Bridesmaid Profile: Carolyn

Carolyn

Nicknames: Care, Care-o, lover

How we met: First week at USC as Gamma Phi Beta Pledges. We both lived in Pardee Tower and Carolyn invited me to walk to the row for a pledge meeting. We started chatting, she asked if I had a boyfriend, and I said yes. She got the disapproving look on her face and said “Ummm, this is college” (she hates when I tell that story too). I laughed and Carolyn and I were friends from that day on. And, for the record, she was right; said boyfriend and I broke up a few months later (obviously).

Favorite memories: Being crazy little Gamma Phi Beta Pledges, living together Sophomore year in 4-man rooms, and Senior Spring Break in the Bahamas (braids, get your hair done, braids)

Why I love Carolyn: Carolyn is so amazingly thoughtful; she’s always taking the time to email, message, call, or arrange get-togethers. And she is always uplifiting and fun to be around.

Some pictures of Carolyn and I over the years:

Hawaiian Luau Themed Wedding Shower

My Bridal Shower is just six weeks away! Katie (who's known me since I was born) is hostessing and confirmed that she's sending the invites today. Woo hoo... let the parties begin!

The theme is Hawaii (since we're Honeymooning in Hawaii and it's a festive theme). I think it will have a bit of vintage twist. I'm not sure what all Katie and some of my BMs are planning, but one thing I do know is there will be Mai Tais and Pupu platters! Yum!

I'm so excited that I made an inspiration board based on what I imagine a vintage Hawaiian Luau Themed Bridal Shower to look like...

Bridesmaid Profile: Iliana

Profile removed :-)

Bridesmaid Profile: Michelle

Michelle

Nicknames: Michi, Michelle My Belle, Dogg

How we met: Early on in third grade, I thought Michelle was the prettiest girl in the third grade and wanted to befriend her (she hates when I tell that story)

Favorite memories: Toilet papering a friend ours’ house and then caught because of a 7-11 surveillance camera when were 16, having “dates” at El Torito, and Rockstar Summer of 2002 (where we partied like Rockstars and lived to tell about it).

Why I love Michelle: She’s the sweetest, kindest, future civil litigator I know. She’s “had my back since day one” (like in the 7th grade where she slapped a boy who did me wrong) and I know she’ll always have my back.

Some pictures of us over the years in San Diego and LA:

Sideways Bachelorette Party

For my Bachelorette Party we're doing a Wine Tasting Tour of the Santa Barbara Wine Country (a la "Sideways") and staying the the Fess Parker Doubletree on the water in Santa Barbara. I'm so excited for relaxing and fun weekend drinking wine with my favorite girls.


Let me know if you have recommendations of vineyards to visit or things to do in Santa Barbara.

This will be us in August...

Attire for "Other" Wedding Events

So I have my Wedding Dress, but now I need to start looking for cute, summery dresses for all of the "other" weddings such as my Bridal Shower, the Rehearsal Dinner, and the day-after brunch.

Here are few that I'm considering from Nordstrom.com (my favorite is the yellow one)

USC Garter

Today I found THE must adorable USC Trojans garter and I just had to get it...


I know that it doesn't match our "Turquoise and Tangerine by the Sea" theme, but I don't think the garter has to match, since it's under the dress. I thought this garter would be a fun thing to for the all of our USC boys to try to catch, and since Jonathan and I met at USC it's very appropriate for us.

Honeymoon Saved from ATA Bankruptcy Disaster

I woke up today, watched the morning news, and saw that the airline we'd booked for our Honeymoon, ATA, was bankrupt and no longer flying. Ahhh.. suddenly we had no flights for our Honeymoon!

I searched high and low for free flights and cheep fares, finding that flights to Hawaii were over $1000 dollars. I panicked! Just when I thought I'd have to cough up 2K to fly to Hawaii, my parents came through with two free American Airlines Vouchers! Now I owe them free Southwest Airlines tickets for the rest of my life, but it's worth it to take our dream honeymoon. Disaster averted. Thanks Mom and Dad!

I just can't help but feeling bad for all the people stranded in Hawaii or all of the people's Honeymoons that the ATA bankruptcy did ruin.

Bridesmaid Profile: Laurel

Over the next few weeks, I'll be profiling some of the most important women in my life and my wedding. I'll go in order of length of time I've known them, which means I'll start with Laurel.

Laurel

Nicknames: Lolo, wowo, lo, lo-ho

How we met: First day of Kindergarten, Laurel let me play me marbles with her when a mean girl didn't let me play (now Laurel and I have been friends for almost 20 years!)

