He Already Put a Ring on it, but Now He Has to Put Two More

Before I start this post, I would love to apologize for my hands. Unfortunately I was not blessed with model hands and therefore they do not do exceptionally well in photo shoots. I went ring shopping yesterday and came out with a decision that I can't seem to make on my own! I asked Ian for his opinion, and I don't know if I am willing to accept it just yet. First off, I want 3 bands. Since I am doing 3 bands I thought it would be cute to add a little color in there just for fun. Ian things the colored ones look like gumball machine rings. I don't know about that, but now I am curious if the color does detract from the beauty of the ring or if it adds something cute and fun.

The simple choice. Diamond bands on each side.

Diamond band plus a diamond and sapphire band. This would be my top choice of the colored options.

Diamond band and pink and diamond band. I would choose sapphire over pink. I don't want it looking too cheesy.

Diamond band and all sapphire band.

Which would you pick??? I need some major help with this decision here :)

Bands. Wedding Bands

I'm probably starting a little on the early side when it comes to the wedding bands, especially since I have so many other things to do, but whatever, this part is super fun! I found a few that I really really like so far :) I can only order them online though. My ring has a square band like this. See, I've been spoiled when it comes to diamonds on the sides of my ring for extra bling. The bands I pick have to have the same so I continue to see that little extra sparkle. Oh, and I am getting two. One for each side. I'm super excited

Hotels, Oh Me Oh My!

Here I thought that wedding planning was all about fun details, tasting cakes and all other fun stuff. Little did I know that I would be faced with calling 1 million hotels to get the best rates, dealing with some less than pleasant wedding vendors and all the other things that brides and blogs don't seem to acknowledge when talking about the fun that is planning. I have a venue, we all know that that was a less than pleasant process. Now I am looking for a hotel within the $100-$200 range for guests to stay the night of the wedding. First off, our venue is in the middle of no where when it comes to hotels. Ok, that is not totally true. It is in the middle of the most expensive hotels in Carmel! As much as I would HIGHLY enjoy staying at Bernardus (our favorite little resort and spa ever) $500+ per room is simply a pipe dream.

I am looking at places that are about 15-30 minutes away from the venue and even that is hard enough. I have called about 6 hotels at this point, to little avail.

The Colonial Terrace Inn is a cute 26 room Inn located about 30 minutes away from the venue right near the sea. The rates are very reasonable (though in the higher end) and the look of the place is adorable. Only problem, there is only one person who I can talk to about booking a block of rooms and after 6 phone calls and 5 messages he is either in a meeting all day and night or he just doesn't return my call after his meeting.

Carmel Valley Ranch is a gorgeous resort. This one is probably a pipe dream as well as I don't actually know the rates of these bad boys, but I can only assume that adding "Carmel" to the name means a doubling of the price. But, I wait in wonder until the phone rings with the events manager to answer all my questions and and give me the room rates.

Intercontinental Hotel was in the running until I called and was transferred around 8 times had a 10 minute phone call giving all my information to some girl reading a very obvious script of text just to find out that with the discount it is still $250 per night. No thanks. Not to mention my major pet peeve of horrible customer service of which this hotel quite represents.

Casa Munras Resort may just be the clear winner here. This place is totally gorgeous and it is the same distance as all the rest, about 30 minutes away. I want a place where all out of town guests can stay together. This one ended being only $129 per night! The only downside is that all the rooms have to be booked 45 days in advance, but the invites aren't even going out until 60 days before the wedding. Either way, this place has a pool and hot tub, and is quite gorgeous.

And do you want to know where Ian and I will be residing on our wedding night? None other than the Tickle Pink Inn in Carmel.

I've been highly obsessed with this place for a long time, but we have never had the chance to stay here. It is right on the coast line and everything about it is totally beautiful. It is about 40 minutes away which is totally worth it for me. This place is pretty close to the hotel that our guests will be staying which is good as we will be having a large brunch the following morning for everyone to attend.

Let this be a lesson to whoever about the serious importance of customer service. I believe that when a customer calls it should be the priority and whatever they have should be answered. Sometimes it felt like the receptionist didn't know what to do with my call at all.I really drives me crazy, and this hotel lost the chance to have their entire place booked for a 4 day weekend.

Cake Pop {Round 2}

Over the weekend I made Cake Pops yet again! I think they looked and tasted better than the ones I had at my engagement party. Want to know the ingredients? White cake and whipped cream cheese frosting. Yes, I said whipped! It was the most amazing frosting I have ever eaten.

As for the coating I did a few different things. Instead of getting the chocolate that was suggested to dip the pops in, I just dipped them in the frosting, which I think was WAY better. For the chocolate ones, I melted cream and chocolate together and dipped the pops in that. The pink one in the center is using the chocolate that Bakerella suggests. The clear winner at the end of the night was the white pop.

Oh and those little mini pink things are attempt number two at french macaroons. They tasted good, but they look nothing like french macaroons, I know.

Next time I am going to make red velvet cake pops!

And for more yummy-ness on a stick, check out all these other desserts on a stick!

