Brides to be
 

I was wondering if any other engaged ladies out there would be interested in starting a new thread? I know everyone wants to look fit and fabulous on her wedding day. Plus we could dish about wedding planning, dress shopping (ugh!) and other things like that.

I’ve been engaged for about a month and we’re planning to have our wedding in May 2008. My weight loss has been stalled since last summer due to lots of things (moving, lack of motivation, beer and pizza :o) but now I’m back on the wagon and hoping to lose about 30 lbs before the big day.

If you’re interested, please introduce yourself!

I would definately be interested, I am getting married October 2007, so I have to get on it! I wanted to lose 50 pounds but I don't think I can do it in 7 month, however, I want to lose as much as I can before August (final time to get my dress altered).

My boyfriend just proposed to me on Monday :D I have been engaged now for not even 3 whole days :dizzy: But of course, being a woman, I have already thought about us getting married, getting a ring, having a wedding, having kids, all that jazz, long before he proposed ;)

We're at a loss for wedding ideas. I hate dancing, so a typical reception is OUT for us, but I still want to have a gathering of friends and family. We'll figure it out in time--and we do have plenty of time. I don't want to even think about any real plans until after we move into our new home together in the fall (our apartment lease runs out in November, so we are planning to buy a townhouse together). Also, my parents are about to embark on a big move (from Connecticut to Virginia Beach), so as I explained it to my mother and sister, I don't want to start planning anything until my parents are moved and settled and Jeff and I are moved and settled--that way, everyone's focus can be on ME! :p

Congrats jillybean!

Jilly - OH MY GOODNESS - congrats.

Well, I'd love to be on the thread for the 5 weeks of wedding planning I have left...April 21st!

Thanks, guys! I am soooo interested in what others are doing for their weddings--locations, colors, receptions, ceremonies, dresses--the whole shabang.

I do know that if I go with something formal/organized enough to pick colors, I want to use a deep royal blue and deep jewel-tone purple with bright turquoise accents. That's as far as I've gotten :p

:congrat: Jill! Plus a new home, you must be super excited.

Madalinn – At 5 weeks left to go I do hope most of the planning is done! I know I will probably be a wreck by that point.

I like picking out colors too, picking the bridal party has been a little trickier. You never want to hurt anyone’s feelings or leave anyone out and there’s a pressure to meet everyone’s expectations. Plus we just have a lot more close friends and family that are girls than guys, and my fiancé is kind of set on having an even number of girls to guys. sigh Well, at least there’s plenty of time to work that out.

We did find a place last weekend that we’re interested in having the ceremony at. It was under snow of course, but it should be stunning in the spring, there are some nice pictures on their website. http://www.horticulture.wisc.edu/all...ish_garden.htm We’re hoping to have the reception at the UW Memorial Union, but it books up really fast so we need to get on that (yes, even more than a year in advance). It would be really cool if we could do the whole thing on campus since we met back in our school days there.

Wow, that garden is gorgeous!

I'm going to cheat a bit on the wedding party because this should not be a tressful thing for me. I only have 1 sister, and I was maid of honor at both of her weddings (hopefully, she is done having weddings), so she will be my Natron o fHonor. The end. No bridesmaids required :p Then I won't have to worry about anyoone's dress not matching or not being hemmed to the same length or the dress I want not coming in someone's size (as was a concern when my sister was picking out a dres for the bridal party--would it come in plus sizes for ME??), and no one's feelings should be hurt since my sister is my only sister, and everyone understands that. I've already even told my best friend from college that I'm probably not having bridesmaids (which is fine by her since it's an added expense she doesn't have to worry about ;) ).

Um - no. Sure, you have your overarching things set - invitations sent, caterers and sites and alcohol and DJ and all of that stuff set up. Dresses at the seamstress, bridesmaid dresses delivered. Honeymoon booked. A lot of the BIG stuff is taken care of. But then you have to track responses, plan rehearsal dinners, pick up all kinds of things from all kinds of places, set a song list, assemble favors, finalize the ceremony, finalize the timeline, arrange everyones schedule, make sure everyone has travel arrangements, start shopping and packing for honeymoon, pick a first dance song, make sure all of your guys have tuxes taken care of, order attendant gifts, wrap attendant gifts, assemble programs, make seating charts...

