Catching up Previews Wedding Wednesday

Wow!  I am EXHAUSTED!  We went from Concord to San Jose to Texas to Louisiana back to Texas back to San Jose and finally...

...Rob and I set foot in our own apartment after being gone for almost two weeks!  The trip down to the south was fun though, and tonight for dinner we are having some fresh deer meat from the buck he got while hunting.  I'll have pictures up soon, but most of them are on the future SIL's camera, so it'll be a couple weeks.  In the meantime here is a preview:

How could I not take the classic "Welcome to Texas" picture?!  We took this on the way BACK to Texas from Louisiana.  I wish I had a "Welcome to Louisiana" pic too, but I was asleep when we crossed that state line :-(  I loved Texas!  I'm much more comfortable with the idea of possibly living there now that I've seen it.  Louisiana was ok, but a bit too rural for this urban girls taste.

In WEDDING NEWS:

I picked up my wedding dress yesterday!  I love it!  I would post pics but the risk of Rob seeing them is too high.  I will tell you this, it has a NINE POINT bustle!  The seamstress taught my mom how to bustle it and labeled each point, while my grandmother took step by step pics.  My poor mom and Maid of Honor will have their work cut out for them on the big day, but it will be completely worth it.  It's a beautiful custom bustle (I designed it and the seamstress added her own professional touches) that links on my hip and creates beautiful drape effects in the back. 

I also printed out 50 copies of our engagement pictures yesterday because we mail our invitations in a week!

OTHER RANDOM HAPPENINGS!

I am a Christmas nut, and am stoked that I get to have all my Christmas stuff up!  It's looking so pretty!  I'll be posting pics on Mosaic Mondays and Pink Saturdays so you can see all the little pretty sparkles :-)  I'm also working on a new look (and sound) for the blog to celebrate the season :-)  Christmas cards go in the mail today too!

I'm not going to be doing Eye Spy Thursday anymore, I might start it up again after our wedding and transfer, but I'm realizing quickly how much work it is to HOST something like that, and really have a new appreciation for people like Beverly and Mary and all the hard work they do! 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Thank you so much for being patient with my flakiness on the blogging front the last two months.  I'm sure you all can understand the craziness that happens at this time of year, especially when combined with moving and wedding planning!  You're comments have been so appreciated, and even though I haven't been writing much I've been reading what you've all been up too and it's been wonderful! 

See you all on Pink Saturday!

Wedding Wednesday Oh... Dear God...

I originally had a completely different post for you all for Wedding Wednesday, but I will be saving it for next week as my wedding seems to be on the precipice of its first disaster.

Remember the lovely pictures I've posted about the beautiful vision I have for my cake?  (Here's a refresher if you need it)  Well, I'm concerned.

This morning, I lay in bed after Rob went to work and surfed the web on my laptop, as per my usual routine.  Checked Facebook, responded to a few forums on CoastieChicks, and had settled into my Blogger Dashboard to read new posts from some of my favorite blogs.  There was a new post on one of my favorite little blogs, Cake Wrecks (you may have heard of it)  featuring this cake:

FROM MY BAKERY!!!!!

They asked for a delicate lace pattern with some small ninja symbols subtlely worked into the lace in a way that only those who knew what to look for would see.  Sort of an inside joke for the bride and groom.  And they got THIS Swastika monstrosaty!!!

I'm going to be in San Jose tomorrow, and will be making a follow up trip to the bakery with more pictures, color swatches, and to confirm that my decorator will NOT be whoever decorated this... thing!!!

Read it on Cake Wrecks HERE
Read more from the brides mother HERE

UPDATE

Cake Wrecks and Yelp have both been forced to take down their posts regarding the Swastika Cake... apparently the baker isn't such a fan of negative press.  This makes me even more leary, and am tempted to find a different baker.

Wedding Wednesday

So when I was looking at invitations I found some I really liked HERE... the downside; it would cost me nearly $500 for a mere 50 invitations.  However upon closer inspection I discovered that I could probably make a near exact replica of them myself... So I did :-)

INVITATION & RECEPTION CARD

I think they turned out pretty good... what do you think?

Wedding Wednesday

Welcome to Wedding Wednesday, where bridesmaid dresses have been chosen!!

My awesome MOH (Maid of Honor) picked them out and I love them because the chiffon fabric really compliments my dress!  She's also making jewlery to compliment my dress, check out the link to her Etsy shop in my side bar.  Anyway the dress is from J-Crew which, it turns out, has developed an entire wedding line.  Apparently this is the new trend for popular retailers... Ann Taylor has a wedding line too (who'd have thought it?)  Now on to finding shoes for them... and for me :-)  See you tomorrow for Eye Spy Thursday!

Wedding Wednesday

Welcome to Wedding Wednesday!  Today you get a second instalment of my visit from Robs parents!  We spent a day in San Francisco and a day on the coast in the Carmel/Big Sur area.  Here are some pics:

Here is Rob's mom, Cindy, and I at The Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco.

This one is Me, Rob, Cindy, and Rob's father Gary.

