There's a Little Bridezilla in us all...

Enter the next in the running saga of wedding dreams. Where to start? How about the beginning...
I am walking down the aisle (of course not my location - looks like outside a gym or recreation center). First I notice that I get to look at all the people in attendance...I've thought a couple of times how cool this part must be. Some of the people invited I haven't seen for some years...how does one NOT stop and chat?! So far it seems great, little do I know it's going to get worse (how does that work, BTW? I'm making it up in MY brain, how do I NOT know what's coming?!). So everyone has seen me and I'm getting down the aisle and realize I'm not completely ready AND my music isn't playing. I storm back to a room where my DJ is...in my dream I can't remember the name of the songs and he kept asking "Journey?" NO! Not journey, the songs I sent you 7 months ago fool!! You don't even have them available? This is where I went TOTALLY Bridezilla, yelling and screaming in my dream. I had a gaggle of bridesmaids (none of which are actually in my wedding) who weren't dressed yet, and I was yelling "who the f*** wouldn't be dressed by NOW?!" And in my dream, Bridezilla-ing doesn't go over so well (again, why do I make things harder if I'm making them up?). My DJ starts telling me I'm rude and yelling back at me. I try to be firm yet kind to just to get MY aisle music playing. I end up having to hand him my ipod to get the music. I start walking back up, but it's not exciting because everyone's already seen me. My dad is no where to be seen but everyone is telling me to keep walking BUT I look to the end of aisle and Mister isn't there either...this is NOT how I wanted it.
So, not only is there a Bridezilla somewhere lurking in my subconcious, but it doesn't get anything accomplished either. Lesson learned, I'll be nice. But not too nice...

Engagement Photos: The Sequel

We took our engagement photos, which honestly was never in my plan and didn't matter much to me. How was I to know this could be better than a massage in the relaxation department? So from now on, this will be one of my "when I was a bride" tips - do an engagement session. Why? I will tell you....

1) I got to know my photographer a little bit better. I saw her style WHILE in action (and was pleasantly suprised) and got to chit chat a little at the same time. I even met her cute pup!

2)I got to try out make-up application for the day. There are schools of thought that preach "not too much make-up when you're wearing white!" some that just say "no bright colors" and some that say "cake it on baby, or the camera won't see it at all!" I felt pretty made up and still could have probably used a little more at times. But I got a good rehearsal for the BIG DAY.

3)I got to see the magic that my photographer can work! I am now not terrified of a little blemish here or small imperfections. I actually don't mind looking at the pictures she took of me which gives me so much more confidence for the day.

Overall I'm just more relaxed about the photo process which is not a small part of the day. One more thing to check off the list, take a big deep sigh, and pop open a Bud Light Lime over.

Here Comes the (mothers of) the Bride

There is a horde of television shows and movies that portray brides as prissy, snippy, little brats who protest details, change their minds endlessly, and add tension to the lives of those around them. And the main "boning" of contention? The dress. Yes, one single network has two shows alone related SOLELY to the decision of the Bride's attire. The material is wrong, it fits me weird, it's the wrong shade of white...whatever it is, Brides are shown in various states of mania over the dress. I tried on a max of 8 dresses and the whole deal was over in a total of 3hours spanned over 3 weeks. I'm not tooting my own horn (ok, wait, yes I am!) but I just find it an interesting contrast between some of the other wardrobe woes associated with our wedding.

The moms are a wonderful bunch of ladies...two are mine, one is his, but I'm the only daughter amongst the group. Now, I get that as a bride, I am the only one in my role, and therefore meant to stand out. As one of 3 "Mother of"s, they would like to co-ordinate, be dressed on a similar level but not matchy matchy or god forbid, actually matching. (My mom and step-mom have done that once...it's a great story, but doesn't need a sequel). Brides also have the advantage of the fact that OUR dresses don't have an 80% frump factor (notice I didn't say they don't have a large hidious factor!) so we're luckier than the moms there. But we have four month left (Ok, 3 months, 4 weeks, 1 day, 1 hour, 39 minutes, 32 seconds - yup, there's an app for that) and I believe the universal mom panic button was activated. All three are curious about what to wear, worried about not finding anything, and further - they are concerned about what I will think. Have they met me? I want them to feel pretty and comfortable that day...if that involves a mid-drift baring sequins dress, then so be it! (I jest only because they all have better style than that). But I am starting to see collective beads of sweat form on their maternal brows. I'm guessing more time has gone into the hunt for "Mother Of" attire than the wedding dress already, and a LOT more worry and time will go into it before this journey ends.
And so as not to put the moms in a bubble, I have made it a little easier by putting the dads and my brother in the same tuxes as the wedding party...but they aren't wedding party, so I thought I would get them co-ordinating but different ties. Well, any tie with champagne...also has blue. Blue is not in the "palette" - so it has come down to me relying on a certain wedding angel who found a tie pattern that I JUST might be able to follow:)
My friends too have begun telling me their wardrobe plans...I'm almost getting more excited to see them than to have them see me! And of course - I'm beyond honored that everyone is so concerned about what they are wearing to our wedding - even though, like most of what I've discovered during wedding planning, probably has nothing to do with us!