OK, OCD Bride alert. If you ask for wedding details...you will get them! Also, wedding-with-two-brides alert...if that isn't your thing, please skip.

First, for our overall vision check out http://www.sarahandamanda.com. Those are approximately our colors, you can get a vague idea of our plans from there. The colors are lavender and a sort of pale sage-green color, with a little bit of shimmer in them.

Sarah is a floral designer. I know nothing of the flowers except that I had to spend 3 months working on and off on a website for her company to pay for her vision. But at least they are free, now. So far, she has filled me in on some of the plans - bluebird roses, green cymbidium orchids...an orchid on every napkin ring (!!), white orchid bouts/corsages for the parents, green orchid bouts for the gentleman attendants. The centerpieces involve hydrangeas. All of the tables are named after favorite flowers of ours, which fits with the floral-sort-of theme. We are putting a single, bright color gerbera daisy (my favorite flower) in each of the out of town baskets, along with some snack foods, water, and information about the festivities/things to do in Berkeley.

We are having our ceremony and reception here:
http://www.herecomestheguide.com/loc...brazilian-room

The ceremony is going to be simple, short, and facing out on this gorgeous green hillside under a small arch. Sarah's step-father, who is important in her life but still not a -father- figure to her, is going to officiate (we wanted him to have an important role in the ceremony, but not try to fit him into the "father" role - her bio dad will do that anyway). The reception is going to consist of a buffet meal, some dancing, and karaoke (which I could not be more thrilled about - already people are practicing, its madness!). Wine, beer, and champagne. Our biggest splurge (other than the bartered flowers) was hiring a bus to transport our guests up and down the hill to the site so everyone can drink as they wish, then get home safely...its worth the money to have everyone be safe.

Dresses - they coordinate but do not match...you'd be surprised how hard it is to pick out dresses that mesh for two brides:
Me (ignore all the pins - the seamstress literally had to take it in from an 18W to a 10/12, and I finally get to see the finished product on Saturday:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...ndapics026.jpg
Sarah: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...ndapics027.jpg
Bridesmaids: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...2/bafd7d65.jpg
That bridesmaid is my sister...also getting married on July 21st! Yeah, in a brilliant time-management move, I am throwing her a shower the weekend before my wedding.

Menu (is this too much detail? LOL. People should know better than to ask me these things):

Appetizers (passed during cocktail time):
-Caramelized Onions and Brie in Baked Phyllo
-Bruschetta with Tomato, Garlic, Olive Oil, and Fresh Basil

Entrees:
-Sonoma Chicken Breast with Meyer Lemon and Rosemary
-Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic

Sides:
-Field Greens with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette, Sweet-Spicy Pecans, and Feta
-Pencil thin asparagus with roasted garlic and sesame vinaigrette
-Tomatoes and Yellow/Green Zucchini baked with Parmesan Cheese and Fresh Herbs
-Caramelized Petaluma Brie with strawberries and crackers
-Petite Red Potatoes, served with sour cream
-Potato Rolls and Seeded Baguettes, served with sweet butter

Plus wine, beer, champagne, sodas, and this AMAZING meyer lemon and blueberry punch. For the champagne toast, we're floating blueberries in each glass. I am super excited about our catering because they use local, organic ingredients whenever possible and donate leftovers to homeless shelters in the area.

Cake - it is square, has three tiers. Each tier is frosted in white buttercream, then wrapped around the base with a lavender fondant ribbon colored based on the paper sample from our invitation. Then, piped onto the sides (in white - its more textural than truly visible piping) is our invitation motif...a little cartoon flower that is so cute. The bottom layer is princess...white cake with raspberry preserves, vanilla buttercream, and a little almond paste. The top two tiers are valencia - chocolate cake brushed with grand marnier, with dark chocolate mousse, a thin layer of orange marmalade, and a hint of candied orange peel. The top will be decorated with, what else, more flowers.

