Bridal Relaxation

Something that is super important (in my mind anyway) is that brides should be relaxed on their wedding day. On the day you leave singledom behind.... I don't think that's too much to ask! For this reason, I am planning out a few things to help me keep my sanity on what might be a cray-zee, busy day...

DOC - The single biggest thing I see just about everywhere is that DOCs - also known as Day-Of Coordinators - are essential to reducing bridal stress. I am currently looking into that, but that's for another post. DOCs essentially act as surrogate brides... They take over vendor communication and doublecheck that everything is being setup correctly, without bugging the bride. I think of them as a Bridal Moat - nobody bugs the bride unless she says it's ok!

Big Breakfast - If I am not too nervous, I want to have a big eggs and biscuits breakfast. Yes biscuits. With gravy. I think I might need the nutrition!

Running - Our venue is on a GORGEOUS piece of property, with running and hiking trails. I am definitely going to want to go on a short run first thing. I might even go by myself, just to have a moment to take in the day all alone.

Massages - Our venue also has a spa, and I will FOR SURE be hitting that up.

Cokes in Glass Bottles - My family drink is Coke in glass bottles. It's the only way to drink it! I plan to have a iced down cooler of said beverages on hand. Although Coke will have to go away once the dresses come out... Well... Maybe we can just get big bibs. :)

The rest of the day will be spent in makeup and hairdo heaven - with *crosses fingers* a minimum of wedding disasters! At my sister's wedding, one of our other sisters accidentally dropped a coke on the floor AFTER we were all dressed for the ceremony (in her defense, it was way too crowded in our dressing room!) There were screams and dives for the wedding dress. Everything was ok, but I still have nightmares.

How do you plan to insulate yourself from wedding day craziness?

Mums and Mimosas

One of the advantages of having several married buddies is mooching off of their wedding mishaps and wisdom!!! I have probably had about ten good friends get married so far, and I have definitely paid attention...

My friend and bridesmaid T was actually married only about a month ago and one of the things she did for her wedding was so wonderful that I am following her astute example!

It's called Mums and Mimosas, people.

T got married in Buffalo, New York, where her family home and parents live. Because T has lived in several states throughout her life, she had family and buds flying in from all over to attend. The whole weekend was wonderful - there is something distinctly different between going to an acquaintance's wedding (say a co-worker you don't know too well) and the wedding of one of your very good friends. We all stayed in the same hotel, and it was basically a slumber party with a wedding included - SO AMAZING AND FUN.

One of the best parts, though, was that on the wedding day, T had all of her girlyfriends over to her parents' house to create the flower arrangements and consume multiple mimosas, along with homemade breakfast yumminess. T has about 20 close girlfriends (she is a popular one!) so thank goodness her parents have a really big porch!

Now of course, what this really meant was that about four of the girls were actually arranging flowers... the rest of us had talk and giggle time while oohing and ahhing over the botanical creations. :)

Anyway, the flowers turned out SO BEAUTIFULLY. We included gorgeous flowers from T's mother's garden and each bouquet was different. It took much longer than we thought it would, but that was probably because we did a lot of hanging out, at the expense of time. It was also so wonderful to hang out with girlfriends from New York, who I knew only through T's stories. Everyone was in one place!

So I plan on doing the same thing. I will be getting married on a Friday, so who knows who might be able to come, but I definitely want to do my own flowers now that I know it's possible. I know the bridesmaids will be available!!!! ;) Weddings are so much more meaningful when thought is put into the details, and this would be really special.

How do you plan to include all of the important people in your life in your wedding?

STDs are Hotttt.....

...especially when they are pretty colors! ;)

Today I *think* I finished designing my Save-the-Dates. I am not going to show the whole thing because, well, I want to actually mail them before I show them off!

Originally, we weren't going to send out paper Save-the-Dates. Isaiah and I had prioritized our budget, and Save-the-Dates were an unnecessary expense. However, we promptly realized the error of our ways when we remembered the following things:

1) A significant number of people on our guest list are less than computer literate. In fact, some might have a bit of trouble even getting a computer to turn on, so an email Save-the-Date would be no good to those particular guests at all!
2) Sometimes the internet fails to actually deliver the missive to all of the intended recipients, especially when a mass mailing is involved.
3) Paper Save-the-Dates are actually extremely cheap.
CONCLUSION: We are going to do both a paper and an email STD, that way the computer illiterate will get the info AND the email-friendly but snail mail challenged addresses will be reached, as well.

