In addition to Westside Wedding, I have three co-workers in the midst of wedding prep mania. As with every other bride, my boss has been getting into HIGH gear to get wedding gown ready. We have the great luck of having certified personal trainer and yoga guru from HeyMonicaB in our office. She created a course that I like to call "Bridal Bootcamp" it's a lot of strengthening and core exercises. I'm trying to get her to open up the course to the public (especially since it's something advocated by brides.com).
Her workout is something she came up with on her own that is *freakishly* exactly like this beach course by Exhale Spa. Check out their YouTube video:
I came into work this morning to her screaming my name at the top of her lungs because the Exhale Spa beach workout incorporates a lot of what we've been doing. Let me tell you, you will feel pain in places you didn't know existed!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Save the Date!
The first thing people ask when you tell them that you are engaged is have you set a date? Now that I think about it, I think it's one of the first things we asked each other after being engaged for an hour...it went something like this...
Him: Do you know when you want to get married?"
Me: No, do you?
Him: No.
Me: Do you know where you want to go on the honeymoon?
Him: Europe!
Me: ME TOO!!
But after being engaged for a week (we got engaged March 28, 2009) and getting asked the same question we decided to print out a calender (April 2009-April 2010) and go through each month crossing Saturdays off for various reasons, b-days, holidays, too early (3 months). First we decided 2-20-2010, actually I think it was my brides man who told us this date, we thought it sounded cool, but then some people said it was too close to Valentine's day, so then we came up with 4-10-2010, just a little over a year engagement & easy to remember! Now with 8 months to go, both our families are asking what is up with the planning, and since 1/2 our guest list is coming from the East Coast, we really need to be sending the STD (Save the Dates) soon so people have enough time to make their travel and vacation arrangements.
Him: Do you know when you want to get married?"
Me: No, do you?
Him: No.
Me: Do you know where you want to go on the honeymoon?
Him: Europe!
Me: ME TOO!!
But after being engaged for a week (we got engaged March 28, 2009) and getting asked the same question we decided to print out a calender (April 2009-April 2010) and go through each month crossing Saturdays off for various reasons, b-days, holidays, too early (3 months). First we decided 2-20-2010, actually I think it was my brides man who told us this date, we thought it sounded cool, but then some people said it was too close to Valentine's day, so then we came up with 4-10-2010, just a little over a year engagement & easy to remember! Now with 8 months to go, both our families are asking what is up with the planning, and since 1/2 our guest list is coming from the East Coast, we really need to be sending the STD (Save the Dates) soon so people have enough time to make their travel and vacation arrangements.
After looking at tons of STDs (still not use to saying that), and not going the DIY road, I decided the best way to go is with Save the Date Magnets , they are inexpensive, your guests put them on their fridge so they won't forget to make travel plans and they are cool looking! The ones I liked the best that looks like a photo booth with save the date cost only $1.27 each when quantity is 100. Here are ones that I've been eyeing for a while...
But alas we must wait to have an actual venue till we get to order them...
The Low Down: Right now they are having a 20% off on pocket invitations (use code WPKHB2)! and Magnet Street.com is also a great resources for finding out everything you needed to know about STDs. Here are the top 3 questions that I had and found the answers to on Magnet Street:
#1 Why have Save the Date Magnets and Save the Date Cards become so important?Save the Dates help your guests make travel plans and necessary arrangements to be at your wedding.
#2 When should I send my Save the Date Magnets or Save the Date Cards? Six to twelve months before your wedding is the norm for sending Save the Dates. However, some are sent as close as 3-4 months prior to the wedding. There is no question that life is busier and more complicated than ever before. Families are juggling multiple work schedules and activities for the kids. Is yours is a "destination wedding" or does it take place around a holiday? It's best to get the word out in a timely fashion to give your guests ample time to prepare and make arrangements.
# 3 What should I put on my Save the Date Magnets or Save the Date Cards?Most important are your names and the wedding date - strongly consider using last names for guests who may only know one of you, or only know your parents. Other details you might include are your wedding website, the location of your wedding (venue or just city and state), a special quotation or verse, or any important information that you would like to share with your guests.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
My First Wedding Purchase YAY!
As you know by now, I would like a candy buffet at the wedding, and I was at 
While at Smart n Final, I noticed they had Chinese take out pint size $4.99 for 50 and the quart size for $6.99, I may use the pint size for the candy buffet and maybe add labels to it. I know a lot of brides love to use Mason Jars and Smart n Final seems to have a good price for them:12 wide mouth $10.79 and 12 regular mouth $9.99.
