So I’ve decided (after much deliberation) I am going to wear my hair up for the wedding! It will be windy on the beach and curls wouldn’t last in my hair. I can already picture it blowing in my face in all of the pics.
Here are a few ideas I’m considering. Now do I get side swept bangs or not!??
I’m completely undecided on if I should schedule a trial hair and makeup. I feel like my look will be so natural and doesn’t technically require a practice run…On the other hand, it is my wedding and I will have lots of pictures to look back on. I do want to keep my costs down. I think I will make a pros and cons list. Then decide. Any advice would be great!! 
Since we’re getting married on the beach, we are keeping the decor simple and letting the ocean take the stage. We are planning on having everyone kind of circle around us so they can all hear. We do want something to be the focal point in the center (and hopefully take a little attention off of us) so we’re looking into building an arbor. We can, of course, rent something for $300 or more but instead of picking some tacky arch thing…we’re going to get with my dad and build it together.
Hopefully something that my parents will keep in their garden and we can have in our future home as a reminder of our special day.
Now we just have to figure out what to do!
I like something like this found at www.trellisstructures.com:
Since we’re getting married right on the beach we know it will be windy. We will probably have to cement each post in a flower pot. The day of the wedding we could fill those with hanging flowers maybe? Not sure. To get us started, I’m creating a photo album of “arbor looks” Tommy and I like in Jibidee. I’m really starting to get hooked to my account. It’s nice to actually have this stuff in one spot! I just hope it lasts after the wedding now.
Just 45 days till the wedding!! <3
Growing up I never had fantasies of my “dream” wedding or the perfect dress. I think that’s why this process has actually been easy for us. We are closely sticking to our original idea of keeping this a celebration of our love. Watching shows like “Say Yes to the Dress” and “Bridezilla” reminds me that I would never in a million years spend over even $1,000 for a dress I will wear for a few hours. Some of these crazies are spending $10k and not even blinking an eye! omg!
My bff and I met in Orlando to have our first look at bridal gowns. Since I was so cheap (I mean thrifty) we started at David’s Bridal. It actually wasn’t as bad as I always assumed but it just wasn’t right. All of the sample dresses were unraveling, already ripped or had makeup on them. ewww. I actually did find one (probably the 5th I tried) and really liked it. It was just too much for a beach wedding and for my budget!
David’s Bridal (style T9612)
Then we went over to the Mall at Millenia and went in some department stores: Nordstroms, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s. We didn’t see anything special until we were about to walk out of Macy’s and I spotted a white, casual dress in the BCBG section. I tried it on and it was absolutely perfect! We both knew it right away. They didn’t even have my size but I bought it anyways and planned to get it altered. It was gorgeous! I went home and looked online at BCBG to send the picture to all of my close friends and family and noticed it was $80 cheaper on their website!!! I ordered it right away and returned the other one to Macy’s. It was meant to be! It’s a tiny bit see through so I have an appt in 2 weeks to get it altered. Here is a sneak peek of my dress.
bcbg.com CRINKLE CHIFFON SLEEVELESS GOWN
As I mentioned before, I am totally unorganized! I would take a picture of my closet to prove it but I would be too embarrassed.
Case in point, Tommy and I are going on an extended trip around the world soon and I realized I had NO IDEA where my passport was. I was in full panic mode for 2 weeks! Frantically searching my parents attic, our storage unit, my car, every inch of our home…finally on the day I declared I would just have to drive down to Miami and get a new one, I found it!!! In the very back of our storage in the bottom of a big box with sheets and blankets in it!!???
So given that our wedding planning involves a lot of details like names, addresses, pictures, contracts and money, I’ve decided to find the very best approach for us. I started our wedding website on WeddingWire.com. They have premade templates and checklists and I started using them in the beginning but quickly found it was just too much. It included all of these things that we’re not doing and it was starting to make me question if we should! I made a promise to myself to avoid all of the traditional wedding pressure. So then I found the wedding templates on Google Docs. Style Me Pretty had blogged about it before and so I thought it must be perfect. But there was nothing special about it. Again, it made me feel like I had to do certain things or wonder if I was “supposed” to be doing them. The cells weren’t as easy to move around as a blank excel sheet b/c they included notes on each one so I didn’t like those either. 
Then one day I found the perfect solution…a website called Jibidee. It allowed me to import excel sheets I had already started (confirmed guest list), start lists and sheets from scratch and link pictures to them! For example, when the caterer sent us their contract, I uploaded it and linked the document to the amount in our final budget sheet. So…not only am I completely happy with my online storage choice, it is so easy to organize and pretty at the same time. I have changed the color of each list to match my wedding colors. Everytime I log in it reminds me of how pretty it will be.
I have also shared documents so my parents and Tommy can check it out whenever they want as well. Love it! Check it out and let me know what you think! www.jibidee.com.
Keeping with the “green” theme, I thought I would share how I officially asked the girls to be in my wedding party. I’m having my sister, my best friend and Tommy’s 3 sisters. I found this neat site that has custom videos and emailed them! Super easy to do, nothing to ship or mail and they were funny.
You can view it here Will you be my bridesmaid?
This year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day! More than 1 billion people participate in Earth Day activities, making it the largest secular civic event in the world. I love the idea of promoting a healthy, sustainable environment year round, especially relating to weddings.
If you think about the “carbon footprint” while planning your wedding, you may be a little more aware of some of your decisions. (I’m starting to feel a lot better about not mailing those save the dates!) Below is information I found on TerraPass. Visit the site to calculate your wedding’s carbon footprint!
The wedding calculator takes into account four different sources of emissions:
There are some great “green” wedding favors out there which will remind your guests that you’re being kind to the earth and encourage them to do the same.
Lavender Herb Seed Eco- Box Favors
Available at this great site- Plant a Memory
Seeded Soap Box- Use the soap, plant the box and grow flowers!
Give your guests something they’ll actually enjoy and not something they’ll leave at the wedding or just throw away! Yummy Suds has tons of options for this and the cocoa and shea butters are fair-trade, everything is organic, no parabens, minimal packaging, etc. Check it out at Yummy-Suds.com.
Visit www.earthday.org to learn how to get more involved and make a difference for our future.