The worst details for me (in terms of being ashamed of my obvious OCD) - the bathroom baskets! I hand-molded soaps in our wedding colors and scents and bought little dishes for them to go in, then assembled baskets to put in the bathrooms of things like mints, hairspray, lotion, tylenol, antacids, lint rollers, bandaids...plus extra things in the womens, like hygiene products and bobby pins...and THEN bought disposable guest towels (you know - the paper-towel-like things that are a little thicker and softer that are sometimes in bathrooms?) in our wedding colors to go next to them.

Amanda – 1) You just made my head explode. 2) You and Sarah are adorable! 3) Will you come plan my wedding?

Seriously, hand molded soaps in your wedding colors and scents, you are some sort of super-bride!

That’s funny about your colors, I was thinking about that yesterday and decided I wanted the bridesmaids in either a purply-blue (like cornflower) or a dusty green (celadon). Isn’t it crazy how planning this stuff makes you learn the nuances of color names! I also want purple hydrangeas with some sort of green and maybe pink accents. Originally I wanted tulips, but tulip stems go south pretty fast, I don’t think they’d make it through a whole day. I might use potted tulips as centerpieces for the reception.

That’s cool that you can get Sarah’s step dad to officiate. We’re going to get a Justice of the Peace but aren’t sure how to go about finding one.

Where did you find your dresses? I’m not crazy about anything at David’s Bridal. Also, good to know that a seamstress can take a dress in from an 18 to a 10/12. I was wondering how that would work since I will (hopefully) be a smaller size on the wedding day than when I choose the dress. I had some issues getting my bridesmaid dress altered properly for my sisters wedding, the top ended up being about 2 sizes too big and it didn’t really lay they way it was supposed to even after the alterations.

So much to think about! I’m glad I have more than a year to get this together.

1) Not as much as mine is exploding
2) Thank you!
3) I think I might literally keel over if I tried to do this twice. This time at least, I have a big fat vacation at the end to relax on (10 day cruise to the Mexican Riviera in a SUITE with a private deck! SO EXCITED).

Well, I actually did get my dress at David's, but am making some design changes to it (taking the back from a zip-up to a corset back). I think the reason it can be taken in so much is that my seamstress actually specializes in restoration of heirloom gowns and custom gown design, so she is used to resizing gowns for the next generation (for example, if you are wearing your mothers dress). This way, the dress itself was fairly cheap so I could spend some more on making it unique with the corset back, and to pay for the extensive sizing.

Want me to ask the woman? She might be able to recommend ways to make them hold for a reception, or another flower with a similar look. She is good at stuff like that. My sister and cousin are getting married (July and June, respectively) and Sarah is doing the flowers for both.

They are molded into little flower shapes. To match the theme. :-)

Thank you! Dress fitting on Saturday, so I'll have pictures of the dress in my actual size...i can't wait! We were 18s when the engagement pics were taken, and I am a 12, she is a 14 now. The new avatar pic is actually at our joint bridal shower on March 4th.

I am so happy I found you ladies... may I join? We're not officially engaged yet, but the boy and I have been looking at rings for 3 months now (holy cow, some day we will find the right one!) and we are sort of planning to get married this August. It is really exciting and I am super happy! We are thinking seriously about buying a house this May or June, having the summer to fix it up together, then getting married in August before he goes back to school.

Mandalinn- I hope you don't think I'm stalking you, but I was thinking about you and your wedding plans this week! I am so thrilled with your continued weight loss, and your wedding sounds GORGEOUS. I'm sure it is going to come off beautifully, and I hope you will be willing to share pictures with us.

Jilly- Hi! Congrats on your engagement! I am so happy for you... My boy and I are not big drinkers. And typical dj dancing is not exactly our cup of tea, either. One idea I had was to have an afternoon wedding so that people didn't expect a bunch of drink, then having DDR, Guitar Hero, and Wii at the reception. Haha, I don't know if the family would ever go for it, but it sounded FUN to me.

