My new home

I've created a new blog for life after the wedding. You can find me over here now. But, I think I will still post a few more wedding photos here before I'm gone for good. I hope to see you at my new home!

Group shots

Here are some photos of most or all of the bridal party together. All photos by Alyssa Maloof.

Leaving for photos

I'll post more photos later, it's rough going through 1,060 photos!

First...getting ready photos...

Here are some photos from the wedding by the lovely Alyssa Maloof!

Getting ready...

Me and my baby puppy (okay, he's 4)

Practicing for the boudoir photos

Me and my Momma

I've been MIA for awhile now...

but, I'm a married lady now! I'll post some updates this weekend when I have a minute to breathe. It's been non stop since the wedding Oct. 3!

Boston!!

I'm flying to Boston tomorrow to visit my friend Ana! I can't wait to get away for a few days. Ana and I will be going to a spa Saturday (I think I mentioned the facial in the last post) and Bradley will be driving to Boston Saturday after work. It'll be a nice long weekend.

P.S. Today is one month until the wedding! And I have so much left to do...ugh.

The body/face prep begins!

Tonight, I went with my mom to get our first spray tans! I wanted to get one for the wedding, so we decided to try it ahead of time. I'll be honest, it freaked me out a little! I didn't know what to expect and when the spray came I was caught off guard because I couldn't understand the automated lady talking to me. It was hard to breathe because if you opened your mouth you got spray in it. Plus, it was really cold and as soon as it started I knew I should have visited the ladies prior. But, I made it through, all like 5 minutes of it, and now I'm just waiting patiently for the tan to come. I even did a level higher than the girl there said most people do, so let's hope this works!
Next up is my first facial when I go to visit my friend next weekend in Boston! I CANNOT WAIT! Whatever nasty crap is in my face they need to get it out! I'll be sure to do a before and after photo.

Sorta bummed

So, I'm starting to think i made a mistake with the venue we chose for our ceremony/reception and it's bumming me out. When we first met with the coordinator at Abington, over a year ago, there were certain things I wanted to do and was told would be no problem. First, I wanted our dog to at least be at the ceremony and I was told he could come to the ceremony but not the reception, then once we signed the contract, it was suddenly against the rules altogether! Second, I asked about having a photo booth and was told that would be fine, then apparently, between the time I originally asked and the second time I brought it up, someone had one and it didn't go well, so now it's no longer allowed. It can be outside, but then I'd have to rent a tent to cover it. I suggested making our own photo booth and I got, "They take up a lot of room as well," in response! I also asked about hanging paper lanterns inside the reception area, they can only be hung on the outside edge, which, let's be honest, looks kinda dumb. Then I suggested stringing lights across the top, she had a reason why that wasn't a good idea as well. I'm getting really frustrated, I honestly would have chosen another spot if I'd known it was gonna be like this! I did a search for wedding photos take where I'm getting married and found one where there is a shadow cast on the ceiling and found out it's called Gobo lighting, I did a little research and found out I can buy the projector for like $170, but thought that seemed a little excessive for one day. I emailed one place about rentals and they've yet to email me back. Then the lady from Abington suggested a DJ that works with them a lot, so I called him, yeah his packages start at $1200! That is really not in the budget, we're already unsure of where we're getting the money for what we've already booked! So, now I just feel like my wedding reception is going to be a room with a cement floor and no dance floor and no lighting or decorations. I'm really not happy right now. I should have just gone with the more expensive venue that had everything included!
I know it's about the marriage and not the reception lighting, but let's be honest, if I didn't care, I'd have gotten married years ago in a courthouse!

Martha Stewart does it again!

Now that my invites are out, and we've already started receiving responses, I wanted to start figuring out how to do the seating chart.  I thought someone, somewhere along the line, had told me about some online application, so I decided to check out Martha's site and who knew she had all these tools!  You should all check this out!  It even lets you put in your room dimensions!  I love it!

Invitations have been mailed (and delivered)!

Tomorrow will be two months until the big day! I mailed out the invitations Thursday. My mom helped me Tuesday night and the fiance helped me Wednesday night, we focused and got all the invitations addressed (I printed them from my computer using a free font I downloaded that matched the one on our invitations), stamped, stuffed, and sealed! It was a such a huge weight off my shoulders when we were done! And of course, here are some photos. We got the invitations from Wedding Paper Divas, the grey envelopes from Jam Paper (the invitations came with only white envelopes which wasn't working for me) and the pink envelopes for a store near me called Xpedx, but they have very similar ones at Paper Source (Paper Source just took forever to send me samples and I couldn't chance how long the actual envelopes would take if I ordered them).

