100 Days and Counting!

It's the final countdown! It feels like I will blink and the next thing I know my hand will be in dad's as he is walking me down the aisle! Thanksgiving 2011 marked the 100 day mark before the wedding. It crept up on us and the urgency begins to hit. I feel so great to have taken care of all the major things and have a plan for the smaller details.

100 days.. It definitely makes me nervous! As I explained in a previous blog, and I've actually told Scott.. I won't have cold feet about getting married, I will be nervous about standing up in front of everyone!
If you haven't seen Breaking Dawn Part 1 (I will not get into any commentary on the movie) I can definitely relate to Bella. Not even having gone into the situation myself, I thought they did a fantastic job with the wedding scene. Emotionally I felt as if I was there. My heart was pounding as hard as you could hear hers in the film. I was nervous for her! But when she saw Edward all I could do was think of Scott. I got excited, I got relaxed, I got nervous - but good nervous. It was a rush of emotions and I can't wait to experience them for myself!

Ciao Carinos

After over a year of telling everyone we wanted barbecue for the wedding envy one knows how the story goes... We changed our minds! It was sort of an odd come to my senses moment. I originally stated we wanted to get BBQ because it was cheaper. I had called like 15 places and gotten quotes. We had our placed picked out just no deposit (mostly because it was too far in advance). Well the other day I was looking around online and realized I hadn't been to Johnny Carinos in years. In fact, the last time I went was with my grandmother nearly two years ago. Perhaps that was why I hadn't returned?!

Regardless I decided to check their website for how much catering was. If anyone has been to Johnny Carinos it's great Italian but much cheaper than Olive Garden. As I was looking through the website the prices looked horrifying from the get go. I tried to calculate how much it would cost to have some of this and some of that. My total came out to be $100 more than the cost of the BBQ. I called Scott to tell him my findings and I told him I would request a quote to just see how much everything would cost and find out if they have military discount.
I got an email response two days later with a quote including delivery, tax, gratuity that turned out to be the same as the BBQ! I was so excited because we can now provide more selection of foods and take into consideration those who don't eat meat. The best part is the chicken parmigiana :) my favorite Italian dish (other than dads lasagna!)

The next step was to test the selections. :)
The Wednesday before thanksgiving this year was sort of a treat for us. We took advantage of a half day after working and did both a cake tasting and eat lunch at Johnny Carinos to taste the meals we would potentially be serving our wonderful guests. I love the restaurant too... In case you haven't been it has a very home feel to it. I tried the homemade lasagna and Scott had the lemon rosemary chicken, we each ate half the plate and shared the other. Both were delicious! We have two other dishes one being a angel hair pasta salad with no meat and the other being my favorite the chicken parmigiana. I told Scott I would bring him back another time to try it because I knew he would love it! Not sure if the bread is included in the catering but if it is I may be requesting some if that too.. If you haven't tried it is a legit garlic bread roll. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. They serve it with a oil, and fried garlic concoction that is absorbed by the bread and... Let me stop before I take another trip home to eat!

So there you have it, we have not put the deposit as of yet but our caterer will be Johnny Carinos!

Easy as Pie, or Cake!

The cake has been one of the most difficult parts of this process. With such a large group, it is almost impossible to find something less than 1000$ but we've learned some pretty important things along the way.. It all started January 3 this year. We were invited to a cake tasting in some city south of Atlanta. Not knowing exactly how far we decided to RSVP yes and found it two hours later! The cake however turned out to be fantastic. The strawberry was one of the most moist cakes and their frosting was made fresh every morning. The problem... cost. The delivery was obviously outrageous and it was sort of a mom and pop place that charge more than if we got the cake from Publix. On that note I will tell you we also checked out Publix. I have loved their cakes since I was little, but any Publix lover knows they have recently changed their icing from an actual frosting to a whipped icing and it has lost the majority of the flavor. With that being said they actually charge a lot more than you think! We checked out two other places, one actually in Lawrenceville Square and another in Norcross. The cakes turned out to be about the same prices with a crucial difference. Celso's Cakes in Norcross has been rated number 1 in The Knot a handful of times (not that that is important) but the guy was probably the most honest business man ever. Every location had asked me how many people were in attendance. When I mentioned 250 they would quote for that many slices.. Celso told us that not everyone eats cake you only need to account for about 2/3 of the guests eating cake. That makes a huge difference in the budget!!!
After the tasting we even were able to bring a free sample home for my parents to try. Of course they loved the flavors.. On of which was Baileys - for me it was interesting and I think it to be an acquired taste. Of course mom loved it though!

