Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Coordinating the wedding party & BM dress websites

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:

1. Jordan
2. DaVinci
3. Impression
4. Eden
5. Mori Lee
   
6. Alfred Angelo
   
7. Watters & Watters
8. Bari Jay
9. Jessica McClintock
   
10. JCPenney
    

Dress Shopping Part 1- One Day Shopping

{ 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

{ 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:

1. 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.
   
2. BM dress sizes are similar to bridal dress sizes, they are not the same as your street size.
3. Some dresses can take 3 months to order.
4. 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.
5. You should choose/buy your dress first because you may change your mind about the style.
6. 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.
7. 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

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...

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

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

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!

{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!

1. 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.
   


2. 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.
   


3. 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.
   


4. 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.
   


5. 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.
   


6. 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.
   


7. 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 :-)

1. My cousin aka MOH aka co blogger Concepcion


2. A Los Angelos Love


3. Honey My Heart


4. The Professional Bridesmaid


5. Pink Argyle


6. Gonna Be His Mrs


7. MeMe and LuLu


8. I am Ashley's Smirking Revenge


9. My Dream Ring


10. Aylee Bits

Perfect for each other

{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.

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

{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

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

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*

DIY Cupcake Stands

{Source Apt Therapy}

Thank you Apt Therapy for inspiring me to make cupcake stands! and by inspire I mean, it's on my to do list. I am loving the vintage look of this one and the bright colors of these two. Get the instructions *here*

{Source Apt Therapy}

Speaking of Bridal Magazines..

Style Bridal Magazine has some great FREE templates for invites, placecards, table numbers etc etc. Check out the preppy invites, "have a ball invites" , garden party & modern invites.

Giveaway- Win a Place Setting of Lenox China!

Just this past Sunday my mom was looking at Macys.com for casual dinnerware when she exclaimed "I only want lenox or Villeroy Boch", then today I see the Budget Savy Bride is having a lenox giveaway! Go try your luck & eneter *here*

Tokens for bridesmaids

I still haven't decided what to give my bridesmaids & MOH and when I do I don't think I will be posting about it till after the wedding because you know who is a contributer to the bloggity blog. But I think it's safe to share with you some ideas for little gifts that I think would be cool to give them. In addition to the etched glasses, and the bridal survival kits , I am digging Mrs. Gloss's Bachelorette Party Pack

and these CD covers from the Style Me Pretty blog, yes yes I know those are actual invitations but I think they would be perfect for the CD I am going to make for the BM & GM of songs that will make them remember what a great time they had during this whole wedding process :-)

The search for a venue saga

{Source Marvimon}

I've been engaged for 5 1/2 months and it took almost the whole time to find the right venue, one that we could afford but still met our requirements. I searched *everywhere*, talked to everyone I knew to find out what weddings they had gone to, I looked at forums on every wedding site in the world wide web and emailed countless sites to get info. I can't help it, when I buy something or go somewhere I have this insatiable need to research the heck out of it. It drives me crazy but in the end, whatever I decide on I have no regrets because I tried my best to be knowledgeable and make the right decisions. Although there are countless venues to choose from (hotels, restaurants, country clubs, lofts, building etc) looking for a reasonable priced venue is not easy to find in L.A. I literally had SEVENTY venues on my excel spreadsheet under the tab "NO" because either they ended early (before 11), did not allow hard alcohol or were over my budget. At first I had high hopes to find a venue that we could rent and bring in our own caters (byo), that way we can save money but considering most of the venues I found cost an average of 5K just to rent the space, it did not seem like it would save us money, in actuality it would actually cost more because there would be things like lightning, valet etc that we would have to add to the budget. My dad loved the idea of a byo place but my mom did not, she said it would cause too much stress. We went to visit Malibu West Beach Club and Ambassador Campus, we both liked Malibu West Beach Club but were concerned that there were not a lot of hotels around and also it is more of a casual space. Also, although it's on the beach, you can not go on the beach, only for pictures, besides that you have to stay in the club. I really liked the space of Ambassador Campus, I thought the all the gardens and the view of the mansion would be great places for pictures but mi amor was concerned that if it rained we would be screwed, he also thought that expenses would start adding up fast, we had to provide for lighting, table, etc, also we had to be done by 11, and he did not like that it was in Pasadena because although it's a beautiful city, it takes a while to get there from the westside.