Jade- Hi! I look forward to getting to know you better.

shananigans- Cool, thanks for starting this thread. Hopefully we will be able to support one another. I do hope to lose a little more weight before August. I am trying to be easy on myself. I may make a goal of 10 pounds. I know what you mean about wedding party- I am struggling. Since I like the idea of having a more informal ceremony anyway, I am hoping I can get away with just doing my two closest friends from girlhood, and not have a huge bridal party. If I do more than 2, I may end up with 6, sigh....

As for my plans, we haven't decided anything yet, since we are still not that "official" engaged, but we love the idea of an outdoor wedding. We have talked about having the ceremony at a local park or woods, then the reception there, too. There is a local pioneer village we have considered. I love the idea of having it outdoors so that people can play and hike in the woods and do those sort of things.

And colors, I LOVE pink and gold. It is very girly and seems cute and vintagy.

Thats so great! You could do almost an arcade feeling - they even rent photo booths (like you find at arcades) that your guests could use as a guestbook - tape the little 4-snapshot printout into a book and write a little message beneath. I am all about non-traditional receptions...we tried to blend the traditional (because, er, the wedding itself is rather untraditional) with some funky fun things like the karaoke.

No, I'm not scared you're stalking me! The wedding is all I think about too! :)

Can I just say its really nice to have a spot where I can spew forth wedding details and people care? LOL.

Jill - Congrats!!!

I had my wedding at a restored traditional white chapel in MD. It accomodated the small wedding that I was going for and had a nice quaint white chapel feel. Then I had my reception at Buca di Beppo. Instead of wedding cake, we had their chocolate cake and cheesecake (to die for!) Best part is since we went for a simple small wedding, the gifts we received more than paid for the wedding.

Flowers - I bought 2 alter flowers, a bouquet of mix "fall colors" (gorgeous!) and flowers for the parents. Total cost was about $200.

Maid of honor? Bridesmaids? Best man? Groomsmen? we didn't have any. Was nice for our small wedding

Dress - bought one at David's bridal for $99. It was actually a light yellow bridesmaid dress.

Hair - Definitely got my hair and nails done before the wedding. I went to the Red Door spa and did it, very nice. I'm in love with that place now.

Photography - We splurged on this a little because we figured we wanted good pictures of our wedding. We got a few print photos but the photographer that we used offered us the entire DVD of all the pictures they took at the wedding. So I have hundreds of photos, which I am in the process of creating picture CDs for my family and if I find a website with enough free space, it will go on the web too.

Rings - we decided to splurge on rings a little too. Not the "2 months salary" thing but more than my initial thoughts. We figured we'd have the rings for life so that was more important than splurging on a wedding which lasts 1 day. I highly highly recommend the place we went to which is called Charleston Alexander. They have locations in MD but I think they have locations in VA as well. If nothing else, you can look at their website for ideas.

As for losing weight before the wedding, I was able to lose about 25 lbs or so. It helped a lot especially since the wedding dress was super tight when I bought it :)

Congrats to all the brides to be!

Definitely look at Ebay - there are a ton of both natural and created diamond rings in all kinds of styles, for fractions of the cost that you'll pay at a jewelery store. Sarah and I had two proposals - one from her to me, one from me to her - and both of us got the rings on Ebay - they were natural diamond, both white gold, and cost us approximately $400 each. We were very happy with them (though we recently did an upgrade like you plan, Jilly, because our financial circumstances had improved...we originally proposed on a college student budget).

Are you signed up for Wii alerts? You can get them text-messaged to your phone when a Wii comes into a store near you. This is how my sister (who lives in Arlington) got hers:

http://www.notifywire.com/ProductInfo.aspx?PID=2

Or monitor this site:
http://www.wii-locator.com/

I completely understand the townhome thing! DH and I plan to buy a townhome, most likely next year. The one good thing is prices are dropping here. Nearly 2 years ago, townhomes in the area we wanted were around $400k, now they are in the lower $300s. I'm hoping if I hold off until next year, they'll drop even further.