Shecky's Girls Night Out

I'm going to Shecky's tonight with a friend.  I'm hoping to get some bridesmaid gifts or maybe even some wedding jewelry for myself!  If nothing else, the gift bag should be good!

The Ceremony

My fiance and I are (hopefully) getting married outside by my uncle and I need to figure out what that ceremony is actually going to consist of since there will be no religious mass or anything.  Any ideas?  We plan to write our own vows, but beyond that, I have nothing!  In all honesty, I wish we could just be married and skip the whole walking down the aisle, being on display in front of everyone we know.  I don't like being the center of attention and every time I think of the ceremony I feel like vomiting.  Same goes for the first dance.  Yeah, can we skip it?  Ugh.

Less than two and half months to go!

The big day is fast approaching and I have to admit, I'm starting to feel the stress!  Here's a bit of what's left to do and what's to come (plus, it'll help me figure it out as I type).

I need to get my shoes dyed (I finally found a place that will do it today!)

I have to either make my veil or order one

I have to order the envelopes for my invitations like yesterday (I was not a fan of the white envelopes the invitations came with)

I need to order bags for the cookies (favors)

Order paper lanterns

Stickers for the cookie bags

Weddings bands (the fiance got his, but I swear he got the girl one by accident, it's super thin, so I'm working on getting him to exchange it)

I'm having some trouble figuring out what to get my bridesmaids as gifts, but I need to do this asap

Finish the direction/hotel info. inserts for the invitations

Address the response cards

Order a return address stamp for the invitations (this also needs to be done like yesterday)

I really need to finish anything to do with the invitations and MAIL THEM because the response card says to respond by September 1!

Figure out table numbers

Decide how to set up place cards

Order the tuxes

Decide on dinner place and spa for bachelorette

Get my skin to clear up

Lose 5 more pounds by Aug. 13 (1st alteration)

That's all I can think of right now.  Back to work!

I think I'm gonna do it!

I've been contemplating getting my personal training certification for awhile now.  And ISSA is running a promotion right now (which ends tomorrow) so the cost would be $100 less.  I've discussed it with Bradley and my mom and they both support me on it.  I'm just a little hesitant because the money could certainly be used towards the wedding.  But, at my current job, I have a lot of down time (read: bored out of my mind time) and I would love to use that to study for my exam, so I could be just about ready to be certified once we return from our honeymoon and start our new lives together.  I'm not a huge fan of my current job, it has nothing to do with what I went to school for or even have an interest in, and the pay is crap.  PT appeals to me because I have a definite interest in fitness (even if I might not always want to workout), I like the idea of setting my own hours, and I think it'll make me more of an expert when I want to freelance write for fitness magazines (I went to school for writing), plus the flexible hours will hopefully eventually put me in a better position to have more time to write.  I've never been excited about having the same office job, M-F, for the rest of my life.  I'd like to do something that gives me more room to work on many things at once.  I also think PT will pay better than my current job, which is important if Bradley  and I ever want to have a family.  Ick.  I need to make up my mind asap!  Why do I over think things all the time??

It fits!!!!

I tried my dress on tonight and it fits!  I still want to lose a few more pounds but not too many.  There's a ton of boning in the dress, which oddly I didn't realize before, so when i try to sit it's a little awkward.  I told Bradley he'll just have to prop me on the chair when we eat!  I'm so glad it fits and my aunt didn't have to yell at anyone!  :)

The wedding dress saga continues...

Some of you might know that my wedding dress doesn't fit me, it's too small.  It's been a few months since I've tried it on and I go back to try it on Monday.  It was always slightly fishy that a size 1o gown wasn't fitting me AT ALL.  I normally wear a 6, sometimes even a 4 and while I know bridal gowns are sized differently a size 4 sizes bigger than mine should fit!  So, I decided to go back to the original store where I tried the dress on (I ordered it from a bridal salon that didn't carry the designer but was willing to order me the dress at $525 less (not that they knew that) so I went with it).  Thinking that if I could fit into the dress at the store (because I had when I first tried it on) and it was a size 10 or smaller at least I'd know for sure something was funky with my dress.  I went to try on the dress this morning and whatayaknow, it fit AND it was a size 8!  Now I know if when I try my actual dress on in two days and it still doesn't fit there's a problem.  And if that happens I'm letting my aunt loose on them!  I've already asked them to reorder the dress which they told me can only happen if I buy a whole new dress, so if it turns out it really is not my fault the dress doesn't fit they're going to have to deal with my aunt and she's scary.  For real, she'll be calling the better business bureau on them.  I hope the dress fits!

