Taking Care of Business

Daniel & I took a trip to Keller, Texas today to visit Sweet Memories Cakes & Catering. The owner of the store is a very nice lady named Susan. She immediately made me feel at ease and we ended up staying for over three hours tasting cake and discussing our options. She has worked at Clark Gardens several times and was actually their top recommendation. We liked her (and her available services) so much that we ended up booking this afternoon!

We started with cake tasting, and the cake was divine. I'm not usually a huge cake person, but this was wonderful! I fell in love with the Italian cream & the pink champagne. Daniel, of course, loved the chocolate. Luckily, we found designs we liked equally as much-- my cake will be a square-shaped layered cake with pink & green Asiatic flowers trailing up to the top; Daniel's will be a western-style cowhide cake covered in chocolate figurines relating to the western life (cowboy boots, horseshoes, etc). Everyone (including me) was a bit surprised at Daniel's choice of cake since we aren't exactly "country"-type people... but he loved it and so do I! Here are some rough examples of what our cakes will look like:

Next we discussed catering, flowers, and alcohol. I had no idea that Sweet Memories could provide florist & bartender services, but they do and I was very impressed with their available displays. Our reception will include:

Appetizers

• Cheese and Wafer Trays on every table
• Caesar Salad

Entrees

• Chicken Parmesan
• Breadsticks
• Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Green Beans with Bacon

Drinks

• Iced Tea
• Wine
• Beer
• Our Signature Drink (melon & pineapple; nonalcoholic)
• Water

The meal will be served "family-style", meaning that wrought iron food holders will be set-up at every table & servers will bring out enough food for all of the guests at each individual table for every course. Guests serve themselves from the holder, bringing the best of both worlds- everyone can eat as much as they like, and there is no buffet line (something I wanted to avoid at all costs). I was really impressed with this set-up, and after Susan showed me a few pictures of receptions where this had been done, I thought it was great!

Our flowers were a bit harder to decide. I went into the discussion dead-set on stargazer lilies, preferably alone, in the bridal bouquet. Susan gently explained to me why the stargazers have to be paired with other flowers (they're so big that they can not be placed next to one another in a visually pleasing way). We searched through hundreds and hundreds of bouquet pictures until we finally came to the conclusion that I'm a very mono-flower kind of girl; I only like bouquets with one type of flower. Since I was completely against using roses (SO overdone), we decided on pink calla lilies for my bouquet, pink tulips for the bridesmaids, and pink orchids for the mother & grandmother corsages. Sadie & Ty (our furry flower girl & ring bearer) will also have little corsages made from orchids tied around their collars.

 

An example of a calla lily bouquet, but mine will be more pink

The bridesmaids will be carrying pink tulips (I just adore the tulips!)

Pink orchids (not sure what these will look like)

The groomsmen & Daniel will be wearing mini pink calla lilies for their boutonnieres. Our groomswoman will be carrying a bouquet of pink orchids (since we couldn't have another girl carrying callas, but I also wanted to distinguish her as part of the groom's party). I'm so in love with our flower choices, its beyond belief. I'm getting really excited =)

Finally, we also booked a DJ through Sweet Memories because we got quite a wonderful deal. We still need to meet with him and talk about a playlist.

Talk about taking care of business... a baker, caterer, bartender, florist, and DJ all in one day!

Let them eat CAKE!

Daniel & I went to our first cake tasting today and it was so much fun! We tried 12 different types of cake (everything from white chocolate liqueur to french almond) and looked through hundreds of styles. We've decided to go with a fondant icing since the wedding will be outdoors (buttercream tends to cave-in due to our wonderful Texas humidity). We picked two cakes to get quotes on (a white tiered cake covered in stargazers and an Astros baseball style groom's cake) but didn't make any final decisions about which bakery to go with.

The Photographer

Today I drug Christie to interview our very first vendor-- the photographer! Photography is an art very close to my heart as I'm a bit of an amateur photographer myself (stress on the amateur part). I've been looking through websites for weeks, as well as talking to a few potentials at bridal shows. When I came upon Margaret's website, however, my heart just stopped. Her style & vision were exactly what I was dreaming of. After talking to her, I am even more convinced that she is the person I want taking pictures at the most important event of my life.

Therefore, Moving Images Productions will be doing our engagement, bridal portraits, and wedding photography! Hurrah! Now we just need to figure out where we want our engagement pictures done...

Save the Date!

