I'm a bad blogger.

Yes, I am a bad blogger. lol

As the holidays have approached, and the wedding planning has moved into higher gear, I find that I have very little time for simple things, like blogging. And for that I apologize to whomever might be reading, and waiting for another post.

I'm sorry!

The good news is, things are happening!

Hopefully I can post an update soon. Hint: My dress arrived early and it is beautiful! :D

I care.

Interesting conversation with the FH last night.


The way that this most recent discussion started was over envelope labels of all things, but we've had little versions for weeks.

We are two months behind on sending out Save-the-Dates. TWO MONTHS. They need to go out yes.ter.day.

I'm pretty sure M questioned my sanity when I told him I wanted all the Save-the-Dates outlined in orange.

M: "Why do we need the edges to be orange?"
Me: "Because it will add just a little touch that people won't expect and might enjoy."
M: "I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't asked me which edge color I liked best."
Me: "Yes, but someone will notice. It's something easy we can do to make them a little more special."
M: "I don't think anyone cares."
Me: "I care."

Then we moved on to how we were going to address them. Poor M.

M: "I think we should just buy address labels and print them."
Me: "I'm going to design a wrap-around label that will have the invitee's address on them."
M: "Can't we just do that for the invites?"
Me: "We could, but this will pull everything together. From the beginning it will look stellar."
M: "But my parents already have a file with all their addresses in those little address labels."
Me: "I don't like the little address labels. They are impersonal and lack any kind of tie-in for the way the rest of the invite suite will look."
M: "We should just do the fancy ones for the invitations."
Me: "Then I will just hand write them this time." (Yes, I dislike those little labels enough that I was willing to hand write 125 addresses.)
M: "I don't think anyone cares."
Me: "I care."

Then we discussed stamps.

Me: "We should get the King and Queen ones."
M: "Why?"
Me: "Because they are cute, and they interact, and they are the King and Queen of Hearts and say 'Love' on them."
M: "Does that matter?"
Me: "To me it does."
M: "I don't think anybody cares."
Me: "I care."

Last night I brought envelope wraps again.

Me: "I really think we need to do the nice wrap-around label."
M: "Isn't that just more work?"
Me: "It won't take any longer than addressing them by hand. And I realized that we need to have our website on there so people know where to stay." turns computer around "And look how awesome they look."
M: "They do look really good. I like them. But I thought we were doing them for invitations."
Me: "We can do different ones for invitations."
M: "I don't think anyone will notice."
Me: "I will notice, I will care. This is what I do, it must look awesome."

Before anyone starts throwing certain 10-letter B-words around. Let me explain.

And I'm pretty sure he gets where I'm coming from, and I felt a little overzealous explaining it to him, but I really wanted him to understand where I was coming from.


See, I'm a Graphic Designer. I went to school, I have the degree, and although I get to do very little design that makes me happy in my current job, I have a couple of freelance clients, and I design for a living. It is what pays my bills. (Even, and especially, wedding bills. :D)

So therefore, my Save-the-Dates, and my Invitations are not just a wedding necessity. They don't just need to look nice because that is what you do for weddings, because that is the proper thing to do. We can't just pick them out of a book, because that is the most outrageous cop-out.

I need to design them and they need to be masterpieces because it's a matter of pride.

This is what I studied, this is what I do, and to do anything less than something stellar for my own use would be a tremendous failure.

This is why I care. This is why I come off a little control-freakish in nature. Because I am putting my design, my brand, out there.

And I think that all of my teachers and myself would be disappointed if they looked like I did them in five seconds or less. :(

Will they be perfect? Probably not. Will they match? Yes. But mostly, I will be putting out a product that I loved making, that means something special to me, and that looks like a completed project. So, yes, in the end, even if I'm the only one...


I care.

Cupcake Tasting

Yesterday M and I decided to do some impromptu cupcake tasting.

