The Future Martinezes

I have moved...

2011-01-04T19:20:00.000-07:00

Wedding happened over six months ago. Follow me to married life at my other blog, Life at 26. So that some people *don't* follow me, I will not post my new URL here, but comment if for some strange reason you would like me to send it to you. Otherwise, click around enough on the blog for a new online bookclub that just started and you can find me there =)

So, I'm a big, fat liar.

2009-11-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

I said I was going to blog, and I didn't. No good reason. I think I am just at an antsy stage, where I really want to get this show on the road, but I can't because it's still too far away. After attending the best man's wedding and preparing to attend one of my bridesmaid's wedding showers this weekend, I think I am just ready for our turn. I feel like I have all the inspiration I can stand to use. If I see too much more, I will change my mind 987498654 more times, and I just can't, because deposits have been made and I think my lovely fiance has tired of my indecision! So, instead, I have almost blocked out the wedding maddness. Almost.

Last week, we couldn't take it anymore. We keep making an insanely long mental list of things to register for, and we finally bit the bullet and did it. We spent three long, tiring hours at Bed Bath & Beyond attempting to plan our future home. No one told me that registering was going to be so hard! Here is my favorite BBB item so far:

Dinosaurs!

We have a strange love of dinosaurs, so this was a must. I can't wait to make and decorate little dinosaur-shaped cakes! Weird, I know.

I started a Target registry a long time ago. I got a coupon the said they would give me a free $25 gift card for making a registry, so I made one online. Today we went to Target and added to it. This is the thing I can't wait to get.

I love Lamp.

My "spot" on the couch is farthest from the light, so I am dying to get this plugged in behind me. I love Target!

I thought registering was kind of hard. You have to coordinate every room, remember what you already have, think of your storage limitations, stay within reasonable budgets for guests, try to ask for everything you may ever need, and not look selfish! It stressed me out! I am mostly focused on home decor- something I never spend money on. I want a lot of things I can mix and match through all rooms, but by registering so far out, I am worried both stores will be out of what I need by June. Eeeek!

What was your registering experience like? Was three hours a bit too much?

You better shop around...

2009-11-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

So, as I may or may not have mentioned before, Andrew recently graduated from culinary school. The French kind where he made rabbit and learned to cook different sauces and is now the go-to source for everyone we know anytime they have any question at all about any food. Needless to say, we like to eat! One of the (many) ways he "takes care" of me is by making me dinner every night, and he likes to challenge himself to make something good, not merely just put something on the table. He is very picky about restaurants we go to and what recipes he is even willing to try for dinner. He takes food very seriously.

(Not Andrew. But you get the idea. [source])

It makes sense that his one requirement for our wedding from the day we got engaged was that he got to pick the food. I gave in because I knew he would do a great job. This really was his element.

The first place we fell in love with was Pappa's Catering. Pappa's has a ton of restaurants in Houston (and other areas too) in different types of cuisine (Mexican, steaks, Greek, Cajun, seafood, etc.) and while it isn't the best meal you've ever had, their food is consistently good and affordable. We put that on the back burner until we booked our venue.

Our venue, oh our venue. That is a story for another post. Our venue has a list of five preferred caterers. There is no on-site kitchen. If you don't want one of the preferred caterers, there is a $500 fee. We definitely did not want to tack anything onto our wedding budget unnecessarily, so we decided to stick to their list. Can you see where this is going?

Of COURSE Pappa's wasn't on the list. So, we had to focus on what was.

One option was wayyyy too far out of our price range. That left us with four choices. We went to an open house for one and were less than impressed (There was a mashed potato bar with a large martini glass of cheese. I asked for some tongs or for the gloved woman working the station to put my cheese on for me. She looked at me like I was crazy, so I am guessing countless others put their germy hands in that glass before me. ICK! Needless to say, I had my potatoes plain.). One caterer runs a restaurant in Sugar Land that we visited with Andrew's dad and sister and we all four hated our meals! And then there were two...

Both of the other caterers were highly recommended by our day-of coordinator. We went to meet with one, and she could work in our budget. She insisted to me that two bites of appetizer were more than enough for our guests (I disagreed, because I like to eat!) and gave us a quote that included two passed appetizers and a buffet meal with chicken. I was okay with the menu, but not super excited about it. The quote for silverware and napkin rental also seemed really high. Before we booked, we decided to talk to our last option.

We met with Courtney of Campbell's Catering. Instead of presenting us with a premade menu, she asked us what we envisioned. When I told her we wanted a seated dinner but had decided to settle on a buffet, she stopped me and told me to tell her what I wanted. She would let me know if I couldn't have it. We wanted our guests to have a choice of proteins, larger appetizers, a seated meal, and sides closer to our favorite foods. Whereas the other venue quoted us as having a rice pilaf as our starch, Courtney listened when we told her we love rosemary new potatoes and added that to our menu immediately. We told her the things that Andrew likes to cook, and we looked over her extenzive menus and created our own. It helped us make yet another aspect of our wedding truly unique. At the end of the meeting, she said she would send us a quote for a basic Italian buffet, our menu served buffet style, and our menu served seated. She promised that the price difference for seated vs. buffet was negligible.

We got the quotes a few days later, and, um, let's say we disagree on the meaning of "negligible." However, her buffet prices were drastically cheaper than option #1 and her seated price wasn't much higher than it was. This was the time to spend the money to give the groom what he wanted. He has gone along with all of my indecision, lazy DIY, and money spent on other things, so it was worth it to give him the one thing he's wanted from the beginning. No buffet for us!

What decision have you made for your groom? Did shopping around save you some cash?

Give me my remote.

2009-10-26T22:30:00.001-06:00

I have been doing a good amount of wedding stuff, but I haven't posted any of it because I can't get it just right enough to talk about! I will take some pics of something in the works as well as blog about my honeymoon destination ASAP. I am off Friday - Sunday in honor of turning the big 2-5, so lots of blogging is in order for this weekend!

Anyways, the point of this post- On Weddingbee, the bees are answering different questions to give readers a peek into their relationships, and one very obviously stuck out to me. It was about the TV that you and your significant other watch together as well as alone. If you know Andrew and I, you know we are TV freaks. We have three DVRs, HD, LCDs (yes, plural), and Netflix subscription... It's gross. Besides the obvious sloth that comes from consuming such large doses of TV, I really think it has helped us learn to compromise as well as given us something to talk about when we aren't glued to it. (Because, let's face it: neither of us are into trying to solve the world's problems over dinner).

There are a few shows we can agree on: The Office, 24, American Idol, Top Chef, almost anything on Food Network, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Chuck, Entourage, Dexter, Rescue Me, Breaking Bad and Damages. We love them, watch them together, predict what will happen next, and name our furbaby after them (Bauer comes from Jack Bauer).

He is absolutely obsessed with Lost, but I don't get it. I watch Flash Forward with him, even though I think it's kind of boring, in an effort to compromise. It makes me feel like a better fiance.

He, in turn, watches Glee with me. I know it's not his thing, but it's a fun show! After he goes to bed or when I get time to myself, I watch all the good ABC shows (Grey's, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty), trashy CW shows (Gossip Girl and 90210), everything on TLC, and Oprah. He hates all of them.

TV is cheap entertainment. There is always something on, and it provides great time for cuddling on the couch. Sometimes simply watching a football game with him instead of going in another room to do my own thing makes me feel like I am showing him how much I care, as cheesy as it sounds. Hopefully I can learn to apply these compromising skills to other, more important parts of our marriage in the future.

What do you watch with your significant other? What are the areas most important to compromise in?

My Dress Distress

2009-10-21T22:31:00.000-06:00

So, we all know I already have my wedding dress. If you would like a long-winded account of how that came to be, you can visit here. It was $100 brand new. When I bought it, it didn't fit, but my "retail diet" suited me nicely and now (well, okay, in July) it fit! Here is what it looks like, since I never posted pics. Sorry about the quality; these are the only images I will allow in the house because I know Andrew wants a look at the dress!

It is diamond white, A-line, with lots of beading. Definitely worth more than $100, right? There's kind of a problem though. I didn't try on piles of pretty dresses. I didn't stand on a pedastal while a consultant froofed me and my mom cried and my tummy got fluttery because I found the one. I went with my mom and stood in a conference room with bad flourescent lighting and bought the dress I liked the most out of the ones that I had hopes of fitting into.

Let's call it what it is. I kind of settled. And now, I am less than pleased. What's a bride to do?

I called my BFF/fellow bride, who bought her dress to the same sale. We went to Ventura's Bridal under the ruse of both needing dresses (I have since watched 923497234987 episodes of Say Yes to the Dress and I know this was dishonest to my very nice consultant. I'm sorry!) and "played."

I tried to be good. I tried to try on fairly inexpensive dresses so if I fell in love, I might have a chance of getting one. But the whole time I kept thinking I have a perfectly good dress waiting for me. A pretty dress. But it didn't feel like me. I don't really like beads. I have sensitive skin and I am terrified that all the beading that touches the area underneath my arms will itch and burn (anyone have experience with this?) and make me miserable! Since I told the consultant I was a simple girl, she brought me this one to try on.

I loved the top. The ruching, sweetheart neckline, and otherwise simplicity were exactly what I was looking for. I tolerated the pick-ups (although the consultant told me they were "last season," so now I sort-of hate them. They are kind of annoying). I liked the low-ish price tag (in the $500s). I left the place thinking that I hated my dress.

I don't think I love this dress as a whole enough to ditch the first dress for it. But it shows me that there ARE other dresses out there. Dresses that make me fluttery and feel like me. But they will cost more money. Is it worth it to expand my budget, or should I remember that it's only one day and wear the gorgeous dress I already have? Did you ever feel like your dress wasn't the one?

Avoiding the Slideshow Cliche

2009-10-18T09:10:00.000-06:00

Slideshows always provide the requisite "awws" everytime I have seen them at a wedding event. But, how can they be made unique anymore? It seems like everyone has their cute baby pictures, awkward years photos, shots of them playing their former favorite sport, and a timeline of their couple-dom. It's cute, it's easy, but it can make people lose interest.

This couple had a great idea. The groom gave the best man complete creative control. No matter what your political leanings are, this is funny!