I don't consider myself to be a crafty person, or a DIY bride. In fact, I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to cute, creative handmade gifts and usually stick to buying at the store. Christie, on the other hand, is super hands-on and convinced me that we could save a lot of money by making the Save the Date cards ourselves. And so, this is how we ended up at her house on Sunday afternoon with cut-out paper flowers and a fake calligraphy pen.

We went to a bridal show in Richardson on Sunday morning (the only success of which was to drink several delicious flavored mojitos) and then decided to get to work on our handmade save the date cards.  The original idea was to cut paper flowers out of card stock and fold in the petals to create an elegant, color-themed card with information carefully handwritten on each corresponding petal. After a few tries, we realized that the card was ending up looking more like a 3rd graders art project than a classy way to let people know about the upcoming wedding.

After a bit of online research, however, I discovered an idea I immediately fell in love with - photobooth save the dates! Several websites were selling these little cards for hundreds of dollars, but being a bit of a photography freak, I figured I could make them myself. I lassoed Daniel into the idea when I got home and went about setting up a photobooth in our living room (materials: a brown curtain, a camera stand, my Canon Rebel, colored poster board, and a willing fiance). After forty shots of us holding labeled poster boards (Save-The-Date-4/17/10) I loaded the pictures online, and set about editing them into the proper style. The finished product?

I'm completely in love!

Coming soon to a mailbox near you =)

A Tale of Two Dresses

This story actually starts on Tuesday of this week, when Christie & I went to a local bridal boutique that sells dresses off the rack. I've just been to upset too write about it until now...

After work on Tuesday, Christie & I decided to grab a bottle of champagne (Cook's Spumanti on my MOH (Ashley)'s expert recommendation- yum!) and go to the boutique for a little browsing. I grabbed 4 dresses and headed off to the fitting room. The second dress I tried on was an ivory Allure gown with gold beading and a cathedral train with uplifts. It fit perfectly and was absolutely gorgeous, and thus Christie & I immediately thought we had found the dress. I tried on a few more (including a gag worthy mermaid style) but without much luck. I slipped back into the Allure and stood staring at myself in the full length mirrors of the boutique. The salesgirl gave me a veil to try on and swarovski crystal jewelry to complete the look. Utterly fascinated by the whole experience, and more than a little emotion-raddled, I ended up buying the dress after a hard sale by the storekeepers about how the dress would probably be gone if I didn't buy it that instant. Before the ink was even dry on the credit card receipt, the buyer's remorse hit hard.

And continued on the entire week. By Friday I was having a mini-panic attack at work. Christie, being a devoted friend & bridesmaid, convinced me to go try on a few more dresses this weekend to convince myself that I had made the right decision in snatching up the Allure. We made plans to visit Alfred Angelo this morning to try on dresses. The decision to go to Alfred Angelo was no random choice. I had been eyeing an Alfred Angelo gown in their Sapphire collection since browsing my first bridal magazine. I decided I had to try on the gown or else be forever haunted by its memory.

We arrived at Alfred Angelo at 10 AM this morning, ready for part II of the dress saga, but not really prepared for the drama to come. The saleslady pulled out several dresses for me to try, including my beautiful Sapphire. We saved it for last, and I was feeling pretty confident about the Allure gown as we ran through the others. Finally, I tried *it* on. Immediately after putting the dress on and walking out into the salon, I burst into tears. This was it. This was the dress. And I'd bought the wrong one.

I stayed in the dress for over an hour, deliberating with Christie on what to do. I called my mom, I called my MOH, we took multiple pictures, and finally I drug myself out if to go contemplate over lunch. I showed the pictures to everyone (excluding Daniel of course) and the consensus was that it was *my* dress. I resigned myself to going back to Alfred Angelo and ordering it (style 758, diamond white, silver beading, cathedral train with uplifts). I also ordered the matching diamond white veil (since my previous one is in ivory). We're hoping to sell the other dress online, or at a consignment store if all else fails. All in all, I'm happy now that I have the perfect dress, but feeling a bit silly about the whole ordeal. I guess life is full of mistakes, and I just have to learn from mine...

On a happier note, here are some pictures of me in the dress I will be wearing when I marry the love of my life :)

An Evening Stroll

Tonight we went to the Dallas Arboretum Evening Bridal Stroll. It's a beautiful location, and we had actually considered having the wedding here until they turned down one of the most important members of the wedding party- our Pomeranian, Sadie.