Since I've never met a crafting project I didn't like, today I tackled getting those suckers designed... I whittled my ideas down to two: a dry embossed version and a solely printed version...

I had my heart set on a postcard with a dot-embossed border, however, it turned out jankity and jankity will not do. I do not own a Cuttlebug, so I created my own dot embossing stencil, and it showed. :)

The solely printed version looks pretty good (to me, anyway!) I think it needs a tiny bit of pizazz though, so I think I may heat emboss certain lines.

I'm getting there! Anyone else hitting a few hitches along the DIY road?

Will You Be My Counselor?

I've been thinking, thinking, thinking about this a lot lately.... Like EVERYONE, my fiance and I have a lot going on. We both work a lot, and planning a wedding has proven to take up much more time than I imagined! It's tough, tough, tough for us to make time to see each other. Quite often, I don't see him until late on worknights and he works most every Saturday, so even the weekends are chockfull. SO that's challenging.

When we DO get to see each other, often we need to lay out some long overdue wedding or money conversation. We've found that we even need to schedule our quality time so that every waking moment isn't taken up with the day-to-day details of life. You've gotta go to dinner and a movie once in a while, ya know? Spontaneity when it comes to fun dates just does not happen. Maybe someday. I am sure just about all of you deal with the same thing.

Anyway, we have yet another thing we need to make time for: pre-marital counseling. I don't want to put it off until spring, as I know we'll be cray-cray with wedding details - so hopefully we can get the ball rolling on the counseling thing within the next few months. December is actually downtime for us, so that might be perfect.

There are quite a few options when it comes to premarital counseling. Of what I've seen, we can choose a church-based option or we could also choose a psychologist-based option. I am open to both, but I also kinda want to DO both. Pastors obviously counsel hundreds of couples, but I appreciate the PhD in Psychology that a secular counselor might have. I also appreciate the spiritual aspect, too, though.

Hmm, what to do, what to do. My friend A suggested several options that she and her hubby found helpful - what do you all suggest? Anything work especially well for you?

Pretty Pictures Por Moi

Like many others, finding a great photographer that doesn't break the bank was high on mine and the boytoy's list of priorities. We figure that our wedding day may very likely seem to have been a whirlwind blur afterwards, and the only record we will have will become extremely important!

We quickly found that photography runs even more expensively than we realized. We also found that there are two main styles of wedding photography: traditional and photojournalistic.

For us, the pure traditional style was not a good fit. Traditional photographers focus on telling a story and use natural light, and posed pictures are included. We really love creative and unusual use of color and light, so this didn't quite work for us.

The pure photojournalistic style didn't fit us terribly well either, however. This style focuses on capturing events in the moment, as they happen. Although we MUCH prefer candid shots, they can sometimes come across a bit cold.

In our search, we found two photographers that TOTALLY blew us over: Thorsen Photography and Kevin Weinstein Photography. Seriously amazing.

My favorite Thorsen shot, staged, BUT so, so beautiful:

A Kevin Weinstein shot... He's really great at capturing his subjects moods in the moment, with beautiful composition and color, I think:

SO, I quickly found out that they were out of my price range (I can see why!!!) Beautiful photography and they were so nice to me when I contacted them, but it just wasn't going to work out, which I of course completely respect. If you have a mid-size photography budget, definitely check them out!

However, just when we were getting really sad, we found our lovely new photographer at my very own place of business!!! We came to find out that she knows many of my old college friends and she is married to one of my co-workers. We loved her portfolio, AND WE COULD AFFORD HER! It's really wonderful when that happens. Did you strike gold close to home?

Sweets for the Sweet

Mmmm wedding cake. Many people do not like cake, so I hear, which is crazy! Although I *might* be persuaded to eat a piece of delectable apple or scrumptious pumpkin pie with Cool Whip...mmm Cool Whip... - over a piece of cake... Cake is still usually at the top of my dessert list. ESPECIALLY if it is yellow cake/chocolate icing, carrot cake/cream cheese icing, or... dum dum dum... GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE.

