"THIS IS IT!!"

I found the dress :)

Since Darryl stumbles upon this blog every once in a while I can't reveal anything, but it is beautiful.  It makes my butt look good, too.  HAH!

Big thanks to my mom, Marthie, and the Ivory Suite bridal boutique in South Pas!

Nailed down some wedding things...

SUPER EXCITED!

1. I haven't officially hired her yet, but I think I have my wedding coordinator :)  SO excited to meet Jane.

2. Going dress shopping (again) with one of my newly asked/accepted bridesmaids!  :)  (I still need to ask two of my friends to be future bridesmaids, but so far four have accepted.  WOOT!)

3. Scheduled appointments at (hopefully) the final venue choices. I hope it works out so that I can nail down my venue on August 5th.  By the way, we're pretty set on having our wedding on August 11, 2012.  Save the date!

4. Got some more quotes for wedding photography and videography.  Slowly narrowing down the choices...

The one disappointment?

Catering is going to be SO expensive.

Wedding Planning

I knew that planning a wedding would be overwhelming, but I thought that having a larger budget than I originally expected would help!  It doesn't, haha.

So far, food is going to take up almost half of my budget.  It's totally my fault for wanting AMAZING food at my wedding, but I also want my guests to enjoy their day with Darryl and me.  Looking at a couple being sappy can only be cute for so long, ya know?  :)  The food and alcohol has to satisfy them the rest of the time!

I'm trying to get ALL of my planning for the big stuff out of the way before Fall 2011 starts.  That quarter is going to be hell, but since I'm going to be doing part-time school externships, I should have less stress during Winter and Spring 2012.

Darryl and I decided we're only going to look at a couple more venues, and if those don't work out, we're going to stick with the Ambassador Mansions and Gardens.  I'm totally happy with that, but it doesn't hurt to check out some other options :)

I'm also glad that wedding planning has not ruined my academics this summer. Late nights spent surfing the web will just hurt the bags under my eyes--not my grades.

Future Venue Searches...

On the list of future venue hunting trips... I'm hoping we don't have to go to all of them!

Pasadena:

• Ambassador Mansions and Gardens (again) - just in case we can't find anything else...

Santa Fe Springs:

• Clarke Estate - $3900 venue rental
• Heritage Park - $2900 venue rental

Los Angeles:

• Los Angeles River Center and Gardens

 Orange County:

• Muckenthaler Mansion - Fullerton, CA
• Red Horse Barn (I love barn weddings!!!) - Huntington Beach, CA ($2700 venue rental, shuttle fee $1000 - BYO everything else)
• Strawberry Farms Golf Course + Barn (BARN!!) - Irvine, CA

Hyatt - Valencia, CA (Darryl's hometown. Hehe)
Temescal Gateway Park - Pacific Palisades, CA

Castle Green - Venue search #2

So.... this place looked VERY promising online.

Boy were Darryl and I disappointed when we went there!  I understand that it's a historic place, and the outdoor area is very nice, but the indoor area was just depressing.  It was extremely dark, jewel-toned, and ancient, and I felt like the little kid from the Shining and crazy Jack Nicholson were going to come down the stairs screaming any second. I realize now that I need a more modern (or at least neutral toned) interior for my reception.

Also, the outdoor area is nicely manicured and has a beautiful fountain, but it's way too close to the street.  Cars are honking and making loud noises literally feet away from where you'll be having your ceremony.  The facility director's comments about my concerns regarding the traffic were, "It gets quieter between 3:30 and 5 when your ceremony should take place because it's right before the dinner rush!" Despite her "reassuring" comments, I still couldn't help but dislike the lack of tranquility.

Another negative?  (They just keep on coming!) There is literally a 10 square foot size space for the bride and her bridesmaids to get ready. It was dark, awkwardly shaped, and creepy looking. I guess I wouldn't mind getting ready at my house and driving over to the venue, but I had hoped for a large, brightly lit, carpeted room for my ladies and myself to drink some mimosas, chat, laugh, and listen to music in while gettin' our hair and makeup DID!

The unsurprising verdict? PLEASE show me the next place!

Venue-hunting is not as easy as I thought it would be :(

Ambassador Mansions and Gardens - Venue Search #1

LOVED IT!

Well, there are multiple mansions and gardens on this campus (the Ambassador Campus), and I loved the Terrace Villa, Fowler Garden, and Great Lawn.

Merritt Mansion interior

Italian Garden

The Merritt Mansion and Italian Garden were definitely not my favorites!  The Italian Garden itself isn't too bad, but it's flanked on both sides by two dated and ugly buildings that do not go with the garden (the Fine Arts Hall and something else related to the campus). The Merritt Mansion is also too dark, brown, and ancient. Don't get me wrong, I love dark wood floors and details, but this was just depressing and does NOT go with my potential color schemes.

 Fowler Garden

 Terrace Villa interior - upstairs.

 Another view of the Fowler Garden.

Now, on the other hand, the Terrace Villa was light, airy, and gorgeous. It had a more Italian feel to it versus an old Colonial feel at the Merritt Mansion.

Once I stepped into the Fowler Garden, I could imagine Darryl and myself getting married in front of what they call the "gazebo" (the building with three archways) with our guests seated on the grass and walkways. Also, parking is super convenient and cheap for us to provide for our guests. It's a short walk from the Fowler Garden, and only costs $250 for 299 stalls.

The only negatives?  Well...

• The indoor seating capacity does NOT work with my number of guests.  We're going to have around 170-200, and the Villa only holds about 100.  We could potentially seat guests outdoors as well, but we don't want our guests to be so far apart.  
• On the other hand, we could skip the Terrace Villa completely and do an outdoor reception on the Great Lawn (sorry, no pictures), but I'm not sure if we want that since bathrooms are far away and we kind of wanted to have an outdoor ceremony and an indoor reception :( 
• Also, the sound restriction that's in place by the city states that our DJ can play music up to 65 decibels. From what I've learned in audiology class, that's like loud conversation! I want the music pumping for the dancing that's going to be going on!

Verdict? On to the next one!

It happened!

So, some big news....

I'm ENGAGED!

I'm so excited to start the real planning process.  Enough with this "future" wedding business.  It's HERE!

Darryl and myself celebrating at Libertine in Hollywood with some of our friends.

I can't wait to start my life with this man. He's my favorite person in the world :)

I'm also in love with that sequin top -- I have to wear it a lot to get my money's worth, haha!

Tank: Ladakh "Burlesque" sequin tank
Skirt: H&M (you can't see it, but it's hot pink)
Bra: Victoria's Secret