The set up of the bridal stroll was very nice, with vendors located in different wedding/reception areas. I wasn't too thrilled with any of the vendors (at least not enough to go through the hassle of not using a Clark Gardens preferred vendor), but we did get free cake, lots of tasty appetizer samples, and some delicious rasberry lemonade.

Colors, colors, & more colors!

I've been through the whole spectrum of shades when it has come to our wedding colors. I started out wanting white & black, then changed to blue & pink, orange & blue, orange & green....

After much deliberation (and driving everyone crazy with color comparisons), I think we've finally decided on a color scheme: green & pink! Our green will be a sage/celadon shade & our pink will be a bright, melon color.

The green & pink really complement Clark Gardens & our overall "garden elegance" theme. Green is also Daniel's favorite color =).

Here's a sample picture of our colors together:

And just for fun, here are some of the steps along the way...

Blue & Pink:

Red & Yellow:

Orange & Green:

A Venue Revealed!

Today Christie & I took another road trip looking at wedding venues. After work, we drove the 1.5 hours to Weatherford, Texas to look at Clark Gardens. Eureka! As soon as we drove up, I could feel we were in the right place. The whole location was bright, colorful, and completely elegant.

The event manager arrived and took us to the first location. From the moment I set eyes on it, I knew it was the right venue for the ceremony. I could already picture myself walking down the path beside the long reflection pool. When the event manager told me that the fountains are turned off during the ceremony, and timed to turn on immediately after the officiant says "I now pronounce you man and wife", I felt my heart flutter in my chest.

We spent two hours touring the Gardens and discussing the venues. The Gardens were huge! And spectacular. Every section was perfectly manicured with bright, beautiful flowers. The paths were elegantly laid out through the most scenic areas. There were two lakes with geese, peacocks, and a swan. I literally could not have a dreamed a more perfect location. I'm completely in love!

I knew immediately that I wanted the ceremony in Channel Gardens (the long area near the reflection pool), but decided I needed to talk things over with Daniel before I made a final decision.

There was also a small problem with the venue and that was that our preferred date (May 8th) was already booked, leaving us with no choice but to go with their only other compatible spring option- April 17th. My mom & I had been completely against April from the initial planning stages of the wedding because both of my maternal grandparents died in the month of April. After a quickie text session with her, we decided that April might be okay for us both, my mom even saying it would be a way to include my grandparents in the wedding. The event manager also informed us that the flowers would be prettier in mid-April than in early May.

Feeling at peace with the month, I finally called Daniel and asked him whether he would be okay with me booking the location. He said yes! I paid the deposit and made plans to come back to Weatherford on Friday to sign the contract! We also decided to hold off on picking a reception venue (there are several choices that we could go with) until Friday so that Daniel can see them all in person before we make a decision. One thing checked off our list--- how many hundred to go??

The Slave Shack & the RV Park

I'll start off with the phrase that I told Christie at the end of our day today- "If the words 'Palestine' or 'Jacksonville' come out of my mouth in reference to a possible wedding venue ever again-- just slap the shit out of me."

We left the Dallas area at around 8 this morning, loading up on coffee, diet coke, and wedding magazines for the 2.5 hour trip to Palestine. About halfway there, we stopped for gas in a little town called Gun Barrel City, Texas. This town is about as redneck as you get in East Texas (which is pretty darn redneck), and the gas station there was no exception. The windows were covered with black, rusted bars and an unlocked chain was wrapped around the front door. Before we went in, we noticed another customer driving up and getting out of his pickup truck. His arms and torso were covered in tatoos, including several swastikas. Christie & I were both rather unnerved. We filled up the tank, took a quick bathroom break, and headed out of Gun Barrel City as fast as we could. We should have known this was a bad sign.

When I plugged the address to the first location into my GPS, the road didn't show up on the map. Thinking that at least we could get to Palestine without resorting to the printed directions, I manually chose a road that was one number different than the address on the venue's website. As we finally got close to Palestine, we realized that the printed directions were telling us to take roads that didn't even exist, and relied solely on the GPS with the "wrong" address.

As we neared the mis-numbered An Country Road, we didn't see another car for 10 miles. The pine trees surrounded the road in clusters, blocking out the sunlight. Approaching yet another empty cross-section, I got ready to turn the car around and head back to civilization (and to someone who might know where the heck the venue was located). As I rolled to a stop, however, I noticed that the area ahead was clear, and several wooden structures were constructed in the pasture beyond.