Best Wedding Slideshow Ever from Olde English Comedy on Vimeo.

If you don't have a friend with amazing Photoshop skills, how are you keeping your wedding slideshow interesting?

What's in a (last) name?

2009-10-14T21:41:00.000-06:00

Although it could be considered highly unsafe, I will put my last name out there for everyone one to see. It's Perez. P-E-R-E-Z. Now, in case you haven't been paying attention, this is what I look like.

(Awful pic of the mister and I.)

Um, do you see that pasty pale girl? That's me. This picture was taken in July, when I should have been tan. But no, all my life I have been freckled and pale and burned at the slightest brush of the sun. I guess with vampires being so "in" lately, I can just say I am ahead of the trends, but the truth is, I am fair-skinned. I like to remind myself that Snow White and Nicole Kidman have proved that pale is pretty, but that is not the point of this post.

The point is that no one has ever really believed my last name is Perez.

I remember the first day of school as a kid when teachers would give me a double take when I raised my hand when my name was called. I live in Texas; Mexicans are a dime a dozen here, and they are generally characterized by browner skin and darker hair. I definitely wasn't what anyone had in mind.

I wasn't adopted. My dad's grandparents came from Mexico, and as my grandparents faced persecution for only speaking Spanish as children and having to "learn" American culture, they raised my dad and his siblings to speak English at home with only fair comprehension of Spanish. So, needless to say, I wasn't raised in a house filled with Mexican culture, although I wish I were.

So, my whole life, I have wanted to get married to be done with this name that I have never felt has "fit." I am proud of who I am and where I come from, but tired of feeling like I don't match up. Ever since I was a kid, I have said I can't wait to get married so I can change my name!

Enter Andrew Martinez.

Yup. That guy up there, who is a little darker than me, is as Puerto Rican as I am Mexican. So, I can change my name to Lauren Martinez or still be Lauren Perez. Or I can really throw people off and be Lauren Perez-Martinez.

While I love the idea of sharing a last name with my hubby-to-be, we do not know if children are in our future and it is not important to him for me to change my name. I am sure he would love it if I did, but he won't be crushed if I don't.

(Sidebar: We actually had a wedding coordinator at a venue suggest we have a mariachi band at our ceremony after hearing our last names. I loved her stereotype and told her I thought it would be great!)

So, here is my dilemma: Should I change so I can have the joy of being Mrs. Andrew Martinez, or is now the time to truly embrace my Perez-ciousness (yeah Perez Hilton, I stole that, but I've had the name longer than you =P)? Did you have a name change debate?

Carnival!

2009-10-13T20:26:00.000-06:00

Andrew is camera shy, so there are precious few good pictures of us together. I insisted we get engagement pics after the first of the year, and I want something a little different. It seems like the current trend in Houston is to go to Discovery Green (downtown Houston- there's a park, a mosaic wall, fountains, benches, and lots of other great stuff), and while it's pretty, it's not my favorite idea.

I was trying to think of something happening in Houston between February and April, and I realized our city's most known event, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, is in town from late February to early March. The rodeo has a carnival that accompanies it, naturally (yeah, I know this probably sound really weird and Texan to you non-Houstonians, but it's fun, I promise!). Anyway, my bright idea was to take pictures at the carnival.

I have so many fun memories of riding carousels as a kid!

Both the slide and ferris wheel pics can be found here. I love that the slide almost looks competitive!

I adore this nighttime shot with all of the movement in the background.

My favorite! Found here.

(Sidebar: because of my TV-nerdiness, ferris wheels remind me of The OC [Ryan was afraid of heights, but he got on one for Marissa] and Everwood [Amy and Ephram were riding one when she told him the Grover story] I think it would be a great inside joke touch to our wedding!).

Aren't these completely adorable? I love the idea. Andrew has already completely shot it down by saying he doesn't like carnivals. Who doesn't like carnivals? I am going to work on twisting his arm until I come up with a far more fabulous idea.

Where were your city-specific e-shots taken?

Shower me with... cupcakes?

2009-10-12T22:11:00.000-06:00

Since we haven't even registered for gifts yet, a wedding shower should be the furthest thing from my mind, right? Um, well, no. Pretty much as soon as I got engaged, one of my wonderful aunts offered to host a shower for me. This aunt is amazing and can give Martha Stewart a run for her money- she can paint, sew, and craft with the best of them! Since I would presumably have her amazing talents at my disposal, I have been thinking of fun themes, and cupcakes are my current fave!

(Source - I couldn't resist- the kitty has the same coloring as Bauer!)

Yummmm... I don't think you ever outgrow cupcakes. Come to think of it, Andrew is pretty much the only person I know who says he doesn't like cupcakes... Although I have never seen him turn one down ;). They are pretty enough by themselves, or you can dress them up a little.

Source

I know this is a cake, but I think you could melt some white chocolate, spread it on a cookie sheet, cool it, and then freehand little shirts. Stick the little shirts in white frosted and papered cupcakes. Too complicated? Maybe. But I want it!

Source

And of course no party would be complete without fabulous decor. I know one is from a kid's birthday party, but I think you could replace the numbers with the married initial or a monogram and the party hats with vases of flowers. Cute-cute-cute! I love the sugar bowl so much I would keep it to use in my house after the shower.

Martha!

Source

And I can't forget this oh-so-creative presentation. Just paint some flower pots, get some foam, and there you have it... edible centerpieces!

Source

I had to cruise etsy for some cupcake deliciousness and I ran across this. I would have to wear it to go along with the theme to my own party.

Source

Seeing as we won't have a shower until at least this spring, I am bound to change my mind a million times. Is it too childish? I think it's fun, and I have never really been good at being an adult anyways :). Did you theme your own shower? What other fun things could I consider?

Dress Obsessed

2009-10-09T20:34:00.000-06:00

If you know me in the slightest, you know my complete and utter obsession with the show "The Office." My dad got me hooked, I got Andrew's sister hooked a few years ago, and after hearing all of our inside jokes, Andrew finally came around and now loves the show. Our cat was *almost* named Toby, my old phone's ringtone was the theme song, and last year, we had the most awesome Office premiere party ever. So, you can understand my joy a few weeks ago when this lovely arrived in my mailbox:

I pretty much love Jim Halpert. I know he's not real, but that has not stopped me from swooning over his every move, from tracking down Karen't favorite chips to making Pam grilled cheese sandwiches to eat on the roof. Anyway, I got this in the mail and thought Pam (Jenna Fischer)'s dress was completely gorgeous! Andrew read the article before I did, deemed it entirely too spoiler-ish for my consumption, and made me wait until after the episode aired to read the article. It actually took me about a week to even open the magazine for the pictures.

Once I saw the pictures with the article, I liked the dress even more! It is a short dress, perfect for a reception. I read the teeny tiny print in the spine of the magazine and saw it was Vera Wang.

Uh-Oh.

Vera Wang would never fit into my budget. Never. Not to mention I already have a dress (which I may not be completely in love with... another post for another time...) But I kept thinking about the lovely sweetheart neckline, perfectly draped dress that looked up at me everyday from my coffee table.

I had to get it out of my mind. Prove to myself that I couldn't afford this dress. I went to Vera's website and couldn't find it! Since all of her bridal dresses were short, I clicked on bridesmaids dresses. Just to see...

What did I find?

(Source)

Meet Anna. Since she is a bridesmaid's dress, she doesn't come in white. Pam/Jenna also wasn't wearing the sash in the EW photos, so I'm hoping it's detachable. It is quite a bargain as far as dresses go (ahem, especially those by Vera Wang!). Even Andrew, the man who has no opinion on fashion, said it was a nice dress. He is telling me just to order it in champagne!

But, now I am torn. I can't try it on until it arrives. It's not white. And won't I want to wear my wedding dress for as long as possible? Help me out. What should I do?

Like a Fat Kid Loves Cake, Part 2...

2009-10-06T18:30:00.001-06:00

So, when we last left off, Andrew and I were bummed about our first cake tasting. No one watched Lost (his favorite show), prices were a little high, and we were given the hard sell.

Enter our wedding vendor BFF, WeddingWire.

I love reviews. Before I make any big purchase, I like to be informed and I will read any review I can find. This site is a buffet for my vendor review gluttony. My fabulous groom shares the same enthusiasm, so he took to WW to find us a baker.

One of the top rated bakers was Megan of nutmeg and co. We looked at her website (which she is redoing, so it's nonexistent right now) and fell in love with some of her awesome flavors- chocolate truffle, hazelnut, flavors with oreo buttercream, cakes with espresso in the batter, fruity flavors, a flavor with a toasted marshmallow filling- you get the picture. We were IN LOVE from a taste POV.

I looked at her portfolio, and it only got better.

(From her WW portfolio)

Her work was GOOD! It showed creativity, style, and fun. I was hooked. I immediately emailed her to set up an appointment.

After reading vendor reviews, my second favorite thing to do is facebook stalk people. So, I did it. I could tell this was a small operation, so I fb stalked the poor girl. And I liked what I saw- one of her favorite shows was Lost! I hoped she would be excited about making our cake.

We met with her and she had about 15 flavors of cake to try. We loved them ALL and didn't even get to sample some of the ones we are pretty sure we'll want. How can you narrow down around 45 amazing flavors to a mere five?

I also changed my mind on design. I decided my previous cake-spiration was too boring. I wanted a cake more like the one in the background of this photo.

(The always amazing Bride's Guide)

I love how each tier is different, yet it is still unified. I thought we could still incorporate elements from the invitation design as well as our color to make something more memorable. I showed this picture and the invitation to Megan, and she thought she could work with it. She also LOVED Andrew's idea about his Lost cake and threw in some thoughts of her own.

We left super happy. About two weeks after our meeting, Megan emailed me two possible sketches for my cake and one for Andrew's. He was beyond thrilled with his. As far as mine, it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for. I think it is beautiful, but it doesn't have the "wow" I was looking for. (But isn't the sketch idea so fun?)

(Courtesy of Megan. Sorry Blogger doesn't want to center it for me!)