Rehearsal Dinner

I've been searching for the perfect dress for my rehearsal dinner.  It's being held at a bar/restaurant that my uncle is the head of the kitchen at and the owner is a long time family friend, so I figured I could probably get a good deal.  It's not my first choice, but the price is good and it's better than my original idea of having it at home!  It's not going to be super fancy, but I really wanted to take advantage and wear a great dress.  Today, I was in Haddonfield and I parked right by a bridal salon.  One of the dresses in the window was so pretty I really wanted to try it on.  I went inside with my cousin (also one of my MOH) and asked for the dress off the mannequin, but when I found out the price, I figured I totally wouldn't get it.  I decided to try it on anyway and once it was on, I fell in love with it!  People in the store were coming up to me before they left to tell me how great the dress was!  It's $235 though.  That might not be a lot for some people, but for me it's a lot.  I'm going to go back next week though.  What do you think is a reasonable price to spend on a rehearsal dinner dress?

Isn't preetttyyyy???  The designer is LOVE.

Food, Inc.

Before I go to bed.   Has anyone seen the new movie, "Food, Inc."?  I haven't seen it yet, but I can't wait!  The only reason I haven't seen it yet is because I'm planning to drag my mother with me (the fiance will come willingly) and she's on vacation right now, so I have to wait, though I have considered just seeing it twice.  I'm all about this stuff.  Ever since I read "Fast Food Nation" in college I've stopped eating at McDonald's altogether and limit my other fast food consumption (though I do admit I'm addicted to Chick fil a).  My fiance and I are by no means "rolling in it" but I do try to buy organic as much as possible, we generally only drink organic milk and eat cage free eggs and I also buy cage free, antibiotic free chicken and free range beef (though we east mostly chicken) and I want other people to see why they should buy these things also because I know the more people who buy it, the more affordable and available it'll become!  Anyway, I hope everyone goes to see this movie!  I'll write more about it once I've seen it.

A tiny update, invitations, bridesmaid dresses and registries oh my!

This'll be short because it's my bedtime!  A lot of wedding stuff is coming together, with only a little more than 3 months to go!  The invitations came in the mail the other day!  The bridesmaids dresses are in!  We did our cake tasting tonight.  And I just got done trying to sort through our 3 registries after my friend called earlier to yell at me (apparently my shower invitations were mailed) so I went through all 3 registries (we had 4 but I nixed one).  It's hard because we wanted to give people a lot of options and price ranges, but my friend swears if I don't get rid of some stuff, we're going to end up getting things we don't really want.  But what if people don't want to spend $130 on a Griddler (though I hope they do because that's the one thing I really want, I'm all about the grilled wraps!) or $400 on pots?  I know a registry is supposed to be about what you want, it's supposed to be a wishlist (at least that's what the guy at Bed, Bath and Beyond tried to sell me on) but I still feel guilty about some of the prices of things.  Oh well, I guess we'll just see what happens!

In other news, I try my dress on again on Monday and I'm trying to lose 6 pounds before then.  I lost 1.8 lbs. last week, but I'm hoping the weight magically falls off while I sleep Sunday night, though tasting wedding cake I'm sure isn't helping!  I'm drinking Myoplex shakes in the morning and eating salad or sushi for lunch and a healthy dinner.  And doing P90x and spinning, I don't know why the fat won't let go of me!!

Okay, I'm off to bed!

New SHOES!

I found these at DSW today, I think they're super cute but when I texted my friends a photo, I got responses like, "Yuck" or "Eh, not a fan" except my mom, she liked them, which is surprising I didn't think she would.  What do you all think?

Camping Adventure!

My future husband, started a new job last August and while he accumulates vacation and sick time he's not allowed use any of it.  This really doesn't leave for any vacations this summer, so we have to take advantage of holiday weekends (he normally 6 days a week) so holiday weekends gives him 2 days in a row off!  So, we are planning to go camping 4th of July weekend.  He's never been tent camping, this should be fun!  We're thinking somewhere near Rehoboth Beach, DE.  Not too far away, just a few hours and close to the beach!  My plan is beach all day and nights by the camp fire with s'mores!  

I grew up camping every summer with my family, but they've since graduated from tents to pop up to full trailer, so it looks like we'll be buying our own tent for this little adventure (maybe it'll lead to a new little tradition of our own).  I found a few nice tents at target.com.  I think this one should work for us and give us room to grow.  And it's on sale for $79.99!  And the air mattress (on sale for $27) should work for sleeping!  My mom has a little stove/grill thing we can borrow to cook on.  Oh, wait, I forgot I don't have a sleeping bag anymore?!  I have to look for that, I know I got a Coleman for Christmas one year (before that it was Babysitter's Club), but that could've been when I was 15!  I'll have to ask my mom.

