320 dtg!!!!

To be honest, the cake is probably our least priority. We don't want to end up spending close to $1,000 for something that really isn't that memorable. Sure we want it to taste good and look great.....but really don't need to have something soooooo extravagant.

My mom knows someone in P'ville who does cakes....however, not quite sure yet if the transportation/distance may be an issue. Just to get a gauge, we have checked with some of the local places in Livermore, and they range anywhere from $700 and up.

Tara suggested a great idea to have individual cakes at every table for the guests. Apparently she has done it at other weddings and it was a big hit! Plus it REALLY cut back on the cost.

Something to think about!

321 dtg!!!

Met with the wedding planner today. She had lots of great ideas and looks like we (her, casey and I) all are on the same page with the entire feel/style of the wedding. It was exciting talking about all the things that could be accomplished, but we have to finalize a couple pieces of the budget.....oh yeah, that pesky little thing called money.

We started to talk about the day of timeline, which eased Casey's mind a lot. He felt much better afterwards since he really had no idea what could/couldn't be done. Heck....it's your wedding! You can do whatever you want!

Whenever he has a question or isn't sure if it would be appropriate or work in time wise.....Oh we'll just ask Tara. That's what she's there for!

322 dtg!!!!

Venue......Check
Photographer.......Check
Bridesmaids dresses.......Check
Dress.................CHECK!!!

Mom went down to the bridal shop in little ole Placerville and paid for THE dress. The next time I'll see it is when I want to do a fitting with my shoes..........Thank god the search is over. I am so happy with it!

I miss it. I wish I could wear it for a couple minutes every once in a while........Like Monica in Friends.

323 dtg!!!

After searching some more through those magazines, I may have found some cute inexpensive shoes through dyeables.com. for only around $60.

Just depends on how comfy they are....that is the key!!!

P.S. If you didn't already notice, check out Casey's cute comment on prenups on the last post.

324 dtg!!!!

Got another bridal magazine today.... It actually was an older issue.
Weird that I got the newer one first.

Anyway, I swear..... It seems like the two magazines were almost
identical..... Same ads in all the same places.... And not much new
info or inspiration.

Had a great night with some of my coworkers from UA..... Had to answer
some pretty interesting dating questions as conversation starters.......

I fell in love with casey because he made me laugh.

I would prefer if casey would tell me if he had an affair.

I wouldn't sign a prenup..... Both casey and I are poor anyway
hahahahah..... Plus we are never getting a divorce!

Out of family, career and personal freedom..... Family is most
important.

325 dtg!!!

I finally received my two wedding magazines in the mail today! I have
been waiting for those suckers for a while!!

So far after looking through them I have not found any new info or
cool stuff, but I did learn what to do if a bird craps on casey's tux.
Hahahah!!

I also found these things that you stick on the bottom of your heels
so that you don't sink into the grass. Pretty cool eh?

326 dtg!!!!

It's nice to have people close to you share your special day with you and be by your side. They are there to help through the planning, share their ideas, and lend a helping hand when needed.

Not only are our families involved, but we have a great bridal party/court.

Bride's Side

Johanne Marion- Maid of Honor (Friend of Bride)
Samantha Powell- Bridesmaid (Sister of Bride)
Allie Maguire- Bridesmaid (Sister of Groom)
April Maguire- Bridesmaid (Sister-in-law of Groom)
Dustin Rath- (Friend of Bride from High school)

Groom's Side
Matt Maguire- Best Man (Brother of Groom)
Jason Eddleman- Groomsmen (Brother of Bride)
Eric Cherrstrom- Groomsmen (Friend of Groom)
Matt Grolle- Groomsmen (Friend of Groom)
Monica Vesanovic- (Friend of Groom from High school)

327 dtg!!!

Had a great visit with the folks this weekend for Jason's big 21!! Was able to go over some of the wedding budget with my mom to see what is alotted for flowers, a cake and décor. I'm definitely going to have to start getting creative with my décor ideas and how to save some money.

Who knows...... I wasn't really lucky on the slot machines tonight but.....

Maybe we will win the lottery?

328 dtg!!!

I may have found THE dress. My mom and I went back to the first place I tried in Placerville. It was the first one I tried on. The sales lady said it was brand new, and I was the first one to try it on. How perfect is that!