Anxiously I realized we had made it-- this was it. There was no mistaking it; a small wooden sign proclaimed this as the beautiful, large venue from the website pictures I'd been drooling over. This small cluster of wooden shacks was the venue I'd had such high hopes for. Before I got too discouraged, we drove up the gravel driveway and into a small parking area.

Slowly opening the doors of the car, Christie and I walked up to the smallest of the wooden structures labeled "Office". In the garden beside the office was an old fashioned, empty bathtub, and on the porch was the biggest, nastiest dead deer fly I'd ever seen. Stepping gingerly over the massive bug (and waving quite a few live ones away at the same time), I peered into the office. There was no one there. Maybe we could just sneak away before anyone even noticed we were here...

But, no. The owner of the establishment came hustling up to the front, wiping her hands on her pants since she'd obviously just come in from the garden. We did introductions and I tried my best to keep a smile plastered on my face despite my broken illusions. At first I couldn't believe we were actually in the right place. After the first shock wore off, though, I could somewhat make out the structures from the website- they were just infinitely smaller and dirtier and older than they had looked in the pictures. And the pictures had left out some of the shabbier shacks and decorations.

We started our tour through the venue, beginning at the bride & groom dressing rooms. It was hotter than hell inside both of them since there was no centralized heating or cooling. Both were built in the 1800's and didn't look like a penny had been spent on improvements since the day they were erected.

Next, we viewed the ceremony area. This area was pretty, but small and rustic, and surrounded by deteriorating buildings. We headed to the reception area after that, which turned out to be a large barn separated into two sections. My clothes were sticking to me like wet rags after just a five minute tour through this area, and the old, scarred wood looked more shabby than charming.

We thought the tour must be over and we could politely leave without having to endure more of the sweltering buildings and hordes of insects. But, no. First, we had to see the area where the bride, groom, & family could spend the night. The first area consisted of a tiny shack with three conjoined rooms. Two of the rooms included beds, and the third had a small bathroom that could have come straight out of the pioneer days. Next door to this shack, was another that was its mirror image. The owner of the location eagerly told us that FOUR couples could stay in these two shacks-- both of which combined were no larger than an average sized living room!

Our last stop was the slave shack. It was literally a shack that had housed slaves hundreds of years ago. And this was the building that the bride & groom could stay in-- how romantic! It was the size of an average bathroom, had tin sheet walls, and no central air or heat. Definitely the way I'd like to spend my wedding night!

After our tour, Christie & I politely made noises suggesting we might be in touch, got out the GPS, and headed away as fast as we could. The next location was in Jacksonville, about 30 minutes away. We didn't have an appointment at this one, but I decided to go scope it out anyways to decide whether it would be worth another look later in the week.

We weren't sure how far down the road it was, since the GPS couldn't seem to locate its particular address. We drove through the small, rustic outskirts of Jacksonville, looking for a sign with an address so we could get our bearings. In the midst of chatting about wedding plans, I saw a big rock with a tiny sign on the side of the road, next to an RV park. I glanced at it without much interest until something about it caught my eye. Was that a rough sketch of a castle on that sign? No, no, no it couldn't be. My next dream location couldn't, just COULDN'T be located next to an RV park.

But, alas, it was. I couldn't stop in enough time to turn into the driveway toward the location, so I did a U-turn in front of a cemetery and turned back around. My heart was already in my stomach as we turned down the gravel road. The RV park was on the same stretch of land as the wedding venue, separated by a see-through tan divider that barely masked the shape of the RVs behind it. The "castle" at the end of the drive was certainly located on a lake like the ad described, but the website conveniently left out the fact that bordering this lake (and in plain view of the ceremony site) were 5 or 6 redneck hovels, complete with trash and rusted out boats. Needless to say, we decided not to drive back up to Jacksonville for a tour of the site.

On the way back, Christie and I stopped in Tyler for lunch. The trip was overall an amusing disappointment that leaves us still searching for the perfect wedding venue...

Scoping Out Venues

Since we want a spring wedding, we're already running out of time to book a good venue before they're all taken. My bridesmaid, Christie, & I have decided to take a roadtrip to the Palestine/Jacksonville area tomorrow morning to scope out a couple of potential sites. Hopefully we'll find something worthwhile!

Asking the Bridal Party Part II

Today I asked my cousin, Tanya, and Daniel's sister, Nicole, to be bridesmaids in our wedding. They both happily agreed! I'm very excited for them both to be in the wedding!

