best. dress. EVER.

In case you didn't already know... MY WEDDING DRESS IS IN!! :D I called Friday afternoon to check on the status of my dress since it was supposed to be in next month, and the woman told me it just arrived that morning! I was THRILLED! She asked when I wanted to come in. My response, "Um, right now!" After 7 lonnnnggg months (remember, I ordered it in January) I finally got to wear MY dress. And it was grand. I was elated. It was the first time I was wearing it in my size. The one I tried on in January had to be rolled up and clipped, so the only idea I had of the back of the gown was from the designer's pictures online. I stood in it and pranced in it, took an endless amount of silly pictures in it... I tried to talk my mom into letting me drive home in it. Of course, she wasn't having any of that. I also ordered my shoes and a little something for my hair. I wish I could plaster pictures all over here and Facebook! Alas, you will all have to wait to witness the fabulousness that is my bridal gown. ;)

Saturday, my mom and I chose and purchased the fabrics to make my veil. My mom made a practice one a few weeks ago. Up until that point I hadn't really been able to picture myself with a veil, but as soon as she placed the practice one on my head the whole picture came together. I could clearly see myself walking down the aisle. And now with my perfect dress here... I just couldn't picture it any other way.

Less than 10 months to go! :)

Food and Flowers

Amidst a family beach trip and a visit to my best friend/Matron of Honor (Hi, Jessica!) we actually managed to get a bit done over my mini summer break. A couple of things that have changed: we're going with green bridesmaid dresses instead of that bronze-ish color and a mixture of lavenders and greens for the flowers! So excited! :) We also decided to use a wedding coordinator to help pull together the details and organize the logistics of the set-up/take-down of everything; hopefully this will remove some of the stress from my parents so they'll relax a little more. Here are a few snippets of the new color scheme. The dress all the way on the left in the first picture is what the bridesmaids will be wearing!

Caterer

My parents interviewed with Roux's Catering and loved them! I couldn't go b/c I was doing some school stuff, but I've had their food before at other events and my dad's office uses them for their yearly Christmas party, so we're all familiar with their work. We're discussing the tid-bits of the menu so we can do our tasting and finalize it! Yumm! :)

Cake

I already chose a design, so now we're trying to find what to put inside of it! Our first stop along the cake tasting tour was Cake Occasions by Katie Jiminez. Her pound cake was good, but she doesn't do samples of different flavors.... soooo we would basically be purchasing a cake without ever tasting it before. And chocolate is a must around my family.


We also met with a woman who bakes/decorates cakes part time. She's done beautiful, yummy cakes for some of our family friends's events so we were glad to be able to talk with her about our the wedding. Her almond cake was great -- fluffy with a subtle taste of almond so it's not too strong. Her chocolate cake was oh so so so yummy!! Moist and rich... We brought some home with us, although it probably won't last too long as soon as my brothers realize it's there!

Flowers

The first florist we met with was at Cudos. It was the first time we really discussed what exactly we wanted for every aspect of the day. We're going to need a ton of flowers: large bridal party + a minimum of 20 tables + other miscellaneous arrangements... yikes! The woman was very nice, and handled my mother pretty well, but she's never been to Sacred Heart. She didn't even know where it is. It's kind of strange for someone who lives in Augusta to never have been to Sacred Heart and even moreso to not even know where it is. So, we'll see. I'm really excited about the prospect of including purples in the bouquets and centerpieces. Purple's been my favorite color since i was little, so I'm really pulling to have it included. My parents are having a bit more trouble visualizing it. They're more of the "show me an example in person that I can hold" type of people... so maybe once we get a few samples they'll be able to see what I'm picturing.


The next florist we met with was at Martina's. We made the appointment with no one in particular, so we were excited and surprised to find that the man we were meeting with was the same florist who did the flowers for my quinceañero! It was really neat to talk to someone who was a part of the planning process for that. It also made my parents feel better talking with someone who knows the venue, caterer, and area in general really well. He loved our ideas and was so well organized! The difference between him and the woman at Cudos was so obvious that it made it easy to make the decision. He was more organized, volunteered more ideas, was able to give us an estimate in a matter of minutes (the other woman took a week and gave an incomplete estimate even then), and was able to speak with experience. My mom and I left knowing that with Martina's everything would be taken care of and we could relax more about the big picture.




I'll make sure to post an update once we have everything officially booked and stuff. I'm really excited that these things are getting done now. I was a little worried about not being able to come home often enough to do wedding stuff while I'm in Atlanta this fall, but now I know that we have the most important things pretty settled. Knowing that we have the wedding coordinators to overlook everything and keep us on track is such a relief! Plus, having these things chosen helps me to picture the whole day more clearly. Before, I had some ideas but the only thing that was concrete in my mind was that Tim and I are getting married! Now I can see the where and the how and the colors and the evening unfolding. Can't wait!!! :)