I Have Arrived And Ready To Blog...Two Years Later

Hello dear friends,

I have neglected you.  I am so sorry.  It has been about two years since my last entry and to even type that is creepy.  Time flies.  I consistently tried to make blog entires for the majority of my wedding planning but I would never finish them. So I have a bunch of half written blog entries that I have saved in my blogger dashboard and I figured I would share them with you for my first blog entry and save the tasty tidbits of the last part of my wedding planning as well as my life for the past year for another blog entry. 

I just said "blog entry" way too much.

Blog entry.

Okay, let's get going...

1/11/11 <--really should have taken advantage of this awesome entry date like listing my number 1 favorite things for the wedding.  FAIL.

"After a short hiatus for the holidays...I'm back!  And I come bearing 4 bridesmaid gowns.  2 more to go and I am done with these dresses.  YEEHAW!  I decided to have each girl pick one of the fourteen gowns I picked out.  And they all are GORGEOUS! Along with choosing the dresses came the color scheme.  The colors are platinum a.k.a. moonstone, eggplant, and a luminescent beige a.k.a. toast. Sounds crazy right?  I thought so too, but when I saw the colors together...it was beyond elegant!"



6/18/11 <--This post was just busting with information, which I properly titled, "Let's Get You Up To Speed".

"Today is my bridal shower and the wedding is three weeks away!"



6/20/11 <--I am now entering my Bridezilla stage.  Please don't judge me...

"So for quite some time now, I have been pretty much running around like a chicken with its head cut off.  I am now back on track and ready to blog.

Since my last entry I have found and ordered all my bridesmaid gowns, ordered my veil, found my florist and my caterer, had my bouquet made, collected about 30 more metal plated antique dining ware pieces, order the groom and groomsman's suits, found my officiant (who happens to be my sister), chose all our main wedding songs, hired a photo booth, picked out our cake and! cupcakes, and pretty much blown my previous budget to pieces.  That last one makes my Fiancé really happy.  JUST KIDDING!

So let's start off with the bridesmaid gowns.  Notice I said gowns because they are pretty darn fancy.  We ordered half of them at Macy's Bridal Salon on State Street and the other half at House of Brides in Orland Park.  Both places consistently seemed to be confused with my order and even at one point went ahead and changed a dress order to the color taupe instead of eggplant without even confirming with me my question of color change.  So after my head popped off and I spent a good chunk of time "talking" to the manager, the dress order was changed the following Monday and ,THANK GOD, arrived in the right color last week.  When it came to picking out the dresses I pretty much let the girls have free reign.  I made a list of about 25 dresses that were all similar in style and let them have at it.  They all picked beautiful gowns and I can't wait to see them all dressed up.  The designers we chose were Watters, WTOO, Bill Levkoff, Bari Jay, and Alexia Designs.  They are all perfect."



7/25/12 <--My first attempt at getting into the blogging saddle.

"So after a long (very long) hiatus, I have decided to return to the blogging world.  My wedding has come and gone and we have already celebrated our first year being together as a married couple. I am re-reading the few posts I have made and nothing went the way I predicted it would go.  I wouldn't change any of it though.  It was the best wedding.  

So let's begin.  Wendell and I started this wedding planning process with a very low budget, no money saved, and no clue where to start.  Obviously we started with setting the date.  We chose July 10, 2011.  It was a Sunday.  We knew venues would be cheaper on a Sunday.  We started our search.  Absolutely no direction what-so-ever as to what we wanted.  I spent a lot of time on the computer looking through menu after menu, churches, banquet halls, victorian houses, etc..  We looked at a few.  One was in Indiana and I cannot remember the name of it.  The other place we looked at was the Jacob Henry Mansion in Joliet, IL.  I have attended a wedding there before and knew the general layout.  I loved it, but there was just something about that Wendell and I didn't click with.  So we made an appointment at the Rialto Square Theatre for  tour.  I have already gone over how this tour went and obviously we went with the Rialto.  

This seems like a good place to start spitting out the details.

Once we had the tour, before we left we were handed a folder filled with information.  We got home and I started crunching numbers."

Now there is today.  3/5/2013

I have been married for 20 months, my son turned 4, I had another baby who is 2 days shy of being 2 months old, quit my job, and I entered the world of loose belly skin and stay-at-home mom adventures. I am going to document it.  I have to feed my kids first.

Stay tuned.

Tomorrow I Send Out the Save-the-Dates

I had my friends put the stamps on my save-the-dates a few weeks back and they have been sitting in the box, ready to be mailed for a good time now.  I just can't help but think how surreal it is to me that I will be someone's wife.  Surreal in a good way.  A really good way. No matter how good that feeling is though...there is always the nervousness.  The same nervousness I had laying in the hospital bed, in labor with my son.  It's that feeling of entering a new stage in life.  So completely different from teenage years where it is such a gradual process to adulthood.  You always think you are at the peak of mature and then you hit another peak and you realize that you are still just a child.  Marriage and parenthood are flat out in your face and both are the scariest and most exciting things to experience.  Life changing.  The steps I have to take to mail these little pieces of cardstock are so exciting.  I have to get in the car, drive to the post office, and drop off the save-the-dates.  This is a new chapter in my life and I am so ready for it.  I keep telling myself, this is real.  You are going to get married.  You will be a wife and you will be able to call your love...your husband.  Tomorrow I am sending out my save-the-dates and I am telling every loved one in Wendell and I's lives that we will be celebrating us, as a couple, and love, and family.  I am beyond thrilled and I hope all you brides out there that read this blog (hopefully there are few) feel the same way.