German chocolate cake turns me into a Cake Monster. :) Can you tell I am on a "Eating Healthy" diet? (sigh)

I would love to have our wedding cake made up of these favorite flavors, but... German chocolate cake is really tough to decorate without looking like a second grader's science project, which would make me do this:


In real life, we will probably do some sort of yellow cake layer plus a carrot cake layer plus a layer-yet-to-be-determined. I will just hide a little German Chocolate cake at my seat....Mr. Snap and I want certain elements to mean something, and the cake is one of those elements. My parents' cake from their wedding had white mums and yellow daisies. So our cake may have a few daisies as an homage.

Source: Mom and Dad Snap's Wedding

PLUS

Source: Cake Girls

EQUALS

Reasons Why All Weddings Should Have a Photobooth: Exhibit #1

No?

Am I a Slacker? Oh Yes

I have a pretty serious stubborn streak. For example, I refused to read Harry Potter until about Book Four: The Goblet of Fire purely because I hated all the people I saw reading Harry Potter - on the el, on the street, in Starbucks, on the beach - blech, blech, blech. I am not a lemming.

Then I stopped being a pretentious snob and actually picked it up, reading Harry Potter in secret.... and I LOVED it!! So good, and I was so mad at myself for being ridiculously stubborn.

However, this does not mean that I learned from my Harry Potter experience. Still today, if any particular event or thing is super-popular, I refuse to participate, often to my own detriment. I still can't bring myself to read The Time-Travellers Wife, for that very reason. Past TTW readers have told me how they cried their eyes out at the end and I really should read it... ... ... That is about the worst strategy to get me to read a book, seriously.

Wedding planning is a bit like that... In wedding planning, I am reading all the blogs, websites to help me come up with ideas. However, all it does is make we want to watch The Wire (Omar!!!) or doodle or blog instead of doing what I should be doing... like find a frakking dress to get married in.

All the other nameless brides are buying damask in bulk (the sheer popularity of damask has successfully nixed itself from my wedding, even though, by itself, damask is a perfectly pleasing pattern, seriously - I am just stubborn.) They are industriously creating OOT bags (5 points to the first chick who can decipher that code!) or making little patterned cocktail napkins for their open bar. (Meanwhile I am just planning for a "Signature Cocktail Design Day," which will involve my dear friend T-Awesome and I concocting drinks in my kitchen and hoping we can remember what we dreamed up the next day...no cocktail umbrellas!)

(sigh)

I guess I am lazy. I think I am also rebelling against the fact that I really don't think it should take a whole freakin' year to plan an event that will last approximately 7 hours, BUT I guess it really does take that long. Since it will take me about two entire months to construct 140 invitations.... I probably did it to myself. :)

No lie, I love to craft, and planning a wedding is virtually a crafting free-for-all, but sometimes I feel silly about it, so I play hooky from my bride-ly duties.

Back to The Wire and blogging while my invitation mock-up stares me down from the corner!!!

-My name is Miss Snapdragon, and I am a slacker.

I DEFINITELY Heart My DJ

It's fo' sho' now. As stated in a previous post.... my DJ throws "soirees" at a local bar throughout the year so clients can come listen to his company's DJs spin and get to know them a bit. The company we signed with has one main DJ (who I *think* will be our guy) and then has a roster of about seven other DJs who also gig weddings. They were all spinning at a soiree last night, so Mr. Snapdragon and I and our friends C and K-spice went to hang out and listen.

Ummmm, it was ridiculously fun! We definitely liked a few DJs better than others, but they were all good. The whole reason I wanted to book them is because they gig nightclubs as often as they play weddings - no sparkle vests. Certain people (ahem) were dancing all night and we stayed from 8:30p-1a. For an old fart like me.... that is basically the latest I've stayed out in a million years!

They were great - great music, really laid back... and they plied us with wings, chocolate cake, and Stella Artois. Love! I am so happy we hired them.

