Westside Wedding

The holidays are in full gear so it's time to get the Holiday Cards!

2010-11-29T14:38:00.000-08:00

Wow were has the year gone?! It's already Holiday season!!!!

This year we will be our first year sending out joint holiday cards and I can't wait to order them, just need to find the right pictures to include in the card. After having such great responses on our wedding thank you cards from Shutterfly, we decided to also get them as our holiday card. We got sooo many compliments on the thank you cards! Guests loved them because it had all our wedding information (venue, date and church) and a picture of us on our wedding day! Guests who were not able to make it but had generously sent us a gift, had especially loved getting the shutterfly thank you card because they were able to see a snapshot of that day. So the decision on what type of holiday card to get was easy but Shutterfly has sooo many cute designs that it will be very hard to pick exactly which card we want to send out. Check them all out here holiday cards.

They have EVERYTHING from the cute zig zag patter that I have seen everywhere.

I’m so drawn to the red & the blue in this card & the pattern! I know many of you ladies out there had the red and blue wedding color, how perfect would this be!!!

I love that this one says HAPPY EVERYTHING!!!!

Another one that is soo cute is this “retro” one, I love the colors they chose & the cute patterns!

Fonts are defiantly my weakness when it comes to creating anything, seriously it took me HOURS to create the rehearsal dinner invite & it was all because of the fonts, I used like 4 in the invite! Needless to say I love this holiday card & the use of all the great fonts!

Check out all their cards below. I would LOVE to hear which one is your fav!

Christmas photo card http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

holiday cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards
Christmas card http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards
thank you cards to

The Bride's Fav shoes Badgley Mishka on sale!! $89

2010-05-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

I know a LOT of brides out there love Badgley Mishka for their wedding day shoe, & if you are on of them you should go to Rue La La now because they all the styles that brides want for $89, I love Rue La La but all the items sell out so fast. It's an invite only fashion site that sells designer items for a lot less. Get invite *here*

Free Downloads: Invitation Suites Galore!

2010-04-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

I have found the jackpot to free invitation suites for all you DIY brides out there! Check them out *here* How amazing is the talented Anna Skye for allowing us all to download her gorgeous invitation suites for FREE! So many to choose from!

Let's start from the wedding and move backwards

2010-04-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

I have sooo much to catch up on, so I thought I would start with the day of the wedding and work back words. I can't believe it's already been 16 days since the wedding, at times it feels like it yesterday and others it seems so long ago like a dream that didn't really happen. Everyone keeps asking me"was it what you hoped for" and I always answer it was MORE than WE could have ever hoped for. Our wedding was amazing not only because of us, but because of everyone that had their part in it. From the very beginning we had decided that our wedding was not just about us getting married, it was also about our families and friends blending. One of my favorite comments that someone told us was that we were "the most loving, generous, inclusive and happy bride and groom of all time" this made me so happy to hear!
Here are a few tips that helped ensure that we enjoyed ourselves:

Make an agreement with your fiance, your families and the wedding party that no matter what, you ALL will enjoy the day and won't let anything bother you, because all that matters is that we are all together. No stress, no worries, no drama for yo momma.
Let go and just be. My dad told me that he really liked how my husband (he he) and me were true to ourselves, he could see were we were not pretending to be a certain way, that we were enjoying every moment. We weren't worried of what people would say or think. As mi amor & I frequently say to each other when the other one is not understanding us "Just love me".
Remember the wedding is not about the dress, the venue, or the decor, it's about proclaiming in front of all those that you love that you found your soul mate & you want to share that moment & celebrate it with them. Enjoy each moment with everyone that is there. My hubbie said the day after that it was the best day of his life, for me too it was the best day of my life. Some tell you that it shouldn't be the "best day" of your life because you are setting yourself up for disappointment saying nothing will compare to that day, but for us this is not the case. It was the best day of our life because it was the day we married the person we always dreamed of, because it marked the day that we blended our families into one and because we got to spend 3 days partying with those most important to us in the entire world.

This is us entering after we took the bride & groom pictures, thankfully my little bro (also groomsman) hooked us up with some Pico Sours, and as you can see, people came up to us as soon as they saw us. The guy in the black tux on the right is my groomsman, he was on the hunt for some apps for her since cocktail hour was just about to end.

MOH/Cousin fixing my bustle after my 85 year old great aunt stepped on it while doing a salsa move. Brides Man is in background supervising he he. I freaking LOVE this pic!

One of many photobooth pictures, can you believe 1/2 of the people in this picture had never met before the wedding!

I'm a Mrs.!

2010-04-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

As of 1 week today I became a Mrs., it was MORE than anything I could have ever imagined. I will post updates soon & also post about all the things that kept me away from this lil bloggity blog! I still need to catch up on sleep & work has been extremely hectic! But I wanted to make sure & get on the blog to congratulate Mrs. Beaver!!!! Hope you have an amazing honeymoon!!

DIY: Give a KICK@** Maid Of Honor Speech

2010-04-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

JT here formally known as the "Maid of Honor" to recount my speech giving experience for WW's Reception!!!

I'm pictured here on the right (I'm the girl). Yes, this was at the wedding and no I don't remember taking this picture but anyway... I digress...

So my speech: I'll be honest, I was four drinks in when I gave it and I ended up not using any of the versions of the speech I had intended (there were three) but if I say so myself people really loved it.

A few guidelines for giving a great speech:

MAX IT OUT AT 3 MINUTES. Mine was 2:22 exactly. I even said at the beginning that I would keep it short just so I remembered to do just that.
Use an anecdote. Relate it to recent events, music, movie, something that the crowd can really relate to.
Just talk about the couple. Like how you met them, your interactions and observations.
Make a take away. I wanted to make my speech a "What I learned about love from ____ and ____." People were really into that. I mean you should be able to find something from every couple because why else would they be getting married unless they had been putting something extraordinary into the relationship.
Use a format: beginning, middle and end (resolution). I was on the speech team in high school and my favorite competition was the impromptu speech. Impromptu speech was always 2 minutes long and you were always supposed to lead in with a few explanations, some witty observation and end it with a learning point. I somehow managed to pull out that formula (unbeknownst to me).

If you want some more points about speech making or would like me to type out some parts of my speech, I might just do that...

2010-04-01T07:01:00.000-07:00

{Source Le Love}

You'll know when he is the one...the first time you look into his eyes you know something is different, you won't even question whether he is the one because there is no one else in this world that you can imagine being with. Perhaps like me, you'll be scared, scared to let someone in, to give them the power to hurt you, to leave and crush your heart, you won't tell him this of course because that alone is also letting him into your heart, but he'll know, he tells you he can feel the wall you have up, and to let it down because it's ok to let love in, he's afraid too but he's willing to take the chance with you and let you in completely, so you do & you've never been happier.

Westside Wedding iPhone Apps: Brides Iphone App FREE

2010-03-29T07:51:00.000-07:00

The Brides iphone app is sweet and free too bad it was not around last year when I was spending countless hours looking for my wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses. Check it out ladies, it is awesome!

Westside Wedding loves iphone Apps: iShoes

2010-03-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

As you know I love my iphone and it has been my own personal assistant with this whole wedding planning, allowing me to email vendors right away, approving drafts for wedding related items with time constraints and especially with trying to find the right shoes, jewelry, dress etc. The free iphone app iShoes helped me find my shoes & my moms!

1. iShoes

I love that you can email your fav items! This is great if you need to email them to your bridesmaids!

I had initially wanted colored shoes but fell in love with these babies:

and here are my moma's shoes Nine West Women's Janika Sandals,in purple Satin

All you need to know about Wedding Lighting

2010-03-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

I knew about Led Lights and twinkle lights but did you know about gobo or pin spotting? me either but thanks to GetMarried.com now I know a lot about lighting! whoop!

{image via http://trendsettingwedding.typepad.com}

DIY: CD Holders/Labels/Playlist for OOT Peeps

2010-03-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

MOH here again. I was called upon last minute for a DIY project from WW. UM D you WHAT?! Not usually my thing, so I had to do some research. Things you need to start:

Good eye for design, clipart, existing theme info colors etc. from bride we had some great starting points from our designer Jeff W.
Photoshop
Template (I used a really awesome one by Corrie Haffly.)
Card stock paper
Quality ink or laser jet printer
Paper cutter
Good permanent glue roller
Martha Stewart Utility Bone Paper Folder (WTF, I know right?!)
http://hypem.com
Patience and a whole lotta heart

Can I just say that I really love this Martha Stewart utility bone paper folder?! I had no idea what it was when WW handed it to me and suggested I use it to fold the paper and it came with NO instructions on how it actually folds paper (it looks like a plastic butter knife) but it came to me in a dream on how to actually use it so I made a YouTube how-to video for those of you as clueless as I am. (I hope there are some out there.)

We did two CD versions one for the older generation attendants and one for the younger generation. Here's the first draft of younger generation tracklist:
01 I Gotta Feeling (Dirty Remix) - The Black Eyed Peas
02 Can't Stop Partying - Weezer feat. Lil' Wayne
03 Kings and Queens - 30 Seconds To Mars
04 Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People
05 All The Right Moves (Danger Remix) - One Republic
06 1901 (What Kind Of Breeze Do You Blow? A-Mix) - Phoenix
07 Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
08 Fireflies Goin Down (Yung Joc vs. Owl City) - The White Panda
09 Timbaland feat JT - Carryout (Vindata Electro Remix) - Vindata
10 Roll Out (Robbery Remix) - Ludacris
11 Circus (Diplo Remix) - Britney Spears
12 (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To (Rosen Remix) - Weezer

Groomsmen RV trip and gifts

2010-03-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Mi amor had a groomsmen 5 day RV trip in February, it was a chance for all of them to get to know each other, and for some it was the first time meeting. I was very excited for them, I thought it would be time well spent male bonding! I wanted to get them each a car package to take on the trip, it was so much fun putting these together and I even got myself some of the items he he! Here is the list:

Party Mix
Nestle hot chocolate with mash mellows
Beef Jerky
Peanut Butter M&Ms - I thought they were the delicious Special Edition Strawberried Peanut Butter M&M's that I had earlier this year but they were just peanut butter. I've never cared for peanut butter & jelly, I think I have had one bite out of my whole life and I spit it right back out but for some reason I loved the taste of the Strawberried Peanut Butter M&M's ! so freaking good! I thought the boys may enjoy them for breakfast :-)
Enamel Coffee Mug 10oz
Jack Daniels Coffee
Enamel Dinner Plate
Enamel Bowl
Roll of mentos
Stainless Steel 6 Oz Liquor Flasks. Amazon has a great deal on these - Set of 5 for $20, free shipping and no sales tax!
6 Function Stainless Steel Camping Tool aka Hobo Tool I *love* this little tool, I bought one for myself to leave at my desk at work for my lunch!
Then I put them all in a Reusable Grocery Shopping Bag !

And since I was already on amazon shopping for the boys, I could not resist getting this stainless steel lunch box for myself :-)

Bachelorette Party Recount: How to Flawlessly Execute the Inherently Flawed

2010-03-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

MOH here (and pictured to the right) just popping in to give y'all a recount of how things went down at WW's bachelorette party in Vegas.

In kind of went in several phases, I'll save you the trouble of the details but rather highlights of what to be prepared for (which I was) and questions to ask yourself or things to expect.

1) Know your bride (duh) when planning a party listen to requests and if you have known her long enough you should be able to get the "vibe" down pat. Although bachelorette's are typically a surprise, I don't think the whole thing should be, I mean it's this girl's wedding and shame on you if you should happen to make the wrong decision on venue, dinner, games, outfits, WHATEVER keep some things under wraps, but if you need feedback on something - ASK for it.

2) Herd people. Attendants to bachelorette party can vary from 7-20 people - all of whom do not know each other. Start email chain of open communication or create an event on Facebook so people can talk to each other and get a conversation going before the party.

3) Check in, like, A LOT. People will typically ask you a lot of questions, (especially about cost) which you may not have the entire answer to, keep following up with people to let them know what's going on (waiting on xyz, should be hearing back from abc, etc) to deflect the possibility of a cancellation. (Out of town bachelorettes like Vegas are tough, especially because of travel expenses for the individual, hotel stay etc. the in town ones are too small scale at times and could leave the bride with a less than desirable "event" feel.)

4) Be flexible - don't kill yourself over what your itinerary (oh and BTW HAVE an itinerary for events for the weekend with venues, meets, times, etc and SHARE them with the party) make sure that the things that are most important to happen (games, strip club, dancing, dinner or whatever) - actually happen and smaller less important ones can be rid of accordingly).

5) Props - definitely fun, we passed on the whole "penis" theme with the exception of straws and went for a more fun going out attire and accessories so the bride didn't look the fool and was not afraid to take some pics.

6) Take feedback and listen to others... but at the end of the day the Bride trumps the majority. People tend to have eclectic friends, some who don't party some who party to much and when it comes to things like venues and activities some might be more willing than others, instead of answering questions or requests prevent such things by letting people know BEFOREHAND when sending itinerary that this is what the bride wants to do, loves to do, is excited about etc. I remember a few moments in Vegas when a couple of folks tried to move the party and came up to me for executive party movement. After a few nos I finally said, "WW wants to stay here." BAM! Just like that, dissolved.

