A Girly Day Indeed

Over Martin Luther King weekend, my amazing matron of honor arranged for all of my bridesmaids and me to shop for dresses and enjoy brunch together. Getting all of us together seemed nothing short of a miracle, given that only Jenn and I live in the same city. But Amanda came down from North Hollywood, Heidi drove out from Simi Valley, Winnie flew in from the Bay Area, and Fay (squeezing in a visit with her parents) traveled all the way out from Baltimore. I am so grateful that we had the chance to pick out the dresses together and catch up.

To select bridesmaid dresses, I looked through what seemed like hundreds of magazines, probably even more than I looked through for wedding gowns. I wanted all of my bridesmaids to have some options so we could try to come to some kind of consensus. At a bridal fair awhile back, I had seen a David's Bridal dress on display that was the perfect color, so I figured we should start there. With reasonable prices, good selection, and tons of convenient locations, it seemed to make the most sense. So I chose a few of my favorites, Winnie put them up to a vote, and we headed in, none of us really sure of what to expect.

Here were my priorities in looking for the right look:

• Comfort - In regard to the look and the actual fit, I wanted everyone to feel comfortable. It's a long day, and I expect these girls to keep the party going on the dance floor. So they need to be able to breathe and move!
  
• Material - Pleasanton in July gets to 100+ degrees. Regardless of the fact that our wedding is indoors, we still have to take pictures outside, so I'm hoping at least they won't feel like they're actually going to melt.
  
• Price - Obvious, perhaps, but dresses can be expensive. Everyone has a different taste, so it's entirely possible this will be a one-time-only dress.
• Color - Our color is a pretty specific shade of olive green, and DB had it. Done.
• Length - Since we're going for formal and it's an evening wedding, long seemed most fitting. Plus, long dresses mean the girls can wear any shoes they want. Once we got to the store, I was definitely willing to be flexible on length as necessary, but we ended up with long anyway.

In all, the process felt relatively painless. I am so grateful to have such mellow, accommodating bridesmaids; the day flowed so smoothly as we asked our consultant for what seemed like an endless line of dress options. All the girls looked amazing in everything, but some dresses looked too - for lack of a better word - bridesmaidy. I know, what was I expecting, right? And then finally, we found a winner. Everyone looked amazing, the material was unbelievably comfortable, and the price wasn't too bad. We had a blast trying on and picking out dresses, and the girls are going to look stunning on the big day.

Brunch was at an adorable little cafe in Redondo Beach, Creme de la Crepe, complete with mimosas and lots of Nutella. I am so lucky to have such beautiful, sweet, generous friends, and I couldn't have asked for a better experience picking out dresses. We're one step closer to the big day!

Here are some pictures of dresses we didn't end up with, sadly.

Well hello, kitty!

For the patriot in us all.

The color just wasn't right on this one.


If these didn't look too warm for summer, we would have had
an entirely different blog post here.

The results are in!

Just a quick little note to let you know that our engagement pictures from our wedding photographer, Rhee Bevere, are available for viewing. If you're interested in seeing our photos, click here, sign the guest book, and enjoy! We absolutely LOVE the pictures and can't wait for the wedding pictures!

Photos Galore...Finally!

Terry and I are learning that we're bad luck when it comes to photos. Hopefully this isn't a preview of our wedding day, but we have had more weather issues than we thought possible. Finally, after SEVERAL rain checks, we have finished all of our engagement pictures.

As mentioned in an earlier post, our good friend Roxanne is building her portfolio and has generously offered to shoot us on two separate occasions. This time, we headed out to our alma mater and our favorite place, UCLA's gorgeous campus. We feel so lucky that we were able to take pictures on campus, and now we'll have even more variety in our photos. After trying several different dates, we ended up with an awesome LA day, complete with blue skies and sunshine. And, lucky for us, we already know that the pictures are going to come out great! Here's a little peek:

Photo by Roxanne Neal

After the holidays, we managed to squeeze in our professional engagement session with our wedding photographer, Rhee Bevere. We originally had the idea to do a themed shoot, but the weather refused to cooperate (see? I told you we're bad luck). So we headed to downtown San Jose for an urban shoot, and we actually fell in love with the idea by the time we started. Rhee made us feel super comfortable, and Terry and I had a blast hanging out with her, despite the 40 degree weather. The session got us so pumped for the big day's pictures, and we can't wait to see how the photos turn out! Once we get pictures back, they'll be up here for sure. Thanks to Rox and Rhee for being awesome!

Save the Dates How To

Our save the dates went out about two months ago, and I'm finally getting around to all the details for those who might be interested. I only post this because I know how helpful it's been to me when I find miscellaneous brides' blogs and learn awesome DIY tips, money-saving advice, and super cute ideas. I've also benefited from generous advice from recent brides, including two couples from our wedding party, Heidi and Ed and Winnie and Brian. Thanks for all the tips, guys!

