already changed our mind 3 times as to where we want to spend our Honeymoon! First it was Egypt, then Thailand, and now it has changed to India. I have been looking at a few different travel companies that have planned/ guided itineraries, but I am wondering if we could just navigate ourselves.

Questions ! - How did you pick your Honeymoon destination? Are you going for Romantic or Adventure ? Are you using a travel company... if so which one ?

Thanks Again Ladies.. I love to hear what you all are doing !!

I found this idea in my Martha Stewart Wedding Magazine. It seems like it will be so much fun for our guests.

From Martha Stewart. com ~

"What Tree Did You Fall From?," a Celtic version of astrology, is the perfect distraction for those awaiting the Wedding March.

Find your birthday and its corresponding tree; see if the personality traits listed match yours. If you're an apple tree (December 23 to 31), are you flirtatious, adventurous, always in love? If you're a fir (July 5 to 14), are you sophisticated, moody, industrious? Let guests read up -- and let the conversations bloom.

Ben's Mom is an astrologer, so I think this is also a great way to incorporate somthing she loves into the ceremony.

You can download the template at www.marthastewart.com/goodthings/take-a-bough

My family is paying for our wedding, but I am starting to feel super guilty about how much it is turning out to cost ! Everything has been soooo much more than I estimated. So my FH and I have decided to pay for the venue ourselves., my family was ok with it but I can't help but wonder if we should pay for even more....

Question - How many of us our paying for our own weddings? How much is your famliy contributing ? Is your FH's family paying for anything ?

I started my 7 day trail on Weddingwindow.com yesterday. I have to say that I am pretty impressed by the site, but its $10 a month, I am wondering if it is worth it.

Questions- How many of you have a wedding website ? Do you think people are really going to look at it? Are you paying for the site ?

Thanks Ladies !!!

WOW! So I went to the invitation place the other day, and a local photographer had her work displayed on a canvas. I fell in love with the pictures and asked for her info. She sent me a quote yesterday and it was $5,495!!!!!!! I cound not believe what I was seeing!!!! Please tell me that this is not the norm !

Questions- How much are you paying for your photographer, why and how did you pick them? What is the average price, and what it the max you would pay?

Hey ladies...
For all you Florida brides...
The Tampa Bay Bridal Show is going to be at the St. Pete Times Forum on Sunday July 20th form 12-4.
There is also one in Orlando the same day. FUN!!!
I am super excited about my first bridal show !!!

UPDATE - My Mom, Sister aka MOH, Aunt, and I had the best time at the bridal show ! We got tons of free stuff :)