 So keep checking your mailboxes for Wendell and I's face.  You know who you are :)

So you want six wedding dresses...

I don't know about you, but I have a serious problem with wedding reality shows.  I spend most Sunday and Monday nights indulging in these awesomely horrible shows and usually end up with a sinking stomach and anxiety when they are over.  I spend the whole time making notes in my head. "Oh, so people really do notice what type of chairs they are sitting on." "I must have gourmet food or else my guests won't be happy." "Should I buy another wedding dress." (<---that thought was after the Bridezilla Finale when one of the brides had SIX, yes six, wedding gowns.) And then I see these brides budgets.  "Theresa is having a DIY wedding for150 guests.  Her budget is $30,000!"  Then my head begins spinning. Wendell starts going into convulsions.  And we are wedding zombies for the rest of the night.  The thought of spending $30,000 for one day boggles my mind and I strain to figure out what I could possibly have to buy that would all equal up to that amount of money.  I start to hear echos of all the price quotes I have received, I tally up the money we have already spent, and I say,"damnit, there goes my $5,000 budget."  This brings me to the DO'S and DON'T to staying on your wedding budget.  In this post I will tell about rule numéro un and deux.

(1) Your venue sets your budget. 

Say that over and over in your head.  Your venue sets your budget.  And I shall tell you why.  ;)

Wendell and I are having our wedding at a venue that is 15 years shy of being 100 years old.  The building reflects Greek, Roman, and Byzantine architecture.  The main chandelier a.k.a. "The Duchess" is two tons of Marie Therese cut Czechoslovakian crystal, bronze, and awesomeness. And every single bit of the reception area is a replica of either the Palace of Versailles or the Arc de Triomphe.  The ceilings have engravings of picture interpretations of the Greek gods.  Absolutely everything is drowning in gold and just screams, "Holy crap. This is beautiful."  The place is more of an experience than a venue.  It's breath taking.  And after leaving the place high on happiness...I pretty much got punched in the face with the idea of how in the hell am I going to decorate.  I graced plenty of DIY wedding websites and I am sorry but I can't just stick some fresh wildflowers in a Balls jar and call it a centerpiece when they are going to be on tables in a theater that cost $2 million dollars to build in 1926!! If you are spending a few bucks on your venue...pretty much everything else you are going to buy will be more that expected.  Buying all those antique goblets and trinkets wasn't exactly cheap.  Cheaper than going to a florist, but not the most penny pinching wedding decor. So when it comes time to your venue hunting, really make sure that you can afford the place as a whole package.  This is not to say that every ritzy place will be not affordable, I'm just saying that the decorating, the outfits, the dining ware might have to be upgraded a bit so that the place doesn't feel awkward or mismatched.  If that's your thang than be my guest, but it isn't mine.  Wendell and I walked into The Rialto with a budget of $5,000 for the whole wedding. We walked out with that budget already spent.  We still have catering, the DJ, the videographer, the photographer, bridal party outfits, rental items, centerpieces, wedding gifts, honeymoon, invitations, and miscellaneous items that are necessities at a wedding to pay for.  So with that info remember this...its hard to frame a million dollar painting with a $10 frame. 

(2) You don't need two wedding gowns.

I don't get this whole thing.  Do you?  A dress for the ceremony and a dress for the reception.  Sense no make.  Just don't do it.  It's excessive and stupid.  I don't think I would be able to find another dress that made me feel the way my dress did when I put it on for the first time.  And also...if the dress is ridiculously big...it looks ridiculous.

I name this "Case and Point"

Keep reading for Amanda's future DO'S and DON'T.

Centerpieces Shmenterpieces

After changing ideas over and over about our centerpieces, we finally decided to just do it ourselves and figure out how to cut out the florist.  Now it is almost impossible to make things with fresh flowers without a florist or die hard bridesmaids who want to make everything that involves a flower the night of and the morning of the wedding.  Even then, who is going to transport the items the day of the wedding?  Too ridiculous.  So, I'm not the luckiest person in the world, but luck struck me when a close friend of mine graduated design school.  Yes.  A graduate of design school!  He offered his help to me when it came to designing the wedding and coordinating everything. He came up with an awesome idea of using succulents.  After researching ideas and such on the internet I found out that this is a big to do these days.  So first thing Wendell and I did was go to the antique store (Three Sisters in Blue Island, IL) and found as many silver plated or gold plated goblets, cups, tea pots, and champagne pots as I could find.  We plan on using these as the container for the succulents.  These plants are awesome.  That's why it is such a good and AWESOME idea to use them.  The centerpieces can be prepared a few days to a week in advance.  Succulents are such a low maintenance plant.  They need very little TLC and you don't have to worry about them being refrigerated, watered, and arranged like fresh flowers have to.  Now in this post I am just rambling on about how great this idea was, but we haven't put anything together yet (since the wedding is only 8 months away), but when we do, the process will be posted in detail and with instructions so just hang on.  So here is some inspiration for you and give you a idea of what I am talking about.