On our day in the city my parents met Rob's parents for the first time.  Here's all of us at Ghirardelli Square eating the best sundaes on the planet!

Gary and Cindy at a wine tasting we all went to at Cheateu Julien in Carmel Valley

The four of us along the 17 Mile Drive through Pebble Beach

Gary and Cindy at Nepenthe Restaurant in Big Sur. The weather was UNBEARABLY hot, which is so out of character for Big Sur, but we still had fun :-)


It was a great trip!  Looking forward to being on their side of the fence when we go visit them in November!

Wedding Wednesday Better late than never

Well the visit from Robs parents went really, really well! My blog has been suffering though, with getting ready for them to come, them being here, getting organized since they've been gone. But I finally have a Wedding Wednesday post for you! Engagement party pictures!

CENTERPIECES

FOOD

ROB & GRANDPA

ME & MY MOM
CINDY (ROB'S MOM), ME, MY MOM

OPENING GIFTS

It was a lot of fun! And, I feel so much more relaxed now that I've met "the parents" :-)

Wedding Wednesday

The in-laws arrive in EXACTLY 24 hours. Yup, 24 hours from this post my in-laws will be here. I'm more than kinda nervous! We have a whole lot planned for our weekend with them so be sure to check back next Wed. as I'll have a ton of pictures to share. In the meantime, here is a teaser:


It's the invite to our engagement party this Sunday! Sorry the little cartoon bubble kinda takes away from "the look" but you get the idea :-)

See you tomorrow for Eye Spy Thursday!!

Wedding Wednesday

This last weekend we went to Baker Beach in San Francisco to get our engagement pictures taken. When we got there the beach had a whole bunch of nudists hanging out, determined to ruin my engagement pictures! But we averted our eyes, and with some clever camera angles still managed to get some great shots, and here is our favorite:

Wedding Wednesday--- Pray for sun!!

The location for our wedding is Carmel Beach in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA. Below is the view on a clear day:



It would be absolutely wonderful if it looked like this on our wedding day. However; I'm getting married in March and I am a realistic bride. It will probably be a little overcast, I'm ok with that. It could even be a little chilly, I'm ok with that too. Just please, please, please don't rain! Everyone pray for a dry day!

Wedding Wednesday

Some fun things for this weeks wedding update! The theme of my wedding is "beach glam." It's going to be a beach wedding with a modern twist and lots of bling :-) A couple of weeks ago I was in Santa Cruz with my mom and my grandma and we found some fun wedding accessories!

This clam shell opens up and is going to be what we have our flower girl/ring bearer hand to us with the rings in it during the ceremony. I love the little rhinestones on the ridges, and the blue fade at the bottom goes perfectly with my colors (turquoise and mandarin orange)!

Clamshell for Rings, originally uploaded by Jennicillin.

This crystal covered starfish is actually a broach, but I'm going to put it in my hair. Again, I love the sparkles!

Starfish for Hair, originally uploaded by Jennicillin.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what the rest of my accessories will look like! My best friend and Maid of Honor, Laura, has a small business making jewelry and is going to make a bracelet and a pair of earrings for me to wear on the big day! If you want, you can check out some of the things she has made HERE.

Getting more anxious as we prepare for my future in-laws visit! Also looking forward to engagement pictures in 2 weeks!

Becoming an effective blogger Wedding Wednsday

So, in order to maintain a better blog I've decided to look for a couple of other blogs that I can follow that have weekly blog challenges. My mother is the queen of this, so I'll probably start by investigating her blog roll and swiping Robs government issued digital camera (shhhhh it's for official use only :-p).

In the meantime I will spend the next 8 months trying to update all of you on the process of planning my wedding. So... Welcome to Wedding Wednsday!! (Isn't that a nice illiteration?)

Last week was VERY productive on the wedding front! I arranged for an officiant and ordered our wedding cake! Our officiant is Pastor Norm Mowery, from The Church of the Wayfarer in Carmel. I worked with him a lot when I was planning weddings down there, and he officiated all but two of the weddings I arranged in Carmel. Here is a picture I took of him about 4 years ago (he still looks the same!):

Our Officiant, originally uploaded by Jennicillin.Our wedding cake is going to be a cupcake cake from Sugar Butter Flour Bakery. I'm really excited about this idea because it means we don't need anyone to cut and serve our cake! The top tier will be a traditional 6" wedding cake tier, and then the bottom three tiers will be graduating platforms filled with 40 cupcakes! Our top tier is going to be carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and is inspired by this cake:

Wedding Cake Inspiration, originally uploaded by Jennicillin.

The cupcakes will be an assortment of 4 different flavors: Chocolate, White, Marble with Fudge Filling, and Banana. Each one will be topped with a hand painted chocolate seashell and look like this:

Ocean Cupcakes, originally uploaded by Jennicillin.Next week I'll be starting to plan for when Robs parents are coming to town! Which means engagement pictures and engagement party details are sure to follow!

Happy Hump Day!
Jennicillin