I have a week to decide since this one is a special on sale. But how cool would it be to say that I am the only one who has ever tried on MY dress.

We'll see.....I don't see why I would say no to this one.

329 dtg!!!

This is a wedding cake topper.....nuff said I think.

Check out these wedding rings!!! A little innuendo wouldn't you say?

Awwww isn't this a magical wedding? I love how the lady who married them is not wearing any pants....and there is a dude wearing SPAM.

330 dtg!!!

Casey wants to put one of those fancy decanters on our registry, so that he can come home after work and "manly" pour himself a glass of whiskey....or some other form of hard alcohol that he never drinks.

He's funny. This guy has been watching too many movies......but that's one of the things that I love about him. He can recite some of the funniest lines in entertainment/media.

331 dtg!!!

I have been looking at career fields and programs at schools. If I wanted, I could pay $1,500 and become a certified wedding planner!!! I've always thought that would be so fun! Ever since I saw The Wedding Planner, I thought J Lo had the coolest gig ever. Now that I see everything that is involved, I can see how it could get very stressful!

332 dtg!!!

I just love these cakes. Even though they don't necessarily go with my theme...they are just so cool!! Similar to my tastes in art.

333 dtg!!!

Aren't these the coolest invitations??? I love the paper that she used. I find the coolest stuff on etsy all the time. I have so many ideas about colors and designs, and then I see the next coolest invitation and change my mind....Casey hates that. He thinks the longer I think about it, and look at stuff, the more I am going to change my mind and stress out about it. NO WAY!!!! An artist has to get her ideas!

I think I want a teal garter. Sharks colors! Plus I love the color blue.
Whadya think? I guess it doesn't really matter....I am not going to keep it....some lucky single dude will. Weird.

334 dtg!!

I love this.

335 dtg!!!

Well wouldn't ya know it! Today turned out to be a wedding day after all!

We had a ball at Crate & Barrel, after Casey let loose with the scanner.
Here is Casey looking at all the beautiful knives that he wish he could have.

Afterwards, we headed to the Shane Co where we looked at wedding bands. I think I found the perfect one for me that I just love! And Casey found some titanium and tungsten ones that he might be interested in. I also got my ring cleaned and it is shining pretty! (As if it wasn't shining pretty before, HAH!)

We then toodled around town, looking for a comcast center--which was quite an adventure. Then we headed to the movies, which on the way, Casey and I had quite the laughing session as I was uber excited to try my first frostie.....and he attempted to quickly open a bag of candy which ended up all over the parking lot and trunk of my car. I know it doesn't sound funny, but you just had to be there as I ended up laughing so hard that I was crying hysterically.

All in all it was a great day, as were enjoyed each other's company and got more stuff done for our special day. We both agreed today that it is just going to be so surreal on our wedding day....that all of those people will be there for us, and to share this special day with us....coz we just see ourselves as Alisha and Casey. Nobody special.....just the two of us.

336 dtg!!!

Today was interesting. It started off okay....not very much to do at work, and when I came home, I knew there was stuff that would keep me busy for the afternoon.....but I didn't really wanna do them. Casey and I ended up going to a highschool football game--which sucked--but at least we were together (originally we thought we were not going to be together for the evening).

We kept trying to figure out what to do tomorrow, since it's our day off together and we try to make the most of Saturdays. I prefer doing something wedding related, since its our only day for the both of us to get stuff done and agree on something. But he was having none of that!

"Let's go to a Harvest Festival, or an arts and crafts fair!" he said. "What? You think I like that stuff?" I replied. He was in shock when he found out that I don't have much interest in those things...I find most of them tacky and cheesy. Sorry to burst your bubble Case. Growing up in Pville you find that stuff everywhere, and I'm over it. :)

So anyway, as we were driving home from Woodside, we drove down El Camino with the windows down and 90's music ablazing.....just killing time. Singing at the top of our lungs, he then stops me and says "this is why I'm marrying you....we can just drive around, sing old songs, and have a good time together." Awww....

We still don't know what to do tomorrow really, but he is opening up to the idea of going to Crate & Barrel. Yeah!

337 dtg!!

Well, I have decided to polish up and correctly learn calligraphy. I have done some before, although it is not "officially" calligraphy, but my own version of it. I am not going to pay someone to address my envelopes when I could learn to do something similar. Plus, since I am making all of the invitations, it will be that much more unique to do EVERYTHING.

