http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/suzfle/reception3.jpg

I'm comin.... out !!!

Want the world to know... gotta let it show !!! I knew the date of my bachelorette party a few months ago, but that was it, until I received this E mail about two weeks ago with the subject YOUR INVITED !!!!!

. . to YOUR Bachlorette Party!!!!!
When: August 30-31
Where: Oops, i almost told you. . well, i can tell you THIS. Be at your house at 11am, and be ready to rock
What: hahaha, you'll see

In order to prepare for this spectacular event do the following
1. drink lots of water the night before
2. eat a package of bread the nght before
3.get LOTS Of sleep the night before (but if you are asleep or not ready when we show up at 11am, the show if OFF, no ifs, ands ,or BUTTS, okay maybe a few butts, jk)
4.wear comfy clothes, you know the city, dress comfortably for the city, this includes shoes.
5. pack an overnight bag, including, but not limited to, a bathing suit and accessories, sleepywear, cosmetics, a sexy lil' outfit that once you are a married woman you will no longer be able to wear, another day time outfit (and don't forget the dollar bills)
6. a camera so you can see what happened even if you can't remember what happened.

Alright, i think that's it. Hope you can make it!!!!

Hugs from Hawaii,
Suzanne


So I did as instructed and was ready to go at 11. My bridesmaids and myself headed downtown until we arrived here. We checked in, dropped our stuff, had some lunch, did some shopping, had some spa time , and hung out by the pool.











After our lovely afternoon, we then went and heaaded in to get ready for our evening.

Ready for the night ahead !!!! We then headed up to FINO, a GREAT italian restaurant. We all had pasta, wine and laughs. It was 3 blocks from our hotel room, and on the way home as I was all decked out in the ubiquitious sash and litte veil I got all sort of comments, from contragulations to the random yelling from cars of "DON'T DO IT"






By far my favorite attention was from some street musicians that decided they would follow us and sing me a song.









After the eventful walk back from the restaurant, we got back to the hotel and were joined by a few more friends, and had some more wine and Jamie, our hostess from passion parties hosted a party for us. I won't divulge if anything was purchased or not, but it was tons of fun !


After that it was off to the Cellar where my girls had reserved a VIP table with bottle service.




I also had a list of tasks to accomplish through out the evening. I think I got about 8 of them done, including getting a free drink, and making a bouquet and tossing it. (we made it out of napkins and straws ! talk about crafty !)

It was a very fun night, and we closed the place down, then went back to hotel, and after some late night pizza, crashed.



I am extremely appreciative and lucky to have such great friends who planned this for me I felt very loved and I had a FABULOUS TIME !!!!!!

And so it begins !

The first guests are here (My bridesmaid from Hawaii, my mom and the Fiance's Parents arrived today ! it's all so real now that the wedding is ACTUALLY at the end of the week !!!
There is so much still to do that I'm a bit stressed out. We have to finish programs, Escort cards, favors, and burn the slide show to a DVD.
My mom and I dropped off some things with the florist and my planner today, and I must say it was kind of hard to relinquish control of the things I had worked long and hard to make and trust them to someone else !
Everyone keeps asking me if I'm nervous, I'm really not.... but I'm stressed out to get everything READY to go. I really can't wait to see my family and friends, and I'm going to attempt and live in the moment and soak in this whole week, as I have a LOT planned ! Dinners with people coming in, spa day with my mom, Bridesmaid luncheon, rehearsal dinner, and finishing the DIY projects and I want to enjoy it all !

So long... farewell Alvederzein...

About three weeks ago I went to pick up my maid of honor's dress with her. I had been in the store numerous times. To pick Bridesmaid dresses and Jr. Bridesmaid dresses, to pick up dresses for the Jr. Bridesmaids and ship them out to them, and once to pick up and ship the dress to my bridesmaid who lives in Hawaii now. This was the final dress to remain in the shop out of the 6 I had ordered through Boutique Des Brides.