(Yes, cupcakes. We're not really into traditional cake, and cupcakes are cute and easy.)
(And yes, they're popular right now, but apparently Utah is a little behind the times, and we'd actually be setting the trend, not riding it. Who knew?)

These were impromptu because we just walked into store-fronts, we didn't make appointments. So we didn't really get the full "cake-tasting" experience, but we saw enough to count. lol (And who knew cupcakes could cost so much?!?)

The first bakery simply drew us in because they are ENTIRELY GLUTEN FREE. Yes, for celiac folks, you read that right, GLUTEN FREE!

Which is important (to me, not so much M) because several guests and one member of the bridal party are Celiac*, so I need to make sure I have something for them to eat so I'm not poisoning them day of. :) 

Their storefront is a little different, they are in an industrial area, and their "cafe" area is a little confusing. (When you first walk in you are faced with a hallway to a door to the backroom. You have to go through a different door to get to the "cafe" area.) M was a little skeptical, they make a lot of claims about the quality of their gluten free cupcakes, namely, that no one will be able to tell the difference. We tried a vanilla-strawberry cupcake and a peanut butter cupcake. Well folks, it would be tougher than usual, but at the end of the day you are still eating a gluten-free cupcake.

They were good, especially for gluten free. (Which usually is very dense and drier than a usual cake/cupcake.) The icing was killer, which is saying something because neither of us like a lot of icing. But M's cupcake was closer to a muffin, and tasted like a cookie. And they just weren't killer. So although we'll keep it in the back of our minds for providing for our Celiac guests, I don't think we'll be ordering too much from there.

The other bakery we visited is a little bit better set up. It's in a strip mall, and they've got better branding. (It's the graphic designer in me. :D) And their shop is really cute!

We tried peach cobbler, lemon raspberry, and cheesecake. Our definite favorite was the peach cobbler! So tasty! The lemon (icing) raspberry (cake) was good, but it needed just a tad less lemon. The icing overwhelmed the cake. The cheesecake was okay. But not killer. It was more like an ordinary cupcake.

I've had other cupcakes from this location before, so I know the cheesecake cupcake is a fluke. :)

We still have a couple places that we are trying to get in contact with to do real tastings, so the adventure continues, but I think we're off to a good start!

We've established...

... that I stalk wedding blogs and have for years right??

Ok, just checking. Just making sure that everyone is aware of my obsession. lol

I've been on vacation for the last two weeks, hence the absence, and when I came back my Google reader had 1000+ items waiting for me. Yes, you read that properly, 1000+ (1194 to be exact, well, as of the first time I checked the total - it could have been more).

And that is after I logged on twice during my vacation and read around 500 items. Oy.

Anyways... I am slowly working through my 1000+ items, (but in the last three days I have yet to get below the 1000 mark. Why? Because people keep posting!) and today I read this really great post from Meg over at A Practical Wedding. She's awesome. Seriously. Check it out. I'll wait...

Back? Ok. So, she posted basically two weeks ago about how she went and tried trapeze flying, but her post is about pushing through the fear that comes with something new. (It seems to have started with a fear of dancing lessons that someone else brought up... I think.)

It really struck me. She specifically mentions how as adults we never push ourselves, and I immediately thought back to the vacation I just took, and how my mother talked me into cliff jumping. Into a river.

She didn't really press too hard, but I wouldn't have done it if she hadn't suggested it, and waited to watch and take a picture. Why? Because. Because I had never done it before, because I was too busy doing nothing, because it was outside of my comfort zone, and I never would have thought of it.

I did it, and it was totally fun. (sorry everyone, no pictures yet...) I'm not saying there wasn't one moment of "well, crap... this is really high..." but I needed my mom to make that initial push. And I'm usually the one pushing for the oddities and doing things just to be able to say "I did that!"

So, in the end, Meg is right. As adults we don't step out on that limb enough, we don't push ourselves enough, we take the easy road. Even those of us who enjoy the road not taken.