7) SAVE UP!!! You *need* need to have several hundred dollars saved up or a clean credit card when anticipating bachelorette party, you'll have to cover all expenses keep receipts and later divvy up the tab among the crew (KEEP YOUR RECORDS.)

8) Be a spin master, if anything negative comes up (drunken brawl - oh wait, that was me actually hehehe), someone gets sick, passes out, or what have you. Be calm cool and collected, laugh it off highlight the bright side, after all the last thing you want is that one bad thing, ruin the weekend and be the only thing that the party and the bride walk away remembering.

Oh yeah and take good pictures, videos, and plan for back up peeps (bridesmaids are good for such things). Know your supporters.

Peace!!!

Happpy Blog Birthday to Chic 'n Cheap Living and a Giveaway!

2010-03-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Blog Birthday to one of my fav bloggers Chic 'n Cheap! She's absolutely amazing, and has been with me & my lil blog since the very beginning, she has motivated me many times with her sweet comments! If you have not done so already you *must* check out her stylish blog and while you are over there check out the giveaways she is having in honor of her blog birthday! My jaw dropped when I saw the giveaway she posted - a Le Creuset 6 quart stock pot !! (insert squeal here).

Westside Wedding and Google RSVP wedding form!

2010-03-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

My dearest readers,
I am so sorry for being MIA the past few months, once the 3 month mark hit all of a sudden work was extremely busy and wedding planning took over all my free time. I got so busy that I did not even have time to respond to personal emails which for me is crazy because I have an iphone! So I am so sorry about being MIA but I promise to blog about everything as soon as the wedding is over which is in 17 days! AH! But until then I will try to post about some more resources that have helped me along the way, most relate to my precious iPhone andGoogle. Without further adeu I present you google form for RSVP! If I could have only done online RSVP I would have but I was not sure that some of our guests would be down with it. These are some of the reasons that I liked about creating an RSVP form through google:

Linking the form to any website & therefor not being limited to any certain wedding website.
Choosing exactly what I want the RSVP form to say.
Being able to change the form at any time. In my case my parents had first said it was up to us what we wanted for the food so we chose stations & buffet, one month before the wedding they tell us they want sit down dinner, this was a problem considering we did not ask our guests what they wanted because we were doing buffet but for guests who went online we were able to update the form and ask them what their food choice was.
Making questions mandatory like leaving a comment he he!
The items in the form get automatically put into a google document that you can share with your significant other, you can get notified as soon as someone submits the form and you can use the information on the excel for placecards, thank you cards etc.

Screen shots:

How to make your own google form: Directions are here.

The link from our website:

The first page of the form, it asks for the person's name & email address. I created the form to take the person to a certain page depending on their answer. If they delightfully accept it then goes to the next page2, if they regretfully decline then it takes them to the last page and asks them to leave a comment.

If the delightfully accept then it takes them to Page 2 .

Page 2: Asks what is their guest name, the type of meal they would like and if they are staying at the hotel. If they are staying at a hotel it takes them to a page that asks what hotel, if they answer no then it takes them straight to the last page to leave a comment.

If they answered yes to "Will you be staying at Hotel", they are taken to another page that asks them for their hotel info. We wanted this so we know where to take the OOT boxes.

No matter what they answer in any question, the last page is always the same - leave us a comment :-) This is my FAV! I love getting the comments :-)

Once the form is submitted it gives them a message from us thanking them for their RSVP

All the info is in a nice google doc!

The Bachelorette Party: Part 3 (Homeward)

2010-03-15T19:06:00.001-07:00

The Bachelorette Party: Part 2 (Sin City)

2010-03-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

The Bachelorette Party: Part 1 (Pre-Vegas)

2010-03-15T14:00:00.001-07:00

On the way to Vegas for the Bachelorette: bride to be, the MOH and the bridesman.

Another Reason to Love Google: Wedding Templates!

2010-02-11T18:23:00.000-08:00

I just saw this on the site GeekSugar - very cool!

"Google has taken notice and is rolling out 20 new wedding templates within Google Docs to utilize during your wedding planning. Manage your guest lists, catering, and flower details, and even set up email templates to get updated contact info from your guests so you get those (sometimes pricey) invitations into the right hands. "

Full article.

Disney Gowns at Costco with savings starting at 40% off!

2010-02-01T22:20:00.000-08:00

You Washington peeps are so lucky!! I just got an email from Costco and the Costco in Issaquah Washington is having a Disney gown event & the gowns have savings starting at 40% off!! Normally stores trick you with UP TO 40% off (i.e everything is 15% off but somewhere in the pile there is something 40% off) but not good ol' Costco! Read about it *here* & also make sure to make an appointment! MOB/bridesmaid first blogged about the Disney dresses in her official first post here at WW check it out*here*

Wedding iPhone APP

2010-01-29T23:21:00.000-08:00

In addition to my bridesman/Bff & groomsmen who have tried to keep me sane & help out as much as they can, I also have another life saver - my assistant aka & right hand man, my iphone!!! It's been a while since I told you about some of my iphone apps that have helped me with wedding planning, and with only 71 days till the wedding, these 2 apps help me know exactly how many days till each wedding related event.

First up is the free Days Till app, I like this app because it allows me to add a picture (see pic below), choose the font/color for the words that appear on the pic & even lets me move around the words - in this case I moved them so you can see the Hollywood sign, pay no attention to the sign that says caution & no trespassing ;-) the second picture shows a list of all the events I added, as you can see it's crunch time!

The second app I have to keep me on track with the dates is the .99 Countdown app, I had this app first & like it as well, it also lets you upload a pic, I keep this app too because it tells me how many months, weeks & days until an event.

As you see I have 2 months, 1 week and 4 days till the wedding. I'm ready to get married but not ready for the wedding ...still lots to do! I don't know how 10 months past by so fast, I think I spent too much time researching and not enough time doing things. I hear so many brides say that they didn't want to keep everything till the last minute but then somehow did..I am know understanding how this occurs. Work has been extremely busy & the wedding to do list has taken over all my free time. Once again I have over 1K unread posts in my google reader, I think I am going to unsubscribe from all wedding blogs that do not belong to a "real bride blogger" because I rather spend the little time I have reading all your wonderful blogs & hearing about your experience.

I'm sorry for the lack of posts, I am going to try harder to post at least 3 times a week, I wanted to make sure and post something, so even though it's 11:16 pm on a friday night & I am soooo tired from the week, I had to log on & write to you :-)

miss you much!

DIY: Emergency Tins for the Wedding Party

2010-01-25T20:42:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking of doing this DIY since I saw a similar kit when I was staying at the Shade Hotel in Palm Springs with MOH/cousin for our friend's bday. The one at the hotel was in a little tin, had 2 tylenol, a towlette, and an antacid & cost probably $30 (this is what I like to call raping you up the you know what without spit).

I decide I can make these easily on my own & by on my own I mean I design them on my own and bridesman and mi amor help me assemble them :-)

1. I bought some tins for about $1 at Cost Plus at their after Christmas sale, I then put some Goo Gone on them that I bought at Michaels to remove the Christmas sticker on them. This was so easy!

2. I made a template in word, this took a long time only because I can spend hours finding the perfect font (perfect for me) and I also had to figure out how to center everything. The template says "If you've partied too hard relief is at hand..."

3. I printed it out and cut the sheets in half vertically with my Fiskars Paper Trimmer, this way I could put them through my Xyron XRN510 four at a time and not waste too much permanent adhesive. Then I trimmed them again individually.

4. Bridesman & mi amor assembled the tins, removing the backing of the adhesive and sticking the paper on the tin.

5. Now all that is left to do is buy the items that will go in it:

2- Tylenol 2 - Bandages 2- Alka Seltzer 2- Pieces of gum

6. These are for the wedding party to put in their OOT bags (although only 1 person is technically from OOT, I am making an OOT bag for each person in the wedding party since we are hoping that they will be staying at the hotel with us :-) I liked the tins so much I made one for me & mi amor too.

How are your DIY projects going?

Bridesman + Fiance = A bride to be's best friend

2010-01-22T19:29:00.000-08:00

With less than 80 days to go, it's been very stressful at the lovie dovie ranch. The time has come to stop researching and start getting things done. Problem is I spend too much time researching and not enough doing and on top of that I am *very* bad about asking for help, I tend to do things on my own, it's partly because I feel bad about asking people & partly because of that age old saying "If you want something done right do it yourself"...well in the case of the DIY that I did on Tuesday this saying did not hold true whatsoever! If it wasn't for my bridesman I would have been lost on how exactly to cut my DIY matchbooks. Bridesman and Groom both know that I do not ask for help, so unbenost to each of them, they both offered to help me out as soon as they saw me with printed cardstock, glue sticks, exacto knives, paper cutter & matchbooks.

Tuesday I decide that I am finally going to make the monogram matchbooks for the cigar bar, I did not think it was too complicated since I had 4 delicious bookmarks for wedding matchbooks, one from Project Wedding *here* and three from Style Me Pretty *here* , *here* (with template), and this one that has the template that proved very useful to me. I managed to figure out how to place the monograms that Jeff Williams created for us onto the template but once I printed them on white card stock from Michaels, it was hard to figure out how to cut them exactly and that is where Bridesman saved the day! He saw me struggling and stepped in immediately! Once he figured out where they needed to be cut we had an assembly line, Fiance was responsible for peeling away the cover of each matchbook, & bridesman and I cut the paper, used glue stick to attach the paper to the matchbook cover and then assembled the matchbooks back. I was truly touched by how bridesman & fiance stepped in and helped me without waiting for me to say a single word. Without them I would be lost and alone with only my DIY materials to keep me company. Oh and my little brother who came home after the matchbooks were already complete, wanted to help too but since we had already finished he helped me out by cleaning everything up & doing the dishes. *Tear* Are these men not amazing?! Who would have thought that the three people to help a bride out were then men in her life?! Did you have help with your DIY?

{Bridesman/BFF cutting the template}

5 Killer Ab + Core Workouts

2010-01-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

Starting TODAY! I am doing these in rotation. No time to slack! I can't be a pudgy MOH!

List of 5 Killer Ab + Core Workout Videos on Ranker

Forever 21 finds for weddings

2010-01-15T17:28:00.000-08:00

I was on the Forever 21 website today and saw a few things that maybe of interest to some of you, especially those of you that are having peacock feathers in your wedding like me:
I bought the swallow to put on my bridal bouquet & the chandelier earrings just because ;-)

swallow Forever 12 Charming Rhinestone Earrings $5.80

Ornate Feather Hair Clip $10.80 Feather Clip w/ Short Veil $6.80

Rose Rhinestone Hinge Bracelet $13.80 Ribbon Tie Beaded Bracelets $4.80

The Last week of Dress Shopping part 10

2010-01-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

Finally I am closing up the dress shopping posts! To be honest it's been hard for me to write about the final trips because once I decided what to do, I did not want to even think about it since finding "the dress" took so much research & time. But I wanted to let you guys know that there is a happy ending to the dress shopping! Ok, so we last left off with me having a master plan of finding a dress in one week. Instead of posting about each day, I am just going to have one post for the remainder of the dress shops that I went to that week, since I already told you about the first place I had gone to with my bridesman/BFF.

I went to Ibex Bridals in downtown L.A, because their website said they had "over 2500 wedding dresses in stock. I came with a list of dresses in mind, but that proved futile since they only had one of the 7 of the ones on my list. When I walked in they handed me 2 huge binders with pictures of dresses, the pictures were just like those you see in magazines or online, they gave me somebookmarkers to mark the dresses I was intersted in so I could try them on. When they noticed how quickly I was looking through them & how I had not marked any, they gave me 3 other binders. I found about 5 dresses to try on but also decided to try on the Provonios Galante dress that was on the window since the owner said I would look great in it & I should just see how it fits. They took me to an upstairs part where I got to try on the dresses & out of all of them I really liked the Galante, it felt wonderful on & I loved the ruffles. I started thinking maybe this was my dress, even though it had two things I did not want - ruching around the hip & it had straps. But I thought it maybe a contender. Ipex had great prices, & I later found out from another store that they are the distributer for many of the smaller stores around Los Angeles, so hey why not cut the middle man!

Next up was Rosa's Shop in Culver City. I had passed by this place many times on my way to Traget, but it looked very small so I never thought of going in, but we were in desperate times and on a time deadline so I thought why not? The store is pretty small, but it did have a great selection of bridesmaid dresses. I tried on a Maggie dress that I had seen online but as soon as I put it on I did not like the way it fit me. Rosa the owner was very sweet & tried to help me in my search by showing me catalogue but I could not find anything that I liked. If you like Maggie dresses you should definitely come here because Rosa had the best prices.