Wedding Updates and Our Favors

3 day weekend is over and now we are back to the usual. I ended up spending all of yesterday working and doing wedding stuff, which is pretty much just as fun as anything else I could have been doing during my "day off". Good news is that I got SO much done. It was amazing actually. So today I figured I would talk about my wedding update since there is so much to talk about. First off, I went dress shopping for the first time! YAY for me. I was seriously dreading it all. I swear I was planning on just never going. I was walking back from my morning coffee trip and decided to see if the Pricilla of Boston store had a dress I wanted to try on. I saw it on a recycled dress website and thought I should see it in person. Well, I didn't find it but fell in love with another dress that I HAD to try on. I made an appointment, went back, and tried on 6 dresses. Turns out the girl who was helping me was the same girl that helped Lizzie buy her dress! I tried on 6 dresses, all Melissa Sweet. I narrowed it down to three. (Wish I could post some photos right about now but I can't)

Secondly, I found some AMAZING websites for wedding supplies and cute ideas. So amazing. "Three Potato Four" is definitely worth checking out for some cute vintage items. Also, thefind.com is great to find the best deals and shop for a certain product.

I have decided the perfect way to execute my DIY projects. Since I have 10 on the to-do list (and counting) it is really is going to drive me crazy if I have to keep all of these in my mind. I decided that I am going to pick a project, buy everything for that, do it all, and put it away until the wedding. I figure this will keep my head on straight and will allow me to get everything done in time. This past weekend I ordered a TON of supplies. 13,600 feet of baker's twine in different colors, 1000 kraft paper tags, etc. etc. I wasn't down with spending $10 on 100 feet of baker's twine when I could buy in bulk for far less!

So, I'll be selling the twine for  $1 per 25 feet ( and $3 for 100 feet). I don't need it all and that is the lowest you will ever find without ordering over 10,000 feet of twine. The kraft paper shipping tags will be .25 cents per (what I paid for them) for those who don't want to feel ripped off spending SO much more than that. I'm not marking these up because the point was to save myself some money (buying in bulk) and save you all some money as well while I am at it! More details to come soon.

Lastly, and the point of this post, our wedding favors. I know I have been saying we are going to do mini pies this whole time. After thinking about it a lot, I decided against it. This is why: I will have to make them pretty much as close to the wedding as possible, which I won't have time for. Not everyone will be eating the pies at the reception and will therefore take them home. They will probably get smooshed in the car or in someone's purse before they actually have the chance to eat the pie. There is just too much risk involved. So, I am changing my idea to homemade jam! I know this is no new idea, but who cares, I am totally into it. Just like the pies, my grandma definitely made a ton of jam, so I am still keeping the sentimental favor there a bit.

Source

This is by far one of my favorite photos of the moment! I just love the tags and that fabric is to die for! I have to come up with a super cute sign for the favors too! I will be putting the favors in those cute wooden crates stacked on top of each other. I think I am going to have 3 different kinds of jam and 3 wooden crates to hold each flavor.

Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

I'm still playing with all the different ideas, tags and fabrics I can use, but I am thinking it will look something like a combination of all of these??

I have been making a ton of wedding decisions lately which I am super excited about. This thing kicks off in just 7 months so it is definitely important that I make quick decisions and get things executed as fast as possible. I'm pretty darn happy with the progress so far!

Venue Update and Some Random Inspiration

I am going to sprinkle this post with random photos that I love for those who aren't too interested in hearing my sob story. And I personally don't blame you, it's no fun. So enjoy some random loves of mine and a story about my life....well a very small part of my life. After a *tiny* breakdown yesterday, I realized I just can't take this anymore. I even atea croissant this morning to bask in my troubles, of course now I am just basking in my troubles with a croissant in my tummy, but it didn't help as much I thought it would!

Bottom line, this whole venue thing is horrible. Everything about it is just plain horrible. I didn't think my style wedding venue didn't exist anywhere! And that is what I have finally come to decide, it literally doesn't exist! Sure, there are tons of amazing and pretty venues, but they are just not what I am looking for.

{One of the favorite photo montages. SO fun. Source: 100 Layer Cake}'

The "good" news is that I totally don't feel like the only one having troubles. Reading your responses to the survey I am noticing that many are having troubles hearing back from vendors, have family issues, money issues, organization issues etc. Let's face it, planning a wedding in this day and age isn't a simple task. One top of having to take the time to call or e-mail and wait for responses from every vendor, you still have to create a vision with the endless amount of inspiration out there. Oh and there is this thing called a J-O-B that you also have to focus on. Oh and then you get the family members who want things their way, and you would just swear that you were planning their wedding! It's a balancing act for sure.

{Too many things to love about this shot! Source: Kiss the Groom}

So where do I stand? I have some AMAZING ideas for my wedding. Things that I can't even show off because I have never seen pictures of these things. Things I am dying to tell you about. But until I find this damn venue, nothing is finalized and nothing is set.

