So now that I solved the whole wedding dress nightmare, now we're finding ourselves out of time on ordering Brian's outfit.  If we ordered it today, expedited shipping, it MIGHT get here by July 11th.  Way too close.....so, when Brian gets in town, we have a lot of work to do.  Evangeline's costume mansion here we come!  Hoping we can find something decent there.  Praying praying praying.

Thanks to my great friend, I made the decision and was able to purchase a new dress at the thrift store.  Thinking this was the dress I was supposed to have in the first place, because it was almost screaming my name.  Walked into the thrift store, grabbed the only dress they had in ivory, and tried it on....It was as if the dress had been custom fit to my body.  Perfect length, perfect size, perfect style.  No alterations needed, and since the primary material is Polyester, I was able to hand wash the dress....yaay to NO dry cleaning fees!  It's beautiful :)

Just forwarded pictures of the first dress disaster to the company I bought it from.  They wanted to see the areas I was unhappy with, although I know there's no way I'll be able to send it overseas, have it fixed, and sent back to me in time.  Just humoring their requests at this point so I ensure I'm taking the proper steps for a refund/Paypal claim.

The last email they sent said, "Please send pictures of the problem areas so we can find a proper solution."  Proper solution would be to admit the dress is crappy and refund my money, but that's not how this company works.  I will be thrilled if I see a dime back from them, which is just awful.  Live and learn I guess.

BUT, no time for worrying or stressing out....I have my perfect dress, and I'm SO SO SO happy!!!

Received my wedding dress today (3 weeks early...yaaayyy!)  but I can't wear it (Boooo!).  This thing is indescribable.  Falling apart, wrong size, wrong color, 5 inches too long, etc. etc.  My sister and I had a good laugh when I tried it on, that's how horrible it was.  Stay-puffed marshmallow woman. I'm so sad. So now It's thrift shop-a-hunting I go!

Was praying for the best, but after reading the reviews, had mentally prepared myself for the worst.  No tears were shed, just really disappointed.  Wishing I had a money tree right now.

It's down the point where all I need to do is pick up a little something here or there everytime I have $10 or so on hand....All the major stuff is out of the way (besides Brian and the girl's outfits...but they are next!)  We still have the chair rental ahead of us, and u-haul rental, and to pay off the balance on the cabin, BUT  two of those three things have back-up plans in case we end up too broke to afford it.

It's SO relieving to know I will be completely finished within the month!  That gives me a full 2 weeks R&R before the wedding, the time when MOST brides are still running around crazy.  All these sleepness nights have been well worth it!

I even added another bridesmaid last week, and have gotten her bouquet, dress, jewelry and wedding party gift taken care of.  I am so excited and happy and feeling truly blessed!!

Thank you all!!

I ordered my dress a couple weeks ago from a company overseas....ended up paying $80 for shipping, plus an extra $7 to upgrade to rush delivery.  They promise it will be here by June 25th. 

The reviews on this company are HORRIBLE....it's all over the internet (shotty workmanship, late shipping, cheap material that falls apart, dresses that aren't even completed, no return emails, no refunds, surprise custom charges, dresses shipped stuffed inside 8x11 envelopes (how is that even possible??) etc.)  I've seen pictures of what people have received and it's appalling! Wish I would've done my homework more thoroughly before ordering, but the price was perfect for my budget.

I guess I'll just have to wait and see if if arrives on time...and if it's worth wearing.  I can sew A LITTLE, so hopefully the alterations won't be extreme.  Truth be told, I knew they were knock-off dresses, and since my wedding is NOT black-tie, a cheaper material may be just fine for a beach wedding.  I was planning on changing into a cooler dress for the reception anyhow. 

SO, keeping faith that I am the 1 out of 60 reviewers who is actually pleased with my purchase.  Just in case though, I'm keeping up my wedding registry request for dress monies....I may end up having to do some last minute thrift store shopping!