I'm looking forward to getting a little time alone.  It's funny, once I hit 15 I was pretty much over camping with the family, but now I'm looking forward to it.  What's bad about hanging at the beach, swimming in the pool, eating s'mores and hotdogs cooked over the fire and cuddling with the one you love in a tent?  I'll be sure to take my camera and take pictures!

Invitations ordered!

Whew!  One more thing to cross off the list!  My mom will be so proud!

Just saw this in my Splendora email

This dress is crazy!  And Aimee Kick, the girl who made it looks super cute in it!  Read the story here.

Nothing like a month later

Alright, so it's been a month since my last post and I'm a horrible blogger!  But, the big day is almost 4 months away now and I'm sure I'll have much more to post about!

Things are starting to come together, pretty soon final decisions will start to be made and I'll be crossing more and more off of my To-do List.  I can't wait.  

I'm really starting to feel the pressure of fitting into the dress (yes, it still does not fit) but I'm pretending I'm preparing for a movie role and I need to change my body in four months!  Ha.  I don't have the pleasure of a trainer and nutritionist and it's not my "job" to look good, but hey we'll see what happens!

I'm thinking honeymoon...

For the last few years (since I got a desk job and started steadily losing my girlish figure), I have been pretty much avoiding bathing suits.  But, now I have Aruba to look forward to in October and I really want to run around in a bikini and not feel self conscious.  So, in addition to the working out, I'm also on the lookout for cute bathing suits!  Unfortunately, most stores already have their stock on clearance and I am not really ready to be buying yet, but I might just have to take the plunge and purchase a few.  I'll hang them up in everyday view to be reminded of where I need to be soon.  Below are a few Victoria's Secret options that I like.  What do you think?

P90x

I'm sure you're all getting sick of reading me write about working out (if anyone actually still reads this) but I just wanted to say that I started P90x last night.  If you haven't heard of it or seen one of the 5,000 infomercials, it's a 90 day program based off of 12 dvds and a nutrition plan.  It's supposed to really work, but we'll see.  I can say that last night I really was feeling the pain and I think tomorrow I'll be feeling it even more!  I'm really hoping this works!  I have to get a pull up bar, they do a lot of pull ups!

My new best friend or worst enemy

For my birthday, about a month ago, I got a Polar FT60 heart rate monitor watch.  I'd been looking for a HR monitor for awhile and was planning to get a Polar when I had the money.  So, when I received an Ipod Touch from both my mother and fiance I took one back and got the HR monitor!  I was originally planning to get a lower priced model, but since I using the money from a return essentially I was able to get a better model!  The FT60 is like a personal trainer on your wrist.  When you first get it, you perform a fitness test, which is really just your resting HR, then you decide whether your goal is to maintain your fitness level, improve or lose weight.  Once you decide the watch tells you based on your fitness test, weight, height and age how many hours you need to workout in a week and how many calories you need to burn and what HR zone you should be in for the hours you workout.  At the end of the week it gives you feedback on the week (I keep getting "train more this week"), tells you to weigh yourself again and your goals for the upcoming week.  If you do everything your supposed to and reach your goals, a little trophy flashes on the screen!

I have yet to receive this trophy.  I am obviously not working out as much as I should be.  My problem is, as soon as I take a day off, it turns into three days off!  This is a problem as my wedding dress still does not fit!  I tried it on a few weeks ago and while it's closer to fitting, it still does not and the minute I put it on, I start to sweat.  This really does not excite me.  I'm starting to not like my dress, which is probably due to it not fitting, but still that doesn't make me feel any better about it!  I can't seem to get and stay below 126 lbs.  I weighed myself last week and I was at 125 but this morning I was back to 126.6!  I'm trying not to, but I'm starting to get discouraged.  And I asked about getting a larger dress and apparently to do that I'd have to pay for a whole new dress, which is NOT in the budget!  Ugh.  My goal is to get that friggin trophy come Monday morning when I wake up, but tomorrow is Sunday and I have 800 more calories to burn this week!  Guess I'll be on my Spin bike for 3 hrs. tomorrow!

Do any of you have any tips for getting rid of side fat?  My whole problem is my belly, especially those love handles!  Help me!

Isn't it pretty?

NY Magazine's Bridal Event- Twobirds Bridesmaid

I first saw this dress(es) on the Martha Stewart show I think sometime last year.  I thought it would be the perfect option for my bridesmaids, unfortunately it was a little out of the price range I was willing to ask them to spend, but it's still a fabulous idea!  Twobirds Bridesmaid was at the NY Magazine event, so I took a few photos to show all you ladies.  It's one dress that can be worn in over 10 different ways (the woman at the table told me 16 I believe)!  It fits size 0-16 and they now offer a plus sized option as well!  Trying to get all the different styles created makes me nervous though, I have a blanket/poncho that folds into a bag and it takes me a half hour to figure it out every time!  But that's just me!  What do you think?