Also about gems/rings/etc, I did a lot of investigative research before we actually went ring shopping. We considered plain irish bands (dh is irish), we considered other gem stones, no gem stones, etc. I don't particularly care for created diamonds but I like natural gemstones so something like moissanite is also a good alternative. I like sapphires and rubies and emeralds($$$ but my birthstone) so I looked at all sorts of alternatives. And oh yeah, that "2 month" salary thing came from jewelers of course and I've known people that have actually tried to stick to it! Yikes!

I also told DH that he was to not buy me any more jewelry after this and there will be no upgrades in the future. We did go with platinum though mostly because I found out that I'm allergic to gold (although I also researched and found out the allergy is probably only american gold, other countries use silver in their gold, we use nickel).

Hi Jill

I would definitely recommend looking on Ebay, as well. Especially if you are interested in a diamond ring, you can buy one for SO much less money than from a jeweler. I don't know if it's some sort of stigma about having someone else's ring or what. I have seen some beautiful rings on there. (I have found this true for second-hand wedding gowns, as well, if you are thinking about the cost of a gown)

Sapphires are gorgeous if you are considering that option, and they are much less expensive than diamonds, as I'm sure you are aware. One thing that jewelers have cautioned us about, though, is that sapphires are not as hard as diamonds, and can get scratched or chipped. We have looked at rubies as an alternative to diamonds, as they are very strong. BUT they can get just as expensive as diamonds.

PS- that is so crazy about your housing market! It makes me be glad to be in the midwest. We expect to get a 3 bed 2 bath house with a yard, and we can find a nice one for less than $110.

hello everyone, my fiance and i got engaged Jan. 9th of this year. He proposed to me on top of a mountain in Colorado on our annual snowboarding trip. It was soo sweet and a total surprise! (though we have been dating for almost 7 years and no one else was surprised) He knows how picky i am about jewerly so he got me earrings instead and when we came home, we went to pick a ring together. He said he researched different school of thoughts on proposing...i'm so proud of him. Anyway, we're planning for an Aug. 08 wedding, hopefully i will be done with my Masters and if i get into a Doctoral program that won't start till Sept. But i have to say i am the worlds worst bride. I never even considered what i would want a wedding to be like until he proposed...now i'm screwed, i have no clue what goes into a wedding, my mom asked me what colors i want and i kinda just stared at her. Colors???? Flowers?? Location???? DRESS??!?!?!?! totally clueless...I hope to pawn off most of the planning to someone else. However, i am using this as part of the reason i want to lose weight. Congrats to everyone here and good luck with all the wedding stuff!

Nickname - welcome! August '08 gives you tons of time to plan, so don't worry! Also, once you pick a location, things fall into place a lot easier, so go scouting for spots and relax!

Mandalinn

after looking at all your plans for your wedding i have to ask....Do you take personal checks? siiiiiigh....the only thing i kinda have a clue about is where i want to get my cake from.www.charmcitycakes.com .

Nickname- Hi! Welcome and congrats! Mandalinn is awesome with all her plans, is she not? I would just like to echo her thoughts- relax and have fun with it! Just thought I would mention a few of the things that all the wedding books tell you to do first-

"Envision" your wedding. Think about what you want.
Talk with your fiance and family about budget. Knowing about how much you can spend helps you narrow down choices.
Come up with a preliminary guest list- knowing about how many people you would like to invite really helps.

Best of luck to you. Don't let yourself get overwhelmed, because, really, this is just a fun party to celebrate YOU!

OMG you're going to have a charm city cake? I worship charm city cakes. Seriously. If only they were in California....

Trust me when I say that once you all hit the 5 week mark, you'll have this many details or more. Its so overwhelming at the beginning. Start with a vision and a general number of guests, and a rough budget. From there, pick a site, and pick a concept.

Once you have a concept, its a lot easier to pick the details. For example, we had the colors and the flower motif as our concept, it was easier to pick the invitations, the bridesmaid dresses, the table settings...it all falls into place a lot easier than it would seem. I promise.