Anyway for what I know you have been waiting to read about:
We've decided (and this could be changed at any time!) the bottom tier will be chocolate with bitter chocolate truffle filling, second tier will be vanilla with French raspberry mousse, third will be strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries, then the top tier will be strawberry flavor with strawberry mousse! The cake itself will be buttercream and have sugar flowers with a very unique design. None of this sheet cake nonsense... We will have cake!

The design above is a hand drawn design from me. There is a whole explanation to go along with it, however the overall design has a major difference, instead of the drapes there will be flowers - the sugar flowers. But don't get too caught up in the photo, the actual cake will be spectacular!

Stationary Stationary

Everyone tells me invitations cost so much money and to be weary. I wanted to play it smart and make my own...

It all started out on dark and stormy night.. Well more like a beautiful afternoon but I found myself in Office Depot and bought 2 packs of print your own postcards. Well I took advantage and after two hours of fighting with the printer to finally print the first save the date. I also purchased post card stamps (much cheaper than regular stamps by the way!) and maybe spent a whole $40 on the save the dates! It was such a wonderful feeling to be saving hundreds of dollars! And the story always gets better...

For a few months I am searching different websites for a place to by recycled paper in bulk in a kraft paper color. If you haven't tried.. Good luck! Anyway I had already designed the invitations (hand drawn by Momma Shearon), scanned the image, and created the wording to be just perfect. With every intention of printing my own and putting ribbons and everything I ordered paper and envelopes. Of course as everything ordered online turns out to be (with the exception of the table clothes), the colors didn't match and the project became more difficult. Mom became frustrated and asked me why I didn't just order some invitations. I tried to explain how expensive (easily $800) invitations could be and that I had not budgeted that much. But she was determined. That weekend her and daddy went out to do some searching for invites.

That determination paid off. We found a cute store in Suwanee called La Ti Da that has easily 40 or 50 invitation and stationary binders. Scott and I spent a good couple of hours looking through them. We fell in love with one - really simple ivory with a gold/champagne ribbon and beautiful font. The down fall was the invitation alone without the envelope was over $1000! Ridiculous!! I could have made it myself! I asked the store lady to help find a cheaper version and we found a comparable one for half the price that we liked more AND all inclusive with envelopes and RSVP card. Much better! It was just over budget but we were able to cut back on a couple of other things as well. It was pretty fun though to customize it to even the font of each word, color font, color of the ribbon, and wording. One more hectic thing off the list! Only thing left is to address the envelopes... Let's see who's got nice handwriting....

And for those of you waiting to see it.. Check in the mail in the next few weeks!

The Countdown

Less than five months away and I think it's starting to hit me how soon it yes, yet I still yearn, I want it to be the day, like I would be waking up knowing today is my day. I can't wait for it to be official and we can start the next chapter in our lives.
Yet I am still holding back enjoying this time getting to plan out that day. I'm enjoying going on dates and talking about what our life will be like as we're older, what our kids will look like, and what our families will be like. I enjoy getting to dream.
Scary thought about how fast we're growing up.. and all those times parents and other adults told us not to grow up too fast. But you can't help it, you can't help enjoying each day and living life.

I will admit I am nervous. I've never been one to stand in front of so many people and be truly comfortable. All I think about it how many eyes will be staring at me. Though I know and I have been reaffirmed that the only thing I will think about as I walk down the aisle is him. I look forward to it.

We're starting to take care of all the little details including the centerpieces, other decorations, favors, bridal party gifts, etc. The only major thing not finalized is the food and that is only due to the crazy game we are playing with adding more and more guests to the list. Its crazy to think how many people we want to share our day with, how many meant that much to us. It is too much but I will trade a bit of my pay check in to have them there on my day.

Linens and Things - Part 2

So as far as the last linens and things post, I recall ranting about the situation of what I was to do. Let's recap...

