Dress Shopping Day 1

Shopping for my wedding gown was quite stressful... I know my wedding is really soon and I know that I started shopping late (according to the industry's standards), but I really didn't need to be reminded all day. Honestly, I never planned on purchasing my gown from a bridal store. I only planned on trying on dresses so I could know what to look for online. I really want to purchase a pre-owned gown. Spending a ton of money on a 1 time wear dress (a couple hours for that matter) doesn't make sense to me... but here are a couple pics from my first time shopping yesterday.

It was pretty fun trying on dresses, after I got over the regret of not losing weight yet... lol. It was just motivation for me to continue to try, try harder.

We found a bridesmaid option at Target! $25 too!! We are thinking about getting that dress and returning if we change our minds. Target is great cuz they have a 90 day return policy... and seeing how our wedding is gonna be around that time, it works out :)

Tomorrow we are going to David's Bridal! I hope I find a dress I'd actually consider buying... Goodnight :)

Changing the Location?!?!

When we first got engaged I wanted to have the wedding in my parents' backyard, but threw that idea out after considering the guest list. So, we set the date at the college we both attended. That place has a lot of meaning to our relationship.... seemed like a great place. There is a lawn lined with trees, it's really pretty... But tonight, my dad talked with my fiance and I about having the wedding in the backyard. He knows we originally wanted the wedding there... and he successfully convinced us that it could actually work out really well. I feel really hesitant to change the location, especially because the wedding is in less than 4 months away. If we do change the location, we won't be losing any money... so that's a good thing... I know the wedding at the college would be really nice, but so would the wedding in the backyard. The wedding in the backyard would also be meaningful and closer to most of the guests. So much to think about!!!

Here are a couple pictures of the backyard:

We could change whatever we wanted in the backyard... clean it up real nice... the more I think about it, the more I remember how much I wanted to have the wedding there.... *sigh... decisions, decisions!

Hospitals... Wedding....

My mom just had a hysterectomy. We were at the hospital for 2 days. I am so glad everything went well and we are home. That hospital had pretty bad service. Her surgery was supposed to start at 12, but that didn't happen. We waited for 2 hours before anyone talked to us about why she hadn't gone in yet. Actually we had to call a nurse to tell us what was going on. This whole time we could hear nurses talking about what they were going to have for lunch, what they had for lunch, gossiping, etc. It was the same deal after her surgery. The nurse hardly came in to check on her, they were never on time for specific things, and we had to wait at least 10 min anytime we called for a nurse. Meanwhile, there were at least 8 people in the hallway chatting. It didn't help that this hospital had nursing students there too. The majority of the time we could hear the nurses explaining things to the students and spending more time with them than attending to their patients. To top it off, when the nurses did help us they were not friendly. It really seemed like these people were there just to do their "job" and they weren't enjoying it. I know being a nurse is "hard" and draining, but really? You signed up for it, at least be courteous to your patient. Oh! I overheard a lady ask one of the student nurses where the gift shop and cancer center was. The student nurse responded, "I don't know where the cancer center is, but the gift shop is on the 1st floor near an elevator." Ahh! Okay, okay, they are just a student... but they should know their way around the hospital! And if they don't, they should ask. The student should have found out for the lady, instead she let her wander around to find out from someone else. Maybe I'm just grumpy from being in the hospital the past 2 days and from being stressed out about my mom's situation... sorry, I just expected more. At least her doctor was really nice, friendly, and helpful! :) I am very grateful that she is okay, her surgery went well, and she is at home recovering.

So, I looked on our wedding website account and.............. there's only 101 days left until the wedding!!!! We have soooo much to do! It would be nice to have something to look back at on the planning of the wedding. Please, bear with me... I am going to try to blog everyday about what's going on with wedding plans and preparing for the wedding.

I have a couple goals:
1. Try to be as "eco-friendly" as possible.
2. Don't give in to the wedding industry, with all their "must-haves", etc.
3. Stay under $10,000 (including all pre-wedding events, wedding, & honeymoon)
4. Keep the bigger picture in mind - "community celebration"
5. Lose 25 pounds :)

The hardest goal will be to lose the weight. I have been trying, but I haven't been consistent. Eco-friendly mindset is probably going to be the easiest. We will see how it all goes... lol.

I never blogged about our Engagement Party! Well, it was on March 28 at my parents house. The party was kind of a spontaneous event. I'll do a recap through pictures.

This was the invite we handed out to our friends.

They were about 4 in. x 4 in. We used scrap paper that was printed on one side and left over construction paper for the backing.

My dear friend My-My made these signs for the party. We used the cardboard that comes with a calendar.
This sign was on the front door. 

These signs were on the side gate. The side gate from the front yard leads to the backyard and deck.

(I need to upload pics of the sidewalk from the gate to the deck. It's actually a pretty cute garden walkway.)


These are flowers that were picked from the yard. They grow abundantly and the yellow ones are considered "weeds". We thought they were beautiful and we have so many, we didn't feel bad cutting some for the table.

I don't know if this is really meant to be a table cloth, but we used it as one. I bought it from the Thrift Center in town, I got it for $0.99.

I sewed some buntings from leftover fabric. The colors went well with the deck and canopy.

The pink buntings are from Christmas. We were able to reuse them :) We hung two bedsheets to act as a divider. Behind the sheets are a bunch of stuff that's normally on the deck that we didn't want showing during the party. I got the sheets for $0.99 each from the Thrift Center.

I made these fabric flower garlands out of the same fabric I used for the red, green, blue, etc buntings. I got the idea from Cakies, she has a great tutorial on how to make them.

We used all "real" dishes for the party. Thanks to Mom for letting us use her cups, plates, etc. We ate a bunch of pizza and pasta from Pizza Hut. The chicken alfredo pasta was pretty darn good I must say. Also, crazy bread from Little Caesars.

Please don't mind the scary heads, hehe. I didn't want to post pictures of people without their consent... lol.

After we ate, we played a bunch of games. For example, wedding taboo, vow mad libs, etc. My friends Che, Mar, and Jelly made up the games. Then we went inside to play Crack the Case and eat some yummy ice cream!

The food cost us around $60. The fabric (which I bought a month before, not really for the engagement party) cost around $3. So it's safe to say that the Engagement Party cost less than $65. Not bad...

Thanks Lina for most of these pictures!!!

HAPPY EARTH DAY EVERYONE! :)

It's Been a While...

Wow, I haven't blogged in a couple months... but I have good reason (at least I think so anyways). I am engaged!! My boyfriend proposed on our 4 year anniversary :) It's kinda hard to surprise me, but he totally did. It was really sweet. He had a whole day planned for us. Of course, I thought everything was for our anniversary, but no! I was definitely pleasantly surprised... I shall post pictures soooon.

Well, here's one of the ring... it's the clearest I could get it.

* we do not support "blood/conflict diamonds"... or any gems & metals for that matter... we also do not see rings as absolutely necessary for a marriage...