This is w8ing2bmrsg's Blue Wedding!

For my wedding, I want to wear a flower in my hair.

Can anyone tell me where I can find an inexpensive but good quality lily hair accessory (just like the picture) but in white?

Are you wearing a flower in your hair or a tiara?

I saw these shot glasses on Invitationsbydawn.com and they were $9.95 each. I think these are a great idea especially since my friends and I enjoy shots when we go out for a night on the town. However, these are a little steep for me.

I was thinking I can totally make these myself! I'll purchase plain inexpensive shot glasses and go to a craft store and buy a stencil and design each shot glass for everyone in our bridal party.
I even found light blue shot glasses that I can use to coordinate with our wedding colors.

What do you ladies think? Anyone else doing these? Or have you seen this done before?

The wedding colors I want to use for my wedding is tiffany blue with white and black damask accents. Since Tiffany's is all about diamonds, I think the tea light holders, toasting flutes and serving set will be perfect!! I can't wait to purchase these items!! :)

What do you ladies think?

Last night I assisted at a wedding and the bride said she was having her bouquet preserved/freeze dried. I thought this was a cool concept especially since bouquets are so expensive. From what I was told, the freeze drying process takes approximately 4-6 weeks and is around $125 excluding the case you choose to keep it in.

Are any brides doing this?

Read more about the freeze drying process:
http://natureall.homestead.com/PageF.html

As I mentioned in my 1st post, we celebrated our 9 year anniversary exactly 1 month ago today. Below is an email I sent to my girl friends when they asked what my bf planned for our anniversary. It's long but happy reading! :)

Oh my gosh, he did such an excellent job! He totally kept me in the dark. The only thing he told me to do was pack a bag. So at 4pm on Saturday, Feb. 7th, I was packed and ready to go. He kept on driving and took a different way so I wouldn't recognize where we were going. Anyway, he booked us a King Suite at the Hyatt in Anaheim near Disneyland. It was so beautiful and huge! By the time we got there, he had already checked us in. As I opened the door to the suite, there were rose petals on the bed shaped in a heart waiting for me. On the side of the bed, there were 2 wine glasses and a card with my name on it. He told me to open the card. I opened the card and of course it was filled with beautiful words so I started tearing up. Anyway, a business card had fallen out of the card from McCormick and Schmick's and on the back said 'Reservations at 7:45 pm sharp!' of course I was in awe. He said he wanted to give me enough time to get changed and ready. I was so excited and thought this was the end of the surprise. He then tells me to wait until dinner! He then surprises me with a bottle of wine that we had bought from Napa Valley a couple years ago and was saving it for a special occasion. He said he thought this was the perfect time.
As I was getting ready for our dinner date, he hands me a bag of my favorite flavored jelly beans and says that will tie me over until then. (We had a couple hours). Anyway, we left the hotel room and headed to the restaurant. When we got there, we were seated immediately and escorted to this closed off room with curtains. As the host reveals the room, there are pink roses and a huge envelope waiting for me at the table. I read the card that came with the roses and then he tells me to open the envelope. I open the envelope and as I was reading it I was surprised to find out that they were (2) 2fers to Disneyland!!! He said he knew I've been wanting to go for the longest time and had planned for it for Sunday (weather permitting- but they are good to redeem for at least 6 mons.) Of course, it brings tears to my eyes and by extention brings tears to his eyes. I just kept telling him what a great job he did, how surprised I am and how much I love him! Anyway, we order dinner, (lobster-that's my favorite!) but he tells me we'll have to take dessert home because he had another surprise. I was like 'You do?!' Oh yeah and the menu had 'Happy 9 year Anniversary' printed on it too! Anyway, he orders a bottle of wine, we have dinner and he says we had time to finish our dessert there because we were ahead of schedule plus we were given a complimentary dessert since it was our anniversary. We leave the restaurant and he goes into Rocky Mountain Chocolate shop. I didn't think anything of it as I thought he may want to get something for later. When we get there, the lady recognizes him and hands him a special order of chocolate covered strawberries that he had ordered prior to dinner! Paid for and everything!! I was in awe! They looked so delicious and couldn't wait to have some when we got back to the room. Anyway, in the car I start telling him how sad I was that I didn't get him anything or at least a card and he says that it's okay cuz I was his anniversary gift...yada yada. We get to the room (and of course I had something up my sleeve), I tell him that I really can't believe I didn't get him at the very least a card. As he was going to say something...I opened the side table drawer and handed him his card and he was surprised. He finished reading the card and I was like what's this? So I open the bottom cabinet and handed him a heart shaped bag with his gift. =) He was very surprised and loved it!!

