RSVP cards are awesome

I almost decided to do all online RSVP's to save money... at this point in my planning I'm so glad I changed my mind, for multiple reasons.

1. Getting a little postcard or 6 in the mail every day really puts an end to the monotony. Generally, my mailbox is flooded with Victoria's Secret catalogs (seriously, have they heard of sustainability?) and bills. It is oh so refreshing to get a wedding RSVP amongst the crap. 
2. As I start to get more and more 'yes' RSVP's you start to feel really loved. What? It's good for the self esteem... not to mention, when wedding planning gets me frustrated, I just think of all of these loved ones who are planning on coming and enjoying all of our hard work. :)
3. The little notes... "We can't wait!" or "We love you both!" It just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

So at this point, with exactly one month before our RSVP deadline of 9/26, here is where our count stands...

• YES: 71
• NO: 16
• AWAITING REPLY: 65

Hasta La Vista Cozumel...

A couple of weeks ago we decided that there was just too much going on and too little cash flow to take a honeymoon right after our wedding. :( And I'm not going to lie, I was pretty bummed at first. However, with TG's new job we just couldn't afford to have him take too much unpaid time off. Plus, this way, we can put more money in to the wedding day... :) And that makes me happy. 

So we will instead be going to Cozumel in March or April (we'll avoid hurricanes this way, too) and taking a "Mini-moon" in San Diego right after the wedding. 

We love San Diego... it has to be one of our favorite places on Earth. So that made the compromise a little easier.

San Diego, August '07

So.... VIVA SAN DIEGO. :)

Dessert for our guests

We finally came to a decision about dessert... and cake it is! We met with our cake baker last week (she is fabulous) and we finally decided to do a 3-tier cake, white with dots, black ribbon, fresh daisies. End of story, that's it.

It'll look a lot like this:

Flavors:

• First tier - Lemon cake with lemon filling
• Second tier - White cake with raspberry filling
• Third tier - Chocolate cake with cream cheese filling

All covered in a white vanilla buttercream. 

Final cost? $175.00. I'm not kidding, we are getting an amazing deal. If you're in the northern California area and looking for a cake baker, email me! I have just the girl for you. :)

Woohoo!

Reception decor inspiration

I always imagined a simple but elegant table setting and I think ours will look a lot like this (actually, it's nearly identical):

...except indoors.

And to top it all off, here is my first inspiration board! Special thanks to Picasa for making it extremely easy to make.

A productive wedding day

I took the morning off work to mostly hang out with my fiance and get wedding things done. First thing this morning we were at the tux shop and we made final decisions. Final. Eeeeeee! Sounds so final. Ha! :)

• My handsome groom will be rocking a black tux, black dress shirt, ivory vest, ivory tie and fuchsia pocket square.
• The groomsmen will be in black tuxes, white dress shirt, fuchsia vest, fuchsia tie and fuchsia pocket square.
• My dad will be in a classic black and white tux with a fuchsia pocket square.
• The ushers will be in black slacks, white dress shirt, fuchsia tie.

Second, we swung by the florist (which is right next door) to say hi (we love her!) and give her mo' money. I also changed my maid of honor's bouquet to be a little more unique... now I'm thinking I might do the same for the best man's bout. 

Third, we had our final consultation with our caterer. We went over every aspect of the day. She has an amazing reputation and we've been told that she basically acts as a day of planner...which we are SO stoked about! After going over every detail, I feel pretty darn good about where we're at. 

And last but not least, I ordered our engagement photo guest book...

I'll share more after it comes in the mail.

YAY! 60 DAYS! 

:)

Music :: for everything!

In the long to do list of planning this shindig, one of the hardest decisions so far has been choosing music. Not just any music, but the perfect music to reflect who we are the feelings we are trying to convey. We know we will need music picked out for the following categories.

Pre-Ceremony: We gave our DJ an overall feel of what we wanted and he will choose this. I'm totally ok with it, takes the load off of my shoulders! hehe.

Seating of the mom's: No clue yet.

Bridal party processional: It was a toss up between The Beatles: In My Life and the more traditional Canon in D. I played both for my bridesmaids and they started getting teary eyed during Canon in D... so our final decision? Canon in D. :)

Bride processional: Bridal March. I know I've said in the past that I don't want to be that traditional... but this is just something I have a gut feeling about.

During ceremony: Don't know yet.

Recessional: Either DMB: You and Me (starting at the chorus) or Etta James: At Last or The Beatles: All You Need Is Love. Other ideas include The Crystals: And Then He Kissed Me.

Reception entrance: Black Eyed Peas: I've Gotta Feeling (but Tyler isn't a huge BEP fan) so this one is still under negotiations. :)

Wedding Dinner: We will play our slideshow as soon as everyone has their plate so there won't be too much time for music, but our DJ will select songs based on the overall feel we discussed with him.

Slideshow: The slideshow will be split up in to four parts...