So I bought a book, some pens and ink at work, and got to studying and practicing. I felt like I was in second grade! Trying to perfect my "serifs" and make sure my "bowls" were round enough. Yeah....there are words for all the parts of the letter.

And so....it turns out that Casey doesn't really like Calligraphy. I know, you're probably thinking who cares, it doesn't matter. But it does to me. I value his opinions. But it turns out that he does like the small address I did in the lower left hand corner.

He hates fancy, big, flourishy text. And funny enough, that is the hardest to do....so far anyway. No, I do not expect to be an expert at calligraphy in my first few attempts. But it is harder than you think. At times, it's not even like you're writing because of the steps that you have to take, which seem like the opposite of what you have known since you were a wee one.

Anyway, I am sure I'll have my homework to do. Come home from work and practice my strokes. Hey, I've got 6 months to practice!

And yes, I know, I did spell Maguire wrong once. Just goes to show you how focused you get on the strokes and not the spelling of the word. That could mean trouble when it gets down to crunch time; I may need to buy twice as many envelopes for all of my messups!

338 dtg!

After twiddling around on the internet still trying to find a dress....I swear, the world is out to get me. All of the ones I find on the internet are not in any of the stores for me to try on. Sure, I could have them order one for me, but then I have to put a deposit down, so I pretty much am buying it without knowing if I like it on me or not. Pssht!

Anyway, I got bored and played on DavidsBridal.com and made a mock up of the bridesmaids in their dresses. So funny....green's a good color though!

P.S. I miss my computer...it still isn't working...gonna give it to my mom who works with a computer tech guy. At least I know he won't rip me off or make my computer worse.

339 dtg!!!

I love this reception decor....elegant and dramatic, something that I am definitely trying to emulate.

340 dtg!

I called 4 of the places that carry Maggie Sottero in San Jose, and none of them carried the styles I was looking for. Hopefully, that means that they are newer and will be coming out in the future trunk shows. It would be really unfortunate if they were older and not available anymore....but who knows, maybe something similar will be designed again!?

341 dtg!!!

Today was just a simple Sunday with Casey. After my mom left, we went to Macy's and looked at bedding, sheets, towels, china and more for our registry. It's great that he has an input of what he does and does not like, rather than not caring. I love that about Casey.

I went online tonight to search for some more Maggie Sottero dresses, and have found 4 styles that I am interested in. Now I just have to call the local bridal shops in the area to see if they have them in stock for me to try on, and what their prices are. Wish me luck!

342 dtg!

Well.....what a day it was!

We first started dress day at Trudys, where I tried on at least 4-5 dresses, and only came out liking 1. The girls all encouraged the choices, and thought they looked great on me--some even came to tears...but they just weren't "the one" for me. I wasn't too impressed with the girl who helped me...she didn't give me any choices that I wouldn't have thought of, and I felt like it was hard to communicate to her what it was that I liked. Although, I should give her a break....she seemed new to the job.

Then we headed to David's Bridal, where the girls searched for bridesmaid dresses! It was a piece of cake! I love the fern green color that I have chosen....it looks great on their skin tones. Orignally, I thought that they would all want to get different styles, but they all seemed to like the same one! Which is great!! So, those will be ordered sometime early next year, and pretty sure they will all have champagne heels to go with them. The combo is just GORGEOUS!

We made our next stop at Bay Area Bridal in Cupertino. All around, I was just disappointed. They didn't have dresses that I liked in my price range--they seemed cheap, so it was a little disappointing. The atmosphere was so warehousish...and the girl that helped me seemed rushed. Oh well....I am sure there are other places to look in the area.

So after departing from the girls, my mom and I headed to Valley Fair where we needed to visit Victoria's Secrets and get some work clothes for myself. I was in such a tizzy over the amount of dresses that I had tried on that day, that I figured I had looked at enough for now. But we walked by Blossom's and just had to go in. The girls were really nice and even though I didn't have an appointment I was able to try on 3-4 dresses. I didn't find anything that I really liked (except in the catalogs) but I did continue to get an idea of what I really don't want.

