Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Wedding Dress
I know the dress is usually the first thing brides look for, but I was so lucky. My dress choose me. I know it sounds funny, but I thought I knew what I wanted. Like most brides, I went through the magazines and put tabs on all the dresses I liked, but when I took those magazines to the bridal shops and tried those dresses on, I looked nothing like the girls in the magazines. Luckily the person I was working with picked out a couple of dresses that she thought I would like. The moment I put on my Maggie Sottero Viena, I knew that it was the one. Dresses in bridal shops usually run a bit larger (size 12-16) because they can clip the dresses so you still get a feeling for what the dress would look like and even though they had to do that for me, the dress fit so well. For girls who have hips like myself, I would highly recommend trying on a Maggie Sottero. The corset back makes such a difference! I don’t have any pictures of myself in it yet because the lady in the dress show wouldn’t let me take any unless I purchased the dress. Unfortunately I didn’t want to purchase the dress there, because I was able to find it online for much cheaper on Ebay. I went that route and figured that since I ordered early, if it doesn’t look right, I’ll still have time to figure out that dilema later. I should be receiving my dress in March, 6 months before my wedding date.
The Wedding Website
I thought that wedding website would be easy since my husband to be is a Computer Scientist and –of course, he would be the one to design our wedding webpage, but that isn’t the case. Matt has been super busy at work preparing for the launch of a new internet service and he hasn’t had any free time.
I wanted everyone to know the details of the planning and share all these moments with us, so I decided to tackle the website myself. Luckily, I found a wonderful website that did most of the work for me already.
It’s called: www.eweddings.com!!!!
I highly recommend it because it’s user friendly and most importantly—FREE!!! What a steal!!! Apparently it has been on oprah, etc..
Check it out: www.ewedding.com
I wanted everyone to know the details of the planning and share all these moments with us, so I decided to tackle the website myself. Luckily, I found a wonderful website that did most of the work for me already.
It’s called: www.eweddings.com!!!!
I highly recommend it because it’s user friendly and most importantly—FREE!!! What a steal!!! Apparently it has been on oprah, etc..
Check it out: www.ewedding.com
Monday, February 18, 2008
The Centerpiece
Although I’m on a budget, my wedding isn’t going to look like it was. One of the reasons why I fell in love with the vineyard setting for a venue (other than because we both like wine :-) is because the vines themselves are gorgeous.
I cut some vines and made a centerpiece for our dinning room table once and I plan to do something similar for my centerpieces. There is just so much that I could do with vines.
Although it is early in the planning process, I knew I wanted my centerpiece to include beautiful grapevines. Luckily, one of my bridesmaids has a family vineyard so during pruning time; they will save the vines for me.
I haven’t found a vase for them yet, but I will start looking. I did find some incredibly beautiful pebbles at Walmart and at Big Lots that will hopefully look good at the bottom of the vase. One of my bridesmaids, Kristine found the colors I wanted for $1.88 at Walmart and $1.50 at Big Lots. What a steal! The clear pebbles are from Big Lots and the teal ones are from Walmart. I’m going to mix the two together to get a blend of the colors. I’ll post more pictures of these with the vase when I get it.
I cut some vines and made a centerpiece for our dinning room table once and I plan to do something similar for my centerpieces. There is just so much that I could do with vines.
Although it is early in the planning process, I knew I wanted my centerpiece to include beautiful grapevines. Luckily, one of my bridesmaids has a family vineyard so during pruning time; they will save the vines for me.
I haven’t found a vase for them yet, but I will start looking. I did find some incredibly beautiful pebbles at Walmart and at Big Lots that will hopefully look good at the bottom of the vase. One of my bridesmaids, Kristine found the colors I wanted for $1.88 at Walmart and $1.50 at Big Lots. What a steal! The clear pebbles are from Big Lots and the teal ones are from Walmart. I’m going to mix the two together to get a blend of the colors. I’ll post more pictures of these with the vase when I get it.
Friday, February 15, 2008
The Photographer
I’m having such a hard time with this one. I’m so picky when it comes to photographers. It was the most important vendor to me. I knew I wanted someone I could trust implicitly to do a great job and I’ve spent countless hours looking at photographs online, so I knew what I wanted, but what I wanted was extremely over budget. What to do?
In the Northern California region, one photographer had a style that completely resonated with me: Ben Chrisman.
Sigh… and he’s incredible and of course, therefore incredibly expensive….but he’s so very good…(as you can see) I’m going to talk to him and see how we mesh.
In the Northern California region, one photographer had a style that completely resonated with me: Ben Chrisman.
