He loves me!

Flowers “just because” are so much better than flowers to say “I’m not mad at you for the stupid thing you did!” (The flowers were great, just not what I did!! Ok, ok! I banged up his car a little!!)

I have found such a wonderful man! ) Three months to go!!!!! YAY!!!

Goin to the chapel…..

It tookseveral visits to several churches (some which were hideous for a wedding!!) in order for me to find the perfect one! We did visit lots of other great ones, that I’ll do a feature on soon, but here is the one we chose!!

St. Paul’s Community Church in the Green Hills area of Nashville, TN is such a great location! So far, the people there have been pretty great to work with (although the current director of weddings just left and someone new has come in- we haven’t met her yet!). The church also has a school and senior living community behind it, so although it looks small, it’s pretty modern and updated throughout the building and still has the charm of an intimate “chapel” inside the sanctuary!

I wasn’t sure that it would fit our guest list of about 350, so we dismissed it as an option pretty early on. Then, when the fiance and I were watching a sample video from our videographer Pursuit Video, and I realized that they were filming at St. Paul’s! Ray immediately said “That’s it! That is where I want us to get married!” And I was happy to oblige! Even if it does mean trimming down the guest list just a bit! (But so far, we haven’t had to!) So we called, and checked it out further, and now it is ours for the big day!

They have great bathrooms in the back, which we will close down just for the wedding party use before its time to walk down the aisle! With big mirrors and cozy places to sit!

 

The stage has plenty of room for my big wedding party!!

Our cake reception will be held downstairs in the fellowship hall, which isn’t huge or anything great, but we’ll do our best to spiff it up! ) In the pic here, they are having after school care, so alot of things wouldn’t actually be in the room!

 

I wish that I had more pictures of the outside of the church, which is absolutely gorgeous! There is even an ampitheater which could be used as a reception location (I’d use it, but in July it will be waaaay too hot outside!). And the railings around the church depict stories from the Bible, like Noah’s Ark and Jonah and the whale! Super cute!! The staircases will also be fantastic for pictures!!

I can’t wait!!!!!! )

 

Like Fine China

Most girl’s dream about their wedding day practically from the moment they are born! I’m one of those girl’s, but one who also dreamt of my own fine china some day! Silly, I know….but I have always loved looking in my mom’s china cabinet and seeing all the beautiful things she has there from her own wedding. Her china is very basic and simple, but because so many of the accent pieces say my maiden name on them, I won’t be the one inheriting her main set! I have however already staked my claim on a smaller set of dishes! Don’t worry, my mom is well aware of it!!

So right after I got engaged, along with looking for a dress and locations and all those other things a girl needs, I started looking for China! This set above was one of the first ones I saw and quickly fell in love with!

Don’t be shocked by the price!! This is a picture from Macy’s. I ended up not registering there (awful customer service and there just wasn’t a lot there I wanted!). Instead, I’ve registered for these at Bed, Bath, & Beyond where they are half the price at Macy’s!! You know I love bargains like that!! (Plus, everyone can use those 20% off coupons we all get in the mail from BBB!!) I didn’t even know that BBB carried china, since I’d never really looked, but as soon as we walked into the office they have to help you set up your registery, there they were! In pink…but I knew they just had to have the blue too!! It was a sign that I HAD to register there and HAD to get those plates!! I did spare Ray from having to eat off the pink ones though!

They are from Wedgewood China’s Vera Wang Collection and is called Blue Duchesse. How elegant does that sound? And Vera Wang??!! Sweet!! It has just a tiny bit of blue around the edge of each piece. A very subtle way to show off my personality!

I also chose this individual plate from Waterford’s Ballet Collection, which I LOVE, but I felt that the ballet loops on every piece would be a bit too overwhelming! This plate perfectly compliments the Vera Wang set!

 

I can’t wait to have people over for dinner to serve them with my new fine china!! (And to have the time to actually cook dinner!!)

A place to call home!

(please excuse my reflection in the window!!)

We finally found a place for the Fiance and I to live!!! YAY!! We’ve been looking for quite awhile, but since we’ve been looking to rent a house or townhouse instead of an apartment, most places have said we have to wait closer to moving time to even look at anything. They want to turn them over fast!

It’s not very big- 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath- but is perfect for our first place. It also means we’ll have to get rid of a lot of stuff between my one bedroom apartment and his two, so that it will all fit! Along with all our new stuff!! But that is a GOOD thing! Garage sale time!! ) I’ve already begun to create a pile of stuff to get rid of and have much more to add! I’ll be selling most of my kitchen stuff to make room for all the new!!