PRAYERS PLEASE (Not for a perfect dress, but for patience acceptance and grace, no matter what the outcome)

I'm watching my to-do list and to-buy list dwindle and it's so exciting!  May actually pull this off.  The dress has been ordered, which I'm a little scared about...ordering a custom made dress online, to be delivered two weeks before the wedding is a nail biter.  FAITH is high!  Next up, Brian's attire.  Boy oh boy, so so so busy.  Thank you all for your continued support.  With Brian on the road, I need all the "hug"s, "calm down"s, "it'll be okay"s and "you're doing a great job"s I can get!  HAPPY AND BLESSED

Brian and I began our faith based pre-marital counseling last night with Rev. Deily.  Thought provoking, inspiring, and rejuvenating.  Our union was God's will, and will be blessed....for this I am truly thankful and humbled. Coming from a place where I thought I didn't deserve happiness, to living a life abundant with God's promises, love, happiness, blessings and peace just takes my breath away. Thank you Lord!

Haha....I know I've been driving the poor gal up at Tahoma Lodge absolutely nuts!  Nothing like being "that" bride....ya know, the crazy, panicky one?  Yes, that's me now-a-days. She always giggles while we talk...can't figure out if it's because she's been through all this before and genuinely wants to throw me a "laughter is good medicine" dose of empathy, OR if she's laughing AT ME. At any rate, she's an awfully tolerant lady!

So this is what she's been hearing from me over the past week, each in seperate phone calls....

"Can you please reserve the cabin for me until I can transfer funds onto my credit card...everything's booking up, and (wa wa wa wa)!!??"

"Can you please hold it for another day...the funds aren't there yet?!"

"Can you please wait just one more day? Some unexpected charge went through on my credit card, and now I'm short."

"Okay, the funds have been ready for you since last night, when are you going to charge my card?"

"It's 5:00 PM, do I have to wait another day?"

"It's 4:00 PM...you said you'd charge my card this morning..."

OMG!  I'm turning into bride-zilla! Poor girl has been working on the pool and hot-tub this week, getting it ready for Summer, and it seemed every time I called she was "scrubbing the pool" and completely breathless.  I just have to roll my eyes at MYSELF on this one!

But hey.....the card has been charged!  Yaaayyy

I'm laughing about it now, but boy did the day start out rough!  Geesh. Since when does chocolate brown Rit Dye turn everything PINK???  Spent half the morning running around trying to locate the Rit Dye "Dye remover" kit so I could fix this obvious problem.  Not sure I want to give it another try.  Sorry girls, your bridesmaids dresses may have to stay white!

On a brighter note....our honeymoon cabin is BOOKED!!!!! Thanks to some generous gifts from family members, we were able to put our deposit down on two nights at the Tahoma Lodge.  Halfway there to paying it in full!  We are so blessed :) Thank you, thank you, thank you!

What a day!

Now I need a nap.

My second bridesmaid made it over to try on her dress, and it looks amazing!  I told her she had nothing to worry about, but us girls are so hard on ourselves sometimes!  Now onto dyeing the dresses...wish me luck (yikes!).

Received the guy's ties in my the mail yesterday, and they are so (dare I say) pretty!  I said it before, and I'll say it again, Ebay rocks!  It helps that I'm ordering all the fabrics from overseas, because the stores all stock themselves from the same supplier...which means perfect color matches.

The corsages are coming along nicely.  Not traditional style, but I like them, and Brian says they're gorgeous....so I better stay on the same track and stop second guessing my artwork.

On another note, I wanted to thank everyone who has RSVP'd so far...you are making my job a lot easier.  It breaks up the monotony of wedding details and planning to check my email and have good news waiting for me!  I have a feeling we're going to end up with a lot more people coming than expected, which is absolutely amazing!!  Excited and happy :) We may end up having to rent out another picnic area to accommodate (Oh Boy!)....just goes to show you how blessed and loved we are!

