Wedding Beauty

I met a make-up artist I really liked at the Plano bridal show... the only problem is that when I e-mailed her she kind of blew me off.  I'm really not into paying a lot of money to someone who can't even spend the time to answer all of my questions.  So, I started an internet search to find an on-location hair/makeup stylist for the bridal party.

Based on glowing reviews & a beautiful portfolio, I decided on Haute Facade in Dallas (plus I just adore the name!).  I e-mailed one of the owners, Stephanie, and was very impressed with her prompt and friendly responses.  As luck would have it, she is available for April 17th, so Stephanie & an assistant will be doing the makeup/hair for the bridal party on the day of, plus a trial run on me for my bridal portraits in the spring.  I hadn't originally planned on paying for hair/makeup for anyone other than myself, but I decided I want everyone to feel and look their best, and it'll be a nice treat to thank my closest friends & family for being there on my big day.

Another thing checked off the list!

The Rings Arrive!

Daniel & I went to pick up our wedding rings today!  I, of course, immediately took a quick picture of the wedding ring/engagement ring combo.  Here it is:

I absolutely love it!!  Can't wait to be Mrs. Zarate & wear my beautiful ruby ring :)

Bridal Show Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, Christie & I are heading to Plano for the Dallas Bridal Show. It's by far the biggest bridal show we've attended so far- I'm excited! We have most of our vendors booked already, but we still need invitations, reception ideas, a guest book, favors, & makeup/hair people for the big day. After the show, we're planning on going to Alfred Angelo's so that Christie can try on the bridesmaid dress that I've picked out. Hopefully she'll like it as much as Ashley & I do!

In other news, I e-mailed our photographer tonight to ask if she has time within the next few weekends to do our engagement photos. I have so many ideas for this, but I know we can't do them all. So far these are the ideas we've discussed:

• an urban style photo shoot in a back alley with Daniel holding his ultra-sexy electric guitar & me dressed up in a cute dress for juxtaposition
• a garden style photo shoot at the Dallas arboretum or Clark Gardens
• the arts district in Dallas with the big buildings, cool statues, and graffiti splashed walls
• Rangers stadium with Daniel & I dressed up in our Rangers gear
• Stars hockey rink decked out in Stars gear
• Wolfgang Puck's 560 where we got engaged
• an upscale bar or hotel

My brain is full of plenty of other ideas, I just wish we could do them all! We need to make a decision soon... I can't wait to see how the engagement photos come out!

With this ring...

Today Daniel & I went to pick out our wedding bands!

I wanted something a little different, so we started by looking at the rings with colored stones mixed in with the diamonds. I fell in love with a white gold channel band with alternating princess cut rubies & diamonds. Unfortunately, they didn't have it in the store; the one I tried on was actually an engagement ring, I just had to envision it without the diamond in the middle. We also found out that it is a "rare-find" item, meaning that Robbins Brothers is discontinuing the ring & will no longer be making it. They checked all of the stores around the nation and there is ONE left in the entire company! We ordered it today and it should be here next week =)

Daniel picked a gorgeous tungsten & platinum two-tone band. The outer part is tungsten, with a brandished platinum ring in the center. Very handsome looking, and wear-resistant!

I'm so excited, I can't wait until we are exchanging these rings at Clark Gardens on April 17th =)

A Visit from the MOH!

My absolute BFF & MOH came to visit this weekend & we had so much fun doing wedding stuff, as well as just catching up (I haven't seen her in over 6 months). On Saturday morning we went to Clark Gardens for a tour of the location since she hasn't had a chance to see it. She loves it just as much as I do. Daniel & I decided to do Rose Pavilion for our reception since it is secluded & the roses will be in full bloom in April. Ashley was full of wonderful ideas about how to decorate the area, I'm really excited about putting them into action!!

The entrance to rose pavilion

A better view of the pavilion

We're going to hang "swoopies" from the ceiling...

...as shown here!  (aka: ceiling swags)

& decorate the poles with white lights!

Along with looking at the ceremony & reception area, we also discovered the most adorable model train station! What a cute idea!! Hopefully guests will be able to go check this out while the wedding party is doing photos!

After Clarks, we headed to Alfred Angelo to look for bridesmaids dresses & a rehearsal dinner dress for me. Ashley tried on dozens of dresses, and we realized why most people end up hating them-- there just aren't a lot of attractive bridesmaid dresses out there!! We found two that we liked and spent a while deliberating between them...

  

We ended up going with the blue one (although, of course, it will be in celadon green instead of blue) because it is more elegant for the evening wedding. Ashley loved the orange one so much, though, that she is considering getting it for the rehearsal dinner!

 I found my rehearsal dinner dress at Alfred Angelo on Saturday, as well, and ordered it so that it will be ready in plenty of time for the wedding.

In between wedding shopping, Ashley & I went to the Flying Saucer, ate sushi, and picked out wine for the wedding (Ashley is a wine rep, so quite an expert on the subject!) Our wines for the wedding will be:

Menage a Trois

A tasty red that is a mix of cabernet sauvignon, red zinfandel, and merlot (hence the name)

Lindeman's Chardonnay 

A soft, full flavored wine that will go well with the chicken

Thanks Ashley for these great recommendations! After a mini wine taste, I'm definitely loving these two!

A toast to my bestest buddy!