I am good with concept, so if people have ideas that they need fleshed out, I am decent at matching details to the concept. I am doing that for my sister's wedding quite a bit (she is GREAT with details, and bad with overall vision) - and happy to help (especially once I get back from the honeymoon and have more time...

Mandalinn82 i just love the things they can do at charm city cakes, though i don't know what kind i want. But, like you said once i get a concept, it will fall into place. i want my bouquet to be gerbera daisies, i LOVE them. Wishing all the best for your wedding!

I love Gerberas. We are putting a single gerbera into each of our out of town baskets that are going in guest hotel rooms - such a bright punch of color to put into a room.

Mandalinn- I'm still reading though your thread - but I'm curious about the dress and sizes - that's what I'm struggling with the most. My wedding is in late September and I'm working hard to get in shape, so I really hesitate to buy a dress in the 16W that fits me now. How long ago did you buy your dress? Should I just not worry about it, and have faith in the gal doing my alterations?
Cindy

Cindy - I bought my dress in an 18W, last October, which was about 7 months before the wedding. Because of that, I had to take it in quite a bit and find a specialty alterations lady. However, if you find someone good to do your alterations, you should be ok! If you have joined The Knot, there are "local" boards - you can post on one of the local boards for your area for alterations recommendations.

I love tulips but I had my wedding in the fall so tulips were expensive. The flowers we went for were great, they are also known as peruvian tulips?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstroemeria

They are in season in the fall. I think they are my favorite flower now.

Hi everyone - I'm glad to have this thread here as well!

DF and I started looking at rings last February, ordered one in May, and finally got engaged in August. He had the diamond from a previous engagement, but had bought it down in St.Thomas, so it was very reasonably priced. We looked into trading it in, but then they want you to trade up, and we didn't want to put more money into it. At first I was a bit weird about the fact that he'd given it to someone else, but it actually wasn't the one he proposed with - when they got that one appraised, it wasn't the quality he'd been promised, so it was returned and this one was sent as a replacement. So, once we knew it wasn't feasibly financially, I decided I could be ok with this one, especially since it's 1.04 ct! (I like to just pretend we got it from eBay!) My setting is from Somos Creations - I wanted something antique-looking and they had some nice choices. All the rings are made-to-order, which is why it took so long - that and I made some tweaks to the ring, so the standard version of it had to be hand-crafted for me. Now I need to find a wedding band to go with - this one didn't have one to match, so I am struggling with that. It sits higher on my finger, so a standard band, which I would be fine with, is just too low to be next to it.

http://www.somoscreations.com/jewlry.asp
http://www.weddingband.com/somos.html - this site shows my ring - it's the in the 6th row, the third one over. My band is 18k yellow gold, with platinum shoulders and head.

Can you tell I love my ring? :)

Ok, anyway, the wedding is September 29th of this year. I live in the Albany NY area, but the wedding will be in Michigan. Fun doing this all long-distance.

Wedding should be around 80 guests, if I can get DF to keep it that small. The fact that all his friends and family will have to travel from NY to MI should keep that list smaller than it would be.

I have a DJ, a photographer, the church and reception location. I've decided to do individual table cakes for centerpieces on each table, and my mom may be doing them (probably 12 tables), so we'll save $$ there.

Wedding party is small -just my sister and DF's niece for me, his brother and nehphew for him.

Flowers are still a big question mark. I LOVE tulips, so may splurge on them just for me, then something more seasonal for the gals. I may do potted mums in the church and around the reception, and then just something for the head table.

I went looking at dresses at David's Briday just this past Friday. I really don't want strapless or sleeveless, but there are few options. My arms are my biggest trouble area, even when I'm in better shape, so I'd rather not be showing them off. Has anyone seen anything with sleeves by anyone?

I've narrowed what David's has down to about 10 that I plan to try on soon, but will check some other bridal stores soon. I'm still thinking I may do something less formal- maybe a nice mother's dress, or even a bridesmaid dress - I just have to start looking and looking...