What was your first wedding related purchase?
Monday, August 3, 2009
Like U2 says..."I still haven't found what I'm looking for...
I've been engaged for 4 months and I still don't have a clear sense of the vision for the wedding, nor a venue or even colors, I have not even looked at wedding dresses. I know crazy right?! but there are reasons behind my madness. I had decided that I did not want to decide on anything until I found the venue, I knew it would be difficult to find one within budget and that met all our requirements but I had no idea that it would take this long and require so much research. I have googled all possibilities, looked through every single wedding site resource available, I've even looked through L.A photographers blogs looking at weddings they have shot, in hopes that I could find one that way....oh & in regards to those photo blogs as soon as I see pictures of the bride's Manolo Blanhkik or Jimmy Choo's heels, I know where ever that couple got married at, it is not within the budget!.
Honestly I feel lost, there are so many beautiful inspirations out there and I just can't decide what I want. Unlike some brides to be out there, I never dreamed of my wedding day, heck I did not even know if I was ever going to get married, not because I don't believe in it, but because I was set on not settling, on finding the person that met all my criteria and the one that I would love and never wonder if I made the right decision in marrying them. It was because I valued marriage so much that I was willing to live a life of solitude if I did not find "the one". In fact my parents pretty much had given up on me getting married and being the only girl in a latino household, they were not very happy about having to give up on the idea but they were supportive nonetheless. But I did find the "one" :-) & now I need a venue for our nuptials!
Now going back to this whole wedding vision, I am hoping that as soon as I find this holy grail venue, that things will just come together. I hope to soon share some actual wedding projects but until then here are some wedding inspirations I have saved over the past few months...
I don't know where, but some where I *must* use this frame I have seen at many weddings, maybe in place cards or table numbers?
Although I have not looked for a dress, I know I want strapless and I may wear a flower in my hair for the reception and mi amor is thinking of wearing white tux (GRRR!)
I'm pretty sure I won't just have 2 colors, and that everything will not match exactly but that it will hopefull come together. My favorite color & mi amor's fav color is green, but I don't tend to have green things, I tend to like buying things in red, yellow, turquoise, pretty much vibrant colors. I like the way this wedding was able to mix the colors beautifully.
I now I also want my bridesmaid to wear strapless dresses and luckily my MOH/cousin and my sister in law have both expressed that they would like to wear strapless dresses, so it works out perfectly. I'm leaving the dress picking to my MOH/cousin, we have similar taste in dresses so I know whatever she picks out I will love, the only thing I am picking is the color. I'm leaning to yellow dresses but not sure how nice yellow ties will look on the groomsmen, but the other day when I was telling mi amor mi about this dilemma he said that he is sure we can find some good looking yellow ties, and him saying it makes me believe it :-). I love the way the yellow looks with the blues in this wedding. I'm also thinking I want to wear colored shoes. I *love* wearing colored shoes, in fact whenever I wear black dresses I wear either my red patent heels or my nude colored heels. But I am also open to wearing silver or gold heels, which are colors I tend to wear when I wear white.
You know writing this post has actually helped me with my vision, apparently it is coming together :-) Was it easy for you to decide on your vision for your wedding? What made you decide on your colors?
I've been engaged for 4 months and I still don't have a clear sense of the vision for the wedding, nor a venue or even colors, I have not even looked at wedding dresses. I know crazy right?! but there are reasons behind my madness. I had decided that I did not want to decide on anything until I found the venue, I knew it would be difficult to find one within budget and that met all our requirements but I had no idea that it would take this long and require so much research. I have googled all possibilities, looked through every single wedding site resource available, I've even looked through L.A photographers blogs looking at weddings they have shot, in hopes that I could find one that way....oh & in regards to those photo blogs as soon as I see pictures of the bride's Manolo Blanhkik or Jimmy Choo's heels, I know where ever that couple got married at, it is not within the budget!.
Honestly I feel lost, there are so many beautiful inspirations out there and I just can't decide what I want. Unlike some brides to be out there, I never dreamed of my wedding day, heck I did not even know if I was ever going to get married, not because I don't believe in it, but because I was set on not settling, on finding the person that met all my criteria and the one that I would love and never wonder if I made the right decision in marrying them. It was because I valued marriage so much that I was willing to live a life of solitude if I did not find "the one". In fact my parents pretty much had given up on me getting married and being the only girl in a latino household, they were not very happy about having to give up on the idea but they were supportive nonetheless. But I did find the "one" :-) & now I need a venue for our nuptials!