 

Those are some things I came across when I was looking for inspiration.  Love everything about it!  I don't know how you can't.  You can make these centerpieces yours!  The feel can be rustic and so easily have it be elegant and ritzy!  LOOOOVEEE IT!  And you can do it!  It isn't that hard.  Here are some of the containers I found at Wendell and I's antique scourging!

Go ahead.  Tell me how awesome this is going to be...

Spoooookky!

In honor of Halloween, I figured I would give you the spooky side of my Fiance and I's venue, The Rialto Square Theatre.

The theatre was opened in 1926 as a "palace for the people." It not only was saved from being knocked down and turned into a parking lot in the 1970's, but it is now considered a national landmark on Route 66.  So now you know some of the historical background aaaaannnd now I will let you know about the HAUNTINGS!!!

When Wendell and I were searching for a venue online when we came across the Rialto and during research about the place we found several websites that stated that this place was not only occupied by a lot of theater and music enthusiasts, but also by a few ghosts!  So when we were on our way to the viewing of the space I said to Wendell, "Don't ask or say anything about rumors of the Rialto being haunted."  He said, "Okay."  Thirty minutes into our conversation with the events coordinator, Wendell says, "Sooooo, is this place haunted?" and she replies,"Yes."  She shared a story of a mother and her child attending a wedding at the theater and during the reception the child was brought into the theater area to be calmed down after an anxiety attack.  The child said she needed to go outside because there was too many people in the room...even though they were the only ones in the room.  AHHHH!

So that's a true one.  Here are the rumors that some people have heard and what the word is on the web.

The most often spied is a nameless spectral woman who is thought to have been an actress who performed at the theatre many years ago. She is described as being in her twenties, very pretty, sometimes surrounded by hazy light, and thought to have been a well-known performer of her time. She has been reported to have been seen floating around the theatre by staff, customers, and workmen, becoming especially active during the period of time that it was closed to the public. Many believe that she so loved performing there that she’s just not ready to leave this world.  Two more spirits, one male and one female, are sometimes spied in the auditorium’s balcony. According to the legend, the pair fell to their deaths from the balcony, and like others who have died in tragic accidents, they just won’t move on.  Other reports include sudden periods of icy coldness, strange noises, objects that seemingly move of their own accord, and the feeling that they have been "jabbed” by an unseen finger.

After reading all that I decided to make a picture of what I think the ghosts may look like. Enjoy

source: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/il-rialtotheatreghost.html

Bridesmaid dress choices from hell...

When it comes to bridesmaid dresses, I am totally confused about what style and color that will please everyone and look good as well on all body shapes.  Bridesmaid dresses have been THE hardest thing for me so far in this planning process.  So far these have what I have picked out.

I am trying to find a a bridesmaid dress that will be able to go with the feel of my venue as well.

What's that you ask?  What does my venue look like?  Well, here is a little glimpse and probably all I will show until after the wedding.

Go ahead.  Let your jaw hang there in the wind.  This place is awesome and I seriously cannot believe that Wendell and I will be getting married here!  The pictures really don't give the space justice.  The architects also designed the Oriental Theatre in Chicago, IL.

I consider us pretty lucky!  

And it all started here...

Okay, so this is my first blog.  Ever.  I figure since it is my first, I will use it to explain to you "bloggers" what my purpose for this blog is.  Well, for those of you who aren't as observant as the rest of society...I, Amanda, am getting married.  Yes folks.  I am crossing over to married life and saying goodbye to the single one.  I can't say that I am not ready for this.  I have a wonderful man, beautiful baby boy and will become a step-mom to a 7-year-old girl.  I have two dogs, Ricky and Ernie.  And lest we forget the hedgehog, Fred.  With our beautiful little family already made...it is time to get hitched.  I am counting down the days and I seriously cannot wait!  So since the day we set the date, I have been planning.  And by planning I mean scouring the internet, looking for every DIY project I can possibly do and drooling over amazing dresses and wedding decor that I will never be able to pay for even if I save 5 lifetime earnings.  Simply access denied.  As I said before that leaves me with DIY projects and trying to keep everything to the minimal, but not have anything be plain and cheap looking.  I plan to use this site to bring together all of my ideas and  hopefully inspire other brides who are like me.  Want a DIY wedding, but ain't that crafty.  I want to take you all through the steps of my wedding process and how and where I bought the things I needed to have a "fakespensive" wedding.  And yes.  I made up that word.  Tell it to your friends.