Romanian Colors?

My "wedding colors" have always been crimson, champagne, and black. (Or Garnet & Gold as my FSU Seminole Fiance would say). We are going for a elegant wedding style, but if I were doing something more casual, like a backdoor wedding, I love these bright colors. They also happen to be the colors of the Romanian flag - a flag for a country where I spent a summer working with orphans and love to visit. :)







If you could use a different color scheme for your wedding, what would it be?

I Learned Something New the Other Day...

My friend Katie gave me a bit of advice I thought I should pass along to you all. When we went to register for gifts, I knew I didn't want "real" silver. I just can't imagine asking people to spend that much on silverware! So I figured we would just pick out a decent set we could use for every day but that would look nice enough to use when guests came over.

So I picked a not-so-expensive set from Onieda. They were pretty and I liked the shape, and I thought that was just about all there was to picking out flatware.

Au contraire. Apparantly, there is a tricky little fraction that makes all the difference. Notice that some flatware says "18/0" while others say "18/8" or "18/10". Note: The 18/0 will rust. I had no idea! And of course that is what I picked. The fraction has something to do with the amount of nickel in it or something like that. But the bottom line is, if you want the stuff to last, pick a "18/8" or an "18/10".

Thanks Katie for the insight!

Shoe Obsession

Lately, I have enjoyed nothing more than shopping for shoes. I did hunt around the mall yesterday for some shoes, but my obsession has primarily been online. How can it not be, with so many wonderful sites out there?

First and foremost, there is http://www.zappos.com/. AMAZING. They have TONS of shoes, it is easy to search for certain types of shoes, and (the best part) - it is FREEEEE shipping BOTH ways! If the pair you order doesn't fit, or if you just decided you don't love them, send them on back!

Other sites that have stolen all my time lately are: http://www.dsw.com/; http://www.endless.com/; http://www.shopstyle.com/. Not to mention http://www.macys.com/; http://www.nordstroms.com/; and http://www.saksfifthavenue.com/.

Look at these Christian Louboutin beauties!

Note: I had never even heard of Christian Louboutin's before my shoe obsession recently began. I just love that red sole!

Or check out these lovelies from Kate Spade!

My hunt for bridal shoes is in full swing (and both of these are out of my price range!) I have a few pairs up for consideration - to be revealed at a later date and time. Stay tuned! :)

Our Engagement Photos

I'm not exactly sure when you are "supposed to" take engagement photos. Our theory was - take them around the time you get engaged! So two weekends (I think) after we were engaged, we came down to my home town and had these pictures taken. It sure helps when you have a beautiful background like the beach for your pictures!

I must say that our engagement photographer did a wonderful job - especially for the price! :) My sister Shannon graciously agreed to take our pictures and we could not be more impressed with the outcome. If you need someone to take some pictures for you, let me know. I think she did a GREAT job!

I love this one, but Nate doesn't - because he says it just reminds him of how COLD the water was that day! :) He was such a good sport....
(I think this last one is my favorite)

When and where did you take your engagement photos?

Coming soon to a mailbox near you...

...our Save the Dates! My sweet future hubby mailed out the save the dates today. I'll post pictures soon - once I'm sure I won't spoil the suprise for those anxiously checking their mailboxes. :)

Dessert Buffet!

Ever since my parents' 30th Anniversary party, I have been enthralled with the idea of a dessert buffet at the wedding. Why? Because they had a dessert table and it was lovely! I'll have to try to find pictures. They had a one layer round cake, all done up like a wedding cake, with their cake topper on top. The cake was put on top of two cake stands stacked on top of eachother. They did a cake cutting reinactment and it was so sweet! They had other cakes on the table, cookies, and other dessert goodness.

I love this idea for a wedding. My only question - my place has "cake service". Do we do the dessert buffet "self-service" or somehow have it served? Should the cakes be pre-sliced? Or at least sliced after we do our cake cutting? Input would be greatly appreciated! In the meantime, check out these fabulous dessert buffet pictures...YUM.

Inspiration Boards

I love inspiration boards. For those of you who are not familiar with inspiration boards, check out blogs like: http://www.stylemepretty.com/ and http://snippetandink.blogspot.com/ I have yet to find or create the inspiration board for my wedding but I love these!