Now going back to this whole wedding vision, I am hoping that as soon as I find this holy grail venue, that things will just come together. I hope to soon share some actual wedding projects but until then here are some wedding inspirations I have saved over the past few months...
I don't know where, but some where I *must* use this frame I have seen at many weddings, maybe in place cards or table numbers?
Although I have not looked for a dress, I know I want strapless and I may wear a flower in my hair for the reception and mi amor is thinking of wearing white tux (GRRR!)
I'm pretty sure I won't just have 2 colors, and that everything will not match exactly but that it will hopefull come together. My favorite color & mi amor's fav color is green, but I don't tend to have green things, I tend to like buying things in red, yellow, turquoise, pretty much vibrant colors. I like the way this wedding was able to mix the colors beautifully.
I now I also want my bridesmaid to wear strapless dresses and luckily my MOH/cousin and my sister in law have both expressed that they would like to wear strapless dresses, so it works out perfectly. I'm leaving the dress picking to my MOH/cousin, we have similar taste in dresses so I know whatever she picks out I will love, the only thing I am picking is the color. I'm leaning to yellow dresses but not sure how nice yellow ties will look on the groomsmen, but the other day when I was telling mi amor mi about this dilemma he said that he is sure we can find some good looking yellow ties, and him saying it makes me believe it :-). I love the way the yellow looks with the blues in this wedding. I'm also thinking I want to wear colored shoes. I *love* wearing colored shoes, in fact whenever I wear black dresses I wear either my red patent heels or my nude colored heels. But I am also open to wearing silver or gold heels, which are colors I tend to wear when I wear white.
You know writing this post has actually helped me with my vision, apparently it is coming together :-) Was it easy for you to decide on your vision for your wedding? What made you decide on your colors?
Sunday, August 2, 2009
What's Faster Than a Shotgun?
One of my good friends, Lindsey and I were hanging out after work about a week ago, chatting it up about the life, relationships and the like. I had been talking to her about some of the ideas and updates for Westside Wedding when she says, "Speaking of weddings... Craisin is getting married." (Craisin is the nickname for her "crazy" cousin.) I replied with someone completely incomprehensible. She had been dating her boyfriend for less than 3 months!I wasn't surprised though. Craisin was *very* outlandish and her boyfriend seemed to complement that outlandishless perfectly. She had also gone through a recent loss in the family and her crazy bf had stepped up to the plate. As the story goes, she had a conversation with Lindsey along the lines of "I think I'm getting married soon..."
Last night I happened to catch Craisin's facebook status update:
Praying that this is the best night of my life. Yesterday at 5:24pm
I immediately thought that they had gone and eloped. Waiting for yet another status update today... I instead got a text at 1:oopm from the bride to be stating, "We are getting married at Newport Beach Pier at 6pm. Please come if you can!" I noticed this text at 4pm and Newport Beach was 40 miles away!The sad thing is that I was more surprised about the invite than I was about the marriage being today. Craisin's latest status on facebook states:
Nothing about me screams traditional... I was proposed to lastnight.. am engaged and I am getting married tonight at 6! Call me if you want to come to watch me get married! 9 hours agoAlthough I was unfortunately not able to make it to this "faster than a shotgun" wedding I did receive a picturemail via Lindsey of the newlyweds (see above). Call me a hopeless romantic but I thought the whole thing was kind of cute... what do you guys think?
Friday, July 31, 2009
William Sonoma offers FREE classes!
William Sonoma just emailed me telling me about their FREE classes! I had no idea they offered this! Check out the schedule *here*
I plan to check out some of these classes, so far the ones that have caught my fancy are "Basic Technique: Grilling (8/6), Cooking with Cast Iron & Non-stick Skillet (8/8) and The Great Cupcake! (8/29) but I am staying away from "Must Have Tools" because I will end up buying them all!
Apparently they have Technique Classes - instruction in basic cooking techniques and specific cook's tools. Product Demonstrations, Book Signings and Cooking Classes! Call your local store to sign up because space is limited.
While perusing the William Sonoma site, I also saw they had recipes! what?! and a bunch of articles on tips and techniques, entertaining ideas and a video library. Apparently I've been out of the loop.
Baked Rigatoni with Sausage & Broccoli Rabe
I plan to check out some of these classes, so far the ones that have caught my fancy are "Basic Technique: Grilling (8/6), Cooking with Cast Iron & Non-stick Skillet (8/8) and The Great Cupcake! (8/29) but I am staying away from "Must Have Tools" because I will end up buying them all!