It’s super cute even though it’s small! And Ray’s enormous couch actually fits perfectly! That was a problem with several places we looked at!! And the stuff we’ve already registered for will fit/match great!!

Nice to have another thing checked off the list! He moves in a couple weeks and I’ll start moving stuff in slowly! My lease runs up the end of July, so it’s just about perfect! Now if only I was Genie and could snap my fingers and have all his stuff moved in an instant!

Shopping Tips for the Bride on a budget!

…..and everyone else too!! I often share about ways I save for the actual wedding, but decided to do a post on saving money otherwise! The fiance and I are on a tight budget- well, I’ve always been on a tight one with my meager teacher salary, but we especially are now with moving into a few home, extra wedding expenses, etc. So I’m doing whatever I can, to save wherever I can! Most of the time we eat dinner together. I hate cooking for one!! Although, lately I don’t have a lot of time to cook, but we’re trying to eat healthy! Too bad unhealthy food is so cheap!!

Here are some things I do to save!

#1 It PAYS to complain! 
   Recently, I’ve had bad experiences with a few products- a broccoli potato dish with no broccoli, crackers that tasted like a hardware store smells (wood and varnish! ew!), Oreo granola bars, so bad that I couldn’t even finish the tiny thing…etc.
   I got online, shot off emails to all of the offending companies, and they were GREAT! They all sent back replies within a day or two saying that they would make it right! They all sent me coupons for FREE products! ) Gotta love free! And it took me all of about 15 minutes to write the emails!
   Also, if something is wrong at a restaurant, your bill is marked incorrectly, your food isn’t cooked right, TELL them!! As long as you tell them nicely, you’ll either get it fixed or get something taken off the bill, etc! Once our bill was too much at Olive Garden and my grams had paid and didn’t realize it until later. They mailed her TWO gift cards for $25!! Two because the first took so long to mail that she complained about that too! She, my mom, and I usually eat soup and salad at OG, so we ate like 3 times for free!! 
   Sometimes you might get nothing, but hey- it’s worth a shot!

#2 It pays to compliment!
  There are several products that we’ve been eating a lot of lately, yet I can’t seem to find any coupons or deals on them! I’ve only done this twice, but I again went to the website and complimented the products, asked where I could find coupons, and was sent coupons free products!! )

#3 Get the Sunday paper on Monday!
  The Sunday paper is very valuable for coupons! There are usually two fliers in each paper, but I often find that they ”accidentally” put extra copies sometimes! Like this past Sunday, I had two of the same coupon sections and also two of several store fliers! Whoops! Yay for me! 
  I don’t subscribe to our local paper, but I do usually pick the Sunday paper up in the store. To really get a good deal, you can buy it on Monday for just $1 at stores like Kroger! They keep the extra copies around until they sell out! Just don’t wait too long into the week or they will be gone!

#4 Don’t throw away all the ads you get in the mail!
   I used to immediately throw away all the ads until I discovered that sometimes there was the same coupon section as in the Sunday paper! Bonus copies if you get the paper! They aren’t always there though, so you still might want the paper! You can also email the major coupon companies like SmartSource and Red Plumto get them at your house and visit their sites to print online coupons.

#5Join coupon websites like Couponmom.com and The Grocery Game
   Both are sites that match up coupons with sales at stores to get you the best bang for your buck. Coupon Mom is free and The Grocery Game is a paid for site, but it really is the better one! I’ve tried both and prefer The Grocery Game! The cost depends on how many stores you want lists for! I’ve already saved a LOT and stocked up on a lot of free deals! They even match up rebates at different stores, where sometimes by using a rebate and a coupon, I actually get paid to buy an item like a toothbrush or toothpaste! ) It’s a great way to stock up on essentials (can goods, toiletries, non-perishables, etc.). It was a little confusing at first, but I think I’ve got the hang of it and am saving a LOT!! )
   If you want to sign up, do it under me please! You earn free weeks with friend referrals! ) Just let me know and I’ll give you my email address to sign up under! It’s my junk email address so you might not know it!

#6 Get frequent shopper cards at stores you visit often!
  Yes, all those little cards hanging off of your key chain can get annoying, but it really does help save you money! Kroger and CVS have some of the best deals! Kroger often takes $ off the end of your bill for buying a certain amount of products from a certain brand, and CVS prints out register rewards based on things you buy frequently and that’s how they give you rebates too! So you can turn right around and buy something else!

#7 Shop the clearance aisle/end caps in stores!
  This is one of my favorite things to do in places like Target and Kohl’s! I’ve found lots of great deals on things I need and lots of great deals on things I don’t really need! Hehe!!

