Favors

What do you think of 2 choices?  For Chad a little red 68 Camaro w/ our initials & date on the roof and for me little Havaiana key chains w/ our initials & date on them?  I have to call hot wheels & match box to see if I can buy 50-75 little cars from them at a time or if I have to buy them from a distributor.  That's on my list of things to do next week.  My parents arein Brazil right now, so I think my mom has the key chains covered.  For now I think these are the most "us" ideas I have been able to come up with.

Engagement party

Thanks Christie for making & sending out the invites to the engagement party this week!!!  You rock as a MOH.  Beijos

Save-the-date

Got a great idea from Debbie & Courtney to do magnets for our save-the-dates.  They saw one on Grandma Ryker's refrigerator and I LOVE the idea, but I need to have a picture of Chad & I to put in it, but we haven't taken our engagement pics yet.  I'm not really too keen on any of the pictures we have together in the last 6 months, so I think I'm going to have my sis take a bunch of pics with our digital camera this weekend (they are coming down for Easter weekend - Disneyland & candy!!!).  Hopefully we'll get some pics so that I can get them ordered and sent out.

Addresses

Man, I still don't have 10 addresses.  I hunted down about 10 of them last week, but I still have a few to go.  Two from Brazil my family, 2 my family here, and 6 from Chad's side (1 family and 5 friends).  I'm going to have that done by next week!  I got really lucky that my cousin is also getting married this June and his fiance was able to give me addresses to some family members in Brazil.

Flower Girls - Sophie & Addie

Since I posted pictures of Siena in the flower girl dresses, I have taken pictures of the other two flower girls in their dresses.  I have to say...they are sooooooooooooooooo adorable.  Once again, THANK YOU Miha for finding & buying them.  We have Sophie to the left and Addie to the right.  Addie wasn't too sure about the dress, but I think it grew on her.  Sophie liked it so much that she was running around the house in it and I couldn't get any good pictures of her.  Addie & Siena were great models, Sophie on the other hand has a mind of her own...thinking she's going to make a statement at the wedding.  :)

Catching Up...

I have a lot of it to do since I have been absent from the blog for a while, but I'll be caught up before you know it.

Wedding Cake Disaster = Sophie

Last Saturday Christie, Sophie, & I went to the Cake Castle to talk to them about the wedding cake.  I made the mistake of putting Sophie down when we sat down to talk to the lady at the shop.  We were sitting in their display room which is sectioned off from the rest of the store by folding separators (accordion style).  I got up to head out to the car to get something.  Sophie thought they looked fun to check out and like any 2 year old went to investigate and touch...bad news...  She got over to them so fast and tried to play with them before Christie could get up and get to her.  She ended up toppling two of them, but Christie was able to save one, but the other fell on 2 of their display cakes!!!  The lady was not too happy with us, but lucky for us she has a 2 year old.  It didn't totally ruin the 2 cakes, but they needed some touch up work.  Later she even gave Sophie a cup cake, so she must not have been too mad.  Of course Christie was mortified, but my fault for putting a 2 year old down in a place where there are things to touch & destroy.  I'm still learning all the auntie rules.  But in the end I think we'll be going with this cake shop.  Good price & I like their cake.  Chad & I will sample the cakes when we go up to Sac in a few weekends.

THE DRESS

This last Sunday me & my entourage went dress shopping.  The entourage included my mom, 3 bridesmaids, & Eliana.  We started off with brunch at the 33rd Street Bistro (super yummy!!!) and then headed off to our first bridal salon - House of Fashion.  We were helped by the funniest lady Mahin...but she was awesome at her job.  We got to go into their inventory room and pick out dresses for me to try on.  I made a mistake in letting Christie & Courtney go down the racks together...I have some CRAZY sisters!! The pictures I included are pictures of what they picked out for fun...and it was fun. :)  We were laughing so loud at some of these dresses.  

Dress to the right - can't you see this being in Gone With the Wind?!?!?!?!  I was laughing sooooo hard...lots of fun.

 

But after 1 hour we had found "the dress" - pictures NOT included...you'll have to wait until the wedding day to see.  Mahin by chance asked me if I wanted to try on a certain style of dress since I was trying on all different types of dresses and I decided, why not, we're having fun.  I didn't think I would like it, but when I got it on, it was AMAZING!!!!