At the end of that same week, I went to have my final fitting of my dress. It was gorgeous, and I am sooo happy with the results of the alterations (they had to remove about 7 inches of fabric, and take it in under the arms a bit. I had been there several times as well, once for an appointment to try on dresses, and three fittings (I bought a sample, so I didn't have to go back to pick up my dress) When I came back to start my alterations, they remembered the style and color of the dress that I purchased way back in October of last year when I started my alterations at the end of July ! The ladies at both of these Bridal Shops have come to know me and have been super sweet and helpful every time I've gone in.

As a matter of fact I don't think I have one complaint with any of my vendors (so far) So it was kinda a shock when as I was leaving these places and saying good bye to the employees and they were like have a good wedding !! etc... it hit me... I'm not going to be coming here anymore.


The ladies in both these shops As I was leaving and she told me good bye and to have a great wedding, I couldn't help but think OMG I'm not going to come her any more ! All of these vendors I have created a relationships with shall no longer require my attention, and I've come to like a lot of them. My planner is great. My florist cracks me up, my DJ is super friendly, but my business here is done ! It's was kinda like "the end of an era" of sorts. Like leaving a teacher after the shcool year is over. One more sign that the day is coming, and SOON !

License to wed

So yesterday was the boys birthday ! He had a conference downtown in the morning, but left it around lunch so we could go here This is San Francisco City Hall. It is a GORGEOUS building.
Photo on the right is a gratouitious shot of a wedding held in the rotunda of City Hall. San Francisco is so lucky to have such a lovely building as our city hall.



The process is actually surprisingly easy in California. You just need the two people getting married, your ID and 94 dollars.
You are able to make appointments online, which we did ahead of time. (if you do this, you must also pay when you schedule) The boy got out of the conference early, so I grabbed some lunch, and we ate on the steps before heading in.


After going through the metal detectors we headed into room 168. and we handed a form by the lady at the front desk.







The boy fills out his part of the form. It was a very short form requiring just our names, address, birthdays, and our parents full names and state of birth. It took all of 5 minutes to fill out. This shot was actually taken after the form was already filled out (much to the boy's amusement) because I missed getting a photo since the process was so quick.








We then took our lovely form and waited in the waiting area for our number to be called. We waited only about 10 minutes, even after missing our number the first time it was called, because they don't actually have a speaker or a number display in the wait area with the chairs, those are in another area. (genius, right ?!)




When our (second) Number was called we went in, handed our form to the clerk, she made us swear it was truthful, checked our IDs and gave us our license ! We were DONE !


WE can LEGALLY wed !!!! it's official. It was actually very painless and easier than I thought (thank goodness they got rid of blood tests because I HATE those !)

RSV... HUH ?

The guest list is a very difficult piece to any wedding. It's a balancing act between two families, friends and family, and the almighty BUDGET.

It is no wonder that after thinking long and hard about WHO to invite that we spent a lot of time (not to mention money) on our invitations. I ordered custom stamps, the boy designed a monogram, I picked out just the right color ribbon to tie the inserts together, I even bought (coordinating !) stamps for the RSVP card !
Now I know most people probably didn't notice some of the details that were put into the invite. I also know that I didn't HAVE to put that effort into it and that I'm the one who cares the most. I also know probably almost every bride has a rant about this... but seriously...

why oh why did I have 80 unconfirmed guests (about 39 actual invites, the 80 includes their guests/children) as of my RSVP deadline ?

I can understand the bridal party (3 of them didn't send theirs in) Since they're already committed to coming and the ones traveling have already told us their plans and such. I'll also give my grandfather a pass as it's harder for him to get to a mail box. I even understand those who arrived by today. ( a day or two to realize the date had passed, and 3-4 days days for it to arrive could make it a week late)

Even after that and filling in all those who we knew 100% their status without hearing from them, we still had about 19 invites who we honestly have NO CLUE if they would be able to join us or not.