Another day that week I made the trek out to Glendale to Karoza Bridal. They had a huge selection of dresses, but the only problem was they were all in their plastic bags so it was difficult to get a good look at them & hard to get through the aisle...I literally was stuck amidst a slew of dresses and could not get out! After a few minutes I managed to crawl out.

Again, I did not find the dresses on my list but I did try on a Mon Cheri dress that the sales lady picked out & I again thought it maybe my dress & it was only $600!!! I loved the way the top was sculpted and the mermaid fit, the only thing I was not sure about was that the crystal belt was already attached & I kind of wanted something that was detachable. The picture on the site does not do it justice, it is a very flattering dress for women with some curves & the model does not have any so it kind of looks like a plain dress. It also looks A line in the picture but when I tried it on it was very much a mermaid shape. I left thinking that was another contender.

Thinking about the dresses I had as "contenders" I realized I had lost sight of what I had wanted, I was so overwhelmed with dress shopping, so stressed about finding "the one" and so tired of looking that I was beginning to settle. All the dresses were completely different!!!

Once I realized this I asked mi amor, "what is our theme?" traditional or modern? he replied "modern but get whatever makes you happy :-) I love a man who loves emoticons as much as me :-) So I got to thinking, there was one dress that I had seen in a magazine that I loved, but I knew it was WAY out of budget so I had not bothered to try it on for fear of falling for it. On two separate occasions, my mom & mi amor happened to come accrross the dress in my bridal magazines and pointed at it & said "wow". They had not said that to any other ones. So my plan was to go try on the dress so I can stop thinking about it. I called R Mine Bridal & as it turned out they happened to have the dress even though it was for 2010 because they were having a fashion show of the 2010 dresses. My bridesman/BFF who started off the first day of shopping that week with me also offered to go with me on his day off to make the trek out to the Valley so I could try on the dress and so he could offer his honest opinion. R Mine Bridal had so many gorgeous dresses all in the beautiful satin I had imagined existed, apparently my problem this whole time was that my taste far exceeds my budget. They had the beautiful Kenneth Pool Sophisticate dress I had been keeping in my wedding folder, it was even more beautiful in person, but it was freaking TINY! I looked at it then looked at the sales girl & asked the girl why it was so small & that there was no way a piece of me was going to fit into it. She explained the dress had been worn the night before by a model during the show & they only happened to have the dress because of he show but were returning it in a few days & were suppose to get their own sample dress in a few weeks, she also assured me I could fit into it - bless her heart! Well she was right I managed to shimmy my way in the dress but it did not zip at the top. I loved it! Did I get the crying feeling? no but I'm not a very emotional showing person so that did not surprise me. Was it everything I wanted? No, I wanted buttons & wanted the belt to be straight & removable. Was it "the one" - it was the "inspiration" for "the one". My bridesman/BFF loved it too & that is just what I needed to hear & make my decision to have my dress made! And how sweet & amazing is my bridesman/BFF to put up with me & be there from the very first day of dress shopping, to the first day of my operation find a dress in a week, and right to the very last last dress shop place I went to and where I found my inspiration dress & made my decision on "the one".

So there it is ladies, I am having my dress made. I promise to post about that asap too!

Ibex Bridals
836 S Los Angeles Street Los Angeles, CA 90014

Rosa's Shop
4352 Sepulveda Boulevard

karozabridal.com
618 E Colorado St # A Glendale, CA 91205-1753

rminebridal.com

12242 Ventura Blvd Studio City, CA 91604

Bridal Shower ideas

2010-01-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this post full well knowing I run the chance of receiving a stern talking to from MOH/Cousin, Bridesman/BFF and Bridesmaid/FSIL for even talking about bridal shower items - since I am not suppose to be even thinking about it. But I *had* to because I happened across a few great items throughout these 8 months that I had to share with you. First off here is a link to 15 tips for planning a Bridal Shower. If you need help with a suite for the bridal shower invitations and games, check out this cute carnival themed one from Style Guide it has an Invitation, Game Card (shown in pic above), Name Tag, Drink Label and Striped Paper. I blogged about a few other available through Style Guide back in October, so check those out *here*
Two ideas I absolutely think are great for a bridal shower are recipe cards and shower notes.

For the recipe cards the guests can share their favorite recipe with the bride and this way after the shower the bride to be has a lot of great recipes. I love love love sharing recipes! My favorite recipe card was this one shown below, it's also by Style Guide.

{Source 100 Layer Cake }

I think the shower note is such a cute idea from 100 Layer Cake, it's been on my bookmarks since July! The Bridal Shower Notes from Mika78 come in 4 color variations. I love the detail of the "with love" but it's in a heart symbol. I think I would want to tweak the questions a bit since, some people may be at the shower that the bride may not know that well (especially if it's on the grooms side)

Here is what it currently says....

DEAR ____,

It’s been _____years that we’ve known each other and if I remember correctly, the first time we met was_____

We’ve shared so many times together, but my favorite memory of you has got to be_______

I think you and your husband-to-be are perfect for each other because_________

If I could give you one piece of advice on marriage, it would have to be____________

with love,

Here are some more recipe cards from two very talented and creative bloggers Leo On The Loose and Creature Comforts}

{Source Leo On The Loose}

{Source Creature Comforts}

Who knew there was a differance between bridal & wedding registry?

2010-01-11T22:22:00.000-08:00

Who knew there was a difference between bridal & wedding registry?! Well for sure not me! All the (4) bridal showers I have gone to there was not a bridal registry, people mostly bought lingerie or some cute kitchen items. Luckily my FSIL/Bridesmaid gave me the heads up about the difference between a bridal & wedding registry and took the time to write up the many registry items that are available. I'm sharing the info she gave me because when I googled bridal vs wedding registry, I could not find any straight answer. So here it goes:

Option #1: Have 2 different registry's - bridal and wedding.

BRIDAL - in this case the bridal registry would be fun stuff for YOU (because you are the bride) and for your honeymoon ie, travel guidebooks, maps, lingerie, or could you also include prewedding stuff likegift cert for pedicure or facial or massage at a local spot you like to go to.

WEDDING Registry - for all of your wedding needs. Keep in mind this is the only time in your life you can ask for things such as towels (a nice full set for both your bathroom and your guest bathroom), flat ware, dinner ware for dinner parties, bedding - stuff that you will want when you get a house. No one will ever buy you this stuff ever again - your wedding is the only time it is appropriate.

Option #2: Only do one registry.

Just let people get you whatever they want for your bridal shower - you might get some weird things, but you also might get some really cool stuff that you didn't think of. Moms and married peeps are really great with these kinds of gifts.

For your Wedding registry - register at a place like Macy's or Bloomingdales that has multiple sections and once you get everything you can return whatever you want and get something you really need.

Option #3: Don't do a registry at all and just ask that people make a donation to the charity of your choice.

You will need to provide all of the relevant information, but then people can just give in your name.

Option #4: Create a Honeymoon website and have people contribute $$ to your honeymoon.

You put the excursions you want on there and the dollar amount (there are sites that can do this for you did it), you can put your airfare on there and hotel and then people basically chip in and help pay for your honeymoon.

We decided to go with option #1, I rather be surprised & already felt weird making a wedding registry. But I did add this cute Jessie Steele Red and White Polka Dot Bib Apron to the wedding registry just in case someone really wanted help with deciding what to get me for the bridal shower. Did you have a bridal AND wedding registry, or jusy one or none?

Wedding Chicks Giveaway! head on over there NOW!

2010-01-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

AH!! Wedding Chicks is having a giveaway ! Included are 5 stylish cards for asking your bridesmaids and 5 signature wedding chicks gold necklaces designed by blue poppy designs
What a perfect way to ask your bridesmaids and let them know how special they are to you! love it! Check out the giveaway details *here*

Thanks to MOH and Wedding Chicks, I redeamed myself!

2010-01-05T21:41:00.000-08:00

Before I got engaged I had never evened opened up a wedding magazine, didn't even imagine what I would want in a wedding & I had never been part of a wedding so I had no idea of all the things that went into wedding planning, including but not limited to how to ask your bridesmaids. I figured you just asked them, plain & simple. But nope! I learned 3 months in that now a days brides ask in some special way, with a homemade card, or what not. When I learned about this, I felt bad I had not done anything special. Luckily for me, my MOH has my back! Unbeknownst to her when she blogged about the tshirts on the weddingchicks.com she gave me an idea of how I could redeem myself! I ordered each one a special t shirt with their name on it & with their favorite color. The Wedding Chicks shop has a cool feature for the t shirts that allows you to preview how the colors would look together, I spent way too much time figuring out the perfect combo for each lady but had a lot of fun doing it. Their shop as so many cool items, especially the canvas bags! love love love them! Amy from Wedding Chicks was such a sweetheart, she helped me out with my order and answered any questions I had right away. So here are all the shirts & bags. Unfortunately they did not have any men's shirts so I will have to find my bridesman/BFF a shirt somewhere else. I can't wait till we get an opportunity to wear the shirts out! They are very stylish, have a flattering fit and the cotton is so soft.

Congratulations to the Top 100 Wedding Bloggers

2010-01-04T11:43:00.000-08:00

My name is Westside Wedding and it's been 25 days since my last post ...

So sorry for being gone so long! As you can see by the picture I took of my google reader, I have a lot of reading to catch up on! Over 1K! and that's all wedding related, since my personal account is under a different account. I have a lot of posts to catch on,Happy New Year everyone!! and also to congratulate the Top 100 Wedding Bloggers! I follow many of them through google connect and also through my google reader. I wanted to say congratulations to the real brides I follow & congratulate them for being on the list!

With This Ring
The Relentless Bride
A Practical Wedding
Truly Engaging
The Bowie Bride
The Broke-Ass Bride
Bride On A Budget
Mason Jar Bride
Polka Dot Bride

Thanks to this list I am now following these real bride bloggers!

Bride Chic

Tulle and Feather

A.Mountain.Bride

Slightly Obsessive Bride
Pink Galoshes
A Brides Brain

How To: Do Dress Measurements

2009-12-19T20:14:00.000-08:00

I found this video to be extremely helpful when taking my dress measurements for Westside Wedding. Check it out:

Would YOU Say Yes?

2009-12-19T20:01:00.000-08:00

It’s no longer cool enough to propose on Twitter. That’s been done before. Several times. So Alex Marsh of Raleigh-Durham decided to take it up a notch.

Full article on Mashable.com

Dress Shopping Part 9: Bridal Elgance 2

2009-12-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

Ever since NaBloPoMo ended I have not been able to find the time to blog or read blogs, luckily during my week hiatus my MOH/Cousin JT has been blogging & also taking videos & posting them on Westside Wedding. December has proven to be a very busy month, as I am sure it is for everyone but I will try my best to keep blogging this month! Ok, so I still have so much catching up to do in regards of how I finally decided on a dress... luckily it will only be 3 more posts!

We continue our story with Dress Shopping part 9. After realizing that I almost made a mistake and decided on a dress that was not everything I wanted, I spent a whole Sunday making a plan for deciding on a dress in one week. I wrote down style numbers, called bridal stores to make appts and had a deadline of the following Sunday. I decided that my first stop was going to be Bridal Elegance, the first place that I had gone to for dress shopping. Although it was not that big of a place it had a lot of affordable options under 1K. My bridesmans was a trooper and came with me...thank goodness he did because if it wasn't for him I would not have realized the solution to my problem with finding a dramatic mermaid dress. I tried on a few dresses but again my problem was that so many dresses mix fabrics or patterns, I tried on two Casablanca dresses and although I loved the shape they didn't scream out at me. The one thing I kept telling every bridal store I went to, which by now was over 12 who knows I have lost count... was that I wanted a dramatic mermaid shape and not one single person at these bridal store was able to provide me the answer I had been looking for, lucky for me I have my bff/bridesman looking out for me & when he saw the mermaid dress & heard my issue he asked the sales lady, isn't there something like a slip that she can put to give her more of a shape? um YES! cue in Etta James song At Last...

I put the mermaid crinoline on two of the dresses and BAM! there was the shape I wanted...too bad the dresses still were not the one, but hey I was another step closer!

Westside Wedding Does Downtown LA

2009-12-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

Our first Westside Wedding video blog post! Thanks to WW + beau for the flip for my birthday! I was trying out the flipshare video editing software (hence the musical backdrop). In case you were wondering about the soundtrack it's super mashup super star "Milkman - Tribute to Ms. Lonely"

NaBloPoMo is over

2009-12-03T21:56:00.000-08:00

what what I did it! I can't believe I actually posted every day, it wasn't easy especially during the holidays, because some days I would almost forget to post. I wanted to congratulate everyone that participated in NaBloMo, I think they all made a great achievement whether or not they blogged for 10 days straight or 30 days because at least they tried & that is an accomplishment in itself.
Congrats to Chic n Cheap Living, Soon To Be Mrs. Beever, The Less Than Domestic Goddess, Cheap Wife, and Shooting for a $3,000 Wedding! Also, I'm excited to read my MOH/cousin/co-blogger's post on her blog , she is participating in the December NaBloPoMo! yay for MOH!