Just wanted to let everyone know, the venue has free parking OUTSIDE the gate.  If you want to park closer, in the designated parking area, the fee is $7/car.  I just found this information out myself....we are going to TRY and pre-pay for our wedding guests to park inside, OR set up a reimbursement once you're inside...but, it may not be possible.  I will update this blog once we know for sure.  Anyhow, just a heads-up so no one is caught off guard.  Thanks for visiting our blog, and can't wait to see you there!

I just sent the invitations out the day before yesterday, and already received my first RSVP!  I'm so excited!  I really needed some happy news today...this week has been an absolute nightmare as far as planning goes.  Busy, busy, busy.  Been working through the night on most nights, and becoming quite sick of it!  Now though, I feel fully recharged!  Thank the Lord for small blessings :)  We can't wait to see you all there!!

Wow, only 3 more months!  When people say you need an entire year or more to plan a wedding, boy they're not kidding!  It's so hard to pull all this together when brian is away from home so often.  Being a perfectionist doesn't help!  I can't wait to see all my hard work come to fruition!!

During the last couple of weeks I've been busy re-doing the boutonnieres...because they seemed a little big to me....probably just my nerves playing games with me. 

I've also managed to successfully purchase the bridesmaids dresses, although I still have one bridesmaid to fit. (yes, I bought it without her being present, which may end up being a mistake, we'll see!) 

Have gotten MOST of my addresses together for the invites which wasn't an easy task, and I'm anxiously awaiting the invites from the company.  They should be here on saturday!!!  I can't wait to see them :)

Extremely nervous that I have yet to order my wedding dress, and even more nervous that my stress eating will make for an interesting alteration process!

On top of all that, I've ordered the candy buffet bags, table runners, purple feathers, chair sashes, and bridesmaids wraps...all in the last two days!  Whew!

It's all in a day's work I guess!  After all is said and done, the excitement and joy of the upcoming union far outweighs the stress of planning it.  God has played a large role in that!  For whatever I cannot accomplish when I'm mentally depleted, I just pray for energy and strength and patience.  The Lord has granted me tremendous grace in this area.

Thank you Lord for this opportunity and for gifting me with such an amazing fiance, family, friends and support system! 

Wow!  Just hit an exciting point in the wedding planning...invitations!  We ordered some really lovely invites in our wedding colors, and got a great deal on them.  I've been working relentlessly for the last couple months gathering addresses, adding, organizing, updating the guest list...and the time has finally come :)  The invites will be in my hands in 2 weeks.  Happy day!  We are blessed.

For the past couple of months, I've been busy piecing together all the tiny details that make a wedding fabulous.  I can't believe what an important role the internet has taken in achieving this!  Ebay is my new best friend..lol.  I'm getting so many great ideas and even greater bargains. It's making it so easy for me to plan within a modest budget.....my new wedding veil came in the mail the other day....the one I bought on Ebay for a whopping $5.00!  The searching takes the most time, but it's so worth it when I find my dream decorations and accessories for a fraction of retail! 

That said, I'm excited to announce that we are paying for our venue today!!  We had booked it on paper with the reservation clerk, but today we actually send the money!!!  It's all coming along.  I'm so glad I chose to pace myself and take a few months to get everything in order.  It makes the planning less stressful, and allows me to fully appreciate each and every step, instead of rushing through the process.

I can hardly believe we've actually secured the venue!  I thought the day would never come.  Something about booking your wedding venue screams, "It's final!".....in a very GOOD way.  After months of pre-planning, wishing, dreaming, purchasing and piecing together (and quite a few glue-gun mishaps), NOTHING makes it more "real" than the reservation desk confirming your date! Now on to ordering the invitations.  I can't tell you how exciting this journey has been for me. I am truly blessed to have met, fallen in love, and said "yes" to the man of my dreams!  Lord only knows what I did so right to deserve this life, but there's never a day I take it for granted.