How do you correct a professional? I emailed her and resent her the Bride's Guide inspiration pic. She apologized for overlooking that in her notes and emailed me another sketch that I loved within an hour. There was no looking back. We had found our baker! As an added plus, Andrew is ordering me a birthday cake in my favorite flavor that I tried (chocolate truffle) for my birthday later this month. De-lish!

What led you to your dream vendor? What kinds of alternate research did you do to find them?

Our Wedding from A to Z!

2009-10-05T20:47:00.000-06:00

I admit, I am a total blog stalker. I saw this on According to Nina and Miscellaneous Meredith last week and decided to play along- wedding style! Both blogs are great if you are a style-clueless girl like me who likes to live out the best trends vicariously through others! In thinking of things for each letter, I thought of a lot of questions. I would LOVE some input from people who are married, go to tons of weddings, or just want to put in their two cents! I added random pictures, because this is A LOT of text!

The ABCs of six.eleven.ten

A- A is for my groom, Andrew, who I love and adore and can't wait to marry!

(A terrible pic of us at the bridal show... it was the first one I found on this computer!)

B- I am not taking Bridal Portraits. We opted for an e-sesh instead. Will anyone really miss them?

C- Our favors are going to be coasters that we are making ourselves. It sounds a little crazy, but I love how they have turned out.

D- We have yet to pick a first dance song, but right now I am leaning heavily towards one by Dave Matthews Band. Any suggestions?

E- E is for our looooong engagement... It didn't seem that long last December, but now I am ready to get down that aisle.

(Engagement night! Don't mind my lack of a dressy coat... it's a long story.)

F- By the time we get married, we will have been together four and a half years.

G- Our groom's cake will probably be the most-talked-about aspect of the wedding. It will be totally unique and completely Andrew.

H- I am almost more excited for our honeymoon than our wedding day! We have narrowed our choices down to just a few... but of course we are researching it to death!

I- I am glad our ceremony and reception are indoors. You just never know with Houston weather!

J- Johnny Mathis was playing when he asked me to marry him, and this song must play a role in our wedding! (I am pretty sure this is the exact fountain show we were at when he asked, BTW!)

K- Andrew's best man, Kevin, is getting married next weekend. They have been friends since their freshman year of high school and were roommates when we met.

L- This wedding makes me realize how lucky I am: I found someone I want to marry who supports this whole wedding shindig he could live without and we have family who is as excited about it as we are!

M- Once we get married, I will officially be in the Martinez family!

N- Our baker's company name begins with an N... I have yet to reveal the second part of that story, so I will keep you in suspense. Trust me, she's awesome.

O- We are keeping our guest list to as close to one hundred as possible so we can have our ceremony in the back room of our venue.

P- Paper lanterns are going to play a big role in our day! They have been my simplest DIY project yet! (Completely unnecessary tutorial coming soon. They were THAT easy!)

Q- I am keeping quiet about some aspects of the wedding for now... I do want people to be surprised!

R- My "Something Old" will be my grandmother's original wedding ring. She married my grandpa almost 54 years ago when they were 17 and they are a perfect example of a loving husband and wife. I am super excited to carry on this tradition!

S- I haven't found wedding shoes yet. These are the only ones in my inspiration folder so far.

Nine West

T- Teal is our wedding color, and the specific shade is impossibly hard to match!

U- I still have to look for some unmentionables to wear under my dress... I want them to be both cute and practical. Do such things exist?

V- Vivian is my lovely bridesmaid, fellow bride-to-be, florist for the day, amazing friend, and huge source of support for all things wedding related or not.

W- I love the personal touch that our wooden signs will add to the event!

X- It's time for me to eXamine our wedding budget. Funny how these things make money seem like no object!

Y- For a short time, I wanted our wedding colors to be royal blue and yellow. I changed my mind upon realizing that is the color scheme for Ikea and Best Buy.

Z- I still have a zillion more decisions to make in the next eight months!

PS- I had my blogger settings off so I never got an email when someone commented to me! Sorry if I seem like a HUGE jerk for not responding... fixing it now!

I've Been M.I.A.

2009-09-28T20:53:00.000-06:00

So no, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth. I've been here:

Source

Unfortunately, not in the literal sense :(

I was scheduled to have four glorious days off work and we had nothing to do with them. Andrew suggested we do something that we have never done before: take a road trip. His sister lives in Atlanta, and it is "only" a 12 hour drive, so we decided to do it on a Wednesday and left on Thursday morning. His sister had no internet at her apartment (long story), so I wasn't able to read any wedding blogs. Of course I didn't bring mod podge or a paper cutter with me, so there was no wedding crafting going on. It was just five days (after my boss heard my plans, she encouraged me to take another day!) of doing nothing- including wedding planning! As excited as I am about the wedding and the marriage, it was nice not to think about favors, invitations, menus, or vendors for a few days. Now I am back and ready to reenter the blogging world! We did lots of wedding crafting today, so I am excited to share that sometime really soon!

Did you need a wedding break? What did you do to give yourself a vacation from the stress?

Like a Fat Kid Loves Cake...

2009-09-13T20:38:00.000-06:00

Or, like I love cake. I confess to having quite the sweet tooth. Needless to say, choosing a wedding cake baker was among my favorite duties. Although the big day is still more than nine months away, are you surprised to hear that we have ours booked?

As is my custom, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted...

But this definitely wasn't it!

I used ProjectWedding as my guide and went nuts. I found this one and I liked the design for the most part, but rather than what they used, I wanted to incorporate the pattern on my invitations (that I have yet to reveal!).

After reading many reviews online, it seemed to me that Houston's top cake baker is Who Made the Cake? However, after looking into her prices and comparing it to our budget, I didn't think SHE would make OUR cake. I would have loved to use her, but I knew we couldn't afford it. Her work is extremely beautiful; she was even featured on an episode of Platinum Weddings!

More research led me to Cakes by Gina. She was recommended by many of the venues we visited. Andrew really liked her because one of her promotional flyers featured a Beatles LOVE cake (their Vegas show- we have seen it three times and love it!) that he was hoping we could recreate. We tasted some cakes at an Open House and liked them a lot.

We arrived at the appointment and met with a consultant, who told us to choose six flavors out of about twelve or so to sample. I'll be honest: I wasn't super impressed with the selection. They were pretty run of the mill. However, we were given some truffles to sample, which were awesome! I gave our consultant the above picture for inspiration with an invitation sample, and she gave me what I wanted.

Andrew wants a groom's cake that is LOST themed.

(Hopefully it comes out a little better than this one!)

But, neither our consultant nor Gina herself knew a thing about Lost to help us create it. I give them credit for trying, though. They came up with a very rough outline of what they could try to do, but I worried it would lose authenticity coming from non-Lost fans.

So, we were given a quote that we felt was a little high. The cake was good, the designs were nice, and we even considered adding truffles as favors (something that definitely had not had a spot in our budget before). We were walking out when Gina approached us and gave us a hard line, "What will it take for us to get you to sign today?" I was pretty irritated at that. I mean, this was our first cake baker, and tasting cakes is F-U-N. I told her that. Andrew and I both walked out with a pretty bad taste in our mouths. I mean, there are other means of aggressive selling without coming off as a used car salesman.

We were both really put off by the whole thing. We didn't want to give them our business anymore. If they were the bottom line-lowest price, then maybe. But Houston had tons of other bakers to try, and we were ready to go after them. Luckily, we ended up finding our perfect fit. More on that another time...

Did you have any wedding vendors completely turn you off?

Engagement Pic Inspiration

2009-09-10T22:19:00.000-06:00

Convincing Andrew that engagement pictures are a necessity is hard work! He knows he is taking them, but he is pretty convinced he will be miserable. While I have yet to figure out a location, I know I want to go outdoors. I was inspired by this from our lovely photographer, Lindsay Perry.

source

Andrew is not a Texans fan, but he IS a football fan. A lifelong (raised in Brooklyn) New York Giants fan. So, I thought incorporating his love into our pics might be some nice motivation. Plus, I promised him that if our photographer says the pictures will be okay, he can wear a baseball hat for them. Without even trying, I found this perfect Giants shirt at Old Navy a few weeks ago.

Did I mention it was only 20 bucks? They have other teams, too.

I had to find a cute, vintage-y Giants shirt for myself. Luckily, we ordered a Giants jersey for Andrew's dad last Christmas, so the NFL Shop catalog comes to my house. On or around September 18th, I will have this to sport every Sunday.

source

I found a coupon code, so Andrew took it upon himself to order a new Giants hat :). I hope the blues coordinate well- I hate red Giants merchandise, and I thought G-Men blue was a must for the pics. Andrew told his dad about this, and he fully supports his future daughter-in-law trying hard to become a fan. I only hope Andrew is as supportive when I insist on a new, cute outfit for the pics!

What will you do to get your groom interested in e-pics? Did you buy anything special for the occasion?

Semi-DIY: Wooden Signs

2009-09-10T21:34:00.000-06:00

So much for thrice a week blogging, eh? While there are no excuses, I have been quite busy in semi-DIY land. One Sunday evening, I found a whopping THREE projects that I just had to try. Two of them are definite keepers and the other is on the back burner for now. I was cruising etsy when I came across this lovely:

via etsy seller thebackporchshoppe

I loved the sentiment expressed, and we needed something like this because the reception room is in the front of our venue and the ceremony will be held in the back. I want to give my guests some direction. Unfortunately, this style of sign neither fits in with my wedding design, nor does its price tag ($42.95). So, I decided to do it myself! (I confess, I googled for some tips on how to make pretty writing, and I found a good tutorial, which I did not bookmark. I also didn't use it step by step.) At first, I was going to use scrapbooking stamps for the type, but the ones I already had weren't big enough. So, I did it the long way. You will need:

One wooden sign (I got mine premade at Michael's- originally $13.99 but I used a 40% off coupon)
Two colors of paint (We bought two ivory bottles that were .59 each and one sparkly teal bottle that was $2)
Foam brushes (I bought a 10 pack at the dollar store for my many projects :))
A teeny, tiny paintbrush (Called a dotter- $1.49 at Michael's)
One piece of white tissue paper giftwrap
Scissors
Tape
Sharpie (preferably close to the color that you want your sign's writing to be)

Beginning with a good design is a must. I had already downloaded Freebooter Script from dafont.com to address our invitations with, so I went into Word, made the font bigger, typed what I wanted the sign to say, and printed it out. Then I cut the words out individually. So far, it's super easy, right? While I did all of this, Andrew painted the sign with the ivory paint for me. I love an involved fiance! After that, I arranged the words on the sign to make sure everything fit well.