          

NY Magazine's Bridal Event

Last week I attended NY Magazine's Bridal Event with my mother.  We walked 25 blocks to get there (we live in NJ right outside of Philadelphia and took the train from Secaucus)  for some reason we thought this was a good idea, it was not.  By the time we got there our feet were killing us!  We learned though, when we left we took the subway back to the bus station, our aching feet and 20 lb. gift bags helped make that decision for us!

Speaking of the gift bags, they were really nice!  Two hardback books, 2 magazines, two bars of dark chocolate, a water bottle, a wedding day survival kit, Korres sunblock and Redken straightening spray as well as a bunch of other stuff!

It's taking me some time to get all the photos sorted and ready to post, so I'll start with Victoria's Secret Bridal that I took some photos of.  I'm a fan of the ruffled panties, super cute!

We're going to Aruba!

It's been awhile, longer than I realized, since I last posted.  Sorry!  We've booked our honeymoon! We'll be going to the Occidental Grand Aruba, unless our travel agent finds a better deal, but either way, we'll be in Aruba from Sunday to Sunday after our wedding!  I wasn't too keen on the idea of leaving the day after out wedding, but the only non-stop flight for days is at 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning, so it looks like we'll be sleeping on the plane!  But that's okay because when we wake up we'll be in Aruba!

I'm kind of to the point now where I just want to be married and go on our honeymoon!  I'm eager to start our new lives as a married couple together, even if we've been together in some way for the past ten years and we've been living together for 4, in our home for almost 3 years, I'm still looking at our wedding as a new start to great things!  I always say that I have a great person to spend the rest of my life with, great family, great friends, the only thing missing is the career at this point.  And I feel that once we're married I'll have a little more stability to go after goals that are important to me.

I'm also excited to not have paying for a wedding looming over us anymore!  I'm still thinking about getting a second job, but I really don't want to.  Time is dwindling though, so I better decide soon!

Anyway!  Here are a few pictures of the Occidental Grand Aruba!

Photo opt?

For the wedding we were hoping to have a photo booth at that reception since we got engaged in a photo booth, but the coordinator at our location isn't too fond of the idea (though before we signed a contract she didn't have a problem with it) and also it's not exactly cheap.  So, I was thinking about making our own photo booth set up and then I was thinking about leaving cool cameras at each table for the guests to use, like Holgas, Dianas, just different cameras that produce interesting photos.  And today I found this and thought it might be the best of both ideas?

What do you all think?  It's still kinda pricey, but half the cost of the photo booth at least and in this case we could keep the camera!  I'm kind of a camera freak.  I like to collect old ones.  Plus, I own a Nikon D40, a Canon Elan II e, and an old Pentax K 1000.  Actually, writing this makes me want to get back into photography again!  Maybe I should take another class?  Okay, getting off topic sorry!

My skeleton

So, maybe some of you will remember that awhile back I was having pain in the upper left side of my back and left arm?  After about 3 weeks I went to the doctor and got an x-ray of my spine and shoulder and they saw some sort of mass on my shoulder so I had to go get a full body bone scan.  In the time between the x-rays and the bone scan (because I had to wait for insurance to approve it) my back and arm pain pretty much went away, but I still got the scan anyway, just to be safe.  I haven't heard from the doctor yet (I got the scan Thursday night) so I guess I'll hear something next week.  

If you haven't had a bone scan before, it goes like this.  You go to the radiologist and they inject you with a radioactive fluid, then you come back 3 hours later (after drinking 24 oz. of fluid) and you lay on a table, completely still and this huge machine above you (closer to me than I thought it'd be) makes it's way slowly from the top of your body to your toes, and it takes about 20 minutes to get down your body.  I tried to breathe, stay calm,  and at first I counted in my head but then my mind started to wander and as usual I had some crazy random thoughts.  But, it wasn't so bad.  I guess now I just have to wait and see.  I wanted to show everyone my scan isn't it cool?  I want to hang it up but the fiance said I can't!  Ha. 

Veils...will I ever find one I love?

I've got the dress and the shoes and now I need the veil.  I've tried on a few, but so far, haven't found one I love.  I'm looking for a birdcage veil and so far I tried on a really poofy one and the kind that just clips to both sides of your face in your hair.  I like the second type better, but I still like to try one that kinda comes down on an angle and clips towards the back of your head.  I've even purchased the russian tulle, but I haven't attempted to do anything with it yet.  I'm normally a pretty crafty, creative person but for some reason I haven't been so when it comes to my wedding, maybe because people keep telling me to not stress myself out and just buy the things I need.  Which sounds great, except I'm on a budget here, I need a new kitchen after this wedding! Anyway, here are a few veils I like:

Leah C Tigerlilly

Jennifer Leigh              Birdcage Veils

I have to admit that the Tigerlilly veil is my favorite, but the $700 price tag, is a little out of my price range!  I'm sure my future husband would rather have a dishwasher (among other things)!

