Wedding iPhone APP

 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

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

 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

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

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

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

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?

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!

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!

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

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