Sigh… and he’s incredible and of course, therefore incredibly expensive….but he’s so very good…(as you can see) I’m going to talk to him and see how we mesh.
Choosing Bridesmaids
It wasn’t difficult for me to choose my bridesmaids, but it was hard for me to ask two of my close friends to be ushers because I know they were hoping to be a bridesmaid.
Did any of you all have that problem?
I did…unfortunately. One of my childhood friends was really disappointed and even said that she didn’t want to attend my wedding because she didn’t want to be considered an afterthought when I asked if she would be an usher. I was really hurt by that, but I know that if I were asked to be an usher for her, that I would be sad, but I would understand and just be there for her. What are your thoughts?
Did any of you all have that problem?
I did…unfortunately. One of my childhood friends was really disappointed and even said that she didn’t want to attend my wedding because she didn’t want to be considered an afterthought when I asked if she would be an usher. I was really hurt by that, but I know that if I were asked to be an usher for her, that I would be sad, but I would understand and just be there for her. What are your thoughts?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Venue
After my initial disappointment with the venue I thought we were going with, I went back to square one and did a ton of online research on venues throughout Northern California. We didn’t do the San Francisco route because we are homebodies at heart and we’ve had enough of cities after living in Los Angeles for 4.5 years. (We didn’t want our guest stuck in traffic or stuck on one way streets because over half of the guest would be coming from out of town.)
(The following list show places that cost approximately 6,000 or less in rental fees because of budget constraints, but these places still had that touch of elegance and simplicity that I love.)
Some of the places that I liked were: Villa Montavo (it was beautiful and had a scenic garden, but it wasn’t a vineyard/winery), Garre Vineyard and Winery (it was gorgeous and the coordinator was so helpful, but Mr. Starfish didn’t like the powerlines on the edge of the property), Murrieta’s Well (it was beautiful and rustic—I almost went with this one), Rio-Lovell Vineyard and Winery (it was nice outside, but the none of the buildings matched they were painted odd colors –think pink and orange—which might work if those are your colors—ours are blue and cream), Wente Winery (it was great, but I wanted a more vintage look for the reception area), and then there was Byington Vineyard and Winery (the one!).
I love Byington Vineyard and Winery because it is exactly what I envisioned for our fall wedding: tall-well established grapevines on rolling hills beautiful for the ceremony surroundings, a beautiful mansion that could host the reception, and even a cave for some romantic nighttime photos. Moreover, I really got a sense that things would be taken care of because Maggie, our wedding coordinator at Byington was just fabulous—totally responsive and friendly. She was very open about the costs, since it was one of our determining factors. Byington really gave me a sense that if you look hard enough, you will find something wonderful that fits your budget as well as expectations. I’m hoping this applies to photographers because that will be the next hurdle.
What do you think? I just love wineries.
(The following list show places that cost approximately 6,000 or less in rental fees because of budget constraints, but these places still had that touch of elegance and simplicity that I love.)
Some of the places that I liked were: Villa Montavo (it was beautiful and had a scenic garden, but it wasn’t a vineyard/winery), Garre Vineyard and Winery (it was gorgeous and the coordinator was so helpful, but Mr. Starfish didn’t like the powerlines on the edge of the property), Murrieta’s Well (it was beautiful and rustic—I almost went with this one), Rio-Lovell Vineyard and Winery (it was nice outside, but the none of the buildings matched they were painted odd colors –think pink and orange—which might work if those are your colors—ours are blue and cream), Wente Winery (it was great, but I wanted a more vintage look for the reception area), and then there was Byington Vineyard and Winery (the one!).
I love Byington Vineyard and Winery because it is exactly what I envisioned for our fall wedding: tall-well established grapevines on rolling hills beautiful for the ceremony surroundings, a beautiful mansion that could host the reception, and even a cave for some romantic nighttime photos. Moreover, I really got a sense that things would be taken care of because Maggie, our wedding coordinator at Byington was just fabulous—totally responsive and friendly. She was very open about the costs, since it was one of our determining factors. Byington really gave me a sense that if you look hard enough, you will find something wonderful that fits your budget as well as expectations. I’m hoping this applies to photographers because that will be the next hurdle.
What do you think? I just love wineries.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
So Many Places So Little Time
Since Mr. Starfish and I moved from Southern California to the Bay Area and plan to settle here for the next 5-10 years at the very least, we thought it would be appropriate to find a venue in the Bay Area. We wanted something intimate because we only plan on having 100 guests – closest friends and family. It was very difficult narrowing that list down, but somehow, we did it! Knowing the budget and the number of guest early on, was really helpful because most venues will have a max or min guest count so having a somewhat accurate count can give you a realistic idea of which venues will actually work.