Feather Report for Westside Wedding yay!

2009-11-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

Last month I was so excited to have been one of the winners for the Feather Report app & an outfit post customized to my body type, occasion, and weather condition...well today Melisa from Feather Report put my outfit together to go from a corporate meeting to happy hour! Check it out *here*. I love love love the feather report app, I am known to spend a lot of time on it, to see all the amazing & stylish outfits that Melisa came up with. It is a life saver for the fashion challenged but also for you fashionistas! Get it *here*

Wishing wall frame for wedding guest book

2009-11-29T23:04:00.000-08:00

How sweet is this idea for a guest book?! Have your guests write on a small piece a paper, a wish or perhaps some advice and then place it in the frame. Get it *here*

Fellow Wedding Bloggers that want 3 columns instead of 2

2009-11-28T16:23:00.000-08:00

One of the first things I wanted to change on my blog when I first started blogging was going from 2 columns to 3. When I searched online it took a lot of reading and pieceing together & guessing to figure out how to do it but I finally did. I thought maybe there are others out there like me that want to know how to do the 3 columns, so if you do check out today's post on The Blogger Guide. I recently started subscribing to The Blogger Guide & it's an amazing resource for bloggers.

Free The Bride Relay Race

2009-11-28T14:13:00.000-08:00

Has anyone ever played this game before? I am trying to figure out what the rules are from the video but it's hard to tell. The only thing I know for sure is that you are supposed to "drop it like it's hot" at the end.

Congrats to cousin/MOH for running 5K turkey trot!

2009-11-27T21:05:00.000-08:00

My cousin/MOH/Co blogger ran the 5 K turkey race this year! I was not able to do it this year due to cooking a thanksgiving meal all by 1 pm but you can bet I will be there next year! A 5K I can do but not a marathon or 1/2 marathon like my cousin. She is a hard core runner & I'm very proud of her. If you're a runner you should check out her site *here* it has everything you need to know to be a runner in L.A.

Super Cute Maid of Honor V Neck

2009-11-27T20:26:00.000-08:00

Since it's Black Friday, I am shopping online and found a ton of cute stuff I wanted on weddingchicks.com - I want this Maid of Honor Tee (hint hint - just kidding WW) it says "My Anchor: Maid of Honor." All of their vintage tees are really really really... dare I say it? Cute!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

2009-11-26T08:10:00.000-08:00

I'm so thankful to have all my blogger friends, I really enjoy reading your blogs and being able to share this experience with everyone. I hope you all have a happy thanksgiving!

These are the recipes I will be making for dinner @ momma's house:

Pumpkin Crunch Cake
Boston Market Creamed Spinach
Riesling Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Gourmet Sweet Potato Classic

Hater comment from Battle of the Wedding Planners post

2009-11-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

Peeps I got my first hater comment!!! & guess who it's by??? yup you guessed it, the infamous Anonymous!!! I'm sure you've read their stuff before, Anonymous is pretty prolific around the web, their specialty is making snide comments on people's blog and hiding behind anonymity.

I want to respond to Anonymous comments because I feel they must have only read my post title "The Battle of the Wedding Planners are big fat liars" and not the entire post. I stand behind what I said!

So here is what Anonymous said...

During the show the wedding planner actually said he was calling in a ton of favors from vendors and that he was promising them jobs for weddings coming up. this was not budget deception especially since they actually showed scenes of the planner promising vendors future jobs if they would help him on this one. Don't be bitter because a couple got a good deal for their wedding, and if you are sign up for a tv show and im sure you wouldn't be complaining then.

Well Anonymous, apparently you did not read when I clearly stated that the planner was calling in favors -"The London is Gordon Ramsay's restaurant. The meals per person are around $100 so that alone (with tax & gratuity) is almost 15k not including decorations, favors, drinks, photography, space rental etc. They tried making it seem like the planner called in a lot of favors but it still wouldn't be a 15k wedding."

This IS budget deception because it doesn't matter how many favors were called in, unless Ramsay was footing the bill for the food, the food alone (no alcohol) would cost $19,755.
Let me give you the breakdown: 150 guests, $100 {range $80-$96 I rounded up} per plate (15,000) + 3,000 (20% service fee) + 1,755 (9.75% CA state tax) = $19,755. That's right honey bunches, Cali allows venues to add the state tax to the total that includes the 20% service charge. Ya this was a shocker to us too. This total doesn't even include the rental fees that range $500-$15,000, nor does it include all the other items that go into having a wedding. Also, I did give one of the planners credit stating that "The only one that could have been 15k is the Griffith Park option." and I even provided a link to a wedding that supported that statement, cause that's how I roll! I roll with evidence!

It's too bad you missed my point, but luckily my wedding blogger friends who commented did not. To make it clear my point was " I really hope that people who are actually planning a wedding in L.A don't watch this show for ideas because it is bull caca! They are show big fat liars for saying that the three options shown are $15k. The only one that could have been 15k is the Griffith Park option."

You say if I had been on the show I would not be complaining, well I was not complaining nor was I jealous or bitter, I was merely looking out for people planning their own wedding & looking for ideas from this show. Like many other brides out there planning their own wedding, I look to the internet, tv, books, magazine & friends for wedding ideas, so it's really nice that there are places you can find REAL info on items but we also have to be careful with that same information & make sure we are not deceived. I got a reality check when I started researching what things actually cost. I don't doubt that the couple only paid 15K, I am sure someone else paid the rest of the bill (hello TLC!) so hi high five to them for scoring a wedding that really cost more than they had to pay. My problem with the show is only with the part that talks about the budget & places you can get married at for these budgets. The show would be better if it did not mention budgets at all, which would be best even for the planners so the competition could be fair & you would not have planners that actually listen to the 15K budgets (Griffith Park option) vs those that don't (Marimon & The London). I actually like the planners, they had great ideas & their competitive behavior was quite entertaining. My fav was the spunky one :-)

Anonymous, you are the one that sounds bitter apparently you took the post very personal, perhaps you are some how connected to the show itself? hmmm?!?!? You mention I should sign up for the show so I wouldn't complain, but I don't know how that has to do anything with my point of budget deception, but to answer you, I do not want to be on tv, heck I have a hard enough time posing for family photos let alone television cameras. I think weddings are all beautiful in their own way whether they are 100K or 1K because it's an event of 2 people committing themselves to each other in front of all their close family & friends & they are paying what ever price they are comfortable paying for & should not be judged for it. Love rocks.

Now two quotes dedicated to Anonymous:
Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it. Harry Emerson Fosdick
The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves. William Penn

My church is in the wedding featured on Wedding Chicks!

2009-11-24T17:27:00.000-08:00

I was so excited when I recognized the church that mi amor & I are getting married at in the wedding pictures featured on WeddingChicks. On Saturdays I sometimes want to pass by the church to see if I would catch a wedding party outside, so I can see a wedding there but thanks to WeddingChicks, I don't have to wonder anymore.

love this calender like a fat kid loves cake

2009-11-23T21:48:00.000-08:00

Home skillets, I just bought my calender for 2010! Seriously, it's as if Little Brown Pen read my mind when writing the following:

Make resolution and break it (mostly only anything having to do with candy or soda)
Wear sandals and pretend it's warm - At the age of 8 I tried convincing my mom it was all good for me to wear my dress to go ice skating, she was not down & I ended up not going.
Jump puddles & curse frizzy hair - I jump the puddles but as far the frizzy hair I put it in a pony tail & cap & call it a day.
Wear boots & pretend it's cold outside - last year I *had* to wear my tall red Hunter rain boots, so I wore them when mi amor & I went to see the Christmas light show at the L.A Zoo. Peeps, I live in L.A who was I kidding, it did not rain, but they did come in handy in the mud.
Eat candy & regret it. Story of my life
Scarf stuffing & loosen pants - this is why you wear dresses for the holidays!

Bowie Bride's awesome Bee[high]ve blog

2009-11-22T22:38:00.000-08:00

I just read The Bowie Bride's announcement of her brilliant new "The Bee[high]ve" site, it is going to be off the hizzy! If you have not read her Miss Crack Pipe posts you must do so now!... seriously now, stop reading this click the link to open a new tab read it & come back to finish reading my posts. I freaking love it & so excited for her future posts!
Seeing her new banner with two bowie pictures reminded me of when mi amor took me ice skating at Pershing Square in Downtown, it was awesome for 2 reasons 1) Cool to see an ice rink surrounded by Christmas lights & tall downtown buildings 2-) A David Bowie Tribute Band was playing! They are called Space Oddity
I found a great video of The David Bowie Tribute Band Space Oddity playing on the night I was there, how cool is that?! Btw I am not in this video I just found them on youtube...but honestly they did remind me of my MOH/cousin/co blogger & me at concerts, one of us has dark hair the other light, we both dance are socks off, sing along with the band & yell like 15 year old girls - truth be told she's better at the yelling then me, she's the one that gets the stares & dirty looks he he :-)

Oh and if you go ice skating at Pershing Square on a Friday/Saturday night, don't expect the "scene" to look like the pictures they post up on the Pershing Square Ice Skating Photo Gallery, seriously who were they trying to fool with those pics the tourists?

Hours for the Pershing Square rink: Monday through Thursday 12pm - 10pm, Friday-Sunday 10am - 10pm. Special holiday hours from December 18 - January 10: 10am - 10pm every day.

Josh Ross: Los Angeles Based Designer for Girls on a Budget

2009-11-22T21:46:00.000-08:00

If there's anything I like about being a part of Westside Wedding it's how much we totally dig the indie stuff. Although WW already has a designer for her wedding invites I wanted to share some info about a local designer here in Los Angeles that I am friends with on twitter: Josh Ross.

Josh is an LA based designer with a very clean look and feel who has a ton of experience working with local printers where he still has contacts (which helps big time when it comes to budgeting). He has worked with clients like the Getty Center, J. Paul Getty Trust and local photographers to create striking and elegant print work using his keen sense of typography and color. Josh has experience designing all kinds of logos and wedding invitations (including his own!)

In addition to his design skills, he's also a photographer. Check out his work here.

Gawker Weddings

2009-11-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

Here's something for a good laugh. I recently subscribed to Gawker since (unbeknownest to me) I was a featured artist on the site - um, go figure!

They have a section called "Scoring Sunday's Nuptials" spotting some pretty erm, hot, trends for weddings (think gangsta, mexican wrestling and midgets). Check it out for yourself.

Dress Shopping Part 8: The Dresser

2009-11-21T07:41:00.000-08:00

My mom & I go to the Dresser in Fullerton to check out wedding dresses, this was only the second time that I had taken her with me for fear I would leave the store crying or upset. You see my mom like many moms thinks that she knows whats best for me especially as far as clothes are concerned. She says she will tell me the truth of how I look even if I look bad because she is looking out for me...true but we also have different tastes, but luckily as I mentioned before as far as the wedding dress goes we have the same vision for me & my dress. My mom & I picked some dresses out, but all the ones that we picked were a no. Then my mom saw this girl try on two dresses & asked me if I would try them out. I did and I was surprised that I liked both, the layers of the Pronovias were flattering and classic, but I liked the Casablanca a lot more. I *loved* the detail beading on the sweetheart neckline, loved the low back, loved the beading on the dress and how it fit me. My mom loved both of them, she even out a veil on me. But no she did not cry but I can't blame her, I did not cry either. I am my mothers daughter after all :-)
The Casablanca fit my body very nice, it flowed well and did not cut me off in places, I thought ya I could wear this dress, my mom loves it, I dig it, I can see myself wearing it on my wedding day & snap it's under $900!!!! The people at the Dresser were very sweet & I must say that I really appreciated the sales girl, I was so close to getting the dress but she told me that they are having the Winnie Courture 2010 dresses in Nov 22 & that they are more the style that I was looking for, I think she knew my heart was not 100% into it. I thought I had finally found the dress, I even sent a text to mi amor, MOH/cousin & bridesman. I was happy to finally be done! BUT then the next day I wake up & make a mad dash to my mac & score the Internet for the dress. It took a couple of hours but I finally found it by doing a search on brides.com & it was just as I suspected...the dress was an A line! Argh!! No no no this just won't work, I can deal with not having satin, I can deal with not having the bling belt but I can not handle not having a mermaid fit. I do some research & find out that the dress can not be made into a mermaid because of the lace & beading. Many store told me that any dress can be made to a mermaid but that is just not the case, especially for a lace dress. Coincidentally, I saw the dress this week on WeddingBee Mrs. Champagne wore it & she looked beautiful, I read her posts about her search & she had also wanted a mermaid dress. So, it was back to the drawing board for me. I spent that Sunday looking for dresses online, making a list of dresses to find at stores to try on, making a list of stores to go to, emailing & calling for appts. Here are some pictures of dresses I tried on:

Mon Cheri 28227 Pronovias Galatea

Romona Keveza

The Dresser 112 W. Commonwealth Ave. Suite A Fullerton, California 92832

love this christmas sweater

2009-11-20T10:24:00.000-08:00

{Source}

How freaking cute but oh so scandalous is this sweater from Urban Outfitters!

