Last weekend, I had a bridal dress appointment at Lowe's Bridal in Brinkley, AR (one of the top rated boutiques in the south!) Robin and I drove down to Little Rock on Friday since he had a show that night. On Saturday my mom and step-dad picked me up for the hour drive to Brinkley. I was so nervous it was ridiculous. When we finally got there I was dizzy, light-headed, and shaking. Nervous and excited. Unlike my experience at David's Bridal where the sales consultant left me numerous times and eventually completely forgot about me, at Lowe's I was assigned a sales consultant for the entire appointment. Tiffany, my consultant, was awesome! She asked me what kind of dress style I was looking for. Previously, I had printed off some of the styles that I liked a lot:
This past Friday my mom and I went to David's Bridal to try on wedding gowns! This was my first time ever to do so and I was extremely excited :) In fact, when we walked in and I had to fill out my paperwork, my hand wouldn't stop shaking, haha. So we go to the back and I'm assigned a sales consultant and tiny dressing room (seriously, my apartment closet is 3x bigger than this room was) We go into the dressing room, just the two of us, and she closes the door. Standing a sneeze away from me she smiles and goes, "Ok. Now take off your clothes." Uhh... So I literally stripped to my undies and tried to turn away from her. She grabs a bustiere and "assists" me in putting it on. I mean, I know the lady sees titties 20 times a day, but that still didn't stop me from feeling awkward as she stuffed my boobs into the cups.
Ok, odd part over, time for dresses! She brings in a few dresses and I start trying them on. My mom took some pictures but I'm not going to post them so Robin can't see. I don't want him to see me in a wedding dress until our wedding day :) So, anywhoo, I must have tried on around 10 dresses in our hour slot that creeped into an hour an a half. It took so incredibly long because halfway through, another bride and her family had an additional appointment with the consultant. So one consultant and two brides. Not such a good idea. Between trying on dresses, I stood in the waiting room, in practically nothing, and waited....and waited......and waited some more until she'd finally come back with a dress. And I could tell she was starting to get tired of me around the 7th dress. That bright luster of commission was slowly starting to dim in her eyes, along with her patience. This is pretty much how each review went:
Dress 1: My boobs are about to fall out.
Dress 2: This makes me have back fat bulge.
Dress 3: Too much train.
Dress 4: Too much dress.
Dress 5: Are Zack and Kelly coming this wedding?
Thumbs down after thumbs down. I was starting to get depressed. And, to make matters worse, around dress 8, my mom and I are critiquing when the family next to us just starts crying, "That's the dress! You're so beautiful! That's the wedding dress!". Apparently bride #2 struck gold. Cue tears, hugs, and me standing awkwardly next to her mumbling congratulations. In my defense, however, this was her second time to try on dresses. She said her first time around she did as I did; try on everything in the store to get a better idea of what the hell you want. Because I really don't have a clue. Mermaids? Fit and flares? A-lines? Sweethearts? Ugh. I thought I was doing well by overdosing on "Say Yes to the Dress" but apparently not well enough.
And so we left the store empty-handed. It's not a complete bust, however. I got to try on pretty dresses (fo' free) and get a better idea of what I'm looking for. I have an appointment with Lowe's Bridal in Brinkley, AR this January. Semi-annual sale, wut wut! Hopefully gonna get a purdy dress for cheap :) Fingers crossed!
I have always had the immune system of a newborn. Every year I catch anything and everything that's going around. Colds, coughs, flu's, and bronchitis so badly that I was a day away from hospitalization from pneumonia (Christmas '09 was spent in bed). So last year I made the pledge to get my immune system into check.
As of now, I take a number of vitamins, drink Emergen-C twice a day, am trying to cut down on alcohol intake (it really does a number on your immune system) and processed sugars (easier said than done), and maintain a regular exercise regime.
I was researching additional methods to help with the immune system and came across the Green Smoothie. Leafy greens are a jackpot for immune systems. They contain proteins, fibers, vitamins, and minerals. They also are one of the most alkaline of all foods and raising your body's pH by eating an alkaline diet is one of the best ways to boost your immune system.
