I can see the finish line!

If you would have told me back in March when I started this blog that I'd be basically finished wedding planning before memorial day, I'd say you were out of your mind. We didn't even have a date picked out two months ago! Yet here we are, May 15th, still 4 1/2 months out from the wedding, and nearly done.

Here's an update on what's been coming together over the past couple of weeks.

• I made a decision on a wedding dress! I'll go in to get measured by the boutique this weekend. All I'll have to do after that is shop around for some accessories -- shoes, jewelry, hairpieces, and what have you. Then I'll be done with clothing! Since my maid of honor Sophie is my only attendant, I'm letting her wear whatever she wants. No bridesmaid dresses!
• We finally met in person with our officiant Alan over the weekend. James and I still aren't exactly sure what we want the ceremony to include. So we spent some time bouncing ideas off each other. Alan was thrilled that we don't want our wedding to be a 100% serious affair. There will be nerdiness, you can count on that. :) We left the meeting with several good ideas. We'll continue to brainstorm with Alan in the upcoming months until we've found the perfect mixture of humor and romance...oh! We also picked out a great little spot on the beach to have the ceremony!
• My mom has started planning an engagement party for my Oklahoma friends during the first week of July. James and I will be in town that week anyway. As I said in a previous blog, this will basically serve as the "Oklahoma wedding" since I know very few folks from back there will be able to make the trek out to California. This is a way to let them celebrate with us!
• Sophie has started planning a bachelorette party! Since she'd like me to be surprised, she's keeping a lot of the details secret. I did mention however that I'd like to keep it mellow. I've already been to Vegas twice this year. I'm kinda partied out! So I think she's scheming up either a spa weekend or a wine country getaway... we'll see. I can't wait to see what she and my girls come up with!
• I'm scoping out hotels in Seal Beach and Long Beach near our ceremony and reception sites. I already have a favorite. Some of the hotels in the southeast corner of Long Beach don't have the greatest reviews and I want to make sure my family is comfortable while they're in town. My mom and grandparents have already purchased plane tickets. They were concerned with airfare continuing to climb, so they got an early jump on that!
• We've found out where we want to do our registry! Honeyfund. We went to a friend's wedding a couple weekends ago and this is what they used. James and I had already been keen on the idea of having guests just help out with the honeymoon, since we already own quite a bit in the household wares department. Using this site seems a little more official than just asking for money. Plus our guest would know which aspect of the honeymoon they were helping out with! There are lots of possibilites! -- a nice dinner out, a bottle of champagne, a night in a hotel, etc...

The only thing I haven't got the ball rolling on yet is invites. And yeah, that's kind of important. So that's the next step.

But other than that, all the big stuff is done. And it feels AWESOME.

**Louisa**

Wedding Dress Love Triangle

This past weekend my maid of honor Sophie took me out for my first wedding dress shopping excursion! I drove out to her neighborhood in Brea, CA and we checked out two dress shops -- Bonny Bridal and David's Bridal. 

First we hit up Bonny's.

Our appointment here could not have gone any smoother. I liked almost everything I tried on! But there were two standouts. I fell madly in love with both.

I left the store knowing that either one of those dresses could easily be the one. But I needed to sleep on it. Maybe one dress would start to edge out the other in my mind...

Next we hit up David's.

This appointment wasn't quite as smooth. The shop was crawling with teenagers trying on prom dresses. So even though we had an appointment time, we didn't get helped until about 45 minutes later.

But once we got a consultant to help us, everything was fine and moved very quickly. I'd spent some time on the David's Bridal website beforehand so there were a few styles I couldn't wait to try on! But once I got them on, I was underwhelmed. My mind kept going back to the two dresses I'd tried on at Bonny's a few hours earlier.

I had already fallen in love.

So Sophie drove us over to downtown Brea for a much needed glass of wine and some dinner. We talk about my two favorite dresses from Bonny's a bit more. And we were still stumped. Both are beautiful, both are flattering, both feel very me, and both are practically identical in price. What to do, what to do...

Yesterday I sent pictures of both the dresses to some friends and family to get some more opinions. I'm still waiting to hear back from a few people, but there is definitely a heavy favorite between the two.

I think I may be about ready to make a decision...


**Louisa**

May Update!

April was an extremely productive month wedding planning wise. It wasn't even an intentional thing, things just started falling into place!

First a re-cap on what I got lined up this month--

• A date: October 5, 2013. This date just felt right.

• A reception location: Tantalum Restaurant in Long Beach. Awesome views, awesome decor, awesome restaurant. No decoration required!