Dress Shopping Part 7:

2009-11-19T18:54:00.000-08:00

I have to start of by saying that I am done dress shopping, I am having my dress made, more on that as soon as I finish posting all my dress shopping! So now onto part 7 of dress shopping!

After leaving Pebbles Bridal on Friday I left with the thought perhaps the Dakota Enzoani was the dress, it was the first one that finally had the fit I imagined but I was still not 100% down with it. I decided to make an impromptu trip to try on the dress again, this time at a bridal store I had never been to- Mariposa Boutique in Anaheim. I figured kill two birds with one stone, they had the dress so I could try it on & I could check out the other dresses. Mariposa had many beautiful dresses, I would say it had the best selection so far with pretty good prices, not as inexpensive as Pebbles, but not as expensive as Mon Amie. The owner was so helpful in finding me dresses to try on, when I told her that I am very picky and am having a hard time finding a dress that is trumpet, satin & sweetheart, and if it has ruching, I only want it on top, she replied "you're not picky, you just know what you want", that made me good & at ease. I tried the Dakota Enzoani, this time with a beautiful crystal sash that around my waist, I freaking loved the sash, it defined my waist and gave me the bling I was looking for but again..lace & the sweetheart was not as defined as I wanted it to be. I know I could have it altered but peeps it was already more than I had wanted to spend. I also tried on this beautiful Jasmine dress that had ruffles in the back, I *loved* the way it fit, the satin was beautiful, it had ruching on the top, the train was gorgeous, it was trumpet, it had some glittery bow by the train but it could easily be taken off, but I had one big issue with it, it was GREY! The dress had a natural waist line that was defined by a thin sash the same color & material as the dress. The owner later told me that it was discontinued :-( but that she would sell me the dress for 50% but color is a big thing & I just can't have it be grey. I don't know what the name of the dress is, but when I had found a picture online, it did not do the dress justice what so ever. These dresses confirmed with me that I wanted a dress with a natural waist line, trumpet & a bling sash. I also tried on this dress which is by Enzoani Blue, I liked it but was not down with the ruching top going up and then the bling pointing to the bottom but it was a pretty dress. I could tell I was closer because I finally was finding dresses that were more my style. Oh and the Jasmine dress had this inner bra corset thing that made me feel I had a tiny waist, highly recommend!!

Mariposa Boutique

316 N Anaheim Blvd Anaheim, CA 92805

Dress Shopping Part 6: Sample Sale

2009-11-18T19:09:00.000-08:00

So now to our regularly scheduled program of dress shopping.... BF/bridesman was watching Say Yes To The Dress (Countless people kept telling me to watch it) & in the episode they talk about sample dresses, so he asks if I have googled L.A sample sale - nope but I did as soon as he said it. I find out about a sample sale the had started in the beginning of October at Lily's Bridal. Keep in mind, I am writing this now (Nov.) but all this shopping was in October, so I went to the sample sale about 10 days after it started. I called made an appt for Friday & was hoping that they would still have stuff left. The hope did not come through because I did not like any of the dresses and there were only about 20 left. Since I had made the trek to the Valley, I thought I might as well look around. I tried on a few dresses but did not like any of them. I went out of my comfort zone and tried on an organza A line, I actually liked it, not my style but I liked that it felt like I was floating on a cloud. The other dress I kind of liked was a JCH dress (above), I liked the ruching on the top but I wanted the trumpet to flow more instead of just looking like two separate pieces. The sales lady had me start at one side of the store and walk to the mirror so I could see how I would look walking down the aisle, it was pretty cool & it made me more comfortable with the dress. I finally understood I was shopping for a bridal dress and not a dress for a special occasion that just happened to be ivory & that I just happened to be wearing at my own wedding. Coincidentally the organza dress ended up being featured on Say Yes to the Dress a week later (I only watch re runs of it, so I don't know when it was shown originally). After leaving the store I did a search on my iphone map for "bridal", & found Pebbles Bridal, I call them & as luck would have it they don't do appts and they open at 12 score!

Pebbles had ALOT of affordable dresses & many different styles, there were dresses there for $300!!! They had a huge section of sample dresses & bridesmaid dresses. I tried on the Jasmine F157 I can't remember how much it was but for sure under 1K. It had the fit I was looking for, and some bling, but I didn't like the bling it had & it didn't wow me. I then tried on the beautiful Enzoani Dakota & I loved it, it fit perfectly and had more of a dramatic trumpet then I had seen in any other dress...only a few issues - it was lace & I did not think I wanted lace, most lace dresses did some weird thing on my hips, also I wanted more of a sweetheart neckline & some bling. The sales person added a belt to the bust part & it looked very nice. Finally a dress that fit exactly how I wanted it too! But I still was not sure it was "the one" wasn't I suppose to just feel it? perhaps cry? also the ivory was a little darker in color than I had wanted and the white was way too white, oh and over my budget but not that bad. After all my dress shopping, I thought this was the closest I was going to get to what I wanted in a dress & I was so happy to finally find a dress that had the fit I wanted & no ruching. I found out later after I shopped around that Pebbles has the best price for the Dakota by FAR! I still think it is a beautiful dress, if someone bought it for me I would be more than happy to wear it or if it had been 1/2 the price I would have bought it but for the price, it has to be everything I want in a dress. I must say though that it is a great price for the quality of dress. The picture doesn't do it justice since the model is doing some weird thing, seriously what is up with some of these models not showing the beauty of the dress, which in this one would be showing a woman's hour glass figure and the dramatic trumpet.

Stores I went to:

Lily's Bridal 18663 Ventura Blvd Tarzana, CA 91356

Pebbles Bridal 20855 Ventura Blvd #B Woodland Hills, CA

The battle of the wedding planners are big fat liars

2009-11-17T07:09:00.000-08:00

Did anyone see The Battle of the Wedding Planners on TLC Friday? MOH/cousin & I happened to be watching TLC Friday night, after getting sucked into what seemed like a marathon of Say Yes to the Dress. The show starts & it shows 3 planners that with have their own theme, MOH/Cousin points at the TV and yells "that girls theme is bitch!" - it's fun watching TV with my cousin, because she doesn't watch TV that often and when she does she likes to talk to the people on the screen as if they can hear her. So here is the breakdown of what happened:
The cute couple is shown on the TV & says their budget is 15K, they live in L.A but are originally from New Jersey so they want a wedding with a "no-frills attitude that pays homage to their roots" & 3 wedding planners will present them with ideas for a wedding & in the end the couple picks what planner wins & get to plan their wedding. Now hold up, everyone that is planning a wedding knows that you can't just give a figure like that, you need to say how many guest are going to come, this makes a HUGE difference - 15K for 50 people or 15K for 350 people?!

This show had me yelling at the TV with my cousin, because they misrepresented what 15k can get you in L.A & I really hope that people who are actually planning a wedding in L.A don't watch this show for ideas because it is bull caca! They are show big fat liars for saying that the three options shown are $15k. The only one that could have been 15k is the Griffith Park option.

Planner #1: I recognized the Marvimon as soon as I saw it & f to the no would a wedding there cost 15K, unless you plan on serving Mc D's & wearing your mama's wedding dress. I did extensive research when looking for my L.A venue, so I know The Marimon cost 7k just to rent, but they require valet & other things so it's really 12k for the space, & that planner mentioned snake charmers & other things that would cost a lot- thanks to Miss Sprinkle on weddingbee who shared her budget recently for her wedding & gave us all an honest breakdown of her wedding and it was 40k. I would think a wedding there would cost a min of 20K for everything (again depends on guest list)

Planner # 2: Griffith Park. Now this one is a possible 15K wedding. It cost $300 to rent the space. I don't know the details of this place because it is all outside and that was not an option for us. I know it's possible to have a budget wedding here because I saw it on a wedding photographer's site *here*. The couple seemed to like it because "you didn't think you were in L.A" - A statement like that my friends is one of my pet peeves, I *hate* when people say it's so L.A, or that L.A is suppose to be a certain way, or that everyone is superficial because it is just not so. L.A is so diverse that there is no way you can say L.A is suppose to be like "this or that". To say that being at Griffith Park makes you feel you are not in L.A is pretty ignorant. But I digress..

Planner #3: The most ridiculous of the 3 for a 15K wedding was The London. The London is Gordon Ramsay's restaurant. The meals per person are around $100 so that alone (with tax & gratuity) is almost 15k not including decorations, favors, drinks, photography, space rental etc. They tried making it seem like the planner called in a lot of favors but it still wouldn't be a 15k wedding.

Although the couple said they wanted a "no-frills attitude and pays homage to their roots" they ended up choosing something they would consider to be "very L.A".

Free Holiday Class from Jessica Sprague

2009-11-16T08:17:00.000-08:00

I signed up last week for a free class from http://www.jessicasprague.com/ called Holidays in Hand. In the class they will be teaching us how to tell our holiday stories both past and present, go *here* for instructions. I thought it would be the perfect way to get me in the DIY/crafty mood!

I need a new piggy bank

2009-11-15T22:40:00.000-08:00

I need a new piggy bank the one I got at target a while ago is full, I'm thinking I may get this one from Velocity Art and Design and put it in the living room.

Book Report: The Quintessential Wedding Guide ... Maid of Honor

2009-11-14T10:10:00.000-08:00

Wanna get your MOH in line? Make her read this book! Granted, it's pretty thin, but I FINALLY got around to reading The Quintessential Wedding Guide ... Maid of Honor

Great read. Lots of good tips on etiquette, planning, roles and how to best approach any bride 911 in a cool, calm, collected spunky side kick manner. I am not a big fan of the cover (seriously, I almost didn't buy it) but content is well worth it!

Your blog is Super Cute!

2009-11-14T06:43:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much to A Chocolate Lover's Confession for awarding me the "Your blog is Super Cute!" award!
The rules for this award: Pass the award to 10 other bloggers and leave them a message to let them know.
I think these blogs are super cute!
Bride Side of Life
Very Married
BP Wedding

Girl with a ring

After Yes, Before I do and Everything in Between
Lost in White Chiffon
Bridechka and the Wedding
PDX Bride
Don't Eat The Paste

The Fabulous Sugar Doll Blog Award!

2009-11-13T06:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Stanley Makes 3 and The Alternative Bride for awarding me the The Fabulous Sugar Doll Blog Award !! Since I told you 7 things for my last kreative/sugar award and 10 things yesterday for my 2nd kreativ award, for my 2nd Sugar award I thought it would be awesome MOH/cousin/co-blogger Concepcion shares 10 interesting facts about her! Luckily she happily obliged!
The instructions for the suagr award are to write 10 interesting things about yourself, and then pass it on to 10 other bloggers.

Without further adieu here are ten Fun/interesting facts about MOH/cousin/co-blogger Concepcion:

1) I like to get metaphysical. Actually, I was a Philosophy major at Yale. I like to tell people that I majored in Philo with a Metaphysics concentration. Those were most of my classes but Yale doesn't have concentrations for majors. So in actuality, I'm just a compulsive liar. Kidding! (Sort of.)

2) 100% Californian with Texan accents. One of the most interesting times in my life so far was living in Downtown Dallas for about a year. I ran with a pretty crazy club promoter group and used to host/promote after hours trance/dance parties at my loft.

3) I run. A lot. I'm a no-where-near-pro endurance athlete currently training for half marathons 5,6,7,8... and marathon number 2 in March (LA Marathon)... first 100 mile relay in April and I'm on two ultra marathoners teams as a pacer! I've contributed to a lot of running/training/racing social networking sites and own more Nike clothing than I'm willing to admit.

4) These boots were made for walking. Signature outfit - cute/trendy/sexy dress with cowboy boots. Didn't I say Texan accents (see bullet #2).

5) I came in 2nd place at a karaoke contest. I sang Weezer - Say It Ain't So. Next contest I plan to Shanghai (2011/2012) I plan to sign Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way... WITH a blond wig and hippie dress.

6) I came in 2nd place at a go-go dancing competition at a gay club in West Hollywood. (2007)

7) I have a black belt in tae kwon do and fought on the varsity team in college.

8) My favorite sign is the sign of the beast (see also: rock horns).

9) I'm HUGE on twitter (@anotorias + @jennsteria for ww). (Not really but I saw a shirt that says that once.) I tweeted about needing help and one of my followers tweeted this to me:

rlauwers: @anotorias An example of social scene convergence- social, business, leisure all viewable in the same person like thru facets on a diamond.

I have no flipping clue what that means but I'll take it!

10) I'm part mountain goat. My favorite place to spend alone time in the whole wide world is up the high trails in the Santa Monica Mountains.

***Thank you MOH/cousin/co-blogger Concepcion for sharing 10 things about you!***

I'm passing the Fabulous Sugar Doll Blog Award to these 10 awesome bloggers

The Less Than Domestic Goddess
Things I love
You can’t take it with you
The I got to thinking

Chaotic Bliss

The Opposite of Zen
Diaries of a Restless Bride

7 Year Wedding

12K Wedding Blog
Bride on a budget

Kreative Blogger Award & My birthday!