Not sure on colors yet - I want to go with fall colors - something like gold and red, or burnt orange, but it will really depend on the dress styles and color availability.

For favors I really like the "perfect pair" candles - getting those on eBay, and then am doing a clear favor box w/gold ribbon containing Juicy Pear jelly bellys in them to go with. That is all gold and green, so that's another possibility for the color scheme. We plan to do silk autumn-colored leaves on the tables.

Thats about all so far. I guess the dress is really my next big focus for now.

Oh, and for our honeymoon we are splurging on a European cruise on Royal Caribbean. Barcelona, Nice, Florence, Rome, Naples and Sicily. A rather hectic schedule, but we wanted to go to Europe, but wanted it to be easy. A floating hotel room helps!
Cindy

Cindy - wow, your plans sound amazing! We are also doing the cruise honeymoon, but we didn't want to fly, so we're going to Mexico. Europe was definitely on our short list, though - just couldn't work it with flights.

I have dress fitting pictures for you ladies!

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...Fitting007.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...Fitting008.jpg

Those give you a fairly good view of the back...

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...Fitting006.jpg

And finally of Sarah:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...Fitting005.jpg

I just lost a long response. Oh well...

Cindy- Your wedding plans sound lovely so far. I am running into the same problem that you are with sleeved dresses- I would like one with sleeves probably, but so many of the options are sleeveless, especially at david's. One dress shop lady told me to not rule out sleeveless, since a bolero is always an option. If I come across anything good I will let you know. :)

Mandalinn- Your dress is looking lovely! with the primary reason being how slim you are looking- congratulations, I hope you are really happy with your success.

Nelie- Those flowers are pretty, I like them. I may have to keep those in mind. :)

Well, I'm off. Everyone take care!

Nelie, the flowers you want are sooo pretty! and i love your dress Mandalinn! You both look so great!

Well, while you guys are all on to flowers and gowns and final countdowns, I think I may have found the engagement ring I want :dizzy: I originally was thinking of maybe not having a big center diamond because I really want something different, but I think I found it over the weekend. I can NOT, though, for the life of me, find a picture of it anywhere online, even though I saw the same setting in 3 different stores yesterday, which is really frustrating because I want a picture of it.

Anyway, my best to describe it: it's white gold (I don't really wear yellow gold jewelry, so I knew I wanted white gold), and it has a round diamond in the center with a deep blue sapphire on each side. What makes it really unique is that the sapphires on the sides are not round nor baguettes, but rather they are square stones tilted to be diamond shape. There are also small round channel-set diamonds on the band--I prefer not to have a plain band.

madalinn – You look just stunning, the dress looks like it fits perfectly. I’d love it if you could get Sarah’s opinion on the tulips and if there’s a way to get them to last throughout the day.

Jason totally surprised me with the ring. He picked it out all by himself, I think he did a really nice job! These pictures don’t really do it justice but you get the idea.

I hadn’t even thought of looking on e-bay for the dress. I might look onto that, if I can save some money on the dress I can maybe splurge on getting it altered to be just the way I want it.

shan- Your ring is pretty! That's great that he picked it out himself. It must have been an exciting suprise!

Jill- Sounds like you found a really nice one. I like that it has sapphires- that color will be lovely I'm sure.

The boy and I spent time discussing reception food last night. We both really like to have food from different cultures, so here is what we are talking about:

It will be a buffet-style meal, with three different areas to choose food from. One station will be indian- (which we both love! and a lot of our family has never even tried) Another station will be a local Italian shop which has cool sandwiches, and has sentimental value for us. The third we are thinking will be greek- so people can make their own gyros. It sounds sort of expensive, but we were getting quotes from people, and it sounds like it will be the same price or a little less than going out to some fancy restaurant and paying for a meal. Plus, this is so much more US. I'm really excited about it, I hope we can make it work.

BFL- we are thinking about doing the individual table cakes as well. I saw that in a magazine and got excited about the idea. I like the idea that people could choose a table based on what kind of cake they like, or that they could barter with other tables or something. :)