Dress to the left - we all laughed at this one because Chad would have to be 4 feet away not to squish the dress.  After we had finished laughing our heads off, the girl helping me get in/out of the dresses (Tamy) told me that this was the dress she wanted to wear at her wedding some day...I felt bad for making fun of her dress, but it was insane poofy!


After leaving the House of Fashion we headed off to the next place - David's Bridal.  When we walked in it was a mad house of brides and when we started looking at the dresses, we stopped - nothing could/would compare to what we had found.  So we just looked at bridesmaid dresses.  And today I placed the order for my Maggie Sottero wedding dress at House of Fashion!!!!


HUGE thank you to Mom, Christie, Courtney, Michelle, & Eliana for coming out and helping me pick out the dress!!!

We found the little flower girl dresses!!!  And super cheap too.  Thanks Michelle!!!!  Here are a few pics of Siena (one of the flower girls) modeling it.  Isn't she cute ~ she was begging to wear the dress yesterday when I was on the phone with her mom.  We'll make a few modifications to the dress: 1) put a red sash on it and 2) probably remove the bow.

Wedding dress shopping!!!!!!  Is set for February 21st!  I'm pretty excited and I hope I find dresses that I like.  I'm probably going to have my dress made by Vali (www.valisalterations.com), but I have to figure out what I want exactly and what looks good on me.  I'm hoping it only takes one day to know exactly what I want.

Color palate...wish I was more creatively inclined.  I know what I want my colors to be (reds, oranges, pinks, golds) but I can't get a good selection of them to look good/right together.  Went to the fabric store with my mom and we got a decent selection that looked good together, but it wasn't quite right.  Then I found this website (http://www.dessy.com/styleboard/) but I can't seem to pick the right color swatches.  Think I need to call up Stephanie and have her help me out with this...she's very creative.

I have been able to book two of the most important things over the last week.  I was really stressed over these two things and now that they are done I think I'll be able to relax a little and enjoy some of the smaller things to come.

1. Venue - Coloma Country Inn - they provided enough of what I wanted for the right price.  www.colomacountryinn.com.  
2. Photographer - Stout Photography with lead photographer Dave Shilling.  www.stoutphoto.com  They did the photos for another wedding at the Coloma Country Inn and they turned out really nice.  http://blog.stoutphoto.com/2009/10/13/coloma-country-inn-wedding-jessica-and-mike/

Now I'm on to the next item - caterer...

I'm exhausted!  Looking at wedding venues takes a lot out of you.  We saw three places yesterday and based on those I decided not to even look at the last three.  Started off with the Coloma Country Inn, which was my favorite going into the process - LOVED it.  It's small and quaint and I really like it.  It has great outdoor grounds and it's probably not going to break the bank.  The second place, Maple Rock Gardens, was by far the most beautiful grounds I have ever seen.  The place is just to die for, but pricey.  The third place, The Beda Place - well as soon as we walked up to it, I knew I could scratch it from the list.  I love the 1st two places so much that I know we don't need to keep looking.  The hard part is going to be deciding which to choose from.  I'm weighing the options...stay tuned because I think I'll have it figured out in the next few days.

Been a while since the last post...nothing much happening because I have to still book a venue.  I'm going back to Sacramento tomorrow and have 4 places scheduled to tour and 2 more we can tour at our leasure.  Hoping to get a few more to respond and be able to see either Sunday or Monday.  It's like pulling teeth to get these places to call you back.  I feel like I'm borderline harassing them.

1. Coloma Country Inn (www.colomacountryinn.com) is the first on the list for Sunday morning.  I really like this place, even though it's a little ways out of Sacramento.
2. Maple Rock Gardens (www.maplerockgardens.com) is very pretty, but I don't know much about it since the owners haven't given me much info.  We are also seeing this place Sunday.
3. The Beda Place (www.thebedaplace.com). Nothing too exciting from the website, but might as well check it out.
4. Lifetime Ranch (www.lifetimeranch.com).
   