Our favorite childhood activities: “Rocking out” to my playschool tape player and playing “Old Hag” where I’d pretend I was princess and Laurel was an “old hag” that I befriended (mean game, huh?)

Why I love Laurel: She’s been there for me through thick and thin for pretty much as long as I can remember, and I know she’ll be there for me until we’re old and grey.

Some pictures of Laurel and Me over the years (1999, 2006, 2007)

Our Married "Life Verse"

I realized that this blog is missing something. Although flowers and dresses and photographers are important... the MOST important thing is what you get after the wedding ... a marriage.

In order to prepare not only for our wedding, but our marraige too, we started doing pre-marital mentoring with a couple from Mosaic, Goodie and Lucy. Amoung our many assignments was choosing a verse from the Bible to be our Married "Life Verse". A Life Verse is can be a verse defines your life, gives you inspiration or direction, or ca be something that you hang onto as you face difficult circumstances. A Married Life Verse, should do the same for your marriage.

We chose:
"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." - Romans 12:9-12

The Bridesmaid Dress!

After a long quest to find cute aqua/ turquoise bridesmaid dresses and determining that the "Pool" dresses from David's Bridal were just not our thing (I wasn't crazy about the color the girls weren't crazy about the cut), I've finally found THE dresses. I give you...

I love the color! It's so summery and feminine and the price is right. It's by a chiffon dress from Nordstrom by Maggie London in "Clear Pacific".

Invitations

Invitations... apparently they "set the tone" for the entire event. I thought I didn't care very much about what the invites look liked until I walked into DayDreams and saw all of the beautiful colors, styles, and embellishments!

I choose a pocket fold style in matte turquoise, light metallic tangerine, and matte ecru. And the crowning touch... a metallic Starfish. So pretty!

None of these are my invite -- but you get the idea...

Wedding Coordinator- La Bella Weddings and Events

I met with my Wedding Coordinator, Carlee Jimenez for La Bella Weddings and Events, this weekend. She's new to the industry, so I got her for a steal! I'm so excited to have her as my "Day Of" Coordinator.

Carlee's "Day of Services" Include"-

Pre Wedding -Reviewing vendor contracts and conformation of requested services, organizing vent delivery/arrival times, collecting floor plans, creating wedding day timeline and distributing timeline to vendors.

Ceremony - Coordinating with all vendors, organizing wedding party for their entrance, directing guests, and collecting personal items.

Reception –Coordinating with all vendors, setting up of guest book table, gift table, decor, place cards, etc., maintaining the night's timeline, distributing final payments to vendor, and gathering personal items.


You can reach Carlee at cj@eventsbylabella.com

Videographer

I booked a videographer, Jason Johnson of Bandini Productions.

http://www.bandiniproductions.com/

I was debating whether of not to get a videographer, but I'm REALLY glad I booked Jason I know I'll always treasure my wedding video.

Our ceremony site where Jason will be filming our vows...

The Menu!

We tasted and choose our Wedding Menu this weekend...

Cocktail hour will include various cheeses, sausages, and meats as well as bruschetta.

For the dinner:
- The appetizer course will be Tomato Caprece
- The salad course will be Tropical Salad with mango and coconut
- The main course will be a choice of Salmon or Vegetarian Crepes
- The dessert will be Wedding Cake

Yummy!














Our ballroom, the Terazza, decorated for a wedding dinner.

150 days to go

As of today we have 150 days until the BIG DAY! I can't wait for the wedding to get here but I still have a lot to do. This weekend I'm going to San Diego to work on several wedding activities. As of next week I will know:
- The Menu
- The Tuxes
- The Coordinator
- The Videographer
- The Bridesmaid dress
- The MOB Dress
- The Inviations

Stay tuned for posts on those!

Engagement Annoucement

As someone who has never subscribed to a daily (or even weekly) newspaper, I can't help but feel that newspaper Engagement Announcements are antiquated in the digital age. Maybe they are, or maybe I think this because I'm a big city Los Angelino, and if I lived in smaller town I'd think Engagement Announcements were a bigger deal.

Internet Engagement Announcements don't seem to make any more sense, but regardless, I submitted our Engagement Announcement to San Diego Style Weddings (online) and they posted it! http://www.sandiegostyleweddings.com/engagements_2006.asp

Rehearsal Dinner

I've been working with Marianne (Jonathan's Mom) on plans for the rehearsal dinner. She hired Gerardo's (this great little Mexican catering company) to do the food and we're going to have it at my parent's home.