#8 Let’s hear your tips……………..

Little White Dress

 

That special dress is possibly the most important detail of a wedding! If I had all the money in the world, I would’ve picked a dress from Jasmine Bridal like one of these above! Most of us girlie brides had an idea of what we wanted in a dress loooong ago! Jasmine dresses were some of the first I fell in love with several years back while browsing through a friends bridal magazine.

It can also be a looooong and frustrating process for some people! I took the least frustrating route! (after a couple hit and misses at some stores that were too crazy to even try on!) And I am completely thrilled with the result!

I found my wedding dress a long time ago! It was the FIRST dress I’d ever tried on! You wouldn’t even beleive me if I told you how much I paid for it! It definitely was a price a “Fabuless” bride would pay! HeHe! I plan on doing a post later about where I got it, but need some more pics from there first! The only pics I have right now are me in the dress and I am NOT posting those because I know that Mr. Fiance reads this every now and then!! (Hi, baby!)

My dress is WHITE….really WHITE!! It’s what I’ve always wanted. I’m just not an ivory person! It’s fine, I have nothing against it, but I just like white better!! I wear white in my everyday life more than ivory!

When I started my search, I already knew exactly where I WASN’T going to go! That big awful chain with the mean sales people! Yeah, you know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever been a bride or a bridesmaid! I’ve been in 10 weddings and had about half of my bridesmaid dresses from there. Dresses are fine, service is not!!

I headed out to several smaller places around town- which also equaled greater prices! My bridesmaid and long time friend Kelley was a HUGE help in this process! She knew I was on the hunt for a white dress, and so we went to a location with that color in the name…that’s all I’ll say!! We were overwhelmed with the bright wild colors and throngs of school girls looking for prom dresses at first, but glad to see the calm of the bridal room! There were LOTS of beautiful dresses, and many white ones among them! As we are looking at WHITE dresses…..one of the employees behind us, helping a bride is discussing the color of the dress the bride is trying on.

Bride- “Is an ivory color like this ok to wear?”
Sales attendant- “Oh yeah! Nooooo one wears white anymore! Ugh!”

I thought that Kelley might march over to the sales attendant to give her a piece of her mind! Couldn’t she see that we were right there looking at white dresses??!!!

We didn’t last much longer in the store. Especially after we were “caught” taking photos of dresses, which apparently there are signs everywhere saying that you can’t!! We honestly  never saw a thing! How could we, with the millions of teenage girls milling about in the other room?! And hey, I could just go find the dress in a magazine or online anyways!

Needless to say, we left and never came back!! Even though I didn’t want to spend a lot on a dress, if I’d found one I was in love with there, I would’ve bought it!! But then, they obviously didn’t want to sell any white dresses! I think a name change is in order for them!

Ended up that my dress is actually FROM the warehouse store mentioned above. I simply bought it in a consignment shop and paid MUCH less and have no hassle to deal with!

Bottom line, it is YOUR wedding!! Wear whatever you want!! If you want a red dress….go for it!! I wouldn’t, but I’m not about to tell someone else what’s ok or not ok for their own wedding…Although if you are going for camouflage, I might just have to tell you how ridiculous you look….aka Redneck weddings.

I had a parent of a student tell me today, that if anything goes wrong at the wedding, or someone tells me that something isn’t exactly perfect, to just say “I planned it that way.” That way, if the bride planned it, no one can say anything about it! So if someone doesn’t like the fact that I’m wearing a white dress because it’s “not in style”….I planned it that way!!

Oh, and my dress has no train!! Guess what? I planned it that way!! )

Back to work!!

This weekend, I took a much needed break from wedding planning by visiting my former roommate and current maid of honor who’s living in Chicago! We had a BLAST as my fiance is from Chicago, and we got to do lots of things he’s missed doing. Namely….eating yummy food you can’t find anywhere else!! Oh…and visiting his family!! I’ve met lots of his family down in Mexcio…but lots of them still live in Chicago! It was a lot of fun! Crazy, lots of people and trying to learn names and who belongs to who…but fun!!

We got to eat yummy deep-dish Chicago pizza at Gino’s…..

along with lots of other food we won’t be eating again for a long time with our diet restarting today! Like hot dogs, peanuts, nachos, Italian beef, Gyros, and stir-fry from Flat Top Grill.  

(across from Flat Top Grill, is Oprah’s studio….had to take a pic for Grams!)

We also got to go to a Cubs game (can’t you tell from the food listed above!), shop at H&M (one of my fave stores!), and just have lots of fun haning out with B and her man!!

