2-for-1 special

Two posts in one day? Yup. This topic deserved its own post.

About a month ago when D and I shot our engagement pics with our fantastic photographers - Ashley and Phillip from 13:13 Boutique Wedding Photography - they asked me to model for one of their concept shoots. I was very flattered because let's face it, who thinks one could model? Definitely not me.

Thankfully, watching 10 seasons of America's Next Top Model AND seeing Ashely's many inspiration shots, I somehow pulled it off last week. The shoot was incredible. Ashley shot while Sarah from Sarah Elizabeth Designs styled the shoot and Phillip and D played awesome helpers.

The following are my favs from 13:13's blog!

Love the bird!

Can we say va-va-voom?
And oh yes, I totally pulled off "bedroom eyes."

So I won't lie, I kind of wanted to post every single pic. But I didn't want to be full of myself....I LOVED these pics!

Bad blogger!

....I've already used the wedding excuse one too many times. Let's try, I had a bad stomach bug for a solid week which set me back way too long. So that's my new excuse for not blogging in forever. :)

Wedding-wise, we're down to less than 30 days! I'm not in full panic mode yet - I'm trying my best to avoid that. I've started making a list of things to get done and I'm slowly accomplishing those. Today I woke up @ 8-ish and started organizing/cleaning/sorting my room. I'm moving in with D and we don't have a whole lot of space so needless to say, I had to get rid of some stuff. I'm either donating or selling things....got two enormous bags in my trunk already. Good news is I completely emptied out one of my two closets of "crap." Bad news, I filled it right back up with wedding gifts. At least now my mom can reclaim the exercise room. It was overfilling.

Moving on. Last night my best friend and her boyfriend, who also happens to be D's best friend, were suppose to go on a double date to Barton G's. I was so excited for it. But that didn't happen. Instead, when we got to her house and walked in, our friends surprised the (excuse the french) shit out of us. Literally, I was so scared, I started walking back out the door. My reaction was hilarious to everyone else.

Our best friends threw us a Las Vegas-themed bachelor/bachelorette party and it was amazing. We are so incredibly lucky to have such great friends. The party was very our style - it was perfect. And we had a GREAT time.

(the only pic I had someone take from my phone)

Oh hello. My name is Y and I use to blog here. A long, long time ago. Before the 2-month pre-wedding chaos hit.

A lots happened in the 2+ weeks that have gone by. I sent out my wedding invitations.

Different post for another day. All I say is that they were a labor of love. :)

I also had a surprise Shawshank Redemption-themed bridal shower at work. Strange theme to have, but see, my all time favorite movie, without a doubt, is Shawshank Redemption.It's about a prison break, essentially. How many to-be-brides can say they've had that type of bridal shower?

But it turned out to be a really awesome party. I loved it! And it was a total surprise, I had no idea.

Our advertising department can get creative every once in a while....

Chess board from the movie and my favorite item of the day....
The hammer Tim Robbins used to carve the escape hole...he hid it in my bridal magazine, lol.

Funny story as to how they surprised me. My VP called me downstairs to discuss my honeymoon. I went to her office and told her we had already booked it. She took the elevator with me back to my floor and in the process, handcuff me. I kid you not. Then she led me down a dark hallway into the conference room. It was hilarious.

And last but not least, one of my favorite gifts. A custom Shawshank Redemption Prisoner t-shirt with my wedding date as my prisoner number.

I have some great co-workers. :)

Anything to blog about....

Our invites are 75% done. They're technically assembled with the exception of the inside envelope, mailing envelope, and the actual sealing of the pocketfolds. I'm waiting on two Etsy purchases to come in the mail so I can finish them off. My goal is this weekend. Although what I'm planning to do, is probably going to drive me off the edge. Oh wells.....I'm almost done. With my invites that is.

Last weekend, I went to get my dress altered. I'm kind of over the wedding already - so sad to say, but stress does that to you. Got my dress altered with some lady one of my friends recommended. My mom wasn't too fond of her. Let's hope I still have a dress in a week, haha.

I also scheduled a makeup trial with a makeup artist some peeps recommended. The actual wedding day cost is cheaper than I was expecting. The trial run cost however, is a little steep. But I'm doing it the day of my bridal shower so I'm killing two birds with one stone.

