My Planning Bio

Engagement Photos These engagement shots were taken by an amateur photographer who was looking for models as she builds her portfolio and skill to go pro. I think they came out great! (View her blog here)

Save the Date Postcards A couple of Save-the-Date postcard ideas Printed by Vistaprint as an oversized glossy postcard. I love how they came out!

Invitations To be placed in a chocolate brown "non-pocket pocketfold" invite with ribbon sash Here are a few of my favorite wedding invite designs, thus far. I think we're going to print them ourselves with brown ink on cream cardstock but I need to test that before we decide for sure. These are all my own design. Here are a couple mock ups of a printed invite in the brown folder. You can see the neat ribbon I found at Ruffler's Roost in Tempe, AZ and the scrapbook papers I'm looking at to line the envelopes. :) Now I just have to make a decision and price shop the components.

Monograms The luxury of an engaged woman I'll add more once I get around to making them!

Flowers These photos were taken at the wedding expo in Phoenix last January and were from the Kabloom booth. We have put down a deposit to have Alan from there do our flowers just like this. I think they have the perfect desert feel for our desert wedding. I need to fix that.) Blooms to include: Eryngium, Light Orange and Peachy Roses, Orange Gerber Daisies, Orange Genista, Red Hypericum, and Orange Alstroemeria. The bouquet stems will be wrapped with gold ribbon.

Ceremony Site The Amphitheater Our ceremony is taking place in the amphitheater at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. It should comfortably seat our ~100 guests while still feeling very intimate!

Cocktail Hour Wildflower Garden Paths We're going to have a cocktail hour at sunset in the garden. I hope the sunset on our wedding day is as spectacular as this one!

Ceremony & Cocktail Hour Musicians Newton's Theorem We've hired a guitar and cello duet to play for our ceremony and cocktail hour. I'm really excited and think their slightly funky, yet classic acoustic sound will be perfect for the tranquility of the desert.

Reception Site Binns Wildflower Pavilion Our reception will take place approximately 100 yards from the ceremony in the Wildflower Pavilion at the Desert Botanical Garden. It is a neat rusted structure with these amazing stars hanging from the ceiling. It should be completely surrounded by desert wildlife in March. I'm very excited about this site!

Decorations Here are some awesome rusty star decorations that I found at Briar Hollow. I think they will go really well with the star motif on the ceiling of the reception site. I want to try to turn the rusty stars into placecards, somehow.

Centerpieces My mom found these awesome mosaic glass centerpieces at Macy's for an amazing price so we snatched up more than enough large holders and more than 50 votive holders for our reception tables. Now I just have to pick linens and runners for the tables.

Favors Homebrewed Mead and Imperial Stout For the favors at our wedding, Matt opted to share his brewing skill with the guests buy making a mead from orange blossom honey and an Imperial Stout. When choosing his brews, Matt decided to make something(s) special which need some aging. He actually brewed both of these a couple of months ago and they're aging in our closet. He'll be bottling in the next couple of weeks. When he was selling each recipe to me, he told me that mead is the "honeymoon drink" so we included that description on the label. I think in order to appease the guys with a hardier brew, he chose to also make an Imperial Stout. So it doesn't feel left out, we included a blurb on its label too. Once he bottles, I'm going to have to get to work putting labels on all of the bottles. We spent a lot of time looking for the perfect bottles. First, Matt found the cute green champagne bottle on the left and ordered them through the Culver City brewstore. Then, last weekend we were at the store in the valley and we found the cute brown bottle. Both the bottles are really cute! I want to affix cute little tags with rafia thanking our guests for coming to the neck of each bottle. Matt wants me to include a brief blub on the history of each drink on the label. I really hope our guests like them and they turn out well! It truly will be a joint effort.

My Dress Here is my dress! :) It's a diamond white Romona Keveza gown purchased at the Making Memories charity gown sale (for breast cancer). I got a great deal and it was in brand new condition. I'm not sure it had even been tried on before!!! Excuse the picture as the top is rather big. I need to have it taken in several inches and buy a backless pushup bra. I love its classic look. :) [I added the last photo to show how the top of the dress should fit once altered. This isn't my dress, but another from the same collection.]