• A ceremony location: Seal Beach. I love Long Beach to pieces, but unfortunately its beaches aren't the prettiest. Oil rigs scatter the skyline and litter is sometimes a problem since this is where the LA River drains. But no biggie. We'll just hop across the Orange County border into Seal Beach. It's a very small, quiet beach town. Which is much better suited to our private, family only ceremony. Here's a photo I took from the Seal Beach pier last summer.

• An officiant: Alan Katz of Great Officiants. I learned about Great Officiants from an acquaintance while doing extra work over a year ago. They are a Long Beach based company specializing in beach weddings and their reviews are spectacular. I'm glad I made note of them in my planner that one day on set over a year ago. So thanks random extra whose name I don't remember! We haven't met with Alan Katz in person yet, but I've spoken to him on the phone. He is energetic, friendly, and fun. I know he'll be a great match for my fiance and me. :)

• This one I'm extremely excited about: We found our photographer!!! Jamie B Photography of San Clemente. As you may have guessed by my previous blog entry, finding a wedding photographer was really stressing me out. I searched the web extensively. All the photographers I loved were way out of price range and the photographers I felt indifferent about were still out of price range. Ugh. Last week I finally caved and got an account at The Knot. I kept getting referred here during my searches, but you have to be a member to use their site. Despite now having my inbox flooded with wedding emails, The Knot's vendor section is spectacular. Worth it. Price point, location, and reviews all on one page -- THANK YOU! And this is how I found Jamie B Photography. Jamie's photos immediately jumped out at me, even among the hundreds of other vendors on the website. She has a very naturalistic, laid back feel to her photos that I loved. Not only that, but the price was right and there wasn't a single negative review to be found. James and I met with Jamie in person earlier this week and instantly knew we'd found our gal. In our guts, we just knew it was right. I asked her to be our photographer the following day. I am now breathing a HUGE sigh of relief!!!

Now a re-cap on some things I've got the ball rolling on--

• A dress. I'm going on my first shopping excursion this weekend! My maid of honor Sophie set up two bridal appointments on Sunday, one at Bonny Bridal and one at David's Bridal. Both have dresses within my budget. Fingers crossed!

• Cake. I know I really don't need to be thinking about cake this early, but I am. Because I love cake. :) Costco is probably the most budget friendly option. But if I want something pretty as well as delicious, I will have to keep looking. There is a Ralph's Fresh Fare in the same shopping center as our wedding reception so that's a place I'll definitely look into. Have you walked down the Ralph's bakery aisle recently?! Grocery stores are really stepping up their game!

• Flowers. As far as I'm concerned the only flowers at my wedding will be my bouquet. And you can get gorgeous bouquets at Trader Joe's for under $10. Why hire a florist?

• A caricature of James and me. Sure, it's not necessary, but this is a wedding trend I love! Recently I've noticed lots of couples using cartoon versions of themselves on the wedding invites and whatnot. So we're doing it too! James has asked his artist friend Gino to do a caricature of us. Not only will this go on the invites, we'll have a larger version of the finished product placed on an easel at the entryway of our reception. I can't wait to see the finished product!

Sorry, long blog, I know! But there was a lot to update on this month. Aside from the minor photographer hiccup, wedding planning has been going incredibly smoothly. Let's hope this trend continues!

**Louisa**

First Wedding Roadblock: Finding a Photographer

Things had been going so smoothly up to this point... 

Am I going to be able to find a nice reception site within budget? 
Yes.

Am I going to be able to find a nice officiant within budget? 
Yes. (More on that in a future blog...)

Am I going to be able to find a nice wedding dress within budget? 
Yes.

Am I going to be able to find a nice wedding cake within budget? 
Yes.

Now here's the kicker.

Am I going to be able to find a nice wedding photographer within budget?
Probably not. 

I've gone to A LOT of photography websites the past few days. Average starting price of wedding photo packages in southern California? $2,000.

Aaaaaarrrrrrggggg!!! That costs more than my reception!!!

I did manage to find one or two places that charge $100-$150 hourly for their wedding packages, which is perfect! Kinda what I was hoping to spend. But their photos look like something I could have taken. Some were not even entirely in focus. Nope. NOT gonna happen. 

I am far from giving up on my search, but I could really use some advice/recommendations right now.

Help me find the elusive inexpensive SoCal wedding photographer! They are a very rare breed!


**Louisa**

October 5, 2013

Yep. We've got ourselves a date. October 5th, 2013!

James and I had a great meeting this afternoon with Greg, the event coordinator at Tantalum Restaurant, so I feel 100% comfortable announcing it now. We couldn't be happier to be holding our reception here! This is a place we already frequent and love. 

I'll write more about some specifics of the reception in a future blog. But in the meanwhile, if you're curious about the place, check out their website!