Rethinking colors

This color combination on Angelina Jolie is making me rethink my colors for the wedding.  I just really love the green with the black!  I never even considered it before, but it's kind of expected and I like it.  If I wasn't so set on my girls carrying pink flowers, I might be more likely to change it.

New Look

I'm in the process of coming up with a new look for the blog, so if you check back and things look funky, I'm messing with colors.  I wish I knew html better and I could just edit that, maybe I'll have to brush up on my html.  Hmm.

Papabubble

I was just catching up on some Martha and I watched with amazement as Martha pulled shiny ribbons of sugar and rolled it into lollipops.  She was learning from Chris Grassi and Fiona Ryan the owners of Papabubble in NYC.  I think this candy could make great wedding favors or even gifts for your bridal party!  Below are stills from the Martha show, check out the full video here.

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Just a tiny rant

I know I mentioned before that my wedding dress does not fit and initially I assumed it was just me too fat to fit in it, but now I'm wondering.  I was talking to my friend Erin today about the whole thing and it got me thinking.  According to the seamstress the dress is 4 inches too small, which is a lot!  I should start by giving a little background to where we are now.  I originally tried the sample dress on months and months ago at a bridal salon, my mom was looking for a reason to take a day off and even though my wedding was more than a year away I offered to go look at dresses.  A few months later, I went to a different bridal salon to see what they had to offer.  Every dress I tried on I compared to the dress I tried on at the other store and I mentioned it to the consultant, she left the room and came back with a brochure with the dress in it.  They don't sell that designer but she offered to order it for me.  So, she took my measurements (and my mom's money) but she didn't have a size chart so she said she'd call me the next day with the size (this is the detail I had forgotten!) so she called me the next day with the news that based on my measurements I was a size 8 in the chest and hips and between a 10-12 in the stomach (fun news) and she ordered a size 10 saying that there was only an inch difference between sizes.  When I tried my dress on last Monday my consultant put it over my head and pulled it down, the chest part was sticking way out and it didn't zip up the last bit, it could have but we didn't try because we didn't want to rip it.  So, I'm like okay, I know I gained weight, it's winter and I'm not so motivated and an inch isn't so bad.  THEN, the seamstress comes in and says, "It's like this" and pulls my dress down so now the chest isn't sticking out (and pretty much fits) and I say, "It's like an inch too small."  And she says, "Try 4."  How is it possible that the dress is 4 inches too small??  I gained like 5 lbs. at the most not 20!  I never got a chance to check the size (to be honest, I didn't even think to) so now I'm wondering if they ordered the wrong size (I'm normally a size 6)  I know dresses are sized higher but not 4 sizes higher, right?  Today I was also wondering if maybe they went with a different designer's size chart since when I left the store they didn't have a size chart.  The thing is, at this point, I'm kinda stuck with the dress, I can't prove anything.  At first I was fine with losing the weight but every time I say it's 4 inches too small people react like I'm trying to lose 5o lbs. in 2 weeks!  Which is starting to make me doubt the possibility of me losing the weight and fitting in my dress!  I have 6 months before the dress needs to be altered and I was thinking I need to lose like 15 lbs., I already lost 2 just from counting my calories last week.  Is 15 not doable?  I'm going to try the dress on again next month to see if I'm any closer to fitting into it.  Ugh.

I love these little terrariums

These little terrariums are adorable!  I found them on Elizabeth Anne Designs blog they are from Jessica and Dustin's wedding, be sure to check out the rest of the photos!

My fiance and I recently made a terrarium for his dad as a Christmas gift, he loved it!  I got the idea for that when I considered doing terrarium's as our centerpieces, I've since nixed the idea due to the work I'd end doing, but it's still a great idea if you have the time or know someone who will do it for you!

My Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day has never been too big a deal with me and my fiance, but we usually try to do something nice.  This year he worked during the day and I spent the day being a basketcase because I barely slept the night before due to my back pain.  I was even yelling at my dog. which rarely happens because he's so darn cute!  But I did manage to get it semi together and make dinner.  I made Filet Mignon, zucchini, portobello mushrooms, artichokes, and scallions marinated in balsamic vinegar and olive oil and a cauliflower mash.  I got the recipe from Men's Health magazine.  It was really good and really good for you!  We do need to get a grill pan though.  So after dinner we had these for dessert:

I had the cake batter delux and he had the sweet cream and they were yummy, but I have to say I think Cold stone could have done better!  They should have mixed the cake and ice cream together and then put it in the chocolate cupcake wrapper.  Especially since Cold stone's whole thing is about mixing things into ice cream!  Oh well, these are new and only for a limited time so maybe next time they come out with them they'll be better!