We're thinking of doing a Mexican Fiesta theme. That way I will incorporate the two quintessential San Diego elements into my Wedding Weekend (Beach/Ocean for the wedding and Mexico for the Rehearsal Dinner). I don't think that the Wedding Theme and the Rehearsal Dinner Theme need to match (or even should match). Agree?

I'm excited for the Rehearsal Dinner because I get to have a fun and relaxed evening in Jamul with all my closest friends and family on the eve of the BIG day.

Honeymoon in Hawaii

Can you tell that I’m ready for a vacation? Between wedding planning, moving into our new Condo, and working/traveling full time, sometimes I can’t help but wish today was Aug 18th and we were in Hawaii (but that would mean the wedding is over, so scratch that...)

We decided to take our Honeymoon in Maui. We toyed with idea of the Conrad Hilton in the Madives but we decided that an 18 hour flight followed by a prop plane to the island was just not our thing. The resort looks amazing though (check it out at Hilton Maldives). Then my Dad said something about the Maldives having terrorists (blah blah dangerous place blah blah extremists blah blah … I wasn’t really listening), so that I was definitely out.

So we decided on the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa on Maui. The best part is that it’s a Hilton property so I can pay with POINTS (thank you consulting firm)!

The Grand Wailea is situated on 40 beautifully landscaped acres and opens onto Maui's gorgeous Wailea Beach, voted one of the best beaches in America. The resort offers an array of amenities including a world class spa, acres of pools, rivers and waterslides, and beachfront access.

Try not to be envious…. Hehehe…





















Click to photos to enlarge

Photos courtesy of http://www.grandwailea.com/

Wedding Hair Styles

I'm very excited that my good friend (and Hair Stylist) Carey Bear is going to do my hair for the wedding. I'm going in for a consultation with her in a few weeks. In preparation for that, I put together a list of hairstyles that I like and I think would look good with my dress and veil.

Thoughts to consider: My dress is really dramatic so I think I need a half-up/half-down hair style to make it a bit more romantic. My veil is short with crystals at the end, the the hairstyle needs to work with a short veil as well. My hair isn't particularly thick (unlike some of the hair models bel0w), so what hair style can my hair even "pull off."

Below are a few of the half-up hair styles that I like. Take a look and let me know what you think:

Flowers Flowers

I think I found my Wedding Florist! I met with her on Saturday and really liked her ideas especially for how to incorporate Turquoise without having blue flowers . You can see some of her work here: http://www.flowersbyerin.com/.


Below are some of my orange/ tangerine flower ideas, but to be honest Erin's ideas are even better. You'll just have to wait until the wedding to see them!

Rethinking Bridesmaid Dresses

Just when I thought I had the Bridesmaid Dresses, I found dresses on Nordstrom.com that I think I like EVEN more! Mainly because I think the Pool/Aqua/Turquoise is prettier (I'm realizing there are a LOT of names for this color)

So I'm going to order these two dresses from Nordstrom and see if I like them in person:

Hopefully this my only crazy-change-my-mind-bride moment.

You Can't Always Get What you Want

I have a wedding budget of just over average for a California wedding, so you'd think that would pretty much cover all of my wedding dreams and fantasies... WRONG.

In reading wedding blogs I've also decided that I want (but cannot have due to budgetary constraints):
- Chiavari Chairs - Those gorgeous suckas rent for like $8 a chair. I'll just have to use the hotel chairs, whatever, they're nice.
- Professional Lighting - Initials on the dancefloor and lighting to make it look like a Vegas club, sigh... I think the regular ballroom lighting and candles will be fine
- A ridiculous amount of flowers - Those giant tree-like centerpieces are so pretty, but $150+ for something that dies the next day.
- Matching professional stationary for menus, place cards, etc. - I think this makes a great DIY project (I'm actually excited to do this one)
- Colored linens - You know you can buy napkins and tablecloths for just a bit more than you can rent them for? Lame. Oh well, the white comes with the venue are elegant and crisp.

Bridesmaid Dresses

I went to David's Bridal and I found a couple of pretty nice and really affordable. I think the bridesmaids will be wearing "Pool" blue dresses in one of these two styles!:

Terazza Ballroom

Here is a video I took of our Ballroom at the Hilton, the Terazza Ballroom.



I think it's too small and we're going to upgrade to one of the windowless but bigger ballrooms. Those other ballrooms have higher ceilings and look more dramatic. Too bad Hilton doesn't have a 2nd floor ballroom that looks out onto the water like the Catamaran.