I was pretty happy with this arrangement. After that, I cut the tissue paper into small pieces about the size of each word. I taped the tissue to the printout, then traced the outline of each letter onto the tissue paper with a pencil. I smoothed out some of the awkward lines between certain letters. Still with me? Then it was time for the challenge. I put the tissue paper onto the sign just as I had laid out the typing paper and taped it down (the ceiling fan in my living room necessitated the tape- if you don't have that problem, you may be able to live without it!). Slowly and carefully, I traced each letter's outline with my teal-ish sharpie until I had this-

I took off the tissue and I was left with a near-perfect outline! (I freehanded the parts in pencil because they didn't show up as well.)

I took the tiny paintbrush and filled in my outlines. I DO NOT have the steadiest hand, but I was pretty happy with the outcome. Andrew stepped in and painted the trim on the sign. Up close, you can see the imperfections, but from far away, no one will notice.

What do you think?

I left plenty of room at the bottom so I can get a sheet of sticky vinyl to make an arrow. That way, I can take the arrow off after the wedding and we can hand the sign in our house above our entry way! I think it will be great to see a reminder of our wedding when I walk in every day. This project went so well, we are making another one to direct our guests to another area of our wedding that I'm not sure I want to divulge just yet. We are either going to set it in a small easel or attach picture hangers and ribbon to the top. How did you direct guests to your wedding attractions?

Invitation Frustration

2009-08-30T23:40:00.000-06:00

People need to know about this big, fat, expensive party we're throwing, right? Invitations are definitely something you can't do without. While my practical, wanting to be green self would love to send out an evite, I am pretty sure that is frowned upon. So, the search began. Ohhh Letterpress, how I love thee. In my perfect world with unlimited funds, you would announce the pending nuptuals. Letterpress, pockets, and layers!

Project Wedding

I also completely lusted over the detail on these beauties- the envelopes, the bellyband- LOVE IT:

Hammerpress

I also thought these were cute, especially with the vellum map.

Project Wedding

I love the simplicity of these two. They make me imagine a very contemporary wedding and the second feels really industrial.

Source via Source Project Wedding

But these babies are all pretty pricey. I realize that my invitation will hang on a refrigerator for eight months at best and then be unceremoniously dropped into the trash by everyone but my mom and me. I can't justify $3.50 plus postage per invite. So, I gave myself a limit $1 per invitation plus postage, and I do not want to spend more than $.44 per invitation. That kind of thing adds up! I thought I would use some serious DIY here. We live really close to Archiver's, so I got a ton of ideas from them. This was my favorite because it looked easy, but still nice. All it takes is two types of cardstock, an inkjet printer, and a stamp.

In the end, though, Andrew convinced me that it would be WAAYYYY too frustrating and I would hate myself for it. So, the search continued. In all of my research (and there has been a lot!), I found that The American Wedding is probably the best value for your money. We ordered from them, had a minor issue, and are working at getting it resolved with only having to pay a minimal additional fee (we had to pay to mail something back to them, but it was less than $5). They provide samples, have good customer service, and are really affordable! I'm not ready to divulge my choice just yet, but here are the invites that almost were, courtesy of Wedding Paper Divas (also affordable, but I didn't love the lack of customization, and the invites were just plain printing, whereas TAW invites had raised printing).

There are so many options! What was your ideal invitation price? Where did you end up finding that piece of stationary that can set the tone for your whole wedding?

Who on Earth do I think I am?

2009-08-27T22:17:00.000-06:00

No, really. Who am I? What makes me and my little bitty wedding blog unique? Hell, what is going to make my wedding unique? Things I think I need to address before this blog and this wedding can feel like me. I'm 24. A college graduate. A victim of the unfortunate job market we are in now and working a job I don't terribly love to attempt to scrape by. I like to be different and I definitely do things my own way. You can tell what I'm thinking by the look on my face. Ever since I was young, I wanted to get married. I still don't know if I want to have kids, and I don't know what I want to "be," but marriage was always there. So, the wedding. Me doing my own thing is definitely a factor. All etiquette is going out the window, unless it's something I'll like. Then, we'll keep it! I want our wedding to feel romantic. We are not overly outwardly lovey people, but I want everyone there who is in love to feel in love and those who aren't to wish they were. I think our venue is gorgeous, but it lends itself to many opportunities to add our own special touches. That is where I get to shine (at least, I hope...) My goal for this wedding is to develop something I will refer to as Lazy Girl DIY. With crafting, either you've got it, or you don't. Unless you're me. I have all the ambition and tons of ideas, but I am not the best at making my ideas come to fruition. I will be the Sandra Lee, the "Semi-Homemade" of DIY wedding projects. That way, there will still be my spin on invitations, placecards, centerpieces, and the rest, but I won't be completely bogged down by DIY-ing. Case in point: tonight we worked on invitations (more on that to come!) for about 30 minutes and I was done. What did you want your wedding to say? How are you making it your own?

Deciding who will document the big day!

2009-08-23T20:13:00.000-06:00

In late July, I drug the unsuspecting fiance to the Houston Bridal Extravaganza with a clear agenda in mind: 1) Find a photographer and 2) Find a linen vendor. Other things, like a limo company and a cake baker, we thought we would just find later. We spent a mere 2.5 hours going from booth to booth, talking only to the vendors we deemed worthy. (Sidenote: I attended this same show in January with my mom a few weeks after being engaged when I had no idea what I wanted and visited nearly every booth. Then, a sheet of stickers with your name, address, wedding date, etc. cost $1 per sheet. At the most recent show, the price was up to $5 a sheet! Print your own at home, ladies! You want to enter your name for every prize available, not scrimp and limit yourself like I did the second time around!) Surprisingly, Andrew didn't hate the show as much as I thought. We met several photographers and got TONS of information. At the show, we already had our venue booked and therefore were nearly forced to commit to one of five caterers (or else incur a huge fee- a story for another post). I thought I knew which videographer I wanted and I had a tentative DJ contract that included another vendor that I want to keep a secret. So, we tried to make this short and sweet. My main focus was photography. That really is the thing that will last forever and could potentially be my biggest regret. The show made me completely obsessed with magazine-style albums. Who wouldn't want to display their wedding day in all its glory for all eternity? I knew a photographer who offered these treasures was a must. I was also adamant on limiting the "cheese" factor in a wedding photographer. "Cheese" photos include, but are not limited to, the following: 1) groom laying across bridesmaids' laps 2) bride being held up by groomsmen 3) bride being intentionally dipped by groom (if that happens during the kiss, awesome. Otherwise, let's leave it out, k?) 4) pictures taken at awkward angles claiming to be artistic. These are definitely not my favorite things. I wanted to find someone who would take a fly-on-the-wall approach and capture what was happening. The little things I would never be able to remember. At the show, we narrowed our choices down to about six photographers, plus one who wasn't able to attend the show that I fell in love with online. I bookmarked all 7 sites and then asked for the groom's opinion. Each site was given a rating on a scale of 1 - 10 for its gallery quality by each of us. Being in either person's bottom 2 was an immediate kiss of death. We were able to easily narrow the range down to three. Unfortunately for one of the three, his prices were only in our budget if we booked him that day, and I wasn't comfortable with that kind of pressure (at the show we told him where we were getting married, and he said since he loved it so much, he would give us $500 off if we booked that day). So, we were down to 2 and we emailed each for quotes. They were both very, very similar. Andrew took a last look at both photographers and decided that he liked Lindsay Perry better than the other. I, in my typical indecisiveness, didn't know who to pick, but I was leaning slightly more towards Lindsay as well. Coincidentally, she and I attended high school together and are the same age: she is facebook friends with my cousin (yes, I stalked), so I think that being younger, she will be in alignment with what we want. We met with her, she sent us a contract, and the rest is history! How did you make your important wedding decisions? What are you looking for (or not looking for) in a photographer?

Milly Update

2009-08-03T21:11:00.000-06:00

We didn't make it on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It's still a sore subject in the Perez-Martinez casa. (Wouldn't that be strange if that became my last name? Neither fits me, but BOTH? Seriously? No thanks.) Now that I am finally in the full swing of planning, I will hopefully update more. Today I told Andrew we needed to make good on our promise to make a video blog, so hopefully we will do that this week. I'm not sure how I want to do this as this blog will eventually be linked to our wedding website that guests will use to RSVP and I don't want the few people who care enough to read this to have NO surprises at our wedding... so we will see. I am really excited to share and to document all the steps leading to our special day!

Who Wants to be a Millionaire Houston tryouts!

2009-07-02T22:13:00.000-06:00

When I heard that Millionaire (from here on referred to as WWTBAM since I am lazy) was holding auditions in Houston, I wanted Andrew to try out. He knows a little something about almost everything. Seriously, we will be watching a TV show and he will be able to tell you which actors have been in what else and the character they played. Honestly, it's almost a little annoying :). He remembers tidbits about history and geography and knows pretty much everything about sports a person could want to know, so his knowledge of crap is pretty immense. I wanted him to go to the audition and basically become my sugar daddy. Well, the tryout started early in the morning. It was pretty far from our house. So, he did not want to go alone. I managed to get out of going to work for the day (remember my awesome boss who let me leave to go get a wedding dress? Told ya she was awesome!) and I made the trek with him so we could go audition together for WWTBAM's "Play to Pay for your Wedding" week. We figured that there would be fewer people trying to get on as a couple and hoped our chances were good. We got up at 4:30 am to make our way across town. We arrived at 5:45, and even though no one was supposed to get in line until 6 am, there were at least 200 people in line when we arrived with over 100 more waiting by the time we found a parking space! Around 6:15, the doors opened and everyone was allowed in a ballroom, still in their line, packed in like sardines. Andrew and I were gifted with lovely WWTBAM magnets, numbered 374 and 375, as well as pencils for our scantron test. We were informed that everyone would go into the testing room in groups to take both the general test as well as the movie test for a special Netflix week.