Despite my ice cream cupcake dessert, I managed to lose 2 lbs. last week!  Woo hoo!

Valentine's Day ended up being great, good food and time with my fiance and the card he gave me made me cry (in a good way)!  ha.

I hope everyone had a great day!

I love you more than _______

I saw these on Oh Joy!  Isn't it the cutest!  I might have to order one!  I'm also a fan of the V-neck tee.  A few months ago I decided V neck tees should be my T-shirt neckline of choice and I'm not kidding, I own about ten of them now.  Some from Pacsun (yes, I feel old when I go in that store) and some from Gap.  I sometimes even wear them to work with dress pants, which might be less than business casual, but so far, no one's said anything, so I'm gonna keep going with it!  Yeah, I definitely got off topic there.  Oh well.  Now you all know I'm weird.

Wishpot

Yesterday I was listening to the podcast about wedding bloggers and I learned about Wishpot!  It might be the key to registering at various places.  I haven't looked into it too deeply, but hopefully I'll have have time today.  I've been concerned about registering at too many places, maybe this will help!  Has anyone else used this?

It doesn't fit!!!

Just checking in, I don't really have time to post too much right now, but I just wanted to say I tried my dress on and IT DOES NOT FIT!  It's about 4 inches too small and the way the beading is there's no way to let it out without it looking like crap, so I'd say it's time get motivated and lose some fat and inches!  Luckily, I still have about 6 months before I need to start alterations.  Okay, I'm off to bed now.  I'll post more tomorrow.

Wasted Week

I started the week out strong, ready to follow my plan.  I woke up early Monday morning with back pain but I ignored it and rode my bike anyway.  By the time I went to bed Monday night (after a long day of working out, work, and helping my mom shop for her dress for my wedding) my back was getting worse.  When I woke up Tuesday morning (early enough to spin) I could not even lift myself out of bed my back hurt so bad, I took 2 Advil and spilled my Vitamin water down my t-shirt because I couldn't bend my head back far enough.  I went to work only to leave at 12 to go get some muscle relaxers from my aunt.  I thought one of these would cure me (I'd never taken one before) well all they did was make me tired and I swear every time I woke up my back was worse!  I didn't even bother getting out of bed Wednesday and Wednesday night I even slept with Bradley's back massager thing from his car, it did not help!  I went to work today because I'm pretty sure I'm out of sick days (plus I was already taking off tomorrow to go to the Poconos) and work was hellish, but oddly, I think I'm feeling better!  Maybe my mom was right about working it out instead of staying still?  It still hurts, but not as much.  I was supposed to go snow tubing Saturday, but I think that's out.  Instead, I'll shop at the outlet stores and hopefully go see "He's Just Not That Into You."  Sounds like a good weekend to me!  Besides, last year the snow tubing attendant guy dropped my tube rope at the top of the hill and watched straight faced as I started to slide down the hill the wrong way, until I tipped my tube over and fell out for fear of hitting a person or another wooden stake on the way down.  Maybe it's better if I stay away from snow tubing.

As for wedding related stuff.  My veil material came in the mail, now I need to figure out how to make my veil!  I need to find reasonably priced hair accessories to attach it to.

p.s.  I'll be back on the plan next week, especially after I try on my dress Monday night!

My latest attempt, a final solution?

I read Michelle's latest entry on her blog My Wedding Report about getting in shape for her wedding and it's gotten me thinking.  I've already been telling myself that I need to lose weight for my wedding, but I haven't been successful, in fact, truth be told, I've been GAINING weight!  Which is just beyond ridiculous!  My friend told me she thinks it's because I'm building muscle from all the spinning I'm doing, but I have my doubts.  So, after reading Michelle's post I started to think that maybe I need to start looking at getting in shape for my wedding as training for an event?  I need to take it that seriously, otherwise, October is going to get here and I'm going to be disappointed.  Not only will I feel bad on my wedding day, but the honeymoon won't be as fun either if I'm embarrassed to be seen in a bikini.  I was just telling Bradley today (as we were registering at our 3rd and hopefully final place) that we could probably get away with using the luggage I already own because we're going somewhere warm so we'll need less clothes.  I want to only pack bikinis, little dresses, shorts and tanks!  I don't want to deal with trying to hide my body on my honeymoon!  It's not that I'm extremely overweight by any means, I'm just not tiny like I used to be and I want tiny back!  Maybe I just need to face facts, I'm not going to get tiny back unless I start getting super strict about my workouts and eating (which, sadly, means no more free Chick-fil-a breakfast on Tuesdays).  I need to force myself to workout for at least an hour, six days a week which I've yet to be able to do.  I only get one wedding day as far as I'm concerned and I want to look amazing for it!  (Plus, my fiance is getting in better shape so I really can't be a fat bride!)   Oh, and did I mention my fiance told me he didn't see why I can't spin before work AND after?  Yeah, so I think he's trying to tell me something!