2009-11-12T08:20:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Chic 'n Cheap, A Cape Code Bride & Miss Mojito from for awarding me my second Kreativ Award! I'm honored to receive this award from these Kreativ bloggers, they rock! It truly means a lot to me to receive these awards, as I mentioned before I am a little behind blogging about the awards but as it turns out it's better this way because I get to re award them on my bday week! So the rules as we remeber are to name 7 things about yourself that people may not know be it fun, interesting, or even embarrassing and then nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.

I research the heck out of everything. I think you guys already know this considering how much research I did to find the right venue, church, photographer & dress (although still looking for dress).
I never believed in Santa Claus but I would pretend I did for my parents sake.
About a year ago, my cousin/MOH went to a pole dancing class at the Treasure Chest in West Hollywood. We loved it, there were ladies of differant ages (20-50), different races & backgrounds, it was so great to be amongst a group of women that were so sweet & supportive. Too many times woman are the first ones to put down another woman. The class was not only about pole dancing but about self empowerment, it was how to be comfortable in your own skin, to be proud to be a woman & be aware of your sexuality. We all had a great time in class.
I was playing trivia pursuit with mi amor & his dad, and one answer was yogi bear (or so I thought) I told them I know who that is! & they looked at me shocked and replied you do?!?! I said "of course! hello Hanna-Barbera!!" they laughed hysterically & said NOT yogi bear, it's Yogi Berra the baseball player. whoops!
If I see a drawer, cupboard or closet door open, I must close it, & I wonder how that person could just leave it open, it makes me wonder about their ability to finish things, but in the end I know it has nothing to do with them & 100% to do with my inability to be ok leaving such items open :-)
My 3 initials spell out a short version of my name.
Ever since I graduated from college I like taking my birthday off & being by myself during the day, not doing anything special per se, just being alone & reflecting. So today that is what I'm doing. Also on the list for today is a dress apt (still need to catch up on dress posts) & tonight mi amor is taking me out to a romantic dinner whoo hoo!

I'm passing the Kreativ Blog award to these amazing kreative bloggers:

Anna and the Ring

A Cupcake Wedding

A Very Chocolate Wedding

Born to be Mrs. Beever

Cheap Wife

New Mexico Bride

The Thirty Something Bride

Your Blog is Fabulous Award

2009-11-11T06:22:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Born to be Mrs. Beever for awarding me the Your Blog is Fabulous Award, I think her blog is super fab too! For this one, you list 5 things you are obsessed with and then pass the award onto five of the most fabulous blogs you read.

Finding my wedding dress
Making to do lists
Losing the last 3 freaking pounds to meet my goal weight
Finding the right moisturizer (I have combination skin)
For the next few days I will be obsessed with cleaning my apt. It looks clean, but I am giving it some hard core cleaning, I'm talking about blinds & grout peeps!

I'm passing the award to these fabulous bloggers!

A Chocolate Lover's Confession

Handcrafted Hitching Post

Stanley Makes 3

Pink Argyle

Truly Engaging

Your Blog is Over the Top!

2009-11-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before I am *way* behind in my google reader & my posts - all the free time has been going to the never ending search of "the dress" but I feel it's within my grasp, so I hope to be all caught up muy pronto! As I was looking at my google reader, I saw I received some awards whoopee!!! and since it's my bday week (bday is on Thursday) I've decided to give each award it's own post and spread the love, I was first planning on doing one post and giving each blogger a different award but it was taking too long for me to decide which one goes with which, then I also wanted to make sure to give them an award they hadn't already received, and so a bday week awards was born!
Thank you oh so much to New Mexican Bride for awarding me the Over the Top Award!

For the Over the Top Award you are supposed to answer the following questions with one word answers and then pass the award onto six fellow bloggers. ---whoops I just re read this right before posting & did not follow directions with the one word- oh well story of my life...

1. Where is your cell phone? Next to me as always.

2. Your hair? Long & unmanageable- sometimes it's wavy, sometimes it's not. I have long hair & although my bf/brides man would like me to try out a bob, I keep reminding him that I had such bob my freshman year in high school & it would like to do a flip on one side, not both, just one - not pretty.

3. Your mother? The tie that binds my family

4. Your father? My hero

5. Your favorite food? Nicaraguan tamale & steak nachos
6. Your dream last night? X rated (mi amor)
7. Your favorite drink? water or coke zero
8. Your dream/goal? find love of my life (check)/be able to make enough money to travel most of the year
9. What room are you in? home - office
10. Your hobby? photography, excel, organizing, making lists, finding recipes & never cooking them.
11. Your fear? drowning
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Having a higher position in my job, happily married and living in a house.
13. Where were you last night? home
14. Something you aren’t? A snooper
15. Muffins? pass, but give me a chocolate donut with custard feeling & I am good to go.
16. Wish list item? never ending. As Nick said in Flash Dance to Alex " When you give up your dream, you die"
17. Where did you grow up? City of Angels
18. Last thing you did? made up a new song and dance
19. What are you wearing? a moo moo. I freaking love my moo moo, slap on a pair of high cork wedges & some aviators and your ready to go out n about town, then come home & kick off your heels & relax in your moo moo. My moo moo is what some people call a Mexican tent dress as shown in this wedding.
20. Your TV? 42' LCD High def, my tv is actually bigger than mi amor's. I'm the only girl I know that has more electronics then her (bf/fiancée), I get it from my dad. You don't even want to know how many flash drives, hard drives, or ipods I have.
21. Your pets? none. I had a cat Hobbes, he thought he was a dog, he would fetch his cat toy ball, & he also use to hide his food by putting a newspaper over it, or shirt or whatever he could find. He also slept with me side by side like he was a person.
22. Your friends? around
23. Your life? muy bien
24. Your mood? energetic
25. Missing someone? my mom's chihuahua Paquito who passed away last year, he taught my mom how to love a pet and how to have patience.
26. Vehicle? silver ford mustang (I love it)
27. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
28. Your favorite store? Target
29. Your favorite color? rainbow ;-)
30. When was the last time you laughed? a few moments ago when my loves was dancing for me
31. Last time you cried? I use to never cry, even as a kid I wouldn't cry in front of people, I didn't want them to know that part of me. But my goodness ever since I got engaged I am as mi amor called me during the movie "Australia" a big ol mush. I freaking cry at all the touching parts, don't even get me started on the times travelers wife.
32. Your best friend? brides man
33. One place that I go over and over? my head
34. One person who emails me regularly? cousin/MOH
35. Favorite place to eat? Momma's house

And the lovely 6 Over the Top bloggers I'd like to pass on this award to:

Chic N Cheap

Miss Mojito @ With This Ring

The Alternative Bride

Blog Googles

A Bowie Bride

A Cape Code Bride

Ruffles galore

2009-11-09T07:13:00.000-08:00

{Cymbeline Carissa} {Cymbeline:Cherie}

I dig ruffles on wedding dresses, I have yet to try on a wedding dress with ruffles like the ones shown in this post, most likely because they are muy expensive. Like my bf/bridesman tells me, my taste is more than my budget. Is it weird that I love dresses with ruffles, yet I also love satin trumpet dresses with clean lines and no ruching? Not for me it isn't, in fact it is very typical for me to like two things that seem to be completely different, I think it brings balance. If I could, I would wear a ruffle dress for the ceremony & a trumpet dress for the reception, but that's not a possibility, right now I would just be happy finding 1 dress :-) . Btw I almost found "the one" four times in the last 2 weeks, I have not posted about it yet because I still have to get caught up on the rest of the dress shopping that lead up to these. In retrospect, I think I just started wanting anything that resembled what I wanted to be "the one" because I am tired of looking for it, & also I have had to invest in more boy short undies due to going to all these bridal places. I feel closer to it though, I *know* I will find "her" this week, that or I will find someone to custom make her for me :-)

{Edgardo Bonilla:Agatha} {Watters Brides:4043B}

Dress Shopping Part 5: Wedding Outlet

2009-11-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

So after going to 13 wedding stores, (yikes) and not finding anything, I thought it was safe to take the momma. I showed her pictures of the dresses I thought looked cool - not perfect but close to what I was looking for, I was surprised to find she agreed on the dresses. I thought she liked to place me in the nearest ballgown and call it a day but nope, momma wanted the same thing I did- no ruching, trumpet/mermaid ball, clean lines and strapless. This made me very happy. Since we were in the area, we stopped by The Wedding Outlet in Montebello, I had called earlier in the week and they said that I wouldn't need an appointment - nice!
Many of the dresses here were $500 some even less. They had a good selection of bridesmaid dresses & mother of the bride dresses. I tried two dresses just to show my mom how the trumpet/mermaid dresses looked on me and she loved the fit and confirmed the trumpet was perfect for me. The dresses here were not my style, too much ruching, but I would still recommend going here because the prices were amazing. They had a large selection of Eden Bridal gowns (see pic above) and can even special order some gowns.
The Wedding Outlet
1433 N. Montebello Blvd
Montebello, CA 90640

Free Templates for Table Numbers

2009-11-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

{Better Homes & Gardens}

These are the items I have under my "table number" tab in my delicious bookmarking. I love the simplicity and uniqueness of the etched table numbers in the clear vase, especially with a pretty red flower in it but most likely will go with something on paper. Our venue provides silver frames for the numbers and will even print them out for us, how sweet is that!

{Martha}

{Bridal Part Tees} {Ruffled Blog}

Dress Shopping Part 4

2009-11-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

As you may have guessed by week 4 of dress shopping I was pretty sick of dress shopping & losing hope. I happened to be looking at the Jim Hjlem website & noticed that Marylinn's Bridal in Pasadena was having a Jim Hjelm trunk sale, I quickly call them & ask if they have an appt, & as luck would have it, they had a cancellation & if I could make it there in an hour, I could take that appt. So I head on down to Pasadena but alas they don't have that particular dress. I did get to try on this Jim Hjelm dress jh8759 (shown above)and let me tell you I was not impressed. The first picture makes the dress look more glamorous then it really is, but the second & third pictures actually do a good job of showing how the dress fits, it doesn't have a nice shape and the material isn't very luxurious. Oh btw a hjelm is not even within my budget, but it was the only dress I could find that was the style I was looking for, so I thought if I could try it on I can at least know if it is the style I truly want.

I realized at this Bridal Store that I did not want something too plain. Per the sales persons suggestion I tried on the Mathew Christopher Lalique (shown below) I had never seen the dress before and when I tried it on, I loved the way it fit, (at least with the clips on the back) but the thing I loved most about it was the train of the dress, it was shaped like petals and I loved that you could see the slip. I thought the dress was too sexy for the wedding and I really did not like the way it had the upside down triangle by you know where - speaking of that I tried on a few dresses that brought attention to that space, mostly I saw it in lace patterns, what is up with that?! no need to put attention to that area, we all know what's there. Luckily the dress was not the one because it was WAY out of budget. I also loved the material and the color of the dress.

When I searched for it online I was surprised to see how it looked, one picture almost looks like a cartoon and in the one with the model it does not show how great this dress is on someone with an hour glass shaped figure, nor does it show how great the mermaid part of the dress looks when the bride is facing forward. The first picture does do a great job of showing how beautiful the train is. After this dress shopping, I added dramatic trumpet/mermaid to my list of things I wanted. So far the list is; satin, trumpet or mermaid (always on the list), beading in the top area and/or waist, strapless (prefer sweetheart), perhaps a beaded belt and buttons on the back.

Marylinn's had a lot of dresses to choose from ranging from the pouf beading, charmeuse and modern dresses, but one thing that rubbed me the wrong way is that I saw the Casablanca dress 1910 there and they were selling it for $1400, I had seen this same dress at Bridal Elegance in Torrance and Image Bridal in West L.A selling for around $900, so if you do find your dress here make sure you know what the going rate for it is before you buy.

Marylinn's Bridal

82 S Fair Oaks Ave

Pasadena, CA 91105

Free printables from Up Up Creative

2009-11-05T08:02:00.000-08:00

Happy 1 year Anniversary to Up Up Creative! She's an amazing graphic designer, you can check out here etsy shop *here*. In honor of her anniversary she is giving her readers a freebie each day of the week, the garland above was for day 3. I love her the holiday cards that she has in her etsy shop, the colors are so vibrant and I am digging the font, best part is that you can print them yourself as many times as you want!

Oh and these twitter icons that she made are freaking cute!!

Dress Shopping Part 3

2009-11-05T06:29:00.000-08:00

In part 3 of dress shopping, I am still looking for a trumpet satin dress similar to the Jim Hjlem (see pic)

Tuesday:

Wilshire Bridal & Tuxedo - They had a great selection of dresses for everyone that likes beading, lace & ruching. I explained to them that I did not want any beading but I would take a lil bling around the neckline or waist, I wanted trumpet but no ruching, or if need be I'd take the ruching around the top but nothing past the waist. I tried on 2 dresses here, and the ladies were super sweet. I like that they gave it to me straight and told me that perhaps it's best if I have my dress custom made because what I am looking for is not easily found, but after they had the seamstress talk to me about the cost, they also showed me a dress that was affordable and said I could also just alter the neckline and but a beaded sash & that would also do the trick.