I know that this is my wedding dress and I am only going to be getting one in my lifetime, so that justifies my pickyness I guess. It's just hard and discouraging sometimes. It's like....I try on a dress and I either REALLY don't like it or just like a piece here and there from it. I want to take all of these details that I like from each dress and put them into one "SUPER DRESS".....is there such a thing? I hope so.

343 dtg!!!

Mom's in town and it's time to dress shop!!!!

We started at a very small boutique near our place last night. The lady was super sweet and tried to accomodate my tastes, even though she didn't have very many dresses to try on that were my style...since, I guess I am so picky. Hahaha

Most of the ones I tried on tonight were just ok....no wow factor....except for the last one. It was made of chiffon, which I haven't tried before, and it was slimming and so romantic.

Tomorrow I am going to three more places with my mom and the girls. We'll be at Trudys, Davids, and Bay Area Bridal. Hopefully, I will find THE dress, or hopefully the girls and I will decide on the bridesmaids dress color/style. No rush for those, but it would be nice to get an idea of where to find the best dresses for them.

Gotta love feeling like a princess for a day!

344 dtg!!!

If you actually read my blog, like some people do, you may have noticed that I actually relived a day and said that there were 346 days left to go...twice. Ooops! I have to use Casey's computer right now and the drop down history was incorrect, so I made a booboo. All fixed now!

So I was browsing through Etsy.com again and noticed a post for calligraphy. This lady charges $2.25 per envelope! That's so expensive!!! Looking at this picture....I could write that! I have thought about taking a class to learn...which would be great in the long run since I hand write a lot of things. Just trying to find ways to save a buck!

345 dtg!!!

It's great when you find pictures of your ideas in concrete form....laid out so people who are not as visual can understand. These are similar to the colors that I'm going with...maybe some darker fern green involved and black and white. But that's the burnt orange/tangerine color that I was looking for. But they will really only be accent colors......mainly black and white and green.

346 dtg!!

Today Casey and I were a part of history as we sat together in our little apartment as we watched Obama give his inspiring, heart warming acceptance speech for President of the United States. It's comforting to know that your partner in life values the same opinions as you. I have never had to think about that as an issue since Casey and I feel the same way about so many issues. The only thing that we don't always agree on is health, medicine and how it will affect the way we raise our children. That's obviously years away, but it's something that will definitely cause a lot of valuable discussions and compromises.

My computer just decided to turn off all by itself after I left it alone for 20 minutes. And it won't turn back on. We'll see how this dilemma pans itself out.

347 dtg!

I was just watching some random wedding shows (there are so many out there)...and I was just so appalled with the "you may now kiss the bride" moments! They were just so trashy! This is your wedding....not a moment where you need to be told to get a room!

Casey and I have started to have some of our first "married couple" conversations....finances! Oh the joys of money and bills. I mean, we have already dealt with that before as we have lived together for the past 3-4 years and we do have a joint account......but its a little bit different once you get married.


P.S. Right now on the WE channel, the Amazing Wedding Cake show is on.....the Cake Divas in Los Angeles.....make horribly awful looking cakes! Just so tacky!!!! UUGHHH!!!!! I feel sooo sorry for people who end up with one of their cakes! Duff and his peeps do a waaaaaay better job!

348 dtg!!

Well, after a fun, relaxing (and at times boring) weekend, Casey and I really connected with each other. We had many good laughs, watched some good movies(Sarah Marshall) and bad ones(The Happening), played lots of cribbage (I won all 3 times!), and just enjoyed each other's company.

When he had to have his fill of sports--I hate football-- I read through my wedding magazines and planner. We attempted to talk about favors 2 or 3 times, and came up with nothing. I have suggested some tasks he could do to help out with the planning, like coming up with a signature non-alcoholic drink.

But we did come home to something in the mail! Our monogrammed rubber stamp has arrived!

I found this product on Etsy.com and just had to have it! The motif goes with our decor/invitation and it's such a perfect way to personalize the favors, and the save the date envelopes. It was so inexpensive compared to doing stickers or an embosser ($30 including shipping), and it will last a lifetime. I can do it in black ink or green, or white on black paper!!! So many options! So excited with this purchase!

349 dtg!!

After a relaxing day at the beach, we got around to talking about favors and songs for the wedding. Nothing set in stone yet..... We haven't quite figured out something that's unique and still our style. Needs to be cool and original apparently. Back to the drawing board!