Me and my magnet, ready to take the test!

The line started moving into the testing room around 7. Luckily for us, 400 people were allowed in, so we barely made it. The only bad thing was that Andrew got seated in the last chair on one row and I had to sit behind him and on the other side. The general knowledge test had 30 questions ranging from pop culture to current events to history to... just plain junk that you might happen to know. We had ten minutes to take that. I felt pretty good when it was over and thought I got at least 23 questions right. I stank on the movie quiz, but I knew that would happen. They killed time while they graded our tests by having people do impersonations to win WWTBAM t-shirts and then called our our numbers to tell you who had passed the test and would go on. They started calling, and the first number was 390-something, so my immediate thought was "Oh, crap." I soon realized that the numbers were random and heard "374" so I looked to Andrew to see he was looking back at me. A split second later, "375" was called and I was smiling soooooo big! We both made it!!!

The magical laminated pass that granted me admission to the interview.

About 30 people passed the general test and maybe 10 passed for movies. We had to stand in line for an application and to take a photo (like a mugshot) and were told to come back at 12:30 with the application filled out for interviews. They took pics of Andrew and I separately, as well as one together since Wedding Week was our ultimate goal. The application was kind of hard- we had to do the regular one as well as one that was engagement-related with questions about how we met, how we got engaged, our dream wedding, what we love about each other, etc. It was kind of annoying to have SO MUCH time to kill because we didn't want to drive home, but should we get on the show, it will be well worth it! I won't bore you with what we did in our down time, but we got back to the site around noon to wait in line outside.

Trying to keep cool while waiting for interviews...

The lady (I should really say "girl" because everyone working there was no older than 25) who checked IDs and collected passes came to Andrew and I and said "Oh, you're the couple, right?" and I told her yes and asked if there were any others. She said that no others had gotten through (both people had to be present and pass the test to be considered). We went inside, waited in another line, and were seated. We were told that everyone would be given a very short interview and then they could leave. Andrew and I were the first people called and we were called up together. We were asked how we met and how we got engaged. She then gave us yellow release forms to fill out to authorize them to record our audition! I was super excited about this because earlier in the day, someone asked about taped auditions and they said NONE would be conducted. We were asked the same questions as before, as well as about our first date, what we would do with money for our wedding, what we planned so far, where we wanted to honeymoon, stuff like that. We were on camera for about 4 minutes and I feel like we did as well as we could have. I have been reading online message boards about Millionaire auditions and most people have said that getting taped GREATLY increases your chances of getting on the show! Now all we can do is sit and wait... everyone who was interviewed will receive a postcard in the mail in 3-4 weeks letting them know if they are in the applicant pool or not. I found one girl who auditioned for wedding week last year and got a phone call before her postcard arrived in the mail. If we got that lucky, I would be ecstatic! For now though, it was a fun experience. I hope that something more comes of it and I am keeping my fingers crossed!

In line together... put us on the show, Meredith! (Don't mind my weird face... I was trying to make sure we were both in the pic!)

Wedding color nightmare

2009-06-28T22:15:00.000-06:00

Colors are hard. I feel like whatever I pick I will have to look at for the next year. The easiest color combo for our wedding based on our tastes is light blue and brown.

Source (I especially liked this one for the macaroons and the "Lauren" placecard)

However, as much as I like these colors (they are everywhere in our house), I have some issues with them. Like I said, they are in our bedroom and living room, so I already see them all the time. That could be overload. Brown isn't exactly the best color for our June wedding. And, the blue is too close to Tiffany blue, which was my cousin's color at her wedding last summer. Since we have a large family who all attended that wedding, I don't want our color schemes to be near-identical. Pink is easy and something I would love, but the mister has already vetoed that one. Since I took those two colors out and I am not much of a red/yellow/orange person, I was left with two colors: purple and green. I really like the idea of purple, but dressing my BFFs in plum didn't sound so great. I can't find a shade of green that I like. So, I tried to start with a neutral. Grey is very "in" right now, although I can't say I am one to follow trends. I do like that it is a little bit different and that grey could also be silver if need be. So, I think we decided on that. Then, inspiration struck. Last weekend I went shopping at the fabulous new Forever XXI (or whatever the hell it calls itself now) and bought myself this:

Source

Mine is a bit blue-er, but I brought it home and showed it to Andrew and he said "That's nice. That could be a wedding color." So, I have looked up come royal/cobalt blue weddings and found some good wedding stuff...

Source

.... annnnnd, that's really it. There isn't too much out there in the way of dark blue weddings, but I think I can make it classy and reflect us. My only problem is the seasonality of it- is a dark blue too wintery? Are there colors I'm forgetting? I only thought I already had my whole wedding planned. Then I got engaged and that all went out the window.

Bridezilla Moment #1

2009-06-16T22:48:00.000-06:00

It was bound to happen... I am far too picky to just brush things off. Oops. We went to book our wedding venue today with Andrew's dad and my mom in tow. The event coordinator totally irritated me to begin with because we were supposed to have an appointment. When I set it up, I told her "We really like the venue and we are ready to sign the contract." I would think that is kind of important. Someone is coming to give my company a nice chunk of money, and I would want to be ready. Instead, she greets us as if we have never been there (not like I expected her to recognize us, but at least remember my purpose!) and begins taking us on a tour. I stopped her and told her we didn't need one and Andrew walked off with his dad while I was with my mom. He called me into the back area where our cocktail hour will be held and said "You won't believe this..." I loved this room. It had icicle lights coming from the ceiling like this the last time I saw it: I wanted us to make our entrance down those stairs into the cocktail reception. I LOVE those damn lights... I'm sure you can see where this is headed... Andrew walked in that room, and the lights were gone. I would post a picture, but I think I was in some sort of denial, so I didn't take one. The ceiling looks sad, bare and industrial. This is where my freak-out began. I go to talk to the event lady, who, remember, had already unimpressed me today. I asked her what happened and she said that too many went out, so the owner took them down. I asked if they were going to be replaced, and she said maybe, but she wasn't sure if the plan was to put up more lights (although the lights are "annoying because they always go out") or something else. Apparently this is all the owner's doing. The lights are supposedly too hard to come by because it's not Christmas. However, a quick google search shows me that such lights are plentiful if only one looks. Argh. So, I got mad and almost didn't book the venue. However, a quick conference with my level-headed groom-to-be who has not been dreaming of this day for 24 years caused me to realize that this room was only going to be used for an hour. Although it sucks, it's not a deal breaker. We will just cross our fingers that the lights go back up this Christmas, or that something better takes their place. I did ask many questions of the event lady and express my displeasure, but what can I do? The venue is mine for 4.5 hours on June 11, 2010.

only a year to go!

2009-06-11T21:22:00.000-06:00

I felt I had to commemorate this day. Exactly one year from tonight will be our wedding night. We are going to reserve the venue on Tuesday and I couldn't be more excited! Well, maybe I could be a *teensy* bit more excited... I wish I lived in Austin, or would have gone to UT, so I would have a reason to get married at the deliciousness known as Barr Mansion. (All images from their website).

I fell in love when I saw their ad in The Knot Magazine. It is super beautiful (this is just my favorite part- there are also beautiful gardens and a gorgeous Victorian style mansion on the property!) and also the only Certified Organic wedding venue in the U.S. I wish it were practical to move our nuptuals to Austin, but, it's not. That's okay. This is still amazing and will be even better when I get to incorporate US into it!

D. Jones Photo

I'm getting excited!

house update

2009-06-02T23:40:00.000-06:00

The house is almost in order. All of the furniture arrived today and Andrew has already sorted through most of the boxes to see what we want to keep and what we don't. His dad has good taste in some things, so like he said, it was like Christmas, going through each box and choosing what we wanted to keep. This furniture switch has created a dilemma, though; now, we only have one nightstand. Our old nightstands are too short and too light-colored to match with what we have now. The new furniture is BIG. The dresser is on my side of the bed and the nightstand is on Andrew's. If I moved the nightstand to my side, his side of the room would be empty. If we get a second nightstand, my side will look too cluttered. The simple suggestions are a) getting over the loss of my nightstand (which I don't want to do- I need a place for my glasses, chapstick, lotion, charging cell phone, etc.) or b) switching sides of the bed (which for some reason, he won't do). So now, I am going to look for some nightstand alternatives, if such a thing exists... Enough of that. It's just so frustrating! I thought everything was going to come together and now there's something else to fix! As far as wedding thoughts go, I think I have decided to ask my cousin to do my make-up. I think she did her sister's, and although I didn't attend the wedding, it photographed well. We will see! Oh, and PS, on a TV-related note, I am so far LOVING The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien! He is just irreverent enough to keep his old fan base thinking he didn't sell out, but typical-late-night comedic enough that my grandparents will watch. PPS- I watched the Diversity Day episode of The Office today for the billionth time and I still died laughing about twenty times.

delinquent

2009-05-28T23:37:00.000-06:00

So, yet again, it appears as if I have hopped off my blogging bandwagon. Truthfully, I have been preparing my house for new furniture. We painted the living/dining areas, made a guest room into a game room, and sawed a couch in half (long story). That led to lots of night of being extremely busy or tired, and no time to think about a wedding. But, a few weeks ago, I got an email from Campbell's Catering about an Open House at the Patio on Mercer. We decided to go check it out. Campbell's is on the preferred list for Paraiso Maravilla, which is currently (still) our wedding venue pick and we didn't know what their food would be like. We made the drive out to the Patio (off of Edloe and Richmond) and were far from impressed. The place bills itself as Houston's newest patio venue. It is off of a side street that would be hard to find without the aid of a GPS. There is an old brick building next to it that is run down and just plain ugly. The patio is climate controlled, as promised, so that was nice, but it was far from large. If there were a light rain storm, it would protect all of the event guests from the rain, but should rain come down hard and sideways, guests would be soaked. There was not enough indoor space to accomodate many people at all, parking was a complete nightmare, and from beyond the covered patio, there was a large parking garage looming overhead. The Patio is a good idea in theory, but short of being used for corporate parties, I don't see it getting a lot of attention from Houston event planners. The event was also one of the most disorganized I have ever seen. At most events, you get an opportunity to chat with a representative from each company if you want. This event was total chaos. Like I said, we went for the catering. The only food we sampled from Campbell's were dips that we could have gotten from HEB's Cooking Connection and quesadillas that were made to order on the outdoor grill. The quesadillas were good, but let's face it- I could do that. So, the jury is still out on the quality of Campbell's. I would be willing to try a tasting there, but if their handling of my event was like the handling of this one, I would be livid. The night wasn't a total wash, though. We tried some of the sample cake, because, let's face it, Andrew and I love to eat. It was from a company called Edible Designs by Jessie. I had looked at their website before and I wasn't too impressed. But, this cake was delicious... super moist with lots of flavor. The buttercream frosting on both (a white cake and a chocolate) was light, not heavy and thick like most. They actually tasted different from one another, whereas most buttercream frostings just taste like sugar. I was really impressed. I looked at their site again this evening, and while I may like cakes on other sites better, I think that Jessie just hasn't done a cake that matches my tastes yet. I think the potential is there to make my dream cake. Another plus is that the shop is located really close to my parents' house, so it will be really convenient to get over there when it's time for a tasting :) I love Open Houses, especially when I find something I didn't know I was looking for!