Here are the BYO venues I found in the westside:

BYO:
The prices listed may have changed since I last contacted them:
Adamson House - 7K
Ambassador Campus - 3K
Clark Estate, Santa Fe Springs -$3,600-$3,800. Must be out by 11 p.m
Franklin Canyon Park - $250–7,000
Malibu West Beach Club - $4,000–6,000 depending on guest count & day of year
Marvimon - Downtown - $7K
LA River & Gardens Center - $6000
Rancho Sol de Pacifico - $7,000–10,000
SmogShoppe - Culver City - $7K
Temescal Gateway Park - $1,000-5,000

How to set the table

Toast & Tables by Sarah Dennis has a great tutorial on how to set the table from formal dinner to casual lunch check it out *here* , one day I will learn but until them I prefer eating in the living room in front of the tv ;-)

DIY STD

At last my first DIY! what what!

We were fortunate enough to win 50 STD in a contest but since we needed about 20 more, I decided to make postcards. I bought Avery 3380 Personal Creations Textured Postcards , only $10.95 (120 postcards). The postcards come 4 in a sheet, and are easy to take apart, I was very happy with the texture of the postcard but they were not as thick as I hoped they would be, but hey at .08 per postcard I ain't complaining! I then downloaded the Avery word template, saved the first file as "STD front" and pasted the beautiful monograms that Jeff Williams created for me. For the back of the postcard, I once again began with the Avery word template saved the file as "STD back", then downloaded a Martha Stewart postcard template, but since the postcard template is a pdf, and would only print 1 to a page, I copied just the text "postcard" and "stamp" and made it into a clip art. I then added two text boxes; 1 that had the std info and 2 for the guest's address, this took more time then it should of because I am not as profeciaent in word then I am in excel. As usual, I spent too much time deciding what fonts to use, I even combined some; the florish you see at the end of the "e" on word Date is actually the letter "f" with font "Ornament Scrolls And Florishes" and the two swirls you see next to the actual date are the letters "a" and "b" with font Nymphette by the ever talented Nymphont. I would be more than happy to share the postcard template, so if you want it feel free to email me at westsidewedding@gmail.com

These pictures were taken with my iphone, so you can't really see the detail, but the first picture in this post has a close up of the texture.

I plan on mailing out the STD this week, so about 6 months in advance, did you do STD and if so how early did you mail them out?

Just Married: Make a Statement

I came across an article in the LA Times today about PETA members who used their wedding as a way to protest animal cruelty (horse-drawn carriages - really?!) - I thought that was pretty cute. You know, the whole idea about special interest themes, making a statement that you are both passionate about during your union.

Take the couple in the picture for instance, their sign says "Just Hitched and Not to a Carriage!" Clever!

Personally though, I think the horse-drawn carriage idea is cheesy and romantic all at once. But then again, I'm an omnivore.

Click here for the full article.

*image from latimesblog

Decisions decisions...Bridesmaid dresses

Excerpts from bridesmaid dress shopping last Saturday....

First Stop:
First thing the sales person ask me is "what are your colors", then my eyes bulge out and I said "I don't know yet, but they may be yellow, or turqoise or grey"...After looking at dresses, I tell the sales lady "I've decided & want the dresses to be turquoise"! then she replies that the designer of the dress doesn't make it in turquoise. Ah!

Last Stop:

MOH tried on the bridesmaid dress, at David's Bridal and it did not look the way it does online, the material looked very cheap compared to the dresses she tried on at the other places, so we are back to the drawing board!

Lesson learned: If you are set on a particular color and shade, just know that certain designers may not have dresses in those colors and be ready to change the dress or color.

Love, love, love the backs of these dresses; barijay dress , jordan dress & watters

this barijay dress reminds me of Dirty Dancing...

Did you have a hard time picking bridesmaids dresses or was it easy for you to find them in your wedding colors?