So sad that the songs were over and we had to go home:

OK, I will be the first to admit that I can't dance AT ALL, though I am enthusiastic. However, there was this other girl there that was truly one of the worst dancers I have ever seen - think Elaine of Seinfeld fame - I will not paste her picture, but trust me - girl had no rhythm!

Anybody else fall in love with a spectacular vendor?

Gorgeous!

Too bad I can't DIY my wedding dress!!

Source: Beach House Bride

Wedding Politics

I am anti-drama. I HATE drama. People who get unnecessarily mad annoy the life out of me. I have been warned many times about how wedding drama is unavoidable, no matter how diplomatic you try to be.

I have been super-lucky in that I do not have to deal with some of the drama that some brides/grooms have to deal with, namely that my fiance's and my families do NOT see this as a social networking opportunity, nor as show-off time. Mr. Snappy and I will know everyone at our wedding, and nobody is our dentist, financial planner, etc. We love all of our guests, and they love us - no strangers!

That being said, weddings can make people very sensitive. Sometimes people have certain expectations and while brides (hopefully!) try to be considerate of other people's feelings...... it's not always possible to make everyone happy all of the time.

Duh. Anybody who graduated kindergarten knows THAT - though sometimes easier said than done. :)

I think the tightrope is trying to be considerate and to not letting other people's drama affect YOU. And kindness goes a long way. You can't please everybody, but you can at least keep your nose clean so you don't exacerbate any diplomatic problems!!

Here's hoping my wedding planning process leans as far to the "fun" side as possible. Did you find that planning a wedding brought out the drama from unexpected places?

I Am Officially Attended

I recently turned thirty (which I was actually excited about!) Two of my sisters decided to surprise me by flying to Chicago for the weekend! Seeing them was really a wonderful present. One sister is a student in Boston, and the other lives in Dallas, so they hadn't seen each other in a long time either.

We went for burgers and shopping and tea and crafty-ogling. My sisters flying in also gave me the wonderful opportunity of being able to ask them to be my Matron and Maid of Honor in person! I thought I was going to have to call them, which is not nearly as special!

My family are all big pack-rats. If anything special happens, we ALWAYS keep a memento. Our Dad actually has a whole bookshelf full of little gifts we have given him, old tickets, programs, model airplanes... he calls it his Treasure. SO, I definitely wanted to give them both a little something to remember the moment by (not that this is a huge life moment by any means, but it is special enough for a lil card.) :) You see the front of the card above and then I included a poem on the back about sisters:

Totally cheesytown, but I was feelin' cheesy, so the poem was appropriate. :) I am very lucky to have such wonderful sisters.

I Heart My DJ

Seriously.

Although I am DIY-ing most everything for my wedding, I inevitably am having to hire several vendors. DIY to save money; hire a vendor to reduce stress - yin and yang.

I am the first to admit that I am a difficult client. Not because I am a jerk or get worked up over small things (usually...) but because I expect people to return my emails within 15 minutes.

Ridiculous.

I work in a fast-paced environment, and I have a wee bit of an internet/tech addiction, so..... I almost always return my emails within 5 minutes or less. I fully recognize that returning emails within my completely unrealistic timeframe is totally unnecessary for an event that is SEVEN MONTHS AWAY and it REALLY WOULDN'T kill me to allow a 2-3 day timeframe.

I can't do it.

If one of my vendors doesn't write me back within 24 hours, I get annoyed. I know I am being dumb, but I can't help it.

I also appreciate it when vendors take a moment to write me follow-up emails. You know, like "Hey, your check showed up - thanks!" Follow-up emails are great. I always implement the Follow-up email. This way everyone is on the same page, they (or I, in this case) feel impressed and relieved that you are so on the ball, and fewer things fall through the cracks.

My DJ....

• Has great musical taste
• Emails me back within 15 minutes ALWAYS. This is enhanced by the fact that he is completely nocturnal like me and the mister, so if I write him at midnight.... I get an email back at 12:05a. :)
  
• Implements my beloved Follow-up email.
• Was super-prompt in dealing with negotiating our contract
• Is somehow completely laid-back in the midst of exceptional organization and dealing with an anal bride like me (although I prefer the word "precise.") :)

Another plus is that he throws these parties throughout the year where his cadre of DJs spins at a local club and we get to hear what they like to play and hang out. My most favorite-est thing is that they are all club DJs. Though they play weddings, they all also gig at Chicago nightclubs as well.