On Sunday morning, (Feb. 8th, our actual anniversary) we officially said we'd have to reschedule Disneyland for another day because it was raining where we were. We got ready, checked out and he took me to a whole in the wall place for brunch called the Rooster Cafe. It was so damn yummy! =)

I still can't believe he pulled this off without me knowing a thing since I am such a HARD person to surprise!

I can not wait to see what he'll do for the proposal...! :)

Wilmington, Del.--California-based jewelry chain Robbins Bros. Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, making it the latest major jewelry retailer to fall prey to the economic crisis.

According to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the 16-store Azusa, Calif.-based chain, known as an engagement ring destination, will be broken up into two parts and sold.

Barring any higher bids coming in during the Chapter 11 process, Robbins Bros. Corp. will sell the California stores to Robbins Bros. Jewelry--essentially to itself, according to court papers, which also say that the latter can purchase the stores, "free and clear of all liens, claims and encumbrances pursuant to section 363 of the Bankruptcy code."

Meanwhile, Canadian jewelry manufacturer and retailer Spence Diamonds, which operates stores in the Canadian provinces of Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, has entered into an agreement to purchase three Houston stores--Baybrook, Willowbrook and Houston Loop--and Illinois locations.

Robbins Bros., which expanded rapidly in the past few years, saw its financial condition begin to deteriorate in 2007, becoming progressively worse through 2008, court documents state.

According to its bankruptcy filing, Robbins Bros. felt the pinch of reduced spending by consumers, was riddled with debt from its expansion and had liquidity issues, making it difficult to stock up on merchandise and limiting the chain's ability to advertise, court documents state.

The chain saw sales decrease about 3 percent last year--from $106.9 million in 2007 to $103.7 million in 2008--while losses more than doubled, increasing from $2.8 million in 2007 to $6.4 million in 2008.

The company's books show assets of $66 million, but liabilities of $77 million, according to court documents.

Among its top unsecured creditors, the chain lists in court documents some notable diamond and jewelry companies, including Leo Schachter Diamonds LLC based in New York (owed $2.71 million), Leo Schachter Ltd. in Ramat Gan, Israel (owed $1.82 million), Moshe and Namdar (USA) Inc. (owed $1.4 million), R and R Grosbard (owed $597,851) and Simon G. Jewelry Inc. (owed $554,455).

Boston-based Consensus Advisors is serving as the financial advisor to the ad hoc unsecured creditors' committee.

According to the store's Web site, Robbins Bros. got its start in California in the mid 1950s. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steve Robbins and his brother Skip Robbins then took their three-generation, family-owned store into the shopping malls in the 1980s.

In 1995, however, court records show that the brothers chose to wind down their 14 mall stores and switch to a freestanding, bridal-only store in Fullerton, Calif.

By 2003, the chain's operations had grown to include seven similar freestanding stores in California.

After recapitalizing in 2004, the chain continued to grow, opening stores in Texas and Illinois, topping off at 16 stores in three states by early 2008. Billing itself as the "World's Biggest Engagement Ring Store," Robbins Bros. is noted for its splashy grand openings, such as the September 2006 bash that kick-started its Houston store.

Steve Robbins and his wife pulled up in a limousine to greet 200 guests at the red-carpet affair, while a fashion show featuring jewelry and designs by Chloe Dao, a Houston native and second-season winner of reality TV show Project Runway, took center stage.

At the time of its Chapter 11 filing, Robbins Bros. operated eight stores in California, three in Illinois and five in Texas, making it large enough to rank as one of North America's largest retail jewelry chains by store count, according to National Jeweler's 2008 Top 50 list.

The chain rang up a total of $125 million in jewelry and watch sales in 2007, and, at the time, ranked No. 39 on National Jeweler's 2008 list of $100 Million Supersellers.

I have had my eye on this ring since last year when I went to Robbins Brothers to try it on. It is so beautiful and sparkly. Anyway, I sent my bf the link and to my surprise he said that he was actually going to be designing my ring! Although this is the ring that I love, I am so excited to see what he designs. Plus it'll be one of a kind because it will be made just for me! :)

So after months of looking at this site and reading other bride's blogs, I finally gave in! Since, I am not officially engaged yet I felt hesitant to start my own blog. As an aspiring event/wedding planner, I have so many ideas hence why I can not wait to begin planning my own wedding. I have actually been saving pictures in a folder for when it becomes official. Lol!

My bf and I just celebrated our 9 year anniversary on Feb. 8. We are high school sweethearts and have been dating since we were both 16 years old during our junior year of high school. We are now 25 and have been talking about getting engaged very soon. I am so looking forward to the day when I can call him my husband. <3