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!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
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 :)
Saturday, September 12, 2009
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:
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!
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!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
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 =)
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 =)
Friday, September 4, 2009
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!!
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:
Thanks Ashley for these great recommendations! After a mini wine taste, I'm definitely loving these two!
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!
Friday, August 28, 2009
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
Entrees
Drinks
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.
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!
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!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
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.
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