Mr. Snapdragon and I are going to one of their parties, or "soirees," as they call them, this weekend. Can't wait, and it is truly vendor love when your DJ, photographer, caterer, is not only amazingly talented... but professional and organized, as well! Love it.

Workin' on My Fitness

I want to go from this:



to THIS:



I am perfectly happy with my current weight. I am by no means obese, and I hesitate to even say I am overweight. However, I am NOT BUFF, and I WANT TO BE BUFF. Though I love Pammy-poo, she sits at a desk all day and does not come across as a strong, in-shape kind of gal.

Let me interrupt myself to say I am sure Jenna Fischer has a banging bod underneath her Office-wear, however the picture above illustrates my point nevertheless.

I also work at a desk for a goodly part of my day, and I am using my wedding as an excuse to put a bee in my bonnet to get in shape. I also turned 30 this year, and supposedly your body has a MUCH harder time maintaining strength once you hit this age threshhold. Although I hear you will have much more success if you have been one of those superwomen who have worked out since they were age two, I figure that it's never too late to start. Exercise and eating healthfully is always a positive thing.....

So that's what I'm doing.

Since August 1, I have been adhering to Weight Watchers [mostly] faithfully, and I have become a runner. I have been running between 12-18 miles per week, which I recognize is less than a lot of people, but it's a ton of running for me!! This week I stepped it up to running 3.5 miles at one go, and I also started the 100 push-up challenge as of today.



I feel better than I've felt in a long time. I've lost ten pounds. And if I don't get plenty of fruits/vegetables/water in a given day, I feel like crap! My body is waking up, and it feels great.

Brides are Not Allowed to be NAKED Apparently.

OK, there really isn't any dress drama - I am just so not looking forward to looking for my dress. I hate shopping most of the time. Long lines, high-maintenance sales people, and taking hours to find a clothing item that is in my budget is not really my idea of fun. Funny that I used to have an actual paying job as a shopper - weird!

Regardless, I can't get married nekkid! My mom is flying up from Texas for a weekend right before Thanksgiving, and we are planning a shopping extravaganza. In Chicago, there are several boutiques that I have high hopes for....

WHITE CHICAGO
This store is legendary.... They stock designer gowns that are samples or once-worn and resell them at a significant discount. I have a friend who bought a Lazaro gown there for $700 - SCORE. Since I am shooting for something on the budgetarily-conservative side, White Chicago is where I am placing the most hope. Oak St. in Chicago is where the super-amazing and expensive dresses live.... so I will just be looking at those stores from afar. Very My Fair Lady. Say a little prayer that White Chicago has something like this in stock:

Source: Jim Hjelm

NICOLE MILLER
For those who don't know, Nicole Miller has a bridal line that is really beautiful and all priced under $2,000. Love this one, although I might have to put a teeny panel in the bodice as this is pretty HOT:

JENNY YOO
Jenny Yoo has a "Bridal Alternatives" line that is in my price range. SEE - it worked out for Miss Sushi!

La Yoo also conveniently sells a lace shrug remarkably similar to the Jim Hjelm number in the White Chicago section. I might be able to pair it (if I can get it in white) with a strapless satin gown and then I will have my "Jim Hjelm" at Jenny Yoo prices. Ignore the angry model face. :)

If any Chicago brides have any other suggestions for affordable bridal gown shopping, I will be glad to hear it!!! I might also use Netbride...maybe... am I a terrible person? (sigh)

Lord, I really wish I had a fairy godmother right about now! 140 handmade pocketfold invitations - NO PROBLEM - beautiful wedding dress for a reasonable amount of dough?... eek!

My First Photo Shoot...

... with my invitations. :)

I am pretty much completely obsessed with crafting. It's my favorite thing to do. If I have a Friday night to myself, I get really excited to be able to craft in peace, without anyone to make fun of me. If I had room for a craft room in my apartment.... oh that would be AWESOME! I'm a nerd.