The average price to rent linens in Atlanta for the size I need is $15 per table - let alone the fact that most places don't offer blue linens. On the other hand if I purchase the linens, they would be as low as $11.25. Problem is what am I supposed to do with 40 plus linens after the wedding. Some suggest to rent them out, others to straight forward sell them to someone else.

Well.. turns out I went with the latter.. I went ahead and purchased the linens in hopes one day I will sell them back somewhere... Lets see what happens!

But for now, one more thing to cross off my list!! :)

Dress for Success

Oct 1 turned out to be a spectacular date with the majority of my bridal party. It began Friday night. I had prepared a little gift for each of the bridesmaids, something they could hold on to - turns out they scrapbook!

KSU celebrated its annual homecoming finale with a celebration known as Owl Prowl. The events comprised of a parade from campus organizations, a fall festival, and a concert. This years performance was by The Maine - who turned out to be a pretty fantastic band! Regardless, Kim and Lauren drove up after class on Friday to celebrate and have a good time. We enjoyed an afternoon of festivities, giggling, talking, and all the little things girls do. I also presented them with their gifts receiving gracious smiles in return :)

Saturday morning we woke at 10am to meet Megan and head out to our first destination - Bel Fiore Bridal in Marietta. The shop was a smaller size but had a lot to offer. We arrived for our 11 o'clock appointment 5 minutes late and had to wait for my mom and Alison to arrive, but the attendants were also really friendly and accommodating. We were taken to the back section with the bridesmaid dresses and asked specifically for Bill Levkoff.

The day I returned for my dress fitting, Jessie tried on a Bill Levkoff that was flattering and elegant. So the brand stuck...

We looked through and found chiffon fabric, full length dresses and had a selection of about 6 to try on between them and the sizes provided. I can tell you it was an experience listening from the other side of the curtain at all the difficulties in putting on the dresses. I couldn't help but laugh! We had a great time and found 3 dresses we liked including the original Jessie tried on. One in particular looked absolutely phenomenal on Kim. It was a strapless, sweetheart neckline black dress. Even mom thought it was jaw dropping on her.
We got the information from the dresses and thanked our attendant. There was one more place to go...

If anyone has ever seen Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta, they've heard of Bridals by Lori. Well it was our next stop! It was a surprise treat for the girls and a guilty pleasure for myself!

We were like little girls in a toy store.. we got out of the car and took pictures of everything and all the signs! Kim made a comment about how crazy the lady at the front desk thought we were and I wanted to prove her theory correct. As we walked in, I asked her if every girl came in taking pictures and she laughed stating how true it was.

I filled out the information card and we walked right back into the bridesmaids dress section. It was huge, and there were so many things to look at.. We found the Bill Levkoff section again and they had even more styles that the other shop! I had the girls try on more dresses including the ones we liked for mthe other shop to compare. Our attendant was great. She gave us a larger room for the girls to change and our own pedestal to show off the dresses. She even dragged a bench for me to sit on and judge the dresses! It was a truly fun experience. The store also provided for other size dresses so some could try a dress that may not have fit at the other store. We finally narrowed down to two dresses. One had a sash similar to my dress, while the other had a delicate bow giving a simple elegant feel - which is what we were looking for. Though the specific color we want was not in stock, we decided on the one with the bow! It seemed to match best with all the body types and they agreed it was indeed very comfortable.

I saw the dress Kim tried on at the other place again too.. and YES I made her try it on again! If she hadn't before she definitely fell in love with it this time - not even wanting to take it off!
The prices at Bridal's by Lori were also cheaper than the smaller shop which surprised me due to the fame of the shop.

We had decided on a dress and shoes - later found online $20 at Payless :)

The dresses we found were also sold at the shop where I bought my dress. With my purchase, their dresses were given a 10% discount which brings the cost down to a manageable price (that will not be posted!!). It turned out to be perfect timing too. If we had waited to long, they would not be in before the wedding!

Anyway, the day was completed with lunch at Shogun (Japanese Hibachi Grill), girl time for couple hours, Nick & Scott joining us for dinner at Big Pie, followed by an amazing KSU Hockey Game vs. Alabama (and that ended in a victory 4-1!).

Now that's what I call a successful, productive, and downright awesome day!