So here we go. We looked at a million ideas, and ultimately we liked the magnet idea. We like posting save the dates from friends on our fridge, and we even keep the ones with pictures because they're so darn cute! So a picture on a magnet seemed simple enough, but we really wanted to design our own image. We had a picture all set - we chose one from some pictures our friend Rox took at the beach awhile back- and we knew we were working with the wine theme, so Terry set off to work.

Terry used Adobe Illustrator to create the image for the save the date. He created his own shapes for the grapes, leaves, and vines, and then we played around with colors and fonts. The design process took way longer than expected, especially because my adorable fiance is such a perfectionist. In the end, the result looked awesome!

Once we had the image, I purchased the magnets through Vista Print online. We chose the Large Business Magnets and uploaded Terry's design. Vista Print has tons of coupon codes around the Internet, so we got 50% off our total order. The magnets came within just a few days, and they were perfect! We didn't have to do any extra work beyond stuffing and sending!

For the envelopes, we chose Paper Source's A2 envelopes in Moss, added a grape stamp to the back, and painstakingly wrote each address according to my etiquette book's guidelines. Terry picked up some cute wedding-themed postage stamps, and I found another great discount on personalized return address labels at Vista Print, complete with our picture (another from Rox).

The finished save the date!

The finished envelope (I know, super dorky), along with the return label.

Scout helped as I stamped all the envelopes.


Terry was thrilled that I took this cheesy
picture of him sending out the finished project.

The save the dates were super easy, fun, and a great first little project for us. On to the next!

Happy New Year!

The holidays brought so much great news in our lives, and we have so much to share, so I'll focus on those exciting announcements.

First, my awesome mom finally retired after 33 years with the Menlo Park Police Department. We are so proud of her, and we had a great time celebrating while we stayed with them after Christmas. I'm so excited to have my parents visit more and really enjoy life (not that they don't already). Congratulations, Mom!

Secondly, HUGE news in the wedding world: My big brother is getting married! He proposed on Christmas morning to my awesome future sister-in-law, Ashley, and they are an incredible couple. We look forward to their wedding planning adventure and sharing the amazing future they have ahead! Congratulations to Chris and Ashley!

Aren't they a gorgeous couple? I can't wait for my nieces and nephews!

We also celebrated the holidays with both sides of the family this Christmas, and it was really a pleasure to get to spend time with each of our parents and brothers. We are excited about the new year, the year we will take our vows and become husband and wife! Get ready for the big stuff - we're nearly at the six month mark!

200 Days!

Today marks 200 days to the wedding! Terry and I are knee-deep in holiday festivities (not to mention decorations and wrapping paper), and we are so excited that next Christmas we will be celebrating our first holiday season as a married couple.

This year will be Christmas with the Heinrichs, followed by a few nights up north with my family. I'm really excited to experience Christmas Eve and Christmas day with Terry's family and to learn about their traditions. Christmas at the Lanier house will definitely be different this year, but my family has lots to celebrate, especially my mom's retirement after 33 years with Menlo Park Police Department. We are so proud of her, and Terry and I are especially excited at the thought of my parents coming down to visit us more!

Terry recently finished up his third-to-last quarter in his Master's program. While he still has work this week, we're both excited to finalize our invitation design and figure out our printing options. Hopefully the process will work out beautifully, but no matter what it will have a very personal touch. I've been looking forward to the invitations and other paper products, because there is so much room for creativity and unique designs. I can't wait to see Terry's finished product and then to assemble everything!

Another exciting event: Our menu tasting at Palm Event Center is coming up in January! A few months ago, I asked Terry what he is most excited for in the wedding planning process; not surprisingly, he responded, "The tastings..." Well, here it is! Unfortunately, our venue only offers tastings on Wednesdays, so we have to fly up midday on a Wednesday and back to LA at the break of dawn on Thursday, but it'll be worth it!

While we're up north next week, we have a few exciting meetings. First, we're finally doing our engagement session with our wedding photographer, Rhee Bevere, and we are so anxious to get to know her better and to learn more about her photography style. Secondly, we're meeting with our DJ, Rob Mutzl, to work out some details and hear more of his ideas.

If I could give one piece of advice (pre-wedding, sure, but I've learned a thing or two about wedding planning), here it is: Choose vendors who have worked with your venue! Our vendors know the staff at the Palm Event Center, plus they have a million ideas that can work at the place. The great thing about choosing such awesome vendors is that we feel we can completely trust their expertise; we know for certain that they will incorporate ideas into what they know works at the Palm.

So with 200 days left to go, we are ready to start the details. We want our wedding to feel like our wedding, and we know that personal touches are the way to do it. We look forward to making the magic happen!

Seven Months to Go!

We missed the seven month mark in blog world, but we celebrated with some wonderful Christmas cheer. Last week, Terry and I found our first Christmas tree, and we spent the week decorating our apartment for the holiday. We don't have much in the way of decor yet, but we started a lovely tradition this year. From now on, every year, we will find a tree, listen to Christmas music while decorating, and watch Love Actually together. Terry will likely get tired of hearing me sing Christmas songs, and I will enjoy watching Terry chase the cat out from under the tree.

Hope you're enjoying the holiday season as much as we are!