Now I really want to find something to go into the wedding that we'll make us both step outside of our comfort zones. Hmmmmm... flash mob anyone?

Own it.

So I'm a little quirky. (weird, odd, whatever...) This is something that my fiance knows and loves about me, but that doesn't mean it doesn't come with it's own struggles.

I had this little speech (such as it is) for M the other day when we looked at me like I was crazy for wanting Chucks for the groomsmen, but then I turned around and needed it myself when I found myself waffling between two decisions for the sake of what's normal.

So I'm going to put it here in case anyone else needs it, or, more specifically, if I need it again. (And I'm sure I will.)


No matter what you are doing, what decision you are making, what centerpieces you choose to have - be they navy, plum, or pink-polka dotted - If it is you and you own it not one person will second guess.

This is coming from a girl that wore red Chucks to her senior prom, with a prom dress. (I even still have them.) The only person to raise an eyebrow was my mother, because she always wants me to be a lady, but even she had to admit, it was very me.

And as we tried on dresses, I lean towards the more vintage-y vibe, including a bird cage veil. Again, no one thought twice but my mother, and only because it wasn't her style. Her exact words? "It's very you."

So own it. All of it. Whatever you decide, it is yours to have and hold and love forever. Not one person will remember it later, except you and your SO. So do whatever you want, and if it's different, quirky, or even a little odd, that's okay, because most likely you are a little different, quirky, or odd.


I'll step off my soapbox now. Just remember...
OWN IT

We have a dress!

Well, we have a piece of paper that says we purchased a dress. I don't actually have one in hand.

And I don't have any pictures to show you either. My good friend, bridesmaid Mi, brought a camera and took lots of pictures as I tried things on, but won't let me see any of them. So, I don't even have anything to look at, other than my memories of actually wearing it.

BUT, it does exist, it is coming, and I'm excited!!

The consultant at the salon was so sweet and so great. My mom was flying in for the weekend, and I really wanted her to see me in a particular dress (and I really wanted to see me in that dress). So I called the salon, they close at 6 and my mom's flight didn't arrive until 5, and asked if they would mind if I dashed in just to try on one dress. The consultant spent a few minutes confirming that they had the dress, and then agreed.

To hedge my bets, I also made appointments at a couple other locations, just in case my dress ideas didn't work out.

We walked in the salon at 5:45, and the consultant told us that she'd be happy to stay and let me try on as many as I'd like.

Wow, really?

So I picked up the one that I was there for and half a dozen others and headed to a dressing room. There were definitely a couple maybes, and I saved the one I wanted for last, so I wouldn't be comparing them all to that one.

Once I put on the dress I was there for, it was obvious. This was the one! I would have taken it home and slept in it had it been the proper color (it was Ivory). lol

It won't be here until December! (I guess that happens a lot with this designer...) but until then I can still admire the pictures online right? :-D

We have a date!!

I won't be sharing the exact day here for, well, privacy reasons. I don't want anyone to crash our wedding!!

We're not sure where yet, but the decision has been made for March.

It was actually rather easy.

See, I went in to try on dresses at a David's Bridal in SoCal.* (I went home for my birthday, and, um, COMIC CON. Yes, I'm a geek. :D) At the end of the appointment, the consultant tried to confirm the date that I'd given them when signing up for their website. It was sometime in May, mainly because I didn't have a date.

May doesn't work for various reasons, so I laughed and told her that it was probably more like March, and then arbitrarily picked a weekend that I knew M didn't have to work.

Turns out, this is the same day that my mom has been giving the vendors she's calling, for different various reasons.

It's like the clouds opened up and angels sang. Ok, not really, but it seemed a really easy decision. I came home, discussed it with M for 2.5 seconds, and the decision was made.

Now for a venue, and the big stuff is almost done. :D

*And no, I didn't find a dress. But there were a couple of serious contenders. lol