Dress shopping!

Today I went dress shopping with 3 of my bridesmaids! It was so much fun! Of course I fell in love with the first dress I tried on, just like the first venue I went to. I'm starting to see a trend. Anyway, I found out that I am a huge Lazaro fan and I was really drawn to his whole line. I would be happy in any of those dresses! Here are some pics of our super fun day!

The dress I love is not in any of these pics because I can't show it to any of you in case its "the one." All other dresses I'm looking at right now all look the same so I just need to pick it and move on!

I'm not a'veil'able

So when it comes to veils, I'm not a big fan. However, the only option I will consider is the bird cage veil. I think they are so cute and they bring some vintage flair to anyone's look. Like I've said before, I love to stand out when it comes to fashion and wear things that are a little daring and I think wearing a bird cage veil is definitely my style! Here are some pictures of a couple that I like.

    

These are both pictures off www.birdcageveils.com, but I have seen several other pics in magazines and online, but it seems hard to find retailers that carry them. I am going wedding dress shopping tomorrow for the first time so maybe I can get some tips on where to find them!

Potential colors...

This is one detail that I have been thinking about long before I ever got engaged. I think colors are important because they are a reflection of your personality and style and I've always been big on STANDING OUT! So, since my wedding is in June I want my colors to be bright and representative of the season. I am thinking I am going to go with either a Robin's egg blue or a turquoise blue (undecided on the shade) as my main color and then I want pops of fuchsia throughout to make things stand out! Here are some pictures of color inspiration for me.

This one is from the knot. I've been admiring it for months. I just love the color combo.

Honestly, I don't have any other color ideas lined up right now! I know I said this was a "potential" color combo, but I'm thinking I just need to decide on it already! I keep getting drawn to the same colors so that should be a clue!

Will you be my bridesmaid???

After searching for countless hours on the Internet for some really cute "will you be my bridesmaid?" cards, I gave up and decided to make my own! I was actually inspired by some homemade ones I saw on another blog (I wish I could remember which one) so I headed to Michael's and started collecting supplies! Anyway, here are some pictures of what I gave each of my 8 bridesmaids.Along with the cards I gave each of them a book on being a bridesmaid. My maid of honor (my sister) was given "The Quintessential Wedding Guide...Maid of Honor" by Heidi Holmes and the other 7 bridesmaids were given "The Bridesmaid Guide: Parties, Etiquette and Being Fabulous" by Kate Chynoweth. I would definitely recommend giving your bridesmaids some kind of guidance, especially if they've never been bridesmaids before and depending on how much you want to rely on them during the process. My sister for example is 10 years older than me and being my MOH made her really nervous because she was afraid she wouldn't relate to me and the other girls and she was scared to plan showers and parties for me on her own in fear that I might not like them. This book, along with some great articles on the knot, gave her the confidence she needed to know that she could do a great job as my MOH! And I'm so excited that she is!

The venue hunt!

Looking for a venue to have our wedding has to be the HARDEST part of all! Everything else is sort of based around the atmosphere and ambiance of the venue we choose. We started out with over 20 places on our list. These included hotels, historical landmarks, mansions, etc. Everything looks great on paper, but actually going to these places and picturing how our event would look at each one is a much different story! And to add to the difficulty, we are wanting to have our ceremony and reception at the same place, which is difficult for a lot of places to do. Especially for our whopping 250 people guest list! I've narrowed it down to our top 3 here so I don't overwhelm anyone.

The first place we liked was the Adolphus hotel in downtown Dallas. It has a very classic styling to it and we have stayed there before and really liked it. Not to mention my mom had suggested it originally as a place we should consider for the wedding so we decided to check it out. It was absolutely gorgeous! The ceremony and reception rooms were beautiful, they had a beautiful honeymoon suite, and beautiful rooms for our guests. There is also so much history in the hotel that it makes it so much more intersting than a lot of the more modern hotels in the area. Everything about it was really perfect for our wedding, but we couldn't fall in love with the first place we saw and call it a day! So we moved on to the next one.

The next place we really liked is Union Station in downtown Dallas. It is really cool because it is an old renovated train station and the train still runs behind it. The ceilings are so tall and the ball room is absolutely gorgeous! There are so many cool things that can be done with the lighting and other cool effects to make it the perfect place for a wedding reception. There is also a very nice room for the ceremony that can accommodate all our guests. I really love the character and uniqueness of this venue and it would definitely leave people walking away thinking that it was a very different wedding than anything they had ever been to. So a difficult decision continues on...

The third place that we really love is the Crescent Hotel in Uptown Dallas. Again, its absolutely gorgeous! The ceremony would have to be outside at this one, but it would be in a shaded courtyard area that is so beautiful that it doesn't even matter! Plus, then I could get creative and do my ceremony programs as fans to put on my guest's chairs outside to cool them down! Its all about the details! The ball room here is really beautiful too and would be perfect for our reception. Everything about this hotel is exquisite and I know everyone would be in awe from the time they walk in to the time they leave! So, how do I decide??? I haven't figured that part out yet! Good thing I have plenty of time at this point so I can make a good decision! Not that any of these are a bad one!

The proposal

Well it all began when I came home from work and there was an envelope with my name on it on the door. I opened it and it was a clue! The clue led me to my wonderful little chihuahua Martini (shown here). That clue then led me to another clue and so on! There were also little paper flowers, diamonds, and hearts all over the house that my fiance had spent countless hours folding himself! (as you can see on the left) Anyway, the last clue was around our boxer's neck, which led me to him down on one knee with the ring in hand! It was so cute! I was so shocked that I didn't know what to say! Even though I knew the answer I couldn't believe it was actually happening and I had to savor the moment!

  We then went to dinner at Patrizio's, the restaurant where we had our first date! It was amazing and of course I was glowing the whole time! Finally after dinner we met up with some of our good friends at a local wine bar and celebrated. It was an amazing night that I will never forget!

Intro...

I have been engaged for 3 WHOLE weeks now so I'm a little behind on my blog already! I have found some really great things and interesting ideas on other bride's blogs and I'm hoping I might be able to share some great ideas with other brides too!