Wilshire Bridal & Tuxedo

3818-22 Wilshire Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90010

Wednesday:

Glamour Closet: They had just gotten their October inventory, so I was hoping I would find something this time around. I tried on some pouf thing & once again confirmed, pouf is not for me, I also tried the St. Germain Watters gown because of it's wonder woman belt, but I was not down with the A- line and it was too big for me & not in that great of condition.

324 South La Brea Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90036

Friday:

Mon Amie Bridal Salon: They have you fill out a form when you are asking for an appt through the web, one of the questions was my budget – I got a nice response from them that they would be happy to give me an appt but perhaps I would be more interested in their Outlet which is within the store. I hear a lot of girls get their dream dress here, so if you have the money & you want the beading & pouf then you should check them out. Cousin/MOH accompanied me to the Mon Amie outlet, the sales lady there was very nice and helped me find a few dresses that fit some of my criteria but all in all I thought the dresses in the outlet were way over priced and many of them were missing beading, threading or dirty. It’s one thing if they looked like that and cost a couple hundred, but the cheapest dress I tried on, and I used cheap loosely, was $1800.

355 Bristol St.

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

After Mon Amie, I did a google search for “bridal store” but nothing came up, so we head to The Cerritos Mall for some BM dress shopping (separate post about this one).

After the mall and more google searching we end up in Downey at Quinceanera Dream (translation sweet sixteen dream, insert pink pouf). By looking at the window of the dress shop you may think to yourself why didn’t they just run the other way? Nope not us, we face fear right in the eye and headed in. They don’t have any bridal dresses there, instead what they have our catalougs and you can order your dress or (bridesmaid dress) from them or show them a picture of a dress and they will make it, for around $300-500! But considering I still was not sure what this “dream wedding dress” of mine looked like, I could not take them up on the offer.

Quinceanera Dream (see pic)

8731 Firestone Blvd

Downey, CA 90241

Top 10 Wedding Movies of All Time? You Decide!

2009-11-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

We really love girly flicks. And nothing gets girlier than a good wedding movie. I did a lil search online and decided that I agree with this top ten list from glam.com (added a few comments of my own) - we've seen most of these already so... any movies you'd like to suggest?

10 – In and Out, 1997
Haven't seen this one but with Kevin Kline and Joan Cusack playing starring roles, I'll have to cue it up in the "to be seen" movie list!

9 – Sweet Home Alabama, 2002
Reese Witherspoon has to choose between Patrick Dempsey and Josh Lucas. Hey Reese, since you have a spare, can you help a sister out? *wink*

8 – The Wedding Singer, 1998
Karaoke, true love, comedy and the 80s. These are a few of my favorite things.

7 – Honeymoon in Vegas, 1992
Nicolas Cage + Sarah Jessica Parker. Fact: I've seen this movie like six times.

6 – Runaway Bride, 1999
Julia Roberts is Maggie Carpenter, the small-town the bride on the go in this sweet romantic comedy that reunites Roberts with Richard Gere. Hilarity ensues.

5 – Wedding Crashers, 2005
Vince Vaughn + Owen Wilson = 90 minutes of fun.

4 – Four Weddings and a Funeral, 1994
Hugh Grant before the hooker scandal. Love it!

3 – The Wedding Planner, 2001
J-Lo is a smart and sexy Wedding Planner who ends up stealing her biggest client's husband to be (sorry, had to give it to you straight like that).

2 – My Best Friend’s Wedding, 1997
Another awesome Julia Robert's flick! And not the happy ending you would expect (non-spoiler spoiler alert!)

1 – Father of the Bride, 1991
Classic. Enough said.

Wedding In a Week: LA

2009-11-04T14:16:00.001-08:00

You know how much we love contests. I just heard about this one via Liz Coopersmith. Looks totally RAD (excuse my 80s speak)!!! MYfm.com has teamed up with Wedding Wire where one lucky Los Angeles based couple gets the Wedding of their dream... only catch is that they have to plan it in a week. Not likely a contest that the peeps on WestsideWedding would be up for but super cool for anyone who can! Submissions for the contest are now closed but why not head on over to vote for your favorite couple?!

Check out the submissions and vote here.

Gorgeous wedding at the Bride's Cafe

2009-11-04T08:59:00.000-08:00

This gown is GORGEOUS, as is the bride...check out her wedding at the Bride's Cafe *here*

Dress Shopping Part 2

2009-11-04T06:01:00.000-08:00

Week of Dress Shopping:
Monday:
The Image: Small store in little Japan, friendly service, and great prices but was the first place that I felt they were pressuring me to make a decision and buy a dress. They had the Casablanca 1910 that I had tried on in dress shopping part 1 & it was for a great price. The sales lady was helpful in listening to what I had to say & making me realize that #1 I do like some bling on dresses just not too much, #2 One of the reasons I don't like ruching is because I like symmetry and many dresses with ruching are not symmetrical.
The Image
2130 Sawtelle Blvd #209
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Wednesday:
Glamour Closet - I did not find anything to try on the first time I came here, but they did have a good selection of designer gowns for about half off. Instead of me giving you tips for this place, check out A Los Angeles Love's post about her trip there, she has all the 411.
Glamour Closet
324 South La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Thursday:
Marylinn's Bridal: This is where I realized that many of the dresses online do not look the same in person, I don’t know if it’s the weird way many of the models pose (see pic to the left) but surprisingly some dresses look better in person then online. I tried on an Alvina Valenta dress that looked ok online but when I put it on it looked way better- I loved the is exactly what I was looking for, but it didn’t seem “bridal” enough, I felt more like I was going to a Hollywood Gala then my own wedding. I came here in hope that I would find the Jim Hjelm dress I thought resembled what I wanted in a dress the most (minus the hefty price tag), but nope it wasn’t there. Luckily the Alvina was and it confirmed that I did indeed want a trumpet dress. They have beautiful dresses here & the ladies are very sweet & oh so stylish. They had a beautiful hair flower made of feathers that they put on me & it also confirmed that I did indeed want that as well.
material and the way it fit, these aspects of the dress
Marylinn's Bridal
250 South Robertson Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Friday:
Winnie Courture: This was the first place that actually had the two dresses I had seen online & I was finally able to try on the dresses. I had a few dresses from other designers that I had printed, then looked at the “locations”, went to the store and they did not have the dress. I would soon find out that over 90% of the dresses I had listed as “fav” were no where to be found in L.A, so I could not even try them on – if it’s like that here, I can’t imagine how it is for brides in the Mid West! I liked both dresses I tried on, but was not crazy in love with them, I wanted more of a dramatic trumpet but one thing I really liked on the Winnie Couture Sonnorra dress was the paneling, it gave it a nice structured look. The dresses confirmed my love of what my cousin/MOH calls the “wonder belt”. I first realized I was attracted to the bling belts at Bridal Elegance when I put on the Casablanca 1910.
Winnie Courture
9393 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

NaBloPoMo

2009-11-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Chic N Cheap for letting me know about NaBloPoMo AND for hosting the ShopUPick contest that I won AH! I've been pretty bad about blogging as of late due to spending any free time trying to find "the dress" & I realized this weekend I had a lot of posts to catch up on, so luckily I posted Nov 2, one day late, but ended up doing 3 posts today so yay I am caught up! Nov is my birthday month, so it's yet another reason I'm excited to post every day. (yes, I'm a scorpio)
NaBloPoMo stands for National Blog Posting Month and according to the website it's "the epicenter of daily blogging! People who want to set the habit of blogging by doing it every day for a month, including weekends, can come here for moral support, inspiration, and the camaraderie that only marathon blogging can provide."
Whose with me?!

Free paper airplane save the date from Ruffled Blog

2009-11-03T07:50:00.001-08:00

Isn't weird when talk about something or are looking for something and then all of a sudden it appears in your life some how? For example when mi amor & I were dating he said that on his to do list before he dies, he wanted to go to a Police concert, only problem was the Police had broken up 20 years ago. A few weeks after he told me this, the Police announce that they are doing a reunion tour! We saw them play at Dodger Stadium on June 23, 2007. crazy. Another small example is last friday I was looking for a postcard to send & was looking for a picture of a paper airplane with the dotted lines coming out of it & also an air mail looking envelope, I found one card on etsy but since I needed to mail it out on friday, this was not going to work, in the end I could not find a prinatble one, so I made something else instead..now fast forward to today & I look in my google reader and Ruffled Blog has a FREE template for an airmail envelope and a save the date with a paper air plane. crazy! Although I did not need the save the date, the template is freaking awesome.

*here*

Westside Wedding Venues and google canned responses

2009-11-03T06:56:00.000-08:00

I researched about 82 different venues - feel free to look at my google doc *here* - it's compiled from information from herecomestheguide.com, and also from me contacting countless venues. It's crazy to think how many options there are out there, yet depending on the budget, time of year, area, etc etc there really are not that many options for "you". There are some on that list that I would have loved to check out, but just be doing a rough estimate of the cost, they got ixnay , others closed too early or didn't allow hard alcohol which for us were deal breakers. Some had the reception 100% outside and mi amor was worried about rain in April, I wasn't worried about it considering we live in L.A & yesterday on Nov 1 the temperture was 75 degrees but you never know. Some were only inside in banquet halls and this was also a deal breaker for us because we wanted to be able to give people the freedom to go outside for fresh air. I found myself writing the same question to venues, so I finally created a "canned response" in my google mail, it makes sending these emails a lot easier!

Here is the canned response I used:
Hello,
My fiancee and I are getting married on (Month, date, year) and have a guest list of (# of people), we would appreciate if you can provide us with a price listing and information for having a wedding at (venue you are contacting)
Thank you,
(Your name)

Directions on how to make a canned response:

First go to your google settings, go to the tab "labs" from there look for "canned response" and click enable.

After you have enabled the canned response feature in your settings, go to create a new email and copy and make your own response, or use the one I shared above. Then click on "canned response, save new and title your response. Once you have saved it, when ever you create a new email, you can just click "canned response" and choose the canned response you want to use and bam there it is! I use this feature a lot, even in my own personal emails- I have one titled "address" that has my address & easy to follow directions, that I use any time I have friends coming over that have never been to my place before, I also use when for when I sell things on ebay - thanks for your payment blah blah. I hope you find this as useful as I did :-)

Westside Wedding venue - at last

2009-11-02T20:58:00.000-08:00

Reading Born to be Mrs. Beever's comment *here* made me realize I never finished my follow up post about the venue search saga, whoops! I mention how it took 5 1/2 months, tons of research and then bam! I leave you with a list of BYO places, none of which are our venue...as I mentioned in that post, it was going to end up costing us more & giving us a lot more work to go this route, plus most did not meet our top 10 requirements for a venue.
Of the 70 places in my excel sheet (stay tuned for post sharing the excel) we went to see 10 of them, and there really was only one option, it fulfilled all our requirements and was the only place that had a "build your own" option, where we decided on stations, apps, buffets, desserts etc and a 5 hour bar that was affordable. We loved pretty much everything about it as soon as we walked in, funny thing is that the only reason that we went to Mountaingate Country Club was that mi amor was curious about the place & it's tennis courts & I had loved the picture of the hanging lanterns that I saw on the website. We had no intention of actually getting married there because we thought it was WAY out of our league, plus we didn't think a "country club" was our style, so we weren't worried about falling in love with the place. BUT. As soon as we drove up the hill, passing the mountain views, we both got out of the car and looked at each other, and said - what if we love it? Some how we just knew. We loved that our guest would be able to be inside for the dinner and also be able to go outside and enjoy the views. We took both our parents there and they each loved it right away, which made us even more sure and happy with our decision. In the end the research was worth it & it was a good thing we hadn't crossed it off the list just because it was a country club & we had thought we would not like it. Finding the venue took a long time but deciding it was "the one" did not. Was it easy for you to choose your venue?

Wedding Playlist Project

2009-11-02T14:42:00.001-08:00

We got a lot more work to do on it - but thought I would share how far we've gotten so far:

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T08:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone!