HOW HARD is it to

1: Make a check mark next to yes or no
2: Seal envelope
3: drop in mail box

Or alternatively
1) Log onto Internet
2) go to wedding website
3) Click RSVP
4) Click Submit

I am trying so hard to make my wedding enjoyable for these lovely people whom we care deeply about, by having transportation to and from the festivities, a block of discounted hotel rooms, and putting information everywhere for them. Seems the least they could do would be to let me know if they can make it. I still have people telling me they don't know if they can make it ?! I mean really.

We also have an acceptance rate of about 62%. While this is not SUPER low, and I know it's due to the economy, the fact that much of our list would have to travel to California. His family from the east coast, and a smattering of mine from various points in the country (we also had 3 international guests) I still can't help feeling a bit sad when I see a no response.

I understand the financial and other burdens that come with travel, and as much as I truly appreciate and am grateful and excited to see the guests that are able to make it, It doesn't make the fact that two of my oldest friends (known both since I was about 12, and was a bridesmaid for both of them) won't be able to be there easier to swallow. Especially when they don't respond to your calls/emails/texts about whether or not they actually CAN make it.

Have you had to hunt people down for their RSVP, were you disappointed that more people couldn't make it, did you have other worries about your numbers such as venue catering minimums, or capacity concerns ?

Four Score

... and one year ago (well, maybe just one year) The FI proposed to me at ocean beach. To celebrate being (almost) one month away we went out to dinner at beach chalet where we went to dinner to celebrate our engagement (also upstairs from where our rehearsal dinner will be) and had a lovely dinner and a glass of champagne after our dancing lessons.

Everyone told me it would go by quickly, (and trust me, I believed them) so I've tried to savor every moment of this stage of our relationship.
I've truly enjoyed choosing colors, linens, and flowers, having meetings and tastings to attend, looking at lovely pictures of weddings on the net for hours at a time to get inspired. It sometimes has left me with a sense of OMGDONTASKMETOMAKEANOTHERDECISION and there have been some stress filled tears shed once (Ok, maybe twice)

With one month left to go
I'm anxious to get everything on the "to do list" all taken care of and ready to go, I'm excited for all of my frinds and family to start coming into town, but most of all I am sooo excited to start this new chapter in my life with a wonderful man by my side.

What are you waiting for ?!

.... An engraved invitation ??!

Well I certainly hope not because mine were printed with thermography ! (and if I'd had the budget they woudl've been letterpress !)

However they are all sent out, and the RSVPs are coming in ! It's soo exciting to see the little Ecru envelopes with puruple writing make their way back to us ! Between RSVPs coming back, thank you notes for my shower gifts, shipments from wedding related orders, gifts being sent from generous friends and family, the mail is quickly becoming a highlight of the day !

In fact for a while before the invites went out, I was downright OBSESSED with the big brown truck. We ordered William Arthur invitations from an authrized retailer, and that went fairly smoothly (not without some excitedment and miscommunication but smoothly enough, and they came in on time.)

In order to save money and get exactly what we wanted, the rest of the the invitation suite was printed by the FI's parents print shop. It was quite the adventure trying to match the paper, font and ink color (but we got it) but getting the rest of it here, was a different story.

The inserts (directions, invitation to our after rehearsal party, out of town info, RSVP card) was sent, soon after it was sent it was discovered that the RSVP return envelope was printed with our address on the flap, rather than on the front of the envelope. So they envelopes were re-printed, and arrived in 3 days. The shipment with the incorrect envelopes and all the other inserts, DID NOT. They were sent to an incorrect addresss, and we had to wait for them to be returned to the sender (Colin's parents) in Florida before they could be sent back to us. It took about two weeks for this to happen. I was a tracked the package, I stalked the window, I paced all day waiting for that precious box, it finally came at 7 PM ! I was so excited I floated down the steps and flung open the door, signed the pad, grabbed my box and scuttled away up the stairs with it like Golem with the "precious" ring. I was soo happy when we started putting them all together.

