How I went from the dress shop to a casino....

My dress is home, yay! I will be treating this situation like I have a new pet. I promise to air it out once a week, not put it in plastic, and pet it once in a while. :P No, but seriously- I need this dress to last a year in my possession. I've read up on lots of different ways to keep it looking great for next year. NO plastic, wrap it in unbleached muslin, and keep it away from pets, children, and mud. I'm going to get this bag to keep it in:





Hopefully it will keep everything ship shape. Plus I love that the website offers to monogram the bag, which is silly, but I like it.

So my family does not have a car. Thank goodness we live in NYC where its not really necessary to have one, but I realized how limiting it is in my wedding planning. Today for example, my dad had to arrange a ride for me so that I wouldn't have to haul my dress on the subway (wouldn't have happened anyway!) Another case in point- tuesday me and the hubster are going to the caterer, but its not near the subway, so we have to take the LIRR. I didn't get to go to Michael's today because our ride had their own plans for the day (which I was later involved in), but I began thinking- this kind of sucks. I gotta get my dad on the Zip Car tip.

Our ride was with my father's best friend, and he was going to Empire City. I went with the blind hope of scoring a lucky streak that would pay for the wedding (dream DENIED) :P but I had tons of fun. And the trip inspired a possible documentary. While I was there, I did coat check and realized how sacred the tip jar/basket is. I mean, I was afraid to lay my hands near it, and then realized that I had an innate respect for the tip basket. Fun stuff. Maybe going to Michael's tomorrow in the city.

DI-why? Invitations printed by yours truly!

In an effort to have a spectacular, well deserved honeymoon- we (the hubby and I) have decided to be frugal (that's a nice way of saying: *shhh...no one will notice we got this from the 99 cents store). At work today, one of my managers told me that a glorious establishment called Jack's 99 Cent store had a wedding section. I got off early and decided to check it out. Within minutes of stepping into the one aisle they had, I was sending the hubster pics from my cell phone of this:








Bestill my heart.
With these prices, I'm jumping on the do it all myself bandwagon. I mean, I think invitations are one of the most torturous purchases of a wedding. You want it to be beautiful, letter pressed, and made of paper you've never heard of. And at the average attendance of 100 people, are you telling me that I have to pay 500 dollars for something that maybe only my mother will keep? Um, yeah- no. After seeing how cheap it can be, I am all for buying myself an ink cartridge and calling it a day.

I really like BRIDES magazine, and the craft store Micheal's carrys a DIY the magazine has created. I really like the sets, and although I know they won't be like Jack's at 6.99 a pop, I'm hoping it will still be worth doing. After I pick up the dress tomorrow, I'm going to take a trip over to the big M and see it it makes my wallet cry. Here's the one I'm hoping they'll have:





All of the other colors sets they have don't really go with ours. It's going to be either red & gold or red & black. Not sure what direction we'll be going in, but I figure the basic white will be perfect.

My dress is coming home tomorrow and I still don't know how I'm going to store it. Barnacles.

Wedding Stuff! (you heard right!)

Like- omigosssshhhh! I'm totally engaged! Yes, as of December 10, and oh my, has much happened! We have set the date for March 20, 2011. Seeing as that I have a year long journey of wedding planning, I figured I'd use this blog as an outlet :) I hope everyone enjoys what I have to share! So- what have I done so far? Me and the fiance (FI) have visited a hall venue. It's not a catering hall, so that in turn gives us the lovely task of also finding a caterer. Once I've put the deposit on various things, I will give the names so you all can check them out too. Our potential venue is used mainly as a performance space, so it has high ceilings which is oh so important to me and a huge stage (not so ideal). Also, the dressing room was once a jail cell, so it brings even more charm to this place. :P Its also at a central location, accessible by public transportation (not that anyone is coming by subway I hope!) which is something we also liked.

Believe it or not- I already have my dress! And not exactly by choice. I went to Alexandra Bridal Boutique in Forest Hills and I was told when I put my deposit down (3 weeks ago) that it would come in July. Surprise, surprise- It came a week later! I was initially skeptical as I have heard of shops selling sample gowns as the real thing. So last Sunday, I took a visit to see the dress. I checked everything from top to bottom! Heres a checklist in case your in the same situation: 1) Check the hemline for dirt 2) Check to make sure every single stitch and bead is in place 3) Check all of the tags and make sure they are all from the manufacturer/desginer. Some other advice I received was to ask to see the invoice between the bridal shop and the manufacturer. Luckily for me, it never came to that. The big day came and I was face to face with my dress. First, the dress I tried on was "alabaster" colored. The one I ordered was white, so I knew it at least couldn't be the sample from that store. It had folds like it had been folded for long time (which I was actually happy to see!) Everything was in place as checked by me and my maid of honor. So all was well. Except of course for the fact that I am SO not ready to pay for the rest of it right now. I had planned to use my money for other wedding related things, but, it feels good to know the dress is all done.
When I get the chance, I'll give the lowdown on my whole bridal shopping experience.

I have 3 Maid of Honors and 2 Junior Bridesmaids. During my many trips to the bridal salon, we also found THE dress for my girls as well! Its really gorgeous, maybe in a few days I'll post the photo and they story of how we choose it.

We also have chosen the church (Holy Family in the Bronx) and are getting ready to take our "Marriage Preparation" classes. I can't wait to share what that's going to be like, especially with a $195 price tag. There had better be cookies at theses classes!

We have an appointment with a caterer for tuesday and we also have sort of decided on our baker. (more info to come!)

Everything else is still in the works, including those damn centerpieces!

There is so much more that I want to share, but I'll do it in bits and as we go along. :)

Stay tuned and stay healthy! (cause this cold I've got is kicking my behind!)