Daniel has also asked his groomsmen (and groomswoman!) to be in the wedding. His side will include: his brother, Chris; his two best friends from high school, Chris & Brian; and his close friend from college, Amber.

Looks like we have the wedding party squared away =)

Asking the Bridal Party Part I

It's Monday evening and Sadie is back home. We're trying to get her to eat, but she doesn't have an appetite. Hopefully she'll be back to normal within a few days.

In other news, I asked two members of my bridal party to be in the wedding today- Ashley & Christie! They both happily accepted! Ashely will be my maid of honor & Christie will be a bridesmaid. I've also decided that Sadie will be the flower girl & Ty the dachshund will be the ring bearer! Now we just have to decide how to get them down the aisle without them making a doggie scene!

The Beginning of the Search...

Now that we're engaged, first things first. I already have an idea who I want in the bridal party, and Daniel has his own ideas for the groom's. I know I want a spring wedding for several reasons. First, I've always wanted an outdoors wedding, and the spring will be cool enough to have the ceremony & reception outdoors. Second, tons of flowers will be in bloom. And third, I want to honeymoon in Greece and May is the best time of year to vacation there. Having a spring wedding will require a major planning frenzy since we only have 7 or 8 months to the wedding!

In between trying to start intial plans for the wedding, Sadie (our Pomeranian) ate a tampon on Thursday evening and has been in and out of the vet's office ever since. Tonight she had to be rushed to the emergency vet for surgery for a bowel obstruction. Spending the night without her is really rough...



I really miss the little bear.

The Proposal

For my birthday this year, Daniel took me to a beautiful, unique restaurant I've been wanting to try for months called Wolfgang Puck's 560. The premise of the restaurant is that it is 560 feet above downtown Dallas in Reunion Tower. The seating platform inside of the tower rotates very slowly, giving diners a 360 degree view of the Dallas skyline- absolutely breathtaking! Little did I know what he had planned for me tonight...

We arrived at 7 PM on tonight's rainy evening. Daniel waited for the valet while I ran into the restaurant in my green, tiered dress, trying to shield my hair with two hands. Daniel got the valet sticker, and came up the stairs to join me. The hostess at the front desk guided us to a glass elevator that zoomed up 560 feet to the restaurant at the top, allowing us to see downtown Dallas slowly shrinking beneath us as we ascended. The elevators opened up into a trendy sushi/Asian-style bar with seating arcing around in a circle.

We were seated directly in front of the windows in a cozy table for two. I set my purse down on the handy ledge next to the table, at which point the waiter informed me that I should move it or lose it-- the dining platform rotates, but the windows stay perfectly still, meaning that my purse would soon be making its way throughout the restaurant of diners (or technically the diners would be making their way around my purse). I rescued my purse and picked up the wine & dinner menu.

Oh what glorious food! After much deliberation, Daniel & I both chose the hamachi and tuna sashimi for an appetizer, with sake & Sapporo beer. The food was served elegantly, arranged in a tiny fishy platform in the middle of our plate and decorated with sauces and a bed of greens. The taste was as impeccable as the presentation, and I was anxious for more. For entrees, I ordered the crispy quail with a paired red zinfandel, and Daniel ordered the pan roasted chicken. Again the food was exquisite. It was my first time trying quail, and I have to say it's a tasty little bird!

After dinner, I excused myself to the ladies' room, laying my napkin neatly on the side of the table. When I got back to our table, I noticed that my napkin had been moved to the center of the table. Thinking this was rather odd, I moved the napkin to reveal a small black box tied with a white ribbon. Still completely unaware, I opened the box to reveal a beautiful white gold solitaire engagement ring illuminated by a tiny light inside the box. I looked up at Daniel, who asked "Will you marry me?" I, of course, jumped up, ecstatic, and ran to him, hugging him and giving him a kiss, while repetitively shrieking "yes, yes, yes, of course!"

I don't think I stopped smiling the rest of the night. We split peach cobbler with maple ice cream for dessert, I had a last glass of dessert wine, and we rode the elevator back down. As we waited for the valet to bring us the car, I told Daniel "This is the best birthday I've ever had"-- and it was completely true.

After a wonderful night, I'm engaged to man of my dreams. I couldn't imagine a more wonderful fiance, I love him more than I can even express. Now that we're engaged I'm determined to plan an elegant, beautiful wedding for the two of us without using up our entire savings account...