So, now it’s back to work in many ways….back to teaching (never really took a break from that since I don’t teach on Mondays anyways!), back to blogging, and back to the wedding work! ) Can I rewind the weekend and do it again?? (minus the extra calories, please!!)

Vacation time!! Chicago-Style!

The fiance and I are off on a MUCH needed break to visit my MOH in Chicago! (to try to talk her into moving back to Nashville sooner!! Hehe!)

I plan on doing NOTHING wedding related (except maybe looking for bridesmaid shoes), eating lots of yummy food that’s really bad for my wedding diet, watching the Cubs play, learning how to play poker (yipes!), shopping in the city, and having a blast with my former roomie and our boys!!! I’m espeically looking forward to the plane ride- where Ray and I can have uninterrupted together time for a little while!! (That is if the airlines are still up and running!!!)

YAY!!!!!!! See you next week!!!!

RSVP fun!

We had our first RSVP to the wedding just the other day! Well, other than my parents who I actually RSVP’d online myself, just to see how it works! We’ll be sending RSVP cards for our formal dinner invites for the wedding party and family (all the wedding party better RSVP YES!!), but everyone else we’re having RSVP online through The Knot. This has been the bain of my exixtense lately! Not because of the difficulty of using The Knot’s guestlist…it’s pretty uncomplicated and gives you lots of options for sorting guests. But the gathering of info, addresses, spouses names, figuring out what all of Ray’s families REAL names are…..it’s been a mess!!

Ex- he tells me to invite his Uncles Chalo, Chuy, and Guero. I ask if any of those are their real names….Nope!! Rosalio, Jesus, and I forget the other are their real names!! Even he can’t keep it straight!! Luckily, I have a future sister-in-law who has had the last 10 years to figure out her husband’s family and she’s a lot of help!!

But anyways, back to the first RSVP….I handed out Save the Dates to my 5th grade homeroom classes the other day, and one of them was the first to RSVP!! YAY!! ) The reason I really want them to RSVP is so I know if there is room to invite any other students/former students! See…..currently I have about 120 students….and maybe about 50 more past students I’d love to invite….NOT gonna happen! I really wish it could but we’re at a 350 max….and inching near 330 already and we’re not even done!! YIPES!! )

I love my kids though!!! To make it easier (sort of!), I’m currently inviting my 27 homeroom students their siblings and moms (they are a FUN bunch!!) and all of the teachers/faculty and their kids that I teach….Whew! That’s a lot! )  Wouldn’t want it any other way though!! Especially when they are all going through this process with me and loving every moment of it!!

One of my 5th graders overheard me on the phone the other day with my principal who’d had to rearrange a meeting with me. (Wouldn’t have been on the phone at school except she was supposed to BE here and obviously wasn’t!!) He heard me saying ok, no problem and looking a little perplexed since I’d just run all over the school looking for her and then was surprised to see she was calling. When I hung up, he asked who I was talking to because he thought it was my fiance and we were breaking up. Apparently something in my conversation with her reminded him of how people look when they break up in the movies! HA!! I didn’t think I was being that dramatic, and definitely wasn’t that concerned over a meeting postponed…just a little confused!! )

Sooooo…………..PLEASE send those RSVP’s in!!!!!!!!! Or rather, get online and send them in!!! Later you can mail in the little ones if you haven’t online already!! Nothing pleases a bride and groom more than hearing people say YES we are coming to celebrate with you!!! And YES you do need to RSVP….don’t just assume we  know you are coming!!! )

And by the way…my students keep asking me now….”What exactly does RSVP mean??” I couldn’t give them an answer! Until I looked it up and found this which says it is French (which I thought it did!!) “réspondez, s’il vous plaît” or “reply please!” Sounds better in Frech!!

 

The countdown is on!! Under 100 days to go!

T minus 100………

 

Yipes!! When I look at it that way, I’M SCARED!!!!! There is still so much to do!!!!! Less than 100 days until the big day!!!!!

My to do list-

- Finish entering guest list on line
- Find guys’ attire
- Order invites
- Decide cake design
- Bridesmaid dresses altered
- My dress altered
- Decide on reception food (the $11,000 proposal I got the other day is NOT ok!!!)
- Find more candy for candy buffet
- Move Ray into our new place….start moving some of my stuff in!
- Find shoes for flower girls
- Find shoes for bridesmaids
- Plan out of town baskets (we will have a LOT!)
- Think of more things to add to to-do list!!!

YIPES!!! ) Everyone keeps telling me how much I have done….but there’s still soooo much more to do!!!!! This is a full time job!! But worth every moment! (well, most moments!!)