Curious, I decided to try it out. The ingredients are as follows:
2 leaves of kale
2 leaves of collard greens
1 leaf of red chard
1 cup parsley
1 banana
1 cup blueberries
2 cups filtered water
1 cup ice cubes
This makes 2 large smoothies, so you can appropriate ingredients as needed.
So, off to the natural food store I went:
I really do need to shop here more often. They have an amazing produce selection with items you can't find at Wal-Mart. So, I filled the basket with my harvest and made it back home:
 |
| Leafy greens!! :) |
 |
| Oh man, this is going to be interesting. |
Add the banana and blueberries:
 |
| My banana was frozen and I microwaved it hence the brown :P |
 |
| Oh wow, that really is green! And frothy, haha. |
And that did the trick :) It was just sweet enough, and the greens weren't overpowering.
 |
| Green smoothie!!! |
So here's to fingers crossed that I can kick my immune system into high gear and stay sickness free!! :)
Planning is coming along quite smoothly :) Have a lot planned out! Only...364 days to go?? Yeesh...
Anywho, we've found and secured our lodging and ceremony site. I was browsing hotels online and I came across some pictures of a really pretty place. I was looking through the photos and started to think the hotel looked strangely familiar. That's when it hit me, this is the placed I just stayed at! You see, this past December my mom, step-dad, step-brother and myself all went down to New Orleans (my first time). We took a Carnival cruise then came back to spend a few days in the Big Easy. We stayed at this hotel called Hotel Provincial and it was amazing. So you can imagine how excited I was when I realized it was the same place I was looking to have my wedding! The hotel offers their beautiful courtyard for wedding ceremonies so this was a perfect lodging and ceremony site combination.
Robin and I will go down on Wednesday, October 3 to register for the marriage license (it has to be done 72 hours before the wedding). And we'll stay through Sunday morning when we will ship off on our honeymoon cruise. Guests will probably arrive around Friday, October 5, and stay through Sunday morning as well.
The hotel is beautiful and we couldn't be happier about it all :)
Yay! We decided on a color palette for the wedding :)
Cranberry/Slate Gray/Cream
It's so pretty and helps incorporate a more vintage theme, which I'll be adding to quite a bit!
I'm so thankful that my friends recorded this amazing moment :)
Robin's band was playing a show in front of over 500 people when they stopped, he called me onstage, and this happened :)
October 7, 2011
Rockstar Proposal!
Proposal View #2
Proposal View #3
Proposal View #4
So, I've been engaged for 4 days and I've already gone through a cycle of emotions, haha. But in regards to planning: Robin and I have already pretty much decided that we're doing things very non-traditional. I'm not one of those girls who has been dreaming of her wedding since she was 6 nor do I have any interest in being a princess any time soon. I just want a big celebration of our union, and so does he. So, to add to the theme of non-traditional, we're aiming for a destination wedding. I'd been throwing around the idea of a beach wedding in Florida or whatnot when something hit me: what about New Orleans? Robin and I have both been to New Orleans on separate occasions and LOVED it. In fact, I went this past Christmas with my family (before we knew each other) and he went literally a month later with his band. Coincidences :)
So we're pretty set on New Orleans at this point (if I don't change my mind 800 times in the next year). So we have a place and tentative date (next Autumn), now to just finalize some details. I'm still scoping out google and theknot for ideas, and have come across some pretty neat ones. Like any venues, some of the New Orleans ones can range from $1,000 to $5,000 just for a 3-hour reception use! No thanks. I'm banking on the wedding AND honeymoon not topping $5,000 (if even that. maybe $3,000-$4,000). And the honeymoon alone will be around $2,000 (Carnival cruise, baby)
I found a deal where we could get married on a steamboat on the Mississippi River by the captain! Haha, it's too adorable. They're also a restaurant and bar so that would be provided. And one of my friends told me they heard about a deal where you can BAR-HOP through the French Quarter as your "wedding"!! How amazing is that?! xD So yeah, obviously not going the traditional route. I just want everyone to have fun and celebrate our union and all that jazz.
So, back to it!
1 Comment