Playing Dress Up

I picked up my dress. It's white- not blue, or black, or red patterned, but white (actually ivory). It's also humungo as I suspected, but better big than small. Especially in this case, because if THAT dress was small, I would be better fit as an 80's movie icon/marketing tool.


Anyhow, I got my dress from the store...and on the same day my veil and my shoes. My veil is the veil Geneen wore for her wedding...it matches my dress so perfectly, kind of fits our entire friendship. AND I just needed "something borrowed" and that is it. (Did you hear that G? Due to tradition, you need to take it back!) My shoes are fun, and although slightly pricier than I would have liked for a pair of shoes I very well may only wear ONCE in my life - I am happy with them...they are comfortable AND cute.

So the dress went to my dad's house because my apartment is small and houses someone who is not supposed to see said dress, and everyone else's house has animals...and fur on my dress could lead to a pretty sneezy, goobery bride. But I took the shoes and veil home...and put them on. And then took them out a few more times and put them on. For two days.


I know it's juvenile not to be able to stop my urges to play dress up with my wedding accessories (in a house with, not one, but TWO) bottles of BBQ sauce!)but at least I had the maturity to recognize it. I forfeited my accessories to my dad to take home. They should be safe there - but I miss them!!

Hair accessories are on their way to me now. I wonder what kind of self control I'll have with those....

Engagement Photos Shmotos

So we had a our first snafu and it went so well, I'm welcoming the others that are sure to come! (Just kidding universe, or god, or whoever...I totally just knocked on wood). We had our engagement session, that we didn't schedule until the "spring" so that we could get some beautiful weather. Beautiful weather started, and I scheduled. We picked Santa Clara's Central Park - Santa Clara is basically where we both grew up and I like that it's a place we'll always recognize in our pictures.

We spent a week getting ready. I picked out a stellar wardrobe (if I may say so) and accessories that were fun but not so "out there" that I wouldn't be ME in the photos. I used face masks and peels and got my hair touched up. I let the lady at the mall rip out my eyebrow hairs in front of the heavy Friday crowd (that ended up consisting of at least 4 people I knew).

The morning of the big shoot it was a little cloudy. We started running errands, and everyone was very concerned what the weather would look like by 3pm....except us for some reason. Each errand we finished brought the reward of darker skies, more droplets and by noon (as we finished all our errands) we got a call AND a torrential downpour at the same moment. Photo shoot was off. Or should I say, pushed back. The result? We had all our errands done and an entire free, rainy, Sunday afternoon on our hands.

We used leftovers and made big BBQ sandwiches and ate leftover junkfood. I read and slept on the couch while Jake watched golf. We probably moved less that afternoon than most one-hour stints on most weekends. It was great.

Dreams: Round 2

I think I jinxed myself. I keep telling people how relaxed I am - and that I'm so far along in my planning process. AND that I'm not worried...finally my mind said "hey, hey! We don't talk like that around here!" And before I woke up exactly six months before our wedding, I had another wedding themed dream...

It started out that I was shopping in Whole Foods for flowers...this is similar to my actual plan of going to a farmers market the day before my wedding to get flowers and make my (our) own bouquets. Lately, I've been a little worried about getting to within 24 hours of the wedding and finding that I can't accomplish this. In my dream I found the perfect flower...then found it cost $99 per stem. That was NOT going to work. Not sure if the flower issue was solved - but I know we were rushing around trying to get things done. I saw the clock and it was 7pm - my rehearsal was supposed to be at 4pm.
After that I got my dress. Now I know it was ordered big and is going to need some alterations. It's in but I haven't picked it up. In my dream I got it very last minute and put it on. I could tell that it didn't fit well, that the chest area was extended beyond my body, and I also noticed it was a halter top (not my real dress). When I was getting ready to walk down the isle I saw myself in a window and the dress was powder blue! Can a sister not wear a white dress?! Seriously, are we seeing a pattern here?
I decided the photographer would be able to at least make my dress white in pictures, but then I thought...the photographer! She didn't catch any getting ready shots. She hadn't even shown up yet, and I was walking towards the isle. I remembered that my hair wasn't even brushed and again, I thought "I never even got my sparkly bridal apparel."
So I have a renewed feeling of stress. Dreams are good for that:) NOW I feel like a real bride.

Family Ties

Beyond the day of the wedding - I'm committing the rest of my life to the mister, and in doing so, to his family. We are currently living within miles of both of our immediate families and hope to keep it that way. I already know I love my family - but there's always the fear that you'll be getting a monster of a mother in law, siblings that don't like me....the list goes on. So I must say that I feel very lucky, not only with my family's love for Mr. Mister (not the band) but also with finding a family I'm happy to commit my life to also.

His mother is laid back and supportive. His dad is generous with fixing things and I'm excited to be their first daughter (without subjecting them to the pre-teen years).

And he has two brothers - they are nothing like mister, but they're awesome. His little brother is my first little brother (I asked for one for Christmas for so many years, maybe Santa finally gave him to me!) He's an awesome actor and is always really sweet. One is my age exactly and he is funny. He likes Thai food which is great since mister doesn't - he likes cocktails - and he zings mister very well.