The Bridesmaid Dress Saga (part one)

Let me tell you the tale of the hunt for red bridesmaids dresses. I will give you a glimpse of the ending of the story - the bridesmaids dresses are not red. But the original thought was that they would be. And so the hunt began. I have dragged my poor sisters to countless bridal shops to look at dresses. I went from these...

To these...

But I was never quite satisfied. I knew I wanted my colors to be champagne and crimson, but who knew there were so many shades of crimson! They all looked too orange, too purple, too red, or too pink. And if I found the right shade, the dress was too simple, too short, too plain or too....just not right. And so the search continued....

Sunday Nights = Wedding TV Night!

I love Sunday nights. Why? All evening, there is a marathon of wedding shows on the We channel. I always try to have Bridezillas on around my fiance to remind him how much worse I could be. :) I really enjoy Rich Bride/Poor Bride and My Fair Wedding. But...I find my inspiration mostly comes from www.weddingbee.com. But much more to come on that later. :)

Beautiful Bouquets!

Let me preface this post by saying that I have not yet decided what my bouquets will look like. I love rich, bold colors, but I loved these bouquets too and just wanted to share them with you!

Love the daisies!!!

Beautiful bridesmaid's bouquets!

The search for a wedding photographer

I love wedding photography. Seriously love it. I have been obsessed with A Bryan Photo for a few years now. http://www.abryanphoto.com/ I mean, just look at some of their stuff!

But...with my budget, A Bryan Photo wasn't exactly an option. So the search began. And then I found...Audrey Snow!

Beautiful, huh? I'm so excited to have her as our wedding photographer! See more of her stuff at: www.audreysnowphotography.com

My fiance and I met with her at Starbucks in our hometown a few weeks ago and instantly fell in love with her. I know she will do such a great job! One of the most important things to us when we were looking for a photographer was someone who understood the difficulties that can come with shooting a mixed race wedding (think: white girl in white dress, black guy in black tux...ummm...this could be tough). If you look at her portfolio, you will see that she has some experience in this area! I love her artistic approach and creative shots. Thanks Audrey!

Our Reception Site

Our venue was actually pretty easy to pick out. Once we decided we were getting married in August in southwest Florida, an outdoor reception was out of the question. Le sigh. We knew we wanted a huge guest list, so the new challenge was to find a venue that could hold at least 250 people in our small town. We immediately went to the Plantation Golf and Country Club. It is a beautiful venue, recently redone. A cute tidbit about this place? We were both at a middle school dance there way back in the day when we barely knew eachother. Now we will be dancing there as husband and wife. :) Check out the ballroom at: http://www.plantationgcc.com/club/scripts/section/section.asp?NS=PD

The Ring!

Well, I have something to confess. I am a control freak. This will become painfully obvious throughout the wedding planning process. (Just wait until you hear about the bridesmaid's dresses). So, in true fashion, I picked out my own ring.

Marriage talk was in the air, so I started looking at rings. My (now) fiance gave me an idea of his budget, so I went looking with those parameters. Good thing because it kept me realistic! I looked at a copule different places, but always felt like I was dealing with "used car salesmen" type people. Ugh. But then...it happened. I went to a jewelry store and had the most WONDERFUL person help me out. She was so patient with me! My ring is gorgeous and totally unique. I LOVE IT. I have a nearly perfect princess cut diamond, turned 45 degrees so it is "star set". I fell in love with a wedding band, but wanted my engagement band and wedding band to match. No problem! They set my diamond on the band. Perfect! I love how it turned out!

Our Wedding Date

Let me explain to you the reason we are getting married on August 15th. My fiance loves sports. Seriously loves sports. My fiance and I got engaged on December 9th and didn't want to be engaged forever. I immediately thought of an October wedding. But...it was quickly pointed out to me that October was not an option. It was football season! We couldn't get married during football season! And yes, he is probably right. I don't want to be competing for his attention with the college football games that would be certain to be on tv. So we are getting married during the dog days of summer - before the baseball playoffs start and before college football begins. :)

First Things First

First of all, let me introduce you to my future Mr.! We met way back when I was eleven years old (15 years ago!). He is the love of my life and I am so excited to be his wife!

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello! Welcome to my blog, a.k.a. the play-by-play of my upcoming wedding! I hope to keep everyone interested up to date on my own wedding, share some wedding ideas, and maybe inspire you as you plan your wedding! Welcome!