Shoes Here are the cute shoes I bought at DSW in NY to go with my dress.

Bridesmaid Dresses Since I'm having six bridesmaids who currently live in 6 different states (none of which are the same as me), I decided it would be easier for everyone to find their own knee-length chocolate brown dress, rather than try to fit them into one dress or brand. This enabled the girls just to buy their dresses off the rack at department stores for much less. Everyone is happy and no one is broke. Big success! :)

My Hair Here is are a couple photos of hair I *LOVE* from the web. I think it will be perfect with my dress. Super classic and pretty. I did a mini hair trial to find out if I liked a side part and poofy back with my face. I don't like a center part or my hair slicked back tightly with my face. I also don't really like a low bun either. I think a little height really helps to balance my face. I can't wait for my first hair trial! Here's a couple photos of a hair trial I had done by Dolce at the Bridal Expo in January. Believe it or not, my fine straight hair was only chin length at this point! I've been growing my hair out since then and hopefully by the time of the wedding it should be long enough for a refined, less flirty, updo. While I'm not going with this style, I figured it might be helpful for other short haired brides.

Cakes We'll be doing this cake with fresh flowers on top to match my bouquet and with orange (rather than pink) accents.

Fun Extras Here are some super cute cactus ornaments one of my bridesmaids made for me as part of my pseudo bridal shower. I'm going to add hangers to commemerate my experience as an Arizona bride annually on my Christmas tree. I found these buttons on a bridal blog and I think they could be hilarious. I want to buy a button maker and make them for our guests for the BBQ we're hosting the night before the wedding. They seem like great ice breakers to me.

Vendor List Here is a list of the vendors we have booked or are planning to book. Venue - Desert Botanical Garden - I visited tons of sites one weekend with my Mom and even though this was the first one we visited, we knew the second we walked in that it was perfect. So many of our guests will be coming from the icky winter weather on the East Coast for our wedding, I think they will enjoy the Arizona sunshine and find the desert atmosphere intriguing. Brides from Arizona are always talking about finding a "green" site, but I wanted the opposite. I wanted something that looked natural. Both the sites we are using are beautiful and if you haven't checked out the garden yet, you definately should! Caterer - Atlasta - The DBG gave us a limited number of caterers that we were allowed to use and we met with almost all of them. Atlasta (we think) gave us a good value and we liked the person we met with (although the person has now changed). We'll have to see how this decision plays out. Dress - Making Memories Gown Sale - I love my dress and can't wait to get it altered so it fits. The gown sale was great with lots of good options (more than many bridal shops, I thought) and the prices were excellent. In addition to my dress, I got a crinoline for $15! There were tons of veils and headpieces too. I was afraid it was going to be a mob scene, but it wasn't at all. In addition, many of the dresses were brand new as they had just be donated by the designer or a store. If there is a sale in your area definately check it out! Ceremony and Cocktail Hour Music - Newton's Theorem - We've hired a guitar and cello player from the band Newton's Theorem to play for the ceremony and reception. I love their acoustic sound and the cello keeps it just classic enough for a wedding. They will switch to more contemporary music for the cocktail hour. I can't wait to hear them! :) If you're interested in booking them, they play at Wrigley Mansion very often so you can catch them there. DJ (reception) - Cruzin' Tunes DJ - I got this guys name off the Phoenix board and we were pretty happy when we met with him. He was normal and had great rates. Florist - Kabloom (in Chandler) - I saw this florist's work at the January Bridal Expo in Phoenix and was blown away. The flowers were very modern, yet pretty, and were completely different than anything else I'd seen in magazines or at the show. The manager of the store, Alan, is a real floral designer and likes to create unique pieces. I can't wait to see his work at my wedding. The pictures above just don't do it justice. Photographer - Photography by Kristie - I searched high and low to try to find an excellent wedding photographer for a great price and Kristie is the best I could find. Her pictures are gorgeous and interesting to look at. They are technically good too. (So many photographers out there under or over expose their photos. Nothing like a white blob for a wedding dress that you spent months agonizing over!) I can't wait to see how our photos come out. Cake - In Pockets Bakery (Chandler) - Awesome tasting cake and even better prices!!! Hair & Make-up - ??? - Still looking!