What else....D's working on his attire and groomsmen attire. I keep stressing over it but there's nothing I can do about it. I'm sure everything will turn out. I do not have the time nor energy for that.

Jeez, I'm such a debbie downer today. Let's put a smile on my face. One thing I'm looking forward to our my engagement pics. This Saturday will mark 2 weeks so hopefully I'll have my pics. Can't wait!!!!!!!

Happy hump day...2 more days of work. I can do it!

I've been bad...

...with my blogging. 18 days since my last post? Ouch.

I've got my usual excuses...wedding and work...those two things are turning my hair gray, lol.

Anyways, my invites are almost done printing. I already started making my pocketfolds.

I've only folded them because I'm waiting for the actual invites to make the pockets. I could probably start addressing them, but I've been lacking on the motivation lately.

D and I have also been getting ready for our engagement pics with 13:13 Boutique Wedding Photography. We were up by 6am this morning, and headed to the Everglades by 8am. I chose the Everglades because I didn't want the typical 'Vizcaya" or beach images. The Everglades goes hand in hand with our nature-y, rustic wedding.

Let's just say, this morning was probably one of the best. I LOVE MY PHOTOGRAPHERS. I'm seriously trying not to get overly excited because I have to wait a few weeks before we get our pics (there will be lots of retouching due to some stressful weeks, lol). I really want to jump up and down and just sit by my computer constantly checking my email, but I'm going to be strong and try not to think about it. Ha, let's see how that goes. I'll go into details when we get the pics.

After our (amazing) pics, D and I had some lunch at Taco Rico. D had never been there. We ate there but he took home another quesadilla for dinner, haha. After lunch I headed up north to order my flowers. Went to Fields of Flowers in Dania and met with the wedding consultant. Figured out my flowers, which by the way, flowers don't really do anything for me, hence my lack of excitement and pics. But they were extremely helpful and I think I'm good to go.

Next up, finishing/sending my invites, figuring out my whole cupcake crisis, renting chairs, and a whole bunch of other things. Ugh, less than three months to go and I'm free from wedding planning!

My pocketfolds....

I just did something that I may regret later on.

Let's rewind.

Last week, after finalizing my invite design, I went to order my pocketfolds and envelopes. If you have no idea what a pocketfold is....look here....

Pocketfolds allow you to have your actual invite and any other "extras" (i.e. RSVP card, map/directions card) in one place, nicely organized.

So I went online and tried to remember which place I had ordered my samples. Turns out I ordered samples from a couple of places. And turns out the one pocketfold I really liked (more the color than anything else) was NOT the one I had designed the invite for. See I had accidentally designed using another pocketfold which had different measurements. WHOOPS.

I refused to panic so I just chose a similar color hoping it would look good. The pocketfolds and envelopes came in yesterday. And. I. Hate. The. Color. Last night I told myself to suck it up. Today, I told myself to somehow get what you want.

Enter Google. And "diy pocketfolds." Turns out, with the help of a scoring board, making pocketfolds is actually really easy. So I went on the site with the color I liked and instead of ordering the pocketfolds that won't fit my invites, I ordered the same paper they use to make their own pocketfolds in the color I love.

Enter my soon-to-be headache. I'll be hand-making 60 pocketfolds.

But right now, I'm kind of really excited. I'm starting to like this crafting stuff and I think I can actually do it.

But that's right now. :)

P.S. I'm returning the other stuff I hate and this new project is actually coming out cheaper! Of course, that doesn't include the cost of my labor....but that's another story....

3 months + 1 week to go

This wedding is fast approaching. And I have a few more big to-dos list before it's smooth sailing (I think).

My mason jars came in. That little thing made me so happy. My mom and grandmother couldn't understand why I was getting so excited over some jars.

It signals the start of getting my centerpieces ready!

Next big to-do crossed off the list?

Our wedding bands! That's D's. The pic doesn't do it justice but it's really nice. D and I went straight for it.

Next up....cupcakes, chair rentals, flowers, decorations, D's and groomsmen attire, and so on.