I don't know why I liked the date October 5th so much, I just had a good feeling about it. So did James. And once that feeling took hold, I had to make sure this was our wedding date. 

I've since done some research about the date October 5, 2013 to see if anything significant happens on this date. If you're into astrology, you'll like this: the new moon enters libra on that date. A new moon is apparently one of the best times to start a marriage... I don't know why. That's just what I found on the internet. If someone wants to explain why it's good, please feel free! :)


**Louisa**

Say Yes to the Inexpensive Dress!

Shortly after I got engaged back in December, I started watching Say Yes to the Dress. I'm not a gal that ever fantasized about what my dream wedding would entail, so I needed to get a better idea of what style of dress I wanted...

Holy bankruptcy, Batman! $6,000 and up for a wedding dress?! Clearly I had nothing in common with these brides. I was going to have to do my research elsewhere.

Since then I've consulted my mom, my maid of honor, friends and acquaintances, and of course my good pal the internet. I threw a bit of creativity in the mix and bam! I was starting to see some beautiful dresses at a price I could live with. 

I don't want to get into the specifics of what style I'm looking for. I want that to be a surprise for everyone (especially for my fiance, in case he reads my blog)! But I do want to talk about some ideas we came up with for finding an amazing dress that's under $500.

#1 - David's Bridal

This was an obvious choice. About 2/3 of the gowns here are priced at $500 and under.

#2 - Shop the bridesmaid/special occasion section

I found a couple of shops during my web search that had wedding dresses I loved, but they were all out of price range. Well, if I like their wedding dresses, wouldn't they have other styles I'd like too?... Ding ding ding! I found a bunch of dresses in the bridesmaid section of these websites that were every bit as pretty, could be ordered in white, and cost about half as much as a "wedding" dress. Score!

#3 - Shop a regular clothing store

This was my maid of honor Sophie's idea. I feel stupid for not thinking of it first! It's spring, so shops are getting in a lot of white right now. It can't hurt to check these places out!

#4 - Shop the suburbs

As one might expect, dresses in LA and Orange County cost more than you'd find in other places. Even though the styles are exactly the same. My mom did me a favor and scoped out Enid Bridal Shop in my hometown of Enid, Oklahoma. And sure enough, she was finding designer gowns at about $300. So if I haven't had any luck out here in California by late June, I will take a day of my planned vacation back to Oklahoma in July and do some shopping. Plus, that means my mom would actually get to go dress shopping with me. I know that would make her happy. :)

If anyone's got more ideas for finding great wedding dresses at awesome prices, please let me know! I had a few friends recommend renting a wedding dress, something I didn't even know you could do! And though I've decided I definitely want to own my wedding dress, I'm glad my friends told me about it! It's a really good idea for someone wanting to wear a designer gown, but doesn't have the budget for it. 

A woman after my own heart, Kristen Wiig knows a good deal!

Sophie and I are planning to make our first wedding dress outing by the end of this month. I'm nervous, but it's a good nervous! I've done my homework so I have a good feeling that my dreams of finding the perfect dress are well within reach!

**Louisa**

I know where I'm getting my wedding cake!

But first, a heads up --

This past week James and I have been talking pretty seriously with one of the locations I wrote about and we've decided to move forward and use them for our reception! We also have a date picked out, but I don't want to make any announcements until the paperwork is signed and everything is official. We have arranged a meeting with the event coordinators this weekend.

So you'll just have to wait until then... ;)

In the meanwhile, I've started shopping around for other wedding necessities. Cakes being one of them. A quick google search and the visiting of a couple websites later and my jaw was on the floor. Yes, these cakes are beautiful, and I'm sure they taste delicious, but you want me to pay THOUSANDS of dollars?! For a cake?!?!

But being the stubborn, bargain loving person that I am, my panic didn't last for long. I can win this battle. Where's the place I always go when everyone else's prices seem ridiculous?

That's right, Costco to the rescue!

I went back to google and searched for "costco bakery" and found a pic of their specialty cake order form:

Yes, you're allowed to do a double take. I did the same thing. That's a giant sheet cake for 50 people and it costs $16.99. SIXTEEN DOLLARS. 

*commence happy dance*

Sure, a Costco cake won't be as pretty as other cakes. But it will be every bit as delicious. Trust me, I've done the leg work. I've had my fair share of cake samples walking down their bakery aisle.

We can always spruce it up ourselves later. Maybe find a fun cake topper or action figures we can place on top...

Then again, our wedding doesn't happen til much later this year. Maybe we'll find a happy middle ground by then -- a baker that makes cakes that are pretty AND somewhat reasonably priced.

But in the meanwhile -- Costco, I love you.


**Louisa**