{My fave colors! Source: Wedding Chicks}

Another contender for the location is Holman Ranch which has been a major obsession of mine for SO long. This is the point where I wish I had money coming out of my ears, or that it grew on trees, or that I had three wishes or something, because the site fee is an un-gawwwdly amount! But in this world you get what you pay for, and at least I won't be treated like I was at Radonich. After talking to the girl, I found OPTIONS (something I am not used to getting) and I can definitely cut the price by a bit to make it a little easier on the clutch. Off season....possibly a Friday?? I just love that I have options! Oh and she is SO nice. I also talked to a few caterers who are SO nice! This is how you should be treated people. I'm still trying to work it all out to see where I can cut some other things, discount a few things, etc. but we will see overall what happens in the end.

{Holman Ranch}

There are two other contenders as well. One is Healdsburg County Weddings and the other is called Barbara's Barn (thanks to the recommendation of Trisha Dean. Someone who has helped me an unimaginable amount so far during this process.) I am still going to look at Taber Ranch, but firepits are a no go there.

{Barbara's Barn}

{Healdsburg CountryWeddings}

Oh, and I am taking the leap and making a trip to check out Taber Ranch! So, I'll keep you updated the moment this thing is booked and a date is picked!

Is anyone having trouble with venues or vendors?? Just not being able to find the right ones, getting calls or e-mails back, etc. etc.?? Do tell.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

I just took a look through pictures of the last 5+ years of my life which makes this whole post that much more real to me. So many things you forget about until you see photos of it. (Thank you....facebook) 4 years ago I got the chance to fall in love with my now fiance. 4 years ago today everything came to a meeting ground, and we finally had the chance to be together.

When we met:

Surprising it started in the summer of 2001, I was about 13 at the time. We had gone to school together prior to this, but never really knew each other. My best friend was his sister, and his best friend was my cousin.  I was home from school on summer break (I went to boarding school....not cause I was "bad" BTW) and since he happened to live at my best friend's house, well it made everything rather convenient. It's hard to explain it all, but it was that young love kind of thing. Definitely the best summer of my life.

Obviously the last 9 years hold a million stories, ups, downs, etc.etc. And now we are here together after that much time has passed, planning a wedding and a life together.

Above are pictures from a few years ago. Oh and that's baby Apple :)

That's our godson Aiden :)

And of course, the ring. Top two were taken the night of the engagement. I couldn't stop shaking, and therefore the picture kept coming out blurry. Read my proposal story.

(EWWW - my hands look disgusting....)

In the past four years we have built quite a little life together. Bought a condo and moved into it on our 6 month anniversary, expanded the family with our two little kitties Apple and Bisco,  got engaged, and moved into our newest even more amazing house! I'm sure the next 4 and 40 years will lead to many more amazing things, the most exciting of which is Reaghan, Brooklyn, Jonah, Ryleigh Aiden, etc. (I really love coming up with baby names haha)

Happy Anniversary HB :) Loovessss you!

{Bridal Shower} A Chic Brunch Affair

This board pretty much completes my life. I can't think of anything more amazing than a bridal shower brunch, I mean look at all the amazing options! I love the idea of mixing it up a little bit and doing a little brunch activity for the bridal shower. I feel like it is a little less-done and it gives a bit more of a reason for people to want to come. They know it is going to be an actual meal and even if it's boring (I am very much not a fan of bridal showers...) at least they will be able to eat :) HAHA. I want to create a classy little brunch with chic tablescapes and cute little favors. Nothing massive, but since I feel for all those that hate bridal showers just like myself, I am trying to create a scene that they might actually be excited to come to!

My Bridal Shower Must Haves:

1. Raspberry in each champagne glass full of orange juice {or any drink for that matter!}

2. My mom's homemade quiche {I'm obsessed!}

3. Crepes

4. Lattes with Coffee Stencils that say something awesome.

5. Lots of white and lightly colored flowers.

6. Box favors on each seat tied in a piece of light cloth as the wrapping.

I will have this list on my mind as the bridal shower gets closer and closer of course. And I will probably add a whole bunch more "must-haves" to it so I end up with the most incredibly {and probably way-to-fattening} brunch of all time!

What are your bridal shower must-haves???

Light Up My Life

I'm trying to play it calm and act like everything is ok right now- but it's so not, and unfortunately I don't think I am very good at hiding it. After my horrible venue meeting on Sunday, I can't help but be incredibly discouraged right now. I can't look at the same venues, and the same sites all over again. It's driving me nuts. And the worst part is that it's so all my fault. So not only am I discouraged, I feel so guilty for finding the perfect place, a place that Ian loved probably more than I did, and then taking that chance away. Wow- what a great feeling.

So this morning was quite challenging. I am officially engaged and uninspired. I know that's bound to happen every now and then though. So in my search for wedding inspiration and things I love, well I don't know anymore because I can't even picture the wedding!

At least I know that these things will light up my life and will always be in my wedding vision. Let's just hope that vision has a venue with which to blossom into an actual event.

Sorry for the vent- I'll get back on my feet soon enough I hope and be back to battery with a new venue to show off soon :)

Thanks for encouraging words via Twitter as well. You guys are all amazing!