Apparently they have Technique Classes - instruction in basic cooking techniques and specific cook's tools. Product Demonstrations, Book Signings and Cooking Classes! Call your local store to sign up because space is limited.
While perusing the William Sonoma site, I also saw they had recipes! what?! and a bunch of articles on tips and techniques, entertaining ideas and a video library. Apparently I've been out of the loop.
These are some on my "to cook list"
Cheddar and Corn Jalapeño Poppers
Chocolate-Filled PancakesBaked Rigatoni with Sausage & Broccoli Rabe
Thursday, July 30, 2009
DIY: How Far Should You Go?
I must say that I'm a big fan of the *personal* touch. I like to make things and I know when it comes to weddings and showers, it's of the utmost of importance that the overall visuals (colors, themes, fabrics) must speak to the person or persons involved and really give a peek into their soul... Or something like that.
I've been doing a lot of research into how to effectively dabble into screen printing since I saw the amazing job our friend Stephen did with screen printing his own posters for an event he threw. It was basically a two-color process and he hand made the posters himself! The combination of two colors on the right parchment along with dramatic lines really impressed me - so of course I wanted to make one myself!
Not too long after I started obsessing on *how* to go about screen printing things for the various parties - i.e. the bridal shower and bachelorette party - I noticed a really affordable kit from urbanoutfitters ($64) - although not sure how commited I can get to it - but at least when it comes to this type of project, money would definitely not be an issue!
I'll come back to this idea once I get a headcount on how many people will be involved in the shindigs I'm in charge of... time might be better spent allocating enough booze (or schmoozing for deals on venues).
Maid of Honor-ing (First Post)
Yay! Very excited to be able to guest blog on Westside Wedding! Here goes:
As a first time Maid of Honor I find myself doing some side research during the day on the fun stuff I get to plan (acquiring strippers and hotels in Vegas and what not... choreographing reception dances - you know...), and by chance happened upon the weirdness that is DisneyBRIDAL. Am I the only one that doesn't know about this?
http://www.disneybridal.com/
I have to admit, I do like the belle wedding dress. (But it's not white... what is Mickey trying to say with that one?!)
As a first time Maid of Honor I find myself doing some side research during the day on the fun stuff I get to plan (acquiring strippers and hotels in Vegas and what not... choreographing reception dances - you know...), and by chance happened upon the weirdness that is DisneyBRIDAL. Am I the only one that doesn't know about this?
http://www.disneybridal.com/
I have to admit, I do like the belle wedding dress. (But it's not white... what is Mickey trying to say with that one?!)
MOH now guest blogging!
{cousin/MOH is to the left in red & yours truly is to the right, btw she was wearing black shows and I was wearing red because even now we sometimes coordinate outfits he he}I'm so excited to tell you all that my MOH, aka cousin, aka partner in crime is going to be guest blogging SQUEAL!!!!!! She is an extremely savy social networker. She is actually the one that first introduced me to such Internet social networking as instant messaging, email, myspace, blogging, google reader, twitter etc etc. I still remember when I was a student at UCLA and she was at Yale, she kept telling me to check my email and to get on the instant message band wagon, back then (1997) it was fairly new and email looked nothing like it does now. To this day she is the person I email the most (via google).
When I started blogging about a month ago, I did not tell anyone, not even her because I was not sure if I could do it. I'm a very private person and it's hard for me to open up, but after reading so many wedding blogs in the past 2 months, I thought I needed to do my part and contribute. I'm so glad that I did because everyone in the wedding blogosphere is so supportive and sweet. I actually almost quit 2 days into it but then I received my first comments from chicncheap, anna and the ring & The Frugal Fabulous Bride and all of a sudden I felt connected and looked forward to experiencing the wedding planning with all you in the world wide web.
But I digress as I usually do! After a month I told my cousin/MOH about my blog (she is still the only one that knows about it) and she has been so supportive! So supportive that she said she would guest blog!!! AHH!!! I love that she is going to post because it will give a unique perspective to this wedding planning, we mostly hear about the bride's side of the planning, but there is alot of planning going on with the MOH too - bachelorette parties, showers, dress shopping, keeping bride sane....
I hope you all enjoy her posts as much as I know I will!
Do you have a blog and if so do yor friends and family know about it?
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
BridesNY magazine needs Engaged NY/NJ area couple for photo shoot
To all the NY/NJ brides! Brides Local Magazines is looking for an engaged couple to appear in the Spring/Summer issue's "Find Our Wedding Style" story. If only we were living in NY.... which btw is on my "to live at" list. Get all the lowdown *here*
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