Coordinating the wedding party & BM dress websites

2009-10-30T07:40:00.000-07:00

In my continued search for bm dresses I came across Dessy Group, apparently I had bookmarked it a while ago but had not really checked it out till today. For those of us that are color challenged like me or those that just want to see how their colors would look on their wedding party, should check out Dessy Group.
If you are looking for bm dresses, here are some links to bm dresses:

Dress Shopping Part 1- One Day Shopping

2009-10-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

{ Maggie Sottero- Lara & Paloma Blanca - 3966}

I thought I would share with all you So Cal ladies info on dress stores that I have gone to. Keep in mind, what I am going to share with you has already happened, day 1 was back in late September. Since every one's taste are different the reasons I may not like a place maybe the exact reason you do like it, so overall I would say go to as many places as you can, especially if you are like me and never opened a bridal magazine or looked at bridal site in your life, until 1 week after you were engaged. The things I wanted from a dress were, strapless, little or no beading, buttons on the back and trumpet or mermaid. Apparently, this style is not that easy to find. The two above dresses were the only ones I kind of liked from Day 1 of shopping, but the Maggie was A line so that didn't work and the Paloma had ruching so that didn't work either.
This was Day 1 :

Brides of California: Small store, we walked in without an appt right when they had just opened the store, I did not look at any of the bridal dresses but MOH did try on a few dresses here & the girls that work here were able to find bm dresses really fast, just based on a few things I told them. 1445 Marcelina Ave Torrance,CA - 90501 310-783-6523

Bridal Elegance: I had an appt, the lady who helped me was awesome, she listened to what I had to say and kept me at my budget. They had a great selection of dresses under 1500, only thing is that many of the dresses had ruching and beading which I did not want in a dress. I don't think I can get my groove on the dance floor with a dress that weighs the same as a toddler. That being said, I saw some brides looking very happy & beautiful in their ruching & beaded dresses - it's just not me. Torrance,CA - 90505 310-406-3917

La Soie: Come here only if your budget is over 2K. Lucky for me I did not like anything they had & could not have exited the premises sooner. 19800 Hawthorne Blvd. Suite 212 Torrance, CA 90503

David's Bridal: I wrote about my experience already, I think people either hate this store or love it. Although I did not find anything & I did not feel that the sales person was listening to what I wanted, I still think everyone who is on a budget should check it out for themselves because you never know & this way you don't have to wonder about it. 20140 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA

What I learned about bridesmaid dresses

2009-10-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

{ Source: Personal collection}

The picture above is of my mom & my aunt (MOH's mom/Concepcion/co blogger} on my aunt's wedding day. I love this picture of them, I wish they had more from the wedding, but this is the only one I could find. I also wish my mom had that dress and especially those heels so I could borrow them. I don't know if you guys can tell, but the heels she is wearing are nude colored and the ankle strap looks like a gold ankle bracelet. But I digress...
What I learned from bridesmaid dress shopping:

You may want your wedding colors to be say - yellow & grey but the bm dress you like does not come in yellow or if it does it's an ugly yellow. Where the heck are all these brides finding pretty yellow for the ever popular yellow grey wedding?? and don't say J Crew, although their dresses are cute they are not always flattering & are too casual for our wedding.
BM dress sizes are similar to bridal dress sizes, they are not the same as your street size.
Some dresses can take 3 months to order.
The dresses you see online may not be available at any of the stores near you, even if the store is listed in the designer's website.
You should choose/buy your dress first because you may change your mind about the style.
It is very hard to find a dress that is flattering for everyone, affordable, available, not taffeta (per MOH) and in the color you want.
You will have sales people tell you that you should choose a color & style that is flattering to everyone (um this is not easy when you have a wedding party like mine that is like a United Colors of Benetton ad) AND you will also have sales people tell you that it's your wedding so you can do what ever you want - personally I want the wedding party to look hot & feel as amazing as we do, so I am really trying to find something flattering.

Marriage Prep Class

2009-10-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday mi amor & I went to an 8 hour marriage prep class, it actually wasn't our idea, more of a requirement from the Catholic Church. We were wary of what was going to be said, if it was going to feel like a lecture or a sermon, but in the first few minutes they made it clear that they were not there to convert us, but to help us understand each other and help each other succeed in marriage. The class rocked, seriously. Everything they talked about, we had already discussed as a couple, money, dreams, personalities, communication etc, but it was nice to spend 8 hours really focusing on those issues and focusing on succeeding in our marriage, if we did not have to go to this class I seriously doubt we would spend 8 hours just completely focused on what it means to be married, to talk about conflict resolution, and to learn how to communicate.
Some good points:

Talk to each other about what you expect of one another, the traditions you want to uphold, values, attributes, roles and responsibilities.
Understand your differences and beliefs.
Ask your partner, "what can I do for you?"
Realize that there will be challenges to communicating, based on your own personalities and they was you were brought up.
Don't say "always" (mi amor is guilty of this, and I do get very annoyed when he says "you always..." so I was very happy they said this.
Don't withdrawal (whoopsie this is what I do, so he was happy they said this)
Don't play the victim, don't make empty promises and don't trivialize.

They had us answer some questions, were we would write down the answer and then share it with your partner, this was pretty cool and we learned a lot from this. There was also a time they had us stand behind each other with our backs facing each other and then they would ask a questions like, "Getting married, means spending less time with my friends or I should consult my spouse when I make a big purchase" if you said no you raise your hand and if you say yes you cross your arms - Amor & I answered all the questions the same, and when the answer had our hands up we would give each other high fives.
For anyone that has to take these classes, I hope yours goes as well as ours did and for those that don't have to go to these classes, you may want to spend a day with your partner and just talk about how you can learn more about one another, solve conflict and what ways you can communicate better.

Weekend in the life of...

2009-10-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

Friday:

Massage @ National Holistic Institute College of Massage Therapy. If you live in L.A, you should check it out, $20 massages and you are not allowed to tip, so it really does cost you only $20 for a 50 min massage! They are by students, but so far I have had great massages. In January they had a deal where you bought 5 massages and you got one free, so really I'm paying around $16.

Dress shopping @ Lily's Bridal - sample sale till Oct 31, then off to Pebbles Bridal where I *may* have found the one - more on that later.

See Cirque du Soleil Kooza at the Santa Monica Pier with mi amor & my parents, then after the show get a drink and appetizers at Marisol Restaurant on the pier and walk around the beach. We all had an amazing time and it will be a memory I will look back on frequently. If you live near your parents, I definitely recommend going out on a "double date" with them, you get to see a different side to them and the quality time you spend with them is priceless.

Saturday:

Mi amor and I go to a 8 hour marriage prep, (mandatory if you want to get married in a Catholic Church) - more on that later but I just want to say that we both loved it & it was not at all religious, which we were afraid it would be.

Watch UFC fight at the Capitol City Sport Bar in Hollywood. My older brother got me into watching UFC about 6 years ago, and I was very happy that when mi amor & I met, he also loved watching it. Since it's the only sport I really love watching, we have a pact that I won't ever tell him not to watch sports as long as he does not make me watch them.

Sunday:

Impromptu dress shopping @ Mariposa Boutique to try on "the" dress and end up seeing another dress I love. - more on that later

Tailgate @ Rose Bowl for U2 concert with mi amor, future sister in law & her boyfriend. U2 rocks and was on my to see before I die list and mi amor made this a reality :-)

2010 Designer Gowns

2009-10-19T17:32:00.000-07:00

Still looking for THE dress...I think I have looked at thousands of dresses, no joke. To make matters worse or better the 2010 dresses premiered and I looked at ALL 73 pages on Brides.com, so many pretty ones, you can check them out *here*

Free Bridal Shower invitation kits by Style Guide

2009-10-13T07:01:00.000-07:00

How cool is this Medi-Kit Tag from the Styleguide website bridal shower cocktail party template kit! I *love* it and will definitely be adding it to my DIY list. The kit also has templates for the invitation, RSVP Card, drink and labels and if you are looking for another theme they also have a carnival-themed bridal shower kit and a beauty party kit. Just like there other templates I posted about these are all free!

Ah! I got some awards!

2009-10-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

{My big brother, as always pointing me in the wrong direction}

Snap, I have been behind on my google reader, and had no idea until today that I received the Sugary Award from Very Married and the Kreativ award from The Bride Side of Life and The Bowie Bride, AH! thanks ladies!

I'm supposed to say 7-10 things about me, and since my fav number is 7, here are the 7!

I was born in Nicaragua, and have lived in the US since I was 3. There must be something in my school file about my first language being Spanish because every time I changed schools they tried to put me in ESL classes (English as a second language) and each time my mom would have me removed immediately. I became an American citizen when I was a senior in high school at the same time my parents did, when I went to sign the certificate the guy at the counter asked me “are those really your parents?” Apparently he was confused because my parents have brown eyes & hair and I have green eyes and light brown hair, and someone had not told this ignorant fellow that latinos can have light eyes and that parents don’t spit out clones.

I tend to sit on my legs, you know like you did as a kid when the teacher would gather everyone up for reading time, yup I still do it, it's comfortable but for some reason it weirds people out, like the other day I was out and these guys sitting at a table next to me pointed at me and one of them said "I don't know how she does it, my legs just hurt watching her", also my director sometimes passes by my desk, looks at me and asks "you still sitting like that?" mind you I wear a suit to work, so I guess it looks weird.

I have a blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, I got into it a few years ago when my big brother got me into UFC & he decided to take up jiu jitsu, since I had always wanted to learn a martial art, I decided to go with him and loved it.

I have lived with all my favorite people in my life, my parents, my big brother & little brother (growing up), my girl best friend/bridesmaid (college), my boy best friend/brides man (after college), my cousin/MOH and again with my older brother (after college). Now that I am approaching another milestone in my life and will have a husband that will be my only roommate, I feel very lucky to have gotten the chance to live with all my favorite people and appreciate all the wonderful times we had together as roommates.

I freaking *love* to dance, in our hay day, my cousin and I would go to clubs and dance all night, mostly to house, dance, electronic and techno. We went to dance, not to have guys pick up on us, and sometimes there were altercations because guys did not understand this - what you ladies just want to dance? ya cupcake and not with you.

3 years ago I had laser hair removal, and love it, if I knew then what I know now, I would have done it years ago.

I almost drowned in the Santa Monica beach when I was 5, luckily my dad rescued me. Because of this I use to be afraid of the water & did not learn how to swim till last year. By afraid I mean I did not trust my own body to be able to swim but I had no problem trekking around Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Hawaii with my yellow inflatable vest so I could participate in snorkeling. Yellow?! yes, trust me, I asked the store if they had something more discreet like black but the lady looked at me weird and said no, it is meant to be bright to save you…whatever.

Since one of the awards said say 7 facts & tag 7 people and the other said 10, now I will switch it up and award 10 lovely bloggers the Kreativ Blogger award, these ladies rock & I look forward to all their posts :-)

My cousin aka MOH aka co blogger Concepcion

A Los Angelos Love

Honey My Heart

The Professional Bridesmaid

Pink Argyle

Gonna Be His Mrs

MeMe and LuLu

I am Ashley's Smirking Revenge

My Dream Ring

Aylee Bits

Perfect for each other

2009-10-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

{Source Le Love}

You find that person that you have been looking for all your life, the one whose mere sight makes your heart happy. They make you want to be the best person you can be, but love you for who you are. You love the way their mind thinks, their life goals match yours, yes you are bothered by their stubborness especially when it goes head to head with your stubborness but you know that stubborness goes with many of the other qualties they have that you are attracted to, their determination and ambition, they are simply perfect.

2009-10-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

AHHH!!! I'm so excited I WON!!! Lil Bee from the Feather Report blog had a giveaway for her amazing iPhone app Feather report and I was one of the winners AH! She has *such* great style, I love all her outfits posts and if I could, I would buy everthing she posts. If you haven't checked out Lil Bee's blog you should do so and if want to get your own Feather Report app for only $2.99, get it *here*

Tweet your wedding

2009-10-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

{Source blogcadre}

I just heard about tweeting at your wedding from Monolo for Brides, I just know that when MOH/cousin/co-blogger gets married there will be tweeting for shizzay! She is an avid tweeter & has 1,800 people aka tweeples falling her tweets, thanks to twitter she helped me connect with Jeff Williams who did my monograms. Check out her MOH tweets @ http://twitter.com/jennsteria & her personal tweets @ http://twitter.com/anotorias

Juliette Powell at the Huffingtonpost posted the following - You know you're at a "twedding" when:

1. Your wedding invitations were sent via the micro-blogging site Twitter.com.

2. All aspects of your big day have been vetted by your twitter followers who suggest everything from wedding guests to wedding vendors.

3. Members of the wedding party take "candid" photographs and videos of the ceremony and upload them directly to twitpic and twitvid for community commenting.

4. Your wedding becomes a trending topic on Twitter.

5. The groom tweets "I'm married" before kissing the bride.

DIY Jam labels FREE

2009-10-09T06:56:00.000-07:00

I am digging these adorable DIY jam jars from Eat Drink Chic! You can't really see it in the picture but my favorite part is the tag that says "homemade with love" & how sweet that she shared the instructions and labels *here* ! This would make a great wedding favor!

iPhone App: blog Press

2009-10-08T06:57:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since my last wedding related iphone app post, thankfully MOH posted a more recent one about wedding apps! Today's iphone app is technically not wedding related but in certain ways it is if you have a blog about wedding :-) Without further adieu I present Blogpress! Over a month ago I was looking for an iphone app that would allow me to blog through my iphone because I needed a way to blog on the go, after much research I found that blogpress was the best one, & at 2.99 it's a pretty good deal. I have tested it's features & so far it seems to do what I want it to - allows me to blog on the go, post pictures, edit drafts, write post and save them as drafts etc. If you want to read a professional review on it check out The Blog Herald review *here*