WOW

2009-05-08T23:06:00.001-06:00

I just found the ultimate source of Wedding Porn. I am so excited! After I scour it a bit for my favorites, I will be sure to share highlights! Wedding planning = addiction!

Outdoor Wedding Possibilities?

2009-05-06T22:53:00.000-06:00

Living in Houston, there is a limited amount of time every year that one can comfortably spend outside. The crazy weather, mosquitos, humidity, and extreme heat make much of the year completely unbearable. I love the idea of having an outdoor reception, but it seems completely unfathomable. That is, until now (possibly). Today I got an email from Campbell's Catering about an Open House they are having at The Patio on Mercer on May 28th. Apparently this is a brand new venue that is a completely climate controlled patio for "intimate" weddings and other events. It may not suit our needs, as I don't see 120 people as intimate, but we want to check out Campbell's anyways, so we will see. But, my life and planning are not the point of this post; the point is the abundance of cute, easy, and cheap centerpieces that are perfect for outdoor weddings or engagement parties. I have found these just tonight:

With This Ring

Simple! Cake stands and apples with flowers as accents. I would be super paranoid that someone (probably me in my giant dress) would bump a table too hard and knock all the apples over, so I would probably secure them with toothpicks. This is also a great idea because the apples could be prepared a few days in advance and the cake plates would make great "Thanks for being there" extra gifts for bridesmaids, moms, grandmas, aunts, sisters, etc.

Joyful Weddings and Events

I love the orange slices lining the vase in the background. I have never been a fan of orange, but in looking at all of this wedding stuff, I am opening my mind to it a little more. I think it adds a fun detail to what appears to be (*gasp*) a vase of carnations!

Rachael Ray

I am a tiny bit embarrassed to include this one because Andrew hates Rachael Ray. I never knew that she had taken a foray into the decorating world, but here we have it. I think this could be done for super cheap and I can imagine it would be great to scour Target/Ikea/Garden Ridge or go to Goodwill and antique stores for glasses. Then the glasses could be reused for other parties or events. I completely cannot stand the color combo used here, but the general idea could really work! One of my great aspirations is to get to have the honor of being a Weddingbee blogger. In order to do that, your wedding day must be in the next nine months and the selection committee looks at your current blog to see that you write to the general public and not just about the minutae of your personal wedding planning. So, in anticipation of a) picking my wedding date 100% for certain and b) being within the set time period to become a blogger, I am going to pretend that more people read this than actually do. Which will involve me asking questions at the end of each post. If anyone wants to humor me and play along, that would be great, but if not, that's okay too :). So, with that said, how would you jazz up outdoor tables on the cheap?

Back to the Blogging world!

2009-05-01T22:28:00.001-06:00

Part of me wanted to start an engagement blog as a "creative" outlet. Something to make me think every day. The other part was in order to remember this time in our lives. Since this time in our lives may be a bit longer than I first thought, instead of getting mad, I should embrace it. I should keep researching wedding stuff to get more ideas so I really can personalize and perfect my day. Because it will happen, although it may be later rather than sooner. So, I am going to work to blogging with a purpose. I am either going to write about wedding ideas, or recipes Andrew tries, or goals, or restaurants, or something! Let's see how I do at actually trying to say something. First thing's first- here are some things I found that I loved, pre-"put the wedding on hold and have a pity party:" So simple, and most likely cheap. I think you can get all of these candleholders at Ikea. This would be great if we could have long, rectangular tables. I'm not sure if I would like them clustered on round ones. I am pretty sure this is what I want, only maybe branch-ier. I don't need to have flowers, but I love the hanging candles. Unfortunately, I priced the manzanita branches, and they are not cheap. Maybe I can find some fake ones that are more affordable? I will be on the lookout. As I have already mentioned, we want to put TONS of candles in our potential wedding venue. If we have candles, we need candleholders. Say hello to the world's cheapest candleholder: a white lunch bag accented with a page edger for scrapbooking (which, of course, I already own!). This is what they look like lined up. Pretty, no? And, finally, I found this tonight. Pretty pretty. It is a taller version of something Andrew and I have seen before and loved. I especially like it because I could use 1-2 hydrangeas per table and therefore not spend TOO much of my flower budget. Genius, right? I am off to go do exciting things like scoop the litter box and watch Bones in bed with the honey. I am off all weekend so I plan to do a trial run of my mom's mother's day gift and take Andrew somewhere special for a treat. He finished culinary school this week so I think he deserves something special!

on hold...

2009-04-21T21:22:00.000-06:00

so, in case anyone was wondering, i have not planned a whole wedding without blogging about it, nor have i called the whole thing off; i am simply postponing it. put quite simply, finances are getting in my way! i can't justify planning a wedding right now when i have no way of paying for it and i am completely dependent on parents and credit cards to cover the costs. the way i look at it, neither of us are going anywhere, so i have some time. at least a little bit. i still want to get married in june 2010. i would love to keep that time of year. hopefully, i can find myself a teaching job by then and we will know that our amount of money coming in will increase, so i can get back to planning. plus, i only have 2 more car payments to make and our mortgage is going down, so it will FEEL like we have more $ coming in, even if we don't. as far as other matters go, i am still working to fit into my dress! i tried it on last week and it seems to fit a tiny bit better, but it by no means fits. i was doing well and running a lot, but my ipod broke last week and i hadn't run until today. i met vivian at rice and we did almost 3 miles. it was actually fun to have a running buddy! i have been going on job interviews and i think i have a problem in that i cannot be anyone but myself. i am not good at bullshitting and telling people what they want to hear. i need to work on that if i ever want anyone to see me as hire-able, i guess. i am now posting my nonsense on twitter, if anyone cares. not likely, though. until later...

AMAZING

2009-03-17T20:16:00.000-06:00

I have it in my head that I would love to go back to Vegas for less than 48 hours, merely to take engagement photos together in the Neon Graveyard and to take my bridal portraits in front of the Bellagio Fountains. Were money no object, I would be on a plane the day I could fit into my dress! (I couldn't find any good engagement pics, but you get the idea.) Seriously, this took my breath away. Lame, I know. Damn those fountains! The hunt is on for a good photographer. Someone who can make two camera-shy people who are lacking in the photogenic gene look amazing on camera that I can actually afford. Like a needle in the proverbial haystack.

Falling Behind

2009-03-05T22:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we really haven't done too much wedding stuff lately. Between me working and my thought that the wedding is a million years away and the fear that I will want to change my mind a million times between now and then, we haven't made too many plans. But, there are a few things in the works... 1) Get in shape! Did I mention that I have to shrink an entire dress size (or more) to fit into my dress? That alone is very daunting. I have always thought I could stand to lose some of my excess baggage, so even though the wedding is forever away, I am getting started now! Andrew and I have been eating healthier (fewer starches, no Starbucks [not like we can afford it anyway], less red meat, etc.) I have also developed an intense love of chocolate soy milk. I hate regular milk but this stuff is "delissy," as my future in-laws would say :). I have also started running! After seeing pics of Vivian looking amazing in her engagement party pics, I was motivated. It is hard, but once I change clothes, put on my ipod, and go outside, it's not all that bad. I even told Andrew that yesterday and today I have felt less flabby- could be a mental thing, but I will take it! 2) Honeymoon- We wanted to go to St. Lucia, but being that our current income is dismally tiny, something in the US may be in order. He is voting for Wine Country, but I am not so sure. We're still contemplating that one. We both want to go somewhere fun that we wouldn't be able to enjoy with a family, should we ever decide to expand ours beyond ourselves and our small menagerie. 3) This wasn't really in the works; it just happened. We went to an Open House tonight at the Gallery, another wedding venue. While it would be completely gorgeous for an outdoor ceremony, June does not lend itself to a nice, pretty time spent outside. Afterall, I don't want my guests to hate me! But, there was a caterer there that we can use if we go to Paraiso and the cake baker that we are seriously considering. I am a chocolate girl all the way, but the buttercream whatever the hell cake I had tonight was even better than the chocolate they had! This was the baker that made the Beatles Love cake, so I asked the man there how it came to be. Basically, it was a couple just like us who saw the show several times in Vegas and they wanted it incorporated into their cake. Andrew is still convinced this will be the best thing in the world for us. I am still not as confident, but you never know! We have Best Buy gift cards and we don't know what to use them for. We are thinking engagement video blog. Will anyone care besides us? Probably not, but it could be something fun to do. I am off tomorrow and we will likely get bored so we will see.....

bad, bad blogger

2009-02-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while, mostly because we haven't done much wedding-related stuff. With me not working, there were 0 dollars coming in our house for us to pay bills with, let alone to save for wedding expenses. We have talked about a few things, and I don't remember what Andrew said, but he very nearly sold me on Paraiso Maravilla. That is the direction I have been leaning towards lately. And... I got a dress! I said I wasn't even going to start looking for one until June at the earliest, but I had a chance I couldn't refuse! My mom heard about how Weddings by Debbie (a bridal shop by her house) had roof damage after Hurricane Ike and sold a bunch of their dresses to a buyer who normally sells things wholesale because "they weren't up to their standards." The company couldn't find a buyer for the lot of dresses, so they sold them one by one to the public for $100 each! I emailed this to Vivian on a Thursday night. The sale was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. She called me Friday morning (I was at work) saying to get down there because the good dresses were going fast. My awesome manager let me take a long break, so I picked up my mom and we went! Wedding dresses are sized tiny, and all that were left were good sizes mostly. I found one I really liked in a size smaller than what I need, but for $100 bucks, I thought I should get it! My mom agreed, so now, as long as I lose a dress size, I have a dress. Yay! Pics are on facebook. Other than that... nothing good and wedding-related is going on!

wedding officiant?