Here's the plan:

Spinning @ 6 am M-F for 45 minutes

Spinning after work Tuesdays and Thursdays for 3o minutes

Lifting after work Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays

Spinning on Saturday mornings for an hour

Stretching/Yoga for 2o minutes before bed every night (I'm REALLY not flexible so I need to start small with this)   

If I can touch my toes by my wedding day, it might be a miracle, that's how not flexible I am.

Oh, and I almost forgot ABS, I need to firm as I'm losing weight, so abs every night with stretching/yoga!

As for the eating part of this plan, well food is my downfall, it's my first love, let's be honest!  But, I'll cut out the eating out and eat more chicken, salad and veggies and go back to no soda (I had stopped drinking soda for a few years, but lately I've been drinking it again).  I wish I had a nutritionist and a trainer, but without those, this plan will have to do.  Unless, anyone else has any ideas?

The Dewy Bride Look?

I was sucked into QVC and they showed this Gossamer All-Over Body and Body Buki Brush kit

and I'm thinking wouldn't this be a good purchase for a bride?  I'm all about the flawless body and face on my wedding day.

The front of the strapless bridesmaid dress

Here it is:

Tuxes

First, I want to say thank you to all the people who actually read this blog, I had no idea anyone read it!  Does anyone know how I can actually add my blog list to the side bar of my blog page?  So that everyone who reads my blog can also click on the links of the other blogs if they want (it's how I've found most of the blogs I read).

Okay, on to the tux!  

Here is the tux I've chosen for the men:

It's from Men's Wearhouse.  Ralph Lauren, 3 button.  Does the amount of buttons mean anything other than the amount of buttons?  ha.  If that makes sense!  I was going to leave the choosing to my fiance, but I realized if I leave it to him, it won't happen until last minute, so I chose and he agreed.  

And below are the 2 vest/tie options until I can decide on a bridesmaid dress color.  My first choice is the pink or as they call it "Tuscany Watermelon."  The fiance also likes this, which is surprising because when I first said pink, he was appalled!  haha.  But, I think if the girls carry pink flowers to match and I wear pink shoes, it'll all come together quite nicely!  Speaking of shoes, anyone know of any cute, kitten heeled shoes that either can be dyed or are already pink?  Thanks!

Bridesmaid dresses chosen!

My bridesmaids, my mother and I all went out to look for dresses today.  I really needed to finalize what they'd be wearing so I could decide about the flowers and the rest of the color scheme.  I had intended for them to wear gunmetal grey, but the dresses they ended up liking were a different material so they came in silver not, gunmetal and once I saw what "silver" really looked like, I wasn't loving it!  In fact, none of the colors were that great, so it's between black and coffee.  Of course, they had NO coffee colored dresses in the store, so I'm waiting for swatches in the mail.  The girls chose 2 dresses.  The one is my favorite and the other one is okay, I don't love it, but a couple of the girls did and really I want them to be comfortable.  

So, three girls will be wearing this dress:
         

And two will be wearing this dress:

And oddly, they actually kinda go together, even though they're two totally different dresses.

Now my concern is, if the girls wear black dresses can the guys wear black tuxes or will that be too much black?

I also made an appointment to try my dress on February 9!  I'm kinda freaked about it, what if it doesn't fit!

Guilt

My dress has already come in and I refuse to go try it on.  I'm supposed to be eating better and exercising more.  But tonight I ate Chick Fil a (I did add a side salad to it)!  It's like my drug of choice, I swear!  And now I'm feeling guilty.  I mean, it's not like my wedding is in a month, but still its fast approaching!  I need to lose like 10-15 lbs. for real.  I didn't even ride my spinner bike tonight.  I should go to bed now so I can drag myself out of bed at 6 tomorrow to ride my bike before work!  I hope I can get it together soon, I'm afraid I'm not going to get it til it's too late and I look gross in my wedding dress and even more gross on my honeymoon!

Ugh.

Our Save the Dates

It took me a little longer than expected, but the Save the Dates have been mailed!  

Here it is:

Our puppy Wiley!

We did the photo booth strip magnet since we got engaged in a photo booth!  I think he looks like a total goofball, but he's a adorable!  I'm sad that he can't come to the wedding.

Now my mom won't stop bugging me about the invitations!  The work is never done, is it?