The second thing Mr. Starfish and I wanted was a scenic place. We both LOVE the ocean, but realized early on, that the beaches in Northern California are cold and not what we expected since we are used to Southern California sun! We decided that since we love nature and all things scenic we wanted our wedding to be held at a vineyard/winery. We thought that instead of having the blue sea, we could have a sea of grape vines in our photos.
Though we got engaged in October we wanted to get married in the Fall of 2008, which meant that I had limited time to find and reserve a place! I basically spent my christmas holiday scouting out places throughout Northern California. Normally, when people think vineyard—they think of Napa or Sonoma, but after looking at some of the prices just to book those venues, I set out to find vineyards in central Northern California. I found that Pleasanton/Livermore vineyards and wineries and other Central California vineyards and wineries are just as beautiful and developed as the Napa/Sonoma ones (though they are not as famous).
I did have one bad experience. Initially, I fell in love with a vineyard/winery in Livermore called the Palm Event Center. It’s gorgeous and has a HUGE hall. I thought I had found ‘the place’ because initially the sales girl seemed very excited and ready to custom-make a package for us. We told her ahead of time that we wanted to be married on a Sunday to save cost and to give myself more time to prepare. I made it clear that my initial concern was the budget. I wanted an intimate wedding because I only had 100 people on my guestlist, so that I could do more for each guest, etc..
Unfortunately, when I started asking for a breakdown of the costs the third time I met with her, she came back with something that was outrageous. They wanted to charge me an alcohol package of ~$27.00/person even though I had told her that over 50% of the people would not be drinking. She said that the drinkers would make up for the non-drinkers. She didn’t give me options to buy the wine from them (so that whatever the guest don’t finish we could save) and they didn’t allow us to bring in our own alcohol. In addition, the breakdown of the costs showed items like: extra light for $400, etc.. and that really turned me off from the place. I knew I wasn’t on the same page as the salesperson and even though the site was gorgeous, I felt good walking away.
I have a co-worker that did get married there and had a good experience last year, so I think circumstances would have been better if I had family and friends who would really enjoy the alcohol and such because then I wouldn’t mind spending the money on these items since we would be getting value for the alcohol package.
The second thing Mr. Starfish and I wanted was a scenic place. We both LOVE the ocean, but realized early on, that the beaches in Northern California are cold and not what we expected since we are used to Southern California sun! We decided that since we love nature and all things scenic we wanted our wedding to be held at a vineyard/winery. We thought that instead of having the blue sea, we could have a sea of grape vines in our photos.
Though we got engaged in October we wanted to get married in the Fall of 2008, which meant that I had limited time to find and reserve a place! I basically spent my christmas holiday scouting out places throughout Northern California. Normally, when people think vineyard—they think of Napa or Sonoma, but after looking at some of the prices just to book those venues, I set out to find vineyards in central Northern California. I found that Pleasanton/Livermore vineyards and wineries and other Central California vineyards and wineries are just as beautiful and developed as the Napa/Sonoma ones (though they are not as famous).
I did have one bad experience. Initially, I fell in love with a vineyard/winery in Livermore called the Palm Event Center. It’s gorgeous and has a HUGE hall. I thought I had found ‘the place’ because initially the sales girl seemed very excited and ready to custom-make a package for us. We told her ahead of time that we wanted to be married on a Sunday to save cost and to give myself more time to prepare. I made it clear that my initial concern was the budget. I wanted an intimate wedding because I only had 100 people on my guestlist, so that I could do more for each guest, etc..
Unfortunately, when I started asking for a breakdown of the costs the third time I met with her, she came back with something that was outrageous. They wanted to charge me an alcohol package of ~$27.00/person even though I had told her that over 50% of the people would not be drinking. She said that the drinkers would make up for the non-drinkers. She didn’t give me options to buy the wine from them (so that whatever the guest don’t finish we could save) and they didn’t allow us to bring in our own alcohol. In addition, the breakdown of the costs showed items like: extra light for $400, etc.. and that really turned me off from the place. I knew I wasn’t on the same page as the salesperson and even though the site was gorgeous, I felt good walking away.
I have a co-worker that did get married there and had a good experience last year, so I think circumstances would have been better if I had family and friends who would really enjoy the alcohol and such because then I wouldn’t mind spending the money on these items since we would be getting value for the alcohol package.
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