• Growing Up Brittany: I want something fun and meaningful. Having a hard time with that though.
• Growing Up Tyler: I'm thinking something along the lines of Five For Fighting: 100 Years. Not 100 percent yet though.
• A College Romance/Us With Our Friends and Family: Tom Petty: Learning to Fly.
•  A Forever Love: Landon Pigg: Falling in Love At A Coffee Shop and Keith Urban: Only You Can Love Me This Way.

Cake Cutting: We want something fun so we were thinking Def Leppard: Pour Some Sugar On Me.

First Dance: Katherine McPhee: Terrified. I am 97 percent sure this is it. I absolutely love it and it's perfect for us.

Father-Daughter Dance: Still have no idea. Elton John: Blessed or John Mayer: Daughters or Alan Jackson: Drive or Leann Womack: I Hope You Dance or Fleetwood Mac: Landslide. I'm all over the place. Suggestions??

Mother-Son Dance: Boyz II Men: For Momma. TG's mom said that herself and Tyler were the only one's with any soul in their family so they needed something R&B-ish. Love it.

Anniversary Dance: Not sure if we will do this.

Bouquet Toss: I really don't want to do something cliche like Beyonce: All the Single Ladies... but that may just end up happening just for the irony.

Garter Toss: David Rose and His Orchestra: The Stripper (not what you think! I was iffy at first too, google it! :) )

Dancing! (Must Play): TBD.....

DIY :: Fun Wedding Water Bottle Labels

After deriving inspiration from here and here and all over Etsy, I created my own water bottle labels for the wedding. This was one of the most fun DIY's so far! :)

The labels were created in Adobe Illustrator and printed on full sheet weatherproof labels from Onlinelabels.com.

 I cut them out using scissors... mostly because I loathe paper cutters. And it wasn't so bad.

The finished product! I love them and I think our guests will enjoy them. We plan on having some outside during the ceremony, in buckets and at the reception bar. We also did mini water bottles to put in the OOT bags as well. 

Did you personalize any part of your wedding??

P.S. 2 months to go!

When the wedding date falls on the most important game of the year...

TG and I are die hard 49er fans. Case in point:

When we chose the wedding date way back in January, when NFL schedules had yet to be released, we had no clue it would land on the biggest game of the year for our beloved Niners. The day we play the Raiders.  

After crying. We devised a plan.

1. The game starts at one. The ceremony starts at four.  Good to go.

2. The venue has a big screen (that we will have a slideshow playing on during the reception) and our awesome venue-owner agreed to put the game on the screen while we're all getting ready. She rocks. 

3. Since I won't be able to rock my jersey, I may have to go in this direction... 

via.

Obviously getting married is our top priority, but would we have chosen this date had we known this game fell on the same day? Honestly, probably not. But we will definitely make the best of it. :)

Did your wedding date conflict with anything??

Hotel Room Blocks

Way back when we first started wedding planning, I knew we had to set up guest hotel room blocks ASAP... for those frantic family members that may or may not be more excited about the wedding than we are. :)

I did a lot of researching and was honestly very afraid to do this because of all of the nightmare stories and hard work it seemed it took. Well, while I can't say that it was the easiest part of planning, I can say I'm now a pro at it. Here are a few tips for those just starting out. 

Tip #1: Do a lot of research! And I mean a lot a lot.

This is the number one tip for a reason. I spent many hours googling and researching past and present brides' advice and looking in to hotels that offered the best deals. Do not underestimate the power of knowledge, it will save you a lot of hassle in the long run!

Tip #2: Get the contact information of one person who can guide you through the process.

The biggest challenge was getting on the same page. I had to do most of my correspondence through email and phone.  As soon as I was in contact with the right person, it was smooth sailing from there. Not to mention, it made it really easy to touch base and see who all had booked a room and who hadn't. 

Tip #3: Think about your guests.

We have a ton of out of town guests coming. Because of that, we decided to block off rooms at three hotels, all different price points, within a relatively close proximity to the wedding weekend events.  We wanted our guests to have options... one of our hotels offers a free shuttle to and from the wedding, while another offers continental breakfast, etc.

Tip #4: Ask a lot of questions!

If there's one thing I've learned from wedding planning is that there are no dumb questions... if you need to know, then ask!

~ Will you be charged if the rooms do not book up?

~ When will the hotel "release" the rooms in your block? Or, how long do your guests have to book their rooms?

~ Does the hotel offer a special room rate for wedding guests?

~ Can you add more rooms to the block later?

These were just some of the things that worked for us, hopefully this helps you!

What are some of your tips for blocking off hotel rooms??

Hair-spiration, Part I

IT'S AUGUST! Whoa buddy. That means 2.5 months until I become Mrs. TG! :)

I suck at doing my own hair. Just wanted to preface this whole post with that because, well, I have no idea what I want done to it for the wedding. Shocker, I know.

However, here's the very short list of things I do know:

• I don't want a veil. This is one tradition that I'm throwing out the window.
• I would like a pretty head band of some sort.
• Hair must be up but loosely (I do not want a super slicked back polished look)

I really like this look with the head band...

And I love this Carrie Underwood look, my bangs are sort of like that...

This is also super cute...

So I guess Operation Hunt-Down-A-Pretty-And-Sparkly-Headband is underway.