Anyway, invitations were one of the very first projects I fantasized about when this whole wedding-planning thing got started. Not the dress, not flowers... the invitations!

For weeks I have been playing around with colors, illustrations, watercolors... and now I think I've finally settled into a design. I attempted my first mock-up, and I am really excited about the results. Some of the paper choices will be different (cardstock vs. paper,) but I think I am going to stick pretty closely to this look. Because blogs without pictures are boring... let me introduce to you a sneak peek of... Ms. Amelie Laureen!

*Full disclosure upon completion of a real invite!

Here are the elements:

• Stardream Lapis A7 pocketfold
• Navy linen mat and belly band
• Vintage gold buttons for the belly band (or faux vintage - I am on a budget after all!!)
• White linen inserts with navy, cranberry, and gold ink/stamping
• Gold embossed stars/gold embroidery thread to add texture to the main invite (the stars look like they are hanging from the thread down the left side of the main invite.
• Tri-fold info insert (accommodations, etc.)
• Hand-drawn map with vintage paper backing
• RSVP card

Ummmmm, I am totally crazy because the invitation suite I designed will basically take me from now until spring to assemble. BUT.... I will LOVE THEM!!!

Anybody else swooning over invites??

I'm Getting Married at Anthropologie.

As I have already written... I am a ringless bride so far. SO that means that I don't have a definite starting point for when the wedding extravaganza began! Basically, this is how it went:

(The next day I was leaving to visit my family in Texas for a week.)
HIM: SO... I think when you get back, we should start looking for a place to get married.
ME: OK, that sounds good. When are you picking me up to take me to the airport?

So romantic. :)

Since then, we have bought my wedding ring/engagement setting - no diamond yet though!

Regardless, one of the first things I started to think about was how the best weddings I have ever attended were...

A) Personalized - when everything matches my friends' personalities and type of relationship. I never like to feel like the wedding could have been anybody's!

AND

B) Thoughtful - when the bride and groom have made an effort to make their guests feel special and valued.

For me, it only took about 2 seconds to decide what type of theme I wanted to tie everything together. The only way I can think to describe it would be Urban Vintage, or.... Anthropologie. :)

My mother is an antiques dealer, and I grew up in a historic town in Texas. My house was always always filled with vintage furniture, vintage dishes, vintage clothes, vintage everything! It's the language I know best, and I'm really excited about it.

There will be lots of lace, soda in glass bottles, Vaseline glass, mason jars, embroidery, watercolor illustrations, etc. Now before you tell me that Grandma wants her wedding back, take a look at these beautiful urban vintage weddings that have exactly the feel that I want!

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/07/31/an-inspired-wedding-ii/

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/07/31/an-inspired-wedding-iii/

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/06/18/real-wedding-by-duet-weddings-ii/

Style Me Pretty is my friend... clearly. :)

What styles feel most like home to you?

Finding Love

So.... I have a secret. A big one. Like the kind I feel like I should be super embarrassed about.

I met my soon-to-be-husband online.

Oh, the shame!!! Senor Snapdragon is equally embarrassed about this fact, so much so, that I am verboten from telling anyone...except...thousands of bees. ;)

Here's the deal... Like many bachelorettes, I spent the majority of my twenties dating real tools. They might have been hot, or successful, or enormously talented, or why-the-heck-did-I-ever-pick-YOU.... but they weren't love. Never love. Once I hit the age of 26, I was ready to find real love, the kind of love where we hung around all day on the couch watching football and supporting each other through anything and everything - most of all, someone where I felt safe to truly be myself. To me, there is nothing more exhausting than editing everything you want to say because you are afraid your flavor of the moment is going to react negatively or is going to judge you. So.... I signed up for an online matching thing-a-ma-bopper, and two weeks later, my fiance and I found each other. He disabled his account immediately after that... I kept mine going for a few more months. :) But that was really it for me. I knew that this guy was The One.

So, even though my twenties were largely all about dating the wrong guys, I am thankful because now that I've found the right one... I appreciate how hard love can be to find, and if I had to go to the internet to find it, that is A-ok. After all, if I can find Marc Jacobs for half off online, why not a fiance? ;)

-Snappy