2009-01-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

So, neither Andrew nor I are of the extremely religious sort. Having a Church wedding has never come up, and on our list of expenses, minister is at the bottom. We will take what we can get. I just read online (haven't looked into it yet) that someone can get ordained as a minister in Texas for $29.99. That's it. I need to think of a person who would be appropriate to marry us and just go with it... it's so much cheaper! But, is it tacky? Thoughts? I also found supercute, cheap centerpiece ideas here. Love it! We still are no closer to picking a venue... BUT, we may be able to agree on a color. I got a flyer for a highly-recommended baker that had a Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil themed wedding cake. While it is cool, I don't really want it. But, Andrew does. We have seen the show three times and we love it, but nothing else in our wedding would work with it. He said that if he can have that cake, purple can be our main wedding color. I just have to decide if it's a fair compromise!

Decisions, decisions

2009-01-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

We are torn. Actually, it's more like one side vs. the other as far as our wedding venue goes. Not in a mean, nasty, "This is my day and you will agree with me!" way, but more in a "I see your point, but..." type of way. So maybe blogging will help me make a decision. Venue #1: Paraiso Maravilla We visited Paraiso last Monday and loved it. However, we both agreed that it looked a little better in pictures. For the price, we get the venue, security, tables and chairs, valet, and the candles that are along the handrail of the upper floor will be lit. Nothing else. No options for centerpieces, no food or drinks, no DJ, nothing. There is also no event coordinator who will be on-site that day to make sure things go smoothly. Now, I have attended several weddings but I have never been in one. I don't know how to direct this thing and make sure everyone gets down the aisle okay. I want someone who can do that for me! So that made me a little nervous. Here we would have a choice between eight caterers, at least two of which are comfortably in our price range. If we want someone else, it is $500 extra. The ceremony site at Paraiso is okay. I don't love it, but I don't hate it. It is in front of a brick archway that has a fountain behind it. We could probably string some lights on the arch, float orchids in the fountain, and line the area on the sides of the fountain with candles and it would be pretty. There would be a cocktail hour in a back room of the facility which I actually almost prefer to the front room. There are courtyards in the front and back of the building which we would light with tons of candles and would be nice for photos. However, as my mom pointed out, how many pics will we actually take on a summer night? There is also a nice area inside that is a long hallway with a fountain in it. We could do more orchids and candles there. Venue #2: Rockefeller Hall At first, I fell in love with Rockefeller Hall, but something we read somewhere made it seem really far out of pur price range. Then Andrew noticed it was the same # of dollar signs on theknot.com as many other places we visited, so he emailed about it. The estimate she gave us seemed affordable, so we went to visit. This place used to be the club Rockefeller's, which, incidentally, I have been to before. When my mom and step-dad first met, my now step-sister was dating a guy in a band who was going to be playing at Rockefeller's that night. (Yes, I am pretty sure my mom and step-dad went on their first date pretty much the day they met.) Anyways, me being 10 and my mom not having a babysitter on such short notice, they took me with them to the club since it was all ages. I remember being miserable, but it was the start to their marriage, so that is kind of a cool connection. Anyways... Rockefeller Hall is in the Heights and used to be a bank, so it is all cool and old-timey on the outside. One drawback is that we HAVE to use their catering, and it is quite expensive. That is one of the biggest things that is keeping us away from this place. Everything else there is "affordable" (I use that term loosely) enough so the catering isn't a HUGE deal. It is a big, open room with a raised area at the back where we can have the ceremony. Something is carved over the top of the raised area in the marble, but I don't remember what it is. We will get the greenery package that they offer so there are leafy branches hanging down. I like it when the outside comes in. There will also be candles and such around the top of the room, just like Paraiso. There is a big wooden bar on the side of the room and the chairs are nice and wooden (no need for sashes or chair covers!). For the cocktail hour, most of our guests would be directed upstairs where there is an even bigger bar! We kind of don't like that there is no illusion of two rooms and thus no big "entrance" for us to make, either. There is also no outside area for pictures. But, there are big windows upstairs that would be good to take pictures in front of. This place has all kinds of candles and things for you to borrow for the centerpieces, which I like. Only 121 people can sit downstairs, which might be bad for us. We are getting pricing based on 130. and I would hate to have to divide people so much, even though there would be a buffet and bar on both floors. The service is what keeps this place in the running- the women who own it are sisters and also own an event planning company. Their services come with renting the hall and they seem to know their stuff. We gave them our budget and they gave us an estimate above it. After I told her that I loved the venue but couldn't afford it, she worked with us to knock it down more. I think the attention to detail here will really alleviate my stress and be worth the added cost. For both places, there are decorating things that I want to do, but I don't know WHO will do them as I will be getting ready and so will Andrew and I don't want to burden friends or family with that. So, if you couldn't tell, Paraiso is Andrew's pick and Rockefeller is mine. We are going to an open house at Paraiso on Thursday (with Vivian and Chris!) to try out one of the caterers and maybe getting a second female opinion will help. If you are bored enough to read all of that, you should check out the venues for yourself and give me some input. I have been looking at people's flickr accounts too to see how these places look done up for weddings, but I still don't know what to do. On the employment front, it looks like I have a job at Limited Too. The lady there was really great and I think as far as retail goes, I won't hate it. She is supposed to call me today to finalize things. I also have an appointment to take a test and interview to sub in Katy ISD, so that should be good. Hopefully things will start to look up and we can save for our big party!

more venues

2009-01-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

I thought we were pretty well settled on Paraiso Maravilla, but Andrew said we should look into some places we ruled out based on price. We thought they would be too expensive, but upon getting more info, we may be able to afford their Friday Night prices. We are checking into 3 places today- Alden Hotel, Rockefeller Hall, and Cheateau Polonez. I will take pics! PS- I am still unemployed and about to get a job in retail that will likely make me miserable =/

I think we found it!

2009-01-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we went to Paraiso Maravilla today. And, while it is not as beautiful as many of the pictures made it seem, it was still really pretty and the site we are 90% sure we will go with. We have done TONS of online research and I just don't know if we will find a place that we like more that is still in our price range. One cool thing about this place is that there will be lots of candles lining the upper balconies as well as candelabras in the fireplaces (who wants a real fire in June?) so I think that will make for some great lighting! The colors inside are really neutral, so we can pick just about anything as our wedding colors. I took pictures but honestly, I like the ones you can find online better than those I took. Speaking of colors, we kind of came to an agreement last night- dark blue, lavender, and platinum. I am not completely sold because I still really like plum, but I am coming around. Lavender is a nice compromise and at least there are a lot of purple flowers. Yay for decisions :) I also had that interview at Agave Road today. The guy was really disorganized, which was a bad sign. He was 30 minutes late to the interview! Basically, it is a commission based position, which I am really uncomfortable with, so I won't pursue it. I like to know how big my checks are going to be. As for the venue, I don't strongly recommend it. I didn't have my camera, so I didn't take pics. The bride's and groom's dressing areas were really nice, but otherwise, it was nothing fancy. I got my ring cleaned today and it is extra sparkley! I also got the free wedding planner than Robbins Bros. was supposed to give Andrew when he bought the ring. So, now I have somewhere to write everything down. Yay!

Wedding Venue Tours!