5. Empire State Mine Park (www.empiremine.org) is a location that I haven't heard back from, but since it's a park, we can go and look at it without having to schedule an appointment.
6. Capitol Park - we are going to walk through it ourselves.  There are various sections of the park you can get a "permit" for having an event.  Figured this could be my back up location if everything else falls through.

It's been a few days and I don't have much to update.  Been searching for a venue and I can't really get anything else done until I get one secured.  A lot of possibilities...just have to find the right one.

While strolling back from dinner tonight Chad & I decided on a theme for the reception...photos & travel. The main part of the table center pieces will be photos of us and each table will have a different theme from a vacation or country we have visited mixed in with some pictures of us growing up. The escort cards will assign you to the vacation/country table you will be sitting at. And all of that will tie in nicely with the photo booth we want at the reception. Also thought to put some sort of trivia cards at the tables about Chad & I. Have to work on that idea more. But its all coming together. I am also thinking we can incorporate this into the invitation, save-the-date cards, etc.

Today while watch the Rose Parade and I think I hammered down the color palette. The NBC broadcast set up had beautifully colored roses from red to orange, yellow, pink and it looked awesome. I then went online and found these pics and they incorporate a lot of the colors I saw. I also thought that gold would be a good accent color.

Nothing new really today...I got sized last night (size 6) and while we are out tonight going to go try on different wedding bands. I think I want to keep the single solitaire engagement ring (it's so me) and then get an eternity diamond wedding band.

Here's the pic just a few minutes after he proposed. It was about 8am on Christmas morning.

I keep telling the proposal story over & over, so maybe if I put it here people can come and check it out.

Christmas morning Chad got up really early, around 6am. I thought it was kind of weird that he didn't come back to bed, thought he had just gone to the bathroom. He came back in a little while later but left in a few seconds. I went back to sleep, but couldn't sleep anymore after 7:30am. If any of you know Chad, you know that this isn't like him at all. He LOVES to sleep. Of the 14 years he has been doing Christmas morning at his dad's house his sister Courtney has woken him up every year. This was the first and maybe only year that he got the chance to wake her up.

Anyhow...we were opening presents in a T-shirt and he was cold and went to get a sweatshirt, nothing unusual about that. Then it was taking him a while and the only present I had left to open was his, so I waited until he got back. When he came up he had his hair done (I did notice that) and had shaved (I didn't notice this). I had 3 objects to open that looked like a long cone and I had to open them in order. I was expecting pearl earrings and so I thought maybe he had wrapped each one individually and then also gotten me a pendant. Still had no clue. I started opening the 1st one and it was a fire & ice rose with a note attached to it. Still not completely clued in. When I read the note I thought OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG. The gist of the note was that the rose symbolized his love for me in the past. The 2nd rose had a note symbolizing the present and the 3rd for the future. I was so SURPRISED, but totally nervous/shaking at this point. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I thought for sure that when he did propose I would just bawl my eyes out, but I didn't. I was just so surprised by it. Of course I said yes! I spent the next hour jumping around the house - it was Christmas morning and Santa gave me the coolest present ever!!!

Debbie has video of the proposal, so if this blog lets me upload it, I'll probably do it in a week or so.

The ring is a little big, so we have to get a smaller band. Tonight while we are out and about I'm going to try and get sized in a jewelry shop.

Well, this is my first entry and thought it would be fun to keep everyone updated. Also good for me to journal for posterity and maybe vent frustrations etc. As I am sure there are going to be at least a few...


It's been 3 1/2 days since Chad proposed and I said yes and I already have a few things done:

1. I have asked and received yes from my matron on honor (my lovely & beautiful sis, Christie) & 2 brides maids (Michelle & Courtney) and 2 of the 3 flower girls (well, their moms said yes...Sophia & Siena).
2. My parents have given me a rough budget.
3. My parents have approved my guest list with only 3 additions as maybe, but no push back on inviting them for sure.
4. Main color of the wedding is going to be red, but not real sure on the exact shade or complimentary colors.
5. I know I want an outside wedding with scenery and probably not in the middle of the city (don't want to hear traffic driving by during the ceremony).

I am going to send the guest list to Chad's family tonight for approval as well. Then I'll know how many guest I have to work with.