I am so excited!!! We finally made a decision on the bridesmaid dresses! I will let Vanessa post more about them later, but they are going to be gorgeous and absolutely match the Android theme! Now my mission is going to be to get an Android t-shirt and tote bag so I can have them for anything wedding related that we do, cuz I need to make sure I am always keeping with the theme! :) Stay tuned for pics of the dresses...they will be amazing!

Coasters Galore

We wanted to do something different for favors, but we weren't sure what.  We looked at chocolates, mints, candles, and I even found personalized wine corks.  None of these fit and, of course, I wanted to Androidify them, and that gave me an idea.  I had seen someone who had decoupaged coasters and they looked really neat.  I haven't decoupaged before, but I'm a creative person, so I figured it wouldn't be too hard.  I called my SIL, Sarah, to ask for some advice and she told me what we needed to get.

Mom came over after work and had dinner with me and the kids and then we headed over to look at some fabric we found on Craigslist.  We ended up getting the fabric we needed for the card box, the ring pillow, and the escort card boards.  And all for $20!  What a deal on fabric!

Kat and Charlene came over when we got home and we started the coasters.  Sarah had said that we needed to use a large bottle of Mod Podge and also an acrylic sealer.  The Mod Podge is like a runnier kind of glue.  I had tested the thickness of the paper last weekend with cardstock and we didn't like that at all.  It may have been ok by the time that we put several coats on there, but it was raised a little too much for my taste, so we printed our graphic on regular glossy copy paper.

We started with foam brushes and found that a lot of Mod Podge doesn't work, though the tutorial says apply a thick coat.  We then found that coating the tile, placing the paper on, and then immediately coating over the top doesn't work well, either.  What did work: we put a super thin coat of Mod Podge, centered the graphic, and let it dry.  Then paint the second coat on and the paper doesn't bubble.  Charlene says it's time for a pic and she's right!

So on Tuesday night we made HUGE headway on the wedding favors! They are so cute! Hopefully we will have a picture up soon! It was, BY FAR, the craftiest I have been since I was like 6 years old! LOL! But, despite the fact that I am not very creative and crafty, it was a lot of fun, and a great time with the girls!

I am cracking myself up these days though....I have been telling people about the wedding and of course the staff at the venue knows about it, so now this is "The Droid Wedding" to many people. Now, go figure, it is me, the girl who had no idea that Google did anything except a search engine and email, who is putting my hands on my hips and giving people a dirty look and telling them "It's ANdroid!" hahahaha!

Rehearsal Dinner: Where To Dine

So I'll admit that I'm a bit of a planner...all right, maybe I plan everything...and like to be a teensy bit in control of things in my life.  Fine!  I can be a control freak occasionally, especially when I'm planning one of the biggest events of my life...or even a small family get together.  We are trying to decide on a rehearsal dinner "after party" location.  The bridal party will head over to our venue to do the rehearsal and then when we're done, we want to go out to eat with our immediate families and maybe even have a few drinks.  The problem is that our immediate families combined equate to about 30 people so we need to make a reservation somewhere.  Apparently, chain restaurants don't take reservations anymore and most don't even provide call ahead seating.  His family LOVES the Olive Garden (no wonder we all get along so well!) and so we all head there for lunch/dinner as often as we can.  We love to get the private room, but the wait can be an hour and a half to get back there.  Still, just his family fills that room up.

This morning, Kat made a great suggestion: the pasta bar in the building we work in.  It's like Subway only for pasta and possibly the greatest invention ever for us Italian food lovers!  Brian, the fabulous chef, starts you off with your meats (chicken or shrimp) and then you add all the goodies like green pepper, tomato, olive, mushroom, etc.  Lastly, pasta (tortellini or bowtie) and seasonings (garlic, oregano, etc).  They have a salad bar as well usually with hot and cold pasta dishes and a soup.  I've been here more than 4 years and I never tire of that place.

Most people don't know what a pasta bar is. I stared in confusion the first time the girls asked me to go when I started working here.  It's definitely something different, but they close at 2:00 in the afternoon.  I'm checking to see if they'd open for us, but what other places are out there that can provide reservations?  I'd like to gather a few options for us to decide.

LOL - I showed Andy & Emily a picture of THE dress. After oohing & aweing, they are already envisioning what they will wear and practicing what they will do!

Designer Wedding Gown

SPOILER ALERT: If you want to be surprised or if you are my fiance, stop reading here.

I mean it, Rhys! :)  I love you, but step away from your browser!






We had so much fun dress shopping at David's Bridal!  I brought a "posse" including Diane (my mom), Linda (his mom), Stacy (future sis-in-law), Kat (bridesmaid) and Charlene (maid of honor) came straight from work.  Thanks to everyone for coming! We checked in, got our consultant (Sarah), and started looking at dresses.  I am a little top heavy, so I was looking for something with straps, possibly a halter.  I figured strapless would be hard to keep up, based on my past experience.  Sarah pulled out one with tulle and I immediately said no tulle.  We looked at sleeves and I decided definitely not.  We looked at cream-colored dresses, and I quickly became a huge fan of white. I had 2 dresses in mind when we went in, one that they carried and one that I had a picture of and was hoping they had something similar.  They had the first dress and they had something similar to the second one, with red embroidery instead of black.  Yes, I said black...on a wedding gown.  Relax!  It was just some embroidery and it was soooo pretty!  We pulled out several dresses and started trying them on.  Here are a few:

A beautiful strapless white gown with red flowers embroidered on the bodice that I really wish they would have had in black,

A strapless gown with pickups and a REALLY long train,

A cap sleeve lacy gown that made me say no sleeves at all,

and a halter that I didn't even take a picture of because I walked out of the dressing room, took one look, and said "Uh uh."  Cricket, cricket.  Everyone was completely silent. We all knew that wasn't the one.  When I came in, I said probably not strapless and definitely no tulle.  Several dresses and a couple hours later, it turns out that THE dress is an Oleg Cassini designer gown that is strapless and is an organza ball gown, meaning that it has lots of tulle.

In my defense, the tulle has lots of embroidery on it and I sort of feel like Cinderella in it. :-)  Of course, designer gowns have designer price tags and it has to be altered as well.  The dress was on sale, but by the time alterations were added in, we'd be right back up there.  I decided to look around online to see if I could find the gown for a better price since I want an awesome wedding dress, but since I AM only wearing it for 5 hours...well, you know what I mean.

I found someone in Georgia selling the exact same dress, new with tags, because her wedding was called off. I almost did a dance when I saw this!  Not that her wedding was called off, but that I had found the dress for a few hundred dollars less than the regular price.  Then I emailed her and negotiated a little and got the dress a couple hundred more!  I paid her yesterday and she's shipping it as soon as PayPal deposits the money.  I'll breathe again when I have it in hand.

Dress Shopping

It's time to go dress shopping tomorrow night and I'm so excited!  I don't really consider myself a super girlie-girl when it comes to stuff like this, but I've been looking at dresses for days and I can't wait to start trying a few on. There are so many styles, but empire and A-lines are looking like my style.  Definitely going with white and flow-y, but past that, I don't have a clue, but it's going to be a blast!  We're looking at tea-length bridesmaid dress since it's an afternoon wedding, and longer dress feel a little too formal.  A girlfriend of mine who got married 2 years ago turned us on to a street in Cincinnati with several bridal shops all on one street.  Benson St holds 5 bridal stores and a lingerie shop.  All are on the same block so we might have to take a road trip if we can't find what we're looking for here.  This is the dress I have my eye on.

And the bridesmaid dresses...