The actual invite. These were printed by William Arthur through our local Papyrus store. I chose William Arthur because they had the swirly green liner. The monogram was created by the fabulous FI.
If you are planning a monogram, don't get too man colors involved. You'll have to pay a lot more for printing everytime. We ended up having two versions a single colored version as well as a three colored version becuase somethings you may want to do with it (lighting, some styles of printing) can only be done in one color.

We decided to put together the inserts with a bow to make them more tidy, and not fall out everywhere like subscription cards in a magazine when everyone opened them.



Here is a close up of our RSVP card. We decided to change the traditional wording to reflec tour venue. Hopefully we get them all back quickly !!! Unfortunately the stamp rate increased right before our invitations were mailed, so in order to get "pretty stamps" we had to custom order them. We ordered from zazzle, and they were very easy and quick. The stamps were of the monogram.


I had to search and go to many post offices to be able to get them hand cancelled so our lovely stamps weren't covered by ugly red cancel marks, but the location at the airport happily handed me the stamper and let me go to town! Here they are all cancelled and in a collection bin ready to head out to various destinations across the US !!!!!!

Moss landing

As part of our centerpieces we are using two of these these swirly metal and glass candle holders on either side of a larger candle holder.

They are a little plain, so in order to bring in the natural element of the look that I am going for, my mom and I decided to create a ring to go at the base of the "cup" part of the holder.






We used light weight cardboard, and used the top of the cup as a guide for the circle, We cut that out by hand (Yes, my hands got tired) then used a circle punch for the center. I wish there had been an easier way to get the center of the ring out because they were almost too thick for the hold punch to get through, and it was time consuming not to be able to get through a stack of them at once.



After we finished cutting them all out we gave them a good coating of spray adhesive.
and placed moss over it. It got rather messy at times having to do both sides of the rings, and at times the moss didn't want to adhere very easily at times.









Here is a pile of the completed rings. It took about 5 hours to get these all completed. We made about 80 rings all together since we're having 15 tables, and two small holders, and the larger holder has 3 of the glass holders as well.





Here it is all complted with the ring on. This makes it look a bit more yellow, but reall the moss lends some nice green to the holders, and the centerpiece in general. It was a project that took a while, but it changes up the holder and makes it look less like it was just purchased a plunked on the table.

Have you done any DIY projects in order to "punch up" something store bought ?

and pretty maids all in a row

... So getting Bridesmaid dresses hasn't been one of the easiest tasks for me to tackle. I knew the color from the beginning was going to be purple. I also knew for the formality and location of my wedding a tea length dress would be the best option.

But I also have bridesmaids who are not all made of the same shape and size. I considered having them each wear different styles, but I've always kinda liked matched dresses. I decided to go with Alfred Angelo, as they are affordable, and they made the Jr. Bridesmaids dresses, and colors would coordinate. I asked each of them to look at the website and choose some favorites.

They came up with














I liked all of them. The hard part came when we tried to get everyone together to try them on and see them in person. Even though my Bridesmaids are all with in an hour drive, we all have different schedules and things going on (one had just given birth, one is pregnant)

I went with a bridal salon called Boutique des brides. Mainly because they carry the whole line of Alfred Angelo, and Alfred Angelo seemed to have the shade of purple I was looking for.
It is a small place, but the place is stocked with samples of the whole alfred angelo line, and a majority of Bill Levkoff. Hilda, who runs it is very helpful and pretty much let us have run of the place, trying on whatever caught our fancy.
The girls ended up choosing the dress on the far right. We all felt it would be most flattering on everyone.

We asked Hilda's opinion about what to do about sizing for my pregnant Maid of Honor. She suggested that we go up one size from what her bust measurement would require us to order for her. (at that time she was abou 5 months pregnant). Hopefully that should give enough wiggle room, as she has 4 months of time for losing baby weight.

I am pleased with the selection, and Alfred Angelo dresses seem to have fairly good fabric and details used ! I am excited to see them in person when they come in !