2009-01-17T17:49:00.000-07:00

So, we went to what feels like a million places, but really it was only seven. And we still don't have a venue picked. But, when people tell me in a few years "I went to a wedding at xxxx, why didn't you get married there?" I want to remember why. Plus, I have two friends currently planning a wedding in Houston, so many my experiences will help them and anyone else who googles various venues and ends up with my two cents. We started the day with Lindsay Lakes in Cypress. I had heard that it wasn't all that spectacular upon driving up to it, and that is accurate. But, there is a room to have your wedding in (or a small reception of 100 people or less), a larger ballroom that can hold 300, and an outdoor gazebo with a lake behind it. One thing they had that I really liked was called the Lake House; it had a room for the bride, a room for the groom, and then general living space where close family could hang out before the wedding. I thought that was a nice amenity. The customer service there was great. I can't emphasize that enough. They gave us a quote that sounded good, but when we got home and did the math and added in tax and tip, it wasn't so great anymore. Plus, you can't bring in your own catering and after Andrew talked with the owner, he is pretty sure that guy does it himself, which definitely put this place on the "No" list. It is a nice place and they really take care of you, but it's not for us. The Lindsay Lakes Gazebo, ballroom, and wedding room. After that we went to the Majestic Metro. This place was quite high on our list. It looked cool and vintage and different in the ad and on the website. Let's just say that a good photographer in good light can be a miracle worker. We drove past it and were not impressed. It is downtown and they do not own or contract with any parking facility, so all of our guests would have to pay to park downtown. Strike 1. We went into the place and it smelled like stale cigarettes. Strike 2 (although I could kind of get over it... burn some candles or something and it would go away). Inside, it was kind of small and not as grand as the pictures online made it look. 3rd and final strike. We were both pretty bummed. This place is a little pricey and not ideal for a wedding ceremony. I would, however, consider it for a party of some sort if I ever had enough cash for that kind of thing. The Majestic Metro Outside, the lobby (you can put your own pictures in), and the "cocktail" (in the theatre seats)/ reception area. Third on our tour was the Courtyard at St. James. Currently, it is our second favorite venue, although we have yet to see our first favorite in person. We are just assuming we will love it. Basically, I like Courtyard because of the location (Galleria), the price (not bad for a Friday night wedding), and because it just feel classy. That is probably a dumb reason, but it is true! The food sounds good, it has good reviews online, and I think we would be happy there. The only thing is is that neither of us love it. I didn't take many pics there because it is a restaurant during the day and I didn't want people eating there to feel weird. The first is a shot of a courtyard area. The second pic is where weddings are performed (between the two planters). There is also a balcony above that that I think would make for some great pictures! Le Jardin was next. A friend of mine got married there a year and a half ago and had a pretty good experience. I thought it was pretty, but the rental fees (even for Friday Night) are insane! (1500 for ceremony, 4000 for reception, and that doesn't include a whole lot of extras!). PS- If you haven't figured it out, we are getting married on a Friday night. It is significantly cheaper and I don't think the day of the week matters much. People still don't have to go to work the next day, so they can drink and have a good time, and we will save thousands! Anyways, Le Jardin had both an indoor and outdoor gazebo, which I thought was great, and they would let us bring in our own catering. The ceiling in the ballroom had this draping thing going on that made the whole room feel very dressed up. But, there was a palm tree attached to the appetizer table that could not be removed that I hated, as well as a mural on the wall that I didn't love. Neither of those were the dealbreakers: we thought it would be a top choice until we came home and did the math and realized that Courtyard is a better value. However, they do have a lot of picturesque settings that would make for great photos, so I would recommend it for that. The mural (and you're supposed to put the cake in front of it! I didn't love it at all), the ceiling, and the indoor gazebo. The outdoor gazebo and a covered outdoor area with a cute little bridge. Ashton Gardens came next. Carlee, my former office-mate (who I miss so much!) LOVED this place, but when she went it smelled, so we almost didn't even bother with it. We went and smelled nothing and I even asked the woman there about it and she said she never noticed anything. She was probably lying, but at least I asked. I fell in love with the chapel. It is so pretty and would need minimal decoration. To me, the ballroom was just a ballroom. If we had a Friday wedding, we would run the risk of another party being there at the same time and the ballroom and dance floor being split in half with a partition. Andrew hated that idea. When we looked at the pricing, it was more than we wanted to spend (they had a $3000 food minimum. Only food, no alcohol, and that is pretty high for 120 guests). Although I loved it, Andrew talked me out of it. But I do still dream of that chapel... The Chapel (looks better in person), the staircase in the ballroom, and the patio outside the ballroom. Our last stop yesterday was Fontenot Grand Mansion. It was beautiful and it was Andrew's favorite. But, they were really secretive on their pricing; most places gave us some sort of print-out of what we could expect to pay, but this place came back with a price seemingly from nowhere after we told them what we wanted. Andrew compared it to buying a car. They wouldn't let us bring our own food, which is obvisouly a negative for any venue, and they wanted to charge $23ooo for the venue, basic linens, food, limited open bar, and a DJ. That is more than we wanted to spend on the entire wedding, so unfortunately, we must pass. But it was very, very pretty! The outdoor heart-shaped fountain, the gazebo in the courtyard, and the fireplace in the house- any of which you can have your ceremony in front of. Today we checked out a place in Katy, the Tuscany Villa. It is really nice. I especially like that they have a game room with Golden Tee, a pool table, and an air hockey table for the groom and groomsmen to use before the ceremony and kids to play in during the reception. There was a really pretty balcony overlooking the courtyard and a huge wooden double staircase in the entryway. It was very new and nicely done. It also had a really pretty ceremony area. They only allow catering through Hasta la Pasta (a restaurant we went to once and Andrew hated) and again, it just seemed priced higher than it should have been. We don't want money to be the end all- be all of our wedding, but we don't want to be in debt because of it forever, either. So, unless we really love a place, we are going with what's cheap. But, this place was really nice. If we don't end up loving the place we are visiting on Monday as much as we think we will, I may try to call these guys and negotiate something. The chapel (not as good as Ashton but still pretty), the inside, and an outside area where they do ceremonies. This is really long, but I hope it was good virtual tour. I have more pics that I didn't post. I am really, really hoping that we like the venue we are checking out Monday. OH- something cool that happened- I called another place here in Katy today to see about scheduling a tour and the guy let it slip that he was short staffed. So, I pounced on it and told him that I have always been interested in wedding planning. We have an interview (to talk about me, not the venue) on Monday morning! I am excited! I think planning weddings for a living would be fun! Stressful, but fun.

So, wow, Holy Crap.

2009-01-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

This is supposed to be the happy engagement, we are getting married WOO HOO blog, so I will start with that first... On Sunday, I went to the Bridal Extravaganza with my mom and it was... overwhelming! I got tons of great info that I am still sorting through, though. Lots of pricing, tons of photographers, and lots of stuff to think about. Prior to the show, Andrew and I had already decided that we were going venue-touring on Friday. These are places that either we really, really like or are in our price range and not completely hideous: 10 am- Lindsay Lakes: We like this place mostly because we can afford it! It is in Cypress, which isn't too far from us. It has a lot of good outdoor places for taking pictures and the inside isn't bad either. I did hear that it's not too gorgeous when you drive up to it, but we will see. I can live with ugly on the outside if the price is right! 11:30 am- The Majestic Metro: This is the first place we both fell in love with! It is downtown and has a really cool vintage movie theatre sign on the outside. But, it doesn't have any catering/linen packages: your rental fee covers the venue, tables and chairs, a DJ, lighting, and that's it. I don't want to get married on the dance floor as the man suggested, so we would have to find a ceremony venue and rent a limo. I was hoping we could find one place to hold both the ceremony and reception. It's not practical, but as Andrew has pointed out, nothing about this wedding is, so we are going to take a look-see. 12:30 pm- Courtyard on St. James: Pretty and a great location. Food isn't too overpriced but we would probably rather bring in a caterer. Can't think of too many other things I loved about this place right off hand, but it IS pretty. We have a break in here that I am praying we can fill with an appointment to Paraiso Maravilla. This place literally made me gasp. In all of my searching on theknot, wedding wire, and Brides in Houston, I never saw this place. But, at the bridal show I asked a caterer to recommend a venue that allowed outside catering and she showed me pictures of this place. Apparently it was a guy's house and he turned it into... this. I am in love and so is he! Right now it's our favorite, but I can't get in touch with anyone for a tour. The only downside is the price- it is high, but we might remedy that by having a Friday night wedding. I am open to it for this place! I hope it's just as good in person! 4 pm - Fontenot Grand Mansion: Yup, the future Martinezes are venturing to Spring, land of my dad and step-mom. It is far, but it's pretty. Also more than I had hoped to spend, but if we love it then we will give it a shot. Who knew so many pretty places existed in Houston? We also want to check out House Plantation, Agave Road, and the Tuscany Villa sometime. They are all relatively close to us and the latter two are offering open houses in the near future, so we will make it out there soon. I am really excited for our day of planning so we can pick a venue, generate a budget, and then we can start picking colors! (As far as colors go, we are disagreeing. I basically have my heart set on a deep plum, but Andrew isn't feeling it. We did agree on a very dark burgundy last night though, and I would be okay with that as a compromise. But, it depends on the venue.) So, away from wedding stuff- today kind of sucked. I got "terminated." Suffice it to say it was bullshit, but I am better off without it. I knew I was unhappy and wanted to leave soon, but I really wanted to leave on my own terms. If you would really like to know details, I would be happy to share, but here is not the place. I do have more class than that :) I already put out several resumes and at least I will have some time to study for my teaching test and get it taken sooner rather than later. This is super long! Expect more updates after Friday, if not before. Thanks for pretending to care about my wedding planning insanity!

We're getting freakin' married!

2009-01-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, so, I used to blog a lot but I haven't blogged in forever. But, the way I see it, you only get engaged once in your life (assuming everything goes according to plan, which I will take the liberty to do) so I want to remember it. I have been thinking of getting married since... I can't remember when it started. And now a date is imminent (6/12/10) so my days of dreaming of and planning my perfect wedding are numbered. I want to start with the proposal because really, it was perfect. In August, I outlined my perfect proposal to my coworkers, never dreaming that it would actually HAPPEN! Andrew talked his dad into taking his whole family to Las Vegas for Christmas and, of course, I was invited to go as well. The day came closer and I didn't think much of it. We had planned for the whole family to go out to a nice dinner one night. It was really cold and windy and I was wearing a dress, so when Andrew said we should walk to the Bellagio to see the fountains before dinner rather than taking a hotel to the restaurant as planned, I was skeptical. But, he pointed out how much we both LOVE the fountains, so I quickly gave in. He brought the video camera with him, using the excuse that he wanted to document the trip. We got a great spot to watch the show and waited for it to begin. When Johnny Mathis (a favorite of Andrew's dad) starting singing "I Need A Little Christmas," the show started and I was transfixed as always. I could sit and watch these fountains forever. If you have never seen them, look them up on youtube :) Anyways... So, he started saying nice and wonderful things to me. Before I knew it, he was down on one knee, ring in hand, asking if I would marry him. Obviously, I said yes, or you wouldn't be reading this... (Sidebar: The ring is gorgeous. He wouldn't have let me pick out my own ring if I tried, but I never did. He picked out a platinum Tacori setting. The stone was his mom's and his grandmother's before that. I couldn't love it more!) Back to the good stuff and memories. I say yes, he stands up and we hug and kiss, then I turn to look at his family- his dad has it on tape and his sisters are taking pictures. And my mom and step-dad are right there! I didn't know they were in Vegas, but they came just to see us get engaged. I was super surprised and he did everything I would have ever wanted in a proposal! After that, we all went and had a fantastic dinner and started thinking about how we would spend the rest of our lives together... That was two weeks ago. We have been doing lots of planning, and let me tell you, weddings are stupidly e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e! We want to get married in June 2010. That should give us time to save up and plan the wedding I have always wanted. I have to give Andrew credit- he has been very involved in everything so far and I think we will really have a day that reflects us as a couple. So far I have bought numerous bridal magazines and books and I am going to the Bridal Extravaganza tomorrow with my mom. Let the craziness that is marriage begin!